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 45
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The first county roads were projected at the July meeting, 1844. The record runs as follows:
" Ordered by the board, in consequence of the petition of a number of the citizens of Keokuk county, a view of three county roads is accordingly granted, to-wit:
First, beginning at the old boundary line of said territory, near Dr. O. T. Ragland's, to extend a road on the divide between the south and north forks of Skunk river to the line of said county of Mahaska, crossing the north fork of said river at Edward Cooley's mill site, to pass on the north- east quarter of section No. 30, township 75 north, and range 11 west.
" Second: One from the town of Richland to intersect the aforesaid road on the ridge above L. B. Hughes' mill, to pass by the way of Western City, and cross the south fork at the said mill.
" Third: One from the farm of Willis C. Stone, on the line of said county adjoining the county of Jefferson, to intersect the road on the divide east of the northeast quarter of section 30, in township 75, range 11 west.
"Ordered by the board, that Jesse Gabbert, Levi Cline and Jeremiah Brown be appointed viewers, and the county surveyor of Keokuk county be appointed surveyor, to survey the ridge road from the old boundary line, near Dr. Ragland's, to the county line of Mahaska county.
" That Eli Haworth, Horace Bagley and Isaac Jones be appointed viewers, and the aforesaid county surveyor be appointed surveyor, to view and survey the Richland road to intersect the aforesaid road on the ridge above L. B. Hughes' mill.
" That Reuben Whitson, Richard Quinton and Jesse Shoemaker be appointed viewers, and the aforesaid county surveyor be appointed sur- veyor, to view and survey the Rock Creek road, commencing at Willis C. Stone's, to intersect the last aforesaid road.
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1
"Ordered, that said viewers on the first aforesaid road meet at the house of O. T. Ragland on the 20th day of August next, or within five days thereafter, and proceed to view, survey and lay out said road.
"That the viewers on the next aforesaid road meet at the town of Rich- land on the 1st day of September next, or within five days thereafter, and proceed to view, survey and lay out the same.
" That the viewers on the last aforesaid road meet at the house of Willis C. Stone on the 10th of September next, or within five days thereafter, and proceed to view, survey and lay out the same."
FIRST LAND TRANSFERS.
The first page of the record of deeds contains a plat of the town of Sigourney, with a description of the original town site. This was recorded in 1844. Then follow the plats of several other towns. The first transfer of individual real estate was made in February, 1845, as follows:
" This indenture, made the 15th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, between Joshua Hadley and Lydia, his wife, of the county of Keokuk, Territory of Iowa, of the one part, and Dudley H. Davis and Charity, his wife, of the county of Jet- ferson, Territory of Iowa, of the other part, to-wit:
" The said Joshua Hadley and Lydia, his wife, for and in consideration of the sum of fifty-one dollars and six cents, to them paid in hand, the re- ceipt of which is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained and sold, and they by these presents do grant, bargain and sell and convey to the said Dudley H. Davis, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land lying and situated in the county of Keokuk, and Territory of Iowa, known as the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-nine, in township seventy-four north, range ten west, containing forty acres, more or jess, together with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belong- ng, or in any wise appertaining thereunto. The said Joshua Hadley and iLydia, his wife, do covenant and agree with said Dudley H. Davis to war- rant and forever defend unto him, the said Dudley H. Davis, the aforesaid premises against all and every person lawfully claiming the same. In wit- ness whereof the said Joshua Hadley and Lydia, his wife, have hereunto set their hands and seal the day and year above written.
"JOSHUA HADLEY. "LYDIA HADLEY."
" Attest : JESSE B. WAY. "JANE WAY."
"IOWA TERRITORY, KEOKUK COUNTY.
"Be it remembered, that on the 15th day of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, before me, a justice of the peace in and for the county aforesaid, appeared Joshua Hadley and Lydia, his wife, who are personally known to me to be the persons whose names are subscribed to the foregoing instrument as parties thereunto, and severally acknowledged said instrument to be their act and deed for the purpose there mentioned. And Lydia Hadley, the wife of the said Joshua Hadley, having by me been made acquainted with the contents of said deed, and examined sepa- rate and apart from her said husband, acknowledged that she had executed
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the same, and relinquished her dower in the premises therein conveyed, voluntarily, freely and without compulsion of her said husband.
"Given under my hand this 15th day of February, 1845, at my office in Richland precinct. "JESSE B. WAY,
"Justice of the Peace."
THE OLD COURT-HOUSE.
The cabin erected by Mr. James away out on the prairie, which had been selected as the county-seat, has already been alluded to. Although it was erected on Mr. James' sole responsibility, and at his individual expense, yet it was properly the first court-house, for here the clerk of the court had his office and kept the court records; here also the first term of the District Court was held, and it was to all intents and purposes a court house.
At the first meeting of board of commissioners held in Sigourney, July, 27, 1844, the first official action was taken with reference to the building of a court-house. The following is the record as made on that occasion:
" Ordered by the board, that Samuel A. James be, and he is hereby au- thorized to receive sealed proposals for building a temporary court-house in Sigourney, of the following manner and description, to-wit: to be a hewn log house, twenty by twenty-four feet in dimensions, the logs to be hewn seven inches thick and notched down close with square corners and at least nine feet high above the floor; to have thirteen sleepers put in, to be hewn straight on the upper side, and also thirteen joist to be hewn straight on the upper and under sides; to be well covered by putting up rafters and sheeting close; and the roof shall be put on with good joint shingles to show six inches; to be done in workmanlike manner, and also the gable ends to be well enclosed by weather boarding the same."
It will be observed that by these specifications there was no provision made for any floor, nor door whereby to gain any access to the build- ing, nor yet any windows to admit light whereby the county officials, after having gained admission, could see the floor, or find the door, had there been any.
The new board of commissioners elected, in August, of this year, met in September and amended the plan of the building by supplementing the- former order by the following additional specifications:
"Ordered that in addition to the requisites to build a court-house in Sigourney there be the following: That it be laid with a floor of good plank flooring and ceiled with plank overhead; to have three fifteen-light windows, one on each side of the house and one in one end; to have a good' batten door in the other end; and the house to be well chinked, daubed and pointed with good lime mortar, all to be done in workmanlike manner.
"And it is further ordered that Joseph Kellum is hereby appointed to. offer the said job on 13th of September instant, to the lowest bidder, and' the said lowest bidder shall be entitled to proceed to build said house by entering into bond, with security in the sum double that of the bid, to be- approved by the clerk of the board, to complete said house in a workman- like manner on or before the second Monday of November next.
"Ordered that the temporary court house be built upon the lot next west of the southeast corner lot in the block immediately north of the. public square."
On the 13th of September, 1844, Joseph Kellum offered said court-house.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
job. William B. Thompson being the lowest bidder, received the contract for the sum of $218. The building was finished and accepted, by the board in January, 1845.
A history of the Keokuk county court-houses would be almost a history of the county itself, and no more vivid picture of the county's growth could be suggested than that which comes from a comparison of the pres- ent house with the old one of pioneer days.
But that old house is enshrined in memories that the present can never know. It stood on the ground now occupied by Jackson's hardware store, and was used for every possible purpose and had a career of great useful- ness. School was taught, the gospel preached and justice dispensed within its substantial old walls. Then it served frequently as a resting place for weary travelers, and indeed its doors always swung on easy hinges.
If the old settlers are to be believed, the old oak logs often rang on the pioneer Sabbath with a more stirring eloquence than enlivens the pul- pits of the present time. Many of the earliest ministers have officiated within its walls, and if those old walls could speak, they would tell many a strange pioneer tale of religion, that is now lost forever. The preacher would mount a store box in the center of the room, and the audience would disperse themselves about on benches.
To that old log court-house ministers came of different faiths, but all eager to expound the simple truths of a sublime and beautiful religion, and point out for comparison the thorny path of duty, and the primrose path of dalliance. Often have those old walls given back the echoes of those who did a song of Zion sing, and many an erring wanderer has had his heart moved to repentance thereby more strongly than ever by the strains of homely eloquence. With Monday morning the old building changed its character, and men came there seeking not the mercy of God, but the jus- tice of man. The scales were held with an even hand. Fine points of law were doubtless often ignored, but those who presided knew every man in the county, and they dealt out substantial justice, and the broad principles of natural equity prevailed. Children came there to school, and sat at the feet of the teachers who knew but little more than themselves, but however humble the teacher's acquirements, he was hailed as a wise man and a ben- efactor, and his lessons were heeded with attention. The doors of the old court-house were always open, and there the weary traveler often found a resting place. There, too, the people of the settlement met to discuss their own affairs, and learn from visitors the news from the great world so far away to the eastward.
Simple emigrants stood there, and filled listening ears with tales of events over the sea. There the shameful story of the coup d'etat was made clear with many explanatory passages and matters of detail never dreamed of on the boulevards of Paris, where the drunken and infuriated soldiery fired upon unresisting, peaceful citizens, merely to create a stupefying terror upon which the Empire might be founded. There, long after this event, was told another story of a different character. The sufferings from the Irish famine were expounded by men and women racy of the soil, who could tell with a shudder of the days when it first became apparent that the food crops of the nation had failed. . The story was a truly sickening affair, such as no European people had unfolded for more than a century, and when the first recital was ended the wanderers were urged to begin again. The sad story was continued for days and weeks at intervals, with a pathos which brought
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tears to the eyes of the strongest men. The doubts that brooded in the air in old Ireland when stories came to the peasants from afar, about crops looking beautiful at night and by morning were a stench over the country side. How the poor creatures said an Ave Maria with redoubled faith over their potato fields, but could not postpone the evil day when a smell of putrefaction penetrated every dwelling, and it was known that over millions of acres of food upon which many millions relied for sustenance, the de- stroying angel had passed. The famine followed, with its deaths beyond number, reckoned by the ignorant at millions in excess of the whole popu- lation of Ireland, but actually carrying off nearly seven hundred thousand men, women and children. Then their eyes would glisten for a moment, says a countryman, as they told with tears of joy of the fleets of ships that came over the Atlantic laden with grain, which a noble charity had sent from America to the sufferers. "Even England, the hard-hearted Saxon race, which since the days of the Plantagnet has never ceased to be our oppressor-even England bowed down in the dust by our side to pray for us, and to give us succor." Thus the court-house of the old time was the scene of many an affecting pow-wow.
This old court-house continued to stand on the ground where first located until the year 1873. when it was torn down and for its successor appeared' the commodious business room where Mr. Jackson now dispenses hardware and agricultural implements to many of the same persons who formerly had dispensed to them from that location justice tempered with mercy, and theology characterized by good practical sense.
On the removal of the county-seat to Lancaster the court-house became the- property of Mr. Joseph Knox who was one of the most successful merchants of early days, and after his day it fell into other hands and continued in use- till 1873, when it was removed two miles east of Sigourney and is now doing duty as a cow stable on the farm of Mr. Wm. Bineman.
It is a shame that the people of modern times have such little reverence for the relics of former days. After this house ceased to be available for business purposes, and its removal was determined on, it should have been taken to some other part of the city and located upon some lot purchased by public subscription, where it might have remained, to have at least witnessed the semi-centennial of the county's history. It is sad that, in their haste to. grow rich, so few have care even for the early work of their own hands. How many of the early settlers have preserved their first habitations? The sight of that humble cabin would be a source of much consolation in old age, as it reminded the owner of the trials and triumphs of other times, and its pres- ence would go far toward reconciling the coming generation with their lot,- when comparing its humble appearance with the modern residences, whose- extensive apartments are beginning to be too unpretentious for the enter- prising sport of the irrepressible " Young Americas."
On removing the county-seat to Lancaster, it became necessary to erect another court-house.
At a meeting of the board at Lancaster, August 9, 1847, the following record, relating to the erection of a court-house, was made :
" Ordered by the board, that sealed proposals will be received by the clerk of the board of commissioners until the 10th day of September next, for building a court-house in Lancaster, of the following dimensions, to-wit: thirty-two feet by eighteen feet, a two-story frame house; first story nine feet in the clear; upper story eight feet in the clear; the sills ten.
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HISTORY OF KEOKUK COUNTY.
inches by twelve; the posts eight inche's square, resting on a wall eighteen inches thick, of limestone rock, two and one-half feet high, one foot above ground and one and one-half under ground; good oak sleepers, oak floor- ing: lower, one and one-half inches thick, and the upper one inch thick; tight and grooved floor, square jointed; the upper joists eight by three inches, upper and lower joists two feet from center to center; six fifteen- light windows, upper and lower story; one panel door, six panels, and one plain door; and upper story one panel door and one plain door, as be- low; weather-boarding black walnut, front weather-boarding jointed; oak shingles; good rafters; all to be done in a workmanlike manner. The con- tractor to furnish all the material."
This order was never carried into effect, as the record of the January meeting shows the following :
" Ordered that a court-house be built in Lancaster, of the following di- mensions: 30 feet by 20; a two-story building, frame house; the first story ten feet in the clear, the upper story eight feet in the clear. The clerk is ordered to advertise for sealed proposals, to be received at the clerk's office by the 24th inst."
In accordance with this order, the following contract was made and en- tered into on the day named:
"Contract entered into this day with Jesse B. Mitts and James M. Mitts for the erection of a court-house in Lancaster, with items of specifi- cation, for the sum of six hundred and ninety-nine dollars, when finished, and which contract is deposited with S. A. James, to be retained by him till called for by both contracting parties, or their orders. Ordered, that Jesse B. Mitts and James M. Mitts be allowed the sum of two hundred dollars, town funds, on their contract of date January 26, 1848, for the erection of a court-honse in Lancaster; and the clerk of this Board is in- structed and prohibited from issuing the same to the said Mitts until the frame for said house shall have been erected according to contract."
This, the second court-house, was completed according to contract and received by the commissioners. It was used for county purposes and for holding public meetings and served the varied other purposes which are required of a public hall. During the period in which the county-seat was located at Lancaster this building was the scene of many hotly contested cases at law, and during the hot political campaigns of 1848 and 1852 it rang with the most fervid appeals, and the political issues of the day were ex- pounded from the Democratic standpoint, the Whig platform was enun- ciated, and even the Free-soil principles were elaborated. Politics ran high in those days and the character of the appeals which were made by county central committees was even more enthusiastic and urgent than in more modern times. The following call for a political meeting in 1848 is reproduced because it is thought that the novelty of the phraseology and references to local affairs will interest the reader:
"TO DEMOCRATS.
" At Whisler's Mills, in Keokuk county, on Saturday, the 27th day of May, is where each Democratic voter of the county is requested to attend. The intention of the meeting is to take such measures as will unite the Democratic party of the county at the next August election and for its per- manent organization thereafter. Another duty of the meeting will be to
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appoint delegates to attend the State Democratic Convention at Iowa City and the Congressional Democratic Convention at Fairfield, both of which are to be held in June next.
" Democrats! You are often appealed to for the protection of your princi- ples. Was the appeal ever more necessary than now? Will you stay away from this meeting and thus permit the murderers of our friends now in Mexico to gain additional voices in our national council? God forbid! Our national honor and the blood of our beloved Mills, with a host of brave spirits cry for our action. Let us do!
" The time is fixed and it is hoped that every true Democrat who can, will be there.
" WILLIAM JACOBS, " JACOB PAYTON, " JACOB WIMER, " S. A. JAMES, Democratic Central Committee."
" May 1, 1848.
On the return of the county-seat to Sigourney there was considerable lit- igation about the matter, an account of which is given elsewhere. In con- sequence of this litigation no measures were immediately provided for the erection of another court-house at Sigourney, the county officers being lo- cated in different buildings around the square. This litigation having been disposed of in 1857, S. Harned, who was then acquiring his title, judge, began the erection of the present court-house. At this time there was no board of county commissioners or supervisors, and the county judge dis- charged the duties of the board as well as to act as auditor and attend to probate matters. There was no provision of law whereby it was necessary to take a vote on the proposition to build a court-house. The building of a court-house, its location and the amount to be expended, all came within the individual jurisdiction of Mr. Harned, and although the building was erected at a time when there existed the most bitter sectional animosity, there was never a breath of suspicion, and so faithfully and honorably did he manage the work that his official acts were never for once called into question. The plans and specifications of the building were prepared early in the year 1857, and the contract immediately let to Coleman & Lehman, of Mt. Pleasant. The building was completed the following year and the re- cords and county offices removed there late in the fall. The total cost of the building was seventeen thousand two hundred dollars. Although the building is no great ornament to the public square, and no particular credit to the county, yet it well serves all the purposes of a court-house, and will not suffer by comparison with any court-house erected in the State at so early a period. The different county officers are comfortably and conven- iently located, and the fire-proof vaults and safes are ample and reliable, so that the large number of records and documents which have accumulated in the county archives are well provided for. The court-room is commo- dious and well furnished; it was recently greatly improved and now pre- sents quite an inviting appearance.
THE JAIL.
The county jail was built in 1875. Prior to that time the prisoners were kept at Washington and Muscatine. When the county-seat was at Lancas-
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ter there was a jail erected at that place, but it was never noted for elegance or safety. The present jail is one of the best in the State and Keokuk county now returns the compliment by keeping the prisoners for the county which formerly kept hers.
The first action in reference to the building of a jail was at the Septem- ber term, 1874, as follows.
"On motion it is resolved that the board of supervisors submit to the voters of Keokuk county, Iowa, a proposition to build a jail in said county, to be voted on at the October election, 1874."
The election was held according to order, with the following result: for jail, 1,631; against jail, 314.
In the following January the board resolved that they collectively be ap- pointed a committee to visit Chicago and intermediate towns for the pur- pose of examining city prisons, county jails, etc., with a view to the erec- tion of a jail in Keokuk county. It was also ordered that three warrants of thirty-five dollars each be issued by the auditor to defray the expenses of the trip. This action of the board was the occasion of some very severe criticism on the part of certain tax-payers of the county. Among other manifestations of dissatisfaction was a poster, printed at South English, which was extensively distributed throughout the county, of which the fol- lowing is a copy :
"Indignation meeting! Tax-payers of Keokuk county, you are hereby requested to meet at South English on Saturday, July 17, 1875, at 2 o'clock P. M., to consider what action shall be taken in regard to the wholesale plunder of the treasury by the board of supervisors.
" Signed,
MANY CITIZENS."
The board, however, went on this tour of inspection and probably did the best thing for the county which could have been done. For on this trip they learned something relative to prisons and jail building, and whether it may be directly attributed to what they learned on this trip or not, one thing is certain, viz: The jail was erected, and when finished, proved to be the best building of the kind in this part of the State. On their trip to Chicago, the board of supervisors arranged for the cells and cell doors which formerly were used in the city prison of Chicago. They also contracted with W. L. Carrol, of Chicago, to draw plans and specifica- tions for the jail building.
At the April session the board ordered that bonds should be issued, ne- gotiated and sold, to the amount of ten thousand dollars for the erection of the jail.
This order for the issue of bonds called forth another outburst of indig- nation in the north part of the county, and at a public meeting held at South English the following resolutions were adopted:
" WHEREAS, We, the tax payers of Keokuk county, have reason to be- lieve that our county supervisors have been recreant to their trust in so much that they have voted to themselves for services since the 1st of Jan- uary, 1875, an amound equal to $65 a month each for the entire six months; that they have treated with disrespect a petition of tax-payers; that they have clearly shown their incompetency to fill the important positions they occupy, in issuing the county jail bonds without legal authority, and by being unable, or unwilling, to transact the business of the county within
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