USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 46
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John G. Schwartz, father of John Il. Schwartz. the successful dry goods merchant, and Joseph Schwartz. boot and shoe merchant, came to Fort Madison a single man in 1837, and commenced Americanizing as a common laborer at Knapp's hotel. Theodore Beek was his compagnon de rouage from the Father- land. and came with him to Fort Madison.
Harmon Dingman, whose widow and children still live in Fort Madison. arrived about the last of October. 1887. He was a plain, unassuming man. a devout Catholic, and as honest as the day is long, and among the best citizens that ever lived in Fort Madison.' He was frequently honored with positions of local trust and confidence. He died on the 16th day of June, 1877.
Michael Seib. now a successful farmer and a highly honored and respected citizen in Franklin Township, was a pioneer German cotemporaneously with Helman. Dingman. Schwartz and the others.
Hundreds of other Germans followed those above mentioned, and settled in different parts of the county. In every direction, and on every hand. there are almost monumental evidences of their thrift and ken. Those of them that took to the farm, succeeded admirably, and are now surrounded with every com-
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fort and luxury to which any one need aspire. Those of them that settled down to the pursuit of trades, rapidly accumulated wealth and competence, and all over the city there are large, handsomely-arranged German homes that betoken the possession of every needed comfort. Some of the best business men in the county come from the German population. Among these may be mentioned J. H. Schwartz, who is a local merchant prince. He was raised on a farm, and had grown to manhood before he turned his attention to merchandising, but success has attended his every step in that direction. He commenced business with almost nothing, but his energy and economy, inherited from his German ancestry. has made him one of the leading dry goods men along the Mississippi River. The large and handsome two-story 'brick building, at the corner of Second and Pine streets, erected in 1876, at a cost of $11,000, is a monument to his enterprise and a credit to the city, and is nearly all required for the accom- modation of his business.
Rev. Father Allman, under whose direction and management the first Cath- olic Church edifice was erected, about 1840-41, introduced the first cultivated grape in Lee County. He was of French birth, and had been raised where grape-culture is the principal industry. He also started the first nursery, the ground occupied being near the upper Catholic Church. Many of the orchards in the county were started from that pioneer nursery.
In all public enterprises and undertakings-at the time of the country's peril, when the perpetuity of the Union was threatened-the German people stood in solid phalanx, and offered their best men in defense of the country of their adoption. Such a people are an honor and a mainstay to any government.
The names thus far quoted represent the bone and sinew, the nerve and industry, that tamed the wild, by cultivating the earth and making it yield rich harvests for the support of man. They came alnost before the shadows of the Indians disappeared as they were reflected by the setting sun when they turned sadly and mournfully away to find new homes farther away toward the western horizon. These pioneers were the advance guard of the army of occupation. They came to spy out the land and prepare it for a more advanced civilization. And right nobly did they do their work. They planted the standard of pro- gressive enlightenment and inaugurated the influence of a civil code that drove disorder and lawlessness from the wilds they came to inhabit, and made the country as safe a dwelling-place as the most densely populated centers of their native States. God never peopled any part of the earth with a braver, truer, kinder, honester or more generous and hospitable caste of men and women than the pioneers who opened the way to the settlement of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.
In 1837 another class of settlers began to come and settle down to the pur- suit of fame and fortune. In almost every respect this class of settlers were different from the hardy pioneers. The latter, with scarcely an exception, were tillers of the soil, howers of wood and drawers of water, and carved out their homes and fortunes by strong-armed industry. Save their industry, they had no capital. But that industry was not without reward. In the three years that have passed since (1833) the first cabins were built and the cultiva- tion of the soil commenced, signs of plenty began to hover round and about almost every settler's home. With these substantial evidences of improvement, hope and ambition strengthened and there came a demand for comfort and con- veniences in keeping with the improved surroundings. Many of the men had worn out their buckskin breeches and hunting-shirts in which they com- menced life : the plain home-made clothing of the women had gone into tatters,
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and. like Flora Me Flimsy, they had nothing to wear-at least not much. Larger stores became a necessity as a source of supply, and merchants of larger means came and larger stores were opened. Lumber was needed for fencing and building purposes, and saw-mills were built in different parts of the county. Previous to the building of the first saw-mills, all the lumber used in the coun- try hereabouts was brought up from St. Louis, whither it had been brought from Pittsburgh, Penn .. by keelboats. All the pine lumber used in the resi- dence now occupied by Henry Umversot. at Fort Madison, is of Pennsylvania growth. And all the pine lumber used in the first buildings erected in Fort Madison was grown in the same region. The pioneer farmers had begun to raise good crops of wheat, and something more than Knapp's corn-eracker or John O. Smith's hand-mill (made of two dressed prairie bowlders, and so hung as to operate as upper and nether millstones) and hominy-blocks were needed for the manufacture of bread-stuffs. Men of enterprise and capital came and mills were built. As an evidence of the improved and progressive condition of affairs, hoe-cakes, johnny-eakes, corn dodgers and Indian pones were banished from Sunday dinner-tables and wheat bread was introduced as a luxury. The building of mills and a better class of dwelling-houses brought mechanies and artisans who wrought in wood and stone and iron. As population, improvements and wealth increased, the people became more disputaut and selfish : publie offices were to be filled. and lawyers and politi- cians came. for " wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered also."
Among the merchants who commeneed business in Fort Madison in 1837 was Daniel MeConn. a native of Ireland, who came to America with his par- ents, and was raised in Baltimore, Md. In 1835, he was a clerk on the steam- boat " Warrior," that plied on the Mississippi above St. Louis. He conceived a liking for Fort Madison, and in the month of May. 1887. he secured a lot and erected a small building above MeConn & Palmer's mill. on the lot now occupied by the residence of Cromwell Wilson, and commenced merchandising in company with a man named Fitzpatrick. Their business was enlarged and inereased with the development of the country. MeConn was careful and judi- cious, but enterprising and liberal. He invested his profits in lands and town property, which he improved to the advantage of both town and country. and there are but few men who did more for the improvement of early Fort Mad- ison than Daniel MeConn. For a number of years, he engaged largely in the business of paeking pork, affording the farmers a home market for their surplus hogs. for which he paid them an aggregate of many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
At one time, when the farmers began to raise a surplus of wheat, there was no cash market in all the country. Their surplus of wheat was their only resource for buying clothing, groceries and other necessities. St. Louis, via the Mississippi River, was the only outlet, and that market was glutted, and there was no demand there for this cereal. The outlook was gloomy : the pioneer farmers and their families were in need. At last MeConn came to their relief. He didn't know where or when he could convert wheat into money. but he took the risk, and agreed to take their wheat at 25 cents per bushel. in exchange for such necessities as the farmers must have, and trust to luck to get his money back. Instead of demanding the ruling price for such things as they needed, he put the price down to almost cost. le proposed to "live and let live." The farmers were carried through, and their benefactor at last found a market for the wheat at prices that saved him from loss.
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MeConn is still a resident of the city of Fort Madison, which he helped to build, and which he has seen grow from a few rude shanties to a city of 6,000, and where, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, he is universally respected and honored for his sterling integrity and unimpeachable honesty.
Dr. J. P. Stephenson, his wife and four sons, Samuel T., George E., John D. and Joseph E., came from Ohio and settled in what is now Denmark Town- ship, not far from the village of that name. The father practiced medicine throughout all that region of country, and, by his generous and noble nature as a man, and his ability and willingness as a physician, made friends wherever he went. The mother was esteemed as one of the noblest womeu that ever lived in that part of the country. She was universally honored for her kind- ness, her motherly and sisterly tenderness, and for the possession and practice of all the other qualities that go to make up a true and perfect woman. Mrs.
Stephenson died in 1840. .In 1853, Dr. Stephenson's right side became
Ilis paralyzed, which forced him to abandon the practice of his profession. death followed in 1858. The four sons named above are all settled in Lee County, three of them as farmers. Samnel T. resides on his farm in Wash- ington Township; George E. resides in Pleasant Ridge Township, and John D. in West Point Township. Joseph E. also owns a farm near the old homestead, but resides in Fort Madison, where he is engaged in the clothing trade.
In the winter of 1837-38, Peleg Il. Babcock and his recently wedded wife determined to seek a home in the West-
" Where a man is a man if he is willing to toil, And the humblest may gather the fruits of the soil,"
and early in the succeeding spring they landed at Fort Madison and stopped at the old Washington House, then kept by Mrs. Knapp, whose kindness and hospitality will be remembered as long as the pioneers to the south- ern part of the Black Hawk Purchase are permitted to live. The Wash- ington House, under her direction, was a veritable home and resting-place for hundreds of weary travelers in the days when hotels were few and far between.
At the time when Mr. Babcock came to the country, a trip from New York was as fatiguing a journey as a trip to the north pole would be now, and which would be almost as easy of access. After resting up awhile at the Washington House, Mr. Babcock selected a dwelling-place on Sugar Creek, four miles north of West Point, where he erected a settler's "lowly thatched cottage," which to him and his bride of a few months bore the hallowed name of home. There, in the shadow of the wilderness, Mr. Babcock and his brave- hearted wife commenced their battle of life: there they launched their boat upon the stream of time without compass or rudder, seeing or knowing the future but in dreams. Of Mr. Babcock's subsequent career, one who was as intimate with him as a daughter, contributes the following :
"At the end of two years, they removed to West Point. Energy, industry and good morals were among his characteristics, and in the legal profession, in the legislative councils of the Territory, he won for himself lanrels that embellished his pathway through life. On New Year's Day, 1841, while engaged as Clerk in the Territorial Council then in session at Burlington, he writes home, . I have overtaken the Council with my writing and am now wait- ing for a committee to return that has gone to Iowa City to look at the public buildings. They make a long report, which I am waiting to have printed. I
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expect to get it in the morning, and shall work steadily night and day until 1 get it done. I spend my evenings with Dr. Mason, a member of the House. from Dubugne: he is a very fine man and good company : we get those books from the library that we like best, and read them for our amusement, write speeches, tell stories and play a little on the fiddle."
"llon. Daniel F. Miller, now of Keokuk. and one of the best lawyers and most talented men in the State, and a man of noble and pure impulses, was at that time a member of the House of Representatives, and says that .during the whole session. Mr. Babcock slept in the parlor in a chair, and that there never was a time that he did not come in-morning, noon or night-greeting them with a smile, and that under any and all circumstances, he was without doubt one of the best men in the world.'
" In 1844. Mr. Babcock moved with his family to Fort Madison, where he established for himself a permanent home. Friends and reputation, that the hands of time cannot obliterate, gathered around him and his memory will live long in the hearts of his friends and acquaintances. Success and good fortune erowned his every effort, and there was not a stone that he upturned but that always proved to have a hidden treasure beneath for him. The smile of fortune pervaded the very atmosphere in which he had a being.
" In 1848, Mr. Babeoek was elected to the office of Clerk of the Dis- triet Court. in which capacity he served four years. his last term expiring in 1852. lle retired from that office with an approved record as an hon- est. faithful and competent publie servant. During Mr. Babcock's services as Clerk of the District Court, George H. Williams afterward United States Senator from Oregon, and subsequently United States Attorney General. was District Judge.
" In 1859, Mr. Babeoek was appointed Inspector of the Penitentiary at Fort Madison. This appointment was another expression of publie confidence in his superior judgment and fidelity to the interests of the community and the commonwealth. Under his supervision and management the present strong and almost insurmountable stone wall around the prison grounds was planned and built. This protection against the escape of conviets is ac- knowledged to be the equal in all respects of any prison wall in the country.
" Åll through life Mr. Babeoek possessed a great love for books, and struggled hard for the acquisition of that knowledge which would best prepare him for a useful and honorable position among men. He familiarized himself with the principles of general law by closely reading and studying Blackstone and other authorities, which, added to a naturally legal mind, rendered him a good judge of law. In after time. when he became a Justice of the Peace. in which capacity he served for a number of years, it is stated to his honor. that not one of his decisions was ever over-ruled by the District or Supreme C'onrt.
" Mr. Babcock was a victim of asthma, and for more than a quarter of a century was never known to retire to bed at night. An old arm-chair. made soft as down, sufficed for his couch, and in this, with the fumes of saltpeter paper burning by his side, the weary nights passed away. Two children were added to his store of earthly blessings. These are now hving momments to his memory, and live to bless, honor and revere his name, and will continue so to do down to their latest breath. Ile died in the fifty-eighth year of his age, honored and respected by all. The Odd Fellows, of which order he was a
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member, came from all parts of the State to attend his funeral and pay tribute to his worth and memory.'
We have laid him away, wrapped in the mantle of our love, and death is relieved of its gloom, knowing that he awaits us there --
" In that far-away dwelling, wherever it be, I believe thou hast visions of mine ; And the love that made all things as music to me, I have not yet learned to resign.
In the hush of the night, on the waste of the sea, Or alone with the breeze on the hill, I have ever a presence that whispers of thee, And my spirit lies down and is still."
Thomas Ilale, his wife and four children-two sons, Isaiah and Thomas, and two daughters, Angeline and Amanda-arrived at Fort Madison from Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio, May 29, 1839. Soon after their arrival, Mr. Hale opened a tin-shop, and connected with it a small stock of groceries, on Front street. His capital was limited, and the business of tinner and grocer were combined as a means of making a living for the family. After a year or two, the grocery part of the business was abandoned for a stock of stoves. This was the beginning of the present tin, stove and hardware house of Hesser & Hale. When Isaiah, the eldest son, became of age, in about six years from the time the business was commenced, he became a partner with his father. At the end of eleven years, the elder Hale sold his interest to Frederick Hesser, and the firm became Hesser & Hale. The business has always been conducted on Front street, and is, probably, the oldest tin, stove and hardware firm in Iowa. Mr. Thomas Hale, the founder of the business, and his wife, died several years ago. Thomas Hale, the second son, died February 14, 1871. Angeline, the eldest daughter, married William Wilson, and removed to Wisconsin, where he is a member of the lumber firm of Knapp, Stout & Co. Amanda, the second daughter, married James L. Estes, who was Sheriff when the Hodges were ar- rested for the murder of Rev. John Miller, of the Mennonite Church, in 1845. Estes and his wife are now living at Rogers Park, Chicago.
The Albrights, James Wilson, and other men of like business character, came in the fall of 1839. On the 30th day of November of that year, James Wilson, Guy Wells and W. G. Albright commenced general merchandising at the upper end of Front street, under the firm name of James Wilson & Co. This firm not only conducted a large dry goods trade, but were actively engaged contracting-furnishing stone for the Penitentiary, and other outside matters. Their business was founded on a solid foundation, and was carefully and judi- ciously managed.
In 1841, W. G. Albright came up from St. Louis, and bought a half-interest in the store, and the firm became J. W. & W. G. Albright. In 1847, R. W. Albright was admitted as a partner, after which the firm name was Albright & Bros. In 1856, R. W. Albright withdrew, and commenced business for him- self. J. W. and W. G. Albright continued together until 1862, when J. W. Albright retired, and opened a general store on his own account. W. G. Albright continued business at the old stand, where he still remains. On the 30th day of November, 1879, if he lives to that date, he will have been in busi- ness on Front street for just forty years, and is the oldest continuous merchant in the city of Fort Madison. There are but few, if any, business men in any of the towns along the Mississippi River, who have done business on one street for so many years. And when the great reaper has ent him down, or old age drives him from his accustomed place on Front street to the seclusion of his
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well-earned and comfortable home, his absence from that busy thoroughfare will be sensibly noted by those who have been accustomed to see him there almost daily for nearly half a hundred years.
R. W. Albright drifted out of the dry goods trade into the book and stationery business, and continues on Front street. J. W. Albright drifted into the insurance business, and has an office on Front street. It is rarely, if ever, that three brothers remain in business within a few doors of each other for so many years.
Six years have passed since white men began to exercise dominion in the Black Hawk Purchase. In this time, settlements extended to almost every part of the county, and, the names thus far quoted, although they represent but a small part of the settlers, show the rapidity of settlement, progress of development, and the character of the people who followed in the wake of the Indians. Each succeeding year added to the number of " new-comers " until, in 1844, the land was all occupied, and the larger portion of it by men who had made claims and had their improvements well under way, before the country was surveyed. There was a general rush to the Black Hawk Purchase, as soon as the Indians had "cleared out," and no part of the purchase, in the first years of its settlement, received more attention from home-seekers than that part of it included in Lee County.
FRAGMENTS.
INDIAN GLUTTONY .- HOMINY BLOCKS AND LOG CABINS .- WILD GAME .- FIRST CROPS .- AMUSEMENTS OF THE PIONEERS, ETC.
It is now necessary to go back and pick up some fragments of history that lie scattered through the six years that white people have exercised dominion in the old homes of the Sacs and Foxes, that they may be preserved to the descendants and successors of the brave, courageous and industrious men and women who redeemed the country from an Indian wild and started it on the highway to its present proud, prosperous and wealthy condition.
When Alexander Cruickshank settled " out in the wilderness," in 1834, Indians were numerous, and, in 1835, when James, his eldest son, was a baby, Black Hawk was a frequent visitor at his claim-shanty residence. On two occasions, at least, Mrs. Cruickshank prepared meals for the noted chieftain of a once proud and warlike people, but then subdued and spirit-broken, and while she was cooking, he romped with baby Jamie, tossing him up toward the loft of the shanty and catching him as he camed own. Mrs. C. said she didn't know which of them enjoyed the romp the most-Black Hawk or the baby.
Black Hawk's last visit to the home of Mr. Cruickshank was about six weeks before his death, in 1838. On that visit, he wore a plug hat, high top boots and leggins, and was very drunk, although he usually sustained the repu- tation of being a temperance Indian.
In the winter of 1834-35, Black Hawk quartered in the heavy timber along Devil Creek, between Fort Madison and Montrose. His wigwam was made of poles, and was about fifteen feet in diameter, at the base. The poles came to a common center at the top, but were so arranged as to leave an opening for the escape of the smoke; the fire was built on the ground in the center of the wick-e-up. The outside of the wigwam was covered with mats; pieces of wood, about six feet in length, were piled against the mats to hold them in place to keep out the cold and snow; the floor around the fire-place was covered with
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY. 399
mats and skins, and some of the " oldest inhabitants," who visited the fallen chief during that winter, say that his wigwam was as comfortable as any white man's parlor. Mrs. Black Hawk was a model Indian housewife, and kept everything in her wick-e-up as neat and tidy as any of her pale-faced sisters could have done.
Other Indians beside Black Hawk were frequent visitors at the cabins of the settlers. And they never visited a cabin when they were not hungry-no matter at what time of day they came. And they always had tremendous appetites. When food was placed before them, they ate most ravenously, and gorged themselves like an anaconda. If there was enough on the table to glut their appetites, and anything was left, they would gather up the fragments and carry them away for " squaw " or "papoose."
Besides being great eaters, the Indians were inordinately fond of red pepper, and, when any of them were around the cabins of the settlers, if the house- wives had any of the red pods in sight, which they wished to keep, they had to spirit them away before their red visitors could get their hands on it, or do with- out until the next crop.
In those days game was abundant. It was no unusual sight to see a herd of twenty or thirty deer at one time. Turkeys were not very numerous, but prairie chickens were countless. Bears were never seen, and Mr. Cruickshank never knew of but one being killed in this county. Quails and rabbits made their appearance after the settlement was commenced. Wolves were plenty, and played sad havoc with chickens and pigs. The pioneer wives say it was no unusual thing to hear them smelling about the cabin doors, lapping milk from slop-pails after nightfall. Wild bees and rich stores of honey were to be found in every forest, and the tables of the pioneers were nearly always bountifully supplied with that luxury.
The first settlers, says Mr. Cruickshank, lived for the most part on wild game and parched corn, and wore buckskin breeches and hunting-shirts, after the fashion of Daniel Boone, Kentucky's pioneer hunter and noted Indian fighter. In 1833 and 1834, there were no mills west of the Mississippi River in the lands of the Iowas. In the spring of 1835, Hiram C. Smith built a mill with two runs of stone (one for wheat and the other for corn), at what is now Lowell, in Henry County. It was a small concern, and there was no use for the wheat buhr for as much as a year after the mill was completed. Settlers from this side of Skunk River, on which the mill was built, experienced some difficulty in reaching it, because the only means of crossing the river to the mill was, by canoes. There were no roads, only trails, and no bridges. When they went to mill there, they had to transfer their grists from whatever means of carriage they had, to canoes, and then " back " it up to the mill. When their grists were ground, they returned the same way. The next nearest mills were on Fox River, near Waterloo, in Clarke County, Mo., and Ralls' Mill, at the present site of Brooklyn, Schuyler Co., Ill. These mills were often visited by the pioneers.
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