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Pioneer Life
In and Around Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 1839 to 1849
Rev. George R. Carroll

- Chapter XIX -

(pages  223 - 243)

Chapters:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X (cont), XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX

Notes and Incidents by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Jones.

In 1844 there lived in the town of Aurora, New York, a young lady, who had just finished her education. Her name was Elizabeth H. Shearer. She was a half sister of John L. Shearer, Esq., who then lived in the little hamlet called Cedar Rapids, in Iowa Territory. Being well qualified to teach, and being possessed of a good deal of youthful enthusiasm, she conceived the idea of going west where she could support herself and carve out her own fortune. During that summer the long absent brother and son made a visit to his parents, and while he was there the decision was made that Miss Shearer should accompany her brother to his western home. She afterwards became the wife of Rev. Williston Jones who came to Cedar Rapids in the spring of 1848 to take charge of the First Presbyterian church. It was during this residence of eight years as the pastor's wife that Mrs. Jones became so well and favorably known all over this region of country.

At the green old age of seventy two years she is still living in comparative health at Wellsley, Massachusetts, where her daughter holds the honorable position of physician and professor in the celebrated female college, located at that place.

Some months ago her niece and namesake, Miss Elizabeth J. Shearer, wrote to her aunt requesting her to write out an account of her first visit to Cedar Rapids, giving a description of such incidents and experiences as she could call to mind. Mrs. Jones readily complied with the request, with the expectation that her reminiscences should be for the benefit of her immediate relatives and friends who reside here. Having been permitted to hear that paper read it seemed to me eminently proper and desirable that it should be given to the public. The descriptions given are so graphic and so true in detail, as several living witnesses can testify, that I am sure that it will find many deeply interested readers.

Having obtained permission from the owner of this document, as well as from the author herself, to make such use of it in these reminiscences as I deemed best, I give that portion of it which relates to Iowa.

After a long and tedious journey from Aurora to Buffalo, Detroit, Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, Alegan, St. Joseph, Chicago and Galena, in which several different modes of travel had been employed, we at last find our weary travelers at a private boarding house in Dubuque, where Judge Greene and family were then boarding. At this point Mrs. Jones shall take the pen and describe the rest of her journey, and her adventures for the following eight months after she reached her destination.

She is speaking to her niece, but as we are invited guests, it will be considered no breach of etiquette if we listen to all that is said.

Private Boarding House, Dubuque, Iowa.

"Here we came to a full pause, and had to remain four days when so near the end of our journey, waiting for Judge Greene's horse and buggy which had gone up into Wisconsin to take his law partner to try a lawsuit. There was then in Dubuque no livery stable, no reputable hotel and no stage route west, the mails were taken once a week on horseback into the interior of Wisconsin and Iowa, and letters were eighteen cents postage without envelopes, so you can easily imagine that there were fewer letters written and the mails much lighter than at the present day. I give the incidents of this journey in detail that you may see how very different are the modes of living and locomotion at the present day from what they were just fifty years ago. Nowhere now, in the far extended and broad west, is such tardy traveling a necessity, nor would it be endured by the rushing multitudes, who would almost build and equip a railroad in the time that journey was accomplished.

"Now, over these same broad highly cultivated acres, then a vast uninhabited wilderness, in palace cars with multiplied modern improvements the people rush on, impatient at the slightest delay, when not many more hours are consumed than it took days then to perform that journey: now passing through many flourishing towns and cities and stopping when necessary at palatial hotels. What a contrast in our country between now and fifty years ago!

"You can easily imagine how restless and impatient your father must have been after so long an absence from his little family from whom he had not heard during that long weary journey, to be detained so long when so near the end; if he had not had a young lady to tow along, he would have not taken trotter's express and soon been at home; as it was, there was no alternative but to wait the moving of the feeble trotting horse which came in late at night tired from the Wisconsin lawsuit, the result of which, a pale, intellectual student-like looking lawyer, Mr. Merritt, (Mrs. Greene's brother), brought to the senior partner.

"The next morning, without waiting for the horse to rest, we started bright and early for Cedar Rapids, there being only two houses then where travelers were entertained on the way between Dubuque and Marion, the first only thirteen miles from Dubuque, the other somewhere far beyond half of the distance between the two places, which must be made before we slept.

"We traveled on with our tired steed till midday, when we stopped by the way on the treeless prairie to eat the lunch with which we had been provided, and to let the horse refresh himself on the prairie grass.

"We both grew very weary through the long afternoon, but our courage revived as we neared the "Traveler's Inn" about nine or ten o-clock; but alas! It sunk again when, in crossing a creek three-quarters of a mile from the house, the buggy which had seemed rather insecure, broke down in the midst of the stream. I cannot remember now how I was extricated from the broken vehicle, (but I think by walking on one of the thills), or how the buggy was gotten on to dry land, but I know both of us walked the rest of the way and that the Inn was full when we got there, and that the salt pork and Indian bread tasted good.

"The houses on the prairies in those days were like the omnibuses and street cars of the present time, there was always room for one more or rather all who came, so of course we were taken in, and I slept profoundly in the same room with thirteen men, one of them being your father.

"The sleeping arrangements in the houses of those early times were often most amusing, but the genuine hospitality of those early settlers was equal to any extension of bedding and the sharing of all the larder contained.

"The sweet simplicity and rare open-heartedness, one of the charms of those early times of plain living, have greatly deteriorated in the introduction of more stately and luxurious styles. You could see them gradually die out in the glare of greater pomp and glitter.

"The next morning the buggy was ingeniously repaired with ropes and we journeyed on to Marion where we stopped and took dinner with Mrs. Earl, having some messages and packages for her, from her sister Mrs. Greene. Mrs. Earl gave us a warm welcome, and the cheering news that all was well at Cedar Rapids, we hastened on with light hearts. Marion had then a small cluster of comfortable looking houses and a small court house, being then as now the shire town of the county, and was a place of several hundred inhabitants, but Cedar Rapids lay almost unbroken plain upon the river bank, dotted with four or five log cabins and two partially framed buildings, one a small, very odd-looking dwelling house, the other designed for a store in the near future. A grove on two sides completed the real view of this famed city, like many another well developed on paper. In the distance on the opposite side of the river could be seen two or three other log cabins.

"Home at Last."

"As we neared the log house nearest the river, the family were on the lookout and met us with tearful smiles, and a warm welcome. Your mother was most grateful for the safe return of your father and greeted me as a sister to be loved. Cynthia, the first-born, who adored her father, was so overjoyed, she could not keep back the tears from her large, blue eyes; winsome Mary's face was wreathed in smiles and her little eyes were radiant with delight, and Henry, the little, toddling boy, his father's man, had not forgotten his right-of-way to his papa's knee.

"It was a glad household that beautiful afternoon, all were so happy to have father home again, and they had many things to tell of the happenings during his absence; each had her little stock of news to deliver. They had all been well, and had gotten on nicely which was indeed cause for gratitude and rejoicing.

"Our trunks came a week later by the slow but safe conveyance of an ox-team, and the horse and buggy were sent back a few days after our arrival by a man who wished to go to Dubuque on business.

"I was soon settled and made to feel perfectly at home in this family of which you wish me to write, and of which you and John had not then become visible members. Your mother had not been alone with her little ones in your father's absence, for her brother, Henry Weare and Joseph Greene, were members of the family as boarders.

"Your Uncle Henry was a very reserved, tacturn young man, seldom joining in conversation at the table or on other occasions, quite unlike any of your other uncles on the Weare side; he always seemed lost in thought and pre-occupied, and I never got acquainted with him. But Joseph was loquacious to a remarkable degree, good natured and kind-hearted, and would take kindly any amount of bantering. The two young men were as unlike as could well be. Your mother and I were very congenial and at once became fast friends, which friendship knew no clouds, and continued unbroken as long as she lived. I had great admiration of her ready resources and her ability to overcome difficulties that seemed to me insurmountable; she had great fortitude and immense endurance, and would rise above trials, reverses and sorrows, that would have crushed a weaker character. She was a very superior woman, and under all circumstances was a power for good and her influence helpful. She 'looked well to the ways of her household' and was a comforter of many, she was strong, noble, kind, and generous, full of sympathy for all in trouble and in bearing their burdens forgot her own.

"She was a motherly sister to me in my youthful inexperience, to whom I could tell and confide everything. She was very entertaining, having always a fund of anecdotes, adventures and solid sense from which to discourse; so with Joseph to give variety, we always had a most enjoyable social time with our frugal meals. Your father was more like your Uncle Henry staid and quiet and his opinions had to be drawn out. He was a man usually of few words, but with a mind of his own, which he could express quite freely, and sharply when he thought circumstances demanded outspoken language, but usually he was of 'a meek and quiet spirit,' a friendly and kind neighbor, rejoicing in the well-being of all about him, not envying the greater prosperity of others or reflecting unkindly on any unjust treatment in business affairs, but submitted patiently to the many trials and reverses of his life, and though great success never seemed to crown his efforts, he was through life that 'noblest work of God an honest man.'

"As there was no church near, your father and mother had established a little Sabbath school, for the few children in the neighborhood, you father acting as superintendent. The school was held in an unfinished room in the one framed house (Mr. Vardy's). I joined as teacher, having the largest girls, of which Cynthia was one. I enjoyed the children, taught Cynthia and Mary, and together we roamed over the prairies, the grove, and by the river, and occasionally visited the neighbors. The fall was very pleasant and I did not feel the least lonely or homesick.

"The Visit at the Home of Mr. E. T. Lewis."

"Joseph (everybody then called him Joe Greene) often talked of giving me a ride if he could only find a suitable 'rig', which, after many ineffectual attempts, he finally succeeded in doing, on the occasion of his having received an invitation to take me about three miles to a Mr. Lewis' to eat watermelons. So he started off in the morning to find a horse and vehicle, intending to be back in time for dinner.

"Expecting we should start soon after dinner, I dressed before, and your mother finally delayed the dinner awaiting Joseph's coming, but Joseph did not put in an appearance, and so we ate our dinner and waited on. Your mother who was as much interested in the expedition as I, watched anxiously for his arrival, not wanting me to be disappointed in my first chance to go visiting. So we continued to watch and wait, until I became entirely discouraged and ready to give it up as a lost opportunity, when an equipage ponderous, unique and grotesque, came dashing up to the door, the driver quite lost to view in the huge proportion of the vehicle, which looked as though it must have come down from primeval times, a survival of the flood or a remnant of the ark, and the animals attached to this prodigious wagon, looked strange and ancient enough to have helped draw the ark on to dry ground. Behold the steeds! One horse was of gigantic proportions, and illy developed with some protuberances that reminded us of a rhinoceros, the other was a small ill-fed pony.

"We were convulsed with laughter over this incongruous team and at once gave them the names of Rhinoceros and Lilliputian.

"The harness beggars description, so heavy and wide that it covered the pony as armor, although so loosely that it well-nigh fell off with every movement. It fitted the large one better but only to add to the grotesqueness of the mammoth animal.

"The problem now was, how to mount into this 'prairie schooner', (the name I learned of this remarkable conveyance for prairie locomotion), a modern gymnast with wings might have been equal to it, but I was powerless for such a feat! But with the aid of a barrel, stools, etc., (there were no step ladders there in those days), Joseph and your mother together pitched me in, and between three and four o'clock we started, your mother cheering us on and watching us in great amusement till out of sight.

"After riding about a mile, we stopped and took in two young men and one young lady, (the Cooks and Carroll, your Aunt Kate, it seems to me, went; the young men I know did) and then rode on, the horses traveling better than might have been expected.

"We came in sight of the house of our destination and were expecting to ride up with great éclat, when, coming to a slight elevation in the road, the horses suddenly balked! Joseph whipped up and urged them forward, but this only had the effect to enrage them and they began to back and twist the 'schooner' till this young lady got thoroughly frightened, fearing this immense structure might be overturned and she buried beneath the ruins; so I insisted, woman fashion, in getting out, much to the chagrin of Joseph. How the three young men got me out, I cannot say, but I came out quicker than I went in. Then the horses without further trouble went briskly up the little hill. As we were so near I would not get in again, but walked on abreast the gay equipage containing the three young men, and I think, the other young lady.

"We were hospitably received, had plenty of melons, stayed to supper, had a pleasant visit, and returned safely home by moonlight, without any further adventure.

"On our way home Joseph told me the Herculean task he had to secure this entertainment for me. He had spent all the day but the margin we occupied on our ride and visit, in hunting up this unique establishment, crossing the river and walking many miles to fit it up, finding one horse in one place, the other miles away, and the 'schooner' miles in another direction, fitting up a harness for one of the horses (the smaller I presume) and he must return at least some part of this useful equipage before the next morning. Could anything exceed such gallantry and heroic exertion? I ought to have been most grateful and I trust I was kindly appreciative; at any rate if furnished us no small amount of fun and a subject for racy conservation, Joseph entering into it as heartily as the rest of us.

The pioneer Pleasure Ride and Visit

"The Empty Larder."

"In those days of 'plain living' and 'high thinking' undisturbed nature in its vastness giving a wide range to thought, we used to have voracious appetites; provisions were scarce and often obtained under great difficulties. At an earlier day your father had been sixty miles to mill with oxen. At this time he had to go still many miles, and owing to some disappointment in procuring a team, the flour barrel or sack was empty (Cedar Rapids flour mills were then a prospect of the future, only the site being visible) and all the other provisions had dwindled down and disappeared before our insatiable appetites; so that on one certain day we had not only cleared the table but the entire contents of the larder and remained afterwards at table a long time discoursing in high spirits upon the novel situation, the feasibility of living without food, wondering how it would seem to be fed by 'ravens' and kindred events, illustrated with anecdotes of hair-breadth escapes from starvation through miraculous interposition, etc.

"This was my first experience of ever being in a house where there was literally nothing to eat; and though I made merry with the rest, my heart began to sink within me as I thought of my ravenous appetite depriving others, especially little children, of their necessary food.

"As I remember, your father had already started, or was about to start, for fresh supplies of provisions, but when he would return was uncertain.

"There were several young people at Marion who had heard through Joseph and Mrs. Earl that there was a young lady 'from the East' at Mr. Shearer's; so one day a young lawyer, Mr. Sanford, called, ostensibly on some business with your father, but really deputed by the others to find out whether the young lady from the East, was one whose acquaintance it was worth while to make, and take into their select coterie. The gentlemen, two of them, were from the far East and the ladies from Ohio.

"It is supposed he reported favorably, for the next week, on this very day when we had remained in such hilarity at the table, wondering if any one should come upon the scene, what they would think we had for dinner, and how we should feel when sent supperless to bed, a party of six came suddenly upon us to make a call, and invite the young people of the family to accompany them to the island down the river a little ways, to hunt wild grapes, where there was said to be an abundance. After a pleasant little call, we started off, your uncle Henry being in quite an unusually genial mood, was the life of the company, and Joseph was as obliging as ever.

"Your mother knew some of these young people, and had taken great pleasure in introducing them to your uncle Henry and myself. They were Mr. and Mrs. Downing, recently married; Misses Laura Cheedle and Luxinna Hughes, (the Presbyterian minister's wife's sister), Mr. Sanford, the aforesaid lawyer, and Addison Daniels, the only merchant then in Marion and the only 'Daniels' then in all that region.

"We started from the house about half past two o-clock and were gone less than three hours, and in the excitement of making new acquaintances, and the fun and frolic of that woodland ramble; I quite forgot the domestic dilemma and the food problem I had so recently been pondering. Your mother had been left alone with the little children to face the situation and to solve the problem as best she could. When we returned from our wild grape quest, the Marion company declined coming into the house, for having stayed longer than they expected, must hurry home, (the road was longer then than now) but your mother came out and insisted on their staying to tea. I thought she was crazy and my heart began to sink within me. With not a morsel in the house, wherewith was she to feed so many? Without much urging the consented to stay. When we entered the house what a marvel met my astonished eyes! Tea was on the table before the company could wash their hands and make ready to sit down.

"In modern parlance 'covers' for nine and your mother waited upon us all, most graciously, while all seeming to appreciate her hospitality, partook with the rarest relish of the dainty but abundant meal. I was lost in wonder and surprise; warm biscuit and butter, dried brief, cake, custard, stewed dried currants and tea.

"I thought I had never tasted anything so delicious. How could anything so unexpected have happened? It seemed literally the work of fairies or rather a miracle than that of one poor, tired woman. I could hardly wait for the company to leave, before I began to ask what it meant. And I found this was the way it all came about.

"After we left for our ramble the first thing your mother did was to set Cynthia to washing up the dishes while she washed out the best tablecloth, having first made up the fire in the stove which had hone out while we were talking at the table, mopped the floor, and then canvassed the entire neighborhood for a 'loan exhibition' of such articles as each house afforded, as everything for the evening meal was borrowed to be returned anon, except the currants, which we had dried at home for your father to bring with him for a little treat to the family, there being no cultivated fruit then west of the Mississippi.

"Your mother had been to every house, six in number, not being able to obtain more than one article at any one place, then she returned, made and baked her cake, stewed her currants, made custard, ironed her tablecloth, set her table, made biscuit and tea, changed her dress and was all ready to receive the company in that short space of time. Do you wonder that I thought your mother a remarkable woman?

"Truly the day of miracles was not past in the year of our Lord 1844, and from that day on so far as I know 'the barrel of meal and cruse of oil' never gave out in that house again.

"This was a wonderful experience for me and my faith grew exceedingly.

"The Indian Visitors."

"I had never seen any Indians save a few of the civilized Senecas near Buffalo and I expressed so great a desire to see some of the wild Indians of the West that your father promised when some encamped near enough, he would take me to their camp.

"In the late fall, one bright, beautiful morning, when I was just getting up, your father called to me to hurry and come out doors for he had something for me to see.

"I hurried on my dress and rushed out and saw a sight that delighted me. Just below the house crossing the river, was a company of Indian warriors on horses, dressed in full war-like costume, armed with knives and tomahawks, which glittered in the morning sun's rays as did bead wrought helmets and moccasins, while their stately and tall plumes nodded gracefully in the breeze.

"It was a gay and striking cavalcade which came dashing past us as we stood gazing, I in great wonder and interest.

"Your father who had formerly traded with some Indian tribes in Michigan could make himself understood by them and courteously saluted them as they passed, which salutation they gallantly returned, pointing and telling I suppose where they were going, they pranced on, I looking after them till they all disappeared in the forest beyond, and wishing they would return so that I could see more of them.

"After nightfall, the same day, we were sitting in pleasant converse before the large open fireplace, in which small logs were burning briskly, sending forth a bright light, when suddenly the room filled up with numbers of Indians, who stole in so noiselessly that we had not the slightest sign of their approach till they were all about us, shorn of all the gay trappings of the morning, their blankets, even, ready to fall from their almost naked bodies. It seems that they had been to receive their semi-annual annuities from government to whom they had sold their 'hunting grounds' and, like many white men when paid off, had been where they could buy 'fire water', and this was the result.

"Perhaps they made us the evening call because your father had shown himself so friendly, and we had all greeted them so heartily in the morning. Once in the house with the warmth of the fire they grew hilarious, then some quarrel began among themselves and they became ill-natured and boisterous.

"I began to grow frightened and the moments grew long, and my alarm increased as I saw your mother was looking anxious, too.

"Only one seemed composed and sober, and he, evidently seeing our fears, lighted the 'pipe of peace,' smoked and handed it to your father, who would not take it even when your mother urged him to do so, but insisted on their leaving, which they did not seem inclined to do.

"My fears grew apace as their noise increased. I made my way into the darkness of the only room besides the one they occupied, imagining ourselves all scalped, etc., with no possible help at hand, while all through the din, I could hear your father's imperative tones bidding them 'begone,' and your mother begging him to deal gently with them, for fear of further hostilities, while alone in the dark, I prayed for Divine protection for us all.

"Finally, the invaders left, and quiet was restored, but what I suffered in that hour cannot be described, and that whole night, I could not sleep, having the feeling that they would return and slay us all and burn the house. My curiosity was fully satisfied, and I never wanted to see any more wild Indians."

Source: Pioneer Life In and Around Cedar Rapids from 1839 to 1949 by Rev. George R. Carroll. Pub. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Times Printing and Binding House, 1895.

Transcribed by Terry Carlson for the IAGenWeb. For research only. Some errors in transcription may have occurred.

Chapters:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X (cont), XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX

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