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PIONEER SETTLERS’ ASSOCIATION.
Notice having been previously given, a number of the old settlers of Louisa County met at the court-house in Wapello, on Tuesday, the 22d of February, 1859, for the purpose of forming an organization of the pioneers of the county. The meeting was called to order at about 10 o’clock A. M., and the object of the meeting stated. Jacob Mintun, Esq., was called to the chair, and John Hale appointed Secretary, when the register was made of the names of those present, with date of settlement here, age, etc. After the appointment of a committee, consisting of L. Robinson, George Key and Hon. J. L. Derbin, to report permanent officers, the meeting adjourned until 1 o’clock P.M., to partake of the dinner hospitably provided by the citizens of Wapello at their dwellings, for the “old settlers.” At 1 o’clock the meeting was again called to order, and before proceeding to business the Chairman was called upon for a few remarks, which were made in a happy style, the speaker detailing some interesting incidents connected with his personal history in the early days of our county, and giving a humorous description of some electioneering of that time, when, it seemed from his description, there were plenty of devoted men as willing to serve the “dear people” in an official way as at present. He also gave an interesting account of some of the hardships endured by some of the earliest pioneers.
The committee on permanent officers reported as follows: For President, Jacob Mintun, Esq.; Vice Presidents, Dr. J. B. Latta and Joel Bronson; Recording Secretary, A. D. Hurley; Corresponding Secretary, William L. Toole; Treasurer, James Brown; which report was adopted and the officers declared elected. The committee on arrangements had prepared to have an address delivered at the meeting. John Bird was called for and briefly addressed the meeting. He had never before been in a situation for which he felt himself more disqualified, than addressing with regard to the early settlement of this county those who had been here long before himself. Coming as he did at a later date than many others present, he had seen and felt but few of the privations which had fallen to the lot of those who came in advance of him, yet there were to him many recollections of pleasure connected with his early days in this vicinity. Many he saw around him who had responded to this call whose faces he had not seen for years, the bustle of improvement and filling up of the populations separating those who were once neighbors; but this meeting of old settlers had brought them together and they were here, and he found them the same as in other days; no, not the same. Many whom he first knew in all the strength of their manhood, were now blossoming for the grave. Time had wrought its changes upon them as well as upon the county, but he found the “old settlers’ . . .
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. . . heart was still there.” He spoke of the contrast between the day of his arrival here—when the prairies stretched out wide, wild and unimproved, when a few huts, little better than Indian wigwams, composed the town of Wapello—and the present, when, wherever the eye turns over our county, we behold the rich field of the farmer or the comfortable abodes of our people. C. M. McDaniel, being called upon, stated that he was one of the “old settlers,” having come to this place when there were only five or six families in the town; the Indians were still there, though preparing to leave.
He did not see, after all that was said of hardships, but that the “old settlers” got along as well as other people; it was true they fared roughly, but that was nothing, as they got used to it. Their dress, perhaps, was not of as fine material as some worn at this time, nor quite so fashionably cut, but it answered the intended purpose, and one did not dress much finer than another. The little privations endured brought them more closely together, good feeling prevailed, and there was none of that neighborhood backbiting, and little jealousies, which are so prevalent in more fashionable society. We had not at that time all the advantages of churches to be found in older communities, and a “preacher” was a rare thing to be seen, but when one did happen along, curiosity, if no better motive, would bring out the whole neighborhood to hear him.
In political matters in those days it was not of much importance what party a man belonged to, the question was not “to what party do you belong?” but “for what man do you vote?” Parties were known in the East, but here nothing was known of Whig, Democrat, Republican, Know-Knothing, or any other party name.
At the first election there were ten candidates for members of the Legislature, but not very heavy electioneering, for there were very few voters to electioneer.
In a short time the words Whig and Democrat began to be heard; the speaker stated that he himself was a Democrat, and of course when the party question was raised, was warmly interested for the success of his party and being elected Sheriff, which of course made him begin to feel his importance, began to think it would improve the looks of things to have some resident lawyers. Being in Burlington about this time, he met with two attorneys just arrived from the East, and seeking a location, both since well known to the people of this county—Judge Springer and E. H. Thomas. Judge Rorer told the speaker that he ought to try to induce them to come to Wapello, as the effect of getting two lawyers located here would be to increase the law business and so make the Sheriff’s office more profitable.
They were both induced to come, but being both Whigs he soon found what he might have expected as a natural consequence, that as soon as they were firmly located the county began to show strong signs of Whiggery. At first he could not imagine the reason, but it was so and continually getting worse.
In 1847 politics were high here as in other places, and Judge Rorer being in this place asked him (the speaker) what he thought was the prospect of the election in this county; the reply was, that it was rather mixed, that the Yankee lawyers were about to prove entirely too much for the Democratic opponent. “Oh,” said the Judge, “didn’t we play the d____l?” and added, nearly with tears in his eyes, “I’d not the least idea they were Whigs; can’t you get ahead of them some way?” He thought not, and so it has been; he has been to California since, and on his return found that though the Whigs were dead, the Republicans were opposing Democracy, and it was worse than ever.
The county seat of this county was originally located by the Legislature on a tract of land just south of the present town, where a town was laid off and a court-house built of cottonwood poles. The speaker, being Sheriff, an office which he considered of vast importance, and finding it a part of his official duty to take charge of the court-house, moved into one end of the building, and court was held in the other. The Judge’s stand was a pine dry-goods box, surmounted by a split-bottom chair. The Grand Jury used a cave in the river bank as jury room, and that used by the Petit Jury the most of the time was a movable calf pen. For Jury rooms he was allowed at the third term of court $30, and felt sorely aggrieved that he had lost $60 by neglecting to present his bill in time . . .
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. . . for the same item at the first two terms of court.
The speaker then detailed some of his adventures in the famous “Puke War” which was the first war he had ever been in, and having received the appointment of Quartermaster, gave him enlarged ideas of the importance of this call upon his patriotism; he bought some provisions, and when he saw the soldiers eat he had no doubt of their ability to fight, they used the knife so freely.
The speaker was listened to with a great deal of interest.
The second annual festival of the Pioneer Settlers’ Association of Louisa County, Iowa, was held at the court-house at Wapello Feb. 22, 1860. After a little preliminary business the following Constitution and By-law were adopted:
WHEREAS, It was our destiny to be pioneers in the settlement of this fair and fertile section of our State; and
WHEREAS, Our lives have been bounteously lengthened out through the honorable conflict of the past to enjoy the prosperity of the present; and
WHEREAS, The number of pioneers is rapidly decreasing, and must soon be removed by death from the scene of their struggles and triumphs, and
WHEREAS, We feel a just pride in gathering and preserving the memories of a settlement that has resulted in a growth and development so great; and feeling that the recollections of the past, the felicity of the present, and hopes of the future, link us together as a brotherhood, we do now ordain and establish this constitution.
Article 1. This association shall be called “The Pioneer Settlers’ Association of Louisa County.”
Article 2. The officers shall be a President, two Vice Presidents, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer.
Article 3. Section 1. The President shall preside at the meeting of the Association, preserve order therein, and in case of an equal division upon any question, give the casting vote.
He shall call special meetings of the Association when requested to do so by five members of the Association.
Section 2. In the absence of the President, or his inability to act, the senior Vice President shall perform his duties.
Section 3. The Recording Secretary of the Association shall keep a true record of all its proceedings, and shall keep a register called the Pioneer Register, and perform such other duties as may from time to time be assigned him.
Section 4. The Corresponding Secretary shall receive and read to the Association, and answer all communications addressed to it; and shall also perform such other duties as may from time to time be assigned him.
Section 5. The Treasurer shall have charge of the finances of the Association, and collect and disburse all moneys and render an account at the expiration of his term of office, and hand over all moneys, books and papers to his successor.
Section 6. The officers elected at this meeting shall hold their respective offices until the meeting next preceding the annual festival, which meeting shall be held each year on the first Monday in February. All officers shall be elected annually at that meeting by ballot, or in such other manner as the Association may direct.
Article 4. After each annual election the President shall appoint an executive committee of five members to provide for the annual festival, and take charge of and regulate all matters pertaining thereto; and one of three members to select a suitable person to deliver an address before the Association at such festival.
Article 5, Section 1. All male persons who are now residents of Louisa County, and were residents on or before the 31st day of December, A. D. 1844, or who married wives who were residents as above, and are of good moral character, are eligible to membership.
Section 2. Any person eligible to membership may become a member by requesting the Secretary to record his name as such.
Section 3. Every member shall annually pay to the Treasurer the sum of twenty-five cents, and such further assessments as may from time to time be imposed by the Association.
Section 4. Other persons, pioneer settlers in this or any other State, may be elected as honorary members by this Association.
Article 6. Any member may be expelled for such cause as two-thirds of the members present deem sufficient.
Article 7, Section 1. There shall be an annual meeting of this society held at Wapello on the 22d day of February of each year during the continuance of this society; should said day fall on Sunday, the festival shall be held on Saturday preceding , or Monday following, as the executive committee shall determine.
Section 2. There shall be an annual public address before the Association on the day of the festival, to be delivered by such person as is selected by the committee appointed for that purpose.
Article 8, Section 1. The Recording Secretary shall provide a book known as the Pioneer Register, in which shall be registered the name, age, place of birth, . . .
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. . . occupation, date of settlement here, and date and place of death, when such death shall occur; and he also shall register the same facts as far as may be in relation to such pioneer settlers as have deceased or become non-residents. The Recording Secretary shall ascertain from members the above facts as respects themselves at the time of their becoming members.
Section 2. This Constitution shall not be amended except by the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members present at the regular meeting of the Association.
Section 3. It shall be the duty of every member of this Association to furnish to the Recording Secretary within six months from the time of becoming a member, a brief memoir of his life, embracing date and place of birth, reasons for emigration, date of same, incidents of his personal experience, and other matters pertinent to the object of this Association; which memoir shall be preserved as the property of the Association.
BY-LAWS
Section 1. Ten members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
Section 2. At all regular meetings of the Association the order of business shall be as follows, viz:
1st. Reading minutes.
2d. Appointments by the President, and communication of committees.
3d. Reports of Committees.
4th. Unfinished business.
5th. Miscellaneous business.
6th. Adjournment.
Section 3. The President may name any member to perform his duties, who shall, pro tempore, be vested with all his powers.
Section 4. The President shall decide all questions or order, subject to appeal.
Section 5. No member shall speak more than twice on any one subject, nor more than ten minutes at one time, and any member wishing to speak shall address the Chair standing.
Section 6. No money shall be paid out by the Treasurer unless the voucher be approved by the President and attested by the Recording Secretary.
Section 7. These by-laws may be altered or rescinded at any regular meeting of the Association, by a majority of the votes present.
The committee on officers reported the following, who were elected as the officers of the Association for the ensuing year: President, Josiah Vertreese; Vice President, Joel Brunson; Recording Secretary; John Hale; Corresponding Secretary, D. A. Ross, Treasurer, Jacob Mintun.
John Bird delivered the annual address, which was listened to attentively. As the greater part of it is in substance given throughout this work, it is needless to give the address in this connection. At the close of the address the assemblage joined in the song of “Auld Lang Syne,” after which the following sentiments were read:
Washington—“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” The pioneer settlers will yield to none in veneration of his name.
The Pioneer Dead—“May their names be remembered, their faults forgotten, and their virtues imitated by their survivors and descendants.”
This sentiment was responded to by Rev. O. H. Miller, who remarked that it was well in the midst of festivity to sometimes pause and give a thought to the dead. It was a happy thought that this sentiment should be among the first offered on this occasion, thus testifying that foremost in our thoughts were the departed pioneers of our country. Our pioneer fathers, where are they? They have finished their work, they have endured their toils, and suffered their privations, and now they have found their rest on the sunset side of the Father of Waters. Those who have gone before us were men of stout nerves and unflinching hearts, who could dare danger, who felt no fear, and who were able to endure trials and privations without a murmur. They have left us a beautiful heritage, a land, not of sterile mountain peaks, but of plain and river, and rich in its fruitful abundance. Shall their names ever be forgotten? Never! but they shall ever be remembered with feelings of gratitude as those who have opened to us the possession of this goodly land, who have sown that we may reap, and toiled that we might enjoy the benefit of their labor. They were human, and as such were liable to error; in this manner alone we acknowledge their faults; their particular faults, if any, are already forgotten, and may they still be buried in oblivion.
The Veteran Pioneers of our County—“Like the last lingering glory of departing day, they cast a halo of beauty over the beloved county of their adoption, then sink to rest on its bosom, and while a few remain with us as living monuments of days of privation and toil, may their lives and ennobling virtues ever stimulate their descendants to deeds of greatness, and may this glorious heritage . . .
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. . . be transmitted as pure and unsullied as we received it from them.”
In response to which Jacob Mintun stated that he felt truly grateful for the festivity of this day, the scene being in strong contrast to some through which he and others present had passed; although he had expected to see many of his old friends and co-pioneers on this occasion, he was agreeably surprised by the sight of many unexpected faces. On looking around him he saw faces familiar twenty years ago, but unseen for years; the faces of friends whom he gladly recognized as such, the faces of those with whom he had passed through the incidents and trials of pioneer life, with a feeling of naught but friendship. He again concluded by thanking the Association for the honor conferred on him in assigning him the position of the first president officer of the Association.
Our State—“Westward the Star of Empire takes its way.’ Planted in the junction of two inland seas, placed conspicuously in the highway of trade, our soil, our valuable mineral productions, and last, but not least, our educational and religious institutions unrivalled. May not the Star of Empire make a worse selection than to stop with us?”
Response by Dr. H. T. Cleaver. The response of the sentiment just offered might cover the whole history of the State, from the first settlement to the present day. The star that presided over the destinies of the nations of the earth, conferring power and greatness, having heretofore taken a westward course, is now invited to take up its permanent abode with us. And what are the inducements we offer? The allusion to the inland seas is, I presume, to the Father of Waters on the right, and the Big Muddy on the left. In addition to this we find our State penetrated by the Des Moines, and 450 miles of railroad crossing these great arteries of commerce at right angles, giving an important and commanding position in relation to the trade of the continent. We have, undoubtedly, on the prairies of our state as good soil as is to be found in the world, as capable of rewarding the labors of the farmer by good crops. We don’t here, like the inhabitants of some localities farther east, as for instance, the place of nativity of our presiding officer, have to sharpen the noses of our sheep to enable them to get at the tufts of grass that grow between the rocks. Why, in the summer, when our young natives are allowed to run out-doors, it would be no hard thing to get soil enough from the face of one of them to make a quarter-section of such land as that.
See also the mineral wealth of the State, the lead mines of the North pouring forth their wealth, although not yet half developed; the coal fields of Central Iowa with their vast stores of fuel in reserve for our future manufactories. The extensive deposits of carbonate of lime, a valuable auxiliary to our soil whenever it shows signs of being exhausted, with other mineral wealth of which, as yet, we can have but a faint idea until our resources of this nature have been more fully explored. The educational fund of our State is ample, and to it we may look for the means of educating our children, and giving them true ideas of liberty and usefulness. Already at every cross-road we see the school-house, and in every neighborhood its influences. If our religious institutions are developed in future in proportion to the past, we need feel no apprehension as to the future moral and religious state of society among us.
Twenty-five years ago the first white man dared to put foot in this portion of the State. In 1838 the census was 22,000, now it is 642,000, and the present valuation of property in this State is about $200,000,000. If we have so increased in wealth and population during the last quarter of a century, what may we not look for in fifty years more? Where, then, a more fitting resting-place for the Star of Empire than the State of Iowa?
The orator of the day alluded to the first Grand Jury ever empanelled in this county, and has partly described their chamber—to that subject he has hardly done justice; one important omission should be supplied: It is stated on undeniable authority that the Grand Jury on that occasion formed a “circle” on the green sward, with the central attraction of a brown jug, and that one member of the jury, who is now present, was so completely spiritualized that he is somewhat under the “influence” to this day, which is manifested by a peculiar wabble in his walk.
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The Pioneer women of Louisa County—The joy and sunshine of our pioneer life.”
“The waste was sad, the county was a wild,
And man the hermit sighed, till women smiled.”
Dr. John Bell, responding, said he would that this sentiment had one more able to speak in response. He felt deeply the force of the words, “the joy and sunshine of our pioneer life,” and would that he had the eloquence of a Cato or a Cicero to give expression to his feelings, for surely the subject was worthy of it, and the most able orator in the world would be engaged in a task worthy of his eloquence were he to speak the praises and celebrate the virtues of our pioneer women. Man has too long monopolized the entire attention of history and of the world. Men occupy themselves in celebrating and perpetuating the deeds and heroic actions of men, while those of women are unmentioned and forgotten.
We erect marble monuments towering to heaven, sculptured urns and brazen statues, to commemorate the virtues of men; yea, historians of ancient and modern times have vied with each other in the praises of the good and great men who have lived and died; but where are the memoirs of women! Have they no monuments? Yea, have they? They live in the virtue, in the religion of our present institutions. Yes, they are recorded on tablets more enduring than were the tablets that were traced on Mount Sinai; they are engraved on the tablets of our hearts in characters of living light, more durable than time and lasting as eternity.
Around me I see the faces of pioneer women whom I have known as the comfort of pioneer homes, the physician in the hour of sickness, and the companion and help in time of health, the loving wife, the tender mother, and the affectionate daughter and sister.
The sentiment is to the Pioneer Women. In those times they were really women; in those days we had no ladies. They are an institution of a later growth, and adapted to a different phases of society. Then a woman could get through the door of her cabin without difficulty, but that would be a feat not so easily accomplished by a modern lady.
What on earth, Mr. President, would we have done with a modern lady in those days in a log cabin? We might have taken choice of sides, and we would have been compelled to take the outside of the cabin.
The massive institutions of the present day, composed of crinoline, whalebone and other kindred material, does not indeed bear much resemblance to those pioneer women on whom our memory loves to dwell, still it is to be believed that somewhere in each of those enormous structures at this time there lives a warm, true-hearted little woman, but of this I cannot speak from experience, as I am too old a pioneer to investigate the matter, and therefore leave that question for some of the younger generation to determine.
But while we weave the wreath of laurel for the brow of the living, let us not forget to twine the Cyprus for the pioneer dead—while we rejoice to spend a social hour with the pioneer women living, let us in our rejoicing stop to drop a tear over the cities of the pioneer dead.
I look among the pioneers around me, and scarcely a face do I recognize but that to my knowledge death has stricken some member of the household; that around the hearthstone, where the family congregates after the labors of the day are past, some dear one from that household is absent. Where are they? Yonder in the silent churchyard they have laid themselves to rest on the bosom of the beloved country of their adoption. Let us in our annual festivities have them in vivid remembrance.
The New Settlers of our County—They have sought a home among the Old Settlers; may the Association be equally profitable to both.
Responded to by Levi Chase, Esq.
In behalf of the “New Settlers” of Louisa County I will respond to the sentiment just read a hearty unqualified amen. An yet, sir, while we pledge ourselves to use our every endeavor to make our association with you as agreeable and profitable to you as it is in our power to do, we would not, sir, for a moment presume to be possessed of the ability to make the Association as profitable to you as it has already been, now is, and will continue to be to us. It would be arrogance for us to claim so much. You, gentlemen, have claims upon us, upon our friendship, esteem, yea, our reverence, that we shall never be permitted to make upon you.
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On every side, wherever we turn our eyes, we behold the fertile field, the budding fruit, the blooming garden, but a few short years since, the stealthily silent tread of the untamed savage crushed the wild flower, and his thirst for slaughter was slacked with the blood of the white man.
You, gentlemen, have made the wilderness to bud and blossom as the rose. We are now reaping the harvest for which you toiled many weary days and sleepless nights. And how can we look upon those careworn cheeks or silvered brows without feeling our very souls swell with deep emotion within us, and bless God that we are permitted even to inhale the air that once inflated the lungs of noble patriots.
The effects of our association with you must inevitably be ennobling to our natures, filling us with pure and lofty aspirations, nerving us with energy, and a determination to do for ours all that you have accomplished for us, while you can only look upon us as foster children, with the blessed satisfaction of knowing that you have not lived and toiled in vain—that the world is better for your having been in it. And now let us change somewhat the sentiment, and make it read: The Old Settlers of Louisa County—God bless them.
John Hale having been called to the floor, said that it could be but to little purpose that he could arise, as on a former occasion it had been supposed that he had not only told all he knew, but a little more. Twenty years ago he had first entered this county, and took up his abode in a part of what is sometimes called “Brimstone Point.” As there are many false notions afloat regarding the origin of the cognomen, and as we seem just on the point of investigating names, he would state what he knew in regard to it.
Some have entertained the opinion that it was on account of a supposed neighborhood (figuratively) to a locality not laid down on any modern atlas; but this is most assuredly not the case. In the early days of this county a disease was prevalent (not to be mentioned to polite ears), and as the locality in question was then the great commercial mart of the county, there everyone flocked for their supplies of brimstone—the universal remedy—and from this the name arose. I have been called a native of that place, but though that would be an honor of which to be proud, it is one I cannot claim. I am an adopted citizen, but of twenty years’ standing.
Twenty years ago many things were different from those of present times; then, if a man had no coat, he could wear a hunting-shirt, or if he chose to go without either he could still present himself in society. It was no matter what the color of the patches were upon his pants, the durability was the only question of interest. A man was then privileged to wear such clothes as he could pay for, and not compelled to ruin a tailor or forfeit his standing in society. He who had shoes or boots wore them, and he who had not wore moccasins; or if he had neither, or wished to save the price of both, he exercised his constitutional rights and went barefoot.
It is to be doubted if the changes we have undergone in these things are much of an improvement. Indeed, were I to choose, I would now take the frolic in a squatter’s log cabin, where mirth and good feeling prevails, in preference to the so-called social party of our more advanced state of society, with its envy and pride. Much has been said of the privations of the pioneers, and such indeed they had, and sore ones; but they served by their contrast to make the enjoyments the more deeply felt, and never were happier faces found than were seen at some of those early festivities.
Since the organization of the association meetings have been held, and each year seems to grow more interesting than the preceding one. Great crowds of old and young, the pioneer and late-comer, meet together, and while the former relates his experience, the latter attentively listens, and invariably goes away with greater respect for those noble men and women who paved the way for the present and future generations.
The following comprises the names of those who have registered upon the books of the Pioneer Settlers’ Association, together with the place of their nativity, and date of settlement in Iowa:
| James L. Derbin, Washington County, Ind.; April, 1838; removed. |
| Samuel Townsend, Columbus County, Ohio; April, 1842, dead. |
| John Hale, Greene County, Ohio; Sept. 29, 1839. |
| Thomas Stoddard, Cayuga County, N. Y., June, 1836; dead. |
| Joel Brownson, Delaware County, N. Y., April, 1837. |
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| Jacob Mintun, Fayette County, Tenn.; April 19, 1837; dead. |
| Edward B. Isett, Westmoreland County, Pa.; Nov. 6, 1841; died 1860. |
| G. B. Williams, Fayette County, Ind.; July 4, 1836; dead. |
| Obediah Garretson, Tompkins County, N. Y.; March 9, 1837. |
| E. W. Irwedy, Delaware County, N. Y.; July, 1838. |
| Jacob Janis, Rowan County, N. C.; June 1837. |
| John Bird, Washington County, Pa.; June 4, 1843; removed. |
| H. Robinson, Montgomery County, Ind.; May 6, 1837; removed. |
| John Brogan, Beaver County, Pa.; May 3, 1839; dead. |
| Henry Minton, Washington County, Ohio; April 19, 1837; removed. |
| C. M. McDaniel, Jackson County, Tenn.; March, 1837; dead. |
| A. D. Hurley, Champaign County, Ohio; September, 1840. |
| L. Robinson, Cayuga County, N. Y.; May 12, 1837; dead. |
| G. F. Thomas, Chester County, Pa.; August, 1838. |
| George Key, Franklin County, Va.; May, 1838; dead. |
| James Wilson, New York City; March, 1840. |
| Levi Stephen, Preble County, Ohio; October, 1836; dead. |
| Frank Dickinson, Steuben County, N. Y.; Nov. 29, 1837; removed. |
| Henry H. Mickey, Westmoreland County, Pa.; May 24, 1836. |
| Jesse Hamilton, Fayette County, Ohio; Oct. 27, 1842. |
| Silas Chrisman, Madison County, N. Y.; August, 1836, removed. |
| J. E. Dwinell, Guilford County, N. C.; November, 1836. |
| James Major, York County, Pa.; May 3, 1835; removed. |
| Zebina Williams, Cayuga County, N. Y.; July 4, 1836; removed. |
| J. R. McDaniel, Jackson County, Tenn.; May 10, 1840. |
| William Day, Loudoun County, Va.; March 11, 1840. |
| James Blanchard, Delaware County, N. Y.; June, 1837. |
| James Helverson, Frederick County, Va.; November 1841; dead. |
| S. I. Brogan, Wayne County, Ohio; February, 1839. |
| Dennis Gregory, Harrison County, Iowa; February, 1842. |
| Alexander Hamilton, Fayette County, Ohio; October, 1847. |
| Alex Ross, Washington County, Pa.; Oct. 12, 1837. |
| I. H. Benson, Accomack County, Va.; June, 1836. |
| J. B. Latta, Ross County, Ohio; April 11, 1840. |
| William Kennedy, Butler County, Ohio, April, 1835; dead. |
| G. H. Crow, Jefferson County, Ohio; April, 1836. |
| Anderson Brockett, Germany; October, 1840. |
| Albert McClerry, Richland County, Ohio; July, 1836; removed. |
| William Bell, Greene County, Pa.; November, 1840. |
| James Warnstaff, Ross County, Ohio; April, 1834; removed. |
| Joshua Marshall, Brooke County, Va.; Aug. 15, 1836. |
| James Wilson, Iredell County, N. C.; March 23, 1836. |
| G. H. Cary, Louisa County, Ind.; October, 1837. |
| James Hermes, Abbeville District, S. C.; April, 1839. |
| D. P. Herron, Preble County, Ohio; April, 1837. |
| Hugh Gardner, Mifflin County, Pa.; June 1, 1838. |
| William M. Herron, Preble County, Ohio; April, 1842. |
| Samuel Clark, Tippecanoe County, Ind.; April, 1839. |
| John Deihl, Franklin County, Pa.; April 24, 1836. |
| Benjamin Stoddard, Hamilton County, Ohio; June, 1836; dead. |
| L. G. Blackburn, Bedford County, Pa.; Oct. 26, 1840; dead. |
| J. B. Vaughan, Harrison County, Ky.; April 22, 1842. |
| H. Howey, Canandaigua County, N. Y.; Dec. 16, 1839. |
| Samuel Chaney, Ross County, Ohio; April, 1833. |
| Alfred Coons, Monroe County, Ind.; Oct. 4, 1839. |
| Albert Illarpide, Marion County, Ind.; 1836; removed. |
| James Brogan, Wayne County, Ohio; March 1, 1839. |
| Samuel Jamison, Ross County, Ohio; April, 1839. |
| George Daniels, Ross County, Ohio; March, 1839. |
| William Clark, Tippecanoe County, Iowa; March, 1839. |
| John Drake, Butler County, Ohio; February, 1837. |
| Samuel Hamilton, Fayette County, Ohio; Oct. 29, 1841. |
| John H. Key, Tippecanoe County, Iowa; April 13, 1838; removed. |
| John Ronalds, Caledonia County, Vt.; June 5, 1836. |
| S. G. Chambers, Washington County, Pa.; May, 1837. |
| John Alison, Canada West; October, 1839. |
| Amos Hammond, Ohio; 1837. |
| John H. Isett, Westmoreland County, Pa.; July, 1838; dead. |
| Samuel Barr; 1844. |
| William Keach, 1845; removed. |
| Sylvanus Dunham, Fayette County, Ind.; 1837. |
| David Russell, Illinois, 1835. |
| Joseph Higbee, Ohio; September, 1836. |
| Capt. Wheelock, New York; 1837. |
| H. Patton, Indiana; 1842. |
| J. G. Hall, Pennsylvania; 1837. |
| B. F. Wright, Indiana; 1851. |
| David Flack, Indiana; 1839. |
| J. P. Scull, Ohio; 1839. |
| H. Miller, Illinois; 1843. |
| William Storry, Ohio; 1842. |
| James Gray, Ohio; 1840. |
| William D. Williams, Indiana; 1843. |
| John Wilson, Preble County, Ohio; 1839. |
| T. N. Ives, Canada; 1839. |
| N. J. Ives, Canada; 1838. |
| Jonathan Drake, Indiana; 1837. |
| David Steel, Ohio; 1846. |
| S. B. Thompson, New York; 1843. |
| James Coulter, Pennsylvania; 1843. |
| Thomas Newell, Ohio; 1840; removed. |
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| James Higbee, Iowa; born in 1836. |
| Hon. F. S. Springer, Maine; December, 1838. |
| Josiah Vertrees, Hardin County, Ky.; 1839. |
| M. P. Vanloon, Pennsylvania; 1838. |
| William H. Creighton, Ohio; October, 1835. |
| J. S. Hurley, Ohio; September, 1840. |
| Orlean Spafford, Vermont, 1843. |
| J. C. Stirler, Indiana; May, 1838. |
| N. W. McKay, Illinois; May, 1843. |
The following have failed to register the place of their nativity:
| John H. Williamson, 1836; |
| T. A. Duncan, 1842; |
| W. W. Garner, 1840; |
| G. W. Hall, 1838; |
| G. S. Nichols, 1842; |
| Z. W. Keeder, Joseph Higbee, J. M. Vanderwort, William J. Ronald, S. Karminsky, S. Barr. Thomas Sullivan, 1839; |
| H. Helverson, B. F. Wright, A. Cosgro, Joshua Marshall. H. S. Denham, 1837; |
| W. S. Allen, 1841; |
| H. Young, F. Springer. H. Mallory, 1837; |
| T. M. Parsons, W. W. Wood. W. R. Williams, 1841; |
| Joseph Higbee, 1840. |
| Merritt Jamison, 1845; |
| John Bird, A. Gamble, J. R. McDaniel, J. Q. Buffington and A. Brockt. |
The following letter was read at an Old Settlers’ Meeting, and was written by Mrs. Rachael Higbee, wife of Joseph Higbee, who are among the earliest settlers of Louisa County, he being eighty-three years of age, and she seventy-five. It aptly describes the pioneer life of Louisa County, and is as follows:
“On the 16th of May, 1836, we started from Crawford County, Ohio, for the Great West. We traveled a toilsome, hard summer, and stopped in Michigan to try and suit ourselves in that State, but we could find no place we liked there. Mr. Higbee asked me what we should do, stay or go farther on. I told him I would rather go farther on. So about the 1st of August we started, and traveled until the 1st day of September, 1836, when we reached the Mississippi, the Father of Waters, and a ferryman set us across the river at a little place called Pinhook. It was too small to be called anything else at that time. Our wagons were three in number. We drove our teams up in town and stopped there for about an hour and a half, the men gathering around us as though we were more than human beings. I felt as though we were out of the United States and into the Territory of Iowa, out of civilization and into the hunting grounds of the red man. I took my four little children and got into the wagon, and there I shed tears like a child. From there we came one mile from the river, and there was not a house in the length of that mile, nor until we got to a little stream of water where we could water our stock. Then we came to a small shanty close by where we staid all night. That shanty was covered with bark peeled off the trees, and there is now a little blacksmith- shop at that place. We then traveled up to what was called the Wassom Settlement, and on Friday evening we stopped there to rest ourselves and teams. On Monday morning my sister-in-law saw some Indians dressed up in war style. She said that she wasn’t going to have her little children scalped by those red men, but I told her that I was not afraid of them. It proved that they were friendly to the pale face. On Monday morning my sister-in-law took their stock and started back for Michigan; that left but two families of us.
“We traveled on until we came to Mr. Snelson’s; there they had plenty of honey, and Mrs. Snelson divided it with us. We thought we had got into the land of milk and honey—for we had plenty of milk, and they had the honey. We brought three cows with us. Then we traveled two or three miles, and staid there until our men folks came to Virginia Grove to find a place to live. The man of the people there was Smith, and at that place we saw the first man we had ever seen electioneering for himself. That was in Des Moines County, perhaps some of you have heard of him; his name was Zed Inghram. Our men folks thought he had better be at home, as that wasn’t the custom in Ohio. When we left that place for the grove we had to use a pocket compass, as there were no roads or landmarks, and the country had not been surveyed. We arrived at our new stopping-place about 6 o’clock in the evening. There was but one cabin in sight. We paid $80 for our claim, and lived in a shanty 8x14 feet. We put up some prairie bedsteads—all the old settlers know what kind of a bedstead it is. We lived in that shanty about five or six weeks. There was an Indian and his wife came to our shanty. There was no chimney, but a few boards were left off to let the smoke go out. It was not long before two Indians dressed in war style, and making a great noise, were heard coming a quar- . . .
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. . . ter of a mile off, but they were soon at our door. My sister-in-law took her two children, and hid behind some trees, and left me with my four children in the shanty to fight the battle. They said they wanted meat. I told them to wait until I blew the horn for the men to come, and told them, if they would be good, when the men came they would give them something to eat. There were but two families in the neighborhood, one lived three miles and the other five miles from us. Our neighbors on the south of us were sixteen miles distant. When our men got their hay put up they went to cutting logs, and we built the first house down where Mr. Sullivan lives. Four men were all the hands we could get, and the next day our two families moved into it without either floor or door.
“We lived in that way until after January, when the men cut trees and made us a floor. Our son James was born on the 7th of November, 1836, and we claimed that he was the first white child born in Louisa County; but one claims that their child was born on the north side of the Iowa River, but we will leave it to the memory of the old settlers. The winter was severely cold, and sometimes the ground would freeze within two feet of the fire. Furniture was scarce, and four-legged benches in demand. Mr. George Key made me a present of a split-bottom chair, and told me to nurse my baby on it. Provisions were very dear, flour was $12 per barrel, and then it came up to $20. As our means would run out at that rate, we had to go down to Burlington, and bought $75 worth of corn, paying seventy-five cents per bushel, so that we lived on corn bread, but before starting for Burlington the men cut back logs and rolled them in the house for us. They started on Monday morning, and did not get back until after dark Sunday night. We had all the stock to attend to. My sister-in-law would cut ice and carry water for the cattle until she would nearly freeze, then she would stay with the children while I would go, and so we worried through. Mr. Higbee lost one of his oxen, and then he was out $100, and in the spring, as he and his brother-in-law were building a stock chimney, he fell and put his wrist out of joint. Then plowing time came on, and his wrist was so bad that he could not yoke his oxen. I helped him to yoke the oxen, and he plowed about ten days with his arm in a sling. They had cleared off a field in the timber in the winter time, and there was not much brush in the timber, as the Indians had kept it burnt out. Oliver Isett took sick in the second week of July, and his brother brought him to our house for me to take care of. There was no doctor nearer than Burlington, and Oliver died the third week in August, so you can see we had the first birth and the first death in Louisa County on this side of the Iowa River.
“I had a hard spell of typhoid fever after that. It ran on for thirty days, and we had no doctor. The Indians were very kind to me, except once in awhile one would come in drunk. I remember one time I had dinner ready, and in came a drunken Indian and sat down, and went clambering over the dinner. There was also a sober one outside. I took the drunken one by the back of the neck and put him out of doors, and told the sober one what he had done. He said: ‘Bad Indian, heap sqipy.’ I gave the sober one some bread, and he said ‘Good Squaw.’ I also saw one of Black Hawk’s sons, a very nice-looking young man. One time I was alone, and not a man within three miles of me that I knew of. I saw sixteen Indians coming. They left their guns outside, and in the house they came, the foremost one giving me an introduction to them. He said ‘Good squaw.’ They sat there about an hour and a half around the fire. When they started away they would have some bread, and I gave them some, which they divided into sixteen pieces. ‘Wapello’ was an old Indian chief. They called him a squaw, because he would not fight. They came past our door and gave Mr. Higbee an introduction to him, and Wapello said: ‘Where is your squaw? I want an introduction to her.’ I went out, and he said ‘Wapello, big captain.’ I shook hands with him, but was afraid of him, as he was drunk. Time moved on, and after a few weeks our house caught fire, and we did not discover it in time to put it out, and had but a few things. The snow was very deep and it was freezing cold, and there we were out in the cold with but scanty clothing to cover u. I froze my feet so bad that I could not wear shoes for weeks. When the house was nearly burnt up I thought of a trunk that sat by . . .
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. . . the window, and just as I was dragging it out of the door, the whole upper floor fell in. I saw Mr. Higbee lift a barrel of meat out of the burning house that it took three men the next day to lift on a sled. Mr. Higbee covered me up the best he could, and there we staid until morning. But not to detain you longer, and as the Queen of Sheba said to King Solomon, the half has not been told. Just so with this writing, the half cannot be told. There were none of these fine buggies and elegant organs, but once and awhile there was a nice family organ, and they made good music. Mr. Higbee, in the latter part of December, 1836, brought the first hogs to Marshall Township.”
RACHEL HIGBEE.
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