USA > Iowa > Cedar County > The history of Cedar County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. : a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92
" Enos Nyce, a native of Ross County, Ohio, with his wife and two children, came to the county about the 20th day of May, 1836. He built and occupied a cabin on the northwest quarter of Section 32, Township 79, Range 2, known for years as the Billopp place, afterward as the Ira Bond farm, and now owned by the Widow Drake. Mr. Nyce sold his claim to Luke Billopp, in the Fall of 1836, and removed to the west side of Cedar River, near the west branch of the Wapsinonock, where he died in the Fall of 1840. His widow and family are still residents of the place.
" David W. Walton, familiarly known as Col. Walton, from his having been appointed to the command of a regiment in the Territorial militia by Gov. Dodge, of Wisconsin Territory, was a native of New Jersey, and, possessing great mechanical ingenuity, superadded to his practical skill as a blacksmith, he gradually accumulated a small capital of several thousand dollars and removed to Pike County, Ohio, where he embarked in milling operations, and, after remaining there a few years, and not meeting with the success he had anticipated, he again removed with his family to Tippecanoe County, Ind. He lived there several years, until, having heard of the richness and fertility of the " Black Hawk Purchase," he determined to ascertain the truth or falsity of the statement by personal examination. Accordingly, in the Summer of 1835,* he, with his son George, made an exploring trip to Iowa, crossing the Missis- sippi River at Clark's Ferry, and, after having traveled over and examined a considerable portion of what afterward became Cedar County, made choice of a
* A son of Col. Walton, who still lives in the old neighborhood, says that, in the Sunner of 1835, his father had removed a son-in-law from Tippecanoe County, Ind., to Muscatine County, not far from the Cedar County line. Col. Walton was accompanied on that trip by one of his older sons. The country presented such a grand appearance that the Colonel determined to make it his future home, and, with this resolution, he selected a claim, built a cabin, broke some of the prairie sod, and then returned to Indiana to winter. The following May, he returned with the family, coming by ox wagons, and bringing cows, hogs, etc., sufficient to stock his claim and provide milk, butter, meat, etc., for the family. To Mrs. Walton, therefore, belongs the credit of cooking the first meal ever cooked by a white woman in Cedar County, then a part of Dubugne. During that season (1836), the Waltons broke and put under cultivation one hundred acres of land. The ground broken in the Fall of 1835 was planted to corn, as was also some of the ground plowed immediately after their arrival. They also sowed some Spring wheat, which was harvested and threshed. The Waltons, therefore, are entitled to the honor of preparing the ground, planting, sowing, harvesting and garnering the first crops grown in the county.
314
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
location near the small stream, to which he gave the name of Sugar Creek, from the orchard of sugar maples he had discovered on its banks, some two or three miles south of the place he had concluded to make his home.
" Here he staked out two claims, on what is now the south half of Section 15, Township 79, Range 2, erected a log cabin and commenced making improvements, perfectly satisfied with this new region, where an abundant supply of game was so readily procured by his unerring rifle, until the approach of cold weather warned him that it would be rather lonesome to remain there during the long, dreary Winter months, and he concluded to go back to Indiana and remain until Spring.
" As soon as the roads were practicable for travel, the Colonel, with liis family, consisting of his wife, five sons and two daughters, returned to Cedar County, amply provided with all the necessaries and essentials requisite for frontier life, including, among other things, an excellent "breaking team," consisting of four yoke of fine-looking, strong and heavy cattle. They crossed the Mississippi River, at Rockingham, on the 1st day of May, 1836, and arrived safely at the well-known place he had selected the previous year and commenced his actual and permanent settlement on the 10th day of May, 1836, thus entitling him to the honor of being the first settler in Cedar County.
" Col. Walton was a good specimen of the hardy Western pioneer ; rough and outspoken in his language, but honest and straightforward in all his dcal- ings, he won the esteem and confidence of all who knew him; and being an ardent Whig, as well as a strong Tipton man, was elected by that party, at the exciting contest of 1841, to the somewhat important office of Judge of Pro- bate.
" As characteristic of his intense hatred of fraud or injustice, the following anecdote is told : It is said that in the settlement of the estate of a person named Shepherd, the son of the deceased-an idle, profligate fellow, who was never known to have donc a day's work in his life-filed in a bill for work and labor, amounting to some $150. When this claim was presented to our worthy Judge to be probated, he sent for the prodigal son, and having had him placed con- spicuously before him, in open court, addressed him as follows : 'Adam, I have carefully examined your claims. I want you to understand that I am placed here. as it were, a judge between the living and the dead. I have made up my mind that your bill is a devilish outrage, and I'll be d-d if I'll allow it.'
" The justice of this somewhat unique decision was never questioned ; but it is said that Dr. Bissell, who was then Acting Clerk of the Court, did not record it in the same emphatic language in which it was given.
" A number of persons followed Col. Walton from Indiana, influenced, per- haps, by his glowing description of this new region, several of whom reached here in June.'
Commencing with David W. Walton, and assisted by a record of dates and arrivals, made in 1858 or 1859, by Nelson C. Swank, Esq., we are enabled to pretty accurately fix the arrivals for three years, 1836-7-8. Judge Tuthill has also kindly placed at our disposal a like memoranda ; and from these papers we make the following record :
ARRIVALS IN 1836.
May-On the 10th, David W. Walton and family reached their new home, the first cabin built within the territory of Cedar County, in what is now Sugar Creek Township.
315
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
June-Andrew Crawford, his daughter Phoebe, George McCoy and Stephen Toney arrived on the 10th. Crawford settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 34, in Town 80, Range 2, on the farm now owned by Andrew J. Crawford. George McCoy and Stephen Toncy at Rochester. Ben Halliday, John Halliday and Samuel Hulick came a few days later, and located in the northwest quarter of Section 34, Town 79, Range 2. llarvey Hatton settled on the northeast quarter of Section 32, Town 79, Range 2. C. C. Dodge, Abram Stebbens, Alanson Pope and Peter Crampton settled at Pioneer Grove. Stebbins is the only one of the Pioneer Grove colony remaining in the county.
July-Robert G. Roberts, his wife and six children, settled in the neigh- borhood of the farm now owned by Henry arrived at his present residence on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 32, Town 80, Range 2, on the 5th, having crossed the Mississippi River on the 4th. On the 7th, Aaron Porter, wife and six children, settled on the southeast quarter of Section 7, Town 79, Range 2. James Poston arrived on the 8th, and set- tled in Poston's Grove, in the southeast quarter of Section 1, Town 80, Range 1. William Baker settled on the northwest quarter of Section 18, Town 79. Range 2.
August-Joseph Olds settled on the northeast quarter of Section 32, Town 81, Range 3. John Jones and John Barr (his step-son) settled in the southeast quarter of Section 35, Town 81, Range 3. The Sterrett family, consisting of the mother (generally known among the settlers as " Granny " Sterrett) and three sons, Robert, William and Hector, the last two of whom were married, settled in the northeast corner of Section 22, Town 79, Range 2.
October-Richard C. Knott settled on the west half of the northwest quar- ter of Section 32, Town 80, Range 2. John Roper was an unmarried man, and boarded with Knott. He located a claim on the land now covered by the farm of James T. Huddleston. David Barras, an unmarried man, came about the same time. Solomon Knott settled on the northeast quarter of Section 1, Township 80, Range 3. Reuben Long settled on the southwest quarter of Sec- tion 31, Town 81, Range 3. W. A. Rigby settled in Red Oak Grove, on the farm now owned by William Dallas. James Burnside and John Burnside set- tled in the timber land now embraced in the estates of Joseph McCrosky and P. F. Carl. James Leverich settled in the same timber. Ira Leverich settled on the farm now owned by George Zimmermaker, Sr., near Col. Hardman's. Jacob Turner is also credited to the arrivals of this month.
November-Rev. Morten Baker made a claim in the northwest quarter of Section 18, Town 79, Range 2, in May. but did not come to occupy it with his family until about the 15th of this month. John Scott came at the same time. William M. Knott, the builder of the Goose Creek schooner, "Sally Acker," made a claim of the land now covered by the city of Tipton.
December-Robert Miller occupied as a claim the farms now owned by E. C. Chrisman and Reuben Swartzlander, in Center Township.
Joshua King came in the Fall of this year. James W. Potts, Jesse Potts and Elisha Edwards are also credited to this year, but the exact date of their arrival is unknown. The Potts family settled on the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 19, Town 79, Range 2. Edwards settled in the same neigh- borhood, and became a prominent county character. James W. Tallman, II. B. Burnup and Isaac Dickey were also among the settlers of 1836. Tallman was the first Sheriff of Cedar County.
316
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
ARRIVALS IN 1837.
April-John Ferguson filed a claim on the southi half of Seetion 12, Town 81, Range 3 west-Red Oak Township. He lived on that elaim about twenty years, and then removed to his present residenee. Charles Dallassettled in Red Oak, and commenced to improve the farm now owned by John Dareus. John Safely settled on the farm he now oeeupies. William Coutts settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 14, in the same township range. He still owns the farm, but removed to his present residence, one half mile east of Tipton, in 18 -. John Chappell settled on the south half of the south half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, same town and range. He still remains a resident of the township, but the old farm is occupied by James Chappell. Charles Swetland settled in Rochester on the 3d of the month. William Mason settled on the farm now owned by the Rhodes' brothers. in Linn Township, on the same day. On the same day, George Miller settled on the farm now owned by Alexander Buchanan, also in Linn Township. John Miller settled on what was known as the Moffett farin, and adjoining the Armentrout farm. Nicholas Miller commeneed the farm now owned by Ed. Rate. Henry D. Brown, earpenter, settled at Rochester on the 24th. James Buchanan, and his brother Henry, settled on Seetion 21, Town 81, Range 4, and commeneed the farm now owned by John B. Mason in Cass Township.
May-Jackomyer Baldwin and family, 2d, settled in Mason's Grove. John Kenworthy settled on the farm now owned by Edward Rate, in Cass Township ; John Matie, in Mason's Grove. John W. and Phillip Wilkinson first came and made claims in January, but did not occupy thiem until this month. John W. settled on Section 8 and Phillip on Seetion 9, Township 80, Range 3. William Greene settled at Rochester and ereeted the first saw-mill built in the county. William Young, location unknown. Christian Holderman settled on the south- east quarter of Seetion 23, Township 80, Range 3.
June-Benjamin Fraseur and three unmarried sons, William, Jacob and George, came on the 17th ; the family settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 35, Township 81, Range 3. Dunean MeLaren came to Roch- ester on the 6th. George W. Parks settled in Mason's Grove on the 10th.
No data could be found to fix the month when the following named settlers came to east their fortunes with the Cedar County pioneers of 1836 :
Charles Warfield and his wife settled at Antwerp and boarded with James W. Tallman. Warfield & Diltz were merehants and opened the first store at Ant- werp. Peter Diltz eame at the same time. John Blaloek settled on the north- cast quarter of Section 6, Township 80, Range 3. Noah King in Seetion 7, Township 80, Range 3. William Kizer settled on the northeast quarter of Seetion 5, Township 80, Range 3, where he remained until his death, some five years ago ; his widow still oeeupies the old home. Abraham and Nicholas Kizer settled on the east half of Section 4, Township 80, Range 3. Richard Ransford settled on the southwest quarter of Seetion 5, Township 8, Range 3, and commeneed the farm now owned by Sem. Simmons. John G. and James Foy settled on the northeast quarter of Section 14, Township 80, Range 3, now known as the "Stone Mill property," and owned by Shearer and Gray. Samuel P. Higginson settled in what is now known as Bunker's Grove, and eommeneed the farm now owned by Moses Bunker, Esq. Higginson is now a resident of Wilton, Museatine County. A. L. MeLaren settled on the north- east quarter of Seetion 7, Township 80, Range 2, on the farm of Reuben Owen, and known as the Bradley farm. Samuel Yule settled in the northeast corner
317
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
of Red Oak Grove, where he continues to reside. George S. Smith commenced improving the farm now owned by Joseph Wyrick; he built a saw-mill and corn-cracker on Rock Creek, near the Widow Huber's farm. William M. Stockton and James D. Stockton werc unmarried men and made their homes with Jehu Kenworthy. John C. Higginson and John S. Sheller commenced a store in the town of Centerville, on what is now known as the Agnew farm, seven miles southeast of Tipton. Moses B. Church, the first school teacher, settled on the east half of the southcast quarter of Section 32, Township 80, Range 2 west. Joseph Wilford, Sr., and Joseph Wilford, Jr., settled on the farm now owned by William Leech, in Sugar Creek Township. John Finch settled on Section 27, Township 80, Range 2; he was killed by lightning, in Harden County, some ten or fifteen years ago. Jonathan Morgan settled on the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 80, Range 3. William H. Bolton settled on the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 19, Township 80, Range 2. Daniel Hare settled on the southeast quarter of Section 4, Township 79, Range 2, now known as the Edge farm. Milton Phelps settled on the south half of the northeast quarter of Section 29, Town- ship 79, Range 2, now known as the Jennings farm. Clement Squires settled on the land now known as the James Doty farm. in Iowa Township. William C. Long located on the south half of Section 33, Township 80, Range 3. Asa Young settled on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 17, Township 81, Range 3. Felix Freeland settled on the northcast quarter of Section 17, Township 81, Range 3, now owned and occupied by Frank Moffett. Elias Epperson settled on the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 20, Township 81, Range 3, now owned by Aaron Wisener. Callahan Dwiggins settled on the northwest quarter of Section 34, Township 81, Range 3, now owned and occupied by his son James.
Of the above named settlers of 1836 and 1837, many removed from the county ere many years had flown ; others followed from year to year, in hopes to better their conditions in other localities ; others have passed to the " shin- ing shore " of the beautiful river ; while many others still remain in the enjoy- ment of the homes their industry, endurance and enterprise fashioned and founded in the beautiful land of the Cedar.
What changes the intervening forty-two years have brought. The wild prairies of 1836 have been converted into magnificent farms-gardens of beauty, comparatively speaking. The wigwams of the Indians and log cabins of the pioneers have given place to palatial-like residences. The camping places of the Sacs, Foxes, and kindred tribes of red men, are occupied by cities, towns and villages. Zigzag trails are superseded by broad, well-kept roads ; and mag- nificent iron bridges span the rivers, where once bark canoes served to transport squaws and papooses from side to side. In nearly every part of the county, the puffing, snorting, screeching, whistling, jerking, backing, rumbling, roaring of steam locomotives, with their long, heavily-laden trains of cars, are heard in nearly every part of the county, at almost every hour of the twenty-four. Who can tell what the next forty-two years will accomplish ? The question falls echolcss.
Of the seven men who first settled in the Red Oak Grove neighborhood -John Ferguson, John Safely, John Chappel, Washington A. Rigby, William Coutts, Samucl Yule and Charles Dallas-all are still living in the county, and most of them in the same neighborhood, except Mr. Dallas, who now lives in California.
Safely, Ferguson and Dallas first crossed the Mississippi River in Septem- ber, 1836, and stopped in Muscatine County, on the borders of Cedar, to make
318
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
lay and other provisions for wintering their stock. Ont of the whole number, all fell victims to the ague but one. The women became discouraged, as well they might, for the outlook was anything but promising. A short time after their hay was stacked, a fire swept along over the prairie, and surrounded and destroyed their hay. This added to the distress already entailed, and they retreated to Knox County, Ill., where they went into Winter quarters. The distance from their pioneer Muscatine cabin to the next shelter on their line of travel, as they fled before grim-visaged want and destitution, was seventy miles. The advance winds and rains of Winter followed in their wake, met them in the front and whistled around them on all sides.
It was a dreary, cold, desolate journey, enough to discourage stoutest hearts, one would now think, and almost beyond endurance. But Scotch hearts had undertaken the journey, and earnest Scotch women and Scotch men hardly ever bow down in humble, abject submission to destitution, want or suffering. They learned lessons of bravery, endurance and fortitude from Bruce; and as he learned lessons of perseverance from a spider's struggles and trials to weave a web from wall to wall, in a barn, where he had taken refuge when overtaken by defeat and seeming disaster-so these hardy countrymen and countrywomen of his, Ferguson, Safely and Dallas, looked notupon thedarkside ; they only sought shelter and food for the Winter, determined to return when the springtime came, a determination they kept, and are now securely sheltered and protected from all the elements of time and want. In April, 1837, they returned to the country west of the Mississippi River, and, as already stated, settled at Red Oak Grove.
PIONEER INCIDENTS AND HAPPENINGS.
The settlers who came in 1836 were very great sufferers. The Winter (1836-7) was terribly severe, and one for which the settlers were illy pre- pared. Their cabins were poor protections against the wintry blasts, and there was a great deal of suffering. Many of them lost more than one-half of their stock. The ground around the cabins and prairie stables was strewn with bones, and the prospect was anything but inviting.
One incident, as showing a woman's provident care, occurred during the Winter, that deserves to be recorded : Solomon Knott and family came in the month of October, too late to provide a sufficiency of good food for their stock. There was no corn to be had anywhere west of the Mississippi River, and little hay, except what had been made at Pioneer Grove and by Col. Hardman, that could be had for love or money. Hardman, Crawford, Roberts and the others who came with them, in June and July, had made some, but only enough for their own use. No one anticipated such a Winter as fell upon them ; and, as a consequence, the pioneers and their stock were left at the mercy of the pitiless elements ; and it was with the utmost care and attention that any stock was car- ried through until Spring came. It is related of Mrs. Solomon Knott, that she took every blanket and bedquilt that could be spared from the house, and had them wrapped around her cows, to keep them from freezing to death ; and only by that means were her cows saved.
This is certainly an instance of care for poor, dumb, hungering animals, that is to the credit of Mrs. Knott, and entitles her to rank with Bergh, the Man- ager of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dumb Animals. Most housewives would not have taken up the commonest rag carpet for sucli a purpose, let alone their blankets and quilts.
319
HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
The seeds of Christianity, religion and church influences were planted when Martin Baker, already mentioned as settling two miles south of the present village of Rochester, in July, 1836. The very first Sunday after his cabin was completed, its one door was thrown open and the neighbors assembled there in a prayer meeting capacity-Mr. Baker conducting the exercises-which was the first meeting of the kind ever held in this part of the Cedar River country. And it is very questionable if songs of praise, prayer and thanksgiving were ever heard in any part of Iowa previous to that time.
But the seed sown by Mr. Baker in his humble log cabin in the late Fall of 1836 grew and ripened into the fullness of a plentiful harvest. Until then, the stillness of the central and western part of the Black Hawk Purchase had never been broken by the voice of prayer and praise, unless the songs the birds sang were offered as a tribute to the glory of the Great Architect, whose hand unfolded these rich prairies and reared their grove-covered hillsides. Since that meeting of a little band of praying pioneers, however. a population of about 23,000 has grown up in Cedar County, who
6 . -sing of God, the mighty source Of all things, the stupendous force On which all things depend ; From whose right arm, beneath whose eyes, All period, power and enterprise Commence and reign and end."
Soon after the prayer meeting referred to above, Mr. Baker commenced preaching at different points in the settlement, and in the latter part of 1836 preached regularly at Col. Hardman's and at Burnside's, the last named then occupying the place subsequently owned by William Ocheltree.
Those pioneers of 1836, as already shown, who were so unfortunate as to come too late in the season to provide comfortable cabins for homes or hay for their stock, encountered severe trials in meeting and buffeting the cinergencies of Winter. Money was scarce, provisions of all kinds were dear, and not to be had nearer than the mouth of Pine or Rockingham,* then small trading posts, Davenport being unknown. To make the situation and surroundings still more difficult, every little slough and creek between the settlements on Sugar Creek and the Mississippi were treacherous quagmires, in which wagons going for or return- ing with provisions were sure to settle with almost inextricable tenacity ; and when once in the mud, there was no alternative but to leave the wagon where it "stuck " and go to the nearest settler for help, which, it is needless to say, was always readily tendered. Sometimes the assistance of two or three additional teams of oxen were unequal to the task of removing a loaded wagon. In such cases, the goods were taken from the wagon and carried by hand to the nearest elevation : then the wagon would be " hauled out," the goods re-loaded and the journey resumed. These were the ruling circumstances of Spring and Fall travel, not only during 1836-7, but for some ycars thereafter.
The Winter of 1836-7 commenced early, the last of November snow fell to the depth of eighteen inches, and its depth increased as the Winter advanced. It did not melt away, as the people have seen it melt almost every Winter since, but shut in the settlers and almost completely interrupted neighborly intercourse until the middle of April. The snow melted away before the last-
*In the Spring of 1836, Benjamin Nye built a small mill at the junction of Pine Creek and the Mississippi River, about twelve miles above Muscatine. He also opened a store, started a blacksmith shop and made some other improve- ments, and having city aspirations, named the place Montpelier. By common usage, however, the site came to be called Month of Pine. Rockingham was a trading place on the Mississippi River, four miles below the site now occu- pied by the city of Davenport and immediately opposite the month of Rock River ( Illinois). Rockingham was " laid out" as early as 1835, and forty years ago was quite a village, and boasted the best hotel on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.