USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 58
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Pasted in this diary is a newspaper clipping which-reads that on Novem- ber 16, 1856, there were "married in Tipton by the Hon. Judge Tuthill. Jerome Dutton, of Natoma Farm, Scott county, and Miss Celinda Parker. of Spring Rock."
CELINDA PARKER.
Of the progenitors of the three Parker brothers, Jonathan, Samuel and Benjamin, it is now only known that their mother's maiden name was Hunt, although more of their ancestry will probably be revealed by the publication of "Parker in America," a genealogical work now in preparation by Dr. Augustus G. Parker, of Buffalo, New York. The youngest of these brothers, Benjamin, was born February 22, 1758. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill and it is recorded that "he was one of the last to leave the field, while the bullets flew thick and fast about his feet." He served in various Vermont commands from December 27, 1780, to November, 1781. He married Rachel Wetherbee, and died March 27, 1812, at Clarendon, Vermont. where all of his children were born in the following order : Benjamin. Jonathan. Francis, Walter, Pliny. Sarah, Polly and Nancy. Of the foregoing. Francis was born March 16, 1788, and about 1810 married Rhoda, daughter of Col. Moses Chaplin. who was born at Rowley, Massachusetts, June 22. 1760, and who took part in the battles of Ticonderoga and Saratoga, and a sketch of whose life ap- pears on pages 126 to 128 of Davis' "History of Reading, Vermont." Francis Parker moved to Belmont (then Phillipsburg). Allegany county, New York, about 1828, and thence to Scott county, Iowa, in 1840. He made the over- land journey to California in 1849, returned to Iowa by way of Cape Horn about 1852, .went to Pike's Peak in 1859, and made two trips to New Mexico,
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the last, at the age of seventy-six, on horseback and alone, in 1864. He was murdered by outlaws near Albuquerque, New Mexico, in October, 1865. His wife died near Big Rock, Iowa, August 26, 1846.
The children of Francis and Rhoda Parker were Benjamin Harrison (born at Cavendish, Vermont, January 21, 1813, married Eliza Ann Crowner, died March 8, 1891), Nancy Diantha (born Rutland, Vermont, January 13. 1814, married John E. Owen, died April 25, 1898), Francis Jackson (born Cavendish June 10, 1818, married Elizabeth Posten, died August, 1881). Mary Chaplin (born Cavendish, July 13. 1824. married John Walraven, died October 24, 1902), Rhoda (born 1827, married William R. Pearsall, married Edward L. Gallatin), Celinda (born Belmont, New York, March 18, 1830). Elizabeth (born Belmont, January 19, 1833, married Benjamin F. Gue. lieutenant-governor Iowa 1866 to 1868 and author of Gue's "History of Iowa," died July 3, 1888), Laura Lucinda (born Belmont 1835, married Henry C. Baker).
Celinda Parker was the first child born in the village of Belmont, and, in honor of this distinction, the selectmen deeded her a town lot. The journey to Iowa, to whence her father had gone the year before and returned after purchasing a claim near the extreme northwest corner of Scott county, was begun about October 1. 1840, occupied about six weeks, and was made in a fourteen-foot covered wagon built especially for the trip. The father was the only man in the party, which was elsewise composed of the mother and six daughters, ranging in age from five to thirty years. This heavy preponderance of the gentler sex was so unusual in a party of pioneers as to inspire much attention and to awaken a fame that spread in their advance, and they were ofttimes welcomed along the road with such phrases as "Here comes the wagon load of girls," "We heard you were coming" and similar good natured greetings. Beneath the horse-drawn wagon trotted the family dog. "Bogus," who survived the trip to chase many an Iowa deer. At Buffalo the bulk of the household goods were loaded aboard a sailing vessel to be conveyed to Chi- cago, but no trace of these goods was ever obtained afterwards, although the father made a winter drive from Davenport to Chicago in search of them. Once, while traversing a heavily wooded country, a railroad train suddenly roared across their path, disclosing to the wondering eyes of the younger members of the party their first view of "the cars." Camping out when the skies were pleasant and in rough weather finding shelter in the homes of set- tlers along the way, they finally crossed into Iowa at Davenport, and about the middle of November took up their home in a cold, wind-swept cabin that stood only a few rods from the Clinton county line and just across Rock creek south
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of what is now known as the Parker cemetery in Liberty township, Scott county.
One night a year later, Celinda Parker, a girl of eleven, joined a gay wagon load of young people gathered and escorted by her cousin, George W. Parker, and drove eastward over the vacant and solemn prairies to a ball given in the timber bordered cabin of Asael Baldwin. From their home down the river likewise came to this pioneer festivity the three Dutton brothers, Leroy, Charles and Jerome, "all famous as good dancers" and the latter then "a handsome boy of fifteen, dressed in gray trousers and a dark sailor round- about." All the floor space was needed, so supper was eaten first and there- after the table, bed and chairs were set out doors. Extra candles lit an en- thusiasm that mounted as the host drew a preliminary bow across his fiddle, and loud applause greeted Leroy Dutton as he sprang from the floor and, clap- ping his heels together in a rapid tatoo prolonged far beyond the attainment of his nearest competitor, presented his famous execution of the "pidgeon wing" with an agility that made him the envy of all his associates. To such old-time tunes as "Opera Reed," "Monie Musk" and "Fisher's Hornpipe" the dance continued until dawn, and among the partners were the girl of eleven and the boy of fifteen. It was their first meeting.
At the age of fourteen Celinda Parker began attendance at the private school kept in Davenport by her cousin, William P. Campbell. Students of Latin and seatmates in this school at the time were John F. Dillon, afterwards judge of the Iowa supreme court, and Phillip Van Patten. Later she became a pupil at the school of James Thorington, who had married her cousin and was an early mayor of Davenport, later a congressman from the second Iowa district, and finally United States minister to Aspinwall. During her resi- dence in Davenport she lived with her uncle. Jonathan Parker, who surveyed the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific from Peru, Illinois to Rock Island. Sons of this uncle were her cousins. Jonathan W. Parker, who came to Davenport in 1836, was representative from Scott and Clinton counties to the first territorial Legislative Assembly in 1838, president of the State Coun- cil in 1841-'42 and mayor of Davenport in 1841 ; George W. Parker, a resident of Spring Rock township, Clinton county, in 1840, who both christened and procured the establishment of the Spring Rock postoffice, which was originally located in his log house and of which he was the first postmaster, who was one of the Clinton county commissioners in 1842 and a member of the Legis- lature from Clinton county from 1860 to 1868; and J. Monroe Parker, for many years a prominent banker and capitalist of Davenport.
At fifteen Celinda Parker turned from pupil to teacher. Her first school
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was taught at the wage of ten dollars per month in a log cabin with but a single window, which stood on the site of what afterwards became the now almost forgotten village of Cambridge near the southwestern corner of Spring Rock township. The pupils studied McGuffey's Reader if they chanced to have a copy ; if not, they read from whatever other book it happened to be that com- posed between its covers the family library. Later she taught at Little Wal- nut Grove, as the present town of Dixon was then called, and across the river at the Buena Vista settlement ( now locally known as Brushville). where in rainy weather both teacher and pupils alike were obliged to wade sloughs knee deep to reach the school house. She, with her sisters, Mary, Rhoda and Elizabeth, were among the first teachers in the territory described, and Mary Parker taught the first school organized in Olive township. The final experi- ence of Celinda Parker as a school teacher was at Inland, Cedar county, where she was teaching at the date of her marriage.
In April, 1857, Jerome and Celinda Dutton took up their first abode in the log cabin where they first had met and which had come into the possession of Jerome Dutton some eight years before. One day in the latter part of June of this year two hurrying men strode eastward along the road and sped swiftly past the cabin door into the dense timber reaching to the northeast. An hour later down the same road came the vigilance committee from Big Rock in pursuit of Soper and Gleason. All the remainder of the day men were searching the timber and thickets, but the fugitives escaped. A few days later they were captured, and on July 2nd were hung from a white oak tree on the farm of Martin Henry south of Lowden.
In the spring of 1859 Jerome Dutton bought the Buena Vista ferry, the southern landing of which was at the extreme northeast corner of his farm. This ferry was originally established by John Shook, with his Indian canoe, as an adjunct to the Boone trail. which crossed the river at the point described.
The new ferryman moved to the Clinton county side of the river into the house appertaining to the ferry, wherein he served as postmaster, landlord. and proprietor of the only store in the settlement. The Pike's Peak emigrants in their white-covered wagons crossed in great numbers all that first year. In the second year he bought a new fifty-foot flat boat at Davenport and. rigging a broad canvas at its bow, sailed up to the mouth of the Wapsipinicon, from whence the craft was propelled with poles to its destination at the ferry. The force of the current was cleverly employed to propel the boat from side to side of the river. From a windlass at each end of the boat rose a rope connecting with two pulleys plying on a heavy cable that was stretched high across the stream between two tall trees on opposite banks. By winding up one windlass
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and partly unwinding the other, the boat was set at an angle with the current which, flowing against the slanting side of the craft, gradually pushed it across the stream.
A couple of years after Jerome Dutton took charge of the ferry there came a period when at intervals of a few days he would be obliged to swim the river to bring back the boat from the opposite shore, to whence it had been mysteriously conveyed during the night. At about ten o'clock on one of several nights that he watched from a hiding place near the landing he saw a man swim from the Scott county shore, clamber aboard the boat and make off with it for the bank from which he had started. Here a second man drove on to the boat with a team and wagon, which the two ferried back to the Clinton county shore. As they drove off the boat the angry watcher stepped forth to detain them. Instantly the two depredators drew revolvers and. with threats and warnings not to interfere with them, sped their horses up the road. Towards morning they returned and ferried to the Scott county bank, where the boat was left.
Before darkness had fairly descended on a night a week later these bold marauders again ferried to the Clinton county bank and drove away up the road. A deputy sheriff was in the vicinity in pursuit of an army deserter, and this official the proprietor of the ferry sought out. The two, joined by several of the neighbors, secreted themselves in a thicket beside the road to await the return of the depredators. Toward daylight they heard the rumble 'of the approaching wagon. As it came opposite them those in hiding leaped out and seized the horses by the bits. Lashing the animals furiously. the fugitives broke away and, amid the shots of their pursuers, galloped down the road, throwing the contents of their wagon into the brush as they proceeded. They drove on to the boat and off the end into ten feet of water in the river. Reach- ing the opposite bank, they found that it was too steep for them to ascend with a wagon. With the shouts of their pursuers nearing, they cut the traces of one horse, urged it up the bank and both mounting, made their escape into the darkness. They were afterwards caught and imprisoned, and it was learned that for weeks Neally, as one of them was named, and his companion had been robbing the homes of farmers in the vicinity of Calamus and disposing of their plunder in Davenport. On the night in point the contents of their wagon had all been stolen from the home of Jonathan Hayes. an old and deserted house still standing near the roadside in section 19.
New bridges up and down the river cut off the business of the ferry. which was discontinued by its last proprietor in the fall of 1864, and the bell, once used to summon the ferryboat to the Scott county shore and now swing-
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. ing in the near-by Brushville school house, and a tall tree still pointed out on the Clinton county bank as the one from which the ferry cable hung, are now all that remain to signify the existence of that one time center of local activity, the Buena Vista ferry.
After a year's residence in Dixon, Jerome Dutton moved to the growing town of Wheatland in the fall of 1865. Here, directly after his arrival, he opened an insurance, real estate, collecting and loan office and also developed an extensive business as an auctioneer. These were his business pursuits and Wheatland his residence for the remainder of his life. He was raised a Pres- byterian, but early in life lost faith in all forms of supernaturalism. He was a warm admirer of Horace Greeley and a delegate to the convention that first organized the Republican party in Clinton county. He was secretary of the school board at the time the present school house was built, was a member of the town council in 1873 and served many terms as justice of the peace. He was postmaster at Wheatland at the time of his death.
Of the family of Jerome Dutton there are surviving the mother and two younger children, Claude W. and Bessie ( Mrs. John F. Murray). The elder children were Florence Bell, born October 5, 1857, died October 20, 1860), Jerome Parker (born October 19, 1860, died October 2, 1866), and Charles Francis (born October 4. 1863, died September 29, 1865). In the Iowa Historical Department at Des Moines are preserved as a memorial to Jerome Dutton files of The Boston Investigator and The Truth Seeker, of New York, which he collected during his life. On the tablet erected in the court house at Davenport to the memory of the Scott County Territorial Pioneers are inscribed the names of Jerome Dutton, Celinda Parker and the latter's father, mother, brother and five sisters. Celinda P. Dutton is a mem- ber of the Hannah Caldwell Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, at Davenport. References to Jerome Dutton, his father or brothers, may be found on pages 352, 363, 364, 365, 392, 792 and 810 of the "History of Clinton County, Iowa," published in 1879.
CLAUDE W. DUTTON.
HENRY F. TYLER.
It is a pleasure to look over the well improved and carefully tilled fields of Henry F. Tyler, a progressive farmer of Camanche township, Clinton county, who is the representative of an excellent old family and whose birth occurred on the farm on which he now lives, June 23, 1864. His parents.
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John A. and Phoebe J. (Pearsal) Tyler, were natives of Ohio and Pennsyl- vania, and they came from the East to Iowa in the pioneer days, as early as 1837. They were married in Clinton county in 1845 and spent the remainder of their lives here, being well known and influential among the early settlers.
Henry F. Tyler spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and when but a mere lad was put to work in the fields. He attended the common schools during the winter months and received a very good education. He was mar- ried on February 14, 1885, to Kate Eveliza Willet, born August 11, 1867, the daughter of John H. and Eveliza Willet, of this county, who were also well known among the early settlers of the same, the father having been an honest, industrious and respected citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler spent the first year of their married life on a rented farm, then purchased his father's homestead where he has continued to reside and which he has kept up to a high standard. In 1908 he had just spent a few hundred dollars in remodel- ing his home, when it burned down; he had no insurance and the loss was fifteen hundred dollars. He at once began preparations for rebuilding, man- ufacturing his own cement blocks and he hauled his native timber from his own land, and he built a large modern and attractive home of cement, finish- ing the same with his own lumber sawed from the trees on his farm. He has one of the finest and most desirable residences in the township, valued at eight thousand dollars. No more substantial or convenient house could be found in Camanche township, and it is modern in every respect. He has good outbuildings and his place is well fenced and in every way ranks with the best in this locality. He has always been regarded as a hustler and a man who believed in keeping abreast of the times in every respect. Besides making a great success of general farming, he devotes much time to stock raising and takes much pride in his fine herd of Holstein cattle which he breeds and raises and which, owing to their superior quality, never fail to find a very ready market. He has a reputation for being one of the best judges of cattle in the township. Besides his regular herd, he maintains an excellent dairy and does a large and rapidly growing business; he ships his cream to Davenport, where it finds a very ready sale. His splendid farm consists of two hundred and ten acres.
Politically Mr. Tyler is a Democrat, and he has long taken much inter- est in local matters, always standing ready to assist in any measure looking to the general good of the community and county. He is the present ef- ficient township trustee and served on the local school board many years. He was for some time district chairman of his party, and he has long been
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recognized as an influential and able leader in his party in local matters. Fraternally, he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler are the parents of seven children, named as follows: Elsie G., born April 15, 1888; Robert J., born July 6. 1889; Florence A., born September 24, 1891; Willard, born October 6, 1893; Fred D., born March 12, 1897; Howard L., born October 28. 1898; Ellis F., born Decem- ber 6, 1902.
MRS. FLORA WILLET.
This estimable lady and her family are well and most favorably known to the people of Camanche township-in fact the eastern part of Clinton county-the several members of this large household having long been more or less prominent in the varied walks of life here, enjoying the high esteem of all classes and well meriting the honor and success they have achieved.
Mrs. Flora Willet was born at Cordova, Rock Island county, Illinois, in 1849. She was first married to Edward Daily, of Illinois, who died on the 29th of March, 1867. To this union one child was born, Grace. now de- ceased. Mr. Willet was first married to Eveliza Van Epps, daughter of John V. and Katherine Van Epps, of this county. She died on March 10. 1872, and was buried at Camanche, this county. To this union three children were born, namely : Charles, Kate (now Mrs. H. Tyler) and Herbert. Mr. and Mrs. Willet were married in 1873 in Rock Island county, Illinois. She was the daughter of William and Rebecca (Ennis) Marshall. Her father represented his county in the Illinois state Legislature for two terms from 1852 and re-elected 1854. He was an able, popular and well known man of his county and state.
Mr. Willet's death occurred on October 27, 1907, and he was buried at Camanche cemetery. He was a member of the Masonic order, also of the Old Settlers' Association. He was a man whom everybody admired, for he was an honest, kind-hearted and generous neighbor and friend. Farming and stock raising were his occupations and he was very successful; a lover of good horses and a good judge of the same, he always kept some excellent specimens. He was well known from the time he first took up his residence here for his sterling qualities. He was kind and indulgent to his family, and took an interest in the affairs of his county. He served as township trustee for a number of years, having had the affairs of Eden township at heart since he settled there in 1853. Also those of Camanche township. which
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was his later home. In February, 1876, he moved on the present farm in Camanche township. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres, and in 1882 he built a splendid country residence and made many other substantial improvements, having one of the most attractive homes and choice farms in the township. Later he added twenty-eight acres of timber to his original purchase.
It is worthy of note here that James W. Marshall, who discovered gold in California, leading to the memorable rush to that state in the middle of the last century, was a first cousin of Mrs. Willet's father.
To Mr. and Mrs. Willet four children were born, namely: Fannie, now Mrs. Thomas, of Clinton county; Addie, now Mrs. Boucher, living in the state of Washington; William, living in this county; Genevieve, a graduate of the common school's and who attended the state normal at Cedar Falls, has taught in this and Scott counties for the past ten years in the public schools; she has won an envied reputation as a capable and painstaking in- structor, and is still at home.
CHARLES W. COLE.
Being ambitious from the first, but surrounded by none too favorable environment, the early youth of Charles W. Cole, a well known shoe merchant of Lyons, Clinton county, was not especially promising, but all through life he has accepted every discouraging situation without a murmur, and, reso- lutely facing the future, has gradually surmounted the difficulties in his way and in due time has risen to a prominent position in the commercial circles of his community.
Charles W. Cole was born at Batavia. New York, May 18, 1869, and is the son of William and Anna (Burns) Cole, the father born in England and the mother in Ireland. The elder Cole was a carriage blacksmith by trade, having learned the same in England, where he grew to maturity and was educated. When about twenty-one years of age he emigrated to America and located at Batavia, New York. Anna Burns came to America when fif- teen years old. Mr. Cole lived in Batavia until the Civil war, when he, tak- ing sides with his adopted country, enlisted in the Federal army. in which he served very faithfully for a period of three years, but, being wounded, he was honorably discharged before the war was over. He never recovered from the wound and it resulted in his death at Fulton, where he had moved in
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1866, living there one year when his death occurred. Charles W. Cole had one sister, May Agnes, now deceased.
Charles W. Cole received his early education in the parochial schools of Lyons, Iowa, and after leaving school he worked at saw filing as a trade in the Gardener & Bacheler Mills, and he finally took up railroad work, oper- ating a stationary engine. In 1906 he entered into partnership with Walter A. Stuedemann, beginning in a retail shoe store, which was very successful from the first, and which has become popular throughout the county and is one of the best stores in the city. A complete, modern and carefully selected stock is always carried. They bought out E. M. Henley's store, located at No. 519 Main street, Lyons, and their trade has constantly increased under efficient management.
Mr. Cole is a member of the Catholic church and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen. He is a clear-headed, progressive, public-spirited business man, who is deserving of the confidence that is reposed in him by everyone and of the success he has achieved.
Mr. Cole was married first, in 1900, to Nellie Doherty, whose death occurred in 1902, and on July 14, 1908, he married Mary Cleary, who was born in Petersville, the daughter of John Cleary, an early settler. Mr. Cole has two children, Charles Raymond, now nine years old, and William Robert. a year and a half old at this writing.
CHARLES H. WILLET.
An enterprising citizen of Camanche township, Clinton county, who is making a good living and rearing his family in comfort and respectability is Charles H. Willet, a man who believes that success can only be achieved by hard work and continuous application along a given line, and, with this belief uppermost, he has achieved notable results.
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