USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 47
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In the fall of 1835, John H. Knapp, erected a horse-mill at Fort Madison. In May, 1835, a Mr. Moffatt began the erection of a mill at Augusta, which was completed late that fall. After it was finished, Moffatt did a paying business. Mr. Cruickshank used to go there to mill, and was sometimes detained a week at a time waiting for his turn. The enterprise of those first mill proprietors, who provided the first settlers with the means of transforming their wheat and corn into the staff of life, is still gratefully remembered by the survivors of those trying times.
V
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In some instances, hominy-blocks were substituted for mills, and the corn crushed as fine as possible in these primitive concerns. and then sifted through a wire sieve and baked in "eorn dodgers, " Indian " pones " or "johnny cakes." Such corn as some of the first settlers used for bread would hardly be consid- ered fit feed for horses now, but many of the pioneers were glad to get it. Those of them who had this kind of coarse bread and " hog and hominy " for a regu- lar diet the first winter of the settlement of this part of Iowa were esteemed to be in " good fix." Deer were plenty, and if they grew tired of " pork and bacon," or if these articles gave out, the deficiency was easily supplied from the forests and prairies.
As the country settled up, however, mills were built, and " hominy-blocks " or "corn-crushers" went out of use until they only exist in memory. As relies of the " long ago." a description of them will not be out of place.
A tree of suitable size, say from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, was selected from the forest and felled to the ground. If a cross-cut saw happened to be convenient, the tree was " butted." that is, the " curf" end was sawed off so that it would stand steady when ready for use. If there was no cross-cut saw in the neighborhood, strong arms and sharp axes were made to do the work. Then the proper length, from four to five feet, was measured off, and sawed or cut square. When this was done, the block was raised on end, and the work of cutting out a hollow in one or the other of the ends was commenced. This was usually done with a common chopping-ax. Sometimes a smaller one was used. When the cavity was esteemed to be large enough, a fire was kindled in it, and carefully watched until the "ragged edges " were burned away. When completed, the hominy block somewhat resembled a druggist's mortar. Then a pestle or something to crush the corn was necessary. This was usually made from a suitably-sized piece of timber, with an iron wedge attached, the large end down. This completed the machinery, and the block was ready for use. Sometimes one hominy-block accommodated a whole neighborhood, and was the means of staying the hunger of many mouths.
The houses of those days were only cabins-most of them built from round logs. The floors were made from puncheons split from trees of the forest. The doors, door-cheeks, window-checks, etc., as well as all other " finishing stuff." was made in the same way, and then dressed down with a broad-ax. The roof was made of clapboards or "shakes" split from some monarch of the forest. The boards were laid on ribs and held in place by weight-poles laid lengthwise, and kept at convenient and suitable distances by " knees." The spaces between the logs were " chinked " with suitable pieces of wood, which were " daubed " over with mud or mortar. Very often a cabin would be completed without the use of a single nail in the entire structure.
A mud-and-stick or sod chimney and earthen hearth finished the "cabin." The women baked their "corn dodgers " or "johnny-cakes," cooked their venison or roasted the wild turkeys their husbands killed by these old-fashioned fire-places in skillets. pots and ovens just as nicely as cooks and servants bake the bread and roast the meats on costly stoves and ranges now. They cooked their meals and entertained visitors- people didn't " call " then-at the same time and in the same room, and didn't consider it a disgrace either, to be seen molding their " johnny-cakes" or bending over their skillets and ovens. And the mothers of those days-the brave wives of Iowa's pioneers-were just as happy as the wives and mothers who live in costly mansions in 1879. But by and by the primitive log cabins gave way to hewed-log or frame houses with shingle roofs, plank floors with carpets -- rag carpets, may be, that prudent housewives made themselves. They eut the rags,
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sewed them together, and, as likely as not, wove them with their own hands. Brick or stone chimneys took the place of the old-fashioned and primitive mud- and-stick or sod chimneys. The first hewed log or frame house was the pride of the neighborhood, and its occupants were considered the first families-the aristocrats-of the settlement.
All the cabins had large fire-places. The back-logs were generally of buek - eye, about six feet in length, and the larger the better. Sometimes there were two, one on top of the other, to throw out the heat. The fore-sticks were of ash, hickory, maple or elm, and the middle-sticks of smaller size. These old- fashioned fire-places were so wide and deep that the ends of the back-logs were favorite sitting-places for the male members of a household. The lateh-strings were always out-a sign of welcome and hospitality within.
Many of the first settlers came directly from some of the Southern States- Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Virginia. Kentucky, perhaps, had the largest representation, if not direct, at least indirectly by descent, and represented Kentucky customs and habits, and hospitality, and in traveling through the country one will notice that to many of the old houses there are outside chimneys, and very often one at each end of the house. In the country districts of Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas an inside chim- ney, until within the last ten or fifteen years, was the exception and not the rule. In the Eastern States, an outside chimney has always been the exception, But as the country of the Iowas developed in wealth and prosperity, and the people grew rich, the fire-places to the outside chimneys were elosed up, and heating-stoves substituted as a measure of economy. A large per cent of the heat that escaped "up the chimney " is thereby saved, and much less fuel is needed to keep a house warm.
The old primitive log cabins, reminders of the days of small beginnings ! But very few of them are in use now. They were abandoned many years ago for a better class of buildings, but a great many of them are still standing, and used for wash-houses, toolhouses, etc. They ought to be preserved as memen- tos of the "times that tried men's souls " (and women's), and vines and flowers planted around them. With such surroundings, they would make nice summer- houses, and a hundred years hence would be a curiosity to the people who will then hold and exercise dominion in the commonwealth of Iowa.
. The first erops of the first settlers were corn. pumpkins, potatoes, turnips, etc.
The interior pioneers experienced a good deal of difficulty in keeping their hogs. Many of them strayed away and were killed in the Mississippi River bottom by persons who had more love for a good dinner than regard for the rights and property of others. Hogs were known to eross the Mississippi River by swimming, as was supposed, to find their way back to their old haunts in Illinois.
The amusements of the pioneer settlers consisted of shooting matches, horse- races, and, when women became plenty enough, puncheon-floor dances. Before Sunday crossed the Mississippi River, the men would often spend that day of rest hunting bee-trees.
Disputes were settled by arbitration. Courts and statute laws were unknown until after the . Strip " was attached to Michigan in 1834. Edley Me Vey was one of the first Justices of the Peace appointed by Gov. Dodge, of Wis- consin Territory, but he never transacted any business. The pioneers were a law unto themselves, and among them the laws of honor prevailed to a greater extent. than among the people in later years. The squatters, as they were
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sometimes derisively called, were jealous of their word and their honor. With but very few exceptions, their word was as good as their oath or their bond.
James Cruickshank, who first saw the light of day on the 7th day of May, 1835, was the first child born in the Cruickshank neighborhood. At the time of his birth, his parents were living on the second elaim located by Mr. C., as mentioned elsewhere. The cabin in which James was born was located near the site of the present Clay Grove Cemetery.
The first sermon in this neighborhood was preached at the house of George Perkins, on Sugar Creek. by Rev. John Morton, a Baptist minister, in the spring of 1836.
Zedekiah Cleveland and Miss Anna Ware were the first couple married in the Clay Grove settlement. They were married in the winter of 1836. The bride was the daughter of Lindsey Ware, who came from Illinois a few months previous, and settled near the Grove. At last accounts, Mrs. Cleveland was living in Davis County, near the Missouri State line.
Mrs. Ware, the mother of Mrs. Cleveland, was the first death in that neighborhood. She died in August, 1888, and was buried ou her husband's farm. Thirty years after burial, when her remains were taken up for re-inter- ment in another place, the pine coffin was found to be perfectly preserved, except one small spot on the lid.
In the spring of 1836. Capt. Parks, of Michigan, a Government Surveyor for twenty years, established the township lines in that part of the county. The section lines were established the same season by an Indiana surveyor.
A man named Turner, from North Carolina, taught the first school in the Clay Grove settlement in the summer of 1839. He occupied a cabin that was built on the elaim of George Taylor. The teacher was paid by subscription, at so much per scholar. The first schoolhouse proper in Franklin Township was built of round logs, on the western boundary of Mr. Cruickshank's land. in the beginning of the winter of 1839. Mr. Turner taught the first school in the new building.
In the winter of 1834-35. a large number of Indians were encamped at the site of the present village of Lowell, and Messrs. Walsh & Pise, who opened the first store at Fort Madison, removed their stock of goods up there to secure the Indian trade, but returned to Fort Madson in the spring. John Carroll Walsh, the senior member of the firm, was a very particular friend and favorite of Black Hawk, and was a frequent visitor at his wigwam, and it is said that he was in love with one of Black Hawk's daughters, and that to prevent a mar- riage with her, his friends persuaded him to return to Maryland, where he became a distinguished and useful citizen. He is now a member of the Mary- land State Senate. Pise, his old partner, is dead.
PIONEER TIMES IN SKINNER'S NEIGHBORHOOD.
A night spent at the hospitable home of William Skinner, the pioneer set- tler in Jefferson Township, enables the writer to present the following para- graphs from the recollections of that venerable and worthy citizen of early times in the neighborhood.
" As a class, the settlers were all hard-working, honest, industrious men and women. The first year or two, neighbors were few and far between, but they kept coming in and making claims all around. Each additional new-comer was weleomed with open-handed hospitality. But very few of the first settlers had much more than they needed themselves, of either money, clothing, house- furniture or house-room. But doors were never closed in a new-comer's face.
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People were neighborly then in a true sense, and when a new-comer had located a claim and was ready to raise his cabin, every able-bodied man within a circuit of ten miles turned out to help pile up the cabin, and they never quit till it was under roof.
" People hadn't much time for either amusement or social intercourse. "They were too busy making rails, building fences, cutting and hauling logs to build cabins, etc., to fool away their time hunting after anything that didn't promise to add to their hopes of an easier day in the years to come. The set- tlers were always friendly, and frequently visited each other, and while the men indulged in the discussion of such themes as interested them, the women knitted, and talked and smoked, for in those days it was not considered unlady- like for women to smoke. In fact, smoking was more commonly indulged in by women than by men.
" People lived plain and didn't put on any style then. They made no attempt at display, and, when, perchance, some of the young people concluded to leave the old folks and set up for themselves, they didn't receive much of a ' setting out.' Brides didn't receive presents then as they do in these days. Some who had nothing but a single suit of clothes each, when they were mar- ried, settled right down to hard work and economy, and in a few years were well to do. Young people married for love then, and worked to earn homes."
Tom McGuire married Axtel MeCullough's sister, and moved into a little 8x10 cabin that stood not far from the place now known as Primrose. Pretty soon after they commenced housekeeping, Mr. Skinner had occasion to pass that way, and he stopped in to see them. When he entered the cabin, Tom and his wife were seated flat on the puncheon floor, before the log fire, cating mush and milk from an iron pot that stood between them. Each one of them had an iron spoon and a tin cup, and that was abont all the table-furniture they had. They had neither chairs nor benches to.sit on, nor a table to eat from. And this was not an isolated case.
The first couple married in Mr. Skinner's vicinity were a daughter of David Penrod and a young man named Martin, in 1837. The ceremony was performed by Hawkins Taylor, Esq., then a Justice of the Peace at West Point, but now a well-known citizen of Washington, D. C. Taylor wrote an account of this wedding which appeared in the Annals of Iowa, in January, 1874, and, as a characteristic sketch of the times of the carly settlers it is here inserted.
In 1836, David Penrod came to Lee County and took a claim in the timber a mile south of West Point, He came from Johnson County, Ill. His business in Illinois was that of a hunter, the game being deer, turkey and hog. As the country settled up, hog-hunting was most protit- able, and his table was oftener served with pork than venison. Unfortunately some meddle- some persons complained to the grand jury about his hog-hunting. Some of his friends being on the jury, they posted him of the charge, which made him so indignant that he left the State, and left it without being particular as to the manner of his going. He brought with him to lowa a dog, a gun, a wife and two daughters, and built on his claim a small log shanty, dirt floor, clapboard roof and no loft. He had two beds, supported on two poles, one end resting on n fork driven into the ground, and the other end in a crack between the logs. On top of these poles were cross sticks for slats, running into a crack of the cabin. On these was some straw, a few deer skins and an okl quilt. The two beds covered nearly all of one end of the house. The only seats were three-legged stools, and the table was a puncheon.
"Fuge Martin courted one of the daughters with success, and I was employed to' bind the bargain. About the middle of the afternoon of the wedding-day, I slipped out from home, hop- ing to get off without being seen, but some of the boys about town had heard of the wedding and were watching my movements, so that I hardly got through the ceremony before half a dozen enme rushing in to see the fun. The bride was dressed in a copperas, home-spun dress, Tennessee stripe, and barefooted Penrod and wife were sitting, one in each corner, near the fire, on stools and both looking savage. Neither spoke to me. Martin and his grandfather
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Clark, with the Penrod family, made up the party when I got there. Grandfather Clark was one of the early characters of the country. He never came to town without getting tight, and every other word with him. was, "Hello, Molly." Grandfather Clark, as soon as I went in said "Hello, Molly, they think my grandson is not good enough for their gal. Hello, Molly, I think its an even swap. Hello, Molly, Fuge is no account, but hello, Molly, he's as good as the Penrods. Hello, Molly, Fuge, bring out your gal."
About this time the crowd came out from town, when old Penrod got furious but no body paid any attention to him. Fuge and his 'gal' stood up and I tied them, when the grandpap took from his pocket a flask of "forty-rod" whisky, approved brand, and said : "Hello, Molly, let's have a drink." After taking a good swig, he offered it to me, when I refused. " Hello, Molly, never heard of the like before." He then gave the bride a suck, which she appeared to enjoy, then her sister, then the bridegroom, and after that he offered it to Penrod and wife but they indignantly refused, probably the first time in their lives that they ever re- fused such beverages. The old man then looked at his flask and the new arrivals, but he saw that it would not go round when he turned to the newly-married pair and drank their health. " Hello, Molly, here's to you, hoping that the first may be a gal and a boy ; hello, Molly."
A few weeks after this, I married a nephew of Grandfather Clark, of his own name, a Miss Duke being the bride-a rather dashing-looking young lady, and fashionably dressed for that day among the timber settlers. Young Clark had only a couple of weeks' acquaintance with her, having met her at a "settlers' party." About four or five months after the wedding, the old man Clark came dashing into the store at West Point, and his first words were : " Hello, Molly ; Frank's wife has got a little one, but Hello, Molly, she's good enough for him, if she'd had two." The incident created no unpleasantness in the family. Clark was a philosopher. My fees are still outstanding, but the splicing remained solid, without flaw. Clark and his wife were living in Missouri at last accounts.
In the fall of 1835, William Hunter was the "village blacksmith " at West Point, and on one occasion Skinner went there to get some hoes sharpened. When the work was completed, he started home by way of Lewis Pitman's, who lived east, and possessing a wide-spread reputation as a water-witch, Pitman insisted that Mr. Skinner must show him where to dig for water. Skinner had no faith in the belief that any one could tell where water could be found beneath the earth's surface, and always thought it was a humbug, but he cut a forked witch-hazel, and went through the maneuvers, and indicated a spot where he thought water could be reached in a reasonable depth. The well was dug and water was found, but Mr. Skinner says he didn't know anything more about it than the man in the moon.
Going home from Mr. Pitman's, Mr. Skinner was caught in a terrible storm, and lost his way in the brush. After floundering around awhile, he dis- mounted and hitched his horse to the limb of a convenient tree and then sat down, with his gun between his knees, to await the coming of daylight. All night long he was exposed to the pitiless storm. His faithful dog Bull lay close to his side, and was the means of keeping him partially warm, but far from comfort- able. Day dawned at last, and Mr. Skinner found his way home in a shiver- ing condition.
A Mr. Emmett, who lived on the top of the hill on the road from Fort Madison to Mr. Skinner's, who died in 1837, was the first death in this neigh- borhood. The remains of Mr. Emmett were buried in the grave-yard near the present residence of George Wilson. Old Mr. Duke died soon after and was buried in the cemetery near the present residence of James Cooney.
The first sermon in the neighborhood was preached at the house of the widow Norman in 1838. The name of the preacher is forgotten. The first regular preacher in the neighborhood was a Rev. Mr. Elmore, a Baptist minister, who preached at the houses of the settlers. Mr. Elmore lived near Oquawka, Ill.
Mr. Skinner relates this story of a dog fennel doctor : A son of Mrs. Nor- man fell out of a walnut-tree and broke one of his ribs. A new doctor had recently settled at West Point, and he was called to reduce the fracture. The doctor came, looked wise, but didn't know how to get at the broken rib, but, after
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scratching his head to stir up his anatomical knowledge, he finally put his finger on his nose, looked wise, and ordered Mrs. Norman to make a pot of mush. She immediately complied, and when it was ready the doctor made the boy gorge himself with mush and milk so as to press the broken rib out to its place.
John McClintock, son of the widow McClintock, who lived in the neighbor- hood, was the first school-teacher, and taught the first school in an old cabin that stood near the present residence of Henry Judy.
In the fall of 1835, Mr. Skinner had a surplus of potatoes, but there were but two neighbors who needed to buy-Alexander Cruickshank and Z. Cleve- land. Cruickshank carried away two sacks full on horse-back, and Cleveland carried away what he needed, but Skinner did not want to receive any pay from either of them. But Mr. Cleveland felt in duty bound to pay for what he got, and insisted on paying for them. Skinner refused to accept money in pay- ment, and to compromise the matter, Cleveland came over one Sunday and made one hundred rails to square the account.
GOING TO MILL UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
In the winter of 1835-36, Mr. William Skinner, the first settler in Jeffer- son Township, loaded ten or twelve bushels of corn on an ox-cart and started to the Fox River mill, near Waterloo, Clarke County, Mo. The weather was stinging cold, and the creeks and rivers were bridged over with ice. When he reached the Des Moines River, he tied old rags on his oxen's feet to keep them from slipping on the ice, and crossed over without mishap of any kind. He reached the mill, and when his turn came, his corn was ground into meal, and he commenced the return trip. In coming home, he took what was known in those days as the upper route, via the Big Mound. Night overtook him near the cabin of a man named Howard, a preacher, who had made a claim and built a cabin in the Big Mound neighborhood. Howard's cabin was about thirty feet square, but was neither "chinked" nor "daubed." The cracks and crevices were all open, and not very inviting as a retreat from the cold, but "any port in time of a storm," thought Mr. Skinner. Howard had taken two yoke of oxen with him when he settled there, and feed running short, he killed them to keep them from starving to death; and when Skinner reached the cabin he found the carcass of an ox hanging up at each corner of the building. He made application for the privilege of remaining in the cabin over night, but Howard declined to extend such hospitality, a rare instance of mean- ness among the pioneers, and Mr. Skinner and his companion were forced to camp out. They built a brush fire in the snow in sight of the cabin and lay by it all night. In the morning, the journey for home was resumed and completed by nightfall.
Mr. Skinner had a single silver ten-cent piece left when he reached the Howard cabin, which he exchanged for a rib from one of the bovine carcasses, before mentioned, but it was so tough it wouldn't cook, and it was thrown away. Even the wolves couldn't eat it.
A PIONEER DOG.
When Skinner came to Iowa, he brought a large Newfoundland dog.with him, whose memory deserves to be preserved. His name was " Bull," and his trans- portation from Cincinnati to Fort Edwards cost Mr. Skinner just $4. He was a sensible fellow, fond of his master's family and watchful of their inter- ests ; good-natured, unless abused, but liable to resent an insult, as Henry D. Bartlett, still living at Keokuk, can testify by pointing to a scar on his leg
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which was left there from a bite from Bull, when Henry informed him by a push that he must not rub his wet sides against a boy's Sunday clothes.
The Indians were thoroughly afraid of Bull, for he would attack any of them who seemed inclined to lay hands on his master's goods, or to come into his cabin uninvited. He was a favorite with the soldiers at Des Moines. when Mr. Skinner lived there, and knew the bugle-eall to dinner and answered it just as promptly as the soldiers themselves, for they always shared their rations with him.
When his master moved to his claim on Sugar Creek, Bull was taken along, and for a long while was as contented and happy as need be. But there came a time when some of the officers of the fort went out to visit Mr. Skinner. Their presence seemed to revive old memories, and Bull followed them to Montrose. At last, the soldiers missed the sagacious old fellow, and it was sup- posed that, as he was sleek and fat, the Indians caught him at a disadvantage and made a feast of him.
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