CHAPTER III.
SETTLERS PRIOR TO COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
While the main body of Pottawattamie Indians were leaving their hunting and fishing grounds in Cass county, the Mormon refugees from Nauvoo, Ill., on their way to far-distant Utah, found a temporary haven near the deserted Indiantown. In the summer of 1846 a large body of the 16,000 who followed Brigham Young to their promised land scattered up and down the Missouri river from Council Bluffs, and about twenty families settled on the Nishnabotna river and Indian creek, near Indiantown and the present Lewis. They built cabins, made dugouts and otherwise prepared for the winter of 1846-7. As they wer ealmost destitute of provisions, and it was impossible to obtain supplies within a distance of one hundred miles in any direction, their sufferings were great. They obtained some corn at St. Joseph, Mo., the grain being ground between common boulders.
THE MORMANS OF CASS COUNTY.
A. G. Pettengill, the first postmaster of the Mormon settlement, and who resided there during the three years of their stay in Cass county, many years afterward, when a resident of Utah, furnished Lafayette Young, of Atlantic, with an account of this interesting period of pioneer history. He says that in 1847 the Mormons raised enough sod corn to feed themselves and their stock. In that year they secured the establishment of a postoffice at their settlement. The postoffice was called Cold Spring, although the settlement was known as Indiantown, and the mail was received weekly from the main Mormon camp at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs.
In 1849 the Mormon settlers at Cold Spring had the privilege of voting for the first time, and as the population of the State was small, the leaders of the Church were treated with great consideration by men seeking political preferment. At the election mentioned, Orson Hyde, the leading Mormon at the Kanesville settlement, came to Cold Spring to instruct its voters; but it is said that they let Orson have his talk, and then voted as they pleased. James Ferrin was the bishop who took the tithings from the brethren at Cold Spring, and Messrs. Warner and Bunnell were the preachers.
The Mormons did not devote themselves entirely to agriculture and religion. There were two violin players in the settlement, and the folks gathered in each other's houses every night or two and held social dances. The joists in the cabins being low, the tall men would take positions when they danced that would allow their heads to extend up between the bass-wood poles that crossed above.
While the intention of the Mormon settlers in Cass county was simply to recuperate while on their way to Deseret, or Salt Lake City, some of them remained for five or six years. Even as late as the summer of 1851 the members of the church had a baptismal ceremony at the Nishnabotna river, when fifteen people were received into full membership. Among the converts was Elihu Hyatt, a Gentile, rather a rough character who is said to have joined the sect that he might marry his Mormon sweetheart. He afterward removed to Utah. The last of the Mormans of Cass county left for Salt Lake City in 1852.
THE FIRST GENTILE SETTLER.
Vincent M. Conrad is by general consent accorded the honor of being the first gentile to take up land in Cass county for the purpose of permanent settlement, and as the Mormons were only temporary sojourners he may be considered its first settler. He was a native of the Empire State, where he was reared and educated, and was the sixth in a family of nine children. When he was sixteen years of age he went to Detroit, where until 1840 he was connected with various lines of business in a clerical capacity. In that year he removed to Hancock county, Ill., where he remained until 1846, and, after a short residence in Van Buren county, Iowa, engaged in prospecting and mining in the Dubuque lead district.
In the spring of 1850 Mr. Conrad left Dubuque with a team of horses and wagon, bringing with him his wife, one child, and his household goods, and taking up a claim on what is now section 9, Cass township. Choosing a tract of fertile bottom land as the site of his residence, he erected a log cabin, fifteen by thirty-two feet in size, where he installed his furniture and family. His only neighbors were the remnants of the Mormon community, who yet lingered in the neighborhood. In the fall of that year, on account of scarcity of the family provisions, it was determined to return to Dubuque, spend the winter there, and make a fresh start in the establishment of the Cass county home during the spring of 1851. So placing the house and stock in charge of a Mormon by the name of Weeks, the family left for their long journey across the State. In the early part of 1851, however, the heavy rains and melting snows so swelled the numerous rivers and streams which he would be obliged to ford on his return trip that he was obliged to remain in Dubuque. He did not venture into Cass county again until the spring of 1852, when he settled permanently upon his claim, and Weeks, the Mormon care-taker, departed for Salt Lake City.
Mr. Conrad's second coming to Cass county was signalized by the fact that he brought with him a team of oxen, of which he made good use during the early years of his residence. Soon after his return from Dubuque Mr. Conrad moved his log cabin--the first house of a permanent settler in the county--to a hill on his land, and the following year added another story to it, throwing it open to the entertainment of emigrants and new comers. His claim covered the land forming the site of the Pottawattamie Indiantown, and this tract he sold to W. N. Dickerson, who, in the summer of 1853, laid out the town by that name. Consequently Mr. Conrad always took a deep interest in the progress of the place. In 1854 he opened the first store there, carrying a stock of dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes. The postoffice was also established in his house, and there continued until the county seat was fixed at Lewis. Not satisfied with thus making himself and his property generally useful, he allowed his residence to be used as a dancing school, to the great enjoyment, if not edification, of the young people of the community. That both his usefulness and popularity were recognized are evident from the fact that at the first election for county officers, in April, 1853, he was chosen treasurer and collector. He is also known to have acted as recorder, recording the first deed in June of that year. In the early days he held the office of justice of the peace for many years and was mayor of Lewis. He was one of the first Odd Fellows in the county. From 1859 until 1883 he actively engaged in farming, but during the last years of his life rented his land, which was located in section 9, Cass township.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 45-48.Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.
