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 56

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1368

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 56

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" The hardy pioneer, struggling with the various disadvantages incident to life on the frontier, has little time and less inclination to mark the changes con- nected with the growth and development of a wilderness into 'a land that buds and blossoms like the rose.' The great changes which time, with its various agencies, is produeing around him, are not realized, and the interest that the future will take in reviewing the past is hardly thought of. He is busy with the present and its necessities, generally struggling with poverty, but buoyant with hope. He expects to secure a home and be surrounded in a short time with the charms of good society, educational and religious priv- ileges, in the enjoyment of wealth and the full fruition of early hopes. He carries with him the impress of the institutions of the locality where he live:l. and fosters them. They are the institutions of civilization, and often of refine- muent. Ile expects to be overtaken by the car of progress, laden with the golden fruits of society. Religious privileges and educational. advantages he expects will follow, with all the charms and blessings they confer. Like Moses, in * me respeets, he views the promised land ; uplike him, oeeupies it ; like him. time is not given to share in its full glory. Dilapidation and decay are dis- funced by the outstretched arm of improvement, its polishing hand ; and soon,

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very soon, in this new world and on these fertile prairies, beside these pure streams of limpid water, with an atmosphere laden with health-giving influ- ences, noble farine spread out before the admiring gaze of the tourist, who, in these later years, for the first time visits these fertile valleys. He beholds low- ing herds of splendid eattle feeding upon nature's broad pastures, or ruminating by the side of well-filled racks and mangers. Ile listens to the contented grunt of large droves of squealing poreines. fed with a prodigal liberality. He notes the symmetry of the different grades of vast numbers of noble horses; wonders at their perfection and adaptation to man's various tastes and uses. He see- vast fields of luxuriant grain, and calculates in all these departments there is enough to supply the demands of a population a hundred-fold more dense. He beholds buildings that denote homes of ease, wealth and luxury. comfort and refinement, thriving towns and prosperous eities, with all their allurements for good and subtle entanglements for evil, arise as if by magie, and these, with the choice farms, transform the prairie in all its grand magnifieenee and wild beauty, with its aboriginal inhabitants wilder still. the running deer. the loping elk, the beast of prey, the whistling quail, the whirring hen, emblems of the wilderness where civilization has never disturbed the wild beast in his lair, 01 the birds in their aerial flights have never been frightened by the sharp report of the sportsman's gun and its reverberating sound. In a single word, these emblems of primeval wildness have been supplanted by the benign influences ot a Christian civilization, transforming and reclaiming, with all their moral power. Remember that nearly all this change has been wrought within a half-century. I refer to the Great West-the valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries.

"The first permanent settlers of a new country are a hospitable people. As I said, they are in pursuit of homes and with those who come for this laudable object, actuated by this noble purpose, controlled by immutable prin- ciples of right, every arrival of upright citizens is welcomed with a warmth ot friendship, the genuineness of which is never questioned. No mere formal friendship welcomes the arrival of the sturdy and industrious emigrant to the frontier home of him who is patiently waiting for civilization to drive the wild beasts and the barbarous Indians from the vicinity of his home. The elk and the deer, the wild beast and nntutored savage, and the white man who has fled from violated law and outraged society will occupy the same country, but when enterprise, science, art, religion, with all the paraphernalia of reclaiming civilization approaches, the wild beasts flee, the red men scatter, and the out- law, like the Arab, folds his tent and is gone. Domestic animals take the place of wild beasts. Thrifty husbandry supplants the chase, the schoolhouse tells of educational interests ; the church, with its spire pointing to realms of everlasting light, proclaims faith in Him who died for all. The dead are buried with religious rites, while to the living is taught a lesson by the side of the open grave. of the brevity of human life. The savage was buried, too. amid barbarous whoops, expecting to go to the happy hunting-ground, where his gun would be his boon companion and the chase his everlasting pastime. Permanent homes have been established where lived the wandering tribes of America. The land that was a wilderness, . flows with milk and honey.' The arts are cultivated, seience encouraged, industry honored, worth appreci- ated, religion fostered. What a change! We call it CIVILIZATION. Spare will not permit us to pursue this train of thought longer. I have alluded to these changes in order to show the vast difference between the present with all its beauty and attractiveness, and that condition that existed at the time of the . advent of men who still live in our midst. But little more than the time

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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.

allotted to a single generation has passed away, during which all these changes have been produced. We wonder at this rapid transformation. We consider that this change, this rapid march of civilization, is but a nucleus around which shall gather in the coming future, nobler deeds and more grand achieve- ments. * * July 27, 1839, there came into this township an emigrant. band, composed of fourteen persons, counting men, women and children, and they came to stay. They came as pioneers, as an advance-guard of what was to follow. They looked upon this valley covered with tall and luxuriant grass, they noted the erystal waters of these pebbledl streams, cor- rectly estimated the fertility of the soil, and anchored their prairie schooner beneath the shade of this adjacent grove and became the sovereign lords of Wyoming Township. They were sheltered in that primeval bower and charmned with birds' enchanting songs. Mrs. Lilie's house now stands where was the first pitched tent that covered the first civilized man that made this valley his permanent home. *

" In that band of fourteen persons there were four stalwart men, three fearless women and seven helpless children. Around them on every hand were beasts of prey-bears, wolves, panthers and wild-cats. Deer, elk and buffalo hurried from their presence. There were also birds and prairie-hens. The stealthy tread of the Indian was often heard. and his lurking presence more often sus- pected. The Indians were great beggars, but seldom stole anything till they were about to depart for some other quarter. When they were about to leave, and were packing up their traps, they would not institute very rigid inquiries in reference to the ownership of any article that came in their way. Things that were worthless, and those that were valuable, all shareil the same fate. Thou shalt not covet, was a doctrine of which they knew but little, and cared less. Thou shalt not steal, was not a fundamental doctrine in their creed. But they practiced from the precept, "He that provideth not for his own household is worse than an "-Indian. While they were staying around, they would not even shoot a prairie-hen from your corn-crib without asking permission. They seemed to be far above stealing chickens, even if they were wild, and, in this respect, were superior to some of their white snecessors.

"These first fourteen settlers all came in one wagon, and were drawn by three yoke of oxen. They had a few cows, a few head of young cattle and three dogs. They came from Indiana, and, after crossing the Mississippi, followed up the Maqnoketa Valley, and found a few settlers below Monmouth, in Jackson County, where there were large tracts of Government land, but they had taken Greeley's advice in advance, and were going West. Leaving the settlement below Momnouth, they came up through the timber and out on to the prairie, near where Morse and son reside. Here they fastened a log behind their wagon to make a mark by which they could retrace their steps, if they desiredl to do so. Then striking out boldly into the tall prairie grass, leaving all previous marks of civilized man without knowing what they might encounter, not expecting to see the face of a white man till they should return. they started out on this unknown prairie sea in pursuit of a spot which, in after life, they might call by that name always dear-home. By the aid of imagination, we can see them stand on the summit of yonder hill. beneath a scorching July sun, and look across this fertile valley to the cool shade of the grove in the rear of our town; then, with vision leaving the grove, to the right they could look up the valley of the Great Bear till the prairie was lost in the horizon of the West, where azure blue and prairie green were blended. What scene on nature's great

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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.

panorama could be more lovely, what spot more inviting, where a place more beautiful? Sheltered from fierce westerly winds and northern blasts by a magnificent grove of sturdy oaks and tall hickories clothed in summer's grand drapery, where the sun's first morning ray warined, and the shade intercepted the noontide heat : the pure crystal waters of Little Bear Creek flowing aleny its margin. an outlet for bubbling springs from earth's internal streams, a soil of unsurpassed richness, a landscape beautiful to look upon ; the monotony of its distant view broken by hill and dell, and running stream, and forest tree : the luxuriant grass bending, waving, surging before the prairie breeze lik- billows of the sea, whose crests were capped with indigenous flowers of rare fragrance and beauty, its virgin soil ready to laugh a harvest whenever tickled by the plowshare and scratching harrow of the husbandman. Here were the elements of future wealth, and on the margin of this primeval forest was erected the first home in Wyoming Township. When we review the past to that time, how forcibly do we realize the language of Whittier :

" I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be. The first low wash of waves, Where soon shall roll a human sea.'"

" These were the times that tried men's souls some and women's more. We can hardly imagine the deprivations these pioneers must have endured, their nearest neighbors being ten miles away. No saloons to visit, no store in which to lounge, no dry-goods boxes on which to sit and whittle, no school, no tax- ation (what a comfort), no milliner to charm and fascinate with bonnets in the four seasons' latest styles, no dressmaker to fit the human form divine and make it a little more divine. no tailor to make your suits in the latest fashion. no barber to shave the down from the anxious youth's lip or color the mustache of the veteran who would disguise age with youth's beauty. They were a dis- tinct people, and except the Indians and wild beasts, there were ' none to molest or make afraid.' When the seanty supply of provisions they had brought with them was exhausted, they were compelled to retrace their steps along the log-beaten track they had made to the settlement in Jackson County, purchase grain and go to Dubuque to have it ground. There was honey in the land, but no locust with heavenly manna scattered by the bountiful hand of Omnip- otenee. The staff of life must be brought from afar. Fourteen persons were thus to be fed, where no raven proclaimed the interposition of Providence, and no supernatural power produced food with which to maintain life. Energy. decision and firmness were necessary to provide sustenance, when situated so remote from the haunts of civilized life.

"This isolation could be endured in summer ; but when winter came with its icy desolation, and the earth was covered with the white frost of erystallization. lonely indeed must have been this immigrant hand. The log-beaten track oblit- erated by the fallen snow, and communication with those distant neighbors made exceedingly hazardous. Disease invaded the realm of this people the first year, and a little child a year old was taken from the parental embrace to fields of everlasting light. It was a pioneer from this section to the unknown realm of immortal glory. It was the first link in an ever-lengthening chain that binds Wyoming to heaven. A little grave was dug near Mr. Hanna's res- idenee, and there silently was horne the mortal remains of David Pence's child. A few friends gathered around that silent grave and dropped the grief- laden tear upon that rude coffin. No minister with uncovered head, in priestly garb or sacerdotal robes, stood there to pour the oil of consolation into those

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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.

wounded hearts. No lesson was enforced on the brevity of life or the evan- escence of things sublunars, no finger pointed heavenward. no voice pro- claimed, ' Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' There, on that ridge of land running out into the prairie, like a promontory into the ocean, was this grave made. The mother followed a few years later; the father afterward gave his life to his country, and no brother or sister is left to shed tears of sorrow over the unmarked grave of this first victim of the relentless destroyer. I will add, no doctor tried to assist Nature's recuperative powers, and you may say, if you like, that the death was probably natural.

"James Van Voltenbergh was the patriarch of these first settlers, and with his wife and nine children, one son-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and one grandchild, whose death we have mentioned, made up the fourteen persons. Of these, there are five still living. Joseph, in Decatur County, a voluntary exile from the land of his fathers, not sold into captivity by jealous and envious brothers ; while in an adjoining township, still lives Taylor and his wife, and also Peter and Dan. They have long since dropped the patronymic name, in part, and are now known by the more enphonious and simple cognomen of Van. The old name took in number, one more than half the entire alphabet, and one less than half of the whole number of letters.

" The first meeting these people had the privilege of attending was five miles beyond Canton, and thither the three women wended their way on foot. the men were too busy to leave, there was too much to do, and these three unpro- teeted women started out to hear ' the glad tidings of great joy.' The first day, they went as far as Mr. Beers', ten miles east of here, the next day went to meeting and back to Mr. Beers', and the next day came home, having trav- eled on foot more than thirty miles to hear the Gospel. The preacher was a Presbyterian. The first meeting in this township was held at Van's. The preacher was a Presbyterian, and his text. . Is there no balm in Gilead. is there no physician there ?' This was in 1842. The audience was not large, and probably not very fashionably attired ; but they could listen to the preacher, as he unfolded the great truths of the Gospel, explained the grand plan of salva- tion, and told of the rich mercies of redeeming grace, a balm for every wounded soul, and pictured the everlasting beauties of a 'home over there.'

" This isolated condition was favorable to the development of feelings of dependence. At that time, the inhabitants of the township were less than two score. They felt their dependence upon each other, were mutually interested in each other's prosperity, and mutually expected to share hardships and enjoy the happiness in store for them. The minister before alluded to was traveling through the country, perhaps a missionary looking up the sheep that had wan- dered from the fold. Here he halted and broke the bread of life acceptably to those spiritually famishing people ; continued his journey, sowing the seed, but not knowing what the harvest would be; his name forgotten, his theme cherished, his lesson remembered. The next mini-ter was Moses Garrison. Ile belonged to the United Brethren, and organized the first church in Wyoming Township. The organization was effected at James Van's, and the meetings held there about three years. After this time, the Campbellites effected an organization, and the Society of United Brethren was abandoned. some of its members going to the Methodists, some to the Campbellites, and some went-God only knows where. In 1844, the North Mineral Society was organized by Joel B. Taylor, then in the interest of the Methodist Church. Ile was a young man, whoin Conference has since honored with prominent and

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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY.

responsible positions. He is still a watchman on Zion's Tower, and proclaims the Gospel at Belle Plain, in this State. I allude to this Church as a part of the early history of this township because this whole region was tributary to that organization. and there was built the first church edifice in all this vicinity. It was not remarkable for its architectural beanty, but it sheltered early Christians from pelting storms, was a place for them to assemble together to hear the preached Word, where praver was wont to be made. It was situated in Clay Township, and was a kind of religious Meeca, where religious pilgrims wended their way from a large region of country round about. The north part of this township furnished several Gospel guns, who met there regularly for target practice, the hardened sinners being the targets. Some of them fired solid shots of truth, while others hurled empty, screeching, bursting shells, the frag- ments of which hit by accident. but sometimes did fearful execution. There were Thomas and Joel B. Taylor, father and son, the former gone home : J. D. Williams. now living at Aekley ; James Johnson, living at Camanche ; John B. Nichols and Otis Cutler, gone to their reward, besides many others from other plices round about. I have been told that the wieked were sometimes very turbulent over there, and it has ever been said that the professedly pious too sometimes wandered from the paths of moral rectitude. On one occasion. it is said that an old preacher. in rebuking those who were indecorous. in their behavior, said it seemed to him as though the worst 'helements' in society congregated there. It has long since eeased to be a place where God is worshiped. The development of the country has made new centers for busi- ness and rehgious worship, and the church has been torn down and moved to this township, near the residence of old Mr. Conally. It has been rebuilt. much improved, and is a useful as well as ornamental structure in the neighbor- hood. In it are held many religious meetings by clergymen located in the vicinity, and from it the dead are buried in an adjacent cemetery.

"Old Mrs. Van Voltenbergh died in 1846. aged sixty-five years. Her's was the first funeral sermon preached in the township. Rev. John Ster- ling was the minister, who lived in the big woods beyond Rome, or Olin, as it is now called. Old Mr. Van Voltenbergh died in 1853, aged eighty-five years.

" William Knight moved into this township in 1840, about a year after the first settlement was made. I have not been able to learn much of his ante- cedents. The whole family left this part of the country many years ago. and located in California, where Mr. Knight died. Ile first located on the farm owned by S. G. Franks, then where Henry Aldrich resides. then on the farm owned by J. B. Wherry, and from here moved to California. I said he came in 1840. There may be some mistake about this, for there are some reasons for believing that he was here at the time of Noali's flood. and he might have been Noah himself. He would tell with great can- dor of seeing this valley deeply submerged with water, and tradition says he boasted of having swum from the present residence of Henry Aldrich to this hill, with a log-chain around his neek.

For aught I know, this valley might have been the theater of Jonah's wonderful exploits, and Mr. Knight might have been Jonah himself. or, if the doctrine taught by some is true, he might have been the whale that swallowed Jonah; at any rate. he had a very large mouth. In conversation, he was vehement and boisterous, but is said to have been quite a kind-hearted man. llis wife was entitled to the lasting gratitude of many of the earlier settlers. On many and oft-repeated occasions, she visited the sick and afflicted, m'nistering to their necessities and

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alleviating their sufferings. She was a useful woman. and this simple sentence tells more than would a whole volume written in the interests of fashion.

"Johnson Knight and Anna Simpson were the first persons married in the township. Who performed the ceremony, whether it was a wedding in high life or not, what the bridal presents were. or how many cigars it took to pre- vent the boys from " serenading" them. I have been unable to ascertain. The bride probably thought that Knight was not always darkness. The Knight boys were very useful in breaking up and subduing these primitive prairies. Ten yoke of oxen, hitched to a plow that turned a furrow three feet wide, was a terror to the indolent rattlesnake, and a caution to the Indian to . stand from under.' Indeed, it looked a good deal like business to a white man to see ten yoke of oxen drawing a plow that was turning a furrow a yard wide, not guided by human hands, the oxen being driven by a man on horseback, with a whip that looked like a long fishing-pole, with a lash for a line, big enough to hold Jonah's whale. To those of us who, in early life, were accustomed to plow in the stony and stumpy grounds of the East, with fields so small that our heads became dizzy with frequent turning. it looked strange to see a furrow as straight as an arrow. a mile in length. turning over the rich, black prairie soil that had been enriched from year to year by deposits from the decay of its own produc- tions, adding the fertilizing wealth of unknown ages to its latent productive resources. On every acre of this prairie land were tons of roots of various grasses, woven and interwoven so as to form a fibrous mass. which, when exposed to the air and warmed by summer heat and moistened by summer showers, decayed, adding their fertilizing influence to the great future's useful vegetation. In those primitive days. the ox did the greater part of the work connected with farming. The almost universal use of the horse for domestic purposes is a modern innovation in this region. Twenty or twenty-five years ago, it was a very common thing to see six or eight yoke of oxen with an empty wagon attached, coming to town. It looked a little extravagant, and a waste of power ; but remember, when men were breaking prairie then, there were no pastures to put cattle into, and. if the plow needed repairs, the whole force had to go with it.

" The first sod that yielded to the plowshare in this township was about where Green street is located, and commenced at the creek and ran east to where stands those cottonwood trees in the road. north of S. G. Franks, a dis- tance of three-quarters of a mile. There were no cottonwood trees there then ; those trees are of later growth. The Indian must have thought that the world was being turned upside down, as he witnessed the rolling-over of the prairie sod. Little did his untutored mind contemplate the great process of civiliza- tion that was being begun. Little did he dream that that was the beginning of a process that, in a short time, would change the productions of the soil of this valley, from grass that was used only to kindle the prairie fire, to fields of golden grain for the use of man and beast, and help develop this Western coun- try and give it the grand name, 'the granary of the world.'

"FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE.

" The first schoolhouse in the township was built half a mile east of S. G. Franks' residence. in 1844. The size was 12x14 feet, and was made of logs. Silas Garrison was the teacher. the number of scholars seven, the price was $8 a month, the teacher boarding himself. The Indians were much delighted with school, and would often go in to visit it, and, I suppose, note its progress.

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They seemed to be superintendents of the institution generally, and after becoming satisfied with its workings, would give the Indian grunt and leave.

"FIRST STORE.

" The first store opened in the township was where Daniel Cooley now lives. or in a framed building standing in front of his present fine residence. The merchant was M. Q. Simpson, and, I think. he was once Sheriff of the county. There was talk at that time of laying out a town at that place, but like many such projects in the West. ended in talk. That part of Jones County now embraced in the townships of Washington, Clay, Scotch Grove, Madison and Wyoming, was first organized under the name of Clay Precinct, and the first election held at Abraham Hostetters. on Farm Creek, north of Walter's Mills. I have been informed that at the third election there were twenty-one votes polled from the territory now constituting the five townships before mentioned.

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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 56

Author: Western Historical Co., pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1368

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1368