HERITAGE VIGNETTES by Marilyn A. Bekker

SOME OF THE PEOPLE

At the time of the Black Hawk War in May, 1833, George Davenport, the Indian trader who lived at Rock Island, sent a small stock of goods to Muscatine by a Mr. Farnham, who built a small double cabin. The place was then called Grindstone Bluffs. Farnham died about two years later and Col. Davenport sold the claim to John Vanata. Vanata sold one-half of his claim to Capt. Benjamin Clark, of Clark’s Ferry, with a view to laying out a town here. This claim was half a mile square and a quarter mile up and down the river from the trading house. John Vanata had been a soldier in the Black Hawk War after which he worked for a time with Col. Davenport. Since Farnham was only acting as an agent for Davenport, credit for being the first settler of the city of Muscatine is given to John Vanata.

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Adam Ogilvie arrived at the trading post known as Bloomington in September of 1836 and purchased several lots. The young man, of Scotch origin, had been trained in merchandising. In 1837, he opened a general store in a little log cabin on Water Street, the second mercantile house in Bloomington. The log cabin was soon replaced by a two-story structure, the lower floor for business use and a residence above. Thirteen years later, it was removed to make way for a larger brick structure. Ogilvie continued active in merchandising until his death on February 5, 1865, and for a long period was the oldest merchant of continuous connection with the trade in Muscatine.

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Josiah P. Walton, born in 1826 in New Hampshire, arrived in Muscatine in June, 1838. He became a carpenter and in the fall of 1849, began business for himself as an architect and builder. The high schools at Sixth and Iowa and at Wilton, the Episcopal Church and the B. Hershey mansion were built to his drawings. He continued the weather observations, begun by Parvin, until his death. He was a trustee of the Library Association of Muscatine and helped organize the Muscatine Academy of Science. Muscatine perhaps should be most grateful to him for the books “Pioneer Papers” published in 1899 and for “Scraps of Muscatine History” published in 1893. His recollections of early events, people and places in Bloomington and its surrounding are entertaining and informative.

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Abraham Smalley arrived in Bloomington township in August, 1838. In 1843, he embarked in the manufacturing business, first making fanning mills and plows but later erecting a windmill at the corner of Third and Cherry where he manufactured sash, doors, and blinds. He also made cultivators and these, as well as the fanning mills, were sold around the county from wagons. He continued in these businesses until 1855, when he turned to real estate. In 1856, with Green and Stone and Jacob Butler, he laid out South Muscatine and later Musserville. Smalley held the office of clerk of the Board of County Commissioners when Iowa was a territory and served three years on the school board. Abraham Smalley’s home site at the end of West Second Street was literally carved out of the hillside overlooking the river. This early settler died March 10, 1902.

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Jacob Isreal was the first Jewish resident of Muscatine. he arrived in the city in 1839. In many cases, the husband arrived first, obtained work and saved his money to bring his wife and family. They came from Russia, Poland and Lithuania and many of the first arrivals worked as peddlers, away from their homes for weeks and months to earn $40 or $50. As in the story “Fiddler on the Roof” many whole, small communities were forced to leave their homes with little notice. Such was the case in 189- when the Jewish community of Muscatine nearly doubled overnight with the arrival of 17 families from one of these villages. Rabbi Joseph Bleedin came to Muscatine in 1890 and remained until his death in 1916. In 1893, the long planned for synagogue, B’Nai Moses, was completed and dedicated.

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Judge S. Clinton Hastings occupied the most prominent position of any early politician in Muscatine. He was chosen one of the first two representatives from Iowa in the National Congress. He served in the 29th Congress as First District Representative. He was appointed to the Supreme Court bench as Chief Justice on January 26, 1848, and served until January 15, 1849. He had a decided influence on local politics in the formative years of the county. In 1849 he moved to California where he was named to the Supreme Court. The name, S. Clinton Hastings, appears on many of the official records and early law documents of Muscatine County.

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James Carskaddan arrived in Muscatine in 1853 and he wrote of it in a letter to his bride-to-be, Marilla. “It is a somewhat larger place than D (meaning Davenport), has a great deal more capital and at least five times as much business. Muscatine is a real western town – full of true western life and energy. There are not so many lawyers here as Davenport and there is a great deal more law business…” And this was the point of his traveling from New York after completion of his law studies. He married Marilla in 1854 and here he remained, a leader at Muscatine’s Bar and an active organizer in many of the city’s early business firms for nearly 60 years until his death in 1912.

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“There is a surplus of two things here which you find in most places – dry goods and lawyers”. So wrote a man from Maine about Muscatine in 1853. Among the lawyers were William G. Woodward and his partner, John C.B. Warde. Warde was described as “tall, of good form, well educated and well dressed.” “The most singular man” said a pioneer, “that ever visited our city”. He left Muscatine a mansion built on a headland overlooking the Mississippi. Before it was completed, he mysteriously left the City and the question remains “Why?” Who was to be the mistress of the Warde mansion, the building which is now the Riverview Heights Nursing Home? If Woodward knew, he did not tell.

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In September, 1853, Jacob and John Mahin took in Orion Clemens as a partner in the publication of the Muscatine Journal. In June, 1854, they began the tri-weekly edition of the newspaper. Orion Clemens was known as a good printer, an entertaining, sensible writer and an upright, conscientious man. In January, 1855, the Mahins sold out to Charles Wilson and during the administration of Clements and Wilson, in June, 1855, the first number of the Daily Journal was issued. Later that year Clemens sold his interest in the company. It was during this time that Mark Twain worked as a typesetter in Muscatine.

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Everyone seems to know Samuel Clemens worked for the Muscatine Journal but did you know that it was in Muscatine that he met the “son of the devil?” His story was that while walking in the fields on Sunday, he met a lunatic, who, drawing a butcher knife from his boot, proposed to carve him unless he acknowledged him to be the sole and only son of the devil. Although Clemens stated that he was the only family member had met, he was not satisfied. It didn’t seem worthwhile to make trouble about such a minor point, so Clemens came to his point of view and “saved his skin whole” as he put it.

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In about the year 1860, four men in Des Moines gave up their card game and were just sitting about the room, when one of the men, William Ziegler, a former Muscatine drug store clerk, drew an envelope from his pocket. He remarked that it contained a recipe for baking powder and proposed that the others join him in forming a company to produce it, suggesting that they could make a fortune. Each man could contribute $5; he would put up the recipe in lieu of cash. The men laughed at the idea. Months later, while visiting in Keokuk, he received encouragement from a friend name Huiskamp, who also backed him financially and Royal Baking Powder was on its way. Needless to say it did make his fortune.

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The Iowa Graybeards were mustered into the army at Camp Strong, located just south of Muscatine. This famous regiment of Civil War soldiers had an average age of 57. Many of them were in their 60’s and 70’s. The patriarch of the regiment, Charles Kind who had celebrated his 81st birthday was 6’8” tall. Some were veterans of the War of 1812 or the Mexican War. In late 1862, they were mustered at Muscatine. By January 1 they had been sent to St. Louis, assigned to guard duty, and later to protect railroad bridges near that city. Young troops were needed elsewhere and the Graybeards relieved them. May of them found the duty fatiguing, several deserted and some were forced to request discharges. On May 20, 1865, when the regiment returned to Iowa, only half were still with the 37th.

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Frank Bowman worked hard to make Bowman’s Livery Stable a lively business. He started as a stable boy, sleeping on a rug on the stable office floor. He gradually advanced to become the most well known liveryman in Muscatine. His reputation for square dealing and his knowledge of the business made him well known throughout the territory. He secured all the hauling for the Grand Opera Hose, carrying all the scenery required for their dramatic performances. He was in great demand by contractors to haul building material. Frank Bowman’s operation was a full-fledged livery stable at the turn of the century, making a specialty of furnishing complete outfits for drivers, including horses and rigs. The Bowman Livery was one of the largest and finest in the state.

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State Senator George M. Titus of Muscatine was responsible for Iowa’s biennial elections. The first three general elections were held on the second Tuesday of October with the exception of presidential election years, when it was held on the second Tuesday of November. An amendment in 1882 placed the election on the second Tuesday of October in odd numbered years and the second Tuesday of November in even numbered years. In 1884, an amendment fixed the November date for each year. In 1898, Titus told the State it could save $500,000 in election and campaign expenses if they adopted the biennial plan as used in more than 30 other states. The amendment passed with little opposition in both houses and was approved by the people with approximately a 30,000 vote majority.

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In 1888, Oscar Grossheim, a Muscatine photographer, sold a Kodak camera to Miss Mistie Burtner. It is believed to have been the first retail sale of the instrument in this country. Grossheim was the third dealer to sign a contract with George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak. The first ones were manufactured by Eastman and shipped out seven dealers, Grossheim among them. Miss Burtner had already agreed to take one of the Kodaks upon arrival and delivery was made as soon as they arrived. Eastman himself felt that the sale was the first in the United States since it was sold immediately upon arrival. Shortly after her purchase, Miss Burtner left on a trip to Colorado and through the medium of her camera met Englishman, Harry Bryne, whom she later married.

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Mrs. Carrie Nation arrived in Muscatine on Monday, February 11, 1901. She was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of 2,000 people crowding for a glimpse of the far famed saloon smasher. She was accompanied by five women and their manager, A.C. Rankins. That evening, she spoke to a fair size audience at the Grand, where she stated that she would rather talk for one minute to a saloon keeper who needed her than to such an audience “who were all right”. On the following day, at 7:00 a.m., accompanied by the city marshal, deputy marshal and reporters, she visited various saloons including Crippen’s, Wier’s, the Grand Annex, VanDresky’s, Volger’s, the Commercial Annex and Welsch’s. She made her accusation, admonished the customers, but did not wield her hatchet.

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Patent No. 841347 of January 15, 1907, covering the invention of the three electrode vacuum tube is generally regarded as one of the most valuable patents ever issued by the U.S. Patent Office. it was one of more than 200 issued to Lee deforest for improvements in radio and television during his lifetime. deForest moved to Muscatine in 1878 at the age of five. He began his education in the city but in 1879 the family moved to Alabama where his father became president of Talladega College. They returned to Muscatine for visits to his grandfather, Alden Burrill Robbins, one of the famous “Iowa Band”, a heroic group of pioneer home missionaries who came from Massachusetts to Iowa in the early days. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church where he remained until his death in 1896.

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In mid-September of 1919, Ellis Parker Butler and his family left Muscatine for their home in Flushing, New York. They had spent the summer on Geneva Island as he gathered material for a new series of stories on the Mid-West and the Mississippi. When asked if the name Muscatine would appear in his new stories, Butler replied, “No, because people who have never heard of Muscatine place it in the same class as Kenosha and Mennehaha.” He reasoned that the name Muscatine had a peculiar sound. Butler, born and raised in Muscatine, often used the locale in his books but referred to it as Riverbank. Prior to his departure, the author of PIGS IS PIGS and GOATFEATHERS stated he had never spent a more enjoyable summer.

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On February 26, 1921, 22 year old, Miss Clara Van Zandt, a stenographer, was announced as the candidate on the Democratic ticket for City Recorder. Miss Van Zandt’s entrance into the race marked the first time in the city’s history that a woman had ever been a candidate for municipal office. She had been a Muscatine resident for eight years. She attended Muscatine High School and Brown’s Business College, graduating in 1917. She had four year’s experience as a stenographer and bookkeeper and had been in her current position at the Riverview Garage for two years. Van Zandt lost the March 7 election to Clyde Parks, who received 2,962 votes to her 1,234.

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Dorothy Greenwald, McKinley school pupil who carried off the spelling honors in the 1931 Muscatine County-City spelling contest, was the first Muscatine County student to win two city spelling contests. Her ability to spell “toboggan” won her the championship for the second year in a row. Dorothy Greenwald and runner-up, Lurine Gibson, of West Liberty represented the City and the County at the State spelling bee in April. On June 7, 1831, Dorothy Greenwald became the champion of the 8th Annual National Spelling Bee, winning in competition in a field of 19 state champions. She won after spelling 59 words correctly. The winning words were “interchangeable” and “invulnerable”.

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A private pilot’s license was issued to A.E. Hoffman on October 22, 1931, after he had successfully passed the requirements of the U.S. Department of Commerce before an inspector at the Muscatine Municipal Airport. Hoffman, the proprietor of Hoffman Funeral Home, was the first man to pass the test for a license at the Muscatine Field where he received his instruction. The tests were passed in a Curtiss Rubin cabin monoplane, owned by the Muscatine Flying Club of which he was a member. Hoffman had made his solo flight a year earlier. Other members of the club had made their solo flights and were expected to take the test soon.

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