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Within this chapter will be found many interesting, valuable, accounts of the doings of men and women who have participated in the development of Jasper County, from its earliest settlement to this date. The editors have sought to publish only that which is believed to be accurate, and as such it will be valuable to the reader of local history.

VILLAGE PLATS OF THE COUNTY

The following is believed to be an account of the plattings of all of the villages, towns and cities within Jasper County up to May 1911. Only the "originals" are here named:

Amboy, platted January 1872, by David B. Gotschall and wife on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 17, township 80, range 18, The Rock Island Road runs through this village plat. It is in Kellogg Civil Township.

Baxter, platted October 24, 1883, on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 14, township 81, range 20, by David W. and Amy Smith, It is situated in Independence Civil Township and is a station point on the Great Western Railroad.

Colfax was platted by Abel Kimball, of Scott County, Iowa, on the north half of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 79, range 21, in July 1867.

Clyde was platted September 18, 1857, on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 11, township 81, range 21, by V. M. Heller and Joseph West and their wives.

Farmersville was platted by Anderson Vowel1 and wife, Letty, in May 1876, on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 12, township 79, range 20.

Fairmount - No record of first platting, Boles addition was made March 21, 1876. This is a station point on the old Des Moines Valley Railroad (now Keokuk & Des Moines) between Prairie City and Monroe.

Greencastle on section 14, township 80, range 21, was platted by Albert Shipp and wife, August 30, 1855. This plat is situated in Poweshiek Civil Township, southeast from Mingo.

Galesburg, on section 16, township 78, range 18, was platted by William Burton and wife, August 22, 1855, and is situated in Elk Creek Township.

Ira, which was platted as "Millard" originally, December 3, 1883, by William F. Rippey and wife, is on section 32, township 81, range 20. It is situated within Independence Civil Township.

Jasper City (now Kellogg) was platted on section 26, township 80, range 18, September 12, 1865, by Enos Blair and Absalom Adair and their wives. It is in Kellogg Civil Township.

Kellogg (first known as Jasper City) was incorporated August 12, 1873, after which it took the name Kellogg.

Killduff was platted January 5, 1884, by Timothy Killduff and wife, on the east half of the southeast quarter and east third of the west half of the southeast quarter of section 35, township 79, range 18, February 21, 1883.

Lynnville was platted July 23, 1856, by John and Mary Arnold on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 11, township 78, range 17 and is within the Civil Township of Lynn Grove.

Monroe was platted December 18, 1856, on the northwest quarter of section 31, township 78, range 19, by Daniel Hiskey and wife. This is within the Civil Township of Fairview.

Mingo was platted May 27, 1884, on the northeast half of the southwest quarter of section 3s township 80, range 21, by Thomas A. and David Baker and is within the territory of Poweshiek Township.

Metz was platted July 23, 1883, on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 11, township 79, range 20, by William Hitchler and is within Mound Prairie Township.

Newburg was platted September 30, 1878, on the east half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 24, township 81, range 17, by Horace and Margaret Palmer, in Hickory Grove Civil Township.

Newton (original) was platted by the county commissioners of "Jasper County, Territory of Iowa," July 7, 1846.

Prairie City (first called Elliott) was platted June 7, 1856, by James Elliott and Wife, on section 2, township 78, range 21. This is in Des Moines Township and a part runs over into Washington Township.

Rushville, in the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 9, township 80, range 18, was platted by Jesse and Jane Young, March 24, 1857, and is situated in Kellogg Civil Township.

Reasoner was platted August 1877 by Samuel and Mary Reasoner, on the northeast quarter of section 10, township 78, range 19, and is situated in Palo Alto Civil Township.

Sully was platted on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 8, township 78, range 17, August 3, 1882, by Robert Ryan, trustee. This is in Lynn Grove Civil Township.

Tools Point was platted and filed for record May 13, 1850, by pioneer Adam Tool, on the southwest quarter of section 31, township 70, range 19.

Turner was platted April 19, 1899, on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 34, township 80, range 17, and is within Rock Creek Civil Township.

Vandalia was platted on section 36, township 78, range 18, by Joseph W. Buffington, February 25, 1853.

Valeria was platted October 24, 1883, by N. W. Johnson and wife, on section 20, township 80, range 21, in Poweshiek Civil Township.

Wittemberg was platted by John Carey, president; T. Failor, secretary of the Wittemberg Manual Labor College, on the east half of section 3, township 80, range 19, December 15, 1856, and the same was recorded January 12, 1858. This was in Newton Civil Township. It was vacated in 1878 and in 1890.

Another village was platted at Oswalt, in Poweshiek Township, but little, save a railway station has ever been built there. It is midway between Colfax and Valeria, on the Colfax & Northern Railroad, in Poweshiek Township.

CALIFORNIA GOLD SEEKERS

During the great California gold fever days, and in 1850, Jasper County was caught, as was many another Iowa county. A party was formed including the following gentlemen: David and William Edmundson, John E. Copp and son, Nathan Williams, William Smith, Curtis Dooley, Jesse Wilton and Peter Miller. Williams and Miller died in California. Dooley returned and a few years later went to Oregon. This party crossed the Great Plains, then styled the "Great American Desert." As a rule none were but little more advanced, financially, when they returned than when they left Iowa. Some, however, did quite well.

EARLY STAGE ROADS

In February 1847, an act was approved by the Iowa Legislature, by which E. G. Hanfield, of Marion County, and Rufus Williams and Joab Bennett, of Jasper County, were authorized to layoff a road known as the "State Road," commencing at Knoxville, and running by Red Rock to Newton.

These men were to meet thirty days later and have their expenses all paid jointly by the two counties.

On the 12th of the same month Edward _______, of Iowa, Nathan Williams of Jasper, and A. D. Jones, of Polk Counties, were appointed to establish a road, beginning at James McCrea's in township 79, range 6, and running by the way of Newton and Fort Des Moines to the county seat of Dallas County, Iowa.

Provisions were also made for running a road from Iowa City, by the way of Marengo, to Newton, David Edmundson being the locating commissioner.

February 18, 1847, Manly Gifford, of Jasper, John Hamilton, of Marion, and Thomas H. Napier, of Polk County, were appointed to layout a state road from Lake Prairie, in Marion County, to Fort Des Moines, running on the north side of the Des Moines River. These commissioners were required to meet before September of that year, to execute their duties.

Joint resolution No.9, of the first General Assembly, calls for the representatives in Congress to use their influence to obtain the establishment of a mail route from Iowa City, by the way of Newton, to Fort Des Moines, and to secure the establishment of a post office at Newton City. Resolution No. 12 called for the representatives in Congress to use their best exertions to obtain an appropriation for the establishment of a military road from Iowa City to Fort Des Moines, and from thence on to the Missouri River. The preamble states that the route would conduce greatly to the public interest, and that, passing through a region remote from the navigable waters of any stream, it would thereby tend to facilitate the sale of large tracts of the public domain, which would otherwise remain unsettled for a long time.

MARRIAGE RECORD

As long as people "are married and given in marriage" in this world, if not in the world to come, it may be of some interest to the reader of this historic volume to know something of the first and subsequent marriages in Jasper County, as discovered in the records of the county.

It appears of record that the first marriage in the county was that which united Sergt. James Hill, United States Army, of Fort Des Moines, and the bride, Miss Susan A. Tool, daughter of the first pioneer in this county. This marriage is not recorded here, but in Marion County, as this dates back earlier than the organization of this county. The marriage was performed in the month of February 1845, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Pardoe, an iterant minister, who had frequently preached as a missionary to Keokuk and his tribe

It is related of this eccentric minister, that he talked to the Indians and told them that if they loved to do right and believed in the word of 1ife, that when they died they would go to a land, "flowing with milk and honey," whereupon old chief Keokuk replied that he would much prefer to have it whisky and corn!

The first entry found in the Jasper county marriage register reads thus:

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court, at Monroe, this 4th day of December, A. D. 1846.
"PETER MILLER, Clerk"

The credentials of Elder Claiborne Hall, a minister of the Christian Church, were recorded in 1849, and also the credentials of Rev. John Crill and R. H. Brooks, preachers of the Methodist Church.

No marriages prior to 1849 are to be found recorded. Those consummated during that year were: Jesse Hammer and Margaret Sparks, by Rev. J. F. New; Alexander McCollum and Amanda Tice, by Elder Hall; Alexander Davis and Mrs. Mercy Shoemake, by Jabez Starr, justice of the peace; Jacob Trulinger and Mrs. Catherine Wenn, by B. F. Brody, justice of the peace.

From January, 1870, to January, 1879, there were 990 marriages recorded in the county's books in the clerk's office; from 1880 to January, 1890, the marriages numbered 2,001 in the ten-year period; from 1890 to 1898 the number was 1,832; from 1898 to 1907, the total was 2,392 for the decade, an average of 236 annually. From 1907 to January 1, 1911, the number of marriages was 680. This makes a grand total of 7,895 since January 1, 1870, forty years.

INTOXICATING LIQUORS, PROHIBlTION, ETC.

From the earliest date in the history of this county, as well as in the entire State of Iowa, there has been a division of public opinion regarding the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. As a rule the river towns on the east and west borders of the commonwealth have been the locations where the idea of prohibition has been hooted at and fought the hardest. This is natural, for at such points the worst of our population have always resided, the better element having chosen the prairie lands farther out from the contaminating influences of river traffic and boatmen's life.

The record of this county shows that in April 1855, the question of prohibition was submitted to the people, and resulted in defeat by a vote of three hundred and seven to three hundred and forty-two, thirty-five majority for prohibition. At that election Newton, as a precinct, gave one hundred and eighty-eight votes against the sale of liquor, and had it not been for this large majority (more than one hundred) the county would have gone for "free whisky."

In July 1855, it is recorded that at the town of Monroe, Bennett Putnam was appointed by the judge as agent for the purchase and sale of intoxicating liquors for that town, and that on the 10th of the same month he purchased one hundred and fifty dollars worth of liquors to be kept in his stock for "legitimate uses." Even this was a better regulation than many of the liquor laws enacted on Iowa soil, by which the "devil has been whipped around the bush."

UNIQUE TEMPERANCE ELECTION

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, in Newton, was organized in June 1876, with Mrs. Reynolds as its president; Mrs. A. C Gardner, secretary; Mrs. Golding, treasurer. In 1878 it reported sixty-eight members.

Perhaps the most noted thing ever attempted and carried to completion was that of holding a separate election, on the same day of the regular election held by the men eligible to vote in Newton. The women had their own ballot box and rallied their forces strong, early and late, and when the ballots were counted out by the men, it was found that the town had gone "dry" by one hundred and fifty majority. The ladies polled over four hundred ballots at their voting place. This was over whether Newton should grant license to saloons or not. To this case the ladies, no doubt, had much influence on the casting of the ballots of their husbands and the reader can judge as to the propriety of letting women vote as a purifier of elections in this country.

VOTE ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

On June 27, 1882, the prohibition question in Iowa was voted on, the question being whether or not an amendment should be added to the state constitution prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, including "ale, wine and beer." The vote in Jasper County, by precincts, was as follows:

Newton and Jasper County, generally speaking, have always disapproved of the sale of intoxicating liquors, and until recent years have not tolerated "bootlegging," but now it is common for such outlaws to get their work in, in certain parts of the county. But saloons have never found a home at Newton. As early as 1855, Andrew Insley was engaged in the illegal sale of liquor at Newton, and the citizens took the matter in hand, and finally purchased his stock of one hundred and thirty-six gallons of pure whisky and nineteen gallons of good brandy, which they took to the courthouse and destroyed. Insley agreed to quit the business, but soon resumed his illegal work at peddling whisky. This being made known, the brave, true-hearted women of the little hamlet gathered together and in a meeting resolved to destroy the "vile stuff." This was accomplished under the leadership of Mrs. Lamb, Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Pettefish. The grand jury failed to find a true bill against the man or he might have been severely punished. He had also sued the ladies for destroying his "property," but the case would not stand in Judge McFarland's district court.

During 1856 the women of Newton visited the liquor shop kept by Sanford Porter and completely destroyed his stock in trade. Porter was greatly enraged and had the ladies arrested, but the case amounted to nothing, for he had no redress before the courts, as his was then, as now, looked upon as an illegitimate business.

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