Second from the west and second from the south line of the county is Tipton township, named from Tipton creek, and that from Gen. John Tipton, of Indiana early Indian war fame, connected with the campaigns of Gen. William Henry Harrison, including the famous battle of Tippecanoe. This civil township is six miles square and is well watered and drained by the pretty streams, the South Fork of the Iowa, the Tipton and Honey creeks. These all flow in a southeastern direction. Originally, along the South Fork and Tipton creek there was considerable good native timber, ut with the settlement of the township most of the heavier timber has been cut off or sawed up into lumber in making improvements in the township.
Tipton was set off from Pleasant township in 1859, and its first election was held at Point Pleasant. It then included all of the present township of Sherman.
Early Settlers
To a man named Keith must be given the honor of being the first settler to invade the wilds of this portion of Hardin county with a view of becoming a permanent settler. He located on section 12, in 1852, but about two years later he concluded to pull up stakes and go to northern Illinois, where it is supposed he shortly afterwards died.
The settlers who came in 1854 included Amasa Collins, who came from Pleasant township, where he has previously located on a piece of government land. In Tipton township he settled on section 22, where he erected a pole cabin, in which he resided until the summer of 1861. He remained on this land until 1865 when he engaged in merchandising at Point Pleasant for one year, then moved to Monroe county, Iowa, where he was last heard of in 1883.
John Cayton came from Hancock county, Ohio, in the early spring of 1854, locating on section 26, where he purchased a claim and there remained until his death, in April, 1863, dying of congestion of the lungs, and was laid away to rest in the cemetery located on the Boylan farm.
T. J. Sheldon came the same season and embarked in the mercantile business; also engaged in farming. After 1858 he quit the store and moved to his form on section 11. He at one time owned fourteen hundred acres of land in Hardin county.
George W. Diltz, from Ohio, settled on section 22 about the year 1854, possibly a year later. In 1864 he removed to Pleasant township. Travelers and land lookers frequently stopped at his place, and many an emigrant was pulled out of the muddy streams and swamps found there in the fifties. His oxen and horses were in great demand during the spring of the year. During the years of the Civil war the stage line from Marshalltown to Webster City had this for a stopping station and the late Hon. Gilbert B. Pray, later cleark of the supreme court of Iowa, used to relate many incidents of good cheer and excellent cooking furnished him while a stage driver on this route.
Israel A. Johnson came from Ohio and located in Pleasant township early in the fifties, and in Tipton in 1868.
Samuel E. Mossman, of Mercer county, Illinois, born in 1841, came with his parents, George and Hannah Mossman, to Hardin county in 1854, enlisted in 1862 in the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry Regiment, serving till the conflict had ended victoriously for the Union. He was under Capt. Joseph Edgington, and served in nine hard fought battles. His father settled in this county in 1854 and the following season bought land in Tipton township.
Isaac Barnhart came from Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1854 and first settled in Marshall county, but the following year located in Tipton township, at least [sic?] took land on section 4, coming there to live in 1870.
Among the early German pioneers her may be remembered Augustus Mitterer, born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1823. He came to America in 1846, settled in Virginia, remained until 1855, when he moved to Hardin county, Iowa, settling at Point Pleasant, there being but one house when he arrived, but during the next few months he built four houses which he sold, one after the other. He was prominent in the building of the Presbyterian church at that place. He it was who laid the stone foundation and also drove home the last nail in the building. He served in the Thrity-second Iowa Infantry Regiment, and was in hospital at Little Rock, being finaly discharged for disability.
Jacob Hough, born in 1815, came to Tipton township in 1856, settling on section 36, purchasing a farm consisting of one hundred and twenty acres. He was a justice of the peace for twelve years.
Leonard Van Patter, a Canadian, born in 1833, came to the present site of Mason City, Iowa, in 1854, and to section 11, Tipton township, Hardin county, Iowa. He was a justice of the peace for fourteen years.
James Hammer, Sr., a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, born in 1813, came to America in 1840, settled in Maryland, remained three years following the vocation of a cloth weaver. He then worked at that twelve years in Virginia, coming to Linn county, Iowa, in 1855, and on to Point Pleasant, Hardin county, in 1856. In Point Pleasant he settled in 1862 and bought a farm on section 24. He served as justice, constable, clerk and was postmaster at Point Pleasant eight years.
Other settlers were D. C. Crosser, W. W. Boylan, Jacob S. Rodgers, William Howell, L. D. Gordon, A. D. Meeker and E. C. Austin.
The first marriage in Tipton township was John M. C. Potts and Elizabeth Collins, in 1858. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Peter Shamp, a Protestant Methodist minister. Mr. Potts enlisted in the Sixth Iowa Infantry and was killed at Dallas, Georgia. He held the office of corporal.
The first person to die within Tipton township was a stranger, named Carpenter, who stopped over night at the house of George W. Diltz, and was taken ill and found dead in his bed the following morning. He was decently buried, in a lonely spot in the woods on Tipton creek.
The first cemetery of this township was laid out on the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 22. Ida, daughter of George W. Diltz and wife, was the first person to be interred there. The township now has several well-cared-for cemeteries.
The first public school was taught in the summer of 1857, in a temporary log cabin, by Sarah Howell, who became the wife of J. M. Boyd.
It may be said that his township was struck by the great tornado of June, 1860, that swept over Iowa and worked such wreck and ruin at New Providence and Camanche. Really all the damage sustained in Tipton township was the blowing down of many miles of fences and the unroofing of a double log house owned by pioneer Jacob Hough, on section 36.
Tipton's Part in the Civil War
This township furnished its full quota of soldiers in the Union army, under various calls for men, but, owing to a miscount, a draft was made and readily honored. Several from Tipton township lost their lives in that war. In 1864 general funeral services were held on the farm of Amasa Collins for the dead heroes, John M. C. Potts, Francis M. Collins and Leander Collins.
A military company was organized at Point Pleasant, known as the Union Home Guad, with Sidney Peck, Captain; Perry Hiffner, first Lieutenant, and W. W. Boylan, second lieutenant.
Early Postoffices
Tipton township was provided for in mail and postoffice service by the establishment of an office at Point Pleasant, in 1855, and by an office known as Tipton Grove postoffice, established in 1865, of which John Boylan was postmaster. It was held at his house on section 22. This office was discontinued when, in 1880, Hubbard was established.
The Town of Hubbard
Among the more modern towns of Hardin county is Hubbard, a station on the the Chicago & Northwestern railway line, in Tipton township. In 1880 a town by this name ws platted on the open prairie on land owned by A. J. Hunter, who deeded to the railroad company, for town site uses, October 12, 1880, parts of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 33, township 87, range 21. On October 26, that year, there was made an addition to this platting, on lands on section 34, by H. D. hoover. The lot sale was conducted by land agent Bliss, for the company in October, when sixteen lots were sold to the following persons:
T. W. Strother, J. C. Moorman, DeRoy Ellsworth, Webb & Christie, J. L. Marshall, S. L. Martin, T. J. Hunter, George Lohr, Asa Bushnell, Vinton & Lawton, R. Rilling, and J. J. Parsons. Prices ranged from one hundred dollars to one hundred and seventy-five dollars each. Each person bound himself to build a building upon the lot bought, within six months, at a cost of not less than four hundred dollars. Lawton & Vinton, of Belle Plain, erected the first structure, it being used for a boarding house. J. M. Christie opened the first store in the new town, October 27, 1880, a hardware store. J. N. Marshall opened the first general store November 17, 1880.
October 20, 1880, there was not a single house on the town plat, but January 1, 1881, there were several stores, and a population estimated at fully three hundred. The town now has a population of six hundred, but it has not materialized into anywhere near what was believed it would by its projectors.
The old postoffice at Tipton Grove was ordered discontinued in December, 1880, and one established at Hubbard. J. J. Parsons was appointed postmaster. It became a money order station in July, 1881, the first order being drawn in favor of J. E. Simpson, Dubuque, for three dollars and seventy-five cents, sent by E. B. Gard. The first year's money order business amounted to twelve thousand dollars.
The postmasters here have included these: J. J. Parsons, T. W. Strother, William W. Boylan, May, 1884, to April, 1886; E. H. Sheldon, four years; James H. Johnson, and he by Owen Hecker, and he by Aaron F. Boylan and he by William W. Boylan, in October, 1899, and he by William M. Boylan, the present postmaster, who commenced in April, 1909.
The office has been a third-class office since 1902. Postmaster Parsons was a defaulter to the sum of seven hundred dollars; his bondsmen paid it and he was never arrested. He moved to Minnesota.
In May, 1890, four rural deliveries were extended out from Hubbard, averaging about twenty-six miles. This has been a money order business office ever since the office was established.
The first office near this was old Tipton Grove office, established in 1867, with John Boylan as postmaster, followed in 1870 by his son, William W. Boylan. The office was on section 22, township 87, range 21. Before that the mail had to come from Point Pleasant office, on route between Webster City and Marshalltown.
Incorporation History
Hubbard was incorporated as a town by Hon. D. D. Miracle, judge of the circuit court, who appointed the following commissioners: J. L. Marshall, J. M. Christie, E. B. Gard, Mark J. Kelley and Pliney Fry. The election was set for November 1, 1881. Seventy-six votes were cast for and five against incorporation. The first election (regular) for town officers was held February 8, 1882, when these were successful candidates: Madison Slack, mayor; J. L. Marshall, G. S. Clift, D. M. Shellenberger, J. K. Millner and H. D. Hoover, trustees; Rufus A. Johnson, recorder; Irvin Mills, treasurer; Charles W. Whitney, marshal; S. F. Hammer, assessor.
The mayors who have served the incorporation ever since have been: J. K. Millner, 1884-5; William J. Neumann, 1886; W. W. Ray, 1887-88; J. K. Millner, 1889-90; Z. Martin, 1892; W. M. Boylan, 1893; W. E. Koeneman, 1894; J. V. White, 1895-99; G. C. Cable, 1899-01; R. R. Swallum, 1901-04; E. D. Thompson, 1904-08; Dr. J. F. R. Brubaker, 1908 to present time.
The present officers are: Mayor, Dr. Brubaker; clerk, Calvin Boylan; treasurer, William Hoefer; assessor C. C. A. Marshmann; marshal, R. Edick; councilmen, W. C. Hoelcher, J. J. Hines, W. F. Greenfield, August Boeke, Simon Engelking.
An ordinance was passed June 9, 1891, for the construction of a system of water works, which cost the town four thousand dollars. A wooden tank was made, but in 1904 a steel tank, highly elevated, was built at a cost of three thousand dollars more. Water from wells is pumped by a gasoline engine. A volunteer fire department aided by the water supply and hook and ladder make the town comparatively safe from the fire fiend's work.
Commercial Interests in 1882
Aside from the various professions, which are elsewhere mentioned, as well as banking, etc., the business factors in Hubbard, when less than two years old, were as follows:
The Hubbard and Gard hotels; grain elevators, J. & S. Nichols, Francis & Valentine; general merchandise dealers, J. L. Marshall, J. J. Neumann, Strother & Millner, J. C. Moorman and T. J. Hunter; hardware, J. M. Christie, Hadley & Webb; meat market, Hayworth & Mills; lumber, D. M. Shellenberger & Company, S. F. Hammer & Company; then there were almost all kinds of tradesmen here found, needed in a small country town with bright building hopes before it.
Hubbard in 1911
Agricultural Implements - Thompson Brothers & Boylan, Simon Boeke.
Banking - Hubbard State Bank, First National Bank of Hubbard.
Hotel - The Park.
Hardware - C. A. Clancy, Van Patter & Greenfiels.
Furniture - Simon Boeke, H. S. Boeke.
General Dealers - R. R. Swallum, Strother Bros., Earnest Helker.
Drugs - L. J. Rice, O. E. Oleson.
Lumber - Townsend & Merrill, Farmers' Co-operative Co. (formerly C. C. Buck).
Grain Dealers - Farmers' Co-operative Co., Western Grain Co.
Live Stock - Simon Engleking, J. A. Marshman, O. G. Lewison.
Creamery - Hubbard Co-operative Creamery Co., established 1906.
Blacksmiths - C. A. Clancy, R. Edick.
Harness - Carl La Cour and Albery & Maisel.
Meats - Simon Engleking.
Millinery - Miss Catherine Frederick, Jensen & Sheldon.
Livery - C. Schrader.
Physicians - Drs. J. F. R. Brubaker, J. T. Livengood, J. E. Reed, Thomas Cosgrove.
Dentist - F. H. Herrald.
Veterinary - J. J. Harmon.
Jewelers - S. J. Leuwin, Torlif Feive.
Township Officers - 1911
The township officers serving in 1911 are: Justice of the peace, E. E. McFarland, A. L. Bushnell; constables, G. W. Alsup, Calvin Boylan; clerk, G. G. Marshman; trustees, W. G. Hornung, F. C. Dryer, Philip Knowles; assessor, W. R. Thompson.