DEEP RIVER TOWNSHIP

Deep River township is situated in the southeast corner of Poweshiek county, and is one of the most fertile and well cultivated in this region. Deep River, a small well timbered creek, flows through the northern part, and numerous streams rise near the center and flow south.

The farms are under excellent cultivation, raising abundant crops of corn and wheat. The population, according to the census of 1880, was 1,109, and there were 207 votes cast at the last general election in 1879. There are three churches, nine school-houses, two post-offices, one saw-mill, two ministers, three doctors, one lawyer, and three burying grounds.

Dresden was surveyed and laid out in June, 1856, by A. L. Morgan. This little village is situated near the northwest corner of section 10, and contains 140 inhabitants. The post-office is called " Deep River." This is one of the oldest trading points in the county, a store having been kept by Whitney Bros, as early as 1856. It now contains three stores, two blacksmith shops, one hotel and livery stable, one church, one school-house, one wagon shop, one harness shop, one drug store, one tin shop, and twenty-eight dwelling-houses.

Near the southwest corner of the township, in section 29, there is another post-office, and it is named "Tilton," through respect for Mr. J. H. Tilton, postmaster at Montezuma.

The reason of its receiving the name "Deep River" was that the bed of the stream lay deep between the banks. The township was named after the stream, John Sargood entered land in Deep River in the year 1848, in sections 10, 15 and 16. This is said to be the first land entered. He came from Ohio, he still lives in section 10, an old, though mentally vigorous, man of eighty-one years.

Robert Taylor and A. L. Morgan each built a house in 1848, and these houses built of logs were the first in the township and among the first in the county.

In the year 1852, only ten voters resided in the present township limits. In early times supplies came from Keokuk and other distant points on the Mississippi River. For a long time they were obliged to go twenty-five or thirty miles to mill, spending two days and sometimes more on the trip.

The first blacksmith's anvil used in the township consisted of an iron crank to a large water-wheel, which was brought by Robert Taylor, and is now at the house of his son H. R. Taylor.

The first marriage in the township was W. H. Palmer to Nancy Taylor, by Rev. W. H. Barnes.

The first white child born was George Light, son of James and Elizabeth Light.

The first death was that of a young man by the name of Cohoe, in the year 1855. He was interred one mile south of Dresden.

Lewis Mayo was the first regular physician, but Dr. Timothy Parker had rendered some medical service before.

The first resident minister was Rev. W. W. Conell, a preacher in the Methodist Protestant Church, who came in the year 1853.

The first public religious services were held in the house of Mr. Robert Taylor, in the year 1850, by a Methodist Episcopal minister.

The first school was taught in the private house of Timothy Parker, two and a half miles east of Dresden, in about the year 1854, by Miss Mary Robinson. She had twelve pupils in her school, and received $8 per month and board.

The first school in the log school-house was taught by James M. Westbrook.

The first weaving was done by Mrs. Nancy Palmer.

The main thoroughfare, called the State Road, from Iowa City to Des Moines, ran directly through Dresden.

Deep River township was organized in the year 1856, embracing the following territory: The whole of township number 78, range 13, and the south half of township number 79, same range.

The first township election was held under the organization, April, 1857, when the following officers were elected: Trustees, Ephraim Cox, Asa Cohoe, John Morgan; clerk, Myron Whitney; justices of the peace, L. Mayo, C. M. Wolcott; constables, H. Armstrong, C. Barber; road supervisor, James Hillman.

The first meeting of the board of trustees was at Whitney's store in Dresden, in April, in the year 1857.

There are nine road districts, and in 1879 the levied rate of road tax was four mills. The real estate is valued at $203,000, of personalty $69,781. The whole amount of taxes for all purposes in 1879 was $4,120.30, and the aggregate levy in the township was fourteen and two-thirds mills.

The present township officers are:

Clerk W. N. Sargent

Assessor F. M. Smith.

Justices D. K. Sargent and John G. Correll.

Constables Wm. Law and E. S. Nagle.

Trustees Allen Stackhouse, Wm. Butcher and J. M. Sowles.

DEEP RIVER POST-OFFICE.

The first post-office was kept by Robert Taylor, about 1852, and the mail was carried to and from Montezuma in "saddle bags." It is now a money order office, and there is a mail three times a week each way, on two routes.

The second postmaster was Timothy Parker, who received his appointment in 1856; third, Myron Whitney, appointed in 1857; fourth, D. K. Sargent, appointed in 1858; fifth, J.S.Sargent, appointed in 1865; sixth, Jesse Axtell, appointed in 1869; seventh, II. G. Armstrong, appointed in 1879.

MASONIC

Perfect Union Lodge of Deep River, No. 277, was organized in February, 1869, with thirteen charter members. The first W. M., Mr. D. K. Sargent. Present W. M., Mr. John Molyneaux.

CHURCHES.

The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1872, and among the original members were: Wm. Cochran, S. Tibials and wife, E. Cox and wife, Margaret Cox.

The present frame structure was built in the year 1866, at a cost of $2,250. It will seat about 300, and has a good bell.

It was dedicated in June, 1866. Rev. Silas Johnson, now pastor at Leon, preaching the sermon, and assisted by Rev. R. B. Farrar. Pastors have supplied the pulpit in the following order: Rev. B. Benn, R. B. Farrar, Wm. Young, C. E. Spinning, E. A. Walker, and James Butter, who is their present supply.

The present membership is sixty. From its completion to the year 1872, the church building was occupied one-half the time by other denominations. The Sunday-school has average of about 100, and Geo. Ely is superintendent, and Miss Hannawalt, secretary.

There were union meetings during the winter of 1871-72, conducted by Rev. Silas Johnson, in which many professed conversion.

A Presbyterian Church was organized in 1871 at New Center, Tilton P. O., in the southwest portion of the township, with twelve members. The pastor in charge of the Dresden Presbyterian Church supplies the pulpit.

There was a Baptist Church organized in the year 1861, with the following persons among its first members: John Morgan and wife, O. B. Rundle and wife, John Hillman and wife, Mrs. E. M. Couch, Mrs. J. L. Cook. Rev. J. M. Miles was their first and only pastor. Nearly or quite all the members have either moved away or united with the Presbyterians.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1800, with the following named persons among its first members: W. C. Light, Matthias Light, John Burnes, Eliza Burnos, Joseph Crone, Jane Crone, Maria Harris, A. C. Armstrong, D. K. Sargent.

In 1872 they erected a good house of worship, at a cost of about $2,000, and used it until May 29,1879, when it was struck by lightning and consumed by fire. Insurance expired a short time before its loss. Since that time they have held meetings in the Presbyterian Church. The present membership is about forty.

Among the ministers serving this church are the names of Revs. Mr. Holland, F. M. Slusser, Mr. Smith, Mr. Hawn, Mr. McFarland, Mr. Samson, Mr. Kenyon, Mr. Shelton.

The German Baptist Brethren, or Dunkards, organized a church in the year 1849, which is one of the oldest church organizations in Poweshiek county. The first members were; Robert and Mary Taylor, Joseph and Nancy Hall, Martin and Mrs. Snyder. Before the church was built meetings were held in a shed in summer and in school-houses in winter. Their present neat frame house of worship was built in the year 1875, at a cost of $1,333, and was dedicated in the fall of 1875, by William Palmer and Isaac Funk. The names of pastors in order are: John Cassidy, Alfred Ogle, William Palmer, J. S. Snyder, Isaac Funk and the present pastor, Rev. S. P. Miller. The church membership is forty. The Presiding Elders have been: Revs. David Brower, Taswell Gray, David Brower, Jacob Brower, Samuel Garber and J. S. Snyder.

In September, 1877, Rev. Isaac Funk, then pastor, was instantly killed by falling from a stack of hay on a sharp stake.

There are three burying grounds in the township. The Bundle family burying ground, in section 3, contains about eight graves. The Light family burying ground contains about twenty-five graves. The Dresden Cemetery, situated in the exact center of section 15, about a mile and a half south of the village. It was surveyed and laid out into lots in the summer of 1862, by Charles Cox. It contains an acre and a half of ground, and about 270 graves. The first remains deposited there was a child of Michael Funk, in the year 1856. Many persons have brought the remains of their deceased friends from other townships to have them buried in the Dresden Cemetery.

A lodge of Good Templars was organized in Dresden with fifteen charter members, and afterward at one time numbered 137. Mr. D. K. Sargent was the first Worthy Chief Templar.

The first school, as stated elsewhere, was at a private house, the next in a log school-house. This first school-house was erected just a mile and a quarter east of Dresden, on section 11, and was built by eight persons seven of whom sent children to school and the eighth a bachelor. It was composed of logs, with wooden hinges for the doors, and plank seats.

There are now nine good frame school-houses, with modern furniture and other conveniences. The names of the teachers in the different schools in 1880 were as follows:

No. 1, W. G. Inman; No. 2, Miss Sarah Johnson; No. 3, Frank Light; No. 4, Clara Pugh; No. 5, T. Hatch; No. 6, Miss E. J. Myerly; No. 7,David Gordon; No. 8, Clara Hannawait; No. 9, L. K. Cunningham.

INCIDENTS AND EXPERIENCES.

In the fall of 1856 the steam boiler in the saw-mill of Mr. Ephraim Cox burst, instantly killing Samuel Cox, aged twenty-six. He was blown through the roof of the mill, and his clothing entirely stripped off. This occurred one-half mile east of Dresden.

During the winter of 1848 deep snow fell, and for a time prevented all travel. Provisions became scarce, and the family of Mr. Robert Taylor subsisted for a considerable time on corn grated on a stove pipe which had been pierced with holes.

The first political speech delivered in the township was by O. J. L. Foster, of Montezuma, in the fall of 1857, he being a candidate for member of the State Legislature.

The first preliminary examination was before Justice C. M. Wolcott, in 1858. Wells Craig was charged with assault on John Parker. Attorney for the State was A. T. Crose, and for defendant, Reuben Mickel. The defendant was acquitted. The trial was held in Tim. Parker's house.

The first civil prosecution was in 1857, at the residence of L. Mago, J. P., Joseph Farmer, plaintiff, and 0. B. Rundle, defendant.

In June, 1857, Mr. George S. Barber was kicked by a horse so severely in the abdomen that death occurred in thirty-six hours. A short time before his death he made a will, and by its conditions a sum of money was given to the Presbyterian Church, and the present bell was purchased with it.

July 8,1861, a fearful tornado, or hurricane, passed over the township from northwest to southeast, causing considerable damage to buildings, fences and crops. Several houses were moved from their foundations, some buildings totally demolished. A log house, occupied by R. L. May and family, in which eighteen persons took refuge from the storm, was unroofed and top course of logs removed, but, strange to say, no one was hurt.

George Taylor, in December of the year 1875, shot three women, among them his wife, Sarah, with a revolver, all mortally, and shot himself with the same weapon and then cut his own throat with a razor. Ho was sentenced to the penitentiary for eight years and now is serving his sentence.

Three farm houses have been burned since the first settlements. One owned by Robt. Hastings, on section eleven, and loss about $200; no insurance.

Another, in the fall of 1870, John Nagle, on section 24, loss about $350; insured for $600; all of which was recovered.

The last dwelling-house burned in the township was owned by Aaron Stonehocket; loss $500. Compromised insurance for $150.

The oft-repeated assertion that "truth is stranger than fiction," was fully verified in the following " romance in real life," which occurred during the summer of 1864, in the beautiful but unpretentious village of Dresden: Thomas Neal had been a soldier, and received an early discharge from the federal army, on account of the loss of a leg, and at the time was drawing a small pension, and was living with his mother, just south of Dresden.

This unenviable hero of our story was as handsome and prepossessing in his personal appearance as he was shiftless and indolent in his habits, and depraved in his moral character. he was, however, not without religious pretentions, for he had recently been converted to membership in the Baptist Church, and at the time of which we write held the position of teacher in the village sabbath-school.

A certain young lady, the belle of the town, and a most beautiful little miss of scarce sixteen summers, a school-teacher, and the daughter of wealthy and respected parentage, fell desperately in love with this goodlooking compound of hypocrisy and vagrancy. Their stolen private interviews were fruitful of pledges of reciprocal attachment and fidelity, and ingenious schemes for the accomplishment of their tender desires. As is usual in such cases, the stern opposition of the girl's father only added fuel to the flame, intensified their already too passionate love, and made determination on the part of the lovers more determined, and consequently elopement was conceived and mutually agreed to.

Conceiving no easier method of obtaining the requisite funds for defraying the necessary expenses of such an enterprise, Neal concluded to enter, temporarily, the profession of horse-stealing. Whether with the consent of his beloved cannot be ascertained, but he quietly took possession of one of Mr. George Cox's horses and another from the farm of G. M. Hollingsworth, with which he started for Washington, where he evidently intended converting them into cash.

On the way, late in the night, he lost his bearings, and stopped at a farmhouse to Inquire for the necessary directions to guide him upon his nocturnal journey. Here, the lateness of the hour, combined with the confused manner of the traveler, excited suspicion, and the farmer invited him to tarry until morning. Neal at first declined, but was finally induced to accept the proffered hospitality, by a promise on the part of the entertainer to purchase one, and perhaps both, of his horses. It so happened that the Baptist minister, who had but a few months before received both Neal and his feminine admirer into his church at Dresden, was sojourning at the same house, and knowing him well, upon their meeting in tho morning, recognized Neal, and familiarly addressed him by his name. Upon his arrival during the night Neal had given a fictitious name, and claimed to be the son of a well known merchant in Washington. The witless and embarrassed effort of the horse-thief to deny his identity more than confirmed the first suspicions of the host, and he was at once arrested, and the horses returned to their respective owners, neither of whom, up to that time had missed his property.

Neal was given into the official custody of Joseph Crone, then justice of the peace in Deep River township, who, under a mistaken impression of his duty under the circumstances, turned his prisoner over to the charge of one George Parker, a furloughed soldier. Parker, whose sympathies were with the criminal, on the score of army-fellowship, in the entire absence of legal responsibility in the case, set him at liberty, and Neal thus escaped justice.

Efforts were made for his re-arrest, but no trace of his whereabouts could be ascertained, and it was generally supposed that he had left the neighborhood, until about two weeks later, when word was received by the father of the young schoolmiss, from the gentleman with whom she was boarding, to the effect that she and Neal were indulging in clandestine meetings.

In the meantime secret preparations were jointly obtaining between the lovers and their allies for the consummation of their designs. Every external arrangement being complete, the young lady attended to the interior department of the plot with a promptitude and fidelity of detail worthy of an older head and a better cause.

Unfortunately, however, for them, fragments of letters were found in her school-room, which, when placed together so that their purport could be ascertained, proved a complete revelation of their plans, and were sent to her father.

Upon receiving this intelligence, on the very day of the intended elopement, the father armed himself with a shot-gun, and in company with a friend, repaired to the vicinity of the lady's place of boarding. This was about seven o'clock in the evening. They had laid in waiting for about three hours when a low, shrill whistle, proceeding from an adjacent strip of timber, was heard. To this the party in ambush made a decoying answer, and shortly afterward a horseman emerged from the woods. He was promptly challenged by the father, who demanded:

" Who comes here?"

"Tom Neal," was boldly replied.
"What do you want?"

" I want M____"

" You can't have her tonight," rejoined her father.

" Then there will bebloodshed, for I am desperate," Neal answered, defiantly, drawing a revolver from its place of concealment.

The father, now thoroughly aroused, anticipated the murderous intent of this latter movement,and quickly leveled his weapon at Neal's head; but the gun missed fire, and Neal, in turn, drew a deadly bead upon his antagonist and fired. The shot would evidently have proved fatal in its effect, had not a timely stroke from a club in the hand of the father's companion, against the barrel of the pistol, turned the ball from its course. Taking in the situation at a glance, the disappointed lover abruptly turned his horse's head and took to the timber, where, for the second time, he made good his escape.

As the men then approached the boarding-house, it is believed that the muffled wheels of a carriage were heard rapidly receding from them; which had, presumably, been in waiting to convey the enamored couple where?

The father entered the house, and immediately proceeded to the chamber of his daughter, and there found her in full dress, stretched upon her bed in pretended sleep.

The next morning she was taken to his village home, where a strict watch was kept upon all her movements for the next fortnight. But, despite the vigilance of the girl's family, and their diligent efforts to intercept letters and prevent correspondence, the lovers were evidently in uninterrupted communication through some secret agency, and were quietly maturing plans which were destined to prove effectual.

One evening the young lady, who had not been permitted to leave the residence of her father unattended, obtained permission to spend the night at the home of her grandfather, which was situated near to and diagonally across the street from that of her father. "When the evening had advanced the parents, who had accompanied her, took their leave; but they had been gone only a few minutes when, upon the pretext of having to study her sabbath-school lesson, she expressed a wish to return home, with the cunning request that her grandfather would go with her. To this he consented, and they had gained the middle of the street, when she turned to him and said:

"Now, grandfather, you needn't go any further, but stand here until I get safely in the gate, and then you can go back."

The unsuspicious old gentleman fell readily in with this suggestion, and after hearing, as he supposed, the gate close upon her, and the soft, sweet good night of his granddaughter, he trotted back to his dwelling, and reported what had occurred to his widowed daughter, who at the time was keeping house for him. More suspicious than he, she at once took alarm, and immediately proceeded to the girl's home, to find that her apprehensions were not unfounded the cunning bird had indeed flown.

Instead of entering the house, M____bent her steps rapidly toward the home of her beloved, walking, or rather running and jumping, alone and in the darkness, through the corn-fields and over fences, for more than a mile into the country. Gaining the rural home of her lover, she was soon secreted, without undressing, in bed with Mrs. Neal.

The parents were soon aroused, and a vain pursuit commenced. Excitement ran wild, and the usually quiet little village was in a few minutes in a whirl of tumult. The citizens swarmed like bees in clusters about the street corners, and gossip and conjecture flew hither and thither, like leaves upon the autumn winds.

Parties were readily organized, and a thorough search instituted; every house in the town was visited; every nook and corner ransacked and the adjacent fields were scoured. One party, headed by the enraged father, proceeded to the home of Neal, where they were met by his father (who happened to be home from the army on a furlough), with manifestations of surprise. He professed profound sympathy for the alarmed father of the girl, and indignation at the conduct of his son. He freely invited the party into his house, and offered personally to facilitate their search over his premises in every way within his power. Then began a search through every room, chamber and closet in the house, as elaborate as it was fruitless. The yard, sheds, barn and out-houses received the same thorough overhauling, with the same ineffectual results.

All this time Mrs. Neal laid quietly in her bed, looking innocent enough, as she watched the excited searchers rushing too and fro, and M____laid huddled up at her side, completely hidden from view by the covering of the bed, listening to their hurried and disconnected snatches of conversation.

Either prompted by a delicate politeness toward the retired lady, or owing to the entire absence of any suspicion in that direction, the real hiding place was overlooked, and the girl's whereabouts became an unsolved and profound mystery.

For the next week, with unflagging energy the futile quest was continued, but diligence went unrewarded.

In the course of time, the day for threshing upon the farm occupied by the Neals arrived. The machine was hauled through the barn-yard and placed in position just behind a handsome stack of wheat, for the summer had been a fruitful one, and the sons of toil had been richly repaid that year for their labors. The hands gathered in to help from neighboring farms, and the noisy separator began its buzzing, accompaniment to the loud talk and jolly laughter of the busy workmen.

The man stationed upon the top of the stack to pitch down the sheaves, was dreaming of his own harvest, and singing a love song when he suddenly disappeared.

The boasting and mirth gave place to intelligent expressions of astonishment, as the men ceased their work, and gazed questioningly into each others puzzled faces. The horses were stopped, and preparations about to commence for solving the mysterious vanishment, when a voice was heard coming from the bowels of the stack, in the most frightened and supplicating tones, bogging to its taken out.

As the true situation became gradually comprehended, the general amazement gave way to an amused wonderment, which, in turn, was followed by a shout a perfect yell of laughter, as the men began tearing down the stack.

It was soon discovered that the sheaves had been carefully removed from the interior of the stack, and a large roomy cavity, somewhat like the chamber of a cave, had thus been formed. The roof of this ingeniously improvised room, becoming weakened by the removal of the upper layers of wheat, had suddenly caved in, and thus the farmer's abrupt passing out of sight was explained.

Upon clearing away the loose fallen sheaves, a floor was reached near the bottom of the stack, over which were scattered chicken bones, scraps of bread and other remnants of food and another mysterious disappearance began to unravel. Borne one found a pair of drawers with one leg missing.

"And what is this," asked one of the men, stooping to pick up something from between a couple of sheaves," a pair of scissors, as sure as you'r born!"

"And this," " and this?" came from a second, and a third, almost simultaneously, as at the same time they took up, respectively, a silver thimble and a gold necklace.

The latter article had been a gift from M's grandmother the tale was fully told.

It was afterward admitted by the confessed confederates of the runaway pair, that the lovers had been concealed together in this cunningly devised chamber of straw, and were fed through an aperture in one side, which could be opened or closed at pleasure, by the removal or insertion of a few sheaves of wheat. The fact was also subsequently revealed, that here the plucky couple had lived in waiting for their opportunity for a whole week, when they finally escaped to Missouri, where they were united in marriage

The statements of this remarkable incident in the pioneer life of Deep River township, together with the sequel, are in every particular, true. And to the silly and enthralled young reader of inflammable novels hereby hangs a wholesome Moral!

Two years later, and, deserted by her unprincipled husband, the foolish child-heroine of this real romance, returned penitently to her father's home, a sadder and wiser woman. The parent heart opened wide with welcome and forgiveness, and she was freely and fully reinstalled in the old love and favor.

It is believed, upon conclusive evidence, that Neal subsequently committed suicide in the city of Des Moines; and the lady is now the mistress of a substantial home and the happy wife of a respectable citizen.

Source: The History Of Poweshiek County Iowa 1880
Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Barbara Ziegenmeyer