The history of Clinton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns &c., biographical sketches of citizens, Part 48

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western historical company
Number of Pages: 812

USA > Iowa > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns &c., biographical sketches of citizens > Part 48

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To quote from the report of 1879, of the Board of Supervisors :

" The Board are happy to say that the financial standing of Clinton County is one of the best in State of Iowa, and we hope it will always continue so. Clinton County has been fortunate in not issuing any railroad-aid bonds like many other counties, creating a heavy load for their citizens to carry ; yet Clinton County has more miles of railroad than any other county in the State of Iowa. Neither have the people of Clinton County burdened themselves with debt by building a great, unwieldy, cumbersome Court House, and, although our present Court House is not a very permanent structure, yet it is more con- venient for the transaction of business than some more expensive ones ; and, since the fire-proof vault was constructed, the past year, the more important records of the county are safe. And, should the people of Clinton County come to the conclusion to build a new Court House, at the present prices of labor and material, they could build a better Court House and a handsomer one for $30,000 than any $100,000 Court House there is in the State, if the money is honestly and judiciously handled; and the county being possessed of 2,773 acres of land in other counties, this land might be sold for enough, or nearly enough, to build a Court House, without costing the taxpayers one cent. The county has a block in Clinton City of six acres, for county buildings ; the Poor Farm consists of 240 acres, the property of the county, and the county has 40 acres of land near De Witt, which it had to take on the foreclosure of a school mortgage."

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

The following sketch was furnished by one who was personally engaged with others in operating the underground railroad through Clinton County :

At the present time, hundreds of our intelligent citizens are ignorant of the significance or meaning of the term prefixed to this chapter. It is a strange thing, indeed, where subjects of interesting and thrilling narrative are so much in demand as at the present, that the history of the underground railroad remains yet to be fully recorded. The incidents connected therewith, and the results ultimately accruing from the operation of that secret yet power- ful organization, so closely interwoven with the vital interests of universal liberty in America, surely furnish a rich field in which to delve for genuine material with which to adorn the historic page. To thrill the heart and quicken the pulse of the eager student of the grand progressive movement of human liberty in the past, hairbreadth escapes, perilous journeys by land and water, incredible human sufferings, and all the various phases of misery incidental to an outraged and downtrodden people fleeing from an unjust bondage, are not wanting to form at once one of the most interesting chapters of a nation's history.

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

At the time of which we write, embracing several years previous to the breaking-out of our civil war, a sad and disgraceful state of affairs prevailed with respect to the question of human slavery in the South. It was truly said by a celebrated writer of that time, that " the pulpit is muzzled, it cannot speak; the press is fettered, it cannot move; the right arm of the law is manacled, it cannot stretch forth to maintain its own authority and supremacy !" From the pulpit came no warning note of impending national danger, or words of sympathy for the flying fugitive. The boasted free press of the North avoided the antislavery question and the underground railroad as unclean things, and branded their advocates and adherents as wild fanatics and dan- gerous agitators. Notwithstanding this disheartening condition of affairs, the managers of the underground railroad, in the meantime, conscious of the justice and nobility of their aims and objects, and regardless of the obloquy and social ostracism leveled at them by even those who should have been their friends, continued to pursue the very uneven tenor of their way ; enduring abuse, vituperation and shame, besides subjecting themselves to the liability of hav- ing a heavy fine and imprisonment imposed upon them by an unjust law, in order that the higher law of love and mercy might be practiced and maintained, and that their enslaved fellows might be enabled to realize, though in a distant country, that liberty which they themselves enjoyed.

In order to show the condition of public sentiment with regard to the anti- slavery question in Clinton County, as elsewhere, the following incident will speak for itself. Mr. A. T. Foss, agent of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, came to this county for the purpose of delivering a series of lectures, circulating antislavery tracts, papers, etc., and to create a better feeling for the cause in which he was engaged. After having lectured several times in Clinton, under, we are sorry to say, very discouraging circumstances, it was decided by the friends here that he should deliver one lecture in the thriving little town of Camanche, in hopes that a little antislavery leaven buried there might, perchance, lcaven the whole Clinton County lump. Handbills were accordingly struck off and posted, and the Baptist Church there engaged for the meeting. After all necessary preparations had been perfected, Mr. Foss accompanied by Mr. Andrew Bather, a resident of Clinton, proceeded in a buggy hired for the occasion to that enterprising burg. Upon arriving, their astonishment and chagrin may be imagined when, although fully time for the commencement of the lecture, not a light was visible in the church or any signs of any one about the door who cared particularly about seeing one. Of course the sexton was immediately interviewed but with indifferent results, as he told them he didn't intend to open and light the church for a d-d Abolition lecture, not if he knew himself, and he rather thought he did. Somewhat dis- heartened, they proceeded to the hotel in hopes of finding parties there willing to assist in procuring a room and an audience to listen to the lecture. Their reception was decidedly warm-warmer in fact, than was at all comfortable. No sooner was the object of their visit made known than threats of personal violence were freely made, and a good deal of loud and angry talk indulged in at the expense of our two reformers. Judging from the burden of the uproar, tar and feathers seemed to be very important commodities in Camanche just then. As might be expected, our heroes "stood not on the order of their going," but went, glad to escape with a whole skin and unbroken bones.

Among the inhabitants of Clinton County, but very few were found willing to engage in the dangerous work of assisting in operating the underground rail- road. Some there were who favored the idea of immediate and unconditional

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

emancipation, and aided, by pecuniary means, in keeping the rolling-stock in motion : but few, very few indeed could be found with the disposition or the necessary courage to stand by the throttle or conduct the trains. Of the latter class, we recognize as the principal agent in the work, not only in the State of Iowa, but in every locality where their co-operation could be of any avail, the Quakers, or Society of Friends, one community of which sect was located near West Branch, Cedar Co., Iowa. Agents from this number were constantly on the alert, principally operating in the State of Missouri, running off, as opportunity offered, all the fugitive slaves they could find into this State. Such were picked up by one section of the road at De Witt, pushed through, chiefly at night, to Low Moor, thence to Clinton, at which place they were generally kept for a few days, to rest and refresh themselves, then taken across the river in a skiff, and afterward transported in a wagon to Union Grove, Whiteside Co., Ill. From the latter place, they were conducted by similar stages, until Lake Michigan was reached, where, at several ports, agents of the underground took charge of and secreted them until a friendly sailing-master appeared to take the weary fugitive on his last stage to a land of liberty.

The following is a partial list of the names of parties engaged on the "underground" in Clinton County : In De Witt, Capt. Burdette, Judge Graham and Mrs. J. D. Stillman ; in Low Moor, George W. Weston, Abel B. Gleason, B. R. Palmer, J. B. Jones, Lawrence Mix and Nelson Olin ; in Clin- ton, C. B. Campbell, Andrew Bather, J. R. Bather, G. W. Brindell, W. B. Star, T. Savage and H. Leslie. C. B. Campbell, of Clinton, George W. Weston, of Low Moor, and Capt. Burdette and Judge Graham, of De Witt. were, in reality, the prime movers in the enterprise of aiding and assisting, and helping forward such fugitives as were passed over the line. On them devolved the responsibility of having agents promptly at their posts, and of warning such of approaching danger, of procuring the necessary funds, conducting the cor- respondence, etc.

The following is a sample of the average correspondence :

Mr. C. B. C .: Low MOOR, May 6, 1859.

DEAR SIR-By to-morrow evening's mail. you will receive two volumes of the " Irrepressible Conflict," bound in black. After perusal, please forward, and oblige Yours truly, G. W. W.

By the peculiar wording of the correspondence, the receiver of the same obtained a pretty correct idea not only of the number of fugitive slaves coming on the line, but also, very frequently, the age, sex and complexion of the same.

The slaves were generally carried from one station to another in the night- time, dark, cloudy nights being preferred-stations being from ten to fifteen miles apart. Some of the hunted race that passed through this county, how- ever, were so white as to require but little necessity for secrecy or concealment; such were easily cared for, and proceeded on their journey without much trouble. In one instance, two, a man and his wife, were being concealed in Mr. Bather's garret. A message was received from De Witt that the slave catchers were in hot pursuit. That garret being rather a suspected place in Clinton, in the eyes of the United States Marshal, it was thought advisable to have a "flitting " as soon as possible. Mr. Andrew Bather accordingly procured a covered family carriage, belonging to Mr. H. P. Stanley, and conveyed them to Lyons, pre- ceded by Mr. C. B. Campbell, who, in the meantime, had hired a skiff at a rather stiff price, and took them across the river. This was on Sunday forenoon, and the river full of ice. The woman had such a fair complexion that she could and did with perfect impunity represent herself as a free person and the owner

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

of her own husband. Their passage over the river was a slow, tedious and very dangerous one on account of the moving ice, but they finally succeeded in reach- ing the other side in safety. Did the limits of the chapter permit, many sim- ilar instances might be described as having actually occurred.

In the city of Clinton, within a stone's-throw of the U. S. Marshal's res- idence, time and again were fugitive slaves concealed for days together. In the garret of a small frame building. near the corner of Sixth avenue and Second street, the residence at that time of C. B. Campbell, frequently were secreted large numbers of passengers by the underground railroad, waiting eagerly and nervously for the starting of the next train. Sometimes. for a change, they were kept for a few days in a cave used as a kind of cellar, in the garden belonging to J. R. & A. Bather, or in the garret of their house. Occa- sionally, the friends of the " underground " would mcet by appointment at the home of Mr. Campbell, or some other rendezvous where the " chattels" were stored and waiting a favorable opportunity for shipment, to listen to their sad and eventful experiences-the manner of their escape, the sufferings they endured previous to striking the underground railroad, and to infuse new zeal and courage into their ofttimes sinking hearts against the trials and dangers, suffering and fatigue yet in store for them ere the end of their toilsome journey should be reached. Many a sympathetic tear was shed by the friends of the Anti-slavery cause on occasions like these-occasions which but added fresh fiel to the fire of liberty burning steadily in their hearts.

Among the last of the fugitives that passed through Clinton County, just before the war broke out, was a party which consisted of nine persons in all, comprising a man and his wife and their four children and three men. Twice, already, had the first-mentioned member of the little band made the attempt to free the wife he loved, and been unsuccessful. IIis third attempt had been suc- cessful to this point, and, judging from the determined air he wore, and the fact that he was thoroughly armed, the officials of the underground railroad thought that it would be rather an unhealthy piece of business for any one to attempt to hinder him on the balance of his journey. After a very brief sojourn in Clinton, the entire party were safely ferried over the Mississippi and carried on their way rejoicing.

This is, of course, but a brief outline of the history of the underground railroad in Clinton County. Enough, however, we hope, may be gleaned from its perusal to give the reader some idea of its character and operations. Some of its stockholders have passed over to the other side, the rolling-stock and fixtures have long since disappeared. Only one tie remains-the historic tie which binds the past to the present.

OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.

While attending a camp-meeting at Camanche, in the summer of 1868, Mrs. Jane Vincent Wilkes, a daughter of " Father Vincent," of whom much mention has been made in this work, and Mrs. John R. Pearce, who was Miss Hannah Ferguson, and who came here with the Hess family, met each other and talked over the "old times." Before separating, they resolved to make an effort for the re-union of the " old settlers." Mrs. Wilkes soon wrote the following poetical call, which was published in the Clinton Herald of August 22, and in response to which the formal call was made :

THE PIONEERS.

" More than forty years have passed away Since first we came to Iowa. For the broad prairies, where we might roam, We left our kindred and Eastern home,

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

And made us farms on the prairie land, Where sod had never been turned by man. Far away it was from the civilized town, On the banks of the river of great renown- The broad Mississippi washed its shore, The red man was leaving, to return no more ; 'Twas beautiful ! Seem'd like a garden then, Waiting the plow of the first white men.

For many a mile no house was seen,

Only the waving grass so green- No wonder the Indian, when acting as guide To the first white man, who came to spy What beautiful land had this red race, Cried ' Iowa ! lowa ! This is the place ! '- The white man's soul its beauty had touched- Answered the Indian with, " none-such, none-such."

" The slow, plodding oxen were ' horses ' then, When they went anywhere, those women and men ; And when they would thresh out the wheat, The oxen did it with their feet. The grist was ground so far away That often it took more than a night and a day. When the time came 'round to hear the preaching, 'Twas the oxen they ' haw'd ' and ' gee'd' to the meeting. In the quaint old days of an older time, They worshiped God with a reverent mind. No schoolhouse or church had these folks then, Only the cabins of the pioneer men.

" Little by little they grew more strong ; The schoolhouse was made, where to teach the young. And proud were they when the brick was built, For it cost them denials; but the good was felt. There, many a prayer and word for God Was breathed by those now 'neath the sod. But some we know are living yet, Whose lives are good we can't forget.

" But time has made great change since then. There are plenty of homes and women and men, Houses and barns, bushes and trees, Now cover the ground where the grass waved free. The prairie is dotted all over with farms, While the grass and all its flowery charms Make way for the farmer to grow his bread, Where once the cattle and horses fed. They plow while sitting, three horses in team ; Some try to plow and thresh by steam ; They travel by railroad all through the land, Where once it was hard to go with a span.

" Yes, time has made a change since then ! There's some of them left, those pioneer men ; Not many years will pass along, Before that generation will be gone, They were straight. and strong thirty years ago, Old people then we did not know ; But now the soul's house needs a deal of propping, The windows are dim, the roof needs thatching, The uprights totter and tremble around, A little more shaking and the house comes down.

" And now, before the last roll-call Shall take some away, make an effort all Who used to be neighbors for many years, To have a re-union of the Old Pioneers. There are some in Lyons, Clinton, Camanche, Living in city, town and ranche,

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

Who would all be glad to meet once more, Before they leave for Eternity's shore : To see the face and shake by the hand Those we knew as the pioneer band.

" Friends, we've performed our promise to you, Wrote in the paper ; now what will you do? Be quick, set the time, the place, we ask, For the warm sun weather will soon be passed."

The first formal gathering of the early settlers of Clinton County was held on the beautiful bluff at the head of Second avenue, west of Clinton, Thurs- day, September 19, 1878, and was attended by a large number of the pioneers, who. as they contrasted the scene at their feet with the same view when they first beheld it, must have experienced emotions too deep for ordinary words, and recollections not easy for the younger portion of the community to realize. Before 10 A. M., they began gathering, their carriages contrasting no less than the surrounding with those of the time when they located in the county. By 11:30, when the exercises began, there were on the grounds several hundred people, mostly Territorial residents of the county and their descendants. A speaker's stand and seats, swings, refreshments and other adjuncts of a real old- fashioned pienie were provided.

The assembly was called to order by Mr. Daniel Hess, President of the day, who introduced Rev. J. N. Seeley, one of the oldest settlers, who made a most excellent and fervent prayer, thanking the Father for this happy occasion and for all the blessings that have come to the community through civilization, and hoping that all present might so live as to arrive at full Christian fruition, and, like the golden sheaf, ripe in the season, be finally gathered to an eternal home of bliss.

Remarks were made by J. D. Bourne, Esq., of De Witt, who said he first passed along the Mississippi River on a pony in 1832, when there was not a house from Rock Island to Savannah. He related an amusing incident of how he and a party stopped at a log house on an island in Rock River and tarried all night, and how, after most of the inmates had gone to bed in the loft, the floor gave way, precipitating the gentlemen to the lower room, and when a light was struck none were found in a very presentable array, except a young couple who had been "sparking" in a corner of the room. (Laughter.) There were more people now present than could have been gathered together in two weeks in Territorial times. He thought the "young people" a little too fast, and that economy is what is now needed. The speaker had served eight years for Sheriff for $300, and done for $400 at the Recorder's office what the county is now paying $5,000 for. He said they lived just as well then as now-when they lighted their humble home at night with candles made from the tallow of wild deer killed near by on the prairie. The speaker was then living in one of the oldest frame houses in the county. He first came into Iowa in 1833, when Dubuque consisted of a single log cabin.

Mr. Elijah Buel also made a few remarks, noting the great progress made in the county since he arrived, and the sturdy character of men of early times.

Judge Cotton, the orator of the day, spoke as follows:

PIONEER LIFE.

ADDRESS OF HON. A. R. COTTON AT THE OLD SETTLERS' PICNIC, IN CLINTON, SEPTEMBER 19, 1878.

MR. PRESIDENT, AND PIONEERS OF CLINTON COUNTY: This is the first formal meeting of the old settlers of Clinton County. We have present with us to-day the men who were the first to build a cabin, to plow a furrow, to erect a schoolhouse, or to organize a church within the limits

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of what is now Clinton County ; and we have present the women who were the first of a civilized race to pluck a flower from its beautiful prairies.

These are the men and these are the women who inaugurated the era of civilization in this land, and will ever stand at the head of that interminable succession of free and enlightened people who are to follow in the ages to come.

Little do you old settlers appreciate the important work which it has been your mission to accomplish, or the part which you have had in that grand transformation which has changed what, for unknown centuries, had been the land of the savage to that which is to be, during all future time, the abode of civilized man.

It was Bishop Berkeley, of England, a great friend to America, who, almost a century and a half ago, wrote those memorable lines ;

" Westward the course of empire takes its way ; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; Time's noblest offspring is the last.

" In happy climes, where from the genial sun And virgin earth such scenes ensue, The force of art by nature seems outdone, And fancied beauties, by the true.

" There shall be sung another golden age, The rise of empire and of arts, The good and great inspiring epic rage, The wisest heads and noblest hearts."

You led the van in this westward march of Empire, and joined in laying the foundations of a new State. You came intent on securing a home and independence, whatever hardships and privations that might involve. And now, away down in Time's course, in the year 1878, at a long distance in the journey of life from the point at which you set out on your pioneer career, you have to look back over what once seemed a rugged, but now appears but a pleasant path in life's journey, to talk over the events that occurred by the way, and to read the names of those who were your early comrades, but are with you no more.

I have thought on this occasion it would not be inappropriate to give something of a history of Clinton County.

Iowa is embraced in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase, which was acquired from France under treaty with Napoleon, in 1803.

On the 12th day of June, 1838, Congress passed an act, which took effect July 3, 1838, creating the Territorial Government of lowa.

January 11, 1840, the Territorial Legislature enacted a law organizing the county of Clinton, the county to be established from aud after the 1st day of March, 1840, and making ('amanche the seat of justice, at which place the first term of the United States District Court in Clinton County was begun, October 12, 1840, with the IIon. Thomas S. Williams as Judge; James D. Bourne. Sheriff; and Martin Dunning, Clerk. Judge Wilson continues to reside at Dubuque and is still engaged in the active practice of the law, and Mr. Bourne, whose home is in De Witt, is hale and youthful, and is on the grounds with us to-day. Martin Dunning died at Camanche a few years since.

The first trial was October 14, 1840. of an appeal case, in which John Thomas was plaintiff and John Eldred defendant ; and the twelve good and lawful men who composed the jury were William H. Onley, John Sloan, Philip Deeds, Nathaniel Barber, William Pearsoll, Reuben Root, Daniel Hess, Robert Aikman. Stephen Tripp, Charles E. Langford, Francis F. Ketchum and Stephen Briggs, who found a verdict of $5.25 for the appellee, but the record does not disclose, without an examination of the files in the case, who was the appellee and the winning man.

The second jury trial did not occur until April 14, 1841, which was between James W. Kirtley and George W. H. Turner, and before a jury consisting of M. A. Harrington, R. R. Ben- edict, John Peck, Seth Lunn, William Welch, Robert Thomas, Simeon Gardner, William D. Follett, Charles Bovard, Absolam Dennis, Robert Aikman and Amos Holoway ; and the verdict was an improvement in size on that at the first trial, having been for $7.35 for the plaintiff, Kirtley.

The grand jury empaneled at the organization of the court. October 12, 1840, to inquire of public offenses committed in the county of Clinton, embraced James Clayborn, Richard Craw- shaw, Robert Thomas, Shubael Coy, Benjamin Baker, Otis Benedict, Richard H. Dawson, Eldred Beard, Henry Strickler, Robert C. Bourne, Alanson Dickerman, Arthur Smith, Samuel N. Bed- ford, George W. Harlan, John Welsh, Absalom Dennis, John C. Holbrook, Simeon Gardiner and Ralph R. Benedict, with Richard H. Dawson, Foreman.

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The history of Clinton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns &c., biographical sketches of citizens, Part 48

Author: Western Historical Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Western historical company Number of Pages: 812

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western historical company
Number of Pages: 812