USA > Iowa > Van Buren County > The history of Van Buren 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, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Iowa &c > Part 40
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" The Governor then addressed the widow, through John Goodell, the inter- preter of the Hardfish band, giving all the details of the transfer of the bones from the grave to Quincy and back to Burlington, and assured her that they were the veritable bones of her deceased husband ; that he had sympathized deeply with her in her great affliction, and that he now hoped she would be consoled and comforted by the return of the precious relics to her care, under a strong confidence that they would not again be disturbed where she might choose to entomb them. The widow then advanced to the lid of the box, and, without the least seeming emotion, picked up in her fingers bone after bone, and examined each with the seeming curiosity of a child, and, replacing each bone in its proper place, turned to the interpreter, and replied that she fully believed they were Black Hawk's bones, and that she knew the Governor was a good old man, or he would not have taken the great pains he had manifested to oblige her, and, in consideration of his great benevolence and disinterested friendship, she would leave the bones under his care and protection. The con- ference then closed, and the distinguished visitors took leave of the Governor and the assembled auditors. This scene was detailed by the Governor to the present writer while standing at the side of the famous box soon after its occurrence.
" On the accession of Gen. Harrison to the Presidency, Gov. Lucas was removed from the gubernatorial office of the Territory, and removed his private office into the same room with Dr. Enos Lowe, now of Omaha City, Nebraska. An historical society was organized in Burlington about this time, and an effort was made to get these relics into their cabinet and under the control of their society. This arrangement was never formally effected ; but, in the course of events, they happened to be in the same building with the society's collection,
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and the whole were consumed in the burning of the building, which occurred later."
On page 74 of this volume is given the generally accepted version of the causes which led to the Black Hawk war of 1832; but that story is vague and unsatisfactory. On page 157 another, and in the main a correct, account is given. From Mr. Jordan we learn facts of more than local interest in this dis- puted case, and give them here.
Somewhere about 1828-29, a man named Watts, while driving cattle through this region, about where Iowaville now is, was beset by Indians. Watts had with him a man whose name is not remembered now. This man was killed by a savage. The murder was committed on Indian territory, and a demand was made on Black Hawk for the criminal. He was delivered up to the United States authorities and taken to St. Louis, where he was tried and condemned. Some of the tribe went to St. Louis to intercede for their companion, but did not accomplish their purpose. The Indian was hanged. However, while the Indians were in St. Louis they fell victims of sharpers, who obtained a professed title to Black Hawk's village, on the Rock River, by presents of less value than the Government price of the land. When the embassy returned with their ill- gotten trinkets, Black Hawk was wroth, and denounced the fraud. Subse- quently, probably the next spring, on the opening of the season of 1830, the men who had obtained such title to the land came on, and drove the Indian women and children from the village, during the temporary absence of the braves. Black Hawk made issue with the fraudulent possessors of his home, and offered to stake thirty of his braves against thirty white soldiers to test the question of title by a fight. This offer was declined by the military, but the whites said they would pit the United States army against the Indians of his tribe. Black Hawk took up the gauntlet, and hence the famous, but disastrous, Black Hawk war.
This version, it will be seen, substantially corroborates the story obtained by research in Illinois.
Of the Black Hawk war it is not within the province of this sketch to speak ; it belongs to the history of Illinois, and has been repeatedly written up. After the defeat of Black Hawk, in 1832, he was captured and taken to Prairie du Chien. After an imprisonment in Jefferson Barracks, and, subsequently, in Fortress Monroe, whither he was taken, he was returned at the intercession of Keokuk to this region. In his old age, Black Hawk sought the company of the garrison, his band was broken up, and the once great man was left alone in his declining years. Maj. Beach relates the following incident derived from personal observation :
" Black Hawk's lodge was always the perfection of cleanliness, a quite unu- sual thing for an Indian. The writer has seen the old woman busily at work with her broom, by time of sunrise, sweeping down the little ant-hills in the yard that had been thrown up during the night. As the chiefs of the nation seemed to pay him but little attention in the waning years of his life, Gen. Street, the Agent, looked out for his comfort more carefully than otherwise he would have thought it needful to do, and, among other things, gave him a cow -an appendage to an Indian's domestic establishment hitherto unheard of. The old squaw and daughter were instructed in the art of milking her, and she was held among them in almost as great reverence as the sacred ox Apis was held among the ancient Egyptians.
" This was in the summer of 1838, when the Agency was in process of erection, and Black Hawk had established his lodge on the banks of the Des
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Moines, about three miles below Eldon. Close by was the trading-house of Wharton McPherson, with whom the writer stayed one night in August of said year (1838), and, as he rode past the lodge, Mme. Black Hawk was compla- cently sitting upon a log by the side of her cow, under a heavily-branched tree, industriously brushing the flies and mosquitoes from the bovine with a rag tied to the end of a stick. Mr. McPherson said this was her daily occupation in fly-time, often following the animal around as it grazed at a distance. This was the last occasion that ever the writer had for an interview with Black Hawk, as he died within two months of that time (September 15, 1838), and was even then so infirm that he could barely move about his wigwam."
Still another mooted question is that concerning the death, burial and resur- rection of Black Hawk, for the old brave was not permitted to rest in his tomb after his fitful life-fever was over. The best authority on this subject is Mr. Jor- dan. From him the following statement was obtained :
On the 1st day of September, 1838, Mu-ca-tah-mich-a-ka-kah sickened with fever. The old brave requested Mr. Jordan to send to Fort Edward (now Warsaw) for Dr. Peel. A letter was duly dispatched, in which the doctor was promised the sum of $300 if he would attend the summons. The message was slow in going, and before a response could be made the soul of the brave old Indian had passed to the happy hunting-ground.
Black Hawk died September 15, 1838, in the sixty-third year of his life. Be- fore he died, he requested Mr. Jordan to observe certain ceremonies in his burial. His body was to be clothed in full uniform, a suit of military clothes presented him by Gen. Jackson, upon which was a pair of epaulets valued at $500. Three med- als, which had been given him by the British, the French and the American Governments, respectively, and valued in the aggregate at $1,200, were to be placed upon his breast. He was to be buried in a sitting posture, and a mound of earth erected above him in such a manner as to leave an unobstructed view of the interior, through orifices left for the purpose. The locality was designa- ted by Black Hawk himself, as the site of his last friendly council with the Iowa Indians. This point was upon Mr. Jordan's farm, on Section 2, Town- ship 70 north, Range 12 west.
The injunction was faithfully carried out. The body was dressed as the brave had directed, and blankets and gloves were added. Some time later, Mrs. Black Hawk came to Mr. Jordan with the alarming story that her hus- band's head had been stolen. Upon investigating the sepulcher it was found that the head had dropped over from its own weight. Mr. Jordan replaced the member and repaired the tomb.
The alarm thus given was not entirely groundless, however, for on the 3d of July, 1839, Dr. Turner stole the head and made off with it. In February, 1840, the act of desecration was completed, when the entire body was removed. It was taken to Alton, Ill., and there the bones were cleaned and wired by a professional anatomist. Mrs. Black Hawk and her sons made a disturbance over the affair, and the matter was taken up by Gov. Lucas. The widow painted her face with black, in spots, and passed two days without food, in mourning, walking up and down the river-bank. When at last the bones were discovered, the family was notified and visited Burlington. They saw that the skeleton " was in a good, dry place," and concluded to let it remain there. Maj. Beach said that he notified the widow of the willingness of the authori- ties to surrender the bones, but that she seemed indifferent to the matter. At all events, nothing was done by the family to secure a re-interment of the remains. Subsequently, the State building in which the remains were placed,
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at Burlington, was consumed by fire. One report says that the skeleton was destroyed therein; but another story is that some physician had borrowed the bones to exhibit them before a class in anatomy, and that they were not in the building when it burned. The latter report is wholly improbable; for if it was true some one would know of the fact, and publicly acknowledge the existence of the skeleton. It is also said that the skull is in the Smithsonian Institution. at Washington; but that is more unreasonable than any of the wild inventions. The truth is, probably, that Black Hawk found a final earthly resting-place amid the ashes of the ruined structure, and that the last act of his eventful career was not less dramatic than the first public appearance of the brave. Literally and truthfully may we say, dust to dust, ashes to ashes; and may they rest in peace.
Black Hawk's wife and sons are dead. A daughter is living with the Sac and Fox nation, near Fort Sill. An incident or two will not be out of place here: It is asserted that, during the troubles of 1812, the British Government offered Black Hawk a medal and $5,000 worth of blankets to fight for them. He accepted the offer, for he never liked the United States Government over- well, and signified his readiness to move his men. He then found that the British commander insisted upon his giving up his authority over his own braves and intrusting it to an English officer. This arrangement he scorned, and giv- ing the order of stampede to his men, they dashed away like shot from a can- non's mouth. This scene is located at Malden, near Detroit.
Black Hawk used to boast that he never killed a prisoner. He had capt- ured many, but had treated them magnanimously. This, we infer, relates to white prisoners.
ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN.
Having traced the existence of the two preliminary races-the Mound- Builders and the Indians-which dwelt within the region of the Des Moines, we introduce, in regular order, the pale-faced intruder on the domain of the savage. The first settlement in Southern Iowa was made in the vicinity of Burlington, and through that gate entered the vast army that has worked such wonders in the way of improvement. A brief description of who began the labor of developing Iowa, and how it was performed, is necessary to perfect the thread of this narrative of fact. From the pen of Dr. William R. Ross is gathered the following interesting record :
" It may not be uninteresting," observes the Doctor, " to give some of the names of those who first explored Southern Iowa, in 1832, prior to making a permanent settlement in 1833. First, among others, were Maj. Joseph B. Teas and Joseph Morgan, afterward citizens of Albia; Col. William Morgan, William Stewart, John Ward, Isaac Canterberg, Lewis Watters, Isaac Cranshaw, Ben- jamın Tucker, Ezekiel Smith and sons Paris and Lineas, John Bullard. Richard Sand, Thomas Dovrell, David Tethro, S. S. White, M. M. McCarver, Berryman Jenkins, William Wright, John Harris and Charles Teas, with others that were in Iowa when I came in July, 1833. Mrs. Sarah Hilleary, wife of Alexander Hilleary, near Burlington, came with her father, Col. William Mor- gan, in February, 1832, to do the domestic work, while her father was improv- ing his claim and building a house preparatory to moving his family, and was one of the families driven on the big island just below Burlington, by soldiers from Rock Island, as the Indian title had not been extinguished.
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" The title remained in the Indians until June, 1833. At this time, Rich- ard Chaney resided at Fort Madison, and Dr. Garland and Mr. Campbell, and, perhaps, a few others on the half-breed tract. After June 1. 1833, the country was settled very rapidly; as every one then had the liberty of taking to them- selves a claim of half a section of land, one-quarter of timber and one of prairie, and the right to purchase as many claims as he had the money for. This rule occasioned much disturbance by new immigrants coming into the country and finding one man holding more than one claim. It drove them back into the new region against their will. In the winter of 1833-34, we were attached to Michigan Territory for judicial purposes, and the laws, with instructions, were sent me by the Legislature of Michigan to organize Des Moines County, by appointing special elections to be held to elect officers to discharge the duties of an organized county. Col. William Morgan was elected Superior Judge, and Henry Walker and Young L. Hughes, Assistants, of Circuit Court, which was the highest court we had in Iowa at that time. Col. W. H. Chapman was Prosecuting Attorney; W. R. Ross, Clerk; Solomon Perkins, Sheriff ; John Barker, Justice of the Peace; W. R. Ross, Treasurer and Recorder, and, at the time, acting Postmaster in the only post office in the Territory. He was the only practicing physician in that part of the Territory, meanwhile carrying on a dry goods and drug store. In addition to this, Mr. Ross inclosed, in 1834, 160 acres of prairie land with a stake-and-rider fence, grew eighty acres of corn, on another claim, and improved still another forty acres back of Burling- ton. He also improved some twenty acres, and erected buildings for a private residence.
" There was a settlement from near the mouth of Long Creek, northeast of Augusta, made by six or seven families from Indiana, in July, 1833, eight miles west of Burlington.
" In regard to public improvements, in the fall of 1833, Mr. Ross built the first schoolhouse, on his claim just back of the public square, at his own expense, and, in the spring of 1834, Z. C. Ingraham was employed to teach. Mr. Ross boarded him free of cost. This was the first English school taught in Iowa. In 1834, Mr. Ross organized the first Sunday school in Iowa, furnishing a library from Cincinnati, at a cost of $12.50, and taught the school himself. As the population increased, a new library was needed ; the old one was donated to Mt. Pleasant, where a school had been organized, and a new lot of books, cost- ing $25, was put in. Of those denominations who joined in the work of main- taining the school, Mr. Ross remembers: Mr. and Mrs. J. Edwards, W. H. Starr (then a lawyer, of the Congregational faith); George Partridge (who became a wholesale merchant of St. Louis), of the Unitarian faith ; David Rover, of the Presbyterian faith; John B. Gray, of the Baptist faith. Mr. Newhall and Dr. John Campbell are warmly spoken of in this connection, also.
" The day school was taught by Mrs. Shelton and Mrs. Mayfield; and after the old Zion M. E. Church was built, Rev. E. M. Scott, the tallest man in the neighborhood, lived in the basement of the church and taught school therein. Afterward a man named Townsend taught.
"Dr. Crawford, from Brooke County, Va., settled in Burlington in 1833 : he practiced during the winter, and then moved to Texas. In the spring of 1834, Drs. Shuff, of Kentucky, and Center of Indiana, located in Burlington, and formed a partnership. Center died within the year, and Shuff returned to Kentucky. Dr. Teas practiced in 1835. Dr. D. W. Hickock, of New York, located there in 1835, and remained until his death. Dr. S. S. Ransom, of
C
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Vermont, settled there about the same date. Dr. E. Lowe, of Indian, came in 1836 ; he afterward removed to Omaha.
" The first court ever held in Southern Iowa, convened at the house of Mr. Ross, on the block immediately east of the public square, in the spring of 1835. Judges presiding: William Morgan, Henry Walker and Young R. Hughes. Resident lawyers: W. W. Chapman, Robert Williams, Isaac Leffler, Joseph B. Teas. Visiting lawyers: Mr. Little, of Carthage, Ill., and James W. Woods, usually called "Old Timber." Mr. Ross owned the only law library then in Burlington, and that was a small one. In the spring of 1836, David Rover began the practice of law ; in 1836-37, M. D. Browning and J. W. Grimes, also. In 1836-37, Joseph B. Teas and Jeremiah Smith, Jr., rep- resented Des Moines at the Legislature which organized the Territory of Iowa. In the spring of 1838, Charles Mason moved to Burlington and began the practice of law. There was an exodus of lawyers from that place about then. J. C. Hall, William Thompson, J. B. and G. W. Teas and Van Allen located at Mt. Pleasant; Thomas and Springer, at Wapello, Louisa County; Daniel Miller and Rich, at Ft. Madison.
"In 1837-38, the Territory was established, and Burlington made the capital. The first session was held in the old Zion Church.
"In March, 1834, Barton H. Cartright preached in Burlington. Asa McMurtry preached for two weeks, shortly after. W. D. R. Trotter followed. In May, 1834, Peter Cartright held two days' camp-meeting near the public square. In the winter of 1834-35, Seamen B. Stateter, of the Missouri Con- ference, formed the Burlington Circuit, and appointed John H. Ruble preacher in charge. This Circuit included all the territory south of Rock Island to the southern boundary, and west to the Missouri River. In 1835-36, Andrew Monroe held quarterly meeting. In May, Mr. Ruble died, and Peter Brown, of Quincy, Ill., preached his funeral sermon. Wilson Pitner supplied the place for a short time. Nicholas S. Barton next preached, and in 1837, Moses McMurtry had charge. In 1839, Asa West followed, and, in 1840, J. Ar- vington, as preachers on the Circuit. Isaac S. Stewart was located preacher in charge of the Burlington Church."
In 1838, Gen. Joseph Street was transferred from the Agency of the Win- nebagoes at Praire du Chien, Wis., to Iowa, for the purpose of establishing a military outpost for the protection of the general interests of the Government. He made a barrack at Agency City, in Wapello County, and may be esteemed the first white man to open the onward march of the pale-faces toward Monroe County.
In a dense wilderness he built up for himself a home of as comfortable a character as the times and circumstances would permit. He improved a farm and availed himself of such opportunities as lay within his reach. Joseph Smart, the interpreter, and a man named Baker, who was a blacksmith by trade, were the only white persons, beside the garrison, in the settlement. A trading-post was soon established by Messrs. Ewings & Phelps, near the Agency.
In 1841, J. P. Eddy, from St. Louis, opened a trading-post where Eddy- ville now stands, near the northeast corner of Monroe County. He at once secured the friendship of the Indians.
Wabekeshiek, the prophet of the Sacs and Foxes, built his village on the right bank of the Des Moines, a mile above Eddy's post. The Indians grew corrupt after the passage by Congress of the bill granting annuities, growing out of the Black Hawk treaty of peace. They would not hunt or fish, and
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subsisted on their grants from the Great Father. The Indians became so demoralized by the freedom from labor thus secured that the mortality of the tribe was greatly increased. The prophet told them that the cause of all their woes arose from the relinquishment of their lands to the Government. There is something sad in the spectacle of a once powerful race of men thus driven to the extremity of extinction. In 1845, the Indians were removed entirely from the State, to reservations in Kansas.
John Goodell, the interpreter of Hardfish's band, was the next to move toward Monroe County. He improved a farm not far from the line between Wapello and Monroe, known as the Ogden place, located some four miles below Eddy's post.
"In 1843," says Dr. Ross, "I visited the country as far up as where Eddyville now stands, at that time an Indian village called Hardfisher. J. P. Eddy was located there as a trader with the Indians. I found a few old friends, who had made claims on both sides of the river ; among them, John B. Gray, who had located about three miles west, on Gray's Creek, in Kishkekosh County."
THE PIONEERS OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
The first appearance of white men in Van Buren County occurred long before local boundaries or a name marked the geographical existence of the county. As is shown by the preceding chapters relative to the trading-posts on the Des Moines, and as will be, further on, confirmed by extracts from Judge Wright's address before the Pioneer Association of Van Buren County, the first white men came into this region in 1832. There were Capt. William .Phelps, Peter Avery, and possibly one or two others (but that point is not clear, and the names of those men alone are positively correct) in the trading movement. It is believed that they arrived at their destination in November, 1832. Avery spent the winter of 1832-33, opposite the site of Kilbourne, at the mouth of Lick Creek.
The first settlements for purposes of actual improvement were made near the site of Farmington. The first man, it is claimed, to locate in the county, however, was Abel Galland, who made a claim near the site of Farmington, some time in 1833 ; but the date is not definitely given.
We here give, in the way of general credit, the authorities upon which these and subsequent statements are made ; for the purpose of this work is to weave into consecutive order all information relative to the early life of this county. First, we shall hereafter quote freely, and in many places literally, from Judge George G. Wright's address, delivered August 28, 1872, before the Pioneer Association, at Keosauqua ; from the speech of A. H. McCrary ; from the speech of Edwin Manning: from the speech of Charles Baldwin, and from other sources, obtained from Mr. Ed. Goddard, Secretary of the Pioneer Asso- ciation. Where such quotations are made, we shall omit special credit or quota- tion marks ; for this is not claimed as an original composition, but merely as a compilation of reliable data. With this explanation, let us proceed :
Abel Galland and William Jordon, in the spring of 1833. settled at Farm- ington ; and William Avery (brother of Peter) and James Jordon, the same spring, established a small trading-post at the mouth of the stream before named (Lick Creek); and James Lamb (who afterward, it will be remembered, was among the first of those who made the overland trip to Oregon), in 1835, settled just above where Kilbourne now is. The same year, or, at least, about this time, James Alfrey came to Farmington, and found there and and in that vicinity, in addition to those above named, John Fretwell, Jonas F. Denny,
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Zeke McCarty, John Maxwell and Samuel Maxwell. Soon thereafter, we find the Swazeys, Houghtons, Crows, Henry Bateman, John Newport, H. G. Stuart, Tilford Reed, William Brattain, and above there, on the river, Dr. R. N. Cresap and Samuel C. Reed.
THE FIRST BIRTH.
There are, naturally, several claimants to the distinction of being the first- born in Van Buren County. February 14, 1836, John M. Whitaker located in Union Township. His son, Samuel V., was born May 9, 1837. By some, this is regarded as the first birth ; but it is manifestly not so, since Jacob Alfrey was born, near Farmington, January 17, 1834. Charles Johnson, son of Abington Johnson, was born February, 1836. Humphrey Brittain, son of William Brattain, Sr., was born June 8, 1836. Mrs. Lorenzo Dow Borden, daughter of John Newort, was born, near Farmington, July 31, 1835. From these dates of the several claimants, there is no alternative but to place Jacob Alfrey as the first boy and Mrs. Borden as the first girl born in the county. If this conclusion is wrong, then the source from which the information is obtained is alone responsible. The only person who has seriously disputed this statement is Mr. A. W. Harlan, who gives a son of Jonas F. Denny the preced- ence; but does not furnish the necessary date. This Denny was quite a character. He went to California, at an early day, and there became the sub- ject of a novel. Mark Twain also wrote of him in "Innocents Abroad," as Denny was of that famous party.
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