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 44
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I have been frequently asked, as you have, doubtless, why Van Buren County has not increased more rapidly in population. I will give you one or two reasons. It is certainly not because the location is undesirable, nor yet because the soil is not fertile. But, in the first place, there is no large town or city in the county. It is emphatically an agricultural county. And, in the next place, it is a noticeable fact that it filled up very rapidly at its first settlement. Thus, in 1838, it was the second county in population, having 3,174, Des Moines being first, and Van Buren being in advance of Lee or Dubuque. In 1840, it had the largest population, 6,166, Lee being next and Des Moines third. In 1844, it was third, having then over 9,000. Other counties just as large did not fill up so rapidly at first ; and hence the subsequent years show a greater relative increase. This county, it will also be remembered, was the seat of empire-the capital, so to speak, for several years, of the far-famed Des Moines Valley or Republic. Until the new settlements west of us opened up, it was the place sought for by those coming into the Territories. Then most emigrants wanted to get as far south as possible, and this was the " Eldo- rado." In course of time we had a country west and north. the notions of people as to climate changed, and this county did not, therefore, get the same proportion as at first of emigrants, nor could it retain, of course, all those here; and while the growth has been healthy, and the advance in wealth very satisfactory, there was no room or chance for that marked increase as in other counties where the settlements were at first sparse. And yet, if you leave out the large cities in the old counties, such as Keokuk, Burlington, Davenport and Dubuque, you will find that this county has kept pace with any other.
However this may be, it is a matter of congratulation that few counties, if any, have been better managed in their finances, or had better officers. While it may not have as many miles of
* Died at her residence in Keosauqua, May 6, 1873.
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railway, or endeavored by township taxation and county bonds to build railroads, neither has it as many outstanding bonds nor as many masters as some others. It may not have as expensive public buildings, nor manifest as much so-called public spirit in its improvements ; yet it is a matter of pride that it had the first organized County Agricultural Society, dating back to 1841 ; that the county is surpassed by few in the natural advantages of coal, stone, water and rich lands, and has never been afflicted with defaulting public officers, never been compelled to hawk its securities in the market to raise revenue, seldom have its warrants been below par, and, as far as I know, never a dollar lost by an officer's dishonesty. Its schools and churches have con- stantly increased in number, and I doubt whether any county responded more promptly or nobly to the call of the country for the defense of the flag, or was more generous or liberal in caring for the soldier's family and children while he was in the field or after he fell in maintain- ing the nation's honor and unity. It has performed no small part in the history of the State.
THE DISTINGUISHED MEN OF VAN BUREN.
No county in the State has sent out a greater number of noted men than has Van Buren. Appended is a list of those who now come to mind :
George G. Wright, State Senator, Judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and United States Senator.
Dr. J. D. Bailey, United States Marshal four years.
Dr. J. D. Elbert, President of the Territorial Council two sessions.
Samuel Elbert (son), Territorial Secretary of Colorado and Acting Governor for a time-since then appointed Governor and elected Supreme Judge of the State.
Elisha Cutler, Jr., Secretary of State two years.
Josiah H. Bonney, Secretary of State two years, and Commissioner of Des Moines River Improvement for some time.
Paul Brattain, Treasurer of Des Moines River Improvement.
Samuel Parker, President of Oregon Territorial Council.
Edwin Manning, Commissioner of Des Moines River Improvement for over two years, and first successful navigator of the river to Des Moines City.
Dr. Brainard, Member of the first Board of Education from Harrison County, in the Fourth Judicial District.
J. C. Knapp, United States District Attorney and District Judge.
Augustus Hall, Member of Congress, and United States District Judge of Nebraska.
C. C. Nourse, Chief Clerk House of Representative, Secretary of Senate, Attorney General of the State, and District Judge.
J. B. Howell, United States Senator, and Member of Claims Committee.
H. C. Caldwell, Colonel Third Cavalry, and United States District Judge in Arkansas.
B. F. Elbert, Member of House of Representative from Monroe County, Thirteenth General Assembly.
S. W. Summers, Colonel of Eighth Iowa Cavalry.
P. M. Cassady, Recorder of Public Moneys, and Judge of State District Court, and Member of State Senate, Polk County.
Madison Dagger, Major and Civil Engineer, connected with Des Moines Improvement Company.
George F. Wright, State Senator from Council Bluffs.
Aaron W. Harlan, in the United States Secret Service during the Rebellion.
Paul C. Jefferies, Register Des Moines Improvement Company, and a leading man in Wapello County at an early day.
J. G. Newbold, Speaker of House of Representatives, Lieutenant Governor, and at one time Acting Governor of Iowa.
E. K Valentine, Judge in Nebraska ; elected, in 1878, to Congress from there.
J. S. Porter, Lieutenant Colonel Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, County Judge of Wapello County, and Mayor of Ottumwa.
Hugh Brown, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers, and now in regular army on Gen. Ord's Staff.
J. M. Tuttle, Colonel Second Iowa Infantry, Brigadier General United States Volunteers, and Member of Legislature Fourteenth General Assembly.
Henry Ford, District Attorney and Judge of District Court, Fourth Judicial District, for ten years.
Robert Sloan, Judge Circuit Court, now (1878) serving his third term-elected without opposition.
Wareham G. Clark, Member of Second Constitutional Convention from Monroe County.
James B. Weaver, Colonel Second Iowa Infantry, General United States Volunteers, United States Assessor, District Attorney, and Member of Congress ..
Seth Craig, Warden of Penitentiary, and Member of Assembly.
R. B. Rutledge, Provost Marshal.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
N. B. Preston and John Clark, Members of the General Assembly from Monroe County.
Henry Stewart and Timothy Day, Members of State Agricultural College Board, and long most prominently connected with State Agricultural Society.
John W. Jones, County Judge of Hardin County, and State Treasurer for four years. George W. Jones, Member of Thirteenth General Assembly from Polk County. Josiah Clifton, Member of First State General Assembly from Lee County.
George W. McCrary, Member of House and Senate of the State, three times elected to Con- gress from this District, and Secretary of War under President llayes.
Edwin O. Stannard, Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and most prominently connected with the trade and commerce of St. Louis.
R. T. Dibble, Member of the Missouri Legislature two terms.
Delazon Smith, a prominent politician in Oregon and United States Senator from that State. H. W. Sample, Commissioner Des Moines River Improvement, and a Icader wherever he went.
John F. Dillon, Judge of State District and Supreme Courts, and Judge of United States Circuit Court.
John F. Sanford, a celebrated surgeon.
Stiles S. Carpenter, Prosecuting Attorney and District Clerk of Davis County.
Uriah Biggs, United States Surveyor.
Alexander Henry, Sheriff of Dale County, Mo
Lieut. O. W. Claflin, graduate of West Point, in regular army.
Capt. L. S. Cutter graduate of West Point, officer in regular army.
S. M. Clark, editor Gute City, Keokuk.
J. H. Gear, Speaker House of Representatives, wholesale merchant in Burlington, and Gov- ernor of the State of Iowa.
Abner Kneeland, one of the scholars and thinkers of his day.
S. T. Caldwell, a member of the Twelfth and Fourteenth General Assemblies from Wapello County.
J. B. Miller, County Judge and County Auditor of Polk County.
David Ferguson, Member House of Representative, Ninth General Assembly from Davis County.
Andrew Leach, Member of House of Representatives First General Assembly, from Davis County.
Israel Kister, State Treasurer in 1850 and 1852.
Jolın J. Selnian, Member of Second Constitutional Convention, Senator and President of the First and Senator of the Second General Assembly.
So far as known, the State never lost a cent by the fraud, dishonesty, or mismanagement of any of these officers, nor the world made worse by their acts or omissions. There is here an honest population, and they have sent ont, as a rule, if not always, honest representatives to fill places of trust.
In addition to the above list there are seventeen editors, nine ministers, five lawyers, and an endless number of active, leading men in various parts of the country claiming birth or residence at one time in Van Buren County.
HOW PIONEERS LIVED.
In choosing his home the pioneer usually had an eye mainly to its location, and for that reason settlers were oftener than not very solitary creatures, with- out neighbors and remote from even the common conveniences of life. A desir- able region was sure to have plenty of inhabitants in time, but it was the advance guard that suffered the privation of isolation. People within a score of miles of each other were neighbors, and the natural social tendencies of man- kind asserted themselves even in the wilderness by efforts to keep up communi- cation with even these remote families.
The first business of a settler on reaching the place where he intended to fix his residence, was to select his claim and mark it off as nearly as he could without a compass. This was done by stepping and staking or blazing the lines as he went. The absence of section lines rendered it necessary to take the sun at noon and at evening as a guide by which to run these claim lines. So many steps each way counted three hundred and twenty acres, more or less, the then legal area of a claim. It may be readily supposed that these lines were far
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from correct, but they answered all necessary claim purposes, for it was under- stood among the settlers that when the lands came to be surveyed and entered, all inequalities should be righted. Thus, if a surveyed line should happen to run between adjoining claims, cutting off more or less of the other, the fraction was to be added to whichever lot required equalizing, yet without robbing the one from which it was taken, for an equal amount would be added to it in another place.
The next important business was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons, perhaps the only shel- ter they had known for weeks. So the prospect for a house, which was also to be home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of the home entered very little into their thoughts- it was shelter they wanted, and protection from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appli- ances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have a mere cabin or hut. Some of the most primitive constructions of this kind were half-faced, or as they were sometimes called " cat-faced " sheds or " wike- ups," the Indian term for house or tent. It is true, a claim cabin was a little more in the shape of a human habitation, made, as it was, of round logs light enough for two or three men to lay up, about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little larger or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboards, and sometimes with the sods of the prairie ; and floored with puncheons (logs split once in two, and the flat sides laid up), or with earth. For a fire-place, a wall of stone and earth- frequently the latter only, when stone was not convenient-was made in the best practicable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the build- ing, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood notched together to stay it. Frequently a fire-place of this kind was made so capa- cious as to occupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather, when a great deal of fuel was needed to keep the atmosphere above freezing point-for this wide-mouthed fire-place was a huge ventilator-large logs were piled into this yawning space. To protect the crumbling back wall against the effects of fire, two back logs were placed against it, one upon the other. Some- times these back logs were so large that they could not be got in in any other way than to hitch a horse to them, drive him in at one door, unfasten the log before the fire place, from whence it was put in proper position, and then drive him out at the other door. For a chimney, any contrivance that would conduct the smoke up the chimney would do. Some were made of sods, plastered upon the inside with clay ; others-the more common, perhaps-were of the kind we occasionally see in use now, clay and sticks, or "cat in clay," as they were sometimes called. Imagine of a winter's night, when the storm was having its own wild way over this almost uninhabited land, and when the wind was roar- ing like a cataract of cold over the broad wilderness. and the settler had to do his best to keep warm, what a royal fire this double-back-logged and well-filled fire-place would hold ! It must have been a cozy place to smoke, provided the settler had any tobacco ; or for the wife to sit knitting before, provided she had needles and yarn. At any rate it must have given something of cheer to the conversation, which very likely was upon the home and friends they had left be- hind when they started out on this bold venture of seeking fortunes in a new land.
For doors and windows, the most simple contrivances that would serve the purposes were brought into requisition. The door was not always immediately provided with a shutter, and a blanket often did duty in guarding the entrance. But as soon as convenient, some boards were split and put together, hung upon wooden hinges, and held shut by a wooden pin inserted in an auger hole. As
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substitute for window glass, greased paper, pasted over sticks crossed in the shape of a sash, was sometimes used. This admitted the light and excluded the air, but of course lacked transparency.
In regard to the furniture of such a cabin, of course it varied in proportion to the ingenuity of its occupants, unless it was where settlers brought with them their old household supply, which, owing to the distance most of them had come, was very seldom. It was easy enough to improvise tables and chairs ; the for- mer could be made of split logs-and there were instances where the door would be taken from its hinges and used at meals, after which it would be rehung- and the latter were designed after the threc-legged stool pattern, or benches served their purpose. A bedstead was a very important item in the domestic comfort of the family, and this was the fashion of improvising them : A forked stake was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room, and at a proper distance. upon which poles reaching from each wall were laid. The wall ends of the poles either rested in the openings between the logs or were driven into auger holes. Barks or boards were used as a substitute for cords. Upon this the tidy housewife spread her straw tick, and if she had a home-made feather bed, she piled it up into a luxurious mound and covered it with her whitest drapery. Some sheets hung behind it, for tapestry, added to the cozi- ness of the resting-place. This was generally called a " prairie bedstead," and by some the " prairie rascal." In design it is surely quite equal to the famous Eastlake models, being about as primitive and severe, in an artistic sense, as one could wishi.
The house thus far along, it was left to the deft devices of the wife to com- plete its comforts, and the father of the family was free to superintend out-of- door affairs. If it was in season, his first important duty was to prepare some ground for planting, and to plant what he could. This was generally done in the edge of the timber, where most of the very earliest settlers located. Here the sod was easily broken, not requiring the heavy teams and plows needed to break the prairie sod. Moreover, the nearness to timber offered greater conven- iences for fuel and building. And still another reason for this was, that the groves afforded protection from the terrible conflagrations that occasionally swept across the prairies. Though they passed through the patches of timber, yet it was not with the same destructive force with which they rushed over the prairies. Yet by these fires much of the young timber was killed from time to time, and the forests kept thin and shrubless.
The first year's farming consisted mainly of a " truck patch," planted in corn, potatoes, turnips, etc. Generally, the first year's crop fell far short of supplying even the most rigid economy of food. Many of the settlers brought with them small stores of such things as seemed indispensable to frugal living, such as flour, bacon, coffee and tea. But these supplies were not inexhaustible, and once used, were not easily replaced. A long winter must come and go before another crop could be raised. If game was plentiful, it helped to eke out their limited supplies.
But even when corn was plentiful, the preparation of it was the next diffi- culty in the way. The mills for grinding it were at such long distances that every other device was resorted to for reducing it to meal. Some grated it on an implement made by punching small holes through a piece of tin or sheet iron, and fastening it upon a board in concave shape, with the rough side out. Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grating could not be done when the corn became so dry as to shell off when rubbed. Some used a coffee-mill for grinding it. And a very common substitute for bread was
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
hominy, a palatable and wholesome diet, made by boiling corn in weak lye till the hull or bran peels off, after which it was well washed, to cleanse it of the lye. It was then boiled again to soften it, when it was ready for use as occa- sion required, by frying and seasoning it to the taste. Another mode of preparing hominy was by pestling.
A mortar was made by burning a bowl-shaped cavity in the even end of an upright block of wood. After thoroughly clearing it of the charcoal, the corn could be put in, hot water turned upon it, when it was subjected to a severe pestling by a club of sufficient length and thickness, in the large end of which was inserted an iron wedge, banded to keep it there. The hot water would soften the corn and loosen the hull, while the pestle would crush it.
When breadstuffs were needed, they had to be obtained from long distances. Owing to the lack of proper means for threshing and cleaning wheat, it was more or less mixed with foreign substances, such as smut, dirt and oats. And as the time may come when the settlers' methods of threshing and cleaning may be forgotten, it may be well to preserve a brief account of them here. The plan was to clean off a space of ground of sufficient size, and if the earth was dry, to dampen it and beat it so as to render it somewhat compact. Then the sheaves were unbound and spread in a circle, so that the heads would be uppermost, leaving room in the center for the person whose business it was to stir and turn the straw in the process of threshing. Then as many horses or oxen were brought as could conveniently swing round the circle, and these were kept moving until the wheat was well trodden out. After several "floorings " or layers were threshed the straw was carefully raked off, and the wheat shoveled into a heap to be cleaned. This cleaning was sometimes done by waving a sheet up and down to fan out the chaff as the grain was dropped before it ; but this trouble was frequently obviated when the strong winds of autumn were all that was needed to blow out the chaff from the grain.
This mode of preparing the grain for flouring was so imperfect that it is not to be wondered at that a considerable amount of black soil got mixed with it, and unavoidably got into the bread. This, with the addition of smut, often rendered it so dark as to have less the appearance of bread than of mud; yet upon such diet, the people were compelled to subsist for want of a better.
Not the least among the pioneers' tribulations, during the first few years of settlement, was the going to mill. The slow mode of travel by ox-teams was made still slower by the almost total absence of roads and bridges, while such a thing as a ferry was hardly even dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was often as far as sixty or ninety miles. In dry weather, common sloughs and creeks offered little impediment to the teamsters ; but during floods, and the breaking-up of winter, they proved exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. To get stuck in a slough, and thus be delayed for many hours, was no uncom- mon occurrence, and that, too, when time was an item of grave import to the comfort and sometimes even to the lives of the settlers' families. Often, a swollen stream would blockade the way, seeming to threaten destruction to whoever should attempt to ford it.
With regard to roads, there was nothing of the kind worthy of the name. Indian trails were common, but they were unfit to travel on with vehicles. They are described as mere paths about two feet wide ; all that was required to accommodate the single-file manner of Indian traveling.
An interesting theory respecting the origin of the routes now pursued by many of our public highways is given in a speech by Thomas Benton many
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years ago. He says the buffaloes were the first road engineers, and the paths trodden by them were, as a matter of convenience, followed by the Indians, and lastly by the whites, with such improvements and changes as were found neces- sary for civilized modes of travel. It is but reasonable to suppose that the buffaloes would instinctively choose the most practicable routes and fords in their migrations from one pasture to another. Then, the Indians following, possessed of about the same instinet as the buffaloes, strove to make no improve- ments, and were finally driven from the track by those who would.
When the early settlers were compelled to make those long and difficult trips to mill, if the country was prairie over which they passed, they found it com- paratively easy to do in summer, when grass was plentiful. By traveling until night, and then camping out to feed the teams, they got along without much difficulty. But in winter, such a journey was attended with no little danger. The utmost economy of time was, of course, necessary. When the goal was reached, after a week or more of toilsome travel, with many exposures and risks, and the poor man was impatient to immediately return with the desired staff of life, he was often shocked and disheartened with the information that his turn would come in a week. Then he must look about for some means to pay expenses, and he was lucky who could find some employment by the day or job. Then, when his turn came, he had to be on hand to bolt his own flour, as in those days, the bolting machine was not an attached part of the other mill machinery. This done, the anxious soul was ready to en- dure the trials of a return trip, his heart more or less concerned about the affairs of home.
These milling trips often occupied from three weeks to more than a month each, and were attended with an expense, in one way or another, that rendered the cost of breadstuffs extremely high. If made in the winter, when more or less grain feed was required for the team, the load would be found to be so con- siderably reduced on reaching home that the cost of what was left, adding other expenses, would make their grain reach the high cost figure of from three to five dollars per bushel. And these trips could not always be made at the most favorable season for traveling. In spring and summer, so much time could hardly be spared from other essential labor ; yet, for a large family it was almost impossible to avoid making three or four trips during the year.
Among other things calculated to annoy and distress the pioneer, was the prevalence of wild beasts of prey, the most numerous and troublesome of which was the wolf. While it was true in a figurative sense that it required the ut- most care and exertion to "keep the wolf from the door," it was almost as true in a literal sense.
There were two species of these animals-the large, black timber wolf, and the smaller gray wolf, that usually inhabited the prairie. At first, it was next to impossible for a settler to keep small stock of any kind that would serve as a prey to these ravenous beasts. Sheep were not deemed safe property until years after, when their enemies were supposed to be nearly exterminated. Large numbers of wolves were destroyed during the early years of settlement as many as fifty in a day in a regular wolf-hunt. When they were hungry, which was not uncommon, particularly during the winter, they were too indis- creet for their own safety, and would often approach within easy shot of the settlers' dwellings. At certain seasons, their wild, plaintive yelp or bark could be heard in all directions, at all hours of the night, creating in- tense excitement among the dogs, whose howling would add to the dismal melody.
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