| History of Allamakee County, Iowa | |
THE ADVENT OF THE WHITEMANThe first permanent settlement within the boundaries of Alla- makee County of which we have any record was at the old Government Indian Mission in Fairview township, which was opened in 1835 with Rev. David Lowrey and Col, Thomas in charge. The building was erected the previous year; and as early as 1828 a detail of men from Ft. Crawford (Prairie du Chien, which place was settled by Indian traders mote than a century before) had built a sawmill on the Yellow River a short distance below this point to get out lumber for building purposes at the Fort. Indeed, it would have been strange if this region had not been well traversed by white hunters and trappers for many years previous to this time; and it is said that somewhere along our river border a white man had established his home as early as 1818, but had after a time abandoned it. Of this the writer has nothing authentic, however, and the earliest individual or private settlement of which we hare knowledge was by one Henry Johnson, at the mouth of Paint Creek, about the year 1837--and this was the origin of "Johnsonport.” The third settlement was made by Mr. Joel Post and his wife, Zerniah in 1841, they establishing a half way house of entertainment on the military road, between Ft. Crawford and Ft. Atkinson. Their place was in the extreme southwest corner of the county, and is now the thriving town of Postville. Mrs. Post is still living in that place, and her memory register preserves the names of many distinguished guests who have enjoyed the hospitality of her home. Among these maybe mentioned Capt. N. Lyon, Lt. Alfred Pleasanton, Gen. Sumner, and other officers who afterwards became noted. From this time on there seem to have been no other settlements made until the Indians were removed in 1848, although portions of the county were explored in 1847. When Reuben Smith located on Yellow River, in June, 1849, he reports that there were seven or eight settlers then near Mr. Post's. In 1848, Patrick Keenan and Richard Cassiday settled in Makee township, and William Garrison and John Haney at Lansing. In 1849 there were many new settlements made in various parts of the county, including those of Gen. C, Shattuck at Waukon, W. C. Thompson in Lafayette, some parties alone the Yellow River and others to the north of the Iowa, so that in the latter part of this year the population was enumerated and reported at 277. When Mr. Shattack located at Waukn his nearest post office was Monona, just over the line in Clayton County. The only one in this county at that time was at Postville, established in January of that year. From an interesting sketch of the early settlement of the county prepared by G. M. Dean and read before the Early Settlers' Association, of Makee township, in January, 1880, we make the following extract, as showing very clearly the condition of things in those days: "In 1834 the United States, through it's military authorities at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, built on what is now section 19, township 96, range 3, called Fairview township, in this county, a mission school and farm. At this time Col. Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States, commanded the post, and Jefferson Davis, since President of the so-called Southern Confederacy, was on duty there as Lieutenant. General Street was Indian agent; all the agents at that time being army officers, and the Indians being under the control of the Secretary of War. The mission was for the purpose of civilizing and christianizing the Indians, and was opened in the spring of 1835 with the Rev. David Lowrey, a Presbyterian in faith, as school teacher, and Col, Thomas as farmer. But the effort to make good farmers, scholars or Christians out of these wandering tribes proved abortive, and poor Lo' remained as before, 'a child of nature,' content to dress in breech-clout and leggins, lay around the sloughs and streams, and make the squaws provide for the family. "After their removal, the government having no more use for the Mission, put it on the market and sold it to Thomas C. Linton, who occupied it as a farm a few years and sold it to Ira Perry, and on the death of Mr. Perry in 1868 it became the property of his son, Eugene Perry, the present owner. The building is a large two-story stone house, the chimney of which was taken for a witness-tree when the Government survey of public lands was made at a later day. It is still standing in a good state of preservation, and has sheltered the families of its respective owners up to this date. "This house has became historic in many respects. It is one of the very prominent land-marks in the history of the development of Allamakee County, and we earnestly hope its owners will let it stand as long as grass grows or water runs," and thus preserve to those who may come after us at least one thing that may be considered venerable. "In the fall and winter of 1849 there were only three dwelling houses in the valley of the Yellow River. The Old Mission, called at this time the Linton House, the house of Mr. John S. Clark, on section fourteen in Franklin township, and the house of Reuben Smith on section eleven in Post township, "It is a very difficult matter for us, who live in Allamakee County to-day, to conceive of the condition of things in the Mississippi Valley when this old Mission was first built in 1834, and it is still more difficult for the writer to convey a clear idea of it, "There was at that time no Allamakee County, no Clayton County, no Winneshiek County, and in fact no Territory organization, but simply a wilderness waste. In 1836, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota was taken from Michigan and made 'Wisconsin Territory, and Iowa soon after divided all of her territory lying west of the Mississippi River into two counties, to-wit: Dubuque County and Des Moines County, the dividing lines being at the * foot of Rock Island. "The Indian tribes roamed over this whole region, and Jefferson Barracks, a military post about eight miles below St. Louis, Missouri, was headquarters for the military operations of the Mississippi Valley. Just think of it! This valley knew no railroads, no telegraphs and a very large per cent, of its present inhabitants were not then born. The military post at Prairie du Chien had been established and when they wanted to utilize the resources of this wild region about them, they detailed soldiers for the work, and in 1828, being in want of lumber, they sent a part of the garrison over to Yellow River, and built a saw mill about two miles below what is now the old Mission house, the remains of which was burned down in 1839. In 1840, one Jesse Danley built a saw mill on the river about one mile below the Mission, but the floods came and took the dam away, and the proprietor meeting with one mishap after another, finally abandoned it, and in time it was torn down. "The town of Johnsonsport, at the mouth of Paint Creek, was named after a soldier who served out his time at the Prairie, and was discharged and paid off in 1837. Now this man, Johnson being fond of Indian women, took several of them for wives, and spent his time between hanging around the post and living among the tribes, and finally settled near the river bank, somewhere between what is now Harper's Ferry and North McGregor, Some of our old residents still remember him and speak of him as Squaw Johnson, but he has been dead several years, and the writer has no knowledge of his descendants, if he left any. In 1839, Hiram Francis and family came from Prairie du Chien to the old Mission in the employ of the Government, and remained there until it ceased to be a Mission, and from him we learn that his duties were to issue daily rations to such Indians as were fed at that place, and that in November, 1840, the last of them were removed to the Turkey River, and the school closed. In 1841, there lived at the Mission Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Rynerson, and there was born unto them a son, and this was thought to be the first white child born in the county. "The earliest settlers in what is now Makee and Union Prairie townships, came in overland from the south, through Clayton County, there being no town then where Landing is now. In conversation with the late Elias Topliff, when he was a citizen among us, he related to me that while living in Clayton County he, with several others, started out to hunt land on which to make a home; that they followed an Indian trail north across the Yellow River and on to the Iowa River somewhere, where the party camped over night and caught and cooked a splendid mess of speckled trout. He thought they traveled across what is now the prairie on which Waukon stands, but could not positively identify their old route for at that time the country traveled over was in a state of nature, and there if as not a white man to be seen on the trip after leaving the settlements of Clayton County, In the morning they retraced their stepa and returned to Clayton county again, not finding a single foot of land that suited them. My recollection now is that the Judge located this trip in 1847. The first white settlers in Makee township were Patrick Keenan and his brother-in-law Mr. Richard Cassiday. They lived together, and in October, 1848 settled on Makee Ridge, where they grubbed out and broke up about three acres of land, built a log cabin, and in 1849 abandoned it and made themselves farms in Jefferson township, where they lived until they passed on to "the better country” Mr. Keenan was the first man in the county, of his nationality, ever made an American citizen through the naturalization law, the court at the time being held at Columbus, on the Mississippi river.* He died in March, 1878, leaving a large and respectable family and a handsome property, and was buried at Cherry Mound. Mr. Cassiday died in 1879 and was buried at the same place, "In the spring of 1849 there was born to Mr. and Mrs. Cassiday a danghter, Margaret, now Mrs. Murphy, living in McGregor, and she was the first white child bom in Jefferson township. "In 1850 there was a small pair of buhrs near Decorah for grinding, but no bolt attached, and our settlers from this locality with their ox teams hauled their little grists up there; but soon after (summer of 1850) one Ellis put in a small pair of buhrs, without bolt, on Paint Creek, just around the bend below where Waterville now stands. The remains of this first mill in the county still stand in that place. *We think Mr. Dean slightly in error here, as the date of the transaction was July 1849, when there was no settlement at Columbus . "In the winter of 1848 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization of the county, and appointed Thomas C. Linton, who owned the old mission property, as organizing sheriff; and as this county then belonged to Clayton County it required him to appear at her county seat, file his bond, take the oath of office, and make due returns of his doings thereto. We have been unable to find any written, record or that organizing election, and after much inquiry by correspondence and otherwise have through the kindness of Mr. J. S. Deremo of Fairview township, obtained the particulars as he gathered them the past week from Mr. Moses Van Sickle, one. of the participants in that election. It was held under the call of Mr. Linton, at his house, in August, 1849, about fifteen votes being cast, and resulted in the election of the following persons: "County Commissioners--Thomas Van Sickle, Daniel G. Beck, Thos. B. Twiford. "Thomas Van Sickle died in Nebraska about 1878, Daniel G. Beck died in Missouri about 1366, Thos. B, Twiford moved to Minnesota and was the founder of the town of Chatfield. James Haney lives at this time in Wisconsin. Stephen Holcomb died at the Mission about 1851. Moses Van Sickle is living at this date in Fairview township, Elias Topliff died in Waukon in 1860. Thomas C. Linton lives in Oregon. "Lester W. Hays was for several years before his death a county charge, living sometimes at the county farm, and sometimes in Fairview township where he had a little log hut hardly high enough to stand erect in, nor large enough to afford room for many visitors; and being about eighty years old and too infirm to labor, he was allowed from the poor fund the pittance of one dollar per week, nod this with the charity of kind neighbors kept life in the old man until Last Christmas night, the coldest night of the year, when the mercury ran down to thirty-three degrees below zero, he perished. The next morning some of the neighbors went to the hut and found the old man lying on his rude cot, with legs and arms frozen. The county furnished a coffin, and poor Hays is no more. Rattle his bones over the stones, "This election gave the County a legal and working existence. In 1849 she had two hundred and seventy-seven white inhabitants, men, women and children. "The county records of those early times aa left by the commissioners, are either lost, mislaid, or were made in so transient a manner as to preclude their being handed down to posterity, And so much as we have gathered has been obtained from other official records, the personal recollection of our early settlers, and has taken much time and labor, and as the years roll on these items of early history are more and more difficult to obtain in consequence of the death, removal or incapacity through age or infirmity of the parties participating in them. "From Elias Topliff I learned that the first tax list was put into his hands for collection; that the gross amount of it was about ninety dollars; that he traveled all through the eastern part of the county to collect, and that after doing his best, collecting about one half of the list and making his returns to the Commissioners, they charged up to him the uncollected portion and took it from his compensation as Treasurer." In a carefully preserved copy of the North lowa Journal, pub lished at Waukon, in the summer of 1860, we find a sketch of the previous history of the county, from which we shall find occasion to make a few extracts. In regard to the County organization we find: The connty was organized by an act of the Legislature, approved January 15. 1849, and taking effect March 6th, 1849. Thomas C. Linton was appointed organizing Sheriff; the first election being held by the order of the Sheriff on the first Wednesday of April, 1849. The officers elected were: County Commissioners -- James M. Sumner and Joseph W. Holmes. The officers elect qualified at the house of Thomas C. Linton, April 10th, 1849- The second election was held the first Monday of August, 1649 and the following officers were elected: County Commissioner-- James M. Sumner, Thomas A. VanSickle and Daniel G. Beck. The original has been missing for many a year, as Mr. Dean tells us. On the other hand, the accounts as it appears in his later narrative is based largely upon the recollections of individuals, after a lapse of over thirty years, and no matter how honest their intentions are, it is quite likely they have erred by means of the incidents of two or more elections becoming intermingled in their memory. The sketch we last quoted then continues; "On the first Monday of August, 1951, Elias Topliff was elected County Judge, succeeding the County Commissioners; he served as Judge until August 25, 1857, when George M. Dean was elected. In 1859, J. A., Townsend was elected, and is now acting Judge. "James M. Sumner was elected Recorder and Treasurer in 1851, Since then the following gentlemen have served the county in that capacity: T. C. Linton, J. J. Shaw, L. 0. Hatch and Elias Topliff, the present officer, "In August, 1851, Leonard B. Hodges was elected Clerk of the District Court. Lewis Hersey and C. J. White has since served. C. J. White is the present Clerk. At the same election Wm. C. Thompson was chosen Sheriff. John Laughlin succeeded him and John A. Townsend next served for two successive terms in that office. Wm. C. Thompson was again elected in 1859, and is now the acting Sheriff. "In August, 1856, James Bryson was elected as a Representative to the Legislature. In 1857, G. W. Gray was chosen a member of the Legislature, J. B. Suttor, County Assessor; G. W. Gray, Drainage Commissioner; W. W. Hungerford, Surveyor; M. F. Luark, Coroner, and G. W. Camp, Prosecuting Attorney. In 1858, J.W. Merrill was chosen Drainage Commissioner; C. J. White, Clerk of the District Court; F. W. Nottingham. Coroner, and J. W. Flint, Superintendent of Common Schools. "In 1859, Charles Paulk was chosen a member of the Legislature; G. L. Miller, Drainage Commissioner; John Ryan, Surveyor; J. W, Granger, Coroner, and R. C. Armstrong Superintendent of Common Schools. "The above list comprises the principal officers since the organization of the county. The records previous to 1858 are very incomplete, and we were unable to learn the dates of the elections of the various officer*.The total amount of taxable property in the county was: In 1849, $1,729; in 1851, $8,299; in 1854, $700,704; in 1857, $1,827,706; in1859, $1,967,899. We have said that when the Indian Mission was established on Yellow River, it was placed in charge of Father Lowrey, a man exceedingly well adapted to the duties pertaining thereto. He was well known many years after in this part of the country and greatly admired. David Lowrey, D. D., was born in Logon County, Kentucky, January 20, 1796, His parents were worthy members of the Presbyterian Church, but, like many other good people, were en-trusted with little of this world's treasury. The widowed mother died when he was only a little over two years old, leaving him a penniless and friendless orphan. He was bound out to a family that, in coarse of time became very reckless and intemperate; but at a Cumberland Presbyterian camp meeting, held near his residence, he solemnly consecrated his heart and his life to God. This, event happened when he was eighteen years of age, Shortly after his conversion he become a candidate for the ministry, under the care of Logan Presbytery, and his proficiency and usefulness were so great that be was soon licensed and ordained to the work of the ministry. On the 16th of December 1830, he began the publication in Princeton, Kentucky, of the “Religious and Literary Intelligencer.” It was a weekly journal, ably edited, and was the first paper published under the auspices of that church. To him, therefore, belongs the honor of being the father of Cumberland Presbyterian journalism. Some years afterward he was editor of the "Cumberland Presbyterian” then published in Nashville, Tennessee, In addition to his editorial duties he had the pastorate of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nashville, which was then in its infancy; and for his year's labor he received as compensation, the astonishing sum of one wagon load of com is the shuck.. In the year, 1833, under the administration of his friend, President Jackson, he received the appointment of teacher to the Winnebago indians, He arrived at Prairie du Chien with his family in the month of November, of the above year. Shortly after his arrival he organized a "Military Church, and here was spread the first communion table in the Northwest. Early in the spring of 1833, a council of Winnebago chiefs was called for the purpose of deliberating in reference to Mr. Lowrey's work. He made a brief statement of his object and plans, and then called for expressions from the various chiefs who were present. After brief speeches from others, Waukon rose up, and thus delivered his sentiments: "The Winnebagoes are asleep, and it will he wrong to awake them; they are red men and all the white man's soap and water cannot make them white." The result of the council, however, was favorable, and Mr. Lowrey entered on his work. In 1840 the Yellow River mission was abandoned and the property sold by the government to Thom. C. Linton. At this time the Fort Atkinson mission was established and the Indians who had heretofore received their annuities at Yellow River were thenceforth paid off at this post until they were removed to Minnesota in 1848. Besides the attempt to teach the red men how to till the soil successfully, their children were taught to read and write (or some of them were who would learn), and the girls were also instructed in sewing, cutting garments, etc. Rev. Lowrey was transferred to this Fort Atkinson charge (as was also farmer Thomas), and remained with the Winnebagoes the greater part of the time, until about 1861 or 1862, when the tribe was moved west of the Missouri River. At the close of the late civil war he removed from St, Cloud, Minnesota, where he was then living, to Clayton County, Iowa, near the scene of his early labors with the Indianas. Some years prior to his death he removed to Pierce City, Mo., where be died in January, 1877, leaving an aged wife. He had two sons, both of whom he outlived. As before stated, the Old Mission. became the property of T. C. Linton about 1840; but we find it was transferred to the school lands from the government, and then contracted from the school fund by Mr. Linton in 1854, He sold it to Ira Perry in 1855. John Linton, a native of Kentucky, came to the mission in 1837 and remained some time. He died at Garnavillo in 1878. Before the territory oŁ Iowa was organized, the Legislature of Wisconsin passed an act, in December, 1837, establishing Clayton County, which was then attached to Dubuque County for judicial purposes. In the following spring the Governor of Wisconsin territory appointed the first sheriff of Clayton County, and the first term of court was held, and the first election. For judicial and election purposes this region of country, as well as all of what is now the state of Minnesota, was at that time attached to Clayton. In 1838--June 3d--all of Iowa and most of Minnesota was formed into the Territory of Iowa. And on December 28, 1846, iowa was admitted as the 29th State of the United States. During the first session of the General Assembly of Iowa, in the winter of 1846-47, an act was passed defining the boundaries of several counties, among them Allamakee, which placed it within its present limits. Previous to this time the northern boundary of Clayton county was identical with the southern line of the neutral ground of 1830--a line that begun on the bank of the Mississippi twenty miles below the mouth of the Iowa, and extended in west-southwest direction something over twenty miles; thence southerly about nine miles to the Turkey river; thence westerly again. On Newhall's map of Iowa, published in 1841, and apparently gotten up with the utmost care, this line is distinctly laid down as the northern boundary of Clayton and Fayette counties. And this brings us to the question of the "Painted Rock," on Section 3, in Fairview township. On the face of a, bold cliff, facing the river, and some half way up the bluff, was at sometime painted the figure of an animal and the word “Tiger”, with some names and other symbols. Judge Murdock said the painting was there in 1848 and looked ancient at the time; and as far as we have been able to ascertain, the question of when or why it was put there or by whom has ever been a matter of speculation with out a satisfactory answer. From various facts it is very evident that this was the point at "which the southern boundary line of the "neutral ground of 1380 touched the river, one of the proofs of which is as follows: At the session of the County Commissioners of Clayton County, held April 4th, 1844, the boundaries of various election precincts were defined, and one precinct was established as follows; "Yellow River precinct (No. 4), commencing at the Painted Rock on the Mississippi River; thence down said river to the corner of township ninety-five, range three, west of the fifth principal meridian; thence down said river two miles, thence due west on section line west side of township ninety-five, range four, west; thence north to the neutral line; thence following said line to the place of commencing, at Painted Rock. This fact being established, what more reasonable to suppose than, that the authorities at Prairie du Chien should cause this prominent cliff--this natural "bulletin-board” as it were--to be so plainly marked as to designate the boundary line in a manner not to be mistaken by the natives; and what more natural than that the subordinates who performed the duty should decorate the rock with representations of wild animals and strange figures, the more readily to attract the attention of the Sioux hunting expeditions as they descended the river in their canoes and warn them that they had reached the limit of the hunting grounds permitted to them. Neither is it strange that they should take this opportunity of placing their own names where they might become famous, though they have long since become illegible. The only wonder is that some enterprising patent nostrum vendor was not on the spot to make his words immortal. In the election precinct above described, the house of Thomas C. Linton, on Yellow River, was designated as the place for holding the elections. So that undoubtedly the first election in the present boundaries of this county was held at that place long before the organizing election of 1849. From this it will be seen, too, that the Old Mission was not established within the boundary line of the Winnebago reservation, but a couple of miles to the south of that boundary, and in Dubuque County--after 1837 in Clayton County. In the second General Assembly an act was passed organizing the county of Allamakee, and approved by Gov. Ansel Briggs -- the first state governor--Jan. 15, 1849. Under this act the first election was held--as heretofore stated. Commissioners were also appointed to Locate the county seat of said county. History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa | ||
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