USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > The history of Black Hawk 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 > Part 48
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The document is dated July 10, 1859, and the contributors were Sheldon Fox, W. P. Overman, Peter Melendy, Van Saun & Hunt, A. Mullarky, M. Ro- senbaum & Co .; J. M. Overman & Co., A. F. Brown, J. M. Benjamin, Tim- othy Mullarky, E. B. Hatch, W. P. Taubman, John W. Inman, J. H. Wilson, G. M. Harris, M. H. Creague, John R. Cameron, John G. Arbuckle, Francis Cox, L. D. Lampman, A. S. Smith, E. Brown, G. W. Smith, E. D. Adams, Samuel Berry, J. H. Boehmler, A. Henderson, C. H. Mullarky, L. P. Hammond, Cyrus Ashley, Graves & Bagley, E. Hodgin, W. H. Phelps, Giles Mabee, J.
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
M. Maggart, Caleb May, Henry Millen, G. W. Henry, Charles G. Miller, John M. Harland, Mahlon Freeman, Luke Shimers, Peter Geyen, S. Wilson, W. H. Sessions, John Hartman, Joseph Sartori, J. W. Bonnell, F. A. Bryant, Benj. Graham, Chester Sawyer. The subscription amounted to $1,530.
The Committee visited Dubuque, Davenport and Muscatine-found plenty of boats for sale, but could not agree on the price for such as were suitable to their wants. They accordingly returned home for instructions, by which time the water was falling in the Cedar, and Captain Snouffer was beginning to find it troublesome to reach Waterloo, even.
The prospects for the railroad from Dubuque were also brightening, for work had been resumed and the western terminus was only fifty miles away. So the project was abandonel, and is now almost forgotten by those who were most actively engaged in it.
Cedar Falls, as described in the first issue of the Gazette, March 16, 1860, before the completion of the Dubuque & Pacific Railway to the town, claimed 1,600 inhabitants, probably an excessive estimate. The flouring-mill of J. M. Overman & Co. was in operation, drawing custom from Bremer, Butler, Web- ster, Hardin, Floyd, Chickasaw and Franklin Counties, and even from Blue Earth County, Minn. The same firm owned a saw-mill.
Edwin Brown had just erected another flouring-mill of about the same size as the older one, both of which were built of stone, five stories high. The other manufactories on the bank of the Cedar were D. C. Porter & Co.'s chair and bedstead factory, a planing-mill owned by the same firm, and a saw-mill owned by Edwin Brown. There were beside, two steam saw-mills, one owned by A. S. Smith, and the other by Rounds, Wilson & Morrison. Of those engaged in merchandising, T. B. & H. H. Carpenter owned a brick store. Andrew Mul- larky's brick store was 22x70, three stories high, and W. A. Winslow's build- ing was about the same size and height. Overman & Brown had shortly before completed a three-story building, 44x80 feet, three stories high, the upper story fitted up as a public hall.
The second issue of the Gazette mentioned the school exhibition, under the management of Mr. L. J. Hammond, Principal of the Public School. This oc- casion was enlivened by music from the Cedar Falls Brass Band, Henry Over- man, leader, and songs from the Glee Club, composed of Mrs. Pierce, Mrs. Clark, Miss Abbott, Miss Crosby, Mr. Van Saun and Mr. H. Cooper. Ham- mond, in 1876, had degenerated into a produce buyer at Joliet, Illinois, where he had become a heavy shipper of dressed hogs and poultry.
May 7th, the people of Cedar Falls, for the first time, received mail matter mailed at Dubuque the same morning, the railroad having been completed to Jessup, twenty miles east.
The 4th of July, 1860, was celebrated in the evening by an exhibition of flowers and vegetables at Horticultural Hall. D. J. Coleman read the Declara- tion of Independence, followed by J. B. Powers, Esq., with an essay on " Hu- man Life."
September 6th, a great Republican mass meeting was held at Cedar Falls. The local chronicler estimated the crowd at 5,000 persons. Delegations came from Floyd, Bremer and Butler Counties. Speeches were made by Hon. T. Drummond, of Vinton ; Judge C. A. Newcomb, of West Union; Hon. S. P. Adams, of Dubuque ; Hon. John A. Kasson, of Des Moines ; Hon. W. B. Fair- field. of Charles City ; and F. W. Palmer, Esq., of Dubuque. The music was furnished by three bands. The time not consumed by speeches was occupied by a grand procession, made splendid with mottoes and banners.
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
A " New England Association " was formed at Cedar Falls in February, 1861, with W. H. Sessions as President Erastus Edgerton, Vice President ; A. S. Smith, Treasurer ; W. H. Nichols, Secretary.
The members of Black Hawk Lodge, No. 65, A., F. & A. M., celebrated Washington's birthday in 1861 by a supper at the Western Hotel. J. B. Pow- ers made the address. A Bible was presented to theLodge by the ladies attend- ing, their spokeswoman being Mrs. John M. Cameron.
Early in March, the " Ranch," as it was called by the old settlers, was torn down. This building, erected by Mr. Taubman, in 1853, had been used for a boarding house. tailor shop, law office, saloon, Justice's office, and surveyor's office, all at the same time.
Miss Mary Holmes, who had resided in Iowa since 1855, died at Cedar Falls on Sunday, April 7th, of apoplexy. at the age of 67 over years.
Sixty-six buildings were erected in Cedar Falls in 1861, prior to August 2d.
The Ladies' Aid Society was formed December 16th-Mrs. Dr. Bryant, President ; Mrs. Doolittle, Vice President ; Mrs. J. B. Powers, Secretary : Mrs. A. S. Mitts, Corresponding Secretary ; Mrs. H. C. Wright, Treasurer.
The California Association was organized December 21st-L. L. Cook, President ; H. H. Meredith, Vice President; O. Bradley, Secretary ; D. D. Devine, Corresponding Secretary ; J. M. Overman, Treasurer. A festival was held on the 23d of January following.
About the same time, a notice appeared on the streets, of which this is said to be a literal copy :
POSEY COUNTIANS : The natives of Posey County, Ind., will meet at the Lime-Kiln on Christ- mas, for the purpose of having a Tare. Pukes, Hoosiers, Suckers, Badgers, Buckeyes and Hawkeyes are invited to participate. All natives of Posey County that have fathers will act as Committee of Arrangements. MANY NATIVES.
The following week (December 28th), the Empire State Club was organized -Hon. Zimri Streeter, President ; Albert Allen, Vice President ; Jas. Miller, Secretary ; A. Henderson, Treasurer
During February and March, 1862, the people of Cedar Falls received their mails with great irregularity, owing to severe storms. March 19th, the train was " snowed in" two miles this side of Independence. The agent employed a gentleman, who was visiting Iowa, to carry the mail through. He got a team and drove to Waterloo, but the horses were exhausted and could go no further. Nobody at Waterloo cared to send his horses even as far as Cedar Falls, and the contract was completed with a yoke of oxen.
Clement Vogt, a comparative stranger in Cedar Falls, was found dead in the river, on the East Side, June 18, 1862. The verdict of the jury was that he came to his death by accident ; but many believed he had committed suicide. He had disappeared from the Inman House three months before.
The peace of the State of Iowa was broken on Sunday, March 8, 1863. at the Carter House. by Lieut. Fitzroy Sessions assaulting Stilson Hutchins, now Editor of the Washington (D. C.) Post, but then one of the editors of the Des Moines Journal. During the war, Hutchins had published a misstatement in regard to Lient. Sessions, charging him with having instigated an attempt to mob the Dubuque Herald office. Hutchins was staying at the Carter House, at the date given above, and was followed into the hall by Sessions, who, after ascertaining that he was the author of the libel, called for a retraction. This Hutchins refused to make. Fitz. then passed his hand across Hutchins' face, which brought on a battle with fists, in which the latter was considerably worsted ; though his punishment had no effect in modifying his perverse politics
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or restraining his violent expressions, either on the stump or at the editor's ¿lesk.
The first step taken to build a school house of sufficient dimensions for the district of Cedar Falls was at a public meeting held July 6, 1863, at which time it was voted to apply the Teachers' Fund then on hand toward the building.
The first occasion on which Black Hawk Lodge, A., F. & A. M., was called upon to perform the burial rite was on Thursday, August 22, 1863, the deceased being William Cox, a young man of excellent character, who had been married only two months before.
The telegraph line from Dubuque to Cedar Falls was completed December 9, 1863.
Andrew Mullarky, the pioneer merchant of Cedar Falls, was drowned in the mill-race, near the saw-mill, December 12, 1863. His body was recovered within ten minutes after his first call for help, but too late to restore life. He was about 47 years old, and had resided in Black Hawk County since 1850.
The walls of the school house were laid and the roof put on during 1864, under the supervision of J. Q. A. Crosby, who had contracted to do the work. The brick work was relet to Joseph Johnson, and the carpenter work to Will- iam Ray and Joseph Godfrey.
On the reception of the news of Mcclellan's nomination for the Presidency, in 1864, the Democracy of Cedar Falls felt it incumbent upon them to burn a little powder. Two anvils were procured, and after about the third round, which was terrifically loud, the artillerists looked around for the top anvil, which they could not find. Being of cast iron, it had burst into a hundred fragments ; but, with almost miraculous good fortune, not a man had been hurt by the flying pieces.
Sept. 14, 1864, the frame of the Baptist Church fell to the ground with a great crash, owing to its being insufficiently stayed. H. Wallace, of Independ- ence, the contractor, and Henry Bogart, of Cedar Falls, were at work on the cupola, sixty feet above the ground. Wallace spoke to his companion, but him- self clung to the frame, until it fell to within ten or fifteen feet of the ground, when he jumped down without injury. Mr. Bogart jumped inside of the cu- pola, probably intending to clamber down before it fell, but missed his grasp, and fell on the sidewalk head first, breaking his neck in the fall. He was picked up insensible and lived only a few minutes. The coroner's jury censured Wal- lace for gross negligence. Mr. Bogart was buried next day with Masonic hon- ors. Wallace claimed, a few days afterward, in a published statement, that the building was ordinarily secure, and that the accident was due to a high wind prevailing at the time.
Within a few weeks after this tragic event, a stranger victimized Townsend & Knapp out of some $1,600 in cash by means of a forged draft, and N. Mc- Clellan, a grain buyer at Cedar Falls, disappeared, having obtained of Mr. Case, of Cedar Falls, about $1,400 on a railroad receipt. He also obtained $1,000 from Richmond & Jackson, of Dubuque.
John Garrison, who settled at Cedar Falls in 1852, died Jan. 18, 1865, at the advanced age of nearly 93 years. Mr. Garrison was a native of New Jer- sey. Mr. Garrison's life was an adventurous and busy one, and most of it was spent in the ever-shifting Western frontiers. Mr. G. became a Free Mason in Ohio in 1812, and while living in Detroit was one of the petitioners for the Grand Lodge of Michigan, of which Lewis Cass was first Grand Master. He was a charter member, and the first W. M. of Black Hawk Lodge, which body
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followed his remains to their last resting-place, the funeral sermon being preached by Rev. John Bowman.
Miss McGarvey was drowned in Dry Run, near Cedar Falls, March 19, 1865, by being precipitated from a falling bridge.
W. W. Stanton, of Cedar Falls, employed as a fireman on the Dubuque & Sioux City Road, was injured by the locomotive being thrown from the track near Farley, April 30, 1865, from the effects of which he died next day.
June 27, 1865, is remembered for the heavy rain that fell during the night, by which great damage was done to crops, fences, etc. The track of the Du- buque & Sioux City Road was washed out in many places between Dyersville and New Hartford, and the telegraph line broken badly. No mail was received at Cedar Falls from the East till the following Wednesday, which was carried through on wagons under charge of N. C. Deering, then Special Agent of the Post Office Department. It was over three weeks before the damage done to the railway track was repaired and trains began running.
ORPHANS' HOME AT CEDAR FALLS.
On pages 199-200, will be found a brief account of the origin of the Or- phans' Home Association. The following paragraph will show that the people of Cedar Falls, very early in the existence of the Association, had earned for themselves a very high place in the regard of the officers of the Association.
Nov. 7, 1864, at a meeting of the people of Cedar Falls, addressed by Rev. P. P. Ingalls, agent for the "Iowa State Orphan Asylum," about twenty soldiers' orphans were called out one by one, and some one in the audience re- quested to pay for a life membership in the child's behalf. Five hundred and twenty dollars was pledged on the spot. Before adjourning, an auxiliary so- ciety was formed, with Rev. C. Waterbury, President ; Revs. A. G. Eberhart, L. B. Fifield, R. Norton, - Bernner, Vice Presidents ; G. M. Harris, Treas- urer : H. A. Perkins, Secretary.
At a meeting at the Orphan's Home Association, held at Des Moines, June 7, 1865, the committee to whom had been referred the question of establishing another temporary Home, expressed the opinion that it should be located in the northern, or at least the central, part of the State. They further said :
We recommend that the selection of such Home shall be referred to a committee of five, whose duty it shall be to visit in person the several locations asking the establishment, or where, in their opinion, a suitable building can be obtained, and make a careful examination thereof : that they have power to take, receive and conclude contracts or bargains with individuals or as- sociations representing the several localities, with the view of receiving and realizing for the bene- fit of the Association, as large an amount in donations or subscriptions as possible ; and that after making such examinations, receiving such propositions and making such contracts, they be authorized and empowered to make the location, with full power to conclude all contracts and agreements, subject, however, to the approval and satisfaction of the Board of Trustees, or a ma- jority of those present at any meeting called for that purpose. We recommend that this committee shall proceed to act as promptly and as speedily as possible, so as to secure at an early day the advantages of another Home.
The recommendation was adopted, and Hon. Ralph P. Lowe, Hon. John A. Parvin, Hon. John A. Elliott, Mrs. M. W. Porter and Mrs. H. E. J. Board- man were appointed a committee to carry out the resolution.
Meantime, the people of Cedar Falls were actively laboring to secure its location here ; and, shortly after being advised of the above action by the Associ- ation, a committee was appointed, consisting of Dr. S. N. Pierce, A. Morrison and S. A. Bishop, to solicit funds for the purpose of erecting a suitable build- ing for the new Home. The committee visited Cedar Falls late in July, and, finding the community all alive for the project, resolved to recommend that the
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new Orphans' Home be located here. In their report, the committee say, among other things :
We found here a building that had been used for a hotel, situated in the outer lines of the town, sufficiently capacious to accommodate the officers of the Home and some eighty-five orphans, beside the kitchen and dining room and one other room sufficiently large, perhaps, to afford instruction to fifty pupils. In addition to this, there are, on an adjoining lot, a frame building, which would answer for a wash house, and a brick tenement of twelve rooms, which would accommodate, comfortably, forty orphans, both of which, it is understood, could be made available for the use of the Home. To obtain immediate possession and use of the hotel build- ing specified, some four or five hundred dollars would have to be advanced to a party or parties in possession claiming some interest in the same. The amount the citizens of the town propose to pay. Before it could be occupied as a Home, considerable repair would have to be made and some changes in the removal and enlargement of the stable, and some other improvements. amounting to, say, $500, more or less. This amount the lessor, who is a non-resident, would allow to be deducted from the first rents, which would be $300 the first year and $450 per annum thereafter This expenditure for repairs the citizens of the place will advance in the first instance, until they can be reimbursed out of the rents paid.
In connection with this Home, forty or eighty acres of cultivated land may be had, front half to one mile distant, at the customary rent, for the nse thereof. Should more school room be required than can be furnished by the building in question, it is understood that the basement of the Presbyterian Church, which is close by, can be had for that purpose. Commissary sup- plies and provender for stock may be had in abundance, and as cheaply, perhaps, as in any other portion of the State.
In other respects, the location is an eligible one, accessible, perhaps, as any other one point can be for the orphans in the northern portion of the State, situated in the midst of a kind peo- ple and surrounded by good moral and religious opportunities and advantages. It is proper to state that the rent of the brick and frame buildings spoken of on the adjoining lot will be from $225 to $250, and that it was supposed that the rent of the land would be about $2 per acre, making the rent of forty acres and all the buildings spoken of about $675 to $700 per annum.
The Association accepted the proffer of the people of Cedar Falls, and, by resolution, proceeded to fit up the building for use early in September, which was duly accomplished.
The first officers and employes of the Orphans' Home were: Arthur Mor- rison, Superintendent ; Mrs. E. G. Platt, Matron ; Dr. S. N. Pierce, Surgeon ; Mrs. E. L. Yokoner, Nurse ; John H. Rownd, Steward ; Mrs. Sarah H. Wells, Miss H. J. Blodgett, Teachers ; Miss M. Cates, Miss Nellie Mead, Mrs. Rachel Jairdine, Seamstress ; Mrs. John H. Rownd, Chief Cook.
Lizzie Ward, aged 6 years, was the first inmate to die at the Home, May 23, 1866.
Frank Case, an insurance agent, settled in Cedar Falls in 1864, and during. the following Summer married an estimable young lady of the place. In July, 1865, it was ascertained that Case was an unprincipled scoundrel, the young lady he had just married being his tenth wife. Case was accordingly arrested on the complaint of the young woman's father, and was committed for the crime of bigamy on the 10th of August. The same night he put an end to his worse than worthless life by hanging himself.
In November, 1865, work was resumed on the unfinished school building. The Board had been fearful that if they voted the tax necessary to complete it in proper shape, they would thereby become personally liable in case any tax- payer saw fit to contest the matter. To obviate this contingency an indemnify- ing bond was signed by fifty citizens in the sum of $3,000.
Nov. 30, 1865, a package of $1,250 was stolen from the office of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad at Cedar Falls, which had been got ready to send on the train going cast.
Dr. H. H. Meredith, who settled at Cedar Falls in 1853, died of cancer Dec. 28, 1865, at the age of 48 years. He was buried with Masonic honors the following day.
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
The school house was dedicated to the work of education Jan. 5, 1866, with addresses by Prof. A. S. Kissell, of Chicago, Revs. L. B. Fifield, Eber- hart. True and Kinney. The building, completed and furnished, cost not far from $23,000. The corps of instructors installed in the building were: G. A. Graves, Principal ; Miss J. H. Harris, Assistant ; Miss S. V. Harlacher, First Primary : Miss E. A. Moulton, Second Primary ; Miss K. C. Goodenow, First Intermediate ; Miss S. E. Miller, Second Intermediate.
The Cedar Falls Starch Manufactory was incorporated about April 1, 1866, with Jacob Cole as President : J. M. Overman, Vice President ; J. M. Benja- min, Treasurer ; H. C. Hunt, Secretary ; A. G. Thompson, E. Townsend, Geo. A. Baker, W. S. Garrison, Jesse Cooper, Directors.
A determined effort was made by the people of Cedar Falls to suppress the traffic in intoxicating liquors in March, 1866. Soon afterward, three barns, belonging to Messrs. Barnum. May and Wilson respectively, were set on fire and destroyed, and the prevalent opinion was that they had been fired by some one among the prosecuted saloon keepers.
The building of a woolen factory at Cedar Falls was first projected in 1863. A Mr. Blasburg visited the town and made arrangements with J. M. Overman & Co. to erect the building, and he would put in the machinery and lease the building. The scheme fell through at that time: but in 1865, M. Collins & Co. began the erection of the Cedar Falls Woolen Mill, and had it completed in June, 1866.
The high water in August, 1866, washed out the supports of the old bridge and one of the spans fell with its own weight into the water below.
A re-union of the veteran soldiers of Cedar Falls and vicinity was held Dec. 21, 1866, under the auspices of Post No. 38, Grand Army of the Republic. The address was given by Gen. M. M. Trumbull, of Waterloo.
A little boy, son of Dr. S. N. Pierce, of Cedar Falls, was drowned in the Cedar Feb. 5. 1867, by falling through a hole in the ice. His body was found near the woolen mill next day.
John Callen, who resided six miles south of Cedar Falls, started for home in the storm of March 12, 1867, leaving Cedar Falls in the evening. He was found three days afterward about half a mile from home, having per- ished with the cold. He had fastened the driving lines so tightly to the sled stakes that the horses were unable to move, one of them having its feet badly frozen.
July 16, 1867, a destructive fire occurred at Cedar Falls, caused, it was believed, by the explosion of a lamp in T. Hazlett's store. Several buildings were destroyed. Immediately after the fire, a call was made for a public meet- ing for the purpose of organizing a fire company.
The meeting was held on the 23d, at which time eighty-five citizens enrolled themselves into a company, and the meeting by resolution requested the City Council to pass an ordinance governing the newly created organization.
The death of Mrs. Peter Melendy occurred Aug. 6, 1867. This lady was a most excellent wife and mother, beloved by a large circle of friends, among whom she had lived so many years.
Asa Southwell, who had resided in Cedar Falls about four months, was arrested by officers from Detroit, Mich., February 27, 1868, for complicity in manufacturing counterfeit money. A considerable sum in two and ten dollar bills, all counterfeit, was found with his wife.
Another fire occurred March 19, 1868, the total loss being $3,500. The organization of the fire company, several months before, had proved abortive.
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
A Normal Musical Institute was held at Cedar Falls, beginning on Monday, October 19, 1868, and continuing three weeks. The Instructors were : J. W. Suffern, of Chicago, I. H. Bunn, of Cedar Falls, and Miss Pitkin, of Cleve- land, Ohio. The exercises closed with a concert, at the M. E. Church, on the evening of November 6th.
The organization of the Musical Association of Cedar Falls was effected during the Institute, with S. C. Cotton as President; A. L. Nichols, Vice President ; H. C. Hunt, Treasurer ; H. F. Adams, Secretary; I. H. Bunn, Conductor ; A. G. Chapin, Assistant Conductor. About fifty persons enrolled themselves as members.
The Musical Convention in November, 1869, was attended by over two hun- dred and fifty persons, guests being present from several neighboring counties. Prof. George F. Root, of Chicago, officiated as Conductor, assisted by Prof. Matthews. The receipts, after paying expenses, were over $300.
A son of Mrs. Stephen Kellogg, living at Cedar Falls Junction, was killed at Janesville, November 1, 1870. In company with two other boys, he had left home, and was riding north on the train. At Janesville, the boys had got off, and when the train started, young Kellogg attempted to jump upon the tend- er, but fell, and one arm and leg were severed by the wheels.
Cedar Falls Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, was formed in November, 1870. The first officers were: Peter Melendy, Master ; R. P. Spear, Lect- urer ; E. Murdock, Overseer ; Josiah Thompson, Steward ; J. Bradley, Assist- ant Steward ; C. W. Snyder, Secretary ; L. O. Howland, Treasurer; F. N. Chase, Gate Keeper.
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