Chapter VIII
In September, 1881, Henry C. Allen landed
in Goewey Township. There came with him, August Thomson, C.
Thompson and Francis Allen, these four forming the party. H. C.
Allen settled on the northeast quarter of Section 8, in Township
98, Range 41, where he still resides, and the others filed upon
and settled on claims near him, and are now non-residents. This
party commenced housekeeping by putting up a house partly on
three quarter-sections, making their home together until later
on, when separate houses were to be built. In the latter part of
1871, H. C. Allen and Frances Allen drove their teams to Minnesota
for work, and they remained there during the winter, Frances
Allen stopping at Eagle Lake and H. C. going on further to
Waterford. H. C. Allen took his family along with him, consisting
of his wife and three children, and with them returned early in
the spring of 1872. He drove to Minnesota with a wagon and
started back with a wagon, but on his way was overtaken with a
blizzard and a large fall of snow, so that he had runners put
under his wagon bed. He was traveling alongside the railroad
track, and a few miles beyond Heron Lake came to a deep ravine
which was filled with snow and there seemed to be no way of
getting across it, and, as Allen was anxious to get home before
the time run out to get on his claim, he drove across the
railroad bridge, it being a high and reasonably long one made in
trestle work. It seemed a hazardous undertaking, but Mr. Allen
got over all right, and in watching the horses ahead, but
actually forgotten that he had one tied behind, but when fairly
landed on the other side everything was all right and got over
safely. Mr. Allen finally reached his claim, but before getting
there went down into a slough which required the aid of his
neighbor, Dagel, to pull him out. Someone had been in the house
and left it open, so that everything was in confusion and covered
with snow.
To one who drove over these prairies twenty years ago, the
scenery now in comparison is beautiful and magnificent. Where
stood the sod house and the usual 8 by 10 shack; there are now
commodious and tasty residences, and groves, whose trees, dressed
in their green and luxuriant foliage, add to the beauties of
nature, and mark the landscape with a fascinating and dignified
splendor. Going back in remembrance to 1871 we could see a shack
on Section 8, Goewey Township, which straddled the line of three
quarter-sections, holding down claims for H. C. Allen, Frances
Allen and one of the Thomson boys, not a tree in sight anywhere,
and, in fact, not a house. We could see the boys figuring on how
to get through the winter, and wondering what the country would
amount to anyhow. But forgetting the past and looking at the
living present, we saw that same quarter-section on 8, which
Henry Allen settled upon in 1871, now under thorough cultivation,
with a large barn and nice residence almost hidden in a grove of
large trees, and everything about the place showing that its
occupant is in comfortable circumstances and in the enjoyment of
life.
W. H. Lean came from Wisconsin and in 1871 settled on the
southwest quarter of Section 6, Baker Township. Mr. Lean came
with some others, previously mentioned, and returned to Wisconsin
in 1871, and came back to his claim in the spring of 1872. Mr.
Lean still resides on the same land, which now has a beautiful
grove and fine residence, with other improvements. He is also the
Goewey Postmaster. Mr. Lean found Nagg's body, the party
mentioned elsewhere as lost in the February blizzard, 1872.
A beautiful residence greets the eye on the southeast quarter of
Section 2, in Goewey Township. The elegant dwelling house and
large barn are surrounded with large stately forest trees, and
everything betokens thrift and comfort. The owner is O. B.
Harding, who settled on the east half of southeast quarter of
Section 2 in 1873, and has lived there since. Mr. Harding has
since bought other land around him.
In 1871, W. M. and J. H. Dagel, brothers, came from Clayton County,
Iowa, driving through with teams, and between them took the north
half of Section 6, in Goewey Township. By work and economy they
now own over 2,000 acres of land, and still live on their
original claims.
In June, 1871, Mr. Thomas Jackson filed a pre-emption on the
northeast quarter of Section 30, in West Holman Township. Mr.
Jackson came from Wisconsin and after filing returned there, and
came to Osceola County again in the fall of same year and again
returned. In the spring of 1872 he drove through with a team,
bringing his family with him. On this same section at that time
there were settled William Jackson, William Anderson, Joseph
Anderson, Mr. Aldrich and Charles Kent. Mr. Thomas Jackson broke
about thirty acres in 1872, put up his shack in the fall of 1871,
hauling his lumber from Heron Lake, Minnesota. Mr. Jackson, after
living there about twelve years, moved to Fairview Township,
where he still resides, and is a successful farmer and a
substantial citizen. The perils of troubles of emigration, in
traveling some distance from the old home to the new one, are
often many.
Early in the seventies there could be seen the emigrant wagons,
reaching out for Northwest Iowa. They were called "prairie
schooners," and a prairie schooner was, after all a peculiar
institution. They navigated, sometimes single and alone, at other
times in numbers like a fleet of vessels at sea. A Yankee boy,
fresh from Massachusetts, when he saw one for the first time,
said, "See that butcher cart, pa," for, sure enough,
the meat carts in the cities of New England go about with a white
covering. It is astonishing to see sometimes the amount of
"truck" they carried and the number of inmates. We saw
one in 1873, heaving into Osceola County, that had three trunks,
two setts of harness, a sheet-iron stove, several bushels of
potatoes, two dozen hens, and its inmates were man and wife and
eight children; they also had cooking utensils, bedding, and feed
for the team. This mode of traveling, too, when the roads are
good and the party united and contented, is very enjoyable, and
certainly very healthy. These emigrant wagons are now seldom
seen, and when they are bound for Dakota.
In June, 1872, N. W. Emery drove through from Floyd County with a
team and wagon, bringing his wife and one child ( now Forrest
Emery, grown to manhood.) Mr. Emery settled on the southwest
quarter of Section 34, in Horton Township, where he still
resides, in easy circumstances and with the respect of the
people. The first summer he lived in his wagon; that is, this was
his only habitation. In the fall he put up a house, 12 X 14.
Owing to grasshoppers later on, Mr. Emery returned to Floyd
County and remained during the winter, where he could find
something to do. The following spring he returned, driving two
yoke of oxen, and he certainly had a time of it, for the roads
were bad, and until he reached Spencer it was nothing but mud and
water. Five other teams were with him, of parties going to
Dakota, and they stuck together, for they were useful to each
other when one or the other got fastened in the mud when it took
strength to pull the wagon out. Emery's oxen pulled each of the
others out several times, and once Emery's wagon was so deep in
the mud and water that it took the five teams combined with
Emery's two yoke of oven to pull him out. So bad were the roads,
that one day they traveled only nine miles, and Emery was
delighted when he got back to his claim. The first season Emery
did some breaking away from home for several weeks, which left
his wife and the infant (Forrest) to keep house alone.
In all the hardships incident to pioneer life it is not only the
men who endure them, but the women also, whose burden is as
great, if not greater, to bear. Their work may not be as hard,
but it is constant, and, with the care of the family and motherly
anxiety, the world does not know, and never will, the mental
anguish of a great many of the wives of pioneers who were making
a home on these fertile, but then uncultivated, prairies.
John P. Hawxshurst came in March, 1872, from Wisconsin. He
settled upon the southwest quarter of Section 22, Township 100,
Range 42, and is still a resident of the county. Mr. Hawxshurst
helped start the Sibley Gazette---laid the type from the
"original packages" into the case, and was with the
paper until 1885. At one time he was sole proprietor, and during
the grasshopper raid had a hard time of it indeed. At one time,
for about a month, he did not take in any money, nor pay any out,
nor did he have any in his pockets. His cash account was not hard
to keep, and no doubt there was many a country printer then
wondering half the time where his next meal was coming from.
In September, 1871, Mr. John L. Robinson landed in Osceola County
from Allamakee County. His son, F. M. Robinson, afterwards County
Auditor, had preceded him, and Frank met his father and mother
and one sister at Algona, and all drove over from there. They
took their claims on a different part of Section 28, on what is
now West Holman, put up buildings and commenced living. Mr. J. L.
Robinson is still living in the county, at Sibley, and F. M.
Robinson is at Atlanta, Georgia. As will be seen by referring to
the Sibley records, F. M. Robinson put up the first building on
the Sibley town site. Afterwards his father moved into the
building, and lived there during the winter of 1871 and 1872.
While he was living there, in the fall of 1871, the portly form
of Elder Webb darkened the doorway, and went into the room while
Robinson was putting slough hay and broken weeds into the stove.
This was the first time the Elder had seen that kind of fuel, and
he was surprised that it could be utilized as a warmth producer.
Mr. Robinson was the first Justice of the Peace in the county,
and the office came to him by appointment. There being some
irregularity in the appointment, Mr. Robinson afterwards stepped
down and out, but while he was in, some cases came to his court.
The first one brought, and, indeed, the first suit in the county,
was between Everett and Freeman, over a yoke of oxen; and, like
sensible fellows, they afterwards settled it. This was before
there were any lawyers here to back up the respective sides of a
controversy. Mr. Robinson's daughter, Ellen, who came with him,
was afterwards married to Charles M. Brooks, now a lawyer at
Sibley. The lumber with which F. M. Robinson put up his first
building was hauled from Windom, Minn., and afterwards they did
hauling from Cherokee.