SECTION I.
PIONEER HISTORY
submitted by Lynn McCleary, January 30, 2011, pages 11-52

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At a meeting of the "Old Settlers Association" in Tipton, June 10, 1910, the secretary reported twenty-seven deaths during the year since the last meeting. At this meeting those who came in 1836 to this county were asked to stand. Only two arose, and from personal reports obtainable only six are now living who came in that early time. Personal interviews in this chapter of accounts secured from those able to give correct facts will reveal who these six are. The roll was also called on dates up to 1850. Very few survivors of these early days are now found in this county, they are fast passing and many, very many, interesting facts must be omitted because no one is now living who could have furnished them. Many points of interest in this county that have events of value associated with them cannot now be exactly located because the character of the surroundings has been so changed or distinguishing marks removed. If errors creep into pioneer accounts they are due to crossed memories or lack of opportunity to verify the historical data by actual record which was not made at the proper time.

The earliest settler was not concerned with keeping any record of the present, as he knew it, for us at this date to reproduce as history. He had enough to do then to keep himself and his family supplied with the bare food and clothing necessary for existence and while happy enough and possessed of a keen appreciation of his situation, willing and more than anxious to better his condition he was alive to the future only in a material and physical sense at first.

This does not mean that he had no thought for elevation of mind, or morals, but that he was after a home, independence of fortune, freedom politically, and comforts for his family which must be carved out of a wild country. He was willing to give his life, his very blood, if need be, to carry out this plan. This one purpose possessed him and if he was not concerned with keeping records on paper or in marking spots of historical interest so that they could be identified by posterity, we at this date must forgive him and do the best we can to put facts into form for preservation.

We must draw from every possible source for this chapter and shall be indebted to many for assistance. It may not be true that people are more selfish or thoughtless than in these pioneer days, but they certainly are less social. They fail to respond to calls of a personal nature in the same way, due doubtless to the great demand on time for the multitude of duties that now come to each individual if he fulfills his daily round of occupations. Then the social and charitable element in the character came to its highest degree of expression and what belonged to one became in distress or need the property of all. One has written something as follows concerning the early days: "They were void of hypocrisy themselves and they despised it in others. They hated cowardice and shams of every kind, and above all things falsehood and deception. The stranger, so long as honest and trustworthy, was made welcome as one of the household. To tender pay for service of this kind was offensive to the possessor. If one fell sick and needed care and attention it was immediately at hand. Such service was cheerfully rendered and the needs of a new country made skilful nurses of housewives. A neighborhood was a social unit and what was the interest of one became the interest of all. When work needed a force of men, they united the men of the community and no one needed to make a second request. In a sense all felt the need and could not enjoy his good fortune unless shared by his neighbor.

The experiences of some of the first-comers were very similar to those of the early founders of the English colonies. Coming here in the autumn no opportunity was given for planting or growing anything before winter came on. Hay for the stock could be harvested anywhere, fuel was found along the streams and material for a dwelling could be procured in a short time, such dwelling as the pioneer was accustomed to construct or had seen constructed in the state from which he came. His ancestors had taught him this, had taught him independence of action under trying circumstances and he felt no fear in his new surroundings. The experiences of these early people were similar, yet they had their individual trials and some of them were peculiar to the times in which they lived, while others were only the result of a disposition to carve a new way in a wild country almost single handed.

Such original experiences told by individuals now living are hard to procure, but many things in this chapter are first hand, coming fresh from the ones who were participants in these events. Such stirring scenes as they are able to picture make present surroundings seem tame in comparison and romance could not produce situations, tragic or comic, to compare with the realistic tales of the pioneer. The resources of the family were employed to the fullest extent, each one having his own duty and while none escaped the labors assigned him, all were happy in the undertaking. Depending for life on the immediate territory in which they lived, every means was employed to make economic use of nature's supply. The friendly Indian, indeed a friend, the game of wood and stream procured at the risk of life, often was the sole dependence of the lonely forerunner of the present prosperous people of this county and state. If the hungry child of this date were given for his dinner the plain food the pioneer mother had to give, he would wonder what had put it into the mind of the housekeeper to return to the custom of his great-grandfather. Let these people tell their own stories in their own way, for they are the only ones entitled to a hearing in this matter.

The portion of the state now known as Cedar county is just within the limits of the Black-Hawk purchase. General Winfield Scott made the treaty on behalf of the United States on the present site of the City of Davenport, Sept. 13, 1832. By this treaty the government secured title to six million acres of land, the bounds of which are a line running from the east side of Davis county northeast to a point on the Cedar river near the northeast corner of Johnson county, then northwest to the lands of the Winnebagoes, then east to the Mississippi near McGregor. 1 "It was then a land untouched by civilization—a land possessing all the charms of primitive wildness, in winter a soliture of snow-covered and storm-swept plains, but in summer a paradise with every enticement for the adventurer or homeseeker. There is a beauty that can be seen at one step in a country's development but never afterward. It is part of the compensation of the pioneer to see and live among the unchanged loveliness of nature. The groves stand where God put them and the streams run where his finger marked the way. No fences mark the metes and bounds of one man's dominion and where another may not go. The beholder may realize the full meaning of the words, 'All are yours and ye are God's.'

"What a new land is to be for years to come is determined by the character of the pioneer settler. The land is his to make of it what he will, physically, intellectually, morally." 2  "The territory now constituting the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, was by Congress organized as Wisconsin territory and Henry Dodge appointed governor in July, 1836. The first session of the Assembly of Wisconsin territory divided the Black Hawk purchase into Dubuque and Des Moines counties. The second session of that Assembly, which was held at Burlington, divided Dubuque county into Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, Delaware, Jackson, Linn, Benton, Clinton and Cedar counties. 3  "Such was the political birth of this region. Thus the first steps were taken toward political freedom and separate existence as to local authority in the county of Cedar, territory of Wisconsin. But while the first governing body of commissioners were in session, the county passed from the jurisdiction of Wisconsin territory to that of the territory of Iowa, for the Congressional Act whereby Iowa became an independent territory went into effect July 4, 1838. The last order of the commissioners before passing from the Wisconsin jurisdiction reads as follows: "Issued a writ to bring before this body Orrin Lewis and child, which was committed to the county sheriff."4 When Rochester was named as the county seat there were not to exceed one hundred fifty inhabitants in the borders of the county and they were scattered throughout the whole of it. The earliest and heaviest settlements were in Sugar Creek township in Rochester and Pioneer Grove in the northwestern part of the county. The one post-office was called Rock Creek, and afterwards Rochester. Naturally as immigration increased the people began to discuss the more central location of the county seat. The first aggressive movement toward that end was made in 1839 by a petition from the people to the legislature then in session at Burlington asking its re-location. 5  But more of this in another chapter.

The old frame court house in which the court of '41 was held may interest us for a time. There, of course, court was held in all dignity; there the wandering lecturer and the occasional preacher came; there moot legislatures and school exhibitions and dances were held. There Soper and Gleason, captured for horse-stealing, were confined over night instead of in the jail. Whatever may have been the reason for this, it made their seizure easy and certain when they were wanted by the regulators. There on the removal of an outbuilding, Hawley and Daniels were burned in effigy for no other reason than that they came from Oberlin and which made it certain that they were abolitionists. 6 

"The time of awakening of large expectations was the coming of the Lyons Iowa Central Railroad. The soil of Iowa was then unbroken, unmarred or unblest, as you please, by any railroad cut or fill. The valleys had not been exalted nor the hills made low to make a way for Nahum's Chariots. The advance of this project beyond the talking stage was signalized by the appearance of the graders with shovels, wheelbarrows and teams, in the early summer of 1853. Imagine the interest and wonder in the mind of the writer and the rest of the boys as week after week the peaceful army continued and results began to show. The nearest actual invasion of Tipton was made by a heavy fill just east of the present school campus, where a large embankment was raised, an embankment now being pulled away by cartloads to fill depressions in the building lots in the corporation. But when expectations were at the highest and hope the brightest, and the cars most clearly seen in the near future by those who had never seen them in reality, work abruptly ceased, the army of workers vanished and the whole project had failed as 'the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley.' All there was to show for the thought, labor and money expended were worse than useless instances of grading between Lyons and the Wapsie river and between that and Tipton and beyond toward Iowa City." 7 

The boys of the town were in a measure compensated for their disappointment in not seeing actual cars by having a very available skating pond furnished them by the water which accumulated against the embankment previously mentioned. A few summers after this pond was formed Mustoe Chambers was drowned in it. Then a passage through the bank was hurriedly cut for a way for the water to escape and our cherished pond disappeared. The presence of such a near-by skating pond will be appreciated by the boy who searches for such a place in the vicinity of Tipton today. 8 

"The history of any county is involved largely in the history and biography of its leading men and women. Let us note the history of some to whom our county is indebted. Prominent among its pioneers stands the name of Henry Hardman. He was the first Justice of the Peace and was such for a long time to the satisfaction of the people. He was among the first jurors. His pioneer home became the place for elections, court, religious, school and social gatherings. There the Rev. Barton H. Cartwright held service. The writer was a member of the family as a district school teacher "boarding 'round," and there heard him tell of feeding a whole camp meeting when pork was twenty-five cents a pound. He lived to see the full-blown flower of the county's affluence and his country's greatness. It is in my heart to speak of Mary Hardman and other pioneer wives upon whom the labor of open-handed hospitality fell without whom neither church nor state could have been established in the wilderness. Too little has been said of the pioneer women and justice can never be measured to them at this late day.

One day while searching in the old but still well-guarded cemetery at Rochester, pushing aside the grass from a low headstone, I read the barely legible name of Daniel Hare. He was an associate of Henry Hardman in church and state. He died in the midst of his labors in 1852. Those who met in daily walk the form of Henry D. Brown scarcely remembered him as one of the forerunners of civilization, of the historic band of 1836. Moses B. Church, the first secretary of the Board of County Commissioners, and the first school teacher who had been trained for the ministry, who came to brave the hardships of pioneer life in advanced years, met with misfortune and when he could get a hearing became an advocate of new doctrines or theories of life which left God and the Bible out of the argument. 9 

Long associated with the town and county was Jeremiah C. Betts. He was hotel keeper and successively filled almost every office in the gift of the county, a successful Sunday school teacher and superintendent and good citizen in his time. He retired to a farm in Inland township and ended his days in peace. Following the line of woods that rims the horizon on the west and north of the county seat were the homes of Joseph K. Snyder, Solomon Knott, Samuel Long, Solomon Aldrich, Benjamin Fraseur, Geo. Reeder, W. A. Rigby, John, James, and George Safley and Alexander Yule. The successive occupants of what is now known as Bunker Hill farm, are Captain Higginson, Mr. Wall, Moses Bunker and the present owner, a descendant of the Bunker family. The Hammond family must be remembered in all that belongs to the early history of the county, being identified with both the farm and with business interests in different parts.

To Joshua Hall the town and county owed the stately pine trees that are found here so numerously and with the growth of a half century to give them majesty they furnish a constant reminder of the man. In some way these pioneers with their heroic wives have left their mark, and generally for good, upon the country. In the early days Abraham Lett was a well known character and Mr. Stuckenbruck with his mountainlike horse and little wagon sticks in memory as does the venerable Samuel Daniels who was always the bearer of the Book in Masonic processions. 10 

The first store in the county is said to have been in Centerville, in Sugar Creek township, and was conducted by John C. Higginson and John Sheller. The first things belong largely to Rochester, since it was laid out in 1836 and very soon after obtaining the post office and ferry could also boast of a store.

No aggregation of houses is a city or town without the merchant and his store, and largely as are the merchants so is the city or town. Let us look at the honored roll elsewhere. With the rise and growth of the county seat after 1840 came Addison Gillett. His appearance was gentlemanly. He had brown curly hair, a smooth, almost feminine, face. He was well adapted to his chosen work as salesman, but not it would seem to the surroundings of a new country under pioneer conditions. He cannot be numbered with those who, rising with the growing country, gained wealth and position. His modest monument may be seen in the Masonic cemetery bearing his name to guide the search of those interested and make its mute plea for remembrance by the passing generations.

There is no remembrance of early days in Cedar county and its capital that can leave out the firm of Friend and Culbertson. The first came early to the county but for a time engaged in farming. The latter possessed of some capital became a prominent actor in public and business affairs, as the first hotel keeper, as county officer, but mainly and for a long period as merchant. The firm of Friend and Culbertson was always solid, enlarging to meet demands. A branch store was established in Clarence and a competent manager put in charge. Dr. Richard Hall and Aaron Gilbert as druggists, Casad and Gilmore were among the early firms, the latter long associated as partners in the clothing business retired to enjoy their well-earned peace after useful business careers. Mr. Gilmore is still a familiar figure on our streets and the old business is continued in the same place by his son and partner, and this firm is one of two places in Tipton continued from father to son at this day. The other one is directly opposite on the other side of the square—the old harness shop of Austin Parsons, which is continued by his son at this time.

Alonzo Shaw, when not holding some public service office, was a business man from the first. As partner of Col. Lockwood Smith, as hotel keeper, as druggist and merchant, until now in his declining years he has gone from all these scenes and finds a home in the milder climate of California. He tells elsewhere of some of his early experiences. In those days the blacksmith was among the first comers. He was one of the prime necessities of a new country. Scattered all through the county and whenever a settlement sprang up the shop was one of the first needs since the plow must be kept in repair if the native sod was to be made productive.

Among the first in Tipton and vicinity we name Peabody and Daniels, the Bosserts as carpenters, and Goddens as masons, Weaver and Dickinson as shoemakers, Magee and McCurdy as tailors, Daniel W. Clapp as teamster, by length of time in service, miles traveled and fidelity to trust, has gained a place in county history. The steam mill with a large part of the capitalists of the town as stockholders, growing out of the needs of the time, was a great wonder to the boy. The top of its marvelous chimney seemed to be beyond his vision. There was the miller in all his glory and Taylor, the engineer, with his watchful eye on the power.

Break not the charm of early days that live like a song in memory. Rather let us ask where are the mills that adorned Rock Creek and made it something more than a watering place for the pastured stock. I can name them; there was Miller's mill, in more recent times Dean's mill, just west of the present cemetery. This was chief of them all. Then Dwigan's mill and Friend's mill. Their ponds gave to boyish eyes all the charms of lakes. There lilies grew and fish swam and the great waterwheels spoke all the poetry that has ever been written about them. What a paradise they made for a boy. He would not give the memory of those days of pleasure for all the money that might have been earned or knowledge acquired in the time spent upon their banks. 11 

Late in the summer of 1836 my parents with several other families started from Indiana for a long journey westward. Two families, one mentioned above, and a congenial second had only one wagon between them. This was drawn by oxen and not much different from the common wagon of the day with the exception of a higher bed or box, the harness was made chiefly of chains. The only way to bring live stock was to lead them. Even the hogs were haltered and led but alas! the journey was too long, too tiresome and only one reached Iowa soil. They brought one cow this entire distance. Starting with considerable of a herd it was necessary to dispose of most of them before reaching the destination.

At the great river which separated them from Iowa soil they loaded their belongings into a ferry boat and landed on the western side at Muscatine, then called by the name of Bloomington. This was the gateway to this part of the territory then under the jurisdiction of Wisconsin. At Muscatine these two families separated from the remainder of the party and continued their journey north and west from the place of landing in this new region.

As they crossed the different creeks they named them, the first Otter, because they saw an otter there, the second Mosquito, because it swarmed with the insects, the third, because of its condition, Mud, the fourth Sugar because the water was clear and sparkling and to the fifth they gave the name Crooked because of its peculiar winding in and out. These streams are known by these names at the present time. Stopping not far from the present site of Wilton they at once proceeded to build a cabin from the native timber, plastering the logs with mud mortar to stop the openings. In this house some two weeks later the narrator of this sketch was born, the first white child born within the borders of the County of Cedar.

The family arrived too late in the year to secure any crops and food was hard to obtain during the first winter. The father of the house drove his ox team to Illinois to secure corn and salt. The corn was made into meal with a coffee mill and some into hominy, the process of making the latter is probably unknown to the present generation. The hulls were removed from flint corn by means of strong lye made from wood ashes by means of a leach, or in plain language by passing water through them and catching the liquid in a tub. This strong alkali was removed from the corn by cleansing with much water and then the kernels were boiled for twelve hours or more until tender. This was home-made hominy, a kind in many ways superior to the medicated article found in the market. In those days salt was often hard to procure the demand being so great.

One time as father was returning from the trading post he attempted to cross Sugar creek on the ice. His team of oxen and wagon broke through where the water was about six feet deep. Taking in the situation he unloaded his meal upon the ice and sprang into the water to aid his struggling oxen. After spending an hour in the attempt to rescue them and in an atmosphere of zero temperature he succeeded in unyoking them but they were unable to ascend the steep bank. He hastened for help at some distance, a team of oxen was secured and by means of chain the helpless ones in the stream were helped up the bank. All this consumed time and the exposure to wind and cold had frozen the wet clothing of my father stiff, yet he never experienced any unpleasant effects of the adventure, due to the continuous exertion and protection secured when the frozen garments shut out the cold wind.

The Indians disturbed these early settlers to an alarming extent. The stories are numberless concerning them and many are now living who can relate some experiences but mostly of a friendly nature. A family residing near my father's cabin did not intend to deal kindly with the red men. One night three came to this house and asked for lodging. The man of the house ordered them away from his premises. Being somewhat obstinate, they were on the point of attacking him when my father happened along. He told them to spend the night at his home, and they hastily departed, surrendering their weapons to the master as they entered. During the entire night they were restless and seemed fearful lest the whites should do them some injury. In the morning they mixed flour and water, and made their bread in the open fireplace. Ever after the Indians remembered this kindness and often brought gifts to the mother and two children, their bead baskets and other hand work. They did on some occasions attempt the life of the white settler, as others may relate. One evening a white woman, while alone, saw two Indians approaching. She immediately closed and locked her door. They demanded admittance. She refused and this only enraged them in their attempt to break down the door. The sudden sound of a bell told her of the arrival of her son, and when she shouted that the white men were coming they fled. The whites were in constant fear of the Indians, yet the red men seemed fully as fearful of them.

The first spring found the entire family busy in planting the first crop. The plow and the hoe were the implements, hand work was the rule. The grain was harvested with a hook and tramped out by the feet of animals. A true threshing floor, but utilized in a new form.12 The first settler chose to make his farm from the woods by removing the timber, as he deemed the prairie land of no special value. There was nothing to fence it and it could never be used unless fenced. His fence, the only one he knew, was the old worm fence of his fathers, made from rails and stakes split from logs at great expense of labor and time. The fence of the future that was to make it possible to enclose miles of prairie in a few days was far from man's thought. The need evolved the supply, as it has so often since, and the rich prairie has responded to man's need far beyond his expectations when he looked out upon it from his wooded location. It was in this manner that the oldest farms and first improvements seemed to grow out from the edge of the timbered regions until inhabited sections met on the open land, completing the design of the Creator that the land should be made to support a multitude.

There were other reasons for his remaining close by the water routes. An Iowa writer expresses it in an attractive form: "Iowa was originally a part of the territory which formed a grand hunting and trapping ground for the red man with his primitive weapons and traps, and later for the pale face with the modern weapons with which to kill and capture without though of the morrow all food or fur-bearing animals coming within range of his deadly rifle and the lure of the concealed trap. The fur and food animals in those days were the deer, wild turkey, pheasant, squirrel, wild goose, brant, duck, otter, beaver, wolf, mink, muskrat, raccoon, with an occasional black bear. Trappers usually had from forty to fifty steel traps of different sizes. To these were added the "medicine" used to put on the bait to attract the animal." 13 

The common animals along the streams furnished the meat food of the pioneer, but if by misfortune he got no game he must survive without meat, he had no other resource. He must use art and skill in his methods unknown to the man trained only in prairie ways. Most of the newcomers had some sense of wood craft and felt safer when close to their original environment. "There are few boys or men living in a timbered country who have not spent an occasional night during the fall of the year in hunting the wary 'coon with a pack of well-trained dogs. A couple of axes, a gun, and good running qualities are the only requisites. When the nocturnal prowler comes out of his hole in a hollow tree during the night, in search of food, the dogs cross his trail, and after a chase of a few miles he takes to a tree and in is either shot by moonlight, or the tree is cut down and the pack finishes him at once." 14  In early days the Iowa streams were well supplied on their borders with game which the gradual encroachment of improvements and civilized methods of preservation have about destroyed.

In 1836 a rude log cabin was erected about four and one-half miles east of the village of Rochester. This was the first home in Iowa of Col. Henry Hardman. This house was located near the creek and served as a home for the Hardman family for many years. In this cabin the school was held (referred to elsewhere); here also church services, Sunday school and singing school were held as time went on. The early settlers thought that Cedar River would be navigable, and settlers made calculations on that event as furnishing means of transportation both up and down the river. Several attempts to carry out this idea soon gave a discouraging outlook to the matter.

During the winter of 1837 a band of Indians, Sacs and Foxes, about five hundred in number encamped near the mouth of Rock Creek, just above the present village of Rochester. No one was molested by them, as they were friendly to most of the whites. 15 

"A small boy of ten years came with his parents to this county in 1837 and settled west of Tipton, or what is now known as Tipton, then an open prairie with no indication of its future history as capital of the county. Their only neighbors were the Indians who made early calls for provisions. 16 

"In 1840 when I came to Cedar County there were but a dozen families in as many miles radius. They were of the best people, intelligent, and, for the time, well educated and being of the true, vigorous and hardy American race crossed hundreds of miles of trackless country to form a new home in a rich and inviting region. In those days the country was full of game (it is mentioned before), which furnished the natives and whites alike with their meat. In the swamps were countless numbers of muskrat houses and many deadly snakes. These swamps seemed to form a large part of the open country there, and were a fruitful source of the malaria and ague common among the first settlers. I well remember now the swamps that were formerly where good roads now pass, in my girlhood days impassible, and one might remark in passing that some of the best land now was once a great and useless marsh improved by modern systems of drainage.

“The prairies were not settled until the later fifties, many declaring that they would never be settled, but would remain open pastures. They reasoned thus: There was no timber to furnish fuel, and no running streams or springs to furnish water, and what would one do with the swamps. At this time in our history the land sale at Dubuque had not taken place. A man by the name of George Miller had previously pre-empted large tracts of land unlawfully and sold these tracts to early settlers until he was found out, when he left the country. When the land was entered a kind of duplicate deed was given to the settlers. These were government documents issued by order of the President, John Tyler. These deeds were sent to Iowa City, then the capital of Iowa territory, where they were exchanged for the deeds we got at first."

"The virgin soil was broken with five or six yoke of oxen and a great plow. These, yoked out in a long string, were hitched to the plow at a great disadvantage when compared to the present method of using the horse in close harness whether two or four. Then the newly-turned soil was harrowed and marked out with a shovel plow. In this furrow the corn was dropped by hand and covered with a hoe. The plow then used cultivated only one side of one row, while now two rows at a time are cultivated by one man. All grain was cut by a cradle and bound, after being raked into suitable bundle, by a band of straw such as many of the present generation do not know how to construct, even though raised in surroundings where such things were common in recent, comparatively recent, years. The grain was threshed by means of a flail or by running horses over it on a smooth floor. Hay was cut with a scythe and cured in the swath. Crops were bounteous and vegetables grew to great size. All produce had to be hauled to Bloomington, now Muscatine, and when it was there brought low prices, dressed pork selling for two cents or less a pound, wheat twenty-five cents a bushel, half the amount only in cash, the remainder in trade. Flax and sheep were raised to make clothes, and geese to make feather beds. The wool and flax were spun and made into clothes. Wool-picking was made a social diversion. They came for miles around on horseback, mothers carrying their babies with them in order to assist. Cook stoves came into use about 1850, but fireplaces continued to be used for heating purposes for a long time. Matches were unknown, fire being kindled with flint and steel and a bit of tow. If these were lacking the only resource was the fire of a neighbor. Yet, these people seemed fully as happy as those of this generation." 17 

"In 1841 my father, Abraham Lett, moved from Ohio in covered wagons. It was spring and roads were almost impassable. While traveling through Indiana the horses seemed to go almost out of sight in the black swamps. After a long, tiresome journey we arrived at Tipton on the thirtieth of May. In addition to our family was that of Samuel Akers, and we made our home in an old log cabin which stood two blocks west of the court house, and which was used at one time as a clerk's office. The room was twelve by twelve feet and had an immense fireplace on one side. Before long our friends built a house of their own and we had the whole log house for ourselves. In the fall we moved into our new house of one room.

The winter was very cold, and the house being unplastered we were obliged to put up quilts to keep out the penetrating cold. The one stove we had was so small that you could pick it up easily. After the first winter we raised a crop and food was plentiful. Game was abundant and we had our own corn meal and flour by going to Pett's Mills at Anamosa or Maquoketa. Later on in our history we got our supply from Dwigan's mill, and better meal never was ground. The first yeast we had was brought from Virginia by water. About twice a year my father would take a load of wheat to Muscatine and get thirty-seven cents a bushel for it. In the winter dressed pork was hauled to the same market, and sugar and coffee brought on the return. In addition to this, there was always a bolt of muslin and a bolt of calico, invariably blue. I was raised on blue calico, and these were our best, our every-day dresses being made of unbleached muslin dyed with hazel burrs or oak bark. In the autumn we gathered crab apples and made sauce, and such good sauce as it was. We made sorrel pies in the summer when fruit was scarce.

Great companies of Indians came along in those days traveling west. They were very friendly and were continually wanting to trade horses. Father brought out a horse and one old fellow said, 'Horse sick, heap sick,' after having given a careful examination of the animal. Wolves howled at night, and their mournful sounds used to frighten us very much. They came close to the cabins in those days and depredations were often committed.

Not all experiences of those days, however, were tragic. A few, very few, were comic. I remember one occasion that seemed vital to a hungry child. By some means mother had secured apples enough to make dumplings, one apiece all around, and just as they were done who should come in but Harvey Leech, and, of course, he remained to take dinner with us. At that time it was the fashion for children to wait when company came, and just imagine our feelings as we watched those long-cherished apple dumplings disappear until not one was left. When we came to this county we had no washboard and it was our custom to either pound our clothes on a block or in a barrel.

In 1843 a storm struck Tipton, carrying away several houses and the frame of the court house. Mrs. John P. Cook took her children and went to the cellar, but Mr. Cook declined to go, whereupon his wife expressed her opinion of a man who was not afraid of a storm like that. As years drew on times became better, and they were not considered as hard times then, since all were on the same footing, and poverty might have been called the prevailing fashion. 18 

"In the fall of 1842, after a journey of five weeks or more, a party, including my grandmother, Mrs. Lurenda Humphrey Casebeer, settled ten miles west of Iowa City, then a village of fifteen houses. In the following spring, attracted by the land sales in Cedar County they bought a farm and came here to live. The site of the old homestead is two and one-half miles south of Tipton, on the Muscatine road. The only building on the place was a log cabin, eighteen feet square, no plaster, no ceiling to protect the dwellers from the first snow storm of the following winter, which sifted through the chinks in the wall and lay two inches deep upon their beds in the morning. But they were prepared for the next storm. The tent cover and wagon top were stretched over the ceiling and walls, and the snow and cold kept out to some degree.

That winter food was hard to procure. No mills to grind wheat had there been any to grind. What little could be obtained must either be cooked whole or crushed by letting the horses tread upon it on the hard ground. Consequently the bread was rather hard and gritty. Corn bread was preferred to white put up in this fashion from this form of grinding.

In the spring of 1844 grandmother and one of her brothers, accompanied by a minister, made the trip to Ohio. The minister had left his wife and family in Indiana, and was to bring them to Iowa. While he prepared for the return journey, grandmother and her brother drove on to Columbus, which she said was 'only one hundred miles farther on.' It shows how little the pioneer regarded a distance of a hundred miles overland in a wagon.

The next year the house which still stands (1903) on the old homestead was built (1845). It is sadly in decay now, the haunt of bats and weasels, rats and snakes. Grandmother's father made the brick and manufactured the shingles himself. Part of the lumber he hauled from Bloomington (Muscatine). The old kiln where the brick were burned has disappeared, althought in wet seasons water fills in the old pond. At that time Tipton consisted of two or three dwelling houses, a store and a log jail. It gave little evidence then of its future.

"Soon after the building of the house mentioned grandmother was married to John Casebeer. The young folks moved to Sugar Creek, several miles farther south. When I asked her what kind of a house she had, her eyes flashed in reply: 'A log cabin of one room and the corn crib under the bed.' They were often troubled by begging Indians. The squaws teased for flour, for clothes for papooses, for anything their greedy eyes might light upon. The sole want of the Indian buck was tobacco. He had become thus far civilized.

"Fruit was very scarce. The young orchards had not yet reached a fruiting stage, and the wild product was mainly crab apples. Pies were made from beet tops and sheep sorrel until pie plant became known, which was thought so much better. After her mother's death grandmother came back to her father's to care for the younger children.

It was a time of bold thieving. Men stole valuable horses, rounded them up near the Mississippi and shipped them south. Finally the outrages became unbearable and parties of men from Scott and Cedar Counties organized into a band called 'regulators,' to find and punish the guilty ones. The Sopers lived a half mile down the road from the Humphrey home. Ed. Soper, one of the thieves, was found at his home. He made no resistance, but was lodged safely in jail. Gleason could not be found. For several days a mob of angry men rode through the woods searching everywhere. They were armed with almost every conceivable weapon, and were determined on finding and punishing the thief. He was at last captured in the woods near the Burr Oak school house, a short distance from grandmother's home. A girl who was picking berries found him hiding behind a log. She led the 'regulators' to the spot. He was jailed and what happened after that is related in another chapter.

"During the time of the Civil War and when slavery was the chief topic of thought the Humphrey home was a station on the 'underground railroad.' Many negroes, especially at the time of the bloody war in Kansas, ran away north or were helped away, and by assistance on the route finally reached Canada. Families of colored folk often remained over night at this station. The next day grandfather would put them in a wagon, cover them up with quilts and blankets, and transport them to Posten's Grove, fifteen miles farther on their way. On long, lonely stretches of road curly heads often popped out, but when strangers happened to meet the command was 'to duck.' All promptly obeyed and to all appearances grandfather was hauling bags of grain to mill. Even in the north there were many anxious and willing to send the negro back to his cruel master in the southland if he caught him seeking a route to liberty. These people remained sympathetic during the war and were known by the name of 'copperheads.' "19 

Such were some of the exciting scenes of pioneer life. Their sufferings and privations, their simple joys and wholesome pleasures are alike unknown to later generations. These were the founders of our county, the ones who must be" credited with a pure and earnest purpose to make a real home in a new land.

One of the early settled portions of the county was Pioneer Grove in the northwestern part. In 1837 Prior Scott and two families of near relatives came to this part of the county from Indiana. They came up the river to Bloomington, where the teams met them from the overland journey. The usual experiences the first year came to them, the diffculties in getting the necessary food, and long journey to Illinois to bring supplies. A daughter of Prior Scott relates this experience in these early days:

"My father started with his ox team to bring corn for the three families. He was gone three weeks. No news came since there were no mails in those days, and mother was nearly frantic with anxiety before his appearance after the long delay. His delay was caused by the open river and the time it took for it to freeze over that he might cross himself or get his team over. They planted corn on the new sod in the spring of the first year. Our meat supply was secured from the deer that were so plentiful. The log cabin my father built was the curing place for the supply, the venison being hung aloft as it was secured. Indians were plentiful, but harmless. Money was not wanting to enter the land as soon as open for sale. Gold and silver was brought from the former home for that purpose. The usual diet of hulled corn and corn products led to emergencies being met in original ways. When meal supply was exhausted at one time my mother crushed some corn with a hammer until it could be pulverized in a coffee mill, and the bread made from it tasted better than any cake I ever ate. When my Uncle Joseph Caraway saw it he called out, 'Ruth, where did you get your bread?' On being informed he exclaimed: 'We'll have some, too.' In those days the only company we had were Indians, wolves, and deer. Only two of that early group in Pioneer Grove are now living, Mrs. Albaugh, 20  the daughter of Prior Scott, and Samuel Gilliland, who in his ninety-seventh year, travels about independently.

The Fraseur family arrived in the county in 1837 and camping west of Tipton, or where it is now, on the banks of the creek, they had a call the very first evening from the natives, who came to borrow flour, their accustomed request, since the white man was supposed to have an abundant supply of that article with which to placate his red friend if necessity required.

Passing along the stream for some distance north of the camping place they selected the spot where the Lunschen house now stands for their cabin. Wolves and deer were very common in the neighborhood, as all the settlers found when they first entered the county. Mr. Montgomery Fraseur relates the adventure of a neighbor who was on his way to Muscatine with a load of wheat when he was attacked by wolves and only escaped by throwing off one sack of grain at a time to delay the hungry brutes.

Land was unsurveyed then and they settled anywhere that seemed suitable, putting a crop into the ground at once—wheat, oats, and corn. At one time Mr. Fraseur took a load of wheat to Chicago, driving a yoke of oxen and bringing in return two stoves and two barrels of salt. The markets were so uncertain that the producer could not tell what his prospects were until he had tried the market. On one occasion fat cattle, four years old, were taken to Dubuque and brought but thirteen dollars per head.

Very early in the settlement a school house was built and a teacher secured. To this school pupils came from a distance of five miles. This is referred to as a school taught by Mr. Smith in the chapter on Education. One of the stoves brought from Chicago was to serve the school, and so far as records show it must have been the first one to have such a luxury.

Mr. Montgomery Fraseur made the overland trip to California in 1849. He tells of the trials of that trip, how so many gave up their lives in the attempt to find gold, and even facing the dread disease, cholera, on the journey. A hastily dug grave, a hurried burial, and then a greater hurry to leave the vicinity for fear of exposure marked the journey of the emigrant train. On his return he came by way of Panama to New York, by stage to Rock Island from Chicago, and on horseback to his home in Cedar County. 21 

It is said that in June, 1835, a party from along the Mississippi River entered this county at Posten's Grove on the east line and took possession of that timber before it had its present name, going from there to Onion Grove, north of the present town of Clarence, staking out their claims so as to include all the timber here. This party, which included the names of some well-known men, and some who are always mentioned in connection with Iowa history, claims to have opened the way for the first land rights in Iowa territory within the limits of Cedar County. Antoine LeClaire, the two Davenports, Wm. Gordon, Alexander MacGregor, Louis Hebert made up this party according to the only authority now available. 22 

The first inhabitants or inhabitant if we define him as one who comes here to live, probably came in 1836, although others were in the county earlier. Andrew Crawford seems to have the best right to the claim of being the first settler, but preceded others by only a few months. An attempt will be made at the end of this chapter to arrange from the records the order of arrivals of the early settlers. The experiences of these first settlers must be found in the few interviews that can now be reported from the small number who can relate them at this distant date.

When the Crawfords came to the county they first made a claim on the banks of Sugar Creek, near the south line of what is Centre township. Stephen Toney took his claim precisely where the old building known as the "Finch" school house stood. McCoy first claimed all the territory now and then in prospective, comprised in the limits of Rochester. The process of getting a start in the new land is briefly told. Having made his settlement or found a stopping place, Andrew Crawford hitched to his breaking plow, which he had brought along, and turned the sod on several acres on the place afterward owned by the Widow Rice, and now by Mr. W. M. Port. This he planted in corn and beans and other vegetables for early crop, which at harvest time yielded abundantly. The new soil did respond well to the hand of the pioneer and such crops as grew then were remarkable for their size, as some now can testify.

When Martin Baker made his claim it comprised the central portions of what is now Rochester township. He first settled where Samuel Slater afterwards lived. As mentioned elsewhere, the first prayer meeting in the county so far as known was held in his cabin at this place of settlement. Mr. Baker afterward preached regularly at Col. Henry Hardman's house, and at the Burnside cabin, which then occupied the place later owned by William Ochiltree. As a general rule the early settlers came, selected a site for a cabin, erected it and leaving it in charge of some friend, returned for their families, and in this way avoided the unpleasant wait that always must elapse before comforts of shelter and protection from danger could be furnished. Not always was this done, for covered wagons made the stay possible until log cabins could be put together. Then when a few had become established in the neighborhood others found shelter with them while preparing their own home.

It is said that for reasons implied in the foregoing there were very few women in Cedar County at first, the men coming to prepare the way. Several women lay claim to cooking the first meal in the county. So far as records go the difference in time of claimants is a matter of weeks only, and it is safe enough to divide the honors.

Andrew Crawford came in 1836 and Mrs. Phoebe Easten, his daughter, had charge of her father's cabin. She must have come out with him and preceded other women by a few weeks. Cal. Walton came very soon after, and to his wife the honor of cooking the first white woman's meal has often been ascribed. The wife of Stephen Toney probably came soon after this and from that time the women of the household came more frequently and the household knew their comforting ministrations.

Robert Sterrett, on entering the county, selected a camping ground near the stream now known as Mosquito Creek. In those days these insects were very numerous owing to favorable conditions, and at this particular time and place tormented the pioneer without any mercy. For this reason the name was given to this small stream and the incident has left its history to the later generation, although its reasons may not now be prominent in the experiences of those living.

Two reasons for the name of Sugar Creek are offered by different authorities. One that the large number of sugar maples growing along its border led to the name, and the second the sweetness of the water. Both are reasonable, since both are true from the early and pioneer point of view. The sweetness of the stream was not necessarily in the sense of taste, but in comforts of other kinds, and one must allow for some sentiment in all these names—an interesting study by itself. Martin Baker, in search of his claim, undertook to trace "Crooked Creek" to its rise, but returned home in disgust before he had performed his task, giving the stream its appropriate name as one must conclude who attempts to follow its windings.

Rock Creek was easily named from the course it follows, as it furnishes a type formation of ancient rocks for the student of the earth's history.

These streams in that early time are described as swarming with fish, the source of food supply for many families. One cannot quite believe all the "fish stories," for that is a common source of error and a temptation to otherwise generally honest men. The people were seldom in want of the best the waters could supply in spring and fall. For instance a pike was caught in Sugar Creek that weighed forty pounds after being dressed, but it is agreed that this was above the average size.

The tricks of the Indians were not different then than when he came and went in quite recent years over the Iowa prairie, stopping at farm houses to beg, borrow, or pilfer whatever the Indian taste appreciated. They liked to trade, and they loved to get the white man's flour and hog meat. It was easier to catch the white man's chickens than to hunt the wild ones. It is said that in some cases they offered to "swap" some property for one of the fair members of the settler's household, and it was not without consideration since the bargain hunter was always a leading chief. In one case the chief explained that it would be a great honor to the white settler for his daughter to become the "squaw" of the "big injun." When the settler urged the necessity of keeping his daughter to work, the noble red man offered to substitute his own squaw in her place, who was a heap better to work, a heap better. 23 

There was no imagination in the trials of the early settler when it came to labor—it was real—the modern implements of agriculture were yet to be invented. As one may read farther on in the "county fair" exhibits, the most primitive inventions were hailed as the salvation of the agriculturist.

The early contests with the elements are told in many stories of adventure, some of them in this chapter and the most of these stories have come from the sources of all such things, and must vary with the individual experiences of men, yet in the main be true for all. A writer in the old Cedar County Post of April, 1872, has collected most of the data now available for drawing conclusions beyond a few personal accounts of the same nature that are told by those now living, in most cases children when they came, and children who were very young. Only one in the county who came in the '30s, Samuel Gilliland, was a young man at that time.

Andrew Crawford, the father of Charley Crawford, whom everyone knows, who has been long in this county, met with a stirring experience one time during the winter of 1836-7. The winter was severe and provisions must be brought, as has been said, from the source of supply at the mouth of Pine. Crawford started to wade home through the snow, some two feet deep, for a distance of forty miles. During the journey a blinding storm set in, causing him to lose his way. Coming to the course of Sugar Creek after dark he did not dare leave this landmark until morning, so he patrolled the ice during all that time to keep from freezing. To stop or lie down was certain death, as all know who have read of those who lose their lives by exposure to cold.

Morning revealed to him his situation and he set out for home through the deep drifts, although well-nigh worn out by the long night of suffering. On the way he was about to give up in despair when, noticing a break in the snow ahead, he made one supreme effort to reach it, when he found it to be a path made by Mr. Burnside to get his cattle to water at the creek. This enabled him to find the house of friends, where he dragged himself more dead than alive, and where he was kindly cared for. He was very badly frozen, yet lived to tell the tale until 1856. Other experiences of this kind could be recounted without limit, but these are typical and must answer. It has been said that Cedar County was thirty years in settling, that is until occupied fully by those who were to form the first settlement on its prairie lands. No one ventured to make a prairie claim until about 1850, since such a procedure would have been looked upon as the "height of folly." One of the pioneers who considered the possibilities of this prairie was regarded as somewhat visionary, yet by 1854 it is safe to say a very little of this prairie land was left in the hands of the government.

Early in the history of the county the speculator, or perhaps that is a name altogether too mild, made life extremely miserable for the honest seeker after a home. The timbered portion of the county was most desirable from the point of view of the settler who came from the older states, where he had been taught these things, and this portion the ring of claimants set out to possess. When a claim was staked by the farmer this gang demanded of him that he vacate or pay for his right. Argument availed nothing since witnesses were always at hand to prove anything necessary to establish a previous claim. To avoid trouble the settler might comply or move on as he chose. Frequently he paid a sum sufficient to satisfy the greed of the would-be claimant, and when the time came the operation was repeated in some other locality. 24 

After this had been repeated for a time the population grew to sufficient extent to make such operations unsafe, and the defrauding agents learned that the people were resolved to take matters into their own hands for mutual protection against such nefarious practices, and see what a taste of "lynch law" could do for such unprincipled men.

Leagues were formed to secure justice at the land sales held in Dubuque in 1840, and while the robbers of honest settlers, who were innocent of their methods, were present at this sale in force, they dared not make any attempt to enforce their false claims when they came into contact with a body of frontiersmen armed with rifles and determined to fix the first bidder against the rightful settler of any claim already located. This seemed the only remedy then, since the police powers of the United States government then were scattered over so much territory that this region seemed left to its own resources, like similar regions in other parts of this big country.

"Necessity being the mother of invention," as one learns through bitter experience, led the settler to methods of his own in making improvements. "Cabin construction," as they called it, exemplifies the old truth expressed in the beginning. The pioneer built his cabin of any desired dimensions without nails, screws, bolts, bars or iron of any description. Fireplaces and brick chimneys were often made without lime and often without stone or brick. The logs for the building being cut and collected on the proposed site, the owner would make a "raising," to which he summoned the entire surrounding community within hailing distance, and that meant miles in those days. The jug was always a prime necessity at these gatherings, and after it was sampled the work began.

Four of the best axmen were placed at the four corners of the house, whose business it was to match and adjust the logs as they were rolled into place under the direction of the "boss." One window and one door were allowed generally, and the last two logs laid at the top of the house were made to project on both ends and in these extensions notches were cut to hold a log laid in them.

At regular intervals from and parallel to this cross beam other timbers were laid, one above the other, making rafters for the roof. Upon these the clapboards were laid, very much the same as modern shingles, only fewer courses, as the clapboards were about four feet long. Each course was secured in its place by means of a heavy pole placed directly over the rafter beneath and kept in place by braces. The first at the eaves was kept in place by pieces of wood placed with one end against the log and the other against the "staying pole." The next pole above was stayed from this and so on to the top. The fireplace was built of rock or of wood lined with rock, or of wood and a heavy covering of clay. The chimneys were nearly always built of slats of wood lined with clay. The door was sometimes a thatched framework, but generally two large clapboards or puncheon pinned with cross pieces and wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges with a wooden latch. The door was opened on the outside by means of a string which passed through a hole in the door above the latch, and when pulled would lift the wooden bar. The floor was of puncheon or large slabs about six feet long and dressed with an ax to fit as closely as possible. 25 

In houses like these the people lived, and happily, too. So much for circumstances and standard of living as it changes from generation to generation. John Ferguson of Red Oak was the first man so far as known to apply water power to machinery. In the years of 1837-8, with the help of his neighbors, he constructed a mill on Rock Creek not far from his home. Shortly after this Aaron Porter built a mill on Crooked Creek.

Mr. Porter made the mill stones and also the boxing for the larger shafting; the latter were made of flint rock and answered the purpose well. This was the second flouring mill in the county. These mills could not bolt their flour. The bread was whole wheat and of a kind good enough for anyone.

Sometimes these mills got out of repair or were frozen up or the dam washed away, when the settlers were obliged to go long distances to find supplies of flour, even to Dubuque, a distance of eighty miles, if they could do no better.

Farming in the early fifties was still primitive. Horses were few. Oxen were used in cultivating the fields and conveying products to market. There were no stoves until about that time. Farm implements consisted of a wagon, plow, scythe, fork, spade, and a hoe, besides the very essential axe. August Petersen in the summer of 1855 brought the first reaper to the neighborhood of Lowden. It was a McCormick hand rake reaper. He cut his own and his neighbors' grain that year. He went with his reaper as far as Col. Parr's, on what is now the Anton Hoeltke farm.Exchange of work was the custom in those days and purchases and sales a mere question of barter. The money was wanting and articles of immediate use were given for products of the farm.

Mr. Philip Schneider, the father of our present county auditor, one of the very earliest settlers in this party of the county, related not long before his death the following: He came with his father and two brothers from Germany in 1847 and settled in Ohio. In '51 they came to Davenport and were taken with ox team and sleigh from there to the region now comprised in Springfield township. Settlers were very few, log houses were scattered along the edge of the timber, and land could be had for one and a quarter dollars an acre, now worth one hundred times that amount.

Among the hardy pioneers of this section is Henry Heiner, who, at the advanced age of eighty-five or more, is able to relate vividly his pioneer experiences. He came to this neighborhood in 1856 from southern Illinois. He hauled the first load of lumber in 1857 from the Wapsie to this place for Mr. Dugan. He was to unload it at a stake driven in the tall grass where the stock yards of Lowden are now located. After it was removed from the wagon the grass hid it entirely from view, such was the growth in its wild state. There was only one house near and that was not in the limits of the town as then surveyed. The lumber went into the first house erected in the town of "Louden," as then spelled. Mr. Heiner met with a misfortune in this first load since he broke his brand new wagon. 26 

"In July, 1845, the Cedar County surveyor, Thos. Gracey (the first teacher in the Tipton schools), desiring to go to Philadelphia to study medicine, appointed me his deputy. The next year I was elected surveyor, serving in that office until 1851. The land was being rapidly settled at that time and it gave me plenty of work. The average farm then was a quarter section, as now, the entries being made at Dubuque.

"The center of Cedar County is a few rods north of the present Northwestern depot. There have been many discussions of the question of the traces of the buffalo in this vicinity, with a strong opinion against such affirmation, but I am sure the evidence is in favor of the existence of the native animal. That he once roamed over these prairies is very well shown by the remains found during my work as a surveyor. I often found skulls and chips of the animal in Cedar County, and still further during a government contract I undertook in Franklin and Butler Counties in 1851, a herd of twelve of the animals passed over the territory covered by my work. Elk were also very plentiful in this section, where there was no disturbing element, there being no house then in either county or habitation between Iowa Falls and Cedar Falls." 26.2 

At a meeting of the old settlers of Red Oak township in 1870, the latter part of December, at the home of John Goodrich, the early comers to that township were assembled to recount their early experiences. That group may be recorded here, since they are the ones who first made the township a place for future comforts: Robert Dallas, John Ferguson and wife, John Chappell and sister, John Safley and wife, James Safley and wife, George Safley and wife, Washington Rigby and wife, Samuel Yule and wife, John W. Brown and wife, William Coutts and wife, Elza Carl and wife, William Dallas, Gordon Dallas and wife, James Cousins and wife, B. J. Rodgers and wife, Cyrus Rickard and wife, Ezra Goodrich and wife. Of these Washington Rigby came first in 1836. Most of the group came before 1841. At least three of this number, all women, are living at this date.

Here they related their own experiences, some of their hardships and some of the amusing things during their pioneer days. Mr. Rigby related the wedding tour of himself and bride, they being the first couple from the county to seek a marriage license, and had to go to Muscatine to secure it.

Mr. Goodrich being anxious to raise a little money and having some pork to dispose of, determined to take it to Iowa City, the best market he then knew. At that time Iowa City was a village of a few stores, but in the opinion of its inhabitants of some importance, for they had then begun to figure for the location of the capital of the territory. Mr. Goodrich, not having any team of his own, hired Mr. John Safley to carry his load of pork to market. On their arrival in the market they found pork worth $1.25 per hundred and no cash at that figure—only goods in exchange and no groceries—some kinds of dry goods only. Mr. Goodrich finally concluded to take the value of the load in Kentucky jeans at a dollar and a quarter per yard, and Mr. Safley took his pay for driving the load to market in powder and shot; so having no money to pay for lodging they came home in the night from Iowa City to Red Oak, their home.

All these people were prosperous farmers when this reunion was held and the old times of trial were long forgotten in the comforts of the present. It was stated at that time, that all their means put together would not amount to three hundred dollars when they first came to Red Oak. 27 

At another gathering of the same nature in November, 1871, at the home of William Coutts, other events were described and some of the former meeting repeated. The first dwelling in this part of the county was built by John Jones on the William Aldrich place. Mr. W. A. Rigby had gone to Red Oak to build a cabin two months before, but through a personal injury could not do so, and when Mr. Jonas Oaks came to occupy the house he had not succeeded in erecting they were all forced to occupy the one built by Mr. Jones. The snow was six inches deep and the family of Solomon Knott had already been given shelter in this log cabin, only sixteen feet square, and as yet unchinked. To add the new family made twenty-one men, women and children in this small space for a period of eight days until another house could be procured. The Oaks family moved into Red Oak township and this was the first cabin built there. They occupied it in November, 1836.

At this time Linn County was attached to Cedar for judicial purposes, and W. A. Rigby held a commission from Governor Lucas of Iowa territory as justice of the peace. Hence when John Safley wished to be married in the spring of 1838, he was called upon to officiate at the ceremony. At this meeting it was stated that of the settlers at the land sales at Dubuque in 1840 more than half of those present from this county then and still in the county were in Red Oak township. A good Scotch coffee mill at John Ferguson's furnished all the meal for the breadstuffs of several families for months. The corn was dried in a skillet during the day and in the evening the men took turns in grinding it for breakfast. It was at this juncture of affairs that the mill referred to elsewhere was built for that neighborhood. 28 

At this meeting the first steps were taken to organize a County Old Settlers' Association and a committee was appointed to secure action in the matter. On Friday, the fourteenth of June, 1872, the old settlers of the county met at the court house for the purpose of organizing the present association, which recently held its meeting for 1910. William Baker was the chairman of this first meeting, and Wm. H. Tuthill, its secretary. The call was for those who came to the county prior to 1841, and under this call some twenty-five or more assembled. All of these mentioned then as old settlers, and named in the report, are gone from the scenes here. Some of them at that time had passed their four score years. The daughter of one of them died in July, 1910, at the age of eighty-seven—Mrs. Bunker.

This meeting was continued in September of the same year and a permanent organization perfected, a constitution was adopted and an address given by Mr. Wm. H. Tuthill. Henry Hardman of Rochester Township was the first president and to him Judge Tuthill presented the cane with the following words: "It is made from a native cedar, cut from the banks of the river that gave name to the county and skillfully fashioned and mounted, with its appropriate inscription, is intended to be the badge of your office, to be preserved with jealous care and transmitted from President to President successively as long as our association continues to exist." Col. Hardman then responded in a suitable and happy speech, acknowledging the official badge and the honor conferred. An executive committee for the ensuing year was appointed, which included the names of John Culbertson, W. A. Rigby, W. M. Knott, Henry D. Brown and J. S. Tuthill. The committee to provide for a speaker the coming year was composed of Samuel Yule, John Safley and William Baker. On this day they partook of refreshments at the old hotel, the Fleming House, a picture of which may be seen in this volume. 29  At the Old Settlers' meeting in 1883 Mr. E. E. Cook of Davenport addressed them in words commemorative of the early days, and he refers to his father's life in the county among the pioneers. Mr. Cook is still living in Davenport.

"I will not say much personal to myself, but I must tell you, old friends, and friends of my father and mother, that I have never prized an hour more highly than this one, and I have never undertaken a duty so gladly. My father came to this place where Tipton now nourishes before there was any town here. That was in the year 1840, and he left here in 1851. He was often here until 1872, the time of his death. He had no stronger social attachment than his love for "Old Cedar" and his pioneer friends. No days of his life were so happy as these he spent among you. Although he has been dead now eleven years, gray-haired men who were with him here in the early days often talk with me about him, and their mutual friendship. It is only a few months ago that a very old man spoke to me on the streets of Tipton and asked me if I was a son of John P. Cook, and when I answered in the affirmative, he said, 'I want to shake hands with you for your father's sake.' Nothing ever touched me more deeply than that. It was a strong illustration of the friendship that exists among those who together shared the hardships and triumphs of pioneer life. It was an evidence of the regard in which my father was held by those among whom he passed the days of his early manhood. He was worthy of that regard, and the fact that the old settler friends of this county always had so strong a friendship for him is a most precious tribute to his memory. Because I am among the old friends of my father and mother, and because I have that respect and veneration for you which the children of pioneers owe to those who have prepared for them so fair a home, I feel that it is, indeed, a privilege to address you." 30 

It was about this time in the history of the county that the pioneers began to drop off like ripe fruit, and the death list grows rapidly. They had fulfilled their mission, had done their duty and of right passed on.

On June I1, 1884, the year following the address quoted from above, the Hon. Robert G. Cousins, member of Congress from the fifth Iowa district for many years since, and now a resident of Tipton, spoke to the old settlers, giving in review the scenes of the early days and comparing the good times of Cedar County pioneers with the present day and the great advantage in owning and occupying the land of Cedar County, giving due credit to the pioneer for honorable record made thus far in its history. His closing words were in reference to the fifteen members who had gone to sleep since the meeting a year before. 31 

At the Old Settlers' meeting in '89 Mr. James Burnside, who built the first or second cabin in Cedar County, told the following story: "He crossed the Mississippi in June, 1834, and on the sixteenth of that month took his claim on the William Ochiltree place by laying the foundations of a log cabin. Going back next day for something to eat, he soon came again with his wife and family, three hired men, three yoke of oxen and the 'prairie schooner.' This was before the cabin was finished, of course, and only a small circle of prairie grass had been cut about the wagon. Mrs. Burnside was bending over the tub washing when looking up she beheld two impassive Indians standing with guns on their shoulders at the edge of the untrodden grass. She ran shrieking to where the men were cutting hay half a mile distant, and the Indians ran in the opposite direction. Responding to the cries of his wife, Mr. Burnside hastened in her direction. About midway of the distance he met his wife still screaming "Indians!" "Where is the baby?" said Mr. Burnside, as he came panting on the scene. "Good Lord," exclaimed his wife, "I never thought of the baby." At which reply he left her to her fate and ran on only to find the ten months' old child safe in its clapboard cradle in the wagon." 32 

Mrs. McClure, who came to Tipton in 1841 and is now the one who has the longest residence, became the president of the Old Settlers' Association in 1905, being the first woman to hold that position.

When the barn on the farm of Alex. Buchanan, Sr., in Linn township was built it was necessary to remove an old landmark. This was the old Mason house built in 1847. It was on the old stage line from Mount Vernon to Davenport, and it was in its day used as a stopping place for travelers. It was once a well known house, and many a weary and lonesome traveler found comfort under its roof. The days of its usefulness had passed and it was removed in the natural course of events to make room for advancement. The brick are found in the foundation of the barn now standing.

The carpenters found the house well preserved. The same "hand shaved" shingles were on the roof as put there in 1847—fifty years before—and the roof leaked very little. The oak rafters and studding were as sound as the day they were put there. The inside work was all of black walnut and in its time the old house must have been one of the best. 33 

The name of Charles Swetland is remembered by the older residents of the county so well that the present generation should keep some account of events with which he was connected.

On Christmas day, 1890, the house on the hill east of Tipton about a mile, burned to the ground. This was known as the Coutts house then, but it was built about 1859 by Chas. Swetland, and was a landmark for miles around. Then it was called the finest residence in the county. Made in the old way of building, there was no sham there, all was good and true stuff. Heavy timbers sawed in the mill at Rochester, four by six timbers when two by six now are considered unnecessary. Such a house, in form of material used, now stands between this spot and Tipton, formerly the home of Colonel Powell, now of Perry Moffett, where the great stone step is load enough for a derrick. Here the cellar beams are an example of the early structure burned to the ground as mentioned on Christmas day. 34 

Uncle Aaron and Aunt Bathsheba Gruwell, as nearly everybody called them, were married sixty-nine years on the 6th of July, 1906. Think of it—married sixty-nine years and both of their minds still remarkably bright and their bodies free from disease, except the usual infirmities of extreme old age. This statement of facts was given by them on their sixty-ninth wedding day.

Aaron Gruwell was born in Stark County, Ohio, June 8, 1817. Bathsheba Slater was born in Ulster County, New York, January 21, 1816. He being in his ninetieth and she in her ninety-first year. Their parents were Friends and Bathsheba was a member of that church. Their parents were pioneer settlers of Ohio; his oldest sister, Elizabeth, being the first white child born in Marlborough Township, Stark County.

Aaron Gruwell and Bathsheba Slater were married at Marlborough, Ohio, July 6, 1837. Four sons and two daughters were born to them, namely: Isaac Newton, Hannah, Brinton T., Alice, Timothy and Abram Clark. Brinton T. and Timothy were soldiers in the Civil War—the latter giving his life for his country. Two sons and one daughter still live to bless and cheer their aged parents. Uncle Aaron and Aunt Bathsheba with their five oldest children moved to Cedar County, Iojva, in October, 1854. They settled on a farm and have lived in the neighborhood of West Branch ever since. Their youngest son was born two years after they came to Iowa. Here as pioneers they helped to make this country the beautiful and fruitful garden it is today and by their example and others like them have inculcated a spirit of industry, frugality and morality that will be a blessing to its people for very many years after this dear old couple have passed over to the other side. He has also been a useful public citizen, having served many years as justice of the peace and trustee of Gower township.

They made their home with their youngest son, A. C. Gruwell, and his wife. It is a home on one of Iowa's many ideal farms and is only a half mile north of West Branch on a pretty elevated site that overlooks most of the town and the valley in which it is located. Here they rested from their life's work, calmly and serenely "waiting the Master's call." Uncle Aaron once said he had this thought to give: "Sixty-nine years ago when I was young and she was young we walked and talked and gathered flowers together. But now we are old, the tale is told and it will be told that this is our sixty-ninth wedding day." 35 

Golden weddings are not of such common occurrence that they become monotonous by mentioning many of them. Alonzo Shaw and wife celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 1899. They were married in Tipton in 1849 and at the time of this anniversary not one of the guests at the wedding of '49 was living. They spent all their married lives in this vicinity.

One of the pioneers of Linn township, Alexander Moffit, who came there when the name "Lynn" included much more than now (1840), settled on the farm he now occupies in 1859. A recent account of their golden wedding belongs in this connection.

Mr. and Mrs. Moffit have always made Cedar County their home. The farm on which they now reside having been purchased by Mr. Moffit just before their marriage, and was occupied by the newly wedded couple as soon as arrangements could be made the next year for possession. Mr. Moffit was born in Ireland in 1829 and came to Cedar County in 1840. He takes an active part in the old settlers' meetings and is now among the few of the old members. He has served as a member of the Board of Supervisors of this county; and represented the county in the legislature in the Sixteenth General Assembly.

July 21, 1905, occurred the fiftieth wedding anniversary of the pioneer couple, Rev. John Y. and Rev. Mary J. Hoover, of West Branch. More than one hundred guests did honor to the occasion. This worthy couple came to this vicinity in 1854 by wagon from Ohio, that source of supply for some hundreds of homes in Cedar County. They were married by the Friends' ceremony in a building located on what is now the southwest corner of Main and Downey Streets. They battled for existence on a farm near West Branch. He became a minister of the Society of Friends in 1864 and his wife a few years later. They traveled as evangelists from ocean to ocean, worked for the church in Canada and New England, spent two years among the whites in the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, for years in the work, never receiving any salary for preaching, but freely and gladly gave the service for spreading the gospel message. Agreeable with requests and fortunately for this record the couple once more stood and renewed their vows of fifty years before. The Friends' ceremony followed. "In the presence of the Lord and before this assembly, I, John Y. Hoover, take Mary Jay to be my wife, promising by divine assistance to be unto her a loving and faithful husband until death shall separate us." Then she said: "In like manner, I, Mary Jay, take John Y. Hoover to be my husband, promising by divine assistance to be unto him a loving and faithful wife until death shall separate us." 36 

A reunion of the Negus family was held in the park or picnic grounds near Rochester bridge in September, 1898, and at this time some interesting pioneer accounts were given. About eighty were present at this time to honor the Negus family, who came to Springdale in 1846. In this year Shedlock Negus sent his family from Ohio to Iowa while he followed driving a flock of sheep of some size not mentioned, but a large number. It was not uncommon then to drive great droves of sheep from Ohio and Michigan. The Negus family settled first near Muscatine, but on account of sickness were compelled to move on from that place and settled this time near the present site of the village of Springdale. In the fall of 1847 they hauled logs with oxen and built a cabin, the ruins of which were still standing at the time of this reunion on the farm owned by Beackan Negus, Jr. They lived here ten years during the time their daughter taught the first school in this part of the county. It was through the influence of Shedlock Negus that the first road was laid from Davenport to Iowa City, and he helped to plough the furrow clear through which marked its location. Israel Negus came to Iowa in 1852, while John Negus and wife at the age of eighty drove overland from Ohio in 1860. In these days temperance was the topic of interest in many parts of this county and a lecturer by the name of Leland came out from Boston. He delivered the first lecture of this kind here while being entertained at the house of Wm. Negus. 37 

Of the earliest settlers who came to this county the names following may be listed, as coming at the dates gives. The township may not be exact since when these came there were no township lines to locate the names. This may be confusing and it is not a matter of vital importance if the neighborhood is understood.

1836

Andrew Crawford and daughter to Center Township.

David Walton and family to Farmington Township.

George McCoy to Rochester Township.

Stephen Toney to Rochester Township.

Ben and John Halliday to Sugar Creek Township.

Samuel Hulic to Sugar Creek Township.

Harvey Hatton to Rochester Township.

C. C. Dodge to Pioneer Township.

Alanson Pope to Pioneer Township.

Peter Crampton to Pioneer Township.

Robert G. Roberts and family to Iowa Township.

Aaron Porter and family to Rochester Township.

James Posten and family to Springfield Township.

William Baker to Rochester Township.

Joseph Olds to Center Township.

John Jones to Center Township.

John Barr to Center Township.

Richard C. Knott to Rochester Township.

John Roper to Rochester Township.

Solomon Knott to Center Township.

Reuben Long to Cass Township.

W. A. Rigby to Red Oak Township. ......

James and John Burnside to Rochester Township.

James and Ira Leverich to Rochester Township.

Rev. Martin Baker to Rochester Township.

John Scott to Rochester Township.

William M. Knott to Center Township.

Robert Miller to Center Township.

Joshua King to Center Township.

James and Jesse Potts to Rochester Township.

Elisha Edwards to Rochester Township.

James W. Tallman to Rochester Township.

H. B. Burnap to Rochester Township.

Isaac Dickey to Rochester Township.

Samuel Gilliland to Center Township, later to Pioneer.

Mrs. Albin to Township.

Enos Nyce to Springdale Township.

The Sterrett family, mother and three sons, to Sugar Creek Township.

1837

John Ferguson to Red Oak Township.

Charles Dallas to Red Oak Township.

John Safley to Red Oak Township.

William Coutts to Red Oak Township.

John Chappell to Red Oak Township.

Charles Swetland to Rochester Township.

William Mason to Cass Township.

George Miller to Linn Township.

John Miller to Linn Township.

Nicholas Miller to Linn Township.

Henry D. Brown to Rochester Township.

James and Henry Buchanan to Cass Township.

Jackemiah Baldwin to Cass Township.

Jehu Kenworthy to Cass Township.

John and Philip Wilkinson to Center Township.

William Green to Rochester Township.

Christian Holderman to Center Township.

Benjamin Fraseur and family to Center Township.

Duncan McClaren to Rochester Township.

Geo. W. Parks to Cass Township.

Charles Warfield to Rochester Township.

Peter Diltz to Rochester Township.

John Blalock to Cass Township.

Noah King to Cass Township.

William Kizer to Center Township.

Abraham and Nicholas Kizer to Center Township.

Richard Ransford to Center Township.

John G. Foy to Center Township.

James Foy to Center Township.

Samuel P. Higginson to Center Township.

A. L. McLaren to Center Township.

Samuel Yule to Red Oak Township.

Geo. S. Smith to Center Township.

John C. Higginson to Center Township.

J. S. Sheller to Center Township.

Moses B. Church to Rochester Township.

Joseph Wilford and son to Sugar Creek Township.

John Finch to Center Township.

Jonathan Morgan to Center Township.

William H. Bolton to Center Township.

Daniel Hare to Sugar Creek Township.

Milton Phelps to Rochester Township.

Clemon Squires to Iowa Township.

William C. Long to Iowa Township.

Asa Young to Red Oak Township.

Felix Freeland to Red Oak Township.

Elias Epperson to Red Oak Township.

Calihan Dwigans to Center Township.

Prior Scott to Pioneer Township.

Robert Pirie to Red Oak Township.

Hannah Blalock to Cass Township.

William Kester to Cass Township.

Angeline Smith to Township.