USA > Iowa > Warren County > The history of Warren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics &c > Part 37
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The first road in the county was the old "Dragoon Trail" in 1843 from Parmelee's mill to Fort Des Moines, and was made by hauling lumber to build the fort. The next road was, probably, the old " Mormon Trail," passing from Dudley to a point near where John Hargis' house now stands and then, it is thought, on up what is now known as the "Scotch Ridge." They were selected only for their special purposes, and were, of course, over the natural irregularities of the country, and no work was put on them.
Fort Des Moines was the nearest and only post-office even until 1850 -except one near where Ackworth now stands-when post-offices began to be established in the newer and more sparsely settled portions of country surrounding the " Fort."
The first marriage in this neighborhood, so far as we have been able to discover, was that of Owen Adkins and Tabitha Jane Hargis, on the 6th of December, 1849, Rev. Samuel Keeney being the officiating clergyman.
The first birth was that of George Smith Parmelee, son of John D. Parmelee, on the 17th of November, 1843. The next was Allen Griffin Parmelee, on January 24th, 1846.
The first girl born in this neighborhood was Helen Parmelee, on the 1st day of April, 1848.
Cornelins Mason, son of William Mason, was born on the 22d day of May, 1846, and was, therefore, the third boy born in the county.
Matthew Farley was born about one mile west of where Palinyra now stands, on the 10th day of November, 1846.
By the time the children of the settlers became large and numerous enough, schools were established in two or three different parts of this neighborhood at about the same time. In the Hartford neighborhood a log school-house was built in 1847, by the neighbors clubbing together, the name of the teacher of which we could not discover. The second was taught by 'Squire Newton Guthrie. In the Quaker neighborhood the first school was taught about the winter of 1848, near the site of where the old town of Wilmington used to stand. The house in which it was taught was one which some settler had built in order to hold his claim, but which he had abandoned. The old settlers cannot recall who was the teacher of this first school. At Carlisle the first school was taught by Miss Amelia Brand, in the summer of 1849. The directors were John Hargis, Nicholas Beezley
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
and Charles Keeney, and the amount of permanent school funds appor- tioned to the district, which was then very large, was twenty dollars, which was paid to John Hargis. The compensation paid Miss Brand for her three months' work was thirty dollars. It was taught in a house which was built on Daniel Moore's land, about ten rods north of George Yount's present residence. Miss Brand married soon after this, and emigrated in 1852 to Oregon, in which State she still resides.
We shall again recur to this settlement in the history of the various townships of which it was composed.
The next settlement in the county was that surrounding Ackworth. It included the settlers living near Ackworth, as well as those who settled near Indianola, those who lived near Hammondsburgh, as well as those who settled in White Oak and Squaw townships-or all the people within a radius of some ten miles.
The first party to come was one led by David Lair, who still lives in the county and has a vivid recollection of everything connected with its history. He arrived in the county on the 27th day of March, 1846, and stopped on South River, about three and a half miles east of Indianola. He came from Clinton county, Ohio, in 1845, stopping for a time in Illinois on the way. With him came to this county, from Illinois, Alex. Ginder, still living on his farm near Ackworth, William Ginder, Thomas Feagins, who lived in the county until his death, in 1872, and Matthias Reynolds.
Dillon Haworth came some time in April following, and Samuel Haworth came on the 1st day of June, and R. M. Hightower, Thomas Hightower, Sanford Brown, who came with Dillon Haworth, arrived also the same summer. Allen Brooks also came with David Lair, but did not remain long, going to California at the time of the great rush during the gold excitement. He now lives in Davis county. Jonathan Dillon came from Illinois, in 1846. He was the first man to open np a general store. He remained here a number of years, when he returned to Georgetown, Illinois, where he still resides. He was accompanied here by his brother, William Dillon.
In the winter of 1846 R. G. Hammond came to the county. He was a native of Tennessee, and kept a stock of goods. He laid ont the town of Hammondsburglı in 1850, and in 1852 emigrated to California. William Manley came with Hammond, and went with him to California, but returned several years ago, and now lives in Lucas county.
J. B. Freel came in this year from Boone county, Indiana, and remained in the county nntil three or four years since. He lived near Sandyville.
James Woody came, this same year, from Kentucky. He was a rough, but bright and good-hearted man-a true pioneer. He always signed his name " James Woody, Esq.," and was consequently known by the name of "Gentleman Jim." When asked what the "Esq." to his name meant he always replied: "Nobleman, by God; sir!" He died several years ago, in this county.
Alfred Clark also came during this year, and settled in Otter township, on the farm npon which he still lives. He came from Indiana. About the same time Havila Hockett came, from the same part of Indiana. He also lives in Otter township, on a farm adjoining that of Mr. Clark, upon which he settled at that time. They are both thrifty, well-to-do farmers, who have watched the growth of the county from almost its earliest days, before it became an organized political body.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
James Cooper came from Ohio, in 1846, and settled upon what is now known as the " Wesley Cheshire farm." He sold out his claim in the fall of 1849 and moved over about Greenbush, in the northeastern part of the county, and, about 1860, removed to Kansas. George Cooper, his brother, came at the same time, and settled near the mouth of Squaw creek.
In 1847 the new settlement received a large addition of men and families who came to stay and assist in its building up. Among them was Paris P. Henderson, the one man who, above all others, has discharged the duties of citizenship in its early days. He came from Vermillion county, Illinois, having left his native place in Union county, Indiana, in 1842, and came to Warren county to try his fortnnes with its pioneers. He made a claim of the land where Ackworth now stands, and settled to work. Soon after coming, on the 16th of December, 1847, he married Miss Martha Haworth, daughter of Samuel Haworth. He was appointed organizing sheriff in 1848, and acted as such in the organization of the county in the latter part of that year. ,He therefore took the first census, and knew every man, woman and child in the county in those earliest days. He not only held important positions in the county in the pioneer times, but in the days of its growth and greatness as well, and achieved distinction in the service of his country during the war of the Rebellion. In all these positions he showed his fitness, and now, with the old settlers, those who have known him at all times and under all circumstances, there is no more popular or thoroughly esteemed man in our midst.
James Bales came from Fountain county, Indiana, and settled in Otter township. He died three or four years ago, in Squaw township, where his family still reside. Alexander Bales, a brother, also came about the same time. The Baleses were clever, honest sort of people, who, in those early days, had a faculty of getting into trouble. They were repeat- edly arrested for the common fault of many men on the frontier, ¿ e., assault, or assault and battery. But they did not try to dodge the penalty after the act. Once when Colonel Henderson, then serving as constable, had arrested some of them, he sent them on to the residence of the justice alone, while he went on about his business of finding and bringing in others of them, and they appeared as promptly as though all the county had been a posse comitatus to take them.
Isaac Mordock, a Quaker from Illinois, was among the new settlers this year. He went to Kansas, where he died.
A. B. Taylor, now a resident of Adams county, this State, came from Ohio. He was the second clerk of the county.
Andrew Reed settled in White Oak township, on the farm now owned by the heirs of Thomas Hutt. Adamson and Baysinger also settled in White Oak township, in the same neighborhood, during this year. The former died in White Oak township, and the latter removed to Kansas and died there several years ago.
J. Hackney came in the fall of 1847, and settled away off to himself in what was formerly known as "Hackney's Grove," west of Fairview, now the farm owned by Abel Smith.
Harrison Jordon came from Ohio in the fall of this year, and remained until 1850, when he was taken with the California fever, and went out to the then new gold regions. He returned to Iowa some years later, and has
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
lived for many years at Pleasantville, Marion county. He has been very prosperous.
Philip Lambert came from Virginia this year and settled north of Sandyville.
Samuel Moffitt came from Illinois, and died on his farm not many years later.
Aquila H. Spray and his brother, John C. Spray, came from Clark county, Ohio. The former removed to Lucas county, and the latter to the State of Oregon.
Cornelius Devore, who still lives in the western part of Belmont town- ship, came during this year.
H. A. Lambert, the first clerk of the District Court, came from Virginia. He removed afterward to Missouri.
Isaac and Eli Posgate, both of whom are still living, the latter in Indian- ola, came this year.
John F. Woodside, a brother-in-law of Mr. John S. Mckinney, came this year, and settled in Jefferson township.
The Conners-John and William D .- came this year from Virginia, and settled in the western part of the county.
These are not all who came during the year 1847, but they are those who were most prominent in the early history of the county. Neither have we been able to discover where many of them are, nor where others of them came from when they removed to Warren county, but they are as complete as they can be made by taking the names from the records of the county, and verified from memory by the old citizens of the county, those who have seen all and knew all the men who contributed to this early history.
In 1848 there came, among others, Joseph Hockett, Thomas J. Sinnard, Hugh Lambert, Hiram A. Lambert, D. A. Felter, William C. Simmons, Joel Scott, Thomas Blackford, Eunion Williams and Daniel Barker.
In 1849 James C. Graham, James Nicholls, Matthew Millican, Zachariah Nicholson, Thomas Brown, Abel Sinith, Joseph W. Graham, Enoch Gra- ham, Thomas Benge, Franklin Benge, A. H. Barker and others came.
In 1850, and from that time forward, the list begins to get beyond our power to enumerate, and included many of the citizens of the county who have been prominent in business or in public affairs.
The first marriage in this settlement was that of Paris P. Henderson and Miss Martha Haworth, on the 16th of December, 1847. The license was procured at Des Moines, as this county was not yet organized.
The first birth in all this neighborhood was that of Abagail Bales, daughter of Alex. Bales, on the 22d of October, 1847, on Otter creek.
The second was Thomas Bales, a son of James Bales, on the 28th of October, 1847.
The first birth immediately in the Ackworth neighborhood was that of a daughter to William Ginder, an the 15th day of September, 1848. The second, that of a son to Paris P. Henderson the next day, or the 16th day of September, 1848; and the next, a daughter to Jonathan Dillon on the next day, the 17th day of September, 1848. David Lair says his wife started out in the absence of a physician in the capacity of midwife. She first went to William Ginder's, with the result as above related, when Mrs. Ginder was delivered of a daughter, then, without going home, to the house of Col. Henderson where a son was delivered, and lastly, without yet find- ing an opportunity to go home, to the house of Jonathan Dillon where the
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second girl was born. All this time Mr. Lair was at home keeping all the children in the neighborhood and trying to play mother to them to the best of his ability, and he says it was the longest three days he ever passed. It was doing pretty well, however, for a new county, and what was dis- couragement to Mr. Lair was surely encouragement for the new colony.
The first death was that of a child of Thomas Feagins in the fall of 1846, soon after the first settlers came into the county, and was, so far as we can discover, the second in the limits of the county.
The first school was tanght in the winter of 1846-7, in a honse built by Mathias Reynolds, by Miss Martha Haworth, who, as we have seen, was soon thereafter married to Col. P. P. Henderson. Miss Haworth continued to teach one or two terms after her marriage. The first school-house was built, by the neighbors clubbing together, in 1847. It was situated about one mile east from where Ackworth now stands, and was torn down only a few years ago.
On the 5th of May, 1847, George Richards moved into a house already built in the grove on R. R. Latta's farm, two miles north of Indianola. He remained there until April 10, 1850, when he left the county some years, returning in May, 1853, and has since resided in its borders.
The next settlement was made in the western part of the county, in what is now known as Jefferson and Greenfield townships.
On the 5th day of May, 1846, Ulysses Berger arrived in that portion of the county. He came directly from Savannah, Missouri, originally from Henry county, Indiana. This was not a large settlement for several years, and even up to 1851 the number of settlers was small. On the other side of the county line, in Madison, on Clanton creek, quite a large settlement was made during the summer of 1846, the first settler being Hiram Hurst who came in the April preceeding the arrival of Mr. Berger. C. B. Jones, who is a very old settler of this county, settled first in Crawford township, on the western line of Madison, but remained there only one year, when he removed to Warren county.
Dr. W. G. Ball came from Missouri in the spring of 1847. He was the only physician in the western and sonthern part of the county for a number of years, and was a man of considerable professional skill. He was also quite prominent in the management of the business affairs of the county even up to 1868. Several years ago he removed to Arkansas, where he still resides, in the practice of his profession. In 1852 a son of Dr. Ball, with two other men from this county, John A. Smith and Lewis Smith, started to Oregon and were massacred by Indians on their way.
Other early settlers, previons to 1849, in this neighborhood, or what was then the neighborhood, were the Ryans, Reeves, W. W. Hurst, Elisha Perkins and others.
On North river, some six or seven miles from this settlement, John Rufe had settled on the 1st of September, 1845, just before the final departure of the Indians for the West. Shortly afterward Noah Reeves came, and set- tled three miles above Rufe's place. There were no more during that year but in February, 1846, Samuel Crow and wife, and with him two young men, James Phipps and William Young by name, came as reinforcements into the settlement, and lived in the bark wigwams which the Indians had built and deserted upon leaving the county. Leftwich Bidwell also came along during this year.
While the increase was not rapid until about the beginning of the fifties,
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yet it increased in Jefferson, Linn and Greenfield townships of this county, and in Polk, south of the Raccoon river, which really constituted one set- tlement until quite a late day.
We shall take occasion to develop these matters more fully in our history of the various townships composing it. The first birth in all this section was that of Henry Johnson, son of Lewis and Nancy Johnson, some time in May, 1847. The second was that of Jane Berger, daughter of Ulysses and Margaret C. Berger, on the 15th of August, 1847, on the farm now owned and occupied by M. Crawford, in Jefferson township.
The first death was that of James Ryan, who was drowned in a slough in Jefferson township, on the 6th of July, 1846, and his funeral was preached by Rev. C. B. Jones. The coffin was made from boards sawed with a whip saw.
The first marriage was that of Daniel Howard and Miss Jolinson, Mr. Samuel Crow officiating.
The first school was held in a log school-house built by the united efforts of the settlers, at a point near where U. Berger's orchard now is, at a cost of about $50 all told-labor, money and everything. It had the fine furni- ture of the times, consisting of puncheon floors, seats, etc. This was in the summer of 1848. The teacher was Theodore B. Perry, who is now an attor- ney of Albia. .
The first cloth woven in the county was by Mrs. Berger, done soon after their arrival, and the work was done upon a loom made by Mr. Berger. It consisted of about fifteen yards of linsey-woolsey made for home use. No more was woven because Mrs. Berger had no more money with which to buy rolls for spinning.
The first wheat sown was at the Crewe Grove-near where Widow Welch now lives, and on her farm-in 1845, and harvested in 1846. It was fall wheat. It was tramped ont with oxen, by James Smith and U. Berger, and cleaned by pouring it out of the hind end of a wagon. It was raised by some person in Des Moines, and thrashed on the shares.
The first corn was raised by U. Berger, where M. Crawford lives, in the year 1846.
The first plow used in this settlement was stocked by Mr. Berger. It was called a "Carey wooden mould board." The only iron used in its con- struction was for the share, mould board, clevis, and the entter.
While all these different settlements were making themselves, another important one was springing np. This other was located in and around the site now occupied by Summerset, but principally, at first, on the south side of Middle river.
Early in 1846 T. M. Clough came from Ohio, and made a claim of the land upon which he lived until his death, only a year or so ago, and which his family still own.
About the same time old Matthew Spurlock came, and made a claim and built a house upon the land where James Laverty now lives. He remained only until the next year, when he sold out and removed to Fairfield.
Mr. James Laverty came here from Park county, Indiana, in September, 1847, and bought Spurlock's claim. Mr. Laverty had just left college a short time before, and had determined to begin the world by going out and assisting in the building up of a new country. Mr. Laverty has, therefore, seen the growth of the county from almost its first beginnings, and has contributed as much as any man within its borders to its development.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Thornton F. Chapman came from Fountain county, Indiana, in 1846, and made a claim on the land forinerly used as a county poor farm, and now owned by Robert McElroy. He remained there until about the beginning of the war, when he removed to Kansas.
Spurlock's son-in-law, an Irishman named Brown, came to the settlement about this time, and made claim to the land now owned by B. Pritchett.
Lewis Jones came here from Indiana in 1847, and laid claim to and improved the land now known as the Mcclintock farm, which Jones sold to McClintock in 1848, and he himself moved ont of the county. McClin- tock came to this county from Lee, where he had lived some time, coming originally from Indiana.
John Leas, who had emigrated from Scotland not long before, and James Mounts, who had lived some time in Washington county, this State, came here late in 1847 or early in 1848, and Mr. Mount's store, opened in 1848, was about the first in the county.
On the present site of Summerset a man named Sharp made a claim, in the spring of 1847, but soon sold out to Demas Beach, a miller, who came in the latter part of that year. He, in connection with John Parmelee, built a saw-mill at Summerset in 1848, and in 1849 added the grist-mill, for grinding corn. T. M. Clough and David Lair ent the logs, and William Ginder hewed them.
William Boyd, Robert Boyd and Thomas Boyd came from Seneca county, Ohio, in 1848. The two former are dead. The latter is still living, in Missouri.
William Peck came from Indiana with James Laverty, in 1847, and his brother and his family, comprising George, Dan and John, now and ever since residents of the county, soon followed.
John M. Laverty, father of James Laverty, came from Indiana, in 1848. He was the first surveyor, being elected in 1849. He continued to reside in the county continuously until his death-January 1, 1872-at the ripe old age of 79.
At the same time that John M. Laverty was surveyor in Warren county his son, James Laverty, was surveyor of Polk county, that portion of the territory having been organized as a part of Polk county.
A man by the name of Hayes came, also, in 1847, but remained so short a time that he did not contribute materially to the history of the county. He, with Beach, tlie miller already mentioned, and a man named Morris, who remained but a short time, went to Oregon in 1852, and Hayes died on the way.
The first school-house in the settlement was built near where Mr. Welch now lives, in the winter of 1849-50. As usual, it was constructed by the united efforts of the settlers.
The first birth was that of John Laverty, son of James. Laverty, in March, 1848.
The first election was held at the house of Thomas Rees, near where the old town of Wilmington formerly stood. It was held in 1846 or 1847.
Old Matthew Spurlock, the pioneer of this neighborhood, was a char- acter. When he met a stranger he always introduced himself by saying: "Maybe you don't know me. I am generally called 'Old Bogus.'" This arose from the fact that he had been a counterfeiter. When he lived in Arkansas he was elected at one time to the State Senate, but being engaged in his peculiar work he sent word to the president of that body that he
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was too busy to attend, and that the session would have to go along without him. He had also been a preacher in Georgia.
At some election in the early settlement of the State, Thomas Baker, of Des Moines, was the Democratic candidate for State Senator, and Dr. Brooks, of the same place, was the Whig candidate. Spurlock was a southern Democrat, but this year he voted for the Whig candidate. It is said to have come about in this way: Spurlock had a favorite cat, which died, and he announced that he would preach the cat's funeral. Among other auditors attracted by the strange ceremony was Baker, the candidate for senator. At some one of the many ridiculous matters in the sermon Baker laughed ontright. Spurlock was offended, and turned round to him and said: "I won't vote for any d-d man who has no more respect for the ministry and for religion than to laugh at a funeral." And he kept good his word by voting against Baker, along with all his followers.
Old Matthew Spurlock's brother, Jolin Spurlock, was one of the pioneer ministers of this portion of Iowa, and often preached in this county in its earlier days. It is related that he was once to preach in the old log court- house in Winterset. He was also quite celebrated as a pioneer class-leader, and was looked upon in early days as without a rival, or a peer, in the per- formance of that particular religions duty. One Sabbath morning he was very late going to meet one of his appointments in the " old log" of our Madison county neighbors. The audience, however, were excusing him in their own minds, as a very heavy rain had fallen on the night before. He finally came in, however, quite flushed, and deeming an apology necessary for his tardiness, he remarked that he had to remain longer because he "had to let out that dammed water." There was great surprise, and each looked at the other in amazement. They wondered whether their good old class-leader had fallen from grace, or gone mad! But he was not long in noticing the astonishment his words had produced, and began to call back his language, and he then explained what he meant. He had been letting ont the water that had covered the corn in the furrows of his entire field. That was all.
This was one of the principal settlements in this portion of the county because it secured a mill at an early day, and also because of the fact that it was near the county linc, being then in Polk county, and was intimately associated with the settlers in all the country round.
Another early settlement was in Whitebreast township by the Willises, father and three sons. The old gentleman is dead many years, but two of the sons still live in Whitebreast township, and the other just over the line in Marion county, where he is postmaster.
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