Notes and Incidents
by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Jones.
In 1844 there lived in the town of
Aurora, New York, a young lady, who had just finished her education.
Her name was Elizabeth H. Shearer. She was a half sister of John L.
Shearer, Esq., who then lived in the little hamlet called Cedar
Rapids, in Iowa Territory. Being well qualified to teach, and being
possessed of a good deal of youthful enthusiasm, she conceived the
idea of going west where she could support herself and carve out her
own fortune. During that summer the long absent brother and son made a
visit to his parents, and while he was there the decision was made
that Miss Shearer should accompany her brother to his western home.
She afterwards became the wife of Rev. Williston Jones who came to
Cedar Rapids in the spring of 1848 to take charge of the First
Presbyterian church. It was during this residence of eight years as
the pastor's wife that Mrs. Jones became so well and favorably known
all over this region of country.
At the green old age of seventy two years she is still living in
comparative health at Wellsley, Massachusetts, where her daughter
holds the honorable position of physician and professor in the
celebrated female college, located at that place.
Some months ago her niece and namesake, Miss Elizabeth J. Shearer,
wrote to her aunt requesting her to write out an account of her first
visit to Cedar Rapids, giving a description of such incidents and
experiences as she could call to mind. Mrs. Jones readily complied
with the request, with the expectation that her reminiscences should
be for the benefit of her immediate relatives and friends who reside
here. Having been permitted to hear that paper read it seemed to me
eminently proper and desirable that it should be given to the public.
The descriptions given are so graphic and so true in detail, as
several living witnesses can testify, that I am sure that it will find
many deeply interested readers.
Having obtained permission from the owner of this document, as well as
from the author herself, to make such use of it in these reminiscences
as I deemed best, I give that portion of it which relates to Iowa.
After a long and tedious journey from Aurora to Buffalo, Detroit,
Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, Alegan, St. Joseph, Chicago and Galena, in which
several different modes of travel had been employed, we at last find
our weary travelers at a private boarding house in Dubuque, where
Judge Greene and family were then boarding. At this point Mrs. Jones
shall take the pen and describe the rest of her journey, and her
adventures for the following eight months after she reached her
destination.
She is speaking to her niece, but as we are invited guests, it will be
considered no breach of etiquette if we listen to all that is said.
Private Boarding House, Dubuque, Iowa.
"Here we came to a full pause, and had to remain four days when so
near the end of our journey, waiting for Judge Greene's horse and
buggy which had gone up into Wisconsin to take his law partner to try
a lawsuit. There was then in Dubuque no livery stable, no reputable
hotel and no stage route west, the mails were taken once a week on
horseback into the interior of Wisconsin and Iowa, and letters were
eighteen cents postage without envelopes, so you can easily imagine
that there were fewer letters written and the mails much lighter than
at the present day. I give the incidents of this journey in detail
that you may see how very different are the modes of living and
locomotion at the present day from what they were just fifty years
ago. Nowhere now, in the far extended and broad west, is such tardy
traveling a necessity, nor would it be endured by the rushing
multitudes, who would almost build and equip a railroad in the time
that journey was accomplished.
"Now, over these same broad highly cultivated acres, then a vast
uninhabited wilderness, in palace cars with multiplied modern
improvements the people rush on, impatient at the slightest delay,
when not many more hours are consumed than it took days then to
perform that journey: now passing through many flourishing towns and
cities and stopping when necessary at palatial hotels. What a contrast
in our country between now and fifty years ago!
"You can easily imagine how restless and impatient your father must
have been after so long an absence from his little family from whom he
had not heard during that long weary journey, to be detained so long
when so near the end; if he had not had a young lady to tow along, he
would have not taken trotter's express and soon been at home; as it
was, there was no alternative but to wait the moving of the feeble
trotting horse which came in late at night tired from the Wisconsin
lawsuit, the result of which, a pale, intellectual student-like
looking lawyer, Mr. Merritt, (Mrs. Greene's brother), brought to the
senior partner.
"The next morning, without waiting for the horse to rest, we started
bright and early for Cedar Rapids, there being only two houses then
where travelers were entertained on the way between Dubuque and
Marion, the first only thirteen miles from Dubuque, the other
somewhere far beyond half of the distance between the two places,
which must be made before we slept.
"We traveled on with our tired steed till midday, when we stopped by
the way on the treeless prairie to eat the lunch with which we had
been provided, and to let the horse refresh himself on the prairie
grass.
"We both grew very weary through the long afternoon, but our courage
revived as we neared the "Traveler's Inn" about nine or ten o-clock;
but alas! It sunk again when, in crossing a creek three-quarters of a
mile from the house, the buggy which had seemed rather insecure, broke
down in the midst of the stream. I cannot remember now how I was
extricated from the broken vehicle, (but I think by walking on one of
the thills), or how the buggy was gotten on to dry land, but I know
both of us walked the rest of the way and that the Inn was full when
we got there, and that the salt pork and Indian bread tasted good.
"The houses on the prairies in those days were like the omnibuses and
street cars of the present time, there was always room for one more or
rather all who came, so of course we were taken in, and I slept
profoundly in the same room with thirteen men, one of them being your
father.
"The sleeping arrangements in the houses of those early times were
often most amusing, but the genuine hospitality of those early
settlers was equal to any extension of bedding and the sharing of all
the larder contained.
"The sweet simplicity and rare open-heartedness, one of the charms of
those early times of plain living, have greatly deteriorated in the
introduction of more stately and luxurious styles. You could see them
gradually die out in the glare of greater pomp and glitter.
"The next morning the buggy was ingeniously repaired with ropes and we
journeyed on to Marion where we stopped and took dinner with Mrs.
Earl, having some messages and packages for her, from her sister Mrs.
Greene. Mrs. Earl gave us a warm welcome, and the cheering news that
all was well at Cedar Rapids, we hastened on with light hearts. Marion
had then a small cluster of comfortable looking houses and a small
court house, being then as now the shire town of the county, and was a
place of several hundred inhabitants, but Cedar Rapids lay almost
unbroken plain upon the river bank, dotted with four or five log
cabins and two partially framed buildings, one a small, very
odd-looking dwelling house, the other designed for a store in the near
future. A grove on two sides completed the real view of this famed
city, like many another well developed on paper. In the distance on
the opposite side of the river could be seen two or three other log
cabins.
"Home at Last."
"As we neared the log house nearest
the river, the family were on the lookout and met us with tearful
smiles, and a warm welcome. Your mother was most grateful for the safe
return of your father and greeted me as a sister to be loved. Cynthia,
the first-born, who adored her father, was so overjoyed, she could not
keep back the tears from her large, blue eyes; winsome Mary's face was
wreathed in smiles and her little eyes were radiant with delight, and
Henry, the little, toddling boy, his father's man, had not forgotten
his right-of-way to his papa's knee.
"It was a glad household that beautiful afternoon, all were so happy
to have father home again, and they had many things to tell of the
happenings during his absence; each had her little stock of news to
deliver. They had all been well, and had gotten on nicely which was
indeed cause for gratitude and rejoicing.
"Our trunks came a week later by the slow but safe conveyance of an
ox-team, and the horse and buggy were sent back a few days after our
arrival by a man who wished to go to Dubuque on business.
"I was soon settled and made to feel perfectly at home in this family
of which you wish me to write, and of which you and John had not then
become visible members. Your mother had not been alone with her little
ones in your father's absence, for her brother, Henry Weare and Joseph
Greene, were members of the family as boarders.
"Your Uncle Henry was a very reserved, tacturn young man, seldom
joining in conversation at the table or on other occasions, quite
unlike any of your other uncles on the Weare side; he always seemed
lost in thought and pre-occupied, and I never got acquainted with him.
But Joseph was loquacious to a remarkable degree, good natured and
kind-hearted, and would take kindly any amount of bantering. The two
young men were as unlike as could well be. Your mother and I were very
congenial and at once became fast friends, which friendship knew no
clouds, and continued unbroken as long as she lived. I had great
admiration of her ready resources and her ability to overcome
difficulties that seemed to me insurmountable; she had great fortitude
and immense endurance, and would rise above trials, reverses and
sorrows, that would have crushed a weaker character. She was a very
superior woman, and under all circumstances was a power for good and
her influence helpful. She 'looked well to the ways of her household'
and was a comforter of many, she was strong, noble, kind, and
generous, full of sympathy for all in trouble and in bearing their
burdens forgot her own.
"She was a motherly sister to me in my youthful inexperience, to whom
I could tell and confide everything. She was very entertaining, having
always a fund of anecdotes, adventures and solid sense from which to
discourse; so with Joseph to give variety, we always had a most
enjoyable social time with our frugal meals. Your father was more like
your Uncle Henry staid and quiet and his opinions had to be drawn out.
He was a man usually of few words, but with a mind of his own, which
he could express quite freely, and sharply when he thought
circumstances demanded outspoken language, but usually he was of 'a
meek and quiet spirit,' a friendly and kind neighbor, rejoicing in the
well-being of all about him, not envying the greater prosperity of
others or reflecting unkindly on any unjust treatment in business
affairs, but submitted patiently to the many trials and reverses of
his life, and though great success never seemed to crown his efforts,
he was through life that 'noblest work of God an honest man.'
"As there was no church near, your father and mother had established a
little Sabbath school, for the few children in the neighborhood, you
father acting as superintendent. The school was held in an unfinished
room in the one framed house (Mr. Vardy's). I joined as teacher,
having the largest girls, of which Cynthia was one. I enjoyed the
children, taught Cynthia and Mary, and together we roamed over the
prairies, the grove, and by the river, and occasionally visited the
neighbors. The fall was very pleasant and I did not feel the least
lonely or homesick.
"The Visit at the
Home of Mr. E. T. Lewis."
"Joseph (everybody then called him
Joe Greene) often talked of giving me a ride if he could only find a
suitable 'rig', which, after many ineffectual attempts, he finally
succeeded in doing, on the occasion of his having received an
invitation to take me about three miles to a Mr. Lewis' to eat
watermelons. So he started off in the morning to find a horse and
vehicle, intending to be back in time for dinner.
"Expecting we should start soon after dinner, I dressed before, and
your mother finally delayed the dinner awaiting Joseph's coming, but
Joseph did not put in an appearance, and so we ate our dinner and
waited on. Your mother who was as much interested in the expedition as
I, watched anxiously for his arrival, not wanting me to be
disappointed in my first chance to go visiting. So we continued to
watch and wait, until I became entirely discouraged and ready to give
it up as a lost opportunity, when an equipage ponderous, unique and
grotesque, came dashing up to the door, the driver quite lost to view
in the huge proportion of the vehicle, which looked as though it must
have come down from primeval times, a survival of the flood or a
remnant of the ark, and the animals attached to this prodigious wagon,
looked strange and ancient enough to have helped draw the ark on to
dry ground. Behold the steeds! One horse was of gigantic proportions,
and illy developed with some protuberances that reminded us of a
rhinoceros, the other was a small ill-fed pony.
"We were convulsed with laughter over this incongruous team and at
once gave them the names of Rhinoceros and Lilliputian.
"The harness beggars description, so heavy and wide that it covered
the pony as armor, although so loosely that it well-nigh fell off with
every movement. It fitted the large one better but only to add to the
grotesqueness of the mammoth animal.
"The problem now was, how to mount into this 'prairie schooner', (the
name I learned of this remarkable conveyance for prairie locomotion),
a modern gymnast with wings might have been equal to it, but I was
powerless for such a feat! But with the aid of a barrel, stools, etc.,
(there were no step ladders there in those days), Joseph and your
mother together pitched me in, and between three and four o'clock we
started, your mother cheering us on and watching us in great amusement
till out of sight.
"After riding about a mile, we stopped and took in two young men and
one young lady, (the Cooks and Carroll, your Aunt Kate, it seems to
me, went; the young men I know did) and then rode on, the horses
traveling better than might have been expected.
"We came in sight of the house of our destination and were expecting
to ride up with great éclat, when, coming to a slight elevation in the
road, the horses suddenly balked! Joseph whipped up and urged them
forward, but this only had the effect to enrage them and they began to
back and twist the 'schooner' till this young lady got thoroughly
frightened, fearing this immense structure might be overturned and she
buried beneath the ruins; so I insisted, woman fashion, in getting
out, much to the chagrin of Joseph. How the three young men got me
out, I cannot say, but I came out quicker than I went in. Then the
horses without further trouble went briskly up the little hill. As we
were so near I would not get in again, but walked on abreast the gay
equipage containing the three young men, and I think, the other young
lady.
"We were hospitably received, had plenty of melons, stayed to supper,
had a pleasant visit, and returned safely home by moonlight, without
any further adventure.
"On our way home Joseph told me the Herculean task he had to secure
this entertainment for me. He had spent all the day but the margin we
occupied on our ride and visit, in hunting up this unique
establishment, crossing the river and walking many miles to fit it up,
finding one horse in one place, the other miles away, and the
'schooner' miles in another direction, fitting up a harness for one of
the horses (the smaller I presume) and he must return at least some
part of this useful equipage before the next morning. Could anything
exceed such gallantry and heroic exertion? I ought to have been most
grateful and I trust I was kindly appreciative; at any rate if
furnished us no small amount of fun and a subject for racy
conservation, Joseph entering into it as heartily as the rest of us.
"The Empty Larder."
"In those days of 'plain living' and
'high thinking' undisturbed nature in its vastness giving a wide range
to thought, we used to have voracious appetites; provisions were
scarce and often obtained under great difficulties. At an earlier day
your father had been sixty miles to mill with oxen. At this time he
had to go still many miles, and owing to some disappointment in
procuring a team, the flour barrel or sack was empty (Cedar Rapids
flour mills were then a prospect of the future, only the site being
visible) and all the other provisions had dwindled down and
disappeared before our insatiable appetites; so that on one certain
day we had not only cleared the table but the entire contents of the
larder and remained afterwards at table a long time discoursing in
high spirits upon the novel situation, the feasibility of living
without food, wondering how it would seem to be fed by 'ravens' and
kindred events, illustrated with anecdotes of hair-breadth escapes
from starvation through miraculous interposition, etc.
"This was my first experience of ever being in a house where there was
literally nothing to eat; and though I made merry with the rest, my
heart began to sink within me as I thought of my ravenous appetite
depriving others, especially little children, of their necessary food.
"As I remember, your father had already started, or was about to
start, for fresh supplies of provisions, but when he would return was
uncertain.
"There were several young people at Marion who had heard through
Joseph and Mrs. Earl that there was a young lady 'from the East' at
Mr. Shearer's; so one day a young lawyer, Mr. Sanford, called,
ostensibly on some business with your father, but really deputed by
the others to find out whether the young lady from the East, was one
whose acquaintance it was worth while to make, and take into their
select coterie. The gentlemen, two of them, were from the far East and
the ladies from Ohio.
"It is supposed he reported favorably, for the next week, on this very
day when we had remained in such hilarity at the table, wondering if
any one should come upon the scene, what they would think we had for
dinner, and how we should feel when sent supperless to bed, a party of
six came suddenly upon us to make a call, and invite the young people
of the family to accompany them to the island down the river a little
ways, to hunt wild grapes, where there was said to be an abundance.
After a pleasant little call, we started off, your uncle Henry being
in quite an unusually genial mood, was the life of the company, and
Joseph was as obliging as ever.
"Your mother knew some of these young people, and had taken great
pleasure in introducing them to your uncle Henry and myself. They were
Mr. and Mrs. Downing, recently married; Misses Laura Cheedle and
Luxinna Hughes, (the Presbyterian minister's wife's sister), Mr.
Sanford, the aforesaid lawyer, and Addison Daniels, the only merchant
then in Marion and the only 'Daniels' then in all that region.
"We started from the house about half past two o-clock and were gone
less than three hours, and in the excitement of making new
acquaintances, and the fun and frolic of that woodland ramble; I quite
forgot the domestic dilemma and the food problem I had so recently
been pondering. Your mother had been left alone with the little
children to face the situation and to solve the problem as best she
could. When we returned from our wild grape quest, the Marion company
declined coming into the house, for having stayed longer than they
expected, must hurry home, (the road was longer then than now) but
your mother came out and insisted on their staying to tea. I thought
she was crazy and my heart began to sink within me. With not a morsel
in the house, wherewith was she to feed so many? Without much urging
the consented to stay. When we entered the house what a marvel met my
astonished eyes! Tea was on the table before the company could wash
their hands and make ready to sit down.
"In modern parlance 'covers' for nine and your mother waited upon us
all, most graciously, while all seeming to appreciate her hospitality,
partook with the rarest relish of the dainty but abundant meal. I was
lost in wonder and surprise; warm biscuit and butter, dried brief,
cake, custard, stewed dried currants and tea.
"I thought I had never tasted anything so delicious. How could
anything so unexpected have happened? It seemed literally the work of
fairies or rather a miracle than that of one poor, tired woman. I
could hardly wait for the company to leave, before I began to ask what
it meant. And I found this was the way it all came about.
"After we left for our ramble the first thing your mother did was to
set Cynthia to washing up the dishes while she washed out the best
tablecloth, having first made up the fire in the stove which had hone
out while we were talking at the table, mopped the floor, and then
canvassed the entire neighborhood for a 'loan exhibition' of such
articles as each house afforded, as everything for the evening meal
was borrowed to be returned anon, except the currants, which we had
dried at home for your father to bring with him for a little treat to
the family, there being no cultivated fruit then west of the
Mississippi.
"Your mother had been to every house, six in number, not being able to
obtain more than one article at any one place, then she returned, made
and baked her cake, stewed her currants, made custard, ironed her
tablecloth, set her table, made biscuit and tea, changed her dress and
was all ready to receive the company in that short space of time. Do
you wonder that I thought your mother a remarkable woman?
"Truly the day of miracles was not past in the year of our Lord 1844,
and from that day on so far as I know 'the barrel of meal and cruse of
oil' never gave out in that house again.
"This was a wonderful experience for me and my faith grew exceedingly.
"The Indian
Visitors."
"I had never seen any Indians save a
few of the civilized Senecas near Buffalo and I expressed so great a
desire to see some of the wild Indians of the West that your father
promised when some encamped near enough, he would take me to their
camp.
"In the late fall, one bright, beautiful morning, when I was just
getting up, your father called to me to hurry and come out doors for
he had something for me to see.
"I hurried on my dress and rushed out and saw a sight that delighted
me. Just below the house crossing the river, was a company of Indian
warriors on horses, dressed in full war-like costume, armed with
knives and tomahawks, which glittered in the morning sun's rays as did
bead wrought helmets and moccasins, while their stately and tall
plumes nodded gracefully in the breeze.
"It was a gay and striking cavalcade which came dashing past us as we
stood gazing, I in great wonder and interest.
"Your father who had formerly traded with some Indian tribes in
Michigan could make himself understood by them and courteously saluted
them as they passed, which salutation they gallantly returned,
pointing and telling I suppose where they were going, they pranced on,
I looking after them till they all disappeared in the forest beyond,
and wishing they would return so that I could see more of them.
"After nightfall, the same day, we were sitting in pleasant converse
before the large open fireplace, in which small logs were burning
briskly, sending forth a bright light, when suddenly the room filled
up with numbers of Indians, who stole in so noiselessly that we had
not the slightest sign of their approach till they were all about us,
shorn of all the gay trappings of the morning, their blankets, even,
ready to fall from their almost naked bodies. It seems that they had
been to receive their semi-annual annuities from government to whom
they had sold their 'hunting grounds' and, like many white men when
paid off, had been where they could buy 'fire water', and this was the
result.
"Perhaps they made us the evening call because your father had shown
himself so friendly, and we had all greeted them so heartily in the
morning. Once in the house with the warmth of the fire they grew
hilarious, then some quarrel began among themselves and they became
ill-natured and boisterous.
"I began to grow frightened and the moments grew long, and my alarm
increased as I saw your mother was looking anxious, too.
"Only one seemed composed and sober, and he, evidently seeing our
fears, lighted the 'pipe of peace,' smoked and handed it to your
father, who would not take it even when your mother urged him to do
so, but insisted on their leaving, which they did not seem inclined to
do.
"My fears grew apace as their noise increased. I made my way into the
darkness of the only room besides the one they occupied, imagining
ourselves all scalped, etc., with no possible help at hand, while all
through the din, I could hear your father's imperative tones bidding
them 'begone,' and your mother begging him to deal gently with them,
for fear of further hostilities, while alone in the dark, I prayed for
Divine protection for us all.
"Finally, the invaders left, and quiet was restored, but what I
suffered in that hour cannot be described, and that whole night, I
could not sleep, having the feeling that they would return and slay us
all and burn the house. My curiosity was fully satisfied, and I never
wanted to see any more wild Indians." |
