USA > Iowa > Henry County > The history of Henry county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 43
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Railroads stretch across the county, affording the facilities for transportation so much desired a quarter of a century ago. Villages have sprung up along
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these lines of traffic and added to the market value of lands in their vicinity .. Timber, which was so highly prized when first the region was sought out, now ranks far below the open prairie lands in point of value. Modern inventive genius has found a way to meet the requirements of the day for fences, and coal is rapidly becoming an article of general use as fuel. Hence, it is found that groves are prized more for the sake of their protective qualities than for the intrinsic worth of their products.
Where formerly the settlers were compelled to traverse the country for flour and provisions-consuming days in the tedious journey-are now busy mills,. which supply the local needs of the communities. Nor is it longer necessary to rely upon the uncertain visits of friends to a distant post office for unfrequent mails ; for the system of postal delivery reaches to the farthest limits of the country, and the rapid transit of news matter is an established affair, accepted without surprise, or even a second thought. Thirty years ago, there were few papers received by the settlers, and these few came from other and older locali- ties, while now the press of Henry ranks high among the hosts of publications- in the State. Daily and weekly issues are scattered broadcast over the region,. carrying news from the earth's four quarters, and enabling the pioneers, to even, read the transactions of Church and State simultaneously with the denizens of the great cities of the nation. The telegraphic wires bring to their doors tidings from commercial marts, and tell them when and how to dispose of the- enormous products of factory and farm. Banking institutions of solid worth exist, and monetary matters are conducted on as large a scale as in many an Eastern city. Social clubs and amusement societies relieve the routine of bus- iness after the approved methods of cosmopolitans. Secret societies flourish and celebrate their mystic rites in richly-appointed lodge-rooms, and hold hon- ored rank among the general hodies of their respective crafts.
The social world is as brilliant in its state and as cultured in its character as that which graces the salons of the capitals of the East. Wealth and refine- ment are evidenced in the bearing of the people. The honest housewife of the olden time many look with distrust upon the grander display at civil ceremonies,. but cannot stay the tide as it sets toward the obliteration of simple habits. There may be much truth in the often-repeated assurance, that "girls were- worth more in the early days," if the estimate of excellence be based upon. physical prowess and domestic "faculty ;" but it must be remembered that each generation plays its separate part in the drama of life. As the poet writes of individuals,
.. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players ; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man, in his time, plays many parts ;"
so is society constructed upon a plan that places each succeeding division in a role different from that which preceded it. The standard by which to measure woman's might to-day is not that which tests her qualities as a pioneer, but rather that which proves the use she has made of the advantages of the. present. It would be as just to condemn the young man of to day because he is not drilled in woodcraft and able to read the marks of Nature like the red man. The fathers who paved the way for the introduction of modern ideas. needed, perforce, to know the signs by which the Indian chief governed the warriors of his band ; but those symbols are obsolete now, and would lumber the mind with useless information.
The man whose genius introduced the principles of mechanics into the. working of farms, signed the last pages of the first volume of the history of the-
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pioneers, and inaugurated a new era from which the present power of man must be calculated. The farmer who tills a thousand acres now is surely no weaker than he whose limit was an hundred in the " good old days." Yet the muscu- lar development has not increased during the half-century past. It is mind, not matter, which governs, and the tendency of this age, which is truly termed the mediaval, is to produce maximum results from minimum forces. The laborious method of planting and harvesting by hand has given way to the more admir- able plan of employing mechanical devices in the work.
Henry County ranks her neighboring counties in just the degree that her intelligence has progressed. The end is far away, for the improvements over the original settlement are insignificant compared with the capabilities of her men and the possibilities of her resources. Nature has lavished abundant wealth upon her, and it remains for man to extract it from the earth. The farms are inexhaustible in productive qualities if rightly cultivated. The future promises much more marked changes in every branch of trade and commerce, and there remains for her inhabitants an enviable harvest of results.
Pleasant for situation, rich in material wealth, peopled by intelligent men and abounding in an atmosphere of mental health, the county of Henry is des- tined to become a leading one in the Northwest, as it is to-day a leading one in the State. The responsibility of developing it is intrusted to good men and true, and the dawn of the twentieth century will behold in this fair region a source of constant pride.
Mr. John Lash was appointed Justice of the Peace for this county in 1837, and was the first to fill that position here.
Mr. Lash relates an incident which illustrates the independence of pioneers when their isolation renders them a community unto themselves. The first Territorial Legislature passed an act called the " Claim Property Law," which provided that such property as rails, when cut on a man's claim and not yet made into fence, were subject to execution and sale for debt. The settlers were violent in their opposition to this law, and even the traders, who supplied the poor pioneers with goods, were averse to its enforcement, deeming it an injury and injustice to those who were trying to redeem the wilderness. When the people of this section realized what the law really meant, they summoned all who were here and held a meeting in the memorable little log house on the public square. There they organized and observed the rules of parliamentary usage, and formally repealed a statute of the Territory! They voted that the law was an outrage and decided that it should have no force in Henry County. This summary proceeding was effective, for never afterward did any Justice dare to interfere with a settler's pile of rails. The law was soon after repealed by the Legislature.
THE "INDICTMENT" OF PRESLEY SAUNDERS, ET AL.
It is generally conceded that official records are beyond dispute or suspicion as matters of evidence-and so they should be. But records are sometimes tampered with and made to read falsely. Malicious transcriptions upon court records may lead to endless mischief, and, oftentimes, gross injustice to innocent persons. It is no pleasant task that falls to our lot, in the present instance, where, through the truth of history, we are compelled to expose an act of petty spite, committed in the early days of this county, by an official who is no longer able to meet the statement here made. But justice to the oldest settler of Mount Pleasant, and other respected pioneers, demands the revival of an almost forgot- ten transaction, and the public correction of an error entered upon the pages of
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the first District Court record. In another portion of this work an abstract of the records is given, and therein may be read the statement that the first Dis- trict Court convened at Mount Pleasant, April 14, 1837. Hon. David Irvin was Judge; W. W. Chapman, who was subsequently the first Territorial Delegate in Congress, was District Attorney of the United States; and Jesse D. Payne was Clerk of the Court, having been appointed to that place by the Governor of Wisconsin Territory. The first business of the court was the selection of a grand jury. That body was composed of Clabourne Jones, Sr., Samuel Heaton, Marshall Saunders, Clabourne W. Hughes, D. C. Ruberts, William W. Morrow, James McCoy, Keeland T. Maulden, Benjamin F. Hutton, Jacob Burge, Moses Shirley, Wilson Lowell, Thomas Clark, William King, David Minter, James Williford, Sr., George W. Lewis, Henry Snyder, Sr., Berry Jones, Litle Hughes, John H. Randolph, Warren L. Jenkins and Presley Saun- ders. John H. Randolph was Foreman. The record reads: "The grand jury aforesaid, after being duly sworn, were solemnly charged, and retired to their chamber to consider of presentments and indictments," and after a due amount of deliberation they returned and declared that they had no indictments.
But the succeeding records conflict with the above report, for no sooner was the jury discharged than another was impaneled, from which Presley Saunders, Moses Shirley, Litle Hughes, John H. Randolph and Warren L. Jenkins were excluded, and indictments for assault and battery returned against John Mabee for assault on Bushrod Atkeyson ; Jesse D. Payne, assault on Presley Saunders; William Morris, assault on Jesse D. Payne; Presley Saunders, assault on Jesse D. Payne; Zachariah Wilbourne, assault on William Morris; Asbury Porter, assault on Warren L. Jenkins; Bushrod Atkeyson, assault on John Mabee.
Upon this apparent conflict of public sentiment hangs a tale, and we relate it as Presley Saunders told it to us. When the time came for the organization of Henry County, several of the prominent citizens decided upon Jesse D. Payne as a proper person to represent their interests at the Belmont Legisla- ture, and accordingly dispatched him as their agent. Mr. Payne prudently proceeded to slay two birds with one stone, and while he labored for the good of the county, he also worked in his own behalf. He returned with evidences of the success of his mission, and with his commission as Clerk as well, for he had secured his appointment to that office.
Mr. Payne established himself at Mount Pleasant, but did not altogether possess the faculty of making himself agreeable to Mr. Saunders. He proceeded to help himself to building-logs and wood from Saunders' grove, without con- sidering it necessary to first ask permission. Such little informalities soon led to differences of opinion between the men, and one day, as Mr. Saunders was passing Mr. Payne's house, the latter called ont to his uncle : "John, go down into Saunders' grove and get me some wood !" Mr. S. overheard the remark and protested against the free use of his timber, whereupon Mr. Payne responded in a rather imperious manner. This led to still further words, and the words resulted in blows. Mr. Saunders admits that he was the assailant, and the inference is that Mr. Payne got the worst of the battle. At all events, Mr. S. at once repaired to a Justice and acknowledged his fault, and paid a fine of $5 voluntarily.
Mr. Saunders says that the matter ended there, so far as he was concerned. The case never came up before the grand jury, as it was settled in Justice's Court. The proceedings recorded were unknown to him, nor was he aware of the entry for several years afterward. "It is pronounced incorrect that a second jury was impaneled and that the numerous indictments shown on the records
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were ever made. The fact that the cases were never tried substantiates this statement. With the single exception of Mabee, the persons accused were admitted to $55 bail, according to the records ; but no evidence of final dis- posal of the cases exists.
On the other hand, the fact that Mabee, indicted by the second jury, is shown to have been found guilty on trial and fined $5, looks as though there was some unexplained part of this proceeding. However, Mr. Saunders pronounces those entries entirely wrong. The first time he ever heard of the matter was when Mr. John P. Grantham prepared a paper on the history of the county, and came across the old records. Mr. Saunders says that he did not attempt then to rectify the error, and now makes, for the first time, a public statement concerning the old trouble.
Inasmuch as court records give no more than the titles of cases and the result of trial on adjudication, there is no way of determining the exact nature of the other cases of assault, except than by personal inquiry. At this distance of time from the 'events, it is no easy matter to recall the minor details. There is every reason to believe that frequent resort to fisticuffs was made over claim- disputes, and that some of the fights arose from differences about titles.
We give place to this correction of the records because of our desire to pre- serve every item of interest, and feel confident that the pioneers will recall the incidents referred, and thereby do justice to all parties implicated.
INCIDENTS IN 1838.
When the " Western fever " broke out in staid New England, in 1835, it found a good many people in exactly the condition to contract the disease. To those who were familiar only with the trodden paths and deeply-worn ruts of that established region, the West seemed like unto a fairy-land. The associa- tion of ideas, when " villages " and "cities" were spoken of, conjured up visions of beautiful homes, simple in construction, but tasty in design, nestled in all the luxury of shrubbery and foliage peculiar to New England hamlets. The name of " city" meant a bustling, whirring abode of manufacturers among manufactories, by the side of a river that had been mathematically shown to be worth so much per horse-power. The name of " river " signified a force impris- oned for the use of man, subject to his will and utilized with all the thrift of a careful people.
The dwellers in neat cottages could comprehend no difference between their own cozy homes, distinguished for the green blinds and white clapboards, and the "cabin " of a western pioneer. So much was said, and in such glowing language, of the gardens of the West, where flowers bloomed in constant suc- cession, from the pale violet of spring to the stately golden-rod of frosty weather, that the popular mind invested the region with a romantic sense impossible of realization. It rarely chances that an ideal fancy proves unexaggerated, either in places which have been described to us, or the books which have been recom- mended to our perusal. The judgment of our informants may be sound on most subjects, and worthy of credence, but through our own inclination to asso- ciate ideas we are led into error. To one who has never beheld a prairie, the description of one naturally brings up the modification of a hillside pasture, which is the nearest approach to a vast undulating plain that person has seen. The reality is not at all like the idealization, and usually the first glimpse of the western prairies creates a feeling of disappointment.
This thought can best be illustrated by a real case. In 1836-37, the peo- ple of the East began to become aware of the existence of a stream called the
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Des Moines River. This feeder of the Mississippi was supposed to rise some- where in the unknown regions to the northward, and flow in large volume toward the southern line of the newly-created Territory of Wisconsin. The river differed from all other Western water-courses in being a clear and rapid body of water, passing over pebbly and rocky bottoms, and running through the most beautiful region that man had ever beheld. As the description of the country traveled eastward, it naturally grew in proportions and took on various shades of coloring not seen in the original account.
When the story of the Des Moines reached Sturbridge, Worcester Co., Mass., it found one family, at least, ready to listen to it. Penuel Cheney had half determined to seek a home in the West. His family consisted of a son, Winthrop Cheney, a daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. P. C. Tif- fany, and an Indian girl, adopted when young, named Wealthy Bucking- ham. The younger members of the family were seriously inclined to join the tide of emigration, and at last the resolve was formed to seek a home in the West.
The first question to be decided before the journey was begun was as to locality and ultimate destination. Some of the little party, who were averse to the tedious process of moving, settled the point by declaring that, when once under way, they must go on and on, until they reached the very confines of civ- ilization, and thereby prevent the possibility of a second breaking-up.
It chanced that Mr. Cheney knew of a former Massachusetts man who had settled on the river Des Moines, opposite the village of "Sweet Home." Just then came the wonderful stories concerning Iowa, the probable name of a new Territory which was likely to be carved out of the Territory of Wisconsin. Mr. Cheney and his sons were not slow in gathering all the information which could be obtained relative to the valley. The place was far enough west to suit those who wished to reach the farthest limit, for it was then the extreme boundary of the latest Indian purchase. The reports concerning the character of the country were like unto those which came from the promised land. Fertile prairies were in bloom, and needed but the gentlest persuasion of the husband- man to yield a thousand-fold. Purest water rippled over the white bottoms, and the streams abounded in fishes. Wild game placed itself, with a manifest joy at the thought of being slain, in the pathway of the hunter. Honey flowed from almost every tree in the grove. Timber, then believed to be so essential,
was abundant. In the graceful windings of the river were numerous mill-sites that merely needed entering at Government price, and the lapse of time, to become invaluable properties. Above all, these marvelous opportunities existed in the immediate neighborhood of flourishing villages. One had yet the chance to make original claims adjoining future metropolises, with an absolute certainty of growing rich by simply sitting down and waiting for the property to appre- ciate.
When Mr. Cheney's family learned that claims could be taken up near a village, and that, too, so comfortable a village as "Sweet Home," with its white cottages decked out with bright green blinds and its yards overflowing with roses, after the style of any New England village, it was at once concluded that Sweet Home was to be the resting-place of the little band. Mr. Cheney owned a farm near Sturbridge, and was familiar with the duties of such a life, but Mr. Tiffany was not. The party was more fortunate than most pioneer bands, in one important particular, for they had money enough to be independent as to methods of travel, and choice of home after they reached Iowa. Many a less favored family was compelled to endure privations, from first to last, through
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actual poverty. The average pioneer is possessed of little more than enough to sustain life from day to day.
The family which we have chosen purposely as representatives of another ·class than that described in the chapter on "How Pioneers Lived," given else- where in this volume, were enabled to avail themselves of all the approved methods of travel then in vogue. Instead of the slow-traveling ox-team, the gypsying by the way and the months consumed in the weary journey from the East, which so many thousands experienced, Mr. Cheney traveled by public conveyance all the way. The family left Sturbridge on the first of May, 1838, with high hopes of the life before them. They journeyed by rail to the farthest point west at that time, which was Rochester, N. Y. There they embarked on the Erie Canal, and arrived safely in Buffalo. Thence they proceeded, by steamer, to Cleveland, and from there by canal to Portsmouth. Steamers ran from the latter place to Warsaw, near the mouth of the Des Moines, on the east side of the Mississippi. This was the nearest point to their destination which was accessible by public conveyance.
The party remained at Warsaw long enough to effect an arrangement with a flatboatman, who knew where the village of Sweet Home was, and who agreed to transport the family and goods there for a stated sum. The party ascer- tained from the landlord at Warsaw that there was a most delightful region about the future metropolis of Sweet Home. Like the landlord with whom Martin Chuzzlewit sojourned prior to his embarkation for "Eden," the trav- elers learned wonderful things concerning their new home. It was on the south bank of the Des Moines, in Missouri ; but the lands on both sides of the river were doubtless still open to "squatters' claims." . A bargain was made with a teamster to carry the party to Sweet Home.
After seeing their household goods safely on board the flatboat, the family .crossed the Mississippi on the ferry then maintained at Warsaw, and started on their wagon journey up the valley of the Des Moines.
The season was a delightful one. The slow progress made by canal and steamboat from Buffalo, had consumed a month of time, and the prairies over which the party now rode, were clothed in all the beauty of the early summer. Wild flowers decked every hillside and filled the soft air with delicate perfume. The rank grasses nodded in the wind, and startled wild-fowl whirred from beneath the horses' feet. Not a trace of humanity was visible when once the Mississippi was left behind, save here and there, at rare intervals, some claimant had made crude efforts to transform beauteous nature into a desolate outpost of civilization. The incongruity of these scenes jarred upon the good taste of the beholders, who vaguely realized that such efforts alone foretold the great results of the future.
The party which now for the first time beheld the sublimity of an unbroken wilderness, by no means comprehended the nature of the situation. The track- less prairies, which rolled in unceasing waves from the point of vision were to those who watched the never-varying panorama, but the suburbs of some thrifty town-lands which had been cleared so long before that even the trees and stumps had disappeared. They momentarily expected to come upon the outly- iug cottages of their future home.
The road by which they traveled was nothing more than a track over the prairie, which every reader of this volume is so familiar with. Hour after hour, the solitary wagon plowed a new furrow in the yielding sod, but no vestige of human habitation came in sight. Neither man nor house served as a guide to that haven of rest, so soothing in its very title, Sweet Home.
·
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Finally, when patience began to wane, a "solitary horseman," who ought to have appeared long before, according to the system of some novelists, came plodding down the road.
Did he know of such a place as Sweet Home ? Certainly, he did. Were they near it ? Why, no; they ought to have turned northward, toward the river, several miles back. Nothing remained for them to do but to retrace their lagging steps, and watch for signs of a road "into the timber."
The going back was more tiresome by far than the journeying on ; but after a time a blind looking trail was discovered, which seemed to be the road they were looking for. Mr. Cheney was somewhat averse to taking such an obscure public way, however, for he felt certain that the regular approach to Sweet Home must be a far more comfortable road. The question being not one of choice, but grim necessity, it was concluded to make a venture on the newly- discovered trail. As their course neared the river, the road became worse and worse. Added to the fact that no work had been done upon the "trace," was the unpleasant one of abrupt descents and sharp ascents, over the bluffy table- lands of the river. Surely, this did not look much like the neighborhood of a thriving village or a future city.
They proceeded on their rugged way until near sunset of that long June day, when at last they came upon a plateau which overlooked the river. A single log cabin stood upon the bank, and in response to their repeated calls, a cadaverous Missourian slowly emerged and inquired what they wanted. Their voices in response were drowned in the deep baying of a dozen great hounds- that rushed out at this invasion of the solitude. At last, when they could make themselves heard, Mr. Cheney inquired if the settler knew of such a place. as " Sweet Home."
" I reckon I do, stranger ; you be about thar ! " responded the native.
Mr. Tiffany observed that possibly the town might lay around the bend, yonder, and was beginning to congratulate the party on having made so delight- ful a selection, when Mr. Cheney asked which hotel they had better stop at.
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