USA > Iowa > Monroe County > The history of Monroe County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion > Part 43
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the door of the jail aforesaid, and to purchase iron for the grates of the win- dows and for the door hangings, and for the staple and ring. He was also authorized to furnish a coal stove for the Court House "of the same size as the stove in the store of A. C. Wilson in Albia;" also to furnish a pipe for said stove of sufficient length to extend through the roof of the Court House.
On the 4th of October, the Sheriff was authorized to rent the Court House on the following terms: "The renter to pay into the town lot fund of said county the sum of one dollar per month, payable monthly in advance; also to keep said Court House in good repair and to be responsible for all damages." At the same time, the County Agent is authorized to furnish three shutters, one for each of the lower windows of the Court House, and that he hang said shutters with iron hinges.
October 30th, Daniel A. Richardson was licensed to keep a grocery in Albia, upon the payment of $25.
At the January session, 1849, arrangements were made for improving the Court House. Proposals were called for, for doing the following work : " To raise the walls of said house two and one-half feet higher than they are at present; to replace the present roor by a roof of shaved shingles, eighteen inches in length, laid five inches to the weather ; to lay a loft in said house of inch plank ; to construct a flight of common stairs in said house, with a railing upon one side ; to paint said house complete ; to construct a platform in said house, three feet by four, and one foot in height, and to erect a desk thereon. The plank composing the loft above mentioned to be one foot wide, and to be lined down under the joints with common weather-boarding. In addition to the above, to put one nine-light window in each end of the loft of said house." From this it appears that the spirit of progress was at work in Albia, as now.
At the session of the Board in July, the Eddyville Ferry Company were licensed to keep a ferry across the Des Moines river at Eddyville. They were required to furnish a good, substantial boat, and were restricted to one mile above and one below the place of landing, and their rates were fixed at: Each footman, 5 cents ; for one-horse wagon and loading, 25 cents ; two-horse wagon and loading, 35 cents ; four-horse wagon and loading, 50 cents ; extra horses or cattle, 10 cents ; hogs and sheep, 2} cents each. This license was granted for eleven years, at the rate of $2 per annum.
The township of Cedar was organized at this session, and the house of Daniel McIntosh was fixed upon as the place for holding elections, and Daniel McIntosh, Samuel D. Bishop and Samuel Campbell were made Judges of Elections.
In July, Townships 71, 72 and 73 north of Range 20 west, and Townships 71 and 72, Range 19, were organized in a precinct for election purposes, to be called Prather's Precinct, and David J. Prather, Harvey E. West and E. K. Robinson were made Judges of Election, the house of Mr. Prather being fixed upon as the polls.
The tax levied this year was: 3 mills for county purposes, 2} mills for State, 3 mill for school purposes and a poll tax of 50 cents.
In September, at an extra session, the County Agent was authorized to give ten days' notice that all lots in the town of Albia on which payments were due would be forfeited at the expiration of the said ten days if payment was not made upon them.
In October, a desk was ordered for the use of the Commissioners' Clerk, to be worth $10; and another, at the same price, was ordered for the District Clerk's office. And at an extra session, in November, Daniel A. Richardson
D
374
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
was authorized to " fix suitable seats and other repairs that may be necessary for the Court House for the November special term of the District Court, so as to make it comfortable."
In January, 1850, the first business of the Commissioners was to organize Towns 71 and 72, Range 19, into a township, to be called Prather's Town- ship, and David J. Prather, Joshua Noe and Wm. Manly were appointed Judges of Election. Also, Town 72, Range 18, was organized into a town- ship, to be called Guilford, and N. B. Preston, Dorrin Durall and Asahel Par- minter were made the Judges.
The County Agent was ordered to procure a good substantial door shutter for the Court House, " of good material, in workmanlike style, and attach the same to its proper place." It was also arranged to rent the upper portion of the Court House to the Monroe Division of Sons of Temperance, every Wed- nesday night in each week.
In April, Jonathan McConnell was allowed $174 for building County Jail.
The township of Franklin was organized, with Rowland Ingham, Andrew A. Lemaster and Jacob L. Crooks as Judges of Election.
In July, White's Creek Township was organized, with David J. Prather, Joshua Noe and William Manly as Judges of Election.
A tax of 4 mills to the dollar, for county purposes; 2} mills, State, and } mill for school purposes, and 15 cents on the dollar for road pur- poses.
In October, Lewis Arnold took his seat as Commissioner, in place of Geo. R. Holliday. The County Agent was ordered "to procure as much of a stove as was necessary " for the Court House.
At the April session, in 1851, the first appropriation for a bridge was made. Fifty dollars was assigned for building a bridge across Cedar Creek, where the State road, running from Ottumwa to Chariton Point, crossed. Another $50 was appropriated for another bridge across Cedar Creek, where the Eddyville State road crossed, running to Chariton.
The Board ordered the sale of Lot 2 in Block 22, to be sold to the Albia Lyceum, for $10, when that amount should be paid to the County Agent.
In July, a tax of 3 mills was levied for county purposes, 3 mills for State and ¿ mill for school purposes ; also, a road tax of 2 mills on the dollar for all property, and $2 as road poll tax.
SOMEWHAT STATISTICAL.
Statistics, bare and simple, are never very entertaining reading matter ; but when they relate to matters and things in which the reader has a direct inter- est, the dryness disappears and a more agreeable aspect is disclosed. For refer- ence rather than for present use, the following summary of census returns is given. History, without figures, relative to growth and improvement is like plum pudding without the fruit-it may be more light and attractive to the eye, but it has none of the good, solid qualities that impart a sense of a brave accom- plishment after one has partaken of it.
The first regular census returned in Kishkekosh County was in 1844, while it was still a precinct of Wapello, and one year after the opening of lands to settlers.
375
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
From that time the returns were as given below :
Year.
Population.
Year.
Population.
1844
386
1859.
8377
1846
400
1860
8612
1847
1222
1863.
9322
1849
.2000
1865.
9435
1850
2886
1867 ..
10208
1851
3125
1869.
11990
1852
.3430
1870
12724
1854.
.4577
1873.
12302
1856.
.6860
1875.
12711
The census of 1875 by township showed the following distribution of pop- ulation :
Towns.
Population.
Albia City
1893
Bluff Creek.
906
Cedar
734
Franklin
681
Guilford
769
Jackson
843
Mantua
1208
Monroe.
774
Pleasant.
1301
Troy, except the city of Albia
1057
Union ..
1084
Urbana
817
Wayne
644
Total
12711
The census of 1875 reported the number of improved acres in Monroe County at 102,215; unimproved, 78,206. Spring wheat harvested, 101,413 bushels ; corn, 1,738,916 bushels ; oats, 241,081 bushels. Sorghum, 33,593 gallons. Hay, 23,711 tons of tame and 3,653 tons of wild. Potatoes, 67,376 bushels.
There was then 36,397 acres of native timber, and 38 acres of planted shade trees. Fruit trees were in fair bearing, there being 28,745 apple trees, from which 10,185 bushels of fruit were gathered. There was but six acres of vineyard and but 24,350 peunds of grapes were yielded. There were also 10,- 509 grape vines not in vineyard, from which 63,918 pounds of fruit were taken.
There were but 6,075 milch cows in the county at that time. The dairy interests amounted to 375,517 pounds of butter and 3,175 pounds of cheese not made in factory. Stock owned in the county amounted to 16,471 neat cat- tle, other than milch cows ; but only 111 thorough-breds were shown. The hog crop numbered 32,934 hogs on hand at time of census, with only 509 Berkshires, and 684 Poland-Chinas. In 1874, 27,660 hogs were sold for slaughter. There were 15,039 sheep on hand; 3,641 were sold in 1874 for slaughter; and 741 were killed by some of the 2,100 dogs owned in the county. The wool clip was 42,090 pounds. There were 1,020 stands of bees, and 6,867 pounds of honey taken.
The value of farm products was $938,362; market produce, $9,702; or- chard products, $13,814; small fruits $6,320 ; herd products, $434,462; dairy products, $54,789 ; forest products, $25,535.
The average productiveness of the county was high on potatoes, corn, oats and sorghum, and fair on other staples. During the past few years, unusual natural phenomena have interfered with general farm prosperity; but the county, under ordinary circumstances, is one from which grand expectations will surely be realized.
-
376
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
ABSTRACT OF ASSESSMENT FOR 1878, OF MONROE COUNTY.
Lands, exclusive of town property, 275,642 acres ; valuation as eqnalized by State Board ..
$2,030 052
Albia City
.$264,132
Eldorado
335
Fredric ..
4,064
Bridgeport
3,497
Pleasant Corner
929
Eddyville
452
Tyrone.
2,473
Melrose.
16,333
Stacyville.
1,790
Lovilia
16,973
Coffman
3,290
Fairview
786
Avery.
Total town lots.
317,376
Value of railroad property as assessed by Executive Com
385,424
Value of personal property (including horses, cattle, etc).
819,643
Total valuation of county
$3,552,495
Cattle assessed in county.
Number.
Value.
llorses
66
66
503
20,268
Sheep
66
6,490
7,341
Swine
66
13,644
38,516
Total live stock.
40,631
$449,128
EARLY MARRIAGES.
The first recorded marriages date to 1845. The first marriage solemnized in the county was prior to the organization of the same. After the organization the first three licenses issued were : November 10, 1845, Clarkson Wallace and Nancy M. Renfro, of Pleasant Township ; December 6, 1845, Oliver P. Rowles and Louisa Lower, of Troy Township ; December 30, 1845, Perry Runnells and Clarissa Cone, of Pleasant Township.
There were nineteen licenses issued in 1846, thirteen in 1847, twenty three in 1848, twenty-six in 1849 and thirty in 1850.
THE EARLY CLAIM LAWS.
When society was in a formative stage, it was necessary for settlers to organize and protect their own interests as best they could. From among some old papers we take the following articles of agreement, without date itself, but evi- dently going back to 1844 or 1845. The paper explains itself :
We, the undersigned, believing it necessary for the better security of our claims to pro- tect ourselves against foreign as well as domestic aggression, and to settle all disputes between individual claimants and all rights to claims, according to our neighborhood or club law, do form ourselves into a club or company, known as the Independent Club Guards of Kish-ke-kosh County, Iowa.
ARTICLE 1. All persons known as claim holders in this county may become members of this company by subscribing to these articles and the claim laws.
ART. 2. On motion, two members of said company shall be declared viva voce tellers to receive the vote of the members of the club in their choice for Captain, Lieutenant and six Best Men.
ART. 3. These officers, so elected, shall serve one year from the first Monday in April, 1844, to the first day of April, 1845.
ART. 4. It shall be the duty of the Captain, or, in absence of the Captain, of the Lieuten- ant, or in absence of both, of the Best Men, to call upon the company to appear at command, and proceed with said officer to hear and decide all rights to claims, according to our claim laws, and to put the claimant having the right to said contested claim in full and peaceable possession of his claim, and protect him in said possession fully and effectually.
14,159
$172,943
5,835
210,060
Mules
2,322
377
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
ART. 5. Any officer who shall refuse to act, shall, by a two-thirds vote of the members of said company, be deprived of his office, and hold only membership.
ART. 6. The company shall then proceed to elect officers to fill all vacancies.
ART. 7. Any claimant whose name is attached to our claim laws may appeal to the Cap- tain of the Guards, and state to him his grievances, or, in absence of the Captain, to the other officers, and they shall protect said claimant fully in possession of his claim, without further trouble to said claimant.
ALEXANDER KEMP, Captain. JAMES MCROBERTS, Lieutenant.
John H. Myers, Hayden Smith, John Clark, Samuel Harbin, Thomas Coppedge, A. B. Pres- ton, S. F. Warden, James McDavis, William Scott, William Gordon, Riley Wescoatt, Nelson Wes- coatt, J. C. Boggs, James Hilton, Alfred B. Collier, James Gordon, James Stephenson, Israel Green.
There were several demonstrations made in this county by the members of the claim club. A man named Michael Everman had interfered with the claim of William Clodfelter, north of Albia, and he suffered severely for his temerity. A party of men visited his cabin, called him into the yard and administered a coat of tar and feathers. It is said that Everman's chickens were plucked to obtain the latter dressing. The unfortunate man was obliged to leave the county, after receiving the sum of money paid by him for his land. A Mr. Little was also summarily dealt with. He belonged to the Associate Church, northeast of Albia, and had incurred the displeasure of the club through an interference with the claim of one of the Boggs family. Little came to town on a fine mare he had borrowed from a neighbor. The Club saw him and started in pursuit of him. An exciting chase of five miles over the prairie ensued. Little escaped, but the overexertion of the noble animal on which he rode resulted in its death. He was compelled to pay $150 for the beast. The members of the Church sided with Little and openly defied the Club. They even went to the extreme of offering armed resistance, and were instrumental in breaking up the Club. Other demonstrations were made at different times, but no blood was shed. The merits of these several cases need not be discussed now. The Club believed it was doing right, no doubt, and was composed of many who afterward became the best of citizens. The display of force was an inevitable accompaniment of the crude state of society incident to first settlement. There was far less of such doings in this county than in some of the adjoining counties:
THE FIRST MILL.
In 1846, Thomas Hickenlooper moved into Urbana Township from Penn- sylvania and constructed a corn-cracker. The motive power which was applied to the long sweep was derived from the strong muscles of the men and boys of the neighborhood. This cracker, with a mill on Skunk River in Mahaska County, built in 1847, called Duncan's Mill, and one build some time later, called the Comstock Mill, were the only mills nearer than Bonaparte or Keo- sauqua for a long while. Frequently the pioneers would go to the latter places, and, after two or three weeks of weary plodding, return home only to find their meal spoiled.
LATER COURTS.
April, 1846, John Clark, the Sheriff, was authorized by the County Com- missioners to find a suitable place for holding the Spring term, if such could be found free of cost. Of this and the succeeding term no record is preserved. Of course, the business was exceedingly meager, and was regarded by the officers as of little moment. If any minutes were written, they have long since gone the way of earthly things.
The first regular records are dated May 28, 1847. Court was convened by John Webb, Sheriff; Hon. Cyrus Olney, Judge. The first case of record is
378
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
that of the United States vs. Peter Bissell, recognizance. The defendant was discharged. The second case is that of George F. Bragg vs. Wareham G. Clark, assumpsit. Defendant given thirty days to plead, and case continued till the next term. The fourth case was an appealed one from a Justice's court -Thomas H. Gray, survivor of Shuffeton & Gray, vs. T. G. Templeton. Defendant failed to appear, and damages to the amount of $12.99} were piled up against him.
The grand jury at this term was composed of the following persons : Andrew Mock, George Cain, Abram Webb, Philander Tyrrell, David Cooper, William V. Beadle, Abram Williams, William H. McBride, A. Myers, Charles Bates, George Anderson, J. A. Gilman, Oliver P. Rowles, John McIntire, Robert M. Hartness, "when it appearing that there were but fifteen present, the court discharged them for the term.'
The next case was that of the State of Iowa vs. Mary Randolph, appealed. A jury was called, and but ten of the regular panel responded, as follows : John Stephenson, Richmond Hays, E. P. Cone, Lemasters Boggs, Archibald Dorothy, William McBride, James McIntyre, Everet Williams, Thomas Will- iamson and W. Scott. The Court ordered the Sheriff to fill the box, when John McKnight and John R. Williams were accepted. The prosecution examined Jane Chapman and George H. Mclaughlin, as witnesses, when the Court took the case from the prosecution and ordered a verdict of " not guilty." The case appears to have been a disturbance of the peace between the defendant and Jane Chapman, for the Court required Mary Randolph to give bonds to keep the peace in the sum of $50, and to appear at the next term. Willoughby Randolph and Philomon Barber were accepted as securities, and the county ordered to pay the costs of suit. The County Commissioners' records show that the costs were paid as required.
One more case appears this term-E. S. Gage vs. T. G. Templeton, appealed. Defendant fined $6.29, by default.
The November term, 1847, is recorded in this brief form, so suggestive to the pioneers' mind of bad roads and swollen streams.
"The Judge failing to appear, the Sheriff adjourned the court from day to day four days, and then adjourned without day for want of appearance of the Judge."
The records of this Court are so full and convenient of access that further space need not be taken up here with transcripts.
The Judges who have sat on the district bench are: Charles Mason, Cyrus Olney, William McKay, J. S. Townsend, H. H. Trimble, HI. Tannehill, M. J. Williams and J. C. Knapp.
CIRCUIT COURT.
The Circuit Court was instituted in January, 1869. The first term opened in February, 1869. Monroe was attached to the Second Circuit. Hon. Henry L. Dashiell, Judge of the Circuit ; Josiah T. Young, Clerk ; Alexander McDon- ald, Sheriff. Judge Sloan, present incumbent of the Judgeship, took the bench in 1873.
The first jury was composed of the following persons : Thomas Barnard, Richmond Hays, W. H. H. Lind, Andrew Stewart, Michael Morrison, G. W. P. Pugh, S. A. Newell, Perry Hatch, P. T. Lambert, Washington Bernard, A. M. Vicker, Wm. Eshom, F. W. Byerley, Johnson McCormick, Samuel Patterson.
FACTS AND INCIDENTS.
Thomas Barnard, one of the first settlers in Union Township, came there in 1849. He had quite a large family of little girls and boys, who attended school
379
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
in the first school house erected in that part of the county, in 1851. Calvin S. Ritchey was the first teacher. Calvin Barnard, the first Recorder of the county, was a son of Thomas Barnard, and served in the war, under Capt. Saunders, in the Sixth Iowa Regiment. He lost his left arm at Dallas, Ga., and a brother was killed at Vicksburg.
A settlement in Mantua Township was called the "Hairy Nation," a title which lasts even till to-day. The history of the Hairy Nation is very much as follows :
When the Mormons left Kirtland, Ohio, for Far West (Missouri), there were a few families from Vermont who had embraced the faith of the Saints, and accompanying Joe Smith to Missouri, some of their friends, as a natural sequence, had followed after them. The citizens of Missouri drove the Mormons from Far West by a mob, and the little colony of Vermonters, instead of follow- ing Smith to Nauvoo, Ill., settled at Farmington, in this State, where they remained until 1842, so as to be able to recover as much of their personal prop- erty as was possible from the destruction of the mob at Far West. Then they sent some half dozen scouts into the New Purchase, within the limits of what is now known as Monroe County, to find a desirable location for a new colony. The scouts, in some way, got separated, and two of them were lost for several days-Aaron Judson and Marshall Tyrrell-whose peregrinations are elsewhere detailed. They removed to Mantua Township, in Monroe County, and as they were border men breathing hatred to their enemies, the Missourians, they learned fighting as a trade, for the purpose of some time being able to get even with them. Some of these Vermonters at Farmington branched out into Davis County, and were there also called the "Hairy Nation."
These people were not of the usual intellectual caliber of New England people, and for some time they had implicit faith in Joe Smith. They were rough, from having lived with rough Missourians, and had learned from them how to use a bowie knife and a gun; beside this, they could distance their teachers in the matter of drinking whisky. But they had great personal courage and endurance, and were generous to a fault with their friends. In short, they were a hearty, rather reckless, bold, stirring class. When the war broke out in 1861, many of their descendants, who still prided themselves as belonging to the "Nation," went into the Union army with great ardor, were the most efficient of fighters, and nearly one-half of their able-bodied men died in defense of the old flag. The "Hairy Nation" proved itself as patriotic as any class of men in the Union.
Wild turkeys and prairie chickens tormented the citizens of Urbana Town- ship by eating up their buckwheat, the deer pulled down shocks of corn, and at one time a panther introduced himself into Mr. McIntyre's calf pen and car- ried off its occupant. Wolves were trapped in a sort of slide pen, which held them like a vice, and if they struggled or pulled much their feet were taken entirely off. Five wolves were caught in this way at one time near a farmer's house, that had been known to kill twenty sheep the night before.
Eddyville, in the Spring of 1849, sent some of her citizens in the race for wealth over the alkali deserts of Nebraska to the Golden State. Albia lost a few, but the members were replaced by others who were attracted thither by the promised advantages of the location. On account of the California travel, a franchise was asked of the Board of Commissioners to build a ferry over the Des Moines River, from Eddyville to the Chariton track, or road, which led right on from the main street in the village of Eddyville. This was given July 2. 1849. Prices of produce rose all over Central Iowa to high figures ; corn
380
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
was as high as $2 per bushel. Every house was a hotel, and beds were at a premium. Even the soft side of a board was considered worth something to a tired traveler.
Charles Powell, the first soldier who volunteered from this part of Iowa for the Mexican war, laid warrant 28,730 in Township 71, Range 18, Section 9. His cabin was the farthest west except one.
Samuel Coen, the father of James Coen, of Albia, came to Mantua Town- ship in 1850, and bought a claim which a man of the name of Sears had entered, and made the farm with its improvements. He was a man of excel- lent qualities, and was prominent in his neighborhood on account of his intelli- gence and energy.
People, with all their struggles to get a living then, still found time for practical jokes. One was played by a Mrs. Bonebreak, upon an Englishman who lived in the vicinity of Clark's Point, and who was making an effort to farm it in a small way, without the least knowledge of how to do it. She sold him mullein seed for tobacco seed, to make a beginning on his farm, and he sowed an acre lot of it, and waited patiently for it to come up. It is needless to say that after this initial experiment he left off tobacco raising.
Mr. Rowland Ingham, one of the early pioneers, experienced at one time all the terrors of being lost on the prairies, and that, too, in Winter. It had become necessary for him to leave home, in order to get provisions for his fam- ily. He went in a southeasterly direction, over the slim trail of the wild prai- rie regions, to what was called the " Old Purchase," some eighty miles distant. Here he procured his stock of provisions, and turned his face homeward; and now occurred one of those furious snow-storms peculiar to prairie regions. He faced it bravely ; the thermometer ranging from 10° to 20° below zero. He had nothing to camp with-no matches, no fire. His direction should have been northwest ; but near the site of Moravia the boundless expanse of snow left no vestige of a sign-not a cabin or landmark was to be seen in all that broad ex- panse of prairie. So on and on he went, unconscious of his whereabouts, at one time within five miles of his own home, until he struck the White Breast, northwest of the present Chariton ; thence southeast, over where Knoxville now is, through the May Settlement; thence southeast, to Clark's Point, not knowing where he was until he arrived at the last mentioned place. Here he could not be persuaded to stop over night, although it was then dusk and snow- ing. He was told that darkness would overtake him and that he would again lose his way ; and sure enough, the track was soon obliterated, and the poor man was compelled to pass another dismal night before reaching his home and dear ones.
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