USA > Iowa > Keokuk County > The history of Keokuk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. : a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 38
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to the mill. Upon arriving there, Mr. Holmes, who had been selected as captain, addressing Frisbie, said :
"Mr. Frisbie, your guilty conscience has prompted you to an act quite as severe as the committee had intended to inflict upon you. Should you survive the effects of your self-inflicted wound, you are expected to leave the territory within three days."
Then, turning to Mr. Smith, Holmes continued in the blandest manner : " Now, Mr. Smith, be good enough to take off your hat." Smith com- plied.
"Now, Mr. Smith, be good enough to take off your coat." Smith again complied.
"Now, Mr. Smith, take off your shirt."
Mr. Smith was good enough to do this also without hesitation. He was then informed that he could retain his pantaloons if he desired to do so.
"Now," continued Mr. Holmes, " Mr. Smith, we have a duty to perform and I want you to act the man while Mr. Goodheart is discharging his duty. Mr. Goodheart, will you be good enough now to invest Mr. Smith with the regalia of his office ?"
Whereupon Mr. Goodheart emptied about half the contents of a bucket of tar over the defenceless head, shoulders and arms of Smith. A feather pillow which had been provided was then opened and the contents placed in profusion over Smith, after which the remainder of the tar was applied over the feathers, when he was informed that he was at liberty to leave the territory as soon as Frisbie, but advised not to take Frisbie's route to the next world until he should be better prepared.
Smith then thanked the company from the bottom of his heart ; was as polite as possible for a man in his garb, and said that he had expected to be burned alive; that in the "multiplicity of business " he had got into this unjust speculation, and now politely backed out. It is not known what be- came of Smith. Frisbie died some two years later, in Missouri, from the effects of his wound. It may be added that Frisbie also expected nothing less than being hung or tortured to death by the company, the fear of which led him to attempt suicide.
We are next led to consider the early settlement of the country lying between the two forks of Skunk river. In this section the primitive set- tlements were made by Obadiah Tharp, John W. Snelson, Presley Doggett, Win. Trueblood, James Robinson, B. F. Chastain, William McGrew, James M. Mitts, Jesse B. Mitts, George Wimer, J. B. Whisler, Amos Hollow- way, David Stout, and J. G. Dement. Farther west, a settlement was made on the 3d day of May, 1843, in what has always been known as the Mc- Nabb neighborhood.
Mr. Snelson located on a claim which afterward became the home of Corbin Utterbach. For some time Mr. Snelson maintained a ferry across North Skunk at that point. A cabin was erected here, where Mr. J. B. Whisler commenced selling goods in 1844. Mr. Holloway was known as the great " bee hunter." We are indebted to Mr. S. A. James for the fol- lowing account of this pioneer :
" Wild bees at that time were plenty, and were generally found in the trunk or limb of a tree, twenty, and sometimes thirty, feet from the ground. Mr. Holloway would start out with a yoke of oxen, a wagon, two or three empty barrels, provisions and conveniences for camping. He would camp out at night, and would generally be gone from three to four weeks on one
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expedition. At the end of that time he would usually return with his bar- rels full of a delicious sweet which no Yankee patent receipt has yet been able to equal. Whether any philosopher ever contemplated a barrel of honey with other than gustative reflections we are unable to say ; our own reflections upon an ox load of this commodity was that the million little laborers whose industry had gathered the store, and then had their homes despoiled and robbed, were in no worse condition than many of our fellow- beings in despotic countries, whose labors enrich the rulers and whose sting is only felt when too closely pressed, but whose minds remain ignorant of their true remedy. The process of finding a bee-tree was to place a small vessel, with some substance which emitted a sweet odor, near the forest. A few bees finding this would sip satisfaction, and then invariably make a ' bec-line,' or straight fly, to their tree of deposit. At this point con- sisted the greatest skill of the hunter, and it grew into a settled quotation that Holloway ' could see a bee plumb a mile.' When the bee-tree was. found, it was felled to the ground and the bees driven away from the honey by fumes of brimstone."
J. B. Whisler afterward removed to the town of Lancaster, where he. sold goods, and at his mills, four miles west of the town. Although the river has since swept away nearly all the improvements, the site continues. to be known as the "Old Whisler Mill." He was a persevering man at whatever he engaged, possessed a large amount of patience and good humor, and made fast friends of all his acquaintances. His business pros- pered and enabled him to assist many persons in securing their homes. He sold the settlers Mexican bounty warrants on time, making it advan- tageous to both parties. The settler who could not secure a sufficient amount of money to "enter " his claim, and many could not, were at any time liable to be entered out by some speculator in warrants, who could snap his finger at club laws and remain beyond the jurisdiction of. Judge Lynch. Scores of worthy settlers, in the absence of a homestead law, thus secured their lands and continued to enjoy their homes in prosperity. On coming to tlie county, he was supposed to be an unmarried man, although he never alluded to his domestic affairs. Some five years after settling, he was married to a lady of the neighborhood, with whom he lived happily till his death, which occurred in 1852. Some time after the death of Mr. Whisler, a woman from Pennsylvania appeared in the county, who claimed to be his wife, and, moreover, came prepared with evidence to prove the relation. She instituted suit for the possession of Mr. Whisler's estate, which, through the industry and business sagacity of that gentleman, had grown to be very valuable. The courts decided that the Pennsylvania lady was the rightful wife and heir to the property, the second wife receiving but common wages during the time she had lived with the deceased, which extended through a period of about five years and amounted to about $1,000. While living with his second wife, there was born to Mr. Whisler one child, a daughter, who is married and living at this time in the county. Mrs. Whisler was married a second time and is now living in the county.
Among the first settlers in the McNabb neighborhood were A. J. Mc- Nabb and T. J. Hicklin. The former located on section 2 and the latter on section 3. McNabb plowed the first furrow in that neighborhood and planted potatoes. He still lives on his first claim.
On the 7th day of May, 1843, Maxon Randall located a claim, where he resided until recently, when he removed to the county seat. Mr. Randall
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describes the first house he lived in as a cabin one and a half stories high, size 16×20, built of round logs; puncheon floors, covered with clap- boards; containing two rooms, one below, and one above, to which they ascended by means of a ladder. Mr. Randall says that in early days they were very much troubled with wolves. He and his neighbor, McNabb, bought traps, but did not succeed in capturing many. Finally they bought a bottle of strychnine and prepared a repast for the intruders. The next morning Mr. Randall says there were four dead wolves in sight of his sheep pen and afterward found seventeen more. He and Mr. McNab exterminat- ed in this way over one hundred of the wolves, and after that were troubled no more. In the spring of 1844 Jacob Kansler began the erection of a saw and grist-mill on North Skunk, west of range 12. The people erected a school-house in this neighborhood the same year. The same year John Hasty, John Scott and E. Sampson located claims in this neighborhood, the latter being the father of the Hon. E. S. Sampson, who for two terms represented this district in Congress.
The first marriage solemnized in this neighborhood was that of Robt. Mann to Miss L. Pence, by John Ellis, Esq. The license was obtained at Washington, Iowa. This marriage was soon followed by three or four others in quick succession. Mr. Thos. J. Hicklin was chosen to be the father of, and to provide food and clothing for, the first child born in that locality.
Gen. James A. Williamson, at present Commissioner of the General Land Office, at Washington, D. C., was one of the early settlers of the McNabb neighborhood. After an absence of twenty-three years he returned to de- liver an address before the annual meeting of the Old Settlers' Associa- tion. We take the liberty of quoting liberally from such parts of the ad- dress as refer to the early settement of the country :
" After a long and wearisome march from the central portion of the State of Indiana, keeping time to the slow tread of the gentle, patient ox team, which it had been my business to guide and goad through the bad roads of the Hoosier State, and the almost trackless prairies of Illinois and Eastern Iowa, you may imagine with what feelings of delight I laid down the implement of my continuous warfare with the noble bovines which had drawn that rare specimen of the architecture of North Carolina known in the West at that time as a prairie schooner (a very large projecting top wagon), upon my arrival in what was then known as the McNabb settle- ment-since more familiarly known to old settlers as 'Zion's Lane,' ow- ing, as I suppose, to the piety of us early settlers in that vicinity.
"Some small portion of the southeastern part of the county was em- braced in what was then known as the ' Old Purchase,' and save in that part there was but little or no settlement in the county made prior to the year 1844.
" I think the first crops grown in Warren township, and perhaps in all other parts of the county, except the part embraced in the old purchase, were planted in 1844. The first I saw was in 1845. During that year, before the maturity of the crops, many had the misfortune of going hungry to bed, contenting ourselves with dreams of the fullness and fatness which should follow the harvest.
" At the appointed time the harvest came, and with it a corporeal increase in the physique of most of the old settlers with whom I was then
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acquainted. The dreams of the harvest had not been as potent in produc- ing muscle, tissue and avoirdupois as its realization.
" I see many of my friends here to-day who were then my nearest neigh- bors. You will not, perhaps, give full faith and credit to the statement that I feel, for truth's sake, compelled to make concerning them. These persons were so slender as to make them almost incapable of casting shad- ows, and they tightened their girdles another hole with the buckles instead of taking their dinners until after their early potatoes and green corn were sufficiently matured for food.
" In the fall of that year when our little 'sod crops' had ripened, mil- lions of prairie chickens came to feed upon them. This was providential, though it threatened destruction of our crops, for we shot and trapped them by thousands, thus supplementing our bill of fare with that most excellent game. The quails and the manna were not more needed and appreciated by the Hebrew hosts who followed Moses in his slow and cir- cuitous marches beyond the Red Sea than were the corn bread and grouse to the sturdy but hungry pilgrims who spent the winter of 1845 in this now most rich, productive and beautiful country. The early settlers of this county were strong, sturdy and determined men and women, otherwise they would not have been here in those early days.
" Having heard of this fair land of promise while cultivating the poorer soil of their native States, they, with the energy and bravery so character- istic of their natures, and so necessary to the settlement and development of a new country, resolved upon the trans- Mississippi journey of many hundreds of weary miles of overland travel. Upon arriving at their points of destination, most of those hardy and determined men found themselves possessed of little or nothing except their strong arms and brave hearts- their wives and little ones-a small quantity of household furniture and wearing apparel, a few rude farming implements with which they . tilled the soil in States farther east, which were wholly unadapted to the cultiva- tion of the soil of Iowa.
" I have seen many men on their arrival in this county drive their teams upon the places which were to be the sites of their dwelling houses and their future homes, descend from their wagons and tenderly assist, with their strong arms, their wearied wives and children to the ground which they hoped to some day call their own.
" After arriving at their destination, the first thing to be done was to 'stake off' a claim of 160 acres, which each head of a family might hold under the local 'claim laws' then or thereafter to be made, and in addition to this, a small timber lot, not exceeding forty acres, might be taken and held. This being done, our hardy pioneers immediately set about building a log house, which was the only kind possible, as there were no saw-mills or lumber within reach. If two or three or more families, as was often the case, moved in company and made their claims adjoining, they would unite their force and build one house, which would serve for a time as a home for all.
" In the meantime, while the house was building, the good, patient and loving wives-God bless them-had been cooking their frugal meals by the fires built upon the ground, and in unpacking and airing their goods, washing and mending the clothing, and preparing generally for the grand good time which they were to have on the occasion of the ' house warm-
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ing,' which was to take place as soon as the mansion of one room, not more than 16 x 16 feet, should be completed.
" It would be difficult to convince the younger children and later genera- tions of those same early settlers how much comfort and happiness was found in one of those humble dwellings, which first suggested the feeling of home and ownership to their fathers and mothers, who had borne the hardships and privations of the long move or march into the Territory, and liad finally succeeded in getting a home, however humble, which they could call their own.
" The settler who, by priority of a few weeks in his settlement, had suc- ceeded in getting his house built, stood upon his threshold, his face beam- ing with joy and his heart swelling with pride as he welcomed the emigrant, who, a few days or weeks later came along in search of a loca- tion, into liis hospitable mansion, assuring him that there was room and plenty for all. "I shall never cease to be astonished when I reflect upon the holding capacity of some of those log cabins which were built by the first settlers of this county. It was no uncommon thing for four or five families to occupy for a time a room not more than 16 or 18 feet square.
" The hospitality of the settlers in those early days knew no bounds ; a house was never full, and a larder never empty. As long as it contained one morsel of food, so long would the generous hearted housewife set it be- fore the home or claim hunter, and bid him eat, without a thought of re- ward or compensation. If such boundless hospitality existed to-day, when the people are so able to entertain and to give, I fear that it would have at least one bad result, viz .: that of increasing the number of tramps.
" The difficulties of settling any portion of the territory of the United States at the present day are nothing when compared with those of settling this county thirty-five years ago. Then the nearest railroad was many hundreds of miles away ; but little, if any, was then built west of the State of Ohio. Now, railroads, under the munificent policy of the gen- eral government in aiding in their construction, are built in advance of the settlement, so there is, in reality, no frontier for the agricultural settler ; no place is so far away from another as Iowa was from the Ohio river in those days. Then there were no telegraph wires, no stage coaches, no lines or means of public conveyance anywhere within hundreds of miles, save an occasional steamer upon the Mississippi river, almost a hundred miles dis- tant from our settlement. The transportation of mails was slow, and for many years all we received was carried from or near the Mississippi river on horseback. The postage was twenty-five cents on a single letter, and we had no money with which to pay it. Now all these conditions are changed. All the appliances and results of a high civilization are found almost equally in all parts of the country, North and West.
" The improved plows, mowers, reapers, and indeed all other improved machinery, precede the agricultural settler to his new home.
" It is hard to find a place where a daily mail is not received ; letter post- age is only one-eighth now of what it was then. I well remember the first letter which I received through the Sigourney post-office. It was in the year 1845. My friend, S. A. James, was postmaster, or, if not, he was acting for that official. I heard that there was a letter in the post- office for me, and knowing that it would require twenty-five cents to pay the postage, the problem of getting that sum of money taxed my energy and financial ability to the utmost for many days. None of my neighbors
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were in such affluent circumstances as to be able to ' do my paper ' for that sum. Suspecting that the letter might be from my little sweetheart, from whom I had reluctantly parted some time before, I was exceedingly anxious to break the wafer seal of that letter, but the ransom for it I could not procure, and I was about despairing of being able to pay the postage, when I heard of a kind-hearted man (since dead, peace to his ashes), living in the western part of the county, some miles from where I did, who was reported to have received twenty-five dollars some time before from the East. It
was also alleged that he had loaned the sum of twenty-five cents to each of several persons in the McNabb settlement with which to pay postage. This news gave me new hope and courage. I started early one morning to find the capitalist, and negotiate with him for the loan of 'a quarter,' which, with some difficulty, I accomplished ; and then, with hastening steps and palpitating heart, walked to Sigourney and procured the letter, and returned home the same day, after a walk of something over twenty miles. Whether that letter was from my sweetheart or not, and what she said if it was from her, I will never tell.
" Then the public lands were offered for sale to the highest bidder soon after the same were surveyed, and the settler had no right or advantage over the speculator except such as was given him by the pre-emption laws of that time, and the still more effective claim laws, framed and adopted by the settlers themselves for their mutual protection. An infraction of these claim laws by speculators was sometimes punished by a well-aimed shot from the rifle of some one of the law-makers.
" Now, in nearly all parts of the country, the public lands are withheld from market for actual settlement under the homestead and pre-emption laws. The lands are now freely given to any citizen, or to any person who has declared his intention to become such, if he will only settle upon and cultivate the same for a period of five years. If the homestead law of the present time had been in force in Iowa in 1843, and since, it is safe to say that this State would contain one million of inhabitants more than it does to-day.
" Only think of the Herculean task of earning and saving two hundred dollars, with which to pay for the 160 acres of land in those days, when it is remembered with what difficulty twenty-five cents was procured by an enterprising young man to pay the postage on a single letter. No more equitable thing could be done by the general government than to restore every dollar that was paid for land actually settled upon and cultivated by the early settlers in this and other Northwestern States and Territories, and if ever I am in a position where my voice will be potential in urging this measure, I shall not fail to do it. There would be far more justice in doing that than in taking money out of the treasury to pay for losses in- curred by citizens of the Southern States during the late war for the pres- ervation of the Union.
" In those early days when the farms were to be broken or plowed for the first time, and the rails were to be made and hauled from the timber land to fence them, the manual labor necessary to do this was a sort of legal-tender for nearly all kinds of indebtedness. The doctor who wanted to make a farm would give his physic when you were sick, and you might make fence rails for him when you regained your health and strength, if you were so fortunate. The manufacture of about one hundred fence rails, or the cutting of one cord of wood, would pay for one small portion of jalap
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and calomel, which was the standard remedy in those good old times of allopathic practice, before President Lincoln had been interviewed and ex- pressed his terse opinion as to the virtue and efficacy of homopathic system of medical practice. The settler who came the year before would give to the settler who came the year after one bushel of corn for making one hundred fence rails, or for one day's work at other labor, which was considered an equivalent and legal-tender therefor. The shoemaker and blacksmith of the village or settlement would perform labor of their kind, and take in exchange for it the less skilled labor of the rail-splitter or the wood-chopper.
" I know how this was by experience, having bartered in the exchange of the above named commodities, exchanging as I did the unskilled for the skilled article, submitting to an immense discount on what I had to offer.
" Within two miles and less of the place where we are now standing, for many weary days and months when I was a boy, and not a very strong one, I wielded the ax, the maul and the mattock, for more than ten hours a day, receiving therefor the liberal wages of ten dollars a month in 'store pay' -this I did when the mercury ranged from twenty degrees below zero in January to ninety above in July. I trust that your present able represent- ative in congress, who has won renown on the battle field, who has worn with honor the judicial ermine, and won an enviable reputation in the halls of Congress will not be offended with me for stating in this public manner that I knew him when he was engaged in the same kind of labor that fell to my lot, and that he performed them well.
"I do not mention this in the belief that it will ever materially aid either of us in being President, as the same kind of labor, perhaps, did the most. illustrious man of modern times, in procuring that office. I only mention it to show that honest toil of the rudest and hardest kind will not prevent. a man from rising to an equality with those who were more favored with for- tune in early life.
" In those days, as is well known, and perhaps regretfully remembered by us old settlers, we had absolutely no money, and whatever could not be pro- cured for labor in the first year or two, and after that for several years, for labor and farm products, could not be procured at all. People were edu- cated to this view of life and its realization. This was not so great a calam- ity as it may now appear to the young, or to those who cannot realize the situation in consequence of not having been forced to learn it, as we were.
" The daily labor of a strong man was rated at and paid for with a com- modity or produce which the owner would willingly sell for from twenty- five to fifty cents in cash. The price of all kinds of merchandise was exceedingly high as compared with the price at the present day; the pur- chasing power of a dollar, which cost at the very least, two days of labor, was not then nearly so great as the purchasing power of a dollar now, which does not cost more than one day of labor and often not so much as that.
" It would be hard to deduce from the foregoing statement of facts a reason why in those early days of hard times and cheap labor in the history of our. old county, and indeed of the territory and State, why every man seemed intent upon laboring for himself or for others-intent upon earning by honest industry all that he desired or expected to enjoy or call his own, why there were no vagabond tramps endangering the lives and property of honest men who had acquired their substance by faithful honest toil, or
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