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 42
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At the election, the township of Delhi voted in favor of the proposition 244 to 1, and Delaware went the other way 118 to 13. The measure was defeated in the county, however, the total vote being 791 against to 657 for.
New County Building .- The county was now sadly in need of more room for its officers. The Court House, while it had served and still served all the purposes of court room and jail as well, perhaps, as a more expensive structure, was entirely too small to afford proper accommodations for its officials, and it was found absolutely necessary to make provision for them. Judge Doolittle therefore provided for the erection of a substantial two-story brick building on the northeast corner of the Court House Square, at a contract price of $5,000. The building was erected, but the roof was not put on when Judge Doolittle went out of office, and it was finished by his successor, who paid but little atten- tion to the work, and the roof was such a " botched " job that the next year it became necessary to remove it and construct a new one. The building contains four large rooms. The Clerk of the Court and the Treasurer occupy the lower floor, and the Auditor and Recorder the second story. Its style of architec- ture is unique and antiquated, bearing some faint resemblance to the castellated battlements of feudal ages, without, however, possessing any of their beauty or grandeur. It, however, serves the purpose for which it was designed, and with its floor covered with sheet iron, is just as good, practically, as a more imposing structure with marble floors.
July 6, 1857, Congressional Township 89 north, Range 3 W., was established as a political township and called Bremen, and George W. Harper, Constable, posted and served the notices of the court.
At the general election in August, 1874, votes were polled, showing a rapid increase of population.
If Delhi had passed the zenith of its prosperity and commenced its decline, Burrington, now Manchester, began to manifest symptoms of the growth since realized. Projected originally on "fog," as one of the early settlers of the town expressively terms it, as many of the western towns were projected about that time, the certainty that the Dubuque & Pacific Railroad would pass near or through it gave the town a substantial basis, and at the close of the year 1857 there were fifteen or twenty buildings in the little village.
The gigantic bubble of speculation, which, as has been seen, inflated so rap- idly in 1855-56, suddenly burst and collapsed in 1857. The failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company in August of that year was the first crash that her- alded the coming financial panic, and in three weeks from that time the most of the banks had closed and everybody became as timid and frightened as they had been bold and confident before. All financial confidence was gone. Specie disappeared and bank notes depreciated and were driven home. The life blood of the nation, its circulating medium of exchange, had ceased to circulate, and universal disaster and ruin followed. Numerous merchants and dealers in Dela- ware were forced to yield to the storm and were closed out by their creditors.
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The harvests of Delaware were bounteous. The farmers had good crops of grain, but the dealers had no money and they could not sell it. and it was almost impossible for them to obtain money enough to pay their taxes. It was not easy to exchange wheat for groceries even at fifty cents a bushel. The groceryman had his goods to pay for, wheat was not legal tender and he could sell it no better than the farmer. Other products of the farm were equally unsalable, and the farmer's wife was compelled to give two pounds of butter for a vard of calico. With the disappearance of specie, dealers who were able to keep their own heads above water partially supplied the local necessity for some convenient medium of exchange by issuing tokens of their own credit for small amounts, redeemable in goods, or cash, on presentation in sums of five dol- lars. Wood was worth $2.00 a cord and pork sold for $1.75 per cwt. in Man- chester, twenty years ago. To illustrate the scarcity of currency, it is said that T. H. Bowen paid 10 per cent. for New York exchange.
The Winter of 1857-58 is remembered for its deep snows and cold weather. From the 1st day of December, 1857, until late in March, 1858, more than two feet of snow covered the ground, in marked contrast with the Winter of 1877-78, when the ground was hardly covered with snow at any time. In January, 1858, a few sunny days and freezing nights covered the surface of the snow with a thick crust of ice, strong enough to bear a man, but the sharp hoofs of the deer would cut through it, and these animals were frequently killed at short range in the northern part of the county during that Winter. They could not run and were easily approached. During this Winter, one
Monday morning. Mr. - Shultz, living in Richland Township, went to visit Frederick Preussner, who lived about a mile away. Toward night, Shultz's son also went to Preussner's, probably to accompany his father home, and it being a mild day, he went without his coat. Before they started for home, night had fallen, snow commenced falling and the storm became so severe that they lost their way. The next morning, as they had not reached home, Mr. Shultz's other sons went to Preussner's to inquire for their missing father and brother, hoping to find them there. The storm continued with unabated severity nearly all day, and it was nearly night before the neighboring settlers could be notified. Search was made, and on Wednesday morning the boy was found dead, about a mile southeast of Preussner's. He had his father's coat on. The father, in his paternal affection for his suffering child, who had left home with- out a coat, had taken off his own that his son might be protected. Shultz was not found until Friday, when his frozen body was discovered a short distance north of Aaron Sullivan's, in Coffin's Grove Township. The searching party found, upon tracking him, that probably during the first night he had passed within a few rods of his own door.
The Dubuque & Pacific Railroad was completed to Nottingham, and the first train ran to that point December 10, 1857, and that town was the western terminus of the road for about two years.
The first Sabbath school in Adams Township was organized in 1857, at the log school house near James Robinson's residence.
In 1857, the Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad was surveyed, and the present site of Sand Spring was selected for a station. Asa C. Bowen sold to the Company the undivided half of his farm for a town site, and three buildings were put up that Fall.
Sand Spring, located on Sections 27 and 28, Township 87, Range 3, was laid out March 26, 1858, Truman H. Bowen and Lucius H. Langworthy, pro- prietors, and the new town was designated as a station on the Dubuque &
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Southwestern Railroad, which was built to within two miles of the town the following Autumn and completed through the county in the Spring of 1859, The town received its name from a large spring of water in the sand in the town.
March 3, 1858, on petition of John S. Barry and others, the County Court set off Congressional Township 88, Range 6, as a political township and named it "Prairie." September 13, on petition of T. Crosby and others, the six southern sections of Coldwater, being the northern tier of sections in Township 89, Range 5, were annexed to Delaware. September 16, on petition of George W. Stewart and O. S. Boggs, the townships of Coldwater and York were united and the new township was named " Honey Creek." The election was ordered to be held at the house of Caspar Dunham, who is remembered by the carly settlers as a pump maker. Dunham failed in business and removed to Oregon prior to 1860, where he was, for a time, Secretary of State.
Manchester, including within its limits the town of Burrington, which now ceased to exist, was laid out by the Iowa Land Company, R. B. Mason, Presi- dent, and H. D. Kingsbury, Secretary, and plat approved and recorded March 20, 1858. The town was named in honor of Manchester, England, by James Dyer, who was a native of England, two years before, when the post office was established and called Manchester.
Masonville, on the line of the railroad, on the northeast quarter of Section 31, Township 89, Range 6 (Coffin's Grove), was laid out by Francis Daniels and Iowa Land Company, J. P. Farley, President, plat recorded July 1, 1858. Named in honor of R. B. Mason, the then late President of the Iowa Land Company.
Millheim, on the southeast quarter of northeast quarter of Scetion 3, Town- 89, Range 5 (Delaware), was surveyed July 21, 1858, by W. R. Stewart, John Kaltenbach and Maria Kaltenbach, proprietors. This town started on "fog," as Burrington was, held its own and never realized the hopes of its sanguine founders. It was named by Mr. Kaltenbach in honor of his native town in Baden, Germany. It is sometimes called Dutchtown.
Hartwick, about two miles southwest of Delhi, on the northwest corner of Section 30, in a bend of the Maquoketa, was laid out in December, 1858, John W. Clark and Miriam Clark, proprietors.
One morning during the Winter of 1857-8, Mr. - Kellogg, jailer at Delhi, was found dead in his bed, having been brained with an axe. The mur- der was committed, as shown in evidence, about 3 o'clock in the morning. Mrs. Kellogg was arrested for the crime, but the evidence against her was so slight that she was not indicted.
Silver Lake, the pride of Delhi, a beautiful sheet of water nearly two miles in circumference, when it was meandered by Mr. Bailey in 1837, suddenly dis- appeared in May, 1858, much to the surprise and chagrin of the good people of the town. At the lower end of the lake, the prairie sloped to the southward from the shore or beach, which operated as a natural dam, holding the waters of the lake, which was fed by springs. In May, the water was unusually high, overflowed the beach and soon cut a wide, deep channel through the sandy soil, through which the lake was entireiy drained, leaving only a tiny spring rivulet running through its former bed. A dam was immediately constructed and the lake was restored, but in January, 1863 this was washed out, not having been properly built. This was replaced by another, and the lake remained until Nov. 10, 1867, when the dam again went out, and the lake disappeared for the third time. The dam was not rebuilt for several years, and the lake bed afforded
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
fine pasturage for cattle until 1872, when another dam was built and the lake again restored as it now (1878) appears.
The rate of taxation for all purposes for the year 1858 was fixed at nine mills.
Celebration at Manchester .- In 1858. the citizens of Manchester celebrated the anniversary of National Independence in grand style. They had made great preparations for the event and invited the people of the whole county to participate. An elaborate programme was prepared, Judge Cooley, of Dubuque, was to deliver the oration and flaming hand bills were sent throughout the county. It was such a big blow for so small a town that a wag of Manchester, with a keen perception of the ludicrous, prepared a burlesque programme, had it printed and on the morning of the Fifth, the citizens woke to find the town thoroughly " billed." A tattered copy of the document, which became the fea- ture of that occasion, was preserved and following is a copy of it :
HURRAH FOR THE WHITE RED AND BLUE !
GREAT EXCITEMENT IN MANCHESTER !
The second annual anniversary of the lack of independence under the tyranny of JIM BUCHANAN will be celebrated in Manchester, in an affecting manner.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
The day will be ushered in by the sun rising in the east, as usual. After the the day is dead broke, the services will be continued by the firing of thirteen crackers, to represent the thirteen original States, after which the people will form a procession, headed by the Mayor, President and Vice President of the day, Soldiers of 1812, immediately succeeded by the regular elect aris- tocracy of the town, followed by the military, fire and other companies, citizens, Town Stock, etc., of Manchester, under the direction of the Basswood Lumber Dealer, acting as Marshal of the day. The rabble will then trot up street Franklin, until they arrive at the speakers' stand, where a live whang doodle will bore the concourse till satisfied. All will feel patriotic. Powder will be burned and blood spilled, if necessary. No expense will be spared to make it a day long to be remembered-a day not soon to be forgotten-a glorious day-a huge old day-in fact, a considerable day. Nourishment will be furnished in abundance to refresh the inner man, con- sisting of regular and voluntary toasts, raw Dutch and Irishmen, whisky pickled Yankees, &c.
A Live Ox Will Go Up in a Balloon in the Afternoon.
In case all do not feel particularly glorious and patriotic, let it be remembered that the liquor dealers in town have contracted to make the channel of the Maquoketa River run pure whisky, warranted a dead shot at 80 rods. There will be a splendid display of Fire Works in the evening, consisting of Roman Candles, Tallow Candles, Oil Lamps, Fluid Lamps, Fire Flies, &c., &c.
Distinguished speakers from Delhi, Acerville and Nottingham will be invited.
RULES OF ORDER.
It will be expected that ladies will appear defended by Cotton Breast Works, for fear of ex- plosions. It will be considered a breach of Manchester etiquette for ladies and gentlemen to be seen together. On account of the timid, no more crackers will be let off during the day.
Come one and all and help to commemorate the glorious 5th in this land of liberty, Where the Star Bangled Spanner triumphantly waves, And the ladies wear hogsheads minus the staves.
Admittance to the incorporation of Manchester, 25 cents.
Children under ten feet, half price.
BY ORDER OF COMMITTEE.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
When Judge Cooley rose to deliver his address, he carried his audience by storm, by a felicitous allusion to the sensation of the day and by good-humoredly remarking that his hearers would now have an opportunity of listening to a " live Whang Doodle." After the applause had subsided, he proceeded to pro- nounce a most able and eloquent oration. The occasion will never be forgotten by those who participated the celebration twenty years ago.
September 1, 1858, the people of Sand Spring, Hopkinton and vicinity celebrated the laying of the first Atlantic cable, at Sand Spring, with Dr. Roberts, of Hopkinton, Dr. Gage and T. H. Bowen, of Sand Spring, for- orators.
A lodge of the order of "Thousand and One" was established at Delhi in 1858, L. N. Ingalls being mainly instrumental in founding it. Many citizens of the county were taught therein "to see themselves as others see them," and the fun is now confessed to been huge and uproarous. Andrew Stone, it is said, after receiving his degree, begged, with tears in his eyes, to be kicked down stairs.
In the Winter of 1858-9, the citizens of the county contributed a consid- erable sum of money to assist the people of Kansas, who had lost their crop the previous Summer by the ravages of grasshoppers.
In May, 1859, a citizen of Manchester lost a span of horses-supposed to have been stolen-and offered a reward for their recovery. A man named Carl found the animals below the town and brought him to his owner. Some of the citizens arrived at the hasty conclusion that Carl was the thief. A few evenings afterward, he was seized by half a dozen men, carried to Allen Love's grove, when a rope was put around his neck, thrown over a limb of a tree, and he was drawn up several times to make him confess to the theft. He was roughly and cruelly treated, but steadily affirmed his innocence. The lynchers, becoming convinced of the truth of his assertions, released him Carl afterward enlisted in the 21st Infantry, and introduced himself to Col. Van Anda as the man who was hung at Manchester for horse stealing.
Prairie Township was organized in 1859, and at the October election 20 votes were polled.
The first Sabbath school in Prairie Township was established in May, 1859, at the house of Thomas Hillier. John Nethercut was Superintendent. Among the teachers were Mrs. T. A. Farrington, Mrs. R. M. Matsell, Mrs. Nora McCloud and Mrs. Thomas Hillier ; Mr. Alfred Durey, teacher of the Bible class.
The Dubuque & Pacific Railway was completed to Manchester in October, 1859, and to Masonville shortly afterward, on the 22d of October. The first shipment of wheat over the road from Manchester to Dubuque, was made by J. M. Watson, consigned to Chamberlain at Dubuque, October 6, 1859.
January 1, 1860, Joel Bailey became County Judge. The credit of the county had now become sound, and county warrants were worth their face in cash.
By act of the General Assembly, approved March 26, 1860, the County Judge system, which had been tried for ten years, was abolished, and a County Board of Supervisors created, consisting of one from each civil township. to be elected in October and assume the duties of their office in January following. By this act, the duties of County Judge were restricted to probate powers. The act went into effect July 4, 1860.
The first and only execution in Delaware County occurred in 1860. Some time during the previous year, a man named Andrew Ostland had been killed
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
in Dubuque. N. A. Johnson was arrested for the murder, and after examination there, took a change of venue to Delaware County. April 5. 1860, the case came before the District Court at Delhi ; Judge T. S. Wilson. presiding. The State appeared by W. T. Barker, District Attorney, and O'Neil and Harvey for the defense. A jury was called, consisting of Anson Shelden, Shubael Pierce. Joseph Long, G. W. Davis, T. M. Williams, Martin Lanning, N. B. Talmage, L. P. Baldwin, E. Hutton, N. B. Gleason, C. W. Hobbs and Samuel M. Slawson. After two days' trial, the jury returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. On the morning of the 7th, he was arraigned for sentence, and when asked by Judge Wilson whether he had anything to offer why judgment should not be pronounced, he replied that he had nothing to say. It was then ordered by the court that the said Johnson be taken from hence to prison, and there safely kept until Friday, May 18, 1860, and that on said day, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 2 o'clock P. M., the said prisoner should be taken to some convenient place within the corporate limits of the town Delhi, and there be hanged by the neck until he be dead, and that the same be public. He was taken to the Dubuque County jail for safe keeping.
On the day appointed, several thousand people assembled at Delhi to witness the revolting scene. A posse of citizens were summoned from the various towns in the county, numbering fifty or more, and armed to serve as guards. The gallows was built in, and near the northwest corner of, the Court House Square. Johnson was led to his death between files of the citizen guards, who formed a hollow square around the gallows. On one side of him walked Sheriff Eddy. and on the other the priest. Hon. Joel Bailey, County Judge; D. J. Wright. Clerk of the Court, and other county officers, walked in the rear of the doomed man. Johnson ascended the scaffold with a firm step. After confessing to a priest, his hands were tied behind him, and the black cap drawn over his face, shutting from his sight forever all mortal scenes. Sheriff Eddy with one blow severed the rope, and the doomed man fell. He was a large, heavy man, and death ensued immediately, his neck being broken by the fall. His body was placed in a coffin and buried in the old cemetery at Delhi, where a few rude stones mark his last resting place.
The town of Delaware, on the southwest quarter and the northwest quarter of southeast quarter, and southwest quarter of southeast quarter of Section 32, Township 89 north, Range 4, was laid out March, 1860. F. B. Doolittle, John IIefner. James P. Ball, proprietors.
The year 1861 marks a new era in the history of Delaware County, January 6th, the first Board of Supervisors, elected under the new law the pre- vious Autumn, assembled at Delhi, and superseded the County Judge so far as the government and management of the affairs of the county were concerned. The first Board was as follows : Silas Gilmore, Colony ; Ephraim K. Frost, Elk : John H. Burrington, Honey Creek ; Daniel Shelden, Richland; Joseph Lichtenbergh, Bremen ; Francis McFall, Oneida; C. H. Carpenter, Delaware ; Clement Coffin, Coffin's Grove; Z. D. Scobey, North Fork ; William Price, Delhi ; William Crozier, Milo ; Peter Richardson, Prairie : Aaron Richardson. South Fork ; Samuel P. Whittaker, Union; C. L. Flint, Hazel Green, and Daniel Fuller, Adams. Z. D. Scobey was elected Chairman of the Board, and James Wright, Clerk of the District Court, was Clerk of the Board.
At once petitions began to flow in to the County Board for construction of roads and bridges, and other matters that had received but little attention under the County Judge system, as no special provision had been made for them by law.
HAZEL GREEN TP.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
January 8th, the Committee on Public Buildings reported that the jail was insecure, and recommended that the Sheriff be furnished with a better office.
January 4th, the Board declined to direct the County Treasurer, Ray B. Griffin, to accept any currency of the Iowa State Bank, at the risk of the county, in payment of taxes.
At the June session, it was ascertained that a considerable amount of swamp lands was duc the county (see Swamp Lands, p. 211), and on the 6th of June George Wattson was appointed agent and attorney of the county to look after them.
POOR FARM.
June 7, 1861, Mr. Coffin, from the Committee on Paupers, reported recom- mending that a proposition be submitted to the voters of the county for the purchase of a Poor Farm. Re-committed with instructions, and on the 8th the Committee again reported that a proposition be submitted to the voters of Dela- ware County, whether the Board shall purchase a farm for the poor, and raise not exceeding $3,000 for the purpose. The report was accepted; J. M. Bray- ton was appointed to draw up such proposition, and on the same day the Board ordered the question to be submitted to the people at the ensuing October election, when it was rejected by a vote of 219 for purchase to 418 against.
This year is marked by the commencement of the great rebellion and civil war in the United States. Delaware performed her full share, as will be seen under the head of " The War Record," elsewhere.
In the year 1862, at the January session of the Board of Supervisors, C. L. Flint, from the Committee on the School Fund, reported that several persons who had borrowed from that fund were not financially sound. These persons were required to improve their securities, and prudent rules were adopted in relation to the management of the fund.
January 10th, the Committee on Paupers recommended that a farm for the poor be leased, and that a suitable person be employed for Overseer. On the same day, the. Board voted to petition the Legislature for a tax on dogs.
June 4th, S. A. Holt was appointed Steward of the Poor House, and on the 6th, F. B. Doolittle, William Terwilliger and Andrew Lord were appointed Poor House Directors ; rescinded, however, as to Terwilliger and Lord, October 21st.
October 21st, County Treasurer ordered to sell the gold in the Treasury. Samuel H. Gookin notified the Board that he was the owner of the premises on which the Poor House was situated. This was the "Clark farm," near Hart- wick, about a mile and a half southwest of Delhi. The notice was referred to Mr. Doolittle, with instructions to negotiate with Gookin for the purchase of the premises.
October 22d, the Board appropriated $1,000 to aid in the support of the families of volunteers.
The Home Insurance Company, of Delhi, was incorporated January 1, 1862. The corporators were Lyman Ingalls, Charles L. Currier, D. C. Tan- ner, R. B. Currier, Rensselaer Eddy, Ray B. Griffin and W. A. Heath. The
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
two Curriers and Tanner are now connected with the American Insurance Company. of Chicago. It does not appear that the Home effected more than its incorporation.
In 1863, the Director of the Poor House was authorized to purchase a farm for the poor, January 8th, and on the 9th the Treasurer was again authorized to sell all the gold on hand-$300.
June 5th, F. B. Doolittle was appointed Commissioner, and authorized " to negotiate with the owners of the premises now occupied by this county as a Poor House, provided he shall not pay more than $1,000 for the same," and in the event of purchase, the County Clerk was instructed to issue county orders for the necessary amount. On the same day, the Committee on Ways and Means reported that there were but thirty-nine persons in the county. of the families of volunteers, that might possibly need assistance.
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