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 56
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
Latterly, however, this business having been abridged, those interested in main- taining the coal business at this point, have undertaken the construction of a railway track from Dean to the mines at Hilltown, so that cars can be loaded at the latter mines. When this is accomplished, these mines will become very valuable.
This town started as a collateral of the milling business established by Col. Wells, near by, in 1845, and is about as old as Centerville, although not regularly platted at so early a date. It was quite a trading-point twenty-five years ago ; but the progress of settlement drew its business away fifteen years ago.
It was said that a few years ago, in digging a well at Hilltown, the work- men passed through a bed of coal six feet in thickness, at a distance of about twenty feet below the plane of the other. If this be true, Hilltown will become a point of considerable prominence in the near future.
THE TOWNSHIP.
The site of this intended village of Leona is situated on the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 2, Town 67, Range 16, and was dedicated by R. D. Taylor, September 11, 1858. The surveying was done by E. D. Skinner April 29, 1857. Main and North streets run east and west, intersected by Locust street, running north and south. The magnetic variation is 10° 30'.
Wells Township derives its name from Col. James Wells, who settled near the Chariton in 1839, and, in a year or so after, began the construction of a saw- mill, in which work he was assisted by Jack Klinkenbeard, Asa Kirby, Will- iam Shauver and others.
Many interesting details pertaining to the history of this township will be found in the general history.
Wells Township contains seventeen or eighteen miles of railway, being crossed by every line entering the county, except the Chicago & Southwestern. Its principal market town is Moulton, a portion of which village, including the depot, lies within the northern limit of Wells.
ORLEANS. ( Washington Township.)
Orleans was laid out and surveyed August 16, 1851. The plat comprised twenty-four lots, and is situated on Sections 1 and 2, Township 68, Range 16, and Sections 35 and 36, Township 69, Range 16. Lot 7, Block 3, was appro- priated for school grounds. The deed was acknowledged by Samuel F. Cronk, John P. Jennings, Elizabeth Howell, Josiah Hickman and T. J. Killiam, before William Wittett, Justice of the Peace, March 5, 1855.
Several of the most important events in the county's history have trans- pired at Orleans and vicinity, among them the execution of Hinkle, in 1858, and the capture of Foster, both of which are given at length elsewhere.
About twenty years ago, a baby was found drowned in a well near Orleans. A stick had been fastened by a cord to the child's neck, and the stick thrust into the clay at the bottom of the well to keep the infant's head under water. An effort was made to convict the child's mother of the crime, but without success.
Orleans was at its best estate in 1865, when the place had two general stores, a drug store and two blacksmith-shops. The building of the railroad to
472
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
Moulton had a depressing effect upon Orleans, and its business interest is now reduced to a blacksmith-shop and post office.
The schoolhouse at this place was built in 1858.
The Christian Church at this place is relatively the strongest in the county. It was formed in 1855, the first members being Elder Jordan and wife, Elder J. N. Dunbar and wife, Mr. Wallace and wife, Mr. Watson and wife, Mr. Rogers and wife. A large church-building was erected in 1858.
The Pastors of the society have been Elders Samuel Jordan, S. P. Down- ing and J. N. Dunbar.
In 1868, the society had about two hundred members. It was then fore- seen that a considerable loss would ensue from the removal of a good many members to Moulton, and the society determined to assist the members who were leaving them. Accordingly, George Nash, Jacob Neal and Elder Jordan were appointed by the Orleans society as a Building Committee for the Moul- ton church, and a large contribution furnished by the Orleans members toward the new edifice.
The Church at Orleans has now about sixty members, and is in a good, healthy condition. The only trouble the Church has ever had was a threatened withdrawal of several members during the war, on account of political differ- ences ; but this was promptly adjusted in a Christian spirit, and the angry feel- ing entirely overcome. It is never mentioned by those concerned, except with an acknowledgment that they were too hasty.
The present officers of the Church are: Messrs. Dunbar and Wallace, Elders ; Hiram Lee and William Wooldridge, Deacons.
Mr. Wallace is Superintendent of the Sabbath school, which is attended by about sixty pupils, divided into five classes.
ALBANY. ( Udell Township.)
This was once a little village in Section 1, Udell Township, and rose to the . prominence derived from having two stores, a post office and a blacksmith-shop. A local chronicler states that the village was once the resort of thieves and counterfeiters, but the historian asks to demur as to false coinage in this part of Iowa.
The building of the Burlington & Missouri road prevented Albany from growing in size, and the construction of the Chicago & Southwestern proved the "killing frost" that ended its existence. In 1873, an excellent crop of corn was raised on the town site. Let the epitaph read, " It might have been."
EXLINE. (Caldwell Township.)
" Caldwell City," as surveyed by J. J. Hall, the 6th and 7th of March, 1873, is located on the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 32, Town- ship 68, Range 17. It lies south of the Burlington & Southwestern Railway track. At first, the railway company was disposed to ignore this as a stopping- place, but a switch was put in, owing to this being a better location for receiv- ing farm produce and railway ties than Caldwell, which lies two miles further east. Mr. Exline, the proprietor of the plat, however, started in the dry goods
473
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
business some years ago, and is now building a larger store to accommodate his growing business. There are two other stores in the town, and a drug store. A saloon was started in the winter of 1877-78, but could not earn a living for its proprietor.
It is stated that $600 worth of railway ties were purchased here in Septem- ber last, most of them being hauled from the edge of Missouri.
An application was made for the establishment of a post office here in April, 1876, but without success until February, 1877, when the petition was granted, and Mrs. Price appointed Postmistress. The post office was named Exline, and soon after the railway company gave the stopping-place the same name.
The village is still destitute of a depot building and telegraph office ; but these needs will probably soon be supplied.
A Christian Church was organized in this neighborhood in 1855, some of the first members being James Barrett and wife, David Farnsworth and wife, John Conger and wife, Solomon Hobbs and wife, Mr. Baker and wife. The ministers were Elders Humphreys, Harvey, Barrett, Jordan and Buchanan. About 1864, the society had about a hundred members, and, in the following year, a church was erected, which stands just clear of the town plat. The society became disorganized in 1874, owing to trouble between two members, but a partial re-organization has since been effected, with about twenty-five members. Elder Humphreys holds occasional services.
NEW HOPE.
This expectant village was laid out on the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 68, Range 17, by William Hall, C. S. Maring and J. W. Sheets, and acknowledged May 19, 1857, before William Monroe, Jus- tice of the Peace. The streets running east and west are South, Main and North, intersected by Spring street. The surveying was done by E. D. Skin- ner, and the magnetic variation was 10° 30'.
The venture did not blossom into prominence, and having achieved the establishment of a store and post office, and a mill near by, the town stopped to rest, and has been resting ever since.
CALDWELL.
This station lies about two miles east of Exline, on a small creek emptying into the Chariton, and is a station on the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad, which was built from Moulton westward in 1874. There is a station-building, telegraph office and general store here. The houses are divided into two clumps, separated by the creek, inhabited almost exclusively by coal-miners.
At this point, the coal is found quite near the surface, usually from twenty to thirty feet, and one mine is reached without a shaft. It is hardly likely that any considerable town will grow up here, beyond the needs of the mining interest, as the ground is rough and broken; but the coal industry, as carried on here, cannot fail to be of great advantage to the business of neighboring towns. Many of the miners employed here are of foreign birth, but they are spoken of as being an industrious, thrifty class, quite temperate, and good citi- zens. Much of the coal mined here is consumed by the Burlington road; but a considerable share is sold at other stations along the line.
474
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
SEDAN.
This is the crossing-point of the Burlington & Southwestern Railway and the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska, and is not a ticket station on either line. It is in Section 25, Caldwell, and near the Chariton.
The railway companies have, so far expended about $150 on depot buildings, which are occupied by a family who furnish well-cooked and palatable meals to pass- engers who are compelled to wait here several hours to change in any direction.
Near by is a store and saloon under one roof. This and the uncouth, unplastered shanty, called a depot-building for want of a suitable designation, comprise the "outfit " of Sedan in the line of architecture.
THE TOWNSHIP.
F. A. Stevens and Solomon Hobbs were among the first settlers of this township, and Dr. J. H. Worthington, who came in 1846, was the first regular physician to settle in the county.
The first birth in the township was that of Elizabeth Stevens, in April, 1843.
The first sermon preached in the vicinity was at the house of Eli Ayers, by Rev. Isaac Newland, in 1844.
The first mill was Michael Pilkey's, built on Chariton River, in 1849.
The first store was Daniel Castor's, in the south part of the township, started in 1857, and Caldwell post office was established the same year, T. B. Maring, Postmaster.
The first school taught was by D. T. Stevens, in 1849, in a cabin on the farm owned by F. A. Stevens.
Caldwell is the largest township in the county, and in area of wooded land stands third. The township is thickly settled with an industrious farming pop- ulation, and the level vista of cultivated land stretching in all directions is most agreeable to the traveler's eye.
A society of Baptists was formed in this township in 1860, the first mem- bers being Dr. J. H. and Martha Worthington, Lewis Harris and E. T. Stevens. Rev. John Osborn was the organizing minister. The Pastors have been Rev. Messrs. Ogle, Gully, Huckaby, Thomas A. Salladay, J. Kincaid, A. Jackson and J. Redburn. The society meets at the schoolhouse in District No. 3, and has about forty members. J. H. Worthington and J. Holman are the Deacons. Rev. J. Kincaid is Superintendent of the Sabbath school, assisted by C. Meeker. R. Bennyfield is Librarian, and the teachers are Mr. and Miss Meeker, Mrs. Worthington and D. Stevens. About fifty pupils attend.
The Methodists have a church-building in the township, called "Zoar Chapel," which was built many years ago. Services are held here every third Sunday forenoon, and at the Johnson Schoolhouse the same afternoon. A fine Sabbath school is maintained at Zoar Chapel, of which David Stevens was Superintendent during the past summer.
MILLEDGEVILLE.
(Independence Township.)
Milledgeville is situated on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 10, Township 70, Range 19, and was dedicated to the public by Harrison Anderson, December 22, 1857. Seventeen of the lots lying along Main street have a variation of 60° from the meridian, the street having the same direction, 60° east, 30° west. The surveyor's name does not appear.
475
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
This was for ten years a village of some note ; but its prospects have been blighted by the engineer's transit. Its business is represented by a small store and post office.
There is a Christian Church near the town, which has a fair membership. The society is now without a regular Pastor.
THE TOWNSHIP.
Both forks of the Chariton enter Independence Township, and unite on Section 14.
Griffinsville post office is located on Section 23.
The exposure of coal-beds in this township is remarkably favorable for min- ing, but, so far, little has been done to develop this industry.
This township lies about equidistant from the two market towns, Center- ville and Albia.
There is a Covenanter, or Reformed Presbyterian Church, in the southeast corner of Independence, known as Walnut City Church. This society was formed March 5, 1868, the first ruling Elders being Matthew Chestnut, Samuel Milligan and James W. Daugherty ; the Deacons, Joseph Manners, J. C. Dunn, Andrew S. Milligan. The members were John McConnell, Matthew Chestnut and wife, Mary Jane, Annie and Matthew Chestnut, Samuel Milligan and wife, J. C. Dunn and wife. F. Gilchrist and wife, Martha McConnell, Joseph Man- ners and wife, John M. Dunn and wife, A. N. Dwer, James Daugherty, A. S. Milligan and wife, James W. Daugherty and wife, Amelia Lowry, Margaret L. Stevenson, Mary Stevenson, Martha Stevenson, Martha Milligan.
Rev. Isaiah Ferris has been the only Pastor, having come in 1870, and withdrawn in 1876.
The church was built in 1871. It is forty feet square, and walls eighteen feet high. Its cost was about $1,500.
There are now about fifty members. The Elders are the same as noted above, with the addition of Johnson Robinson; the present Deacons are William Thursby, J. C. Dunn, S. H. Carlyle and A. S Milligan.
J. C. Dunn is Superintendent of the Sabbath school; N. Patton, Assistant ; Elizabeth Chestnut, Secretary ; Amanda Patton, Treasurer. The teachers are Matthew Chestnut, S. T. Sherrard, Mrs. Lizzie Sherrard, Etta Robb, N. Pat- ton, J. W. Daugherty, Mrs. A. Woodburn. There are about thirty-five pupils.
SHARON. (Sharon Township.)
The plat of Sharon is situated on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 33, Town 69, Range 17, and was out laid by William C. Pack- ard, the deed having been acknowledged November 29, 1856. The survey was made by John Potts. The streets running east and west are King, Main and Prairie, and the north and south street is Johnson.
So reads the record, but the town has vanished; its site being now torn up yearly by the stirring plow. In 1857, the place had half a dozen dwellings, two stores, a tavern and saloon.
Samuel Swearingen built a saw and grist mill on Chariton River, near here, about the time the town was founded, which did a very successful business for several years. The mill property subsequently passed into the hands of a Mr. Stalcy, and was afterward transferred to Mr. Packard. The dam and mill were
K
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
obliterated by a flood a dozen years since, and the growth of Centerville sapped the vitality of the little burg.
The saloon referred to above was closed by the accidental death of Wilkin- son, described elsewhere. The administrator found no stock on hand belong- ing to the lamented decedent, whose friends gave him as touching and affec- tionate a burial.
The Rock Island road has a water-tank near the old town, which is also named Sharon on the time-card.
The Baptist society in this township, which was formed about 1852, have a church-building near Kirkwood Post Office.
JOHNS TOWNSHIP.
This is the only township in the county bounded entirely by Congressional lines, it being Town 69, Range 19. The surface in this township is quite level, and is mainly prairie. This is undoubtedly, everything considered, the best precinct in the county for agricultural purposes, and the condition of its farms shows that the people appreciate their advantages.
This township was the scene of the murder committed by S. A. King upon his wife and Frasier, and also of the stage robbery, both of which are given in detail in another place.
Johns is without a railroad at present, and its only prospect at present is from the extension of the M., I. & N. R. R. westward. Its people, however, can reach stations on either of four railways and return in one day, so that what is lost in time is nearly made up in rates.
The township is thickly settled with a peaceful, intelligent population, who have provided six schoolhouses for the use of their children, and there are four church-buildings.
One of these, known as "Concord," is entitled to be named as the oldest Baptist society in the county, and is, beyond doubt, either the second or third society ever organized in Appanoose. The origin of this Church will be found in the account of Walnut City. There is also another Baptist society, with a good building in the southwest part of the township, known as "Little Flock," which has a good membership.
There are two other church-buildings, located near together, in the eastern part of the township ; one, a Methodist Episcopal, known as Bethel, and the other, Philadelphia, belonging to the Christian society. Both are very credit- able buildings.
A HEALTHY STATE.
Hon. M. M. Walden mentions that a few years after the termination of this dis- pute, an old lady who became, by virtue of the Supreme Court's decree, a resi- dent of Iowa, remarked that there used to be a great deal of sickness in her family while living in Missouri, but that since living in Iowa, it was a great deal healthier ! An Irish bull could not be neater than this.
Mr. James Hughes gives what appears to be the same story in this form : While the surveyors were engaged in their work, they stopped to obtain some water at a cabin inhabited by a family living on the disputed strip. Hav- ing ascertained their business, the good wife begged the party, "for gracious sake," to locate the line south of her house, "for Missouri always was a sickly hole."
477
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
A PARTING WORD.
The compiler of the preceding pages has visited nearly every portion of the county, in the prosecution of his labors, and finds a feeling existing that is much to be regretted. For three years prior to 1878, a partial failure of crops has occurred, which, added to the pinching times experienced by all classes throughout the United States, caused by the adjustment of values to a specie basis, has discouraged many farmers of Appanoose, and, in some cases, land is offered at half its actual cash value, and sometimes even less.
Farmers of Southern Iowa, your land is worth in gold, at least twenty dol- lars an acre to you, or to anybody else. Can you afford to throw away the labor of years in a fit of despondency ; leave long-tried friends, break up associations formed ten to twenty years ago, to endure again the hardships and trials of making new farms in a frontier State? Your children have claims upon you for educational opportunities that you may not be able to secure in regions far- ther west.
Because there is a mortgage on the farm for half its value, is it sensible to give away the other half, for the reason that your credit is low and you have the " blues ?" There are men and women in your midst who have lived weeks at a time by grating corn or grinding it in a coffee-mill, who have not tasted coffee, tea or sugar for months at a time, while earning their homes and making settle- easy for you.
Appanoose County has a future of grand possibilities ; and the stranger who has worked among you during the "Squaw Summer " of 1878, and has learned to esteem the people here, not only for their industry, frugality and morality, but for the "Old Virginia" blood, is anxious that those he has met shall obtain the reward of the better times in the immediate future, when, with a modified system of agriculture, involving less labor and greater profits, each one of you will pass down the years in comfort, surrounded by old-time friends and neigh- bors.
The profits of agriculture are derived as much from waiting as from present labor. Friends, ask your gray-haired neighbors about the times in 1837, in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, when land could not be sold at all, except to creditors. The poorest land in those States now sells regularly at from $35 to $50 per acre. Shall some of the best land in Iowa be abandoned because some one else has a contingent interest in it for a half or third its real worth ? Wait another year, friends-
"LEARN TO LABOR AND TO WAIT."
MISSING BOOK FOUND.
Since our history of Appanoose County has gone to press, a long-lost book, containing the first records, has been unearthed, from which we copy the fol- lowing account of the election of the first County Commissioners and their transactions :
Be it known, That on the first Monday, the 5th day of October, A. D. 1846, Reuben Riggs, George W. Perkins and J. B. Packard, County Commissioners elected at the general election, held on the first Monday of August, A. D. 1840, in and for the county of Appanoose, and Terri- tory of Iowa, met at the store of Spencer Wadlington, near the center of the said county of Appanoose ; then and there convened and organized a Board of County Commissioners, for said county, in pursuance of and Act of the Legislative Assembly, approved January 18, 1846, for the organization of said county of Appanoose.
478
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
MONDAY, October 5, 1846.
The office of Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners being vacant, J. F. Stratton was appointed Clerk pro tem. of said Board.
On motion, the Board adjourned until to-morrow, the 6th, at 9 o'clock, A. M.
TUESDAY, October 6, 10 o'clock, A, M.
J. F. Stratton filed the necessary bond and oath and took his seat.
Jonathan Scott, Assessor, filed in his assessment roll.
The assessment roll received and examined.
Be it ordered, By said Board, that a percentage of 5 mills on the dollar on all taxable prop- erty be levied for county purposes on said assessment, as a county tax.
Be it ordered, By the authority aforesaid, that a poll tax be levied, of 50 cents per poll, for county purposes.
Be it ordered, That 3 mills per cent. be levied on said assessment for the support of common schools.
Be it ordered, By the authority aforesaid, that all that portion of the assessment returned by the Assessor as related to property and polls that came into the county after the Ist day of March, 1846, be rejected and stricken out.
Be it ordered, By the authority aforesaid, that Dempsey Stanley, Sebastian Streeter and William Crow be appointed Viewers, to view and cause to be surveyed and marked, the route for a road or highway, commencing on the east line of the county of Appanoose, at the quarter-sec- tion post, on the east line of Section 13, in Township 69 north, Range 16 west, and to run from thence westwardly on or near the quarter-section line through Sections 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, continuing on or near said line, as the formation of the land will admit, to the Chariton Creek, at a riff near the center of Section (16) sixteen, in Township 69 north, Range 17 west, and from thence by the most eligible route to the northeast corner of Section twenty-four (24), in Township 69 north, Range 18 west, thence west on the section line dividing Sections 13 and 24, to the northwest corner of said Section 24. Said Viewers to meet at the house of J. F. Stratton on the first Monday of November next, and proceed to view and cause to be surveyed, and make returns to said Board on the first day of the January, A. D. 1847, term of said Board without expense to the county.
Be it ordered, By the authority aforesaid, that the seat of justice of the county of Appanoose this day located and designated by Andrew Leach and William S. Whittaker, Commissioners ap- pointed by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa, to locate said seat of justice shall be known by the name of the town of Chaldea.
Adjourned.
WEDNESDAY, October 7, 9 o'clock, A. M.
Be it ordered, By the authority aforesaid, that J. F. Stratton, Couuty Surveyor, proceed to survey. lay out and plat the town of Chaldea, as soon as practicable, agreeable to a plan exhibited by J. F. Stratton and approved by said Board of County Commissioners.
Be it ordered, That Andrew Leach be allowed the sum of twelve dollars for his services as Commissioner to locate the seat of justice of Appanoose County.
Other orders were passed allowing William S. Whittaker the sum of $16 for services as Commissioner to locate the seat of justice of Appanoose County, to be paid from the proceeds of town lots, in the town of Chaldea; J. F. Stratton, Clerk of the District Court, the sum of $39.08 for services rendered in the organization of Appanoose County ; Jonathan Scott the sum of $22.50 for assessment of county for year 1846 ; also a further order reject- ing and setting aside the above charge of Jonathan Scott for taking the census.
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