The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its., Part 76

Author: Western Historical Co , Western Historical Company
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 807

USA > Iowa > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its. > Part 76

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ELK RIVER TOWNSHIP.

Elk River Township is the northeast township in Clinton County, and is bounded on the east by the Mississippi River, on the north by Jackson County, on the west by Deep Creek Township, and on the south by Hampshire and Lyons Townships. It comprises Congressional Township 83 north, Range 6 east, and fractional Township 83 north, Range 7 east. It is one of the original six townships organized, though its boundaries were then more extended. The present population is about fourteen hundred.

The name of this township and the stream which flows through it was sug- gested by the number of elk-horns found along the banks of the stream by the first settlers, and which indicated that large numbers of these noble animals must have roamed these prairies. One "last survivor" was killed in the township since its settlement.

It was the best-timbered township in the county, probably, there having - been seven or eight sections in the township that were covered with original timber. Its surface is somewhat broken and hilly, along the Mississippi and the streams, and the surface generally is undulating. A valley extends west, giving an outlet for two railroads, the Midland and the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota, and, by the peculiar conformation of the surface, these two roads, one approaching from the north and the other from the south, where they seek their western route, approach each other to within sixty-four rods.

From Teed's Grove to the mouth of Elk River, a distance of about four miles, as the stream winds, the banks are lined with quarries of excellent stone, in every desired size and thickness, and in almost inexhaustible quantity. The splendid residence of Mr. David Shadduck, on Section 24, Town 83, Range 6, costing $15,000, was built of stone from these quarries.

The Elk River has two branches, one flowing southeasterly from Jackson County and the other in a northeasterly direction, until they unite at Teed's

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Grove, and thence flows with a very tortuous channel, but in a general south- easterly direction, until it empties into the Mississippi. After the junction of the two branches, the rapid fall in the stream affords several excellent mill- sites.

The oldest settler in Elk River was - Teed, from whom Teed's Grove takes its name. He settled in the thickest oak timber in the grove, on Sec- tion 16, Township 83 north, Range 6 east. This was in 1836, and, although surrounded with rich prairie land, he girdled the oak timber to make him a clearing, as they did "down East." When the Government surveyors came through, in July, 1837, they informed him that he had located upon a school section. He immediately pulled up in disgust and left, saying that "he wouldn't stay where he couldn't have timber." He was never heard from in this section since.

On the 8th of July, 1839, the following settlers were in the township: Arthur Smith, Otis Bennett, C. E. Langford, Levi Shadduck, David Shad- duck, George Hollis, John Hollis, James McIntire, O. A. Crary, Joseph McCrary, John Carr, William Alexander, William Dinwoodie, Martin Toel, Michael Toel, George Griswold, Alfred Brown, Thomas Calderwood, Daniel Smith, James Leonard, Sr., Robert Cruthers, William Smilley.

The township, by a vote of the settlers, was at first named Fair Haven, after a town of that name in Connecticut, from which several of them came. This, however, was previous to the organization of the township, which was then called after the name of the principal stream.

A petition was then made for a post office, and, in the fall of 1839, the petition was granted, and the office was established on Section 11, Town 83 north, Range 6 east, and James Leonard, Jr., commissioned the first Post- master. This office was shortly after discontinued for want of patronage. While in operation, the mail was carried on horseback on the Davenport and Dubuque route.

The next post office was established November 11, 1843, and called Elk River, and John Sloan was the first Postmaster. This is the post office now called Almont, and is at the station by the same name on the Midland. The following have been the Postmasters at this office since Mr. Sloan : Thomas Calderwood, William G. Haun, A. J. Bingham, J. S. Herwick (with whose in-coming it was changed to Almont) and E. (). Langford, the present incumbent.

A post office was established on the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota Road in 1874, and called Mead, Isaac C. Finch, Postmaster ; but, two years after, the office burned and was then discontinued.

There is also a post office at Teed's Grove, on the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota Railroad.

There are three churches in the township. The oldest is an Episcopal Church at Hauntown. In was originally built, in 1846, by William G. Haun, for store purposes, but was afterward rebuilt into a church. Occasional ser- vices have been held there, but no regular preaching is maintained. A Union Church was erected near Almont Station in 1872, the title to which is in the Methodist denomination. No regular services have ever been maintained, and services are seldom held at the present time.

When the Almont Church was built, " Uncle Harmer," as the Rev. S. T. Harmer was familiarly known, was a pretty strong Methodist, and he insisted upon a denominational Church, and a building costing about $3,000 was erected, upon ground to be donated by the owner. After the building was completed,

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the owner's wife would not sign the deeds unless it was made a Union Church, which was accordingly done.

A Congregational Church was organized at Teed's Grove in 1854, and a church building erected and dedicated in 1855. Rev. O. Emerson was the first minister. He remained with them for about two years. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Butterfield, and Rev. Mr. Littlefield was his successor. In 1861, Mr. Emerson returned, and has preached here from that time until the present on each alternate Sabbath.

The old church having grown gray and dilapidated, in 1871, a new Union Church was erected, jointly by the Congregationalists and the Methodists, who occupy it upon alternate Sabbaths. It is on Miles Circuit.

The first school was taught in a log cabin where Chester Babcock now lives, near the Almont Church. The first teacher was Miss Julia Carpenter, of Fulton, Ill., who taught in the summer of 1842. There are now thirteen school districts, all having good schoolhouses or about to have them, as all the old buildings are now being replaced with new ones at an average cost of $1,000. The people cheerfully pay their taxes for education and seem inter- ested in the welfare of their children in this direction. The average wages of teachers is $25 per month.

When this township was first settled, great fears were entertained by the settlers that the supply of timber would be insufficient for the necessities of the inhabitants, and the fencing was all done by ditching, but to-day it is believed that there is more timber growing in the township than there was when the first settler cut the first tree.

There are only 700 acres of non-resident lands in the township; 300 acres are owned by Mr. Rand, of Burlington, and 400 acres by Robert Knowles, of Moline, Ill.

The last piece of Government land was entered in 1852.

The farms are generally of moderate size, the largest in the township being 500 acres. The population is quite largely German or of German descent, and their proportionate number is yearly increasing.

There are nearly twenty miles of railway in this township on the Midland, Sabula, Ackley & Dakota and the Dubuque lines.

In 1837, O. A. Crary and James Leonard built a saw-mill on Elk River, on Section 11, Township 83 north, Range 6 east. It was operated as a saw- mill from that date until 1842, and did a large amount of business until the supply of timber was diminished. It was then taken down and removed to a stream in Jackson County near Green Island.

The next attempt at mill-building was in 1843, when John Sloan, William Sloan, George Griswold and M. L. Barber began the erection of a mill for the manufacture of hemp, at the place where Hauntown now is. Hemp-seed was purchased for sowing at $2 per bushel and large quantities of it raised for the purpose of being converted here into rope, twine, bagging, etc. Like many other visionary schemes, it was found to be impracticable, owing to the immense amount of labor required in the process. After this result, the manufacture of these goods was abandoned and the mill was to be converted into a grist- mill. The Messrs. Sloan and Griswold sold out their interest to William Gray, Mr. Barber, who was a millwright, retaining his. In the winter of 1845-46, Mr. Gray went to St. Louis, where he fell in with William G. Haun, and, in the spring of 1846, they returned, bringing with them all the necessary machinery for a flouring-mill. This enterprise was pushed rapidly to com- pletion, a distillery being also immediately built, together with a store,

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malt-house and warehouse, and in November the mill and distillery were in full operation. The capacity of the distillery was nine barrels per day. Its product was mostly sold in the pineries, and as the reputation of Elk River whisky was not yet fully established, it was customary to brand the barrels "Old Rectified Whisky, from B. J. Moore & Co., Cincinnati. Ohio." From this date until 1857, Hauntown was one of the most important business points in this section of the country, and "Billy G. Haun " considered to be one of the financial "heavy dogs." Mr. Haun also built a steam saw-mill at the mouth of Elk River. In 1859, his creditors had dispossessed him of his Hauntown property, and he went down midway between there and the Missis- sippi, to which point he removed his steam saw-mill and converted it into a distillery. Both these have long since gone to decay. The grist-mill at Hauntown, now owned by Wood & Struve, has been from time to time repaired and improved, and is now in successful operation.

Mr. Gray, before mentioned, sold out his interest to W. G. Haun and went to Teed's Grove and built a new flouring-mill, which is the one now in ope- ration there.

In 1841, Messrs. Calderwood & Dinwiddie commenced the erection of a saw-mill on the Elk River, on Section 18, Township 83 north, Range 7 east. After two failures, resulting from the imperfection of the water-wheels, Mr. Dinwiddie withdrew from the firm. Mr. Calderwood, however, succeeded, late in the fall of 1842, in completing a mill that was of ample capacity for the wants of the locality. The supply of timber being good-plenty of Govern- ment land-lumber was shipped to Galena and various other points, for wagon- building, etc., until 1850, when Mr. Calderwood went to California, selling the mill shortly after to Mr. C. E. Langford, who operated it for several years, and there laid the foundation for the present extensive and first-class steam saw-mill owned by himself and Mr. Hall, in Fulton, Ill. The Calderwood mill is now owned by Mr. Daniel Favorgue, but the supply of timber having given out, little or nothing is done in the way of manufacturing lumber. A grist-mill, however, built by Mr. Favorgue, is in successful operation.

An attempt was made, in 1842, to build a " current mill " in the sloughs of the Mississippi, on Section 17, Township 83, Range 7, by Messrs. Frederick Hess and George Griswold. The frame was raised in March, 1843, but the enterprise was abandoned.

The last encampment of Indians was in the fall of 1839, at the mouth of Elk River, at a place where an old trading-house had been previously built, the chimney of which is still partially standing. Not regarding the laws of " meum et tuum," they were speedily driven away.

That part of the township known as fractional Township 83, Range- 7, being the timbered part of the township, was brought into market in 1840, of which considerable was entered shortly afterward. The first piece of land bought in Township 83, Range 6, was purchased by W. G. Haun, being the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 13, at the land sale in Dubuque in 1846.

Few " claim difficulties " occurred, most of the settlers being allowed to purchase at private sale. A Mr. James Hall caused the only difficulty which took place. Mr. Beatty had improved an eighty, which he had fenced, and one of the forties he had purchased. Mr. Hall entered the other forty from him, and so the neighbors turned out one night and assisted Mr. Beatty in drawing his fence off from the forty which Hall had entered. Hall took his revenge by entering the claims of each settler who assisted Beatty, wherever he

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could find the opportunity. This created very bitter feeling in the neighbor- hood.

In 1840, Zara Emory, who lived in Lyons, desired to go to the saw-mill of Leonard & Crary, at Teed's Grove. He took the divide between the east and . west flow of water, and marked a road by guess. That trail is almost the identical route of the road as afterward located and known as the " prairie road."

John Hollis is said to be the longest continuous resident in the township of Elk River.

Charles G. Forrest, as a successful farmer and business man, stands pre- eminent in the township, having originally settled there with his hands and head as his only capital.

In 1856, a man named O'Brien killed his wife, on the Robert Cruther's farm, by beating her to death with a piece of board, while on a drunken spree. He confessed his crime, and was committed to jail in De Witt, and while con- fined there he broke jail and has never since been heard of.

In 1860, Abner Munger and Austin Baldwin, who owned lands adjoining, quarreled about the division line. Mr. Baldwin's son, Walter, together with his cousin, Ransom Baldwin, met Mr. Munger on Sunday morning, on the highway. Walter said, " there comes Munger, and I will give him a licking." He attacked Mr. Munger, who drew a jackknife and kept him at bay, until Walter found a piece of fence board, and, picking it up, struck at Mr. Munger until he knocked him down, as afterward developed, fracturing his skull. Walter immediately after the affray surrendered himself to Justice Crawford, who fined him $1 for breach of the peace. Three days after, Mr. Munger died. When his death became evident, Walter fled the country, remaining away sev- eral months. Upon the advice of his attorney, he returned and stood his trial. which took place in March, 1862. The jury, after being out forty-six hours, brought in a verdict of manslaughter. Judge Dillon sentenced him to pay a fine of $1,000, and to one year's imprisonment. An appeal being taken to the Supreme Court, a new trial was granted. Meanwhile, Ransom Baldwin, the only eye-witness, had enlisted in the army, from which he deserted and could not be found, and a nolle prosequi was entered in the case.

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP.

Waterford is bounded on the north by Jackson County, on the east by Deep Creek, on the south by Washington and on the west by Bloomfield Town- ships. It comprises Congressional Township 83 north, Range 4 east, and was set off as related elsewhere. Its surface is very agreeably diversified. Deep Creek flows in an easterly direction through the southern part of the township, though the bottom-lands are not so extensive as in the wider vale through which the stream flows after bending to the north. But the prairie, through which it has cut a rather narrow and, in some places, rocky channel, is excellent rolling land, which, toward the northern part of the town- ship, becomes more and more broken and abrupt. Sugar Creek flows eastward in the northern part of the township, and along its course are some very good farming sections, adjacent to land decidedly rocky and hilly. The pools of Deep Creek, where it flows over a stony and rocky bed, afford .magnificent fish- ing. Pike weighing twenty-eight pounds have been caught by the old settlers. Indeed, the creek was a favorite fishing resort of Indians long after the settlers

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were domiciled along its banks. By injudicious taking of the young fry and fishing out of season, the finny tribe were, a few years ago, nearly exterminated, but since the passage of the game laws the fish, notably bass, have had a chance to multiply, so that now they furnish rare sport and much choice food, good sport being obtained in the very streets of Charlotte.

Among the senior settlers were William Hunter, who was probably the first to take up a claim on the brawling creek within the present township limits, not far from where is now the business centre of Charlotte; Henry Nurre, one of the first of the honest Teutons who spied out the land of plenty in Clinton County, arriving in 1840; O. P. Aikman, an old Lyons settler ; Miles R. Louderbaugh, a mighty hunter ; John Costolo, Sr., O. W. Denham, W. D. Hanrahan, the Monahans, C. Spain, Lewis Shull, John Clary, John P. Preffer, the original proprietor of the town plat of Charlotte ; A. J. Riggs, Charles and A. J. Albright, M. F. Quigley, Conrad Varner, Elias Stalcup, Jeremiah Dingwall, Elijah Markham, John Adams and John Crouch. Many of the early settlers came from New York and Indiana, but a large German and Irish influx at an early day materially aided in the development of the township and gave the population a composite character.

For a long time game was very abundant. The herds of red deer then pastured throughout the natural glades or browsed in the abundant thickets and rather well-timbered northern portion of the township would have gratified the stalwart border hunters or astonished those sportsmen who now invade the north- ern woods, with the most elaborate equipment and consider themselves lucky when they get a single buck or doe. Miles Lawderbaugh, one of those patriarchal Kentuckians who believed not a word of the Malthusian creed, having over twenty children in his family, was, in his younger days, renowned through the length and breadth of the Deep Creek country as an indefatigable and skillful hunter, astonishingly successful even after the deer became so wild that it required great skill in woodcraft to get a fair shot at the shy creatures. Lawderbaugh, armed with his trusty long Kentucky rifle, would mount his mare, that enjoyed the chase as much as her owner, and, frequently using the intelligent beast as a stalking-horse behind which to walk within range, he would fairly hunt down and secure sometimes four deer in half a day-a record that none of the Indian hunters of the time were able to surpass or even equal.

Land titles were established peaceably and permanently, as a general thing, though, owing to the speculative excitement in the bubble years preceding the panic of 1857, most of the eligible farms in the township have changed hands. The effect of the plethora of paper money at that time, and the sanguine spirit fostered by the beginning of the construction of the Iowa Air Line, may be inferred by the fact that some lands favorably located along Deep Creek bot- tom were sold, before the war, as high as $75 per acre, and, after the crash, tumbled to $15, to undergo, during the war and after the construction of the Midland, a second and more healthy and permanent appreciation in value. Claim-jumpers were, however, wide awake in Waterford. One day in 1847, William Hunter-as before stated, the earliest settler-observed two men, one a neighbor and the other a stranger, riding around the claim he had located. His suspicions being aroused, as soon as it was dark, he went on foot seven miles, to where his father and brothers were farming on rented land in Deep Creek Township. In such emergencies, not only vigilance, but promptness. was necessary ; so the brothers at once yoked their two pairs of cattle, obtained a plow from their brother-in-law, Thomas Watts, and when the rising sun gilded the prairie knolls, the brothers, with their two yoke of cattle, had already

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turned up the virgin sod upon the claim. Soon after, the two men, who had been discovered reconnoitering, arrived on the scene with a load of lumber, with which it was their intention to construct a cabin on the claim, thereby dispossessing the rightful owners. But the plowing saved the farmers' acres, and the invaders retired crestfallen at being outgeneraled by the wide-awake Hunters. On other occasions, the holders of claims were not so fortunate. In 1853, Wash. Stalcup and a man of the name of Chapin, succeeded in obtaining a claim of enormous size-tradition affirms of upward of 1,200 acres-which certain neighbors coveting, they so artfully worked on the appre- hensions of the partners that they abandoned their claim and left the country, leaving their plantation to be divided among the authors of the " put-up " job, of which details are lacking, but which was probably of very doubtful credit to any of the parties concerned.

During the palmy days of 1856, when business and speculation were " booming" along the proposed route of the Air Line, most enormous interests were paid by sanguine persons, who borrowed money on real estate, ranging from 15 to as high as 30 per cent. After the panic, speculators, as a general thing, were glad to unload their land to actual settlers at almost any figure, so that the result was that most of the farms in the section around Charlotte were obtained by the original settlers or present owners, at comparatively reasonable prices.

In the spring of 1853, the present post office of Charlotte was established and named after the wife of the first Postmaster, the late Albert Gilmore. The office was then kept by Jerry Case, who was consecutively succeeded by William Hunter, A. J. Albright, R. J. McLanahan, William Hunter, re-appointed, H. A. Wickes, Patrick Murphy, A. M. Gohlmann, H. Junger, N. Harrison, and the present official, W. H. Junger. The mail, till the arrival of the rail- way, was nominally a weekly one on the route from De Witt to Sabula. Fre- quently, in the seasons of floods and bad roads, the people had to wait an unconscionable time for tidings from the outer world. On one occasion it was delayed six weeks by high water in the Maquoketa River.

Principal among the older Justices were William Hunter, Andrew Hevener and Joe Case. A. J. Albright and E. H. Rowell at present occupy the position.

Originally, the towns of Deep Creek, Waterford, and the north half of the present township of Washington, constituted one school district. The first school was taught by Celeste Jenne, in the summer of 1849, in a log school- house, built by private subscription and located on the farm now occupied by Will- iam McClure. Among the other earnest workers in the cause of education were such teachers as Ann A. Ritchie, Mary Wise, Delia and Maria Hall and R. J. Crouch. For some time, several of the primitive log schoolhouses had only rounded puncheon seats, uncomfortable alike for the children and the worship- ers, when on Sunday they were used for church purposes. Elijah Markham was the first public-spirited man to move in the direction of substituting seats and desks made of lumber. How teachers and children endured the winter in those crazy structures is one of the mysteries that would perplex a medical faculty. Yet, somehow, the pupil not only lived but learned. Now, the town- ship is dotted with very commodious schoolhouses, and Charlotte possesses a very creditable graded school, built in 1875, costing $3,500, and seating 150 pupils. Mr. Houck and Miss Conwell are the teachers.

In the early days, spelling schools were frequent and jolly. The rivalry between the north and south sides of the creek was as great as that described in the " Hoosier Schoolmaster," and often ambitious leaders would commit to

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memory the entire speller, so that the real sport began when the propounder of words, often "Dick " Crouch, now of De Witt, produced the " extra " list of geographical and newly-coined words, before which the sturdiest spellers went down like squadrons before a well-served Gatling battery.

As in the other townships, the schoolhouses were the first churches. Denominational lines were disregarded in the general eagerness to hear the Word. The pioneer clergy were itinerants and circuit-riders. Among the earlier Methodist clergymen were Rev. Mulholland, a relative of the Riggs family, who preached in the old log schoolhouse at Charlotte, and in settlers' houses. Revs. Larkins. William Moore and Amos are also remembered as faithful workers in a field where the laborers were indeed few.

In 1871, a neat Methodist Church. costing $3,000, was built at Charlotte, and is now presided over by Rev. W. O. Glassner, who also labors efficiently at Preston and Fairfield, in Jackson County. The names of Peter Varner, W. C. White, William Rossiter, William Marshall and J. S. Ellis appear on "the records as the founders of the re-organized society. Several edifying camp- meetings were held in the vicinity before the war. Lately, the general ren- dezvous at Camanche, during the District Camp-Meeting, has prevented their revival.

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The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its., Part 76

Author: Western Historical Co , Western Historical Company Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 807

Author: Western Historical Co , Western Historical Company
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 807