Platteville at An Early Date
In the town of Platteville at an early date we find J. R. Standley, John King, Isaac King, John Herrin, John Flick, Wm. Large, Dr. Grover; Ichabod Hinkle came in the spring of 1855.
Dr. J. R. Standley first settled on the farm now known as the Chris Mosier farm and practiced medicine for a time; also teaching a term of school. Later he moved to town and farmed on a large scale and discontinued the practice of medicine.
John and Isaac King, with their families, arrived April 26, 1855. They each had an ox team and a team of horses, two saddle horses, and a few cattle. They took possession of some log houses which were found empty, until such time as they could get houses built. Logs were cut and hewn and layed in position, round poles were used for rafters; shingles or clapboards were split from logs for the roof. Boards were sawed at a horse sawmill near Bedford; the doors were gotten at Savannah, Mo. The Isaac King home was made for a hotel. There were five rooms below and the upstairs was divided off between beds with drop curtains; the ceilings were very low.
If I am correct, the stage went across the country from Ottumwa to Nebraska City. Platteville was a favored stage station. Landy Golding was one of the most popular stage drivers and later was a blacksmith in old Mormontown. He died in Omaha some ten years ago.
In 1857 to 1860 we find S. B. Hickenlooper, James Sickels, Adam Propst, Lucian Page, Jacob Reed, Cyrus Swett, Jerry Morgan, Wm. Wildman, Frank and Chip Blakemore, A. B. Fordyce; also the Whitneys, Hornbecks, Shoemakers, Hankins and Willis Hand families.
The buildings were mostly log; the ground was tilled mostly with oxen; the fences were made of rails—about 6,000 to 8,000 rails were used to fence a 40-acre field.
During the war Ichabod King came home on furlough and brought a negro boy, George; and after a time George went to live with Dr. Standley. He was a lazy negro—the doctor put him [to] plowing corn with a one-horse plow. George would get tired too often and was promised a whipping. George ran up a tree and did not come down until Ida Standley (then a little girl) plead for him and the doctor promised.
There was a negro family living here during Civil war times by the name of Bowman and this family later moved to Bedford and we believe some of the younger Bowmans now live at Clarinda.
There was another negro woman who came to Platteville about 1864 and was cook at the King hotel for about nine years. About 1874 one evening a covered wagon—new wagon with fine team—drove up to the hotel with two fine looking young negroes. They knocked at the door and asked to stay overnight. Their team was put away and fed. As there were no guests, only the family and a little girl visiting that evening (namely, Ida Standley), all sat down together for supper; and after the work was all done gathered in the hotel parlor for a visit. During the conversation it was discovered that the negro boys were Jennie's (the negro cook) boys, they having been sold away and were tracing her. She shouted, "Oh, God, my boys!" Father and Mother King prayed and everyone cried. Jennie returned the following day with her boys to the south.
There was another negro boy by the name of Mart Frey who came home with Capt. Flick; he remained with the John Flick family until about 1896 and died a few years later in St. Joseph, Mo.
Willis Hand had a saloon here in the early days—the men generally liked a little drink occasionally, but the women folks differed. Hence, after a few years, the women decided to blow the thing up and they did so—or rather Daniel Propst was designated to light the fuse—and that was the end of the saloon.
Thomas King taught the first term of school here the winter of 1856, receiving $50.00 for three months. This was a log school house.
The first store was opened up in the fall of 1856, with Wm. Large and Thomas King as proprietors; the business done was very little and profits less, so it only continued a short time. In 1867 W. L. Stone and Thomas King opened up a mercantile business and soon after King sold his interest to Dr. J. R. Standley. Later on Isaac Butterfield operated a general store; still later Doc and George Albaugh, W. J. W. Townsend, and later Mr. Matheny; at present there is none here.
Dr. Grover did not remain long here. Dr. Ichabod King practiced medicine here from 1866 to 1868 and then went to Bedford. Dr. Tine King practiced medicine here from 1878 for about ten years, and the last doctor here was Dr. J. P. Standley, about 1891 and after a few years here he went to St. Joseph where he continued the practice of medicine until his death a short time ago.
The Methodist church, which was built in 1875, still stands in a good state of preservation.
The cemetery, in the fifties, was a permanent camping ground for the Indians. On one occasion, an Indian squaw asked Dr. Standley to trade his baby girl, Ida, for a papoose, and he, jokingly, traded. To Mrs. Standley's dismay, they found the squaw had taken their daughter; after a chase to the corner where Earl Gray now lives, the Indians were overtaken and the baby girl restored to her mother.
Sometime about 1860 a man rode from the east on a horse and gave the alarm, "The Indians are coming, flee!" The men rounded up the women and children and a few things needed and went on the old Platteville to Bedford road to Honey Creek. There was a log house there on the right hand side of the road—I have heard this spoken of as a fort. At any rate, the women and children were left there for two or three days, while the men went forward with guns and clubs to meet the Indians. They went to a point where Benton now stands and there was a great group of Indians, friendly—so they returned at once and took their families home.
Isaac King had the hotel; John King made boots and shoes, wooden plow lays and wood work for plows and harrows. John Herren was the blacksmith. Ichabod Hinkle had a turning lathe and made spinning wheels, chairs, bedsteads, cupboards and wagons. Adam Propst came later and was a blacksmith and wagon maker.
There was a lodge of Masons and also an Odd Fellow lodge; a mock court, Judge J. S. Sickels presided and James P. Flick was an attorney.
Hogs were driven and hauled in wagons to St. Joseph, Mo.      C. M. King