USA > Iowa > Fayette County > The history of Fayette County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 35
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Almost simultaneously with the establishment of the military post at Camp Atkinson, a trail was established between it and the pioneer settlements in Clay- ton, Delaware and Dubuque, and along this trail, in that portion of Fayette County included in the Black Hawk Purchase, the first white settlements were made.
This trail entered Fayette County near where the Davenport & St. Paul Railroad crosses the county line, running northwesterly and crossing the Volga three or four miles above Fayette, thence west of north across Townships 93, 94 and 95, Range 9, crossing the Little Turkey River in Section 29, Township 95, Range 9.
Among those who visited the Mission and Fort in 1840, were William R. Padelford and his brother John, who had then just settled in Delaware, on the east side of the Maquoketa, about two miles above the present town of Man- chester. While at the Mission, on this occasion, John Padelford noticed an extremely offensive odor in the vicinity, and asked his brother for an explanation. The brother replied by pointing to a tree a few rods away among the branches of which, on a rude platform, reposed the dead and decomposing body of an Indian. John needed no further explanation and clearly understood the aborig- inal mode of disposal of their dead. They laid their corpses upon platforms erected for the purpose, or in trees; they imagined that from these elevated positions their dead comrades could more easily reach the happy hunting ground above. It is said that when the celebrated Sac chieftain, Black Hawk died, he was not buried, but was placed, dressed in full uniform, in a sitting posture in a large box that was placed at the top of a little eminence near the Des Moines River.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
The first white settlements in Fayette County were made south of, and near the Neutral or Winnebago Reserve Line, in that part of the county that was included in the Black Hawk Purchase, and there is no knowledge or tradition of any such settlement prior to 1840, except the attempt of Edson & Grant to build a mill on Otter Creek, although it is very probable that trappers and Indian traders may have built temporary cabins in this region prior to that time. These roving frontiersmen were accustomed to start out in the Fall, taking some flour and salt, build temporary cabins near some good spring or stream, sheltered by timber, and spend the Winter in hunting and trapping, and sometimes " made wages."
In 1840, the Government established a military post north of Fayette County, in Winnesheik, called Fort Atkinson, and three or four miles south established a Mission school for the Winnebagoes. This naturally attracted the attention of the pioneers of that day, and in the Spring or early Summer of 1840, Franklin Wilcox, with his wife and little daughter, and his brother Nathaniel, came from Illinois to Fayette County and made a settlement. Franklin Wilcox built a cabin thirty or forty rods north of the north line of Township 92-8, on unsurveyed land, six or eight rods west of a little creek that runs northerly through the southeast quarter of Section 32. The bed of the creek has changed since that time. Its channel was then east of the east end of the iron bridge that now spans the stream at that point. The site of this pioneer cabin as pointed out to the historian, on the 16th day of June,
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
1878, by Mr. Lamb, was about five rods northwest of the northwest corner of the west stone pier of the bridge, near some thorn apple trees. There appears to have been an excavation, and some of the stones of an old chimney are still to be seen. It is said that Wilcox did some breaking either east of the creek or on the little sheltered prairie north of his cabin. If this is true, this was the first breaking done in Fayette County. Nathaniel Wilcox made a claim east of his brother's place, on Section 1, Township 92, Range 8.
Robert Gamble came with the Wilcox's from Eads' Grove. It is said that Gamble selected a location on the Reserve near a large spring, which afterward proved to be on Section 13, Township 93, Range 9, and the grove now known as " Dunham's," north of the spring, was, in consequence, called " Gamble's Grove," and was known by that name in 1850, when the post office of " Gamble's Grove" was established, with Thomas Woodle for Postmaster. Gamble's Grove was about four miles north northwest of Wilcox's cabin. Mr. Gamble did not remain long, however, as he was taken sick, was carried back to Eads' Grove in the Fall of 1840, and never returned to Fayette County.
There is a tradition that Wilcox built a cabin south of the Volga, about 1835, ten years after the Black Hawk Purchase, and spent some time here at that period hunting and trapping. This is purely tradition, however, as there is nothing to corroborate it. It is possible that he may have been here to " spy out the land" prior to removing his family hither in 1840, but this is more than doubtful. Mrs. Joel Bailey, the daughter of Judge Clement Coffin, of Coffin's Grove, Delaware, states that she was at Eads' Grove in 1840, when Wilcox and his family moved up on the Volga, and that he had not built a cabin there previous to that time. It is possible that the Wilcox cabin might have been a little further north of the spot indicated, but it could not have been very far.
About two hundred yards below Wilcox's is a smooth bit of level ground, shaded by trees, which was in "ye olden time " a favorite camping ground for immigrants, and was, in consequence, dubbed " Uncle Sam's Tavern," or " The Continental House." As seen June 4, 1878, the terrific storm of the preceding Saturday night, June 1, must have flooded the site of " Uncle Sam's Tavern " eight or ten feet, and the water crept to within a few feet of the spot where, without doubt, Wilcox dwelt, the pioneer settler of Fayette County, thirty- eight years ago.
Next, and soon after Wilcox, probably the next year, two young men, James Beatty and William Orrear, or O'Rear, located and built a log cabin a few rods west of the creek, on the northwest quarter of northeast quarter of Sec- tion 5, Township 92, Range 8. Their cabin was located near a beautiful spring of clear water that still bubbles from the base of the hill. Mr. Hensley states that it was about forty rods south or southwest of Wilcox's place, just south of the old Mission road, which at this point crossed the creek very nearly on the line between Townships 92 and 93, Range 8. Judge Bailey, of Delaware, who spent some days here in January, 1843, says that Wilcox's cabin was a little way below, in the timber. There appears to be some difference as to the ortho- graphy of O'Rear's name. In his marriage certificate it is spelled " Orrear," and as this is presumably the way he spelled his name, it is adopted in this history. It is impossible now to fix the precise date of Beatty and Orrear's settlement, but in the Fall of 1842, their cabin was the stopping place for a few travelers on the old Mission road, and they had been there long enough to have made some improvements, and to have built some fences. Both were unmarried then, and appear to have been industrious and hardworking farmers.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
The location of their original cabin is an interesting item of history. Just south of the " Alexander" house, so called (south of the road on northwest quarter of northeast quarter of Section 5), and west of it now, July, 1878, stands an old dilapidated log cabin of respectable size. The roof has partially fallen in, and it is rapidly yielding to the corroding touches of time. This is said to be the second cabin, built by Orrear after his marriage. The original cabin built by Beatty and Orrear was perhaps forty feet south of the second one, and it is said was still standing in 1852, but was torn down many years ago, probably by Robert Alexander. The site of the chimney at the west end of the cabin is still marked by a heap of stones, four or five rods west southwest of the spring.
Joseph Hewett, an Indian trader, who was well known to the early settlers, and somewhat connected with the history of this county, established his trading post northwest of Strawberry Point, very near the east line of Fayette, in Clay- ton County, in 1840. He visited the region in 1839, and when the mission was established he thought the place he selected would be a good place for a trading post.
THE FIRST TERRITORIAL ROAD.
"An act to establish a Territorial road from the town of Dubuque to Camp Atkinson," approved January 13, 1841, appointed Calvert Roberts, Samuel L. Clifton and Joseph Hewett Commissioners to locate that road. So much of this act as related to the road in Dubuque County was repealed February 16, 1842, and so much of the road as had been located in Dubuque County was declared vacated : but this repealing act was repealed June 11, 1845, and Peter D. Sharp, David Moreland and William J. Anderson were appointed by the Legislature to re-locate the road through Dubuque County, and, by way of the Colony and Eads', to Camp Atkinson.
The road, as located in 1841, followed very nearly the old trail, entering Fayette County near the southeast corner of Township 92, Range 7, passed Joe Hewitt's trading post; thence northwesterly, south of Bear Grove, through that township and Township 92, Range 8, passed a little north of the cabin of Beatty and Orrear, near where it intersected the road from Quasqueton and Marion ; thence, by a circuitous route, running fifteen or twenty rods south of the Tegarden Spring, sweeping then to the north, running near the west line of Section 31, Township 93, Range 8, until it passed the quarter-post, then changed its course to northeast, crossing the Volga River very near the town- ship line, between Townships 92 and 93, Range 8, about a quarter of a mile east of the west line of those townships ; thence northwest again, entering the east side of Section 36, Township 93, Range 9, but running for a short distance in Section 30, Township 93, Range 8, and then continuing in a general north- westerly direction to the north line of Township 94, Range 9, which it crossed very near the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 5, Township 94, Range 9; thence north, following the half section lines of Sections 32, 29 and 20, Township 95, Range 9, crossing the Little Turkey in Section 29; thence near the south line of Section 17, Township 95, Range 9. Thence the direction of the road was northeast, striking the north line of the county very near the northwest corner of Section 3, Township 95, Range 9.
The following order of the County Commissioners of Clayton County appears of record August 26, 1841 :
Ordered, That the report, of Calvert Roberts, Samuel S. Clifton and Joseph Hewitt, Com- missioners, appointed by the Legislature of Iowa to locate a road from Dubuque to Fort Atkinson, be received, and they be allowed the sum of forty dollars and fifty cents, each, for services in run-
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
ning said road through Fayette and Clayton Counties, and Alfred L. Brown be allowed the sum of forty dollars and fifty cents as surveyor of said road, and also the sum of eight dollars for draft- ing plat, being extra services. Also, Allen Wilson and Moses Hewitt, chainmen, be allowed the sum of twenty-seven dollars each, and also George Culver, as marker, be allowed the sum of twenty-seven dollars, and Franklin S. Wilcox, as stake driver, be allowed the sum of sixteen dollars, and that Joseph Hewitt be allowed the sum of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents for services of team.
On the same day, having an eye to business, the Commissioners divided the expense and charged Fayette with her full share, as follows :
WHEREAS, The Territorial road from Dubuque to Fort Atkinson having run twenty miles and a quarter in this county, and twenty-nine miles and three-quarters in the county of Fayette, at an expense of two hundred and eighty-seven dollars and twenty-five cents, and the county of Clayton having liquidated the whole amount, therefore be it
Ordered, That two-thirds of the above sum, together with interest until paid, be charged to the county of Fayette.
THE FIRST ELECTION PRECINCT,
which included any portion of Fayette County, was made by the Clayton County Commissioners in 1841, although it does not appear that there were more than three or four voters in Fayette territory at that time, and it would also seem that the Commissioners of Clayton exercised jurisdiction over the Winnebago Reserve, as appears from the following order of April 27, 1841 :
Ordered, That an election precinct be opened at the new Mission, the polls of which shall be opened at the house now occupied by David Lowrie, and that H. D. Brownson, John B. Thomas and David Lowrie be appointed Judges of Election in said precinct, which shall be known as Precinct No. 9, the bounds of which shall be designated by the bounds of the neutral grounds.
August 25th, Brownson, Thomas and Lowrie were allowed one dollar each for services. H. H. Singer was Messenger, and Silas Gilmore was Clerk.
CULVER'S TRADING POST.
The old double log cabin built by George Culver on the north bank of the Volga, on Section 26, Township 93, Range 7, and which is still standing about three-fourths of a mile east of Wadena, has been claimed as the first cabin or house built by white men in Fayette County. Mr. Culver was, previous to 1839, the Teller of the Ypsilanti Bank, Michigan. The date of his arrival in Clayton County is involved in obscurity, but, January 7, 1839, the County Commissioners made George Culver's house the polling place for Precinct 7, Townships 91 and 92, Range 4, in Clayton County. May 4, 1839, he was appointed Assessor, and he was also one of the County Commissioners in that year. In 1840, when Mr. Hewett established a trading post near the Fayette line, it is said that Mr. Culver became his partner and moved thither, but in 1841, probably still associated with Mr. Hewett, he built the cabin above men- tioned, which was eight or ten miles nearer the southern boundary of the neutral ground, and, consequently, so much nearer their customers. This cabin was probably within two miles of the neutral line. If this record is correct. and there seems but little doubt of it, Franklin Wilcox preceded Culver at least a year, and the probabilities strongly favor the presumption that Beatty and Orrear located near Wilcox and built their cabin about as early as Culver located in the county.
Mr. Culver appears to have possessed the confidence of the Indians to a remarkable degree. When they were removed, in 1848, he followed them to Minnesota, but returned and entered, by land warrant, Sections 26 and 27, Township 93, Range 7, January 25, 1849, very soon after the township was surveyed.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
In 1842, Andrew Hensley came from Wisconsin to Fayette County, and purchased the claim of Nathaniel Wilcox on or near Sec. 1, T. 92, R. 8, about five miles east of Beatty and Orrear's. Mr. Hensley went back to Wisconsin, intending to return to his western home in the same Fall, but sickness pre- vented. In September, 1843, he returned as far as Eads' Grove, Delaware County, with his family, consisting of a wife and four children, among whom was Andrew Jackson Hensley, then a lad of ten years. Here he spent the Winter. In the Spring of 1844, he rented Joe Hewett's place, northwest of Strawberry Point, just in the edge of Clayton County, and moved his family into a little cabin about one and a half miles west of Hewett's, in the edge of Fayette County, owned by Moses, son of Joe Hewitt by his first wife. Here, Novem- ber 27, 1844, Daniel P. Hensley was born, the first white child born in Fayette County, nnless Mr. Mumford's baby, born in the brush near Yankee Settlement, is to be credited to Fayette.
In 1841 or 1842, probably the latter, although it might have been earlier, a couple of roving Indian traders built a small log cabin for a trading post, on the Old Mission road, as near the neutral line and the northernmost limits of the surveyed lands in the county as an eligible site could be found. One of these was Atwood, and the other Henry or Moses Tegarden, or Tegardner, as he is called, indiscriminately. The records of Dubuque County are evidence that a man named Henry T. Garden, or "T. Garden," as the name appears of record in one instance, lived in that county in 1837-8. This man was an Indian trader, and afterwards removed to Fayette, where he was said to have been murdered by the Indians. The records of Clayton County, of later date, mention the names of the Tegarden or Tegardner family. Whether Henry and Moses were identical or were brothers cannot now be determined. Whether it was Garden or Tegarden is not material, but the latter is most familiar to Fayette people. Whether Tegarden or Atwood, or both, built the cabin above mentioned, cannot now be determined. It was built on the northeast quarter of northeast quarter of northwest quarter of Sec. 6, T. 92, R. 8, very near a large spring about half or three-fourths of a mile southwest of Col. Brown's present residence, and about twenty rods south of the township line. Circumstances indicate that Tegarden and Atwood were in some manner associated together in the Indian whisky trade, as they were both murdered by some Winnebago Indians, in 1843, an account of which will be given hereafter.
The date of Mr. Mumford's settlement in Fayette County is obscure. His given name is forgotten, but he was known among the pioneers as Major Mum- ford. He was living near Brush Creek in the Fall of 1842, and certainly set- tled there early in that year, or very possibly in the Fall of 1841. His cabin was in the timber a mile or two, north of the present village of Brush Creek, in Township 92, R. 7 (Fairfield), probably on or near Section 16, or north side of 21. He had a little field on the edge of the prairie south of his house, but was not much of a farmer.
Midwifery in the Brush .- The following interesting incident of pioneer life is told of the early settlers, in connection with Mrs. Mumford. This lady, it is said, was enciente and near the period of confinement early in the Sum- mer of 1843. There was no physician nearer than Dubuque, but Mrs. Kibbee, wife of Lucius Kibbee, who lived near Rockville, Delaware County, about forty miles away, was an experienced midwife. Mrs. Kibbee was summoned to pre- side on the interesting occasion soon to occur. She came, but Mrs. Mumford dallied, and after waiting two weeks, Mrs. Kibbee could remain no longer-she must go home-but proposed that her patient should go home with her and
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
there await the logic of events. There was no other alternative unless Mrs. Mumford wished to be alone in her coming trial, and she assented, and the two women started to go to Delaware County in a covered wagon, with Major Mum- ford for conductor and driver. Arriving in the vicinity of Hinkle's Grove, near the present site of York, in the northern part of Township 90, R. 5, Del- aware County, near nightfall, the critical moment arrived, the wagon stopped, and the child was born. The weather was pleasant, and the little party remained with the little stranger in the brush all night, and the next day reached Eads' Settlement. Homer's nativity was claimed by seven cities, and in this case it is a debatable question whether Mrs. Mumford's baby belonged to Fayette or Delaware. Had she remained at home one day longer, her child would have been born in Fayette, and would have been, without doubt, the first white child born in the county.
The Mumfords removed to Wisconsin at an early day, probably in 1844-5.
It is said that one Dr. Wilbur, probably a member of the gang of outlaws infesting the western settlements in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa at that time, came from Wisconsin to Volga City, Clayton County, in 1842, because he did not care to contend with the United States about a little matter like manufacturing imita- tions of the coin of the realm. The bail in the case, $300, he had paid to two friends, with a bonus for their trouble, and migrated to Iowa, where he resumed his illegal trade at Volga City, a part of his tools being manufactured by a blacksmith of that place.
It is said that Hewitt and others in the vicinity afforded Wilbur facilities for prosecuting his vocation and for circulating the spurious coin he manufac- tured; and it is also said that after Mumford's departure some of Wilbur's traps were found in his house. Wilbur's goods were of superior quality and finish. Mr. John Padelford is authority for the statement that some of his coin was received without detection at the United States Land Office at Dubuque. Wilbur did not remain long, however, and left in 1842.
Asa Parks was also a character in the early history of Fayette. He was a blacksmith who lived at Cascade, Dubuque County, and worked at his trade there for several years, but went to the Mission to work in 1840, and left his family at Hewitt's.
Elk Creek Precinct .- May 30, 1842, Fayette County was included in an election precinct, with a large portion of Clayton, as appears from the following order of the Clayton Commissioners of that date :
Ordered, That the Elk Creek Precinct is extended so as to include all persons residing between the waters of Turkey River and Elk Creek, in the county of Clayton, and all persons residing in the county of Fayette.
The Judges appointed were William W. Wayman, George Culver and Asa W. Gifford.
But in October of the same year, the Commissioners made a change and, for the first time, established a voting place in Fayette County, as shown by the following order :
Ordered, That the county of Fayette and so much of Clayton County lying within a line drawn distant ten miles and running parallel with the boundaries of Fayette, be and the same is hereby appointed an Election Precinct within the Election District of Clayton County, and that the polls hereafter to be held at said precinct sball be opened at the house of F. Wilcox until otherwise ordered by the Board of County Commissioners.
Whether any election was held in this new precinct is now unknown, but the inference is that the first election in Fayette County was held either in the Fall of 1842 or Spring of 1843. The pioneers enjoyed the elective franchise, and always voted when they had an opportunity.
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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
A FEARFUL EXPERIENCE.
The Fall and Winter of 1842-43 were of unusual severity. Snow fell early in November and remained until late in April, and the hardships and sufferings of the settlers during that terrible Winter are almost incredible. One or two incidents of that time will serve to illustrate the severity of the Winter and the sufferings of the settlers, as well as to give some idea of frontier customs at that time.
In the Fall of 1842, Rev. David Lowry, in charge of the Winnebago Mis- sion School, in the southern part of Winnesheik County, near the north line of Fayette County, advertised for proposals to furnish the Mission with 15,000 pounds of pork. Joel Bailey and John Keeler, at Bailey's Ford, Delaware County, had hogs enough to supply that amount, that they were anxious to sell. Keeler went to the Mission to bid for the contract. He found several other competitors, who had hogs to sell, already on the ground. Keeler put in a bid at $2.25 per cwt. ; the others gave the same figures. Keeler reduced his bid to $2.00 and started for home, discouraged. That night, he stopped at Joe Hewitt's trading post, five or six miles northwest of Strawberry Point. He told Hewitt his business and that he did not expect to get the contract. Hewitt, who had some grudge against the other bidders, after hearing his story, told him that of course he would not get it unless he put in a lower bid, and proposed that if he would make another bid at $1.75, he (Hewitt) would carry it to Lowry himself, and he felt almost sure that Keeler could secure the contract at that price. Keeler was in a quandary. $1.75 per cwt. was ruinously low, but he and Bailey had the hogs and hardly knew how they were to winter them ; at last, he concluded to adopt Hewitt's suggestion, sent in his bid and went home.
About a week afterward, Mr. Babbitt, who lived on the Wapsipinicon near Marion, went to Bailey and Keeler, bearing a notice from Lowry that Keeler's bid had been accepted and that the pork must be delivered on or before Christ- mas Day. They hesitated about filling the contract, but while discussing the question, Babbitt, who also had a lot of hogs he didn't know what to do with, offered to give them five dollars and fill the contract himself, and they concluded if he could afford to do that, they had better keep their contract themselves.
Accordingly, on the 17th day of December, 1842, Joel Bailey, John Keeler, James Kibbee, William R. Padelford and Lucius Vandever, with three ox teams (seven yokes), loaded with corn and supplies started, with their drove of hogs, for the Mission. It was a slow, toilsome journey, the weather was cold, the snow knee-deep, and they were eight days on the road, camping every night, save one, when, they stopped with Beatty and Orrear, and reached the Mission on the 25th of December. The party was joyfully welcomed by the Mission people, who began to fear that, owing to the inclement weather, their expected supplies might not reach them, and they might be forced to live without meat during the Winter.
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