PORT ALLEN.

pg 302

Port Allen was the next town in Oakland township and was laid out by George W. Allen, Joseph Blake, William Blake and Peter Blake, March 19, 1841, and was located in the forks of the Cedar and Iowa rivers. It was surveyed by John Gilliland, County Surveyor, and the plat was acknowledged by the above named proprietors on March 20, 1841, before Enoch K. Maxson, Justice of the Peace.

This was quite a pretentious place for a little while, there being a ferry across the Iowa river on the road to Fredonia and across the Iowa to the south. At one time the ferry license was in the name of a man named John Brown, and it is said that he and also Mr. Allen kept store in Port Allen.

The government records show that Port Allen had the following postmasters:

Curtis Knight, appointed June 15, 1848.
Jesse Graves, appointed March 30, 1854.
William H. Hayward, appointed February 19, 1856.
Hiram Hall, appointed May 21, 1857.
David M. Inghram, appointed June 18, 1861.

We do not think that any of these men kept the post office at the Port Allen which was located by George W. Allen.

At the time that Curtis Knight was postmaster, he kept the post office at his house, which was on the bank of the Iowa river about three-quarters of a mile north of the platted town, and at that time it had probably been abandoned. The other postmasters given for Port Allen were located at the town platted as Oakland, which was situated some three miles north and west of there in sections 36 and 25.

A little later than the time we speak of, came Cyril Carpenter, Charles H. Abbott, Shakespeare McKee, Milton Carpenter, W. B. Davis, Alvah Morse, Delatus Graves, H. A. Keyes and William Nelson. A brief sketch of Cyril Carpenter will be found in the chapter on personal mention.

An interesting story is told of how Oakland township came to be established: it was originally a part of Fredonia township, with the township headquarter and voting place at Fredonia, which necessitated the people living in Oakland township crossing the river when they wanted to vote or transact township business. Practically all the township officers were elected from the Fredonia side. At one election Colonel Abbott organized the Oakland township voters and made up a ticket of township officers all of whom belonged in Oakland township. To prevent undue excitement on the Fredonia side, the Oakland township voters went over in skiffs one and two at a time, and their plan was not discovered until the polls were about to close, but too late to prevent the success of Abbott's plan. The result was, that when nearly all the township officers belonged in Oakland township the people on the Fredonia side were willing for a division.

OAKLAND

was laid out by James McKee, Erastus Graves, W. H. Crocker and Charles H. Abbott on sections 25 and 36, township 76 north, range 5 west, the quarter sec ...

pg 302

... tion corner of the north boundary of section 36 being the geographical center of the town plat. It was surveyed by John R. Sisson, county surveyor, October 5. 1854.

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