Iowa
Old Press
McGregor newspaper clipping
Clayton co. Iowa
hand-dated August 14, 1909
Oldest Woman in Iowa Celebrates Her Birthday
McGregor, Ia., Aug 14, 1909 - On Aug 19 Mrs. Ann Dickens, who
lives with her daughter, Mrs. Larry Jennings, on a farm three
miles north of McGregor, will celebrate her eighty-seventh
birthday. On June 10 she celebrated the seventy-sixth anniversary
of her arrival in Iowa. Indeed, it is believed that her term of
residence ante-dates that of any other settlers by two years.
A member of the State Historical society said of her recently:
"There is none other known to us who can lay claim to Mrs.
Dickens' distinction." When it is recalled that Iowa was
first recognized officially as the home of the white men on June
1, 1833, the startling fact presents itself that there is yet
living in the person of Mrs. Dickens one whose term of residence
in Iowa, if we except ten days, has been as long as the actual
existence of the state itself.
Prior to June, 1833, a number of settlements had been made on the
eastern border of Iowa, notably at Dubuque, Burlington, Keokuk,
Davenport, and McGregor. Their permanence, however, depended upon
the friendship of their founders with the Indians. It was not
until Black Hawk and his Sac and Fox followers were routed at the
battle of Bad Ax in the summer of 1832, and as a punishment for
their bad faith were compelled by the United States government to
surrender forever all claim to a fifty mile strip of land west of
the Mississippi, that actual settlement authorized by the
government took place in Iowa, then a part of Michigan territory.
Early Settlers Come
No sooner had the news of the "Black Hawk Purchase"
spread through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio than a crowd of
settlers from those states, fired with the tales of the wonderful
beauty and fertility of the land included in the Purchase strip,
began to hurry by team and flat boat to the Mississippi. Many of
them, though the land was not open to settlement until the first
of June, hazarded getting across the river early in the spring
and squatting on the land. The Indians complained of their coming
and the government ordered Col. Zachary Taylor and a detachment
of soldiers from Fort Crawford to go to the lead mines at
Dubuque, where most of the settlers were landing, and drive them
back east of the river. This was done and a military patrol of
the west shore established to prevent their return. The soldiers
had their hands full for the several months that intervened
before the first of June, as many of the settlers resorted to all
manner of schemes to outwit the troops and squat on the land
before the appointed time.
On June 1, the last of the Sacs and Foxes quietly withdrew from
the land, the soldiers went back to the fort and the eager throng
of waiting settlers came pressing across the river at Dubuque and
other points on the river, as fast as the few ferry flat boats
could bring them. During the first week, Mrs. Dickens, then 11
years old, reached Jordan's Ferry, opposite the
"Mines," with her mother and her stepfather, John
Redmond.
The Redmonds Arrive.
They had left their home near Terre Haute, Ind., the winter
before, and inspired by the stories of the beautiful country west
of the Mississippi, told them by their neighbors, the Langworthy
brothers, they had gone to Mineral Point, Wis., and waited there
during the winter, in order that they might be among the first to
get to Iowa, when the "Black Hawk Purchase" was opened
up in June.
It was several days after the arrival of the family at the ferry
before they could get across, as the only means of transportation
was the one flat boat which was poled and oared across the river
by "Old Man Jordan" and his crew of four. The crowds
already on the east bank were fighting for the first right to be
carried across in this. The Redmond family finally got aboard
June 10 -- Captain Read embarked at the same time. The captain
had wond distinction in the Black Hawk war and was destined to
become one of the founders of Clayton county and a prominent
figure in the beginnings of northeastern Iowa.
Dr. Hill, the first physician to come to Dubuque, and, for some
time after his arrival the only practitioner in Iowa, was also on
the ferry. When a yoke of oxen and a large amount of freight were
added to the load and the platform of boards, which was all that
separated the passengers from the water, sank under their weight
perilously near the level of the river, Mrs. Dickens remembers
the fright of all on board as they started on their journey.
First Scenes at Dubuque.
A crowd of people were already on the shore at Dubuque when they
landed, and with confused hurry were pitching tents, putting up
temporary shacks, and digging furiously in the hills for lead.
There were only two finished buildings: one was the house in
which Julien Dubuque had lived, the other a log hotel where Widow
Willoughby was attempting to feed and lodge the crowds that were
daily coming. The hotel had only the ground for a floor, and, on
this, Anne Redmond with her mother and many others of the women
and children slept at night. A store consisting of a clapboard
roof and rows of shelves nailed to the poles which held it up,
had been opened near the hotel. Around this store the hotel, and
the blacksmith shop where the men worked all night as well as all
day; on the shore watching the new arrivals and on the hills
where the men were digging for ore, Anne Redmond found many
things of absorbing interest in the two weeks she remained at
Dubuque with her mother. At the end of that itme her father
returned from a trip of exploration to the north, and took them
up to the cabin he had built on the Maquoketa. They lived there
until 1836 when the report of the greater richness of the valley
of the Turkey river led them to go farther into the wilderness.
The second cabin was built near the proposed site of Millville,
in Clayton county.
Married at 15.
Here, on May 27, at the [illegible] Anne Redmond was married to
Edward G. Dickens by Judge Price. The [illegible] marriage north
of the Turkey river which any record has been kept [illegible] of
Berryanrive Stout and [illegible], a Winnebago girl known
[illegible] Prairie Flower." As that ceremony was confirmed
by Captain Read, consisited of the bride and groom joining hands
and jumping several times back and forth across a canoe paddle,
it is safe to accord to Mrs. Dickens the honor of being the first
woman married in northeastern Iowa.
For some years after her marriage she lived in the woods with her
husband, miles away from her parents and any neighbors. the only
human beings she saw were the Winnebago Indians who, by
permission of the government, were allowed to hunt along the
turkey. In describing her life during those years she says in
substance: "The timber fairly teemed with panthers, bears,
wolves, deer, elk, and all manner of wild game. We often could
not sleep at night because of the fearful howling of the wolves
and the cries of the wild cats. We always had plenty to eat, for
no man with a gun needed to go hungry in those days. And of all
the delicious food ever eaten by any one it was the meat we got
of the woods and cooked over the open fire in our log cabin.
Besides venison, elk, bear meat, and wild turkey and other small
game, we had bass from the river and trout from the streams. The
woods were full of wild fruits, and the honey barrel which stood
in the corner was never empty. After the first year we had corn
and potatoes from our little piece of breaking in the timber.
Corn Cracker at Last.
"At first we had to grind it ourselves by hand, but in the
second year a "corn cracker" was started at Eagle Point
and we carried our corn there in the fall to have it ground into
meal. Whatever other supplies we needed the men bought when they
took their raft laden with furs down the Turkey and the
Mississippi to the "Mines" and brought back with them
on the boat which they had taken along. During the first trip my
husband made to Dubuque, I staid alone in our cabin in the
wilderness with no other protector than our dog. My only visitor
during the time was an old Winnebago Indian who made me a
friendly call and presented me with some game he had killed.
Mrs. Dickens has been a continuous resident of Clayton county
since she came to Millville with her parents in 1836. For the
past forty years she has lived near McGregor. She has been the
mother of twelve children, seven of whom are still living. Three
of her sons served in the northern army during the civil war. One
lost his life in a southern hospital, and because of his death in
the service she has drawn a pension for many years.
Though Mrs. Dickens is so soon to celebrate her eighty-seventh
birthday, she still enjoys reasonable amount of good health and
her memory of the events of her younger days in Iowa remains
remarkably clear and accurate. She is immensely proud of her long
life on [illegible] and devoutly loyal to the state [illegible]
she saw born and has watched grow and develop for more than
three-quarters of a century.
"There never was, there never will be again such a frontier
as Iowa. Indeed it is the 'beautiful land' and we who came first
know best how true that is" she says with a thrill in her
voice and an impulsive gesture of her aged hands as she sits and
rocks and tells her story, the story that she alone still lives
to tell.
[transcribed by S.F., January 2005]
[note: Ann's maiden name was Van Sickle]