Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages, Part 50

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Greene County > Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages > Part 50
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages > Part 50

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Without money, or prestige, or influential friends, the old pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Iowa-the garden of the Union- they have found invit- ing homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes more than ordinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endurance demanded, and unflinch- ing determination was, by the force of ne- cessity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show that the pioneers were after. They songht for homes which they could call their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. How well they have succeeded after a strng- gle of many years against the adverse tides let the records, and tax-gatherers testify; let the broad enltivated fields and fruit-bearing orchards, the floeks and the herds, the palatial residences, the places of business, the spa- cions halls, the elattering car-wheels and ponderous engines all testify.

There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless rivers, and through bottomless slonghs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and return from mar- ket than is now required to cross the conti- nent, or traverse the Atlantie. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with "shakes " riven from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low, dark attics, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the ehinks in the " shakes " they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and onr bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureans constructed from the boxes in which their goods were brought. These were the times when the workingman labored six and some- times seven days in the week, and all the

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honrs there were in the day from sunrise to sunset.

Whether all succeeded in what they under- took is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did succeed is all aronnd ns. Many individuals were perhaps disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes be- long to the human race. Not every man can have a school-house on the corner of his farm ; not every man can have a bridge over the stream that flows by his dwelling; not every man ean have a railroad depot on the border of his plantation, or a city in its center; and while these things are desirable in some re- speets, their advantages are oftentimes ont- weighed by the almost perpetual presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and eonflagration, and the inse- curity from the presence of the midnight burglar, and the bold, bad men and women who Inrk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this earth are not all to be found in any one place; but if more is to be found in one than another, that place is in our rural retreats, our quiet homes outside of the clamor and turmoil of eity life.

In viewing the blessings which surround us, then, we should reverence those who have made them possible, and ever fondly cherish in memory the sturdy old pioneer and his log-eabin.

Let us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log-eabin days of a quarter of a century ago, and contrast those homes with com- fortable dwellings of to-day. Before ns stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinet- ively the head is uncovered in token of rever- enee to this relic of aneestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the but well-seoured floor.

left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose commodious spaee a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly stories of

witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whis- peringly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the linge back-log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty ritle. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the further end of the room is seen the old-tash- ioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door in which you enter stands a huge deal table; by its side the dresser, whose pewter plates and " shining delf" eateh and refleet the fire-place flames as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves eoyly peep ont the relies of former china. In a enrtained corner and hid from casual sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older ehil- dren sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the Bible, evidently mueh used, its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children

" Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb."

Her spectacles, as if but just used, are in- serted between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when eares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well notehed and whittled and earved, and a few chairs complete the furni- ture of the room, and all stand on a coarse

Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, inno- cent bnt thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, " Pray,

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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

what savages set this up?" Honestly con- fessing his ignorance, he replies, " I do not know." But see the pair upon whom age sits " frosty, but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and till their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why; but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story that they tell to the pioneer? With- in this chinked and mud-danbed eabin we read the first pages of our history, and as we retire through its low door-way, and note the heavy battened door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming lateh-string, is it strange that the scenes without should seem to be but a dream? But the cabin and the palace, stand- ing side by side in a vivid contrast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a prophecy in one.

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.

Greene County is in the central portion of western Iowa, the fourth county east from the Missouri River. It is erossed by the forty-second parallel of latitude-about that of Chicago and Boston, in the United States, and Rome, in Europe. It is a little more than ninety-four degrees west of Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by Calhonn and Webster Counties, on the east by Boone, on the south by Dallas and Guthrie, and on the west by Carroll. It is twenty-four miles square, and contains sixteen congressional townships, or 576 square miles.

The North Raeeoon River, commonly ealled the "Coon," which flows diagonally aeross the country from the northwest to the south- cast, with its affluents, waters and drains the greater portion of the surface, except in the

extreme southwest, which is drained by the Mosquito and Willow Creeks, tributaries of the Middle Raccoon. The principal tributa- ries of the North Raccoon enter that stream from the north, and are Buttrick, Hardin and Cedar Creeks, while the Greenbrier Creek rises in the southern tier of townships and joins the main river just below the southern boundary of Dallas County. Good springs of pure cold water are of freqnent occurrenee, and are found issning from the gravel depos- its which overlie the drift clays in the steep slopes bordering the streams. There is no difficulty in obtaining wells at all points, particularly upon the uplands, where the im- pervions glacial elays lie at a much less depth from the surface than is the case on the mar- gins of the uplands and in the benches, or second bottoms. The streams ennmerated, with numerous small spring branches and brooks, most of which are supported by living springs, afford an abundant supply of water for stock and other purposes. The North Raccoon is the only stream that furnishes sufficient water to run machinery at all sea- sons of the year, and has some excellent mill powers, only a few of which have as yet been improved.

One important enterprise developed in the year 1886 is that of artesian wells, of which there are now abont forty in the county. These were especial blessings during the phenomenally dry season of 1886, when the people of Jefferson depended almost entirely on artesian water for enlinary and drinking purposes, ordinary wells having run so low that the water was pronounced unwholesome. The only artesian well before this season was that of John MeCarthy, in Hardin Township, bored in 1882.

The surface configuration of this county is more level and plain-like than that of most portions of Central lowa, the undulations

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being so slight as to scareely relieve the monot- onous sameness of the almost boundless prai- furnished at reasonable rates.

rie landscape. The waters of the Coon have cut a channel into the detrital material of the drift to a depth of from fifty to one hundred feet, so that it is bordered by abrupt acclivi- ties, which give to the valley the peculiar canal-like appearance common to all the larger streams in the central portion of Northern Iowa. The valleys of the smaller water courses are, however, generally shallow, their beds being but little below the general level of the prairie.

The soil is a dark gravelly loam, is uni- formly distributed over the uplands, and is composed of vegetable deposit, from two to eight feet in depth, with elay sub-soil. Per- haps no county in the Union gives the farmer greater rewards for his labor than this. For ages the annual crops of grass, untouched by seythe, and but partially kept down by her- biverous animals, have accumulated organic matter on the surface of the soil to such an extent that a long succession even of exhaust- ing erops will not materially impoverish the land. It produces wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, sorghum, potatoes, flax, and in fact all the grains and vegetables com- mon to the Northern States, in great abun- dance. There is some low, wet land, that intersects the uplands in the form of swales or sloughs, which ean easily be drained and converted into the finest meadow and arable lands.

The forests are wholly confined to the valleys and their immediate vicinity, being largely along the line of the Coon and its ! branches. Although the supply of fuel from this source has been ample in the past, yet with a rapid settlement of the county these native forests will searcely prove adequate for the increased consumption of timber for fuel and building purposes, and it is fortunate

that coal is being mined near at hand, and is

GEOLOGICAL.

Coal has been mined to some extent, yet so far as it has been investigated it is not widely distributed over the county. The beds that have been discovered at the surface are thin, and not of as good quality as most Iowa coal. Within the past two or three years several shafts have been sunk, and coal is now regularly mined at and near Rippey, in the southeast part of the county, by the Key- stone Coal Company No. 1, Keystone Coal Company No. 2, the Moingona Coal Com- pany and the Standard Coal Company. Coal has also been mined snecessfully at Grand I Junction. Peat is known to exist in some of the swales in the uplands, but the deposits are so shallow. and it is intermixed with 80 much sand, washed from the adjacent drift deposits, that it is valueless for fuel.

Building stone is scarce, there being com- paratively little good quarry rock in the county, the sandstone usually being too fria- ble to answer even for the ordinary purposes of masonry. Clay for the manufacture of good common brick is abundant, and from this source the main supply of local building materiał must be drawn.

In the bottom, upon the west side of the Coon, about seven miles above Jefferson, there are several symmetrical mounds which have every appearance of being of artificial construction. The largest one is some twelve feet high and seventy-five feet in diameter, and is composed of the gravelly soil found in the bottoms upon which it rests. Several of the smaller ones have been leveled by the plow, while on the bluff oppo- site other mounds are found, which are said to have contained human remains.

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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

CLIMATE.

The climate of the county is not peculiar, but like that of the Northwest generally. While there are very cold days in winter, the dry, healthful air prevents any disagreeable consequences. The rainfall of the county, from its amount of timbered surface, streams,

lakelets and coal basin, is equal to, if not in excess of, that of any adjacent county. This fine feature of an abundant rainfall gives this county a superiority during dry years that has made this portion of the Coon valley the granary of the region about while the new settlers were opening new farms.

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EARLY HISTORY.

HE region in which Greene County is sit- uated is a part of the great . Louisiana pur- chase," seenred from France in 1803, during President Jefferson's adminis- tration. The State of Missouri was admitted into the Union in 1820. but not a single white person was legally a resident of what is now Iowa until after the Black Hawk war. By the terms of the treaty coneluded at the end of this contest, a strip of land extending west from the Mississippi fifty miles was opened to settlement after the 1st of May, 1833. By successive purchases all of Iowa was subsequently made available for settlement. In many instances, however, the Indians remained on the lands they had sold until the pressure of actnal contact drove them westward.

The county of Benton was constituted December 21, 1837, and made to include all the territory between its present northern and sonthern lines extending to the Missonri

River, and was temporarily attached to the county of Jackson. November 30, 1840, it was similarly attached to Linn County. These acts possess but slight interest for the citizens of Greene County, for until 1849 the county was wholly in the possession of the red men.

In that year Truman Davis, the first white settler of the county, located near where the village of Rippey now stands. The same year Enos Buttriek settled at the month of what is now known as Buttriek's Creek, while Richard Ilardin located near the month of the stream which has since borne his name. Messrs. Wood, Valentine and William R. Babb came in 1850 and located along the Coon River, while Josiah Bluneett, Thomas Greenup and John Barr settled farther up the river in 1850-'51.

PIONEER LIFE.

These hardy pioneers were subject to many inconveniences, their nearest postoffice being at Ft. Des Moines, fifty miles distant, their mills being from fifty to one hundred miles away, and they were compelled to go to Warren, Marion and Mahaska counties to

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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

obtain their supply of provisions and other necessities, with no roads to mark their course or bridges to cross the streams. Many are the hardships related of the early settlers. It is stated that one of the settlers left his fam- ily with a seanty supply of food, and went down, in the spring of the year, below Des Moines for a fresh supply of provisions. While he was gone the streams all raised so it was impossible for him to return for several days. The seanty provisions of the family gave out, and they were reduced to the extreme necessity of living on soap grease for a number of days. Another instance is related, by one of the citizens of the county, of a settler who left his family to go in quest of provisions. The high waters detained him, the provisions of his family gave out and they were on the verge of starvation. An Indian came to the house one day and asked for food. The lady of the house took him to the cupboard and the meal chest, and showed him that they were without a morsel of food. The Indian asked for the gun-it was given him-he left with it, and in a few hours returned with a couple of deer and gave them to the starving family. In a few days he returned again, and found to the joy of the family that the settler had returned with a bountiful supply of provisions, over which he seemed to rejoice greatly.

Game. such as deer and elk, was in great abundance until the winter of 1855-'56. The snows of that winter were so deep that it was impossible for them to escape the pursuit of men and dogs, and the number destroyed seems almost incredible. It is said that they were overtaken by men, boys, and even women. in the deep snows, and beat to death with clubs. Since then there has scareely been an elk or deer seen within the county. Their rapid and sudden disappearance astonished every one.

ORGANIZATION.

Greene County was established, with limits the same as now, in 1851, and named in honor of General Nathaniel Greene, of the Revolutionary army. It was attached to Dallas County January 22, 1853, up to which time it had been attached to the county of Polk for temporary purposes. [ See Aets Third General Assembly, Chapter 9; Fourth General Assembly, Chapter 12; Seventh General Assembly, Second Session, Chapter 101.] In 1854 there was a population of about 150, and the county was deemed popu- lous enough to entitle it to regular organiza- tion. August 12, 1854, accordingly, William Phillips was commissioned county judge. William Brock, clerk of the district court, and Isaac D. Crumley, sheriff. The first official record of any description is dated Angust 25, 1854, and reads as follows:

" An order was this day made that Greene County be and the same is hereby divided into two electoral precinets by the lines dividing ranges number thirty and thirty-one west of the fifth principal meridian, Iowa. And that all that part or portion of Greene County contained in ranges twenty-nine and thirty west is hereby known and designated as Washington Township or Electoral Pre- cinet; and all that part or portion of said county as is contained in ranges number thirty-one and thirty-two west of the fifth principal meridian, is hereby known and designated as Jackson Township or Electoral Preeinet.

". WILLIAM PHILLIPS, County Judge."

The eourt directed that an election be held in Washington Precinet on Tuesday, the 12th day of September. 1854, for the election of three township trustees, one township elerk. two justices of the peace, two constables and Que township supervisor. An election was

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EARLY HISTORY.

also appointed for the same date in Jackson ceeds of lots. For "extra services " they Township for the choice of like officials. were allowed 81 each additional.

The bonds of the justices and coustables elceted were fixed at $500 each. Elijah Norman and George S. Walton were elected justiees in Washington Township, and Syl- vanns G. Crumley and Leonard Chance, con- stables. The election in Jackson Township was hekl at the house of Allen D. Broek, but the returns were rejected by the judge on account of the judges and clerks of election not having attached their signatures. To fill the offices in Jackson Township Judge Phillips appointed Thomas W. Greenup and Lewis Wright as justices, and ,Jacob Detrow and Lewis Wright as constables, September 22, 1854. These men, however, declined to quality.

Benjamin F. Robinson was appointed county elerk November 20. 1854, to succeed Hiram Brock, resigned.

LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT.

To scheet a site for the county seat the dis- triet judge, C. J. McFarland, appointed the following commissioners: Cornelius Beal, of Boone County; Henry J. Owen. of Dallas County, and O. J. Niles, of Carroll County. These commissioners appeared before Judge Phillips on the 27th of September, 1854, and filed a report of their doings, "from which report it appears they have selected the north half of the southwest quarter and the south half of the northwest quarter of sec- tion 8, in township 83 north, of range 30 west of the fifth principal meridian, Iowa, for the county seat of said county; which said lands belong to the United States and are subject to entry." The commissioners were awarded the following sums for services and expenses: Cornelius Beal. $36; (). J. Niles, $20, and Henry J. Owen, 815. They were given warrants, payable out of the pro-

FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.

The first marriage license issued in this county is as follows, and is signed by Judge William Phillips:

"This court has this 4th day of September, A. D. 1854, granted license for the marriage of Moses Bowers and Mahala Young, and not being acquainted with the parties, Charles Hathaway was sworn, who declared them both of age and of sound mind: whereupon this court issued liceuse for the marriage of the above parties."

The sceond license was to David Rodgers and Margaret Young, October 19. 1554. Judge Phillips solemnized the marriage.

Under date of October 7, 1854, appears the following entry, with reference to the entry of the town site:

" This court has this 7th day of October, 1854, borrowed of Hoyt Sherman, banker of Fort Des Moines, the sum of $200, with which money it has caused the following real estate to be entered in the name and for the use of Greene County in the State of Iowa, to-wit: the north half of the southwest quar- ter and the south half of the northwest quar- ter of section 8, in township 83 north, of range 30 west of the fifth principal meridian, Iowa, containing 160 acres."

The assessment roll was received from Dallas County November 6, 1854, and the following levy of taxes made: State tax. three mills; county tax, six mills; school tax. one and one-half mills; road tax, three mills. The poll tax was fixed at 50 cents.

On the 6th of November Judge Phillips borrowed of William P. Crumley $203 to repay Hoyt Sherman, and gave him a warrant drawing 10 per cent. interest, and payable out of the proceeds of the sale of lots.

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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

Robert M. Rippey, surveyor, was on the 20th of November allowed $135 " ont of the proceeds of the sale of lots in the town of Jefferson for the surveying of said town, furnishing chain carriers, axmen, stakes. etc., and making plat of the same." Pleasant Reed and Jonathan Jones were each allowed $1 for services as chain carriers. Nathan W. Brock was paid $18 for assessing the county in 1854.

A marriage license was issued to Usal C. Black and Martha Still December 30, 1854.

January 1, 1855, Thomas Phillips was allowed $1 for candles furnished Greenc County. A few days later Hiram Broek was allowed $10.72 as full compensation for ser- vices as clerk from August 24 to November 13, 1854. This was at the rate of $50 per annum.

Moses Bates appears to have been the first person that died in the county whose estate was administered upon. Charlie W. John- son and Benjamin F. Robinson were the administrators appointed. Jacob Young made the first will, and Rezin MeDaniels the second.

At the April cleetion, 1855, S. G. Crumley was elected elerk. For the office of drainage commissioner R. M. Rippey and Lauftus Gray each received eighteen votes. By the direction of Judge Phillips they drew lots for the office. Gray was successful, but, fail- ing to qualify, Rippey was appointed to the office. The election in Washington Town- ship was held at the house of Truman Davis. and W. K. Allen and L. Chance were elected constables, and Norman S. Daniels township clerk. The judges and clerks of this election selected the following as grand jurors, the first chosen in the county: Isaac Clopton. Lewis Wright, Moses Blancett, Archelus Gibson, Elam Robins, Winston Crouse, Charles W. King, William P. Crumley, Will- iam Zornes, G. W. Reese, Thomas Roberts,

Iliram Toliver, Valentine S. Babb, Charles L. Davis and John Clopton.

On the 7th of May, 1855. Judge Phillips ordered that the proceeds of the sale of town lots in the county scat form a separate fund in the county treasury, dedicated to the future erection of public buildings.

April 24, 1855, a license to marry was issued to Alexander Morgan and Sophronia Rhoads.

The first district court held in Greene County was by Hon. C. J. MeFarland, Mon- day, May 19, 1856. There were three State cases and eight civil cases on docket. The court was held in a new building that had neither doors nor windows. The grand jury held their session out on the prairie. The State cases were against three young women for assault and battery. It seems that the girls got to disputing about something, per- haps some nice young man. At last one gave the other a sauey word or two, and she returned the insult by throwing an egg. The affair then commeneed in earnest; a basket of eggs was soon used up, when they went at each other with fist and musele. The com- batants were parted, and it is agreed on all sides that it was one of the most fieree and terrible battles that has ever been fought on the Coon River in the shape of a fist fight.

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 728

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 728