USA > Iowa > Jefferson County > The history of Jefferson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war records of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 43
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As rude as the schoolhouses were in their architecture and finish, as unpre- tending as were many of the old-time teachers, many of the first men of this nation graduated from them, and without any other education than what they received there, have gone out in the world and made honorable and noble rec-
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ords among the distinguished and representative men of the civilized nations of the world.
James T. Hardin was the teacher of the first school above mentioned, and is well remembered by the old settlers and scholars of that period. When the gold fever reached here from the Pacific Slope, he fell a victim to the mania, and about 1850, 1851 or 1852, went to California. Some time after his arrival there, when passing from one part of the country to another, he found a watery grave, by drowning, while crossing the Sacramento River.
THE FIRST MILL.
In 1838, Henry Rowe, a settler, erected a tread-mill on his claim, in the northwest corner of what is now Lockridge Township. This mill was a rude kind of structure, but a great convenience to the people of that period. Cus- tomers found their own power, and paid a small toll for the use of the mill besides.
THE FIRST AND SECOND MARRIAGE.
Isaac Blakely, one of the young men who made a claim and settled in Round Prairie in the spring of 1836, and Nellie Lanmon were the first couple in the new settlement to discard the freedom of singleness and enter upon a life of connubial happiness. The license under authority of which they were first pronounced man and wife, was issued from Des Moines County, and the cere- mony rendered by Rev. Mr. Bradley, at the home of the bride in the territory subject to the legal jurisdiction of Henry County, in the spring of 1837. In time, the legality of this marriage come to be questioned, and, on the 18th dav of March, 1839, soon after the machinery of Jefferson County was set in motion, they procured a license from the Clerk of the Court of this county, and were remarried by Rev. Benjamin F. Chastain. But even under this double rendition of the marriage ceremony they did not feel quite safe until the passage of a special act of the Legislature legalizing all previous marriages in the Territory.
FIRST BIRTHS.
It has been maintained by some that Cyrus, son of Samuel Scott Walker, was the first male child born in the county. By others, it is claimed that William, a son of Col. W. G. Coop, was the first. John Huff is authority for the statement that William Coop was born in the last days of July or first days of August, 1836, and "backs" up his belief with the additional testimony of a Mrs. Wright, still living, who was present at the time of his birth: The state- ment of Mrs. Lambirth is, that Cyrus Walker was born in fall-in the month of October.
Mary Frances, daughter of Thomas and Sarah A. Lambirth, was born October 15, 1837, and was the first white female child to claim the attention of the citizens of Round Prairie.
FIRST DEATH, ETC.
The first death was that of a child of Alfred Wright, in the early part of 1837. David Coop, the first settler in what is now Buchanan Township, died at about the same time.
The first accident, resulting in death, occurred in Round Prairie, in the winter of 1838-39. Joseph Hemphill, a young man, was in the employ of William Cline, and while engaged driving a team, the horses became unman- ageable and ran away. Hemphill was thrown from the wagon, and received
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such injuries that he died in a short time. His remains were taken to Salem for burial.
FIRST PHYSICIANS.
Dr. William Stevenson, one of the first physicians to "hang out a shingle " in Mount Pleasant, was the first to prescribe cures for such ills as fell upon the pioneers of Round Prairie. As a rule, there was but little need of a "doctor," for the first settlers were a peculiarly hardy, healthy, happy class. They relied, in the main, upon their strong constitutions and "roots and herbs" to carry them through.
Dr. J. T. Moberly, a native of North Carolina, became the first resident physician, in 1840, and no man, of whatever profession, ever enjoyed a greater degree of confidence and respect. The men and women of his time who have been spared to the present, still speak of Dr. Moberly as one of the truest and best men, as one of the most humane and generous physicians, that ever min- istered to the sick and the afflicted. He was known far and near as the poor man's friend. No man, no woman, no child, no matter what their condition, creed, color or caste, that good Dr. Moberly could reach, was ever allowed to languish and suffer for want of medical treatment or medicine. It mattered not to him whether they had or had not money. About fee or reward, he never stopped to inquire. How to relieve the suffering was his first, his ruling thought. He was popular with everybody. If there was a gathering of any kind, Dr. Moberly was the chosen, the honored guest. He was not only a good physician, but a good talker, and possessed of a rich fund of humor. No one could tell a better story, or relate a more side-splitting anecdote. If a speech was called for, Dr. Moberly was ready. He had an excellent command of lan- guage, and knew words and their uses, as well as he knew how to compound pills, or administer relief to a suffering patient.
With the Indians who remained here when Dr. Moberly came and com- menced the practice of medicine, he was a great favorite. They looked upon him as a wonderful man, and come to call him Big Medicine. Almost every day, as long as they remained here, his office was besieged by them. They came to him with all sorts of excuses for medicine. Even those of them who were in perfect health wanted medicine from the Big Medicine Man. When the Doctor happened to be absent, they besiged his wife for his medicine. The only way she could free herself from their annoyance was to take a stick and shake it at them, and tell them " Puck-a-chee !" (Get out of here.)
Dr. Moberly continued in the practice of his profession until taken down with his last sickness, resulting in death September 1, 1861. His remains were first buried in the old Fairfield cemetery, but were afterward exhumed and reburied in the new cemetery.
In the twenty-one years of his residence and practice of medicine in Fair- field, Dr. Moberly accumulated a very handsome property, notwithstanding his wonderful liberality and generous nature. What was more and better, he acquired a good name. His death was universally lamented, and the influences of his good deeds and noble life are sacred to his memory.
STARTING AN ORCHARD-THE OLD APPLE-TREE.
The honor of starting the first orchard belongs to Mrs. Sarah A. Lambirth. When they came here from Morgan County, Ill., in the spring of 1836, Mrs. L. brought some apple-seeds among her collection of garden-seeds. In time and season she planted the seeds, which took root and grew nicely. She says she remembers remarking to her husband when planting them, that she sup-
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
posed she would never live to see them mature into bearing fruit-trees ; that she would never be permitted to pluck an apple from them and give him to eat. as Eve did to Adam in the garden of Eden. He replied, " Oh, yes, you will ; you will live a long while yet-longer, may be, than I will." Neither of them thought anything more about the matter at the time, and the conversation passed out of mind and was not recalled till a tree from one of the seeds commenced bear- ing apples, when, as the fruit ripened, it was plucked and eaten, and the circum- stances and conversation attending the planting were recalled to mind and talked and laughed about. Children had been born unto them, and had grown with the growth of their fruit-trees. Both of them lived to see fifteen bushels of apples gathered from one of the trees, as they had both lived to see the wild prairie upon which they settled converted into well-cultivated and remunerative farms. The prediction of the husband that the wife would outlive him was verified; for, after living on his claim for nearly a quarter of a century-every year of which was full of usefulness to his family, his neighbors and the community generally, Thomas Lambirth, the poor man's friend and helper in all times of need, was called from "labor to refreshment" on the 12th day of May, 1857. His death was universally lamented in the neighborhood in which he had lived so many years, and where his example left impressions and influences that are feelingly cherished not only by the fathers and mothers of his time, but even by the young generation who have learned to reverence his memory from hear- ing their parents tell of his industry, honesty and open-handed benevolence. Mrs. Lambirth, his widow, is still living and in the enjoyment of good health and unimpaired mental faculties. At the age of sixty-one years, she is ready and waiting for the summons to join her husband in a world of eternal delight.
TROXELL'S MILL-RAISING AND BREAK-DOWN.
Rowe's horse-power mill, previously mentioned, was the first and only mill of any kind in the county until the erection of Troxell's mill on Cedar Creek, near the present crossing of the Chicago and Southwestern Railroad, in 1840. The raising of this mill and the events associated with it was an occasion the old settlers will not allow to be forgotten. It was regarded as the first event of any great importance, socially and otherwise, in this part of Iowa, and many things are remembered as happening "about the time Troxell's mill was raised." Everybody within fifty miles was invited to the raising. Socially, it was intended to be a great fete, and men and women came from Mt. Pleasant. Keosauqua and every other point within reach. But, notwithstanding the great distances from which they came, and the numbers present, there were only two unmarried females in all the crowd. One of these was a daughter of Troxell, a dashing madcap, full of fun and reckless of speech.
Troxell and his good wife prepared a great " lay-out " for the occasion. The " bill of fare" was unsurpassed for the times. It included everything the " market afforded." Chickens were cooked by the score. Venison, wild tur- key, wild honey-in fact, everything to be had was prepared for the feast. Table-room and dishes were inadequate to the number of guests, and, from necessity, were dispensed with. So were knives and forks. Ladies and gentle- men governed themselves accordingly, and ate from pots, plates, platters and pans-just as it happened.
In those days, arrangements and preparations for a raising were not com- plete without a sufficient quantity of whisky " to see them through." Troxell provided a barrel of the fiery liquid. The raising commenced on Saturday, and was followed by dancing. The dancing commenced on Saturday night and
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lasted, without. ntermission, until Monday. Several amusing episodes occurred during the festivities, one or two of which are here related.
Troxell was a fiddler, and furnished the music for the dancers. At one time his daughter was solicited to dance with one of the elderly guests, and, when they had taken their position on the floor, she turned to her father and said : " Give us something quick and devilish, dad. while I take a trot with this 'ere old hoss. I'll make him sweat." At another time, while she was appeasing her appetite with a potato in one hand and a chicken leg in the other, one of the guests made some remark she did not like. when she turned upon him with scornful eye and remarked : " Look out, and don't say that again, you goggle- cyed old kangaroo, or I'll hit you on the head with this 'tater." He "looked out." and the dance went on.
KLINKENBEARD'S FLOOD.
In the year 1840, there resided in Jefferson County, on Cedar Creek, a personage of German extraction named Joseph Klinkenbeard. He was one of those original characters found in all communities, but more especially con- spicuous in the carly settlements, where a man could permit his real character to show itself without restraint. He was naturally rough and uncouth, and very fond of whisky, and, when under its influence, his peculiarities were very marked. He swore like a pirate when affairs went roughly with him, but he could pray, and did pray, when frightened into it.
Klinkenbeard had built a cabin in a depression on the banks of Cedar Creek, which was inhabited by himself, wife and children. A miller by trade, he naturally felt most at home along the water-courses.
In the month of August, 1840, a tremendous flood fell upon Cedar Creek and its valleys, which, had the country been as thickly settled as now, would have marked its course with death and devastation. As it was, however, no particular damage was sustained by the settlers, the greatest sufferer being the unfortunate Klinkenbeard. On the memorable August night, while the win- dows of heaven were opened and the rain was descending, he retired, with his family, in fancied security, not dreaming of the ocean of waves that was accu- mulating from the many swollen tributaries that poured into Cedar Creek above his cabin. The family were awakened from their sweet dreams of peace by a sudden heavy blow against the side of the house from some object that struck it with all the violence of a battering-ram, causing the very logs to creak in their " notches " and "saddles." This afterward proved to be an immense log of driftwood carried before the flood. "Klink " sprang out of bed into water that had silently stolen into the cabin to the depth of three feet. As the watery element rushed up around his surprised limbs in their abbreviated garments, he let off a howl that would have done honor to a Dog-Rib Indian.
" Klink " and his wife. took in the situation, and at once began to lug the children and what garments they could lay hold of that were floating around in the eddying waters, up the ladder into the loft of the cabin. The waters were rapidly rising around them, and at short intervals fallen trees and logs of drift-wood struck the cabin with a boom that sounded like young thunder. The unhappy Klinkenbeards sought refuge in the loft of their cabin. There was not standing- room between the loft and the roof, and they had to accommodate themselves to the situation. "Klink " sat with his naked legs hanging down the ladder-hole. The flood raged and roared without, and rose higher and higher within. By and by " Klink " felt something touch his toes and tickle the soles of his feet. With a string of oaths, the use of which had made him conspicuous as the
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" wickedest man " in Jefferson County, he jerked his knees clear up to his chin, then straightened himself up as well as he could, and commenced removing the clapboards in the roof above in order to escape thereon. When he had made an aperture sufficiently large, he put out his "shocky " head to take a look at the situation. But it was pitchy dark, and he could see nothing, until, for a second, a flash of lightning revealed to his terrified gaze, the extent of the ocean of water that surrounded his cabin. Just then the cabin began to tremble to its very sills. The surging, seething water rocked it to and fro. The water had reached the loft, and was lifting the boards upon which they had taken refuge. "Klink" got out on the roof and lifted his wife and children out after him, and anchored them as best he could, while he himself straddled the "comb," and braced his naked knees against the wet, slippery clapboards. As the frantic flood surged madly on, the doomed cabin quivered for an instant, loosened itself from the earth, swung round, and was swept onward with the tide. a la Noah's ark, while the unwilling voyageurs clung to the clapboards "tooth and toe-nail." Excessive terror had roused in Klinkenbeard the recol- lection that there was a Power that ruled the storm, and to that Power he turned for relief. He coughed his heart out of his throat, and, as the frequent flashes of lightning revealed the lines of anguish in his horror-stricken face, he offered the following brief petition for relief to Him that ruled the storm :
"O, Lord ! Old Klinkenbeard has been a very wicked man in his time, but he sees the folly of that wickedness now. He has used up a mighty sight of 'corn juice,' too, but it is all washed out now. But, Lord, You promised You would never again destroy the world with water, but with fire. Old 'Klink' can stand heat, but neither he nor his family can swim; and here You come in the night, when we are all asleep, with another d-d old flood. If You can't have mercy on old ' Klink,' have mercy on his family."
" Klink " prayed on, and onward floated the frail cabin with its living freight, every instant expecting to be engulfed in the dark waters of the Cedar, till sud- denly a rude shock stopped the progress of the cabin, nearly dislodging the family on the roof. When daylight glimmered in the east, and the clouds began to break away, Klinkenbeard saw that Providence had heard his rude prayer, and that his cabin was fast-wedged between two twin trees that grew on the banks of the stream.
When the neighbors discovered the perilous situation of the miller and his family, they hastened to convey them, weak and shivering, in canoes to their own homes, where the family was provided for until the father could look about for a new building-site.
The old rhyme that says
" When the devil was sick, The devil a saint would be ; When the devil was well, The devil a saint was lie,"
well applied to the unstable Klinkenbeard. While looking for a site for his cabin, he chose a knoll on which to locate, remarking that "he be d-d if he wouldn't build so high this time that God Almighty couldn't get at him with His d -- d old floods.
ANOTHER FLOOD.
Another flood occurred in 1851, when the various water-courses in the county rose much higher than during the flood of 1840. The country being by this time more thickly settled, the water did far more damage to property in the
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lowlands, which were all overflowed. Along Skunk River, especially, the damage was very great, destroying and damaging a large number of houses and washing away farm improvements. At Rome, on Skunk River, a shingle was nailed to a tree which stands in the bottom near Millspaw's mill, and which still bears the shingle, showing the water at that point in the valley to have been over fifteen feet in depth.
COOP IN THE LEGISLATURE.
When Henry County was organized, in 1836, its jurisdiction extended to the western line of the Black Hawk Purchase. When the second purchase was made, in 1837 (ratified and confirmed in February, 1838), that jurisdiction was extended to the western boundary line of Jefferson County. With the enlarge- ment of the territory, there was an expansion of settlement. "Squatters " came in and made claims in nearly every part of the new purchase. These set- tlements were scattering, sometimes miles a part, but so increased the popula- tion that, in the early part of 1838, Col. Coop and others began to agitate the formation of a new county. Coop had county seat aspirations. He hoped to make his town of Lockridge, which he had laid out in the spring of 1837, the seat of justice of the new county. In that year (1838), and with such aspira- tions, Coop was a candidate for election to the Territorial Legislature from this part of Henry County, and was elected. Of that Legislature and Coop's scheme for a new county, Hawkins Taylor wrote as follows in a letter published in the Fairfield Ledger, under date of November 6, 1878 :
" In the winter of 1838-39, I served in the first Iowa Legislature with W. G. Coop, who then lived on Walnut Creek, and in part represented Henry County. That part of Jefferson that had then been purchased from the Indians was attached to Henry County for legislative and judicial purposes. In that whole Legislature there was but a single member that had ever been in any Legislature before. That one was Van Delashmut, who was living, a few years since, in Mahaska County. Van was full of fun, and no man had more of it than he did. Not many of the members had ever seen any Legislature in ses- sion ; but it was a lively Legislature, and full of business. There was no greener member than Coop at that time, but he was thoroughly honest and was liked by all the members. On account of my relatives and friends in Round Prairie, I took an active interest in having Coop get his new county. At that time, Lawson B. Hughes and Doctor Paine were the councilmen from Henry County, and they did not like to make the new county. They were Democrats, and the new county would be Democratic, while the division would leave Henry Whig ; but Coop got his new county."
ORGANIZATION OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
The Territory of Iowa was organized under an act of Congress approved June 12, 1838. The law became operative on the 3d day of July following. Ex-Gov. Robert Lucas, of Ohio, was appointed Governor of the new Territory by President Van Buren. Immediately after assuming the duties of his trust, Gov. Lucas issued a proclamation directing the election of members of the first Territorial Legislature. The election was held on the 10th of September, and the Legislature met at Burlington on the 12th of November. Soon after the organization of the Legislature was perfected, Mr. Coop introduced a bill entitled " An act to divide the county of Henry and establish the county of Jefferson." The bill became a law in the words following, to wit. :
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa. That all that tract of country lying west and attached to the county of Henry, viz. : Beginning
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at the southeast corner of Township Number Seventy-one north, Range Eight west ; thence north with said line to the line dividing Townships Seventy-three and Seventy-four ; thence west with said line to the Indian boundary line ; thence south with said line to the line dividing Town- ships Seventy and Seventy-one ; thence east with said line to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby constituted a separate county, to be called Jefferson.
SEC. 2. That the said county of Jefferson shall, to all intents and purposes, be and remain an organized county, and invested with full power and authority to do and transact all county business which any regularly organized county may of right do.
SEC. 3. That Samuel Hutton, of the county of Henry, and Joshua Owens, of the county of Lee, and Roger N. Cressup, of the county of Van Buren, are hereby appointed Commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice of Jefferson County. The said Commissioners shall meet in the town of Lockridge on the first Monday in March next, to proceed to the duties required of them, or may meet on any other day they may agree on within one month thereafter, being first sworn by any Judge or Justice of the Peace faithfully and impartially to examine the situa- tion of said county, taking into consideration the future, as well as the present, population of said county ; also, to pay strict regard to the geographical center, and to locate the seat of justice as near the center as an eligible situation can be obtained ; and so soon as they have come to a determination of the place where they shall locate it, it shall be the duty of said Commis- sioners to name the place, so located by them, by such name as they may think proper, and shall commit the same to writing, signed by the Commissioners, and filed with the Clerk of the Dis- trict Court of the present county of Henry, whose duty it shall be to record the same, and deliver over the same to the Clerk of the county of Jefferson whenever he shall be appointed, whose duty it shall be to record the same and forever keep it on file in his office, and the place thus designated shall be considered the seat of justice of said county.
SEC. 4. Provided, That in the event of said Commissioners being prevented, from any cause whatever, from performing the duties required of them, or if a majority of said Commissioners shall not be able to agree upon any place for the establishment of said seat of justice, then in that case the seat of justice is temporarily established at the house of Sylvanus Harrington.
SEC. 5. That the said Commissioners shall receive, as a compensation for performing the duties required of them, the sum of three dollars per day, to be paid out of the first moneys that may come into the treasury of said county of Jefferson.
SEC. 6. That there shall be an election held on the first Monday in April next, for the pur- pose of electing all county officers that may be elective, the same as in other organized counties.
SEC. 7. That it shall be the duty of the Sheriff of said county to cause written notices to be put up at three of the most public places in each of the old precincts in said county of Jefferson, stating the time and place and officers to be elected.
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