USA > Iowa > Marion County > The History of Marion County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, & C. > Part 54
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" The president and others made brief remarks, urging the claims of the book upon the members of the association and all other citizens. Subscrip- tions for twenty copies were handed to the secretary.
" On motion, adjourned.
" D. T. DURHAM, President.
" H. L. BOUSQUET, Secretary."
Annual meetings were held from time to time for a few years longer and finally the meetings were discontinued and the society went down.
During the present year the society has been revived, or rather a new one has been formed. The first meeting of the new organization was held at the office of Mr. Gamble, in Knoxville. The following are the minutes of the meeting:
"At a called meeting of a few old settlers held Saturday, July 24, at the office of J. D. Gamble, Dr. H. J. Scoles was elected chairman. It was de- cided to have an old settlers' picnic and basket dinner, on the fair grounds, near Knoxville, on Wednesday, August 11, 1880, commencing at ten
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
o'clock, A. M. It was decided that all old settlers that have been residents of the State twenty-five years, and of this county twenty years, be cordially invited with their families to attend and participate in this celebration, not forgetting to bring well-filled baskets. Larken Wright was chosen marshal of the day. Committees were appointed to procure speakers and music for the occasion. Dr. H. J. Scoles, Dr. Hugh Thompson and James Welch were appointed executive committee.
"The call is signed by Dr. H. J. Scoles, Dr. J. T. French, Dr. Hugh Thompson, Dr. W. B. Young, James Welch, S. L. Collins, W. W. Orad- dick, J. S. Cunningham, Larken Wright, D. C. Ely, J. D. Gamble, C. G. Brobst, Wm. Black, J. H. Cloe, A. B. Miller, F. M. Frush, A. M. Clark, Joseph Johnson and A. M. Brobst.
"W. W. CRADDICK, Secretary."
The picnic came off on the eleventh of August, according to the ar- rangements made at the previous meeting.
Mr. James Welch called the meeting to order at 10:30. Hon. James D. Gamble was chosen president and Hon. G. T. Clark, Jacob Metz and I. M. Walters, vice-presidents, W. W. Craddick, Secretary.
The Butcher Creek martial band and Knoxville Musical Association sup- plied excellent music.
D. O. Collins delivered the address of welcome in manner and matter creditable to himself and edifying to all present.
The picnic dinner we need only mention. We all know how well it was enjoyed.
Brief addresses were made by Hon. D. T. Durhamn, Dr. J. T. French, J. P. Vincent, Jas. Taggart, Riley Wright, Hon. S. F. Prouty, Larken Wright, John Banks and others.
A permanent organization was effected by the adopting of the following constitution and election of officers below named:
"ARTICLE 1. This organization shall be known as the Old Settlers' A880- ciation of Marion County.
"ART. 2. The officers of this association shall consist of a president, sec- retary and treasurer, and one vice-president and one assistant secretary in each township in the county.
"ART. 3. The officers shall perform the duties usually required of such officers, and in case of vacancy in the office of president, the secretary shall designate one of the vice-presidents to act.
"ART. 4. Any person who has been a resident of the county since the first of Angust, 1860, or a resident of the State Angust 1, 1855, shall be eligible to membership.
"ART. 5. The president, secretary and vice-presidents shall constitute an executive committee fixing the time and programme for annual meetings. "ART. 6. This constitution may be amended at any annual meeting of the association."
Report of committee on permanent organization:
For president, James Welch, Knoxville township. Vice-presidents, Lar- ken Wright, Knoxville township; D. T. Durham, Clay township: Daniel Wagoner, Franklin township; Jacob Metz, Liberty; M. M. Marks, Indiana; Hugh Smith, Washington; Henry Hortsman, Dallas; G. T. Clark, Lake Prairie; John A. Scott, Summit; J. D. Bedell, Red Rock; E. B. Ruckman, Uuion; Wesley Jordan, Pleasant Grove; James Brous, Perry ; John Everett, Polk; Daniel Hunt, Swan.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Secretaries, C. G. Brobst, Knoxville; C. H. Durham, Clay; Joel Camp- bell, Dallas; Abrial Niles, Franklin; I. P. Dixon, Indiana; J. H. Stuben- rauch, Lake Prairie; Chas. Harlow, Liberty; Elias Williams, Pleasant Grove; Amos Teter, Polk; Wm. Hughs, Perry; Win. Clark, Red Rock; I. N. Crum, Summit; Elisha Hardin, Swan; Albert Reynolds, Union; W. A. Whitlatch, Washington.
Treasurer, J. S. Cunningham.
The following is a report of the address delivered on the occasion by D. O. Collins, Esq .:
ADDRESS BEFORE THE OLD BETTLERS' ASSOCIATION OF MARION COUNTY, DELIV- ERED AT THE FAIR GROUNDS AT KNOXVILLE, AUGUST 11, 1880.
"Fellow citizens and old settlers of Marion county-The committee that requested me a few days ago to address you on this occasion could have found a much better speaker from among those who have resided here longer than I have. However, if other parties have been here longer than myself, I submit to you it is not my fanlt. I came to this connty at as early a pe- riod as circumstances would permit, having been born in a little log cabin west of the opera house in the city of Knoxville. I can say I have been a resident of Marion county as long as any other man that is no older than I am. When I first came. here the trail of the Indian was still visi- ble o'er these prairies and the howling of the wolf could be heard in yon- der wood. But you older persons recollect these things better than I do, for as I have already intimated, it was at a very early period of my exist- ence when I first came here.
"We are assembled here to-day, not in the interest of any political party; nor are we assembled here in the interest of any particular religious sect. There are no denominations or political lines in this andience. It is simply the old ties of pioneer life that call us together. Years ago you used to meet each other on the streets and highways, and on public occasions you met in sunshine and storm, you did business together, you were neighbors and friends in the truest sense. Now, after many years have passed those that remain are called together once more to talk over by-gone days and to recall recollections of the past. Great changes have taken place; this coun- try was once a wilderness, but through your pluck, privations, industry and persistence this wilderness has been made to blossom with rich harvests, and Marion has become the peer of any county in the State. Later inhab- tants are owing much to the old settlers. They have all the advantages of your labors and hardships. The first inhabitants of every country are compelled to pass through many vicissitudes, do without all luxuries and many necessities. You, fellow-citizens, had the courage to face these difficulties in settling Marion county. But your efforts and courage have not been without good results. To-day the land is nearly all in cultivation, your county is pro- lific of churches and school-houses and you have railroads and all the con- veniences of the highest civilization. It was not a trifling matter to live here in an early day-there are no hardships now, it is even a happy privi- lege to live here at present. But to you old settlers belongs the honor of having resided here when it took courage, when much of the country was agnish and unhealthy, when it took from three to six weeks to go to mill. To you belongs the honor of breaking the first prairies and raising the first crops. To you belongs the honor of building the first dwellings and plant-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
ing the first orchards. To you belongs the honor of erec ting the first mills and engaging in the first commercial enterprises. To you belongs the honor of building the first school-houses and erecting the first temples of worship. To you belongs the honor of laying out the first towns and com- mencing improvements that have ever since been going on, keeping pace with a population that already runs up to nearly thirty thousand souls.
"As we talk over by-gone days 'the past rises before us like a dream,' and each one lives his life over again-you go back to the home you left when you started West; when you started for Iowa. May be you have grown old now; the companion of your side, if she has not already departed this life, has grown old and both your heads are all silvered o'er with age, but anyhow you go back twenty-five, thirty or thirty-five years. Retracing your steps takes some of you to Ohio, others to Indiana, others to Virginia, others to Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky and other States east of the Mississippi, while others are compelled to cross the trackless deep to the Old World. Now you are at the old home. It is a cold winter's night. The chores are all done and the family are sitting around the old fire-place; you stir up the logs and the fire blazes forth anew, lighting up every coun- tenance, chasing away every shadow, and playing upon the wall like the reflection of golden waters. There is a conversation going on around the family circle about going West. Every heart is sad and every countenance grave for the thought of separation, of leaving the old folks, the old home and friends, is a painful theme. There are fightings within and fears without.' Of all the Western Territories, Iowa is the most favor- ably considered. At length the die is cast, the resolution is made. A cour- ageons young man with a heart fixed upon a home of his own rises from his chair, saying, I am going West. I am going to Iowa. The wife at bis side remains silent for a moment, then pressing her babe to her breast, you hear her saying mid sighs and sobs, 'ah, John ! it is hard to leave the old home, and all these comforts and father and mother and these friends-to exchange them for a home in the wilderness,' yet ' Whithersoever thon goest I will go, thy people shall be my people and thy God my God. With the opening of spring all the preparations and arrangements for the trip are made. They are not going to take the cars for railroads are the excep- tion. They are going in covered wagons. The oxen are at this wagon and the horses at this, and a few head of stock are following along be- hind. You can see the tar-buckets hanging down, and a close inspec- tion shows that the old wide-tired linch-pin wagons are fashionable. Several families of the neighborhood have joined John and his wife and two children and at break of day, just as the sun is filling the tree tops with glory and crowning the hills with gold, you see this little train of emigrants slowly moving along over the hills of Ohio. As they gradually disappear from sight of the old home you hear a sob and a sigh and see them beckoning a last farewell to the old folks and friends that are left behind. It is a long and arduous trip, but there is courage in their hearts for the undertaking, and pluck to face the pioneer life in the West. Now they have reached the Mississippi, they cross and come along up through Mt. Pleasant, through Ottumwa to Eddyville, and being at tracted by a timbered country, coal-fields and an unusually rich soil, they bear off to the northwest a little, and select homes and settle down in what is now called Marion county. A great many families came here in the man- ner I have illustrated, while a great many others find their way to the Mis-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
sissippi and come up to Keokuk by boat, thence up the Des Moines to Bellefontaine, Red Rock or Coalport, for at that time, as you all know, the Des Moines was navigable. I was not too young to have often heard the boats whistle along this river, and too have ridden upon her bosom in steam- boats myself.
" As emigration pours in some locate in one part of the county and some in another. At last you are permanently settled down to the new life, you are attached to your rude cabin, your truck patch is coming up and the vines are climbing up over your cottage door and window. Claims are made for future improvements and you are thriving and happy even among difficulties; you manage to live and get along somehow. The first corn is ground by breaking it in mortars. The first stove is a fire-place or a set of forked sticks with a cross piece. The first wheat bread is 'corn dodgers.' The first coffee is corn coffee. The first rice is hog hominy. The first beef is generally pork. The first fruits that laden your tables consist of crab- apples and wild gooseberries. The first buggy rides you take are in two- horse wagons or behind ox carts over rough roads. The first merchandise is hauled in two-horse wagons from Burlington or Keokuk. The first music you enjoy aside from the music of your own voices is the whistling wind or the howling wolf along your streams. Among your first visitors were the Indians, bedecked with feathers and gleaming with war paint, man- ufactured from the keel of Red Rock. If tradition is correct, when these red-skinned fellows used to appear at our house your humble servant used to disappear under the bed.
" In those days you did not have willow cradles or hammocks for your children, such as children have to-day. From my own recollection there were no such institutions. My parents were fortunate enough however to make me very comfortable in an old trunk lid.
"The young folks had their hardships in these early days as well as the old folks. I recollect one season there was not a green apple to be had in the country and we had to resort to dried apples. I went into my father's store on one occasion, filled myself with dried apples then filled my pock- ets and ate them all down, then I went to the town pump and commenced drinking water, I continued this for half an hour; about this time the ap- ples began to swell and there was a strange sensation came over my heart, and oh, Lord! nobody knows the trouble and hardships I passed throught You have heard of persons growing gray in a single night; well, I did not grow gray in a single night but I grew very large. This little expedition resulted in bringing about frequent visits from our family physician and giving me an eternal prejudice against dried apples.
" Every improvement and addition to the county was hailed with joy. Many of you recollect when the first circular saw-mill was put up in the vicinity of Knoxville. The inhabitants came very near going wild, it even created more exeitement than balloon ascensions or circuses of a later date. "Since those days many improvements and great additions have been made to the county. Times have changed wonderfully. The red man has gone farther west. The howl of the wolf can be heard no more. Instead of log cabins for dwellings, church and school-houses, you have respectable frame and brick edifices. Instead of ox-carts for traveling you have good vehicles, carriages and railroads. Instead of crab-apples and gooseberries, you have orchards yielding abundance of fruit of every variety, while the surplus of your bountiful crops, your coal, hogs, cattle, sheep and pro-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
duce, after your own wants are generally suppled go into the markets of the world and return in the shape of the choicest luxuries the earth affords. Yes: times have changed! Scanty settlements have increased till the pop- alation of your county outnumbers any of its neighbors.
"The manner in which Marion county has been settled illustrates the manner in which the whole State has been peopled. A few years ago I stood on the banks of the Mississippi River, not a great ways from Burling- ton, at a place were Black Hawk used to rally his warriors for battle. At this place there is a natural semi-circle formed on the river shore giving it the appearance of a large amphitheatre. I imagined I could see the Indians assembled here arrayed in all the paraphernalia of savage life. I.imagined I HHH 8 could see the old chief step forth and sway the tribe with his eloquence. I could hear the war-whoop ringing up and down the Father of Waters. I could see the wigwams here and there over the country, and the smoke ot smouldering camp-fires curling up to the sky. I could see tiny birch ca- noes tied up along the river shores or silently gliding over the waters. I looked out over Iowa in my imagination, and everything was a wild, deso- late waste. There was not a white man to be seen, nor a dwelling-house, nor an artificial grove, nor a church, nor a school-house, nor a cultivated section of land to relieve the dull monotony of the scene. It was no pleas- ure to me to look upon this weird sight even in imagination, and to dispel the gloom of so terrible a solitude, I looked out upon the reality of the present. I could see spires and domes glistening in the sun. Instead of wigwams I could see comfortable dwellings, school-houses and churches. Instead of the smoke of smouldering camp-fires I could see the smoke belching forth from hundreds of chimneys, furnaces and engines. Instead of birch canoes I could see mighty steamers plowing up and down the Fa- ther of Waters. Instead of the shrill Indian war-whoop I could hear the whistling of numerons manufacturing establishments all over the State, and of the iron horse passing and repassing carrying on a mighty commerce. As I looked out over Iowa, instead of a wild desolate waste frequented only by buffaloes, Indians and wild beasts, I could see a civilized land, a great State, a commonwealth second to none in the world.
" But this State has not only been redeemed from a wilderness and res- cued from a savage race, the very soil upon which you now stand once belonged to France. Happily for you and for mankind it fell into better hands. In 1803 Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson vied with each other in statesmanship; the result annexed to the United States that famous . Louisiana Purchase,' of which this great State of Iowa " the garden of the world ' is a part. Thus we see.that through the struggles and the wis- dom of our fathers we have inherited not only republican institutions, but a land that has no equal beneath the starry canopy of heaven. Behold the country of which your State is a part! Behold the land that has been reserved through the ages for free government and a matchless civilization to have a home-triumph and live on, blossoming through. all time! Until this continent was discovered and peopled despotism had always been in the ascendency. No such strides of civilization were ever made in the Old World. in a few years, as you have made here. In the days before this new world was peopled every effort in the line of advancement. was always crushed in the bud. Every free government that existed previous to ours was either hopelessly crippled or completely wiped out.
"The struggle for liberty and a higher civilization commenced away back
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
in remote antiquity in the shining Orient, but despotism and superstition soon attained supremacy. At a later time Greece contends for. these same principles and makes a stride in the line of advancement and the upbuild- ing of free institutions such as the world never before knew, but the broken column and shattered temples of Greece attest the over-reaching power of despotism. Still later there is a similar contest at Rome; for a time the Republic flourishes, but after a while a single will plans and executes uni- versal empire, Rome is brought under the yoke and Cæsar rules the world. Still later there is a contest made for these same principles in the Italian cities. Genoa, Florence, Milan and Pisa thrive, while laws and systems of municipal government are given to the world, ever to be admired and studied, but surrounded by monarchs and conspiring princes. At length these noble cities are brought to ruin. Liberty and her twin sister, Pro- gress, being driven from the Italian cities, take refuge in the mountains of Switzerland; here they live on despite every storm that blows, but they cannot revolutionize the world and carry civilization to its goal while con- fined to the fastnesses of the mountains. The United Netherlands next make a long and desperate effort for civil, commercial and religious free- dom. Under the leadership of one of the greatest men in history, Wil- liam the Silent, there is hope in the world for the realization of a higher civilization, but an assassin takes the life of William the Silent, and after prospering under a republic for a few years this gallant little nation sub- mits to the fate that rules Europe. Liberty and progress next flee from the oppression of England to the solitudes of the New World. Here an on- paralleled career of advancement is commenced. Before the 'colonies, ar- rive at importance the Old World is indifferent. But when the wilderness begins to blossom with rich harvests then an attempt is made to whip the people of the New World back into the traces of arbitrary government. A mighty contest ensues. It is a renewal of the same old struggle that has been going on since the dawn of society-between despotism and retrogres- sion on the one hand, and liberty and progression on the other, and for. the first time in the history of the world, liberty and progression gain a foot- ing from which they can never be dislodged and free government is placed in a condition to defy the combined force of arbitrary power, despotism and superstition while the world stands. The struggle and wisdom of the early patriots not only secured to posterity republican institutions and the thir- teen colonies, but as I said before, their wisdom at length secured us. the very soil upon which you now stand and upon which you have been living these thirty years and more. All honor then to our forefathers for this land and government. All honor to the first inhabitants of this great land and this State, and especially to the old settlers of Marion county, for the civilization that has been achieved. The government bequeathed to poster- ity by the early patriots shall never fall. The improvements and progress commenced by you old settlers shall never cease. 'The workmen may fall but the work shall go on.' The old settlers of Marion county may all pass away, but the spirit of progress infused by your pluck and your energy shall continue with your free institutions as long as the rivers run into the sea; as long as the clouds circle around the convexed top of the mountains; as long as the heavens hold up the stars, and the cycle of time continues to roll."
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
OLD BETTLER'S LIST.
There is now being prepared a list of old settlers under the auspices of the association. One hundred and three names have already been enrolled; of these 95 are from Ohio, 17 from Pennsylvania, 16 from Indiana, 8 from Kentucky, 6 from Holland, 4 from New York, 3 from Virginia.
CHAPTER IX.
INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS AND CRIMES.
The Soul of John Brown-Sudden Death -- Assassination of Josiah M. Woodruff-Two Per- sons Drowned-Fatal Runaway-Treasury Robbery-Death by Drowning-Fatal Acci- dent-Murder and Suicide-Two Victims of Passion-Second Treasury Robbery-Another Murder at Red Rock-Drowned-Fratricide-Two Men Shot-Burned To Death- Early Crimes.
THE SOUL OF JOHN BROWN.
ON the 10th of June, 1856 a public meeting was held in Iowa City for the purpose of firing the public heart on the subject of the Kansas diffi- culty. Several spirited speeches were made, and after the public meeting, which was held for general purposes, a private meeting was held for the purpose of devising definite measures in aid of those who were making their way to the contested ground in the interests of free soil. At this meeting the following address was prepared and placed in the hands of George D. Woodin, Esq., who was to visit all the counties to the south and west for the purpose of opening up a line of communication:
" To the friends of the Kansas Free State Cause in Iowa-The under- signed have been appointed a committee to act in connection with similar committees appointed in Chicago, and other States, and with committees of like character to be appointed in various counties of the State, and espec- ially in those counties lying west and southwest of us.
"The plan of operations is the establishment of a direct route and speedy communication for eastern emigrants into Kansas. The committee have appointed Messrs. George D. Woodin, Esq., William Sanders and Capt. S. N. Hartwell to visit your place for the purpose of having a com- mittee appointed there to facilitate the general plan of operations and carry out the details. They will explain to you the minutiæe of this plan, at greater length than we are able to do in this communication.
" Capt. Hartwell is a member of the State Legislature in Kansas, and is recently from the scene of the ruffian atrocities which have been committed in that embryo State.
" We have here pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors to make Kansas a free State, and we shall expect our friends from this place westward will give us their hearty co-operation.
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