Kintz, Joseph

KINTZ, HOWELL, WALTENBURGER, HAMLIN, KNISELY

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 11/17/2008 at 14:12:51

KINTZ, Joseph; Farmer and Stock Raiser; Sec. 24, P. O. Clyde; born in Cumberland Co., Penn., Jan. 11, 1813; he moved to Ohio with his father, and thence came to this county in Nov. 1845. He is the oldest settler in this part of Jasper Co.; came before it was surveyed through this county; was 17 1/2 miles to the nearest neighbor. He drove from Ohio with horses and exchanged for oxen at Oskaloosa; he entered 1,000 acres of land; has since given each child 160 acres. At the first beginning in Iowa, the story came that the Indians were going to make trouble, and they built a fort around Mr. Kintz's house, brought in all the families, thirty-six in all, and their stock, and remained several days. The Indians, seeing their movements, were frightened, and commenced preparing for defense. Both parties were frightened and neither wanted to fight. Mr. KINTZ kept on with his plowing, telling them to return to their homes. Some wanted to leave the county; but for Mr. KINTZ they would have deserted the camp. They finally returned home to their farms, and that ended the Indian trouble. Soon after, Calista HOWELL, a girl of 16 years, was coming from a neighbor's, two miles distant, and got lost in the woods; the neighbors looked for eight days before they found her. She had been without food and lying out on the ground and traveling until she was exhausted. Mr. KINTZ was the first to discover her, some eight miles from her home. He took her in his arms and carried her home. The flesh had mostly left her body. With great care, they nursed her and now she is the mother of a family living in Oregon. Mr. KINTZ was here at the time of the hanging of the HAMLIN family for the supposed murder of KNISELY in 1850. He married Mary WALTENBURGER in Stark CO., Ohio in 1833. She was born in Pennsylvania May 2, 1812. They have five children - John W., C. P., Sarah, Rebecca and Susan. He has 357 acres of land, valued at $35 per acre, a good house, barn, orchard and other good improvements. He was the farthest man north between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He has lead a very active life and is a young man yet; goes on the jump and as lively as a man of 20 years; he used to go to mill at Oskaloosa, and have to wait four weeks to get milling done; sometimes took a jug of whisky and got the miller drunk and asleep and ground their own grist before he awoke. He is a man of unbounded generosity; lets no one leave his house hungry or cold; that is his religion; he has always been a Democrat. ~ "The History of Jasper County" (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878), 602.