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 41
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Notwithstanding this, there were occasional instances in which persons dared to contend with the clubs, but the " logic" proved too much for them on the " home stretch."
In the Rock creek neighborhood one August Wunderlich made a claim and located on it. Some two years afterward one Samuel Daniels went to the land-office and entered it. After having entered the land, the latter came on and signified his intention of taking possession of it. Mr. Wun derlich mnade complaint to the club of which he was a member, and a com- mittee of the club waited on the offender and informed him of the conse- quences of his action. Daniels made sport of the committee, and told them that he thought he understood his business; that he had bought the land of the government and expected to take possession of it; that so far from being intimidated by the committee he despised them; that the club was simply a mob organized in defiance of law; that he knew his rights and intended to maintain them. At this interview the offender was very brave, and from his conduct on that occasion the committee supposed that he would be a hard customer to deal with. The club held a meeting, and it was decided that prompt and vigorous measures should be resorted to. The following day was selected as the time when these measures were to be car- ried into execution. When the time fixed upon arrived, some two or three hundred of the settlers called upon Daniels and again informed him of their intention, should he not immediately abdicate his claim. Daniels was considerably frightened this time, but insisted on taking possession of Wunderlich's claim. The settlers, concluding that further remonstrance would be unavailing, proceeded to enforce their rules by using the logic of tar and feathers. Daniels left the country and was never again heard of.
The following article, which appeared in the " Whig and Register " in 1849, was written by a gentleman who yet resides in the county. We give the article in full, as it illustrates a peculiar phase of pioneer life, and shows how fertile in expedients were the members of these claim clubs in dealing with trespassers. The western county spoken of was Keokuk; the little town, Cambridge, was Lancaster, then the county-seat; the frontiers- man alluded to was Henry Knox, and the merry son of Erin answered to the name of Bowles; the claim-owner was Jacob Payton :
A BORDER SKETCH.
Traveling, last summer, through the western counties of Iowa, and one day becoming somewhat weary, I put up, a short time before night, at the principal inn of a little town which for the present incident I shall call Cambridge. Supper not yet being ready, and finding my hotel somewhat deserted, I concluded to take a stroll through the village, and, seeing quite a crowd collected about a common covered wagon which stood in the direc- tion I had taken, I soon mingled among them, hoping to gain some infor- mation, or, perchance, to see some familiar face. My acquaintance, how-
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ever, did not embrace any of the crowd, though I cannot say I did not receive some information.
The wagon contained two men: one a regular-looking, out-and-out frontiersman; the other a inerry son of Erin, who seemed to enjoy every- thing and rejoiced that he lived, which perhaps was the result of himself and his companion being fully " half-seas over."
They were on their way, or rather intended to proceed, to the land-office at Fairfield to secure the title to some government land, and, as is some- times the case with men in their condition, were very independent citizens: plenty of money, whisky, good span of horses and a wagon, they felt them- selves a little above the ordinary, and of course only condescended to hear what some of the crowd had to communicate to them.
It seems, as I learned from a good-natured Hoosier, and a clever fellow (I always stick to first impressions), who stood looking on, that the team had then and there been stopped by the good citizens to "argue the ques- tion," as Jack Easy has it, as to the propriety of their entering the certain tract of land for which purpose they had started, upon the ground that the " claim " belonged to another person.
Through the influence of this other person, the citizens generally had given judgment in his favor; and if Judge Lynch was not presiding, it was because the " committee" were not present to order summary jus- tice to be done, all governments, I believe, taking measures to prevent the commission of offenses as well as to punish the offender.
Our teamsters were quietly requested to return and abandon their pur- pose, expostulated with, and even threatened with subsequent punishment if they persisted in and accomplished their designs, but all to no purpose; go they would, and as yet they had done nothing more than declare their inten- tion, it was deemed sufficient to administer to them but light specimens of retributive justice.
Accordingly, some half-dozen began quite a pleasant conversation with our patrons of the liquor-dealer at the front end of the wagon, while the hinder wheels, through the quiet efforts of some half-dozen more, were un- dergoing the process of losing their linch-pins.
This being accomplished, they were permitted to proceed in the even tenor of their way.
Nature seems, and wisely too, to have constituted all men differently, and, allowing the " claim-jumpers " to have been " tenants in common " and alike partakers in the contents of the jug, the effect produced upon them fully justified that, even in this case, there was no exception to the rule,-the one being in his opinion much more intelligent, wealthy, gener- ous and capable than the other, and in consequence of thus being the tighter, as a matter of course insisting in his ability, took command of the team, and they thus proceeded on their "winding way," anxiously watched by a number of urchins and " big boys " to witness their discomfiture.
Now it so chanced that when they had driven about a mile the horses seemed inclined to take a right-hand road which diverged from the right one, slightly at first, but finally led off' and was lost in the bottom timber, such as is very common in that region, and which more than once betrayed me, ere I knew it, into a settlement of stumps.
They proceeded on their wood-road out of sight without any disaster, much to the chagrin of many of the watchers, and after a short walk I re- turned to the hotel.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
About sunset my attention was arrested by a shout of boys, and, stepping to the door, I discovered, in the same direction it had come in the after- noon, the wagon-minus, however, both hinder wheels, by reason of which the axles were doing ample justice in the moist earth.
The wagon being again surrounded, the soberer inmate recognized a face among the crowd.
" Hallo, Young," said he, "is that you? "
" Aye, aye," replied Young.
" How long have you been here?"
" Do you mean since I came here?"
" Thunder! yes."
" About three years."
" Thunder, Young! you needn't think I am drunk. Didn't I see you in Cambridge to-day ?"
" You did. I think you must have made a quick trip to Fairfield."
"To Fairfield! Why, Young, you must be drunk. Ain't we in Fair- field ? "
" Fairfield! No, sir; you are in Cambridge."
"Cambridge-the devil! Why, Young, you know there's no hillside like this in Cambridge-no, siree! I'm not that drunk yet, Young."
" Indeed, sir," said Young, " your hind wheels are gone; you are on the level ground-it's only your wagon-bed."
" Oh, Young, don't be trying to fool a feller this way? That cuss didn't get you to come here to keep us from entering that land? "
"Just stick your head outside your wagon-cover and satisfy yourself where you are," replied Mr. Young.
Crawling up to the end-gate and taking a view, he began to realize the truth, drunk as he was, that they had only been winding about through the timber, and were no further advanced now than in the middle of the after- noon.
Turning to his companion, "Patrick!" shouted he, "we've played the devil! Here we are in Cambridge yet, and the hind-wheels gone-stir up here!"
Patrick, however, who had some time before released the reins, was close bordering on dreamland, and only muttered out to "dhrive on, and don't be a-jawin' thravelers."
Patrick's companion, finding himself called upon to exercise some judg- ment to extricate themselves, signified his intention to return on the track of his axles in search of his wheels.
Sundry remarks from the crowd, that they, the men of the two-wheeled wagon, were puppies, dogs, cowards, etc., had the effect of bringing Pat- rick's companion on terra firma, and there, divesting himself of coat and vest, very unsolemnly made oath that he could whip any man that said such things of them, and thereupon elevating both feet from the ground at the same time, made an effort to smack his feet together."
Finding that no one would brave the danger of making any of the charges to his face, he gathered his apparel and started in search of his wheels.
Tracing in the dust, and by the aid of a friendly moon till he could no longer observe the marks, he set about a search for the wheels, and after a fruitless search of an hour or more returned to town to find his wagon up- set, and Patrick still in it and occupying the bows for a pillow; he seemed, however, to be slightly opposed to. the inverse plan of bedding, for on the
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
reappearance of his companion with a "Hallo, Patrick," he only stam- mered out something about a "long trip" and "rough roads."
The truth is that when some of the boys found that the wheels were to be looked for they made a forced march, found the wheels and hid them away in the grass so that a sober man, in day time, would have been excused for not finding them.
To cut short the facts of the incident, for facts they are, the two team- sters were taken to a convenient branch and there threatened with imme- diate immersion if they did not renounce their intentions, which they . unhesitatingly did. Patrick, however, was scarcely responsible for his promise on the occasion, even taking the duress out of the question, for on going to the branch on which he required a "right and left scene sup- porter " he complained that there was a " divilish crowd wanten land."
Having, however, obtained their solemn promise not to meddle with the " claim " they were conducted to my hotel and provided with comfortable quarters.
Next morning they were duly sober, wagon top undermost, two wheels gone, horses missing and jug broken.
The same men who but yesterday had helped to do all this now assisted to restore everything that could be done by them, and the horses having strayed home the real owner of the claim who had been "about " all the time, actually lent them his horse and procured another from mine host, who, by the way, took no small part in effecting a reconciliation of the parties. They rigged again their team, and claim-owner and claim-jumpers, side by side, started to their several homes.
SURVEYS AND LAND SALES.
All the lands of Keokuk county were surveyed from 1843 to 1845. At that time Gen. James Wilson was surveyor-general of the United States for Wisconsin and Iowa. Gen. Wilson entered into contract with various deputy surveyors, who entered upon the work of surveying the lands shortly after the ratification of the treaty whereby the Indians ceded the land to the government. From copies of field notes of the original sur- veys, it appears that the work of running the township lines for Keokuk county was performed by deputy surveyor Alvin Burt, and was completed July 31, 1843. The sub-divisions of the township into sections was begun shortly afterward. Townships 74 and 75, range 10, were surveyed by dep- uty surveyor S. W. Durham, and the work was completed September 30, 1843. Township 76, range 12, was surveyed by the same deputy, and the work completed October 20, 1843. Also townships 74 and 75, range 11. Deputy surveyor George W. Harris sub-divided townships 76 and 77, range 10, completing the work November 10, 1843. Township 75, range 13, was sub-divided by deputy James E. Freeman, finished November 30, 1843. Geo. W. Harris also certified to the survey of 76 and 77, in 11, on the 20th day of November, 1843. November 26, 1844, Henry Wiltse completed the survey of township 77, range 12. Townships 76 and 77, range 13, were surveyed by the same deputy, the work being completed December 9, 1844. The remaining townships were surveyed later by dep- nty surveyor Samuel C. Wiltse, the entire survey having been completed by March 1, 1845. As a matter of course no lands could be sold by the gov- ernment till these surveys were completed, and it was fortunate for the
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
settlers that they were not offered until some time after, as very few of them were in a condition to purchase. So long as the lands remained un- surveyed, there was no danger of the settler losing his claim, but when the surveys were completed the lands were liable to be thrown on the market at any time; and in such a case the claim-holders who were not prepared to purchase were at any time liable to lose their homes, or else come into . conflict with the general government. It was probably in view of these difficulties, and the hardships which would befall many worthy pioneers, that no land located in Keokuk county was thrown upon the market till 1846.
In 1846 the government offered for sale all the lands in the county. The land office at that time was located at Fairfield and on the first day of the sales all the settlers who had provided means, either in person or rep- resented by bidders, were on hand. The sales were made exclusively for cash, and the government would receive nothing but bills on the State Bank of Missouri and specie in payment. General Lowe, who had been depu- tized to purchase land for quite a number of the settlers, started for the land office with a large sack of gold and silver, it being all that a large strong horse could do to bear up under the weight of that bag of specie and the rider. The minimum price of the land was a dollar and a quarter per acre. The sale continued two days and ostensibly, the land was sold to the highest bidder, but in reality there was but one bidder to each tract and that was the owner of the claim or his representative. During the two days sale there were disposed of about one hundred and fifty tracts. The following are the names of the men who entered land at this, the first land sale for the county :
William Basey, William Dunn, O. Tharp, J. W. Snelson, Daniel Con- nor, Conrad Shivey, Joseph Lowe, Jacob Wimer, Jacob B. Whisler, William Jacobs, J. A. Pitzer, Aaron Gaskell, Rawley Ice, Joseph Knox, George M. Holliday, Benjamin P. Shawhan, Samuel Singmaster, Samuel Walley, John Oswald, Elisha Byers, David Morgan, Mahlon Haworth, John Haworth, John Singleton, Jeremiah Hollingsworth, Eli Haworth, Allen Hayworth, G. Hayworth, J. R. Edwards, Moses H. Husted, William Bales, Elizabeth Pringle, Thomas Rhodes. J. R. Hobson, M. A. Wood- ward, Joseph Hadley Henry Dickerson, Griffin Abraham. David Stout, William W. McGrew, James Hutton, Walter Braden, Samuel Fye, Jere- miah Fye, James Williams, Aaron Miller, Elijah Menefee, Meshack Davis, Thomas Sater, Mitchell Gill, Valentine Nelson, Jacob Shoemaker, J. B. Brown, Samuel Bowman, Robert Blacker, Jacob Ashcraft, Benjamin Robinson, John J. Franklin, Reuben Whitson, William Scearcy, William Campbell, Charles Friend, Caleb Scott, Theodore Cox, John J. Smith. Z. Bothkin, Milton Brittain, Charles J'. Lyon, John Cox, F. M. Brittain, Elias Petre, Owen Monahon, Andrew Taylor, Joel Skinner, Thomas Richardson, C. M. Wood, Moses McConnell, Philip Henninger, Jacob Smith, David Hawk, Jeremiah Brown, James Green, Finley Messick, J. G. Brooks,. Roland Driskell. William T. Beard, Henry Koons, G. W. Hathhorn, D. P. Helm, Joseph Hillery, N. Macy, Solomon Beaver, David Lentz, Tinsley Brooks, B. McCoy, William Trimble, Henry Able, Joseph M. Manifold, Joseph Young, William Waugh, Parrish Ellis, Maxon Randall, Andrew J. McNabb, John Scott, William McCann, Jacob Luce, William Lacy, Joseph McGlasson, James Chitwood, Mary Burnside, Joseph Butler, John Stroup, Samuel Mealley, David N. Henderson, Thos. Henderson, James
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
Jenkins, John Baker, John Shockley. Wesley Goss, Robert Alexander, Michael Hornish, William Shockley, John Warner, William C. Cole, Ben- jamin Cobb, William Trueblood, Asa Cobb, James Williams, John Greenlee, Elijah Shockley, Peter Helwig, William Lyle, David Voltmer, Charles Bakehouse, James Keegan, Thomas Cobb, Johnson Collings, Pres- ley Doggett. John Lambert, John Cobb.
This was the only public sale of lands that was held for the land lying in Keokuk county. Thereafter individuals went in person, or by agent, to the land office and entered such lands as were available. Some time after- ward there was a land office established at Iowa City. Lands situated in the southern half of the county, as before, were to be entered at Fairfield, while those lying in the northern half of the county, had to go to lowa City to enter their lands. Several, whose names appear in the foregoing list of purchases, still live on the identical tract of land purchased in May, 1846, and all such, without exception, are pleasantly situated and have: acquired quite handsome fortunes. Of the land originally entered the largest share was sitnated on or contiguous to streams of water, the settler thinking it impossible to live away from timber. On this account the best land in the county was not entered for some time, and thus fell in the hands of non-residents and speculators. Large portions of such land lay untouched for years, but at the present time the plow has found its way into these rich alluvial prairies.
TRADING POINTS.
It has already been remarked that quite a number of business houses for the sale of dry goods, groceries and general merchandise had been estab- lished in various parts of the county prior to the year 1846, when Iowa be- came a State; but up to that time, and for many years afterward, Burling- ton and Keokuk were the chief trading points for Keokuk county. Some trade was carried on at Muscatine, but this was chiefly confined to lumber. There was very little farm produce which needed to be marketed for a num- ber of years, the home demand being sufficient to exhaust the supply. The first hogs taken to market from the county was a drove of two hundred head, which was bought up in various parts of the county in 1848 by J. B. Whisler and driven to Burlington. The next season the same gentleman drove about four hundred hogs to the same market. In 1850 Mr. A. E. Lowe engaged in the stock business, and continued in it till 1855. Mr. Lowe's operations the first year were confined to hogs; he bought about three hundred and fifty head and drove them to Burlington; they averaged 240 pounds, and brought, in the Burlington market, $1.75 per hundred pounds. The basis upon which operations of this kind were carried on in those days forms a marked contrast with the basis of such operations in this day of quick returns and small profits. The dealer bought up the stock and gave his note for the purchase price. After he had accumulated a drove sufficiently large he started for the market, and this, owing to the great distance and the slow movements of the fattened stock, often required weeks for the round trip. There was indeed one circumstance which expe- dited business. In the language of Mr. Lowe, "The hogs were good travelers." After disposing of the drove and returning, the stock dealer again made the round of his circuit and paid for the stock. If his venture proved a fortunate one, he could pay all his bills and have something left
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
as a compensation for his trouble; if not, some of the stock raisers had to wait until the drover made another trip. The money which the drovers thus circulated through the country was principally bank-bills on the State banks of Ohio and Indiana.
An incident peculiar to these times, illustrating the status of commer- cial operations, is related of a gentleman who may or may not have resided in Keokuk county, but the authenticity of the statements can be vouched for. Mr. M. was proprietor of a store where was sold a line of general merchandise. Mr. M. carried on quite an extensive trade with the farmers of that section, and was doing a flourishing business. However, as is gen- erally the case with establishments of that kind, there accumulated quite a large amount of old goods, out of style and out of date. Under these cir- cumstances, some merchants would have offered the old goods at " less than cost," or employed a loquacious auctioneer to dispose of them to the high- est bidder-but not so with Mr. M. He proceeded as follows: It being a prosperous year with farmers, he entered the field early as a hog-buyer, buying hogs of all sizes and descriptions; bought late and early, and bought continuously for a number of weeks, giving his note for the pur- chase-money, as was customary in those days. After he had bought all the hogs in the county which were for sale, and which were old enough to travel, the word was passed around that all hogs thus purchased should be delivered at the county-seat on a given day. The hogs came, filling the . town and the region round about. Mr. M., in the meantime, had employed quite a force of medium-sized boys and vocal men, who, on the given day, were to take charge of the hogs and drive them to Keokuk, Mr. M. accom- panying them.
Upon arriving at Keokuk, Mr. M. concluded that the St. Louis market was preferable to the Keokuk market, so he chartered a large boat, after dismissing all of his employes except a few who were in his secret, put the hogs on board, and, having given final instructions to the remaining em- ployes, dismissed them and himself set sail for St. Louis. Upon the return of the first delegation of drovers, there was some little uneasiness on the part of Mr. M.'s note-holders. The former persons could give no satisfac- tory account of Mr. M., and it was whispered among the latter that he had lost heavily by the transaction. After a few days the rest of the drovers returned, and on being questioned appeared to know as little of Mr. M. as those who had preceded them. Soon it was whispered around that Mr. M. had failed, and most likely would not return. One by one came the per- sons of whom Mr. M. had bought hogs and turned in their notes for goods at the store, and soon the crowd became so numerous that they could not be waited on by the force of clerks then employed; more clerks were em- ployed, and Mr. M.'s establishment was so thronged that it resembled a rush at a savings bank in time of a panic. All styles of dry goods and clothing, which had lain on the shelves for years, were bought up with avid- ity; boxes, containg groceries which had not been opened for months, were soon emptied and were heaped up in the rear of the building; all kinds of cutlery, hardware, agricultural implements, jewelry, musical instruments and toys were carried off by the wagon-load. In short, there was a press- ing demand for everything and anything which farmers could eat, drink or wear, both useful and ornamental, and at the end of a week Mr. M's entire stock, including all the old goods which had long been a drug on the mar- ket, was disposed of, and the shelves bare. At this supreme moment Mr.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
M. returned with a large stock of new goods and his pockets full of money. He pretended to be greatly surprised when he found his store-room empty and manifested great feeling when informed of the reports which were afloat; he even threatened to prosecute the parties who originated the story of his insolvency. Mr. M., however, took no steps to discover the names and location of his traducers; he even regained his accustomed urbanity, and it was a matter of surprise to many how quickly Mr. M. rallied from the fit of gloom and despondency which seized him on his first return. Mr. M. continued to buy stock for many years thereafter, but his patrons never made another run on his store.
There were persons in every settlement who made a business of freight- ing, making regular trips to Burlington and Keokuk, while stage lines were operated to and from the principal cities for the accommodation of the public.
The journey was often long . and wearisome. The sloughs were not bridged, and in the spring it was no uncommon thing for a passenger on the stage to make his journey on foot and carry a rail with which to help pry the stage out of the mire. This was "high-toned " traveling, and from this may be imagined what sort of a journey was that of a lone settler and an ox team.
Sigourney was quite a pioneer town itself then, and accommodations were limited. It is related that on one occasion the boarders at a certain house had rather a late breakfast. It happened in this wise: The landlord had noticed that his larder was running low, but he was in hourly expecta- tion of supplies. One evening the pantry was bankrupt, but the host was in hopes his team would come with provisions before morning. But " hope deferred maketh the heart sick " at every dawn. The landlord looked wist- fully down the divide in vain. Finally he mounted a horse and rode to a house down the road, where he secured a little meal and half a side of bacon from a settler and started for home. The half-dozen hungry board- ers sat in front of the cabin pining for the flesh-pots of civilization, and soon their spirits arose and " their mouths began to water, for away to the south came the plucky landlord, riding like a Jehu, and holding aloft the half-side of bacon as a sign of relief."
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