USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > The history of Appanoose County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 37
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THT FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
The first person to take and reside upon a claim within the present limits of Appanoose was Col. James Wells, who selected a location in Section 16, Town- ship 67, Range 16, and built a cabin thereon in the summer or fall of 1839. His family accompanied him, and this household comprised the sum total of settlement during that year. Two years afterward, Col. Wells began the con- struction of a saw-mill on his claim.
During 1841, Adolphus Stevens made a claim not far from Wells, and Austin Jones also settled near by in the same year. Mr. Stevens still resides on the claim made by him thirty-seven years ago. Jones only remained a few years, and emigrated to California. It is stated that Jack Klinkenbeard made a claim near Stevens the same year.
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
In the summer of 1841, J. F. Stratton came into Appanoose, leaving his family at St. Francisville, Mo., in search of a claim, a portion of which he laid on Section 2, Township 67, Range 18, a little over a mile east of the present town of Cincinnati. Here he built a cabin and then returned to Missouri, expecting to remove soon. This was the first claim made west of the Chariton River.
The statement has been made that Jack Vinton made a claim near the spring, one mile southwest of Cincinnati, as early as 1837, and that he used to keep the Mormons passing to and fro, but Mr. Stratton says he visited the spring in 1841, and that there was no evidence of any one ever having lived there. It is very likely that Vinton hunted in that vicinity in the year claimed, but it is quite certain that he did not settle. Mr. Stratton says the only settler in that neighborhood was a Mr. Robinson, who lived about two miles south of the spring, and just over the boundary line. Mr. Stratton adds that he left his chest of tools with Robinson while looking about for a claim.
Soon after this and probably the same year, a man named Moore built a log house in what is now Caldwell Township, in the south part of the county. H subsequently. against his will. exchanged his home for one in the Penitentiary of Missouri, being sent there for horse-stealing.
About the same time, William Level settled in the same vicinity, who was accused of having more wives than the law recognized as proper for one man to have. He was arrested and confined in jail in Putnam County, Mo. After his arrest, a stranger rode up and inquired of one of his boys for the father. The boy said they had taken him to jail. " What for? " asked the stranger. "For keeping Jane," replied the lad. It would seem, from this, that the pioneer settlers were determined to maintain a high code of morality.
William and his wife had taken a girl to raise, as the story runs, and when she grew up, William made a wife of her by brevet. His other wife submitted for a while, but they soon quarreled, and Level built a new house for the young woman. When arrested, he was found guilty, and sentenced to a term in jail. There was no jail, and the Deputy Sheriff kept him as a clerk in a little store. Wilson, his jailer, was a kind-hearted man, and allowed Level the use of a horse every Saturday evening to ride home and stay with his families over Sunday. He remained two or three years and migrated, afterward going to California, taking both wives with him in all his journeyings. The brevet wife bore him two or three children. Dr. Worthington, who gives the above, says he has treated both women in his professional capacity. The imprisonment of Level is believed to have been in 1844.
William Cooksey and family settled not far from Col. Wells, either in the fall of 1841 or spring of 1842, and in the latter year, Solomon Hobbs made a claim in Township 67. Range 17, and Robert Caughran and George Buckner also made locations in the southern part of the county.
Various others built shanties in different parts of the county in the spring of 1842, and planted patches of corn and potatoes; but this was surreptitiously done, for, by the terms of the treaty of 1836, no white person could settle on Indian lands, and, by the treaty of 1842, the whites were again prohibited from settling on the lands purchased in that year, until May 1, 1843, or even to carry an ax into the Indian country. A party of dragoons from the post at Agency, on the Des Moines, visited Appanoose County, in the summer of 1842, warned off the settlers and destroyed their improvements. How, then, did Wells, Stephens, Cooksey, Jones, Buckner and Caughran manage to hold their claims ?
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
THE BOUNDARY QUESTION.
Joint Resolution No. 7, passed in February, 1844, recites that, in the fall and winter of 1839, an unjust claim was made by the Governor of Missouri to a portion of territory lving within the limits of Iowa; that the Marshal of Iowa, acting by National as well as Territorial authority, had called for an armed posse to preserve peace and to resist the encroachment of Missouri authority within the well-known limits of Iowa ; that several hundred patriotic citizens had obeyed the Marshal's summons late in 1839, marching in an inclement season ; that an account of the expenses had been taken by a United States official, but had not then been liquidated. These things having been recited, Hon. A. C. Dodge, then Territorial Delegate in Congress, was called upon, not only to secure pay for the volunteers, but for the Marshal's services as well, " in preserving the peace and protecting the southern boundary of Iowa."
Chapter 23, Laws of 1846, approved January 17, recites the fact of the arrest of the Sheriff of Davis County by the authorities of Missouri, and the probability of litigation arising from the dispute between Iowa and Missouri. The Governor was accordingly authorized to draw upon the Territorial Treas- urer for $1,500 to defray counsel fees in cases where either the Territory or its citizens might be a party against Missouri.
Chapter 3, Laws of the First General Assembly, approved January 16, 1847, authorizes the Governor to agree with the State of Missouri for the com- mencement and speedy termination of a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States to determine the true location of the boundary line between the two States. The sum of $1,000 was appropriated to defray the expenses of the same.
This dispute arose in consequence of two surveys having been made of the northern boundary of Missouri, the first begun at the head of the rapids in the river Des Moines, and the second at the foot of the Des Moines Rapids, in the Mississippi. The difference between the initial points was nearly nine miles. Missouri having elected to assume the northern line as her boundary, and Iowa the southern line as hers, there was, of course, a conflict of jurisdic- tion over a strip of country nearly nine miles in width, it being claimed by both Iowa and Missouri. The line claimed by Missouri passed very nearly through the railway junction at Centerville.
The above peculiar condition of the southern part of the county enabled the persons we have mentioned to remain by claiming to be within the limits of Missouri, and consequently outside of the Indian boundary. The soldiers would, of course, not exceed their orders, and these settlers were allowed to remain.
As long as the boundary question remained unadjusted, people did not care to invest much money in " Chaldea," or Centerville; for, if Missouri's claim should be established, Appanoose County would certainly remove its seat of justice further north. But the pacific disposition of Iowa having been recip- rocated by Missouri, people had no fear of the result of the litigation, and were willing to invest in Centerville. Hence the growth of this town may be said to have begun with the termination of the boundary dispute.
This vexed question was not settled till 1850, when the boundary was estab- lished by commissioners, who had the line carefully surveyed. Posts were erected a mile apart, every tenth post being of iron. One of these, the one- hundredth, stands in the eastern part of Section 22, Caldwell.
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
Accounts do not now agree as to the actual amount of war waged in 1839. One writer asserts that a martial spirit pervaded Van Buren County ; troops were organized, and history records no war more bloodless than the one which ensued, in which Van Buren took a conspicuous part, some of her citizens acquiring great distinction as officers. After a manifestation of the most undoubted pluck and heroism on the part of the Iowa troops, and the exhaus- tion of the supply of liquors on both sides, an armistice was declared, and it was agreed to submit to the arbitrament of the Supreme Court.
Dr. Sturdivant's father served as a volunteer in this campaign, and the Doctor says the above is not a fair account of the matter ; that the Iowa men were orderly and strictly obedient to discipline, being well aware of the possi- ble results that might follow from a collision between the two armed forces. The Iowa men were anxious for peace, if possible ; but no less determined to maintain the boundary as they understood it.
Dr. J. H. Worthington, of Caldwell, was one of the Missouri heroes, and says the cause of the assembling of forces was owing to the arrest of the Clark County (Missouri) Sheriff by the Sheriff of Van Buren County. The two officers met on the disputed strip while collecting taxes, and the Van Buren man bagged the other, who was sent to jail at Iowa City. The Clark County citizens wanted their Sheriff back, and Dr. Worthington says the two forces marched near enough so that chance rifle-shots could be heard from the oppos- ing lines. But the Clark County Court did not wish to precipitate a bloody struggle among neighbors, and appointed a commission, composed of Col. Mitchell, Judge Wagner and Col. Rutherford, to treat with the Iowa Legis- lature, then in session at Burlington, for a release of their Sheriff, and also to secure peace, if possible. The basis of agreement, as remembered by the Doc- tor, was that the Sheriff should be released, and that Missouri should continue to collect the taxes on the disputed strip until the matter should be adjusted, when, if Missouri lost the case, the money so collected should be refunded to Iowa. The Commission succeeded in their delicate negotiations, and the inter- necine strife was over.
FURTHER SETTLEMENT.
The fame of the country had spread far and wide ; even before the Indian title was extinguished, many were crowding the borders, impatient to cross over and stake out their claims on the choicest spots they could find in the new ter- ritory. As soon as the country was opened for settlement, the western borders of the Black Hawk Purchase, up the principal rivers and streams, and out over the broad and rolling prairies, began to be thronged with eager land-hunters and immigrants seeking homes in Iowa. It was a sight to delight the eyes of all comers from every land-its noble streams, beautiful and picturesque hills and valleys, broad and fertile prairies, extending as far as the eye could reach, with a soil surpassing in richness anything which they had ever seen. It is not to be wondered at that immigration into Iowa was rapid, and that within less than a decade from the organization of the Territory it contained 150,000 people.
" Manifest Destiny " ought to have been engraved beneath "E Pluribus Unum," and never was a greater realization of the truth of the words than in the settlement of Iowa. The movements of population in ancient times to those of the nineteenth century were as the hovel of the Italian peasant com- pared to the grandeur of the Vatican, by which he passes daily. The Anglo- Saxon is ever pressing westward. From the prehistoric time, when the Aryan people first turned their backs upon the Himalayas, the white man has marched
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
westward, always westward, until he has almost accomplished his journey's end -the circuit of the globe. He is already standing at the Golden Gate, look- ing out upon the Pacific, and erelong he shall arrive at the home of his fore- fathers, his pilgrimage accomplished. What then ?
May 1, 1843, there was no longer any prohibition to settlement in any part of Appanoose. In the spring of this year, J. F. Stratton returned to Appa- noose, accompanied by his brother Joseph. He had decided to abandon the claim he had made in 1841, owing to his repugnance to the institution of slavery and his fear that the claim might be left within the Missouri boundary. Accordingly, he made a new claim in Sections 2 and 10, Township 69, Range 16 (Udell), where, assisted by his brother, he built a cabin. This accomplished, he returned to Missouri for his family, leaving his brother in charge of the claim.
The other settlers during this year were J. B. Packard, who selected a claim in what is now Sharon Township ; George W. Perkins, who settled near the site of Centerville, and made preparations to start a nursery ; James Manson, who made a selection within the present limits of Bellair Township.
John and William Crow, John W. Clancy, William Money, Samuel and Stephen Trimble, located in what is now Udell Township.
. James Wright, William Bratton and Jehiel Troxell located within the pres- ent limits of Washington.
Josiah B. Packard, William Packard, B. L. Packard, E. A. Packard, J. M. Packard and John F. Overstreet chose claims bordering along Chariton, in the timber which was afterward called Packard's Grove.
Thomas Wilson, William S. Manson and Thomas G. Manson made their claims in the vicinity of the little stream subsequently called Monson's Branch, and did some work in improving, but did not bring their families from Lee County till 1844.
Indeed, this was the case with several others who came to make their claims during this year. The Crows, like the rest, had but little means ; so leaving their families in their new cabins in the wilderness, they started out for the set- tlements along the Des Moines in search of work. Their families were left to the oversight of Mr. Stratton, and when the men returned they requited his services by presents of flour, which proved very acceptable.
PROBABLY A HORSE-THIEF.
Mr. Stratton relates that while on his way to Appanoose in 1843, and just before reaching the Mormon trail, he went in advance of his brother, expecting soon to come to the trail. Becoming weary, he lay down in the tall grass to wait for the wagon. Soon he heard the tramp of horses' feet just north of him, and looking out saw a travel-stained, hard looking customer on horseback and leading another horse, riding by at a moderate gait. Mr. Stratton hailed him, and asked him to stop, but the fellow made no reply, and urged his horses into a trot. Stratton again bade him stop, at the same time raising his rifle, but the fellow at this menace started his horses into a gallop, and was soon out of sight.
In this connection, it is stated that in the fall of 1843, some of the Caugh- rans, John Johnson, Ewen Kirby and a few others, living within the present limits of Missouri, ascended the " bee trace " some distance, with the avowed intention of driving off several settlers, whom they accused loudly of having harbored several suspicious characters. Their forward march was quite val- orous, but they found their antagonists more plucky than they had expected, and beat a precipitate retreat homeward. Had they not done so, they would have been lucky to get home alive.
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
FOUND DEAD.
In 1842. or the following year, Col. Wells found a man dead not very far from Kirkendall's cabin. The body was in a sitting posture, leaning against a tree, and the head bent forward. Investigation showed that a bullet from some unknown marksman had penetrated the man's brain. One hand held an open memorandum-book, and beneath the other was a pencil on the ground. The entries resembled the notes of some one looking up lands ; but as the township lines had not yet been laid, this seemed inexplicable. It is barely possible that the man had been riding away a horse not his own, had been followed, captured and put to death, and that the entries had been made by his executioners, in order to lead possible inquiry on a false scent. This is the first death known to have occurred in the county, but who the man was, or how he came there, is now a mystery. He was given as decent a burial as the little settlement could afford.
APPANOOSE CREATED-FIRST ELECTION.
Section 2 of Chapter 34, approved February 17, 1843, reads as follows :
SECTION 2. That the following boundaries shall constitute a new county, to be called Appa- noose, to wit : Beginning at the northwest corner of Davis, and running west on the township line dividing Townships (70) seventy and (71) seventy-one, to Range 20 west ; thence south on said range line to the Missouri State line ; thence on said line to the southwest corner of Davis County ; thence north to the place of beginning, which county, with that of Davis, and all the territory lying west, shall be attached to Van Buren County for judicial, revenue and elec- tion purposes.
Section 12 of the same act required the Commissioners of each organized county to have the boundaries of attached counties surveyed, which survey was to remain good until surveyed by Government authority.
Section 13 authorized the Governor to appoint as many Justices of the Peace in the newly-created counties as he might deem necessary, and each Justice so appointed had the power to designate two Constables.
Section 15 required the new counties to refund the expenses incurred in the preliminary survey of their boundaries.
Section 13 of Chapter 122, Laws of 1844, approved February 15, attached Appanoose to Davis County for election, revenue and judicial purposes.
By virtue of the above act, the Commissioners of Davis County erected Appanoose into a voting precinct, and the first election was held at the house of J. F. Stratton, April 1, 1844, at which only nine votes were polled. The Judges were J. F. Stratton, William Money and Joseph Crow, and the Clerks William Crow and John Stratton. The electors were William Crow, Joseph Stratton, John Crow, Stephen Trimble, William Money, John W. Clancy, J. F. Stratton, Samnel Trimble and Jehiel Troxell.
Jonathan F. Stratton was elected Justice of the Peace for the county, which was Precinct No. 5 of Davis County, and Joseph Stratton and William Money were chosen Constables. The duplicate poll-list of this election is carefully preserved by Mr. Stratton, who states that there were at the time not more than two or three other voters in the precinct, exclusive of those who lived south of the line claimed by Missouri. It is probable that the Mansons and some others had not yet returned to their claims.
ROADS AND MAIL-ROUTES.
Chapter 15 of the Acts of the Territorial Legislature of 1844, approved February 14, provided for the location of a Territorial road from Keosauqua by way of the county seat of Davis to the county seat of Appanoose, " or as near
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
the center of said county as practicable, if the county seat of said county is not located when said Commissioners shall proceed to locate said road ; thence to the western line of said county." Samuel Morton, St. Clair Griffin and John Arrowsmith, of Van Buren, were designated as Commissioners, and were required to meet at the house of Solomon Richardson on the 1st of June, 1844, or within six months thereafter.
Joint Resolution No. 8, passed at the same session, called upon A. C. Dodge, then delegate in Congress, to use his best exertions to secure the establishment of various mail-routes, one from Fox Post Office in Van Buren County, by way of Davis Court House, to the center of Appanoose County, being specified among the rest.
FIRST MARRIAGE.
Undoubtedly the first marriage ever solemnized in the county was that of William Wells, eldest son of the Colonel, to Mahala, daughter of William Cooksey ; and this important event occurred about July, 1844. It is believed that the rite was said by a Justice of the Peace, and according to the laws of the State of Missouri in such cases made and provided.
EARLY BIRTHS.
It is believed that the second birth in the county was that of William Shauver, Jr., son of the millwright employed by Col. Wells, and that this transpired in 1842, or about four years after that of Elizabeth Kirby.
The next birth was that of a daughter to F. A. Stevens and wife, in April, 1843, by whom she was named Elizabeth.
INDIANS AND WHITES.
Many Indians lingered on the "New Purchase" till 1845, hunting and trading with the settlers. The Sacs and Foxes had always been peaceably dis- posed toward the whites, and very few settlers had any trouble with them.
In the summer or fall of 1844, however, a large band of Indians visited the southwestern part of the county. Several Missourians had made claims in the vicinity, and, being fearful that the Indians would steal from them, ordered their visitors off, and undertook to seize and flog some of them. The chief of the band, however, who was near by, collected his men and, repairing to the scene, sternly informed the whites that there would be instant trouble if they persisted in their intentions. Seeing themselves greatly outnumbered, the whites gave over their intention indefinitely.
GAME, ETC.
When the first settlers came, deer, clk and antelope were not plentiful, the Indians having hunted them down and thinned their numbers. Still, venison could be had without much trouble, and deer became annually more plentiful for several years. Antelopes were occasionally seen, but soon disappeared.
Wild turkeys and prairie chickens were abundant, and it was not difficult to bag several of either kind of birds in a couple of hours; but the pioneer hunters preferred to hunt for deer, and when in search for this game would not condescend to shoot at a turkey. As Mr. Dean quaintly expresses it, " When they went deer-hunting, they didn't go turkey-hunting."
Bee-trees were to be found along the smaller streams, particularly in the vicinity of Chariton River, and one skilled in woodcraft could obtain honey along the streams for several years after the first settlement. The usual prac- tice was to search in the vicinity of the timber till a bee was found, when it
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
would be watched till it had gathered its load. This done, it would make a "hee-line" for the tree to which it belonged. The hunter would follow this course into the timber, but if he could not readily find the tree, he would search for another spot, considerably one side of the place where he had found the first bee, when, by waiting awhile, he would be able to trace the flight of another. Of course, the angle formed by the meeting of these courses would be about where the tree stood of which he was in search. Sometimes the hunter had a little box partly filled with honey and covered with a lid. If he could capture several bees, they would be placed in the box and allowed to load themselves. One being released, the hunter would follow its course as far as he could with safety, when another would be allowed to fly, and soon till he arrived at the tree, on a line quite as accurate as if run with a compass.
Bears and panthers were almost unknown. Mr. Stratton states that once, when going from his claim toward Centerville, he noticed some tracks in the light snow, that he supposed to be those of a timber-wolf; but, coming to where the animal had made a leap of several paces, he knew it to be a panther. It is stated by old hunters that they had no fear of these animals, for they were always cowardly, and preferred to battle with a sheep rather than with man or any animal that would face them.
Wildcats were numerous in the timber lands, but were not to be feared, except in a close encounter.
The most troublesome and altogether vicious enemies of the pioneers were the wolves. These pests would not only howl around the lonely cabin all night, but were always ravenous and ready to pounce upon any unguarded calf, pig, sheep or chicken that they could get at, and the settlers were obliged to build pens against their cabins in which to keep their small stock. Chickens were frequently taken into the house in order to preserve them from the attacks of wolves, polecats and weasels.
Prairie rattlesnakes were very numerous for many years after the county was settled. Mr. Stratton gives an instance that is worth relating. After he had brought his family to his new cabin, in returning home one evening he gathered up a lot of hickory bark that had been peeled from some rails, intend- ing it to be used for fuel. This he threw down near the door, and went to bed at an early hour. Soon afterward, he heard a calf bleating and gasping in a peculiar manner, and got up, thinking perhaps a wolf had attacked it. Get- ting a light, what was his horror to see a rattlesnake under his brother's bed, coiled, and with head erect for a fight. He seized the Jacob's-staff of his com- pass to kill the reptile, but just then his dog rushed in, seized the snake and killed it, but not before the snake had bitten the faithful fellow. The calf was then attended to, and the investigation showed that the snake had bitten it in the neck, and had then bitten several chickens and a hen under his bed before he got up. Mr. Stratton doctored the calf, dog and hen, and all recovered. It was too late for the chickens, for they were dying when he discovered their con- dition. The dog always afterward had a violent antipathy toward rattlesnakes, and would attack and kill them whenever he could find them, and would prick up his ears whenever the word snakes was mentioned. Mr. Stratton believes he had carried the snake to the house in the bark he had gathered up.
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