The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its., Part 77

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 77

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A Lutheran Church was also organized, and for some years met on private houses till in 1872, when the present combined church and parsonage was erected, at a cost of $2,500. Rev. E. Riedel is the present Pastor.

The Roman Catholic Church has, for many years, been strongly represented in Waterford. Almost from the time the township was organized, services were held, and the first mass was celebrated at a log house by the zealous pioneer priest, Rev. Father Mckinney. From that time, the congregation has steadily and rapidly increased till it now numbers 150 families, and occupies a commo- dious church on Section 30, costing over $4,000. Rev. Father James Scallen was the second Pastor of the infant Church, and was succeeded by the first resident priest, Rev. Father J. J. Cadden, followed by Rev. Father Eugene O'Keefe, and in November, 1877, by the present Father, Rev. J. J. O'Farrell. Not only has the influence of the Church been directly felt in the work of regenerating a formerly rather recklessly convivial community, but the co-op- eration of Rev. Fathers Cadden and O'Farrell with the Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society, organized October 25, 1871, has been of great value to that useful and flourishing body. Its first officers were : Presi- dent, William Hanrahan : Vice President, G. H. Knight ; Secretary, B. J. Moynahan ; Treasurer, M. Conwell. Charter members-M. McDermott, Wil- liam Williams and T. Conolly. When the Society was instituted at Charlotte, there was only three men in the vicinity who did not occasionally get, if not on the "war-path," at least take a social glass with very little provocation. Bat the Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Society and other wholesome influences have changed all that. It has over one hundred and fifty members enrolled. Its present officers are: President, Thomas O'Toole; Vice President, James Hurley ; Secretary, James O'Meara ; Treasurer, John O'Donnell.

The temperance cause in Waterford received another decided impetus when, in February, 1878, a Reform Club was organized, with A. T. Carny, President, and J. G. Spellman, Vice President. The membership was quickly increased to over fifty, and a large and well-stocked reading-room opened near the res- idence of A. J. Albright; and the organization prospers with, for present off- cers, President, Thomas Spellman ; Vice President, Josiah Shaw ; Secretary, Stephen Williams.

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In 1864, a German Catholic Church was built in the Sugar Creek settle- ment. It has since been renovated and enlarged. Rev. Father Liersmann is the present Pastor.

About the beginning of the past decade, there was a very lively debating society in Charlotte, which used to meet in the old schoolhouse and discuss many knotty problems of morals and social science. As in the spelling-schools, great was the feud between the north and the south sides of the creek, and Dick Crouch often attended to assist in the discussion. Sometimes personali- ties ran high, and a scene between L. B. Nixon and William Hunter is still remembered with considerable glee.

Putnam Lodge, No. 102, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, was instituted February 22, 1877, with the following charter members and first officers : M. G. Sloan, P. M. W. ; John Pieffer, M. W .; E. F. Hill, F .; C. Christiansen, O .; E. C. Rowell, Recorder ; J. P. Spellman, Financier; G. W. Van Zandt, Receiver; Charles Gilmore, Guide; H. Bedford, I. W .; S. P. Reed, O. W. The present officers are : Samuel Hansen, P. M. W .; P. A. Gohlmann, M. W .; John Lund, O .; H. Bedford, F .; Stephen Williams, Recorder; Peter Schmidt, Financier. The Lodge occupies snug quarters in Gohlmann's Block, and has enrolled over a hundred members.

Charlotte dragged a rather slow existence during the tedious interval between the suspension of operations on the Air Line and the celebration that welcomed the arrival of the Midland, in November, 1870. Gilmore's mill had been the nucleus of the settlement, and from 1852-53, supplied, notwith- standing several interruptions due to raging floods, a wide area of country with flour. Another mill was built a short distance below, about the same time, by Wash Crabb. Both mills cut lumber as well as ground grain. Especially when logs were easily obtainable from Government claims in the northern part of the township was the lumbering interest lively along Deep Creek. One Claiborne undertook to start a saw-mill at a site above Gilmore's, but before he was ready to begin cutting, a heavy freshet washed out his dam, and the location was bought by Gilmore to prevent his own supply of water being shut off by a dam above.

After the completion of the Midland Railroad to Charlotte, business naturally revived, and several enterprising houses, Moynahan Bros., Thomas Carny, Gohlmann & Junger and others, have made it the supply and shipping point for quite an extensive farming region. Since then, the population has doubled till that of the Independent School District, organized in 1873, number about four hundred and fifty. Real estate has permanently appreciated at least 25 per cent on the average. Cattle-raising is largely displacing other and less profit- able interests, and the future outlook of that portion of the country is one of encouragement to the dwellers therein. During the past decade, quite a settle-, ment of Bohemians, Austrians and Poles has grown up in the Sugar Creek Valley ; their farms being usually of only a few acres, and in rugged, and, com- pared with the more fertile portions of the county, unproductive localities. But they toil and live on what the American, German or Irishman would despise as anything but a sheep pasture.

The rushing waters of Deep Creek have been productive of tragedy. On St. Patrick's Day, 1865, Patrick Clary and his wife were drowned while endeavoring to ford the swollen stream, at a point a short distance west of Charlotte. On the evening of March 6, 1873, when the creek was very high, and an ice-gorge had formed just below the ford in Charlotte, used while the bridge was undergoing repairs, a wagon and team were swept under the ice by

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the swift current, and Johann Jochimsen and wife, Martin Paulsen, and a stranger from Chicago were drowned.

In the fall of 1869, a serious shooting affray happened in Charlotte. Deputy Constable Thomas Henderson, having arrested Hugh and Daniel Han- rahan, for some trifling offense, their brother Martin, having arrived in town. and becoming intoxicated near Murphy's store, endeavored to assault the offi- cer, who, being unable to retreat, as the creek was at his back, after warning Hanrahan, shot him fatally through the body. An infuriated crowd of the friends of Hanrahan surrounded Justice Aikman's house, threatening to lynch Henderson and to burn the house. Finally, however, the mob was pacified, and he was taken to De Witt jail, where several unsuccessful attempts were made to take and lynch him. He was eventually acquitted on the ground of self-defense.

At a cost of much labor and many hundred dollars, a broad causeway has been built across the once miry Deep Creek bottom at Charlotte, as the course of the stream straightened so that floods are neither as annoying or dangerous as in times past.

The first inn between Lyons and Maquoketa was kept by Elijah Markham in the flush air-line days, when a daily stage ran between those two points. The points of departure and arrival were the Clinton House at Lyons and the Decker House at Maquoketa, passengers dining at Markham's. The vehicles and horses were both first-class, and the trip along the territorial ridge road was, except through the morasses near Goose Lake, a pleasant and rapid one. Until after the war, the trail was mostly unfenced, and wound through the beautiful open prairie. The coaches carried from twelve to fifteen passengers, who sometimes had to get out and pass through muddy places on foot. Near Goose Lake, a settler had a claim through which the coach sometimes passed to find firm ground in wet weather. One day, however, the owner's son appeared with a gun and forbade the driver trespassing on their land, but, by a moderate bribe, was induced to imitate the medieval barons and allow travelers to pass through his dominion upon the payment of toll. In 1857, supplies bore fancy prices in Waterford. Hay was $40 per ton; potatoes were $1 per bushel; beef, 16 cents per pound, and other articles in like proportion. Many cattle perished during that severe winter of 1856-57, and there were but few who did not fully realize what "hard times " really were. The convulsion of 1873 was scarcely felt in comparison.

The Sabula, Ackley & Dakota Railroad traverses the northern part of the township, and affords the farmers in that part an outlet at Riggs' and Brown's Stations.

BROOKFIELD AND BLOOMFIELD.

When Brookfield Precinct was first established, comprising what are now the townships of Brookfield, Bloomfield, Berlin and Welton, there were but six voters in the township to fill its nine offices. Afterward, about 1855, Congressional Townships 82 and 83 north, of Range 3 east, were set off from Brookfield and named Bloomfield, by Russell Perham. He, Sylvanus S. Norton and Alva McLaughlin were the first Justices of the Peacc, and S. S. Norton the first Town Clerk. Among the settlers of Bloomfield Township at the time of its organization were also Joseph Benjamin, Nicholas Koon, Joseph Willey, Anson Norton, N. and Eli Hatfield. O. J. Hinckley, Calvin Davis, Ben Ogden, Sr., Parvin Davis, Royal Goodenow, John and Solomon Smith, Abraham Names,

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James and Abe Walrod, John Q. Jenkins, Robert Williams, Henry C. Cowgill, Grove, Henry and William Gillett, Lewis De Laun, David Rhodes, Levi Decker, Jack Brahmer, Peter Sleeper, Edson Hoyt, Charles and John Riggs, Ransom Haines, Seneca Williams, Dean Davis, Jacob Bollinger, Thomas Snowden, John Burgess and Truman Clarke.

Probably the place now owned by Niles Wright, on Section 6, entered in 1841, was the first claim located in that portion of the county.

Bloomfield and Brookfield Townships, when settled, contained very little timber. One solitary tree stood conspicuous on a high rise in the rolling prairie, and as a landmark was known far and near as the "lone tree." The earliest pioneers were, in 1838-39, the Riggs and Decker families, Levi Decker being still alive, hale and hearty, able to do work in the harvest-field. John Riggs died while en route to California. The first houses were of logs thatched with hay. The first frame house was built by Decker, in 1841. The Hatfields were also one of the earliest families.

Nearly all the farmers had timber claims in the belt along the Maquoketa, in Jackson County, where the groves also furnished an abundance of the choicest maple sugar and sirup, which were a welcome addition to the fare at the settlers' cabins. In this portion of the county the old-fashioned, hearty rural amusements of Eastern sections obtained quite extensively, and rendered social life quite gay, considering the sparseness of the population. Everybody entered into merry-makings with a spirit that insured a jolly time to all that assembled. There were no envious aspirations for "style," neighborly feeling prevailed, and more absolute social democracy could not be well imagined. Corn-plowing "bees " were frequent, neighbors co-operating with each other, so that sometimes from twenty to thirty teams would be at work in one field. When the weather was favorable, husking-bees, not unlike those of New England, celebrated by Whittier and Barlow, with the difference that in the absence of the roomy barns, considered necessary in the older States, the husking parties assembled in the fields under the clear dewless sky, whence the moon shed a flood of clear light that made the work, if prolonged into the night, as easy as by daylight. The husking more often was finished by the hour of sunset, and the evening devoted to a bountiful supper, and, more frequently than in other rural portions of the county, to a merry dance. Turkey-shoots were a favorable amusement in the fall and early winter. Some- times there were friendly trials of speed between rival horses. So large a pro- portion of the earliest settlers were from New York and Pennsylvania, that there was an amount of sport carried on that would have seemed out of place to a New England community. The great drawback to the township's prosperity was the distance to market. The cost of hauling in many cases ate up the entire proceeds of the crops so laboriously raised. In one instance, a young man raised nearly a thousand bushels of golden corn, which he was com- pelled to actually let rot on the ground, in the winter of 1859-60, because he neither owned a team, nor could he at current prices afford to hire a team to haul it to Camanche or Lyons. It would command only seven cents a bushel at De Witt. Sheep-raising would have been remunerative had it not been for the depredations of wolves, who would travel incredible distances from their lurking- places in the timber, ravage the flocks, and escape before the farmers could effectively pursue them. During the past ten years, the annoyance has been greatly lessened, in the opinion of some, owing to the frightening away of the cowardly brutes by the whistles of the frequent railway trains traversing the township.

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In 1858-60, a Horse-Thief Protection Society was organized to protect settlers from the incursions of illegal "horse-raising." Russell Perham was President, Stephen Lockwood, Vice President, and Dr. Henry Sheppard, Treasurer. Riders were appointed by couples, with authority to draw upon the Treasurer for any amount of money necessary to pursue thieves or seek stolen property. The energy with which these couriers did their work is attested by their following the thieves of James Walrod's horses 100 miles beyond the Missouri, at Council Bluffs, and not only recapturing the animals, but securing the arrest and conviction of the rascals. Many other valuable animals were recovered, and the organization proved a deterrent sufficiently strong to finally make horses as safe as any other property. Before the exten- sion of railways to the west side of the river, the market was so often glutted that farmers for a time lacked the stimulus of remunerative prices, and there- fore did not push their work with the same spirit that characterized subsequent years.

The first Methodist Church was in a little schoolhouse in the northwest part of the town, near the present place of Mr. J. O. Hinckley.

The first election was held at Reuben Riggs' house, and it is not at all probable that there was any repeating, unless the whole population consented. The first Sabbath school was held at Levi Decker's. He, Mrs. Decker and Gilbert Marshal and his wife were the first teachers. Instruction was not con- fined to religious topics, but savored of the primary school and kindergarten, the Bible being freely used as a text-book to teach children to read and spell.

For many years, there was scarcely any sectarianism. Neighbors joined heartily with each other in religious worship, without thinking of comparing shades of views. But their zeal did not wax cold. It was common to ride ten to twelve miles to prayer-meetings, on a buck-board. Meetings held under such circumstances, though not over from a dozen to twenty persons were present, could not well be otherwise than edifying. Among the pioneer cler- gymen were Revs. Hosmer, Kirkpatrick, Carpenter (Baptist), of Dubuque, and C. E. Brown, an earnest home missionary. The first Baptist Church and par- sonage were built of logs hauled five miles, and located on the above-mentioned Riggs' first claim.

Owing to the distance from market, household arrangements, for many years, were quite primitive, but none the less comfortable. Chills and fever, and & sort of dumb ague, were about the only diseases that annoyed the elders ; deaths were few, and the children, except for the maladies of childhood, almost uni- formly healthy. Venerable matrons relate with pride how successful some medical treatment proved in cases where the early physicians, Drs. Usher and Bell, were not obtainable. Even an epidemic of smallpox, in 1864, was weathered with scarcely any serious result. Such simples as Culver's Physic, or blackroot, stewed hops, for summer complaints ; white-root, for colds, butter- fly weed. and other "yarbs," were used with results that argued either from them, or the hygienic lives and hardy constitutions of the families of Brook field and Bloomfield, notable low death-rate, especially among children. However, a most terrible and mysterious epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis, or spotted fever, has several times, during recent years, baffled alike the best medical skill and domestic nursing.

For a long time, tubs, spinning-wheels, pails and other utensils were home- made. Local blacksmiths made serviceable plows. Garments were both spun and woven at home. Nothwithstanding the tribute exacted by wolves and other vermin, the supply of pigs and chickens was ample to replenish the tables,

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which were also frequently loaded with maple sugar and sirup and wild honey, which, with their dairy products. enabled the settlers to fare sumptuously every day, though the pioneer dames relate with gusto how they often secured "white " flour by grinding wheat in a coffee-mill, and sifting the grist an untold number of times.

Since the advent of three railways, the ancient "state of Brookfield" is being rapidly transformed from its primitive condition. Accessible and com- peting markets have totally changed the condition of things from the time when Albany, in Illinois, was the best point to sell produce. With excellent schools, increasing wealth, tranquil and friendly neighborhoods, and the clearest record of any portion of the county in criminal - matters, the present and future of the northwestern part of the county need not fear comparison with any agricultural section of Iowa or the world.

Delmar, the principal town in Brookfield, is built upon the original lands of S. S. Norton, E. P. Sparks, W. T. Willey and Amos Hurst. It was sur- veyed and platted by Ben C. Rich in October, 1871, who had the plat recorded in February, 1872, before which time there were several houses erected. There were originally thirty-nine blocks, comprising over six hundred and fifty lots in the town, but, subsequently, the number was reduced to twenty-five. The public road running north and south between Sections 9 and 12, 15 and 16, was the main street. The Davenport & St. Paul and the Midland completed their grades and tracks into the town within a few days of each other and began running their trains on the same day-December 1, 1870. Both trains arrived at the same time, and the Davenport & St. Paul, having the right of way, took the lead into Maquoketa. Tradition records that the place was named upon this occasion by the Midland conductor, taking the first letters of the names of six ladies on the train and combining them to make the word Delmar. It is also claimed that the railroad authorities named the station to continue the alphabetical order of those on the line, viz .: Almont, Bryant and Charlotte. The post office had previously been called Brookfield, the name of the aforesaid original township. The Davenport railroad had established their location for a station on E. C. Hinckley's land, half a mile south of town, but the managers of the Midland put in a " plug" side track and left a superannuated North-western car for a depot and named the infant town. The Sabula, Ackley & Dakota track was laid across Main street October 10, 1871, at which point the depot and side tracks were located. Delmar owed its existence more to the efforts of S. S. Norton in securing the crossing of the road at this point than to any other cause. It was doubtful whether the other roads would have made a town where Delmar now stands at all had the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota crossed elsewhere. In 1872 was when the town really began its growth. Pre- viously, the business had been limited to light shipments of stock and hogs, and the principal retail trade had been the thriving one of several saloons that had supplied wet groceries to the thirsty construction gangs on the new lines. In 1872, building and improvement was brisk. In 1874, an independent school district was organized, with W. M. Trout. M. W. Tipple and W. E. Roberts as Directors. In 1875, a two-story brick schoolhouse was erected, perhaps the finest in the State in any town of no greater population, at a cost of $5,000. The character of the school has corresponded with the building. The first school in the town was a select school conducted, in 1872. by Ben C. Rich and Mrs. Jennie E. Rich at their residence. Their school numbered eighteen pupils. During the summer of 1873 and the following winter, Miss Lizzie Shuley taught a similar school in Thompson's Hall. These

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schools were succeeded by the first public school, in the summer of 1874, Miss Delia Hall being the teacher, in Amos Hurst's old store building.

The census of the platted town at the time of organizing the independ- ent district, in the spring of 1874, indicated a population of 317. The winter term of 1874-75 was taught by E. T. Taubman ; Miss Delia Hall again teach- ing in the summer. J. H. Orcutt was the first and present Principal of the Graded School, Miss Addie Coe as the Assistant.

The old schoolhouse of District No. 12, of the original township, has stood as a relic and used as a carpenter shop and barn, just north of the Sabula rail- road on Main street. William T. Willey's storehouse, built over twenty years ago, still stands as good as ever, in the northern part of the town, and bids fair to outlast several generations.

In the winter of 1874-75, a literary society was organized, meeting in the Hurst Building .. It was very successful and was the nucleus of the Delmar Mutual Literary Association, under the control of which a literary society was run some time and a permanent library established.

The recent consolidation (August, 1879) of the S., A. & D. Railway with the Milwaukee & St. Paul bids fair to greatly benefit Delmar and surrounding country.

In October, 1872, Gen. Dan McCoy started the Delmar Journal, at first having the paper printed elsewhere. In February, 1874, the paper having been consolidated with the Preston Clipper, the office was removed to Delmar, and McCoy remained in charge till January, 1875, when F. R. Bennett took control, and ran the paper till the office was destroyed in the big fire of 1878. Previous to the fire, Mr. McCoy had started the Delmar Independent, which he still conducts.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1873, and a church built in the upper part of the town, which, during the present year, has been renovated. Rev. H. H. Green was the first clergyman, succeeded by Revs. O. L. Fisher, N. S. Green, I. C. Lusk, and the present earnest Pastor, W. L. R. Burnett. The church property is worth upward of $3,000.

The Presbyterian society was organized in 1877, Rev. George J. E. Rich- ards being the first and present Pastor. A large and comfortable church was built in 1878, in the central part of the town, at a cost of $2,500, and the prospects of the society are very flattering.

Delmar Lodge, No. 170, first met under dispensation November 5, 1873. in Masonic Hall, Ashton Block, where it has since remained. Its charter was granted June 4, and the Lodge fully instituted June 17, 1874. The first offi- cers were : B. C. Rich, W. M. ; George Herritage, S. W. ; M. W. Tipple. J. W. ; S. R. Gold, Treasurer ; A. G. Thompson, Secretary ; C. C. Smith, S. D .; Harvey George, J. D. ; C. W. Pitson, C. ; E. C. Hinckley, S. Present offi- cers : J. N. Dodd, W. M. ; E. T. Taubman, S. W .; J. C. Spencer, J. W. : S. R. Gold, Treasurer ; J. B. Mclaughlin, Secretary ; C. C. Smith, S. D .; A. G. Thompson, J. D. ; J. Klotz, S. S. ; W. J. Norton, J. S. ; T. B. Rossner. T. Present membership, thirty-five.

Delmar Lodge, No. 49, A. O. U. W., was instituted Feb. 17, 1876, with the following charter members : J. F. Moreland, E. C Hinckley, L. W. Par- ker, H. J. Burgess, Henry Parker, C. W. Pearson, I. S. Hinckley, E. H. McGinty, E. H. Eyer, M. M. Trout, L. H. Macomber, S. S. Norton, O. E. Deeds, F. T. Hess. The Lodge first met at Westover's Hall, but, subsequently. arrangements were made with the Masonic Lodge, by which both occupy rooms in the Ashton Block. The present officers are: Robert Sadler, M. W .; C. C.

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Smith, F .; E. C. Hinckley, O .; L. W. Parker, Financier; I. S. Hinckley, Receiver; E. T. Taubman, Recorder; John Nusz. I. W. ; H. B. Smith, O. W. ; T. B. Rossner, S. S. Norton, L. W. Parker, Trustees. Present member- ship, eighteen.

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The History of Clinton County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its., Part 77

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