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 44
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Uncle Jerry Church contributed more, probably, to the development of that region of country in early days, than any other individual. He came to Fort Des Moines in the summer of 1845, and remained till the follow- ing winter, when he laid out the town of Dudley, which was located a lit- tle north of the line which now divides Polk county from Warren. He was the first merchant of that new town, and probably the first in that whole section of country.
It is said that at midnight of October 11, 1845, Uncle Jerry Church set fire to some of the old Indian huts for the purpose of making it light enough to mark out his claim; the landmarks then made by him were the initials of his name cut into trees with a penknife. Not far from where he first located he laid out the town of Liberty, but it soon after appearing that his town was upon school lands he abandoned it and then laid out the town of Dudley, already alluded to.
Mr. Church was very ambitious to make Dudley a rival of Fort Des Moines; he maintained a ferry across the Des Moines river at that point, and even aspired to have the county seat located there. The territorial commissioners appointed for the purpose of selecting a location for the seat of justice visited his town, but it is said that the commissioners objected to the town because it was located on too low ground, and in many other re- spects did not suit the tastes of that almost omnipotent trio whose fiat decided the fate of towns, and in a moment annihilated the prospective fortune of the enterprising real estate dealer.
In connection with Dr. T. K. Brooks and William Lamb, Uncle Jerry was also proprietor of the town of Brooklyn, another county seat, and his name, along with that of Peter Newcomer, appears on the bond of the first postmaster appointed for Polk county.
After the boundary line of the county was changed in 1852, Carlisle was no longer a part of Polk county, and Uncle Jerry Church, along with his town, was transferred to Warren county. Mr. Church continued to reside at Carlisle till the time of his death, which occurred in November, 1874.
One of the first and most frequently used roads in the county was through the settlement we have just been describing. It was, for a long time called the Dragoon Trail, and extended from Allen's mill to Fort Des Moines. Ths road was used by the dragoons in transporting lumber from the saw mill to the fort, to be used in the erection of the barracks.'
The next road through that neighborhood was probably the old Mormon trail, passing from Dudley to the Hargis farm, then on up over the Scotch Ridge. These roads were selected for special purposes and were, of course, over the natural irregularities of the country, and no work was put upon them. Fort Des Moines was the nearest post-office till 1850.
The first school was taught at Carlisle by Miss Amelia Brand, in the summer of 1849. The directors were John Hargis, Nicholas Beezley and Charles Keeney, and the amount of permanent school fund apportioned to the district, which was then very large, was twenty dollars, and was paid to John Hargis. The salary paid Miss Brand for her three months work was
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
thirty dollars. The school was held in a house standing on Daniel Moore's land. Miss Brand emigrated to Oregon in 1852 where she now resides.
J. D. McGlothlen arrived, in what is now Allen township, in June, 1846, and settled on section 27. He was a native of Indiana, having been born in Wayne county of that State, December 10, 1810. We judge from the place and time of his birth that he came inured to the trials and privations of pioneer life from his earliest childhood, as the whole of Indiana at that time was in its primitive state of wildness. There were a few settlers in that region of country at the time of Mr. Glothlen's arriva!, but there could not have been very many. It seems that he purchased the claim which had been partially improved by Mr. Clark, whose mysterious disappearance, which occurred shortly after, has already been noted. There was a rude cabin on the claim which Mr. McGlothlen immediately occupied with his family. He continued to reside in that neighborhood till the time of his death, which occurred April 26, 1878. He was one of the most prominent citizens of the county, and as early as 1848, two years after his arrival, was elected to the responsible position of County Commissioner.
Some accounts which Mr. McGlothlen was accustomed to give of the trials of his first few years of residence may be interesting:
" Soon after locating in my new home the ague made its appearance and myself and family were almost constantly victims of that scourge for a num- ber of years. Removed to the new cabin which I erected on the second of October, 1846. The structure had but one apartment, and, not having enough of puncheons to cover the floor, part of the floor for some time consisted of the virgin soil. It had no doors nor windows, and as a substi- tute for these we used the opening which had been left for a fire-place. In time, however, as the fire-place and chimney were in process of construction, it became necessary, in order to have communication with the outside world, to construct a doorway at one end of the cabin. In the midst of darkness, sickness and all sorts of discouragements the building was finally completed and we were comparatively well provided to withstand the in- clemency of the winter.
"The nearest grist mill at that time was the Duncan Mill, near Oska- loosa. During the fall of 1846 I took my four-horse team and the cov- ered wagon, which I brought from Indiana, and proceeded to Oskaloosa with a number of grists for families in the neighborhood. Upon arriving at the Oskaloosa mill I found it so beset by a multitude of people who had come on the same errand that I proceeded to Farmington. There I found that the prospect for getting my grinding done was no better than at Oska- loosa. I then proceeded to Bonaparte, where my grinding was done and I set out for home. But the bad weather set in before I accomplished my re- turn trip and the journey was very slow and difficult. The entire trip oc- cupied just twenty-one days."
About the same time that McGlothlen came, or shortly afterward, a gen- tleman by the name of McMahan settled on section 28; McRautin, on sec- tion 33; James McRoberts, on section 33; Aaron Copic, on section 33; Owen Osburn, on section 33; O. Edgerton, on section 31; Mr. Beach, on section 34; Win. Compton, on section 27; J. P. Deaton took a claim in section 33 during the year 1847, where he still resides.
In 1849, James Smith, the celebrated nurseryman, removed from Dela- ware township and settled in Bloomfield township. This gentleman has
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
done more for the development of Polk county and the whole surrounding region in his particular way than any other person who could be mentioned.
The early settlers who came from the older States labored under the de- lusion that while Iowa was undoubtedly a good agricultural country, the soil and climate were wholly unadapted to fruit raising. The first fruit trees planted were imported from the nurseries farther south and the trees, of course, were not adapted to this country, and, consequently, were a fail- ure. After having made repeated failures with imported trees the people settled down in the conviction that fruit could not be produced in this country. Mr. Smith held that Iowa was not only a good fruit country but that this part of the State particularly was especially well adapted to fruit raising provided the trees and shrubs were first acclimated to their sur- roundings by being produced from the seed in the soil where they were to be transplanted.
He determined to make it his special business to plant seeds and raise trees and shrubs, and it was his special mission to convince the early set- tlers that such trees and shrubs would flourish in Iowa. The settlers were slow in being convinced, but as successful experiments multiplied the proof, and as Mr. Smith succeeded in getting the people to make the ex- periment, people finally began to have faith in fruit culture. Mr. Smith won a widespread fame, and at the present time there are old farmers liv- ing throughout Polk, Boone, Dallas, Warren and Madison counties who speak of Mr. Smith as the father of Iowa horticulture and honor him as the founder of one of the most important branches of industry.
The following were early settlers in this part of the county: H. C. Har- gis, Smith Means, Messrs. Chiles, Phillips, Blye, Bentley, Jones, Krysher, Hiskey, Fleming, Gooch, four brothers by the name of Perkins, Matthew Spurlock, Stephen Shelton, Dr. Myrick and Dr. J. W. Bishop.
Miss Eliza Kenworthy, Thomas McClelland, Miss Foreman and Miss Amelia Brand were the first school teachers. Rev. C. B. Jones, a United Brethren preacher, Revs. Keeney and Nash of the Baptist Church, and of the Methodist Church Revs. Fink, Fleming, Rathbun and Bussick were the first to conduct public religious services and organize churches. Among the first deaths were those of Mrs. Knuckols, wife of one of the first set- tlers, and a youth by the name of Perry Smith.
NORTH DES MOINES SETTLEMENTS.
In speaking of the early history of Fort Des Moines it has already been stated that John Saylor received a permit to make a settlement near the Des Moines river several miles north of the Fort and he was undoubtedly the first settler in the region now under consideration. It was also stated that Isaac Cooper appeared in that locality before the Indian title expired and selected his claim and was ready to begin a permanent improvement just as soon as he had the legal right to do so.
Addison Michael, who afterward removed to Des Moines, was one of the first settlers in this neighborhood. The first birth was that of a son of Mr. Michael, in April, 1846. It is said that James Ewing built the first frame house, and a Mr. Case taught the first school.
John Witmer had a claim and made permanent improvements near the present site of Saylorville at a very early day.
26
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Across the river was a settlement called the McLean neighborhood; the McLeans were among the first settlers, and it was from them that the neighborhood received its name. There were two brothers, Thomas McLean and John McLean, both of them were from Virginia. Among others Widow Fouts, from Missouri, Benjamin Hunt and Samuel Hunt, from Kentucky, and Thomas Bull, from Missouri, were early settlers.
. Two murders were committed in early times in the settlements along the Des Moines, one on the west side of the river and the other on the east side. Pleasant Fouts, who is supposed to have been a son of Widow Fouts, murdered his wife, cutting her throat with a hunting knife, and a man by the name of Smith was shot by a man by the name of Howard. The circumstances will be given more fully elsewhere; the fact is alluded to here because the parties were early settlers.
A man by the name of Cantrell had a mill a few miles north of the Say- lor settlement, and Andrew Grosclose had a famous mill on the Des Moines further up the river. Mr. Grosclose resided on Big Creek, but his mill was situated in the territory now being treated of. Benjamin Saylor was married to Elizabeth Norris at an early day, but the first wedding in that neighborhood was probably the marriage of Tilman Bandurant, who married a young girl by the name of Kooney; the wedding occurred in 1847 at the house of Mr. Saylor.
Franklin Nagle, the first justice of the peace in Saylor township, was one of the first and most prominent settlers of this region.
Elijah Crawford was one of the first settlers who took an active part in organizing a religious society. A Methodist Church was organized in 1848 and he was the first class-leader.
It was not long after the country was thrown open for settlement till the most desirable claims along the banks of the Des Moines were taken up, and the names of those who located there, during the fall of 1845 and the year 1846, would form quite an extensive list. To compile an accurate list would be so difficult that we shall not attempt.
BIG CREEK SETTLEMENT.
This was a most favorite region of country, and not only did the western bound emigrants flock in there in large numbers, but they made their mark. The influence of this settlement was felt in the social, political and industrial affairs of the county, and it plays a most important part in the history of the county. Andrew Grosclose and George Beebe were the most prominent among the early settlers of this region. The former took a claim and opened up a farm on the west side of Big Creek, about three miles north of the present site of Polk City; the latter located near the same place in 1846 during the month of May.
Mr. Grosclose erected a mill on the Des Moines, southwest three or four miles from where he lived. This mill was one of the best in Polk county; it did an immense business, and was not only a source of considerable in- come to the proprietor, but a matter of great convenience to that whole section of country. Mr. Grosclose was a very prominent person and held, during the time of his residence in the county, some very responsible and honorable offices; he disposed of all his real estate and personal property in Polk county and migrated westward years ago. Mr. Beebe was the first magistrate in that part of the county, and in 1850 laid out the town of Polk
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City, where he erected a mill, opened a store of general merchandise, and sold lots. Piper and Barnum were among the early merchants of the town, and Dr. Mather was the first physician.
During the winter of 1846-47 a Mr. Longnecker, had been to the Fort for supplies, and in the blinding snow lost his path. After wander- ing around until overcome by fatigue he sank to the ground and perished from cold.
It is also related that one Seth Williams, who lived several miles from Polk City, was lost one night during the year 1848, and a severe snow storm coming on, hitched his team and kept walking in a circle till day- light appeared.
D. C. Marts came to the neighborhood soon after Mr. Beebe. He se- lected his claim in the fall of 1846, and moved on it with his family early in 1847.
Andrew Messersmith, one of the substantial and permanent early set- tlers, came in 1846. J. M. Marts came the following year. Mr. Messer- smith furnished supplies to the garrison at Fort Dodge, when there were few, if any, settlers between the Fort and his house.
Alban Pandom was one of the first settlers of Madison township. He has resided at Polk City since 1849. He drove the first stake and helped to lay out the town. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, and when yet a mere youth his parents moved to Indiana, where he had the best educa- tional advantages afforded by the common schools of the State.
C. M. Burt settled in what is now Crocker township in May, 1846. Here he made a claim in connection with a man by the name of Campbell. After living on his claim for some time and improving it, he sold out his interest and took a claim in what is now Madison township. In the fall of 1846 he went back to Scott county for his family, and returned in 1848 to the farm which now constitutes his homestead. He was born in New York in the year 1818. In 1838 he came to the State and settled first in Scott county, near Davenport. He has followed the occupation of farming all his life.
Calvin Burt was another early comer; his wife died shortly after his ar- rival; she was buried on the farm of Andrew Grosclose. This was prob- ably the first death that occurred in that neighborhood.
The following were among the number of the first settlers of the Big Creek settlement: Jacob Van Dorn, the Martses, already mentioned, Stephen Harvey, two or three by the name of Byran, Adolphus and Josiah Hopkins, two families by the name of Bowman, three persons by the name of Crabtree, Jacob and George Hauser, Small, Spaulding, Bristow, Norris, Hayes, Bryant, Herbert, Swim, Williams, H. M. Harvey, Jacob Wilson and Conrad Dietz. It is possible that some of the above may have been residents of the west side, where among others resided the following: Nathan Andrews, who came in 1850; John Murray, came in 1853; Miles Stanford, came in 1853; J. D. McClain, came in 1851; T. A. McClain, came in 1846; Samuel Hunt, came in 1846; J. W. Gregory, came in 1850; Joseph Murray, came in 1852; J. C. Beck, came in 1853; P. P. Bristow, came in 1849; the last named gentleman soon after settling in Polk county became one of the aknowledged leaders of the people and continued to maintain the prominent position for which his energy and intelligence so eminently fitted him.
Polk City had two rivals in early times, one Montecute and the other
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Corydon. The former was laid out by John Hauser and the latter by J. H. Skidmore.
Conrad Stutzman came to the county in May, 1846; he sometime after- ward became a resident of Big Creek neighborhood, where he erected a mill. Mr. Stutzman was an enterprising and highly respected citizen; he continued to reside in the county till the time of his death, November, 1869.
A man by the name of Hammond also located in the Big Creek settle- ment and built a saw mill.
The first mill, however, located in that neighborhood was a horse mill owned and operated by Alexander Swim, who, when he came to that re- gion, found the remnants of an old Indian village, called Wauconsa, and out of the material of these rude aboriginal dwellings constructed for him- self a house to live in. In speaking of the early mills of the Big Creek neighborhood, Leonard Brown, the poet laureate of that section, says:
Conrad Stutzman built his mill then; And George Hammond built his mill then. These were water-mills on Big Creek. Some were saw mills-others grist mills; But before this Swim's grand horse-mill Ground the corn for all this region.
Squire Deford was one of the first justices of the peace, and Revs. Messrs. Marts, De Moss and Thompson Bird did the preaching for the people in early days.
J. F. Adams located in the north part of the county in 1853. He at present resides on a farm in section 15, Madison township, where he has lived ever since coming to the State, with the exception of four years, from 1866 to 1870, during which time he resided in Indianola, Warren county, for the purpose of educating his children. Mr. Adams was born in Colum- bus, Ohio, in 1823. At the early age of twelve years, having lost his pa- rents, he was left alone to resist the temptations and fight the battles of life. His youth was passed on a farm in Ohio where he remained till 1840 when he removed to Cumberland county, Illinois. In 1844 he went to Lafayette, Indiana, where he remained till the spring of 1853 when he came to Polk county, Iowa, and settled on the identical tract of land which now consti- tutes his farm. Mr. Adams entered the ministry of the M. E. Church in 1851, and although not constantly engaged in preaching, has done much to advance the interests of that pioneer church in the county.
FOUR MILE SETTLEMENTS.
With the exception of the Des Moines river Four Mile Creek extends over a greater extent of the territory of Polk county than any other stream. Along the course of this stream there were originally extensive and beau- tiful groves of timber which were very attractive to the early settler, and there in early times were some of the most flourishing communities in the county. It was on this stream that Peter Newcomer constructed the first bridge in the county and in consideration of this improvement was per- mitted to take and improve a claim. The claim which he selected for his future home was not however on the banks of the creek, but some distance to the southwest nearer the banks of the Des Moines.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Among the first settlers along the lower course of this stream were Lewis Barlow, a gentleman by the name of Ellison, Joshua Barton and A. J. Barton, a minister, W. W. Harris, Calvin Thornton, Wesley A. Barlow, S. Harvey, F. E. Elliott, J. B. Tiffin, who was for eight years County Treas- urer, Thomas McCall and Ross Garrett, who kept store in the then thriving village of Rising Sun, a gentleman by the name of McBroom and Benja- min Frederick. Thomas Humphreys taught the first school and George Currans was the first justice of the peace. The first couple married was George Stewart and a Miss Rogers; a man by the name of Isaac Barton was married soon after.
Farther north Riley Thornton located on a branch of Four Mile in 1846. James Smith, the nurseryman, before referred to, settled near Four Mile in what is now Delaware Township at an early day; he afterward removed to Bloomfield township.
William Haworth, Isaac Thornton, William James and C. Brazleton were pioneers of the community.
A minister by the name of Corey located in a belt of timber which ex- tended out from Four Mile, and the place was for many years known as Corey's Grove. The first wedding in that neighborhood was the marriage of C. Van Doren to a daughter of William James. The first death was that of a child of William Haworth.
The Rev. Demas Robinson, a Baptist minister whom every one in the county has probably seen or heard of, settled there many years ago; also a Dunkard minister by the name of Florey. Several years ago some seven- teen of these early settlers or their immediate descendants and relatives were on an excursion train visiting their former homes in the East when the train was wrecked and two of the number, Mrs. Brazleton and Isaac Thornton, were killed. The latter came to the county in 1846 and took a claim in section 33, township 80, range 23.
The country in the valley of Four Mile Creek farther north was not much settled till some years later, and the prairie on either side remained unim- proved until comparatively late times. When the prairie country did be- gin to settle up there originated quite a feud between the settlers who had for many years been living in the timber and those who at later times set- tled on the open prairie. The residents in the timber had been in the county longest and claimed that those who went off on the prairie would starve; in the meantime they were not disposed to accord to the others the facilities of good roads or school-houses. . The residents of the prairie, however, did not starve but prospered so that their number rapidly in- creased by the arrival of immigrants. The result was that the inhabitants of the timbered regions finally lost the majority and their neighbors out on the prairie were enabled to enforce their rights.
Four Mile Creek, while not a stream of great size, has considerable fall and the water power was utilized in early times. In 1851 there were two mills on this stream; one of these, a saw mill, was operated by a man named Thompson and had a capacity for sawing two thousand feet of lumber per day. Another, owned by a man named Napier, was arranged for the manu- facture of both lumber and flour. In later years Stephen Harvey erected a saw mill which was very convenient and useful to the settlements along Four Mile.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
CAMP CREEK SETTLEMENTS.
Reference has already been made to the fact that the first settlement made in this part of the county was by Henry B. and Thomas Mitchell in Feb- ruary, 1844. The circumstances which brought about a settlement in that particular neighborhood before the extinction of the Indian title have also been briefly narrated. The importance of this early settlement and the prominence of one of these early settlers in the history of Polk county de- mand that a more elaborate account of Hon. Thomas Mitchell should be given at this place. He was born in Sullivan county, New Hampshire, March 3, 1816. He was of Scotch and Irish descent and inherited those peculiar characteristics which have distinguished him as one man among a thousand and contributed to make him deservedly great among great men. At a very early age he was left by the death of his father in charge of a widowed mother and a large family of helpless children. For seven years he worked as a common day laborer on the farm of a neighbor, attending school for a few months each winter. He started west in the fall of 1839, spending the first winter in St. Charles county, Missouri, and the following March removed to Jefferson county, Iowa, where he remained for four years. In April, 1842, he was elected County Commissioner and served two years when he obtained permission of Capt. Allen to settle in the present bounds of Polk county and removed to the new location as before described. He assisted in the organization of the county in 1846, and was elected first Sheriff. He was elected to represent the district composed of Polk and Jasper counties in the first legislative assembly which met at Des Moines; was elected and served two terms as County Supervisor, and in 1873 was elected to the State Senate. His career as a public officer has been an honorable and active one, but his reputation more particularly rests upon his long, energetic and benevolent career as a private citizen. Few, if any others, have done more to develop the material resources of the county while every moral and educational enterprise has found in him a prompt and liberal patron. The claim which he first took on coming to the county was located in section 25, township 79, range 23. Here amid the solitude of an almost boundless wilderness Mr. Mitchell pitched his tent and unfurled the banner of civilization. To the eastward there was not a settlement nearer than Bear Grove, near the present site of Marengo; southward the nearest settlement was at Red Rock, in Marion county; to the southwest some fifteen or twenty miles distant was the military garri- son of Fort Des Moines; to the west and north nothing but an unknown expanse of boundless wilderness. It required a brave man and a no less brave woman to found a model American home in the midst of such a howling wilderness; Mr. Mitchell and his estimable wife were equal to the emergency, and although the latter did not see a white woman for over three months after coming to the county and was compelled to endure pri- vations, the character and extent of which few women of the present time know anything about, it does not appear that she ever grew discontented or seriously thought of returning. Among the many, who possessed of a mind and a mission, have aided in the development of the western country there are none who more deservedly hold a place in the memory and affec- tion of the present generation than the wife of this brave pioneer.
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