USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > The history of Des Moines county, Iowa, containing a history of the country, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
The fame of the newly purchased territory spread rapidly throughout the East, and men who felt a desire to improve their condition by beginning life in a new country, were persuaded to venture over the imaginary boundary into
D
374
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
the forbidden land of promise. Of the large number who undoubtedly risked personal comfort and safety in such an expedition, pending the expiration of the limit of Indian occupancy, no reliable list can be given. A portion of the hardy band can be named, however, on the authority of Dr. William R. Ross, whose name figures conspicuously in these pages further on. At the present time (January, 1879), Mr. Ross is still living, having just passed his seventy- fifth birthday. His home is in Hamilton, Marion Co., Iowa. To him the writer is indebted for much valuable information. From his numerous letters, the following extracts are made apropos to the year 1832.
" It may not be uninteresting," observes the Doctor, "to give some of the names of those who first explored Southern Iowa, in 1832, prior to making a permanent settlement in 1833. First, among others, were Maj. Joseph B. Teas and Joseph Morgan, afterward citizens of Albia; William Morgan, William Stewart, John Ward, Isaac Canterberry, Lewis Walters, Isaac Crenshaw, Benjamin Tucker, Ezekiel Smith and sons Paris and Lineas, John Bullard, Richard Land, Thomas Dovrell, David Tothero, S. S. White, M. M. McCarver, Berryman Jenkins, William Wright, John Harris and Charles Teas, with oth- ers that were in Iowa when I came in July, 1833. Mrs. Sarah Hilleary, wife of Alexander Hilleary, near Burlington, came with her father, William Mor- gan, in February. 1832, to do the domestic work, while her father was improv- ing his elaim. and building a house preparatory to moving his family, and was one of the families driven on the Big Island just below Burlington, by soldiers from Rock Island, as the Indian title had not been extinguished."
While this statement is, in the main, correct, we are able to show in the chapter on Burlington, further on in this volume, that the first claim, although illegal-as were all those made prior to June 1, 1833-was selected in 1829.
In the fall of 1829, Simpson S. White and Amzi Doolittle laid claim to the lands upon which Burlington stands, in anticipation of some day being
able to enter them. Their hopes were realized in the fall of 1832. In the fall of 1832, David Tothero also made claim to the lands subsequently known as the "Judge Morgan farm," about three miles further on. These men were, beyond doubt, the original settlers of Des Moines County. It will be noticed that their names appear in the foregoing list of prospectors. and every item of information now obtainable, tends to the substantiation of this statement.
The residence of these families was not an undisturbed reign of peace and plenty. for to the natural privations of pioneer life was added the constant peril of expulsion from house and home by the troops. The families were invaders of the Indian tract, and therefore, beyond the pale of lawful protec- tion. Their claims were made in defiance of the treaty signed by the Sacs and Foxes and the Government. Their only hope of escape from injury to themselves and destruction of property, rested upon the slight possibility of their presence not being discovered. The hope was, indeed, a meager one, since the unusual spectacle of a farm-cabin on the shores of the river, or upon the broad prairie, was sufficient to attract a less skillful eye than that of a native denizen of the region.
As might have been expected, during the winter of 1832-33, a detachment of troops came down from Rock Island and burned the settlers' cabins. The families were driven across the Mississippi.
Mr. Ross says : "In February, 1833, before the Indian title was extin- guished, William Morgan, son and daughter, Isaac Canterberry and family, Lewis Walters and family, Charles Teas, Joseph B. Teas, Benjamin Tucker, John Ward. son and daughter, Isaac Crenshaw and family, Morton M. McCar-
375
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
ver and family, Simpson S. White and family, with, perhaps, two or three other parties, whose names are not remembered now, made a venture on the Indian tract, within Des Moines County. The little company made claims, erected cabins, built rail fences, and, as soon as the seasor. (which appears to have been an 'early' one) would permit, planted corn and sowed some grain. The troopers, under orders from Col. Davenport, rusned down upon the colony, destroying cabins, laying waste the just-sprouting grain-fields, and driving the settlers from the claims they had made. The families took refuge in flatboats, and hastily conveyed what of their household goods and live-stock they could secure across the river to Big Island.
" The title remained in the Indians until June 1, 1833. At this time, Rich- ard Chaney resided at Fort Madison, and Dr. Garland and Mr. Campbell, and, perhaps, a few others on the half-breed tract. After June 1, 1833, the country was settled very rapidly ; as every one then had the liberty of taking to them- selves a claim of half a section of land, one-quarter of timber and one of prairie, and the right to purchase as many claims as he had the money for. This rule occasioned much disturbance by new emigrants coming into the country and finding one man holding more than one claim. It drove them back into the new region against their will."
A " Citizen of Burlington " wrote to the Patriot, in June, 1839, the fol- lowing brief statement concerning the pioneer settlement of the county. After telling of the original claims made by M. M. McCarver and S. S. White, on the present site of Burlington (which are spoken of more particularly in the chapter on Burlington), prior to the extinguishment of the Indian title, the correspondent said :
"In October, 1832, there were some twelve or fifteen individuals who crossed the river in canoes, at the head of the Big Island, and landed at the claim of Smith, which extended two miles south of Burlington as it now is. The company made an excursion of a few miles around the edge of the timber, in the town prairie, laying claims for future settlement. But little was done by them until February, 1833. At that time, they brought over their stock, and commenced building and cultivating the soil ; but, to their great detriment, they were driven by the Government soldiers, from Rock Island, across the river to the Big Island, taking with them their implements of husbandry and their stock. Their cabins and fences were set on fire and entirely destroyed. Notwithstanding all this, they held a council, and pretty unanimously agreed to hold on to their new homes. They built a flatboat, and resolved to watch for an opportunity to cross over the stream, and continue the cultivation of their claims. Many of these worthy individuals, after returning and making a small improvement, sold out, at a trifling advance, to such as were more able to carry on the work and preferred buying claims to going back and taking up wild lands. Some of the original settlers remained and placed their farms under a high state of improvement.
" After a close, hard winter (1833-34), the river remaining blocked with ice until late in the spring, the prospects of the little settlement began to brighten, especially when boats began to arrive. During the winter, however, we enjoyed ourselves with the Indians. in smoking the pipe and telling stories of war-skirmishes. Almost every day, we gave chase with our dogs after the wolves which appeared opposite our little village on the river. One morning, there were no less than half a dozen in a pack, and we started out. One of our dogs overhauled and killed three of the brutes before we could reach him, and then started after the others ; but he was so exhausted when we overtook
376
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
him, about two miles above the islands, that he could not keep his hold, and the wolf disappeared, after the loss of much blood. The dog belonged to Isaac Cren- shaw, who [subsequently] rented the Barret farm, and was one of the suffer- ers by the soldiers from Rock Island.
" In regard to the improvements of 1834, we had some accessions to our village, of very good citizens, and several frame and log buildings were erected. But our farmers went far ahead, in improvement, of any people I ever saw who were laboring under such disadvantages. Every one was trying to excel in making the largest improvement and planting the most grain. Ī can scarcely remember one who broke less than thirty acres, and some broke even sixty and eighty. Those who had the largest improvements and who had to stand the brunt of hardships in the new settlement were William Stewart, Richard Land, W. R. Ross, William Morgan, Lewis Walters, Isaac Canter- berry, E. Smith, Paris Smith, P. D. Smith, Isaac Crenshaw, B. B. Tucker, E. Wade and father, and some few others who sold out and went further west, or left the country. A few of the pioneers died early ; among them were John Harris and William Wright, with, possibly, a few whose names I have forgotten."
There was a settlement near the mouth of Long Creek, northeast of Augusta, made by six or seven families from Indiana, in July, 1833, eight miles west of Burlington.
In July, 1833, William R. Ross crossed the Mississippi River and landed on the Iowa side one-half mile below the mouth of Flint River. Morton M. McCarver and Simpson S. White were the only residents in that immediate vicinity at that time. When Mr. Ross arrived, he saw corn growing, but no fences were standing. Col. Morgan had fifty acres of corn on his farm, three miles southwest of Burlington, which was the first claim he made. These evidences of improvement were the remains of the attempts at settlement in the preceding spring.
The claims made by Morton and White extended from the mouth of Hawk- Eye Creek to the mouth of Flint River, and were a half-mile in width. This territory included the site of the original trading-post with the Indians.
William Morgan arrived the second time, with his family, September 10, 1833, from Sangamon County, Ill. Among his children was Miss Matilda. He made a claim below Hawk-Eye Creek, called Lower Burlington, at a later date, where lie built a cabin in September.
The first death which occurred in the settlement was that of William Ross, father of William R. Ross. This death took place in October, 1833.
The first marriage solemnized in this region was that of William R. Ross and Matilda Morgan, which was observed on the 3d day of December, 1833. The ceremony took place under a sycamore-tree, on the east bank of the Missis- sippi, and was performed by Judge Allen, of Monmouth. This wedding is referred to in the chapter on Burlington.
Prior to the formal attachment of Iowa to Michigan Territory, which was accomplished in the winter of 1833-34, but was not enforced until some time in 1834, this region was governed by a primitive system of "claim laws," adopted by the settlers, and supervised by certain officers chosen for the pur- pose. This state of affairs lasted but a little more than one year.
THE FIRST MILLS.
In 1834, as nearly as can be learned, Levi Moffit built a mill on Skunk River, near the site of Augusta. It was claimed that this was the first mill erected in Southern Iowa; but, as is elsewhere shown, Mr. White claims
377
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
priority for Donnel's Mill, on Flint River. Moffit was authorized, in 1837, to keep a ferry across the river. The mill was in operation as early as 1835, surely, and probably in 1834. Mr. Donnel built a mill on Flint . River, three miles from Burlington ; and Mr. Hughes built one eight miles from town. These, in the order named, are given us as the first three mills. They were primitive affairs, and barely served the purpose designed.
HOW " CLAIMS " WERE MADE.
The claim-making of the early settlers in Iowa was a mode of settlement peculiar to that portion of the public domain which was occupied prior to its being surveyed by the General Government. Newhall, in his " Sketches of Iowa," states that by mutual concession and an honorable adherence to neigh- borhood regulations, claim-making was governed by a pro-tem. law, which answered the purpose of general protection for the homes of the settlers until his land came into the market. So general did this usage become, and so united were the interests of the settlers, that it was deemed extremely hazard- ous as well as highly dishonorable for a speculator or stranger to bid upon a claim, even though it was not protected by a "pre-emption right." More than one " war " was waged when such attempts as that were made, almost invariably resulting in the rout of the interloper. Blood, in some instances, was shed in defense of these recognized rights. When it was clearly understood what improvements constituted a claim, and when the settler conformed to the "by- laws " of his neighborhood, or township, it was just as much respected for the time being as if the occupant had the Government patent for it. For instance, if an emigrant came into the country for location, he looked from county to county for a location. After having placed himself, he set about making an improvement. To break five acres of ground would hold his claim for six months ; or if a cabin was built, eight logs high with a roof, which was equiva- lent to the plowing, he held it six months longer. He then staked out his half- section of land, which was a full claim, generally one-quarter timber and one- quarter prairie, and then his home was secure from trespass by any one. If he chose to sell his " claim," he was at perfect liberty to do so, and the purchaser succeeded to all the rights and immunities of the first settler. As an evidence of the respect in which these claim-rights were held by the people of Iowa, we quote here an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory, passed January 15, 1839, entitled, " An act to provide for the collection of demands growing out of contracts for sales of improvements on public lands."
" Be it enacted, that all contracts, promises, assumpsits, or undertakings, either written or verbal, which shall be made hereafter in good faith, and with- out fraud, collusion or circumvention, for sale, purchase or payment of improve- ments made on the lands owned by the Government of the United States, shall be deemed valid in law or equity, and may be sued for and recovered as in other contracts.
" That all deeds of quitclaim, or other conveyance of all improvements upon public lands, shall be as binding and effectual, in law and equity, between the parties for conveying the title of the grantor in and to the same, as in cases where the grantor has the fee-simple to the premises conveyed."
Previous to lands being brought into market, each township, nearly, had its own organization throughout the Territory. This was to prevent unpleas- ant litigation and to keep up a spirit of harmony among neighbors, and the better to protect them in their equitable rights of " claim " purchase. A ".call- meeting " was announced something after this fashion : " The citizens of
378
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
Township 72 north, Range 5 west, are requested to meet at 'Squire B -- 's, at Hickory Grove (or as the place or the time might be), to adopt the necessary measures for securing their homes, at the approaching land sales at B -. " After a short preamble and set of resolutions, suited to the occasion, a " Regis- ter " was appointed, whose duty it was to record the name of each claimant to his respective " claim." A "bidder " was also appointed, whose duty it was, on the day of sale, to bid off all the land previously registered, in the name of each respective claimant. Thus, everything moved along at the land sales with the harmony and regularity of clock-work ; but if any one present was found bidding over the minimum price ($1.25 per acre), on land registered in the township, woe be unto him !
When any controversy arose between the neighbors relative to trespassing (or, in common parlance, "jumping a claim "), it was arbitrated by a committee appointed for that purpose. and their decision was considered final.
Newhall describes a land sale, which may bring up to the minds of some of the old settlers a remembrance of one of those absorbing periods. He says :
" Many are the ominous indications of its approach among the settlers. Every dollar is sacredly treasured up. The precious 'mint-drops' take to themselves wings and fly away from the merchant's till to the farmer's cup- board. Times are dull in the towns, for the settler's home is dearer and sweeter than the merchant's sugar and coffec. At length the wished-for day arrives. The suburbs of the town present the scene of a military camp. The set- tlers have flocked from far and near. The hotels are thronged to overflowing. Bar-rooms, dining-rooms and wagons are metamorphosed into bedrooms. Din- ners arc eaten from a table or a stump, and thirst is quenched from a bar or a brook. The sale being announced from the land office, the township bidder stands near by, with the registry-book in hand, in which each settler's name is attached to his respective half or quarter section, and thus he bids off, in the name of the whole township, for each respective claimant. A thousand settlers are standing by. eagerly listening when their quarter shall be called off. The crier passes the well-known numbers ; his home is secure. He feels relieved : the litigation of 'claim-jumping' is over forever ; he is lord of the soil. With an independent step he walks into the land office, opens the time-worn saddle- bags and counts out the $200 or $400, silver and gold, takes his certificate from the General Government and goes away rejoicing."
A meeting of the claim-holders of lands in fractional Townships 69 and 70 north, Range 2 west, was held in the Methodist Church in Burlington, June 19, 1839, for the purpose of preparing for the impending land sales. Hon. Charles Mason presided, and George W. Kelley acted as Secretary.
On motion of Joseph Morgan, the meeting resolved to elect two sets of officers to conduct the business of entering the lands at the proper time. The meeting adopted the order of procedure, which follows: A Register was chosen for each township, whose duty it was to prepare a map, with the several claims indicated thereon ; a bidder and assistant bidder were chosen to attend the sale and make the purchases. Conflicts of claimants were submitted to a committee of three, who had the power to settle all disputes. In event of a refusal by both parties to arbitrate, the case was to be submitted to a committee of five. Claimants were authorized to take as much as 320 acres. An equable arrangement was made between adjoining claimants, where their claim-lines and the Government survey failed to coincide. All persons over eighteen years of age were entitled to the privileges of claimants.
379
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
Benjamin Tucker was chosen Register for Township 69, and George W. Kelley, Register for Township 70. William Stewart and James Anderson were bidders for the former; George W. Hight and Royal Cottle, for the latter town.
The standing committees were: John Darbyshire, Joseph Morgan, E. Wade, Peter Smith, Jesse Hunt-Township 69; William R. Ross, Levi Scott, James Hatcher, Oliver Cottle, Henry James-Township 70. All claims were required to be registered before August 1, 1839.
By proclamation of President Martin Van Buren, the lands were to come into market October 1, 1839, but the sales were postponed in part of the dis- trict until March, 1840, when the tract on which Burlington stands was sold.
The following is a statistical table of monthly receipts at the Burlington Land Office, during the first year and four months of its existence. Perhaps no safer criterion can be drawn of the pre-eminent character that Iowa had already attained, than the receipts which this table exhibits of a country that only so late as June, 1833, was first subject to occupancy by the white man. Of every hundred acres, it was estimated that ninety fell into the hands of the actual settlers.
November 19, 1838, sold by public sale.
$295,495 61
January,
1839, by private entries and pre-emption.
60,751 14
February,
1839,
66
23,047 31
March, 1839,
66
66
6 6
8,778 46
April, 1839, ¥
.€
66
12,706 77
May, 1839,
66
15,675 93
July,
1839,
66
66
66
..
8,216 32
September, 1839,
8,836 56
October,
1839, by public sales.
47,487 91
November, 1839, by private entries
10,564 72
December, 1839,
66
66
3,868 11
January 1, 1840,
4,644 80
February, 1840,
5,420 56
March,
1840, by private entries and public sales inclusive ..
332,222 42
April,
1840, by private entries and pre-emption.
29,834 22
June,
1840, by private sale and pre-emption.
62,170 62
Total
$968,987 14
HOW PIONEERS LIVED.
In choosing his home the pioneer usually had an eye mainly to its location, and for that reason settlers were oftener than not very solitary creatures, with- out neighbors and remote from even the common conveniences of life. A desir- able region was sure to have plenty of inhabitants in time, but it was the advance-guard that suffered the privation of isolation. People within a score of miles of each other were neighbors, and the natural social tendencies of man- kind asserted themselves even in the wilderness by efforts to keep up communi- cation with even these remote families.
The first business of a settler on reaching the place where he intended to fix his residence, was to select his claim and mark it off as nearly as he could without a compass. This was done by stepping and staking or blazing the lines as he went. The absence of section lines rendered it necessary to take the sun at noon and at evening as a guide by which to run these claim-lines. So many steps each way counted three hundred and twenty acres, more or less, the then legal area of a claim. It may be readily supposed that these lines were far from correct, but they answered all necessary claim purposes, for it was under-
14,356 52
June,
1839, 66
66
24,909 16
August,
1839,
66
66
66
380
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
stood among the settlers that when the lands came to be surveyed and entered, all inequalities should be righted. Thus, if a surveyed line should happen to run between adjoining claims, cutting off more or less of the other, the fraction was to be added to whichever lot required equalizing, yet without robbing the one from which it was taken, for an equal amount would be added to it in another place.
The next important business was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons, perhaps the only shel- ter they had known for weeks. So the prospect for a house, which was also to be home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of the home entered very little into their thoughts- it was shelter they wanted, and protection from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appli- ances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have a mere cabin or hut. Some of the most primitive constructions of this kind were half-faced, or, as they were sometimes called, " cat-faced" sheds or "wike- ups," the Indian term for house or tent. It is true, a claim cabin was a little more in the shape of a human habitation, made, as it was, of round logs light enough for two or three men to lay up, about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little large or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboards, and sometimes with the sods of the prairie; and floored with puncheons (logs split once in two, and the flat side laid up) or with earth. For a fire place, a wall of stone and earth- frequently the latter only, when stone was not convenient-was made in the best practicable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the build- ing, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood notched together to stay it. Frequently a fire-place of this kind was made so capacious as to occupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather, when a great deal of fuel was needed to keep the atmosphere above freezing point-for this wide-mouthed fire-place was a huge ventilator-large logs were piled into this yawning space. To protect the crumbling back wall against the effects of fire, two back logs were placed against it, one upon the other. Sometimes these back logs were so large that they could not be got in in any other way than to hitch a horse to them, drive him in at one door, unfasten the log before · the fire-place, from whence it was put in proper position, and then drive him out at the other door. For a chimney, any contrivance that would conduct the smoke up the chimney would do. Some were made of sods, plastered upon the inside with clay; others-the more common perhaps-were of the kind we occasionally sec in use now, clay and sticks, or " cat in clay," as they were sometimes called. Imagine of a winter's night, when the storm was having its own wild way over this almost uninhabited land, and when the wind was roar- ing like a cataract of cold over the broad wilderness, and the settler had to do his best to keep warm, what a royal fire this double-back-logged and well-filled fire-place would hold ! It must have been a cozy place to smoke, provided the settler had any tobacco ; or for the wife to sit knitting before, provided she had needles and yarn. At any rate, it must have given something of cheer to the conversation, which very likely was upon the home and friends they had left behind when they started out on this bold venture of seeking fortunes in a new land.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.