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 64
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And yet the policy of the city has not been a niggardly one, but improve- ments have been carried rapidly forward, and all that could be reasonably done in the way of those improvements necessary to the development of a rapidly increasing population was done.
533
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
With convenient city buildings, including a new jail ; with ample fire apparatus and hose houses ; with her streets and sidewalks in excellent con- dition, at the age of twenty-five years the city finds itself with a debt of only $66,022, including all bonds and floating indebtedness. Her eredit is such that her bonds, which have never been defaulted, either principal or interest, are a popular security in Eastern money centers, and are, as they become due, refunded at once at reduced rates of interest.
The total assessment of property for the city of Clinton, for the year 1879, is, on real estate, $1,112,633; and, on personal property, $318,209, a total of $1,430,842. As the method is to make the valuation upon the assessment at, according to the judgment of the assessor, one-third the actual value of the property assessed, the above assessed valuation would make the actual value of the property within the city limits over four and a quarter millions of dollars, and the total city indebtedness would only be about one and one-half per cent upon that amount.
In the above statements the indebtedness of the school district is not included, that being summarized under its appropriate head.
The corporation taxes for the year 1878, were, for corporation, $19.967.40 ; water tax, $6,405.96; a total of $26,373.36 ; to which must be added sidewalk assessments and street improvements levied upon adjoining property.
THE CLINTON INSTITUTE.
A history of Clinton City would not be complete without a notice of the " Clinton Institute," of whose doings so much is known and so much more surmised. The record of its corporators will not be given, for two reasons, the principal one of which is that it is a thing that "no feller can find out ;" and, secondly, the compiler has an eye to his personal safety. Some matters have, however, become history, and these are proper for such a work as this. From these detached historical facts, the reader can, by the aid of his imagi- nation, complete a picture that is thus outlined.
On the 15th of December, 1869, the following notice appeared in the Clinton Herald :
WANTED .- By the Clinton Institute, responsible and well-known parties to furnish the name and residence of each poor family in this city deserving, but unable to purchase, a ( hrist- mas turkey.
Also, wanted, the name and residence of each person in this vicinity owning turkeys. State where the turkeys roost, or are stored, and whether the owner keeps a dog or not. Address,
CLINTON INSTITUTE, Post Office.
December 15, 1869.
Similar advertisements had annually appeared for some years before, and did for some years thereafter, and in response to information or knowledge gained by personal investigation, every such family was supplied with a plump Christmas turkey, the number thus annually distributed reaching into the hundreds.
On this annual recurrence of their Christmas benefaction, they included, among the needy, the family of a gentleman then one of the publishers of the Herald, who acknowledged the gift as follows :
THE EDITOR'S TURKEY.
" Witlaf, a king of the Saxons, Ere yet his last he breathed,
To the merry monks of Croyland, His drinking-horn bequeathed-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
' That, whenever they sat at their revels, And drank from the golden bowl,
They might remember the donor, And breathe a prayer for his soul."-Longfellow.
Witlaf, a king of the Saxons, Not alone has come to think That man's tenderest spot is touched With something to eat or drink.
The "Institute"-right royal fellows, Each one that trains in its ranks,
As the merry monks of Croyland, And as full, no doubt, of pranks,
Have often had their feastings At other men's expense (I cannot say they prayed for them), And grew quite happy ; hence,
When it was mooted around the board Whether poor editors were men,
It was said, that if 'twere so ; And perchance it were ; ergo, then,
An editor could eat of turkey, Without becoming ill ; Would be touched in his tenderloin- " We'll try it ; we will ! we will !"
" Fat let it be, and juicy, One of those that roosted low ;
How or where we got the bird le need not care to know."
The bird was sent-was cooked- Placed upon the board-and then The editor ate-was happy- And lived-like other men.
And as he ate, at Christmas, Turkey and other things to suit, He breathed his kindest wishes For the " Clinton Institute."
From the allusions in the above, it may be surmised that joviality entered largely into their composition, but tempered with a charity that covered a mul- titude of sins.
Subscribing most liberally toward the purchase of the bell which now peals from the Methodist tower, they could not let the occasion pass without a prac- tical joke. After the arrival of the bell, and it had been receipted for to the railroad officials, the freight having been donated, the bell was placed on the freight-house platform. Preparations were all made to raise, but when the dray went for it, it was nowhere to be found. Diligent search was made, but without success. Suspicion had, of course, fastened upon "The Institute," but no revelation resulted. At last, an intimation to a prominent member of the Methodist society, that the members of the Institute were hungry, led to an immediate invitation for the whole fraternity to banquet at one of the lead- ing hotels. After initiating the minister into the secrets of the Order, they did honor to the viands, and adjourned. At daylight, the bell was found attached to the hoisting-rope in the tower of the Church.
A lady who had achieved an enviable reputation as an elocutionist, in seek- ing for engagements for her readings, addressed one of her circulars to " The Clinton Institute," of which she had seen mention in some of the papers,
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
and which she supposed, naturally enough, to be a literary institution. £ The Institute held a meeting and instructed their Secretary to correspond with the lady, which he did, asking her terms for an evening's entertainment. To this she replied, stating that the fee required was $50. They replied accepting her terms. and designating the time when her services would be desired. In the mean time, they invited their wives and a few friends, and secured the parlors at the Central House for their hall. Upon the arrival of the lady, she in some way learned that the " Clinton Institute " was an association of jokers, and not so much a literary organization. As she stated afterward, she was never in such a dilemma before, as she feared some practical joke during the evening that might be embarrassing, and almost meditated flight by the first train, and yet she desired to earn and receive the stipulated compensation. She decided to remain, and, when she entered the parlors, she was greeted by a small but quite select audience of ladies and gentlemen, who soon placed her at her ease by the hearty exhibition of their appreciation of her really meritorious efforts.
A volume might be filled with facts relating to their railroad enterprises, editorial toil, agricultural pursuits, and literary labors, but we leave this for the future historian.
SUMMARY.
There have been few sensational events in Clinton's history, and even the criminal calendar is remarkably free from blood-curdling crimes or causes celebres. What serious crimes there have been committed against persons or property, especially crimes of violence, have been perpetrated, as a general rule, by those transient desperadoes who have found harboring-places at the bagnios on the opposite bank of the river. At those places, several shocking crimes have been committed, especially the beheading of Rexford by O'Neill, in 1873, which it does not at all come within the province of this work to even outline.
The most serious menaces to the peace of Clinton were during the beginning of the tramping era. In 1874, the vagrant nuisance was worst, some fifteen hundred to two thousand being estimated to be in the city at once, and their behavior becoming more and more ruffianly and insolent, until many were severely handled by the police authorities, Marshal Badger shooting one through the body after the desperado had covered him with a pistol ; and Marshal McKin- ley, with a huge club, on one occasion, single-handed, knocking down and arresting a desperate and threatening crowd. Tramps and harvesters have every year poured into the city by hundreds, accompanied by still worse characters, but they have invariably been kept in order by the civil authorities, aided, on one occasion, by a show of military forces.
Nor has the city suffered any overwhelming calamity by epidemic, fire or flood, though in 1865, and still more in 1871, the river rose obstreperously high. In April, 1871, the river covered two-thirds of the city, but the flood was neither deep nor swift, so no great damage was done, though great incon- venience was experienced in getting about. Street-car travel was greatly impeded for many weeks; skiffs took the place of carriages in passing to and from the Court House. Owing to the raising of Second street and the Midland embankment, the city is now protected by a double dyke from the recurrence of a similar inconvenience. The water-works are a safeguard against a sweep- ing conflagration, and the general intelligence of the people, freedom from crowding and skill of physicians, against any epidemic more extensive than that of the cholera outbreak in 1866.
Having previously indicated the condition of the city in 1863, when near- ing the close of the city's severe probation, it is interesting to observe, somewhat,
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
its course of after-growth. As the increase of Clinton's commercial and manufacturing interests, from 1864 to 1870, demanded a constantly increasing labor force, both real estate and building trades were, during that time, corres- pondingly active and buoyant. During the first half of the town's second decade, it grew like a tropical plant, almost visibly, day by day. In the cen- tral and northern parts of the city, blocks of plain but comfortable wooden houses, without much architectural pretension, but in well-kept and fenced yards, filled out and extended faster than the corresponding streets could be properly improved. During the same time, the business center of the town was definitely transferred to and concentrated on Second street and Fifth ave- mme, the former street being the natural thoroughfare between Lyons, the country, and the railroad and lower mills, and the latter avenue between the bluffs and the river. The expansion of the town to the southwest. on account of the fine bluff building-sites in that direction, led to the develop- ment. in 1868-70. of another distinct business center on Fourth street. When, in 1868, the late Charles Reed divided the lot on the corner of Tenth avenue and Fourth streets into store sites. the idea was thought by many to be absurd. At the end of hut ten years from that date, there were seventeen brick and a large number of wooden business establishments in that quarter of the city. During the "good times" preceding 1873, the temporary structures that cov- ered so large a territory south of the railroad were replaced by permanent and comfortable dwellings, in which change employers wisely co-operated. Most of the workingmen in Clinton have become freeholders. Scarcely a tenement has been built in the city. During the past five years, a large and thrifty dwelling quarter has grown up between the slough in the northern part of the city and the former municipality of Ringwood, thereby extending the city vir- tually to the Court House, that, when built, was thought so far out of town, and beyond the old Pearce-Bennett stone house, that for so long stood solitary in that part of the city plat. That house was used as a hospital during the mus- tering of troops in war time. Since 1870. owing to the general awakening of Americans to the usual hideousness of their domestic architecture, and to peo- ple having leisure to build homes rather than houses for immediate shelter, as well as in deference to the necessities of the climate, there has been a vast improvement in the style and quality of the houses, new and rebuilt, in Clinton. Many specimens of tasteful architecture adorn the avenues, and Col. Van Deventer's suburban residence, at the head of Fifth avenue, has proved the pioneer of others scarcely less spacious. Since 1870, there has been an exten- sive transformation of temporary wooden business blocks into substantial brick and iron ones, till the business portion of the city compares favorably with that of any place of the same population.
A tolerably accurate indication of the ebb and flow of the general business of the city is afforded by the statistics elsewhere, of the amount of tonnage shipped and received via C. & N .- W. It is to be regretted that no similar statistics as to river exports are available, so that a more accurate summary could be obtained of the absolute amount of trade and manufacture of the town, which the figures given show but relatively. A large section of prosper- ous farming country in Illinois, was brought within the diocese of Clinton merchants by the enterprise of a lady, Mrs. S. B. Aiken, who, in 1871, estab- lished the ferry from South Clinton to Garden Plains, Ill., that has since been acquired and run by the Lambs. The opening of the Midland Railway, in 1870-71, while of dubious benefit in some respects, has probably tended to increase the aggregate business of the city.
539
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
The depression of 1873, per se, had comparatively slight effect on Clinton. as the city's staple products were demanded no less than before. Probably the indirect results have been more or less injurious, but have not harmed the city's interests as much as local causes, alluded to elsewhere, such as low water and low prices for farm produce.
From the moralists' view, even more creditable to Clinton than any degree of material prosperity has been the hopefulness and patience of her toilers during the period of falling wages, and, in the lumber business, several short seasons. This has been largely due to the sensible and manly course both of the large employers and the majority of their employes. During the strike epidemic of the summer of 1877, the disturbance in Clinton was but slight, no violence or destruction of property being attempted. Nor, however much inevitable low wages may have cramped workingmen, have they made their condition worse by ill-advised strikes against a state of things due to inex- orable causes, and as unwelcome to employers as to employed.
Clinton secured, in the fall of 1872, a convenient northern route, by the opening of the Chicago, Clinton & Dubuque, an important link in the system of railways parallel with the river, as, during the summer of 1879, through cars began running via the C., C. & D. and Clinton Bridge, between La Crosse and Rock Island, being the first passenger coaches other than those of the lines con- trolling the bridges that ever crossed it, except as specials. There have been numerous plans to build another bridge, so as to secure two competing shipping routes eastward, but hitherto none of the schemes for securing the desired railroad and wagon bridge have been realized. The C., B. & Q. halts its trains on the east side, and the extensive trade of Whiteside County has to come to Clinton by ferry, except when the friendly scaling of the river by an ice bridge perceptibly stimulates Clinton's mercantile business.
During the past year, several new manufacturing industries have been inaugurated, notably the barbed-wire shop of Messrs. Charles Alden and Charles Armstrong, and the spring-bed factory of George Bauder & Co., which have together made the old car and chair factory again echo with the hum of industry, and proved the availability of Clinton as a distributing point.
At present writing, the city of Clinton is visibly entering its second and permanent stage of prosperity-one neither exotic nor fictitious, but due to inward expansion rather than to external stimulus. With constantly growing trade, new manufactures developing, mills and factories running over time, the prospects are that speedily will again be realized the springtide of business in 1874, when July was probably the maximum month in Clinton's industrial history. Probably the present monthly pay-roll of wage-workers in the city does not fall much short of $100,000, which argues a fair per-capita income for the masses, and consequent popular comfort, independence and an intel- lectual and social progress that in another quarter of a century, will still more wonderfully transform the prairie of twenty-five years ago.
M
540
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
DE WITT TOWNSIIIP.
BY R. J. CROUCH.
De Witt Township contains about fifty-five square miles of territory, and is composed of parts of Congressional Townships numbers 80, 81 and 82 north, Ranges 3 and 4 east, and in territorial extent is much the largest town- ship in the county.
The northern, northeastern and western portions are beautiful, undulating prairie, well adapted to purposes of agriculture. Many of the finest farms to be found in the State are here situated.
It is is also well watered and timbered. Silver Creek runs through the entire western portion of the township from north to south. Ames Creek, a stream about eight miles in length, takes its rise in the northeastern part of the township, runs southeasterly and empties its waters into the "Wapsie" River, which river forms the entire southern boundary of the township. Along the banks of these streams the timber is good, while Independence Grove, so called by reason of the first settlers (the Eldreds), having located here July 4, 1837. with Ames' timber in the southeastern part of the township and Round Grove in the center. are large groves of excellent timber, and although much timber and wood have been annually used for firewood and other purposes, there is, no doubt. that at present there is much more timber and of a better quality than at the original settlement of the township.
EARLY HISTORY.
From what can now be gathered from that mythical personage, the oldest inhabitant, it is pretty well settled that the first settlement in what is now the limits of this township was made at Round Grove by A. G. Harrison, in 1836.
Mr. H. came down from Dubnque in company with his brother-in-law, Col. Loring Wheeler, a short time before this, and both made claims. Harrison remained, put up a small cabin and proceeded to open a farm. Col. Wheeler returned to Dubuque, where he was engaged in business, and remained there until the year 1841, when he removed to this township, having accepted the appointment of Clerk of the Territorial Court from Judge Thomas S. Wilson, who was then Associate Justice of the Territory. Very soon after Harrison located here, in the same year, Abraham Folcke and family located at what is now known as the Campbell farm, in the western part of the township, about two and one-half miles west of the town of De Witt. This was the first fam- ily that settled in the town. In the autumn of the same year, George W. Ames, an old miner from Dubuque, and Dr. Ames, his brother, Thomas Hat- field, D. F. Bly, Hiram Loomis and John Black located in the southeastern portion of the township near what is known as Ames' timber, and made claims of large tracts of land. Dr. Ames, who was afflicted with consumption, remained one year, returned to Dubuque, where he died of that disease in 1837.
J. W. Kirtley also located on what is now the Gillooley farm at about the same time. He made a claim of about four hundred acres of land, including a mill privilege, on Silver Creek, which he afterward sold to Dr. G. W. H. Turner, who moved here in 1840, with his family, consisting of four sons- Louis, Joseph L., George W. and John; and two daughters-Harriet C., who afterward married Job Trites, and Eleanor, who married John F. Homer. Dr. Turner was accompanied by his sons-in-law, Thomas W. Clark and John Thomas, with their families.
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
Dr. Turner built a log cabin at what is now known as the Bechtel place, one mile west of De Witt, into which he moved with his family, and he, with his sons and Clark, built a saw-mill, which was probably the second mill built in the county. His sons afterward built a grist-mill on the original site of the saw-mill, in the year 1848, which was the second grist-mill built in the county, and is now owned and operated by Capt. W. H. Hall. In the year 1837, John and George Eldred located in the timber on Silver Creek. near where is now the Eureka Mills, on July 4, and named the grove for that reason Independence Grove. They were bachelors, and withal rough speci- mens of humanity, usually engaged in drinking and carousing ; and besides, it was said, were equal to more infamous crimes. They remained until immi- gration began to pour in, when one of them went northi to Minnesota, where he was killed in a drunken broil. The other met a like fate in California. One of them served a term in the State Prison from this county, for hog stealing.
In 1838, John F. and Aaron Homer, Abner and Eldad Beard, from Massa- chusetts, settled at Independence Grove, where they engaged in farming. Aaron Homer died at the residence of Abraham Folcke, in 1839, of consump- tion. Eldad Beard died in Orange Township, in the year 1845, of typhoid fever. John F. Homer and Abner Beard are still living in the town of De Witt, both having been successful in business; Mr. B. having retired, Mr. Homer still engages in the active duties of his business as hardware merchant, in company with his son George F. Mr. Homer has filled various positions of trust. having held the office of member of the Board of Supervisors, besides several municipal offices ; which positions he has filled with credit to himself and benefit to the community. Mr. Beard resides with his family in the town of De Witt. and is serenely stepping down the declivity of life, a much respected citizen. Dr. Turner died in October, 1845, and was among the first to be laid in the old cemetery, near the town of De Witt.
John Walrod and family, consisting of four sons: Abram, Henry, William, David, and three daughters-Celinda, who afterward married Hon. W. E. Leffingwell, and Philinda, wife of Ira Lepper, and Lucia, wife of Jacob Lep- per, settled on what is now known as the Black farm, in Welton Township, which was then a part of this township. John Walrod died in the year 1848, and was buried on his own farm. Henry was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun while hunting for deer, in 1844. It seems that in crossing " Nig- ger Creek," near the present residence of Martin Dobler, in Welton Township, in putting his gun down to cross the creek, it was discharged, killing him instantly. His body was found several days after the occurrence, and buried on his father's farm.
Col. Lyman Evans and family, consisting of his son-in-law D. H. Brown and wife, and five sons-Norman, Lyman W., Charles, Barney and Walter, and Betsy, a daughter, who died in the year 1839, located at Independence Grove in the spring of 1839. Col. Evans held various positions of trust, and was universally respected. The Colonel's mother, widow of an old Revolu- tionary soldier, accompanied him to this township, where she resided until her death, in 1848, at the advanced age of 92 years. She was the second person buried in the burial ground in the wood.
George W. Neville, wife, and family of two girls-Isabella, afterward wife of H. Browning ; Roseltha, afterward married to J. S. Casey-settled at what is known as the Neville place, near Ames' Creek, in 1837. George W. Neville died in 1864.
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
David Bedford, wife and family, consisting of his three sons-Ashbel, wife and two children ; Robert, wife and one child, and S. N. Bedford, unmarried- and one daughter, who married Rev. O. Emerson, in 1842, settled in this town- ship, in 1839. S. N. afterward married Elizabeth Dunham, in 1849. Ashbel and Robert were each elected to and served as Recorder and Treasurer of the County during the early part of its history. Robert died in 1846, and Ashbel removed to Michigan, where he now resides.
Samuel N. still resides in the town of De Witt. Robert built the first house in the town of De Witt, in the summer of 1841, on Harrison street. where Conwell's blacksmith-shop now stands. It was a log cabin.
S. P. Burton and family located south of Independence Grove, about the year 1839, with his wife and family, consisting of three daughters-Sarah A. (afterward married R. L. Westbrook, Clerk of the Court in 1848), Harriet and Elmira.
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