Burr Oak is one of the central townships in Mitchell County and is very irregular in its boundary lines. It contains about thirty-five sections of land, though numerous half sections go into its make-up. It is within the second tier of congressional townships in the county from the eastern line and comprises parts of townships 99 and 100. Liberty Township is at its north, Jenkins and Douglas at the east, East and West Lincoln at the south and Osage and Mitchell at the west. The Little Cedar River and Burr Oak Creek constitute its principal water courses, both flowing toward the southeast. The Chicago Great Western Railway runs through four of the northwestern sections of the township, but there is no station point within Burr Oak Township, though Buckman's Siding is in the township, having a side-track and one or two buildings. On the David White farm, in what has many years been known as Burr Oak is a noted spring of the purest water to be found anywhere. At an early date this. made it the center and headquarters for the camping of travelers and teamsters, who took advantage of this excellent spring water. In the central portion of the township the pioneer discovered a large dense grove of Burr Oak timber, constituting about four hundred acres, hence the name of the township when it came to be settled ' and organized. This is a prairie township aside from the grove named, and some red oaks in the northeastern part. The passerby of today would not imagine the scenes and hardships endured away back in the '50s, '60s and '70s by the men and women who laid well the foundations of this county.

     The nearest market place was then at McGregor, on the Mississippi. This was more than 100 miles to the east. The trips were generally with ox teams and the time consumed was usually nearly two weeks. Wheat brought from 35 to 40 cents at McGregor. Waukon was the nearest grist mill for some time after this township was settled.

     The winter of 1856-57 was one of the severest of any in the county's history. The snow was so deep and had so many crusts that teams could not be used and hand-sleds had to be run over the crusted drifts with small loads of fire wood and provisions. Those who traveled any considerable distance used skis and snow shoes. Venison and bear meat and other wild game served as meats during that winter.

     The beautiful native groves in sections 9 and 10, township 98, range 16, attracted the early settlers. An old history says: "A Mr. Wilson is said to have been the first settler in the township. He located on the northeast quarter of section 9, township 98, range 16, in June, 1853. He sold out the following year to Job Bishop and moved to Osage, where he died in 1872. We have no further record of either of these men.

     Oliver Tillotson and Alfred D. Curtis came in the fall of 1853 and made their selection in sections 9 and 10. Mr. Tillotson's family did not arrive until the spring of 1854. He came from Warren County, Pennsylvania; was a man of affairs and took much interest in the new country. When Cardiff postoffice, was established at Burr Oak, he was appointed postmaster, his commission dating December, 1855. He erected the first frame dwelling in the township in the spring of 1857. He located in the northwest quarter of section 10, at a point selected as a village site called "Leo." In 1857 Mr. Tillotson traded his property and returned to Pennsylvania. It may be stated that the first settlement here was made by people who immigrated from Warren County, Pennsylvania, during the years 1853-54. Among these pioneers were: Oliver Tillotson, Isaac and Thomas Wynn, James, Alfred D and P. F. Curtis, Hugh Sweney, Eli Shulze, Thomas Phillis, John Johnson Sr., Orville O. Robbins, James Phillis and James Johnson. Within one and two years their families came on and all remained permanently; those who came from Pennsylvania numbered about sixty persons all told. Very nearly all of them have since died or removed from the township.

     Thomas Wynn continued to reside, on his farm in Burr Oak Township until 1883, when he removed to Dakota. Walter Willey was a very early settler but after some years moved to Mitchell. During 1855 came in William G. Frazer and entered a half section of government land in sections 15 and 22, township 98, range 16. He and Mr. Steele opened the first general store in the township. That was in the fall of 1856 at what was styled Leo, and there they traded for four years.

     Clark Hatfield and his wife Saphira and their children settled on section 14 in 1855. The children were Ann; Jane and J.H. Ann married H.E. Cole, and Jane, O.L. Cole, in an early day. These Coles were not related. O.L. was long time resident and assessor of Osage. The daughters died in recent years and the son some thirty years ago.

     Others who were first to improve this township may be recalled: Harry Davis and sons, William H. Baliff and family and J. B. Allen, commonly called "Tinker Allen," for he was a clock tinker as well as a farmer and stone mason; also George Angell and family and Daniel F. Gilchrist and family.

     Soon after the Civil war, J. D. Jenkins, the former receiver of the Osage Land Office, located with his family at Brownville. They remained there for many years and were very prominent in the social, political and religious activities of their vicinity.

     George Angell and family were pioneers in the township and they and their descendants have been prominent in the township. J. D. Griffin and family came from Wisconsin in 1855 and settled in the township. He was a shrewd, typical Irishman, well known by all of the early settlers in the vicinity. His son, T. J. Griffin, moved into Douglas Township, was a county supervisor for several years, and now lives in Osage.

     Samuel Fay and family, Norman Norton, Milo and Jehial George and their father and Doctor Stockwell, were quite early settlers, well remembered by those of their time. In the '60s came Harry Counsell, William Barker, William Markham, Osmund Button, John Gammons, J. G. Burtch, Aaron Hadfield, and their families, into the township about in the order named. These families have had a conspicuous, part in the life of the township ever since. Barker and Hadfield were Englishmen; the latter was for years a stock buyer as well as farmer. He was married twice, brought up fourteen children in all, and died in 1914, when more than 95 years of age; Button and Burtch were from York State. The latter is living in Osage at the present time. Gammon represented this county in the Seventeenth General Assembly. Counsell came to the county in 1856 and to this township in 1862.

     Many more settlers of worth and standing came into the township in the '70s and later, among the number should be named A. M. Walker and family, the parents and family of Hamlin Garland, the celebrated Iowa author. Many more worthy families might be named but space forbids further particulars.

     During all the history of the township the English speaking families have greatly predominated.

     Social life has always been very prominent and patriotic, religious and educational matters have received constant attention and encouragement.

     The first claim, taken by Mr. Wilson, has already been given. The first permanent settler was Oliver F. Tillotson of section 10, in the fall of 1853.

     The first frame barn was erected by Thomas Wynn in 1857-size 30 by 40 feet. It is still standing.

     The earliest postoffice was called Cardiff, established at Leo or Burr Oak December, 1855. The first school and religious services here were held in 1856 in the school building known as the Wynn Schoolhouse.

     The first Sunday school was held and organized by Mrs. Phebe White in 1860 in the Brownville neighborhood.

     The first child born was Lafayette Curtis, February, 1856.

     The first marriage was the uniting of Damon Ayers and Arlina Curtis, November, 1856.

     The first death was that of John Johnson, who died at the house of Thomas Wynn in the winter of 1856-57. Mr. Wynn had to carry on his back, boards with which to make a coffin, six miles over the crusted snow banks from Hart's Grove, because teams could not travel the drifts.

     Burr Oak Township has had two hamlets since it was first settled. One of these was named Leo, situated at the junction of the roads on the section lines between 9 and 10. It was regularly laid out in 1856 by Isaac and Thomas Wynn and Oliver Tillotson. In its palmy days it consisted of a postoffice,, a general store, kept by Frazer and Steele; a grocery by Mr. Mason; a tavern by H. W. Jones, and a saloon. About a dozen families made up the village. The postoffice remained until 1881 and was discontinued. A year or two later there was no trace of a village. The neighborhood is known as Burr Oak and now has a church and schoolhouse.

     The Village of Brownville is in the northeast corner of the township and was named for Alphonso Brown, Who owned the mill site on the Little Cedar in section 1, township 98, range 16, in the fall of 1858, having purchased it from Lyman Amsden. The following spring he put in operation a sawmill and corn cracker and soon after one run of stones for making flour. A. F. Kerr and later Joseph Taylor owned the mill, which, in 1885, was running regularly and pro- ducing seventy-five barrels of good family flour daily. Later Mr. Wiggins operated it for quite a time. About 1861 Barney Kerr opened a store at this point and A. F. Kerr built a hotel called the Brownville House, which, after having been run by many landlords, finally, in 1881, forever shut down. In 1857, a postoffice was established here with Joseph Saville as postmaster. The office and general store were still running in 1888. Joseph Hallock and Frank Smith, two young men, were running the store in the '80s. C. H. Wooldridge established a blacksmith shop in 1881. A local newspaper item in 1865 mentioned Brownville as follows: "The Messrs. Kerr have lately repaired their mills in first rate order and are now prepared to attend to the wants of the farmers in all respects. They have a first grist mill; also a good saw mill. The village on the Little Cedar is improving as rapidly as any in the county."

     Cedar is an irregular shaped subdivision of Mitchell County, situated in the southwestern portion of the county, and embraces about forty sections of land. Rock, Mitchell and Osage townships are on its north, Osage and Lincoln on the east, Floyd County on the south, and Rock Township and Cerro Gordo County on the west. This township embraces a part of Congressional townships 97 and 98, in ranges 17 and 18.

     The land is rather level, though in no sense can it be termed flat. The soil is a dark, rich alluvial loam, which produces every crop known to this latitude. Clover and timothy have long since superseded the wild prairie grasses of a third and half a century ago. At an early day the principal crop here, as all over Northern Iowa, was wheat, but with the passage of years it was found more profitable to raise corn and look more thoroughly after the stock and dairy industry, which has been in practice many years now. Today the best farmer raises the least small grain and the most stock and poultry.

     The township is well watered and drained by the beautiful Cedar River and Rock Creek, with their branches. The Cedar flows along the entire east part of the township, and in places affords excellent waterpower, which at an early day was utilized more than at present. At the time the county was first settled, the Cedar and Rock Creek were densely lined with a heavy growth of most excellent timber, including the oak, elm, bass-wood, maples, butternut and black walnut varieties. While much of the native timber has disappeared through the hand of the pioneer, who was pressed for fuel and fencing materials, yet through conservation of later years, and the many fine artificial groves that were planted by the hand of the hardy pioneer, the tops of which groves now tower up thirty and forty feet, ample shade is had in summer and a good wind-break in midwinter.

     There is a large area of lime rock, sand and sharp gravel in this township, and thousands of tons of such material is taken out of the earth here annually and converted into good roads, buildings, etc.

     John Caton was the first person to live with his family in the township with an apparent purpose of becoming a permanent settler. That was in 1852, near a popular spring in section 12- 97-17 commonly known as the Stockwell Farm. The first white child born in the township was their son. But this family sold out in 1856, and moved to Minnesota.

     The first permanent settlers in the township were four families of Norwegians who came from Wisconsin in the spring of 1853 with the Clausen party. They were Ole Haroldson Ulen and Lovor (sometimes called Levi) Olson Lindelien, who settled at Walnut Grove, and Helge Johnson Rodningsand and Ole Torgerson Fagerbakken, who settled near White Oak Grove, further down Rock Creek. Lindelien was the son-in-law of Ulen. At one time he owned a section and a half of land in the township, and prospered until his death in 1896. Rodningsand was the father of John H. Johnson, a long time merchant and banker of Osage. In 1854 Lars Olsen Odden and family located in section 16-97-17, and he and his descendants have lived there ever since. About the same time Peter Larson and his son-in-law, Peter Nelson, spent one winter in temporary dug-outs on the north side of the public road extending due west from Osage and west of the river, and Nels Johnson lived in the same manner across the road to the south of them. In 1856 Johnson moved farther west in the township and located permanently. He was the father of John N. Johnson, so long and well known in the township. Larson and Nelson did not remain in that locality long. Lars Mikkelson and another Norwegian located early opposite Spring Park. But they sold before very long and moved away. Ebenezer Temple and his son, James, came o the township and took land in 1854. They settled permanently that fall or the next spring and remained for the rest of their lives. Herman Lesch and family settled in the township south of Osage in 1854 and lived on his claim until Mr. Lesch's death in 1878. There were several children in this family, one of whom, Henry, was born on the place in 1855, and now lives in Osage. In 1855 Harrison Smalley and family settled in the township. He was born in Vermont. The family was large, including two grown sons, George H., and Charles, who preceded the rest of the family several months. George and Theodore were Union soldiers during the Civil war, and now live in Osage. The same year two Germans and their families located in the township, Fred Hartwig and Conrad Lohr. They were brothers-in-law and in the course of two or three years were joined by their father-in-law, John Kneisel, and a blacksmith from Osage, named G. W. Weinrehe. Hartwig held many offices of confidence and trust in the township and county. He was chairman of the Board of Supervisors at one time and chairman of the Republican County Central Committee. The government land office was brought to Osage in 1856. That fact and other causes brought many additional settlers into the township that year. Among the more prominent were Nathaniel Tucker, S. R. Tucker, Albert Temple, Jesse Harris, Willis Rice, Thomas Conley, and his sons, Lewis, Benjamin, and George, Mr. Dudley and his son, J. N., and other members of the family, Mr. Hutchins and his son Barton, Charles Nims, Samuel Nims, William Rogers, and James S. and Ed McGrath, and doubtless others. Nearly all these had families. Rogers now lives in Osage. Benjamin Conley was living in Kansas when last heard from. So far as known the others of this list have passed away, but many of their descendants live on or near the old homesteads. The name of Ingebret Knudson appears in the early history, but little is known of him. Some of the pioneers of 1857 and the following years were Herman Muller and family and Herman Dietrick and family, natives of Germany. The latter still lives in the township. Muller died many years ago, but some of his children live in the township, and one, at least, in Osage. Other early settlers were Thomas Clark and family, Daniel Lombard and family, Mike Kildee and family, Byron Leighton and family, and many other Norwegian and German families.

     The first death in Cedar Township was that of the wife of John Maakstad, who was buried at St. Ansgar, on the west side of the river.

     The first birth was a son to Peter and Sarah Nelson, born September 6, 1854. He died in September, 1860.

     David Batchelder and others built a sawmill in 1855 on the Cedar River, at the mouth of Sugar Creek. N. C. Deering finally purchased the property. A freshet a few years later ruined the property.

     In 1857 a sawmill was built by the elder Dudley on Rock Creek, in section 17, township 97, range 17. A little later a bolting machine was added and a coarse dark flour was produced. In 1858 the mill was burned and not rebuilt until 1882, when William Dudley, Jr., erected a feed mill with one run of stones.

     In 1867 Rice Brothers-Dennis, Frank and Gilbert from Riceville, constructed a flour and sawmill on the Cedar River in section 35. The building was thirty by forty feet in size and three stories high. The flour mill had two runs of stones at first, but later was enlarged to seven runs and two sets of rollers. In 1882 Bell Brothers purchased the mill and remodeled it to a modern roller mill with a daily capacity of fifty barrels of flour. This mill finally closed down on account of the great expense necessary for annual repairs on the dam.

     This postoffice was located in Cedar Township and was established in 1870, with Eli Hutchins as postmaster, and he had the same at his residence in section 17. Mail was brought three times a week from Orchard by William Skinner who received twenty-five dollars per year for his services. Hutchins was succeeded by G. B. Mayfield, and he by Ole M. Johnson. Since his time other postmasters have been, Ole J. Maakstad, N. K. Syverud, Even Hegg, Levi Olson, Schulze brothers and Nic Peterson. Upon the establishment of the rural free delivery system this office, with scores more, was discontinued in this section of northern Iowa.

     About 1885 another postoffice named Drammen was established at the home of Ole O. Hangerud in section 12, township 97, range 18. When the postmaster moved to Dakota, the office was discontinued.

     What is styled Meroa Village, is on the west bank of Rock Creek in section 12, township 97, range 18, and it had a general store, blacksmith shop and the postoffice (until discontinued) and a good creamery.

Transcribed by Gordon Felland, December 2001

Updated 1/6/2003