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 74
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The first officers-President, H. W. Starr; Vice President, J. K. Scott ; Secretary, George H. Lane; Treasurer, William F. Coolbaugh. Directors- Calvin Gamage, Robert Stewart, M. W. Robinson, John S. David, Elbridge G. Leffler.
The subsequent history of the Society we will not give in detail, but shall content ourselves with the fact that the history of the association shows & career of uninterrupted progress ; each successive exhibition has generally been a decided improvement over that of the previous year. Its sole aim and pur- pose is to advance the agricultural and industrial interests of Des Moines County, and the vast and fruitful country surrounding it.
The grounds are beautifully situated near the western limits of the city of Burlington, embracing within the inclosure thirty acres of beautiful level land. There is an abundance of good water on all parts of the grounds, from springs, ponds and wells.
The race-track, one-half mile in length, with a grand stand, from which the horses can be seen on any part of the track, is acknowledged to be the finest in
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the State. There are the other customary buildings and improvements on the grounds, including Fine Art and Floral Halls, Fruit and Vegetable Hall, Mechanical Hall, etc., and fine covered stables and stalls.
The fair of 1875 was a complete success financially and otherwise. Since the above-named year, fairs have been held annually, and, though the exhibi- tions have always been a success, yet they have not always proven financially satisfactory.
The present officers are: John Patterson, President ; E. Chamberlin, Vice President ; C. C. Fowler, Treasurer ; C. M, Garman, Secretary. Directors- G. R. Henry, D. Leonard, W. F. Johnson, C. Messenger, H. C. Cameron, R. B. Foster, J. Bock.
POOR-FARM.
The County Poor-Farm is located on Section 4, Township 69, Range 3 west, and is composed of cultivated fields, pastures, corn-fields, an orchard and several buildings. The present keeper is Lemuel Ewing. It is but right to state that this public institution of Des Moines County has been repeatedly con- demned by the Board of Supervisors as inadequate for the purpose in general as well as for the accommodation of the present number of deserving applicants for admittance. The erection of workshops nearer the city has been recom- mended, as also the building of tenement-houses and an insane hospital, to insure the proper care and employment of the county poor.
PIONEER SOCIETY.
The Hawk-Eye Pioneer Association, an organization limited to the county, was organized on the second of January, 1858. It was designed to include all as members who came to the county on or before the first day of June, 1840, though its constitution admitted to corresponding membership those who were residents of Iowa at that time. The Association reached about two hundred members. The oldest settler was Judge William Morgan, now deceased, who came to the county from Illinois on the 5th of June, 1833, five days after the Indian claim had expired. He was Judge of the first court ever held in Bur- lington. The oldest settler now living is Henry Moore, who was Mayor of Burlington in 1842.
BURLINGTON'S OPPORTUNITIES.
Burlington is well situated for becoming a great commercial and manufact- uring city. With lines of railroad radiating in every direction, bringing to her warehouses the products of near and distant portions of the country ; with the Mississippi River at her door, ready to float upon its bosom such products as seek a Southern market ; with a wealth of timber suited to manufacturing pur- poses near at hand ; with inexhaustible coal deposits within easy reach cither to the east or west ; and with the great South and West as an unfailing market for either manufactured articles or surplus breadstuffs ; it docs appear as if a promising future opened before the city ; and it is not unreasonable to believe that within a few years these expectations may be realized.
We commend the following remarks, taken from the Hawk-Eye, to all who feel an interest in the future of Burlington as a manufacturing city :
" We have not the statistics at hand, but the total amount paid by the State of Iowa alone into the coffers of manufacturers in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Penn- sylvania, Michigan, and the Eastern States, is almost incredible.
" Do we want a threshing machine or a reaper ? It comes from Ohio. Do we need furniture ? A manufacturer in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, or the East,
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immediately supplies our wants. Do we want iron or glass ? Pittsburgh stands ready with open and capacious pockets, ready to draw in our last dollar. Do we need cotton or woolen goods ? Nothing is easier than to send our orders to a Stewart or a Claflin. And so the list might be continued indefinitely. Out of all the labor-saving machinery and other articles of daily consumption in the State of Iowa, what a beggarly array is made here ?
" The people of Iowa pursue a suicidal policy in shipping their grain to the manufacturing districts of the East, submitting to outrageous freight tariffs, and then duplicate their folly by purchasing three-fourths of everything they con- sume, as well as a large proportion of all the machinery with which they make and secure their crops, from a distant market, and, besides paying a large profit to the manufacturer, again contribute to the plethoric purses of the railways.
" The true remedy for the growing evils of which farmers complain, is to encourage home manufactures. Give them the preference always, and as a legit- imate result, factories of every conceivable kind will at once spring into exist- ence in the West, attracting large bodies of mechanics and their families, and creating a home demand for a large per cent of the breadstuffs that now find an Eastern or Southern market.
" No city in the West offers more decided advantages as a point for the in- vestment of money in manufacturing enterprise than does Burlington. Real estate is cheap and local encouragement of a substantial character will be cheer- fully, gladly extended.
"Fuel is abundant. Both to the east and west, within easy distance from this city are vast quantities of coal, as yet but partially developed. It can be laid down at the doors of factories in large quantities at almost nominal cost.
" There is an unfailing supply of water obtainable-whether it may be needed in rolling-mills, in paper-mills, or simply to supply boilers.
" There is a ready market. No one will dispute this proposition, we pre- sume. And when we reflect how large a per cent of the territory of this and the Western States is yet undeveloped, the magnitude of the future market al- most passes comprehension.
" There are abundant modes of transportation, by which raw material can be obtained cheaply and expeditiously, and these opportunities are constantly mul- tiplying, and by the same or other routes manufactured articles can seek a market.
" Burlington possesses all of these advantages, and that they are correctly stated, and that the deduction drawn from them is a fair one, witness the flour- ishing condition of such manufacturing enterprises as are now in operation here. We ask capitalists and others to consider these facts."
TOWNS AND POST OFFICES.
The geographical position of Des Moines County precludes the possibility of a. large city besides Burlington, but there are several very pleasant villages in ยท different portions of the county.
The townships of Flint River and Union, which adjoin Burlington Town- ship on the west, have no villages, but are both old in time of settlement. Union Township claims Isaac Canterberry, who came over with the original pioneers, as its first settler, dating the arrival in 1833. William Walters, T. L. Hughes, John Moore, James Hilleary and Mr. York were all '33 men. In 1837, the first schoolhouse was built on Section 27. In 1838, the first church
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
was erected, on Section 3. Benjamin Ogle was the first minister to officiate in the town, and Mr. Quarles was the first teacher. Alexander Hilleary and Sarah Morgan were the first couple to marry. The ceremony was performed by a clergyman from Monmouth, Ill., who came down to the east shore of the Mississippi, in response to Mr. Hilleary's request, and there met the wedding party, which had crossed over to Illinois on a flatboat. The festivities of those times were primitive, but were, undoubtedly, as thoroughly enjoyed as are the more studied methods of to-day. The wedding referred to took place in 1834. The first child born was a daughter of Cooper and Elizabeth Harris-Mary E., born May 4, 1835. The first mill was operated by Mr. Moore, by horse-power. The first Justice of the Peace was J. L. Dyar. The township was laid out in 1836, sectionized in 1837 and opened to purchase in 1838.
The pioneers of Flint River were J. D. Spearman, Leonard Abney, John Crawford, Jacob Wolf, Jonathan Morgan, David Love and others, who dated their arrival 1835-36. J. L. McMaken, who has since held several offices of responsibility came in 1838. David Fees came that year, also. The veteran Methodist Missionary, Peter Cartwright, was the first minister to hold services within the limits of this town. Wealthy Ann Holton was the first teacher, in 1836. Willam Morgan and Elizabeth Sexson were the first couple to be joined in wedlock, in 1837. The township is a fertile one, and is a most desirable place for farm residence.
AUGUSTA.
The village of Augusta is pleasantly situated on the Skunk River, in the southeastern portion of Augusta Township, in Sections 23 and 24. The sur- rounding country is what may be properly termed a rolling prairie. It is well watered, by not only the river once navigable, but also by numerous brooks and many cool springs. The soil is rich, and produces corn in great abundance, which is really the main support of the township. However, very fine winter wheat is also raised, the last crop being the largest known in many years. The neighborhood is rich in gray-lime, sand and flint stone. Numerous quarries are now in operation, and large quantities of lime are burned. The events herein- after recorded, will explain how the village originated ; who were its prime ben- efactors. and who the pioneers of the vicinity. John Whitaker was born the 21st day of March, 1795, in Washington County, Va. When five or six years old, his parents moved to Tennessee, where he remained, working at farm labor until the war of 1812, when he enlisted in the army of the United States, at Tazewell, Tenn. He was under Gen. Jackson, at the battle of Horse-Shoe, on the Tallapoosa River. Samuel Houston, subsequently Governor of Tennessee, hero of San Jacinto, President of Texas, and after the admission of Texas into the Union, Senator in Congress from Texas, was Lieutenant of the company Whitaker served in at the battle of Horse-Shoe. Having served out his term of enlistment, he was discharged near Pensacola, Fla., and returned to Ten- nessee. He married there soon after the war, and was engaged in farming, until he had a family of five children, when he moved to Indiana about 1827, where he remained one year, and then went to Illinois, remaining there four or five years. In November, 1832, the same year of the treaty of Fort Arm- strong, which gave the whites that part of Iowa which lies along the Mississippi, and extends fifty miles west of it. called, in those days, the Black Hawk Pur- chase, he came to Iowa, landing where Burlington now stands, but which was then called Flint Hills. He found there, two or three small log cabins, and perhaps a dozen people in all. The ground was generally covered with brush and timber. The Indians had not yet vacated the country to the whites ;
He. Leonard
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and in a short time after he arrived, a party of regular soldiers were sent by Gen. Scott, and drove the new-comers east of the Mississippi. Whitaker returned to Flint Hills in February, 1833, and was allowed to remain in Iowa. He went from Flint Hills to where Augusta now stands, erected a log cabin, and was the first settler claimant of what now constitutes the town plat of Augusta. He made his settlement there, because he thought that Skunk River, at that point, furnished a good location for a mill-site. After the cabin was built, he returned to Illinois, and moved his family to his new home. During the sum- mer of 1833, he built a log-cabin storehouse about one mile from his dwelling, toward Flint Hills, and in November, of the same year, he brought from St. Louis a stock of dry goods and groceries, and put them in the building where the late Jesse Weber, of Burlington, acted as clerk during the winter of 1833-34. Indians were still numerous about his premises ; but he says they were strictly honest and among his best customers, paying for what they got in peltries and furs. In the mean time, settlers had been coming into Iowa rap- idly, and Burlington and Fort Madison began to show the appearance of small villages.
Levi Moffet was born in York State, in the town of Oppenheim, Mont- gomery County, May 10, 1800, from there he went to Orangeville, Columbia Co., Penn., living there many years. There he was married to Elizabeth Keck, January 29, 1824, by William Scott. The family was increased until it included five children. In 1834, Levi Moffet traveled West, prospecting for a location suited for the erection of a mill. In company with a man named William Smith, Levi Moffet worked on a dam near La Harpe, Ill., expecting to erect a mill there. He then returned to Orangeville for the purpose of organ- izing a colony to locate in Illinois. The undertaking was successful, and Mr. Moffet purchased a flatboat, which was loaded with furniture, mill machinery, bought in Ohio, tools, provisions, and thirty barrels of Orangeville whisky. When the entire party had taken quarters on board the flatboat, it consisted of the following men and their families : Levi Moffet, George Coltson, Mr. Drake, Z. Lotos Moffet, Jesse Wilson, Lott Moffet, Peter Barb, Mr. Gideons and Mr. Hosford. Besides these there were in the colony, Robert Chestnut, carpenter, and Fred Kessler, millwright, employed by Levi Moffet, also Mr. Lee, Cibby Bauers and Dr. Farnsworth. The flatboat with its cargo started down the headwaters of the Beaver River in the spring of 1835. At the mouth of the Cumberland River, in Kentucky, while attempting to effect a landing, the boat sprung a leak, which necessitated the unloading of almost the entire cargo. Here the goods and emigrants were transferred to a steamboat bound for St. Louis. Robert Chestnut and Fred Kessler, however, remained in charge of the flatboat, which was repaired, and by them brought to the mouth of the Ohio River, where the balance of the goods were loaded on a steamboat, and passage on the same secured by the two men for St. Louis. The flatboat was left to the mercy of the waters. In St. Louis, the entire party was re-united, and lived for about one week in an abandoned stone-cutter's shanty on the bank of the Mississippi. From this point the colony went by boat to Warsaw, Ill., where they separated, branching out into Illinois, mostly settling near La Harpe. Upon his return to the dam built before leaving Illinois, Levi Moffet was not satisfied with the locality, and decided to look further. Hearing of the Skunk River, he started out with Fred Kessler to inspect that section of country, which resulted in the purchase of John Whitaker's mill-site claim, including a fractional quarter-section of land. The transaction took place in May. 1835, and William Smith, of La Harpe, was a partner in the claim. After an absence
R
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of nine days, Levi Moffet and Fred Kessler returned to La Harpe, and moved the goods and the family to Skunk River ; William Smith now joined the party. Arriving at their destination May 12, 1835, work was immediately begun by Moffet, Smith, Chestnut and Kessler on a dam and saw-mill, which was soon in running order. In one corner a one-stone run was placed to grind corn and wheat, and this was the first mill in Iowa. At this time, Mr. Edwards, Basey, Alexander Robertson and John Haynes lived in the vicmity. As soon as the existence of a mill became known, settlers came from all directions, which faet induced Levi Moffet to lay out town lots on the claim owned by William Smith and himself. In 1837, William Smith sold out his interest in the mill and claim to Levi Moffet in consideration of the sum of $5,000. The same year, Moffet built a regular independent flouring mill. As soon as the village of Augusta was founded. John Whitaker moved his prairie store into the town, where he continued to sell goods for eight years. In the fall of 1838, Levi Moffet purchased of the Government the land included in his claim. In 1840, a few Mormons came from Nauvoo, Ill., and purchased a mill-site. and built a saw-mill, but only remained a short time. The mill passed into various hands, and, in 1878, was carried away by high water. In 1844, Moffet & Jones built and launched a steamboat to run on Skunk River, and named it " Maid of Iowa." Mrs. Moffet died March 29, 1838, and on June 17, 1840, Mr. Moffet married Mrs. Antoinette Roff, of St. Louis. During the last four or five years of his life he suffered much, and died March 31, 1857, of apoplexy. His oldest son, Joseph, succeeded the departed pioneer in business. After leaving Augusta, John Whitaker made several changes of location, but now resides in Fort Madison, and rather than be idle, keeps a store in the front part of his dwelling. Mr. Moffet's family still live in Augusta. The founder of the village of Augusta is said to have been a man of fine personal appearance, intelligence and education, very social, fond of telling a good story, and always prepared for an argument, particularly if of a political nature. Mr. Whitaker is a splendid specimen of Iowa pioneers ; he is about six feet three inches tall, and when in the prime of life weighed about two hundred'and fifteen pounds. He has always been noted for his generous hospitality, truth in all things, and strict integrity. He was first entitled to a vote in 1816, and commenced his politics as a Democrat, and has remained such ever since.
The covered bridge which spans the Skunk River, was built in 1858, by Des Moines County in conjunction with a private company, and made a toll bridge, which it has since remained, although several efforts have been put forth to make it a free public institution.
The first school in Augusta Township was taught by Alex. Hilleary, in a log schoolhouse built on Section 13, in 1836. The graded system was intro- dneed by demand and unanimous vote of the people, in 1877, after it had been decided to build a new schoolhouse, and the taxes had been levied therefor. The new two-story frame schoolhouse was erected in 1878, and when opened the new system was introduced. Previous to the introduction of the graded system and for the past twenty years, the school was held in the old frame schoolhouse familiarly termed " the hill." The first teacher of this school was W. P. Mor- rett. The present teachers are F. Funek and W. P. Morrett.
The first church was built of brick by the Methodists, in the eastern part of Augusta Township. The first sermon was preached in Levi Moffet's house. The Methodist parsonage was sold to satisfy a deed of trust on the church, which is now on the Burlington Circuit and visited once in two weeks by Rev. Tuttle.
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
The first death in the township was that of Mrs. Randall Smith, in 1835. July 9, 1835, Mary Whitaker, daughter of John Whitaker, was married by a Methodist preacher named Brown, to William Sawtelle, a young settler farmer of the neighborhood, which was the first marriage in Augusta Township.
Joshua Holland, appointed Postmaster October 2, 1846, was the first one we have any account of in Augusta. Since August 6, 1862, Mrs. C. Cameron has held the office of Postmistress.
The Hiram Lodge, No. 7, of A., F. & A. M., was instituted under dispensa- tion April 25, 1844, and chartered January 8, 1845. The first officers were : W. A. Weston, W. M .; C. S. Whitney, S. W .; A. C. Graves, J. W .: Isaac Butterfield, Treasurer ; J. F. Hutchinson, Secretary ; P. Jackson, S. D .; Levi Moffet, J. D. The present officers are: Millard Rogers, W. M .; Martin Thomp- son, S. W .; Joseph Fry, J. W .; Daniel S. Carter, Treasurer ; Walter Bryant, Secretary ; A. H. Colby, S. D .; John Cline, J. D.
The Augusta Literary and Debating Society was organized February 6, 1879, by William Stewart and C. D. Cameron, with a membership of fifteen. The following officers were elected: Henry Hill, President; F. Funck, Vice President : William Stewart, Secretary ; Harvey Stewart, Treasurer.
The Augusta Red Ribbon Club was organized July, 1878. The first offi- cers were F. M. Johnson, President ; Charles Schultz, Treasurer ; W. P. Mor- rett, Secretary. New officers are elected every three months. At the last election the original officers were re-instated. The Club has now a membership of two hundred.
The village of Augusta has two general stores, one hotel, two blacksmith- shops, one flouring-mill and one physician.
The present township officers are H. A. Hills, Justice of the Peace : Frank- lin Shay, Justice of the Peace ; Robert Hean, Jr., Constable ; Alfred Walker, Constable ; H. A. Hills, Township Clerk. Trustees-W. S. Cline, Raymond Harty and J. W. Moore.
Augusta has never been incorporated as a town.
DANVILLE.
Danville Center, an old settlement, so called because it is the center of the township of that name, has never been laid out into town lots or incor- porated as a town, although it is quite thiekly populated. The first settlers in the vicinity referred to came together from MeDonough County, Ill., in the spring of 1834, established claims and built log cabins in the southwest- ern part of the present township, which was not laid out and sectionized until 1836 and 1837. The names of these pioneers were William Dickens, Noble Hously, Enoch Cyras and Elihu Chandler. Enoch Cyras intended to build a log cabin somewhat superior to those of his companions ; but, being unable to complete it by fall, he constructed two temporary double-rail pens to shelter him from the winter's cold. In the fall of the same year, Azariah Gregg and William Sawtelle came from Ohio County, Va., near Wheeling, which place they left October 1, 1834, traveling by team. They halted in Morgan County, Ill., a few weeks to rest, then, continuing their journey, arrived at Flint Hills November 17, and stopped one day with a party who had come the previous spring and built a cabin. November 21, 1834, they reached Enoch Cyras' pens, where they passed the night. While entertaining his guests and describ- ing to them the beauties and merits of his adopted prairie home, Mr. Cyras told them that he and two companions had cut down eighty bee-trees and abstracted therefrom six half-hogsheads of honey and comb ; and. to verify his
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
statement, exhibited to them his one-third share of two half-hogsheads. Sur- prised at the sight, Mr. Gregg exclaimed, " Well, this is indeed a land where milk and honey flow." Noble Hously, brother-in-law to Enoch Cyras, had a claim, which Gregg and Sawtelle purchased. They also took up a claim bor- dering on the one purchased, and, in the cabin built by Hously, kept bachelors' hall. In due time, a cabin was erected on the claim taken up. In the fall of 1835, Gregg bought Sawtelle's interest in the claim purchased of Hously, and still retained his half-ownership in the other claim. After William Sawtelle married Mary Whitaker, they moved into the new log house.
During the first week in December, 1834, Noble Hously's wife was deliv- ered of a son, the first child born in what is now Danville Township.
Azariah Gregg tells the following snake story to illustrate or give some idea of the superabundance of reptiles in the vicinity of their humble homes at that period. He says : " Sawtelle and I were plowing some time in the month of March, 1835, when we were approached by William Dickens and Enoch Cyras and asked if we wouldn't like to go snaking. I confess we did not exactly understand the meaning of the term, and had a sneaking idea that they intended to perpetrate some practical joke upon us. However, I replied that I would not mind unhitching, which we did. After we had been walking for some time, an explanation was made to the effect that, while on a hunting tour, Dickens and Cyras had discovered signs of the existence of snakes, and, supposing that on this warm day I speak of the vipers would be likely to come out and enjoy the sun, they concluded that, with our assistance, some of them might be placed out of harm's reach. We arrived at a ledge of rocks on Wolf Branch, which led into Skunk River, when we beheld, projecting over one of the rocks, a huge rattlesnake. We knew that we were on the right track, and, taking a round- about way, we soon saw, lying on the withered leaves of the previous autumn, several piles of snakes, of all sizes and kinds, sunning themselves, gathering strength and preparing to travel through the country during the summer months, and finally return to their rendezvous in the fall. In one cluster there were blacksnakes, gartersnakes, rattlesnakes and other species, constituting one happy family ; but both their travels and their happiness were of short dura- tion, for there and then we slaughtered eighty of them. Many of the rattle- snakes were, according to their rattles and buttons, thirty-three and thirty-four years old. What seemed most strange to us was that all the different varieties inhabited the same den."
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