of Menard and Mason Counties
By T.G. Onstott
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CHAPTER XXXII Page 311 Pennsylvania township is in Township 21, Range 6, west of the Third Principal Meridian, and is bounded on the north by Forest City and Manito townships, east, south and west by Allen's Grove, Mason City and Sherman townships. It contains thirty-six full townships and is all prairie, except Red Oak Grove. Teheran is the only village in the township. Ambrose Edwards was the first settler and made an improvement in Red Oak Grove. Francis Dorrell came to the state in 1835 and came from Sangamon county in 1839. He made the second improvement in the township. When he settled, there was not a human habitation visible on the north, east or west. Stretching away to the north, at sunset, the village of Delavan was sometimes visible twenty-five miles away. About the same date William Briggs settled near where the village of Teheran stands. Peter Speice came from Ohio in early 1850. His father-in-law, George Swaggert, followed. They both settled two miles north of Leases Grove, but after a few years moved to Tazewell county. A year or so after there was a large influx of population. In the fall of 1838, Henry Cease came from Pennsylvania. He stopped a short time in Havana, but soon bought a farm and engaged in farming. During the summer of 1851, Joseph and Abraham Cease, Jimerson Wandel, John W. Pugh and Benedict Hadsell all came from the same section of the country. The Ceases all had families, while Wandel, Pugh and Hadsell were single men. In December, 1851, Henry Cease, J.H. Wandel and Abraham Cease went east to explore the country. On reaching what is now Pennsylvania, they determined to locate and began making farms. They entered one hundred and sixty acres apiece and pre-empted the same amount. In the summer of 1852, Abraham and Joseph Cease each built a frame house and began to improve their land. In April, John W. Pugh went back to Ohio, and prevailed upon Wandel to accompany him. When Wandel got back, he found a sale at his uncle's and father-in-laws's. They were preparing to move to Mason county, attracted by the glowing accounts that Wandel had written about Mason county. After a short sojourn among his native hills, in company with James Wandel, his father; Isaac Hanneyhill, a brother-in-law, and George Wandel, and uncle, and their families, they turned their faces westward. They made the journey by water and were seven weeks coming from Pittsburg to Havana. In severing the ties that bound them to their native land, they went forth to battle with the difficulties and privations incident to pioneer life, with their hopes and expectations bright as to the new homes they were about to make, but a great grief came over them. Mrs. Hanneyhill, who had sickened on the way, died when they reached Havana. Heart broken and discouraged, and with five small children, Mr. Hanneyhill, with J.H. Wandel, retraced their steps back to Pennsylvania for a time. Wandel seemed to belong to the floating population. During his stay in Pennsylvania, he married Miss Sarah E. Depugh. In the fall of 1852, with his father-in-law, Aaron Depugh, he again came to Mason county. In the summer of 1853 he built a house and broke forty acres of land. The others mentioned settled in the eastern portions of the county. Philip Cease came in 1852 and settled south of Wandel. George Wandel purchased an improved farm near where the village of Teheran now stands. This was the farm owned and occupied by William Briggs. James Wandel entered and improved a farm in Section 27. The Depugh family settled across the line in Salt Creek township. During the spring and summer of 1853, the following settlers were added: George and Alexander Benscoter, William Legg, Asa Greigory and Joe Statler. The Benscoters and Greigorys were from Pennsylvania, Statler from Ohio, and Legg from Indiana. Legg entered the land pre-empted by J.H. Wandel. The summer following he sold out to George W. and Alex Benscoter. Asa Greigory settled in the northwest corner of the township, remained a few years and then sold out and returned east. Joseph Statler settled in the south part, a short distance north of the present village of Teheran, on land now owned by J. McClurg and J.H. Matthews. Statler was a fine business man and of strict integrity and his duties were well and ably performed. D.V. Benscoter located east of Statler's. Jack Conroy from Ohio made improvements in the summer of 1854, in the southeast corner of the School Section where James Hurley now lives. About the same time Daniel and James Riner and Dave Cruise became citizens of the township. In 1856, J. Phink from Pennsylvania made a farm in the south part of the township and was soon followed by his father-in-law, Jacob Benscoter. Many of the first settlers have gone to their long homes, but many of their descendants remain and occupy the farms entered and improved by their fathers. Of other citizens who moved into the township prior to 1860, we find the names of Andy Farror, A.J. Gates, Alex Blunt, Charles Hadsell, J.L. Ingersoll, T.L. Kendle, Joel Severns, W.K. Terrill and John Van Horn. Gates was from Tennessee and Blunt from Kentucky, Hadsell, Severns and Van Horn from Pennsylvania, Ingersoll from Ohio, Kendle and Terrill from New Jersey. Ingersoll settled in the northwestern part of the township and the remainder in the eastern and central part of the township; Terrill in the southwestern part. John W. Pugh, who was prominently identified with the interest of the township, deserved more than a passing notice. He is mentioned as coming to the county in 1850. He did not locate in Pennsylvania township till 1864. Since that time he has served in the capacity of supervisor for eleven years. In 1874, he was chosen a member of the legislature, and here his influence was felt. The earliest settlers were not wholly exempt from the inconveniences and difficulties which ever attend the pioneers of a new country. The Iron Horse had not then entered Mason City. Havana was the only point of shipment and sale of the extra produce, and a large part of the year an impassible swamp lay between them and it, and in order for them to get their grain to market, it was sometimes necessary to reload it five or six times. So accustomed were the teams to miring that as soon as a halt was made they would lie down for fear of finding the bottom some distance below the surface if they remained standing. Much of the early settler's time was consumed in marketing his produce, and crossing the swamp successfully with a good load could only be accomplished in the winter. Those coming in since the era of railroads know but little by the experience of the trials that the settler of 1849 and the early "fifties" endured. Their milling was done at Mackinaw and later years at Simmond's and McHarry's on Quiver. The nearest postoffice was at Havana, some fifteen or eighteen miles. The first schoolhouse was built in Pennsylvania Lane in 1854. Miss Martha Randle was the first teacher. The early ministers were Rev. Mowry, Randall and Sloan. They belonged to the M.E. Church. The early meetings were held in schoolhouses. After a few years, through deaths and removals, the society became so reduced in numbers that the field was abandoned until 1873, when the Presbyterians organized a society and erected a church building. Rev. S.J. Bogle was the first pastor and gave his services to the church the first year free of charge. The early members of the church were John Van Horn and wife and daughter, Mrs. Carem, John W. Pugh and wife and Mrs. Mary Potoff. A few members of the Baptist Church resided in the vicinity, and the sheep were led occasionally by the Rev. Hobbs, of Mason City. Dr. J.B. Walker of Mason City dispensed the healing art. The first death was that of Mrs. James Wandel, who died in 1854. The wife of Joseph Cease died a few months later. The first marriage was Jimerson Wandel and Miss Sarah Depugh in the fall of 1852. The first birth cannot be ascertained. Jimerson Wandel was the first justice of the peace. Pennsylvania has always been democratic. Taken as a whole, it is an average township and a good agricultural township. Teheran is the only village in Pennsylvania township, and is seven miles west of Mason City. It was laid out on land belonging to Aleck Blunt. Soon after it was laid out A.J. Gates put up a building and opened up a grocery store. D.L. Whitney was a merchant once and David Everett was also a merchant. The postoffice was established in 1874 with W.T. Rich as postmaster. The amount of grain handled in Teheran exceeds 100,000 bushels. Teheran is in the heart of a good agricultural country, and has its daily mail and the conveniences of the larger towns, but Easton on the west and Mason City on the east act as checks to its growth.
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