As stated in a
previous chapter, the first white men to visit what is
now Lee County were Marquette and Joliet, who landed
near the present Town of Montrose in 1673, while on
the voyage down the Mississippi. The first attempt to
form a permanent settlement with- in the limits of the
county was made by Louis Honore Tesson, who in 1796
obtained a grant of land from the Spanish authorities
of Louisiana. This grant was located "on the west bank
of the River Mississippi, at the head of the Des
Moines Rapids." A history of Tesson's establishment is
given elsewhere in connection with Mont- rose
Township.
After Tesson settled upon his grant, nearly a quarter
of a century passed before any further efforts were
made by white men to found settlements in this part of
Iowa. In the meantime there had been a heavy tide of
emigration from the older states toward' the setting
sun. Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816 and
Illinois was admitted two years later. The margin of
civilization had reached the Mississippi River and it
was not long until adventurous white men crossed the
great river and occupied the fertile lands beyond. In
1820 a French trader named Lemoliese established a
trading post at what is now Sandusky, about four miles
below Tesson's place. The same year another Frenchman,
Maurice Blondeau, opened a trading house about a mile
above that of Lemoliese. Blondeau became a great
favorite with the Indians, who frequently called upon
him to settle disputes. As a mediator he heard the
evidence of both the disputants and then handed down
his opinion "with the wisdom of a modern Solomon." In
the negotiation of some of the early treaties between
the Indians and the United States, Blondeau was a
trusted adviser of the Sacs and Foxes.
Another settler of 1820 was Dr. Samuel C. Muir, who
built his cabin near the foot of the rapids, within
the limits of the present City of Keokuk. The next
year Isaac R. Campbell first visited the county. From
that time until his death at St. Francisville,
Missouri, he was a resident of Lee County or one of
the adjoining counties in Illinois or Missouri. He
first located near the upper landing at Nauvoo,
Illinois, but in the fall of 1830 sold his farm there
and moved across the river, settling where the little
Village of Galland now stands. Dr. Isaac Galland had
settled here the preceding year, coming from Edgar
County, Illinois. His daughter, Eleanor, born in 1830,
was the first white child born in the county.
Moses Stillwell and the Van Ausdals settled at the
foot of the rapids in 1828. In 1830 a man named Dedman
brought his family to the west side of the Mississippi
and settled near Galland, where he lived until the
breaking out of the Black Hawk war, when he became
alarmed and sought the protection of Fort Edwards, on
the east side of the river.
The year 1831 witnessed a number of new arrivals in
what is now Lee County. Samuel Brierly, whose son,
James, was a member of the first Territorial
Legislature of Iowa, brought his family and occupied
the old cabin erected by the trader, Lemoliese, where
he engaged in selling whisky until Colonel Kearney,
commanding the post at Fort Des Moines, issued an
order for the destruction of all intoxicating liquors
found in the possession of the citizens of Nash- ville
(now Galland), which order was duly executed by a
detail of soldiers from the garrison. In the same year
John Gaines, William Price, Alexander Hood, Thomas W.
Taylor, William McBride, and probably a few others,
joined the little settlement at the foot of the
rapids.
Peter Williams settled on the site of Fort Madison in
1832. The same year, after the Indians vacated their
village where Montrose is now situated, Capt. James
White inclosed about seven or eight acres of ground
there and built a double log house on the slope near
the mouth of Jack Creek. Two years later he sold his
claim and Fort Des Moines was built there in the early
part of 1834.
Among those who came in 1833 were John Whitaker, who
settled on the north side of the Skunk River, in what
is now Des Moines County; James Bartlett, who landed
at what is now Keokuk on the 4th of July, accompanied
by his wife, three sons and a stepson. John Box came
over from Illinois and located near Fort Madison. He
was elected one of the seven representatives from Des
Moines County, which then included the present County
of Lee, to the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin in
1836.
On June 1, 1833, the title to the lands in the Black
Hawk Purchase became fully vested in the United
States. During the remainder of that year and the year
1834 a large number of emigrants from the states east
of the Mississippi crossed over into the new purchase
and several families were added to the population of
the district now comprising Lee County. Among them
were Alexander Cruickshank, William Skinner, Devore
Palmer, George Wilson, Henry Judy, John and James
Hellman, A. W. Harlan, Joseph White, Samuel Ross,
Benjamin Box and Hiram C. Smith. Although the new
purchase was open to settlement, the public surveys
had not yet been made and each new arrival selected a
tract of land to suit his taste and marked the
boundaries by "blazing 1 ' the trees around the border
of his claim. When the government survey was made it
sometimes happened that one claim would overlap
another and the houses of two settlers would be thrown
upon the same quarter section.
To settle questions of dispute over titles, each
settlement had a "Claim Association," to which all
cases of this character were referred. Each
association had certain rules and regulations for the
mutual protection of the citizens. After the United
States surveys were made, but before regular courts
were established, these associations were frequently
called on to adjust conflicting interests with regard
to title or possession of certain parcels of land. A
claim committee would be selected and the claimants
and witnesses would appear and give their testimony,
but without the formality of an oath or affirmation.
After hearing all the evidence, the committee would
decide the case and from that decision there was no
appeal. And yet there was little complaint over the
rinding of the committee in such cases. The pioneers
had all joined in the organization of the claim
associations and their sense of honor was such that
they always kept faith and abided by the
decisions.
The first government sale of the lands in the Black
Hawk Purchase was held at the land office in
Burlington in November, 1838. The claim associations
in the various localities had kept a record of every
claim, and the settlers of each Congressional township
selected a bidder to attend the sale and bid in each
particular claim for the occupant. A copy of the
record was furnished the bidder, who set out for
Burlington to protect the rights of his neighbors
against the rapacity of speculators and land sharks
from afar. Many outsiders looked upon the settlers who
had come into the territory in advance of the survey
and sale as "squatters," without any rights worthy of
the respect of the land speculators or the Government
officials. Fortunately for the pioneers General Dodge
and General Van Antwerp were on their side and the
township bidders had every opportunity to secure the
lands. Hawkins Taylor was one of the bidders from Lee
County. In the "Annals of Iowa" for July, 1870, he
published an article descriptive of the sale. One
incident mentioned by him shows in what spirit the
speculator was received and it is regarded as worthy
of reproduction here. Says he:
"There were thousands of settlers at the sale at
Burlington in the fall of 1838. The officers could
sell but one or two townships each day, and when the
land in any one township was offered, the settlers of
that township constituted the army on duty for that
day. They surrounded the office for their own
protection, with all the other settlers as a reserve
force, if needed. The hotels were full of speculators
of all kinds, from the money-lender, who would
accommodate the settler at 50 per cent; that is, he
would enter the settler's land in his own name, and
file a bond for a deed at the end of two years, by the
settler's paying him double the amount the land cost.
At these rates Doctor Barrett, of Springfield,
Illinois, and Louis Benedict, of Albany, New York,
loaned out $100,000 each, and Lyne Sterling and
others, at least an equal amount, at the same, or
higher rates of interest.
"The men who come to Iowa now cannot realize what the
early settlers had to encounter. The hotels were full
of this and a worse class of money sharks. There was a
numerous class who wanted to rob the settlers of their
lands and improvements entirely, holding that the
settler was a squatter and a trespasser and should be
driven from the lands. You would hear much of this
sort of talk about the hotels, but none about the
settlers' camps. Amongst the loudest talkers of this
kind was an F. F. V., a class that has now about 'give
out.' This valiant gentleman was going to invest his
money as he pleased, without reference to settlers'
claims. When the Township of West Point was sold, it
was a rainy, disagreeable day. I was bidder and the
officers let me go inside the office. Squire John
Judy, who lived on section 32 or 33, whispered to me
that he had been disappointed in getting his money, at
the last moment, and asked me to pass over his tract
and not bid it off. I did so, but the Virginian bid it
off. I was inside and could not communicate with
anyone until the sale of the township was through. As
I did not bid on the tract, the outsiders supposed it
was not claimed by a settler and the minute the bid
was made, the bidder left for his hotel.
As soon as I could get out, which was in a short time,
and make known that Judy's land had been bid off by a
speculator, within five minutes' time not less than
fifteen hundred of as desperate and determined men as
ever wanted homes started for the bidder. Prominent in
the lead was John G. Kennedy, of Fort Madison, who
enjoyed such sport. Colonel Patterson, now of Keokuk,
a Virginian by birth, but a noble, true-hearted friend
of the settler, who had been intimate with the bidder,
made a run across lots and reached the hotel before
Kennedy and his army. Patterson informed the bidder of
the condition of affairs and advised him at once to
abandon his bid, which he did, or, rather, he
authorized the colonel to do it for him. The colonel
went out and announced to the crowd that the bid was
withdrawn and that the bidder had also withdrawn
himself. Both offers were accepted, but the latter was
bitterly objected to and only acquiesced in when it
was found that the party had escaped by the back way
and could not be found. There was no other remedy.
This was the last outside bid given during the sale
and one heard no more talk about outside bidding
around the hotel. The squatters' rights were respected
at that sale."
From all over the "Forty-mile Strip" the settlers
congregated at Burlington during the sale. They
brought tents, blankets, cooking utensils, everything,
in fact, for a campaign that would result in \ every
actual settler's claim being made secure. Bound
together in a \ common cause, they went with the
determination to stand by each vpther to the finish.
Land grabbers and speculators were not long in
learning that it would be a dangerous venture to
oppose the hardy, Honest yeomanry who had come to Iowa
to establish homes and develop the resources of the
state. It may seem to some that such a course was
rather high-handed, but had the land sharks been per-
mitted to purchase the most desirable lands, without
regard to the rights of the occupants, it might have
been many years before Iowa would have been peopled
with the industrious, intelligent and honest
population that has placed her among the leading
western states.
Fort Des Moines
Mention has been made of Fort Des Moines, which was
established before the Government surveys were
completed and while the Indians still dwelt in the
district ceded to the United States by the treaty of
September, 1832. In 1833 Congress passed an act "for
the better defense of the frontier by raising a
regiment of dragoons to scout the country west of the
Mississippi River." Pursuant to this act and by order
of the War Department, dated May 19, 1834, Lieut.-Col.
Stephen W. Kearney was instructed to take three
companies of the dragoons Sumner's, Boone's and
Browne's and "take up winter quarters on the right
bank of the Mississippi, within the Indian country
near the mouth of the Des Moines."
Kearney sent a quartermaster's force, under Lieut.
George H. Crosman of the Sixth United States Infantry,
to select a site and begin the construction of the
necessary buildings for the accommodation of the
garrison. Crosman selected the site where the Town of
Montrose now stands and began work, but the barracks
were not ready for occupancy until late in the fall.
Colonel Kearney's quarters consisted of a house built
of willow logs taken from the island opposite the
fort. Each company occupied one long building, with a
stone chimney in the center, the rooms on either side
being used as mess rooms and sleeping quarters. The
captains of the three companies were Edwin V. Sumner,
who afterward became a prominent general in the Union
army during the Civil war; Nathaniel Boone, a son of
Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer; and Jesse B.
Browne, who remained in Lee County after leaving the
army and was one of the early attorneys.
Before the arrival of the dragoons and the
establishment of the fort, the honest, industrious
settlers were frequently victimized by some of the
horde of unprincipled adventurers that hangs upon the
margin of civilization to prey upon unprotected
communities. The Black Hawk Purchase offered these
gentry a favorable field for the operations, owing to
the fact that civil law was not established until
after the territory was placed under the jurisdiction
of the Michigan authorities. When Colonel Kearney
arrived at Fort Des Moines, which name had been
selected for the new post, one of his first acts was
to proclaim martial law throughout the district. By
this course he won the esteem of the well-disposed
pioneers. Isaac R. Campbell, who lived near the fort,
says: "The names of Browne, Boone and Sumner, captains
of these companies, will ever be remembered by the
surviving pioneers of the half-breed tract, for it was
through their vigilance that civilization here
received its first impetus. Their bayonets taught us
to respect the rights of others, and from martial law
we learned the necessity of a civil code."
Kearney was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Mason as
commandant at Fort Des Moines. Under date of September
18, 1836, Mason wrote: "A town has been laid off at
this place, and lots have been sold, which takes in a
part of our garrison. This town has been laid off on a
tract of land which I am told was granted on a grant
confirmed by Congress to the heirs of one Reddick. * *
* You will at once perceive, under the circumstances,
how certain it is that we must come in collision with
the citizens of this town, who have already commenced
to build."
There had been some talk of establishing a military
reservation two miles square for the use of the post.
In his letter, Mason refers to this and informs the
secretary of war that persons are building within the
two-mile limit, "for the purpose of selling whisky to
the Indians and soldiers." Fort Des Moines was never
intended to be a permanent post, and upon receipt of
Mason's letter, the secretary issued orders for its
abandonment. The last official communication from Fort
Des Moines was dated June i, 1837, in which Mason said
: "The post is this day abandoned and the squadron
takes up its march for Fort Leavenworth. It has been
delayed until this date in order that the grass might
be sufficiently high to afford grazing for the horses,
as corn cannot be had on some parts of the
route."
This was the end of Fort Des Moines as a military
establishment. In its day it served a good purpose in
protecting the rights of both the Indians and the
white settlers. For many years after its abandonment,
the furniture used by the officers was in possession
of the Knight family of Keokuk. Among the subordinate
officers were a number who afterward made a place in
history. Besides Captains Sumner, Boone and Browne,
above mentioned, Robert E. Lee, then a young
lieutenant and afterward commander-in-chief of the
Con- federate armies; Benjamin S. Roberts, who won
distinction as an officer in both the Mexican and
Civil wars; Jefferson Davis, presi- dent of the
Confederate States of America during their short and
unhappy existence; Winfield Scott, who was commander
of the United States forces that captured the City of
Mexico in the war with that country, and Gen. William
Harney were all at some time or another temporarily
stationed at Fort Des Moines.
Pioneer Life and
Customs
Looking back over a period of four score and two
years, to the time when the United States
commissioners met the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes at
Fort Armstrong and negotiated the treaty that re-
sulted in the opening of the "Forty-mile Strip" to
settlement, it occurs to the writer that the young
people of the present generation might be interested
in knowing how the first settlers in the Black Hawk
Purchase lived. Imagine a vast, unbroken tract of
country stretching away westward from the Mississippi
River. Here and there were forests from which there
was "not a stick of timber amiss," and between these
woodlands broad prairies, never touched bv the plow
nor trodden by the foot of civilized man. It was into
this region that the Lee County pioneers came "Not
with the roll of stirring drums And the trumpet that
sings of fame,"
but with stout hearts, axes and rifles, they came to
conquer and subdue the wilderness, build roads,
schoolhouses and churches, found cities and build up a
state that ranks second to none in the American Union.
-One of the first things necessary to a pioneer in a
new country is shelter for himself and family.
Sometimes two or more families came at the same time.
In such cases a log cabin would be built, in which all
would live together until each settler could stake out
his claim and erect a dwelling of his own. No
saw-mills were convenient for the manufacture of
lumber; there were no brick yards; hence, frame or
brick houses were out of the question, and the log
cabin was the universal type of dwelling. The first
cabins were built of round logs, but a little later
some of the more aristocratic of the settlers erected
hewed log houses. And what an event was the
"house-raising" in a new settlement!
After the settler had cut his logs and dragged them
probably with a team of oxen to the site of the
proposed cabin, he invited his neighbors, some of whom
lived several miles distant, to a "rais- ing." When
all were assembled at the place four men were chosen
to "carry up the corners." These men took their
stations at the four corners of the cabin and as the
logs were lifted up to them they cut a "saddle" upon
the top of one log and a notch in the under side of
the next to fit upon the saddle. The man having the
"butt end" of the log must cut his notch a little
deeper than the man having the top, in order that the
walls might be carried up about on a level, the butt
and top ends generally being alternated on each side
and end of the structure. No openings were left for
the doors and windows, but these were sawed out
afterward. At one end was an opening for the
fireplace, just outside of which was constructed a
chimney of stone, or, if stone was not convenient, of
logs and clay. The roof was invariably of clapboards,
the floor, if there was one, of punch- eons that is
slabs of timber split as nearly as possible of the
same thickness and smoothed off on the upper surface
with an adz after the floor was laid. The door was
also made of thin puncheons and was hung on wooden
hinges and provided with a wooden latch. Nails were a
luxury and not infrequently the entire cabin would be
finished without a single article of iron being used
in its construction. The clapboards of the roof would
be held in place by a pole running the full length of
the cabin and fastened to the end logs with wooden
pins.
The furniture was usually "home-made" and of the
simplest character. Holes bored in the logs of the
walls were fitted with pins, upon which were laid
boards to form the "china closet." The table was made
of boards, battened together and supported upon two
trestles. When not in use, the top of the table could
be leaned against the wall, or set outside of the
cabin, and the trestles could be set on top of the
other to make more room.
Stoves were unknown and the cooking was done at the
great fireplace, an iron teakettle, a long handled
skillet and a large iron pot being the principal
utensils. Often "johnny cake" was made by spreading a
stiff dough of corn meal upon one side of a smooth
board and propping it up in front of the fire; when
one side of the cake was sufficiently baked, the dough
would be turned over, so that the other side might
have its inning. A liberal supply of "johnny cake" and
a mug of sweet milk often constituted the only supper
of the pioneer.
Somewhere in the cabin, two hooks, formed from the
forks of small trees, would be pinned against the wall
to form a "gun rack." Here rested the long, heavy
rifle of the settler, and suspended from its muzzle,
or from one of the hooks, hung the bullet-pouch and
powder horn.
After the "house-raising" came the "house-warming." A
new cabin was hardly considered fit to live in until
it had been properly dedicated. In nearly every
frontier settlement there was at least one man who
could play the violin. The "fiddler" was called into
requisition and the new dwelling would become "the
sound of revelry by night." No tango, maxixe or
hesitation waltz was seen on these occasions, but the
Virginia reel, the stately minuet or the old-
fashioned cotillion, in which some one called the
figures in a stentorian voice, were very much in
evidence, and it is quite probable that the guests at
a presidential inaugural ball never derived more
genuine pleasure from the event than did these people
of the frontier at a house-warming. If the settler who
owned the cabin had scruples against dancing, the
house was "warmed" by a frolic of a different
character, but it had to be "warmed" in some way
before the family took possession.
At the present time, with plenty of money in
circulation, when any one needs assistance he hires
some one to come and help him. When the first white
men came to Lee County, money was exceed- ingly scarce
and the pioneers overcame the difficulty by helping
each other. After the cabin was built, the next step
was to clear and fence a piece of ground upon which to
raise a crop. The trees were felled by the settler and
cut into such lengths that they could be handled, when
the other settlers in the vicinity were invited to a
"log-rolling." By this means the logs were piled in
great heaps, so that they could be burned. Enough
valuable timber was destroyed in this way to pay for
the land upon which it once grew, if it could be
replaced at the present time.
While the men were rolling the logs, the women folks
would get together and prepare dinner, each bringing
from her own store some little delicacy that she
thought the other might not be able to supply. Bear
meat and venison were common on such occasions, and,
as each man had a good appetite by the time the meal
was ready, when they arose from the table it "looked
like a cyclone had struck it." But each man had his
turn and by the time the work of the neighborhood was
all done, no one had any advantage in the amount of
provisions consumed.
The same system was followed in harvest time.
Frequently ten or a dozen men would gather in a
neighbor's wheat field, and while some would swing the
cradle the others would bind the sheaves and shock
them, after which the whole crowd would move on to the
next ripest field until the wheat crop of the entire
community was cared for, or at least made ready for
threshing. No threshing machines had as yet made their
appearance and the grain was separated from the straw
by the flail or tramped out by horses or cattle upon a
smooth piece of ground, or upon a barn floor, if the
settler was fortunate to have a barn with such a
floor.
Just now it is an easy matter to telephone to the
grocer to send up a sack or barrel of flour, but in
the early days going to mill was no light affair.
Mills were few and far apart and the settler would
frequently have to go to such a distance that the
greater part of a week would be required to make the
trip. To obviate this difficulty various methods were
introduced for making corn meal which was the
principal bread stuff of the first settlers at home.
One of these was to build a fire upon the top of a
large stump of some hard wood and keep it burning
until a "mortar" had been formed. Then the charred
wood was carefully cleaned off, the corn would be
poured in small quantities into the mortar and beaten
with a hard wood "pestle" until it was reduced to a
coarse meal. In the fall of the year, before the corn
was fully hardened, the "grater" was brought into
requisition. This was an implement made by punching
holes through a sheet of tin and then fastening the
edges of the sheet to a board, with the rough surface
outward, so that the tin would be slightly convex on
the outer surface. Then the corn would be rubbed over
the rough surface, the meal would pass through the
holes and slide down the board into a vessel placed to
receive it. A slow and tedious process was this, but a
bowl of mush made from grated corn and accompanied by
a generous supply of good milk, formed a repast that
was not to be criticized in those days, and one which
no pioneer blushed to place before a visitor.
Matches were exceedingly rare and a little fire was
always kept somewhere about the cabin "for seed." In
the fall, winter and early spring, the fire was kept
in the fireplace, but when the weather grew so warm
that it would render the cabin uncomfortable, a fire
was kept burning out of doors. If, by some mishap, the
fire was allowed to become extinguished one of the
family must go to the nearest neighbors for a fresh
supply.
How easy it is at the present time to enter a room,
turn a switch and flood the whole place with electric
light! It was not so eighty years ago in the Black
Hawk Purchase. The housewife devised a lamp by using a
shallow dish, in which was placed a quantity of lard
or bear's grease. A loosely twisted rag was immersed
in this grease, the end of the rag was allowed to
project slightly over one side of the dish and this
projecting end was lighted. The smoke and odor emitted
by such a lamp could hardly be tolerated by fastidious
persons now, but it answered the purpose then. Next
came the tallow candle, made in moulds of tin.
Sometimes only one set of candle moulds could be found
in a new settlement and they passed freely from house
to house until all had a supply of candles laid away
in a cool dry place, sufficient to last for many
weeks. Often, during the winter seasons, the family
would spend the evening with no light but that which
came from the roaring fire in the great
fireplace.
No one wore "store clothes" then. The housewife would
card her wool by hand with a pair of broad-backed wire
brushes, the teeth of which were slightly bent all in
one direction, then spin the rolls into yarn upon an
old-fashioned spinning wheel, weave it into cloth upon
the old hand loom and make it into garments for the
members of the family. A girl sixteen years of age who
could not manage a spinning wheel or make her own
dresses was a rarity in a new settlement. How many
girls of that age now can make their own gowns?
Too busy to visit during the day, one family would
often go over to a neighbor's to "sit until bed time."
On such occasions the women would either knit or sew
while they gossiped and the men would discuss crops or
politics, while the children cracked nuts or popped
corn. And bed time did not mean a late hour on such
occasions, for all must rise early the next morning
for a fresh day's work.
But if the pioneers had their hardships, they also had
their amusements and entertainments. Old settlers can
recall the shooting matches, when the men met to try
their skill with the rifle, the prize being a turkey
or a haunch of venison. Or the husking bee, where
pleasure and profit were combined. On such occasions
the corn to be husked would be divided into two piles,
as nearly equal in size as possible; two of the guests
would "choose up" and divide the crowd into two sides,
the contest being to see which side would first finish
its pile of corn. Men and women alike took part and
the young man who found a red ear was permitted to
kiss the lassie next to him. "Many a merry laugh went
round" when some one found a red ear and the lassie
objected to being kissed. After the orchards were old
enough to bear, the "apple cuttings" became a popular
form of amusement, when a number would assemble some
evening to pare and slice enough apples to dry for the
winter's supply. The husking bee and the apple cutting
nearly always wound up with a dance, the orchestra
consisting of the one lone fiddler in the
neighborhood. He might not have been a classic
musician, but he could make his old fiddle respond to
such tunes as "The Bowery Gals," "Money Musk," "Turkey
in the Straw" and "Devil's Dream," and he never grew
tired in furnishing the melody while others tripped
the light fantastic toe.
On grinding days at the old grist mill a number of men
would meet and pass the time in athletic contests,
such as foot races, wrestling matches or pitching
horse shoes. After the public school system was
introduced the spelling school became a frequent place
of meeting. At the close of the exercises the young
men could "see the girls home," and if these
acquaintances ripened into an intimacy that ended in a
wedding, it was usually followed by a charivari, or,
as it was pronounced on the frontier, a shivaree,
which was a serenade in which noise took the place of
harmony. The proceedings were generally kept up until
the bride and groom came out where they could be seen,
and the affair ended all the more pleasantly if the
members of the shivareeing party were treated to a
slice of wedding cake and a glass of cider.
One feature of pioneer life should not be overlooked,
and that is the marks by which the settler could
distinguish his domestic animals. In early days all
kinds of live stock were allowed to run at large. To
protect himself, the frontier farmer cropped the ears
of his cattle, hogs and sheep in a peculiar manner and
these marks were recorded with the same care as titles
to real estate. Among the marks were the plain crop,
the under and upper bits, the swallow fork, the round
hole,' the upper and under slopes, the slit, and a few
others, by a combination of which each settler could
mark his stock so that it could be easily identified.
The "upper bit" was a small notch cut in the upper
side of the ear; the "under bit" was just the reverse,
being cut in the lower side; the "crop" was made by
cutting off a small portion of the ear squarely across
the end; the "swallow fork" was a fork cut in the end
of the ear, similar in shape to that of a swallow's
tail, from which it derived its name, and so on. If
some one found a stray animal marked with "a crop off
the left ear and a swallow fork in the right," he had
only to inquire at the recorder's office to learn the
name of the owner. These marks were seldom violated
and protected the settler against loss as surely as
the manufacturer is protected against infringement by
his registered trademark.
Organization of the
County
Immediately after Iowa was attached to the Territory
of Michigan, by the act of Congress, approved June 28,
1834, the territorial authorities began the
preliminary work of establishing civil government in
the region west of the Mississippi. On September 6,
1834, the Territorial Legislature passed an act
creating two new counties in the newly attached
country. All north of a line drawn due westward from
the lower end of Rock Island was to be known as
Dubuque County, and all south of that line as the
County of Des Moines. John King was appointed chief
justice of the former and Isaac Leffler of the latter.
Later in the fall the first election ever held in
Southeastern Iowa was for officers of Des Moines
County. There were two voting places Fort Madison
and Burlington. William Morgan was elected presiding
judge of the County Court; Young L. Hughes and Henry
Walker, associate judges; John Whitaker, probate
judge; W. W. Chapman, prosecuting attorney; Solomon
Perkins, sheriff; W. R. Ross, clerk, recorder and
assessor. John Barker and Richard Land were appointed
and commissioned justices of the peace by the governor
of Michigan Territory.
When the Territory of Wisconsin was established under
act of Congress, approved on April 20, 1836, Iowa was
made a part of the new territory. On December 7, 1836,
Henry Dodge, governor of Wisconsin, approved an act of
the Territorial Legislature dividing Des Moines County
into the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa,
Muscatine and Cook. The name of Cook County was
afterward changed to Scott.
There is some difference of opinion as to how Lee
County received its name. At the time the county was
erected by the Wisconsin Legislature, Robert E. Lee,
then a lieutenant in the regular army, was engaged in
making a survey of the Des Moines Rapids, with a view
to the improvement of navigation on the Mississippi
River. It seems that he was one of the most popular
subordinate officers of the garrison at old Fort Des
Moines and some authorities state that the county was
named in his honor. Others claim that the county was
named for Charles Lee, a land speculator from New
York, who was then operating in the half-breed tract.
Albert M. Lea surveyed and mapped the shores of the
Mississippi River and explored the Des Moines in 1835.
He was an officer in Colonel Kearney's command at Fort
Des Moines and some writers are inclined to the
opinion that the intention was to name the county for
him, but that a mistake was made in spelling the name.
It is quite probable that the county was named for
Lieut. Robert E. Lee.
In the session of the Wisconsin Legislature that
established the county, Joseph B. Teas, Arthur B.
Ingram and Jeremiah Smith, Jr., were members of the
council from Des Moines County, and Thomas Blair, John
Box, George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds, Isaac Leffler and
Warren L. Jenkins were representatives.
The first session of the District Court in Lee County
began on March 27, 1837. It was presided over by Judge
Irvin, who appointed John H. Lines clerk of the
court.
By the act of December 7, 1836, it was provided: "That
each county within this territory now organized, or
that may hereafter be organized, be, and the same is
hereby declared one township for all the purposes of
carrying into effect the above recited acts, and that
there shall be elected at the annual town meeting in
each county three supervisors, who shall perform, in
addition to the duties here-to-fore assigned them as a
county board, the duties heretofore performed by the
township board."
The first election for county officers in Lee County
was held on Monday, April 3, 1837, "for three
supervisors, three commissioners of highways, three
assessors, one county treasurer, one coroner, one
collector, one register, one township clerk and
thirteen constables."
At the election William Skinner, William Anderson and
James D. Shaw were chosen supervisors; E. D. Ayres,
Samuel Hearn and Stephen Perkins, commissioners of
highways; Calvin J. Price, Stephen H. Graves and
William Newcomb, assessors; George W. Howe, treasurer;
Lewis Ritman, coroner; C. M. Jennings, collector; John
H. Lines, register and township clerk; Robert Harris,
John Barnett, W. N. Shaw, Franklin Kinneda (or
Kenneda), Joseph Mamson and C. M. Jennings,
constables. The call for the election specified
thirteen constables and the records do not show why
only six were elected.
The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held
on April 17, 1837, at the Madison House, the hotel
kept by Joseph S. Douglass in the Town of Fort
Madison. Mr. Douglass seems to have had "a pull" with
the board, as he was granted a license to keep a
public house and sell liquors by small measure "for a
period of one year," upon payment of $5, and
immediately afterward the board voted to fix the
license fee for public houses at $25 per year. This
was the only business transacted at the session, the
report of the assessors not being ready for the action
of the board.
At the second session, which was held on the first
Monday in May, 1837, three public houses, or
"groceries," were licensed in the Town of Fort
Madison. The first license was granted to Samuel B.
and William H. H. Kyle; the second to John S. Neely
and Jesse Dickey, and the third to Lorenzo Bullard and
Robert F. Harris. Each paid $25 for the privilege of
selling by retail "spirituous liquors and wines for a
period of one year." Calvin J. Price and James D. Shaw
were each granted license "to keep store and retail
goods, wares and merchandise in the Town of West Point
for one year from the 1st day of May, 1837," and each
paid into the public treasury of the county the sum of
$8 as license fees.
A special meeting of the board was held at the house
of C. L. Cope in the Town of Fort Madison on July 10,
1837, to consider the report of the assessors. It was
ordered : "That notices be set up in different places,
as the law directs, that if any person or persons
shall be aggrieved by the incorrectness of their list
of taxes, they shall be given an opportunity of
correcting the same."
William Newcomb was allowed $2° anc * Stephen H.
Graves $20 for their services as assessors for the
year 1837. The minutes of the session also contain the
following entry: "It appearing to this board of
supervisors that the assessment list as returned to
this board is not fit for the collector to use in
collecting the taxes, it is hereby ordered: That the
township clerk make out a fair copy, in alphabetical
order, of all persons in the original list, with the
amount of property opposite their names respectively,
who are assessed and liable to pay a tax, and the same
to be handed over to the assessor."
At the special session Hawkins Taylor and John L.
Cotton each received license to "keep store at West
Point for one year from the fourth of July, 1837," an
d L. G. Bell was granted a license to keep a store in
the Town of Salem, the license fee in each case being
$8.
On December 20, 1837, the governor of Wisconsin
Territory approved an act doing away with the board of
supervisors and establishing in its place a board of
county commissioners "in each county in the
territory." In the election of these commissioners,
the one receiving the highest number of votes was to
serve for three years; the next highest for two years,
and the next one year, and each commissioner was to
receive $3 per day for each day actually employed in
the transaction of county business. Under the
provisions of this act an election was held in Lee
County on Monday, March 5, 1838, when William
Anderson, Stephen H. Graves and S. H. Burtis were
elected commissioners; Peter Miller, treasurer; Henry
D. Davis, coroner; Joshua Owen, assessor; Joseph
Morrison, John P. Barnett, A. C. Brown, C. M.
Jennings, Samuel Burtis, L. B. Parker, William Pints,
M. C. Marfin, Thomas Small, P. N. Miller, Abraham
Hinkle, H. E. Vrooman and John Patterson, constables.
The first meeting of the new board of county
commissioners was held in Fort Madison, beginning on
Monday, March 26, 1838. John H. Lines was appointed
clerk of the board and was given an appro- priation of
$35.12^ for the purchase of the necessary blank books
for keeping the records. Peter Miller filed his bond
of $3,000 as county treasurer, with Isaac Johnson and
L. B. Parker as his sureties, which was accepted by
the board.
At this term the county was divided into six election
precincts and judges appointed in each to serve at all
general elections. The voting places and judges in the
six precincts were as follows: No. 1, Samuel Hearn's
house; Samuel Hearn, John Billips and Johnson Meek,
judges. No. 2, in the Town of Keokuk; John Gaines,
Valencourt Vanosdol and John Wright, judges. No. 3, at
Montrose, house of William Haines; T. H. Gregg, Robert
Roberts and William Coleman, judges. No. 4, residence
of C. L. Cope, Fort Madison; John A. Drake, William
Wilson and Isaac Johnson, judges. No. 5, Wil- liam
Patterson's house, West Point; Calvin J. Price,
Horatio McCardell and William Patterson, judges. No.
6, Joseph Howard's house, in the Howard Settlement;
William Howard, Joseph Howard and Harrison Foster,
judges. On July 5, 1838, a license was granted by the
board of commissioners to Joshua Owen to operate a
ferry across the Mississippi River at Fort Madison,
and fixed the following rates: "Each footman, \2 l / 2
cents; man and horse, 37^ cents; wagon and two horses,
$1.00; each additional horse, 25 cents; loose cattle,
12^2 cents each; hogs and sheep, 6j4 cents each; wagon
and one yoke of oxen, $1.00; each additional yoke, 25
cents."
The Territory of Iowa was created by act of Congress,
approved by President Van Buren on June 12, 1838, to
take effect on July 3, 1838, and the session at which
Owen's ferry license was granted was the first under
the new regime. At the same term the following venire
was ordered, from which a grand jury was to be
selected: A.rthur Johnson, Jairus Fordyce, Jason
Wilson, James Elwell, Isaac Briggs, Calvin Newton,
William Patterson, Isaac Beeler, James McMurray,
Harrison Foster, Mathew Kilgore, William Howard,
William Holmes, Michael H. Walker, Solomon Fein, Hugh
With- rough, Robert Roberts, Thomas W. Taylor, Thomas
J. McGuire, Pleasant M. Armstrong, Joseph Webster,
Nathan Smith and Isaac Vandyke.
The grand jurors to be selected from the above list
were for the August term of the District Court, and
the following were designated as petit jurors for the
same term of court: John Bonebright, Jeremiah Brown,
Archibald Gilliland, William Allen, Valencourt Van-
osdol, James Wright, Patrick Brien, Stewart M.
Coleman, Johnson Chapman, Joshua Wright, George W.
Claypole, Thomas Fitzpat- rick, Edward Kilbourne,
David W. Kilbourne, Forest W. Herd, George W. Perkins,
James Fyke, Eli Millard, E. D. Ayers, William G.
Haywood, William D. Knapp, William Saucer, Thomas J.
Ful- ton and John G. Toncray.
Pursuant to the act of Congress establishing the
Territory of Iowa, the first election for members of
the Territorial Legislature and county officers was to
be held on such a day as the governor of the territory
might designate. Governor Lucas accordingly ordered an
election for Monday, September 10, 1838, when Jesse B.
Brown was elected councilman; William Patterson,
Calvin J. Price, James Brierly and Hawkins Taylor,
representatives; William Pitman, John Gaines and Peter
Miller, commissioners; James C. Parrott, treasurer;
John H. Lines, register of deeds; John P. Barnett. as-
sessor; Robert Stephenson, coroner; John G. Kennedy,
Preston N. Miller, William Pints, Samuel W. Weaver,
John Patterson, Henry E. Vrooman, Willis C. Stone,
Charles Kellogg, William Burton, Thomas Small, Ransom
B. Scott, Leonard B. Parker and Franklin Kenneda,
constables.
With the election of these officials and their
induction into office, the county machinery of Lee
County was permanently established. Since then the
progress of the county has been steadily onward and
upward, and as the routine business transacted by the
county com- missioners has always been of much the
same character, it is considered unnecessary to go
into further details, or to make additional quotations
from the early records.
Locating the County
Seat
On January 18, 1838, the governor of Wisconsin
Territory approved an act providing that "the seat of
justice of Lee County be, and the same is hereby,
established at the Town of Fort Madison." Here the
early sessions of the courts were held and the
principal business of the county was transacted. But
it was not long until the settlements farther back
from the Mississippi River began to com- plain that
the county seat, as thus established, was too far from
the center of the county. Influence was brought to
bear upon the session of the Legislature which met
late in the year 1839, an d on January 14, 1840, the
governor approved an act appointing Samuel C. Reed, of
Van Buren County; James L. Scott, of Jefferson County,
and another commissioner whose name has been lost, to
visit Lee County, investigate the conditions there,
and recommend a location for a permanent seat of
justice.
Messrs. Reed and Scott met at Fort Madison on the
first Monday in March, 1840, the date designated in
the act, and, after examining several proposed sites,
recommended the "south half of the south- east quarter
of section 23, and the north half of the northeast
quarter of section 26, in township 68 north, range 6
west."
As the locating commissioners were operating under a
law of the Territorial Legislature, the county
authorities had no recourse but to accept their
decision. The location was therefore accepted by the
board of county commissioners, and the name of
"Franklin" was selected for the new seat of justice.
John Brown, John C. Chapman and Thomas Douglass, the
owners of the land, agreed to donate the site to the
county, with the understanding that, when the town was
laid off, the board of commissioners should make the
first choice of a lot, the owners of the land to have
second choice, and so on until the lots were equally
divided between the original owners and the county.
This proposition was accepted by the board and the
county surveyor was instructed to survey and make a
plat of the town. Mathew Kilgore and Samuel Brierly,
two of the commissioners, were appointed to make the
division of lots with the donors of the site.
On May 19, 1840, the board held a special meeting and
ordered that a sale of lots in Franklin be advertised
for three successive weeks in the Iowa Territorial
Gazette, published at Burlington, the sale to take
place on Monday, July 13, 1840. No record of that sale
has been found and it is not certain that any lots
were sold on that date, as the dissatisfaction over
the location was so great that buyers were not
encouraged to invest their money under the existing
conditions. This dissatisfaction increased as time
went on, and at the next session of the Legislature
the question was again brought up, with the result
that an act was passed on January 15, 1841, submitting
the whole matter to a vote of the people of Lee County
at an election to be held on the second Monday in
March, 1841.
The act also provided that if no location received a
majority of all the votes cast, the two receiving the
highest number should be voted for at a second special
election, to be held on the third Monday in
April.
Immediately after the passage of the act, the people
of Fort Madison became active in their efforts to
secure the seat of justice. The town authorities, on
February 23, 1841, passed the following ordi- nance:
"Be it ordained by the president and trustees of the
Town of Fort Madison, that the sum of $8,000 be
appropriated out of the funds of the corporation for
the purpose of erecting a courthouse in the Town of
Fort Madison provided that the county seat of Lee
County be located in said town."
John G. Toncray, then county treasurer, certified to
the Legislature that the $8,000 thus pledged by the
town authorities had been paid into the county
treasury, and as a further guaranty that the town
would carry out its agreement, Hawkins Taylor, Jacob
Cutler, Joel C. Walker, John A. Drake, William Wilson,
Henry Eno, George Bell, Stewart Brown, Thomas
Hardesty, Jacob Huner, Alfred Rich, Edward Johnstone,
Adam B. Sims, Henry E. Vrooman, James Hardin, William
D. Knapp, S. A. Walker, Richard Pritchett, Thomas
Fitzpatrick, E. A. Dickey, William Leslie, John G.
Toncray,
Samuel B. Ayres, E. D. Ayres, Hugh T. Reid, John G.
Walker, Amos Ladd, Peter Miller and the firm of James
Wilson & Company executed and filed a bond for
$16,000, twice the amount of the pro- posed donation,
that the Town of Fort Madison would carry out its part
of the agreement.
In addition to this, Daniel McConn, an ex-treasurer of
Fort Madison, certified that $5,000 was received from
the sale of town lots belonging to the Government for
the use of the town, which sum it was proposed to add
to the public building fund. Hawkins Taylor, Amos Ladd
and a few other public spirited citizens purchased the
lots upon which the courthouse was erected for $560
and converted them to the county for a consideration
of one dollar, bringing the total of the public
building fund up to $13,559 before the election was
held. This "pernicious activity," as some of the
opponents of Fort Madison expressed it, had its effect
on election day, Fort Madison receiving 465 votes;
Franklin, 435, and West Point, 320. Although Fort
Madison failed to receive a majority of the votes, it
was in the lead and at the second election, held on
April 19, 1841, according to the terms of the act, the
vote stood 730 for Fort Madison and 477 for
Franklin.
Many people now thought the question was settled, but
not so. While the Town of Fort Madison was carrying
out its contract to erect a courthouse, the advocates
of Franklin and West Point got together and presented
a petition to the next Legislature to reopen the whole
subject by again presenting the question to the
people. A remonstrance was presented on behalf of Fort
Madison, but it was ignored and on January 13, 1843,
the governor approved an act "to relocate the seat of
justice of Lee County." Thomas O. Wamsley, of Henry
County; I. N. Selby, of Van Buren, and Stephen
Gearhart, of Des Moines County, were named in the act
as commissioners "to visit Lee County, make an
examination of the situation and surroundings, and
locate the county seat at such place as to them may
seem best, taking into consideration the future as
well as the present population."
The commissioners met at the Town of Franklin on March
20, 1843, after having made their investigations, and
submitted the following report:
"The undersigned commissioners, appointed by an act of
the Legislative Assembly of Iowa Territory, entitled
'An act to relocate the county seat of Lee County,'
approved 13th January, A. D. 1843, make the following
report: We met, as directed in said act, at the Town
of Franklin on the second Monday of March, instant,
and, after having been sworn, as provided for in said
act, by John Brown, Esq., a notary public in and for
said county, we proceeded to examine the several
points in said county proposed as eligible sites for
the county seat of said county, and also to examine
the face of the country generally, as to its
population and the capability of the several portions
of the county to sustain a dense population, etc., and
we have concluded to and do hereby select the east
half of the southeast quarter of section 5, town 68
north, of range 5 west, being the tract on which West
Point is located, as the county seat of said county;
and we further place in the office of the clerk of the
board of commissioners of said county the annexed
papers, marked 'A,' as a writing executed by the
obligors therein named for the use of the county seat
at the said point above named.
"Witness our hands and seals this 20th day of March,
A. D. 1843.
"Thomas O. Walmsley. [Seal.]
"I. N. Selby. [Seal.]
"Stephen Gearhart. [Seal.]"
The "Exhibit A" referred to by the commissioners was a
document signed by A. H. Walker, William Steele,
Freeman Knowles, Calvin J. Price, Aaron Conkey, P. H.
Babcock, R. P. Creel, John M. Fulton, William Stotts,
William Patterson and some others, in which they
agreed to build at West Point a courthouse forty-five
by fifty feet, with stone foundation and brick
superstructure two stories high, and to have the same
completed by September 1, 1844, "in consideration of
the commissioners locating the county seat of Lee at
West Point."
On March 28, 1843, the report of the locating
commissioners and its accompanying papers were filed
with the board of county commissioners, who issued an
order on the same day "that the district courts for
Lee County, from and after the first day of April next
shall be held at the Town of West Point." It was
mutually agreed by the people of West Point and the
people of Fort Madison that the county seat should
remain at the latter place for one year after a
location should be selected by the commissioner
appointed by the Legislature, and that the courthouse
erected by the people of Fort Madison or who had
borne at least two-thirds the cost of its erection
should be sold at public auction and two-thirds of the
proceeds refunded to the town. John A. Drake was
appointed to take care of the building until the
auction sale, which never "happened."
The people of West Point carried out their agreement
to build a courthouse, though in after years some of
the donors to the undertaking probably regretted that
they permitted their enthusiasm to get the better of
their judgment, for West Point's honors as a county
seat soon faded and the men who built the courthouse
were the financial losers.
In the summer of 1843 a movement was started to have
the county divided. A petition was presented to the
next session of the Legislature and on February 15,
1844, the governor approved "An act for the formation
of the County of Madison." By the provisions of the
act, the question was to be submitted to the voters of
Lee County at the April election in 1844, when those
in favor of the new county should write upon their
ballots "For Division," and those opposed, "No
Division." The proposition was defeated by a vote of
952 to 713 and the county seat fight was
renewed.
Those who favored Fort Madison as a seat of justice
started the circulation of a petition to the
Legislature, asking that body to submit the question
once more to the voters of the county. In response to
this petition "An act to relocate the seat of justice
of Lee County" was approved on June 10, 1845, by which
the question was to be voted on at a special election,
to be held for that purpose, on the first Mon- day in
August. It was further provided by the act that if no
point received a majority of all the votes cast at
that election, the three places that received the
highest number of votes should be voted for at another
election on the first Monday in September. Six places
entered the lists at the August election and the
result was as follows: Fort Madison, 664 votes; West
Point, 308; Franklin, 326; Keokuk, 208; Montrose, 287;
Charleston, 41.
As no place received a majority, and Fort Madison,
Franklin and West Point were the three that received
the greatest number of votes, the second election was
ordered for the first Monday in September. For one
month Lee County was the center of great political
activity. When two neighbors met, the county seat
question was the topic of discussion. Many bitter
arguments and a "few fist fights" occurred during the
short but all-absorbing campaign. At the election in
September the vote was 969 for Fort Madison, 535 for
West Point, and 378 for Franklin. Fort Madison having
received a majority of 56, out of a total vote of
1,882, was declared the county seat, and in October
the county officers were all back in their old
quarters in the courthouse in Fort Madison.
By this time the people were generally ready to
acquiesce in the decision of the election, though a
few still insisted that the seat of justice should be
located nearer to the geographical center of the
county. On March 3, 1856, a petition signed by 2,238
qualified voters of Lee County was presented to Judge
Samuel Boyles, of the county court, asking for an
election to vote upon the question of removing the
county seat from Fort Madison to Charleston. Judge
Boyles granted the petition and ordered an election
for the first Thursday in April, 1856. No returns of
that election can be found in the records, but it is
known that Fort Madison was victorious and the county
seat was not removed.
The growth of Keokuk and the increase in the
population of the southern part of the county, led to
the passage of a special act by the Legislature of
1847 establishing a court of concurrent jurisdiction
at Keokuk. All the lands in the old half-breed tract,
except that portion in Madison and the eastern half of
Jefferson Township, are recorded at Keokuk, and
branches of all the county offices are main- tained in
that city. The old medical college building was bought
by the county for a courthouse at Keokuk, so that the
city is to all intents and purposes a seat of
justice.
Public Buildings
The first courthouse at Fort Madison the one erected
by the town to secure the county seat was begun in
1841 and completed in the summer of 1842. The original
intention and first order of the board of county
commissioners was to locate the building in the "upper
public square, 1 ' now known as Old Settlers' Park,
but the two lots on the northwest corner of Third and
Pine streets, having been bought by some of the
citizens and donated for a site, the commissioners in
July, 1 84 1 , issued the following order:
"That the courthouse and jail for Lee County, commonly
called public which are now to be erected by Thomas
Morrison and Isaac R. Atlee, undertakers or
contractors, shall be erected on Lots No. 534 and 535,
situated in the Town of Fort Madison, as will appear
by reference to the plat of said town; and it is
further ordered by the board that the order made by
this board at their special session on the first day
of June last past, selecting the upper public square
for the location of the courthouse and jail be, and
the same is hereby, rescinded."
The first building was 50 by 48 feet, two stories
high, with a basement which was used for a jail. The
foundation is of stone and the walls of the first and
second stories of brick, and the cost of the original
courthouse was about twelve thousand dollars. In 1876
it was thoroughly overhauled and an addition 24 by 50
feet was made to the north end. A new jail having been
built, the basement was converted into a place for
storing old records, etc. Although not as imposing in
appearance as some courthouses, the building is still
in service. It is the oldest courthouse in the state,
in point of continuous use as such, and when the
interior of the building was destroyed by fire on
March 29, 191 1, the sentiment of the older residents
of Fort Madison was in favor of repairing the old
house instead of building a new one, as some of the
younger generation advocated. The old settlers won and
the structure was repaired, the money received from
insurance companies covering practically the entire
cost of rebuilding, so that Lee County can still boast
of having the oldest courthouse in Iowa.
The first mention of a jail in the county records was
on October 3, 1837, when the board of supervisors
ordered that "H. D. Davis be allowed $4.00 per month
for a certain house used as a county jaii, until the
first day of April, 1838." The "certain house"
referred to in the order was a small log building on
Elm Street, not far from the upper square. It was used
by Davis as a shoe shop while at the same time he
rented it to the county for a prison.
At the March term of the county commissioners in 1838
it was ordered: "That there shall be built in the Town
of Fort Madison, on the north side of the upper public
square, a county jail of the follow- ing dimensions,
to wit: Twenty feet square, with a double wall of hewn
oak timber one foot square, sound and clear of rot or
decay; fifteen feet high and two stories in height,
the lower story to be built with a double wall, seven
feet between the upper and lower floors, which are to
be laid of hewed oak timber, one foot thick, with
square joints. To be let out on the third day of the
next term to the lowest bidder, etc."
No further mention of the jail can be found in the
records until October 13, 1838, when it was ordered :
"That the jail be received of the undertaker, or
contractor, Isaac Miller, and that the clerk grant him
an order on the treasurer for $486.58, in full for the
same."
This jail was destroyed by fire about eighteen months
after it was completed and the county was without a
prison until the cells in the courthouse basement were
completed. In 1865 the commissioners made an
appropriation of $2,000 for the erection of a new
jail, immediately west of the courthouse. The stone
walls were erected, when it was found that to complete
the jail according to the original design would
require considerably more money than the' board had
anticipated. At the October election in 1866 the
question of appropriating $7,000 for the completion of
the jail was submitted to the people and was carried
by a vote of 3,555 to 941. The jail was then finished
and with some slight alterations and improvements
still forms the bastile of Lee County.
A history of the county asylum, or home for the poor,
as well as more detailed accounts of the early
settlements, will be found in other chapters of this
work.
Source: History
of
Lee County, Iowa, by Dr. S. W. Moorhead and
Nelson C. Roberts, 1914
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