USA > Iowa > Dallas County > The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 44
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
" Henry was taken suddenly ill, however, with violent intestinal pains, and being wholly unable to keep his feet, he spasmodically laid himself
340
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
carelessly, face down, in the tall grass, writhing with bolting misery under the cool inviting shade of a compassionate elm near.
" Here Henry lay until night-fall, meanwhile refusing the most tooth- some dishes offered by the good woman in attendance, and growing no bet- ter, the while, under the most approved palliatives of the neighborhood ad- ministered to him by fair hands.
" Squire Babb now pressed the gushing wool-grower to accept the hospi- talities of his bountiful and cheery cabin, nestled among the tall sugar maples of North Raccoon, for the night.
" The wool-grower gladly accepted the invitation and went home with the Squire.
" A little later Dutch Henry, too, came reluctantly in. He was a little better, but still robust and incessant pains were holding a high carnival in his celiac region and beckoning him on, without pity, to the grave. Henry, fairly seated, was not long, however, in ascertaining the fact that the wool- grower was a guest of Squire Babb. He straightway grew rapidly worse, his reason realed, his breatlı grew short and hurried, and the poor man rushed out zig-zag in great haste to take the open air, and if possible, to live unattended.
" He wandered away and was never seen in the settlement afterward, leaving behind him claim, cows, calves, everything, which things were never afterward called for.
" After Henry had acted so strangely and disappeared so mysteriously, the wool-grower bethought himself, and upon reflection, claimed to have recognized in Dutch Henry the identical Henry Johns, whom he had taken him to be on first sight, who had, some years before, broken into a farm house near Beaver, Pennsylvania, and had stolen therefrom some six or eight hundred dollars, and had made good his escape.
"Time rolls on and full twenty-two years after this cabin had been reared, we were traveling in Kansas, in a wagon a la mode. Night coming on we went into camp some twelve miles north of Fort Scott. We had been in camp but a little time when a lean, lank, miserly looking individ- ual came striding up to our camp fire and saluted us in a peculiar brogue, that we at once recognized. He 'asked us if we had seen a party, that he described as being runaways, having in charge a span of horses belonging to himself.
" We replied that we had not. He then wished us to keep a sharp look- out for the delinquents, and if we should hear of the 'barties ' to write him.
" We promised to do so, and ventured to suggest to him the propriety of our knowing his name and address in order to be enabled to comply with his reasonable demand.
" He replied instantly 'Dutch Henri, send de ledders to Fort Scott, Kan- sas.' Well, well, before us stood the selfsame Dutch Henry, with the iden- tical scar on his apathetic brow that we had so often looked at in years agone, and wondered how it got there. The very same Dutch Henry that had suffered so terribly on the day and the night after the cabin aforesaid was reared.
" We did not make ourselves known, nor did he seem to have any know- ledge of us. He got the better of us in the price of a feed of corn for our horses. We overpaid him, and he promised to return the surplus before we set out in the morning, but alas, he had left early while it was yet dark, on business some twelve miles away, and we never saw him afterward."
341
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
A PIONEER COURTSHIP.
The following is by the same writer:
"In the spring of 1848 we were busily engaged in planting corn in our little field nestled in the woods, our little woman going before, and, with dextrous precision, was measuring out to every hill its exact quota of seed, while we, hoe in hand, was baptizing them in the virgin soil abaft. These were among the happy days of our life's journey. Suddenly we heard a strong grating voice ringing out upon the air from our rear, saying ' neigh- bor, what will you take to leave this place and let me come in?'
" We looked around, and saw a man on horseback in the road (that passed around or cabin) at a stand. We replied ' one thousand dollars, sir.' The stranger rejoined: 'Cheap enough, sir, cheap enough. I'm looking around for a claim here somewhere. It's the first time I've been down here. This is a nice grove; a little paradise here, and I'd like the mate to it. You had ort to be satisfied.'
" We replied we were pretty well pleased with our location, all things considered, and did not care to look further; but would do so for the amount named. 'You might do worse, sir: a good 'eal worse.'
""' How long have you been here, neighbor?' 'Since last fall,' we replied. ' Then you have been working, I see.' 'Yes, we have been pretty busy.' ' How many settlers are there here?'
"' Four of us, all told; others, we are told, will be here soon, from below.' ' What may I call your name, sir?' We gave him our name, and, in turn, we asked his. 'My name, sir, is Adam Vineage, the world over. I've stopped on the prairie, a little way above here, until I can find a claim that suits me; then I'm going to work in earnest to build a cabin; to break up some prairie, and put in some sod-corn to run me through the winter. It isn't business to buy corn and haul it a long ways, when we can raise it right here just as easy as you can in any place in the world. It's warm isn't it? I'm sweatin' for all's out, just a ridin' along. Call round, neighbor, when we get settled down, and git acquinted. Bring your wife and children along. That's the way I like to see it done. Good-bye, sir, and don't work too hard.'
"Adam Vineage was a mass of muscles, and he had but few equals in this respect anywhere. He was a good neighbor, and a most devoted friend, and would fight the 'old scratch' on time, were he to 'cross his path.' He loved fun, and was a wag of the very first water.
"Adam soon found a claim (the place now occupied by W. R. Kimry), and went to work sure enough, and was getting things in a good shape, when, alas, Mrs. Vineage sickened and died suddenly in July of that year, This was the first death in what is now Sugar Grove township.
" Hers was the first burial in what is known as the Kimry grave-yard. The coffin was made of an old wagon box, the very best that could be done at that time.
" Mrs. Vineage was a woman of good intellect, with a teeming philan- thropy that went out in a strong tangible current for the good of all the world.
" Her death was a terrible blow on Adam, and his activity in building up a home and farm on the wild lands he had taken was greatly abridged by the constant care demanded by the brood of little chicks left to his sole charge by the untimely death of their dear mother. He was, however,
342
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
equal to the task, and battled on cheerfully and bravely for better days to come.
"Things went on in this way for many months, and Adam finally began to meditate seriously upon his isolated condition, and upon a way to remedy this state of things. The neighbors urged him on to make up his cheer- less, clouded cabin with the gushing rays and merry song of a second wife.
"Adam was cajoled into activity, and very soon after began to tune up his long unstrung voice and to sing pathetically in his lonely, hapless hours at nightfall, after the toils of the day were over and the evening shades had brought sadness and ennui to his heart, imprimis:
" 'There's naught but care on every hand, In every hour that passes, O; What signifies the life o' man, An' there's na for the lasses, O.'
"The settlements had spread since Adam had built his cabin in our midst, and in the family of a new-comer there was an active, sprightly, good- looking girl of some seventeen summers, in whose welfare Adam took a lively interest.
"He was no'niggard in love; but was, forsooth, ardent, bountiful, irre- pressible, and played the role of a youthful lover with a masterly hand.
" He would sing to her tenderly and cooingly, while Bessie lightly paced the floor to the music of her spinning wheel, the following trenchant ditty :
Wilt thou be my dearie ? When sorrow wrings thy gentle heart, Wilt thou let me cheer thee ? Be the treasure of my soul?'
" She only replied that she 'could not see the point,' and was shy and provokingly distrustful, while he was importunate and played a hand that deserved success.
" Adam could jump further, bound higher, come down easier, carry a bigger load of 'coon-timber,' somersault more gracefully, prestidigitate more wonderfully and acrobat more originally, by far, than any young man in the settlement. Yet, strange to say, in the face of all these personal charms and allurements, the girl was coy and frigidly irresponsive.
" Adam, seeing that beauty, muscle, manhood and bon-ton were about to fail him, like a general in extremity, changed his tactics.
" Vineage had resources, and his keen, practical business eye suggested to him the potency of hard money.
" It had done wonders in legislations, on the bench and in the pulpit, to say nothing of the wonders of its creation in social life, and he availed himself of its influence in the further prosecution of his suit.
" Vineage was suddenly called to Oskaloosa on important private business of a very pressing character, regretting to go very much indeed, and would be gone, the ' Lord only knew how long.' In this sudden emergency Vine- age called on Squire Babb, took him aside, and with great diffidence and delicacy confided to him a secret :
"'Squire Babb,' says he in a whisper, 'I'm going down to Oskaloosa on very important private business; don't know when I'll be back; may never get back; life's uncertain, you know, and as you are the only man in all the world I'd trust in this business I'll now say to you that I've-that I've
343
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
a large box of gold coin, locked up and made fast 'gin the pryin' eyes of the curious, that I want to put into your dear hands for safe keepin' till my return, and should I never return it's yours.'
"'Squire Babb, my means are ample, and my family are otherwise well provided for. Now, I shall ask you to keep this whole matter a profound secret, locked up in your own manly bosom. I'd be truly sorry to think I'd been the means of bringing trouble and perhaps death upon my dearest and most valued friend, which might be the result should it become pub- licly known that you, Squire Babb, had in your care such a pile of gold.'
" The Squire was fairly overcome with gratitude for the honor done him, and thanked Vineage again and again. 'To-morrow morning early, Squire Babb,' continued Vineage, 'I'll hitch up my team and bring down the box of gold. Have Mrs. Babb go a visiting, and see that Jack is a-fishing. Will you promise me this, Squire Babb?'
"' I will, I will,' answered the Squire.
" Adam now returns home in great glee at his success thus far. Morn- ing came.
" 'The birds sang love on every spray.'
"Adam hooked up his team and drove rapidly to the cabin of Squire Babb, with the box containing the precious metal. On his arrival he found the Squire alone, as he had promised, and ready to greet him.
" Hastily the money-box was lifted out of the wagon, with difficulty, from its great weight, and carried, gravely as death, into the cellar under the floor of the cabin of the magnanimous Squire, and was, with as little ceremony as possible, buried away down in the stolid subsoil, there to await, unmolested, the precarious return of the assiduous Adam from Oskaloosa.
" Adamı now drove rapidly back home, and soon after set out for Oska- loosa on his important private business.
" But a few days after Adamn had gone his bosom friend, Squire Babb, gave us, as was usual, a friendly call, and left us a choice. cut of venison taken the day previous, for which we thanked him and were grateful. As the Squire was about to depart he took us aside and very confidentially gave us the whole story of the ' money-chest,' as here detailed.
" We congratulated him on the reception of such a high honor, and the Squire bid us adieu.
"Two weeks after this confidential interview the Squire gave us another friendly call and also another fat cut of luscious venison, for which we were again very thankful. Again he took us aside and spoke of the confi- dential ' money-chest'; said that ' he had resurrected it honestly out of mere curiosity, you know, with no intention whatever of purloining any part of its precious contents, and had, with much difficulty, opened it and found, to his great surprise and indignation, that the whole thing was a cruel sell; that instead of being filled with glittering gold-as he had every rea- son to believe-it was, on the contrary, filled to the lid with the basest bits of broken pots, old iron, in fine, the odds and ends the like of which may be found laying loose about every farm house in the land.' Here the good old Squire rested with a sigh, and lapsed into an expressive silence.
" His pride of character had received a terrible blow. We commiserated him and we parted.
"The story got out (the Squire never knew just how) that the puissant
344
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
lover had a great, big box of gold coin. Meanwhile Vineage returned from Oskaloosa to scan the field, and to make some reckonings, from his matri- monial law-book, for the good time ahead. The saucy girl had heard of the ' box of gold,' but still her heart did not bound toward her lover. The bird would not yet sing in her heart.
"She was stiff-necked, obdurate and unemotional, and refused point-blank to be wooed and won.
"Our lover was whipped and quit the field in disgust. The 'money-chest' was called in and there was peace in this department of the realms of cupid for many months.
"The lover never knew that the real contents of the mysterious box was known to the Squire.
" The Squire dare not mention his discovery to the lover, so the matter stood and still stands. All was quiet, but it had a terrible effect on the Squire. He never fairly got over it, and it was the means of hastening him away.
" The Squire left here soon after, and the lover followed a few years later. All the parties to this little affair have long since crossed the river."
A PIONEER DOCTOR.
Doctors were rather scarce in these parts in those days, and, as a general thing, people did their own doctoring, or some handy, accommodating per- sons in the neighborhood, who had, perhaps, learned from wider experience a little more of the common ailments of the human system, as also of the most natural relief from them, stood always ready to give the benefit of their superior knowledge and timely advice, without cost, to all the afflicted ones in the vicinity who might call for their aid.
In this way people got along very comfortably for sometime without any doctor in their midst. But they, too, came along in due time and soon be- came plentiful as need be.
Among the first who came was Dr. Henderson, who is thus described by Judge Burns:
"No history of the early settlement of this county would be complete without mention of the eccentric Dr. Henderson, who made his advent here in the spring of 1848. We had become well acquainted with the doctor in the State of Illinois, where we had last lived prior to our coming to Iowa.
" Henderson was a Pennsylvanian and had graduated at the Philadelphia Medical School with highest honors. His parents, who were in affluent circumstances, lavished their means to educate, fit and prepare an only son for the highest walks in life. His intellectual power had wonderful com- pass. And such a retentive memory we have never known.
" He was a critical master of more than a baker's dozen languages, and was a physician of the very first water.
" But in all things said or done by him he portrayed the same eccentric and peculiar original.
" When called to the bedside of the sick he would approach the patient in the most dignified manner, reach for the arm and feel for the pulse, throw his head back so as to bring his face on a parallel with the ceiling above, his eyes trembling in their sockets meanwhile, like the flying jib- boom of a vessel laboring in a gale. Soon his head would assume its natu-
345
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
ral plane, and a moment after he would say to the patient, 'stick out your tongue, sir.' The patient complying, he would gaze upon it for a moment and say in an imperious tone and manner, if the case was serious and would probably result in the death of the patient, 'Well, sir, you're sick, very sick, sir, and if you have any prayers to make be about it, sir, at once. There is no use of me nauseating your stomach with a prescription that can do no good. You must die, sir, and if you have a will to make, make it. Don't be deluded by a fallacious hope that you will live, or even grow better. You will do neither.
"' Still, sir, if you have money to spare foolishly, I am willing to watch by your bedside and smooth your pathway to the grave as best I can, sir.
""'I will charge you $20 for this interview. But, sir, if the money is forthcoming now $10 will pay the bill. I await your answer, sir.
" A pause, the money is paid, the doctor looks it over carefully and says, 'Do you wish my professional services longer?'
"'Gu-ess not,' is the response, and the doctor moves carefully out, and the patient, sure enough, dies, as the doctor had predicted.
" As an advocate he had no superiors anywhere (having graduated at a distinguished law school).
" His volubility of tongue was marvelous. But with all these varied powers of mind, they failed to make a man of him, and he floated reck- lessly down the stream of life, without a point of concentration in view, and was thrown into its eddies to be lost among the drift of poor humanity. He remained here less than a year, to lodge somewhere else, only to stay a brief period, and then on, and on, and on to the end."
Of course the above described personage, with all his eccentricities, was by no means a true specimen of all pioneer doctors; nor a fitting type of the many able and most worthy members of that profession who succeeded him as citizens and practitioners in this county. For Dallas county can proudly and deservedly boast of affording physicians and surgeons who stand in the very first ranks of the medical and surgical professions in the West.
A FRUITFUL YEAR.
The year 1848, generally, was a fruitful, prosperous one for the county. Careful preparation and faithful efforts had been made, during this and the previous year, by almost every one present, for securing a crop for the har- vest of this year, which would be at least sufficient to supply all the set- tlers and their now increasing stock with all the essentials of living, and, if possible, have some to spare for those coming in, so that the community would be supplied with breadstuffs and common home products, without going so far from the settlements to secure these necessaries at high prices and with great difficulty of transporting.
For this faithful labor and careful preparation the settlers were bounti- fully and almost universally rewarded with a fruitful harvest, and with an excellent quality of grain and other products raised.
This was, of course, a great source of encouragement as well as comfort to those in this new country, and gave them sufficient assurance that they could very readily be able not only to comfortably support themselves, but could raise quite a surplus to sell to the new-comers for cash with which to
346
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
purchase the groceries, clothing and other essential articles for family use and farm improvements.
By this means, also, emigration was encouraged and greatly increased, which brought in more or less money, created a demand for more and more supplies such as could be raised abundantly by any and every settler, in- creased the number of settlements and made quite an extensive and en- couraging home market for the surplus of all that was raised Thus the work progressed with eminent satisfaction to all concerned, and made the early settlers feel that the day was not far distant when they would not be more dependent upon their old neighbors further east, than those who were settling the lands further west on the Missouri slope were dependent on them, and when Dallas would be proudly numbered with the oider counties of tlie State.
During this year (1848) the population of the county was more than doubled, and the amount of cultivation and improvement was more than trebbled, greatly increasing the convenience and comfort of the settlers. Milling privileges were becoming much more numerous and near at hand. Small stocks of goods, consisting of the essential commodities, were being brought in, and pioneer stores or common supply posts were beginning to be established right at home. Schools and church privileges were being talked of, and the necessary steps taken to secure them in due time, and, taking it all together, the year 1848 was one of the eventful years in the early settlement and history of Dallas county.
A HARD WINTER.
It was fortunate indeed that the harvest of 1848 was so bountiful, and the general advancement in improvement so great, for the winter which followed was a fearful one, and brought one of the heaviest snow storms that ever has been known here. Without the preparation and plentiful pro- duct of the past year, that winter would have been the sad occasion of a great deal of suffering in these parts and all along the frontier.
The snow commenced falling the seventh of November, before the ground had become frozen, covering the earth with a heavy coat of white, and con- tinued at a depth of nearly three feet on the ground until toward the last of the following February. It came in heavy driving storms, after intervals of a few days cessation off and on, all winter, often coming with such driv- ing, drifting force as to render it impossible for the settlers to venture out or get from place to place without danger of being lost or frozen to death.
There being yet comparatively few settlers in the county, and not a great deal of marketing to be done, or foreign trading to be transacted, travel was not sufficient to keep the ways opened or form a beaten track in any direction.
And if anyone found it necessary to venture out any distance from home, the driving winds on these great unobstructed prairies only filled up his tracks with the drifting snow almost as fast as he made them, so he was unable to follow the same track in return.
The inhabitants of the pioneer cabins were completely snow-bound all winter, never venturing out only in cases of absolute necessity, and then it was at the peril of their lives, or at least of frosted ears and toes, especially if they had any great distance to go.
It afforded splendid opportunities for enjoying the inestimable blessings of home life to those who were fortunately favored with any such earthly
347
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
luxuries, but to those who were not thus favored it was certainly a terrible winter.
It was no unusual thing to make several unsuccessful attempts, through desperate blockades of snow-drifts, in order to reach a mill with a few bushels of corn as a load.
Many still relate with delight-and yet with an air of triumph and aston- ishment at having endured such trials-how that they have made three or four such vain attempts successively to carry off a grist or haul a load of corn from another neighborhood, but each time became so overwhelmed in the snow-drifts that they found it impossible to go further on their errand, and were compelled to dig their way out of the drifts, and retrace their tracks back as best they could to their humble cabins, which were nearly covered in the drifts, and scarcely visible to the wandering traveler at any great distance from home.
The settlers generally aimed to take advantage of the mnilder weather to go to mill, and get their extra provisions and mail inatter, and other neces- sary errands, always clubbing together as much as possible on such occa- sions, and allowing the stronger, hardier ones, who were the best fitted, and, perhaps, the most delighted, to undertake such an excursion, to go on these distant errands for the neighborhood, while the more feeble and dependent ones remained to take care of matters at home.
This all worked very well, with comparative comfort and satisfaction to those who had been fortunate in raising a crop during the past summer, and exercised forethought and precaution enough to lay in a supply ahead during the better days to serve them through the stormy, blustering weather.
And though the heavy snow banks did block them in from getting to mill for several weeks, they could live at home in comparative happiness and contentment, on their abundance of boiled corn and hominy, or exercise their genius and skill in trying to invent some new plan of grinding or grating their corn, and preparing their home products for a palatable diet. But for those new-comers, who had arrived late in the fall, and especially for those who had come in just before the heavy fall of snow. came, so that they had no time or opportunity for making preparation for the approach- ing storm and cold weather, this winter was a most terrible and gloomy one.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.