USA > Iowa > Polk County > The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 41
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William Mason, at present a citizen of Warren county, came from New Jersey in 1843 and stopped for a short time in Wapello county, and then came to Fort Des Moines and assisted in cutting the shingles for the gov- ernment buildings then in course of erection; he also helped to erect the mill on Middle river. After the completion of the mill he returned to New Jersey and in 1845, when the country was thrown open for settle- ment, he returned and took the claim where he now resides.
The Moses Barlow spoken of in Parmelee's letters, the person whose place the latter took in the mill enterprise, came with his brother from Vermont in 1843, and after Parmelee's connection with the enterprise they returned to their native State.
Before proceeding to the history of the first settlements proper of the county, viz: those made after the expiration of the Indian title, October 11, 1845, it will be proper to speak further of a gentleman who arrived among the first, early in May, 1843; we have reference to Benjamin Bryant, before alluded to. Although he was connected with the Indian agency and in that capacity may be said to have lost his occupation when the Indians were re- moved, he nevertheless remained, became permanently and prominently identified with the history of Polk county, and for many years filled some of the most important offices in the co sty. Mr. Bryant was not only one among the first arrivals of Polk count- but to him is due the distinguished honor of having successfully wooed, won and wed the first white lady mar- ried in the county. The lady to whom belongs the honor of having been the first one wooed, won and wedded according to the approved civilized rules was Miss Elvira Birge. This allusion to the marriage of Mr. Bryant very naturally suggests the name of the functionary whose ostensible mis- sion it was to mete out justice and incidentally, as there were no ministers in the county at that time, to tie the connubial knot. His name was Ad- dison Michael, who prior to this time had been connected in some way with the garrison and whose advent into the county dates as early as the spring of 1843.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS PROPER.
- The persons already mentioned were those connected with the govern- ment military post at Fort Des Moines, or if not directly a part of the government forces and agents were here by special permit and indirectly connected with the Fort. The list as given includes nearly all who came from May, 1843, till October, 1845. As before remarked, these cannot properly be termed settlers, as the country was not yet open for settlement and those who came during that period and remained were here by special permission and were the creatures of official permission. It would not be proper to date the settlement of Polk county from the time of the arrival of the government forces, in May, 1843, for during the following three years the territory was forbidden ground and on account of the measures taken to prevent settlements and improvements very little in that direction
23
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
was done, and the growth of the country was necessarily very slight and al- most imperceptible. The settlement of the county properly began when the country was formally thrown open and immigration was invited and encouraged. From this time the population increased rapidly, and the de- velopment of the material resources of the country was so speedy as to be almost unprecedented. In treating of the settlement of the county during this period we shall strive to be somewhat analytical in our style, as by this course we hope to be able to give a more accurate and lucid account than could otherwise be done; to this end we shall subdivide the county into districts, and having spoken of the first settlement in each, will continue to follow out the subsequent settlements during a number of years, until the time when the county became generally settled and the distinctive neigh- borhoods or settlements grew together and practically constituted one set- tlement-Polk county.
Those who are any way familiar with the early settlement of Polk county, or, in fact, any of the Iowa counties, are already aware that the first improvements were made along the various streams of water; not on the banks of these streams as a general thing, but in or near the timber which grew in the vicinity of these streams. Owing to the abrupt turns in the various streams, and especially at those places where they neared larger streams, the belt of timber spreads out, and viewed from the wide stretch of prairie beyond, presents the appearance of detached groves; such places were in early times called " points" or groves, and these were the begin- nings of civilization. These points or groves took their names from the first settler locating in each, which names they, in many instances, still bear; thus we have Newcomer's Point, Trulinger's Grove, Lavishe's Grove, etc. We fully realize that the task of tracing out these first settlements, so as to accurately and fully give a history of each individual making them, is a difficult one; in proportion as the reader understands the magnitude and difficulty of the work, to that extent will we have his sympathy and forbearance.
The data upon which we found our supposed facts consist mainly of notes taken by our agents, who have visited every part of the county, and if the narrative should, in some particulars, seem to the reader to be incor- rect, we wish to remind him that the particular fact which he questions is founded on the statement of some one individual who resides in the imme- diate neighborhood, and, in all probability, substantiated by the best evi- dence obtainable; such persons should remember that they are as liable to be mistaken as their neighbors, and that in the little circumscribed realm of their own neighborhood, even as in the boundless realm of the universe, " truth is stranger than fiction."
In speaking of this subject, we shall divide it into the following sub- divisions, and treat each separately :
1st. Fort Des Moines.
2d. South Des Moines; which includes the settlements south of the Des Moines river and south of the Raccoon river.
3d. North Des Moines; those settlements north of Fort Des Moines, adjoining the Des Moines river, but not including those more particularly belonging to the smaller tributaries.
4th. Big Creek.
5th. Four Mile.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
6th.
Camp Creek; including also those on Mud Creek and Spring Creek.
7th. Skunk River.
8th. Indian Creek.
9th. Beaver Creek.
10th. Walnut Creek.
FORT DES MOINES.
In the account already given of Fort Des Moines, a tolerably good idea can be formed of the place at the time the Indians were removed. With the exception of the soldiers' quarters, and the establishment of Robert Kinzie, the government sutler, there were no improvements on the West Side. The improvements on the East Side consisted of the buildings oc- cupied by the Indian agents, Indian traders, and fur dealers. According to that account there could not have been more than twenty-five or thirty log buildings all told, and not exceeding fifteen or twenty inhabitants, ex- cluding the soldiers. In speaking of this matter, Mr. Turrell says:
" The foregoing enumeration includes very nearly all of the residents who settled near the fort in 1843 except the government troops. Their num- bers continued about the same until the Indian title expired, when immi- grants poured in like a flood.
" A reserve of a square mile around the fort was maintained so long as Fort Des Moines continued a military post. Part of the troops were re- moved in the autumn of 1845, the remainder continued till June of the ensuing year. One hundred and sixty acres of this reserve, including all the buildings belonging to the fort, were afterward ceded by Congress to Polk county, and for several years these buildings furnished the county with various public offices."
It will be impossible, and it would not be practicable were it possible, to give a full list of the persons who settled at Des Moines during the first few years, neither will it be practicable to note definitely all the improve- ments which were made from 1846 to 1850; it belongs to the history of those early settlements to mention the more prominent and influential persons and notice the business houses and dwellings which figured most conspicu- ously in the first history of the town.
We begin with Dr. T. K. Brooks, who arrived in 1845, just about the time that the Indians were getting ready to leave and the white man was legally authorized to come in. Mr. Brooks was from Terre Haute, Indiana. He was a native of Montpelier, Vermont, where he was born May 4, 1811. At the age of twenty-four he emigrated to Ohio and settled at New Lisbon, where he studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. George McCook. After reading the usual length of time he attended a medical college at Columbus, Ohio and afterward graduated from the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. He entered upon the practice of his profession at Terre Haute, Indiana, and from there, as before remarked, removed to Des Moines, where he located in September, 1845. Considering the early date of his settlement here and the eventful career he had from that time till 1868, the time of his decease, there is probably no other name among the number of early settlers which could be selected as more appropriate to head the list. While Dr. Brooks did not design to abandon his chosen profession upon coming to this coun- try, he nevertheless, in common with a large majority of the first immi-
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
grants, chose this location on account of the agricultural advantages offered, and his mind was imbued with the idea of " cattle upon a thousand hills." He accordingly bought the claim and buildings belonging to Phelps & Co., the fur dealers, and the next season raised quite a crop of corn. It does not appear that Mr. Brooks was pre-eminently successful as a farmer but as a physician, public officer, and a genial and enterprising citizen he made a record of which his descendants may well be proud.
As a regularly practicing physician his record extends over a period of five years, from 1845 to 1850, during which time, as has been well remarked, " he manifested the kindness and benevolence of his nature and his eminent skill as a physician; he was often called upon to fill positions of trust and impor- tance, and he always acquitted himself in these capacities in a manner which reflected honor on himself and substantial good to his fellow men. No pi- oneer who has passed through the gates of death has left the fragrance of a better or brighter memory as a legacy to sorrowing friends."
Dr. Brooks was the first man to make extensive improvements on the East Side, and there was his permanent place of residence till the time of his death. Beside the many important offices to which he was elected, we notice the following events of his life :
Early in the year 1846 the first mail route was opened to Des Moines; in April of that year Josiah Smart was appointed postmaster, but declining to serve, Dr. Brooks was appointed, "the key being sent to him in a sep- arate package, and when he opened the mail he found the bond and his commission." Thus a former account reads, and we therefore conclude that Mr. Brooks was the first postmaster of Des Moines, the first in Polk county, and probably the first west of the Red Rock line. When the county seat contest existed between Des Moines and Brooklyn, a forgotten town east of the river, Mr. Brooks, in connection with Jeremiah Church and William Lamb, championed the cause of the latter place; but the odds were greatly against him, and the prospective city of Brooklyn lost the county seat, its local habitation and name, and the time soon came when the Doctor was well satisfied that at least this one ambition of his life was not achieved.
Doctor Brooks was an active, influential and useful member of the claim association, and did as much probably as any other in protecting the rights of the early claim-owners. At a meeting called for this purpose, we read that Dr. Brooks and Josiah Myers addressed the people.
After a life of more than ordinary activity and usefulness, Dr. Brooks died at his home in East Des Moines on the 24th of February, 1868, at 6 o'clock in the evening. He was at the time of his death young in years, being not quite fifty-seven, but ol. in the amount of work performed. His disease was pneumonia. The following funeral notice appeared in the Register of February 27, 1868:
"FUNERAL OF DR. BROOKS.
" The funeral of the late Dr. T. K. Brooks will be held this afternoon at the Methodist chapel, East Side. The friends of the deceased will meet at his late residence at one and a half o'clock, and the procession will move thence to the church, where services will be conducted by Rev. T. O. Rice, of the Central Presbyterian church. The Masonic fraternity will be in at- tendance in a body, and the old settlers of Des Moines and vicinity will
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
also attend in a body. The members of the City Council are requested to meet at the council rooms at one o'clock, to proceed from there to the late residence of Dr. Brooks. The friends of the family are requested to be in attendance at the funeral without further notice.
"The presiding officer of the Masonic order on this occasion will be Lieutenant-Governor John Scott. Municipal, county and State officers are requested to move with the procession."
In the same issue we find the following:
"OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.
" At a very large meeting of the old settlers of the county, having met on the occasion of the death of Dr. T. K. Brooks, Isaac Cooper was called to the chair by Hoyt Sherman, and Peter Myers was chosen Secretary, and after a very appropriate prayer by Rev. T. O. Rice, the following was adopted :
"That we learn with unfeigned sorrow of the death of our old friend Dr. Thomas K. Brooks. Emigrating to this county at the early period of 1845, almost before the original denizens had been pressed back by the advancing wave of civilization he selected a farm, now within the limits of our city, and at once permanently identified himself with its destinies. We recall with grateful pleasure the many acts of open-handed hospitality extended to us by him in the early settlement of the country-the many cheering words of encouragement in our days of adversity. In every effort for the advancement of the interests of agriculture in the State he took a prominent part-in every movement to secure to our city the advantages of public improvements, his time, and energy, and means were freely given; in every work of public charity or private good he was alike active and liberal. While our whole community mourn in his death the loss of a good citizen of enlarged and liberal ideas and great social worth, to us it comes nearer home as that of a long-tried, trusty friend.
"That to his widow who shared with him the trials and discomforts of early pioneer days, we tender, in her great affliction, the poor consolation of our heart-felt sympathy.
" Tributes of respect to the memory of Dr. Brooks were paid by Messrs P. M. Casady, Judge Wright, W. H. Leas, S. F. Spofford, Judge Hatch, G. W. Cleveland and others, in which many interesting reminiscences con- nected with the early settlement of the county were related.
"The meeting resolved to attend in a body the funeral services.
"The foregoing was ordered to be published in both of the city papers, and a copy of the same be presented to the widow.
ISAAC COOPER, Chairman.
PETER MYERS, Secretary.
February 26, 1868.
P. M. Casady was one among the earliest settlers of Polk county, having come during the summer of 1846. From that time till the present he has been a citizen of Des Moines, and after an active and illustrious career of thirty-four years, is still permanently identified with the business interest of the city. When he came to the country he was a pioneer of the charac- teristic stamp, and like a pioneer he patiently endured the privations of those days and accommodated himself to his surroundings. The changes which have occurred during these thirty-four years have been so rapid and
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
marked that it would be impossible to find, in any town outside the rich mining regions of the Rocky Mountains, a parallel. Mr. Casady has never wavered in his faith that the place had a bright future, and firm in his be- lief he has, to use a common phrase, " stuck to" the place, and through all the sudden changes and trying vicissitudes of the town he has accommo- dated himself to his surroundings, and now that the small village, as he found it, has grown to be the capital and metropolis of the State, and the center of intelligence, wealth and refinement, he is still in the place, and not only in the place but with the city in that throughout its past brilliant career he has fully kept pace with the onward march of events, and is still with the city in the front ranks of progress. Were we to look for a representative western man, one who most nearly represents the county both in the particulars which form his past history, and the personal characteristics which distinguish the man, we could find no better repre- sentative than the plain, unostentatious and humble pioneer of the past, the refined, gentlemanly and wealthy citizen of the present who is the sub- ject of this sketch.
Mr. Casady, in company of Dr. P. B. Fagan and W. D. Frazee, an attor- ney, entered the county on the eleventh day of June, 1846. On the day they first set foot on the soil of Polk county they took dinner at the Mitchell tavern at Apple Grove. On the day they arrived at the Mitchell tavern two things occurred which made this solitary county tavern a place of un- usual excitement. Benjamin Bryant and Elvira Birge, the first couple married in the county, were united in matrimony at this place by Squire Michael. Orin T. Mitchell, a youthful son of the landlord, was bitten by a rattlesnake, and when it became known that one of the gentlemen in the house was a physician he was called upon to prescribe for the patient. Dr. Fagan did prescribe, the treatment being tobacco and whisky, two drugs which could generally be found in any pioneer settlement. The wedding was a successful if not brilliant affair, the patient recovered, and Mr. Casady and the doctor and lawyer, his companions, wended their way westward to Fort Des Moines. Arriving at their destination the three immediately set about the work of making a living, prepared to remain and grow up with the city. Dr. Fagan opened up an office and offered his services to the afflicted public, prepared to visit the sick in all parts of the country, at all times of the day and night, ready to work for cash in hand, and able to cure anything from the fever and ague to a rattlesnake bite; his skill in treating cases of the latter kind having already been demonstrated. His office was located on the west side of the river. Mr. Casady opened up a law and land-office, and signified his ability and willingness to get people into trou- ble or out of trouble, or in case no one needed any assistance in this direc- tion he was ready to assist them in the selection and purchase of a home- stead. Soon after his arrival at the place Mr. Casady was selected as Dr. Brooks successor, and he thereupon became the Nasby of Raccoon Fork. When Mr. Casady became postmaster the office was removed from the old agency building, southeast of where the capitol building now stands, to the fur company's building, near the river about one mile south of Walnut street bridge.
It is related of the Hon. P. M. Casady, P. M., that it was a common oc- currence for him to bring up all the " mail" for the Fort in his hat, so little correspondence did the pioneers of those days have with the world they had left behind them. The writer is not familiar with the size of Mr. Casady's
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
head and the number of his hat, but we venture that the hat is not large enough to hold the mail for the Fort at the present time, and the mails are daily instead of weekly as at that time.
As an attorney Mr. Casady not only looked after the interests of his clients within the bounds of Polk county, but traveled into the adjoining counties in the practice of his profession. Among the first court records of Boone county is the following:
"Wesley C. Hull having presented to the court a certificate, certifying that he is of good moral character and possesses the requisite qualifications for an attorney at law, signed by P. M. Casady and B. Granger, Esqs,. heretofore appointed by the court for that purpose, it is therefore ordered that Wesley C. Hull be admitted to practice as an attorney at law and solicitor in chancery in this court. Whereupon he appeared in court and took the oath required by law."
In 1854 Mr. Casady was candidate for the office of District Judge in opposition to Judge Mckay, who was the incumbent at that time; after serving for a short time Mr. Casady resigned, and the eccentric and notori- ous Judge McFarland was appointed in his place. Mr. Casady had been Register of the Government Land Office prior to his election, and after re- signing returned to it. The land business occupied his attention mainly for a number of years, and in connection with R. L. Tidrick, who was asso- ciated with him as law partner, he did the leading real estate business of the city for a number of years. In speaking of the early history of Des Moines the name of these two gentlemen should not be separated; they were associated together in all business enterprises, and although but one of them was postmaster at the same time, the post-office was kept in the law office of the firm and practically it was the firm which was postmaster, and the emoluments of the office, which consisted chiefly of the patronage it brought to the law and land office, accrued to both individuals.
Mr. Tidrick came from Guernsey county, Ohio, arriving in Polk county May 4, 1847. His coming to the county, therefore, was about one year later than that of Mr. Casady. Though not so prominent a public man as his partner Mr. Tidrick has been equally as successful in business, and like Mr. Casady, has done much to develop the material resources of the coun- try and make Des Moines what it is.
In one of the first numbers of the Iowa Star, published in 1849, we note the following records of these men as a firm and as individuals:
"Casady & Tidrick, Attorneys-at-Law, Fort Des Moines, Polk county, Iowa."
" Notice is hereby given that I will, on the 14th day of November, A. D., 1849, at the town of Fort Des Moines, in the county of Polk, and State of Iowa, by virtue of a deed of trust duly executed to me by William F. Curry, offer for sale, at public outcry, to the highest bidder, the west half of the east half of section No. 33, in Township No. 76 north, of Range No. 23 west of the 5th P. M., Iowa. Terms of sale cash in hand.
" ROBERT L. TIDRICK, Trustee."
Mr. Tidrick was the second Register of the United States Land Office at Des Moines, he having occupied that position for about one year. Mr. Casady was Receiver of the Land Office from June, 1854, to September, 1857. Mr. Casady was postmaster from January, 1847, till January, 1849. Mr. Tidrick become postmaster January 1, 1849, and held the office about three months, when he was succeeded by a gentleman who equally with
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Messrs. Casady and Tidrick has been identified with Des Moines and Polk county from the first, and went into the post-office in the place of Tidrick because his politics suited the new administration and Tidrick's didn't.
Among the records of the proceedings of the County Commissioners we find the statement that P. M. Casady was paid $5.00 for professional ser- vices in a case before 'Squire Meacham.
The office where Casady and Tidrick were located when they were law- yers, land agents and postmasters, and where they commenced to grow up with the country was located not far from the corner of Market and Second streets. That locality would not now be a very good location for men ambi- tious to excel in the particular profession which they had chosen, but at that time it was in the very heart of the city; no more aristocratic quarters could anywhere be found and it is the point where many other persons who afterward achieved great success started to grow with the country, and all who like them have not fallen behind the country in its growth, have no reason to regret the choice of location or look back with disdain to the day of small things away down on 'Coon Point.
One of the most active and prominent among the early settlers of Des Moines, although but for a few years identified with the interests of the county, was A. D. Jones, afterward of Winterset, Madison county, and more recently of Omaha, Nebraska. He was born January 30, 1814, at Philadelphia, Penn., and emigrated to Iowa in February, 1846, coming directly to Fort Des Moines, where he arrived on the 13th of the month. He spent the first night after his arrived with 'Squire Meacham who kept a tavern on the East Side; the 'Squire also carried on a small store in con- nection with the tavern. He says that on the 23d he formed the acquaint- ance of Mayor McKay, the first licensed attorney of the place and in later times the two frequently met as common pettifoggers before the high court of justice of the peace. He states further that: "In the first case he was in the right of it, but I succeeded in throwing his client into the costs and obtained the release of my employer. A gentleman who had watched the progress of the case until its termination, came and tapped me on the shoulder and said: 'See here, Mister, I have been waiting here to see who would be the successful lawyer in this case; I therefore want you to come with me as I have three cases for you.' I went and succeeded in gaining my point of releasing the prisoners. These were my first cases before the justice of the peace."
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