USA > Iowa > Delaware County > The history of Delaware county, Iowa, containing a history of its county, its cities, towns &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers > Part 39
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The marriages in 1845 were as follows: Thomas C. Linton and Hester Almira Phillips ; Nathan Springer and Mary Cupp; Alexander Burnham and Phebe Sutton ; David S. Way and Emily Ann Kibbee ; Sylvester D. Hadden and Elizabeth Jewell (married in the bushes, says the Justice, who states that the parties were from Buchanan); Thomas Bay and Priscilla Culver. It may be well to add that the first marriage in Buchanan County, recorded in Dela- ware, was that of Vincent Thompson and Alvira J. Hadden, united by Rev. John L. Seymour, a Congregational minister from Clayton County.
The town of Rockville, embracing 46.32 acres, situated on the west bank of the North Fork of the Maquoketa, in the center of Section 24, Township 88 north, Range 3 west, was laid out in 1845, by Oliver A. Olmstead, proprietor ; survey and plat made by William Chadwell ; recorded February 14, 1846.
More than four years had now (1846) elapsed since the county seat was located by a vote of the people. The repeated efforts of the Commissioners to raise the money required for the purchase of the land ($200) had failed. Mr. Carter had made an effort to borrow money or sell county warrants for the pur- pose, but was unsuccessful. Not a town lot could be sold until the county could acquire title, and not a building stood upon the town plat, except the log Court Cabin. When Mr. Carter made his report to the Commissioners, it became evident that Delaware County was unable to raise $200 with which to enter its county seat. The situation was becoming somewhat humiliating, and Lawrence McNamee, one of the Commissioners, offered to advance $100 to the county if any other person could be found who would advance the other $100 required to make the entry ; and on the 6th day of January, 1846, the County Commis- sioners passed the following :
Ordered, That Lawrence McNamee be authorized to enter the county seat of Delhi, at twenty per cent. interest.
372
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Afterward, Leroy Jackson consented to advance the other $100, which Mr. Carter carried to the Colony and handed to Mr. McNamee, who added another $100. went to Dubuque, and on the 5th day of March, 1846, entered the east half of the quarter section in his own, and the west half in the name of Leroy Jackson. McNamee conveyed the east half to the county of Delaware by war- ranty deed, dated April 8, 1846. Jackson conveyed the west half October 2, 1849. The town plat was recorded March 11, 1846, and the Commissioners were ready to dispose of lots. It is to be added that, several years afterward, county orders were sold at fifty cents on the dollar, to raise money to pay the loans made by McNamee and Jackson.
March 17, 1846, in session at the house of C. W. Hobbs, the County Com- missioners ordered as follows :
Ordered, That the Clerk of this Board be and he is hereby directed to advertise in the Miners' Express for a sale of lots in the town of Delhi, to take place at the Court House door on the first Monday of May next.
Ordered, That Charles W. Hobbs be and he is hereby authorized as an agent to sell lots at private sale in the town of Delhi, and he is limited not to sell any lot for a less price than five dollars.
April 13, Joel Bailey was appointed surveyor to "lay off the out-lots in the town of Delhi into two-acre lots; " and Gilbert D. Dillon was appointed auctioneer, for the sale of town lots, appointed for the first Monday in May. A bounty was offered for wolf scalps, of 50c and $1. On the same day, the Commissioners adopted measures for keeping highways in order, and appointed Samuel P. Whittaker, Wm. Nicholson, Roland Aubrey, Joel Bailey, Missouri Dickson, Silas Gilmore and Wm. Eads to be Road Supervisors for their several neighborhoods.
There are no records to show the result of the sale of lots in Delhi in May, but early in the Spring of 1846, Levi Ellis built the first log cabin on the plat of Delhi, northeast from Hobbs, on the bank of the ravine. John W. Clark soon followed, building a cabin near the Big Spring. This was the only hotel in Delhi until about 1851, and in a sort of lean-to erected on one side of his cabin, Clark opened the first store a year or two later. Arial K. Eaton built a cabin on the southwest corner of the town, near Hobbs', and Mr. Phillips built another above Clark's. These cabins constituted the Town of Delhi for several years.
In June, 1846, a post office was established at Rockville, and Oliver A. Olmstead appointed Postmaster. In August following, a post office was estab- lished at Colony, David Moreland, Postmaster. These were the first to be established after Delhi:
At the August election, Henry A. Carter, Henry Baker and Samuel Mul- liken were elected Commissioners; John W. Penn, Sheriff; Joel Bailey, Treas- nrer ;. C. W. Hobbs, Recorder ; and at the October session of the County Com- missioners, John W. Clark appears as Clerk; October 6, A. K. Eaton was appointed as agent "to select two town lots in Delhi for a school house site, upon the condition that he is not to select any lot on the public square or the lot on which the Court House stands ; " and the Commissioners pledged them- selves to make a deed of such lots to any legally constituted authority for school purposes.
At the same meeting, the following order was passed:
" Ordered, That the Treasurer pay over all money to H. A. Carter in the treasury, to be applied in the payment of Leroy Jackson for the county seat, and that the said Carter take a deed for the county."
373
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Seven marriages were recorded in 1846. February 10, John W. Penn, Sheriff, who arrested Jeff. Lowe for the murder of Dance, and Mrs. Pamelia Dance, the murdered man's widow, were joined in marriage, at the residence of the bride, by Justice Rexford, the magistrate by whom Lowe was committed. Then followed James Barnes and Margaret Hutson, Andrew C. Gallahan and Sarah Ann Lee, Lucius Kibbee and Letty Baucher, Asa Lowe and Amelia Henderson, George W. Walker and Mary Jane Dillon, and Samuel P. Whit- taker and Cynthia Main. In recording these marriages, Mr. Hobbs used " State " instead of "Territory " of Iowa.
In the Winter of 1846-7, Hugh Livingston, accompanied by one of his nephews, went to Cascade with teams. They returned in the night, young Livingston and his team being ahead. When they reached the forks of the road, where they separated, the young man looked back and saw his uncle's team take the proper road, and he drove on home. When Hugh's team arrived at his home, he was not with it. His family becoming alarmed, fearing that he had been overcome with cold, started out in search of him, and found him by the road side quite dead, although his body was still warm in the region of the heart. Livingston had been wont to say that this climate was too warm for him. He had endured, without flinching, the rigorous winters in the Highlands of Scotland and in British America, to be frozen to death in the mild climate of Iowa which he disdained.
At a special session of the Board of County Commissioners, March 24, 1847, the first division of the county into townships, under State law, was made, and elections ordered as follows :
Ordered, That the counties of Delaware and Buchanan be divided into townships as follows, to wit : That the boundaries of the several precincts, as at present laid off in said counties, be and they are hereby organized into townships. That the territory of Delhi Precinct be named Delhi Township; that the territory of Eads' Grove be named Eads' Grove Township; that the territory of North Fork be named North Fork Township; that the territory of Colony Precinct be named Colony Township ; that the territory of Buchanan County be named Buchanan Town- ship. Also, that the usual places of holding elections in the said several precincts be hereby appointed the respective places of holding the first meetings of the electors for their several townships.
Ordered, That the Clerks of Commissioners be required to issue election notices for elections to be held on the first Monday in April, and that the necessary township officers required by law now in force be elected.
April 14, 1847, the Board passed the following order :
Ordered, That G. D. Dillon be allowed the sum of $4 for his services as auctioneer in selling township lots in the town of Delhi, being in full for all services as such up to this date.
The town lots at Delhi did not meet with very rapid sale, and the effort to dispose of some of them at auction was renewed, by the following :
Ordered, That there shall be a sale of lots of Delhi on the first day of the first session of the District Court, and A. K. Eaton be appointed Auctioneer.
The first General Assembly of Iowa directed the division of counties into Commissioner Districts, and the Delaware Commissioners were prompt to obey, as appears by the following :
Ordered, That Delaware County be divided into County Commissioner Districts, which dis- tricts shall be numbered First, Second and Third, as follows, to wit : Towns 87 and 88, in Ranges 3 and 4, shall constitute the First District ; Towns 89 and 90, in Ranges 3 and 4, shall constitute the Second District, and Towns 87, 88, 89 and 90, in Ranges 5 and 6, shall constitute the Third District, agreeably to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, approved February 22, 1847.
Upon admission of Iowa as a State, by act of the First General Assembly, approved February 17, 1847, Delaware County was made a part of the Second
374
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Judicial District, in which James Grant, of Scott County, was elected Judge, April 5, 1847.
The first term of the State court in Delaware County was held by Judge. Grant, June 7, 1847. The first Grand Jury-Leverett Rexford, Foreman ; Missouri Dickson, Robert Torrence, Thomas D. Hall, Jacob Landis, John J. Barrett, James HI. Eads, Bryant Johnson, Silas Gilmore, Lawrence McNamee, John McMahon, Leroy Jackson and Thomas Norris.
The first recorded act of this court was the naturalization of John D. Claus, a native of Germany.
There are no records of elections from 1842 until 1847 in existence, and. now only the poll lists of Eads' Grove and Colony Precincts, at the election, April 5, can be found among the old papers in the Sheriff's office at Delhi. At Colony, James Cole was elected Inspector of Township Schools. Murtle Cole was elected Township Clerk over James Cole, the vote being 32 to 19. L. McNamee, John Platt and Wellington Wiltse were elected Trustees. The vote on the license question was-yes, 17; no, 28.
At Eads' Grove, 26 votes were cast, and the following returns were made :
For District Judge, Platt Smith. 4
66
James Grant ...
16
For Prosecuting Attorney, Lewis A. Thomas. 15
66 C. T. Peet .. 2
For Judge of Probate, Clement Coffin. 18
In July, the Board levied a tax of one-half mill on the dollar for school purposes. This did not produce a very large sum, but it indicated that the fathers of the county were mindful of the children, if they could not do much for them.
At the election in August, it appears that Henry A. Carter, Henry Baker and Samuel Mulliken were re-elected Commissioners ; Charles W. Hobbs, Re- corder ; John W. Penn, Sheriff; A. K. Eaton, Judge of Probate, and William Phillips, Treasurer.
Until 1847, the office of Judge of Probate of Delaware was purely orna- mental. If any probate business was transacted, no record remains. The first Judge was Roland Aubrey, who was elected Aug. 2, 1841, for a term of three years. The next Judge was Clement Coffin, who was elected in August, 1844, and served three years. The first probate business recorded was done in Sep- tember, 1847, A. K. Eaton, Judge. The first case recorded was the petition of Samuel Mulliken, for the appointment of an administrator of the estate of Lorenzo L. Mulliken, deceased. The prayer of the petitioner was granted; Sam- uel Mulliken was appointed Administrator, and Albert G. Noble, C. T. Peet and Joshua Beels, Appraisers of the estate. The next was the appointment of Caroline Duthman and Henry Holienkamp Administrators of the estate of Her- man Duthman ; A. J. Scroggy, F. Rohenkokle and Bernard Satmire, Apprais- ers. During Eaton's administration of probate affairs, until 1850, only about a dozen estates were admitted to probate.
October 4, 1847, the Commissioners ordered " that Lawrence McNamee be paid $22.36, for one year's interest on money loaned to enter eighty acres of county seat."
In 1847, there were two schools in Colony Township. In District No. 1, thirty-six pupils attended school, and in No. 2, forty-one. Delhi Township had two districts, one had twenty and the other ten scholars. Roxana Brown taught a school in the Court House at Delhi.
The amount of taxes collected in 1847 was $628.10. In 1848, this amount increased to $1,027.45.
375
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
The marriages of 1847 were recorded as follows : Isaac Hensley and Sarah Ann Shipton, John S. Brown and Nancy Harron, Thomas Walters and Nancy Eldred, Jonathan V. Todd and Mary Todd, William Hankins and Martha Jane Lee, and James H. Robinson and Julia Wood.
- Up to this date, the county records show the names of but two ministers of the Gospel-Rev. J. W. Griffith, in North Fork, late in 1846, and Rev. B. D. Springer, in the Summer of 1847-but it must be remembered that the records of Delaware County, for ten years after its organization, are very meager, and until 1847, there are none, except the Commissioners' records. It must not be concluded, therefore, that the above were the first ministers of the county. Rev. Barney White was at the Colony in 1842, and Rev. Newell W. Bixby settled at Yankee settlement in 1846.
About 1847, Mr. Leverett Rexford commenced building a dam and saw-mill on Spring Branch, about half a mile below the " Deep Hole," just above which the present road from Manchester to Bailey's Ford crosses that stream. He had nearly completed the dam, had the frame cut and nearly ready to raise, had purchased the mill irons and had the water wheel and running gear nearly done, when he died, in the Fall of 1848. After his death, John W. Clark purchased the frame and machinery, removed it to the Maquoketa, about two miles south- west of Delhi (at Hartwick), where he built a dam and erected the mill in the Spring of 1849.
William Turner built a saw-mill on the Maquoketa in Section 90, Township 6, during 1847. James Cole and Jared Hubbard built a mill on Elk Creek in the same year.
In 1847, occurred the death of - - Collins, who was mortally injured by Button in an affray in Colony Township, either at a dance or raising. The trouble began between Collins and Button's brother-in-law. Button ran out and seized a wagon-bolt, with which he struck Collins, who died soon after. Button was tried and convicted of manslaughter. Lett, who was his guard, took him to the Colony to bid his family good-bye, but he made his escape by raising a puncheon in the floor of his cabin, which allowed him to crawl into the big world outside.
January 12, 1848, a post office, called " Yankee Settlement," was estab- lished near the northeast corner of Township 90, Range 5, and Bohan Noble appointed Postmaster. It was called "Yankee Settlement " from the fact that the settlers in that vicinity were from the East. The office was a private one, and was supplied from Colony. In May, 1848, Joseph S. Belknap. a native of Vermont, made the first claim in that part of the present site of the village of Edgewood, or "Yankee Settlement," as it was called until the completion of the D. & St. P. Railroad, that lies in Delaware County. John Gibson had made a claim on the other side of the county line a year or two previous.
The records of the County Commissioners during this year are meager and unimportant. April 18, Charles W. Hobbs was authorized and empowered to borrow $100 for the use of the county, to pay Leroy Jackson for entering eighty acres of the county seat, at a rate of interest not to exceed twenty per cent.
Town lots at the county seat were not selling very rapidly, and Mr. Hobbs, in the exercise of sound judgment, had evidently been selling some of them at less than the regular price, to induce their occupation, and thus build up the town. But the County Commissioners determined to stop that ruinous busi- ness. They were bound that the county should realize handsomely from the
376
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
sale of these lots, and, unless they could be sold at a fair price, they should not be sold. They therefore
Ordered, That Charles W. Hobbs is hereby directed not to sell any lot on the town plat for less than $5 (five dollars) in cash, or $10 in county orders.
In July, the Commissioners met in the school house at Delhi.
In August, an election was held, and Mulliken and Carter were re-elected Commissioners, and Daniel H. Thornburg in place of Baker.
August 10, the town of "Cole's Burgh" was surveyed and platted by James Cole. Surveyor, on the northeast quarter and part of the northwest quarter of Section 4, Township 90 north, Range 3 west (Colony), Lawrence McNamee and Hiram Cole proprietors. In 1850, the Northern Addition to "Colesburgh " was made by Mr. McNamee, and the Western Addition in 1854.
The matrimonial record of 1848 is as follows: Richard Swearingen and Catherine M. Smith ; Thomas W. Frentress and Martha Brazelton ; Elisha Brady and Angeline Smith ; William Turner and Rachael Lee; Theodore Marks and Elizabeth Pace ; Thomas P. Lane and Matilda Flinn ; Francis Far- rell and Vina Collins, and James Anderson and Lucinda L. Barrett.
L. L. Ayers, Esq., in his "Early Times in Delaware County," says : " We cannot say positively, but believe that Mr. Swearingen was a Methodist minister at this time. He was Presiding Elder of the Marshalltown Confer- ence, in 1871, and had a State reputation as an eloquent preacher and able man. Coming from Duluth into St. Paul, in June, 1871, reaching his hotel a little before midnight, having eaten little or nothing since breakfast, the Elder ordered supper in a pretty sharp tone, adding : 'We're wickedly hungry, for we have had nothing but a little browse since breakfast.' His hunger, and with it his crossness, disappeared after a ravenous supper."
Rev. G. E. Bowman and Rev. John L. Kelley were attending to the spirit- ual welfare of the Delaware people in 1848.
Philip Hogan built a flouring-mill at Rockville, near Dillon's, in 1848.
The Judge of Probate had three cases in 1848. Henry A. Carter was appointed administrator of the estate of James Doak, March 20; Thomas Bay was appointed guardian of two of the children. and G. H. Browder of the other four; personal property appraised at $640.80. In April, the will of Thomas Kirk was admitted to probate. Ilis property was inventoried at $174.30. October 19, the will of Leverett Rexford was admitted, John Lilli- bridge, executor. The estate of the deceased was appraised at $371.55; two cows were valued at $10 and $11 respectively, and a mare was considered worth $60.
The Justices of the Peace for the county from first settlement to 1848, so far as can be ascertained from the records, were Gilbert D. Dillon, North Fork ; Daniel Brown, Eads' Grove; Lawrence McNamee, Colony ; Leverett Rexford, Delhi ; J. W. Griffith (also a minister), North Fork; John Platt, Colony ; John S. Brown (also a minister), North Fork ; James E. Anderson, Morris M. Reed, Eads' Grove ; A. J. Seroggy, Colony ; L. C. Woodford, J. A. Reynolds, Buchanan ; William Montgomery, Colony.
Three schools were maintained in Colony Township in 1848, supported by subscription. There were also three schools in Delhi. North Fork was divided into five school districts, and schools opened there. There were two districts in Eads' Grove in which schools were taught, supported also by voluntary sub- scriptions. The names of the teachers are now forgotten.
377
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
At the election held April 3, 1848, there were but four civil townships in the county, viz. : Delhi, Eads' Grove, North Fork and Colony. The following abstract is the only remaining record of that election :
Thos. H. Benton, Superintendent Instruction, had. 92 votes.
James Harlan, 66
124
John Benson, School Fund Commissioner, 112
Samuel P. Whitaker, School Fund Commissioner, had.
90
Simeon Ellis, Coroner, had
104 66
H. A. Lett, 66
77
Wm. Phillips, Sealer Weights and Measures, had.
89
Simeon Phillips, “ 66
98
At this election, Coffin, Baker, Sullivan and Minkler voted at Delhi. At the general election, August 7, the vote of the county for Representative to Con- gress was as follows :
Shepherd Leffler (Democrat)
Timothy Davis (Whig). 122
109
There is no record of the Presidential election, but from the above it would appear that the political parties were very nearly evenly balanced in Delaware at that time.
Among some ancient papers which were filed away in the Sheriff's office is a tabular statement of the liabilities of the county for the year ending Decem- ber 31, 1848, showing :
For outstanding balance against the county. $261 32
For amount of orders passed.
598 99
Total. $860 31
CONTRA CR.
By county tax placed in the hands of Collector $577 27
By orders received for sale of town lots in Delhi. 60 82
$638 09
Balance against county. $222 22
The aforegoing is a correct statement of the liabilities of the county, for the year ending the 31st of December, 1848, showing an outstanding balance against the county of $222.22. There was also placed in the hands of the Collector, for 1848, for State tax, $275.87 ; school tax, $111.35.
H. A. CARTER, DANIEL H. THORNBURG, Commissioners.
ATTEST, CHARLES W. HOBBS, Clerk of Commissioners.
DELHI, January 1, 1849.
Among the orders drawn was one for a "bear, sold for use of county, $7.50," and the amount paid out for wolf scalps, $17.30.
It seems a little remarkable, in view of the above statement, that then, and for years afterward, county orders were sold for fifty cents on the dollar.
In 1848, Isaac Barton was arrested for stealing a horse from Hugh Rose, which was taken to Wisconsin, but was identified and returned. Barton was taken to Dubuque, but soon escaped.
January 2, 1849, North Fork Township was divided, and South Fork Township created.
July 2, by order of the Commissioners, the name of Eads' Grove Township was changed to Coldwater, as follows :
Ordered, That the Coldwater Township be divided as follows: Commencing at the north- east boundary of Coldwater Township, running three miles south ; bounded by Elk on the east ; thence west, so as to include part of Range 5 west of Fifth Principal Meridian ; thence north, to the county line ; thence east, to the place of beginning ; and that said township shall be named "Avon."
378
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Ordered, That on the 15th day of July, inst., the electors of the newly laid off township of Avon shall hold an election, at the house of Daniel B. Noble, in said township, for the purpose of electing township officers for said township, and to organize the same.
The impression is that the people never recognized the name of Avon, and in 1851, the poll books were returned from York.
The tax levy of 1849 was : State, ten and a half mills ; county, four mills ; school, one mill.
Revs. John S. Brown, Newell W. Bixby and John Plank ministered to the religious wants of the community.
1849 was a good year for matrimonial speculations, and there was a goodly list of marriages, as follows : Israel Scroggy and Martha Bragg; Jacob G. Nicholson and Martha Hutson ; James Young and Mary Ann Smith ; James Rutherford and Catherine Bragg; John H. Seeley and Annie Livingston ; Andrew L. Ginger and Elizabeth Martin ; B. F. Dighton and Catherine J. Rits ; Richard Barrett and Laura S. McFall ; B. F. McVey and Minerva J. Bassen- ger ; Bentley Shipton and Sarah Hutson ; Bradford Crozier and Henrietta M. Pierce ; H. H. Klaus and Katherine M. Kimple ; Howard A. Smith and Eliz- abeth H. Wells ; William Carpenter and Hannah R. Martin.
The estates of Alexander Burnham, Timothy Joselin and Orlean Blanchard were admitted to probate. Blanchard's property was valued at $1,434.51, hogs being appraised at $1.00 each.
Frederick B. Doolittle and William Price visited the county, and entered land near Delhi. "At that time," says Judge Doolittle, "there were only four or five log cabins in the town of Delhi. There was a log house near the ' Big Spring,' which was the tavern kept by John W. Clark. In a frame ' lean-to,' on one side of the tavern, Clark kept a little store."
The raising of the first frame barns in the county, built by Clement Coffin and Henry Baker, at Coffin's Grove, on the 4th of July, 1849, was a notable event. People gathered from all parts of the county-from Delhi, Plum Creek, Colony, South Fork, etc. Baker's barn frame was raised in the forenoon, and the settlers dined at his house. In the afternoon, Coffin's barn frame was raised, and supper was served at his house. Thus the anniversary of our national independence was celebrated and made useful by the settlers of Dela- ware in 1849. Among those who were present was Roland Aubrey, all the way from North Fork. When they were at work at Coffin's barn, Aubrey would carry rafters alone, doing the work of two men. Coffin noticed this, and said to two men who were carrying a rafter by him, "Look at that other man carrying his stick alone ! I wouldn't give a cent for a man who couldn't handle a ton of basswood by himself."
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