USA > Iowa > Marion County > The History of Marion County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, & C. > Part 52
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The following synopsis of the casu and the decision is from the Western Jurist:
" In 1879 Liberty and Knoxville townships, in Marion county voted a tax in aid of a railroad; the tax voted in Liberty township was to be ex- pended therein, and that voted in Knoxville was to be expended in Knox- ville, Indiana and Pleasant Grove townships. In 1871 the railroad com- pany expended about 82,000 in Liberty and about $32,000 in Knoxville The work was suspended from Angust 1, 1871, to May 20, 1875, when it was resumed; nothing was expended in Indiana, the line having been so changed as to avoid it; and Pleasant Grove has not been reached. In An- gust, 1875, the trustees of Liberty township certified that the tax had been earned and in November, 1875, the trustees of Knoxville did the same; in 1876 the board of supervisors, regarding the tax as forfeited, passed a reso- lution declaring it abated; some paid their tax and after it remained in the treasury over two years sued and recovered it back, and when the company suspended work it advised that no further tax be collected. In an action to test the validity of the order abating the tax and another action for manda- mus to enforce the collection of the tax it was held:
"First. That the right to the tax voted in Knoxville township to be ex- pended in the three was complete upon the expenditure of the amount in any one of the three, and the failure to spend a part of it in either Indiana or Pleasant Grove did not affect the right to the tax.
" Second. That the suspension or cessation of the work for three years and ten months did not show an abandonment of the work or forfeit the right to the tax upon the completion of the work.
" Third. That the advice or notice given by the company at the time it suspended work, that the collection of the tax should be suspended, did not work an estoppel upon the company so as to defeat its right to the tax upon the subsequent completion of the work, nor does the fact that if the taxes had been paid promptly the same might have been recovered back before the work was resnmed, defeat the right of the company to have the same now paid.
"Fourth. That the certificate by the township trustees, that the tax had
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Ben earned, need not be executed by them as a board, but if a majority f them sign such certificate it is sufficient.
"Fifth. That a judgment of forfeiture in regard to certain taxes paid annot be considered a judgment of forfeiture in regard to the taxes not aid, for those tax-payers who instead of paying have had the use of their honey have not the same reason to complain of the company's delay.
" Sixth. A claim for a tax voted in aid of a railroad is assignable and ne assignee may sue thereon in his own name."
The collection of the tax seems to work a great hardship, especially to be citizens of Liberty township, the most of whom are not at all benefited y the road.
The road was extended on through the county, and completed to Des [oines in 1879.
On the completion of the C., B. & Q. Railroad to Knoxville, which was egarded by the C., R. I. & P., Road as an invasion of their territory the itter company began an active measure to extend their line which had al- sady been built to Sigourney in Keokuk county, to Knoxville. It was milt to Oskaloosa the same year the C., B. &. Q. Road reached Knoxville, nd the following year it was extended to Knoxville, which is its present irminus. Local subsidies were granted to the Rock Island Road of which [noxville furnished some twelve thousand dollars in subscriptions. Thu id the west part of the county, which for so long a time vainly strived or communication with the outer world, and strived in vain, suddenly ome into the posession of two of the best lines of railway ever constructed rest of Chicago.
CHURCHES.
"You raised these hallowed walls; the desert smiled, And Paradise was opened in the wild.'
The first settlement of the county and the organization of the first churches were almost cotemporaneons. The plow had scarcely begun to urn the sod when the pioneer preachers began to labor in the new field. In the western country as well as in the Orient and the isles of the sea narched the representatives of the Christian religion in the front ranks of civilization. Throughout the centuries which compose this era have Chris- ian missionaries been taught and trained to accompany the first advance of civilization, and such was their advent here. In the rude cabins and ants of the pioneers they proclaimed the same gospel that is preached in he gorgeous palaces that, under the name of churches, decorate the great sities. It was the same gospel, but the surroundings made it appear differ- ant, in the effect it produced, at least.
The Christian religion had its rise, and the days of its purest practice, imong an humble, simple-minded people, and it is among similar sur- oundings in modern times that it seems to approach the purity of its source. This is the best shown in the days of pioneer life. It is true, in- leed, that in succeeding times the church attains greater wealth and prac- ices a wider benevolence. Further, it may be admitted that it gains a irmer discipline and wields a more general influence on society, but it re- nains true that in pioneer times we find a manifestation of Christianity hat we seek in vain at a later time and under contrasted circumstances. The meek and lowly spirit of the Christian faith -- the placing of spiritual
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
things above vain pomp and show-appear more earnest amid the simple life and toil of a pioneer people than it can when surrounded with the splendors of wealth and fashion. But we may take a comparison less wide and instead of contrasting the Christian appearances of a great city with that of the pioneers, we may compare that of thirty years ago here in the West with that in the present time of moderately developed wealth and taste for display, and we find much of the same result.
The comparison is, perhaps, superficial to some extent, and does not fully weigh the elements involved, nor analyze them properly. We simply take the broad fact, not to decry the present, but to illustrate the past. So that looking back to the early religious meetings of the log-cabins we may say: "Here was a faith, earnest and simple, like that of the early Christian.""
The first religions meetings in the county were held in the cabins of the settlers, with two or three families for a congregation. On pleasant day they would gather outside in the shade of the cabin or under the branches of a tree, and here the Word would be expounded and a song of Zion sung.
It is not our purpose at this place to give a full account of the organiss tion of all the churches of the county. Such matters of detail will be given in connection with the township in which each church organization was formed. At this place it is our purpose to speak of the churches in general and more particularly the first organization of the kind in the county.
The first public religious services held in the county were in what was called the English Settlement and are thus described by Mrs. Ruth Barker, wife of Francis A. Barker, the first probate judge:
" The second year of the purchase we moved into the Territory and crossed the Des Moines River at Durham's Ford; stayed a day or two with an old friend from Ohio, Mr. Durham, father of David Durham; from there came down to our claim four miles from there and two miles and a half from what was known as Tally's Ford. In going to our cabin, rented of John Tongue and put up the year before, we passed the house of Mr. Ro- ple, about a quarter of a mile from the place. My husband proposed that I should stop with the youngest children. We talked of matters and among other things I enquired where they held the meetings on sabbath, and to my surprise was told there had never been any held. I then asked if there were any professors of religion thereabouts; she said she had once be- longed to the Methodist Church, also her father and mother, by the name of Tongue, and her brother John Tongue and wife, her brother Joe and wife, also her neighbors, Mr. Shook and wife, Mr. Tally and wife, Mr. Gregory and wife, etc., a dozen or more in number, all members of the Methodist Church once, had most of them been here a year and a half without meeting together for worship. Of course it seemed strange to me. . But to the point. I went to my cabin home doing a deal of thinking. I knew there was a corner for secret prayer, and place for family prayer, but where the public worship God in this new wilderness home? For my children, for myself, for all concerned, it must not be so; the promise was to those who gathered together in his name, to be in the midst of them. When our things were righted up a little, the bed in the corner, the oiled paper at the little square hole for a window and carpet for a door, and thanks returned for so many mercies, I said to my husband, we must try to have & prayer-meeting next Sunday, and send for our neighbors to come in about ten o'clock; I will try and have things fixed up for it. He said all
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ght; so we sent over word to Mr. Ruple's and about a dozen came in, nong others old Mr. Tongue and wife I observed to my husband it would best for him to lead things like and old-fashioned prayer and class-meet- ig, to suit Methodist folks, and that would suit ns too, so he read a chap- r in the Bible, and a hymn to sing, prayed and called on old Mr. Tongue pray-others seemed backward. He then talked of his religious exper- nce, old Father Tongne followed, got very happy, commenced singing, > brothers will you meet me on Caanan's happy shore.' We had a good Leeting and appointed another, and they were continued on for a long me as union prayer-meetings.
"The first sermon preached in Olay township was preached by Rev. Mr. 'ost, missionary, at the house of Mr. Ruple, in January of the same win- r; we moved there in October. Mr. Post was afterward agent and inter- reter for Mr. Scholte, of Pella. At the same time he was the minister ho helped to constitute the first Baptist Church in that region, on what now known as the old Curtis farm, in the dwelling of Mr. Toke, of seven members, two joining the day following by experience and baptism."
We find by consulting some old records that in 1845 a Methodist minis- ir named Russell was traveling in what was called the Fort Des Moines ission, including the whole of Polk, Madison, Warren, north half of [arion and the south half of Jasper, Boone and Dallas counties.
This mission circuit was established as early as the fall of 1845. The rger part of the territory embraced by it was uninhabited, and plans for ligious effort and enterprise were formed even before the people came. be latter, however, were not long in coming, and if during the year 1846 [r. Russell succeeded in making the round of his circuit once a quarter, must have been zealous and industrions. The writer knows fittle of [r. Russell, the first regularly appointed minister of any denomination ho preached in Marion county. He was evidently a man of great phys- al endurance, and possessed, to a certain degree, of the same zeal and en- lusiasm which characterized the disciples of old when in obedience to the ›mmand of the Master they went into all the world intent on preaching le gospel to every creature.
Two other pioneer preachers of this denomination located in the bounds f this circuit and cultivated a vineyard which consisted of all central Iows; hey were George W. Teas and V. P. Fink.
Teas was something of a character. He had the affectation without the ality of learning, and had not the positiveness of character which usually haracterized the early Methodist preachers. At one time he left the Lethodists and joined some other denomination, emphasizing his departure y the composition of the following couplet:
"Let the news spread from shore to shore, That George W. Teas is a Methodist no more."
It was only a short time until he returned to the old fold, and then some ne celebrated the event in reciting a poetical effusion as follows:
" Let the news spread from Georgia to Maine, That George W. Teas is a Methodist again."
In 1850 all Iowa composed one annual conference; Marion county, and Il the surrounding counties, was a part of the Iowa City district. Knox-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
ville by this time had become able to sustain a church, and was a atatica where a minister was located and devoted his whole time to the one con- gregation. West and southwest was the Three Rivers mission, which ex- tended through Madison, Warren and part of Polk counties.
It was not long after the Methodists began to preach and form church organizations till the other denominations were represented by active mia- isters, who laid the foundation of the many prosperous churches which an Dow to be found in the county. First came the Methodists, then the Ber tists and Christians, and then the Presbyterians. A full and accurate sc- count of the various church organizations in the county will be given in connection with the history of the several townships in which they are be- cated.
BOHOOLS.
Not only have the public schools of the county been characterized by rapid growth and continued prosperity, but the same may be said of t higher institution of learning, Central University, located within the bounds of the county. But thirty years ago the whole region of country is and around the present seat of that institution was a howling wildernen. From its humble beginnings twenty years ago in the then small villans of Pella, that institution has grown to the full stature of a college, whid is the peer of any throughout the country. The career of the Central University has boen truly a most remarkable one; its success has - been such as to far exceed the most sangnine expectations of its founders and most hopeful friends of early days. It is not our purpose at this place to write a history of this institution; that will appear in connection with the chapter devoted to the city with which its fortunes have been linked from the first. At this place we purpose to speak of the public schools of the county in general.
The schools of the county are sharing with the contents of the newsboy' bundle the title of the universities of the poor. The close observation of working of the public schools shows that if the induction of facts be com- plete, it could be demonstrated that the public schools turn out more better fitted for business, and for usefulness, than most of our colleges. The free dom and liberty of our public schools afford less room for the growth of effiminacy and pedantry; it educates the youth among the people, and not among a caste or class, and since the man or woman is called upon to do with a nation in which people are the only factor, the education which the public schools afford, especially where they are of the superior standard reached in this county, do fit their recipients for a sphere of usefulness nearer the public heart than can be attained by private schools and acade- mies.
The crowning glory of American institutions is the public school system; nothing else among American institutions is so intensely American. They are the colleges of democracy, and if this government is to remain a re public, governed by statesmen, it must be from the public schools that they must be graduated. The amount of practical knowledge that the masses here receive is important beyond measure and forms the chief factor in the problem of material prosperity; but it is not so much the practical knowl- edge, which it is the ostensible mission of the public schools to impart, that makes this system the sheet-anchor of our hope; it is rather the silent social influence which the common schools incidentally exert.
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY. .
It is claimed for our country that it is a land of social equality, where all have an equal chance in the race of life; and yet there are many things which give the lie to this boasted claim of an aristocracy of manhood. Our churches are open to all, but it is clear that the best pews are occupied by the men of wealth and influence. The sightless goddess extends the scales of justice to all, but it will usually appear that there is money in the de- soending scale. It requires money to run for office, or, at least, it takes money to get office.
The first experiences of the American citizen, however, are in the public school. If he is a rich man's son his class-mate is the son of poverty. The seat which the one occupies is no better than that occupied by the other, and when the two are called to the blackboard the fine clothes of the rich man's son do not keep him from going down, provided he be a drone, neither do the patches on the clothes of the poor man's son keep him down, provided he has the genius and application to make him rise. The pam- pered child of fortune may purchase a diploma at many of the select schools of our land, but at the public schools it is genius and application which win. That State or nation which reaches out this helping hand to the children of want will not lack for defenders in time of danger, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually expended for the common educa- tion of children is but money loaned to the children which they will pay back with compound interest when grown to manhood.
Then, too, in a modest, unassuming way, our schools inculcate lessons of common honesty. The boy hears his father make promises and sees him break them. Mr. Brown is promised ten dollars on Tuesday, but Mr. Brown calls on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, and finally gets the ten dollars on Saturday; the boy goes with his father to church, and frequently gets their after the first prayer. In vain does that father teach that boy lessons of common honesty when the boys known that the father three times disappointed Brown, and never gets to church on time. The boy soon learns at the public school that punctuality and promptness are cardinal virtues; that to be tardy is to get a little black mark, and to be absent a day is to get a big black mark. A public school in which punctuality and promptness are impartially and fearlessly enforced is a most potent conser- vator of public morals.
The public schools of America are a grand success; this as a rule has very few exceptions. Should we take but a superficial view of the public school system, and by taking as example some schools which are properly termed poor ones, and estimate their worth simply from the useful results obtained in a given time, we might be inclined to say that the public school is a failure; but viewed in a more thorough manner, and taking into ac- count all its bearings, and then estimating its worth from results through a series of years, and then making a general average, we must say-any un- prejudiced and unbiased mind must say-that even then the poorest of our schools are good, and no other investment of public funds is so carefully managed and so profitably applied.
- The public schools of Iowa are properly termed the best in the Union and if Marion county should undertake to enter the lists in any contest with the other counties of the State we should suggest that her public schools will not suffer by comparison or contest. Marion county educa- tional affairs are in a good condition.
There has been as great a change in the character and qualifications of
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
the teacher as there has been in the architecture and arrangements of the school-houses. Formerly schools were held at the residences of the settlers or else in cabins whose external appearance and internal arrangement very closely resembled the pioneer cabin; the teacher also very closely resembled the early settler, for, as a rule, he was a settler, that is he devoted a great portion of his time and energy in making rails, grubbing hazel-brush and attending to his stock and crops, while teaching was simply accidental or incidental. Teaching has now become a profession, and, as a rule, the teacher devotes his entire time to that business. We would not be under- stood as saying that both the old-fashioned teacher and school-house were anything but respectable, useful and of good reputation; on the contrary they were all this; but we would say, that with an increase of wealth and population we have increased facilities for increased needs.
The first schools of the county were held in houses to suit the times. Some idea of these school-houses can be gathered from the following description of a typical one.
It was built of round logs, the space between them chinked and then daubed with mud. About five feet from the west wall on the inside, and about five feet high, another log was placed and running clear across the building. Puncheons were fixed on this log and in the west wall on which the chimney was built. Fuel could then be used of any length uot greater than the width of the building, and when it was burned through in the middle the ends were crowded together; in this manner was avoided the necessity of so much wood-chopping. There was no danger of burning the floor, as there was none. The seats were made of stools or benches, con- structed by splitting a log, hewing off the splinters from the flat side, and then putting four pegs into it from the round side for legs. The door was made of clap-boards. On either side a piece of one log was cut out, and over the aperture was pasted greased paper which answered for a window. Wooden pins were driven into the log running lengthwise immediately be- neath the windows, upon which was laid a board and this constituted the writing-desks. The school district in which this wonderful structure stood extended from the east part of the county to the adjoining township line, and from Skunk River on the north as far south as one could see. Since the day of school tax levies the people are a little more definite in defining their subdistricts.
The teacher who taught in this typical school-house was located in a neighboring county to the eastward. He located there before the In- dian title to the lands in the county was extinguished and was a typical teacher. He still resides near the scene of his early trials and triumphs. and delights to talk of his schools where there were achieved results of which he may well be proud.
The first schools of the county were not model schools even for that day and were they to be brought into comparison with the schools of the pres- ent day their imperfections would become all the more apparent.
The chief difficulty with the first schools was that there was no county superintendent.
There was no county superintendent of schools till the year 1858, and although teachers were responsible to certain authorities, there was no ef- fective system of supervision; examinations were very unsatisfactory; there was no inducement for any one to prepare himself for the work of teaching, and if there were some who excelled in their work it was because
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
of the love they had for the occupation and not because of a spirit of emu- lation and a desire to excel.
The new school law, which went into effect in 1858, threw protection around the school fund and shut out of the business of teaching much in- competence and ignorance. While it is a fact that the present high stand- ing of the schools has been reached gradually, and not by sudden move- ment, yet it is likewise true that the most perceptible change for the bet- ter was between the years of 1858 and 1860.
The application of the law of rotation in office, making the tenure of office brief and necessitating frequent changes of superintendents, has done much to impair the efficiency of the office; neither have the persons filling this office always been professional teachers and not always persons of cul- ture and education. This office, as is too frequently the case with other county offices, has at times been bestowed as a reward for party service to men not all in sympathy with the public school system, and whose training had fitted them for managing a caucus or packing a convention rather than prepared them for organizing schools and stimulating teachers to energetic and thorough work in the school-room. The public schools of Marion county, however, have not suffered more in this particular than the schools of other counties. There have been many superintendents to watch over the educational interest of the county who were men of fine culture and whose whole active lives have been in sympathy with the cause of popular education. If there have been poor superintendents, there have also been some very good ones, and, as a result, the schools of the county are fully up with the times and will compare favorably with those of other counties.
The following statistics relating to the schools of the county will be val- nable to all who are interested in the subject of popular education:
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