USA > Iowa > Jones County > The history of Jones County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens history of the Northwest, history of Iowa > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
At present writing, the Midland is building further west, though with what objective point it is not known. It ceases to be a Jones County enterprise.
The Sabula, Aekley & Dakota Railroad was projected especially by the citizens of Ackley and Sabula, and was designed as a western braneh to con- nect with the Western Union road at Savanna, Ill. The building of the road commeneed in 1870. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, jealous of the progress of the Midland road, lent its aid to the building of the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota. A bitter rivalry sprang up between the two enterprises, and each did what they could to injure the progress of the other. The North-Western came out first in the race, at least so far as the building of the road was eon- cerned. When the cars were running into Anamosa over the Midland, the western terminus of the Sabula road was at Preston, only about twenty miles from its starting-point. In the summer of 1972, the road was completed to Rome, in Jones County. The western terminus of the road, which now belongs to the Western Union Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Com- pany, is Cedar Rapids. The road traverses the southern tier of townships of Jones County, passing through a most excellent piece of country.
The Davenport & St. Paul Railroad was a Davenport enteprise, whose chief spirit was its President, Hon. Hiram Price. This road passes through Wyo- ming and Monticello. Cascade made a determined effort to seeure the road from Wyoming to that point, but in vain. The cars over this line were running into Wyoming December 22, 1871. The road is gradually nearing the north- ern line of the State, and will, doubtless, in time, brin_ Jones County in direct connection with its proposed northern terminus, St. Paul. The line has been recently purchased by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company. The corporation, therefore, own and operate three lines of road traversing Jones County, viz., the Sabula, Aekley & Dakota, Davenport & North-Western, and the Dubuque & South-Western, or, in all, a total of seventy miles of road.
In April, 1868, a company was organized under the name of the Anamosa & North-Western Railroad Company, whose objeet was to build a road from Anamosa northwest, along the Wapsipinicon Valley, to the northern boundary of the State. The incorporators were James Jamison, James Ironside, R. N.
346
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
Soper, F. Braun, William T. Shaw, J. S. Stacy, D. S. Lee, C. R. Scott. Charles E. Kent. J. H. Fairehild. E. C. Downs, A. Hunsicker, C. W. Hast- ings, H. J. White, M. McGlatherv.
The interest which might otherwise have been enlisted in this enterprise was directed into other channels by new and unexpected developments in railroad building, about this time." The project was, therefore. unsuccessful.
The assessment returns of Jones County show the number of miles of rail- road within its limits to be as follows :
Jowa Midland. 20.80 miles.
Dubuque & Southwestern 19.71
Davenport & St. Paul
30.80
Sabula, Ackley & Dakota 25.55
Total.
96.86 miles.
COUNTY FINANCES.
The financial condition of Jones County is most satisfactory. A conserva- tive management has been the policy of her financiers, whose care has ever been to keep the county from becoming involved in debt. The unfortunate loan to the Air Line Railroad, of which mention is elsewhere made, has been the only serious calamity which has ever occurred affecting the county treasury. The County Treasurer's report, in June, 1879, shows a balance on hand in each of the various funds in the keeping of the county. There are no out - standing warrants demanding payment, and county orders are at par. The county has no bonds outstanding. No money of importance has ever been invested in county buildings. the Court House now occupied being the gift of Anamosa and different citizens. as has been elsewhere mentioned.
The report of the County Auditor for the year ending January 5, 1879, shows the expenses of county government for 1878, to have been as follows :
Supervisors S 777 59
Salaries of officers
4,400 00
Witnesses.
2,138 70
Jurors.
3,490 00
Attorneys and reporters
1,193 50
Sheriff, bailiff's and janitor
1,286 33
Jail expenses ..
961 40
Justices and Constables,
1.607 00
Fuel, lights, repairs to county buildings, etc.
691 28
Assessors, Township Clerks and Trustees
1,759 90
Postage and express.
134 05
Books and stationery
797 40
Printing.
1,779 53
Superintendent of Schools,
958 07
Election expen-es. ..
456 20
Bounty ou wild animals' scalps.
242 00
Township Collectors
1,140 50
Poor Farm.
2,557 96
Paid Benton County in Jolinson case.
208 00
Copying mortgage index.
175 00
Clerks' fees, criminal cases.
52 25
Settlement of title to Coleman lots
40 00
Miscellaneous
4 10
$29,509 00
Deaf, dumb and insane
405 45
Insane Hospital.
1.515 50
Bridges
14.473 41
Total
$45,903 45
Poor, outside poor farm
2,658 15
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
The assessment for 1879, as corrected by the Board of Supervisors, we give by townships. To this 5 per cent has been added by the State Board :
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS.
Acres of Land.
Assess'l value Assess'd value of Land. of Town Lots.
Personal Property.
Total.
Cass
22008
8196073 S
S 57745
8253818
Castle Grove
22755
204825
495
58564
264184
Clay
22280
181939
3619
40828
216386
Fairview
21701
205182
4504
64229
273865
Greenfield.
22645
206484
5165
106796
318445
Hale
22850
193742:
70778
264520
Jackson.
22228
183207
30869'
214076
Madison.
22106
206709
19655
79396
305760
Monticello
22022
215217
514
52976
268707
Oxford
22253
189269
14330
88254
291858
Richland
22911
171422
4665
38662
214749
Rome .
22172
200925
58873
259798
Seotch Grove
22443.
198765
1036
51331
251132
Washington
22866
166508
36421
202929
Wayne.
22575;
206312
5205
71282
282799
Wyoming ..
22200
191498
9060
62615
263173
Anamosa
170225
98036
268261
Monticello, town
158466
146614
305080
Olin
28897.
20890
49777
Strawberry Hill
15110
2604
17714
Wyoming, town
66600
71254
137854
358015
$3108027
$507506
SI309317
84924880
The assessment of railroad property is as follows :
Number of Miles in County.
Assessed Value per Mile.
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul-
Western Union Division.
45.26
$2.300 00
Davenport & North-Western. Iowa Midland ..
30.63
2,500 00
20.80
2,000 00
The tax levy for 1878-79 was as follows: State tax, 2 mills; county school tax, 1 mill ; county tax, + mills ; bridge tax, 3 mills ; poor tax, 1 mill; total, 11 mills.
Of the permanent School fund which the wisdom of our early State gov- ernment provided. to assist the various counties in maintaining free schools. there is in the hands of Jones County-most of which is loaned out on real estate-858,756.53. The apportionment of the permanent fund to Jones County for the past year was 84,063.14. The annual interest upon the funds placed in the care of Jones County is greater than her share of the yearly apportionment.
STATISTICS-SOCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL.
A steady growth has marked the progress of Jones County from the date of its organization. No feverish haste is perceptible, but that constant influx of population and wealth, which forbids all thought of relapse or disaster, and gives an air of permanence and stability to every place or institution to which it is peculiar. This is strikingly illustrated by a comparison of the census reports since 1838. The population has been as follows: 1838, 241: 1440, 475; 1844, 1,112; 1846, 1,758; 1848, 1,779; 1849, 2,140; 1850. 3.007;
347
Totals,
318
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
1851, 3,400 ; 1852, 4,201: 1853, 6.075; 1856, 9.835; 1859, 13,475 ; 1860, 13,306 ; 1863, 13,495 : 1865, 14.376; 1867, 16,228; 1869, 18,113; 1870, 19,731; 1873, 18,930; 1875, 19,166.
Subjoined we give an abstract of the population of Jones County, taken from the census report of 1875. This is not given as a true representation of the population of towns at the present time, but may be valuable as a matter of reference now, or fifty years hence :
POPULATION.
TOWNSHIPS AND TOWNS.
Male.
Female.
Colored.
Total Population.
Number of Families.
Cass Township ..
394
378
3
775
166
Castle Grove Township. Clay Township.
543
419
..
962
169
Fairview Township.
594
579
...
1,173
220
Greenfield Township.
604
487
...
988
187
Jackson Township
415
385
800
150
Madison Township ..
510
487
Monticello Township.
474
435
2
1,587
332
Oxford Township.
506
468
1
975
201
Richland Township.
387
353
1
1,281
254
Scotch Grove Township.
421
400
821
137
Strawberry Hill Town.
59
66
5
130
80
Washington Township.
422
365
...
787
140
Wayne Township.
581
554
...
1,135
210
Wyoming Township.
504
510
...
1,014
181
Wyoming Town
331
358
...
689
157
Anamosa Town
814
784
7
1,605
356
Total,
9,873
9,274
19
19,165
.3,654
The population of the incorporated towns during the years 1870, 1873 and 1875 are given as follows :
NAME OF TOWN.
1870.
1873.
1873.
Anamosa
2083
1656
1605
Monticello
1337
1335
1587
Wyoming.
689
Strawberry Hill
130
The post offices in 1875 were Anamosa, Blue Cut, Bowen's Prairie, Castle Grove, Clayford, Clay Mills, Fairview, Hale Village, Highland Grove, Johnson, Langworthy, Martelle, Olin, Onslow, Oxford Mills, Oxford Junetion, Scotch Grove, Viroqua and Wyoming.
Number of acres of improved land in 1575. 208,907
Number of acres of unimproved land in 1875
63,298
Number of acres of natural timber in 1875. 52,546
Number of acres of planted timber.
478
Number of voters in 1875.
4,180
Number of voters born in Germany
293
Number of voters horn in Scotland
133
Number of voters born in Ireland ..
614
Number of foreigners not naturalized
176
178
Hale Township.
528
460
909
159
Monticello Town
760
825
740
134
Rome Township.
651
629
...
707
126
375
332
1,091
997
167
349
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
BRIDGES.
Jones County, traversed as it is by the North and South Maquoketa and Wapsipinicon Rivers, has been obliged to expend in the building of bridges sums which to other counties would seem almost marvelous. Not only have these larger streams made heavy drafts upon the county treasury, but numerous ereeks have demanded a steady expenditure of the public funds to render them passable. It has been the custom of the Board of Supervisors usually to make appropriations in part for the building of bridges. expecting the remainder to be raised by subscription. Thus an appropriation would be made with the under- standing that the citizens most interested in the bridge would subscribe and pay 81 to every $2 expended by the county, or $1 to every $3 of the publie funds. Wooden bridges only were erected for a time, but a longer-sighted policy has of late years led to the building of substantial iron superstructures
The first bridge of importance in the county was thrown across the Wapsi- pinieon near where the Anamosa Cemetery now is. This was on the old Mili- tary road from Dubuque to Iowa City. The bridge was built by the Govern- ment, at an expense of $2,900, Calvin Reed being the contractor.
In 1857, 82,000 was appropriated by the County Judge to assist in bridg- ing the South Maquoketa, and $1,800 to span the Wapsipinicon at Overacker's Ferry.
A bridge was built at Metealf's and Graham's Mills, across the Wapsipin- icon, in 1862-63, at a cost of $2,500, of which the county paid one half.
A bridge at Oxford's Mills was built in 1865, with A. A. Reilly as con- tractor, at a total cost of 84,674, of which the county paid about one-half.
In November, 1864, $2,000 was appropriated toward building a 83,000 bridge at Monticello.
In 1865, a bridge was built at Newport, for $3,900, of which 82.350 was contributed by the county, and the remainder raised by subscription. In 1872. this was replaced by an iron bridge, built by the King Bridge Company, and ecsting $13,500.
A bridge over Walnut Creek, at Rome, was built at an expense of $2,- 528.50.
An appropriation was made in November. 1868, to bridge Buffalo Creek, at Fremont's Mills, at a cost of 83,000, two-thirds to be paid by the county.
In January, 1869, 83,000 was appropriated for the bridging of the Wap- sipinicon, near Ballou's stone quarry, in Hale Township. A subsequent appro- priation of $2,450 was made in the following year. The entire cost of the bridge was near 88,000.
Appropriations were made in 1870, for bridges at Corbet's Mill and Clay Mills, each to cost near $3,000, of which the county would pay two-thirds, the remainder to be raised by subseription.
An iron bridge was built across the south fork of the Maquoketa River, near Walter's Mills, in June, 1871.
In the winter of 1872-73, the bridge at Monticello was taken out by the ice, and a superstructure of iron was substituted by the Massillon Bridge Company, in the summer following. The iron bridge across the Wapsipinicon at Anamosa, was completed by the Ohio Bridge Company, during the same season.
The bridge at Supple's Mills was completed in 1875, at an expense of $6,654.46. The contractors were Kline, Wybel & Co., and Z. King & Co.
-
350
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
The iron bridge across the Buffalo at Fisher's Mills, completed in 1878, cost $0,620.42.
The bridge at Olin, completed in October, 1877, by the King Bridge Com- pany is a substantial structure and cost Jones County $9,737.53.
TIMBER, HIEDGES, ETC.
To encourage the cultivation of trees, orchards and hedge, the Board of Supervisors, at the June meeting, 1878, resolved that $100 should be deducted from the assessment of each person having planted and cultivated an acre of forest trees, with not less than five hundred trees to the acre ; also, a deduction of $100 for each half-mile of two-year-old hedge, and $100 for each acre of fruit trees duly cultivated and planted ; provided always, that in each case the owner send to the Board a general statement of the manner of planting and cultivation.
CENSUS OF 1840 AND DEAF MUTES.
We quote from an article published in the " Annals of Iowa," October, 1871. written by Edmund Booth, of Anamosa, for more than twenty years the editor of the Eureka. Mr. Booth, though usually classed among deaf mutes. is not really such. He lost his hearing when a mere lad, and has the power of speech in a limited way. He was educated at the Hartford Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and was subsequently, for seven years, a teacher in that institution. He writes :
" In the spring of 1840, the site of what is now Anamosa did not contain a human dwelling of any kind. At the distance of a mile or more therefrom. and at a point now called Fisherville, there stood a log house, about 18x20 feet in size, owned by a company engaged in building mills, such as were needed by frontiersmen for grinding or sawing. The company consisted of Timothy Davis. of Dubuque; Gideon H. Ford and George H. Walworth, the first and last named being subsequently known in Iowa politics. There being no house within five miles of the place, Mr. Walworth brought two of his sisters from their home in Illinois to aid in housekeeping. One of these sisters was a mute from New Hampshire, and educated at the Hartford institution. Another mute, a young man, also educated at the same school, Mr. Walworth found at Alton, Ill., and brought on, as a skillful carpenter. The name of this young man was L. N. Perkins.
" In May or June of the year above indicated, a brother-in-law of the writer, Col. David Wood, of Springfield. Mass., arrived, with his family, and with him I decided to ereet a frame dwelling-the first frame dwelling erected in the county-on the site of what afterward became the town of Anamosa. The frame was prepared at the mills near the log house aforesaid, and in June or July we proceeded to dig the cellar.
" One day, while engaged in the latter occupation, in company with Perkins, whom I had hired for the purpose, no other person being present, the Sheriff of the county, Hugh Bowen, came along in his usual way, on horseback. Ile stopped, dismounted, drew a roll of papers from a tin case, and entered our
[NOTE .- In this connection it may be interesting to the reader to know that the second marriage license in Jones County was issued July 25, 1>4 1, to Edmund Booth and Mary Ann Walworth, and that they were married on the following day, by John G. Joslin, Justice of the Peace who, in the aluguer of other form of marriage ceremony, Inade use of the printed servire of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, which appeared about that time in the news- papers, the queen having married February 10 previous. Doubtless a very quiet wedding, as neither of the parties most interested could hear a sound, nor could Miss Walworth sprak a sentence .- EDITOR.)
351
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
names, places of nativity. ete., in the census of 1840. Having performed this duty, the Sheriff remounted his horse and proceeded to the log house before mentioned. While he was entering our names and all the et ceteras, I noticed that his paper was printed in the forin usual upon occasions of this kind, and that he placed the proper figure under the head of deaf inutes. The taking of the census was completed throughout the country, and was in due season printed and laid before Congress and the public. Many persons now living will remem- ber the storm which the publication of this eensus brought up. John Quincy Adams, ex-President and then member of the Lower House at Washington, and others, as well as the newspapers. attacked it fiercely as having been manipu- lated in the interests of slavery. John Tyler was President, through the death of Harrison, and John C. Calhoun was Secretary of State. The office of Sec- retary of the Interior had not been created, and the Census Bureau had charge of eensus affairs subject to the control of the Secretary of State. The aboli- tion war was raging in Congress and out, and Southern politicians and North- ern tools declared slavery divine-the best possible condition for the blacks. To prove the truth of this latter assertion, the census returns had been so falsi- fied as to show that a far greater proportion of the free blacks of the North were variously afflicted with physical infirmities than was the case with the enslaved blacks of the South ; but possibly because there were not enough blacks in some of the Northern States, or because the fraud might be too easily detected, or because Southern statesmen in their ignorance of the real state of things in the North, supposed Northern mutes were generally uneducated, as those of the slave-holding States, the mutes of the North were very liberally classed in the published returns as deaf, dumb, blind, idiotic, insane and colored!
" While the feeling on this subject of falsifying the census was at its height, I received a copy of the Hartford Courant, in which was a communication. probably written by Mr. Weld, the Principal. or some one of the teachers, giving the localities of the former pupils of the Hartford institution, and now pub- lished by the Government as colored and overwhelmed by all the ills that can afflict humanity. The mutes of Jones County, Iowa, that is, the three men- tioned above, I learned now for the first time, were down in the archives of the Government, and for the information of the coming ages down to the end of time, described as ' deaf, dumb, blind, idiotic, insane. colored.'
" There are those who are readily irritated at trifling annoyances, but bear great misfortunes with a quiet philosophy or a stolid indifference. The state- ment just quoted was too atrocions, too extravagant and too absurd for indigna- tion. It brought greatly to my recollection the wrathful exclamation found in Shakespeare :
"' Get thee glass eyes, And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou seest not.'
"Years passed until 1847, and the Territory of Iowa had become a State. The subject of a school for deaf mutes within our borders had occasionally crossed my mind and been dismissed as untimely. As a Territory, nothing could be done save in a private way. Iowa, as a State, could make provisions whereby mutes might have equal educational privileges with hearing children. But the State was neither populous nor wealthy enough to embark in costly sehemes, and I therefore wrote to Thomas Officer. Principal of the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. at Jacksonville, Ill., to ascertain whether, and on what terms, his school would receive and educate the mutes of Iowa. Ilis answer was favorable: the terms, I think, S100 a year for
352
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
board and tuition. This was during the early part of the session of 1848-49 of the Iowa Legislature.
" On receiving Mr. Officer's answer. I immediately wrote to Dr. Nathan G. Sales, then representing our county in the Lower House, requesting him to inaugurate and press through a bill authorizing the sending to the school at Jacksonville such Iowa mutes as were of educational age, and before they became too old to enjoy the advantage, at the same time stating that our new commonwealth was too young and not sufficiently advanced in population or ability to start a school of our own. Incidentally. and as a tolerably good joke, though at my own expense, and never dreaming of the use to which the Doctor would put it, I told him that by the census of 1840, all the mutes of Jones County were bound up in calf, laid away in the Government Library and published to the world as, ' deaf, dumb, blind, idiotie and insane niggers,' ask- ing his opinion at the same time, as a physician, whether it was possible for a person to be at onee idiotie and insane ? In this letter I enelosed the one from Mr. Officer.
. "The Doctor, as he afterward told me, read my letter in open session and there was a general laugh, as well there might be. He brought in a bill making provisions for the education of the mutes and blind of the State, but met with opposition on the score of poverty. He therefore resorted to strategy. There was a bill providing for a sword for some officer who had distinguished himself in the Mexican war. The Doctor compared the extravagance of this motion with the necessity of assistance to the afflicted of the State, and secured the passage of the bill through the House.
"The bill became a law and appropriated $50 per year to every mute sent to the institution at Jacksonville, the parents or friends to pay the balance necessary to make up the $100 required annually. It was the best that could be done at that time.
" In the spring of 1849, I went to California and returned in 1854. On inquiry, I found that the law had been so changed as to allow each mute 8100 annually in the Illinois school. During my five years of absence, the State had grown remarkably in population and wealth, and now I thought the time had come for a school of our own. With this view, I again wrote to Mr. Officer. the Principal of the Jacksonville Institution, for data regarding the number of our pupils, ete., and hinting at the establishment of a school in Iowa. Trouble in one of my lungs, resulting from lung fever during student days, forebade my taking the work of teaching on myself. I therefore wrote to David E. Bart- lett, who was conducting a private school of mutes at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., stating how the matter stood and suggesting to him to come and start a school at Iowa City, then the capital of the State. Mr. Bartlett had formerly been a fellow-teacher with me in Hartford, and I knew him to be abundantly qualified, he being by nature a hearty enthusiast in his profession, and having the love and respect of his pupils and all the mutes of his acquaintance. To my great regret he declined the proposal, pleading * age and seventeen little responsibili- ties '-meaning his pupils. Knowing no other teacher of mutes outside of the regular institutions worth having, and knowing also that no teacher, properly qualified, naturally and otherwise. connected with any established institution would sever such connection for what might appear a Don Quixotic adventure into a frontier State, I coneluded to wait until near the time of the assembling of the next Iowa Legislature, and then, by letter or some other means, enlist a few of the prominent men of Iowa City in the project, induce them to bring the matter before the Legislature and obtain an appropriation for the founding
353
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.
of an Iowa Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, to be located at the capital of the State. A foundation of this kind once Jaid, I knew there would not be the slightest difficulty in finding any one of the best teachers in the older institutions to take charge of it.
" While I was waiting the lapse of a few months, the Iowa City papers informed me that a Mr. Ijams, of the Jacksonville institution, had appeared with the intention of starting a school for mutes. Prominent men in Iowa City enlisted in the project. The Legislature responded favorably, and success crowned the effort. At the first State Fair held at Iowa City, I attended and called at the institution a half-hour every morning before the fair was fully opened.
" When it was proposed in the Legislature to erect a new building and give the school a permanent location, Dr. Sales suggested to me to get up a move- ment in favor of its removal to Anamosa. . No,' I replied, 'public institutions are liable to mismanagement and abuse by those in charge, and it is essential to have this school at the State capital. where it will be under the immediate eve of the Legislature and the State officers.' The institution went to Council Bluffs."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.