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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XXIII
  BeaverTownship

Long before Beaver Township had received its present boundaries and its present name, it made up a part of other divisions of the county. Everything has a beginning and if its beginnings are not given in detail, its history will be incomplete. Like Marcy, Worth and Colfax townships, the south one-third of Beaver was included in Pleasant Township and at the same time the north two-thirds were contained in Boone Township. This division continued from August 6, 1849, until March 8, 1852. At this last named date Berry Township was established and named. It contained the south two-thirds of the present Township of Beaver, while the north one-third was still contained in the Township of Boone. This division continued until April 5, 1858, at which time Marcy Township was organized and all of the present Township of Beaver was contained within its borders. This division continued until 1871, at which time Marcy Township was reduced to its present boundaries and the Township of Beaver was established and named. The beautiful creek that runs through it from north to south was named Beaver long before the township was named. So many of the little animals of that name were trapped along this stream by the trappers that they named it Beaver Creek. The Indian name for Beaver is Amaqua. The English name of the creek was given to Beaver Township and the Indian name of it to Amaqua Township. Beaver Creek is the only stream in Beaver Township. A sketch of this creek will be found in another part of this work under the heading of The Small Streams of Boone County. The first settlement in Beaver Township was made in May, 1867. It will be seen from this that the pioneer hardships of the county had passed by before the first settlement in Beaver Township was made. By that time we had good mills, good mail facilities, plenty of merchants and stores and a railroad crossing the county from east to west. The Civil war had just closed and homeseekers came in large numbers and Beaver Township settled up with surprising rapidity. The thrilling history of the pioneer days does not and cannot attach to Beaver Township as it does to the earlier settled townships of the county. But for rapidity of settlement and quick development, it is in advance of any of them. The first settlers of Beaver Township were Patrick Vaughan, John Vaughan and Patrick Cronin. They settled on Section 10, May, 1867. The next year Patrick Mahoney, John T. S. Williams and numerous others settled in the township. The first board of trustees of the township were Enos Barrett, Patrick Mahoney and John Garlie. The first official meeting of this board was held at the house of John T. S. Williams, who was the first township clerk. The first marriage was that of Dennis Vaughan to Mary Mahoney, which occurred April 28, 1869. The first male child born in the township was William Vaughan, on the 15th of September, 1869. He died August 25, 1870, being the first death in the township. There were a few native groves of timber along the Beaver in the south part of the township, which is all there were in its borders. The hunters and trappers in the early times were in the habit of camping on the Beaver and remaining for weeks at a time to hunt, fish and trap. The soil of Beaver Township is very fertile. From an area of unbroken prairie sod in 1867, it has changed to a solid block of farms like a vast checker board. Beaver is strictly an agricultural township, without a town or a postoffice within its borders. It produces abundant crops of all kinds and every year its farmers ship many fat cattle and hogs to the markets. These things speak well for the industry, enterprise and intelligence of the farmers of Beaver Township. There are some large landholders in Beaver Township, but a large per cent of its surface is liberally divided up among the citizens. As time passes on, the large farms will be cut up into smaller ones, which will be better for the citizens and will place the land in a higher state of cultivation. The first schoolhouse built in Beaver Township was located near the northwest corner of Section 10. It was built in 1871, at a cost of $800. The first school in the township was taught by Patrick Coil, who moved to California. The township now has eight school districts and eight schoolhouses, all of which are said to be kept in good repair. The schools are among the best country schools in the county. The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad runs across the southeast corner of the township. The length of the line in Beaver Township is about six miles, but there is no station in its borders. Ogden, in Yell Township, is about a mile from where the line of this railroad enters Beaver Township and just over the south line in Union Township is the Town of Berkley. At each of the places named there is a station and this is the reason there is no station in Beaver Township. The rural delivery and telephone communication now enjoyed by all the country townships make country life very pleasant. Through the rural delivery lines they have daily mails and the telephone places them in communication with all the surrounding country at any hour. Back midway in the '50s there was a furrow plowed through the southeast part of Beaver Township, which was the first prairie sod turned in its present boundaries. About the time above referred to there was a congregation of Predestinarian Baptists located at Pea's Ford, on the Des Moines River, near where the Boone viaduct spans it. The minister of this congregation was an aged man who lived in the northeast corner of Guthrie County. He owned a gentle horse and a good buggy and he was very willing to preach for them, but his eyes were growing dim and he sometimes became lost on the open prairie and would fail to arrive on time. So the members of this little church plowed a furrow from the residence of John A. Crawley, who lived on Section 10, Marcy Township, diagonally across the country to the vicinity of Rippey, where there was a road which led to the home of Rev. John Shanks, the minister. After this the good old minister had no trouble in finding the way to the home of John A. Crawley, who was a member of his congregation. This furrow finally became a temporary highway for people to travel on. But the improvement of the country has entirely effaced this road, and it is doubtful if there is a citizen in Beaver Township who has any knowledge of the sacred trail over which the grand old minister passed in the discharge of his ministerial duties. No coal mines have been developed in Beaver Township and if any coal is ever found under its surface it will be of lower vein quality. The people of this township have a good record for law-abiding citizens. There is no record of any crimes of a serious character to be found in any of our criminal court proceedings. Nor does it appear that any considerable number of the citizens of this township have been aspirants for county offices. They have been satisfied in attending to their own business, leaving the office seekers to take care of the county business. The only man who has been honored with a county office while a citizen of Beaver Township was John T. S. Williams, who in 1879 was elected county treasurer. But few townships in the state can show a record of political modesty the equal of this. There is but one cinirch in Beaver lOwnship. It is of the Baptist denomination and the church building is situated on the southwest corner of Section 20, Township S3, Range'28. It has a fairly good membership with regular service, and a Sundav school. The reason there is but one church in the township is because there are so many towns near the borders of Beaver. There are the towns of Ogden, Berkley, Grand Junction and Beaver, where there are places of worship and where most of the people of Beaver Township attend. In a trip made through the township the writer did not have the pleasure of meeting any of the township officers except James McElroy, who is a gentleman of social and friendly qualities and who is well informed in respect to the local history of Beaver Township. He was among the early settlers of that part of the county. The present township officers are as follows: Trustees, James McElroy, Lewis Savits, John Hanbaker; clerk, Emet Gonder; assessor, Anton Shelberg; justices, John Gimmel and Albert Barnes.

Source: History of Boone County, Iowa
N. E. Goldthwait, Supervising Editor
Illustrated, Volume I
Chicago, Pioneer Publishing Company
1914

Transcribed by Lynn Diemer-Mathews and uploaded August 5, 2024.

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