USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
The earliest settlers about Goose lake were from the eastern states, but the township is now largely German. Near Bryant a good many Irish set- tled early, and here there is a strong Irish element yet. Among early set- tlers in this vicinity were Patrick Laughlin, Martin Farrell, Thomas Tierny, all of whom settled in the timber near Bryant about 1853, the McGowans, the Kellys, the Fees, the Ehlers, the Rockrohrs, the Rohnfelds, the Ingwer- sens.
GOOSE LAKE.
The first postoffice in the township was established at Boone's Springs, in section 5, in 1850, with Philo Hunter as postmaster. He was succeeded by John Evans, the office being on the weekly Bellevue and De Witt horse- back route. In 1872 the postoffice was removed to Goose Lake, and John Dickey appointed postmaster. He has been succeeded by P. A. Gohlmann, C. H. Buech, and Charles Buech, who has held the position sixteen years. One rural route was started from Goose Lake in October, 1906, the first carrier of which was Oswell Farrell.
During the first year or two of the existence of the railroad there was no station at Goose Lake, but the farmers co-operated and bought ground
Digitized by Google
ยท
257
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
and put up a station, which was known as O'Brian's, from Mr. O'Brian, who built the first house within the present limits of the town. The next station and postoffice east was called Bryant, and the confusion of mail was such that the name of the postoffice was changed to Goose Lake. The town grew up naturally about the station.
Mr. Carstensen lives now in the first house, built by Mr. O'Brian. The first merchant was Charles Curtis. Other merchants here have been Jor- gensen Brothers, A. Gohlmann, and Schroeder, while C. H. Buech & Son, proprietors of a very thriving store here now, have been here for many years.
The town of Goose Lake was platted on a part of section 28, town- ship 83, range 5, January 5, 1889, by Paul Ahrens, Joseph Husen, P. L. Petersen, John Dickey, L. Harhsen, Peter Kruse, Christ Eggert, Henry Vogt, John H. Schroeder and their wives and John Lander.
Doctors Foster and Knipper have resided in the town and practiced here.
Goose Lake was incorporated December, 1908. The first mayor was Charles Buech, who was succeeded by Herman Thiessen, the present in- cumbent. The other present officers are: Clerk, H. J. Webster; treasurer, W. F. Schroeder; assessor, Martin Boothby; council, Charles Buech, Jens Carstensen, John Farrell, Paul Harksen, Peter Harksen. The town has been lighted by electric lights since January 1, 1909, supplied by the L. E. Keiner Company. Cement sidewalks and crossings have been put in. The population is about one hundred twenty-five.
The following persons were in business in 1910: General store, C. H. Buech & Son; agricultural implements, grain, coal and hotel, L. E. Keiner; agricultural implements and coal, F. G. Hanssen; Goose Lake Savings Bank (see banking chapter) ; lumber and cement, Paul Harksen; meat market, R. G. Brodersen ; harness, B. Clemenz.
A. J. Voss keeps a general store at the Ten-Mile house on the Maquo- keta road, between Bryant and Goose Lake.
BRYANT.
Bryant was established as a station on the Midland railroad by the farm- ers purchasing twenty acres of land from the widow Lawton and locating a station. A postoffice was established in 1870, with C. Hass as first in- cumbent. He has been succeeded by Otto Behrns, E. Reiff, E. N. Nagel, August Wessel, F. N. Nagel and Dora Nagel. A rural route, twenty-five
(17)
Digitized by Google
258
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
miles long, in Clinton county, with J. G. Sullivan as carrier, was started in 1905.
The town was platted on the south half of the southwest quarter of section 25, township 83, range 5, March 13, 1871, by B. B. and Letitia Hart. The first house was built by Hass & Engler, who started a saloon. Reiff & Behrens started the first store. They were succeeded by Charles Andre- sen, and the store later became that of Reiff & Nagel, and then Nagel Broth- ers took charge.
Herman Toedt and August Wessel have been engaged also as merchants here. The first physician to locate was Doctor Batchelor, now of Clinton. Drs. Kaadt Brothers, Marner and Fields have practiced here. For twenty- five years Peter Vincke was justice of the peace, which position is now held by J. J. Laughlin.
There are two churches in the town, the Union church and the Catholic. (See chapter on religious history.)
The Bryant Steam Mills were erected by a farmers' stock company in 1877. This was a flour and feed mill. One Gates started a grist mill soon after, and as the farmers' enterprise was not paying very well, they sold out to him. This mill is now operated as a feed mill by Henry Andresen, and is the largest establishment in the town.
Bryant is unincorporated. It was visited by the worst disaster in its history on Sunday, August 7, 1910, when a fire burned the soft drinks establishment of John Clawson, and the hotel, dance hall, and livery stable of L. J. Hansen, two coal yards, and some barns. The loss was sixteen thousand dollars. As everything was as dry as tinder from the excessive drouth of the summer, there was great difficulty in saving the remainder of the town. The dance hall had been for years a famous gathering place, and many are the stories of good times held there.
The present business interests are represented as follows: General dealers, August Wessel, Nagel Brothers; agricultural implements, Arthur Monahan; feed mill, Henry Andresen; coal, August Feddersen, L. J. Han- sen; meat market, Chris Brodersen; harness, Hans Schroeder; shoemaker, Peter Vincke; grain and stock merchants, August Wessel, D. McGraw, Gus Lieders.
Digitized by Google
CHAPTER XVIII.
WATERFORD TOWNSHIP.
Waterford township comprises congressional township 83 north, range 4 east, and is bounded on the north by Jackson county. on the east by Deep Creek township, on the south by Washington, and on the west by Bloomfield. It was organized in April, 1854, by an election held at the school house near Conrad Van Ness's, and was at first called Henry, but the name was changed to Waterford in May. Its surface is diversified. Deep creek flows in an easterly direction through the southern part of the township, through nar- row bottom lands, becoming wider after its northern bend. The prairie is excellent rolling land, through which Deep creek has cut its channel, but in the northern part of the township becomes more broken and abrupt. Sugar creek flows eastward in the northern part of the township, through some very good farming lands, though near to rocky and hilly sections. Deep creek has been known for an excellent fishing place since the early days, even being a favorite fishing resort for Indians after the first settlers came, and is still keeping up its reputation.
Perhaps the first settler within the township was William Hunter, who located not far from the present town of Charlotte. Henry Nurre was one of the first of the Germans who, with the Irish, were mingled with the early settlers from the Eastern states, mainly New York and Indiana. Other pioneers were Philo Hunter, Lewis Shull, O. P. Aickman, Miles H. Lauder- baugh, John Costello, Sr., Q. W. Denham, W. D. Hanrahan, the Monahans, B. F. Hall, C. Spain, John Clary, A. J. Riggs, Charles and A. J. Albright, M. F. Quigley, Conrad Varner, Elias Stalcup, Jeremiah Dingwall, Elijah Markham, John Adams, John Crouch, and John P. Preffer, original owner of the site of Charlotte.
For a long time game was abundant. Herds of red deer then pastured in the openings or browsed in the thickets and groves of the northern por- tion of the township in great numbers. There were many skillful hunters among the early settlers, of whom perhaps Miles Lauderbaugh was the best. He used to start out hunting on horseback, would sometimes stalk the deer by walking behind his mare to within range of them, and more than once has bagged four deer in a single morning.
Digitized by Google
260
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
During the time when the construction of the Iowa Air Line was mooted, land reached a fabulous value for those times, selling as high as seventy- five dollars per acre. When the Air Line boom died the bottom dropped out of prices, and the same land could be bought for fifteen dollars. There were not a few claim-jumpers, and bold ones. William Hunter, the earliest settler, one evening in 1847 saw some men riding about his claim. His suspicions were aroused, and at night he walked to where his father and brothers were farming rented ground in Deep Creek township, got their yokes of oxen, borrowed a plow from Thomas Watts, and when, shortly after daylight the next morning, the strangers seen the day before appeared with a wagon and lumber, the brothers had turned a good many furrows on the claim and thus saved it for the rightful owner. In 1853 one Wash Stalcup and a man named Chapin obtained a claim of twelve hundred acres, but, some of their neighbors desiring it, they so worked on the apprehensions of the partners that they abandoned it and left the country, when it was divided among the plotters. During Air Line times as high as fifteen to thirty per cent. was paid by some speculators in land, but after the drop, land sold very reasonably and was bought by a generation of German and Irish settlers largely. The land in this township changed hands many times in early days. Lately there has been a marked influx of Germans.
The first school in the township was taught by Celeste Jenne, in the summer of 1849, in a log school house built by private subscription. Among other early teachers were Ann A. Ritchie, Mary Wise, Delia and Mary Hall, and R. J. or "Dick" Crouch. The first school houses were log, with puncheon seats. They served as the social center of the communities, and in them were held many spelling schools. Rivalry between the north and south sides of the creek was intense, and ambitious spellers often had the whole speller committed, but came to grief when the lists of new words and geographical names held in reserve were brought out by the propounder of words. These school houses were the first churches, and were the scenes of the fervid and rude eloquence of the itinerant and circuit-riding ministers.
The first tavern between Lyons and Maquoketa was kept by Elijah Markham in the Air Line days, when a daily stage ran between those points. The points of departure and arrival were the Clinton House at Lyons and the Decker House at Maquoketa, passengers dining at Markham's. The * vehicles and horses were both first class, and the trip along the territorial ridge road was, except through the morasses near Goose lake, a pleasant and rapid one. Until after the war, the trail was mostly unfenced and wound through the beautiful open prairie. The coaches carried from twelve
Digitized by Google
261
CLINTON COUNTY, JOWA.
to fifteen passengers, who sometimes had to get out and walk through muddy places.
During the panic of 1857 prices were obtained for produce in Water- ford higher than ever since, even in war times. Hay was forty dollars per ton, and many cattle perished during the cold, hard winter, which also was the last one in which many deer were seen, many of them also succumb- ing from cold and starvation. In early times Lyons was the market for the farm produce of this township, which was hauled by wagon on the Maquo- keta stage road.
CHARLOTTE.
In the spring of 1853 the postoffice of Charlotte was established, and named after the first postmaster's wife, Charlotte Gilmore. The mail, before the coming of the railroad, was a weekly one on the route from De Witt to Sabula. But in seasons of floods and bad roads it was often long delayed, and on one occasion six weeks elapsed between mails on account of high water at Maquoketa. The first postmaster was Albert Gilmore, who has been succeeded by the following persons: Jerry Case, William Hunter, A. J. Albright, R. J. McLanahan, William Hunter, H. A. Wickens, Patrick Murphy. A. M. Gohlmann, H. Junger, N. Harrison, W. H. Junger, H. L. Pratt, W. F. Hanrahan, John Monahan, Katie Bowden, and M. H. Illeman, who has held the office thirteen years.
Charlotte had a slow existence between the time of suspension of opera- tions on the Air Line and the coming of the Midland in 1870, in November of which year that road reached Charlotte. Gilmore's mill had been the nucleus of the settlement, and from 1852 supplied, in spite of several inter- ruptions caused by heavy floods, a large territory about with flour. Wash Crabb built another mill about the same time, a little farther down the creek. Both mills sawed lumber as well as ground grain. As logs were easily gotten from government claims, the logging industry was vigorous for a while, and one Claiborne intended to start a sawmill above Gilmore's, but before his work was finished a flood washed out his dam, and Gilmore bought out the location to protect his own mill.
The town of Charlotte was platted in section 26, township 83, range 4, in January, 1871, by John Preffer, Thomas and Bailey Watts, and Isaac Howe and their wives.
The first house in the town was built by Squire Aikman. The oldest house now standing was built by William Hunter, who kept the first hotel, and is now occupied by William Rossiter. The first physician to settle in
Digitized by Google
262
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
the town was Doctor Van Zandt, but Doctor Crum practiced in the neighbor- hood earlier. Doctors Sloan, Kellogg, Russell and Le Beau have been resi- dents of Charlotte. E. C. Rowel and Marvin Lake are among the legal representatives who have made this town their home.
The first merchant was William Brainard. Others who have been en- gaged as merchants here are Watts & Van Zandt, A. J. Allbright, Paul En- gler, Engler Brothers, J. G. Gohlmann, while W. F. Hanrahan has been in business perhaps longer than any other merchant now in town.
Charlotte is supplied with three churches, the Catholic, Methodist and German Lutheran. (See religious history.) A fine school building was com- pleted in 1908.
Among early justices of Charlotte are William Hunter, Andrew Have- ner, Joe Case, E. C. Rowell, and A. J. Allbright, the latter of whom occu- pied the position for twenty-five years.
The first rural route from Charlotte was established January 1, 1904, of twenty-five miles length, in Clinton county, with August A. Petersen as carrier; the second was established May 1, 1904, of similar length and in the same county, with Joe Yando as first carrier.
The tornado of May 18, 1898, missed the town of Charlotte, but did a great deal of damage in the township. The greatest disaster which has happened to Charlotte was the fire of 1898, when the Savings Bank, Gohl- mann's store, Langheim's and Manion's drug stores, and several residences were burned.
Building activity is now exceedingly active in Charlotte, and many new residences have been and are being erected. The volume of business trans- acted is very large in proportion to the size of the place. It has an estimated population of five hundred.
INCORPORATION.
The town was incorporated in 1904, and the first council meeting held on December 5th. . C. W. Beeby has been mayor since incorporation. The other present officers are: Treasurer, E. A. Garside; clerk, A. H. Dohrmann ; assessor, M. C. Stenzel; marshal, Cornelius Paulsen; council, A. A. Monahan, M. H. Illeman, Charles Hanrahan, J. R. Kane and Martin Burke. For one year the town has had in operation a compressed air system of water works. Frank Hanrahan is chief of an able volunteer fire department. Gasoline is used for lighting purposes, and cement walks are being extended over the town. The town council meets in a rented hall, and since incorporation an adequate jail has been in use.
Digitized by Google
263
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY.
The following is believed to be correct for 1910: Doctors, P. H. Manion, R. F. Schwartz, Daniel O'Doherty and A. O. Schmitt; agricultural imple- ments, Arthur Monahan; buggies and wagons, T. E. Spelman; banks, Char- lotte Savings, Farmers and Merchants Savings (see Banking chapter) ; gen- eral dealers, W. F. Hanrahan, William Fullan, M. H. Illeman; drugs, Man- ion Drug Company, J. M. Langheim; furniture and undertaking, Gus Mattke; hardware and furniture, M. C. Petersen; hardware, J. C. Paulsen; clothing, A. H. Dohrmann; Charlotte Concert Band, Gault's Orchestra; Hotel John- son, Mrs. John Johnson, proprietor ; grain and coal, W. F. Hanrahan; grain, Petersen & Beeby; lumber and garage, P. F. Schroeder ; stock buyers, C. W. Beeby, Petersen & Beeby; millinery, Katherine Burke; Mrs. M. E. Stenzel; meat market, M. Hansen; newspaper and job printing, Charlotte Record, A. W. Gault, proprietor; feed mill, W. F. Hanrahan; livery, M. Lanaghan; photographer, L. O. Petersen; brick and cement, P. F. Schroeder; cream stations, Claussen & Boysen, A. Monahan, Gus Mattke; jeweler, Jacob Thies- sen ; five and ten-cent store, W. B. Wheeler; harness, H. Rasmussen; Opera house.
Riggs is a station on the Milwaukee & St. Paul, in the northwestern part of the township.
Browns is a station on the same road, on Sugar creek. Here Andrew Paschal is postmaster and keeps a general store. John Zeiser, Brown and Fitzpatrick were formerly merchants here. At one time one Neil ran a brew- ery here. Two years ago the village was visited by a destructive fire. The hotel is kept by Mr. Paschal. There is a Catholic church near the station. The rugged and less fertile lands about Sugar creek were settled by Bohem- ians, Austrians and Poles, who have there made a good living.
While the town of Petersville is platted in Waterford township, and the majority of the residences are in this township, the station and the stores in the part of the town formerly called Quigley, are in Bloomfield township.
PETERSVILLE.
In 1882 M. F. Quigley obtained the erection of a station near the line between Bloomfield and Waterford townships which was named Quigley. At first they did not erect a depot, but had only a platform and stock yards. Mr. Quigley did not plat the town, but the postoffice was established in 1885, and was known as Quigley. The town was platted in 1902 in parts of the
Digitized by Google
264
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 30, township 83, range 4, by the Rev. P. O'Dowd, Matthew Heenan, James McDonald and wife, Anna McGuire and Arthur B. Goodall. This platting was mostly to the north of the first buildings established, and the name was changed from Quigley to Petersville, in honor of the Rev. P. O'Dowd. The main street is the line between the townships and the houses now in the town are about equally divided between the townships.
The postoffice was established in 1885, and has been kept by M. F. Quig- ley and Arthur J. Mallon. The present business interests are represented by the general stores of Arthur J. Mallon and John R. O'Meara; Matt Heenan, livery, lumber and coal; J. J. Goodall, meat market, stock and grain; and a cream station succeeding a branch creamery of the John Newman Company, which burned down. The church of the Immaculate Conception, Father O'Dowd, pastor, and the school of the Sisters of St. Francis are located about one-half mile to the east of Petersville.
James Callahan began a store in 1883, and John Heenan formerly kept the store now owned by John R. O'Meara. The building occupied by Mal- Ton's store was the first erected in the village. The town has never been in- corporated and has a population of about fifty-five. It is located in the midst of probably the best corn land in the county.
Digitized by
CHAPTER XIX.
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP.
Bloomfield was originally a part of the territory embraced in Brook- field, Berlin and Welton townships, but in 1855 congressional township 82 and township 83 north, range 3 east, were set off by the county authorities and by Russell Perham named Bloomfield. He was one of the first justices of the peace who served in the township. At the date of its organization in 1855, in addition to Mr. Perham, Sylvanus S. Norton and Alva Mclaughlin, there were among the early settlers Joseph Benjamin, Nicholas Koon, Joseph Willey, Anson Norton, N. and Eli Hatfield, O. J. Hinkley, Calvin Davis, Ben Ogden, Sr., Parvin Davis, Royal Goodenow, John and Solomen Smith, Abra- ham Names, James and Abe Walrod, John Q. Jenkins, Robert Williams, Henry C. Cowgill, Henry and William Gillett, Lewis De Laun, David Rhodes. Levi Decker, John Brahmer, Peter Sleeper, Edison Hoyt, Charles and John Riggs, Ransome Haines, Seneca Williams, Dean Davis, Jacob Bollin- ger, Thomas Snowden, John Burgess and Truman Clark.
It is believed that the place later owned by Niles Wright, on section 6, entered in 1841, was the first claim to be located in that part of the county.
This township was settled mostly by Canadians and settlers from the eastern states. The farms are mostly owned by the older families, but many of them are now rented. The land of the township is exceptionally well suited for corn and is higher priced than the average of Clinton county land.
When the country was first settled this township was almost timberless. One lone tree stood on a high eminence in the rolling prairie sea, bedecked with sweet-scented wild flowers. For long years this was a landmark known and read of all travelers as "The Lone Tree."
The earliest settlers, however, were the Riggs and Decker families, the male members of which, in 1838-39, were still hale and hearty and made a full hand at hard farm labor. John Riggs died while going to California. The first houses here were of logs, thatched with hay. In 1841 Decker erected the first frame house. The Hatfields came into the township next.
These pioneer settlers, nearly if not all, had claims of timber in Jackson county, along the Maquoketa river, and these timber lands furnished them ample supply of timber for fuel and fencing, and the "sugar tree" gave them the delicious sugar and maple syrup. The true pioneer spirit obtained and games and social gatherings, summer and winter, was the general rule of life.
Digitized by Google
266
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Caste was unknown and all enjoyed themselves and hoped for better days, which ere long came. In winter time it was husking bees and chopping bees and hunting. Sometimes on a moonlight night they would work till long after sunset at these huskings. Then again, in summertime, corn-plowing bees were frequent and races were run and stints set at this, twenty and thirty meeting to participate in the work. Then a dance would follow, which was looked forward to by the entire settlement.
The great drawback was in living so far from markets and this hauling of farm produce almost ate up the profits of the crops, at the low prices that then obtained. One enterprising young man raised an even thousand bushels of golden corn and actually let it rot on the ground in the winter of 1859-60, because he neither owned a team, nor could he, at current prices, afford to hire a team to draw it away. It only commanded seven cents a bushel at Camanche and Lyons. Sheep would have been profitably raised had it not been for the wolves. But with the passing of years the times changed; the steam whistle and general activities of civilized life drove the wild animals away.
For many years household articles were necessarily quite primitive, and chills and fever caught the adults in nearly every family each autumn time. Doctors Bell and Usher, the only physicians, were not always available and then the home remedies came into good demand. Even the dread disease of small-pox, as late as 1864, was handled quite successfully. In this township (though one would not think it to go there now) the tubs, spinning wheels, pails and trays were nearly all home-made and local blacksmiths made very serviceable plows. Garments were both spun and woven at home by the busy housewife and older daughters, who were not afraid of soiling their hands! Even then the hen was in evidence and paid for what had to be purchased for the table. The dairy products, the honey, the maple sugar and pork all came into play in making a diet fit for a king of the twentieth cen- tury. Yet, "white" flour had frequently to be made by means of a coffee mill. The scene is all changed today. Farmers are near many railroads ; prices are good and schools and churches are everywhere in evidence. The people of this township have ever been noted for their peacefulness and crime has seldom stained her history's pages.
EARLY CHURCHES.
The first Methodist church was in a little school house in the northwest part of the township. The pioneer Sabbath school was held at the house of
Digitized by Google
1
.
267
CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Levi Decker; Mr. and Mrs. Decker and others of the neighbors acted in the capacity of instructors. Lesson leaves had not been introduced then, and the Bible seemed plenty good enough for them. Denominationalism was not known-all worshiped together for years, in perfect harmony. Not uncom- mon was it for people to drive ten miles on a buckboard to attend mid-week prayer meetings. Among the early clergymen may be recalled Revs. Hos- mer, Kirkpatrick, Carpenter (Baptist) and C. E. Brown, an earnest mission- ary. The first Baptist church was made from logs hauled five miles and it stood on the old Riggs farm.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.