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THE

Annals of Iowa

A HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

VOLUME NINETEEN— THIRD SERIES

EDITED BY

EDGAR R. HARLAN
CURATOR

PUBLISHED BY THE

HISTORICAI^ MEMORIAL AND ART

DEPARTMENT OF IOWA

DES MOINES

193S-193.5

(
(

634879

• • •* •
••• - • •

• • • t • •

• • •

• * "

THE STATUTE LAWS

or THE

TERRITORY OF IOWA,

ENACTED AT TffC FIRST SESSION OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
OF SAID TERRITORY, HELD AT BURLINGTON, A. D. 183S-'39.

rC-BtlAHED BY AUTHORITY,

DU BUQUE

KtJSSEii^L Sl reeves, PRINTERS.

1839.
(See pafe 9 of tlie foUowlng article.)

<T0 Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Des Moines, Iowa, July, 1933 Third Series

THE BEGINNINGS OF PRINTING IN IOWA

By Douglas C. McMurtrie

The honor of establishing the first press in what is now the
state of Iowa must be awarded to John King, who was respon-
sible for the first printing at Dubuque in 1836. King was not a
practical printer himself. He had come to the village of Dubuque
in 183* and decided soon thereafter that this was a fertile field
for a newspaper. So he returned to Ohio in the fall of 1836 to
procure equipment and enlist technical assistance. At Chillicothe
he contracted for the services of William Gary Jones, an experi-
enced printer, and the two proceeded to Cincinnati, where a
Washington hand press and an assortment of types were pur-
chased. Another printer, Andrew Keesecker, of Galena, Illinois,
was also employed. The equipment of this pioneer office was
shipped by boat to Dubuque, where it was set up and used to
print the Du Buque Visitor^ the first issue of this weekly ap-
pearing May II, 1836.

Iowa had originally been a part of the vast Province of
Louisiana which had been successively under French, Spanish,
again French, and finally United States sovereignty. Missouri
Territory was given jurisdiction over this area in 1812, but lost
this in 1820 on its admission to statehood. From that date until
1834 Iowa was a "no man's land" so far as the exercise of gov-
ernmental authority was concerned, but this was of small conse-
quence because there were few white people resident there.

On June 28, 1834, the area was assigned to Michigan Terri-
tory and a few months later Dubuque and Des Moines counties
were created, both embracing a very large area. Dubuque was
the leading community, largely because of the lead mines located
there and its accessibility by water, and boasted a population
of nearly a thousand souls. Wisconsin Territory was created

iDaTid C. Mott, Annals of Iowa, Third Ser., Vol. XVI, p. 177; John C.
parUby **Tbree Men and a Press,** The Paiimpaeat, Vol. I, pp. 50-00.

6 ANNALS OF IOWA

Another version of the story is that the press was removed
from St. Paul in 1855 to Sauk Rapids^ Minnesota^ and used in
printing the Sauk Rapids Frontiersman. It was used by several
other papers and in 1897 was moved to Lindstrom and used to
print a Swedish newspaper. A press^ claimed to be the original
press used by John King in Iowa, is today in the Minnesota His-
torical Society, sharing honors with its sister in the South Da-
kota Masonic Museum of Sioux Falls. The authenticity of this
press is vouched for by Frank Moore, formerly pressroom fore-
man of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.^

When the first issue of the Du Buque Visitor was published
on Wednesday, May 11, 1836, it carried the names of J. King
as editor, and Wm. C. Jones as printer, but did not mention
Keesecker. The office of publication was "Corner of Main and
Church streets." The inaugural address said:

*'We lay the first number of the 'Du Buque Visitor' before the
public, and ask for it a favorable reception. In all matters, our
paper will be free and untrammelled. Whatever sentiments we
may entertain, shall be fearlessly expressed, whenever we con-
ceive any good end requires it. Those who differ from us in
opinion, will not, for that reason, be considered our enemies, or
the enemies of the public; but will be treated with respect and
courtesy.

"We respectfully invite original communications from our lit-
erary friends, at home and abroad, upon all subjects of interest
and importance; and shall ourselves spare no pains to make the
paper, in all its departments, acceptable and useful to its readers.
To persons abroad, who think of emigrating to tliis finest country
in the world, we think it cannot but be a desirable medium of
information.

"With these remarks, we present our paper to the public, and
return our thanks for the liberal patronage already afforded, and
promised, to our hazardous enterprise; and at the same time beg
leave to state, that there is yet room and to spare, on our sub-
scription list and in our advertising columns, which we shall be
glad to fill."

«Botli sides of tlie question are discussed in Dr. Parish's "Three Men and a
Press." William Nelson in his Sotes Toityird a Ilitttonj i>f thv Awerinin yews-
p(tper. New York, lUlH, p. in, ^ives only the .story favoring the South Dakota
press. He credits his Information to John Springer's Metinfrtnulvui Relating to
the Enrlu PrvxH of /omv/, pp. 12-17. Babcock gives an account favoring the cluiius
of the Miiuiei>ota press.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 7

The first number also gives the terms as three dollars a year^
in advance^ or four dollars if paid at the end of the year^ in spite
of "A Prospectus for our paper having been circulated in Ohio,
sometime ago, putting the price at $2 per year, payable on the
reception of the first number, otherwise $3." Subscriptions al-
ready received at that rate were to be accepted, but all others
were to be taken at the higher rate, made necessary by the heavy
expenses of publication.

During the year from May, 1836, to June, 1837, while John
King published the Du Buque Visitor, he was also favored with
a portion of the official printing for the Territory of Wisconsin.
James Clarke and John B. Russell, publishers of the Belmont
Gazette at Belmont within the present borders of Wisconsin, had
been chosen as public printers by the first legislative assembly
of Wisconsin Territory. Clarke and Russell printed the docu-
ments of the first Wisconsin legislature at Belmont in 1836, but
it was also decided to hire John King at Dubuque to print there
a pamphlet edition of the journal of the legislative proceedings.^
No copy of this "pamphlet," however, can now be found, and it
is not clear that it was ever actually printed.

June 3, 1837, the Du Buque Visitor became the Iowa News,
owned by John King, W. W. Coriell, and John B. Russell, for-
merly of Belmont, Wisconsin. Late in 1838 John B. Russell and
Edwin Reeves became the publishers and editors, continuing the
paper until its suspension March 7, 1840. May 6, 1840, Reeves
and Coriell revived the paper for a few issues. It was then sus-
pended for a year, to reappear in May, 1841. The next year it
was permanently suspended, and the materials were removed to
Lancaster.

If we consider the Visitor and News as one publication, the
second Dubuque paper was the Miners' Express, established Au-
gust 1, 1841, by Lewis A. Thomas. In 1842 he sold the paper to

7The Journal of the Council of the First Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin,
Belmont, 1880, records under October 81, 1880, the resolution: 'That John King,
6f the Du Buque Visitor, at the to^-n of Du Buque be employed to print the
Journal of the proceedings in pamphlet form, and that he be p:iid the same
prices as are paid to the printers to Congress for such work." It was also,
"Resolved, if the House of Representatives concur, that the laws which may be
passed at the present session of the Legislative Assembly, be published in the
Belmont Gaxette, in the Du Buque Visitor, Milwaulcee Advertiser, Wisconsin
Democrat and the Wisconsin Republican; and that the pul)liHtiers ttiereof be
•paid the sum of seventy live dollars each for the same." 'Die name "Wisconsin
Republican** seems to have designated a proposed newspaper at Burlington.
(Also fee McMurtrie, Early Priniing in Wisconsin, pp. 85-37.

4, ANNALS OF IOWA

July 3, 1836, and the land which is now Iowa came within the
boundaries of this new territory, which chose for its capital first
Belmont (within the present limits of Wisconsin) and, second,
Burlington (now in Iowa) — Dubuque's rival. Iowa Territory
was created in 1838, Burlington becoming the capital of this
new state in the making, and so continued until 1841, when Iowa
City was chosen as the seat of government.

To return to the infant Du Buque Visitor, its first date line
designated the place of publication as Du Buque (Lead Mines),
Wisconsin Territory, May 11, 1836, though at that time the town
was a part of Michigan Territory. The act establishing Wiscon-
sin Territory had, however, been passed, although it was not to
become efifective until July 3, 1836. The enterprising publisher
was thus anticipating the approaching political sovereignty of
this frontier town.

John King's two assistants and even his printing press had
interesting histories. William Gary Jones was hired for the sum
of three hundred and fifty dollars "with suitable board and lodg-
ing during one year** to act as foreman of the printing office and
general editorial assistant. He later edited and published a paper
in New Orleans and practiced law in San Francisco, where he
died about 1880. During the Civil War he served as a captain
in the Union Army and was captured and held prisoner at Selma,
Alabama. While in prison he printed a paper by hand on the
walls of one of the rooms.®

Andrew Kcesecker remained in Dubuque most of the time from
his arrival there with King until his death in 1870 while he was
working at the case in the print shop of the Dubuque Herald.
Keesecker was a member of the Du Buque Visitor stafif until the
paper changed its name in the summer of 1837. He was later
co-publisher of the Dubuque Miner's Express most of the time
from 1842 till 1854. In 1847 he introduced the press to Andrew,
Iowa, when he established the Western Democrat there, continu-
ing it until 1849. He became co-publisher of the Dubuque
Herald in 1860 and remained with that paper until his death.^

8See Parish, ap. cit. Perhaps William Gary Jones was the same W. C. Jones
who published the Lexington, Kentucky, North American Liternrt/ and Political
Register in 1828. In I85i the Rock Bottom, printed at K:inesvillc (n€yw Council
Bluffs), Iowa, for Florence, Nebraska, was published by W. C. Jones.

SFor a poem In memory of Andrew Keesecker, who died while working at
the case on the Dubuque Herald, see Fourteenth AnntuU Session of the Wiscon-
sin Editorial Aaodatlon, 1870 (Madison, Wis., 1870), pp. 29-81.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA B

Keesecker had a considerable reputation as a typesetter^ being
able to compose an editorial as he set it up in type without
bothering to reduce it to manuscript^ and he also acted as press-
man in printing the first issues of the Du Buque Visitor. Once
he engaged in a typesetting contest with A. P. Wood, another
Dubuque printer. A printer's devil acted as umpire, and the two
men were to set up the Lord's Prayer. The winner was to an-
nounce his success by saying "Amen." Keesecker finished first,
but he stuttered so badly that Wood also completed his work and
was able to announce its completion while Keesecker was still
stammering with excitement. The umpire finally awarded the
decision to Keesecker.*

The first Iowa press was a Washington hand model, made in
Cincinnati by Charles Mallet. For six years it was used in Du-
buque, and then it was sold and removed to Lancaster, in western
Wisconsin, where the Grant County Herald was published on it.°
In a few years J. M. Goodhue bought the press and, after print-
ing with it a while at Lancaster, carried it by ox team up the
Mississippi on the ice to St. Paul. Here he used it in printing
the first Minnesota newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer, So far it
had printed the first papers in two states, and the Grant County
Herald was the first publication in the western part of Wis-
consin.

Two stories are told concerning the history of the press after
it reached St. Paul. One story is that it was taken westward in
1858 by ox team across the prairies to the Sioux Falls settlement
in South Dakota, where it printed the Dakota Democrat, the
first newspaper in that state. In 1862 a band of Sioux Indians
raided and burned the town, destroying the press in the fire. Its
twisted and warped remains are still preserved in the Masonic
Museum at Sioux Falls as a memento of the first paper in South
Dakota, and of the first papers in Iowa and Minnesota as well.
This story is supported by the statements of Samuel J. Albright
of St. Paul, who operated the press there and later in Sioux
Falls, and who insisted that the Dakota press was the same one
which had begun its wanderings in Ohio and then came through
Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to Dakota.

^Parish, op. cU.

^Douglas C. McMurtrie, Early Printing in Wisconsin, pp. 54, 95.

6 ANNALS OF IOWA

Another version of the story is that the press was removed
from St. Paul in 1855 to Sauk Rapids^ Minnesota, and used in
printing the Sauk Rapids Frontiersman. It was used by several
other papers and in 1897 was moved to Lindstrom and used to
print a Swedish newspaper. A press, claimed to be the original
press used by John King in Iowa, is today in the Minnesota His-
torical Society, sharing honors with its sister in the South Da-
kota Masonic Museum of Sioux Falls. The authenticity of this
press is vouched for by Frank Moore, formerly pressroom fore-
man of the St. Paul Pioneer Press,^

When the first issue of the Du Buque Visitor was published
on Wednesday, May 11, 1836, it carried the names of J. King
as editor, and Wm. C. Jones as printer, but did not mention
Keeseckcr. The office of publication was "Corner of Main and
Church streets." The inaugural address said:

**We lay the first number of the *I)u Buque Visitor' before the
public, and ask for it a favorable reception. In all matters, our
paper will be free and untrammelled. Whatever sentiments we
may entertain, shall be fearlessly expressed, whenever we con-
ceive any good end requires it. Those who differ from us in
opinion, will not, for that reason, be considered our enemies, or
the enemies of the public; but will be treated with respect and
courtesy.

"We respectfully invite original communications from our lit-
erary friends, at home and abroad, upon all subjects of interest
and importance; and shall ourselves spare no pains to make the
paper, in all its departments, acceptable and useful to its readers.
To persons abroad, who think of emigrating to this finest country
in the world, we think it cannot but be a desirable medium of
information.

«Both sides of the question are dlRcussed in Dr. Parish's "Tlirec Men and a
Press." William Nelson in his yotvs Toward a History of the Anwrinm Seirs-
jmper, New York, 1018, p. 114, Rives only the story favoring the South Dakota
press. He credits his information to John Springer's MeuKfraudum Relating to
the Early Prenn of /orm, pp. 12-17. Babcock gives un account favoring tlie cluima
of the Miunesotu press.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 7

The first number also gives the terms as three dollars a year^
in advance^ or four dollars if paid at the end of the year^ in spite
of **A Prospectus for our paper having been circulated in Ohio,
sometime ago, putting the price at $2 per year, payable on the
reception of the first number, otherwise $3." Subscriptions al-
ready received at that rate were to be accepted, but all others
were to be taken at the higher rate, made necessary by the heavy
expenses of publication.

June 3, 1837, the Du Buque Visitor became the Iowa News,
owned by John King, W. W. Coriell, and John B. Russell, for-
merly of Belmont, Wisconsin. Late in 1838 John B. Russell and
Edwin Reeves became the publishers and editors, continuing the
paper until its suspension March 7, 1840. May 5, 1840, Reeves
and Coriell revived the paper for a few issues. It was then sus-
pended for a year, to reappear in May, 1841. The next year it
was permanently suspended, and the materials were removed to
Lancaster.

If we consider the Visitor and News as one publication, the
second Dubuque paper was the Miners' Express, established Au-
gust 1, 1841, by Lewis A. Thomas. In 1842 he sold the paper to

7The Journal of the CouncU. of the First Leaislative Assembly of Wisa.nsin,
Belmont. 1886, records under October 81, 1H86, the resolution: 'That John King,
or the Du Buque Vifritor, at the town of Du Buque be employed to print the
Journal of the proceedings in pamphlet form, and that lie be p:iid the same
prices ag are piid to the printers to Congress for such work." It was also,
"Resolved, if the House of Representatives concur, that the laws which may be
passed at the present session of tlie Legislative Assembly, be published in the
Belmont Gazette, in the Du Buque Visitor, Mllwaulcee Advertiser, Wisconsin
Democrat and tlie Wisconsin Republican; and that the publishers thereof be
"paid the sum of seventy five dollars each for the same." The name "Wisconsin
Republican" seems to have designated a proposed newspaper at Burlington.
-Also see McMurtrie, Early Printing m Wisconsin, pp. 85-37.

8 ANNALS OF IOWA

Andrew Keesecker and D. S. Wilson. George Greene became the
publisher in 1845, and three years later he was succeeded by
the pioneer Andrew Keesecker in partnership with Harrison
Holt. There were various other owners, but Keesecker remained
associated with the Miners' Express until it was absorbed by
the Dubuque Herald in 1854.

The third paper was the Iowa Transcript, founded by H. H.
Houghton in May, 1843. Before its suspension in 1845, when
the office was moved to Rock Island, the paper was owned by
Royal Cooper, W. W. Hamilton, Henry Wiiarton, and Orlando
McCraney. The Dubuque Tribune was established early in 1847
by A. P. Wood. W. A. Adams and A. W. Hackley became the
publishers in 1854, and Hackley was sole owner and editor the
following year. In 1857 the Tribune acquired the Dubuque Re-
publican, begun two years earlier, and the combined papers con-
tinued as the Tribune until about 1860. The Democratic Tele-
graph was another early Dubuque paper, established in 1848 by
Orlando McCraney and continued until 1852, part of the time
with editorial assistance from W. W. Coriell. In 1852 it was
absorbed by the Tribune, and the materials were taken to. Fair-
field.

Iowa, it will be remembered, was a part of Wisconsin Terri-
tory at the time that printing began at Dubuque. The Wisconsin
territorial legislature was in special session at Burlington in
June, 1838, when the act which created Iowa Territory was
passed. The first session of the territorial legislature of Iowa
met at Burlington in November, 1838, and the earliest printed
document of the new government which is now extant was printed
in connection with that session. This interesting document will
be noted below, in connection with the establishment of the press
at Burlington. But the Dubuque firm of Russell & Reeves, al-
ready mentioned as publishers of the Iowa News in John King's
pioneer printing establishment, received appointment as official
printers for the Iowa Territorial Council. Thus the Journal of
the Council of the First Legislative Assembly of the Territory
of Iowa, "begun and held at the city of Burlington, on the twelfth
day of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight,"
appeared with the imprint "DuBuque: Russell & Reeves, Print-
ers. 1839." It contained 226 pages. In the same year this firm

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 9

also printed The Statute Laws of the Territory of Iowa, enacted
at the first session of the territorial legislature — a book of 597
pages. (See frontispiece for reproduction of its title page.)

In 1841 part of the territorial printing was again done at
Dubuque when the journal of the House of Representatives of
the Third Legislative Assembly was published with the imprint:
"Dubuque: W. W. Coriell, Printer. 1841." This was done dur-
ing a period of suspension for Coriell's Iowa News, The journals
of the House of Representatives for the P'ourth and Sixth legis-
lative assemblies were also printed at Dubuque^ in 1842 and 1844
respectively, by Wilson and Keesecker, of the Miners' Express.
Their successor with the Miners' Express, George Greene, did
the last of the territorial printing which was done at Dubuque
when he issued the Council journal for the Eighth Assembly, in
1846. It was also George Greene who "Printed at the Office of
the Miners' Express, Dubuque, August, 1846," an interesting
Masonic Oration, delivered by S. Hempstead, Esq,, on St. John's
Day, June 24, 1846.

Dubuque is on the Mississippi just opposite the dividing line
between Wisconsin and Illinois, but the next printing point in
Iowa was Montrose, also on the Mississippi, but in the extreme
southeastern corner of the state. Montrose was only just laid
out and was a town in the making rather than an established com-
munity when Dr. Isaac Galland, later famous for his Mormon
activities, established the Western Adventurer and Herald of the
Upper Mississippi on June 28, 1837. The motive for its estab-
lishment was real estate development, and as it was issued in
answer to no real demand, its life was short. It suspended about
a year later.

Dr. Galland had purchased Thomas Gregg's Carthagenian and
brought it and Mr. Gregg from Carthage, Illinois, to publish the
new paper. The prospectus published in the first number of the
Western Adventurer announced: "The 'Carthagenian' published
at Carthage, Illinois, has been discontinued. In the month of
June next will be commenced by the same Editor and publisher,
at Montrose, (late Fort Des Moines) Wisconsin Territory,
(Head of the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi) a new
paper with the above title [Western Adventurer]. It will be
devoted to a history and description of the Western country.

10 ANNALS OF IOWA

Terms. The Western Adventurer will be published Weekly on
a large Double Medium sheets (about the same as the Alton Ob-
server, and the Louisville City Gazette,) printed with good type,
and making weekly 28 columns of matter, at Three Dollars per
annum, in advance, or Four Dollars if payment be delayed six
months."

The first number of the Western Adventurer also carried pro-
posals for two other publications to be issued at Montrose by
Gregg and Galland. These were The Western Emigrants* Maga-
zine, and Historian of Times in the West, "A New Monthly
Periodical about to be commenced at Montrose, (late Fort Des
Moines) Wisconsin Territory," and Chronicles of the North
American Savages, Gregg was to edit the Emigrants' Magazine,
which was to be "printed on a Double Mediant Sheet, of good
quality, in the Octavo form, making a yearly volume of about
200 large pages of three columns [sic] each, with a title page
and Index at the close of the year." Galland announced himself
as editor of the Chronicles, to be "published monthly, in pamph-
let form, containing sixteen octavo pages to each number." Both
these publications seem to have been temporarily issued at Car-
thage^ before Galland moved the press to Montrose, and accord-
ing to the first number of the Western Adventurer, the Chronicles
^*were published some time since at Cincinnati. "°

After the Western Adventurer was suspended in 1838, no
paper was published at Montrose until 1847, when Dr. Galland
established the loica Advocate and Half-Breed Journal on Au-
gust 16, continuing it as late as December of 1847. Thereafter
no papers were issued at Montrose during the early period.

Burlington, a few miles above Montrose on the Mississippi,
acquired a press about the same time as Montrose. The printer

8R. L. Rusk, The Literature of the Middle Western Frontier (New York,
1026), V. 1, p. 202, says the Chronicles first appeared at Cartlmge in May, 1885,
and that the Emigrants' Magnziive was begun there in May, 1887.

9Aftcr Ids Iowa venture. Dr. Galland is known in connection with the New
Citizen, an anti-Masonic p.iper issued at Nauvoo, Illinois, which he edited in
1840 for Samuel Slocuin.

Thomas (iregjc had published the Carthage nian in 1886 and 1887 before mov-
ing to Iowa, and he afterwards returned to Illinois to publish a series of papers
at Wars:iw: the Message, in 1848 and 1814; the Siunal, from 1817 to 1858; and
the Temperance Crusader, in 1854. In 1845 he returned to Iowa long enough
to publish the Iowa Morning Star at Keokuk for a few weeks. He edited the
Plymouth, Illinois, Locomotive in 1857, and the Hamilton, Illinois, Representor
tire from 1859 to 1862. From 1873 to 1875 he published Gregg's Dollar Monthly
and Old Settler's Memorial from 1878 to 1875 at Hamilton and Plymouth. In
1876 and l«77 he published the Dollar Kural Messenger at Hamilton and Plym-
outh, Illinois, and at Keokuk, Iowa. See Franklin W. Scott, Nevxpapers mid
Periodicals o) Illinois, 161k-1879 (Springfield, 111., 1910), pp. 45, 105, 286, 848.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA ll

was James Clarke^ a man with antecedent experience in pioneer
newspaper publishing. He had been the territorial printer of
Wisconsin and had established the Belmont Gazette at Belmont
when the capital was moved to that isolated spot for one legis-
lative session. He was assisted in this enterprise by John B.
Russell^ who was later to help John King found the first Iowa
newspaper. On July 10, 1837, after it had been decided that
the next session of the Wisconsin territorial legislature should
be held at Burlington, Clarke began the Wisconsin Territorial
Gazette and Burlington Advertiser, Cyrus S. Jacobs edited the
paper until April^ 1838. On June 12, 1838, on the erection of
Iowa Territory, Clarke changed the name of his paper to Jowa
Territorial Gazette, and John H. McKenny became his assistant.
They continued the paper together until 184«2, when Bernhart
Henn and James M. Morgan became the owners. Clarke in 1845
became the third and last territorial governor of Iowa. In 1845
and again from 1848 until his death in July 1850, Clarke was
associated with the Territorial Gazette, As the Burlington Ga-
zette, this paper is still published and is the oldest in Iowa.

Burlington's second paper was the Iowa Patriot, established
June 6, 1839, by James G. Edwards, previously a publisher at
Jacksonville, Illinois, and Fort Madison, Iowa. In September,
1839, the Iowa Patriot became the Ilaxch-Eye and Iowa Patriot,
which at the end of 1844 became the Burlington Hawk-Eye,
Burlington's third independent paper, the Burlington Telegraph,
established in 1850 by James M. Morgan and John H. McKenny,
was absorbed by the Ilawk-Eye in 1855, and the combined paper
is still being issued as the Hawk-Eye,

As the temporary seat of the territorial governments first of
Wisconsin and then of Iowa, Burlington was quite naturally the
first place in Iowa at which official documents were printed. In
fact, the first Iowa printing other than newspapers, so far as
existing evidence shows, was done at Burlington. James Clarke,
in his capacity as official Wisconsin printer, issued there the Acts
Passed at the First and Second Sessions of the Legislative As-
sembly of the Territory of JVisconsin with the imprint: "Bur-
lington, W. T. James Clarke, Printer to the Legislative Assem-
bly. 1838." The library of the Wisconsin State Historical So-
ciety, at Madison^ contains one of the few surviving copies of

12 ANNALS OF IOWA

this rare volume. The Wisconsin legislature, as has been indi-
cated, met at Burlington in the winter of 1837-38, and again for
a special session in June, 1838. The acts of these sessions were
printed at Burlington in 1839, but by James G. Edwards,
founder of the Iowa Patriot. The journals of later sessions of
the Wisconsin territorial legislature disclose that Edwards had
some difficulty in collecting payment for this work.**'

Soon after the establishment of the territory of Iowa, printers
at Burlington were busied with printing for the newly created
government. The first session of the Iowa territorial legislature
met in November, 1838. In his excellent "Bibliography of the
Iowa Territorial Documents" Thomas J. Fitzpatrick lists the
printing ordered by the first session of the Council. ^^ On No-
vember 13, 1838, the Council "Resolved, That fifty copies of the
law of Congress organizing the Territory of Iowa, be printed for
the use of the Council." Of this document, no surviving copy
has been found.

On the same date the Council also "Resolved, that five hun-
dred copies of the Governor's Message be printed for the use of
the Council, to be paid for out of the contingent fund.'* No
existing copy of this message was of record until early in 1933,
when I had the good fortune to discover a copy in the Iowa Ma-
sonic Library, at Cedar Rapids. As the earliest extant printed
public document of Iowa, it is reproduced herewith.

The governor's message was printed in the form of a broad-
side about 15^/4 ^y 2014 inches, but with no imprint. However,
we can assume that it was printed by James Clarke and John
H. McKenny, publishers of the Territorial Gazette at Burling-
ton, to whom the new Council seems to have entrusted its print-
ing. For on November 15, 1838, the Council "Resolved, That
Messrs. Clarke and M'Kinney [*?c], publishers of the Territorial
Gazette, be employed to print on slips, daily copies of the Jour-
nal of the proceedings of the Council for the use of the mem-
bers." None of these ephemeral daily journal slips of this ses-
sion seems to have survived.

The Journal of the House of Representatives of this first ses-

10/owrna/ of the House of Representatives, first session of tlie second legis-
lative assembly of Wisconsin (Madison, 1888), pp. 127-128; same, second session
of the second legrislative assembly (Mineral Point, 1839), pp. 258-259. The fault
lay purtly with Edwards, who bad been unable to complete the work on time.

iiFitxpatrIck, pp. 258-259.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 15

Bride and the Lamb's Wife, during 1842 and 1843. This became
\ht Buffalo Ensign, discontinued in about two years/'
- The second Davenport paper had been established before the
suspension of the Sun, This was the Davenport Gazette, founded
August 26^ 1841, by Alfred Sanders. He was a native of Ohio
who had toured the upper Mississippi in 1840 and decided on
Davenport as a fine situation for a new paper. When he re>
turned to Iowa in 1841 he brought with him as an assistant Levi
Davis, who had worked with him in Ohio on the Dayton Journal
when both were boys. They brought with them a printing outfit
worth $700. It was transported by water to Davenport, and in
landing the press it was dropped into the river. This accident
was afterwards referred to as a fortuitous baptism for the new
venture.^^ Davis purchased an interest in the paper in 1854,
which passed to Addison H. Sanders in 1857. In 1862 the new
Sanders partner gave up his interest and entered the Union
Army. His older brother, the founder of the paper, sold out later
in the year and retired. The paper was continued until 1887,
•when it was merged with the Davenport Democrat,

Alfred Sanders shared in the widely distributed public print-
ing favors of the territorial days. The Journal of the Council of
the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa was
issued with the imprint "Davenport: Alfred Sanders, Printer.
1843." Introductory Lecture delivered in the College of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons of the Upper Mississippi Session of 18^7-
50, by Dr. John F. Sanford, carried the imprint: "Davenport:
Sanders & Davis, printers. 1849."

Davenport's third paper was the Democratic Banner, estab-
lished in 1848 by Alexander Montgomery. Theodore Guelch
began Der Demokrat in 1861, and the Davenport Bee was begun
in 1854 by De Witt Carey. Nathaniel Hawthorne Parker
founded the Davenport Commercial in 1854, and the Iowa State
Democrat was established in 1856 by James T. Hildreth, David
N. Richardson, and George R. West.

Muscatine, then known as Bloomington, was the sixth town in
Iowa to have a press. A printer by the name of James T. Camp-
bell as early as the summer of 1838 had proposed establishing

i80p. ett,, and Mott, p. 211.

i^Uavenport Vemofrat, Half-Century Edition, loe. eit.

U ANNALS OF IOWA

1847, when he sold it to George H. Williams, who changed its
name to the Iowa Statesman. This became the Plain Dealer in
1852 and was published until 1897. The Journal of the House
of Representatives, of the Seventh Legislative Assembly of the
Territory of Iowa was published with the imprint "Fort Madi-
son: Printed by R. Wilson Albright. 1845." Five years later
Strictures on Dr, I, Galland's Pamphlet, entitled, "Villainy Ex-
posed" by D. W. Kilbourne was issued with the imprint "Fort
Madison: Printed at the Statesman Office, 1850."

The fifth printing point in Iowa was Davenport. Here was
published on August 4, 1838, the initial number of the Iowa Sun
and Davenport and Rock Island News by Andrew Logan, a
printer from Beaver, Pennsylvania.^^ There were eleven pro-
jected Iowa towns clamoring for a newspaper at the time that
Logan moved to the state, and he was somewhat put to it to de-
cide whether Davenport or Rockingham, slightly to the south,
was the more likely spot for a new publication. Both towns
offered inducements, but Davenport finally won by promising
the printer several free lots and a subscription list of 500. This
number probably represented more than enough papers for every
citizen of the town, and it is said that Colonel George Daven-
port, for whom the new settlement was named, and Antoine Le
Claire each took fifty subscriptions to help guarantee the exist-
ence of the Iowa Sun, Andrew Logan was assisted in printing
the paper by his sons, August, aged twelve, and Andrew, aged
eight. "Although the new community did well by the new paper,
the editor awoke to the attractions and independence of the
farmer's life, took up a claim six miles from the city out Allen's
Grove way and discontinued his paper in 1842."^* Logan sold
his materials to the firm of Henkle and McClelland, of Buffalo,
south of Davenport on the Mississippi. They were the first
printers there and issued a Mormon publication known as The

I'^Mott, op, cit., p. 210, gives August 4 as the date of establishment. Accord-
ing to him, flies of the lotra Sun, beginning with th:it date, are in the Hlj»-
torical, Memorial an(i Art Department of Iowa at Des Moines. The Davenport
Democrat, Ualf-Centurff Edition, sec. 1, p. 8, col. 1, gives the date of establish-
ment of the loirn Sun as August 15, 1H38.

^* Davenport Deinncrat, Half-Ceiituru Edition, lor. cit. This article, the source
of considerable information concerning Logan and the flrst Davenport paper, U
based on a series of articles by David N. Richardson, founder and publlsner of
the Davenport Democrat for many years, which appeared In the Democrat In
1879. Richardson wrote this series at the request of the historical department
of the Davenport Academy of Sciences.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 15

Bride and the Lamb's Wife, during 1842 find 184*3. This became
the Buffalo Ensign, discontinued in about two years.^^

The second Davenport paper had been established before the
suspension of the Sun. This was the Davenport Gazette, founded
August 26, 1841, by Alfred Sanders. He was a native of Ohio
who had toured the upper Mississippi in 1840 and decided on
Davenport as a fine situation for a new paper. When he re-
turned to Iowa in 1841 he brought with him as an assistant I^vi
Davis, who had worked with him in Ohio on the Dayton Journal
when both were boys. They brought with them a printing outfit
worth $700. It was transported by water to Davenport, and in
landing the press it was dropped into the river. This accident
was afterwards referred to as a fortuitous baptism for the new
venture.^** Davis purchased an interest in the paper in 1864,
which passed to Addison H. Sanders in 1857. In 1862 the new
Sanders partner gave up his interest and entered the Union
Army. His older brother, the founder of the paper, sold out later
in the year and retired. The paper was continued until 1887,
when it was merged with the Davenport Democrat,

Davenport's third paper was the Democratic Banner, estab-
lished in 1848 by Alexander Montgomery. Theodore Guelch
began Der Demokrat in 1851, and the Davenport Bee was begun
in 1864 by De Witt Carey. Nathaniel Hawthorne Parker
founded the Davenport Commercial in 1854, and the Iowa State
Democrat was established in 1855 by James T. Hildreth, David
N. Richardson, and George R. West.

Muscatine, then known as Bloomington, was the sixth town in
Iowa to have a press. A printer by the name of James T. Camp-
bell as early as the summer of 1838 had proposed establishing

550p. cit., and Mott, p. 211.

^^Davenport Democrat, Half-Century Edition, loc. cit.

16 ANNALS OF IOWA

here in October of that year a paper to be known as the Iowa
Banner ^^ but there is no indication that he was successful in his
venture. The next attempt was made two years later. On Octo-
ber 23, 1840, William Crum and W. D. BaUey began at Bloom-
ington the Joica Standard, By April, 1841, Crum became sole
owner; the paper was then discontinued and the plant taken to
Iowa City, where Crum began the first paper in that town.

Four days after the Standard was begun, Thomas Hughes and
John B. Russell founded a second Bloomington paper, the
Herald, first issued on October 27, 18iO. Hughes left Musca-
tine for Iowa City and the Iowa Capital Reporter in 1841. Rus-
sell was the Wisconsin printer who had published the Iowa News
at Dubuque from 1837 to 1840. The public printing followed
him from Dubuque; the journals of the Third and Fourth terri-
torial assemblies were published there, the former with the im-
print: "Bloomington: Russell & Hughes, printers. 1841," and
the latter: "Bloomington: Jno. B. Russell, printer. 1842." Rus-
sell later became publisher of the Keokuk Dispatch.

Iowa City became the seventh printing town in Iowa with the
establishment of W^illiam Crum's Iowa City Standard on June
10, 1841. Iowa City had been selected by the territorial legis-
lature as the new capital, and it naturally became a mecca for
printers because of its official position. It was also the first Iowa
town not located on the banks of the Mississippi to have a press.
A. P. Wood became editor of the Standard in 1842. In 1846 it
was purchased from Crum by Silas Foster, who made Easton

i7The louxt Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser of August 25, 1888,
carried the following notice:

"Prospectus of the 'Iowa Banner.'

"A weekly newspaper to be published in Bloomington. Muscatine County.
Iowa Territory; to be devoted to General Politics, Literature, the Arts and
Sciences. Humour, Sentiment. Poetry. &c. &c. &c.

"The subscriber, being fully aware of the many difficulties to be overcome,
in establishing a Press in so young a village as Bloomington, has ventured to
submit this prospectus to the public, believing it to be the only proper method
of ascertaining the sentiments of those from whom he expects support.

"The 'Banner' will be conducted upon the broad and independent principles
of free discussion, which the laws and institutions of our glorious country have
guaranteed to every citizen. To be brief, we will only add, that it is our Inten-
tion to publish just such a paper, as the wants and interests of the people of
Iowa Territory require; abstaining from partisan vulgarity, and using our best
exertions to render unto each subscriber an equivalent for that which he
gives us.

"The first number of the 'Banner* will be issued on the 1st Saturday In
Octoi)er next by which time, it is hoped, all prospectuses containing signatures
will be returned to the subscriber.

"The Banner will be printed upon a fine Super-Royal sheet, with beautiful
new type, at Three Dollars per year, to be paid Invariably on the receipt of the
first number.

*'Jame8 T. Campbell.
"BloomlnB:ton, I. T. August 8, 1888.**

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 17

Morris editor. It was temporarily suspended in 1848^ but was
revived by Dr. S. M. Ballard^ who changed the name to Iowa
City Republican.

Two other papers were established at the new capital in 1841,
Dr. Nathaniel Jackson began the Iowa City Argus in the latter
part of July, and the Iowa Capital Reporter was founded De-
cember 4, 1841, by Verplanck Van Antwerp and Thomas
Hughes. The Reports of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of
the Territory of Iowa, July term, 1841, were published with the
imprint *'Iowa City: Printed by Van Antwerp & Hughes," and
this firm also printed the territorial laws enacted at the session
of December, 1841. Jesse Williams became Hughes's partner in
1843, and together they printed part of the public documents in
that year, sharing the work with William Crum.

The editorship of the Iowa Capital Reporter seems to have
been a fair guarantee of trouble, for its first three editors were
all involved in quarrels ending with blows. Van Antwerp made
various attacks in the columns of his paper on Bainbridge, a
Democratic member of the territorial Council, denouncing him
as a "hybrid politician." A discussion over the Miners' Bank of
Dubuque brought forth more verbal attacks, and one morning
in February, 1842, Bainbridge called Van Antwerp to account
for his words. According to one story, Bainbridge struck the
editor over the hat and head with his cane, seized a pistol which
Van Antwerp tried to draw, and struck him in the face with such
force as to draw blood. Van Antwerp gave another version of
the afifair in his account, by which he did not come off so badly.
Jesse Williams, Van Antwerp's successor, continued the attacks
on the bank and directed his attention to George H. Walworth,
chairman of the investigating committee. They came to blows
in the library of the Capitol, and poor Williams was getting the
worst of it and bleeding freely when the fight was stopped by
Stull, secretary of the territory, who objected to blood getting
on a carpet which he had recently purchased. In 1846 A. H.
and G. D. Palmer became owners of the Reporter, and one of
them ran foul of Mr. Nelson King, a member of the first state
legislature, in an investigation directed against corruption in the
legislature. The Reporter made considerable fun of some un-
grammatical statements of King's, and although he was disposed

18 ANNALS OF IOWA

to forget the matter, his wife urged him to action. When he
encountered one of the Palmers in the Capitol he undertook to
give him a thrashing and finally produced a loaded pistol. Friends
intervened before any blood could be shed and the carpets in any
way damaged.**

Keosauqua, in southeastern Iowa on the Des Moines River,
was the eighth town to have a press. Jesse M. Shepherd and
J. L. T. Mitchell set up the Iowa Democrat and Des Moines
River Intelligencer at Keosauqua in 1843 to serve that rapidly
developing section of the country. The next spring James Shep-
herd, father of Jesse, and financial backer of the new paper,
bought out Mitchell. Mitchell then established the Keosauqua
Border Pioneer, which lasted only a short time. The Journal of
the House of Representatives, of the Eighth Legislative Assem-
bly of the Territory of Iowa was published with the imprint
"Keosauqua: Printed by J. and J. M. Shepherd. 1846."

Keokuk, at the juncture of the Des Moines River and the
Mississippi, in the very southeastern tip of the state, had the
ninth press. The Iowa Morning Star and Keokuk Commercial
Advertiser was begun in April, 1846, by Thomas Gregg, who had
been printer of the first paper at Montrose, a short distance
above Keokuk. The Morning Star lasted, however, for only a
few weeks.

In January, 1846, William Pattee's Keokuk Iowa Argus was
started on its short life, and in 1847 the town's first paper of
any permanence was begun when J. W. and R. B. Ogden estab-
lished the Keokuk Register, Keokuk's fourth paper was the
Keokuk Dispatch, established in 1848 by John B. Russell, for-
merly of the Dubuque Iowa News and the Bloomington (Musca-
tine) Herald, and Reuben L. Doyle. This firm published the
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, at the fifth grand an-
nual communication , . . June 6th, A. L, 6848, A, D, 1848, with
the imprint: "Keokuk: Russell & Doyle, Printers. 1848."

Andrew, about twenty-five miles south of Dubuque, had the
next press, when Andrew Keesecker, pioneer printer from Du-
buque, established the Western Democrat in 1847, with M. H.
Clark as editor. Ansel Briggs became the owner in 1849, and

isParlsh, ''Perils of a Pioneer Editor/* gives the details of all these difflailtie^
pf tb^ various Igipa Capitol Reporter editors.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 19

the journal of the Senate^ for the second session of the Iowa
state assembly^ was printed at Andrew in 1849 "at the Jackson
County Democrat Office."

Fairfield was the next and eleventh town to have printing.
A. R. Sparks, Ezra Brown, and R. B. Pope began the Iowa
Sentinel there in June, 1847. Two years later there was a rival
publication, the Fairfield Weekly Ledger, established by Orlando
McCraney. The Sentinel expired in 1856, but the Ledger is still
being published.

Fairfield was followed in 1848 by Ottumwa, also in the south-
east part of the state. The Des Moines Courier was established
there on August 8, 1848, by J. H. D. Street and Richard H.
Warden; it is continued today as the Ottumwa Courier, The ar-
rival of Ottumwa 's first press caused a great furore. The entire
male population of the town and farmers from eight and ten
miles around came to view the new wonder. On the day of the
Courier's first issue there was so large a crowd around the print-
ing office that the light was shut out and it was almost impos-
sible for Mr. Warden to work.^®

In 1846 Iowa had become a state and there was a rapid ex-
pansion immediately thereafter. The thirteenth printing site in
what was now a state rather than a territory was at the extreme
western boundary, on the banks of the Missouri where it sep-
arated Iowa from Nebraska. Omaha in Nebraska was then a
small settlement and Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, Iowa, was
the metropolis of the region. It was at Kanesville on February
7, 1849, that Orson Hyde started the Frontier Guardian, a Mor-
mon publication.^® The paper was to have been established
earlier, but circumstances prevented. The first issue announced:

"The 'Guardian,* so long looked for and so long delayed, is
now before the public. On our part, we were ready to have issued
at the time proposed in our prospectus. But the printer, whom we
engaged in St. Louis last fall, was detained there by ill health
of his family until the winter sat in with all severity, and ren-
dered a journey to this place almost impracticable. He, how-

iKjlenn B Meagher and Harry B. Munsell, Ottumwa, Yesterday and Today,
Ottnmwa, Iowa, 1928.

2"Mott, op. cit., p. 208, and all the other authorities are vaffue on tlie date
of establishment and later history of the Frontier (fuardian. A detailed study
of this paper, based upon the original flies in the Historian's ofRcc of tlie
Church of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, is given in McMurtrie. "The
First frlpting at Council BlulTs/' in Annals of Iowa, Vol. XVIII, pp. s-li.

20 ANNALS OF IOWA

ever, has arrived, and his face was skinned by frost and cold.
But his health is good and face getting smooth again. We trust,
now, that we shall be able to proceed without further interrup-
tion or delay. Send in your subscriptions, therefore, from all
quarters, and your business shall be done with fidelity and dis-
patch."

The equipment for the Frontier Guardian had come from Cin-
cinnati, and the printer with the skinned face was John Gooch,
Jr. The paper was issued fortnightly until March 4, 1852, when
it became a weekly and passed into the hands of Jacob Dawson.^^
M. H. Hathaway was now printer of the Frontier Guardian, to
whose title Dawson added "and Iowa Sentinel." In November,
1852, A. C. Ford became the owner, with Hathaway continuing
as printer. The paper was continued as late as May of 1853.

Two historical documents of considerable interest were prod-
ucts of Orson Hyde's press at Kanesville. The Constitution of
the State of Deseret carried the imprint: "Kanesville. Published
by Orson Hyde, 1849." Two years earlier the first Mormon
immigrants had reached Utah, and although that territory be-
came officially United States property six months later, no laws
had been enacted for its government. The Mormons took mat-
ters into their own hands, organized the State of Deseret with
Brigham Young as governor, and printed at Kanesville their first
constitution. The second known document was a printed broad-
side giving the rules of order of the Beloit Company, a group
of emigrants chiefly from the southern part of Wisconsin who
were headed for California, issued with the date, "Kanesville,
May 7th, 1850," and the imprint: "Frontier Guardian, Print."*^

The Guardian had a rival in May, 1851, when Alman W.
Babbit established the Kanesville Bugle, which in 1852 passed
into the hands of Joseph E. Johnson and Daniel W. Carpenter.

2iMott, loc. cit., quotes various authorities for liis statement tiiat Hyde dis-
continued tlie Guardian in 1852, removing most of tlie miterials to Utali. Hyde
did not talce tlie printing outfit witli lilm to Utali, for wiien Jacob Dawmn toolc
over the Guardian in March, 1852, he purchased tlie office from Hyde, giving a
mortgage in which the purchase price was stated to be $1,153.92. The equip-
ment included "one Imperial printing press (Cincinnati malce) ; two new chises;
one long book chase, two job chases, fifteen pairs cases, two double stands for
cases, one cast iron roller mold, one imposing sticlc and frame, five large and
two small composing sticks, one inking apparatus, one bink and two tables,
five brass galleys," with rules, furniture, and news and job types. The original
mortgage is quoted by J. Sterling Morton, Illustrated History o/ Nebraska^
p. 849.

ezThese two Kanesville imprints arc described in McMurtrie, "Two Eirly
Issues of the Council Bluffs Press," Annals of Iowa, Third Ser.» Vol. XVIII,
1981, pp. 88-80.

THE BEGINNING OF PRINTING IN IOWA 21

The name of the town was changed in 1863 and the same year
the paper became the Council Bluffs Bugle.

Des Moines, future capital of the state, also acquired a press
in 1849. Barlow Granger & Co. began the Iowa Star at what
was then called Fort Des Moines on July 26, 1849; it continued
for over half a century. Two short-lived papers, the Fort Des
Moines Gazette, published by Lampson P. Sherman, and the
Iowa State Journal, published by Peter Myers & Co., were be-
gun in 1850 and 1851 respectively, but when Fort Des Moines
became simply Des Moines and the capital of the state, there
was only one paper being issued there. This was the Iowa Citi-
zen, begun in February, 1856, by Thomas H. Sypherd. It is
continued today as the Des Moines Register. The Iowa Star,
then the Iowa Statesman, was being published across the river
in East Des Moines during 1856 and 1857, but in the latter year
it was returned to its original place of publication.

The only other Iowa town to have a press before 1850 was
Mount Pleasant, in the southeastern part of the state. D. M.
Kelsey began the Iowa Freeman there in 1849. Samuel Luke
Howe became editor in 1850, and the paper was changed to the
Iowa True Democrat, being suspended in 1852. It was followed
by the Mount Pleasant Observer, established by G. G. Galloway
in 1856.

During the first fourteen years of Iowa's printing history the
press and all that it signified clung rather tenaciously to settle-
ments on the Mississippi River, and particularly to the south-
eastern part of the state, below Davenport. The removal of the
seat of government to Iowa City and later to Des Moines com-
pelled the press to move inland, and the Mormon migrations
brought it to Council Bluffs. In Iowa, as elsewhere in new com-
munities, the press, through the pioneer newspapers, contributed
to moulding a new state. Aside from newspapers, the Iowa press
of the early years was concerned almost exclusively with utili-
tarian matters. Communications were so far developed that for
the cultural products of the press the population of pioneer Iowa
could call on the more developed publishing centers to the east
of them for what was required.

22 ANNALS OF IOWA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aldeich, Chaei.e8. "Journalism of Northwest Iowa,'' Akkals op
Iowa, Third Scr., Vol. XIII, 1928, pp. 509-28.

Babcock, Wiixoughby M., Jr. **The Goodhue Press,*' Mlnnstota His-
tory Bulletin, Vol. Ill, 1920, pp. 291-94.

Council Bluff i Nonpareil, Oolden Annwertary, September 2, 1906,
sec. 8, pp. 18-20.

Davenport Democrat. Ualf-Century Edition, October 22, 1905, sec.
1, pp. 1-8.

FiTZPATBJCK, Thomas Jeffebson. **Bibliography of the Iowa Terri-
torial Documents,*' Iowa Journal of Hiitory and PolUiet, Vol. V, 1907,
pp. 234-69.

McMuBTRiE, Douglas C. Early Printing in Wiscontin, Seattle, 1931.

*♦'!

The First Printing at Council Bluffs," Annals of Iowa, Third Ser.,
Vol. XVIII, 1931, pp. 3-11.

ti'i

Two Early Issues of the Council Bluffs Press," Anxals or Iowa,
Third Ser., Vol. XVIII, 1931, pp. 83-86. (Also reprinted, Chicago, 1932.)

MoTT, David C. *'£arly Iowa Newspapers; a contribution toward a
bibliography of the newspapers established in Iowa before the Civil
War," Annals of Iowa, Third Ser., Vol. XVI, 1928, pp. 161-233.

Ottumwa Courier, Diamond Jubilee Edition. August 4, 1923.

Parish, John C. "Perils of a Pioneer Editor,'* The PaJimpteit
(Journal of the State Historical Society of Iowa), Vol. II, 1921, pp.
233-39.

"Three Men and a Press," The Palimpsest (Journal of the State

Historical Society of Iowa), Vol. I, 1920, pp. 66-60. (Reprinted in
"Newspapers of South Dakota," South Dakota Ilistorical Collections,
Vol. XI, 1922, pp. 412-15.)

Scott, Frankijn William. Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois,
1S14-J879. Springfield, 1910.

Springkr, John. Memorandum Relating to the Early Press of Iowa
at Iowa City and Dubuque. Iowa City, 1880.

Stkele, Lavinia. Check List of Public Documents of the State of
Iowa. Des Moines, 1904.

WiLKiE, Frank Bangs. Davenport Past and Present. Davenport,
1858.

The most important single source on Iowa printing history is
undoubtedly Mott's detailed study of the early newspapers. This
is supplemented by Fitzpatrick's fine Biblography of the Iowa
Territorial Documents, which is based in part on the work of
Miss Steele. Mr. Parish's two articles give interesting side
lights on the history of the press.

A PRISONER OF WAR

The Annals during its existence has published several diaries
of Union soldiers^ but none that dealt so nearly exclusively on
life in Confederate prisons^ nor revealed so vividly the feeling^
of those who suffered at the hands of their captors^ as this one
of Lieutenant Luther Washington Jackson here presented. This
diary in its original form was recently sent to this department
by the author's niece. Miss Emily Seamans of Wauwatosa, Wis-
consin. It came to Miss Seamans from her aunt, Mrs. Margaret
(Hitchcock) Jackson, the widow of Lieutenant Jackson. As
Lieutenant and Mrs. Jackson had no descendants. Miss Seamans
thought it appropriate that the original should repose with the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa, as further
intimate history of one of Iowa's noted Civil War regiments.

We have obtained but little information concerning Lieutenant
Jackson except that his marriage with Margaret Hitchcock oc-
curred April 2, 1846, supposedly at West Troy (now Water-
vliet). New York, and that their home for years was at Geneva,
New York. It is thought they removed to Dubuque not many
years before the Civil War. Lieutenant Jackson was thirty-nine
years old at his enlistment, and gave his residence as Dubuque,
and nativity New York. We have not found what his vocation
was, but his diary, written in a good legible hand, and frequent-
ly containing literary allusions, gives evidence of a good edu-
cation.

He was appointed second lieutenant of Company H, Twelfth
Iowa Infantry, November 5, 1861, and was mustered the same
day. On November 28 they left by train for Benton Barracks,
St. Louis, Missouri, where they remained in instruction and drill
until January 27, 1862, less than two months. They were then
hurried to the front, and February 15 were in action at Fort
Donelson. They remained there until March 12. They were
conveyed by steamboat to Pittsburg Landing, which they reached
March 21. On April 6, a little over four months after they left
home, they were suddenly in the midst of one of the hardest
fought battles of the war. Owing to the absence of both the
captain and the first lieutenant, the command of the company

24 ANNALS OF IOWA

devolved on Lieutenant Jackson. Now let him tell the story.
We have followed his writing, even as to his style of capitals
{ind punctuation. — Editor.

Sunrfny, /IprU 6, I86S. Pittsburgh Landing Tenn (Shiloih) About
% after 7 this morning we heard a fierce cannonading and heavy rolling
of musketry, the enemy under Beauregard Bragg Harder & Polk had
attacked us in force^-60,000. We marched out & fell in with the 2nd,
7 & 14th Iowa vets & marched to a position about 2 miles out. the
enemy had got 1 mile or IV, miles inside of our lines, we took our
position — which we were ordered to hold — in sight of the enemy, at
about 11 o'clock A. M. the 4th I.ousiana were discovered by myself, &
T Clendenen & Chas Collins Co E advancing through the brush, our
boys lay down ready for them. They were reed with a volley which
staggered them, our boys (the left wing) charged upon them & they
ran, we killed & wounded several, they ran so that we could not catch
them. I commanded our company. Capt. Playter staid in camp & Lieut
Fishel came a few rods & ret. we maintained our position until about

5 o'clock, when the enemy was driving in our left — we were ordered to
fall back, & as we were falling back in good order saw the enemy driv-
ing the 23d Missouri & 14th Iowa, we halted and fired at them, & after
a few volleys they broke & ran. as they did that, the enemy having
flanked us on the right, came up in our rear, those in front turned &
we were exposed to a fire on 3 sides. Col Wood was wounded In the
calf of his leg & through the hand. Geni Prentiss held up a white flag
as we were surrounded by a force of 20,000 & it was impossible to cut
out way out, and we surrendered. A Lieut took my sword It, pistol but
promised to give them to me next morning. I haven't seen him since,
r was detailed by Dr Lyle to take Care of Col Woods 4 was on the
way to get some help to carry the Col olT to a safe place when Col
Brewer who commanded the escort who guarded us to Corinth forced
me into tlie rank.s & I saw the Col no more, we marched about 2 miles

6 halted for the night in a corn held, a terrible thunder storm arose
in the night but I had made a raise of a pr blankets & a coverlet, so
Lt O'Neill & myself lay under it & kept dry.

Miynday, April 7, 1862. At sunrise this morning wc were marched off
(or Corinth, about 20 miles over a muddy road, we were tired but were
put through without anything to eat & arrived at Corinth about S
o'clock P M — ^went onto the cars for Memphis, nothing to eat, and we
were not allowed to go to a hotel to buy our supper. It began to rain,
rained all night, we were comfortable in the cars

Tueiday morning, April 8. started in the morning for Memphis.
Nothing to eat yetl we arrived at Memphis about dusk & were marched
to a large hall (exdiange) in the "Western Hotel" about 10 o'Clock
got some mouldy crackers & a raw ham, & a pail of cofTee. we
It with a relish as we had had nothing to eat since Sunday
large crowd.

A PRISONER OF WAR 25

Memphis, Wednetday Morny Apr 9 186^ We arose this morning & a
few of us went to a hotel and got our breakfast, shortly after we
marched to the cars & started for Mobile at Memphis while in the cars
we sang Star Spangled Banner, Red white & blue, America & other
songs. Many a one wept in the crowd, there are many union men in
Memphis — lots of bread, cake pies & boquets were handed into the cars
to us. large crowds at Grenada, we ran slowly all day & lay up most
of the night, large crowds every where.

Thursday, Apr 10 ran all day & all night & arrived at Jackson Miss
large crowds

Friday Morning A pi 11, 1862 arrived at Jackson Miss and left for
Meridian on the R. R. for Mobile & arrived at Meridian, large crowds
cavalry &c

Saturday Morning Apl 12 1862 arrd at Meridian, due east of Jack-
son on the R. R. for Mobile early this morning — ^lay there a few hours
& started for Mobile arrived at Mobile at about 11 P M & went on
board Str James Battle for Montgomery.

Sunday April 13, 1862 slept last night on Str James Battle we left
Mobile at 2 P. M, ran all day & all night — splendid moonlight.

Monday Apl I4 1862 ran all day & all night large crowds

Tuesday Morning Apl 15, 1862 Arrived at Selma where Genl Pren-
tiss & all the Cols, Majors & Captains left for Talladega, Ala. the
Lieuts keeping on to Montgomery, ran on all day & all night — except
lying to fix wheel of boat

Wednetday Morning April 16/62 Arrived at Montgomery this Morn-
ing & marched to a Cotton shed where we have about 200 of 12th Regt
— 28 of Co H — lay here all day. went down town this afternoon with
a guard, went to the river to have a swim 40 of us guarded by 200 men

Thursday April 17 1862 Lay here all day, singing and playing eucher,
playing ball &c Strawberries 50c qt

Montgomery Ala Friday April 18 1862 Beautiful day. kept in close
confinement not allowed to go to town at all. long Editorials on the
subject, not allowed to buy a paper short of 50 cts ea. got soft bread
today, 2y2 loaves for 21 men for 1 days rations — (no potatoes) other
things in proportion. Moon late lay awake looking at moonlight thought
of Home, wife — wanted to fly, but couldn't

Saturday April 19 1862 Cotton shed — Montgomery, Alabama. Fine
day. had to remain inside all day. rec permission to write home — open
letter. Sent a letter to my wife, hope it will reach her. She must be
anxious abt me.

Sunday April 20 1862 Showery all day — rained most of the time a
cold, chilling rain, did not attend Divine worship — very cold at night —
an awfully dull dreary day. wished I was home with my wife pouring
out a cup of good coffee for me — but no wife & no coffee. I hope they
will exchange us before long. Rained at night, probably will all night
2 weeks today since I was taken.

26 ANNALS OF IOWA

Monday April SI 186i very very cold — wear blanket all day, rained
all night last night, almost frozen, got a tin plate today, we are not pro-
vided with plate, cup knife & fork & spoon as our prisoners are. the
boys are building coal fires on the ground. Can't get any papers. Sky
clear this evening — beautiful rainbow

Tuesday April ^S 1862 Sun rose clear, cold day. boys play ball,
pitching quoits & reading won't allow ladies to come in any more, they
send a guard with every washerwoman, & cigar pedler — what for I
don't know, they can't tell us anything to help us. Provost Marshal
promised us full rations, a beautiful day. had promise of Shakespeare

or Bryant from Rev Mr hope I will get it. boys running,

singing, jumping playing ball &c &c nothing seems to affect their
spirits, people bring in pamphlets, Harper, Atlantic, Eclectic, Knicker-
bocker &c for us to read, plenty of visitors — gentlemen from Mont-
gomery, not allowed to go out yet — all right — it may be our turn
some day.

Wednesday April S3 1862 Beautiful day, not allowed to go out,
had sweet potatoes for dinner, first vegetables since I entered here we
had to buy them, people seem afraid to allow us to talk to or see any
of the inhabitants of this town, some say we will entice the "niggers"
to leave. Some of the messes had strawberries today, alas ! I had no
money & could not get any. can only get out to go to the well for water
so we go pretty often.

Thursday April 2J!i^ 1862 Another beautiful day. Strawberries &
onions & sweet potatoes. I had no strawberries. Uncle Sam had no pay
day for us before we left, so we have no funds. I wish I could see a
good Northern paper once. Got fresh beef today, wonder if my wife
knows where I am. Saw green peas today, weather like June in Du-
buque, trees beautiful green, but not allowed outside to roam among the
trees — all right — some day it will be my turn, so mote it be, rumors oi
our being sent to Norfolk or Richmond to be exchanged. No Shakes-
peare yet!! strawberries 30c qt.

Friday April 25 1862 Beautiful day. built table out of plank, cloudy
toward night — dark night double guard

Saturday April 26 1862 Rained very hard last night. Cloudy &
looks like rain this morning Shut down on papers again, afraid to have
us talk to any one outside, or get any news, the aspect of things gener-
ally don't please them I guess, so they vent their ill humor on us — all
right — every dog has his day. rumors that New Orleans is taken. I
hope so. not allowed out yet.

Sunday April 27 1862 Montgomery, Ala. Cotton shed Prison Dull
& cloudy, chilly and looks like rain. Three weeks ago today I was taken
prisoner after a hard day's fight, the time has passed swiftly away,
but not as pleasantly as it might. I wish I could be at liome today —
but I cannot. I hope to be before 3 weeks more roll around, how often
I think of home and friends now a days, how much I prize them. It so
falls out, that that which we have, we prize not to its worth whilst we

A PRISONER OF WAR 27

enjoy it, but, being lacked & lost, then we rack the value, then we see
tlie virtue that possession would not show us while twas ours" how
true that is. I feel today as though if I were only with my wife, I
would never leave home again, but I know I would be in haste to join
my regiment again. I do not wish to leave the service until this war is
closed & the rebels conquered — they have not furnished us with a plate,
knife & fork, spoon or cup, & not a blanket or coverlet, great of the
Southern Confederacy — Stupendous humbug, well Sunday is over and
I must go to bed

Monday April £8 1862 Cloudy not so cold as yesterday, no papers.
poor souls, do they think anything we might read would help us or
hurt them. New Orleans is ours!! Hurrah! we did get a paper tome-
how. Mobile will be ours before long. 3 cheers for every body. I can
live a week on half rations cheerfully now. Uncle Sam is going it strong,
now let us whip them at Corinth & I can stay 2 months longer patiently.

Tuetday April 29 1862 Beautiful morning. Crust coffee as usual
and cold pork, short of bread, the commissariat of the Southn Confed
must be poorly supplied. *it grows small by degrees & beautifully less.*'
wonder how much they lost at New Orleans, poor fellows, they haven't
enough to eat now, what will they do if we take their supplies, famine
— but they all say they will die in the ditch the last man of them.
Pshaw ! what a nation of Braggarts, not worth lighting for — blow, brag
and swell all the time — the most ignorant, conceited set of people on
the face of the globe, not one in five can read or write. My Ministerial
friend who promised Shakespeare I don't suppose dare bring it to me.
even our good Doctor who has lived here 30 years has been forced to
resign and his life made unbearable because they thought he had too
much Sympathy for sick Yankees — the Heathens, it will surely come
back to them some day, God hasten the day.

Apl 30 1862 Montgomery Ala Julius Ward of Co II Died at Hos-
pital today of typhoid fever. Two weeks ag) we arrived here, pretty
hard two weeks. I wish I could hear from home, Can't get a paj)er.
hear news that we were to be exchanged. Buell & Beauregard had made
an arrangement to exchange prisoners, hope so. heard to night that
Bombardment of Mobile forts had commenced, hope it is so too. Heavy
Shower, heaviest one since we came liere. our roof is tight thank Provi-
dence, how it does pour, they make the guards stand right out in it.
How long before we will be on our way North mush & molasses again.
What mushll

Thursday May Ut 1862 May Day come around ugain & here I am
in a cotton shed, Prisoner of War. The people are terribly afraid of
Gun Boats, recommend the sinking of log pens filled with stones in the
river ! ! ! asking why 3 or 500 negroes ! ! are not set at work immediate-
ly!! why don't they go to work themselves, they arc a poor poor set.
it rained all night last night, but this is a beautifully clear day, bright
and cool, like our May days at home, don't hear from wife yet. I hope
she has rec my letters, boys are all making pipes and mugs our of Clay.

28 ANNALS OF IOWA

rumors of exchanging us are flying about, also that Prentiss is to be
exchanged for Buckncr, then again that it is only the wounded who
are to be exchanged, we ought all to be exchanged soon, but New
Orleans is ours & Mobile will be within 10 days, they will have to move
us from here before long. I hope when we do move, it will be to ex-
change us. I wish our (Jovernment knew how we were treated. Sad
day. Lieut Bliss of 2nd Michigan Battery was shot by a Guard for
getting a canteen of milk. It wont be forgotten. He was one of the
best fellows I ever knew, from Detroit. Murder of Lieut Bliss We will
remember May day of 1862 as the day on which Lieut Wm Strong Bliss
of the 2nd Mich Battery was shot down by his guard. Murdered in cold
blood, he said "you are not going to shoot me for getting my milk are
you?'* no response, but a shot, his blood calls for Vengeance. "Re-
member the Murder of Bliss," let that be our War Crv.

Friday, May 2nd 1S6^ Last night they had 2 cannon planted in
front of our shed for fear we would take vengeance on them for the
murder of Bliss If we only had had arms we would have done it. he
is to be buried this morning at 9 o'clock. I pity his wife & child, a day
or two ago he was talking to me about his wife and child now in Massa-
chusetts, his Mess are allowed to attend his funeral, our boys have
Sworn vengeance & will have it today we bought some sweet potatoes
for coffee, we will try it, slice them up & brown very dark they say it
makes good coffee, the women and children are leaving Mobile & coming
up here, the Gun Boats will soon be here too. the report is that Genl
Prentiss & all the officers from Selma are coming here on the way to
Atlanta or Macon Georgia, lost my Canteen today in the same well at
which poor Bliss got shot, will try to get it tomorrow, this has been a
beautiful day & this evening the new moon shines out clear & bright.

Saturday May 3 1S62 A beautiful Morning, we have been favored
with very pleasant weather since we came here, today the people of
Montgomery hold a meeting to be addressed by Yancey, they are in
a scare, you ought to see the spears all around us, rich looking weapons
they arc, not very dangerous. I wonder if they will resolve at the
meeting to keep the gunboats from Coming here, perhaps they will,
they are all going to die in their tracks, but I find they generally make
so many tracks that they can't find time to die. poor folks, poor people,
this has been a beautiful day. heard that Julius Ward was dead, died
at the Hospital, in the list of deaths published by the Montgomery
Advertiser, the prisoners who die are mentioned as follows 21st Yankee
Prisoner 25 Yankee Prisoner, they wont mention the name nor send
us anv word of their death ! How cruel & mean that is, how different
from the treatment their prisoners get from us at Chicago, they only
give the sick in the Hospital Coarse corn bread (meal not sifted) &
cold water, the sick boys try to get back here, as they are better
treated here, this people are so mean in their revenges forgetful that
we have over 20,000 of their folks in our hands & one regiment taken
at Island No 10 was from this place or near It.

A PRISONER OF WAR 29

Sundatf May 4 1862 Prisoner of War in Cotton shed Montgomery,
Alabama 4 weeks to day since I was taken, a very short 4 weeks after
all. I had hoped to have been exchanged by this time, we hear rumors
of being exchanged every day, but we do not & cannot know anything
about it. we have had no preaching since we came here, these pious
Secesh Ministers don't preach to prisoners, our Ministers in the North
preach to our prisoners, also give them books &c & Uncle Sam gives
them full rations & cups, plates, knives & forks & spoons, our day
must surely come, even my ministerial friend who promised me a Byron
or Shakespeare has not been in since. I suppose he dare not come,
what a reign or terror, what a Burlesque on Freedom, thank God we
are not afraid to talk even here, they dare not hurt us, they get beaten
in an argument & when they blow we beat them even in that, we find
it hard work to do that; but we are used to hard work, when they talk
about one of their men whipping 6 of ours we offer to take 4 men right
here in the yard & whip 12 of theirs shut the gate & no one touch them,
but the 4 we pick, they have never yet dared to accept the challenge,
our boys back them down every time, they can't make much out of us.
This is a beautiful day. My wife is now in church in Chicago prayii\g
for her husband who is in the hands of the Philistines. I hope she knows
where I am, & is not alarmed about me. **I wish I was in Dixie" the
boys sing that now with "empressment". I guess they are there now.
we all seem to believe so. I shall be glad when we get out of Dixie, or
at least be in it where our troops are. I hope Stanton, Halleck or Buell
will hasten the day of our exchange. Just heard a Sermon from Lieut
Winslow of 111 and a powerful prayer from Lieut Stokes of 18th Wis-
consin, both were ministers. Bro Stokes prayed to God to crush this
wicked rebellion and cut off all traitors from the face of the earth.
Some "Secesh'* who were stnading by did not seem pleased, sorry, but
they must stay away from us if they don't wish to hear from us. they
can't shut our mouths, they certainly don't fill themselves with food,
poor devils. I wish I was at Corinth again with our regiment, to pay
back some of the treatment to which we have been subjected. Poor
Julius Ward. I only heard (he died Apl 30/62 at Hospital) today that
he was dead. I never would have known any thing about it if I hadn't
asked the Surgeon to send me a list of the death at the Hospital, he
fought well at Pittsburgh, his brother was shot through both legs &
was left on the field. I saw him with a guard over him. Poor W. H.
Collins is very sick & I fear he will not live long, how sad it is to die
& be buried here by & among these heathen. "Yankee prisoners" are
not buried with much ceremony, this day closes pleasantly, today I
found my canteen which I lost in the well where Bliss was shot. I am
glad I found it as I wished to take it home as a "Memento", beautiful
Moon balmy air. Good night wife & now to sleep

Monday May 5 J862 Sun rises clear. Air cool. Some of the boys
had no breakfast this morning, the rations yesterday were too small
the rations are "growing beautifully less", the "Confeds'' say that if

80 ANNALS OF IOWA

our blockade is kept up much longer we wont get much to eat for they
haven't much. Great confederacy they really believe that they have as
many prisoners as we have, wont we tell the North how we have been
treated down here — I think we will, the boys have to spend all their
money to get enough to eat as for me, I only liad 35c when I came liere
& I haven't had one cent for two weeks, but I get along some how on
the rations I get. I occasionally get an extra cup of sugar or rice —
it helps out. we don't work very hard & light food is better for us
it is probably for that reason that we get light food, of course it is,
Great Confederacy!!! Just got news that we were exciianged & to
leave here this week hope it is so. W Henry Collins leaves for the Hos-
pital to day. it is rumored that we are to go to Richmond & Norfolk
via Macon Geo — Hurrah for home if so. I will see my wife within two
weeks, but we can put so little confidence in what they say that we
hardly believe the news. Our rations are reduced to 12 oz bread pr day
of 24 hours, and half of that coarse corn bread — corn and cob ground
together & some days a kind of black bean called here pea, which they
feed to their cattle, our beef has an "ancient and fish like smell." we
make our corn bread into mush when we have molasses & manage to
eat it in that way. the Month of May promises to be an eventful month,
today there are rumors ot fight at Corinth if so I know we will drive
them also we must conquer in Virginia. I think the Anaconda is crush-
ing them slowly but effectively

Tuesday May 6th 1862 Still a prisoner, the sun rose clear, the day
cool and calm, what a beautiful morning for u ride. I wish I had Kitty
to take my wife a ride this morning, as I went to the well this morning
for water I saw the houses on the high ground in Montgomery em-
bowered in trees, it was a beautiful sight — the white houses and green
trees — then I felt what it was to have a guard following you with a
loaded gun ready and willing to shoot if you made a mis-step. I did
long to take a stroll among those beautiful trees, there are many
beautiful groves around here but we can't go to them. "Every prospect
pleases & only man is vile" rumors .that we have whipped them at
Corinth, but I can't believe it yet. also rumors that they have evacuated
Corinth no knowing what is true. I have my fears that we are not
exchanged, but they are only going to move us into Georgia because it
is a safer place to keep us. we don't believe a word they say and I
will only believe in an exchange when I am inside of our lines, we are
driving them at Corinth according to their own papers beautiful moon
again — good night wife & now to my "pallet of straw" John W Ward
went to Hospital

Wednesday May 7 1862 3 weeks to day since we came here Sun
rose clear again, morning cool, ever since we have been here the days
and early evenings have been warm but the nights and mornings cool
& sometimes cold. Can't get any thing about Corinth. I know they are
getting beaten there, or we would hear from it. 12 Surgeons left here
for Corinth yesterday, showing th»t it was expected tg be a bloody

A PRISONER OF WAR 81

fight. I am sure we will conquer. God can^t & wont let such a people
as this triumph, lie all lie, from highest to lowest. Another beautiful
day. how beautiful and green every thing is outside of these 4 brick
walls — ^the river so silvery & calm & the banks such a living green,
groves of pine with dark foliage is in such contrast with the Cane brake
& Cotton wood, we only have short glimpses of such scenes, but how
much they make us think of home — ^home, when will I see it? these
skies are clear & this grass is green but give me old Iowa thank God
she is Free, no ones life is in danger there for opinion's sake, how
different here, no one dare show us the least kindness, but he is sus-
pected & put under surveillence. No news that we are to know, but
I know we are beating them at Corinth, their very silence shows it.
rumors of our going tomorrow, but where? Some say to Macon Georgia,
some say to be exchanged. I feel no confidence in any of it, but resign
myself to fate, knowing that if I am not exchanged it will be for some
good reason. Almost Sundown, how balmy the air is, how contented
we all seem, loaf of bread from a friend — all right — how much I wish
I could ramble through the groves I see from here with my wife, what
wouldn't I give to see her. Good night.

Thursday May 8 1862 Sun again rose clear, very warm at noon,
what beautiful weather we are having here now. this morning a large
body of secesh troops came up from Mobile on the way to Corinth,
that will be a most bloody battle, if it has not been decided before this.
nothing yet from there, last night there seemed to be a great moving
of R R trains around us. today the guards are armed with spears,
showing that their gruns have gone to Corinth, today we lost one man
by death John F. Koch of Co E 12th Regt. he is the first one we have
had die inside the Cotton Shed, & the 2nd we have lost from the Regi-
ment since we were taken prisoners, how sad it is to see him die here,
how mv heart bled for his friends when I looked to sec him draw his
last breath, poor fellow, he is out of prison, he died in defense of his
country as much as though he had been killed by the bullet at Pitts-
burgh, peace to his ashes, the moon rises beautifully, the air is balmy
& stars bright, after taking my usual walk around the "Cotton yard"
so as to get up an inclination to sleep & now to bed. good night wife
good night.

Friday May 9 1862 weather a little chilly, sky cloudy, about 11
o'clock I went to the river to get a swim, while there a shower came
up, but we enjoyed it. rumors of an attack on Fort Morgan near Mo-
bile, hope it is so. our guards almost all are armed with pikes, no
more wheat bread to day, all coarse corn bread, awful stuff. Some
troops arrived here from Mobile to Chattanooga & they hadn't food
enough here for them and us too. Oh what a Confederacy ! ! boys play-
ing cricket. I am glad to see the boys so lively, no *'Secesh" can crush
them, how they do despise these pike men & shot gun rangers, it has
been cloudy all day & looks as though it might rain to night. How
anxious I nm to hear from Corinth^ but it wont do any good to feel

82 ANNALS OF IOWA

anxious. I must take my evening walk. I have taken my vesper walk.
I wisli I were going home to my spouse. Good bye wife — Good night,
now for my pine plank & blanket.

Saturday May 10 1862 It seems strange that none of us can hear
from home. I wrote my wife from Memphis & from Montgomery, but
no answer, can it be possible that she has never received either of my
letters? if so, what must she think has become of me, how great her
anxiety must be. I pity her. When I get to any place where a dispatch
will reach her, my first business will be to send to her. it*s a chilly,
cloudy day, raw and looks like rain. Are they fighting at Corinth?
how much we long for some news from there, but no papers, some-
times we do get one some how. he soldiers from here are all going
down the river to obstruct the navigation so that Gun boats will not
get up here, poor fools, the Gun boats will be here if they think it
enough worth their while to come, they fear those Gun boats, they
think they are some terrible monster flying the air, running over land
& rushing through the water, it is amusing to hear the "butternuts"
talk about them, this is the most ignorant people on the earth especial-
ly the "Conscripts'*, all who are between the age of 18 & 35 who have
not volunteered, they make them come in now any how. they are mov-
ing their Cotton from here over the river, some here don't want their
cotton burned, those who are the most anxious to burn cotton haven't
a bale or a pound, great patriots ! ! tremendous blowers ! Some there
are though, who are willing to burn their cotton & will do so, but they
are few. the rest who will do it, will do it because they nre compelled
to do so by the "Confed'* Government, there is a perfect reign of terror
here, to be suspected of having sympathy for a prisoner, or of any
lingering longing for the "good old times" two or three years ago, had
better get away as soon as possible & yet when our Gun Boats come
near it is astonishing!! how many Union Men are found! always have
been Union Men, but didn't express their opinions, oh no!, what a set
of liars, a most despicable people, it is rumored that at noon to day
our gun boats will have been Bombarding Fort Morgan, Mobile bay
48 hours, by this time they must have taken it. this has been a beauti-
ful day the moon now is 3/4 full in the South & will pour a flood of
light this evening, dear! dear! how I wish I could be home these
nights, does my wife know where I am? I trust she does, it can't be
these heathen would be so cruel as not to forward our letters home,
this is Saturday night again and yet we are prisoners, to morrow will
be five weeks since we were taken, how short these weeks have seemed,
yet they have been long enough, when will our Uncle Sam exchange us?
soon I hope or must we linger out months longer in this doleful cap-
tivity. I wish our deliverance would come as unexpectedly as our cap-
tivity did. we give it up & now wait patiently & listlessly until they tell
us to get ready to go home, we don't hope any more we only wait,
we will wait & wait & sometime we will pay these rebels for all we
have suffered here How bright the moon is, but I must go to bed.

A PRISONER OF WAR 33

it is a hard bed, but it is the best I have got, so good night wife &
pleasant dreams — good night.

Sunday, May 11th 1862 Five weelts ago to day I was taken pris-
oner, it don't seem five weelcs, but it is. must five weel«s more pass
before I can see friends again? I hope not. It is very warm & very
bright to day. this morning I went to tlie well, how fresh & green
everything looked, then I felt what it was to be a prisoner. If I were
home I should be getting [ready] fur church this beautiful Sabbath
morning. My wife is getting ready even nov.', I suppose. Dear wife, I
wish I could be with you. I shall prize such privileges more after this.
It don't seem like Sunday here, boys don't seem to be religiously in-
clined to day at all. our rations are growing less every day. we can
live on what we get, but that is about all. where will we be next Sab-
bath, on the way home, or to a new prison, or in this one still. I don't
wish to leave here till we are exchanged, we can't get a better place,
airy and light & roomy, but it is confinement still, in one week we
might be in Norfolk or Memphis. No news yet from Corinth, rumors
of success sometimes on one side & some times on the other. "Hope
tells us a flattering tale" may it be true, what a difference between
this Sunday and the one five weeks ago. Then I escaped a hundred
deaths, he was so near me several times that the wind of the bullet
touched my ears, he was nearer me than I hope to have him ever again,
then we were killing our fellow Creatures & they were killing us. To
day — how different all is Calm, there is no great difference in the
days — both alike were bright, sunny & warm, then all was action to day
all is quiet — then I was free, to day I am a prisoner how I wish this
week would take us home, this week is big with events Corinth will be
lost or won this week, thousands now alive & well, will sleep their last
sleep, heard a sermon from Rev Lieut Winslow 58 Illinois just had a
treat — Blackberries, my friend Nickerson bought a 5 cent cup of black-
berries, ripe at that & we two ate them up. they were delicious, fruits
ripe early here, the Moon is almost full & looks down upon me with
a brilliancy which I only saw at Dubuque. "Roll on silver moon", be-
fore you fill your hours again May I be with niy dear little wife. James
Evans went to the Hospital to day, but we mustn't leave him behind.
& now to bed. Good night wife good night.

Monday, May 12 1862 The Sun rose clear again this morning, it is
cool but by noon it will be verv hot, but we are in the .shade & if there
is anv breeze we don't feel the heat much, the day has i)assed as most

V » I

of the other days have in reading, dozing, playing Euchr»* &c &c. this
evening in taking my usual vesper walk, the sweet Mj)onlight inviting
me to enjoy it. the moon is bright but the air is misty so that she don't
seem .so bright as my old Iowa moon. I can't get to sleej) until late in
the night it is so light & these light nights when the mooi'. is full make
me .so homesick, when will I see my dear wife? good night, good night.
Tuesday May IS 1862 Sun again rose clear, weather cool until about
10 p'clock, when it gets hot. we are glad to be under our shed, our

84 ANNALS OF IOWA

rations are getting less every day. we don't get any wheat bread now.
the Confederacy must be getting low in the provision line, another
pleasant day, a little cloudy toward evening promising a Shower, which
promise was not fulfilled, so it is hot & sultry yet. day passed as usual
reading, dozing, playing Euchre &c &c. how monotonous our life is.
we hear to day that Norfolk, Pensacola & Mobile are ours. I hope it
is so. they are getting hemmed in pretty effectually, tried to get out
to take a walk, but couldn't, just had a good swim in the river, water
delightful, the Alabama has a swift current & it wouldn't take long to
run down to Mobile. I wish I had a chance, went to the well for water,
the cold round moon shines deeply down, how bright she is. I look &
look & long to be at home, but I can't be, so now to my plank, good
night.

Wednesday, May I4, Jfi62 Four weeks ago since we entered the Cot-
ton yard, dull, dreary four weeks, will I have to stny here four weeks
longer? Ah! Uncle Sam! you don't do right in not having prisoners
(Txchanged sooner. Sun again rose clear this morning, we have been
fortunate in having such pleasant weather since we came here, had it
been Cold & stormy I don't know what some of us would have done,
the "Secesh" won't furnish us with any blankets, quilts or anything
else, how some of the boys would have lived if they hadn't made pipes
out of the clay found in digging a well inside the yard, I can't imagine,
they sold pipes to the guards & visitors I had a lovely breakfast this
morning a crust of bread & a cup of crust coffee, rich fare, but it is
all they. have & yet Capt Long (Capt of the Guard) was bragging of
their resources. Pshaw ! brag all the time & lie too. Henry L. Richard-
son went to the Hospital & Ed Richardson went as nurse to take care
of him. this makes 4 at the Hospital now W H Collins, John W Ward,
James Evans H L Richardson Lieut Wayne of 3rd Iowa went to Hos-
pital to day. Our rations are reduced to half rations, & poor at that,
we almost starve, but we don't have to work very hard & so we live
on it John H. Byrnes went to Hospital J as Crosby went as nurse
Nothing from Corinth yet. beautiful weather — rather warm but pleas-
ant. Moon full & shines out with her full brilliance, good night

Thursday, ^fay Jo 1862 Sun rose as usual, day warm, everything
stagnant & dull, rations decreasing every day. Molasses 2.00 gal, sugar
85c lb. we don't get much of either you may be sure. I hope we will
get Richmond this week & Corinth too. how dull it is here. I am get-
ting tired of it — the same monotonous unvarying round of employ-
ments, mostly reading & wishing to get away, the same clear sky &
bright sun day by day, only to day there was a promise of a shower,
which we did not get. I wish we had, it would have been a change,
the moon is not shining yet. it is not likely to rise before 9 or 10
o'clock, so good night.

Friday May 16 1862 Today is "Fast day" in the "Confed." it may
do them good to pray, but I don't think God will help them much, we
having successes every where now. I wish we could take Richmond

A PRISONER OF WAR 85

& Corinth, it might end the war. I am anxious to get home. I wish I
could know whether my wife knows I am here or not. it makes me
anxious all the while, the Suspense she must be in is terrible. Sun
again clear to day. I wish it would rain, our rations are growing less
to day we only got 11 lbs of damp com bread to last 24 Hours for 21
men, about V2 lb apiece, pretty poor fare, but we can support life on
it, & when we get out let our Govmt & people know all about our
treatment here, it looks like a shower coming, here it is. how grateful
we are for this rain, the air is so much purer for it. the day has been
dull as usual, green peas came in today, those who had a little money
had peas. I had none, but I looked at them, the evening comes on beau-
tifully, the air is so pure & balmy since the shower. Nothing from
Corinth yet. I must go to my plank good night.

Saturday May 17 18G2 Another week almost gone. I had hoped to
have heard of the fall of Corinth & Richmond this week, but do not.
perhaps I will next week, I hope so. this day passed as all the rest do
without incident & I go to bed disgusted.

Sunday May 18 1862 Six weeks ago to day I was taken prisoner,
the weeks roll round soon. It doesn't seem six weeks, it don't seem
more than two. I hoped to have been exchanged before this, but we
are still here. Our Government don't do right to leave us here to linger
out a miserable existence when they have so many prisoners to exchange
us for. if they care so little for us they had better disband their forces,
we fought all day & held a position we were order to hold until ordered
to fall back which we did, but the order came too late, we were sur-
rounded, we fought one battle as we were falling back, we did not
]«eep on, but halted & rescued the 23rd Missouri & 18 Wisconsin from
destruction & drove the 8th I^ouisiana & the Mississippi Tigers back
& then as we were going forward found that we were surrounded by
20,000 men who came up while we were fighting, we saved the whole
army from total rout, but we are left to starve in a Southern Cotton
shed. I am mad to-day. I want to get out. heard a sermon to day from
Lieut Stokes of the 18th Wisconsin, these good Southern Christians can
preach to Heathen but they haven't preached once to us yet. we don't
care, but it shows their Christian character in such a glorious light.
Devils, poor Devils, this is the most insignificant people I ever hoard
of. If I ever get out I hope to be permitted to pay them hack for all
our indignities & discomforts. God grant that the day may come soon.
This is a pleasant day, cool & pleasant. A shower about noon which
cooled the air. this day has passed lazily away & it U bed time. I am
sick & so go to bed early. Good night wife. Lieut I I Marks Co I r2th
Iowa went to Hospital to day.

Monday May 19 1862 Bright & beautiful day. Some of the boys
got up a petition to the "Secesh'' asking for a Parol promising not to
take up arms against them until exchanged, I refused to sign it. I
wont ask any such favor of them, none of Co H signed it. it will do
no good only give them a chance to crow over us. they can't crow over

86 ANNALS OF IOWA

me in that way. I just had a pood swim in the Alabama, the water was
delightful. Nothing from Corinth yet, nor from Richmond, they "go
slow" truly, but I hope they may **be sure". Evening comes on mildly
& calmly, & so I go to sleep. Good night, good night.

Tuesday May 20 1862 Again the Sun rises Clear & the air is cool,
will it ever be cloudy? I wish I could wake up once in a cloudy morn-
ing, yet it is fortunate that the weather has been ?is warm as it has
been since we came here. I guess it is best as it is. warm quiet day.
today Secesh Sergeants came in & took a description of all the boys,
suppose for the purpose of comparison with the rolls at Washington,
so as to facilitate an Exchange or Parol. I hope so. the poor boys
don't get much to eat. We may have to stay here, that is, the officers,
but they may not. we will gladly do so if the boys can get away, to-day
Elijah Overocker of Co F I'ith Iowa died at Hospital he was a fine boy.
rumor that 700 prisoners are down here on a boat on the way to be
parolled. they are said to be our Tuscaloosa boys. I mean to try to
see them, this evening has been spent in discussing the propriety of
accepting a "Parol" in case it is offered. I would lake it, if it were
offered to me by the Secesh, but I would be here a year before I would
ask them for one. what balmy evenings we have twilight does not
linger as long here as with us. it grows dark much more suddenly after
sundown. Good night. I must go to bed.

Wednesday, May 21 1862 Five weeks ago today we entered this
Cotton shed as prisoners, we are here yet. how long we will have to
stay I don't know, perhaps two months longer, well I can bear it, but
it does seem that Uncle Sam might spare some of those Secesh prisoners
**up North" for us. I guess he will, the sun rose clear again this morn-
ing we have been up every morning since we have been in here before
sunrise to roll call, so of coarse we cant help seeing the sun rise. I will
try to get to see the boys on the Steam boat if I can. It may be a lie,
like every thing else they tell us. Lieuts Merrell & Nickerson went to
Hospital to day Jas Evans retd from Hospital to day. it seems that
our boys from Tuscaloosa are here. Some are yet on the Steamer &
others in a large foundry on the other side of the town, in the morning
I will try to send a note to our boys who arc there. Just had a good
bath in the Alabama, it looks like rain. I hope we will have a shower.
Good night.

Thursday May 22 1862 At last a Cloudy morning. Cool & comfort-
able, it did not rain here last night, but rained around us. it looks now
like rain, great deal of talk about sending the boys off on Parole &
keeping the officers here. I would be willing to stay here if the boys
could get away home, but I hope our stay will be brief, there is a good
deal of sickness here, the Hospital is full, it didn't rain after all. the
sun came out about 10 o'clock & shone steadily and fervidly all day.
the boys were called out this afternoon & their descriptive roll com-
pared, they will probably leave before long, in fact any minute, we
are to remain, hQW long I don't know, but not long I hope. We wont

A PRISONER OF WAR d7

ask for a Parole, nothing from Corinth yet. Hal leek seems to be stead-
ily advancing and now the Evening shades appear & I must take my
vesper walk & retire to my pine plank couch Good night.

Friday May 2Srd 1862 Sun again rises Clear and lovely, the morn-
ings and Evenings here are lovely, but at mid day it is very warm,
this afternoon it looked like rain & about 6 o'clock wc had a "powerful"
shower, it was refreshing, this afternoon the Provost Marshal told us
that the privates were to leave to-morrow for Atlanta en route for
Knoxville. The Commissioned & non-Commissioned officers were to go
to Macon Georgia on Monday or Tuesday, it will be a change. I hope
they will let us go around Macon & take more exercise, but who knows,
we may stay here. I am incredulous when they tell me any thing, it is
raining & cool so I must go to bed. no news, good night. Johnny
Ludlen takes a letter to my wife, good night, good night.

Saturday May 24 1S62 Another Cloudy Morning, about 8 o'clock
it rained hard, with thunder & lightning, reports of heavy skirmishing
at Corinth, cloudy & rainy all day. boys all left to day on cars for
Atlanta to be paroled, the Lieutenants, Sergeants & Corporals left
behind to go on Monday. Ed Richardson, H Richardson John W Ward,
Jas S Crosby I H Byrnes came from the Hospital but too late to have
their descriptive roll made & so have to wait to go with us. I hope the
boys will have a pleasant time & tight cars as it rains now. Dow &
Elwell — vs T Clendenin ha ha! all right, how lonely it seems without
the boys, over 500 left to night, rainy & cold — good night.

Sunday May 25 1862 Seven weeks ago since we were taken pris-
oners, cloudy, dull chilly day, lonely too, for we miss the boys, we had
our "descriptions" taken yesterday afternoon, perhaps they mean to
parole us at Atlanta or Macon, perhaps Exchange us, as Senator Wil-
son has offered a bill in our Congress to allow of Exchanges. So the
Provost Marshal told me. we expect preaching to day from Lieut
Winslow 58 111. Seven weeks ! ! well it don't seem so long, they have
flown rapidly. How long Uncle Sam? how long must we stay? not an-
other seven weeks I hope. My dear wife is in church to day probably
praying for her captive Husband if she knows whether he is alive or
not. when will [we] see a peaceful Sabbath that I can spend in church?
Lieut Winslow did preach a good Sermon & after dinner we were all
formed in 2 ranks & roll called to see if they had the descriptive list
of all. there were about 200 Commissioned & Non-Coinmissioned officers,
we hear that the Cols, Majors & Captains who were sent to Talladega
& then to Selma are here on a boat, if so they will go when we do.
about 350 Commissioned & non-Commissioned officers, with us about 550
officers & Non-Commissioned do, they say!! that parole will be offered
us & if we refuse we can stay in prison in Georgia, if ofered to me I
think I will take it. this has been a dull, cloudy, chilly day, lonely be-
cause the boys are gone, it seems as though we had met with a sad loss,
they were so lively & gay. Miss Eliza Tooley, Mrs Tooley & Mrs
Firden sent me peas & biscuit, dull, cloudy, chilly, gloomy day &

88 ANNALS OF IOWA

evening threatening rain, they say we will leave here to-morrow even-
ing at 6 o*clock. hope so, anything for a change. Good bye, wife, good
night, and now to bed.

Monday May 26th 186S cloudy & chilly, at last I am gratified by
seeing some cloudy mornings. I am satisfied, give me clear ones while
I remain South. I had permission to go to the Hospital this morning to
see Lieuts Merrell, Wayne, Marks & Nickerson. I must see how they
are. I have just been to the Hospital. Wayne & Nickerson will prob-
ably go with us to-morrow morning. Just as I was going in to the Hos-
pital, the Provost Marshal gave me two letters from my dear wife.
How glad I was, what a surprise! the only letters that have come from
the North to prisoners, it was quite an event, every body wished to
hear from the North. I was glad to hear that my wife knew where I
was. now I am contented, how great must have been her anxiety, the
boys of the 12th flatter me. I was glad to hetir that my baggage had gone
home. Capt Playter was very kind to do it, but I knew he would do so.
I hope I will see my wife soon. The Provost Marshal says that he has
no doubt that there will be an exchange made before long my visit to
the Hospital has done me a heap of good. Lieut Wm Hall Montgomery
lent mc $2.00 May 26/62 IJeut Marks is sick, very sick & will have to
be left behind. I wrote to his wife to-day, enclosed to my wife for her
to forward. Merrell cannot go with us either, we hear now that we
wont go to-morrow morning so good night. I am so glad to hear from
my wife.

Tuetday, May !37 1862 This morning is one of che most charming
ones I ever saw, bright & cool, how I would like to take a buggy ride
out by Stewart's with my wife, we are here after all. we may go to-
night & we may not. I shall wait now till we go. The privates went
this morning, those that were left behind from the Hospital, all of Co
H excepting the Sergeants, & Corporals are gone now. our folks will
now hear from us soon (Tom Clendenin is here all right — Dorr) J. B.
D. is within our lines by this time. I wish I could get another letter I
wrote by hand of Mr Van Meter to my wife. I hope she will get it soon
& it will relieve her. Imagine my surprise to day about noon to see
Dick Verdenbergh & Capt Haw of "Curtis' Horse" who told me that
he was captured May 6 at Paris Ky. he says Maj Shaffer was killed
also Lieut Wheeler, of Dubuque, he informed me that Frank Goodrich
& Frank Doyle were killed on the fight at Shiloh Monday, sorry to hear
it. Dick looks natural Geo Edwards went back on account of a head
ache & so escaped, the papers speak highly of Tith Regt several of
Belmont prisoners came here Capt Crabb & Adjt Bowler of 7th Iowa
are here just came from Tuscaloosa. I think they must intend to
parol or exchange us from concentrating so many here, the Genls,
Cols, Majors & Captains are expected up from Selma every hour, all
to go to Macon, so they say. it seems barbarous to take civilians. Union
men prisoners. We have about 30 just from Tuscaloosa, taken from
East Tennessee. Soldiers expect such things, but to arrest peaceable

A PRISONER OF WAR 89

union men &: condemn them to a weary confinement is wrong, our Govt
ought to take all prominent **Secesh'* in the South & send them North.
Just heard from Nutting, Ben Clark saw him at Tuscaloosa & another
man Myre in the Hospital saw him in the Hospital at Tuscaloosa, he
said that he lay all night under a log Sunday night & in the morning
followed the Secesh, who were running away from him, because he says
he was afraid our folks would shoot him & if they didn't shoot him
they would run over him, so he followed the Secesh off. Ben Clark
tried every way to hear something of him, but cannot. 1 think he is
dead, died at Tuscaloosa, what a fool he was. Good night, now to bed.

Wednesday May 28/6fS Six weeks to day since I arrived in this
Cotton shed, it has passed "wondrous quick.'* we expect to leave
here to day for Macon, they lie so that I don't much believe we will,
now we hear that we will start Friday morning 6 o'clock how it will
be I don't know. "What do youns come down here to fight weuns for?"
they all talk just like niggers, this has been a beautiful day. I have
been listening to Bob Hilton's account of his escape from Tuscaloosa
& re-capture, it was rich. Bob & several others came here hand cuffed,
but he had a key & unlocked them after he got in here, all right. I hope
our boys are within our lines by this time. Good night good night, now
to bed.

Thursday May 29 1862 Another beautiful morning, had boiled eggs
this morning for breakfast. Dick Vendenbcrgh, Capt Haw & Adjt
Boler of 7th Iowa Duncan & self hot them. last night I sat up till 19
oclock listening to Judge Meek's account of their persecutions & suffer-
ings in East Tennessee. James Evans went to Hospital today. Judge
Meek was a member of the Tenn Legislature from near Knoxville.
their sufferings were terrible, our Government ought to take prominent
Secesh in the cities they take & send them north. Judge Meek was ar-
rested & demanded a hearing but never could find out what charges
they tiad against him. he & some 20 more are here political prisoners,
the Secesh burn property, take Horses, cattle &c from Union men,
turn their women & children out of doors, shoot down the men without
the least provocation, what a terrible retribution is due them. I hope
it will be paid, we owe them a little ourselves for what they have made
us suffer, our day will come some time never mind, just heard from
the Hospital that Lieut L. H. Merrell of Co B 12th Iowa died tliis
morning & that Lieut I. I. Marks of Co I 12th Regt died this after-
noon, both typhoid fever. How sad it is. I am so glad I went to see
them the other day. they say we must go to Macon to-morrow morning

5 o'clock, we had to send Jim Evans to the Hospital to d«y, also David
Moreland was detailed as nurse at the Hospital. I sent down his shirt

6 Drawers by a Guard. Poor Nickerson we had to leave him, Nicker-
son, Jim Evans & Dick Moreland left behind at the Hospital. Poor
R F Nutting died on the boat coming roud from Tuscaloosa to Mont-
gomery, he died about the 20th of May /62 & was buried on the river
banl&. we f^o to-morrow morning & we are all getting ready.

40 ANNALS OF IOWA

Friday May SO 1862 We are oflf for Macon, left about 7 A. M. saw
ripe plums, blkberries & blk raspberries, also moss covering the trees
on the road, the soil is wretched, red sand, hardly raises corn. Some
large corn fields. How little of the land is cleared. I thought I should
see a cultivated state but the most of it is covered with underbrush,
the capitol & the town look beautifully in the distance, it is a charming
day. we are put in regular "nigger Cars" all right — all right, we pass
through forests of pine, beech, maple &c &c so green & so cool looking
we have a long ride before us, for they don't rush cars tiirough as we
do in our country. Reached Auburn about 60 miles from Montgomery
at 3 o'clock. 60 miles in 8 hours ! the wheat, oat & rye crop is very
poor so poor that in Iowa it would be ploughed under, no farmer think-
ing it worth while to cut it, it wouldn't pay. at Auburn they have a
fine Seminary, but on an exposed situation, without trees it looks so
bare, but it is a fine large brick building. Auburn is a pleasant rambling
place, every place is full of Conscripts, their families must suffer, we
rode through some beautiful woods of noble oaks pines, maple & beech.
The pine groves are fragrant & it is a very pleasant fragrance too, but
the soil is very very poor, corn looks poor, not V4 of a crop as a gen-
eral thing, all their crops seem to be a failure except Ihe crop of
"butternuts' & Grey backs not to forget body guardtt. the Conscript
act raises everv one in the countrv between 15 & 4'5, all have to come
or be shot, this is a very warm day, but our cars are pretty open so
we don't suffer much, we arrived at Columbus about ^2 P^*^* 7PM
95 miles in 12 hours!! we changed cars, exchange very much for the
better, we shook off the dust of Alabama from our shoes the meanest
people in the world are Alabamians. the boys who were at Tuscaloosa
& Cahaba all complain of their hard treatment, as soon as we got into
Georgia we noticed the difference in the people.

Saturday May 31 lSf)i^ we arrived at Macon about Vg past 7 in the
morning, we stood in the hot sun a long time by orders of Capt Troy
for whom there is a hot place below, finally we marched to the Fair
ground a beauty place, we stood a long time in the hot sun. 1 was
seized with a severe headache which added to my d -used me up for
the day. What a change this is from the old Cotton shed ! beautiful
groves for us to lie around in & wander through, the people of Macon
are very kind & good to prisoners, preaching every Sunday, things
sent in &c &c. how different from the people of Montgomery what a
poor set the Alabamians are I have been sick all day & have not been
able to enjoy the groves &c, but I can see others doing so. this after-
noon I took some opium to check my d but took too much for it

checked it too suddenly & I suffered a most excruHating pain in the
bowels which lasted about an hour after which 1 felt much better, &
went to sleep, we found Charley Sumbards & the Non Commd oflScers
of Cos I & G which we left at Memphis they all complain of treatment
&c in Alabama, but here they have been well cared for. the citizens
donate pants, shoes &c to those boys who needed them & if a man dies

A PRISONER OF WAR 41

4 are allowed to go to the grave with him & a funeral sermon preached.
How different from Montgomery. There you couldn't find out who died
& if an o£5cer died he was hurried in the ground & no one could see
him at all. I am down on all Alabamians.

Sunday June 1, 1862 Eight weeks to day since I was taken, what
a beautiful day this is & what a beautiful place to spend it in, groves,
springs and buildings, everything comfortable a very pleasant change

from Montgomery I am still suffering from d . I lie still all the

time, hoping to be better soon.

(Lieut. E. F. Jackson died at Macon, Georgia, Monday, June 9, 1862,
at 10 A. M. The longed for exchange papers jmd promotion papers ar-
rived at the prison a day or two after his death. — Editor.)

HOW NORTHWESTERN IOWA APPEARED IN 1820

St. Louis, Missouri, Aug. 23, 1820. — Appeared in town on
Saturday, 19th, Col. Morgan, Captain Kearney and Captain
Pentland of the United States Army. These gentlemen, together
with Captain Magee, left the Council Blutfs^ about six weeks
ago and went to the Falls of St. Anthony. They describe the
country between the Bluffs and the Falls as eminently beautiful,
the prairies predominating, but covered with grass and weeds,
indicating a rich soil, the face of the country undulating, the
streams of water clear and rapid, and occasionally lakes of living
water of several miles circumference, embosomed in groves of
timber and edged with grass, and presenting the most delightful
appearance. They saw immense herds of buffaloes and elks, some-
times several thousand in a gang. . . . They confirm the accounts
of the fine gardens and crops at the Council Bluffs. Mr. Calhoun
deserved well of the country for having instituted this system of
cropping and gardening. It adds to the health, comfort and
cheerfulness of the men, and gives a certain sustenance to these
remote posts. — Boston Weekly Messenger, Boston, Mass., Sep-
tember 28, 1820. (In the Newspaper Division of the Historical,
Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.)

1 Later called Fort Calhoun, on the west side of the Missouri River and some
ten miles north of the present city of Omaha. — Editor.

NEW CHICAGO

By H. E. Perkins

The first settlement in the eastern part of Ringgold County
to reach the distinction of being called a town^ was named
Athens^ the same as the township in which it was situated. It
was also called Athens Center. And at some time during the
life of the settlement it was nicknamed New Chicago. This
name, it is said, was given to it by one of its citizens who had
formerly lived near Chicago, Illinois. On January 13, 1873, the
post office in the Merritt settlement which was known as Cross,
was discontinued, and on July 16 of the same year it was re-
established under the same name at New Chicago, with Fred A.
Brown as postmaster. Certainly the place was well supplied
with names, whatever else it may have lacked. In after years,
the name by which it was most familiarly known was its nick-
name. New Chicago.

The buildings were on both sides of the road running east and
west between the southeast quarter of Section 11, and the north-
east quarter of Section 14, and just east of the road which ran
north and south near the middle of Section 11, in Athens Town-
ship. It was a mile and a half west of the Decatur County line.
There were no fences on either side of the road, and in fact, it
was only occasionally that a fence was to be found anywhere
in that part of the country.

The town was situated on a high, gently rolling prairie, cov-
ered with a luxuriant growth of native prairie grass and the fa-
mous blue grass of southern Iowa, while a beautiful and fertile
farming region reached around it in every direction as far as the
eye could see. It had its greatest growth in 1875, and was at
its best from that year until 1879. During these years it was
made up as follows: John Miller, farm home; F. A. Brown,
post office; George I. Maxfield, farm home; C. S. Palmer, resi-
dence; Bud Noble, general store; John Hartnagle, blacksmith
shop; Dr. L. P. Thayer, physician; F. S. Rhodes, general store;
Mrs. Margaret Scott, residence; Capt. T. E. Scott, shoe shop;
Camp Brothers, physicians and drug store. The nearest railroad

NEW CHICAGO 48

point was Leon^ twenty miles to the northeast^ and as there was
no other town for a considerable distance in any direction. New
Chicago became an excellent trading center for the rapidly in-
creasing number of settlers who were coming in to occupy this
fertile land in the eastern part of Ringgold and western part of
Decatur counties. Most of the merchandise for the stores was
brought overland from Leon, to which place the railroad had
been built in 1871. Prior to that time the nearest railroad point
was Ottumwa, and hogs and cattle were often driven to that
place to market.

In the immediate vicinity of New Chicago, one of the first
settlers was John Miller, who came here from Illinois in 1865,
and bought 120 acres of land on the east side of Section 11.
Near the southwest corner of the place was a small plank cabin
into which Mr. Miller and his family moved. They began at
once to improve the place, and had been doing a general farming
and stock raising business for several years before anything was
done toward locating a town in that vicinity. Will Hale, who
was born February 1, 1875, in the old Miller home, was probably
the first child born in New Chicago. He was a son of John Hale,
who was Mrs. Miller's son by a former marriage.

In the fall of 1868, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. Brown and
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Guild and their families came in covered
wagons from near Atalissa, Muscatine County, Iowa. Both oxen
and horses were used to haul the loads. Upon their arrival in
Ringgold County they rented a place south of Lesanville where
they made their home during the winter. The next few months
after their arrival here were spent in looking over the land in
this part of the county with a view to buying farms and making
homes for themselves and their families. There were seven chil-
dren in the family of Mr. and Mrs. F. A. Brown, as follows:
Edward, Elizabeth (Mrs. W. M. Meroney), William K., Mary
(Mrs. C. S. Palmer), Albert M., Robert Lewis, and Ilattie. In
the family of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Guild there were six chil-
dren, as follows: S. H., David L., Charles, William, Flora, and
Mary.

On November 8, 1866, David J. Jones and wife sold the north-
east quarter of Section 14-68-28 to William II. Galloway, and
about a year later Mr. Galloway sold 70 acres oS the west side

44 ANNALS OF IOWA

of the quarter to his son, William A. Galloway. The Galloway
family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Galloway and their
two sons, William A. and John Tilford Galloway. They built
two log cabins on the north end of the farm, one of them near
the northwest corner and the other one about forty rods east
of it. The east building was a little larger than the west one.
It had a clapboard roof and was occupied by the Galloway
family. It was this farm that Mr. Brown and the Guild family
decided to buy. Mr. Brown bought sixty-nine acres off the west
side of the quarter on February 13, 1868. On February 25, S.
H. Guild bought forty-one acres and on August 29, of the same
year, John M. Guild bought fifty acres off the east side of the
quarter. After selling out, Mr. Galloway moved to what was
later known as the W. H. Gray farm northwest of New Chicago.
Being a shoemaker, he worked at his trade as well as farmed
for several years, and finally moved to Oregon. John Tilford
Galloway married Sarah Merritt, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Daniel Merritt.

Mr. Guild and his family remained here until about 1872, and
then returned to Muscatine County. Some time later George I.
Maxfield bought several acres of land where the east log cabin
stood. He was a single man when he came here, but about 1873
he married a young lady by the name of Miss Robinson, whose
home was in the Happy Hollow neighborhood southeast of Tus-
keego, and they began housekeeping in the log cabin which had
formerly been the home of the Guild family.

In the spring of 1869, Mr. Brown and his family moved into
their new, two-room log cabin, which was on the northwest
corner of the farm. The unfinished attic or "loft" was used as
a bedroom for the children, and as there was no stairway to the
upper room as provided in the houses of the present day, access
to it was gained by means of a ladder. The cabin had a clap-
board roof. There was no fireplace, but stoves were used for
heating and cooking purposes. In this building the Brown fam-
ily spent their first years in New Chicago. Some time later a
frame dwelling house was erected on the same site, taking the
place of the less commodious log cabin, which had served its
purpose so well as long as it was used. Soon after coming here,
Mr. Brown planted a quantity of maple seed, and in a few years

NEW CHICAGO 4W5

had a beautiful maple grove around his house. Shortly after
Mr. Brown bought the farm, he took his family down to see
their new home. Their daughter Elizabeth, who was then in her
"teens,** was a very interested observer of everything about the
place. However, she was not familiar with log cabins, especially
those in an uncompleted state. So after looking around for some
time and seeing the two log cabins which at that time had not
been roofed, she asked her father if those buildings were corn
cribs. She was somewhat surprised when informed that they
were dwelling houses and that one of them would soon be her
home.

In 1873, when the post office was moved over from Merritt
Station, three and one-half miles to the southwest, where it had
been established in 1856 with William J. Merritt as postmaster,
F. A. Brown was appointed the first postmaster of the new town
for the reason that there was no one else in the neighborhood
who would accept the position. He did not want the job, but
took it simply because he felt it to be his duty. During the
summer of 1876, a Mr. Gill, who had been carrying the mail on
the star route through this section of the country for two years,
decided to retire from the business, and Mr. Brown's son, Lew,
was appointed carrier to fill the vacancy. The route was from
Mount Avr to Decatur Citv, a distance of thirtv miles. A one-
way trip was made each day over the route, for which the carrier
received a salary of $1'00 per year. Going cast after reaching
the Decatur County line, the star route over which the mail was
carried, went in a northeasterly direction, crossing Grand River
about three miles west of Decatur City, at Talley's Mill, where
there was a ford. This was a good crossing during the greater
part of the year. But often in the spring, when all the streams
became swollen due to the heavv rains, the ford could not be
used, and the river was crossed at the Woodmansee bridge. This
was known as the north route.

The next arrivals in the new town were C. S. Palmer, his
brother Arch, and their mother. Their home originally was in
Ohio. From that state they emigrated to Durant, Cedar County,
Iowa, where they made their home for some time. From the
latter place they came to Ringgold County about the year 1870,
and decided to locate in New Chicago. A lot was secured about

46 ANNALS OF IOWA

fifteen rods east of the post office, where they built a frame resi-
dence and made their home. C. S. Palmer, familiarly known as
Claud, soon became one of the influential men of the community.
Being genial, industrious and well educated, his talents were
always in demand. He farmed, clerked in the stores, and taught
school, continuing in the latter profession most of the time until
he was elected county recorder of Ringgold County, in 1894. A
few years after coming here he married F. A. Brown's daughter,
Mary. Arch Palmer, after a short stay here, returned to his old
home in Cedar County. His mother continued to make her home
in Ringgold County, and died about six miles south of Mount
Ayr some years later.

According to the most reliable information obtainable at the
present time, it seems that the first business house to be erected
in the new town, was a one-story frame store building about
16x24 feet in size. It was built in the fall of 1875 by Bud Noble,
who had just arrived with his son James. The building was lo-
cated on the north side of the road, about two rods west of John
Miller's farm home. As soon as it was completed, Mr. Noble put
in a stock of goods and at once engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness. While the stock of goods was not large, it was soon found to
be a great convenience to the people of the neighborhood, who up
to that time were obliged to go many miles over the hilly roads
to do their trading. The store had a good patronage from the
very beginning, some of the customers coming many miles to
trade here ; and farmers coming to get their mail could exchange
their butter, eggs, poultry, etc., for supplies at the store. Mr.
Noble continued in business here until the fall of 1879.

In the fall of 1875, soon after Bud Noble's building was put
up, John Hartnagle came from Naperville, near Chicago, Illi-
nois, and built a blacksmith shop a few rods west of the Noble
store. Having come from near Chicago, he is credited with hav-
ing given the town its nickname. New Chicago. Mr. Hartnagle
boarded at the liome of John Miller while engaged in business
here. The shop was sixteen feet wide, twenty-five feet long, and
was equipped for doing a general blacksmith and woodworking
business. In 1878 J. F. Scott went into the shop to learn the
trade and continued working for the proprietor as long as he
remained in New Chicago, and for about three years after the

NEW CHICAGO 47

shop was moved to Kellerton. John Burgess also worked here.
In the fall of 1879^ the shop was moved to Kellerton and placed
on Lot 17, Block 17, just west of the alley. Some time later J.
F. Scott became the owner of the building, which he was still
using as a blacksmith shop in 1931. Mr. Hartnagle continued
in the blacksmithing business in Kellerton for a number of years,
and finally moved to Decatur County. He was married to Miss
Lois Green, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Miles Green. They
were the parents of four children: Ruth, who married L. G.
Clum of I^moni, and had one daughter; Tena, who married Dr.
£. Shaffer of Delta, Colorado, and had one daughter; Addie H.,
who died about the first of May, 1 905, at the age of twelve years ;
and Chester H., who was born in Kellerton in 1893, married
Miss Elsie Ferrand of Des Moines, and since 1919 has been
manager of the Chamberlain Hotel in Des Moines. John Hart-
nagle, who had been living in Decatur County for a number of
years, died the last of April, 1905, at Leon, Iowa, and was
buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Woodland.

Dr. L. P. Thayer was the first physician to come to New
Chicago, and immediately showed his faith in the new town by
erecting a store building. It was located just east of George
Maxfield's residence on the south side of the road, and in it the
doctor had his office. The building was a story and a lialf high
and had a square front similar to most of the business houses of
that day. A window over the front door admitted light to the
room upstairs. When F. S. Rhodes came about 1875, he rented
the store building of the doctor and put in a stock of goods. He
had been a captain in the Confederate Army and came from
some place in the South, bringing with him what he called a
bankrupt stock of goods, and began selling them at auction.
Business proved to be good and Mr. Rhodes added more goods
to his stock from time to time, and continued in the mercantile
business here until the fall of 1879. His stock consisted of dry
goods, groceries, hardware, and in fact everything usually kept
in a general country store of that day.

The Thayer building was moved to Kellerton in 1879 or 1880
and placed on Lot 8, Block 14, facing Decatur Street. It was
later sold to Joe Euritt, who used it as a residence. In 1901 it
was moved away to make room for the Ringgold County Savings

is ANNALS OF IOWA

Bank. The Kellerton Globe of April 25, 1901, says: "The work-
men began digging the drain and excavating for the foundation of
the new bank building the first of the week. Joe Euritt moved
his building into the street several days ago, and yesterday
Shaner & Davenport hitched their engine to part of it and
hauled it across the track, which attracted considerable atten-
tion." Mr. Rhodes built the first store in Kellerton, in 1879.
It was a large, two-story building twenty feet wide and one hun-
dred feet long, at the corner of Decatur and Fifth streets, where
he continued in business for several vears. He went from here
to Argona, Kansas, then to Little Rock, Arkansas, and finally
to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He married Capt. T. E. Scott's
daughter, Mrs. Al Cole. While Mr. Rhodes was running the
store at New Chicago he lost a $20 gold piece in the yard. Al-
though a thorough search was made he was unable to find it.
In 1920 it was plowed up by Ivan Daniels, who was farming
the land that year.

JVIrs. Margaret Scott, daughter of Captain and Mrs. T. E.
Scott came here in 1876, and built a two-room dwelling 14x22
feet in size about five rods west of John Ilartnagle's blacksmith
shop, the lumber having been hauled from I^eon. With Mrs. Scott
were her five children: Jack F., Andrew, Roberta (Mrs. R. L.
Brown), Harry, and Joe, all of whom made their home with her
until the fall of 1879, when the house was moved to Kellerton
and placed on Lot 3, Block 16, on the west side of Ringgold
Street. Mrs. Scott was born February 10, 1837, at Clarksville,
Ohio, and died at her home in Kellerton, May 8, 1910. At the
time this was written in 1931, the original building was still
being used as the residence of her son, Joe Scott. The old
building even at this time was in a good state of repair and
appeared to be good for many more years of use.

Among the early residents of Athens Township were Captain
and Mrs. Thomas E. Scott and their four married children:
Joseph L., John A., Margaret (Mrs. James Scott), and Ruth
(Mrs. Al Cole, who was later married to F. S. Rhodes). James
Scott, who married Margaret, was not related to the other Scotts.
Captain Scott and his wife at one time lived in Ohio and Indi-
ana, going from there to Miami County, Kansas, before locating
in Iowa, During the Civil War he was a member of Co. A, 116th

NEW CHICAGO 49

Indiana Volunteers. He was a member of William McDonald
Post, No. 435, G. A. R., at Kellerton. In the spring of 1875,
Mrs. Scott and her son John A. Scott, arrived from Kansas and
stopped at the home of M. V. Davis, with whom they were ac-
quainted, on the southwest quarter of Section 20, Athens Town-
ship. In July of the same year Captain Scott arrived, accom-
panied by the other three children and their families. Shortly
after his arrival here, Captain Scott and his wife moved to a
farm in Sections 21 and 28, which belonged to their daughter,
Mrs. Al Cole. Mr. Cole was a railroad man and had been invest-
ing his money in Ringgold County farm land.

In 1877, Captain Scott built a shop about 12x10 feet in size
on the north side of the road about fifteen rods east of the corner
in New Chicago, where he worked at his trade of making and
repairing boots and shoes, and did a flourishing business as long
as the town remained. While Captain Scott's family continued
to live on the farm after he built his shop in New Chicago, he
was prepared to "keep bach" at his shop, and often did so for
several days at a time rather than make the trip from the farm
to the shop every day.

In the fall of 1879, Captain Scott moved to Kellerton, where
he built a small, two-room frame house one story Iiigh on the
east side of Ringgold Street, Lot 16, Block 17. Here he con-
tinued to make and repair boots and shoes as he had been doing
in New Chicago for several years. He was the first mayor of
Kellerton, having been appointed to that oflSce at the time the
town was incorporated in January, 1882, and served until the
first regular election, which was held the following March. He
also held the office of justice of the peace for many years. Being
a strong advocate of temperance and a man of deep religious
convictions, he gave freely of his time and talent to these causes,
and cheerfully responded whenever called upon to deliver a tem-
perance lecture or preach a sermon, not only in Kellerton but in
the country school houses for miles around. For many years he
was a member of the Methodist church, but in later life became
a Universalist. During the latter part of June, 1894, he became
too feeble to live alone, and was taken to the home of his son,
J. L. Scott, on the opposite side of the street, where his long and
active life came to a close July 12, 1894. The building which

50 ANNALS OF IOWA

had been his home, office and shop since 1879, and is well re-
membered by many of the older citizens on account of its having
been painted red, was entirely destroyed by fire on April 1,
1904, as was also the livery barn just north of it. Mrs. Scott
died May 1, 1879, while they were making their home on the
farm south of town. Both are buried in Egly Cemetery.

Dr. Matt (Americus) Camp came here and erected a two-
story frame building on the south side of the road opposite John
Miller's house, in 1875. A short time later he was joined by his
brother. Dr. Marsh (Marshall) Camp. Their former home had
been in Waj'-ne County, Iowa. They attended the State Univer-
sity at Iowa City, and both graduated from the Medical De-
partment of that institution before locating in New Chicago. A
stock of drugs was put in and they did a thriving business, as
there was no other drug store in this part of the country, and
the two brothers were associated together in business for a num-
ber of years. While in New Chicago they were joined by their
sisters, Carrie, Laura (Mrs. R. Emerson), Delia, Ida, and Flora
(Mrs. John Manning). Camp Brothers not only built up a good
business in the drug line, but by their pleasant and accommodat-
ing manner as well as skill in the practice of their profession,
soon had a lucrative practice. They remained here until 1880,
when the store building was removed to Kellerton and placed on
the northeast corner of Block 17, and facing Decatur Street.
Some vears later it was moved farther south in the same block
to make room for another building, and was later destroyed by
£re. Dr. Marsh Camp was born December 28, 1835, and mar-
ried Miss Arabella Hays, May 23, 1880. They were the parents
of two children, Cora and Carroll. Mrs. Camp died March 9,
1897. On September 5, 1898, he married Miss Harriet A.
Shields, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Shields, of Decatur
County, Iowa. He died at his home in Decatur City, Iowa, Au-
gust 14, 1914. Dr. A. Camp was born January 4, 1850, in Pike
County, Illinois, and came to Iowa when quite young. He was
killed in an automobile accident three or four miles northeast of
Kellerton, December 17, 1916. He was not married. Doctors
Marsh and Matt Camp are both buried in Kellerton Cemetery.

In the early days of New Chicago and for some time before
the settlement was started, there was no schoolhouse in that

NEW CHICAGO 51

part of the county. But that did not cause the pioneers to neg-
lect the education of their children^ and for several years school
was held in the home in John Scott^ one mile east of the corner,
and later at the home of Frederick Beck, a half mile south of
Mr. Scott's.

In August, 1870, lumber was hauled from Leon and a small,
one-room schoolhouse about 20x24 feet in size was built three-
quarters of a mile east of the corner on the south side of the
road, and was called the Scott schoolhouse. The seats were of
the homemade variety, having been constructed by the carpenter
who built the schoolhouse. There was a row of seats next to the
walls, while others were arranged back of the stove, which was
near the center of the room. There were usually about thirty
pupils in the school. The building was about twenty rods west
of the creek. In this building the people of the community
gathered for preaching services, Sunday school, spelling school,
literary society, and all kinds of public meetings. It was a busy
place during the life of New Chicago.

Among the teachers who presided over the school up to 1879,
were the following: Miss Harriet Tipton, whose home was
southwest of Tuskeego, and who taught about 1866; Mrs. Lizzie
Faulkner, of the Wions neighborhood; Miss Lucinda Scott, a
sister of John Scott; Miss Flora Guild, a daughter of John M.
Guild; Albert Beard, Arthur L. Lesan» and George M. Lesan,
of Lesanville ; Miss Tina Moffitt, who later married Rev. Charles
Watson; Miss Estella Hatch; Miss Laura Camp, who married
Richard Emerson; John Drake and Fid French. In 1876 the
Scott schoolhouse was moved to the present site of the school
known as Cornstalk College, in District No. 6.

During the summer months, Sunday school was held in the
schoolhouse. It was usually well attended, not only by the resi-
dents of the community, but also by some who came from a con-
siderable distance. John M. Guild and John Scott were the
superintendents. The former was an exhorter and often ex-
pounded the scripture to the people on Sundays when there was
no other preaching service. While the preaching services were
not regular, the Rev. Charles Watson, of Decatur City, came oc-
casionally and preached to the people, and now and then an itin-
erant preacher would occupy the pulpit. The services were gencr-

52 ANNALS OF IOWA

ally well attended. Rev. Charles Watson married Miss Tina
Moffitt, one of New Chicago's school teachers, and it is reported
that he died in Missouri about 1896. Occasionally some of the
boys failed to go into the schoolhouse when Sunday school was
called and a special program would be given out doors, which
was not altogether appropriate for Sunday and had no connec-
tion with the lesson of the day. On one occasion a McDowell
boy accused Bill Brown of having said something derogatory to
his, McDowell's, character. Brown denied the accusation, and
immediately an attempt was made to settle the question with
their fists. As soon as the fight got well under way^ John Hig-
gins jumped into the ring to help McDowell. This angered £d
Brown, who immediately took part in the fracas by pounding
Higgins in order to help his brother. Bill Brown. A furious fight
ensued, and the longer they fought the farther away seemed the
settlement. Finally, when Bill Foster, a powerful, raw-boned
six footer, weighing about 200 pounds, thinking the fight had
gone far enough, stepped into the ring and stopped the battle.
The next morning the sheriff came over and arrested the boys
and took them to Mount Ayr, where they were tried and fined
$20 each. The strange part of it was that Bill Foster, the peace-
maker, who risked getting beat up himself by going in and
stopping the fight, was fined $20, the same as the boys who did
the fighting.

Early in the history of the settlement, a literary society was
organized, and meetings were held at the schoolhouse every
Thursday evening during the winter. The country being sparse-
ly settled, and gatherings of this kind where the people could
get together for social and intellectual improvement being few
and far between, the meetings of the literary society drew the
people from the surrounding country for miles around. Neither
the raging storms which often covered the ground with snow to
a depth of several feet, nor the icy winds which swept with
terrific force across the bleak prairies of southern Iowa, seemed
to be able to chill the enthusiasm of the members of the society
or their guests, and it was very seldom that the house was not
£lled to capacity on the nights when the meetings were held.
The debates waxed warm at times and many questions were
discussed and settled during the years that the settlement

NEW CHICAGO 53

flourished. In after years^ many of those who took part in these
discussions were called to fill positions of honor and distinction
in business and professional life in widely separated sections of
our country.

While New Chicago was not large^ there were a good many
young people of both sexes living here or within a short dis-
tance of the settlement. The principal sport of the boys was
playing baseball^ their diamond being located a few rods north-
west of John Hartnagle's blacksmith shop. Naturally, a great
deal of time was spent in playing, as there was very little else
to do in the way of sport. The boys were husky young pioneers.
They were full of life, and since there were few other amuse-
ments to occupy their time they became very proficient in their
favorite game, and during the season a great many match games
were played on the home field as well as in the surrounding
country. The name of the team was the Chicago White Sox.
Among those who played in the team were the following: Bill
Brown, Barney Stingley, Frank Higgins, Jack Scott, Andy Scott,
Lew Brown, Lyman Stingley, Tom Higgins, Truman Green,
Perry Davenport, and several others whose names could not be
recalled. On one occasion the Chicago White Sox challenged
the Rough and Readys, whose home field was about six miles
southwest of New Chicago, and the game was played on neutral
ground near the home of the latter nine. The weight of the
White Sox boys ranged from 115 to 135 pounds, while that of
the Rough and Readys was from 175 to 190 pounds. Soon after
the game was called a drizzling rain set in and continued all
afternoon. Needless to say, the game also continued — for three
hours or more. At the end of the ninth inning the score stood
42 to 41 in favor of the Rough and Readys, according to the
report of the scorekeeper. Of course the White Sox felt some-
what disheartened when notified of their defeat. But a little
later when they figured up the score themselves and found that
the scorekeeper had made a mistake and that in reality it had
been a tie game, 42 to 42, their spirits improved and it was a
very cheerful bunch of boys by the time they reached New Chi-
cago that night.

New Chicago, with its post office, stores, blacksmith shop, etc.,
was a convenient meeting place for the settlers in this part of

54 ANNALS OP IOWA

the country, and judging from the amount of business done here^
it was thoroughly appreciated by all. For several years it was
the center of business and social life for this locality — a place
where the incoming settlers from various parts of the country
could meet, become acquainted, and discuss the questions of the
day. As there were no telegraph and telephone lines at this time
and newspapers were not very plentiful, about the only way the
people had of spreading the news was to meet in town and swap
stories. The preaching services, spelling schools, husking bees,
quilting parties, literaries, and other similar events, were wel-
come occasions, and the bonds of friendship drew the people of
the neighborhood closer together each year. But when the rail-
road was extended from Leon to Mount Ayr in the fall of 1879,
and the new town of Kellerton was laid out one mile to the north
with the railroad running through the center of it from east to
west, there was no further use for the post office at New Chi-
cago, and both the Cross post office and star route were im-
mediately discontinued. Some of the buildings were moved bod-
ily while others were torn down and rebuilt in Kellerton. F. A.
Brown and his family were among the first to move, and he was
appointed the first postmaster of Kellerton on November 24,
1879, his commission being signed by D. M. Key, Postmaster
General.

ANOTHER SUN

The Iowa Sun and Davenport and Rock Island News is the
name of a new paper published on Iowa Territory. Boy, put the
Iowa Sun down on our exchange list. We exchange with all the
Suns — The New York Sun, the Baltimore Sun, the Cincinnati
Sun, the Iowa Sun, and the London Sun; and all these Suns ex-
change with the New Orleans Sun, which is our Sun, and which,
like all other Suns is a good son. Success to you all, my sons. —
[Davenport] loxva Sun, (In the Newspaper Division of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.)

JAMES MADISON BROADWELL— A GENEALOGICAL

NOTE'

By Philip D. Jordan

On the morning of July 24, 1846, James G. Edwards,^ editor
of the Burlington Hawk-Eye, second oldest newspaper in Iowa,
gave notice in his paper that James M. Broad well had purchased
an interest in the Hawk-Eye and hereafter would be known as
the junior editor. This new associate of Edwards' published his
declaration of policy above the senior partner's announcement,
and so began a financial alliance which had had its roots in Jack-
sonville, Illinois, many years earlier. Mr. Edwards, in his notice
of the new editorial and financial arrangement, wrote that he
had "known him [Broadwell] from his youth up," and that he
had "served a faithful apprentice of seven years in this office,
and is fully competent to discharge all the duties that will de-
volve on him as sharer in our responsibilities."^

Edwards had good reason to understand Broad well's capabili-
ties thoroughly, for the two had lived together as if they were
blood kin and had known all the tribulations of printing a Whig
newspaper, thoroughly imbued with temperance and Congrega-
tionalism, in a series of frontier communities possessing no ex-
cess of polish or culture. Despite this close and apparently
congenial relationship, Edwards had rarely spoken in print of
Broadwell, so that little has been known of the career and an-
cestry of this newspaper printer and editorial writer who labored
and worked in Illinois and Iowa during the period from 1837

iThis genealogical note has been made possible only through the cooperation
of the Genealogical Division of the New York Public Library; Mr. Paul M.
Angle, of the Illinois State HistoricJiI Society: my good friend, Mr. Frank J.
Heinl, of Jacksonville, Illinois; Dr. J. O. Ames, acting-president of Illinois
College; and members of the Broadwell family, among them. Miss Hattle
Broadwell, of San Francisco, Mrs. William B. Shaw, of Chandlerville, Illinois,
and Mrs. Anna B. Davidson, of Merion, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Davidson gener-
ously placed the results of many years research at my disposal and for tins I
am, indeed, grateful. I am also indebted to my friend and colleague. Dr.
Charles M. Thomas, for many suggestions and for much pertinent advice.

'•Fid. Journai of the Ulinovt State Jlistoricai Society. Vol. XXI II, No. 3,
October 1930, for Jordan's "The Life and Work of James Gardiner Kdwards."
Also reprinted as a separate. The pagination hereafter used will refer to the
separate.

3/6id., pp. Sl-82.

66 ANNALS OP IOWA

to 1851. Until now James Madison Broadwell has been more
or less a shadowy figure^ appearing only now and again in news-
paper history, and remembered by Burlington residents, in the
main, only as an old man with a plaid shawl wrapped about his
shoulders.

James Madison Broadwell possessed an interesting back-
ground, although it seems reasonable to suppose that he knew
less of his ancestry than is now well embalmed in a series of
historical and genealogical studies dealing with the Morse and
Lindsley families in America. He was born near the mouth of
the Illinois River, in Calhoun County, on June 27, 1821, and
was one of triplets, all boys and all named for presidents of the
United States — James Madison, George Washington, and
Thomas Jefferson. These were the first three children who issued
from Baxter Broadwell and Mary Lindsley. Baxter Broadwell,
descended from the Puritans of New England and the blue Pres-
byterians of New Jersey, was born at Morristown, New Jersey,
in the year 1788, served in the War of 1812, taught school in
or near Cincinnati for some six years, and then married, at
Mount Carmel, in 1817, Mary Lindsley, descended from the
famous New England family of that name. She was a native
of Morristown and preserved the legend of General Washington
taking communion in the old Presbyterian church there, during
the heavy winter of 1779-80, only after he had been assured by
the pastor that the table was the "Lord's table," and not a Pres-
byterian table.* After their marriage, Baxter and Mary Broad-
well started westward, living among the pioneers of the Little
Miami valley for a time, and in 1818, the year of Illinois' en-
trance into the Union, arriving in Calhoun County. The trip
had been made by keel boat which was then the popular mode
of traveling. One story has it that they stopped somewhere
along the Ohio and their three sons were born, but the evidence
leads me to believe it more reasonable that the boys were born
in Calhoun County sometime after the journey westward by
water had been completed. However, the actual place of birth

^From the obituary, February 24, 1892, appearing in the Burlinffton Hawk-
Eye, and undoubtedly written by Dr. William Suiter.

JAMES MADISON BROADWELL fi7

is a moot point, and later it may be established more precisely
where the triplets were born. Broad well himself seemed to think
his place of birth was Calhoun County. From this county, Bax-
ter and Mary, with their children, moved to Morgan County
where the father secured a large farm near Morgan City. His
death occurred in the year 1833, and Mrs. Broadwell died in
1837.^ Immediately upon the death of his mother, James M.
Broadwell was bound in apprenticeship to James G. Edwards,
then editor of the Illinois Patriot, at Jacksonville.

Edwards, inspired by the tales of a missionary from the
West* and wishing to become independent, had left Boston,
where he had been engaged in the printing concern of Wells and
Lilly, to establish this newspaper at Jacksonville. His sheet,
devoted to the interests of the Whig party, to religion, and to
temperance, was attractive apparently neither to the citizens nor
to the printers who set type for him. The citizens gave the paper
so little support that Edwards was willing to sell it, in the spring
of 1838, to Josiah M. Lucas; the printers quit because they were
given too many articles on temperance to put into type. Ed-
wards writes a pathetic account of these troubles. An appren-
tice, bound to him for seven years, must not have been unwel-
come to this editor harassed by pecuniary difficulties and by
labor troubles. Broadwell was about sixteen years old when he
began work for the not altogether flourishing Edwards. Broad-
well probably received much of his typographic knowledge at a
case presided over by Mrs. Edwards, for we have records that
she did much of this kind of work, being a fairly skilled type-
setter. Broadwell, after the failure of the Illinois Patriot, moved
with Edwards to Fort Madison and, as a seventeen-year-old boy,
assisted in printing the Fort Madison Patriot, the first number
of which was pulled on March 24, 1838. During this time he
was making his home with the Edwards* and went with them to
Burlington where, on December 13, 1838, was issued the Bur-
lington Patriot, the immediate demise of which is only too well
known to the genealogist of the Burlington Uawk-Eye, Then

sMrs. Shaw, in her outline, difTers us to these dates, but I believe the ones
here set down are correct,
ojordan, op. cit., pp. 9-10.

58 ANNALS OF IOWA

came another attempt to found a successful newspaper. The
Iowa Patriot appeared on June 6, 1839, issued from a two-story
frame house which stood at the corner of Washington and Water
streets, Burlington. Here Mrs. Edwards, George Paul, George
Edwards, a brother of James and once a property owner of
Burlington, and Broadwell set the type.^ The press was run by
Williamson, an Irishman. At this time Broadwell was about
eighteen years of age and apparently had had no formal educa-
tion whatsoever. The print shop had been his only school. Ed-
wards' luck was changing and he was able to continue his paper,
eventually altering its title to the Burlington Hawk-Eye. In the
year 1844, at the expiration of his seven years of apprenticeship,
Broadwell entered Illinois College at Jacksonville.^ He was a
member of the same class as Dr. G. R. Henry, of whom Dr.
Irving Cutter, dean of Northwestern University Medical School,
has written such an interesting and informative sketch.' Return-
ing to Burlington in 1845, Broadwell, finding Edwards in need
of money and faced with a loss of editorial prestige, arranged for
the business alliance indicated at the beginning of this article.
This relationship continued until June, 1851, the year of Ed-
wards' death. The paper then passed into other hands. On No-
vember 16, 1853, Broadwell, then about thirty-two years of age,
married Edwards' widow. Mrs. Broadwell lived until July 13,
1886, and James M. Broadwell until February 23, 1892, when
he died at St. Francis Hospital in Burlington. His funeral
sermon was preached by Dr. William Salter, pastor of the Con-
gregational church and a friend of Broadwell 's since 1843.

Broadwell was descended from two interesting and well-known
families in America, the Lindsleys^ and the Morses, as well as
the Broadwell strain.

Anthony Morse,*" a shoemaker, whose date of birth is un-

Tlbid., pp. 22-28.

SExtract from letter of Dr. Ames to Mrs. Shaw (Septeml)er IS, 1M2):
**. . . permit me to say that our records show that Mr. James M. Broadwell
was a student at Illinois Colleifre in the year 1844-45, and that he died sometime
in the early 90*s." Two brothers of Broadwell, George Washington Bro.idwell
and Norman M. Broadwell, also attended this college.

uAIso spelled Lindley and Lindsly, but all spellings refer to the same family.

i<'Spooner, Walter W. (ed.). Historic Families of America. New York, 1907,
Vol. I, p. 860; and Caldwell, Lucy Morse, A Chapter in the Genealogy of the
Morse Family, New York, 1981, p. 5.

JAMES MADISON BROADWELL 59

known^ emigrated from Marlborough, England, on the ship
'* James/' which sailed April 5, 1635. He was made a freeman of
the Colony of Massachusetts on May 25, 1636. His home was in
Newbury where he died, October 12, 1686, and was buried. His
will is on file at Salem. His son, Robert Morse,*^ "Taylour,"
probably was born in England, but his date of coming to Amer-
ica is uncertain. It seems that he first settled in Boston (prob-
ably before 1644, although there is a difference of opinion here),
and then in Newbury, and finally, in 1667 moved to Elizabeth-
town, New Jersey. He had taken the oath of allegiance on Feb-
ruary 19, 1665. Sometime in the year 1654, he had taken Ann
Lewis for his second wife. He, together with his brother and
seventy -six other gentlemen, constituted the "Elizabethtown
Associates," an organization formed under authority by Indian
deed and a patent, granted in 1664, by Governor Richard
Nicholls, of New York and New Jersey. This association claimed
500 acres between the Passaic and Raritan rivers. On Septem-
ber 26, 1681, he gave the deed for a tract of land on the Eliza-
beth River to his son-in-law, William Broadwell,^* who had mar-
ried his daughter, Mary Morse, born in Newbury, September
19, 1659.

This marriage occurred August 25, 1677. She was his second
wife. By occupation Broadwell was a cordwainer, nn owner of
148 acres of land near Elizabethtown, purchased October 30,
1678, as well as other lands. His sawmill was one of the land-
marks of the day. He died early in 1689, and his estate was
valued at £67.9.1. From this William and Marv there issued
William Broadwell (1682-1746), who was buried in the Presby-
terian churchyard at Elizabethtown. This William Broadwell

married Jane and from them issued William Broadwell

(b. } — d. ?y^* who married Mary Hand, a probabl'j descendant

iiMorae, Rev. Abner, Memorial of the Morses. Boston, \H5Q, p. 13.5; nlso,
Morse. J. Howard, and Leavitt, Emily W., Morse Genealogy, p. b\ also, Lord,
Henry Dutch, Memorial of the Family o/ Morse. Boston, 1M96. p. 42.

i^Vid. Hatfleld, Rev. Edwin F.. history of Elizabeth, A'. J. New York, IhOM,
pp. S5X-3S.

i2>The dates of the birth and death of this William Broadwell are uncertain,
but the proof of thia relatlonahip la found in the following? citations kindly com-
piled by Edirar R. Harlan, curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Depart-
ment of Iowa:

**Jo8iah Broadwell was born July 14, 1793, in Morris County, N. J. His
father, Simeon Broadwell, was a brother to Moses Broadwell, represented in
this book. A COUSIN to Moses and Simeon — Baxtes Broadwell — was the father

60 ANNALS OF IOWA

from the Hands of Southampton, Long Island. This Broadwell
served in the Revolution, but there does not seem to be much
further information. From this William and Mary there issued
Baxter Broadwell, the father of James Madison Broadwell.

Baxter, as before indicated, had married Mary Lindsley, a
descendant of Francis Lindsley,^' brother of John Lindsley,^*
who came to America about 1645, and who died in Guilford,
Connecticut, about 1689. Francis Lindsley was born in 1600,
came to America in 1650, settled in Newark in 1666, and died
in the year 1704. It seems incredible that he should have lived
to the age of 104 years, but the records do indicate this longev-
ity. His son was John Lindsley," born in Newark in the year
1668 and died October 27, 1749. He wedded Elizabeth Freeman
Ford sometime prior to 1742. He was a fence viewer of Morris-
town, New Jersey, in the years 1696-97, was constable in 1700,
and an overseer of the poor in 1716. He may have had a wife

of Judge Norman M. Broadwell, of Springrfleld . . ." — San{famon County, III.,
by Powers, p. 142.

"Moses Broadwell was born November 14, 1704, near Elizabethtown, N. J.
Jane Broadwell was born February 6, 1767, in the same neighborhood, and was
Moses* second cousin. They were married November 5, 1788 . . ." — Powers'
Sangamon Co., III., p. 142.

Will of Josiah Broadwell, in which he mentions sons, Simeon and Moses:
"1774, Jan. 4. Broadwell, Josiah, at Morrlstown, Morris Co.; will of. Wife,
Sarah, 50 pounds out of personal estate, and the use of my plantation, and the
interest of such part of my estate as I give to my daughters, Chloe and Esther,
till they are 18. Sons, Hezekiah, Samuel and Simeon, plantation where I live.
Sons, Moses and Jacob, 100 pounds each, when they are 21. My forge may be
sold. Daughter, Mary. 10 pounds. Daugliters, Chloe and Esther, 50 pounds eidi.
Executors — friend, Capt. Samuel Mills, Timothy Mills. Jr., Ezekial Cheever.
Proved Feb. 2, 1774. Lib. L, p. 102" — New Jersey Colonial Documents, 1st
series, v. 84, p. 60.

Baxter Broadwell's parents were William and Mary Hand Broadwell. And
since Baxter was a cousin to Moses and Simeon, sons of Josiah Broadwell,
Willinm Broadwell and Josiah Broadwell were brothers.

Will of William Broadwell in which he mentions his sons, William and
Josiah: "1745, May 9. Broadwell, William, of Elizabeth Town, Essex Co.;
will of. Wife, Jane, plantation at Connecticut Farms. Sons — Josiah, Wiluam
and Henry, all under age. Daughters — Mary Darling, Susannah Day, Jane, Ann,
and Hester Broadwell, last three under age. Snw mill on and near Pissaick
lliver in Essex and Morris Counties; land in Morris Co.; land in Elizabeth
Town, Joining lands of Benjamin Trotter. Nath'll Bonnell, Peter Willcock, John
Magee, Jonathan Allen and John Chandler. Executors — sons Josiah and Wil-
liam. Witnesses — Jeremiah Ludlam, WMlliam Jones, John Pierson. Proved
March 29, 1745. Lib. D, p. 372" — New Jersey Colonial Documents, 1st series,
vol. 80. p. 62. (Note — date at beginning of will is later than date when proved.)

iSThe best treatment of the Lindsley family Ls to be found in Lindly, John
M., History of the Lindley Family in America. Winfleld, Iowa, 1925, Vols. I
and IL

^*Ibid., Vol. I is devoted to John Lindsley and bis descendants.

16/feid., Vol. II, p. 189 et seq.

JAMES MADISON BROADWELL 61

previous to his marriage to Elizabeth Ford. However, there
issued from this John and Elizabeth a son, Daniel Lindsley/^
bom in Morristown in the year 1700 and dying August 14, 1777.
He was an elder in the Presbyterian church of Morristown as
early as July 5, 1754. In the year 1769 it is recorded that he
gave £3 to further the endowment of the College of New Jersey.
In 1740 he was one of the two surveyors of the highways. In
1733 he was married to Grace Kitchell who died September 12,
1777, aged sixty-eight years and six months. The bill of mor-
tality gives the cause of both deaths as dysentery.

From this Daniel and Grace there issued Joseph Lindsley,"
born in Morristown on June 7, 1736, and dying on October 8,
1822. Joseph was one of the leading men in Morris County,
New Jersey, a major of the militia and a captain of engineers
in the Revolutionary War, an elder in the First Presbyterian
church, a head carpenter, and a powder maker. In the opinion
of some students his eyesight was impaired in an accident oc-
curring in Ford's powder mill, a mill erected between May 11
and June 10, 1776, and credited with making much of the
powder used in the Revolution. It is known that the provincial
government loaned Colonel Ford, the owner of the mill, £2,000,
without interest, to help defray the building expenses. Lindsley
was wedded to Mary Gardiner, of Morristown, on November 1,
1781. She was born in the year 1750 and died April 4, 1828.
From this Joseph and Mary there issued Mary Lindsley, born
February 20, 1789, the wife of Baxter Broadwell and the mother
of James Madison Broadwell.

It is unfortunate that the Broadwell genealogy cannot be
worked out more completely, but the information we do possess
gives us a fair knowledge of James Madison Broadwell's an-
cestry; at least, this sketch may serve as an introductory note
for a more intensive and exhaustive examination than I have
been able to make. Of one thing we now are certain — this asso-

J«/6td., Vol. I. pp. 71; 101-2.
I' Ibid., Vol. I. pp. 18S-200.

ANNALS OF IOWA

ciate of Edwards' is no longer a newspaper editor whose back-
ground has not been worked out to some degree.
Long Island University.

Morse-Broadwell-Lindsley Chart

Anthony Morse m.

d. 1686

Robert Morse m. (2) Ann Lewis

m. 1654

William Broadwell m
d. 1689

.(.I

Mary Morse
b. 1659

William Broadwell m. Jane
1682-1746/6

Hester

^Hezekiah
Samuel m. 1775 Mary Lindsley
Simeon m. 1778 Rachel Lindsley
Moses b. 1764 m. Jane Broadwell (2)

Josiah w. dated 1774 m. Sarah J cousin dau. of a Wm. B.

Mary
Susannah
Henry
Jane

Jacob

Mary

Chloe

^Esther

Ann

William m.

Mary

Hand

1600-1704

John Lindsley m. Elizabeth Ford
1688-1749

Daniel Lindsley m. Grace Kitchell
1700-1777 d. 1777

Ebenezer

William

Baxter Broadwell

1788-1833 \

married Mary Lindsley dau. of Joseph Lindsley m. Mary Gardiner
1789-1837 1736-18-22 1750-1828

James Madison Broadwell
1821-1892

Chart outlined by Mrs. Bertha Baker, Librarian Historical Library.

A DUBUQUE COUNTY IMMIGRANT FROM THE
GRAND DUTCHY OF LUXEMBURG

By Elizabeth Nennio

Peter John Nennig is a well known pioneer and former trader.
During the eighty-seven years of his life he has crossed the At-
lantic Ocean five times, attended the World's Fair in Chicago,
met Father De Smet, S. J., apostle of the Flathead Indians, in
Europe, and visited with members of the deputation who accom-
panied the missionary from St. Louis to Montana a half cen-
tury ago.

L^ncle Peter is an interesting story teller, despite his eighty-
seven years. But to get him to talk you must let him tell it in
the Luxemburg language, "the only one good for stories," he
claims. However, if you discuss business affairs, he is all Eng-
lish. His prayerbook is German, and if he talks to Dad about
things he wishes to keep private he uses French.

When I asked him one dav what he wanted me to remember
most, he said: "Stick to your religion whatever your tribula-
tions. Never omit your daily prayers no matter what difficulties
you have. Everybody has his share of trouble and no one escapes
a certain amount. And don't let yourself be persuaded against
your better judgment. Nor let yourself be unduly influenced by
others. Too many good people have lost their life's savings by
trusting glib tongued swindlers and promoters of this and that."

This born philosopher was quite active in his days. He was
a trader, a dealet in poultry. With his team he made the rounds
of the farms in Key West, LaMotte, Garryowen and Bernard,
and, of course, the Dubuque market. He was employed on
Mississippi steamers; was a baker for four years; farmed in
Dubuque County, in South Dakota and in Canada; drove a team
of horses to the Black Hills, South Dakota ; attended the World's
Fair in Chicago; was with the P'latheads on the Indian Reser-
vation in Montana, and made a trip to Florida. He told me he
went as far south as the railroad would take him, to Fort Meyer,
Florida, and as far north as the railroad went, to Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan, Canada.

That is not all. In the last fifty-seven years he crossed the

64 ANNALS OF IOWA

Atlantic Ocean five times, in 1873, 1876, 1878, and twice in
1892. His curiosity ever urged him on to visit new places and
see new things, *'a bad habit," he said with a twinkle in his eyes,
referring to the proverbial rolling stone that gathers no moss.

He is a great reader and remembers history. What I write as
his amanuensis, is only part of what he told me. Permit me to
place the narrative in the first person. Now Uncle Peter is
speaking:

I was born on the Buchholz farm near Syren, a village in Luxem-
burg, Europe, on January 1, 1845, and was baptised Peter John. That
was the year before Iowa became a state. My father was Nicholas
Nennig, and my mother was Mary Catherine Sadler of Duedelange,
Luxemburg. Father was born across the frontier in 1770 and worked
on French farms in the days when Robespierre was feeding nobility
and priests to the guillotine, turning France topsy turvy. Seldom did
he see a priest and then only in disguise, he told me. Finally father
married and settled in Wies, across the I^uxemburg border. He became
an innkeeper. During the wars of 1810-15, when the armies of Napoleon
traversed the country, he was mayor of Mondorf, today a city well
patronized on account of its medicinal springs. Father was kept busy
making accommodations for the soldiery, but he got along well because
he spoke both French and German.

One oi these soldiers who passed through Mondorf on h:s way to
Russia was Mr. Polret of Oetrange who later became the father-in-law
of one of my brothers. This Poiret was one of an army of 400,000 who
marched to Russia to return defeated and discouraged, just 40,000
strong. What an ending! Polret's saddle pistols, dated 1810, served in
the bloody task to cover the retreat over the Bereslna, a Russian river.
They remained in the Polret-Lorang family, and were brought to Du-
buque In 1922, when my nephew visited in Luxemburg.

In 1820 father bought the Buchholz farm, which formed part of the
property of the Abbey of St. Maximin at Treves, in ancient days.
Father had ten children and died at the age of cighty-two. In his
younger days he kept school in his home, teaching older boys French.
He was a lover of trees, planted the hills of the farm with firs, ever-
greens, and In his old days was proud of his mighty forest. The Buch-
holz farm is also known for Its variety of splendid cherry trees, fifty
feet and higher. [I saw these trees with my own eyes In 1920 when I
was over there. — E. N.]

My first job was sheepherding. We had a hundred head. I preferred
this work to books, but my younger brother was a regular bookworm.
He died In his young days, a professor of languages at the University
of Liege, Belgium.

From 1867 to 1873 I was custodian at the seminary in Luxemburg.
Among other important people I had the good fortune to meet Father

A PIONEER FROM LUXEMBURG 66

Peter De Smet, S. J., who lectured on the Flathead and Sioux Indians
in America; also Father Kauder, a native of Luxemburg, who had been
a missionary among the Montana Indians.

Why did I come to America? Why did so many people of the grand
duchy come to the United States? It was not because of religious
troubles, nor was it on account of wars. We emigrated because of eco-
nomic conditions, which were decidedly unfavorable in Luxemburg in
those days.

The years after the German-Franco War ushered in an era of over-
production and were followed by years of deflation, bank failures, bad
crops, and general unemployment. For these reasons close to 8,000
people emigrated from Luxemburg to the United States from 1870 to
1880. And from 1830 to 1870 some 15,000 had found a new home in this
country. They wrote to their kin in the old country, praising land and
people in the states of New York, Ohio, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, but especially Iowa. News from Iowa appeared in our news-
papers. One of these journals carried a splendid account of the dedica-
tion of St. Mary's Church, Dubuque, in February, 1867. Twenty-nine
years before, in 1838, Mr. J. B. Noel had been the first emigrant from
Luxemburg to cross the Mississippi and settle in Jackson County. That
county in 1886 numbered 275 families from my country, and Dubuque
County 460 families. More than 30,000 of my countrymen had settled
in the Middle West before 1888. They brought with them close to
$6,030,000 and owned 645,000 acres of land. More than 1,000 fought in
the Civil War.

I suppose that is enough explanation why I emigrated to the United
States in 1873. The "Nevada" was a combination sail and steamboat.
I came at the wrong time. Hard times had hit this country. General
Grant had just been inaugurated again. Baltimore was visited by a
conflagration that burned over ten acres of ground. New York had a
financial panic. In 1874 the reds made a communistic demonstration.
In the same year another conflagration in Chicago destroyed over 1,000
buildings. There was no market for farm products and consequently
little work in the cities. My trade (I was a baker) was at a standstill.
I recrossed the Atlantic in 1876 and worked as a baker, "garcon,'' in
Metz. We worked day and night, providing the garrison with bread
and buns. For two years I stuck it out and returned to America late
in 1878. That winter I worked in a paint factory in St. Louis, also in
a slaughterhouse, and later on Mississippi steamers, loading and unload-
ing freight. Many of the deck hands lost their meager earnings to
thieves who plied their trade when we slept.

Shortly after South Dakota opened to settlers I went there. For
six years I farmed in Jerauld County. Dakota was then still a terri-
tory. I applied for and received my second citizenship paper in 1886,
and swore off allegiance to a ruler whose subject I had never been.
Luxemburg is an independent grand duchy. Perhaps a few words of
history will explain things.

66 ANNALS OF IOWA

Long before the Roman conquest the country of Luxemburg was
inhabited by Celts, a brancli of tlie Trevirs. The Romans conquered
the country in 53, B. C, and by way of fortified camps held it, calling
it Ardenna, till 496 when it became a part of the empire of Charles
the Great. The ruins of one of these camps are near the Buchholz farm.
Christianity was preached in Luxemburg by SI. Willibrord, apostle and
bishop of the Friesians. He came from Ireland and is buried in his
abbey-church, which later became a basilica, in Echternach, Luxem-
burg. His burial place is visited by thousands of pilgrims on Tuesday
after Pentecost Sunday.

From 963 to 1217 the country was ruled by native counts and by
those of Limburg. One of these was also King of Bohemia, called John
the Blind, who died a hero's death in the battle of Crccy, when the
English defeated the French.

It was in those days when the abbot of the abbey at Luxemburg
city opened the first schools. From 14i<3 till 1506 Luxemburg was ruled
by the house of Burgundy. From 1506 to 1714 it was under Spanish
rule. In the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 the first dismembering of
Luxemburg occurred. The southern part of the country was annexed
by France.

From 1714 to 1795 the fortress and country of Luxemburg were
under Austrian rule. In that year the fortress succumbed to the siege
of the French. They enlarged the fortifications and made this strong-
hold the "Gibraltar of the North." The French rule lasted till 1814.
With the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig and the entry of the allies in
Paris, the fortress of Luxemburg was forced to surrender, after having
driven off the attacking Hessians. Luxemburg was subjected to a second
dismembering. Germany annexed all of the Luxemburg territory on the
east side of the Moselle, Sauer and Our rivers, with some 50,000
population.

For a time Luxemburg was under Holland rule; together with Bel-
gium the three countries were known as the Netherlands. Belgium, by
revolution, won its independence in 1881, and seized the western part
of Luxemburg, which is twice the size of the present grand duchy.
Thus Luxemburg was dismembered for the third time by its "friends."

In 1867 the powers convened in London, ordered the fortress which
had been under a German military governor since 1815, dismantled and
solemnly guaranteed the country *s independence. Since then the coun-
try has had its own rulers. Before the World War Luxemburg was a
member of the German customs union; after the war it entered a cus-
toms union with Belgium. It is too small a country to assume the ex-
pense of collecting customs at its borders. It has an area of 639,000
acres. [Dubuque County numbers 391,000 acres. — E. N.]

Luxemburg was not able to have its own consuls in the United States
till quite recently. This delay may be the reason for the ridiculous
legend in the papers "Luxemburg, German." Luxemburg had many
foreign rulers since the days of the Romans, but its independence since
1867 entitles it to the designation, Luxemburg, Europe, no more, no

A PIONEER FROM LUXEMBURG 67

less. County officials, census officers and newspaper editors ought to
know that much.

Hard times, deflation and the lone bachelor life forced me to give
up farming in South Dakota and I returned to Dubuque County in
1887. Four years later I drove by team to the Black Hills, South Da-
kota. This forest of evergreens is visible at a distance of seventy miles.

During the summer of 1892 I made another trip to the old country
and in the following year attended the World's Fair in Chicago. I was
more than anxious to see the Chicago fair, because I had missed the
Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, the year when I returned to Europe
for the first time. Luxemburg firms were well represented at the Chi-
cago fair, where the display of rose cultures from Limpertsberg cap-
tured first prizes.

In 1893 I was in Saskatchewan, Canada. While there I had the
pleasure to see a young friend from Dubuque, who is today a well
known priest, professor, and historian. Several years later I drove to
the Flathead Indian reservation in Montana. I met members of the
deputation who had gone to St. Louis half a century before to beg for
the services of Father Peter De Smet, S. J. I could not talk with them
because they spoke only the Sioux language.

Having been in Florida in 1914 I can truthfully claim that I taversed
the country as far north and as far south as the railroads would
take me.

I always returned to Dubuque County no matter what other places
I visited. Nowhere else have I found a better place to live and no
better people to do business with. For thirty-five years I made my home
at the N. Loes farm in Key West when I was not on the road attending
to trade. My route included Key West, LaMotte, Garryowen, Bernard,
and of course the Dubuque market. On Saturdays I was aided by a
number of boys. Two of them became priests, two physicians, three
morticians, one an efficiency expert and one a postal inspector.

The writer asked Uncle how old the name Nennig might be.
He said, it was a peculiar name and seldom seen in the States.
He had not been able to trace it further than five generations.
In the Middle Ages when names were Latinized his name read
Nennius. A writer by that name lived in England in the ninth
century and compiled a "Historia Britonum," legendary stories
of the arrival of the Angles and Saxons on English soil.

Another Nennius, a high Roman official in the second century,
built a summer villa on the Moselle, a few miles from Treves,
the "Northern Rome." The settlement in later centuries became
the town of Nennig, well known today for its wonderful Roman
mosaic floor, which Uncle urges those who visit Europe not to
overlook.

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

Smavel Hawkins Marshall Byers was born at Pulaski, Lai
County, Pennsylvania, July 23, 1838, and died in Los Angelet, CbU-
fornia. May 24, 1933. His ashes are to be deposited beside those of Ui
wife at Oskaloosa, Iowa. He removed w^ith his parents, James M. aad
Parmela (Marshall) Byers, to Oskaloosa in 1852. There he attended
school, later took up the study of law and on June 16, 1861, was m^
mitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Iowa. On June M^
1861, when at Newton he enlisted as a private and was made first eoT-
poral in Company B, Fifth Iowa Infantry, was promoted to quarter-
master sergeant July 15, 1862, and to first lieutenant and adjutant
April 23, 1863. He was wounded at Champion Hill, was captured at
Mission Ridge November 24, 1863, and for the next sixteen months was
incarcerated in six different Confederate pri.sons, one being Libbj
Prison. He escaped three times, only to be recaptured. While in prison
he wrote his poem, "The March to the Sea," which gave Sherman's
famous campaign a name. His fourth escape was from Columbiat South
Carolina, when he reached the Union lines, was soon placed on General
Sherman*s staff, and was sent to carry the first news of the Carolina
victories to General Grant and President Lincoln. He was offered a
captaincy in the regular army, but declined, and devoted himself tor a
time to recovering his health. About this time Governor Stone brevetted
him as major. President Grant appointed him in 1869 consul to Zurid^
Switzerland, and after fifteen years' service there President Arthur pro*
moted him to consul general to Italy. President Cleveland displaced
him, and President Harrison appointed him consul to Saint Gall, Swit-
zerland, and soon promoted him to consul general of Switzerland. Karly
in Cleveland's second administration he was again relieved, when after
twenty years consular service he returned to Oskaloosa and in about
1894 removed to Des Moines where he remained until 1915 after whidi
he made his home in I^os Angeles. After completing his consular serrioe
he devoted most of his time to literary pursuits. His principal publi-
cations are Sixteen Monthg in Rebel Prhons, 1868; Stcitzerland and the
SwUs. 1875; The Kappjf Iitlen, 1884; lotca in War Timeg, 1888; The
March to the Sea (epic), 1896; Tiventy Yearn in Europe. 1900; With
Fire and Sxcnrd, 1911; A Layman's Life of Je*u9, 1912; Complete Poems,
1914; The Beth of Capittrano, 1917; The Pony Express and Other
Poems, 1925; and many magazine articles and poems published in news-
papers. Critics generally regard his With Fire and Sicord as the best
of his prose writings. But it was as a poet that he was best known.

EDITORIAL 69

*»'

rhe Song of lowa^ written by him was made the official state song by
the Thirty-fourth General Assembly, 1911. His public service in Europe
pave him opportunities to meet noted i>eople es]>ecially in London, in
the cities of Switzerland, and in Rome. He became able to converse in
French, Italian, and German, thus adding to his usefulness in his
official positions. He became a collector of paintings and other works
of art, and presented portions of his collections to Penn College, Oska-
loosa, and to the Des Moines Women's clubs. No sketch of the colorful
career of this faithful public official and accomplished man of letters
would be quite complete without including in the picture his friendship
with the late James Depew Kdmundson, whose death is also noted in
this section of the Axnals. They met as neighl)or boys in Oskaloosa in
1854^ became intimate friends then and so remained for over seventy-
eight years, and died within thirty-six days of each other, each a few
Rionths over ninety-four years old, and each in full ))(>ssession of his
cultured intellectual faculties.

Jaxbs Dbpbw Eumuxdson was born in Des Moines County, Iowa,
about six miles north of Burlington, November 28, 18:^, and died in
Des Moines April 18, 1933. Burial was in Walnut Hill C\>metery, Coun-
cil Bluffs. His parents were William and Priscilla (Depew) Kdmund-
son. Soon after his birth the family removed to Burlington, and later,
to Fairfield. leaving the family there in 1843 the fatiier went into what
is now Mahaska County, and in 1844 was designated by the Territorial
Assembly to act as sheriff and have charge of orgnnizing the county.
In 1845, the mother having died, the two children, James Deju'w and
William, Jr., joined their father at Oskaloosa. Here the former grew
up, attended public school, worked at whatever was available, ])hysieal
labor, clerking in stores, etc., until 1857 when he went on font to Newt(»n
to visit an uncle. He remained there two years, attending school and
clerking In stores. In 18.59 he returned to ()skal(»(»sa and began the
study of law with Williams & Seevers. During the Eighth Cieneral
Assembly, which met in Des Moines in January, 18(i(), he served as a
page, or messenger. In ]8()<) he was admitted to the bar and the fol-
lowing winter taught school at Hose Hill, Mahaska County. During the
summer of 18f>l he rode horseback over sduthwestern Iowa, and located
in Glenwood for the practice of law with William Ilale as a partner.
From 18<i3 to 1866 he was deputy provost marshal and assistant assessc)r
and deputy collector of internal revenue for all of soutliwesti'rn Iowa.
In 1866 he removed to Council Bluffs and bceaMie the ))artner of I). C.
Hlo«mier, the firm being BliNimer & Kdmundson, and their lines of bu<«i-
Mfss, law, real estate and insurance. From 1807 to I8(j!) tlit* Chicago ^
N'«)rthwestern, the Chicago, Hock Island & l*aeifie and the Bur]ingt(»n
& Missouri Hiver (afterward th«* Chicago, Burlingttin & i^uiney) rail-
nmds reached Council Bluffs. Land in that seetion of the statr was
cheap, but advancing. Mr. Kdmundson cared but little for the practice
of law, l)ut was a natural financier. In 187') he (|uit the partnershi))
with Mr. Bloomer and devoted his time to dealing in real estate. lie

70 ANNALS OF IOWA

soon became the agent of many non-resident land owners, selling, leas-
ing, paying taxes and acting as legal representative. He knew land
values, was reliable and alert, and soon began investing on his own
account, and thus laid the foundation for his large fortune. In 1882
he organized the Citizens State Bank and became its president. He was
also an organizer and a director of the State Savings Bank of Council
Bluffs. In 1897 he purchased a controlling interest in the First National
Bank of Council Bluffs and became its president. In 1900 he retired
from active business and removed to Des Moines. During his later years
he lived principally among his books. In the late 1890*s he traveled
extensively in this country and in Europe. Although not a college
graduate, he was an unusually cultured man. He was a lover of the
best in art and in literature, and his extensive private library evidenced
it. He had a life-long interest in and gift for the correct use of the
English language, and had a reputation as a philologist. His acquaint-
ance with early Iowa history was extensive and accurate. He had many
rare friendships, among them being the one with Major S. H. M. Byers,
the poet, which began when they were boys together in Oska'oosa. His
vivid memory carried all these things to the last few hours of his life.
His benefactions were large. He gave over $250,000 to the Jennie Ed-
mundson Memorial Hospital, Council Bluffs, named in memory of the
wife of his youth. His last will provides for the conditional establish-
ment of a $600,000 memorial art museum in Des Moines.

Robert Gordon Cousins was born on his father's farm in Section 1,
Red Oak Township, Cedar County, Iowa, January 31, 1859, and died at
the University Hospital, Iowa City, June 19, 1933. Burial was at Red
Grove Cemetery, Cedar County. His parents were James and Mary
(Dallas) Cousins. He worked on his father's farm, attended country
school, and in 1880 was graduated in civil engineering with the degree
of B. C. E. from Cornell College, Mount Veinon. In 1904 Cornell gave
him the honorary degree of LL. D. He studied law a few months with
Col. Charles A. Clark of Cedar Rapids and was admitted to the bar in
1882 and for the following ten years was actively engaged at Tipton in
the practice of law. In 1885 he was elected representative and .served
in the Twenty-first General Assembly, and was elected by the members
of the House one of the managers to conduct the prosecution of articles
of impeachment of John L. Brown, auditor of state, before the Senate.
In 1888 he was a presidential elector, elected on the Republican ticket.
He was county attorney of Cedar County in 1889 and 1890. In 1892
he was elected member of Congress from the Fifth District, and was
re-elected each two years thereafter for seven times, serving sixteen
years, or inclusively from the Fifty-third to the Sixtieth Congress.
After his first nomination he always obtained his nomination unani-
mously. He declined to be a candidate after the Sixtieth Congress,
1907-09. At that time he was chairman of the House Committee on
Foreign Affairs. Soon after retiring from Congress he suffered almost
total blindness for a few years, but partially recovered. In those years

EDITORIAL 71

and the following ones, with the exception of an occasional delivery of
a lecture, he took little active part in affairs. During the World War
he delivered a large numher of liberty loan speeches over Iowa for
which he received a medal from the Treasury Department. The later
few years of his life he was inactive. Most critics regard Mr. Cousins
as having been the most accomplished orator Iowa public life has pro-
duced. Early in his congressional career lie took high rank among
American orators. His speech in Congress on the sinking of the Battle-
ship Maine and one in criticism of Minister Bayard at the Court of St.
James, London, caused him to be called before the most prominent
political clubs and societies in the country. Among his notable lectures
were "Lincoln and the Great Commander,'* *'iVlexander Hamilton,'' **The
Making and Unmaking of the Constitution,'* **Thomas Brackett Reed,"
and **The Immortality of Virtue.'* Mr. Cousins was not a frequent
speaker in Congress or elsewhere. He did not excel 1 hi extemporaneous
speech, nor in debate. But in the prime of his life and given an impor-
tant theme and a favorable op))ortunity his utterances arose to the
dignity of classics. As his friend W. R. Boyd has said he "possessed
all the equipment, natural and acquired, of a great orator. In form, an
Apollo; a voice like the tones of a great organ, *most strangely sweet';
*his stature molded with a perfect grace'; a mind enriched with all that
the best literature of all times could give to one capable of the keenest
appreciation; a memory which caught and held everything worth while;
a wit as keen as that oi Burns; . . . small wonder that he could charm
and hold spellbound any audience, anywhere and upon almost any
theme.*'

Joseph William Bettkniiork was born in Leavenworth, Kansas,
October 10, 1864, and died in Bettendorf, Iowa, May 1(>, 19:3:3. The body
was entombed in the Bettendorf mausoleum at Oakdale Cemetery,
Davenport. His parents were Michael and Catherine (Reck) Betten-
dorf. The family removed to Peru, Illinois, in 187:3. There Joseph W.
attended school. He was an apprentice in the office of the Peru Herald
from 1880 to 1882, was a department store clerk from 1882 to 1881., and
was a machinist in the Peru Plow Company works during 188o and 188G.
In the latter year he joined with an older brother, W. P. Bettendorf,
in organizing the Bettendorf Metal Wheel Conij)any, and they began
manufacturing wheels for agricultural macliinery, he acting as inarhin-
ist and later as superintendent. In 189:3 they organized tlie Bettendorf
Axle Company, with J. W\ Bettendorf as secretary, manufacturing
steel gear wagons. This developed into one of the lar^e^it foundry
plants in the Middle West. The firm gradually turned to the invention
and manufacturing of railway car parts, and ultimately to building com-
plete railway cars. By 1902 the business had outgrown their plant and
they removed up the river to the suburbs of Davenj)ort and founded
and built up the present town of Bettendorf. The older brother, who
was the inventor of many of their devices, died in 1910 and J. W. Bet-

72 ANNALS OF IOWA

tendorf became president oi the company, which continued to prosper
until it became the largest manufacturing concern in the Davenport
industrial area, in normal times employing over 2,000 men. At the time
of his death J. W. Bettendorf was not only president of this great
organization, but was president and director of six other local manu-
facturing concerns, and a director oi six additional large companies In
the Tri-cities. He was not only a great business executive, but a gener-
ous and public spirited citizen.

Alice H. Mendexiiall was born in South English, Iowa, February
24, 1858, and died in a hospital in Sigourney March 11, 1933. Burial
was at South English. Her parents were Dr. Allen Heald and Rebecca
(Neill) Heald. She attended public school at South English and was
graduated from Penn College in 1881. Her career as a teacher began
at South English when she was sixteen years old. She taught in Pleas-
ant Plain Academy, later was a high school principal in Fairfield
schools, and was county sujK*rintendent of Jefferson County during
1890 to 1896. In 1892 she was appointed a member of the State Educa-
tional Board of Examiners, and served four years. In 1894 she was
married to Chester Mendcnhall, and soon thereafter they established
their home at South English. But one child, William, was born to them,
and he died in infancy. Some years later Mrs. Mendonhall studied in
the University of Chicago and from it received the A. B. degree June
11, 1912, the A. M. March 17, 1914-, and the D. B. degree June 9, 1914.
In fulfilling requirements in the University she wrote a thesis, "Some
Social Aspects of the Society of Friends in the Seventeenth and Eight-
eenth Centuries,'' which was published by that society and distributed
in many countries. She had a birthright in the Society of Friends
(Quakers) and retained a belief in their doctrines. As a lepresentative
of the Society of Friends, she attended in 1921 a peace conference in
England, and visited and spoke in many places there and in Ireland.
She was a woman of rare intelligence. Her interests centered mainly
in religion, literature, and education. She was a successful teacher and
was a lecturer on many subjects. During the 1928 presidential cam-
paign she was sent by the Republican National Committee into several
states on speaking tours in support of Herbert Hoover.

LuTHEH Albebtus Bbewer was born at Welsh Run, Franklin County,
Pennsylvania, December 17, 1858, and died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May
6, 1933. Burial was in Oak Hill Cemetery, Cedar Rapids. His parents
were Jacob and Kate Brewer. He received the degree of A. B. from
Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, in 1883, and of A. M. from the same
college in 1886. In 1884 he removed to Cedar Rapids and in 1887 be-
came city editor of the Cedar Rapids Republican. From 1894 to 1898
he was state oil inspector. Retaining connection with the Republican,
he became part owner, and finally sole owner August 1, 1913, selling it
922. For several years he was president of the Torch Press, a job
g company. He was prominent politically for several years, was

EDITORIAL 73

delegate at large to the Republican national conventions of 1912 and
916. He was a lover of the fine arts of good printing and engraving,
IS well as of good literature, and was a collector of first editions, rare
lindings, and of engravings. His collection of the writings of Leigh
Hunt, the English poet and essayist, drew more than national attention
from book lovers. He wrote and published several delightful brochures
(Ml literary subjects, and in 1910 published a History of Linn Cminty.

Habbt Otis Weaves was born in Marshall Township, Louisa County,
Iowa, April 20, 1866, and died in Wapello May 27, 1933. Burial was in
the Wapello Cemetery. His parents were Erastus and Mary (Marshall)
Weaver. His boyhood was spent on his father s farm and in attendance
of public school at the nearby village of Cairo. He attended the East-
em Iowa Normal School at Columbus Junction for one year, taught a
term of school in Muscatine County, and attended the State University
of Iowa for six years, obtaining his A. B. degree in 1891 and LL. B.
in 1892. Soon thereafter he opened a law office in Wapello and devoted
most of his life to that profession. He was elected representative in
1893, was re-elected two years later, and served in the Twenty-fifth
and Twenty-sixth general assemblies. Beginning in 1893 he was for ten
years the First District member of the Republican State Central Com-
mittee. There were then political campaigns each year. For two of
these years he was state chairman, 1899 and 1900. In 1902 he was ap-
pointed by President Theodore Roosevelt collector of internal revenue
for the Fourth Revenue District with headquarters at Burlington, which
position he held for eleven years. In 1920 he was a delegate at large
to the Republican National Convention. He was a delegate from the
First Congressional District to the convention in 1924, and again a
delegate at large to the convention in 1928. For many years Mr. Weaver
was the owner and operator of large real estate holdings. At one time
be owned one of the best Shorthorn herds in Iowa. On December 12,
1917, he became a director of the State Department of Agriculture,
which body in 1923 became the State Fair Board, and served continu-
ously in that position for fifteen years. To all these public functions
he brought talent, industry, and the spirit of co-operation. He was one
of the most affable of men, cheery and optimistic. His acquaintance
was large and his friends were innumerable.

Fbaxk S. Payne was born near Mount Pleasant, Iowa, August 16,
1869, and died in Centerville April 13, 1933. Burial was in Oakland
Cemetery, Centerville. His parents were Charles W. and Margaret
(Patton) Payne. He grew up in the farm home of his parents, attended
country school, was graduated in liberal arts from Wcsleyan Univer-
sity, Mount Pleasant, in 1892 and in law from Northwestern University,
Chicago, in 1894. He was admitted to the bar in Iowa the same year
and began practice in Centerville. In 1899 he was elected representa-
tive, was re-elected in 1901 and served in the Twenty-eighth and Twen-
ty-ninth general assemblies. He soon became so engrossed in law prac-

74 ANNALS OF IOWA

tice and gradually in his extensive business interests that, although he
was frequently urged to accept important political honors, he declined,
but never lost interest in politics. In 1924 he was a delegate to the
Republican National Convention. In 1902 he became president of the
Citizens Electric Light and Gas Company. The company acquired the
local horse car line, developed it into an electric line and gradually
extended traction and electric lines over much of southern Iowa. In
1916 the business became the Southern Utilities Company. In his later
years Mr. Payne was vice president and general counsel of the com-
pany, which grew to operate over twenty-five counties and in 120 towns.
He was largely instrumental in 1924 in effecting the consolidation of
three banks in Centerville which formed the Centerville National of
which he became president. He was president of the Pure Ice Company,
and of the Centerville Clay Products Company. For many years he
was local counsel for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. His
many-sided tastes and talents and his social instincts led him into many
activities and services for individuals as well as for his city and state.

Helen Louise Shaw was born at Langworthy, Jones County, Iowa,
June 8, 1855, and died at Viareggio, Italy, August 19, 1932. Burial was
at Florence, Italy. Her parents were Colonel William T. and Helen
Crane Shaw. She was educated at Lee Seminary (Dubuque), Iowa
College (Grinnell) which she attended in 1871-72, and Northwestern
University, Chicago. She became proficient in French, German and
Italian languages. She made her home in Anamosa the most of her life
where she was a leader in many civic activities. She founded the local
chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her leader-
ship and efforts were largely responsible for the erection of the local
Public Library building and establishment of the library. She traveled
extensively, making many trips to Europe and in 1912 went around the
world. At one time she owned the original Shaw home at Steuben,
Maine, where her father was born, and took up her residence there
where she spent many summers. Before our country entered the World
War she furnished materials and assisted friends in getting supplies for
the Queen's Hospital at Rome. After this country joined the Allies all
her time was given to Red Cross work. She was chairman of the Jones
County Red Cross Association. Throughout her life she devoted much
time to art and has left a number of original paintings and excellent
copies of pictures by eminent artists. She spent considerable time in
Europe and in 1920 took up her residence in Italy.

William S. Baird was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 3, 1863,
and died in the city of his birth May 12, 1933. Burial was in Fairview
Cemetery, Council Bluffs. His father was the Rev. Samuel Baird, a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal churcli, and the mother, Matilda
Hanks (Akers) Baird. He was graduated from Council Bluffs High
School in 1880 and from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, in 1884. For

EDITORIAI* 75

a few years in his young manhood he was a cattle rancher in Nebraska.
He was admitted to the bar in Wheeler County, Nebraska, in 1887 and
practiced there five years, the last two years being county attorney.
In 1892 lie returned to Council Bluffs and engaged in the practice of
law there where he achieved success in his profession. For many years
he was vice president and trust officer of the State Savings Bank of
that city. He was active in promoting and organizing the Council
Bluffs Public Library and was one of its trustees. He was elected
senator in 1920, and was twice re-elected, serving inclusively from the
Thirty-ninth to the Forty-fourth general assemblies. In the last three
assemblies he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He
was known as a conservative in business and in legislation, was a Re-
publican politically, was a man of great industry and courage, and a
real leader in his city and in the Senate.

Thomas Feakcis Gbiffik was born in Howard County, Iowa, near
Cresco April 19, 1865, and died in Sioux City April 21, 1933. Burial
was in Calvary Cemetery, Sioux City. His parents were Thomas and
Rose Griffin. He attended school in the locality of his birth, taught
several terms of school, and was graduated in law from the University
of Notre Dame in June, 1888. He was admitted to the bar in August
of the same year and began practice in Sioux City, which he continued
for forty-five years, or to nearly the time of his death, achieving an
honored position in his profession. He served Woodbury County as
county attorney in 1893 and 1894. In 1912 he was elected representa-
tive and was three times re-elected, serving in the Thirty-fifth, Thirty-
sixth, Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth general assemblies. On retiring
from the legislature in 1920 he was chosen city attorney for Sioux City
and served two years. He was a Republican in politics. He was state
deputy for Iowa of the Knights of Columbus during 1911 and 1912.

Timothy P. IlAaaiNOTON was born at New Digging, I^afayette Coun-
ty, Wisconsin, December 17, 1867, and died in Algona, Iowa, May 17,
1933. His parents were John P. and Margaret (O'Leary) Harrington.
The family removed to Wright County, Iowa, in 1882. Timothy attended
public school both in Wisconsin and in Iowa. He was u student in
Clarion High School, took a course in a business college in Cedar
Rapids, and was graduated from the Law Department of the State
University of Iowa in 1899. He was admitted to the bar the same year
and entered practice at Algona in partnership with L. J. Dickinson as
Harrington & Dickinson, which partnership remained unbroken, al-
though after Mr. Dickinson entered Congress in 1919 Mr. Harrington
carried on the business alone. He gained a reputation for legal ability
and had an extensive practice. He was a member of the Algona School
Board for twenty-eight years, had been secretary of the Algona Li-
brary Board from its beginning, was city attorney for two years, was
county attorney from January 1, 1903, for four years, and was elected

76 ANNALS OF IOWA

representative in 1916, was re-elected in 1918, and served in the Thirty-
seventh and Thirty-eighth general assemblies. He was chairman of the
Judiciary Committee of the House of the Thirty-eighth and won a fine
reputation as a legislator.

William I^arrabee, Jr., was born at Clermont, Iowa, December 11,
1870, and died at Clermont April 1, 1933. His parents were William
and Anna (Appleman) Larrabee. He attended the public schools of
Clermont, was graduated from the State University of Iowa in liberal
arts in 1893, and in law in 1896. His entire life was spent at Clermont.
For many years he maintained a law office there, and also devoted much
time to local banking and to his farming and other property interests.
He enlisted May 18, 1898, as a private in Company G, Fifty-second
Iowa Infantry, and was promoted June 17, 1898, to captain and commis-
sary of subsistence of volunteers of the Spanish- American War. He
was a member of the local school board of Clermont for several years.
In 1901 he was elected representative, and again in 1908, 1910 and 1912,
serving in the Twenty-ninth, Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth, and Thirty-
fifth general assemblies.

William Beeler Seeley was born in Harrison Township, Lee Coun-
ty, Iowa, March 4, 1862, and died at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, April
15, 1933. Burial was in Sharon Cemetery, Lee County. His parents
were Eli and Martha (Beeler) Seeley. He acquired his education in
country school, village school at Primrose, Elliott's Business College,
Burlington, and the Law Department of the State University of Iowa
from which he was graduated in 1886. He then became associated with
his father in extensive agricultural, real estate and banking interests.
His home was on the farm where he was born until 1900 when he re-
moved to Mount Pleasant, but continued in the same lines of business
throughout his life, was connected officially with several banks in that
section, and was an extensive raiser of pure bred livestock. In 1906 he
was elected senator and served in the Thirty-second and Thirty-third
general assemblies. He was on the Board of Trustees of the Mount
Pleasant Public Library, on the School Board, the Board of Trustees
of Wesleyan College, and for some years, on the Board of Trustees of
Parsons College. He possessed to an uncommon degree the confidence
and respect of the public wherever he was known.

John R. Weber was born in Springfield, Illinois, and died in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, at the age of seventy-nine years. He was a son of George
R. Weber, a native of Baltimore, who settled in Illinois in 1835, and
was for some time publisher of the Illinois Stale Register, one of the
leading Democratic newspapers of the state. His father also entered
the Mexican War under Colonel Baker, a friend of Lincoln. John R.
Weber knew Lincoln and Douglas and many of the public men in
Springfield. At the time of his death he left a manuscript entitled "A
Boyhood Impression of Lincoln." He frequently wrote articles on the

EDITORIAL 77

early history of Illinois for the Illinois Historical Society, and for other
publications. He was also connected with newspapers of his father and
brothers for many years. For the past thirty years Mr. Weber resided
in Clinton and Cedar Rapids. He was a scholarly gentleman and fre-
quently spoke before clubs on the history of the early days in Illinois
and concerning many of the associates of Lincoln and Douglas whom
he had known as a boy and young man. — B. L. W.

Amos Nobbis Albebsox was born at Orange, Ashland County, Ohio,
September 4*, 1849, and died in Monrovia, California, August 17, 1931.
Burial was at Washington, Iowa. When he was sixteen years old, his
father, James Alberson, advanced him money so that he and a partner
bought 1,350 sheep and drove them to southeastern Iowa. The next
year he was owner and herder of 1,700 sheep, but disease destroyed the
flock and he returned to Ohio and took an apprenticeship as a plasterer.
In 1872 he returned to Iowa and located at Washington where for sev-
eral years he was a plasterer and building contractor. In 1881 he en-
tered the grocery business, which he did not relinquish until he retired
from business in 1920. After 1926 he made his home in California. He
was a member of the Washington School Board for fifteen years, was
a member of the Official Board of the Washington Methodist Episcopal
church for thirty-five years and was church chorister seventeen years.
Although a Democrat in a strong Republican county, he was elected
representative in 1897, served in the Twenty- seventh General Assembly,
and in 1899 was elected senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resign
nation of D. J. Palmer who had been appointed railroad commissioner,
and served in the Twenty -eighth General Assembly. He was mayor of
Washington from 1901 to 1905, and again in 1921 to 1926. But the
public activity that likely appealed to him most was his service in the
Masonic order. He filled practically all the many positions in the local
lodge, and all the important ones in the state i)odies, being grand master
in 1921-22. He was not only proficient in the work, but in his life he
exemplified the exalted doctrines of the order.

E. O. Helgason was born in Mason City, Iowa, November 7, 1872,
and died at Armstrong, Emmet County, March 22, 1933. He was with
his parents in their removal in 1879 to a farm in Seneca Township,
Kossuth County. He attended public school in the country, took a
course in a business college, was a student two years in Iowa State
College, Ames, and taught school for two years. He was three years
with his brothers who were levee contractors along the Mississippi River
in Louisiana. In 1900 he located on a farm near Armstrong and in
1915 removed to the town of Armstrong. He held several township
offices, was secretary of Seneca Township School Board eight years, and
was a director of Armstrong Consolidated School District eleven years.
He was elected representative in 1927 to fill a vacancy during the ses-
sion of the Forty-second General Assembly, and was re-elected to the

78 ANNALS OF IOWA

F(»rty-third and Forty-fourth assemblies. Politically he was a Repub-
lican and an active and useful citizen and legislator.

JoHX I.. Brown was born near Rose Hill, Mahaslia County, Iowa,
May 25, 1861, and died at Rose Hill May 17, 1931. Burial was in Jack-
son Cemeter}', one half mile west of Rose Hill. His parents were Jona-
than and Elizabeth (Reed) Brown, who were early settlers in that lo-
cality. He was educated in rural public scliools of that neighborhood.
In 1884 he engaged in the trade of a mason, and in 1901 entered the
hardware and furniture business in Rose Hill. For many years of his
later life he was a breeder of barred Plymouth Rock chickens, winning
many premiums and trophies. He was a great lover of hounds and of
the fox hunt. In 1912 he was elected representative and served In the
Thirty-fifth General Assembly. He was a Democrat in politics.

G. A. Justice was born on a farm in Linn County, Iowa, near Marion,
December 31, 1857, and died at Defiance, Shelby County, March 18,
1933. Burial was at Harlan. His parents, John and Margaret (Alls-
worth) Justice removed to Jones County in 1865. The son received his
education in common schools, augmented by one year In MechanicsviUe
High School. In 1881 he removed to near Panama, Shelby County, where
he engaged in farming and stock raising. He later removed to Defiance.
He was a member of the Shelby County Board of Supervisors during
the years 1907 to 1911 inclusive. In 1918 he was elected representative
and was re-elected in 1920, serving in the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-
ninth general assemblies. '

Isaac X. Snook was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, February
20, 1848, and died in Pleasant Ridge Township, Lee County, Iowa, No-
vember 2, 1931. His parents, J. C. and Jane (Cornelius) Snook, re-
moved with their family to Pleasant Ridge Township in 1853, and that
continued to be Isaac's home during the rest of his life. He grew to
manhood on his father's farm and received his education in near by
schools. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life. He ran
a threshing machine during the fall seasons for over fifty years, was
at one time president of the State Threshers* Association and a director
in the national association. He was a justice of the peace for sixteen
years, and held several township oflBces. In 1922 he was elected senator
and served in the Fortieth and Forty-first general assemblies.

Henry Lusk Wimon was born in Crystal Township, Tama County,
Iowa, July 12, 1858, and died at a hospital in Des Moines October 12,
1932. Burial was at Osage. His parents were West and Margaret Dry-
nan Wilson. He received his education in district schools in the vicinity
of his birth and in Traer High School. He early entered dealing in
live stock, operating at three or four different places, but finally in 1883
he located at Osage. Throughout his active life farming and dealing in
live stock were bis principal lines of business. In early life he acted

EDITORIAL 79

with the Democratic party, and running on that ticket, was elected
sheriff in 1890, and was twice re-elected, serving three terras. Disagree-
ing with his party over free silver in 1896, he became a Republican.
He served for a few years on the Osage City Council, from 1903 to 1907
was associate editor of the MitcheU County Preti, and in 1912 was
elected representative, was re-elected two years later and served in the
Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh general assemblies.

Leoxabo E. Stanley was born near Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio,
April 7, 1853, and died in Corning, Iowa, August 1, 1932. Burial was
in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Corning. His parents were Moses and
Hannah (Gruwell) Stanley. The family removed to Johnson County,
Iowa, in 1853, to Oskaloosa in 1860, and to Warren County in 1864. As
Leonard grew up he alternated between working on his father's farm
and attending public school. In 1872 he accompanied a brother to Grant
Township, Adams County, and commenced school-teaching, which voca-
tion he followed for twelve years. He also farmed in that locality. In
1898 he was elected clerk of the District Court of Adams County, and
was re-elected two years later, holding that position four years. In 1916
he was elected representative and served in the Thirty-seventh General
Assembly. He also acted as a justice of the peace. He was of Quaker
parentage, and was a Republican in politics.

John H. Jitdd was born near Burlington, Iowa, in 1860 and died in
Des Moines January l-i, 1933. Burial was in Bethel Cemetery, Charlton.
Left an orphan at the age of fourteen, he removed to Lucas County
and made his home with relatives. He spent most of his life as a
farmer, but also worked as a carpenter. He was a member of the
Lucas County Inheritance Tax Appraisal Board for sixteen years,
and was also for some time secretarv and treasurer of the Lucas
C<mnty Taxpayers' League. He took great interest in public matters,
was for years prominent locally as a Democrat and was elected senator
in November, 1932, making his campaign on a policy of tax reduction.
His untimely death occurred only one week after the opening of the
session of the Fortv-ftfth General Assemblv.

Joseph Wallace was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, January 26,
1854-, and died in Long Beach, California, March 12, 1933. The family
emigrated to the United States in 1862 and located in Marshall County,
Iowa. Joseph obtained his schooling in that vicinity and followed the
teaching profession for several years, first at Union, Hardin County,
and later at Waseca, Minnesota. In 1879 he returned to Union and en-
gaged in farming and cattle feeding. He served some years as a mem-
ber of the Board of Supervisors of Hardin County, and in 1897 was
elected senator and served in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth
general assemblies.

80 ANNALS OF IOWA

Charles C. Siimi was born near Roxbury, Lincolnshire, England,
February 1, 1854, and died in Griswold, Iowa, March 11, 1933. He
migrated to the United States in 1874s stopped for a short time in Ne-
braslca, but within a few months located in Pleasant Township, Cass
County, lown, where he took employment as a farm hand. In a few
years he became owner of a farm of his own. By industry and good
management he attained to a position of prosperity and influence in
his community. He served for eighteen years as school treasurer, for
two years as township trustee, for six years, 1909 to 1914, as a member
of Cass County Board of Supervisors, and in 1914 was elected repre-
sentative and served in the Thirty-sixth General Assembly. In 1922 he
retired from active farming, locating in Griswold.

Boyd Francis Read was born on a farm near New Virginia, Warren
County, Iowa, December 25, 1865, and died in a hospital in Iowa City,
April 21, 1933. Burial was in the New Virginia Cemetery. His parents
were J. B. and Emily Read. He was educated in the public schools of
New Virginia, supplemented by two winter terms in Simpson College.
He followed the vocation of farmer. For several years he was a member
of the local school board. In 1928 he was elected representative and
served in the Fortv-third General Assembly.

Henry Nassau Nkwei.i. was born in Middlesex County, Ontario, Can-
ada, November 8, 1855, and died in LeMars, Iowa, July 21, 1932. His
education was secured in rural schools in his native neighborhood. He
worked on farms in his vouth and in 1877 removed to Minnesota, but
in 1879 purchased a farm in Stanton Township, Phinouth County, Iowa,
where he spent most of his active life. He hold several minor public
positions and in 1908 was elected representative and two years later was
re-elected, serving in the Thirty -third and Thirty-fourth general assem-
blies. A Republican politically.

Elmer F. Leach was born on a farm in Henry County, Iowa, April
21, 1865, and died in Mount Pleasant July 25, 1932. His parents were
James M. and Nancy (Campbell) Leach. He attended rural public
school and later Howe's Academv at Mount Pleasant. He followed the
vocation of farming and live stock raising. Besides holding local offices
he was elected representative in 1910 and served in the Thirty-fourth
General Assembly. A Democrat in politics.

,*4<^<=~. •^'

^<s>_ ./iy,fMl

Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 2 De8 Moines, Iowa, October, 1933 Third Series

WILLIAM SAVAGE
Iowa Pioneer, Diarist, and Painter op Birds

In the summer of 1903 Charles Aldrich, founder of the Historical
Department of Iowa, in a tour of Van Buren County with this writer,
met and formed an intimate acquaintance with William Savage, of Cedar
Township, that county. In the Register and Leader, of Des Moines, for
July 22, 1903, in an interview with Mr. Aldrich, it is stated:

"William Savage, a farmer, makes a specialty of painting birds in
water colors. He has a remarkable collection of three or four hundred
birds (painted) that seem to me to be as good as those of John James
Audubon. Savage is sixty years old, and knows as much of woodcraft
as Thorean or John Burroughs. His collection is one the state certainly
ought to own. ' '

Mr. Savage kept a diary, and Mr. Aldrich at the time examined
extensive portions of it. He was acquainted with the region in New York
to which Mr. Savage immigrated from England, namely, Cayuga County,
and from which Mr. Savage came in 1855 to Cedar Township. It is of
Mr. Savage 's daily experiences in that home from the time he moved into
it until his death, July 8, 1908. Mr. Savage was by birthright a Quaker,
and as such was of the Salem, Henry County, settlement.

In 1907 Mr. Aldrich selected this writer as his assistant curator of
the Historical Department, and after his death, March 8, 1908, by
Governor Carroll's appointment the assistant became Mr. Aldrich 's suc-
cessor in office, and by consecutive elections by the Board of Trustees
has so remained from that time.

By negotiations i*ith Mr. Savage, and thereafter with the administrator
of his estate, the entire Savage collections came to the Historical Depart-
ment in 1917.

David C. Mott came to the Historical Department in 1919. Besides
his original contributions Mr. Mott has made through the Annals of
Iowa, he has put into form for printing the Savage diary, up to October
25, 1858. It is presented herewith. Besides Mr. Mott having resided in
Iowa since 1862, and by his practice of a newspaper man of twenty-five
years, is sensitive to the value as historical material of the minds and
morals of "short and simple annals of the poor." In his judgment in
his present task of editing the Savage diary he is especially strengthened
through his being, like William Savage, a Friend by birthright, and

84 ANNALS OF IOWA

remains in the daily usage in his own home of the Friend's manner of
speech, which is the speech of his own and Savage's ancestral folk, albeit
both he and Mrs. Mott are now Methodists. Correct usage by Savage
of the peculiar Quaker idiom in his diary up to the time he dropped it,
therefore is presented as both consistent and correct.

Mr. Savage was neighbor to this writer, to his pioneer forbears, and
was a personal and intimate friend and associate in the writer's earliest
leanings toward his Historical Department work. Of much of the matter
after 1870 which Mr. Savage notes the writer and all his neighbors knew.
The Savage neighborhood was defined by the distance he could walk with
a gun or trap, to meeting or to trade, and the direction was by that
choice, or modification upon a sensitive soul that the weather, the "sign"
and sounds of the woods impel.

William Savage's identity deserves to be preserved among those of
his name, who even already are well known in scientific annals, and who
share not only his name, but direct or close collateral kinship. In time,
if the family remains true to type, confusion of individual Savages is as
certain of such distraction to the general scientific students as now
students of Iowa political history are confused among the names of
Dodge, Mason, Wilson and Clark.

Edgar B. Hablak.

William Savage was a man of far more than ordinary
abilities, but was so unpretentious as not to claim distinction.
A diary he kept for years is so rich in material relating to
pioneer conditions in southeastern Iowa in the 1850 's that we
are here reproducing portions of it. It is written briefly, tells
of his everyday life, and helps one to catch real glimpses of
how people subsisted then — ^how they made their homes in the
woods, how they began farming, how they secured their food,
how they laid the foundations of society — when he was not
trying to show that, but simply keeping a record of his own
work.

In March, 1929, Carl Sandberg called at the Historical
Building to enquire for source materials. We had shortly
before published in the Annals the Civil War portion of the
Benjamin F. Pearson diaries (Vol. XV, No*s 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
1925-27). He asked for the printed copy, and we inquired
whether as student and writer it and similar materials were
useful. His response was a letter dated March 28, 1929, as
follows :

The Annals which you mailed me did arrive. I am very glad to have

WILLIAM SAVAGE 85

this basic buman material and I appreciate jour readiness to let me have
them. I shall retain all of them for my library except No. 3 of Vol. Ill
which you indicate as out of print. I shall make notes from this and
retnm it to you shortly.

The Pearson diary has basic material. One could write extensively
on the historical derivations to be made from such papers. They should
be published in a separate volume, available to any one working in source
material giving true impressions of men in the ranks during war time.
There has been too much about the exploits of heroes and not enough
about drudgery, fun and philosophy of the **high private in the rear
rank." Having been one myself in the Spanish [War with Spain], I
have keener appreciation of this need. The diary should be gathered into
one volume by all means.

It is in the course of finding and preserving more of the
record of the ** drudgery, fun and philosophy of *the high
private in the rear rank' '' of the valiant home founder on
the Iowa frontier that we oflfer the **log book" of William
Savage's humble life.

He was bom in England in 1833,^ was apprenticed to the
tailor's trade, and came with an uncle, William Savage, to
America in 1847. He stayed a few years in New York state
in the neighborhood of Venice and Ledyard, villages a short
distance south of Auburn, where he worked principally on
farms. It was not until 1855 that he removed to Iowa.

Preceding his diary Mr. Savage at a later time wrote the
following introduction to the dairy :

"About July 10, 1847, I left Uncle William's shop and went
to William Carman's, Hector, Tompkins County, New York,
to work on a farm. Received my board, cloth for a fine coat,
some coarse pants and socks, etc. Came home to Uncle
Samuel's about Christmas, did chores and went to school. In
1848 worked for Abram Reynolds for 28 cents per day. [He
was then fifteen years old.] Uncle Samuel Savage died May
26, 1848. In winter did chores for Long Tom Mosher and went
to school. Spring of 1849 worked for Job Young for 37 V2
cents per day. In winter did chores for Elery Howland and
went to school. Spring of 1850 worked for Francis Armisted
one month for $7.00 and seven months at $8.00. Winter did
chores for B. F. Chase and went to school and in the spring

iSee ••Notable Death" soctlon of Annals of Iowa, Vol. VIII, p. 557, October,
1908.

86 ANNALS OF IOWA

of 1851 worked for him one month for $9.00 and seven months
for $10.00. Next winter stayed at A. Harris', chopped some
wood and went to school.

**0n Fourth Day," Fifth Month 5, 1852, I commenced work
for Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr. ; worked Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and
Seventh days at five shillings per day. Received $2.50. Then
the next Second and Third and Fifth and Sixth days for Job
Young at five shillings per day, the next Second Day for three
shillings, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth days for five shillings
per day, Seventh Day for three. Then the next Second, Third
and Fourth days for Hannah Savage at four shillings per day.
Fifth, Sixth and Seventh days for Job Young at three shillings
per day, ending 30th of Fifth Month.''

His record continues in a similar way, working for Hannah
Savage, John Wetzel or Job Young for five shillings a day
until July 8, when he says : **0n Sixth Day I next commenced
haying at Job Young's at $1.00 per day." He worked for
different persons, nearly always at haying and at the same
wages, until August 24 he ** threshed for Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr.
and received six shillings." A little later on in September,
**The next Fourth and half of Fifth days, for John Wetzel
and received ninety-four cents." A little later found him
sawing wood at four shillings per day, and one half day he
received, instead of two shillings, he called it, ** twenty-five
cents. ' ' He was working nearly every day, and if not for one
wage, then a lower one.

** Ninth Month 25, a part of Second Day for Ben T. Chase
for 31 cents ; next day, one hour, 6 cents ; all the next day for
62 cents. The next Sixth Day for Hannah Savage for 4
shillings, and Seventh Day for Charles H. Teter and received
62 cents. Tenth Month 2 finished cutting his corn."

The next year, except a few weeks in the winter was largely
occupied by working at day labor on farms — splitting wood,
chopping wood, making garden, grafting fruit trees, plowing,
hoeing corn, etc., mostly at 5 shilling per day. For haying,
mowing and harvesting grain he received $1.00 per day. On
August 28 he **took 11 cords of wood to split and pile for

2Mr. Savage was roared among members of the Society of Friends (Quakers)
and in his early diaries he uses their style as to dates.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 87

William Kendall for 3 shillings per cord/' Then followed
threshing oats at $1.00 per day, and cutting corn at 5 shillings
per day. Toward fall of 1853 he husked corn at 5 shillings
per day, and **made a vest for Henry Reynolds for 6 shillings,
a vest and a pair of pants for John Fox for $1.25 and a fine
black coat for Elson Teter for $3.00.''

During January, 1854, he chopped 10 cords of wood for
(jiles Landon, did more tailoring work, and drew a figure of
Cyrenus Wheeler's model grass and grain harvester for $1.50.
Trimmed nursery stock and grape vines at 6 shillings per day.
His w^ork varied but little from the previous year except he
mentions that one day in April he killed a mink and sold the
skin for $1.50, the first evidence shown in his writing of his
later great interest in trapping. In May he was picking stone
from the field and dragging, and planting corn.

January, 1855, finds him chopping wood at 4 shillings per
cord for David Armistead and for others. That spring he
caught several minks while chopping, selling the skins at
Auburn. This summer he did a small amount of farming for
himself, but was most of the time working for wages. He
notes he attended an occasional wedding among his acquaint-
ances, but does not mention his own marriage, which likely
occurred about this time.

Late in September, 1855, he notes they began packing their
goods for their removal to Iowa. On October 2 he **bid fare-
well to Venice and Ledyard, started for Auburn, arrived there
about ten o'clock, left there for Iowa at 1 o'clock and 20
minutes. Bought a ticket through to Chicago for $32.12, paid
$1.00 for extra baggage." Had to wait at Detroit from 9:00
A. !M. to 6 :00 P. M. and reached Chicago about 10 :00 the next
morning. There had to wait until 10:00 in the evening.
**Then finally started for Burlington. Got into that city at
8 o'clock next morning. Took the stage for Salem about 10 :00
(after much tribulation). Arrived there about an hour after
sun down."

** Stayed at Dr. Shriner's Sixth Day night. Seventh Day
morning I walked down to Uncle William's and found them
all comfortably sitting around the stove and were some sur-
prised when I stepped in. Seventh Day, at Uncle William's.

88 ANNALS OF IOWA

Second Day John and Charley Holmes went to Burlington
after my goods. I did chores. Third Day, also did chores
and picked a load of corn, Fourth Day dug potatoes, Fifth
Day threshed buckwheat. Sixth Day unpacked my large boxes
and found all safe and sound, Seventh Day went down to the
timber and got a load of wood. Second Day cut pair of pants
and drew a load of manure. Third Day we went to hunt for
John Russeirs cattle and cut down small trees — crotches for
Uncle William's cattle shed; Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and
Seventh days worked on shed and drew wood, and went to
J. Russeirs vendue. Second Day went to Salem and hired a
room for $2.50 per month. Third and Fourth days helped
John with shed. Fifth Day John and I got a load of wood
for me and took it to town. Sixth Day we took our goods to
Salem and commenced housekeeping, and Seventh Day put
things to rights. ' '

On October 29, 1855, he went to work for Job Simpson at
tailoring in Salem. For the next three weeks he tells of
different pieces of tailoring he did, principally on coats, reach-
ing up to November 17. Then he says, **Lost a correct account
from this time for two or three months, but worked for Simp-
son on and off up to Second Month 23 and earned of him $43.44.
Took part in store and house rent, $30.82 and received in cash
$12.62. Was sick with inflammatory fever about six weeks.
After that took two coats to make for Dick Spurrier for $4.00
in trade. Made one pair of pants for Thomas Siveter, Jr.,
$1.00. Did mending for Dr. T. Siveter, received $2.25. Then
on Second Month 11 David Burden and I went to William
Lyon's to hire his farm to work on shares. He not being at
home we went again in a few days and talked it over, he to
board us and we to have one-third of all we raised. He then
agreed to meet us at Salem before the first of March, but did
not come. I waited until the morning of the 4th, then started
west towards my own land in search of a house, or a part of
one, to live in until I could build one for myself. Went to
John Turnham's to get warm, and from there to Henry
Sneath's. He being in the woods at work, told his wife my
business. She said that if I could do no better we might come
into their house with them for a few weeks, and accordingly

WILLIAM SAVAGE 89

in Third Month 7 I hired Samuel Siveter to take one load of
^oods down to his father's barn and one load and ourselves
down to Henry Sneath*s. Paid him $1.50 for the remainder
of the month."

The land which Mr. Savage acquired and was now, March,
1856, preparing to make his home was near the northeast
comer of Van Buren County. It was the east half of the
northeast quarter of section 11, Cedar Township, one mile
from the north line of the county, and one mile from the east
line. Jefferson County was adjacent on the north, and Henry
County on the east. The land was six miles west and two north
from Salem. The north end of the tract reached to within a
few rods of Big Cedar Creek. Nearly the whole tract was
covered with heavy timber. Cedar Township had been sur-
veyed nearly nineteen years earlier. Deputy Surveyor E. F.
Lucas ran the lines between July 19 and 27, 1837. In his notes
on Cedar Township Surveyor Lucas says:

'*I may add by way of a general description of this town-
ship that nothing past common appears upon the face of the
country. It mostly consists of prairie skirted on the north
with first rate timber, and on a general view all will be valuable
for farming. Water appears scarce on the south boundary,
but on the north Big Cedar Creek passes along the whole
boundary and is remarkable for its fine mill sites and a suffi-
ciency of water to propel machinery. Limestone ledges of
rock have been discovered in abundance along its banks. * '

The surveyor's notes also mention that at that time, 1837,
they found twelve actual settlers in the township, and several
other claims staked out. On the Big Cedar about half a mile
west of where Mr. Savage later secured his land was a saw
and grist mill in an advanced state of construction, and near
there was a *' large \*igwam surrounded with a beautiful sugar
grove." At this point Big Cedar was 90 links (about 60 feet)
wide.

Into this environment this young man of not quite twenty-
three years, with his wife and baby, is to build their home and
wrest a living from nature. His training of a few years in
farm work among the woods and hills and stones in New York
state will be useful. His industry, his powers of observation.

90 ANNALS OF IOWA

his adaptability, his quick mastery of many trades, his ardent
love of nature fit him for his place and work. We shall now
closely follow his notes.

This month (March, 1856) was cold, stormy and quite wintry; did not
do much toward building. Went down to Sigler's mill several times to
pick out slabs and engage lumber for home. Hired Uriah Leick Odel to
haul slabs one day. He hauled four loads; paid him $1.00. Went to
Salem several times, bought mattock, spade, sash, glass, nails, etc.

Third Month 29, Cut down brush and cleared a place for house, and
commenced making brush fence around about ten acres. Made a vest
for James B. Sneath, 75 cts. Was at work hacking brush for two or three
weeks. Went to Salem several times. Stephen Young came to Iowa pros-
pecting about the middle of Fourth Month. Hired Captain F. Killebrew
to haul slabs one day, hauled six loads, paid him $1.00.

Fourth Month S5. Went grubbing at Jonas Spray's three and a half
days on Henry Sneath 's account. Had Sneath in return to help put up
my house. Commenced said house Fifth Month 2. Also William Steivens
commenced plowing my land the same day and he finished it the 4th.
Paid him $6.00 for 4 acres. Had H. Sneath 3% days more than I worked
for him. Paid him $3.40 in cash and $2.75 in work. Paid him 60 cts.
for corn for W. Steivens' horses.

Fifth Month 12. Went to Zear's mill after more sheeting; could not
find any that suited me, then went to Sigler 's mill and bought some more
that they were just sawing. The 13th Finess Killebrew hauled sheeting
and more slabs. Then had H. Sneath to finish the house. The next
three days, laying floor and fixing. Fetched Walter^ from Sneath 's.
The next week, fixing house, grubbing, etc.

Fifth Month 26. Planted corn for F. Killebrew; 27th, commenced
planting my corn. Planting my corn on the 28th, 29th and 30th. Went
to Salem with F. Killebrew after a load of goods from Dr. Siveter's.
I came back with him.

Sixth Month 1, 1856. Walked to Salem again and came home with
Anna* on Second Day.

4 th. Finess Killebrew hauled 13 slabs and I bought 50 pounds of flour.

5th. Finished planting my corn.

6th. Made brush fence around calf pasture.

8th. Went to Uncle William's and to Salem next day.

9th. Bought a cow with a bull calf two weeks old for $30 of Dr.
Siveter. David Siveter and Thomas Savage and I drove her home.

10th. I went part way home with the boys. The 11th and 12th grub-
bing corn. Supervisor came and gave me notice to work on the road
Sixth and Seventh days of this week.

17th. Grubbing corn. Assessor came. Taxed the land at $3.00 an
acre and the cow at $20.00.

3Their little son.
4Hl8 wife.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 91

18th. Mado north door to the house.

19th. Went to Hillsboro to trade.

gOth. Also the 2l8t, worked on road aforesaid.

iSrd. Hoed corn and hanled water.

£4th. Hoeing corn, and filled mattress.

£5th. Hoed corn, went to mill, and hauled water.

S6th. Hoed corn.

S7th. Went after tomato plants to H. Sneath's, and cabbage plants
to W. Weaver's.

;SSth. Set out plants and hoed corn, also hoed com next day.

Seventh Month S, 1866. Finished hoeing and grubbing my corn. Rain
and thunder.

5 th. Building milk house.

7th. Fixing brush fence, and hoeing garden.

8th. Went to mill, and chopped a saw log for Meshack Sigler. Next
day threw the rock up together at the schoolhouse for the well.

10th. Quarrying rock for school well.

11th. Digging and boring in said well at $1.25 per day.

12th. Harvesting at William Weaver's, also the next Second Day,
the 14th, cradling for W. Weaver at $1.25 per day.

1.5th. Haying for F. Killebrew.

16th. Went down to Sigler 's mill to raise a bent under the bridge;
was there % of the day and then worked for F. Killebrew.

17th. Commenced cradling Captain Killebrew 's wheat. The next day
and % of the next, worked at the same and finished it.

SOih. Sunday, went to H. Sneath's. They gave us a pair of young
pigeons and a tabby gray kitten.

:ilst. Cradled wheat for Morgan Paine, $1.25.

'^2nd. Cradled for William Weaver.

23rd. Cradled for Captain Killebrew, and the 24th and % of the 25th
for W. Weaver harvesting at the same price.

26th. Seventh Day, went to Salem and brought home my pictures.

28th. Rain.

29th. Went to school meeting and made milk house door.

SOth. Rain, paint a bird. Went to Sigler 's mill and picked out slabs.

3Ut. Stacked Captain's (Killebrew 's) wheat.

Eighth Month i, 1856. Mowed weeds.

2'nd. Seventh Day, rainy.

4th. Went to election and coming home killed my first wild turkey —
killed two.

5th. Cocked up weeds.

6th. In the house. Anna went to Salem.

7th. Worked on brush fence, also the next day, and killed a turkey.

nth. Seventh Day, worked on fence.

llth. Stacked hay, weeds, and grubbed some. Also 12th and 13th
worked on brush fence.

14th. Hunting, and went to Cornelison 's.

92 ANNALS OF IOWA

15th, Grubbing, and went to the creek after water with F. Eillebrew.
His wagon broke down. Took the remainder of the day to fix it up and
haul said water.

16th, Seventh Day, quarrying rock and picking grapes.

18th, Went to Morgan Paine 's. He gave me three small chickens
and a black kitten. Quarrying rock. Rainy.

19 th. Quarrying stone and cutting road to the quarry.

SOth, Went to Sneath's after onions, planted there on shares, and
finished cutting said road.

Slst, Went to mill, and quarrying stone.

SSnd, Rainy and went to Hillsboro. Also Dr. Siveter and Lydia came
and made us a visit.

SSrd, Seventh Day, F. Killebrew hauled slabs half a day. Went
hunting the other half.

gSth, Making hogpen, and went prospecting for water with Mr. Gill.

S6th, Went after pigs, and grubbed some.

S7th, Picked grapes, and killed five turkeys.

S8th, Fetched home the little pigs that got out, and quarried stone.

S9th, Went to mill and bought 53 pounds of flour, 3^ cts. per pound.
Sick the rest of the day.

SOth, Seventh Day, went to Jackson Lee 's for a half gallon of whiskey.
Could not get any there. Went to John Turnham's and got it there for
35 cts.

Ninth Month i, 1856. Second Day, quarrying stone.

gnd. Had F. Killibrew hauling said stone.

3rd, Worked on brush fence.

4th, Rainy, and in the house.

5th, Anna and self went to Uncle William's. Rode as far as the
steam mill with F. Killebrew and walked the rest of the way there. Came
home in the evening.

6th, Seventh Day, went to H. Sneath's after a letter from J. Wetsel.
Second and half of Third days, quarrying stone.

9th. Afternoon David Siveter came. Anna went home with him and
stayed till Sixth Day afternoon. I was grubbing and keeping house
while she was away. Half of Seventh Day was hunting. John and
Thomas S. came in the evening and stayed till Second Day morning,
then I went part way home with them. The remainder of the day and
Third Dav, worked on stone.

17th. Fourth Day, Finess Killebrew hauled rock to the well in the
branch till about two o'clock, then went to the creek after a barrel of
water. Killed a turkey.

18th, Went to the creek hunting. Coming home I killed a turkey and
took it to Salem and sold it for 30 cents. Stayed at Dr. Siveter 's all
night and got home next day noon. After noon and all the next day
battening up the cracks inside the house.

22nd. Second Day, commenced cutting up my corn. The next three
days worked on the same, and finished it, thirteen shocks in all.

WILLIAM SAVAGE dd

£6th. Commenced cutting four acres of buckwheat for David Cor-
nelison.

g7th. Seventh Day, threshed for F. Killebrew. Half the next Second
Day, worked on buckwheat. Bainj. Third Day, finished it.

Tenth Month 1, 1866. Bainy.

fnd. Cleaning off dirt in stone quarry.

3rd. Had F. Killebrew to help quarry stone.

4 th. Seventh Day, hauled water, finished the stone and went hunting.

6th. Went to town meeting about a tax for a railroad. Killed two
turkeys, and to school meeting in afternoon. They voted me in president
of the school board to fill the place of David Comelison.

7th. Had F. Killebrew to haul stone for chimney. Settled with him.

8th. Worked on little well. Went to Hillsboro to the justice of the
peace to get sworn in.

9th. Worked on said well and finished it Sixth Day afternoon when
it began to rain and rained all next day. Worked in the house sewing
for Dr. Siveter.

litth. First Day, went to Sneath's after pieplant roots. The calf got
out and the cow went off with him.

13th. Went to hunt them and found them in Carter bottom. Had con-
siderable trouble driving them home. Commenced digging hole west
of house.

14th. Finished digging said hole by noon, then went to William
Weaver's after stone hammer.

15th. Went down to the mill. Afternoon, worked on the school well.

16th. Commenced building a chimney; had F. Killebrew to help. At
noon Weaver fetched away his hammer. Afternoon went to Hillsboro to
borrow one, but could not get one.

17th. In morning went up on the prairie and finally got a loan of
Solomon Gill and in the afternoon and all Seventh Day worked ou
chimney. David Siveter and Thomas Savage came here and stayed till
Monday. They brought me a puppy three weeks old. We call him Watch.
Got one the day before of Wisdom Stanley. Call her Rose. She is six
weeks old.

iOth. Second Day, work on chimney a little while, then it came on
rainy and I worked on the hearth. The next four days worked on chimney.

25th. Seventh Day, went to Weaver's, took off the roof of his house.
Came home and laid hearth.

^th. Captain [Killebrew] and I worked on chimney.

SSth. Worked on chimney alone.

iOth. Went to Salem. Stayed there all night. Took a coat to make
for Job Simpson.

Seventh Month f , 1856. First Day morning took it home and received
$2.00. Took coat and pants to make for Daniel Siveter.

3rd. Came home from Salem and half of that day and all of Third
and Fourth days daubing house and packing wood.

6th. Stormy, also the 7th. Was in the house tailoring.

94 ANNALS OF IOWA

8th. Seventh Day, went to the prairie to buy some lard. Oct 3 pounds
of William Hopper, 25 cents.

10th. Went with Solomon Gill to Waldrop's [?] after a steer; received
35 cents. Next three days, tailoring and daubing the house.

14th. Went to Salem. Took a turkey and David Siveter's coat and
pants. Stayed there and sewed for Dr. Siveter and came home that even-
ing with Samuel Siveter and Anna went home with him to Quarterly
meeting.

15th. Went to Weaver's after a spade and worked at daubing the
house.

16th. First Day. Anna came home.

17th. Went to Salem with two turkeys. Had a tooth pulled out at
Dr. Shriner's.

18th. Chopped and hauled wood for Captain [Killebrew] and self.

19th. Picked corn for Captain. Next three days were stormy and
I made Captain's coat.

£4th. Second Day, picked corn at Killebrew 's, also did same next
three days.

£8th. Went to mill, also chopped wood for self.

£9th. Hauled it, and chopped for Captain.

Twelfth Month i, 1856. Second Day, went to mill and went deer
hunting.

$nd. Stormy, and work in the house.

Srd. Made brush pen for Dick, calf.

4 th. Help kill nine hogs at Sigler's.

5th. Went up to I. Conley's to help butcher on S. Gill's account, but
the weather being extremely cold they quit and I came home and built
a brush house for my hogs.

6th. Seventh Day, finished said house and split some stakes.

8th. Fix calf pen gap, and mend Anna's shoes.

9th. Hunting around, and mend my boots.

10th, Mended my coat. Stormy.

11th. Helped Captain kill a pig, then went on deer drive.

l£th. Cut out coat for Morgan Paine.

ISth. Cliopped wood and hauled it for Captain and self.

15th. Second Day, went deer driving.

16th. Went to mill. From there, went to Salem in the evening with
I. Potter.

18th. Went to James Steadman's. Had the dog of my gun fixed, 50
cents. Stayed at Dr. Siveter 's all night and came home next day.

I80th. Seventh Day, carried up wood.

S3nd. Choring.

23rd. Went hunting and up to Weaver's.

S4th. Chopping wood on Dr. Siveter 's land.

$5th. Christmas. Went to Sneath's to dine.

£6th. Went to Sigler's, picking corn.

S7th. Seventh Day, stormy. Made Walter's shoes.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 95

g9th. Helped William Weaver kill eight hogB.

SOth. Went to Captain Killebrew's. He had gone away. Came back
and Weaver brought two hogs to my house, one 38 and the other 109
pounds, at 4 cents per pound. Then Captain and I hauled one load of
wood apiece.

Slst. Went to A. Runyon's store, and then to Hillsboro to get pair
of boots for me and pair shoes for Anna. Came home and finished my
vest and fixed pants.

First Month i, 1857. Anna and I went to Uncle William's. There
saw the marriage of David Burden and Rosa Savage, our cousin. Came
home.

fnd. Went to Captain's and cut up some of one of my pigs, and
carried wood.

5th. Second Day, went to mill with grist of corn.

6th. Went to work for Morgan Paine. Went to blacksmith's shop.
Hauled self a load of wood. The balance of the day hauling his corn
fodder.

7th. Went to mill and to coal bank, then hauled fodder all for M. P.

8th. Helped Captain kill three hogs.

9th. Cut and hauled wood for Captain and self.

10th. For M. Paine, hauled one load of wood, one load of coal, then
finished his fodder and built a pen around it.

11th. Sunday. Samuel Siveter came here.

Igth. Went hunting.

LUh. Went to work for Meshack Sigler. Sam and Anna went to H.
Sneath 's.

14th. Sam and I went to cut wood for self and Captain.

15th. We went hunting on north side of the creek.

16th. We started for Salem. Went to north side of the creek and
fell in with five deer. Sam and I each fired at a separate deer twice.
Mine fell on the second shot, but Sam's made off, evidently severely
wounded. His shot barrel was loaded with turkey shot, mine with large
bullets and buckshot.

17th. Seventh Day, took four quarters of my deer to Salem and sold
them for $4.50.

19th. Returned from Salem.

SOth. Went to F. Killebrew's and hauled one load of wood apiece.

2l8t. Making pair of pants for David Siveter.

iSnd. Chopping wood for Captain and self.

£3rd. The same and we hauled three loads apiece.

S4th. Seventh Day, went to Cox's coal bank with David's pants.
Sent them to Salem by L. Brown, then went up on the prairie after bake
oven. Did not get any.

g6th. Went to mill with corn. Got it ground, also ground my ax.

trth. Third Day. Worked for E. Ingraham.

£8th. Help O. M. Wells kill four hogs. The next three days, was sick
and did not do much.

96 ANNALS OF IOWA

Second Month, g, 1857, Second Day, went to mill and chopped some
wood for self.

3rd. Chopped wood for self and captain, and he hanled.

5th. Worked for E. Ingraham, 75c.

6th. The same.

7th. Seventh Bay, stormy, and tinkering in the house.

9th. Helped Captain kill one hog.

10th. Went to Hillsboro.

11th. Chopped wood for Captain and self. The next three days
worked for E. Ingraham at the mill.

16th. Second Day. Cut a road to the schoolhouse.

17th. Went to Captain's to borrow flour and cut brush.

18th. Made broom and went to mill.

19th, Hunting and cut some wood.

IBOth. Cut a little wood for Captain, and hunting.

gist. Seventh Day. Hunt and went to mill. Got some com meal.

gSrd, Worked for Solomon Gill making sugar troughs.

184th. Commenced painting a hawk.^

£5th. Chopped wood.

g6th. Tapping sugar trees for S. Gill.

g7th. Went to Hillsboro.

gSth, Went to mill and ground drawing knife. Made ax handle.

Third Month g, 1857. Second Day. Work on brush fence.

Srd. Went to Glasgow to James Anderson's sale and bought two
trace chains, 45c.

4th. Worked for E. Ingraham and David Siveter came here.

5th. Chopped wood at home.

6th, Captain hauled it.

7th. Seventh Day. Hunting.

9th, Hunting and went to Captain's. The next two days I was
chopping and hauling wood.

lith. Went to Hillsboro, to the Carter bottom land sale and C.
Bruington auction.

ISth, Working on brush fence, and made Walter a cap and mend
Anna's shoes.

14th, Seventh Day, Anna went to Salem. I went down to the creek
hunting and killed a possum. Stayed all night at Killebrew's.

16th, Went up on prairie to A. Bunyon's store and in said store both
my young dogs, Bose and Watch, got poisoned.

17th, Third Day. Went to Hillsboro.

18th, Went to mill and to John Stanley's and on the prairie.

19th, Went to Uncle William's, stayed there all night.

£Oih, Went to Salem. Stayed with D. Burden all night.

£l8t. Seventh Day, back to Uncle William 's and John and Thomas
came home vdth me.

BFlrst mention In the diary of the painting of some 400 specimens of birds
and 16 small mammals of the **Savage neighborhood/' which constitute the
Savage Collection in the Historical Department.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 97

SSrd, Mend John's boot. Bainy day.

S4th, Went to the bottom to look after my cow. Killed three ducks.

i5th. Went to mill and got 52 pounds flour, and mended my boots.

S6th. Went to the other side of creek after one dead duck. Half
soled my other boot.

£7th. Went to the creek bottom and killed two ducks. Worked on
brush fence.

28th, Seventh Day, work on fence and made sap trough.

SOth. Went to mill and settled with E. Ingraham, ground my az, then
worked on fence.

Sl9t. Went to F. Killebrew's and helped make a harrow.

Fourth Month. 1, 1857, Fourth Day, went after my cow and then
went with Captain after his, then soled and mended Anna's shoes.

Slid, Went to Captain's and worked on said harrow. Made a pair
of pants for Andrew J. Stanley for $1.00.

4th, Seventh Day, grubbing at home.

6th, Went to election of town officers.

7th. Mend Eliz Killebrew's shoes. She and Jane came here to prac-
tice writing. Then I went to Hillsboro.

8th, Went up on prairie to I. Conley's for onion seed. Made salt
lick and grubbed some.

9th, Work on brush fence.

10th. Went to creek bottom, shot one duck, and then grubbed some.

11th. Seventh Day, went to B. D. Sneath's sale and bought a bake
oven, 50 cents.

13th. Went to Wells's, bought 14 pounds of soap. Helped with
Cap's heifer.

14th. Chopping for Wells, 75 cents.

15th. Carry wood and went to mill. Bought 62 pounds flour.

16fh. Chopped for O. M. Wells.

17th, Down on creek bottom. Shot two ducks. John and Thomas
came here.

18th. Seventh Day, fixed Thomas' boot, 25 cents.

20th. Went up to Mrs. Stanley's and got another puppy, call him
Watch. Came home and work on brush fence. Old cow went off and
did not come home at night. Commenced making Captain's coat.

2l8t. Went to hunt cow, did not find her. Work on said coat.

22nd. Hunting cow and heard of her by S. Gill. Help M. Payne get
his cow out of a slough, but she died in the night.

23rd, In the morning I helped M. Payne skin his dead cow, then he
and I went down to the bottom and found my cow lying down and could
not get up. We went to the Captain's and got help and raised her up,
drove her to Captain's and left her there.

24th. Attended to my cow and grubbed some.

25th. Seventh Day, attended to the cow and went to the mill and to
0. M. Wells 's. He wrote an order for some money from the upper district
came home and grubbed balance of day.

98 ANNALS OF IOWA

S7th, Helped up the cow and grubbed.

28th, Also the same.

29th. Raised the cow up, but she being very weak fell very heavily,
and it appeared to have hurt her very much. Then we concluded to leave
her lying down, turn her over once a day, feed her well, and not lift her
again until she gets stronger.

SOth. Built a shed over the cow. Went to mill, and grubbed some.

Fifth Month, i, 1857, went to the creek and shot a duck. Rainy.
Then grubbed some.

2nd. Seventh Day, grubbing.

4th. Grubbed. Went to school meeting.

5th. Clearing, and went to help M. Payne lift his bull out of a slough.

6th. M. Paine and I skinned I Conley's cow for the hide. Grubbed
balance of day and the next.

8ih. M. Payne commenced plowing my old ground. I grubbed and
dug with him.

9th. Seventh Day, he finished it and I commenced planting my com.

11th. Planting corn. My poor old cow died. We skinned her and
the calf. It was unborn.

12th. Planted corn.

13th. Went to creek bottom with Captain [Killebrew]. A. M. to
Daniel Barger's with his presidential papers. From there to William E.
Taylor's and partly traded my yearling bull calf and $5.00 to him for
a cow three years old.

14th. W. E. T. came here and we went to the creek bottom to hunt
Dick. Did not find him, but he offered me the heifer for Dick and $5.00
and we made the trade. I was to take Dick to his house when I found him.

15th. Filling up pantry floor. Dug up piece of ground in field and
made Walter's shoes.

16th. Seventh Day, found Dick and took him up to W. E. Taylor's.

18th. Planting corn.

19th. Finished planting corn on old ground.

20th. Went to Daniel Barger 's to buy some wheat at $1.00 per bushel.
David Burden and Rosa, his wife, and Edward Simkins came here to see us.

21st. Planting corn for M. Payne. He took my wheat home in the
evening.

22nd. Took said wheat to mill and shot a good mess of fish.

23rd. Seventh Day. Grubbed. Cut a coat for James Davis and one
for Mr. Magee, 60 cents. Anna went to Salem and David Siveter
came here.

25th. Grubbing.

26th. Fixed my calf pen gap and prepared new ground for Captain
to plow.

28th. Went to W. E. Taylor's after my cow, and Captain came and
plowed said ground.

29th. Helped Captain replant his corn.

30th. Seventh Day, went to town. Sold cow and calf skins for $2.70,

WILLIAM SAVAGE 99

and mj share of the Conley cow hide 81 cents. Half soled Ely Kille-
brew's shoes.

Sixth Month, 1, 1857, Planting corn for M. Payne.

iSnd, A. M. finished his corn. Uncle William, Aunt Marj and Tom
came here and I went part waj home with them.

Srd. M. Payne and I planted my new piece of ground.

4th. Grabbed water mellon patch and planted it, and some beans, and
cat oat a pair of pants for Captain Eallebrew.

5th. Fixed brash fence, and fishing.

6th, Seventh Day, on brash fence.

8th. Second Day, Went to school meeting in A. M., in P. M. helped
M. Payne replant his broom corn.

9th, Helped M. Payne again.

10th, Helped Cap grabworm and replant his corn.

11th, Work on Cap's coat.

ISth, On Cap's coat and half day haul water.

ISth, Seventh Day, went to Hillsboro, also hoed corn.

15th. Cut off a log and fixed up a gap in brush fence. Finished my
pants and hoed some corn. Supervisor came and warned me out on
the road.

16th, Sticking peas and hoeing corn.

17th, Rainy. Hoed corn.

10th. Work on roads yesterday and today, from T. McCreadie's south.

20th, Hoed corn and went to mill to get some bran.

Slst, First Day, went to Uncle William's.

22nd. To Salem, and from thence home.

23rd. Hoed corn.

25th. Anna went to Salem with Captain. I went to Captain's with
her to carry her basket. Then hoed corn.

26th, Hoed corn.

27th, Finished hoeing my corn at ten o'clock, then made a shaving
horse and bench, and fixed brush fence.

28th, First Day, service berry day.

29th, Sowed 1V4 acres of buckwheat on Captain's field on shares.
I find seed and have half, and fix brush fence.

30th, Hoed, pulled beans, picked service berries.

Seventh Month 1, 1857. Fourth Day, hoed corn. David Siveter came
here and brought Anna home from Salem, then he and I went to Carter
bottom to pick berries.

2nd, Hooped my barrel. Wrote two letters for Mrs. Sneath, one to
her son and one to H. Sneath 's brother. Also commenced making hen
house.

3rd, A. M. Cap and I hauled water. P. M. work on said house.

4 th. Seventh Day, finished said house and went berry picking.

6th. Made door to said house. Went to mill, hoed some com.

7th. Hoed corn and went to mill again to get some bran.

8th. Hoed corn.

100 ANNALS OP IOWA

9th, Hauled water and finished hoeing mj com the second time.

10th, also 11th. work for M. Pajne making brush fence around his
horse pasture.

ISth. Second Day, mended my boots, poled the beans, and cut out a
coat for M. Payne, 25 cents.

14th. Commenced digging the cistern.

15th. Went to Salem to pay Dr. Siveter $15.00 due for Hannah cow.

16th, also Sixth Bay, dug in cistern and sowed turnip seed on Captain's
land, also the same next day.

18th. Seventh Day, Anna went to town with M. Payne and family.
I dug some and went to mill. Weather very hot and dry.

SOth. Finished digging cistern and commenced walling it up.

Slst. At the same.

S£nd. Finished it, and sowed some turnips.

SSrd. Hauled water and mend my boots.

S4th. Harvesting for Wm. Morris, reed. $1.00.

£5th. Seventh Day, harvesting for M. Payne, $1.25 per day.

l^th. Commenced harvesting Cap's wheat. At same 28th, 29th
and 30th.

Slst. Harvesting for M. Paine.

Eighth Mo. 1, 1857. Seventh Day, harvesting for M. Payne at $1.25
or an equivalent in wheat.

Srd. Harvesting for M. Payne at same rate.

4th. Hauled two barrels of water. Killed a turkey, the first this
season. Helped Cap kill a sheep.

5th. Stacked Cap's wheat.

6th. Killed two turkeys and went to hunt a bee tree with Cap. Did
not find it. Also went up to David Cornelison's to make an arrow point.
He not being at home, came back without.

7th. Cut a tree down in the branch and commenced hewing eaves
troughs. There came a good rain, the first for three months. Went out
in the evening and killed turkey at roost.

8th. Went to Salem on horseback with Cap. Rained very hard that
day and night.

9th. First Day, David Siveter came here and killed two turkeys.

10th. Cap and I went to the creek hunting a bee tree, and not finding
one, I work on calf pasture fence.

11th. Went to Cap's to help him tramp out some wheat. It being
too wet we did not do it until afternoon. John and Tom came here
hunting their ox. William Weaver came here and invited Anna and me
to tlie in fair of his son William 's wedding which took place the day before.

12th. Work on trough, and went to Cap's after lime, and finished
calf pasture fence.

13th. Stacking wheat for M. Payne.

14th. Stack wheat half day, then it rained and I went hunting. Five
of my chickens killed by a weasel last night. Four large ones and their
mother killed previous to that.

WILLIAM SAVAGE '^ -VKVli

ISth. Seventh Day, last night set two traps, and this morning had
one skunk and one weasel. Went hunting today.

17th. Went to mill and got some bran. Hunted some. Went to M.
Payne's and raked up some wheat and grubbed some.

18th. Watched in Cap's wheat stubble and killed a turkey. Work
on eaves trough. Went down to the creek at night and killed a turkey
at roost.

19th. Plastered the fireplace. Mended my boots.

SOth. Finished long trough.

Slst. Mend Walter's shoes. Out two aspens on Cap's land for short
troughs and made them.

i£nd. Seventh Day, grubbed some. Cap hauled said troughs.

gdth. Went to Salem with Cap and bought 50 pounds flour at $2.50
per hundred.

£5th. Grub. Picked some plums.

g6th. Helped Cap unmix his sheep, then picked more plums and
grubbed.

g7th. Grubbed.

S8th. Went to camp meeting with Cap to put up his tent.

SOth. Hewed troughs and hunting.

SOth. First Day, went to camp meeting and back at night. Anna and
I did Cap's chores while he and his family attended said meeting.

Slst. Hunting with H. Sneath. I killed one turkey.

Ninth Mo. 1, 1857. Burned brush and picked plums.

2nd. Built a top on chimney and went to Wells's.

Srd. Rainy. Went to Wells's again to enquire the price of his hogs
and calves; hogs 4 cts. per pound, calves $4.00 per head. Went hunting.

4th. Putting caves troughs up on north side of house.

5th. Seventh Day, wrote a letter to John W^etsal. Next day David
Siveter came here and went hunting. I killed two turkeys and he one.

7 thy also Third Day. I worked for O. M. Wells chopping a new road,
75 cts. per day.

9th. Sick.

10th, also 11th, worked for O. M. Wells.

12th. Samuel Siveter came hero. Went to M. Payne's after my calf
that broke out a day or two ago. Bought a heifer calf of M. Payne for
$4.00. Samuel and I intended to go to Salem but the rain prevented,
and I helped Captain kill a sheep.

ISth. First Day, Samuel and I went to Salem and David gave me a
Shanghai rooster, then in the evening I went to Uncle William's.

14th. Took a squirrel Imnt with John and I returned home.

15th, also Fourth Day, chopping for O. M. Wells.

17th. Threshing for M. Payne.

18th. Went to thresh, but rain prevented.

19th. Seventh Day, cut out my pants, cut forks for cow shed, and
split some rails.

2l8t. Rainy and went hunting.

-»•

•J(l2.*\^ •'• ANNALS OF IOWA

Sgfid, Went to thresh, but they did not come. In the afternoon,
worked for M. Payne making fence.

SSrd, Threshed for M. Payne.

S4th, Chopping for O. M. Wells.

gSth. Threshed for F. Killebrew.

lS6th. Unwell. Finished my ticking pants.

S7th, First Day, the first frost. Ninth Month 27.

SSth, also 29th and 30th, chopping for O. M. Wells at 75 cents per day.

Tenth Month i, 1857, chopped for O. M. Wells.

ISnd. Rainy. Fetched home two calves, Dick and Pete, that I bought
of Wells, each $4.00.

3rd. Seventh Day, hunting, and made a dog house. Also helped M.
Payne kill a sheep. Went to sin[g]ing school at night — upper school.

5th, Raining. Went to mill with M. Payne. Got of him one bushel
and a half of wheat, then made some rail fence by the bars and sewed some.

6th. Cut out a pair of pants for James Barton, 25 cents. Made a
pig pen, and commenced cutting up my corn.

7th. Set two or three posts in cow shed, and Cap and I ground our
corn knives, then I cut corn.

8th. Went to mill after my grist, not ground yet, then cut up corn,
and helped S. Gill kill a cow that he bought of M. Payne, $20.00.

9th. Went to mill twice and cut up corn. Weather — days very warm
and nights very cool. Walter took sick with ague.

10th. Seventh Day, took home some borrowed flour to Wells's and
waited for Wells to fetch my pig home, but he did not, then cut some corn.

ISth. Work on road between Weaver's and Stanley's corner. Work
for M. Payne, 59 cents, and my tax, 33 cents.

13th. Third Day. Cut up corn.

14th. Mowed the buckwheat on Cap's land.

15th. Wells brought my pig home. Rainy. I sewed some. Dick,
calf, got out. I could not find him.

16th. Went to Hillsboro and got some medicine for Walter. Took
3% pounds butter to store and traded for goods, then cut corn.

17th. Cut corn.

18th. First Day, morning, caught a coon in steel trap in my corn field.

19th. Finished putting up my corn, 18 shocks, and found Dick calf
at old man Baley's.

eoth. Tremendous hard frost. [October 20]

SUt. Yesterday and today, cut corn for M. Payne.

g£nd. Rainy. Killed a partridge. Made a last and cut out a pair
of shoes for Walter G. Savage.

£3rd. Cutting up corn for O. M. Wells.

S4th. Seventh Day, set up two-thirds of my buckwheat, and went to
see the shooting match.

g6th. Went to M. Payne's and to mill with some wheat and with him
to the lower steam mill.

£7th. Finished setting up my buckwheat and made a fork handle.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 103

SSthf also 29th, worked for M. Payne on his house. He is going to
raise it and put a new roof on it.

30th. Went to Hillsboro for some worm medicine for Walter. Also
helped M. Payne put his rafters up.

SUt. Mowed grass for O. M. Wells.

Eleventh Month i, 1857. First Day.

2nd. Commenced threshing our buckwheat.

Srd. Pulling turnips, threshing buckwheat.

4th. Finished threshing said buckwheat.

61h. Rainy. 89led Anna's shoes, and hunting. Killed one turkey
at roost.

6th, Help O. M. Wells kill a fat cow. Came home and cut wood.

7th. Hauled wood and pumpkins and went to Uncle William's.

8th. First Bay, went to Salem.

9th. Returned to Uncle William's and from there home.

10th. Borrowed Wells's fanning mill and cleaned up some of our
buckwheat. Snowed that night.

11th. Built a pen to put said wheat in. It would not hold, then put
it in Walter's box. Snowy. I fetched my calves home from M. Payne's.

ISth. Chopped some wood, hunted, split rails.

13th. Finished our buckwheat. I had 53 patent bucketfuls for my
half off an acre and a quarter. Cap hauled me a load of wood, and I
went with him to John Coburn's after two shoats of his.

14th. Seventh Day, chopped and hauled a load of poles for wood,
and one load of wood and rails, and set two posts in calf shed.

16th. Hunting some and worked on shed.

17th. Went to M. Payne's and borrowed 20 nails, and grubbed some.
Afternoon went to Cap's and divided our turnips. I had about 26 bushels
and some not pulled yet. Buried mine.

18th. Buried one bushel of potatoes. I had of Thomas McCreadie for
cutting Jim Barton 's pants. Set in rainy and I went to Wells 's to borrow
some sacks to take some buckwheat to mill.

19th. Went to M. P. to get the cattle, but did not. Then cut a pattern
of Dr. Siveter's coat. Went to mill with seven bushels of buckwheat and
brought home a load of poles.

Slst. Seventh Day, chopped some wood and went hunting.

23rd. Worked on my pants and in the evening watched in Wells's
cornfield and shot a spike buck, wounding him in the liam. He went into
Cap 's field and lay all night. Next morning I tracked him up and found
him just north of Cap 's house. He then jumped up and I shot him again
and he rolled over the fence. He ran a piece and lay down, got up again
and ran to the creek and crossed at the island. I then found him on the
other side, shot him again and then Watch caught him. We killed him
and dragged him home. Then I went to work on McCreadie 's coat.

S5th also 26th. At the same and finished it, then cut and hauled a
load of wood with M. Payne's oxen.

27th. Went to Salem with Tom Lewis, took three quarters of venison

104 ANNALS OF IOWA

and sold it for $3.18. Did [not] come again till Seventh Day morning.
Then cleaned out the Bchoolhoase.

30th. Second Day, went to mill with some corn and got it ground
and went to Thorn Mcreadie's and got half a bushel of potatoes for
catting a pair of sleeves for him. Went to creek bottom with James
Spray to hunt his heifer.

Twelfth Month 1, 1867, Went to Mr. Payne's and helped kill a pig,
then to mill with two bushels of wheat. Got it ground. Then Tom L.
and I hauled a load of wood. I took some sacks to Wells's.

£nd. Wells came here to change said sacks, his^ being down at the
mill with my buckwheat in. Went down and changed them. He fetched
one bag of buckwheat flour home for me. I commenced making Dr.
Siveter's coat.

Srd. Helped M. Payne gather a load of corn up in Sigler's field till
noon, then worked on Dr.'s coat.

4thy and Seventh Day on said coat and finished it.

€th. First Day, went to H. Sueath'« to tell him that his steer was
at D. Barger's.

7th. Chopped wood in forenoon. Afternoon, rainy, and cut out Alex
Martin's coat.

8th. Sewed on said coat.

9th. Helped M. Paine get a load of wood and a load of fodder, then
he and I got a load of wood for self.

10th. Went to store and got some canvas for and worked on said coat.

11th. Worked on said coat.

IBth. Seventh Day. Finished said coat and cut out a coat for
Nicholas Boley, 50 cents.

14th. Second Day. Made Walter pair shoes.

15th. Started to Salem with T. Lewis and M. Paine. The road being
very muddy, the oxen stalled. Tom and I unloaded the coal on side of
the road and came home with empty wagon. Paine went to Salem with
the steers.

16th. Went to Hillsboro to pay my part for the harrow teeth Cap
and I bought, but Squire Newbold was not at home. I did not pay.
P. M. finished my pants.

17th. Kill my sow pig, and cut out a coat for George Martin.

18th. Rainy. Grubbed. Cut some hand sled runners and went hunting.

19th. Seventh Day, went hunting. Went to Hillsboro and found Cap
was not sued, so paid Dr. J. B. Allen 80 cent« on aforesaid harrow. Then
Tom L and I hauled one load of wood.

Slst. Sneath, Cap, Wells and I had a deer drive, but killed nothing.

SSnd. Grubbed some and fixed rail fence by hen roost. At night I
wounded a deer.

SSrd. Cap and I hunted for it and could not find it, then we hauled
wood. I shot two hogs for M. Paine.

S4th. Went to mill, and nailed slabs on calf shed.

BSth. Christmas day. Hunting. Shot common partridge.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 105

t6ih. Tom and I hunted. Caught a young fox squirrel and gave it
to Tom. Killed a possum and a rabbit. Tom roasted the rabbit in the
woods. I chopped a load of wood.

t7th. First Day, John and Thomas came here to invite Anna and me
to Mary's wedding.

S8th. Second Day. Went part way home with the boys. Came home
and hauled a load of wood. I cut out a coat for West Bunyon.

g9th. Fourth and part of Fifth Day making said coat.

First Month 1, 1858. Anna and I went to Uncle William's, saw
Edward Simkins and Mary Savage married.

Snd, Seventh Day, came home. I went to Cap's after Walter and
commenced cutting a coat for Samuel Morris.

4th. Help O. M. Wells kill five hogs.

5th. Cap and I hauled a load of wood.'

6th. Went to mill. Took 3 bushels of wheat and 2 of buckwheat and
1^ of corn. Came home and sewed.

7 th. Sewing.

8th. Help M. Paine kill four hogs.

9th. Seventh Day, Captain liauled one load of wood and David Siveter
came and I tried his rifle.

11th. Second Day. I went to Salem with David and took Doctor's coat.

12th, also Fourth day, sewed for Dr. at his house. Went to Uncle
William's that night.

14th. He cut some patterns for me that morning and I came home.

15th. Sixth Day. Split 37 rails and chopped a load of wood.

16th. Seventh Day, Cap hauled it and I chopped for him and hunted
with West Oldacre and Dave and William Barger for deer. Heard a
Canada Jay, the first this spring. First Month 17.

18th. Fix eaves troughs, and went to Cap's after auger.

19th. Split rails and chopped wood.

20th. Grubbed some. Thomas Lefevcre and James Lucas came here.
I went as far as Sneath's house with them to show them the road.

2l8t. Help O. M. Wells kill a beef cow. I took a hind quarter weigh-
ing 134 pounds at 5 cents — $6.70.

S2nd. Chopping wood.

83rd. Seventh Day, putting up eaves troughs, and went to T.
McCreadie 's.

g5th. Second Day. Went to Sigler's mill. There were five persons
baptized.

26th. Went to Gill's. Came home and tied up seed corn, and made
broom. Went with T. Lewis to make oxbow bender.

27 th. Went deer driving with West Oldacre. Killed none. Fix shed.

28th. Went to Wells's to borrow an auger. Then measured Hen
Hopper for a coat and cut it out.

29th. and 30th, making liis coat.

Second Mo. 1, 1858. Second Day, went to Hillsboro. Sold 5 dozen
eggs. Two pounds sugar and % pound coffee.

106 ANNALS OF IOWA

2nd. Hauled one load of wood ij^'ith M. Paine 's oxen. Banning deer.

Srdf and 4th, chopping and making rails for O. M. Wells, 75 cents
per day.

5ih. Soling my boots and making ax handle.

6th. Seventh Day, chopping wood and hunting.

Sth. Took the clock to pieces. Went to Hillsboro after Dr. Allen for
Cap's daughter Parthene, then cleaned clock.

9th. Made a hand sled. At night I watch my field. At 20 minutes
before 8 o 'clock I shot a young buck killing him on the spot. 50 £.^

11th. Cut some aspen poles and Cap'n hauled me a load of wood.
I chopped 40 poles for rails.

10th. Went to Cap's and chopped some wood for self.

12th. Cap and I killed two rabbits. I helped him cut wood, and cnt
a load for self.

ISth. Seventh Day, Tom Lewis and I went hunting.

15th. Stormy.

16th. Help Cap kill a hog. Hauled some wood for self.

17th. Cap hauled two loads wood. I chopped for him and hunted.

18th. Chopped for Cap and it snowed.

19th. Had M. Payne's oxen and hauled three loads of wood and rails
and two loads of fodder.

20th. Fish Hayes, Tom L. and I went hunting. Fish shot a doe deer
and gave Tom and me a forequarter apiece.

2l8t. First Day, we fetched the deer home and Tom Savage came here.

22nd. I mended his boot and hunted.

23rd. Went to mill, and to Hoppers and got a pair of socks, $1.00,
one pound white yarn, $1.00 in pay for making Hen's coat.

24th. Went part way home with Tom and chopped some wood.

25ih. Hauled some wood and fodder and help Tom Lewis put tongue
and roller in the sled.

26th. Finished the sled and helped Tom get a load of wood. I chopped
some wood and poles for fence.

27th. Hunting. Shot a red- tailed buzzard on the nest.

28th. First Day, Thomas Siveter brought a pair of pants for me
to make.

Third Month 1, 1858. Hauling wood with M. Paine 's oxen, and com-
menced making Tom's pants.

2nd. Finished them.

Srd. Went to Salem with Tom's pants and stayed all night.

4th. In the evening I went to Uncle William's and stayed all night.

5th. Came home, made hog pen, and helped Cap'n put some glass in
at schoolhouse and cut some wood there.

6th. Seventh Day, Cap helped me kill my fat hog. I then hauled a
load of wood with the oxen.

oMr. Savage having been born in England and acquainted in his youth with
the symbols of the British monetary system here used the sign of the British
pound sterling, as at the Instant it carried in his mind the sound of "pound.**

WILLIAM SAVAGE 107

8th. Commenced making Tom Lewis's pants. That night I watched
my field and 20 minutes before 8 o'clock four deer came into the field.
I shot at one 43 yards. It was so dark I could see no more of him then.

9th, Went out in the morning and by the fence in the field I found
the deer lying dead, shot through the heart, a young buck. In afternoon
went to Mr. Paine 's. Also mended my boots.

10th. Took Uncle William a hind quarter of said deer. Coming home
I broke through the ice at Warner ford, my gun in one hand and a cane
in the other. I got out with a good soaking about from my arms down.
8aw the first wild geese. Shot a partridge and a duck.

11th. Had M. P.'s oxen. Hauled one load of wood and two loads
of fodder.

l£th. Made box and put 5]/^ bushels buckwheat in it.

ISth. Seventh Day. Went to creek bottom and to Runyon's sugar
camp. Came home and mended Anna's shoes. Fixed lady calf's head
to her foot and turned her out.

1.5th. Went to Sigler's and returned their candlemoulds. In after-
noon chopped wood.

16th. Rainy. Cut out and sewed on Tom L.'s coat.

17th. Went to mill with T. L. and B. Weaver Creek very high.
Sewed on said coat. Old cow and three calves strayed off.

18th. Went to creek bottom to hunt them. Were not there, but found
them up at Runyon's.

19th. Went to Cap's and O. M. Wells and I appraised two stray
heifers, then went to creek bottom and dug up some gooseberry bushes
and set them out.

tOth. Seventh Day, went to Hillsboro to take oath to said strays and
then went to mill.

SSnd. M. Paine and I went to Jonathan Hoskins' for some young
apple trees. Dug some up and left them, then went part way home with
John and Tom S. '

SSrd. Help Cap kill two hogs, and went after my wedge at Wells's.

£6th. Went to Glasgow with Cap. Took ten dozen eggs, each 4 cents,
and 17 pounds paper rags, 1^/^ cents, and traded for groceries. Brought
home 25 apple trees and 6 cherry trees from J. Hoskins, and 5 for Wells.

S7th. Seventh Day, hunting. Killed two ducks. Set out some of
my trees.

g9th. Also 30th, worked for O. M. Wells hand threshing and grubbing
in his wheat field.

Slst. Went to mill, got my grist, came home and fixed my dip net.
Tom. L and I went fishing and caught a few.

Fourth Month 1, 1858. Grubbing at home and ground my mattock.

tnd. Grubbed and helped Cap mark his hogs.

Srd. Grubbed. Packed away the meat. Killed four ducks, fix hen's
nest, shelled some corn.

4th. First Day, went to Uncle William 's and Anna and I came home.

5th. Grubbed, packed away the meat, and took Wells's borrowed
floor home.

108 ANNALS OF IOWA

6th, Grubbing for Jonathan Hoskins to pay for apple trees.

7th, Rainy. Put some stalks on hen house.

8th, Went to Hillsboro with M. P. and came home and hauled a load
of wood with his cattle.

9th. Tom and I went fishing, came home and fixed my boot, and
went hunting.

10th, Seventh Day, fixed Anna's and Walter's shoes. Big Cedar
Creek very high and washed away Sigler's dam.

Itth, Set five apple trees and six cherry trees, then helped Tom L.
make brush fence around a cow pasture on M. P.'s farm. Bainy.

13th, A snow. I finished Tom's coat.

14th, Also 15th, work on pasture brush fence.

16th. Commenced making garden. Sadly too wet. Sowed two rows
of peas, some lettuce and cabbage seed, and grub.

17th, Took some corn to mill, got it ground, caught some fish in a
dip net, and shot one duck.

18th, First Bay, Thomas Siveter brought a pair of pants for me
to make.

19th, Went with Anna to Cap 's to make soap. Sewed some, and went
to Jim Elarton 's mill and took three bushels wheat with M. P. and caught
some fish.

tOth, Made soap. Finished Tom's pants.

£l8t. Went to Salem with said pants, and took a coat and pants to
make for David Siveter. Stayed at Uncle William's that night.

tSnd, Came home by the two bridges on account of high water, then
took our meat out to dry it.

SSrd, Hauled my corn out of the field, and hauled one load of wood.
Cool and frosty nights.

If 4th, Seventh Day, killed two ducks at Weaver's ford. Watch
fetched one out; the other being on the shore, he would not. L. and B.
Wells and I crossed on Gill's raft and went round after it.

S6th, Grubbed at home.

g7th. Went to Cook's mill with M. P.'s oxen. Came home and com-
menced making David Siveter 's coat.

B8thy also 29th, worked at the same, and his vest and pants.

30th. At the same.

Fifth Month 1, 1858, Seventh Day, finished D. Siveter 's clothes.
In afternoon David and Thomas Savage came here and we went hunting
and fishing.

3rd, Second Day. Rainy. I mended Tom's boots and Uncle's shoes,
and went fishing.

4th, Tom and David went home, and took Dr.'s clothes.

5th, Went to Thomas McCreadie's to get some potatoes, and to J.
Hoskins' to change some more eggs for Poland eggs, then went to Caleb
Giberson's house raising, and husked some corn.

6th. Husked corn.

7th, Work on cow shed.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 109

8th, Seventh Day. Went to Salem with M. Paine. Went home with
Tom Savage and stayed all night.

9th. First Day, came home.

10th. Went to mill with Tom Lewis. I went to T. MeCreadie's.
Got 1 bushel potatoes, 25 cents, and grubbed some.

llthy also 12th, grubbed and burned brush at home.

ISth, Grubbed for Jonathan Hoskins. Paid for my apple trees.

Uthf and 15th, worked on Daniel Barger's coat, and cut a pair of
pants for David Siveter. This is a very wet spring so far, and very late
rainy now.

17th. Second Day, cow hunting.

18th. Finished D. Barger's coat, and coat and pants for Walter G.
Savage. Cow stayed out all night again.

19th. Tom L. and I went fishing A. M. In P. M. M. Paine and I
commenced on my cow pasture fence.

SOth. Tom L. and I finished it, and cropped the left ear of my four
calves and turned them out, and made a poker to put on the cow and put
her in the pasture.

Slst. Made pair of pants for David Siveter, and caught some fish.

SSnd. Attended the law suit between M. Sigler and M. Paine, but
gave notice of an appeal to a higher court and paid the costs.

SSrd. First Day, painted a black-capped sparrow, and went to Salem
with David Siveter 's pants. Stayed all night.

£4th. Bought pair pants and shoes. Took vest to make for David
and went to Uncle William 's. It being very rainy, stayed there all night.

25th. Came home by the bridge. Creek very high. Went fishing.

26th. Anna and I went to Jane Killebrew's quilting.

£7th. Went on prairie after old cow and calves, then fishing and
work on shed.

B8th. Put fodder on shed. Came another hard storm. Lightning
killed William Hopper's ox. I went fishing.

i9th. Seventh Day, went to Hillsboro trading. Worked on David's
rest, and fishing.

Slst. Second Day. Work on D.'s vest.

Sixth Month 1, 1858, Finished the vest. Tom Lewis commenced
plowing my ground.

Snd. Rainy. I filed my saw and ground cold chisel, and fished.

5rd. I went and helped dig a grave for P. W. Bennett's child (half
an hour old). Thomas Savage and H. Sneath and his \i'ife came here.

4th. Mending pair boots for Tom, and fished.

5th. Seventh Day, went part way. He came back on account of high
water. In afternoon he tried another route and got home. M. Paine
plowed two rounds in field. It being too wet he quit. I shelled corn.
Cow got out but came back at night. I chopped some poles.

7th. Plowed some ground.

8th. Rainy. Cut out my pants. Went to Sigler mill to wait for M.
Paine to take my meal home. He did not come. I fished.

110 ANNALS OF IOWA

9th, Nearly made said pants.

10th. About 4 o'clock in the morning M. Paine came here and called
me up. I went to Salem to fetch Aunt Polly Garretson, M. P.'s wife
being sick. Before we returned she gave birth to a son. Finished my
pants, mowed some weeds, and commenced a piece of rail fence south
of the house.

11th. Work on said fence. Morgan Paine sold his south 40 acres
to a Mr. Brothers.

IBth. Seventh Day, help M. P. plow my new ground.

14th. Work on fence. Also I commenced planting corn, Sixth
Month 14.

15th. Planting corn.

16th. Went to hunt M. P.'s oxen. Found Pod, but Bolly hid in the
brush and I could not find him. Afternoon Samuel Siveter came here
and we went service berrying down to the creek. Planted some corn.

17th. Again hunted Paine 's oxen, harrowed my new ground and
planted some.

18th, also 19th, planted corn and potatoes.

Blst. Second Day. Finished planting my corn.

SSnd. Carry rails and make fence west of house.

SSrd. Forenoon, sick. Afternoon, work on rail fence.

S4th. Anna and I went up to M. Paine 's. Then I worked on my
fence by the bars. That night Cook's flour mill was burned, supposed
by incendiary. Also Sigler's buggy top cut in pieces, seat taken away,
one spoke cut in two, one wheel taken off lumber wagon and big cable
rope taken away. Old Burras suspected of the fire.

S6th. Seventh Day, went to mill and then work on rail fence north.
John and Thomas came and went home Sunday.

gSth. Finished said fence, and spade garden.

g9th. Third Day. Commence hoeing corn.

SOth. Fourth Day, hoeing corn.

Seventh Month I, 1858. Fifth Day, hoeing corn.

£nd. Fishing and went to M. Paine 's and to mill. Carried home
some flour.

Srd. Seventh Day, went to S. Gill's shop, and I. Conly fixed my steel-
yard poise and made me an arrow spike. I hoed corn.

5th. Harvesting for Job Davis, $1.00.

6th. Went to mill with Tom Lewis. We fetched home my wheat box,
barrel, and shovel plow. I helped Tom load up a big cupboard. Hoed corn.

7th. Had Paine 's oxen and put in my buckwheat and hoed corn.

8th. Morgan Paine moved his family to Salem. I worked on the road
from N. Boley 's to Sigler 's mill, from thence up new road. W. F. Barger,
Supervisor.

10th. Seventh Day, rainy. I went to Isaac Conley's to get some more
rye straw. Hoed corn and fixed brush fence.

ISth. Had Will and Harman Giberson to help me hoe com.

ISth. Hoed corn.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 111

14th. Helped Caleb Giberson hoe corn.

15th, Commenced haying for O. M. Wells.

16th, Hoeing corn, poled beans, and sowed turnip seed.

17th, Seventh Day, rainy. Finished my straw hat. Went to D.
Barger's for some rutabaga seed.

19th, Haying for O. M. Wells.

SOth. Very rainy. Mend my pants and boots. Commenced hat for
Walter G. Hoed melon patch.

gist. Went to Wells's. Ground our scythes and the boys and I went
s^^imming. Came home and finished Walter's hat. At night skunk
killed bob hen and five chicks.

22nd, Watch killed three skunks in brush fence. I trapped one old
one at night. Rainy.

SSrd. Shelled some corn and went to mill with Cap. Helped him
catch and kill a sheep, and tried to catch another.

24th. Seventh Day, trying to catch one of Cap's sheep till noon, and
could not. P. M., went to Hillsboro on Kid and traded eggs and lard
for drygoods.

26th. Iloed corn and sowed turnips. Caught a cat fish, 2^ pounds.

2?th. Rainy. Put rockers on chair, and hunted.

28th. Went to Wells's and went fishing. Hoed some and sowed
turnips. Rained heavy that night.

S9th. Went to creek.

30th, also 31st. Haying for O. M. Wells.

Eighth Month, 1 1858. First Day.

2nd. Rainy. Mend my boot and went to creek.

3rd. Made Walter a pair of shoes and went to creek.

4th, and 5th, and 6th. Haying for O. M. Wells, 75 cente per day.

7 th. Seventh Day, fix my boot and went to creek hunting. Tom
Savage came here and brought a brindle puppy for Wells, two months old.

9th. Through haying.

14th. Seventh Day. From the 10th to the 14th noon, threshing and
haying for O. M. Wells. Very hot all this week. Rain this afternoon.

16th, also 17th, 18th and 19th. Haying for O. M. Wells.

20th. Went to Hillsboro and bought $1.70 in goods at Dr. Allen's
store on Wells's account.

2l8t. Seventh Day, at home. Fixed the stand, and hunting and went
to Uncle William's and from there to the M. E. Camp meeting one mile
west of Salem. Stayed until 23rd.

24th. Mowed weeds in corn field. Old cow broke out.

25th, also 26th, hunting cow. Could not hear of her.

27th. Went to trial of John Jolly, Benjamin Weaver, William Stanley,
James Stanley, and Joseph Runyon, taken with a state's warrant for
throwing eggs into the Masterson Schoolhouse, District No. 2, during a
temperance lecture, tried before William Morris, J. P., fined, John Jolly,
$20; Benjamin Weaver, $15; Joseph Runyon, $10; James Stanley, $8,
and costs equally divided. William Stanley was acquitted. Going up to

112 Ai^NALS OF lOWA

said trial I heard of my cow. She was up at Frederic Endersbj's. Weni
that evening to get her home. Drove her to Rock Creek and she ran awaj
from me. David Seveter came.

gSth, Seventh Day, David and I went to Endersby's. Cow was not
there. We examined every gang of cattle we could see on the open prairie,
but in vain. We then went to Fisher Haise's to wait for the cattle to
come up in the evening. In about two hours we heard a bell, and again
we went on the prairie, found her in a big gang of cattle, and got her
out after some extra running and dodging. We then drove her as far
as I. Conley 's. There she hid in brush. We passed her by and went home.
Then Anna and I went and found her again. Could not coax her. L
Conley helped us drive her home. Then I put a solid poker on her and
went to rest.

SOth. Went to Wells's with some corn, got some butter, moved the
stove and set up lye leach.

Slst. Mowing hungarian grass for Captain K.

Ninth Month 1, 1858, Mowed weeds in corn.

ind. Went to Cap's. Saw Mathew B. Sparks and Sarah Jane Kille-
brew married. Stayed there all day.

Srd, Worked on the road north of Sigler's mill, and hunting.

4th. Seventh Day, hunting.

6th, A. M., work on schoolhouse well. P. M., went to town meeting.
Voted antitax.

7th, Mowing weeds in corn.

8th, Rainy all day. Hunting.

9th. Work on my ticking pants, and gather hazelnuts.

10th, Chopped one log of hickory tree by road, then Arthur Bennett
and I tried to find a line between him and me. Went to Wells 's. He paid
me $10.50 in cash for haying.

11th. Seventh Day, split some rails and Leonidus Wells and I hunting.

ISth. Shell some corn and took it to mill. Fix fence and commence
a new one north of field.

14th. A little while working on fence. Rainy.

15th. Hunting and work on fence.

16th. Went to Salem. Came home same day.

Friday y Sep. 17."^ John Albert Savage, born 9:15 A. M., our second
son. Had Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Brothers, Mrs. Killebrew, and Dr. J. B.
Allen.

Saturday, Sep. 18. Kill first turkey of the season. Went to Uncle
William's. Had Mr. P. W. Bennett's team. Aunt Mary could not come.
Brought home a sow pig Uncle gave me. Got out the same night.

Sept. 20. Went to Cap's. Sent by him to Fairfield for flour. Got
100 pounds, $3.00. I mowed grass for P. W. Bennett, and his wife took
care of Anna.

Sep. gl. Picked some seed corn, and in house.

7At this point in the diarv Mr. Sava^^e discontinues the use of Friends* style
as to dat( s. etc.. and uses the ianguage generally prevalent in his locality.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 113

Sep. 22. I went to Cap 's and to creek. Commenced cutting up my corn.

Sep. 2S. Hunting and cutting corn.

Sep. 24. In house and gathered seed corn, and some to grind.

Sat. Sep. 25. Cut corn and hunted.

Sep. 27. Corn cutting and in house.

Sep. 28. Cut com.

Sep. 29. Fixed pig pen and went to Jacob Bunyon's after Mary pig.
Fixed fence and cut corn.

Sep. 30. Cut corn and fixed corn field fence.

Oct. 1, J 858. Tried to borrow a log chain to haul brush with Caleb
Giberson 's cattle, but could not get any. Mary pig and old cow got out.
I cut some corn.

Sat. Oct. 2. Went to Hillsboro to trade 4 dozen eggs. Tom Savage
came here.

Oct. 4. Mended a pair of shoes for Tom, and went part way home
with him. I shot a duck and two squirrels.

Oct. 5. Hauling brush with said cattle, and fixed part of a fence.

Oct. 6. Rained. I fixed my shoe. The cattle ran away and caught
the hook in my shoe tore one side of the sole off. Got some white oak
bark for Anna, and hunting. Old cow out again.

Oct. 7. Anna very sick. Took cold and it settled inwardly. I was
in the house all day.

Oct. 8. In house, and went to hunt a squirrel for Anna. Shot my
second turkey this season. Got one squirrel, got some bark, and cut
some com.

Sat., Oct. 9. In house, and finished cutting corn, 24 shocks. Shot one
prairie chicken in cherry tree.

Oct. 11. Went up on prairie to hunt old cow. Did not find her. Went
to Thadeus Clark's, heard cow was north in timber.

Oct. 12. Rainy. Went to Cap's after my tools. Shell some corn and
took it to mill and got it ground, then went to J. Runyon's and fetched
Mary pig home again.

Oct. 13. Found cow on summer creek bottom, but could not drive her
home. Then mowed some buckwheat.

Oct. 14. Went to T. Clark 's to see if cow had come up. Had not, so
I cut com for Cap.

Oct. 15. Cut corn for Cap, and at night I went to Bennett's cotillion
party.

Sat.y Oct. 16. A. M., cut corn for Cap. P. M., went to school meeting
and to T. Clark's.

Oct. 18. Rainy. Fixed cradle and hunting with Leonidus Wells.

Oct. 19. Finished cutting my buckwheat, and went to Job Davis' sale
and brought old cow home. T. Clark had her in a lot.

Oct. 20. Cutting corn for Cap Killebrew % of day.

Oct. 21. Went to Hillsboro, traded one dozen eggs for box of matches,
and took an oilcloth cloak to make for Dr. James Boyd Allen. Also
made hog pen.

114 ANNALS OF IOWA

Oct, ft, P. W. Bennett and I went north side of creek and mowed
some grass to cover sheds. Set up my buckwheat. Gave Giberson notice
that I should open the road on my east line.

Oct, iS, Went to mill and helped Bennett's drive a cow into their
stable.

Sun,y Oct, t4, John and Tom came here.

Oct. £5. Helped Bennett kill said cow. I mended John's boots at
night. We went cooning. John and Tom went home. We killed two
opossums.

(To be continued.)

THE FIRST JUDGE OF IOWA

The first court ever held in Iowa was presided over by David
Irvin. He was a native of Albemarle County, Virginia, and
commenced the practice of law in that state, at Harrisonburg.
He was a young man of much promise, and in 1834 was ap-
pointed by President Jackson, judge to officiate in that por-
tion of what was then Michigan which lay west of the lakes.
His district embraced the country extending west to the Mis-
souri and White Earth rivers, and north to the northern
boundary of the United States.

In 1836 the Territory of Wisconsin was organized and em-
braced all this country; and of the three Judges appointed
for the new territory Irvin became one, and the district to
which he was assigned embraced all that part of the territory
which was west of the Mississippi River, and he came to Bur-
lington and made it his home till the Territory of Iowa was
organized. He then went back to Wisconsin, and by successive
appointments he retained the judgeship there till that terri-
tory became a state. In 1848 that territory assuming a state
government, his office expired and he removed to Texas where
he resided till his death.

When Judge Irvin first came west it was comparatively one
vast wilderness. At the time he took up his residence in Bur-
lington, the place contained scarcely three hundred inhabi-
tants, and there were only about ten thousand whites within
the present limits of Iowa. — C. Negus in the Dollar Monthly
and Old Settlers Memorial, Vol. 3, No. 6, p. 5, in Historical,
Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.

AN ORIGINAL STUDY OF MBSQUAKIE (POX) LIFE

For a number of years Des Moines schools had taught In-
dian Life in a more or less desultory manner. Always dissatis-
fied with their inferior and inadequate aids, they were not
satisfied with methods and results. With the beginning of
the school year of 1927, Superintendent John W. Studebaker
directed his assistant. Miss Bessie Bacon Goodrich, to consult
with the curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Depart-
ment of Iowa looking toward a plan with a definite course of
study of Indian Life. This resulted in a selected group of
teachers reading under Curator Harlan's direction for a num-
ber of months. He arranged a council of five of the oldest and
most intelligent of the Mesquakie (or Fox) Indians from the
so-called reservation in Tama county. George Young Bear, a
full-blooded Mesquakie Indian, well trained in the Indian
ways, graduate from Haskell Institute, served as interpreter.

The teachers continued their studies and interest in Indian
Life and the following September an ** Indian Life School''
was conducted by Mr. Harlan assisted by Dr. Melvin Randolph
Gilmore, then of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York City, in which Young Bear and Jim
Poweshiek who had been present at the council, took part. A
stenographic report of the school was made by Mrs. Harriett
Card of the Historical Department staff, after the Indians be-
came accustomed to talking with this group of teachers. The
record of the council was compiled by Halla M. Rhode of the
Department and George Young Bear. After it had been com-
piled, it was interpreted to Young Bear who acted as head of
the council. He carefully corrected it. It was then re-written,
and again interpreted to and approved by Young Bear. The
original notes of the record of these meetings with the Mesqua-
kie Indians are here published for the first time. It is believed
to be a contribution of equal value with the demonstration
made before the Des Moines, 1929, meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.

Like that,^ it purports to reveal only one method of imparting

iSee ANNALS of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. XVIII, No. 6, October, 1932.

116 ANNALS OF IOWA

to pupils in our schools through the teaching fraternity the
facts available of Indian life, as these facts are in a present
state of vanishment into our social culture and civilization.

COUNCIL OF MESQUAKIE INDIANS WITH DBS MOINES

TEACHERS

On the morning of February 18, 1928, the selected group of
Des Moines teachers headed by Miss Bessie Bacon Goodrich
who had been studying under Mr. Harlan's direction, met in
his office at the Historical Building for his instructions before
their council with the Masquakie Indians. Curator Harlan
with his keen insight and understanding of these Indians skill-
fully directed the teachers so that the Indian friends would feel
comfortable in their presence and the information sought would
be forthcoming easily.

At 12 :30 P. M. February 18, 1928, the conference adjourned
to Mr. Harlan's acreage near Altoona, where the party of In-
dians was found awaiting us in the wickiup. A tepee also had
been set up to serve as a council lodge. It had been made warm
by strewing straw on the ground on which blankets were
spread, and in it the teachers were seated ** Indian fashion.''

Mr. Harlan brought Young Bear in, the oldest son of the
last chief. Push e ton e qua, deceased, and Young Bear's son,
George, who were presented to Miss Goodrich and her party
of teachers.

Young Bear made a fire in the tepee. The party watched
to see the methods used by an Indian to start a fire.

Mr. Harlan and Young Bear then invited half of the party
at a time into the Indian wickiup for an Indian dinner.
The wickiup was very cozy with straw and blankets on the
ground and a fire in the center. The meal was cooked by the
Indians on the open fire. It consisted of pork chops, dried
** squaw" corn and beans, (all boiled together in an iron
kettle), boiled squash, canned peaches, ** squaw" bread and
coffee.

The Indian party consisted of two men. Young Bear, sixty
years. Fox ; Shaw a ta, fifty-nine years. Fox ; and three women.
Qua ta che (Anna Kaasataak), seventy-two years. Fox; Wa
so se a, eighty-five years old, Sauk; and Susie Eagle, Fox, a

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 117

young woman who cooked and served the meals, and Mr. Har-
lan's white friends. George Young Bear, interpreter, is a
graduate of Haskell Institute.

The Indians explained to the teachers how the foods were
prepared. In preparing corn the kernels were taken whole
from the cob. Anciently they used, and now they prefer to use,
a fresh water clam-shell — a muscle shell. When they have no
shell they use a spoon, never a knife as white people do. By
running the edge of the shell between the rows, the green ker-
nels are ** shelled" from the cob. Then it had been dried.

The pumpkin had been sliced through, forming rings. The
rinds had been pared off, and the flesh, or pumpkin rings, were
hung on a pole and dried; these half -dried, tough rings were
braided, then the drying was continued until it was perfectly
sundried.

Teachers : How do you make the bread ?

Susie : Take some flour, put it in a wooden bowl, put a little
baking powder and salt in the flour, and enough water to make
a dough, make it into round, flat cakes, and fry in lard. The
cakes are patted flat in the hands, pierced two or three times
with the point of a knife, and then fried in deep fat to a
golden brown.

It was explained that in the old days bread made from flour
was not known, but that this was learned from the white man.
The peaches and coffee had, of course, been bought as a con-
cession to white tastes.

After dinner the party went up to the house and the con-
ference continued.

Mr. Harlan : Young Bear, these friends have been teaching
white boys and girls, first, how white people lived in the time
my grandfather lived in Iowa in the earliest settlements. Now
they w^ish to teach the same children how the Indians lived who
were still here at and earlier than that time. Young Bear, yon
and I are about the same age, and we wish to talk about the
Indians at the place, the time and earlier than our grand-
fathers when they were neighbors and friends.

Young Bear: Game was so plentiful they did not have to
go but a short distance from the home. As game grew scarcer,
they sent out scouts. They went on hunts when they gave a
favorable report.

118 ANNALS OP IOWA

Mr. Harlan : When they went on hunts, did all your people
go?

Young Bear : Some stayed at home to look after things. The
game from the hunt was divided with the ones who stayed
at home.

Mr. Harlan: Do just the Indian men go hunting?

Young Bear: The women are very useful on a hunting
party. They dress the game, prepare the hides, and keep the
clothing in repair.

Mr. Harlan: How is the meat prepared?

Young Bear: There are different ways of preparing the
meat. Stick it on sticks around the fire; or have four forked
stakes with sticks laid across in the forks, and lay the meat
on that, above the fire. Thus it cooks and dries. A third way-
slice it thin, lay it on poles and dry in sun.

Mr. Harlan: How were the skins tanned?

Young Bear : The women do all the work about the camp.
They get the water and wood. They cook and prepare the
game. They make the clothes. Wa so se a knows how to tan
the skins, for she tanned them, and will answer.

Wa so se a : Take a deer skin and wrap around a pole that
has been driven slantingly in the ground. With an edged tool
scrape off all the hair. Hang up to dry on framework. Shape
a stick with an edge, scrape the dried skin with this until it is
soft. Take the brains of any animal, put in a vessed, add as
much water as brains, dip the dry skins up and down in this
mixture until it is soaked. Hang it up and let it slightly dry,
beat with stick until soft, continue doing so until dry. The
skin will become white and ready to use.

To tan the skin we make a pit one or two feet deep with a
small and shallow hole beside it. Put a framework of sticks
over the pit, almost like a little wickiup, then stretch the skin
over this. Put the wood of the sumac or a vine (name un-
known) and set it afire ; the smoke will brown the tanned skin.
When one side is brown turn over and brown the other side.
Feed the fire through the small hole at the side.

Mr. Harlan: Were the men's clothes made of this?

Wa so se a: The shirt, the leggings and moccasins were
made of this, and for the women a skirt and blouse and moc-

OBIGINAL STUDY OP INDIAN LIFE 119

casins. If any was left it was saved and made into something
else.

Mr. Harlan: Did they make the- children's clothes from
this?

Young Bear: They made everjrthing from this for every
one. They even made dolls and balls for the children to play
with.

Mr. Harlan : Would they make clothes for the very young
baby?

Wa so se a : They pick the softest skin for the little baby.
When it is first bom they have ready the soft lint from the
cat tail flag, and line the skin with this and lay the new-bom
baby in it and wrap the skin around it.

Mr. Harlan : How soon do they begin making clothes for
the children?

Young Bear: They make them right away, and some of
the clothes are made before the baby is born.

Mr. Harlan : If any one was taken sick on a hunt, what did
they do?

Young Bear : They seldom took sick ; but if they did, they
would send back to the main village for the medicine man.
He would come and take care of the sick man until he was
able to go back to the village.

Mr. Harlan : Were there ever any babies born on a hunting
expedition ?

Young Bear: Yes, because the women went with the men
on these hunts. I was born while my folks were on a hunt on
Coon River.

Mr. Harlan : Did they send for the medicine man when the
babies were bom?

Young Bear: No, the women were taken care of by their
women friends who understood how to care for them.

Mr. Harlan : Did the Indians use much color in their orna-
ments ?

Young Bear : Yes, they had color.

Mr. Harlan: What was their favorite color?

Young Bear : Yellow and black. They used yellow leggings
with black stripes.

Mr. Harlan: What other colors did they have for orna-
ments?

120 ANNALS OF IOWA

Young Bear: Red, blue, purple, black, green and yellow.
I used to mix colors to get tints. They got their blue, red and
yellow paint from clay. They came to where Des Moines now
is for red clay. The Indians liked colors. They painted their
faces. Now they have given it up, because the white people
paint their faces.

Mr. Harlan : Did a boy or girl wear the same designs as
ornaments ?

Young Bear: (He misunderstood the question). You dis-
tinguish a boy or girl by the clothes they wear. A boy would
never wear skirts, and a girl would never wear leggings.

Mr. Harlan : In the designs of the ornaments of the tribe
would there be any that a boy should wear and a girl should
not?

Young Bear : No, the design would be the same.

Mr. Harlan : In a group of children, some of them Mesqua-
kie, some Sioux, some Chippewa, could you tell the tribe of
each?

Young Bear: Yes.

Mr. Harlan: Could the clans be distinguished?

Young Bear : No, but each clan has a mark used on the grave
of the dead to distinguish the clan.

Mr. Harlan : Could they not wear these designs on the
clothes of the living ?

Young Bear : No, that would not be proper. These symbols
are sacred and used only for the dead.

Mr. Harlan : Besides paint and porcupine quills, what did
they use for ornaments?

Young Bear: There are a great many things that can be
used for ornaments. The most highly valued are those hardest
to obtain.

Mr. Harlan : Does a child under ten years of age use orna-
ments ?

Young Bear : They do not have to be of a certain age. Some-
times very small babes have many ornaments. This shows the
mother's love for a child. The more a mother loves her babe
the prettier the things she gets for him. We owe our lives to
our mothers. From the very beginning the love of the mother
for her child is so great that she cares for him, and that carries

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 121

through all the child's life. This is why all the Indian men
respect the women. We would not be what we are if it had
not been for the love of our mothers. Men are taught to respect
women more highly than anything else.

Mr. Harlan : Do they have any kind of music in the tribe ?

Young Bear: There are many different kinds of music.
The Indian shows his feelings by music.

Mr. Harlan: Could the songs of different tribes be dis-
tinguished from each other?

Young Bear: Each tribe has its own songs, different from
every other tribe.

Mr. Harlan: Do the songs have words, or just syllables?

Young Bear : Both. Some have words, some syllables. Some
that have words have stories in connection with them.

Mr. Harlan: Can you play a song on the flute that has
words, then sing it, and afterward tell the story?

Here Young Bear played a love song, Frank Shawata and
Young Bear sang it, and Young Bear told the story of it : A
maiden who all her life had looked down on folks, grew older
and all the young men passed her by. She seemed far away
from every one, so she sang this song.

Mr. Harlan asked about the word **far away.''

Young Bear: They did not use such a word in this song,
but instead used a comparison. It was as if the maiden was
in a high tree, away from every one. It tells how she grew too
old to attract any man and how she looked down and saw she
was never happy.

Mr. Harlan : We were camping near Vinton one time with
some of our Indian friends, including Ruth Poweshiek and
her baby Richard. One day Richard grew very fretful, and
Sam Slick, the son of Wa so se a, a very large man weighing
perhaps 250 pounds, took the baby and, rocking him in his
arms back and forth sang an Indian lullaby, and soon the baby
was asleep. I am wondering if Qua ta che would feel like sing-
ing this song for us?

Qua-ta-che (after a long silence) : I was trying to think of
the lullaby Sam Slick sang at Vinton, but I cannot sing it be-
cause all my friends are gone and I am alone.

122 ANNALS OF IOWA

Young Bear then sang the Mule Dance, and during the
song Qua ta ehe imitated the mule.

Mr. Harlan : Has the song words t

Young Bear : No, only syllables.

Mr. Harlan : Some have words, and some songs only sylla-
bles. However, when I go to Dr. Medbury's church, and I hear
his trained choir, often I cannot understand what they say,
and yet I feel the meaning of the words in music. Can we not
get a feeling from this music of our Indian friends, though
we cannot understand their words or syllables t

Are the children taught these songs f

Young Bear : Yes.

Mr. Harlan : Are there any special songs that the children
are taught f

Young Bear : No. They learn the ones they are interested in.

Mr. Harlan: How did the children get their training!

Shawata : Each child is taught to obey his parents, and when
they talk the child is to listen and try to learn.

Mr. Harlan : Does the child have any way of learning be-
sides this?

Shawata: Yes, there are certain men in the tribe who know
more about one subject than any other, such as hunting, re-
ligion, etc. Each man calls all the children together for an
evening and instructs them. Some evenings the family of one
lodge visits another. The older people do all the talking. They
tell the stories, the legends, and tales of the old days. They
devote the whole evening to one subject where they tell
legends. The children are supposed to listen, and not interrupt
in any way.

Mr. Harlan: How long does this keep upf

Young Bear: Sometimes half of the night, sometimes all
night, sometimes only a short time. It depends on their hosts.
The host would suggest that they quit talking, or he would
suggest something else, and that means that the talk should
end. The visitors understand this and they go back to their
own wickiup.

Mr. Harlan: ** Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's
house, lest he weary of thee, and so hate theef "

Young Bear : Indians are seldom in want, because they can

OBIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 123

go anywhere and find food. The plants can be found every-
where. If you go to the streams you can find fish. When hard
times come, they know they can take care of themselves.

Mr. Harlan: Do you remember any of the legends yon
heard in your childhood t

Young Bear: Yes, I can remember a great many.

Mr. Harlan : Once when I was trapping with you, you tried
to tell me a legend of a man leaning on his spear. Can you re-
member the story and tell it to us t

Young Bear : Yes, I will tell it the best I know how.

Once upon a time there was a small boy who lived with
his grandfather. One day he went to a great dance where
there were many Indians dancing. Out at the edge of the yard
he saw a warrior leaning on a large bow, with a spear point
in one end. He wore a buffalo robe, held on him by basswood
string. The boy admired him so much that he wanted to look
just like him, so he went back to the wickiup and asked his
grandfather for a large bow with a spearpoint on one end.
His grandfather promised him the bow, then the boy asked
for a buffalo robe ; his grandfather also promised him the robe.
Then the boy asked for a basswood string, then the grand-
father understood what the boy wanted. So he told his grand-
child, ** Grandchild, I understand just what you want. You
want to look just like the great warrior. You cannot look like
him just by asking for a buffalo robe and bow. There are so
many things and so many rules that you must follow, in order
to gain the things that you have made up your mind to be. ' '
And the boy understood. So he gave his promise that he wil?
observe and follow whatever his grandfather tells him to.
From then on he obeyed his grandfather. He was taught to be
good to every one, and he was made to fast, and all through
his life he was taught to seek what is right. He was very care-
ful to do what he was told by his grandfather, and so one
day while he was out alone he was spoken to by the spirit, and
he knew that he was blessed, and had received his reward. So ho
went back to the wickiup and told his grandfather. His grand-
father understood that he had received his reward. From then
on he became the greatest warrior. He led all their war parties.
He was leader of all the warriors. He even went out sometimes

124 ANNALS OP IOWA

single-handed and took the villages. There was one time he
came upon a great dance lodge of another tribe, and as he
peeped in he saw a circle of great warriors. As he stood lean-
ing on his bow at the door he looked through the circle of
warriors and saw that there wasn *t a single one that he could
not overcome. He knew he was greater than any of them.
However, in the middle of the circle he saw one warrior that
he was not sure of. He felt that warrior might be greater.
When the warrior saw him they whispered that here was a great
warrior, and that they would fight him, but as they danced
up to him they were all afraid. One warrior was not afraid.
He took the pipe and the tomahawk ; he danced the pipe dance.
He circled around, flourishing the tomahawk, and offering the
pipe to his friends. He danced around the circle once, twice,
three times; each time he passed our great warrior. Finally,
the fourth time he flourished the tomahawk at the warrior ; the
warrior seized it and killed him, and the rest of the warriors
ran. He killed as many as he could catch; the warriors who
escaped looked back. They saw he was alone, and came back.
When he saw them coming he saw he must hide, which he did.
The warriors searched the lodge the rest of the night, and all
through the next day. There was a black dog curled up asleep
beneath a bench, and the warrior was beneath it. However, a
few of the warriors tried to chase the dog away, but he would
not move. That night the warrior made his escape. While he
was under the dog he changed himself to a snake, for he had
the power to change himself to anything he wished.

Mr. Harlan asked the teachers if they had any questions.

A teacher: He spoke of the boy wanting to be good and
wanting to do good, yet he became a great warrior. Is it their
idea that to do good one must be a warrior?

Young Bear : All the children are taught to do things that
are right, and to do good to every one, and when it becomes
time for them to defend their homes they are never afraid.
They must at times defend themselves, as well as the women
and children, and also their hunting grounds. So these men
become our great warriors.

A teacher : Why did they fast 1

Young Bear : Every child had to fast. Fasting means some-

OBIGINAL STUDY OP INDIAN LIFE 125

times punishment, sometimes it is not for punishment. If a
child is very ambitious, he must show the Great Spirit by fast-
ing. All through childhood the parents teach the child to ob-
serve a certain rule, and the child is taught to respect the older
people. Children should not mock any one, especially old
people. It is not right to laugh at them, but to pity them.
Therefore, each child is carefully watched. If he does anything
that is not right, or breaks any of the rules, he is made to fast
from one to several days. When a child wishes to become great,
he must learn it through fasting. In this way some fast for
several days at a time, until he receives the blessing. We
understand many of the things that we cannot see. In this way
(through fasting) we receive the understanding. The Great
Spirit teaches those that are earnest. Many of our ceremonies
have their beginnings through those who fast. That is why,
to this day, we are able to have all the ceremonies and receive
the reward of the fuller life from the Great Spirit. We see
the future through those who fast, and we all believe. It was
once said that a certain man received his blessing, and he was
made to see the future. He foretold that men will live to go
swiftly over the ground, to fly, and to live in the water as the
fish. When that time comes man will think that he is greater
than the Great Spirit. When that time comes man will think
he knows more than God. Children will marry. Children will
preach in the churches, and tell their old folks what to do.
When that time comes the end of all things is close at hand.
That is why people should hold fast to the religion they know
is right. There are two roads, one narrow, which leads to God,
the other wide, that leads to the Devil.

Becess
The films, ** Story of Mesquakie Life on Reservation at
Tama,'' which has been collected by the Historical, Memorial
and Art Department of Iowa during a period of five years
were shown. After this the Indians and teachers were given a
chicken feast by Mr. Harlan, and the conference adjourned to
meet again at some future time.

Read to Young Bear February 29, 1928, and approved by
him.

Prom a pliologrspb by Jahn Buell. OeocBeo, IIIIudIb.

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTER

By David C. Mott

During the 1880 's J. Ellen Poster was Iowa's most promi-
nent woman. A half century ought to be enough time to elapse
so that an unbiased estimate could be made of her. There is no
disputing the fact that she greatly impressed public opinion
in the state during that decade, and she deserves a perma-
nent place in the list of Iowa's notable people.

Judith Ellen Foster was bom in Lowell, Massachusetts, No-
vember 3, 1840. Her parents were Jotham and Judith (De-
lano) Horton, both of Puritan ancestry. Her father was for
thirty years a Methodist minister, in his early career with the
Methodist Episcopal church, but being too radically anti-
slavery for the then governing authority of that church, he
resigned from it and entered the ministry of the Wesleyan
Methodists. Both parents were devotedly religious, and rigidly
followed the lines of duty as they understood them. The
daughter was educated in public school and in Genesee Wes-
leyan Seminary, Linea, New York. Her parents died almost
before she reached womanhood. She spent some time with a
sister in Boston, and for some years taught school. Guided
by the influence of her parental home in which she spent her
early years, as well as by her natural impulses, she was de-
votedly religious. Church and Sunday school work appealed
to her and she soon became active in these lines and did much
mission and relief work among the poor. These things came
to her naturally because of the abundance of her sympathies.

Being in Chicago in mission work she met in 1869 a young
lawyer, E. C. Foster, of Clinton, Iowa, to whom she was mar-
ried some time during the same year. Mr. Foster had been
admitted to the bar in Michigan in 1867, and at Clinton in
1869 when he removed to that city.^

Mr. and Mrs. Foster established their home at Clinton, he
continuing his law practice and she helping him in oflSce work.
She became interested in the study of law, and being encour-

^Hist. of Clinton Co., Iowa, Western HUt. Co., Chgo., 1879, p. 436.

128 ANNALS OP IOWA

aged and aided by Mr. Foster, she was admitted to the bar at
Clinton in 1872," occasionally helped her husband in the trial
of cases, and was thought to be the first woman in Iowa who
was actually engaged in practice. She was admitted to prac-
tice in the Supreme Court of Iowa October 20, 1875,' being the
fourth woman admitted to practice before that tribunal.*

Their domestic life was happy. Two children were born into
their home. They were active in church and Sunday school
work and Mrs. Foster's inclination toward mission work led
her to help among the unfortunate. Clinton at that time was
a great lumbering town, rafting and milling lumber. That
brought into its life a large number of rather rough and free-
dom-loving transient frontiersmen. The government enumera-
tion of 1870 found Clinton to have a population of 6,129, and
Lyons, on its immediate north, 4,088. The towns were new,
business was booming, and conditions those of the frontier.

The one condition that at this time entered largely into the
lives of Mr. and Mrs. Foster was that of the saloon question.
Iowa at this time had a prohibition law which had been
amended to allow the sale of ale, wine and beer as beverages,
and cities and towns were authorized to levy special taxes on
places where intoxicants were sold. The code of 1873 strength-
ened the law by prohibiting the sale of these beverages to
minors, intoxicated persons, and persons in the habit of be-
coming intoxicated.^ In a growing young city with its regu-
lations of law and order not very well established, where a very
large proportion of the people drank, and where the saloons
were numerous and competing for business, it was natural that
law violations on the part of the saloon keeper would be fre-
quent, and also that many cases of suffering resulted among
families of those who drank to excess. It was natural that Mr.
Foster should be retained in damage cases against saloon
keepers, and it was but natural that Mrs. Foster should help
him in the prosecutions, and natural that she should join in
rescue work among the poor, be active in the Ladies' Temper-

2W/io'« Who in Am., 1908-09, p. 656.

sRecords In the office of clerk of the Supreme Court of Iowa.

♦For the first three women admitted, see footnote, Annals op Iowa« Third
Series, XVI, p. 468.

58ee Iowa, Its HUitory and Its Foremost Citisens, by Johnson Brigham,
1916, Vol. I, p. 217.

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTER 129

ance Aid Society of Clinton, and join with the crusaders in
their visits to the saloons in their attempts to persuade drinkers
to reform and dealers to shut up shop.

As a protest against drinking conditions in those years and
in an effort to check or eradicate them, there grew up several
great temperance movements or organizations, among them
the Sons of Temperance, the Washingtonian Society, the Good
Templars, the Blue Ribbon Movement, the Crusaders, and the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. There were many
eloquent lecturers against the use of strong drink. Series of
meetings were frequently held in towns and cities, some of
them partaking of the quality of religious revival meetings.
Some of the lecturers were reformed drunkards. John B.
Gough and Francis Murphy were among the more noted.

In a town where the saloon business was popularly ap-
proved, its interests were rather jealously defended, as indi-
cated by the following newspaper clipping: **Our saloon
keepers are naturally disgusted at the manner in which the
courts treat their rights."®

The activities of the women and their organizations is evi-
dent from the following quotation: **The Ladies* Temperance
Aid Society of Clinton have petitioned the council to strictly
prohibit the sale of all liquors within the city. The petition
bearing 1200 names, men and women, was referred, and we
presume the license of dealers in ale, beer and native wine will
be set at a good high figure. ' '^

In Clinton the city council began to get busy, thinking, per-
haps, to balance the budget, or to keep down the number of
drinking places, as appears in the following : * * Liquor licenses
in Clinton have just been advanced from $50 to $100 per
year. ' '*

Saloons seem to have been quite popular in Lyons, as sho\\Ti
by the following: **Up to the present time thirty-eight govern-
ment licenses have been taken out by saloon keepers of Lyons
since May 1st."*

The Crusaders, women who went in groups to the saloons

»Lyoiw Mirror, as n-prlnted in the DeWitt Obaercer, May 1, 1874.

7/6W., May 1. 1874.

«/6id.. May 8, 1874.

^Lyons Advertiser, as reprinted In the DeWitt Observer, May 22, 1874.

130 ANNALS OP IOWA

to hold meetings and pray and speak, evidently caused sym-
pathy for the cigar makers : * * We suppose the Crusaders of this
section will be gratified to learn that their operations have
caused the discharge of some thirty cigar makers in Lyons.
Their trade has been greatly injured, in fact, it has been al-
most ruined, while the sale of beer and wine has been but little
affected so far. '''"^

As a reflection of the atmosphere of the times and the move-
ments of emotions, the following is along the same subject:
**A German saloon keeper in Maquoketa says: *Ven I goes to
mine bed I sleeps not goot. I dream in mine head dat I hears
dem vimens braying and singing in mine ears dot Jesus loves
me. Dot bothers me so I got right straight up and valk on the
floor and take anudder glass of beer. * *^^

As illustrative of attempted prosecutions, witness the follow-
ing: **Last week Mrs. Foran, through her attorneys, Coming
& Grohe, commenced suit against Wm. Def reest on three counts
— selling liquor, exposing for sale, and keeping a nuisance —
before Justice Mathews of Clinton. Def reest crossed the Mis-
sissippi and is dwelling with friends in Fulton. Compromise
is talked of, but had not been arrived at yesterday. Mean-
while the saloon is closed.""

That Mr. and Mrs. Foster were identified with temperance
agitation is evidenced by the following news item: '*We had
the pleasure of meeting Judge Darling and E. C. Foster, and
their ladies, of Clinton, in DeWitt Sunday evening."" J. S.
Darling, a lawyer of Clinton, delivered a temperance lecture
at DeWitt on this occasion.

Prosecutions were evidently being attempted as shown by
the following interesting item: **A big crop of indictments
against liquor sellers is looked for as a part of the result of
the labors of the grand jury now sitting at the Court House.
Many men of the county have been cited to tell what they
know of the traffic, and where they got their little habituals.
Times have changed somewhat with witnesses ; some ten years
ago a similar summons — or expectation of it — sent several of

lOfhM., May 22, 1874.

noelmar CUpper-./ournal, as roprlnted In the DeWitt Observer, May 22, 1874.
i^Lyona Mirror, as reprinted In DeWitt Observer, May 22, 1874.
i^DeWitt Observer, May 22, 1874.

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTER 131

our business men to Illinois for a few days, but now they report
to the Court House. Philosophers must account for the change,
and decide whether it is an encouraging one or not.""

Up to this time, June, 1874, we have no evidence that Mrs.
Foster had appeared on the platform in general addresses.
She had been a Sunday school teacher since before she reached
womanhood, had been a mission worker, and a worker in wo-
men 's temperance societies of various cities, and doubtless had
acquired the habit of thinking while before an audience. Be-
sides, she had a good education and had had some experience
in the practice of law in association with her husband. So we
are not surprised at finding in the DeWiii Observer of June
5, 1874, the following announcement: **One of the best tem-
perance lectures we ever listened to was delivered in the M. E.
Church last Sabbath evening by Mrs. Foster of Clinton. The
house was filled to overflowing. The audience was delighted
with the lecture."

In the DeWiit Observer of August 7, 1874, in news copied
from the Lyons Mirror we find a communication signed **G"
which reads as follows: **We have an Elizabeth Cady Stanton
in our midst. Last Sabbath evening I went to Clinton to hear
Mrs. Foster lecture on temperance. The several congregations
combined filled the church to its utmost capacity. She gave
one of the best addresses upon this subject I ever heard. It
really appears to me she is equal to any lady orator in the
United States."

In its issue of August 14, 1874, the DeWitt Observer, in
items quoted from the Wheatland News, has the following : * * At
a meeting of the Wheatland Temperance Society last evening
a vote was passed that Mrs. E. C. Foster of Clinton be invited
to deliver a temperance address to our citizens at the next
meeting of the society. Mrs. Foster, whose heart is in the great
work of temperance reform, is one of the most talented and
entertaining lecturers among the women of our country. ' '

The subsequent number of the Wheatland Neivs, as repro-
duced by the DeWitt Observer, says of the lecture: **A good
audience gathered at the hall last evening to hear Mrs. E. C.
Foster. We have not space to give an extended notice of her

i^Lifons Mirror, as reprinted In the DeWitt Observer, June 5, 1874.

132 ANNALS OF IOWA

lecture. It could scarcely be called a temperance lecture. It
was an earnest and impressive pleading in behalf of the vic-
tims of the rum traflfic. She spoke like a woman whose heart
was burdened with the overwhelming weight of the cause she
advocated. Her words were earnest, truthful, burning, elo-
quent. * '

Thus it appears Mrs. Foster had attained a local reputa-
tion as a very effective and eloquent temperance orator, and
was in demand in her section of the state. The spirit of re-
form was growing, and the liquor dealers, accustomed to hav-
ing things pretty much their own way, were alarmed. At such
times there are often irresponsible and radical persons sympa-
thizing with one side or the other, and lawlessness is in danger
of occurring. In its issue of October 2, 1874, the DeWitt Ob-
server records this act of arson and its comment: **The resi-
dence of Mrs. Foster, the temperance lecturer of Clinton, was
burned down one night last week. It is laid at the door of the
saloon keepers. This is no new mode of warfare with them/'

We have been able to find but little further comment on
that ruthless event. In one of her speeches appearing in the
papers ten years later Mrs. Foster alludes to it saying they
lost everything in the house, even to precious keepsakes of
their children. We were not able to discover that the vandals
were detected or prosecuted. But she was not long suppressed.
It heralded her name to the public and helped give her morb
than a state-wide reputation.

In the next month, November, 1874, the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union was organized at a meeting in Cedar Rapids
and Mrs. Foster was elected corresponding secretary of the
state organization. She was also selected as one of the dele-
gates to the national meeting in Cleveland. It was then that she
met Miss Frances E. Willard who was at the head of the na-
tional Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The two be-
came great friends and Miss Willard urged Mrs. Foster to go
on the platform and devote herself to the cause of prohibition.
It took but little persuading. She was made superintendent
of the department of legislation of the national organization.

On her way home from attending the Cleveland convention
she stopped in Chicago and was called upon to speak briefly

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTER 133

at a temperance meeting. According to the DeWitt Observer
of November 27, the Chicago Journal said of it : **Mrs. J. Ellen
Foster of Clinton, Iowa, made a most impressive speech of
ten minutes, expressing herself with sense and kindness. Her
oratory was admirable, her manner simple, earnest and ef-
fective. Her friends predict a career in the best sense for this
pleasing, level-headed attorney from Iowa.''

In its issue of December 4, 1874, the DeWitt Observer quotes
the Clinton Daily Herald as saying: **Mrs. J. Ellen Poster
spoke to the largest audience she ever addressed at Iowa City
last Sunday evening and on Monday afternoon she lectured
before the Law Department of the State University."

Mrs. Foster was now fully entered on her public life. She
was busy the next few years organizing local branches of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union over Iowa, speaking
in churches as well as in public buildings, everywhere denounc-
ing the rum power and advocating prohibition. The years of
the 1870 's were years of agitation on that question.

At a meeting of the Woman 's Christian Temperance Union
held in Burlington in October, 1878, Mrs. Foster proposed an
amendment to the Constitution of Iowa prohibiting the manu-
facture and sale of intoxicating liquors. The idea was soon
endorsed by the State Temperance Alliance and other tem-
perance organizations, and taken up by the politicians.^'^

The following from the Muscatine Journal as quoted in the
Burlington Gazette of December 3, 1879, gives a mental picture
of her as a speaker at that time : * * Last Friday evening Mrs.
Foster spoke at Wilton on the subject of the * Constitutional
Amendment.' She is a very clear and forcible speaker; her
manner remarkably easy and winning. She is a fine looking
woman, and the first impression of her audience is at once pre-
possessing. She spoke two hours. Objectors to her position
will find their match when they attempt to answer her. Trained
as a lawyer, she is enabled to present her thoughts in a very
convincing manner."

Mrs. Foster was now superintendent of temperance legisla-
tion for the state organization of the Woman 's Christian Tem-
perance Union. The goal was a constitutional amendment. In

ISA History of the People of Iowa, by Cyrenus Cole, p. 417.

134 ANNALS OF IOWA

1880 the General Assembly adopted a joint resolution propos-
ing a prohibition amendment and the assembly of 1882 agreed
to the proposed amendment and fixed June 27 of that year
as the date when it should be submitted to a vote of the quali-
fied electors. During the continuous struggle Mrs. Foster was
very much in evidence at the sessions of the legislature and
before the people. She was a leader among those who believed
that prohibition was the way to control the liquor business,
and constitutional prohibition at that.

**In the foreground of this long contest from 1846 to 1882
were Hiram Price, John Mahin, Benjamin P. Que, Charles
C. Nourse and James F. Wilson; also a group of women led
by Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Mrs. Mary J. Aldrich, Mrs. L. D. Car-
hart, Mrs. Florence Miller, Mrs. Martha C. Callanan, Mrs.
Marion H. Dunham and others.''^*

The amendment was adopted by a majority of 29,759 votes.
One month after the adoption of the amendment by the people
the State Temperance Alliance held a great convention in Des
Moines, July 27, 1882, attended by delegates from nearly all
the counties of the state. Former State Senator Aaron Kim-
ball of Cresco presided and B. F. Wright of Charles City was
secretary. There was naturally much jubilation. A commit-
tee was appointed to examine into and report to the conven-
tion the legal status of the liquor traffic of the state, in view
of the prohibitory amendment having recently been adopted,
and to suggest what additional legislation was necessary, if
any, for a succesf ul enforcement of the amendment. The com-
mittee was J. A. Harvey, C. C. Nourse, William Phillips, H. W.
Maxwell, and J. Ellen Foster. An address to the saloon keepers
of the state was issued, signed by D. R. Lucas, S. N. Fellows,
J. P. Pinkham, J. Ellen Foster and Mary J. Aldrich. It called
on the liquor dealers to observe and obey the law as embodied
in the amendment. It suggested a special session of the legis-
lature, but did not urge it. Mrs. Foster was a star speaker at
this convention and was received with great applause."

In April, 1883, the Supreme Court rendered a decision de-
claring the amendment had not been legally submitted to the

i<iIowa, Its History and Its Foremost Citizens, by Johnson Brigham, Vol. I,
p. 218.

i7/oica State Register, July 28, 1882.

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTEB 135

electors, and that it had not become a part of the Constitu-
tion. Then came a contest for statutory prohibition. The Re-
publican party was the dominant political party in Iowa in
those days. It met in a great state convention on June 27, 1883,
just one year from the day the prohibition amendment had
been adopted by the people. It was apparent the temperance
people had captured the convention. However, it moved with
a spirit of tolerance. Hon. John A. Kasson was temporary
chairman and Col. David B. Henderson, permanent chairman.
The platform declared: **We accept the result of that election
• • • as the verdict of the people in favor of constitutional
and statutory prohibition," and proceeded to pledge the party
to the enactment of a prohibitory law by the next General As-
sembly.

If Mrs. Foster had been non-partisan up to this time, she
thought there remained no reason for her now to remain so,
and from that time on she was ardently Republican. Prohibi-
tion being in her mind the chief public issue, the one nearest
her heart and the one to which she was devoting her life, and
the Republican party having championed that cause even in
the face of political danger, and as the Democratic party was
favoring license, it was but natural for her to make that de-
cision.

The State Temperance Alliance called a convention to meet
at Des Moines on January 23 and 24, 1884. It was very largely
attended. Hon. Henry 0. Pratt, a former congressman from
Charles City but at that time a prominent preacher of the
Methodist Episcopal church, presided. Resolutions were
adopted commending Governor Sherman in his ** unequivocal
and manly stand • • • on the prohibition question, ' ' and ex-
pressing confidence that the General Assembly, which was then
in session, would promptly meet the wishes of the people as ex-
pressed in the adoption of the prohibitory amendment. Many
able speakers addressed the convention, among them being
Attorney General A. J. Baker, Rev. H. 0. Pratt, Bishop John
P. Hurst of the M. E. Church, Rev. Henry Wallace, Dr. George
F. Magoun, and Mrs. J. Ellen Poster, and none with more
favor than Mrs. Foster. Concerning this convention the Iowa
State Register in its issue of January 25 said editorially:

136 ANNALS OF IOWA

** Observers who are veteran in attendance of Iowa meetings
say that this was the intellectual equal of any which has been
held in the state.'' The General Assembly, which was in ses-
sion at this time, enacted a prohibitory law before its adjourn-
ment, although the measure passed tlie House by a bare ma-
jority.

Mrs. Poster by this time had become an open advocate for
the Republican party, and in doing so there was broken in
1888 that close personal friendship and co-operative relations
between her and Miss Frances E. Willard. The policy of the
latter was to support what was known as the ** Third Party,"
or the Prohibition party. Mrs. Foster, believing prohibition
was now within the grasp of the people of Iowa, and with the
leading political party supporting it, thought she ought per-
sonally to support and help strengthen that party. She ad-
vised, however, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union to
become non-partisan as an organization, urging the members
to exercise their individual judgments politically. This caused
a division of the W. C. T. U. into two rival organizations, Mrs.
Foster becoming president of the non-partisan division.

During the 1884 political campaign Mrs. Foster was in great
demand as a speaker, not only in Iowa, but made many ad-
dresses in other states, speaking under the auspices of the Re-
publican National Committee. She was in especial demand in
the western states. She was an admirer of Mr. Blaine, who
was the nominee that year. For the next ten years she delivered
hundreds of addresses, speaking in all parts of the United
States, frequently on politics, but oftener on temperance, on
which she spoke in many churches, as well as in public halls.

In 1888 she organized and became president of the Woman's
National Republican Association and did effective work for
the party. In 1892 she revived the association, and in the Re-
publican National Convention at Minneapolis that year she
was called to the platform before that great assembly and pre-
sented the cause of the woman's association. While not de-
voting time to the cause of woman suffrage, yet her speeches
for temperance, for prohibition, and her political addresses
helped greatly in making woman conscious of herself politi-
cally.

JUDITH ELLEN FOSTER 137

Some time in the 1880 's Mr. and Mrs. Foster removed to
Washington, D. C, he receiving an appointment in the United
States Treasury Department. Mrs. Foster, however, continued
to frequently deliver addresses in Iowa, both on temperance
Emd on politics. In 1887 she had a trip of several weeks in
Europe. Because of her reputation as a mission worker Presi-
dent McKinley appointed her to inspect sanitation in soldiers'
barracks during the Spanish-American War and recommend
improvements. She accompanied the Taft Commission to the
Philippines in 1900 to study conditions of women and chil-
dren there, and took a trip around the world, continuing her
study especially in China and India. In 1902 Secretary Hay
appointed her a representative of the United States to the In-
ternational Red Cross Conference at St. Petersburg. In 1906
President Roosevelt appointed her to study conditions of wo-
man and child workers throughout the nation. In 1908 she was
appointed a special agent of the United States Department of
Justice to inspect the prisons both federal and state with re-
spect to the condition of women prisoners. In this latest of her
public duties she visited Iowa in the performance of her work.
Her death occurred in Washington, August 11, 1910, and
burial was at Lowell, Massachusetts.

Thus ended the life of one of America's noted women, one
who by her residence in and service for Iowa honored the state.

The noted reformer, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore of Melrose,
Massachusetts, said of her; **Mrs. J. Ellen Foster's name is
inseparably associated with this reform [temperance] in all
parts of our land. For many years she has toiled with unflag-
ging interest in this great movement for a higher civiliza-
tion."''

Senator Dolliver once said of her: **She will find an en-
thusiastic audience wherever she goes. When she returned
from her trip around the world I advised her to go on the plat-
form again and share the lessons she had learned with the
people. Mrs. Foster is not in the slightest degree mannish,
neither is she womanish. She is herself in love with the subject
she presents. Her hearers are carried away with her eloquence
and forget whether she is a man or a woman. ' '"

i^Willlam B. Allison collection of private letters in the Historical, Memorial
and Art Department on Iowa.

i^RegUter and Tribune, August 12, 1910.

138 ANNALS OF IOWA

At the time of her death the Register and Leader gave edi-
torially the following just estimate of her: **Mr8. Foster was
an interesting and forceful woman and tremendously in earnest
upon the temperance question. In her day, lowans were either
her loyal friends or her bitter enemies, because she was on the
firing line of a bitter struggle. She came in for much unkind
criticism because she was a new woman in old-fashioned times,
but posterity must be kinder to her than her own generation,
because she deserves it. ' '

EDITOR HAS TOO MANY CALLERS

We have of late found it almost impossible to get sufficient
time by ourselves to write a respectable portion of editorial.
Our friends have recently taken such a wonderful liking to
us, that they appear determined that we shall never feel sor-
row because of solitude. This is certainly very kind in them,
but it is not exactly justice to our subscribers, nor to ourselves,
to take from us that time which should be devoted to the duties
of our station. We are at all suitable times very glad to see
our friends, but in candor we must say that there is a proper
time for everything, and we should think, not exactly in place
to visit an editor when he is engaged in his editorial duties. —
Warsaw Signal, In Bloomington [now Muscatine, la.] Herald,
Feb. 11, 1842. In the Newspaper Division of the Historical,
Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.

TRAVELING TO THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1838

Dr. Henry B. Young of Burlington, Iowa, for over fifty
years a practicing physician, lately presented to the ^istorical
Department a copy of a diary his father, Dr. John A. Young,
wrote during a trip he made from Chillicothe, Ohio, to Mon-
mouth, Illinois, where he established a medical practice which
he successfully conducted for thirty-five years. Dr. John A.
Young was bom in Chillicothe February 1, 1812, and was the
only child of William and Mary McKnight Young. The father
owned a tanyard and the son in due time mastered the tan-
ner's trade, then went to Philadelphia where he spent a year
in converting tanned hides into commercial leather. In those
days that was all done by hand, and was a real art. Having
finished acquiring the trade he returned home and in 1836
visited a maternal uncle in Xenia, Ohio. This imcle, wealthy
and childless, offered to bear the expense of a medical education
for the young man if he would abandon his plans for a business
career. After due consideration he did so and in 1838 he was
graduated from Miami Medical College at Cincinnati. In the
fall of that year he began his journey to Monmouth as the fol-
lowing diary relates.

Sunday Evening, Dec. 4th, 1838. Started from Ceasars Creek for Mon-
mouth, 111. Was detained at the bridge until the 5th at 2 P. M. Took an
outside seat ... to Cin^ there being 9 inside. Had . . . hero along who
was continually dunning the people for clocks which he said they had
purchased of him. Cold night. Arrived in Cin at 6 A. M. Saw Dr.
Perkins Heard part of a lecture by Prof. Drake. Saw Rives McDowell.
Took passage in great haste on board the Dolphin for St. Louis. Got
aground in backing out at 1 o 'clock and stuck till morning. A young lady
aboard resembling Miss Beth A. French. Dr. De Chine strange genius.
Big start off again at 9 A. M. 7th. 8th 4PM stuck again on a . . .

just below Warsaw. passed us on the way up and the Swiftsure

down.

Page 2

Our boat appears to be too large drawing too much water. I am sorry
I had not taken a smaller boat to Louisville and then another down, but
fortune is against me on this trip. (8 P. M. Cloudy and dark, slight
falling of snow) The day has been generally clear and fair, but cold.

iDr. Young's style of abbreviations, punctuation, etc., is followed. — Editor.

140 ANNALS OF IOWA

Wrote to my father and M. Thompson enclosing to the latter a letter

from I. Wills of Chil Have not become acquainted with the ladies

yet. Saturday. Lay all last night on the bar. The steamer Thames
coming up pulled us off. The Empire was also fast. 9 o'clock Taking
in the loading which we put out last night. Cold and clear with a slight
skift of snow on the ground Fast again at 12 M. near Vevay.

Page 3

Stayed about one hour. Past Madison 4 P. M. Fine looking little
town from the river, stopt but did not land. Past Hanover. We had a
strong head wind all day nothing large moves considering the stage of
the water wind ceased and making fine headway. Had a confab with
the ladies pretty fine ones I think. The single one not only looks speaks
like Miss Bell. Is quite lively and is also a Corncracher living about
20 miles from Lexington. Her name I have not yet learned. Sent Mr.
Thompson's letter ashore by Mr. Armstrong to be mailed. The young
lady's name above alluded to is Mary Ellis. Put ashore about 29 miles
below Madison fearing to run in the night. Sunday morning. See entirely
across the river at this place although there was no appearance of it in
the evening — ^very cold.

Page 4

Off at 8 after running about an hour descried the Savannah aground
on what is ciilled the ** Grass flats" 18 miles above Louisville. Here the
Captain refused to porceed any further and put in for winter quarters
or a rise of water. Fortunately there was a small trading boat lying

near, this was engaged to carry us down to Louis It had no name

and we called it the *' Chicken thief." Fine time with the ladies as
we were all huddled together — Landed at 2 P. M. Here I was de-
tained 3 days waiting for another boat. Fine town visited the "Medical

Institute" Heard Cott Cooke and Caldwell. Cooke is a perfect

drone. Caldwell not so good as I had expected. The edifice will be
fine when finished. Visited Virgil McKnight and left my trunk and box
in his care to be forwarded to St. Louis. Visited the Theatre, saw Booth
as Cassius in Julius Ceasar, good performance. Theatre but small. Saw
Booth the following evening in Richard

Page 5

Wednesday. Took passage back to Cin where I arrived on Thursday
at 6. A. M. Saw Dr. P., again Heard Harrison & McDowell. In the
afternoon took passage home in the stage. Arrived there safely on the
following morning just before daylight and surprised them all as they
supposed me in the Miss. Remained there until the next Tuesday after-
noon when I mounted **Tom" to take it by land. That evening went
to Dayton Miss F. M. G. and D. were both there. Called in company
with I. Hean to see but found the house deserted. Called again alone
about 8 P. M.

Page 6

They are still absent. Left my card on the table and left early next

TBAVELING IN THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1838 141

morning without seeing them. Bather it had been otherwise. Wednesday
— Very cold. Went as far as Eaton only on account of having to roughen
my horse. Arrived in Indianapolis on Saturday at noon. Nothing doing
here smoking cigars and talking some state politics. The Legislature

had adjourned for the holidays like other boys. Left Ind Sunday

23d noon and rode to Brownsburgh 15 miles, very cold Next day went
to Crawfordsville. This is quite a fine little town. Tuesday 25th Ar-
rived at Independence. Nothing doing here worth note Friday. Went
out to the ** Grand Prairie" to hunt Chickens Got two and two "fox
squirrels" Sunday we had a Methodist quarterly meeting.

Page 7

Wednesday Jan 2nd 1839. Started west and went as far as Danville
111 The weather so far has been quite mild.

Thursday 3rd Only made 25 miles to Sidney Could have gone some
farther before night But was compelled to stay there or ride 13 miles
farther it being that distance to the next house. Slim looking chance
here for either man or horse. The town is composed of 3 or 4 houses
just in the point of a small grove Fared tolerably well however con-
sidering all things. Landlord a Kentuckian. Two physicians were there.
Hard cases. Friday 4th Passed through Urbana county seat of Cham-
paign— ^Poor place — Perhaps a dozen houses. — Stayed all night at Mount
pleasant. Hard looking chance — Three or four houses Fared tolerably
well Landlord a Virginian. Saturday 5th Passed through Le Boy

Page 8

Arrived at Bloomington about 2 P. M. Pretty fine looking little town
Saw Haines, he blowed considerably about the Ladies. Said he was cor-
responding ^vith a Lady in Xenia but mentioned no names. Stayed there
till Sunday 10 A. M. Sunday 6th Travelled 21 miles to Mackinaw —
Stayed all night with an English man Good stabling but the dirtiest
kind of eating myself. Monday Ttli Started for Peoria distant 20 miles
Crossed the last of the Grand Prairie which I have been traversing ever
since leaving Danville. From this last place to Sidney I had 5 or 6
miles prairie. From Sidney to Urbana 12 miles all prairie and not a
house. From here to Robinsons 12 miles the same. From thence to
Mount pleasant 13 miles the same. From thence to Le Roy 10 miles the
larae — From thence to

Page 9

Bloomington 15 miles the same. At each of these places there ib
Groves but the road does not in any case pass through them more tlum
from one to three miles. The timber in these groves is tolerable good
consisting of white oak black oak, hickory, some cherry, ash, etc. Arrivea
in Peoria 12V^ and fed Fine looking place Considerable Lolce opposite

the town Went 16 m farther to Franklin prairie and stayed all night

with a Yankee.

Tuesday 8th Passed through several small prairies of from 2 to 5
miles in width and stopped in Knoxville for the night. Fine looking

142 ANNALS OP IOWA

little town Saw there a ' ' New Light Yankee ' ' one of the ' ' Thousand and
one Society" men a "Grahamite" to the hub Had some argument with
him whether man was a eamivorotis animal

Page 10
Wednesday 9th Arrived at Monmouth

It is uncertain just when the young doctor began his prac-
tice, curiously enough his journal being silent on that subject.
His trunk and box were still in storage in Louisville. Undated
and in the back of this old diary or memorandum book is the
following announcement: **Dr. John A. Young respectfully
tenders his professional services to the citizens of Monmouth
and vicinity. His office is in the drug store of McCallan &
Bruce, w^here he may at all times be founds except when pro-
fessionally employed." It is supposed that he was in great
need of supplies, because ten weeks after his arrival he makes
8 trip to St. Louis making a record of it in the journal as
follows :

March 26th 1839 Started from Monmouth for St. Louis. Arrived at
Oquawka or the Yellow Bank at noon distant 18 miles. All prairie ex-
cepting one point of a grove until we came upon the river timber which
in this place is about three miles in extent. The Yellow Banks are so
called from a reddish yellow clay and a yellow sand which compose the
bluffs The whole country as far back as the timber extends is quite
sandy; in the town it drifts about like snow getting into everything.
Spent the afternoon in lounging about the bank looking for a boat.
The wind is high and the river quite rough.

Page 11

There are about ten or fifteen Indians encamped on the opposite
shore. They are of the Winnebago tribe. Four of them in attempting
to cross in a canoe were upset about the middle of the river. Their
comrades however hastened to their rescue and took in three, the fourth
clung to the canoe and floated down about a quarter of a mile before
he was taken out. They then went above town and set fire to the woods
to dry themselves. Rather a dirty greasy set. Were very anxious to
get more whiskey but could not get any. Had quite a young Papoose
put up in a new style to me but one that 1 believe is quite common. It is
similar to the plates in the Family Magazine.

Page 12

This night all being very sleepy we let a boat pass down before we
could get out to hail it Wednesday 27th A very fine day and quite
warm. After breakfast we took a walk up the river and saw the Indians
break up their camp and start. They are on their return home from a

TRAVELING IN THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1838 143

dait up the Missouri where thej went last fall to hunt. There is five
canoe loads. Saw the remains of several lodges and one grave. Went
down on the beach and looked for carnelians as they are quite plenty —
found one or two quite fine ones This day very warm — Steamer Gypsy
passed up. Saw plenty of Musquitoes, There being five or six of us by
this time waiting for a passage we took turns watching. No boat how-
ever came down.

Page 13

This day two Indians came over in a canoe with some turkies ducks
and fur to sell They were Saucks and were from Keokuks camp which
they said was about two miles below. One of them is a Fine looking old
man called Parmaho. He was taken with Black Hawk. Cunning old
fellow in a trade.

Thursday 28th Cloudy and raining. Two more Indians and a boy
came over I asked them if they were Sattcks they shook thier heads
and answered Kowakie Fox About 12 M the Brazil (f) came down with
two Keels in tow loaded with lead ore and boat full of passengers. We
all got passes however but no berths.

Page 14

All hands up at daylight and got under way. Weather fair and more
moderate. When we arrived at the head of the rapids all the passengers
were put aboard the two Keels so as to make the boat as light as pos-
sible. All passed over safely. The rapids were about 12 miles in extent
and the channel quite crooked. Got on board again at Keokuk. This
town was once the residence of the great Civil chief. Saw a number
of Indians here, Landed a short time at Warsaw opposite the mouth
of the De8 Moines, a great part of Fort Des Moines is still standing.
It is on the 111. side The Des Moines is the boundary line between
Missouri and Iowa.

Page 15

We now have Missouri on our right and Ills on our left. The country
on either side has been generally flat and subject to inundation. At noon
we stopped at Quincy. We made quite a ** grand entree** The Steward
and one or two others performed on the Clarinet and bass horn and at-
tracted quite a crowd. Quincy is situated on a very high bluff which is
cut into a great many deep ravines. Notwithstanding all this however
it is quite a beautiful place and speaks well for the spirit of the citizens
as it requires an immense labour to grade thier streets and level the lot

Page 16

As is my custom when I have time I ran over the whole town They
have quite a large and splendid hotel here one that would be an honour
to a city. They also have a fine court house. Here I saw ten or twelve
wagon loads of Mormons crossing the river from MO. I was told that
from ten to twenty wagons had crossed daily for the last two weeks.
I believe they have all agreed to leave Mo. and seek a home somewhere
else. Those that I saw said they did not know where they should go.

144 ANNALS OF IOWA

There is nothing remarkable in their appearance in any waj either in
dress or looks. In this I was disappointed.

Here we unloaded one of our Keels and left it. Got under way
about 4 P. M. Got a few apples the first I have seen since leaving
home.

Page 17

About dark we passed Marion City on the Mo. side. This is the town
tliat was laid out by the Rev. Ely of Phila. and where he has a college.
Poor looking place and will never be anything else as half the town and
more is sometimes under water.

Landed again at Hannibal 12 or 14 miles below M. It looked quite
picturesque and fine by moonlight whilst our small band played up some
fine tunes. Soon got under weigh again and I retired to the cabin. Sun-
day 31st. Last night verified the old adage "better to be born lucky
than to be born rich" as by some chance unknown to me I got a berth.
Whilst many who were worth thousands lay on the floor, some had left
at Quiucy and the clerk in mistake put me down to the vacancy although
there were otiiers who had prior claims. I however said nothing but
** turned in" and had a good nights rest. Last night we left our other
Keel at Louisiana and we now **go ahead" finely.

Page 18

About 9AM passed the mouth of the Ilinois. That side has now
become quite a bluff with tremendous rocks frowning like the battlements
of some old castle. The river all the way down has been very full of
islands and "Towheads" but here I think they become larger. Landed
a few minutes at Alton. This is another fine town and also on a bluff
bank. The state Penitentiary is here. Not a very good one I should think.

Page 19

About 1 passed the mouth of the Missouri The water of this river
has a singular reddish yellow appearance and the line can plainly be
seen for miles down on the MO. side after some distance the whole

Miss assumes that appearance slightly, At 2 passed the wreck of

steamer which was sunk last fall. They were engaged in raising her
freight with a ** diving bell." This is the first I have ever seen and
we passed this at such a distance and such a rate that I could see but
little of it. About 3^ we rounded to at the great city of St. Louis and
in a few minutes I went on land to hunt lodgings and look for M. T. Lind.

Page 20

In my perambulations I passed the Catholic Cathedral and finding the
door open and the priests at the altar I passed in. This is a splendid
edifice and is richly furnished in the interior. I think it quite as fin©
as St. Johns in Phila. perhaps finer. I remained until service was ended
and the people had generally retired when I took a more particular sur-
vey of the place. There are some fine paintings. Went to the City Hotel
and found it kept by Laysham formerly of Dayton, O. one of the bar
keepers from Circleville by the name of Boyer and the other one of Colts

TRAVELING IN THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1838 145

old bar keepers. Finding myself among Buckeyes I took lodging here.
Arrived at Mon Friday night April 12th.

Here the diary ends. Further knowledge of this St. Louis
trip is gained from the expense account, set down in detail:
Total cash on starting, $94.43% [notice the % cents] ; fare
to Oquawka [stage], $1.00; fare to St. Louis, $10.00; shaving
twice and hair cut, 50 cts. ; beer, apples, 50 cts. ; freight and
cartage (trunk and box from Louisville), $3.25; hat, $6.00;
books, $7.50 ; wallet, 75 cts. ; glass mortar $1.12V^ ; stethoscope,
$1.1214 ; 2 doz. handkerchiefs, $1.50; pencil points, 12V^ cts.;
drugs, $37.10; theater, $2.25; mending watch, 50 cts.; bill at
hotel, $9.50 ; porter, 25 cts.

The memorandum book is then devoted to miscellaneous
items. Under date of July 20, 1839, he credits a patron with
2 loads of wood, another with a load of wood and a load of
rails. On August 30, 1843, one is credited with 2 doz. chickens,
$1.50. Another on November 1, 1850, turned in oats at 18 cents
per bushel; another on November 22, 1850, 117 lbs. beef at 3
cts, $3.51, and so it ran for several years, showing money was
scarce but produce abundant, and indicating the struggle the
pioneer small town and country doctor had to make for exist-
ence.

In the winter of 1840-41 Dr. Young spent some time at tho
Medical Institute in Louisville in post graduate work, and in
the spring of 1841 married Miss Isabella Wallace of Xenia,
Ohio, and brought her to Monmouth where they raised their
family and where he had a successful practice extending over
a third of a century.

A HISTORY OF THE DBS MOINES POST OFFICE

Bt Ilda M. Hammer

Foreword
The writer obtained a complete list of the postmasters from Mr. Huff-
man; a statement of the receipts of the post office since 1880, and of the
various Congressional appropriations concerning the post office through
the kindness of our representative, Hon. C. C. Do well; some later figures
and data were supplied through the courtesy of Mr. John Ryan, assistant
postmaster ; and several years ago Major W. H. Fleming was kind enough
to help very materially in the search for data, and to add some very
interesting personal reminiscences. To all of these, the writer wishes to
express her appreciation.

Few persons who see or transact business in the present post-
oflRce building on the river front, ever stop to think of what
the beginnings of the Des Moines post oflfiee may have been, or
of the rapid growth which has attended it.

The post office was established at Fort Des Moines in 1845,
and was known as Raccoon River^ until June 1, 1846, when
the name Fort Des Moines was given it. Josiah Smart, who
was the Indian interpreter for the military authorities at the
Fort, was appointed as the first postmaster, but declined to
accept the appointment, and Dr. Thomas K. Brooks filled the
place March 2, 1846, as the first regular postmaster. Dr. Brooks
had his office in the old Indian Agency House, which was
situated where the Tuttle stone packing house was in 1909,
in South Des Moines. Later Dr. Brooks removed the oflSce to
his own home in Thomas Addition, on Court Avenue. At the
close of the year (1846) Dr. Brooks resigned, and Phineas M.
Casady succeeded him in office on December 31, 1846.^*

Mr. Casady moved the post office to his own law office on
Second Street and the Rock Island tracks, where Green's
Foundry used to be. The mail was not very heavy at that time,
for it is said of Mr. Casady that he used to carry it in his hat,
and distribute it to the parties to whom it was directed, ** lift-
ing the post office from his head ' * in order to find the letters.'

W. 8. Official Register, 1847.

laPorter, Will. Annals of Polk County and the City of Des Moines, p. 709-10.

ZTurrill, H. B. Historical Reminiscences of the City of Des Moines, p.23.

HISTOBY OP THE DES MOINES POST OPPICE 147

In this connection it is interesting to note that at the semi-
centennial of Polk County in 1896, Judge Casady conducted a
reproduction of distribution as it had been done a half century
before. Letters were distributed to the following persons,
among others : Hoyt Sherman, Col. GriflSths, George C. Tidrick,
E. R. Clapp, Isaac Cooper, Byron Rice, and P. M. Casady.
Back postage was due on many of the letters. Isaac Cooper
owed twenty-five cents, as was common in the early days. We
are told that on this occasion the letters were brought to Judge
Casady in a pair of saddle bags by Isaac Warfel, who carried
mail into Des Moines in 1846.

Robert L. Tidrick, Mr. Casady *s law partner, succeeded him
as postmaster October 26, 1848, and the post oflSce remained
where it was in the law oflSce, until the appointment of Hoyt
Sherman June 26, 1849. Mr. Sherman, with his own funds,
built a frame building to be used exclusively as a post office on
West Second and Vine streets.'

Up until this time, postage rates were five cents for each
half ounce or fraction thereof, for not over three hundred
miles ; for a greater distance, the rate was ten cents. Envelopes
had not been introduced, and it was a part of one's education
to learn how to fold a letter so that one could find a suitable
place on which to write the address. It was not necessary at
this time, either, to prepay the postage. This change occurred
during the term of Wesley Redhead, who was appointed Feb-
ruary 11, 1853; at about the same time, the rate was reduced
to three cents per half ounce.

During Mr. Redhead's term of office, in 1857, three and one-
half tons of mail were received weekly; about 38,000 letters
were received and dispatched every quarter; the post office
contained 576 boxes and 80 drawers. Mr. Redhead kept the
office in the Sherman Block, on Third and Court Avenue.* In
1857 the name of the office was changed to Des Moines.

John Teesdale succeeded Wesley Redhead May 6, 1861,
and held office until April 17, 1867. The following schedule
of postal arrangements was in effect during Mr. Teesdale 's
term:

>Hu88ey, Tacitus, Deyinnings, p. GO ; Des Moines Reyister and Leader, April
25. 1909.
4Turrill. 99.

148 ANNALS OF IOWA

Eastern via Chicago & Davenport arrives at 6 A. M.*

Eastern via Chicago and Davenport closes at 7 P. M.

Southern via Oskaloosa and Keokuk arrives at 9 A. M.

Southern via Oskaloosa and Keokuk closes at 2 P. M.

Western via Adel arrives at 4 P. M.

Western via Adel closes at 7 P. M.

Winterset arrives at 4 P. M.

Winterset closes at 7 P. M.

Ft. Dodge except Sundays and Mondays arrives at 5 P. M.

Ft. Dodge except Fridays and Saturdays closes at 7 P. M.

Xenia Thursdays and Saturdays arrives at 6 P. M.

Xenia Mondays and Wednesdays closes at 7 P. M.

Boonesboro Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays arrives
at 4 P. M.

Boonesboro Sundays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, closes at
7 P. M.

Newark and Vandalia Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,
arrives at 6 P. M.

Newark and Vandalia Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays,
closes at 7 P. M.

Indianola (via Summerset) Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri-
days, arrives at 12 M.

Indianola (via Summerset) Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri-
days, closes at 1 P. M.

Indianola (via Hartford) Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Satur-
days, arrives at 6 P. M.

Indianola (via Hartford) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri-
days, closes at 7 P. M.

Nevada Tuesdays and Saturdays arrives at 6 P. M.

Nevada Sundays and Thursdays closes at 7 P. M.

New Jefferson Sundays arrives at 4 P. M.

New Jefferson Sundays and Wednesdays closes at 7 P. M.

No mails to connect with the Rail Roads depart on Saturdays.

No mails to connect from the Rail Roads arrive on Mondays.

Office opened, except Sunday, from 8 A. M. until 7^ P. M.

Office opened on Sundays from 9 to 10 A. M.

J. Teesdale, P. M.

Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 11, 1864.

Bin this schedule we follow the exact wording and style used as appears in
its publication in the Daily State Register (Des Moines), January 17, 1864.

HI8T0BY OP THE DE8 MOINES POST OFFICE 149

Business had increased to quite an extent by 1867, at the
close of Mr. Teesdale 's appointment. About 6,000 letters were
received weekly for distribution, and the sale of postage stamps
amounted to $12,000 annually. During the year 1866 about
$13,000 of money orders had been paid, with as great an
amount issued.® The office contained over 1,000 boxes, and
125 drawers.

It was during Mr. Teesdale 's term also that a congressional
act of July 28, 1866, authorized and appropriated the sum of
$15,000 for a site, and an Act of March 2, 1867, the sum of
$85,000 for a building, to be used as a post office and court
house. We now know this building as the *'01d Federal
Building."

Under Mr. Tichenor, who was appointed April 18, 1867, the
post office was located in a frame building in the rear of the
Sherman Block. In 1868 plans were announced for the pro-
posed new building under the congressional acts above men-
tioned, and acts of July 20, 1868, and of April 20, 1870, author-
ized respectively the sums of $89,008.00 and $24,575.00 for
continuation. The building was only about half completed
under this first contract, and during the appointment of James
S. Clarkson (July 28, 1871— March 3, 1879) nothing additional
was done.^

While John Beckwith, who succeeded Mr. Clarkson March 4,
1879, was in office, two additional stories and a wing were put
up, under authority of acts of August 7, 1883, July 7, 1884,
March 3, 1885, and June 30, 1886, which authorized a total
of $330,000 for repairs and additional rooms.®

Col. Wm. H. Merritt assumed the duties of postmaster
August 13, 1886. His appointment by President Cleveland was
bitterly denounced in the Iowa State Register (Republican)
"as a gross violation of the civil service laws on the part of
President Cleveland. ' *° The editor asserted that he had no ob-
jection whatever to Col. Merritt as a man, and did not doubt
but that he would serve as well as had his predecessor, Mr.
Beckwith ; but, he declared, he did object to the removal of Mr.

^Daily State Register (Des Moines), April 26, 1867.
TFrom data furnished by Hon. C. C. Dowell.

B/otra State Register (Des Moines), August 13, 1886.

150 ANNALS OF IOWA

Beckwith on no other grounds than that he was a Republican,
while Col. Merritt was a Democrat. However, in spite of his
politics, the postal business gradually increased under Col.
Merritt 's administration, as well as under that of Isaac Brandt,
who took oflSce June 30, 1890, and served until July 25, 1894.

As the close of Mr. Brandt's term drew near, a bitter con-
test was waged between two aspirants for the next appoint-
ment. Joseph Eiboeck, publisher of the Anzeiger, a German
weekly, and acknowledged leader of the German Democrats
of the state, and Edward H. Hunter were the two contestants.
Mr. Hunter received the appointment, to the general dissatis-
faction of Republicans, as expressed in the Iowa State Regts-
ter. Mr. Hunter was accused of bejng a fearless ** manipulator
of machines and combines," while Mr. Eiboeck was lauded as
an ** upright and fearless fighter for the Democrats. "^° The
editor goes on to say that this is not the first time that the ad-
ministration has ** duped*' the German vote, of which Mr.
Eiboeck is the honored representative, and that it is evident
that Mr. Hunter did some clever manipulating and ** wire-
pulling'* in Washington.

Lewis Schooler was postmaster from September 18, 1898, to
December 9, 1902. June 6, 1902, an act was passed providing
a limit of $150,000 for the site for a new post oflSce, and Febru-
ary 18, 1904, during John McKay's term (December 10, 1902 —
March 18, 1907) an additional sum for site was appropriated."

An Act of June 30, 1906, provided a limit of $500,000 for
building, which amount was appropriated in the acts of June
30, 1906, March 4, 1907, and March 4, 1909. The new build-
ing on the river front was completed during Joseph I. Myerly 's
incumbency (March 19, 1907— May 31, 1911) at a total cost
of $488,016.67."

Louis C. Kurtz was appointed postmaster June 1, 1911, and
served in that capacity until June 30, 1915. During this time,
the post-oflSce business was constantly increasing, and new de-
partments were added. The total receipts for the year pre-
ceding Mr. Kurtz's appointment were $784,538.82 ; for the year
1914 they were $1,086,173.61 — almost fifty per cent increase.

loiowa State Reyi^ter, July 24, 1894.
iiFrom data furnished by Hon. C. C. Dowell.
12/6W.

HI8T0BY OF THE DBS MOINES POST OFFICE 151

In the same time the amount of newspapers handled increased
from 12,960,968 pounds a year to 16,662,262 pounds— tribute
to the publishing industry of Des Moines. The money order
department showed a gain of from 77,022 orders, amounting
to $684,408.65, to 93,180 orders, amounting to $753,900.00.
During Mr. Kurtz's administration, the Postal Savings Bank
was inaugurated, and between September 15, 1911, and June
30, 1915, 1,982 accounts, with deposits totaling $269,198.00
were opened. The Parcel Post System was inaugurated in Des
Moines June 1, 1913, and at the close of Mr. Kurtz's term of
office 10,000 parcels per day, on an average, were being dis-
patched, and 2,146 (average) parcels per day were being re-
ceived.

July 1, 1915, George A. Huffman was appointed as Mr.
Kurtz's successor, and served in that capacity until 1924.
During that time, many changes were effected in the postal
service, great strides were made in the efficiency with which
that service was rendered, and postal receipts were almost
tripled. By 1924, the Des Moines post office was selling more
stamps per capita than any other office in the United States ;
Des Moines had become the twenty-eighth among leading cities
in the country in postal business; an average of forty-six tons
of second class (periodical publications) matter was handled
daily; and the Des Moines office had become the central
accounting office for all third and fourth class post offices in
Iowa, handling an annual pay roll of about four and one-half
million dollars for Iowa rural carriers."

As the end of Mr. Huffman's second term drew near, in
1924, three candidates appeared for his position — William C.
Harbach, Irvin M. Lieser, and Z. C. Thornburg. The report
of the civil service commission gave Mr. Harbach the highest
rating, and for this reason Senator Cummins recommended
him for the position, in spite of the opposition of the junior
senator, Mr. Brookhart. Senator Brookhart warned his col-
league that if Mr. Harbach *s name were presented to tlie
Senate, he would invoke the personal privilege rule, and trust
to the Senate to sustain him. Mr. Brookhart 's opposition to
Mr. Harbach dated from the Polk County Republican Conven-

i3Di?« SIoint^H Tribune, July 1, 1924.

152 ANNALS OF IOWA

tion early that spring, when Mr. Harbach had opposed the
nomination of Mr. Brookhart.^*

President Coolidge sent Mr. Harbach 's name to the Senate
May 2, and the Senate in executive session May 19 sustained
Senator Brookhart's objection." Senator Cummins later rec-
ommended Mr. Z. C. Thornburg, who had been given the sec-
ond highest rating by the commission. The junior Senator
had no objection to Mr. Thornburg, and the latter became
postmaster July 1, 1924.

The Des Moines post oflBce by this time was ranked in the
$3,000,000 class. Since 1922" there had been talk of an addition
to accommodate its expanding business. It was hoped that one
of the changes made during Mr. Thornburg 's term would be
the enlargement of the post office to cover the entire ground
owned by the government (the north half of the block be-
tween First and Second streets, and Wahiut Street and Court
Avenue)."

Mr. Thornburg lived less than a year after he was appointed,
and on May 18, 1925, Edwin J. Frisk, the present postmaster,
assumed his duties, although he did not receive formal ap-
pointment until the following year." Receipts continued to
increase, until they amounted to $3,176,064.69 for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1926." A movement was set on foot in
December, 1925, to secure an appropriation for an addition
to the post office. Agitation continued, but it was not until
August 10, 1930, as a result of a survey ordered by the Treas-
ury Department, that postal department inspectors recom-
mended the purchase of the south half of the block on which
the present building stands. This property was owned by sev-
eral different concerns — the Hubbel estate, the Bankers Life
Company, the H and H Cleaner Company, Tone Brothers,
and the Brown Camp Campany. March 4, 1931, a bill was ap-
proved appropriating $775,000 for the site and building.^ Ne-
gotiations were begun, and an agreement was soon reached

UD€8 Moines Daily Capital, April 28, 1924.

inDes Moines Register, May 20, 1924.

ioDc« Moines Daily Capital, December 22, 1922.

i7De« Moines Tribune, July 1, 1924.

i^Des Moines Register, January 27, 1926.

i»From figures furnished by Mr. John Ryan, Assistant Postmaster.

20^7. 8. Stat, at Large, 71st. Congress, Sess. Ill, Vol. 46, Pt. I. Ch. 522.

HISTORY OF THE DBS MOINES POST OFFICE 153

with the Hubbell estate, the Bankers Life Company, and the
H and H Cleaner Company. The government felt that the price
asked by the Brown Camp Company, and Tone Brothers was
too high, and on September 22, 1931, an order was issued for
the condemnation of the property.

Federal Judge Charles A. Dewey appointed six Iowa men
to serve as a condemnation jury. They were : Frank F. Ever-
est, Council Bluffs ; L. A. Jester, Des Moines ; J. E. Espy, Ot-
tumwa ; W. A. Lawrenson, Des Moines ; Anson Marston, Ames ;
George W. Graeser, Des Moines. George Warner, Newton, and
Henry Negus, Iowa City, were alternates." The condemnation
action was filed October 21, naming three defendants — Tone
Brothers, Brown Camp Company, and C. C. Taft Company
lessees of Brown Camp Company.

The report of the condemnation jury, filed December 3, 1931,
allowed a total of $370,000 for the purchase of the condemned
property. This amount was divided as follows : Tone Brothers,
$128,000; Brown Camp Company, $180,000; and C. C. Taft
Company, $62,000.^ These figures proved to be acceptable to
both the government and the owners of the land, and on Feb-
ruary 5, 1932, payment was made by the government.^ The
above figures, added to the $120,750 agreed upon as the pur-
chase price of the remainder of the half block, brought the total
payment for site up to $490,750, leaving $284,250 of the appro-
priation ($775,000) to be used for building purposes.

Wetherell and Harrison, Architects, drew the plans for the
proposed addition. For the present, these include an extension
back of the present building, which, at some future date, will
be joined to an extension on Court Avenue similar in size and
architecture to the present structure."* The building, when
completed, will face the river front. It was expected that work
would be begun in 1932, but it was delayed. Bids are now being
received by the government ; September 6, 1933, is the last date
on which they may be submitted. It is hoped that this fall
will see the beginning of work.

Under Mr. Frisk's administration, many improvements have

2iDci» ifoines Reginter, October 22, 1031.

22ibid., December 4. 1931.

23prom data furnished by Mr. John Ryan.

24From the architect's drawings, through the courtesy of Mr. John Ryan.

154 ANNALS OF IOWA

been made in the mail service available to Des Moines. Six
named substations help to relieve the load of the central
office. One of these, in Highland Park, erected in 1929, was
the first post office in Des Moines to have all steel equipment.
In 1930 a substation was opened in the old Federal Building.
Before that, a new station had been established on Grand
Avenue, between Seventh and Eighth streets, and the Uni-
versity Place station had been housed in new and enlarged
quarters. Courtesy boxes have been installed for the con-
venience of motorists. Miniature post offices have been estab-
lished in the lobbies of several down town office buildings,
where the mail is distributed by the postman and called for
by the tenants, thereby saving the time formerly required for
delivery to each office. The air mail service has been intro-
duced, and has become an increasingly used facility.

In 1927, 440 persons were in the employ of the postal de-
partment in Des Moines. Thirty-six trucks were used to handle
mail daily — eleven of them delivered and collected parcel post,
and the others hauled mail between the post offices and the
various railroad stations. In the same year the Des Moines
office handled 89,507,072 outgoing letters and circulars, 4,954,-
287 pieces of parcel post, and 34,133,622 pounds of second
class matter, all printed in Des Moines.^

The following figures indicate the tremendous increase in
Des Moines' postal business in the past fifty years:
Fiscal Year Gross Receipts

1880 $ 47,406.81

1885 93,308.83

1890 124,381.87

1895 184,904.79

1900 294,938.43

1905 467,361.73

1910 764,067.37

1915 1,119,932.90

1920 2,008,808.07

1925 2,874,780.82

1930 3,609,129.55**

25De« Moines Tribune, January 28. 1928.

2flFrom ngiires furnished by the Auditor for the Post Office Department at
Washington, D. C, and by Mr. John Ryan of Des Moines.

HISTORY OP THE DE8 MOINES POST OFFICE 155

The year 1930 was a banner one for the Des Moines post ofSce
in many respects :

1. The total receipts for that year were the largest to date.

2. Seven months of that year showed receipts exceeding
$300,000.

3. Every month showed an increase over the corresponding
month of the preceding year.

4. The best previous monthly total of receipts ($332,169.63
in March, 1929) was broken twice — ^in December ($364,-
960.88) and in March ($366,020.31).

5. Des Moines led all the larger cities of the country in per
centage of gain in three different months.

6. Des Moines was the lowest of forty-five larger cities in
per centage of clerk hire to receipts.

7. Des Moines was the lowest in the same group in per
centage of city delivery cost to receipts."

Since 1930, receipts have declined considerably, amounting
to $2,523,711.02 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933 ; prob-
ably increased postal rates and the depression account for this
decrease. It is almost certainly true that when general business
conditions improve, the Des Moines post oflBce will again show
a corresponding improvement.

READY MADE CLOTHING

The subscriber has just received from New York a large as-
sortment of clothing, consisting in part of blue, black, brown
and olive dress and frock coats ; blue, black, brown and fancy
colored pants; brown linen and gloss frock coats and round-
abouts; Irish linen shirts, white and brown linen pantaloons;
black, blue, velvet and fancy vests, for sale by E. Lockwood.
Advertisement in the (Dubuque) Iowa News, July 15, 1837.
(In the Newspaper Division of the Historical, Memorial and
Art Department of Iowa.)

27/>M Moines Tribune, July 1, 1930, and February 5, 1931.

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

William Squire Kenyon was born in Elyria, Ohio, June 10, 1869, and
died at Sebasco, Maine, September 9, 1933. Burial was at Fort Dodge,
Iowa. His parents were the Rev. Fergus L. and Hattie A. (Squire)
Kenyon. The family removed to Iowa City in 1878, the father becoming
pastor of the Congregational Church at that place. William received
his education in public school, in Iowa (now Grinnell) College, and in
the State University of Iowa, being graduated from the Law Depart-
ment of that institution in 1891. He entered practice of the law at Fort
Dodge having for a time a partnership with Captain J. O. A. Yeoman,
and also with J. F. Duncombe. He served for five years as county at-
torney of Webster County, 1892-96, and as a judge of the Eleventh Ju-
dicial District for two years, 1900-02. He again applied himself to his
professional practice, becoming a member of the firm of Kenyon, Kelle-
her & O'Connor. He was general attorney for the Illinois Central Rail-
road Company for three years, 1906-09. From March, 1910, to April,
1911, he was assistant to the attorney general of the United States,
which place he resigned in April, 1911, to become United States senator.
Senator Dolliver had died October 15, 1910, and Lafayette Young had
been appointed to fill the vacancy until there should be an election. The
Thirty-fourth General Assembly convened January 9, 1911, and on Janu-
ary 23 balloted in joint session for senator but did not elect until the
last day of the session, April 12, when Mr. Kenyon was chosen. This
was for the remainder of the Dolliver term which only reached to March
3, 1913, which required an election by the Thirty-fifth General Assembly.
A law enacted in 1907 provided that when United States senators were
to be elected their nominations should be submitted at a state-wide pri-
mary along with candidates for state offices. Mr. Kenyon was nomi-
nated in the primary of June, 1912, his only Republican opponent being
Mr. Young. Daniel W. Hamilton was nominated by the Democrats.
When the General Assembly met in January, 1913, it elected Mr. Kenyon.
In the 1918 primary Mr. Kenyon was renominated without opposition,
and won in the general election over his Democratic opponent. Dr. Charles
Rollin Keyes. His service in the Senate was ended by his resignation
February 24, 1922, when President Harding appointed him judge of the
United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. In March,
1929, President Hoover appointed him a member of the Law Enforce-
ment Commission, popularly kno\^Ti as the Wickersham commission. This
appointment was a recognition of Judge Kenyon 's outstanding char-
acter, but it brought him much hard labor when he already was sufficiently

EDITORIAL 157

burdened. WMle assistant United States attorney general he had charge
for the Interstate Commerce Commission of cases arising under the Hep-
burn rate act. While on the Circuit Court he wrote a decision in the
Teapot Dome oil lease case condemning the transaction, and while in the
Senate became leader of the so-called farm block contending for meas-
ures to better agricultural conditions. These were a few of the many
important things he did which marked him as a real friend of the people.
He was an idealist, though practical, and was one of the finest char-
acters in American public life. The pregnant language of former Gov-
ernor N. E. Kendall at the funeral is literally the voice of the people:
"He came out . . . unspoiled and unsoiled." He maintained his home
at Fort Dodge, though in late years he had a summer home at Sebasco
on the coast of Maine.

Gilbert N. Hauqen was born near Orfordville, Bock County, Wiscon-
sin, April 21, 1859, and died in Northwood, Iowa, July 18, 1933. His
parents were Nels and Carrie Haugen, natives of Norway. He spent his
early years on his father's farm and in attending public school. At four-
teen years of age he began his own support, becoming a farm hand in
Winneshiek County, Iowa. For a time he attended Breckenridge College
at Decorah, and later the Academic and Commercial College, Janesville,
Wisconsin. At the age of eighteen he purchased a farm of 160 acres in
Worth County. Besides farming he engaged in the implement and
furniture business at Kensett. In 1887 he was elected treasurer of
Worth County and removed to Northwood and was twice re-elected,
serving six years. In 1893 he was elected representative, was re-elected
in 1895, and served in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth general as-
semblies, being chairman of Private Corporations Committee during the
Twenty-sixth. In August, 1898, he received the Republican nomination
for congressman from the Fourth District in a convention that required
366 ballots to nominate. At the beginning of the balloting the then
Congressman Thomas Updegraff and James E. Blythe were the leading
contestants, but neither was able to obtain a majority. He was elected
in November and was regularly renominated by his party and re-elected
each two years for sixteen more congresses, making seventeen in all, or
thirty-four years of continuous membership, the longest in the history of
the House, and after receiving the eighteenth party nomination was
finally defeated at the polls in 1932 by Fred Biermann, his Democratic
opponent. On entering Congress in 1899 Col. D. B. Henderson had just
reached the speakership and Mr. Haugen was given membership on the
Committee on Agriculture and Committee on War Claims. The member-
ship on the Committee on Agriculture he retained throughout the seven-
teen congresses, and when the Republicans regained control in the House
in 1919 he became chairman of that committee, only to relinquish it
when the Democrats regained the majority in the House in 1931. Mr.
Haugen was the joint author with Senator McNary of the famous Mc-
Nary- Haugen bill, and was the author of more legislation relative to

158 ANNALS OF IOWA

apiculture than any other one man in Confess during his time. He was
highly regarded by the membership of the House regardless of party
lines. When Mr. Haugen was in the of&ce of county treasurer at North-
wood he became interested in banking and for years was president of
banks at North wood and Kensett. He also added largely to his land
properties both in northern Iowa and in Minnesota and the Bakotas.

James Cutler Milliman was born in Ballston Spa, Saratoga County,
New York, January 28, 1847, and died in Santa Monica, California,
July 21, 1933. His parents were Francis and Emily (Hunt) Milliman.
Owing to the death of his mother he went when nine years old to live
on a farm where for four years he worked for his board and clothes.
Later he received small wages. In March, 1864, he tried to enlist in the
Union Army but was rejected because of his youth, but in September
of the same year he was accepted and became a member of Company E,
Forty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry. At the siege of Petersburg
he was shot through the elbow, which necessitated the amputation of his
arm. He received his discharge December 28, 1864, and in January,
1865, he with his father and four brothers removed to Harrison Town-
ship, Harrison County, Iowa. The next two years he spent as a student
in the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, and the following two years
teaching school in Harrison County. The fall of 1868 he was elected
county recorder, running on the Republican ticket, and served in that
position eight years. In September, 1876, he with A. L. Harvey estab-
lished the Harrison County Bank at Logan. April 1, 1879, he sold his
interest in the bank and for the next four years he gave his time princi-
pally to real estate business, except for one year he was at Council Bluffs
in a wholesale farm macliinery enterprise. In 1884 he joined with Almon
Stern in Logan in real estate, abstract, brokerage, and insurance busi-
ness, which connection continued until 1907. In 1893 he was elected
representative and served in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. In
1897 he was elected lieutenant governor, and was re-elected two years
later, serving the four years of Governor's Shaw's administration.
Among his many activities was his work as an auctioneer, for
years crying farm sales. For many years he was active in the Grand
Army of the Republic and was commander of the Department of Iowa
for the year 1908-09. He served several terms as mayor of Logan. His
loyalty to his community was shown in a great many ways, one being
the gift to the town of a wooded tract of thirty acres, known as Milliman
Hill. Although his declining years were spent in California, he retained
his citizenship at Logan, voting by absent ballot.

Edward Michael Carr was born in Cattaraugus County, New York,
June 28, 1850, and died in Manchester, Iowa, July 21, 1933. The body
was placed in the private mausoleum in Oakland Cemetery, Manchester.
His parents were John and Anna (Kane) Carr. In 1856 the family re-
moved to near Lament, Buchanan County, Iowa. He attended public

EDITORIAL 159

schools in that locality and Independence High School, taught rural
common schools, and then entered the Law School of the State Uniyersity
of Iowa from which he was graduated in 1872. He began practice in
Manchester and continued it until about two years before his death,
or for fifty-nine years, attaining honored distinction in his profession.
In 1875 he purchased an interest in the Manchester Democrat and was
one of its editors throughout the remainder of his life. He assisted in
organizing the First National Bank of Manchester, was president for
three years of the Oneida and Manchester Railroad, and was connected
with many business concerns of his home city. For several years in
early life he was a member of the Iowa National Guard, being com-
missioned captain of Ck>mpany C, Fourth Infantry, on March 18, 1877,
and commissioned judge advocate with the rank of major May 19, 1879.
He actively supported the Democratic party. In 1896 he was permanent
chairman of the state convention that selected delegates to the national
convention. He was secretary of the state committee in 1896 and 1897,
and was also a member of the committee from 1896 to 1902. In 1904
he was a delegate at large to the national convention, and was chairman
of the delegation. In 1906 he was nominated by his party for justice
of the Supreme Court of the state. He served as postmaster at Manchester
from March, 1915, to March, 1922, when he voluntarily resigned. Among
the varied activities of this useful citizen was his help in the movement
that resulted in the establishment of the Backbone State Park near Man-
chester.

George H. Woodson was born of slave parents in Wytheville, Virginia,
December 15, 1865. He died in Des Moines, Iowa, July 7, 1933, and was
buried in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, ^vith both masonic and military
honors. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary War and his father
was killed in the Civil War. His mother also having died in his infancy,
he was reared by an aunt, Mrs. T. Sheffey, by whom he was sent to
Petersburg Normal University at Petersburg, Virginia, which graduated
him with the A. B. degree in 1890. Soon thereafter he enlisted and served
for three years in the Twenty-fifth U. S. Infantry. After his honorable
discharge he entered the Law College of Howard University, Washing-
ton, D. C, where he received his LL.B. degree in 1896. He came to Iowa
thereafter and located at the mining town of Muchakinock, Mahaska
County, then the largest Negro community in the state. About 1900 this
community was abandoned when he located for a while in Oskaloosa,
then followed the mining community to Buxton, Monroe County. When
this community was abandoned about 1918, he removed to Des Moines
where he remained in the practice with the exception of about ten years
that he was deputy collector of U. S. customs. While residing in
Mahaska County he was made vice president of the Mahaska County
Bar Association and was also nominated by the Republican party as
county attorney. While residing in Monroe County he was nominated
by the Republicans as candidate for state representative, being the only
Negro ever nominated for either of these offices in Iowa. In 1926 Presi-

160 ANNALS OF IOWA

dent Coolidge appointed him chairman of an all-Ne^o commission to
investigate and report on economic conditions in the Virgin Islands,
which duty he very creditably performed. He organized in Des Moines
the Iowa Negro Bar Association in 1901 and the National Negro Bar
Association in 1925, of both of which he was the first president.

Albert Botnton Storms was born at Lima, Washtenaw (bounty,
Michigan, April 1, 1860, and died in Bcrea, Ohio, July 1, 1933. His
parents were Irving and Mary (Boynton) Storms. He was graduated
from the University of Michigan with the degree of A. B. in 1884, and
of A.M. in 1893. He was ordained a minister by the Methodist Epis-
copal church in 1884 and held pastorates at Franklin, Michigan ; Hudson,
Michigan ; Detroit, Michigan ; Madison, Wisconsin ; and at First Church,
Des Moines, Iowa, the latter being from 1900 to 1903. In 1903 he was
chosen president of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts, Ames, remaining in that position until 1910. Returning to the
ministry he was pastor at Indianapolis, Indiana, and followed that by
being district superintendent at Indianapolis. In 1918 he became presi-
dent of Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, and retained that position
until liis death. He was a noted pulpit orator, an able educator and the
author of several books and many magazine articles.

Alfred Martin Haoqard was born near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, April
11, 1851, and died at Pine Bluff, Colorado, June 20, 1933. He was
graduated from Oskaloosa College with the degree of A. B. in 1879 and
of A. M. in 1889. He was president of Oskaloosa College from 1889
to 1892, was secretary of Iowa Christian Convention from 1893 to 1898,
dean of the Bible College, Drake University, from 1899 to 1910, and
professor of Christian evidences at the same institution from 1910 to
1916. Besides his work as an educator, he studied divinity and as early
as 1870 became a minister in the Disciples of Christ church and, inter-
spersed with his teaching, was pastor and preacher at the following
locations in Iowa: Eddyville, DeSoto, Oskaloosa, and Colfax, besides at
Washington, Illinois. At one time he was secretary of the Iowa Christian
Missionary Society, was a field worker for the Anti-saloon League, and
by ability and fine personality exerted a real influence in his several fields.

Clarence L. Ely was born in Maquoketa, Iowa, April 10, 1886, and
died there July 17, 1933. Burial was in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Maquo-
keta. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. B. D. Ely. He was graduated
from Maquoketa High School in 1903 and from the Law Department
of the State University of Iowa in 1908. From 1910 to 1912 he was
secretary to Congressman I. S. Pepper. In 1912 he entered the law
office of G. L. Johnson of Maquoketa. The same year he was elected
county attorney of Jackson County and continued in that office three
terms, or until January, 1919. The fall of 1926 he was elected judge of
the Seventh Judicial District, in which position he was serving when
he died. He was a Democrat in politics.

ORL.\KDO C. HOWE

Counly Judge of DIcklnBOD Count)', 18S7-B2: dlBtrl
Judlrlai Itlstrli'l, i»'«-«3 : capttln Co, L. Kin
18S3--e4 : couDly }u^e jBsper Count}-, ISOS-eS ;
of law. State tnlviTBltr of Iowa, 1875-80,

■(torD»; Fourth
IH. Vol. Cav..

■s Id Put prof»8flor

ANNALS OF Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 3 Des Moines, Iowa, January, 1934 Third Series

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE
Somewhat of His Life and Letters

By F. I. Herriott

Professor in Drake University

"For it is man's nature which makes him trustworthy, not
wealth. ' ' — Aristotle.

**. . . the pioneers of northwestern Iowa will always have in
their hearts a warm place for the memory of Orlando C. Howe. ' '

— Iowa State Bar Association.^

Orlando Cutter Howe was among the notable pioneers of
northwestern Iowa, and one of the first settlers of Spirit Lake,
in Dickinson County. He was attracted to the region by the
reported beauty of the environs of Mde-Mini-Wakan.^ He
remained there for only six years, 1857-1863; but in those
few years his character and capacity, his courage and con-
sideration for others won and held public confidence, and left
many vivid memories in the minds of the pioneers of our
state's frontier of a fine man and citizen, of an earnest, up-
right public oflBcial, and of a neighbor who would instantly
put forth his utmost in behalf of family, friends and fellows
in a common cause or crisis.

In the course of sundry searches for data relative to the
origins and events of the Spirit Lake Massacre between IMarch
8 and 15, 1857, when the entire settlement was destroyed, I
received from the daughters of Judge Howe, Mrs. W. H.

iProrredinyft loura State Bar Afmociation, Sixth Annual Meeting, held at
Iowa City, July 17, 18, 1900. Report of the Committee on Legal Biography,
I>. i*2.

2The Sioux designation, "Lake of the Spirit Water." See F. I. Herriott. "Ori-
gins of the Indian Massacre betwt'cn the Okobojls, March 8, 1857," Annals
OK It.WA (Third Series), Vol. XVI II. pp. 342-:H«.

164 ANNALS OF IOWA

(Helen Howe) Cooke, and Mrs. E. F. (Evelyn Howe) Porter,
resident in Lynn Haven, Florida, a considerable number of
letters of Judge Howe's written for the most part to Mrs.
Howe between 1849 and 1865. With them were not a few
others addressed to him by various* correspondents, together
with sundry documents, legal instruments relative to matters
at Spirit Lake, and the original drafts of addresses, articles, or
lectures. I was generously given permission to use them at
discretion and to make such disposal of them as seemed ap-
propriate. Their contents in the main were such that it seemed
to me that they should be deposited with the Historical De-
partment of Iowa where they now are. Many of them afford
interesting glimpses of pioneer conditions and procedure. They
also afford valuable data about events just preceding and fol-
lowing the Massacre of the settlers between the Okobojis —
the most dramatic event in the entire history of Iowa's rela-
tions to the Red Men.' His letters to Mrs. Howe written from
Arkansas, while in service in the Union Army in 1864, give
us first hand information about men and measures in that sec-
tion of the war zone in the Civil War.

In consequence of the decision to publish some of the letters
among Judge Howe *s papers, the editor of the Annals asked
me to prepare the biographical sketch which follows. It is
but little more than a summary of the major facts in his life
which closed Thursday, August 24, 1899, at Topeka, Kansas,
at the age of seventy-four years, eight months and five days.

Part I — ^Biography

Orlando C. Howe was among the thousands of New England-
ers who came into Iowa, and particularly into northern Iowa,
in the middle years of the '50s of the nineteenth century, and
played such a noteworthy part in the formation of the state's
industrial, political and social institutions. He was bom in
Williamstown, Vermont, on December 19, 1824, the son of
John Deloss Howe and Sarah Cutter Howe. About 1834 his

3Sce F. I. Herriott, "The Aftermath of the Spirit Lake Massacre of March
8-15. 1857," Ibid., pp. 610-613.

OBLANDO C. HOWE 165

parents moved to and settled in Alden in Erie County, New
York.*

His schooling begun in Williamstown was continued in the
common school of Alden and then in the Academy of Aurora,
which sustained an enviable reputation. His ambition f ocussed
on the legal profession and he was fortunate in securing the
privilege of studying in the law ofSces of Shumway & Wil-
liams, a well-known firm in Buffalo. Mr. Horatio Shumway
had been a member of the General Assembly of New York at
Albany, and Mr. Charles H. S. Williams was district attorney
of Erie County.* After his admission to the bar he remained
with the firm in the capacity of assistant prosecuting attorney,
until he decided to come west in 1855. The training he got
under his patrons in Buffalo gave him a good grounding in the
principles and the practice of the common law, then but little
modified by legislation, that made him fit and ready for the
rapid professional and ofScial promotion which came to him
soon after he arrived in Iowa.

Meantime, in 1849, the young man had met, loved, wooed
and won and married Maria Wheelock of Lancaster, New York,
a young lady of marked ability and staunch character. At the
time of their courtship Miss Wheelock was a teacher in the
public schools of Buffalo. Characterizing two of the first
women resident in Spirit Lake after the Massacre, Mr. R. A.
Smith, a contemporary and later the historian of Dickinson
County, thus records his recollections and his judgment :

Mrs. Howe was the more scholarly . . . having been a teacher in Buf-
falo. In addition to her literary attainments she possessed a rare fund
of general information, and what is still more rare, a remarkable versatility
of character, which enabled her to adapt herself to surroundings without
fuss or friction. She was equally at home with the sturdy pioneers by
whom she was surrounded as she would have been in the environments of
polite society.*

For the following fifty years Mrs. Howe realized for lier

^rnless otherwise stated the narrative is based on the following general
sourcoH : (a) Mr. and Mrs. Howe's letters deposited In the Historical. Memo-
rial and Art Department of Iowa; (b) the biographical sketch prepared for
the Iowa State Bar ABsociation by Judge George \\. Wakefield of Sioux City,
chairman of its Committee on Legal Biography, the data for which was gath-
pred by Mr. R. A. Smith of Spirit Lake, la. — Proc. la. 8t. Bar Assoc, for 1900,
pp. 89-92 : and (c) R. A. Smith's History of Dickinson County, la., 1902.

sPerry Smith (Ed) History of Buffalo and Erie County, Vol. II, p. 461 ;
Vol. I, p. 348.

•Smith. Op. at., p. 415.

166 ANNALS OF IOWA

husband, children, and neighbors the ideals of Ruth, daughter
of Naomi : whither he went she went also ; where he found
lodgment she abided; and his people became hers — ^through
fire and flood, sunshine and storm, sacrifice and war, Maria
Wheelock proved ever helpmate and inspiration through the
stress of the waxing years. In the letters which follow her
devotion and worth were clearly appreciated.

The ordinary slowness of advancement and return for a
young lawyer in an old community probably caused the young
husband to think favorably of Horace Greeley's advice to **go
west. ' ' Whatever the general cause, the immediate considera-
tion was the glowing reports about the beauty of **the Iowa
country, ' ' and the illimitable opportunities for large and rapid
returns on small capital investments soon coerced him. The
exact date of his departure is not certain, but it was some
time in the late fall of 1855, for his first letter speaks of snow
at Galena and near Dubuque. His decision must have been
rather sudden or he would have started earlier in the year
in order to make his journey at a more agreeable and favorable
time for making his preliminary surveys to discover the rela-
tive merits of this and that region for permanent tenure.

In his first letter to Mrs. Howe, written at Dubuque, he
gives a vivid picture of the push and rush of that westward
movement into Iowa in pioneer days. He was as optimistic
as the ancient hunters seeking the golden fleece. He apparently
inclined to go into Minnesota at the outset, but for some rea-
son, not disclosed, turned southward. With his mind's eye
he saw quick returns in investments in virgin farm lands, and
town sites and city lots were equal to gold mines, if he could
secure the capital to obtain them. Fort Dodge and Sioux
City came within consideration no less than Mankato, Minne-
sota, and Iowa Falls. He suggests much of the picture in three
sentences : * * Every [thing] whirls fast in this country. It most
makes me dizzy — railroads and railroad schemes are so thick
that no one can keep track of them."^

Iowa Falls in north Hardin County seems to have attracted
him especially, and it is not quite clear why he decided to re-
main in Newton, in Jasper County, about sixty miles almost

70. C. Howe to Mrs. Howe, written at Dubuque without date, post.

ORLANDO C. HOWE 167

straight south of the region he preferred. It is not certain
when he first arrived in Newton, but probably in the forepart
or middle of December, 1855.

Mr. Howe was not one to loiter in idleness, doless, waiting
for something to happen to his liking. If law clients did not
appear, he looked about for work as a teacher. Soon he was
giving lectures to the ** Newton Literary Society.'* The na-
ture of the subjects dealt with, whether law or literature or
philosophy, does not appear in his letters."

It was significant of later developments in his career, and a
perfect illustration of the easy-going and rapid way of things
in the democracy on the frontier when he was offered January
10, 1856, a nomination for the county judgeship of Jasper
County by a group of Know-Nothings who had asked him for
the loan of his room at his boarding place to hold their caucus.
He evidently had made a decidedly favorable impression in
the conduct of a lawsuit, notwithstanding the decision was
adverse to his client. Further, his participation was hardly
technically permissible because he was not admitted to practice
in Iowa until April 28, 1856."

Within the year a serious movement was started and pro-
moted by his friend, George E. Spencer, to secure his election
as judge of the Eleventh Judicial District comprising Powe-
shiek, Mahaska, Jasper, Marion, Polk, Warren, Dallas and
Madison counties.^® Somewhat of his strength may easily be
inferred from the letter of M. M. Crocker, a rising young
Democratic attorney of Des Moines, who, although a Proslavery
Democrat, was formally working for the nomination of James
Williamson of Des Moines, but who saw that the latter prob-
ably could not win it and he, Crocker, saw that Howe held
the key to the situation, and he preferred Howe to the other
candidate foremost in the field. To what extent Mr. Howe
personally encouraged his friend Spencer's plans, cannot be
stated ; but his journey to the Okobojis in February and the
consequences to him personally of the Massacre in March
nullified Spencer and Crocker's program. William M. Stone

8/bW., written at Newton, Jan. 22, 1856.

HVrtlflcate of clerk of court of Jasper County, In O. C. Howe papers.

lOLaws of Iowa, Sixth Genrral Assembly, Chap, 2.

168 ANNALS OF IOWA

of Knoxville was nominated and elected judge of the Eleventh
District."

Mrs. Howe and their daughter **Linnie" came to Newton
in April, 1856, and soon two of Mr. Howe's brothers-in-law,
Messrs. B. F. Parmenter and Robert U. Wheelock — ^the latter
two also on the lookout for good investments. In the early
fall months they heard of the beauty of the lake country in
northwestern Iowa, and decided to go up to survey the region.
They went via Fort Des Moines, thence up the Des Moines
River to Boonsboro, Fort Dodge, Dakota City, arriving at the
Okobojis on the edge of the winter (November). They stopped
with Joel Howe.^^ Their first view of the lakes decided them
to make it their home. They returned to Newton to gather
their possessions and return.

It was while on that first trip that Mr. Howe in one of his
scouting trips to the west and north of Spirit Lake came upon
Inkpaduta and his band of outlaw Sioux at Black Loon Lake,
Jackson County, Minnesota, whence he and his band soon
departed, going down the valley of the Little Sioux to Smith-
land where occurred the clash between the settlers and Ink-
paduta's band when the firearms of the latter were taken
from them in the midst of their hunting, with fatal conse-
quences four months later."

iiGeorge E. Sponcer to O. C. Howe, Iowa City, Iowa, Dec. 26, 1856: M. M.
Crocker to O. C. Howe. Fort Des Moines. Jan. 11, 1857.

George E. Spencer, a native of New York, was Just twenty years of age when
be came to Iowa In 1856. and be was an Interesting cbaracter. He was able,
energetic, and entbuslastlc. not to say aggressive In crowding forward with his
plans, promoting them with Incessant and Irrepressible optimism. He was a
typical western land boomer. Mr. Smith gives a perfect Illustration of some
of bis daring and Ingenuity In "constructive Imagination** in connection with
the founding of the town of Sprncer, county seat of Clay Count v. Its growth
exceeding In speed "the dreams of avarice." Op. Cit., pp. 150-151. Later he
bad a notable career In t^e Union Army, rising from a captain to brigadier
grneral for gal'antry In the field. From 1868 to 1879 be was United States
senator from Alabama. — Biographical Conyrensional Directory.

Since writing the paragraph In the text I have received additional letters
from Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Cooke, among them letters from George K. Spencer
which disclose that Mr. Howe was Informed of Mr. Spencer's active canvassing
in bis (O. C. H.'s) behalf.

M. M. Crocker was a brilliant lawyer of Fort Des Moines, one of the foremost
advocates In the state at the outbreak of the Civil War. He bad been a West
Point cadet, but conld not complete his military training because of the death
of his father. Col. James G. Crocker, and his moth'^r's urgent needs. He was
among the first to Join the Union Army — the 2nd Iowa Infantry — and rose
rapidly to a brigadier generalship. The fine work of the Crocker Iowa Brigade
won applause from Generals Sherman and Grant. Pulmonary tuberculosis
brought his brilliant career to an untimely close Aug. 26, 1865. — Byers' Iou>a
in War Times, pp. 434-38.

120. C. Howe to Mrs. O. C. H., Ft. Dodge, Mar. 22. 1857. The Joel Howe
named was no relative of O. C. H.

lasmlth. Op. Cit., pp. 49-50.

ORLANDO C. HOWE 169

Orlando C. Howe and his partners, his two brothers-in-law,
were either very alert and energetic men in business matters,
or they were anxious to get back to the lakes to secure the
advantageous tracts sought before other incoming settlers
could preempt them, for they left Newton with wagons
loaded with equipment and provisions on February 20, ar-
riving in Fort Des Moines on the 24th. At Boonsboro he
wrote Mrs. Howe that reports from the lake region said that
**no Sioux'* were about **so do not let Indians trouble you
at all.''"

They arrived at Castner's place in southeast Palo Alto
County on March 5, utterly worn with the struggle against
winds and snow, their oxen limping. The next day a severe
storm prevented departure and held them for several days.
Finally on the afternoon of Monday, March 16, they came
into the Lake Region. Their oxen got stuck in the snowdrift
three miles from their destination. They noticed no signs of
life in or about the five cabins, no smoke arising from chim-
neys, no stock animals in sight. They began to fear that some
untoward event had happened. They had been warned by
Major William Williams at Fort Dodge not to go forward,
for serious rumors of Sioux on the warpath had come to him.
But with the usual American assurance they thought the Fates
would protect them.

Leaving their oxen, they loaded a hand sled with bedding
and provisions and made their way to Joel Howe's cabin wliere
they had stayed in November preceding. They had not made
much progress before they felt certain that matters were not
right and when they reached the cabin no one of the family
appeared, and all was chaos, household utensils, clothing and
bedding being scattered in utter confusion.

Leaving Messrs. Parmenter and Snyder, Mr. Howe and
Robert Wheelock started for the Thatcher cabin about. a mile
away on the north. There they found matters worse and dis-
covered moccasin tracks. They needed no more evidence to
convince them that the settlement had been wiped out by the
Indians. Despite their weariness they decided the next morn-

140. C. Howe to Mrs. O. C. H., Boonsboro, Feb. 27, 1807.

170 ANNALS OF IOWA

ing to return to Fort Dodge at once to report the catastrophe
and confer with its citizens as to plans for relief and rescue
of any who might have escaped the ruthless foes/^

Their experiences during the next four weeks — their report
to Major Williams and the people of Fort Dodge, the organi-
zation of the Relief Expedition, and the frightful sufferings
endured by the three companies going and returning, in which
Mr. Howe and his partners suffered intolerably with their
companions in the expedition, I have set forth in considerable
detail in preceding pages.^®

In the awful perplexities and decisions Major Williams and
his men had to make, one of the members who lived to be one
of its historians, Mr. Rodney A. Smith, informs us :

Mr. Howe was a member of Company A, and it was on him more than
any other that Major Williams relied for information and advice; . . .
After the work of burying the dead had been completed ... he was
persistently in favor of returning by the same route they came up,
which was by the way of Emmet and Estherville. Had his advice been
heeded much suffering would have been avoided and two valuable lives
saved. He with six others, remained in camp during that terrific storm
which has since become historic, and then succeeded in reaching Fort
Dodge without suffering any particular inconvenience.*^

Mr. Howe endured sufferings, frozen feet and exhaustion
from exposure, during those four weeks of intermittent rain
and snow and incessant winds and blizzards, from which he
never fully recovered. The memories of the hideous wreck-
age and mutilated bodies of women and children he saw in
the cabins on the shores of the Okobojis, ever after haunted
his dreams. His daughters inform me that he never wanted
the subject mentioned in his presence in the family circle;
and it was with difficulty that he was persuaded to prepare
the memoir of his experiences with the Massacre for a reunion
at Spirit Lake in 1895 of some of the survivors of the Relief
Expedition which was published some fifteen years after
his death."

ISO. C. Howe to Mrs. O. C. II.. Fort Dodge, March 22, 1857.

16F. I. Herrlott, "The Aftermath of the Spirit Lake Massacre," Annals op
Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XVIIl, pp. 438-70.

viprov. la. 8t. Bar Ahmoc, Op. Vif., pp. 1)0-91 : Smith, Op. Cit., pp. 90-91.
(.'apt. .1. (\ .Johnson of Webster City and Wm. E. Buckholder of Fort Dodge
were the two men who lost their liv«'8, referred to l)y Mr. Smith.

iRMrs. E. F. (Evelyn H.) Porter, and Mrs. W. H. (Helen) H. Cooke to
F. I. Herrlott, Nov. 14, 1932, and Dec. 12, 1933, (M8S.).

ORLANDO C. HOWE 171

III

Mr. Howe always displayed marked determination and per-
sistence in pushing forward in any ordinary undertaking in
which he was interested. Notwithstanding the horrors of the
devastating catastrophe between the Okobojis that came near
to being fatal in his own case, Mr. Howe was not deterred
from going ahead with his plans. He returned to Newton
but he and his business associates were back at the Lakes in
the latter part of May, and by June they had selected a town
site which they called Spirit Lake and began the necessary
preliminary towards the organization of Dickinson County.*®
Mrs. Howe with their three-year-old daughter came on Aug-
ust 6, the first women to arrive after the Massacre.^°

At the election on the first Tuesday in August Mr. Howe was
elected county judge for a term of four years : and it was a
decided tribute to his reputation, and his ability and char-
acter. Under the Code of 1851 the county judge exercised
all of the legislative and administrative powers of the old
county commissioners, and since the late '60s, now performed
by the Board of Supervnsors. In the popular parlance of the
hustings they were dubbed **The County Kings.''"

But his official honors were not confined to his local baili-
wick. Under the act of the Seventh General Assembly (Chap-
ter 94) the Fourth Judicial District was created, comprising
twenty-two counties in northwest Iowa, approximately a
fourth of the state in area." The election of the judge and
district attorney occurred on the second Tuesday in October,
1858, and Asahel W. Hubbard of Sioux City was elected judge
and Orlando C. Howe of Spirit Lake, district attorney, each

if»Th<» oriKinal proprietors of Spirit Lake were O. C. Howe, B. F. Parmenter,
R. V. Wheelock, and George E. Spenter. Their plans were Interesting. They
selected a site that they thought could also serve as the "county seat" town.
Then they platted the town site which was "to bp held In common" for the
general use of the community. Thrreafter they were Individually to select their
claims on the adjacent or nearby tracts. — Smith, Op. Cit., p. 158.

-•osmith. Op. cit., p. 178.

^Uhid., pp. 169-70.

22The range of Judge Howe's circuit or district may l>est be realized by the
mfp' listing of the counties comprehended within the Fourth .Tudicial District,
beginning with the southermost counties and proceeding northward and east-
ward :

Harrison and Shelby, Monona and Crawford, Woodbury and Ida. Sac and
Buona Vista, Cherokee and IMymouth, Clay and O'Brien. Sioux and Buncombe
<now Lyon). Osceola and Dickinson, FTmmet and I*alo .\lto, Pocahontas and
Calhoun. Kossuth and Humboldt.

172 ANNALS OF IOWA

for a term of four years. Under the terms of Section 32,
Chapter 101, of the Acts of the Seventh General Assembly a
county judge was allowed to act as attorney for his county in
legal matters — and thus there was no inconsistency in his
holding the two oflSces simultaneously — ^the duties of county
judge at the outset did not call for much more than minis-
terial and administrative functions. Somewhat of the nature
and range of his duties while on circuit is suggested in the
following lines taken from Judge Wakefield's sketch for the
State Bar Association :

At that time the district embraced nearly one fourth of the area of
the entire state. His family remained at the Lakes while he travelled
the circuit. There were no railroads in this part of the state at that timei
and trips across the desolate prairie were not picnics. As prosecuting
attorney he was both successful and popular.^^

References to local events or persons in the weekly press of
northwestern Iowa, between 1858 and 1863, were both meagre
and infrequent. Mr. F. M. Zieback, editor of The Sioux City
Register of August 11, 1859, refers in favorable terms to Dis-
trict Attorney Howe, and he was not given to favorable com-
ment upon Republican oflSce-holders. During the summer
months of 1859 the people of Woodbury County were in a vio-
lent controversy over an alleged bogus issue of county war-
rants. The county records and seals had been seized and taken
into the country to parts unknown. Purchasers of the war-
rants were asking that they be honored and demanding a writ
of mandamus. Judge Test of Indiana argued the petition
and Mr. John A. Kasson of Des Moines resisted for the county.
The writ was denied, as was also an injunction. Proceedings
in (^uo warranto were pending and the contestants "next en-
deavored to dismiss the quo warranto from court . . . The
relator, John L. Campbell, was allowed to withdraw . . . but
our worthy District Attorney felt that the public interests
were deeply involved in the determination of the cause and
wisely insisted upon the right of the state to continue the
prosecution — which was conceded by the court •••••'' The
conclusion was a victory for the county and Mr. Zieback adds
** clearly proves that the people have some rights.^ ^

So far as the volumes of the decisions of Iowa's Supreme

i^Proc. la. 8t. Bar Assoc, Op, Cit,, p. 91.

OBLANDO C. HOWE 173

Court disclose no cases with which Judge Howe was ofScially
connected either as district attorney, or any of his acts as
county judge were appealed. This may mean either or both
of two things: first, that litigation, especially criminal prose-
cutions, was not numerous or serious ; and second, that he suc-
ceeded in securing decrees or rulings or verdicts that were
conclusive.

He was, as I have already shown in some detail, with his
business partners and others almost incessantly involved in
harrassing litigation with Dr. John S. Prescott and his parti-
sans over land and other transactions that kept the other-
wise law-abiding community at Spirit Lake in an uproar, at
one time producing an incipient civil war wherein ''the army
of occupation" aided one side in resisting a court injunction
which the sheriff was attempting to enforce. But in that bit-
ter controversy, he appears to have been throughout and in
the conclusion in the right."

The course of things for Judge Howe was again rudely dis-
turbed by the horrible outbreak of the Sioux between the
Yellow Medicine and the Blue Earth rivers in August, 1862,
the attack being conceived and carried forward by Little Crow
and Inkpaduta, each an outlaw chief of the Wahpakute band,
a catastrophe exceeding in its devastation of life any previous
or subsequent event in the long struggle of the Red Men with
the whites, and due largely, to the failure of the national
government to capture and punish Inkpaduta for his attack
upon the Spirit Lake settlement in March, 1857.^*

In the earlier part of 1861 Mrs. Howe records that she was
with her husband on circuit at Onawa, when the word came of
the attack on Port Sumpter. Judge Hubbard adjourned court
and they started on their journey to Spirit Lake. They en-
countered a number of young southern army oflBcers who had
resigned their commissions and were returning south to join
the Confederate Army. They told the Howes that they, the
settlers, would soon have enough to occupy their attention.

2<F. I. Ilrrrlott, "The Aftermath of the Spirit Lake Massacre," Annals op

Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XVIII, pp. 615-17.
26/6i<f., pp. 601-04.

174 ANNALS OF IOWA

namely, the threatening conduct of the Sioux, signs of their
malevolent purposes were increasing all round the horizon,
and that the settlers would have little time to deal with the
secessionists. Mrs. Howe records that a squad of soldiers
stationed at the Lakes while on a march were fired on by the
Indians a few days before they reached the Lakes. Those
soldiers appeared to have been national troops. The inter-
mittent forays of the Sioux on marauding expeditions kept
the pioneers in a constant state of dread, although outwardly
they assumed that there was no serious danger.^

Suddenly one day in August, probably between the 20th
and the 25th of August, 1862, Judge Howe rushed into his
home and shouted: **They are at it again!** and told Mrs.
Howe that Springfield in Jackson County, Minnesota, had
been destroyed by the Sioux, and that he was going with his
neighbors to ascertain what the actual facts were and what
measures were necessary for defense. Despite frantic appeals
to stay at home to avoid danger, Judge Howe again showed
the stern stuff of which his character was compounded by re-
sisting the plea of one he held dearest and hurrying forth into
the dark shadows of unpredictable dangers, realizing that the
best defense is a daring offensive, if but one knows the terrain
and the dangers therein.^^

The belligerent Sioux, although they spread terror far and
wide, and their attacks upon the settlements in southwestern
Minnesota came near, they did not reach Spirit Lake. But
its residents suffered all of the agonies and terrors of antici-
pation. Moreover, as Mrs. Howe s brief memoir reveals with
terrible particulars, the men saw some of the hideous work
of the Sioux, and Mrs. Howe came into painful but helpful
relations with one of the poor victims.^**

The general terror produced by the Sioux outbreak in 1862
was so disturbing that it constrained Judge Howe to decide
to leave Spirit Lake region, the peace of mind of his wife

2«Mr8. M. W. Howe, "A Memory of the Minnesota Indian Massacre," post.

Captain Wm. H. Ingham probably refers to those soldiers mentioned by Mrs.
Howe in his report to Gov. Samuel .T. Kirkwood in September, 1862, concerning
conditions on the northwestern frontier after the Sioux outbreak, and his
measures for defense, contained in his "The Iowa Northern Border Brigade 6t
18(J2-3," ANNALS OF Iowa (Third Series), Vol. V., p. 492.

27Mr8. Howe, Op. Cit.

ORLANDO C. HOWE 175

and relatives probably being the controlling consideration
¥nth him. He sold his holdings and returned to Newton,
Jasper County, in the spring of 1863.'^

He at once entered into active legal practice. It was not
long before he was again an influential factor in local politics.
He is reported to have attended the Republican State Con-
vention in Des Moines on July 17, 1863, convened to select their
candidate for governor. He had an important part in se-
curing the dramatic nomination of his old successful rival.
Judge William M. Stone, for governor by a sudden coup that
astounded Messrs. Pitz Henrj' Warren and Elijah Sells, the
two major candidates, by its unexpectedness and sweeping
success.

But neither the legal practice nor politics held first place
in Judge Howe's heart and mind that summer and fall. The
awful struggle the nation was waging with the seceding South-
em States and the call for more men in the ranks of the Union
Army controlled; and he finally decided that he should not
resist President Lincoln's call for more men. On June 4
Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood commissioned Judge Howe a
second lieutenant in the Eighth Iowa Cavalry and on the 5th
of June he was mustered in at Davenport. He was with that
regiment until November 30 when he was transferred to the
Ninth Iowa Cavalrj' as captain of Company L, Gov. Kirk-
wood issuing the commission.

The regiment rendezvoused at Camp Roberts near Daven-
port ; thence it was ordered to the famous Camp Jackson near
St. Louis; and thence to Jefferson Barracks where the regi-
ment underwent a course of training that brought it to a
state of discipline that won from General Davidson, chief of
the cavalry in the department, the commendation that the
Ninth Iowa Cavalry was **the best mounted regiment he had

wSmlth, Op. at., p. 259.

aopror. la. St. Bar Ansoc, Op. Cit., p. 91. Judge Wakefleld*8 sketch states
that Jiidse Howe was a memb» r of that "historic convention." If so he must
have beon an alternate, for bis name is not listed among the reported delegates
given In the Iowa State Rei^iHter July 18. 180H. Ills brother-in-law, B. F. Par-
menter. was a delegate from Dickinson County. Mr. K. .\. Smith gave Judge
Wakefield his data for his sketch and he could speak definitely from personal
knowledge gained from acquaintance with Messrs. Howe and Parmenter.

Letter of U. A. Smith to Mrs. O. C. Howe In Judge Howe's correspondence.

176 ANNALS OF IOWA

seen during his nineteen years of service as a cavalry officer
in the Regular Army. ' **^

In the forepart of 1864 the Ninth was engaged chiefly in
scouting and guard duty, among other diversions, chasing the
notorious Quantrell. In May it was ordered to proceed to De-
vairs Bluflf on the White River, about midway between Helena
on the Mississippi and Little Rock on the Arkansas River.
Captain Howe's letters home will be best appreciated if read
in the light of the following taken from a summary of Major
S. H. M. Byers' Iowa In War Times:

The Ninth Cavalry entered the service very late and was stationed in
Arkansas, where it remained till the close of the war without seeing a
battle. This regiment, nearly 1200 strong, was in fact one of the finest
commands in the Union forces. • * * During the whole service ... its
headquarters were at Devall's Bluff. * * * From this base in aU sorts
of weather, over the worst roads on the continent, and often miles and
miles of almost bottomless swamps, the Ninth Cavalry was forever mak-
ing scouts and little raids. To every point of the compass from Little
Bock, by day or by night, the command would be hurried off on some
fruitless expedition, some chase after bands that had just departed, or
to protect some point that had just been abandoned. * * •

It was a pity that this great, fine regiment of veteran soldiers and
competent officers should have to spend its energies in ways that produced
so little of results. * * * These movements were so monotonous . . .
as not to be sufficiently interesting in their history to repeat. The
command did the duty that lay before it, and did it well; more than
this can be said of no regiment.'^

At the outset the Ninth Cavalry seems to have given the
public an adverse impression of demoralization. Captain
Howe notes it candidly, and all through his letters one is struck
by his generous appraisal of oflBcers and men and of other
regiments when he refers to them. Thus, writing from Benton
Barracks (Feb. 15) :

. . . we are far from being a **pet" regiment. On the contrary we
are generally reported as ''demoralized,'' but this is entirely false as I
do not believe any Cavalry Begiment as new as this is in better disci-
pline, or better instructed.

I think the trouble is that some of the officers grumbled at what they
thought some swindling operations respecting our fuel & that you know

3iCol. George W. Crossley, '•Historical Sketch Ninth Regiment Iowa Volunteer
Cavalry," Hosier and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. IV, p. 1644.

aiJByt rs\ Op. Cit., pp. 29r)-96.

OBLANDO C. HOWE 177

will never do. Our colonel [M. M. Tnunboll] is a trump (if you know
what that is) (and a right bower too). There is not a man but what
likes him and though he will enforce discipline, he is kind to the men.

and again on April 14 :

By the way, I get along decently with the men and, though lenient
as the other officers say to a fault, yet we have a fair discipline & I con-
trol the company easily, while some have considerable difficulty. B. can
do nothing with them except through fear ft but little anyway & Moore
can only coax ft succeeds fairly for that way.

Writing from DevaH's Bluff under date of June 26 he gives

us a brief summary of his company's doings in pursuit of

Shelby after a wearisome march without results :

The men feel disappointed about the matter as they bore the march
in the hopes of a fight & . . . for one I am willing to wait my time ft
meanwhile do such duty as I am called on for. My company has had a
very hard time, having been scouting twelve days, but Company E has
been out ten days longer. I never faU to go when L. goes, & though
we have had no chance to get much glory, yet the bushwhackers have
learned that the '^Orey Horse Company" as they call us are not to be
trifled ifvith. On this last scout my men were recognized by that title.^^

Captain Howe might have quoted very appropriately those
telling lines of Milton

They also serve who only stand and wait.

His letters to Mrs. Howe from the southern camps, like those
written from Newton, Fort Dodge, and the Okobojis in 1856-
1857, were unadorned rhetoric, direct, simple, full of affection,
but without gush or sentimentality. He gave her glimpses
of the men in camp, and of the country into which their
marches took them, and infrequent comment upon brother of-
ficers— seldom adverse in character. There is no egotistical
assertion, or ostentatious display of personal virtues. There
is no petty complaining about the dull routine to which, day
after day, his men and regiment were subject. One sentence
in his letter of August 31, 1863, displays effectively his quiet
modesty of disposition, his honesty and sense of public obli-
gation, always disclosed in his private and public relations.
He was anxious to return home, and hoping for the days to
pass rapidly so that he could decently ask for a furlough.

Mjudjfe Howe*8 letters to Mrs. Howe from which the foregoing extracts have
been taken are given in subsequent sections.

178 ANNALS OF IOWA

Matters affecting Mrs. Howe's convenience and welfare were
urgent and distressed him. He was ill, more or less, to an
extent that would have lead many another to make it a justi-
fication for seeking such release from camp duties. But, he
says half regretfully, **My health is improving. It is doubt-
ful whether I am entitled to a furlough."

The letters of the men of his company to their home folks
in Newton and Prairie City or thereabouts evidently carried
back from the camp some favorable opinions of Capt. Howe's
treatment of his company. Some of them evidently came to the
ears of the anxious wife at home and she joyfully relayed
them in substance to her husband enduring the monotony of
camp life, the routine of drill and guard duty and fruitless
scouting forays. (July 23, 1863.)

In one letter, October 5, 1863, we may note clear signs of his
depleted nervous system and low level of strength. He had
heard that Mrs. Howe, disturbed by reports of his serious ill-
ness, had hastily started south to find his camp, and if she
could not take him back to Newton, then to care for him in
hospital or where found. He was frantic with anxiety at the
dread possibilities if she had imprudently started. The low
condition of the family finances, the dangers of such a long trip
under the conditions to her personally, and the almost certain
official antagonism to her coming into camp, or hospital, were
among the causes of his unhappy feelings. Happily he had
been misinformed.

At the outset his health was fairly good but in the hot sum-
mer months the lack of wholesome water and the miasma of
the swamps and low regions through which they marched and
anon camped, brought him low. It is a marvel the entire
troop was not laid low. For four to ^ve months he was suf-
fering intermittently from fever and dysentery which finally
confined him to the hospital. His condition not improving
he was discharged December 6, 1864. From the contents of
Mrs. Howe's last letter to him of December 5, 1864, he was
sent up the Mississippi and placed in the army hospital at
Davenport, in very serious condition.

How long he remained in Davenport, or the precise date of
Captain Howe's return to Newton cannot be stated; but in

OBLANDO C. HOWE 179

a letter written years later Mrs. Howe states that he was in a
very feeble condition physically and mentally. Pew of his
old comrades and neighbors expected him to live. The
daughters, sixty-nine years after, recalled gratefully the gen-
erous, unremitting consideration and help extended their
mother in her weeks of anxious care while waiting for his re-
turn to health by old friends and neighbors in Newton. To
their neighborly concern and aid was due in no small part
his final recovery of a fair degree of health, although he never
was a strong man again.^

The esteem in which their captain was held, and the affec-
tion of the members of Company L for him, which continued
green and constant throughout the intervening years were sig-
nalized definitely twenty-eight years after he left the ranks
on the occasion of the reunion of his old regiment in Des
Moines on August 26, 1892. Captain Howe on account of his
health could not make the journey from Medicine Lodge,
Kansas, where he was then residing, to Des Moines. About Sep-
tember 10 he received the following letter which he treasured
among his correspondence and papers.

Des Moines, Iowa, Sept. 8, 1892.
Capt. O. C. Howe,
Madison [Medicine] Lodge,
Kansas.

Dear Comrade:
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I have the honor to inform you
that we, the boys of Co. L, 9th Iowa Cav., at the reunion at Des Moines, la.,
Aug. 26, 1892, presented you with a cane as a slight token of the regard
and esteem with which you are ever held by us comrades.

Yours very resp.

Comrade J. G. Bain.

Des Moines, Iowa.
P. 8. I forward the cane by express to your address — please call at
the express office for it.

Your boy, James.

That letter and the token it accompanied are among **the
testimonies'* that as a Roman proverb has it, **are to be
weighed, not counted.*' They are seldom given pro forma:
they are the issue of good will and affection bom of comrade-

WMrs. E. H. Porter to F. I. Herrlott, Nov. 14, 1932.

180 ANNALS OF IOWA

ship in danger and trial. By no means the least interesting
bit of evidence of the fact here adverted to is the signature
of the writer of the letter of notification to the postscript —
**Your boy, James.'* James 6. Bain was the bugler of the
company : He was only fourteen years when he enlisted ; and
his admiration of and affection for his ** Captain," continued,
his widow informs me, warm and vigorous to the last. Such
shafts come out of the blue. They abolish gloom and make
one forget weary nerves and nagging worries.

Captain Howe was no sooner able to be out and go about
than he returned to the practice of law. On October 10, 1865,
he was elected county judge of Jasper County, his term ending
January 1, 1868. By the new law creating the Board of
Supervisors which displaced the county judge system inaugu-
rated by the Code of 1851, the ** County Bangs'* went out of
oflSce in 1866. Prom that date until the fall of 1875 Judge
Howe continued in the practice of law at Newton.

During his practice of law at Newton after the cessation
of his oflBce of county judge in 1866 Judge Howe seems to
have been an office lawyer, a counselor rather than a court
room advocate. We may infer this from the fact that he was
engaged in few of the cases appealed from the District
Court of Jasper County between 1866 and 1875 when he went
to Iowa City. In the three cases in which his name appears,
he was successful in two, securing affirmation, and suffering
reversal in the other.

In 1875 Judge Howe's ability and character as a lawyer
and judge received signal recognition. The regents of the State
University of Iowa asked him to be the resident professor of
law in the Law School, which chair he held until the close of
the spring term of 1880. Among his predecessors were Wil-
liam G. Hammond and William E. Miller. The law curricu-
lum at that time required but one year of residence of the
student as a prerequisite for graduation. Judge Howe's lec-
tures dealt with Common Law Pleading and Practice, Code and
Statutory Pleading, with Criminal Law, Municipal Law and
Equity Jurisprudence. Besides Chancellor Hammond, among
the lecturers were Judges Austin Adams, John P. Dillon and

OBLANDO C. HOWE 181

James M. Love, and John P. Duncombe and Lewis W. Boss,
who served during Judge Howe's stewardship.

Judge Howe did not have the prestige of Judges Dillon
and Love because of their distinguished career on the state
and federal benches, and he did not have the notable ability
of Chancellor Hammond in literary and didactic exposition.
But tradition and recollections indicate he was well versed
in the basic maxims and principles of the law, and his varied
experience as a public ofScial — as county judge of Dickinson
and Jasper counties, as district attorney of twenty-two counties
for four years, and in the Union Army — gave him a fund of
practical knowledge that always keeps an instructor's feet on
the ground and holds his mind's eye within the circuit of
common sense and the feasible.

Among Judge Howe's lectures (in MS.) to his law classes
various titles are suggestive. They fall under two general
heads:

1. On the Criminal Law, such as the ** History of the Crimi-
nal Law " ; * * Sorcery and Witchcraft in Criminal Law " ; * * Cor-
poral Punishment in the Schools"; and **The Lawyer's Re-
sponsibility in Criminal Cases." The latter given to the class
of 1877 was reprinted at the request of the class ;

2. On the lawyer's logical methods or procedure in arriving
at his conclusions, such as the use of **Descrimination," ** Ima-
gination," ** Perception and Observation."

They are clear-cut expositions, the argument and the narra-
tive varied with literary and historical allusions.

Judge Howe was hampered constantly by the impairment
of his health due to the harrowing experiences endured in his
connection with the Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expe-
dition of 1857 and his almost fatal illness in the Army. It left
him with a nervous system always near the point of unstable
equilibrium which could easily be disturbed. This latter
fact was but little appreciated by students who sometimes
witnessed his nervous tension in dealing with disturbing ques-
tions or with inquiries put for digressive purposes.

Some of the recollections of his stewardship are strikingly
shown in the following letter from one of his students, former

182 ANNALS OP IOWA

Governor George W. Clarke of Adel, a member of the class
of 1878 :

Judge Howe was a man of very pleasing personality, mild-mannered,
clear and earnest in the exposition of his subjects, interested in the stu-
dents, patient in answering their questions, however irrelevant and even
absurd they might now and then appear to be, careful never to in the
slightest degree, expose the want of point to the question or failure to
grasp the subject under consideration.

Judge Howe was competent, well-grounded in the subjects he taught,
clear in his exposition of them. I am sure that every student of his
classes has ever held him in most agreeable and happy memory as a
man, lawyer, teacher and friend.^

Judge Howe concluded his professorship at the Law School
of the University with the spring term of 1880. His decision
was due apparently to two serious considerations: compen-
sation for such instructional work was not extravagant, and
his financial needs were not easily met with the then author-
ized appropriations, and the general practice of his profes-
sion offered more attractive inducements; and his general
health, not good at any time, was adversely affected by the
continuous close confinement to the routine work of the school.

VII

In 1881 Judge Howe moved to Anthony, the county seat of
Harper County on the southern border of Kansas and en-
tered practice with James McFee. Two years later illness
caused a cessation of work and he moved to Medicine Lodge,
the county seat town of Barber County, adjacent on the west,
where he resided for the next sixteen years. Almost immedi-
ately he was accorded another demonstration of the impres-
sion made by his abilities and character upon associates and
the public. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Barber
County for the years 1885-86.^® Familiars with the precincts
and runways of politics know that party leaders and the
average voter are not thus giving honors for accidental or
mere sentimental reasons ; they discern and appreciate ability
and capacity for public service and they expect returns.

In two letters to Mr. Charles Aldrich, founder of the His-
torical Department, who had written asking for his recoUec-

35Hon. Geo. W. Clarke to F. I. Herriott, December 4, 1933.
8<3/lar6er County Index, August 30, 1899.

OBLANDO C. HOWE 183

tions of his experiences in eariy Iowa, Mr. Howe informed
him that he had not been able on account of illness to do any
work between August, 1895, and January, 1896; and that
it was usual for him to suffer a serious relapse of health in
the summer months of that decade." His illness in 1895 was
induced by efforts to prepare the address later mentioned, which
he could not deliver on account of precarious health.

In the months of August and September, 1899, Judge Howe's
physical condition became precarious. His nervous instability
became very alarming. It was in major part due to the weak-
ness of his age, for he had passed his three score and ten by
nearly five years. He was so ill that his physician and family
persuaded him that he could best secure rest for his unruly
nerves and much needed sleep in the quiet of a sanitarium.

A few days later, on August 17, he and his attendant
were standing in front of the railroad station at Topeka
awaiting the coming of their train when Judge Howe saw a
number of plains Indians in all of their barbaric regalia com-
ing towards him into the open area of the station. The sight
of them produced a violent shock to his then hypersensitive
mind and nerves.

Instantly there came rushing back before his mind's eye
the horrors of the Indian Massacre on the shores of the Oko-
bojis that he came upon in the darksome shadows of Monday
night of March 16, 1857. The memories of the hideous wreck-
age, of the mutilated bodies of the children, and women and
men stark and lifeless in the cabins, on the shores of Mde-Mini-
Wakan had ever been a terror of his sleeping and waking
hours; and their ruthless, sudden onset in the then enfeebled
condition of his body and mind produced a mental catastrophe.
His mental controls broke. Violent maniacal disorder took
possession of him. Although he was rushed to the sanitarium
and given the best of medical attention, within a week his life
went out and his harrassed and tired nerves and weary mind
ceased their troubling.^"* Verily, the sable sisters had dipped
their shears in **the blackest ink of Fate," before they cut
the threads of life for Orlando C. Howe.

870. C. Howe to Charles Aldrlch, August 17, 1895 : March 10, 1896. MSS in
Historical Department.

»Mr8. E. H. Porter to F. I. Uerrlott, November 14, 1932.

184 ANNALS OP IOWA

VIII

In conclusion it is neither pedantic nor ungracious to say
that Judge Orlando C. Howe, during his day and generation,
was not among those who strutted across the stage of life's
theatre in high-heeled cothurnus. His was not the role of the
great and mighty among jurists and statesmen, whose utter-
ances echo and reverberate in the corridors of time; nor was
he among the great and dominant leaders in life's vast battle-
fields. He did not leave any great signposts along the high-
ways, such as great legal arguments, or famous judicial rul-
ings, or erudite treatises in various fields of jurisprudence.
Nevertheless, Judge Howe was of the type of citizens who
make the bulwarks of a sound public order and on whom
strong states stand secure against the winds of disorder.

Within that most important circuit of life, his domestic
circle. Judge Howe was ever what the good citizen should
be. Concern for wife and children was always foremost
with him; he was considerate, constant and in all matters of
grave import, faithful and forsighted. With business asso-
ciates honesty and kindness stand forth. He accorded men
the fair presumptions of the law and was far from captious
or contentious; but when his rights were grossly infringed
he would be forthright and valiant in contending for them.

In times when danger and terror loomed near he was a
leader in attack and fearless and loyal to the last ounce of his
strength. Although he had suffered irretrievably in connec-
tion with the Indian outbreaks in 1857 and 1862, and might
have easily plead his age (almost 39 years) and depleted
health, he answered his country's call in 1863 and all but lost
his life.

His early letters indicate clearly that, while he hoped to suc-
ceed in the practice of the law, he was alert, and almost aggres-
sive in his interest in business ventures and real estate in-
vestments. He might have reaped substantial returns, for his
eye was keen and correct in discerning profitable fields for
speculation. But his success in such ventures was sadly
thwarted by catastrophes — Indian massacres and Civil War —
which were in no way predictable by the ordinary citizen
within the common reckonings of business. The disturbances

OBLANDO C. HOWE 185

of his health level probably lessened his powers of steady per-
sistence in appUcation and concentration in carrying through
plans and coercing the many various elements that must be
focused in achieving success in the struggles in the commercial
world.

In all of his letters, running over the ten years within
which most of them were written, one can find no disagreeable
or ugly lines. He is active and earnest and insistant, often,
in pushing matters; but the forked tongue of envy or jealousy
or suspicion nowhere displays itself. Further, all of his let-
ters are characterized by a simple rhetoric, plain, direct state-
ment, with no effort at striking effects or attempts to impress
the reader with his literary gymnastics. Here and there one
encounters a reference that indicates his fnmiliarity with the
elas.sics, or with the current literature of polite circles; but
there are no ostentatious exhibits.

Judge Howe, had he not been distracted by exacting busi-
ness cares and ill health, might have succeeded in a literary
career. He had an effective style, concise, lucid, straightfor-
ward. In his law and literary lectures he shows a familiarity
with and draws on his wide reading in history and the classical
and best English literature. His scholastic interests were early
appreciated as indicated by the fact that he was elected a
member of the State Historical Society at Iowa City on De-
cember 7, 1858. His certificate of membership is signed by
Dr. M. B. Cochron, Corresponding Secretary, and are among
the papers which he preserved.

His interest in life and history, and in the law was phili-
sophical, as may be seen in his MS lectures on ** Progress,"
on **The course of Civilization," on ** Liberty," on "Puritans
and Puritanism. ' ' His account of the * * Discovery of the Spirit
Lake Massacre" which he prepared to deliver at the dedica-
tion of the monument to the victims of the Spirit Lake Mas-
sacre and commemorating the heroism of the members of the
Relief Expedition in July, 1895, is a stirring, vivid narra-
tive, as may be seen in preceding pages of the Annals.'^

Judge Howe was a man who easily won and held the confi-
dence of his companions and fellow citizens, and to whom
they readily committed grave trusts. Otherwise, it is diffi-

s»ANNAL8 OP Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XI, pp. 408-24.

186 ANNALS OF IOWA

cult to account for his frequent elevation to oflSces of high im-
port almost instantly after his appearance within the commu-
nity by associates and neighbors, in one case before he had
attained the necessary legal status prerequisite to election;
and each time the office to which he was elected was not a
petty nor a minor office but one of major public concern and
high in public esteem. We may concur with Aristotle that
**it is man's nature which makes him trustworthy, not wealth/*

[To be continued]

TROOPS AT THE COUNCIL BLUFFS'

(Extract from a Ic'tcr from Council Bluffs, June 24, 1820.)

I am glad the fact authorizes me to state that the troops at
this post are restored to perfect health. There are not in both
corps thirty men on the sick report, nor is there a single case
of serious indisposition.

The diseases with which the men were affiicted last winter
may be attributed to several causes. My opinion is that the
most prominent ones were unavoidable fatigues and exposures
in ascending the river during summer and autumn, heave labor
in constructing barracks, and being quartered in green, damp
rooms, and the intense cold of last winter. No sooner did the
spring open and the earliest vegetables come, than the bowed
down patient shook off his loathsome visitor, stood erect and
was able to speed his course \^4th the rapidity of the noble
stream that fertilizes this garden of the western world.

The great and universal rise of the Missouri has driven us
from our winter position. Almost the whole of the bottom
lands are inundated. The flood is greater than is recollected
by the oldest Indian. The Platte is also in flood, and we
tremble for Boon's Lick settlements and all the lower country.
Our earliest planted gardens and a field of 60 acres of com
are deluged. Our prospects are not, however, much blighted
as our late planted gardens, 200 acres of corn, 100 in beans,
and 30 of potatoes exhibit the most promising appearance. —
Boston Weekly Magazijie, Boston, Mass., Aug. 24, 1820. (In
the Newspaper Division of the Historical, Memorial and Art
Department of Iowa.)

iThls is the original Council Bluffs, located on the west bank of the Missouri
Uivt r some ten miles north of the present city of Omaha. It was later called
Fort Calhoun. — Editor of Annals.

THE KNOW NOTHING PARTY IN DBS MOINES

COUNTY

By L. 0. Leonard

At the request of his children Professor Nathan R. Leonard,
for many years head of the Department of Mathematics and
Astronomy in the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, in
1908 wrote a brief sketch of his early life in Des Moines
County, Iowa, and some of his experiences while teaching in
Yellow Springs College, at Kossuth.

In this sketch is an account of the founding of the Know
Nothing political party in Des Moines County. As this ac-
count may prove to be a bit of interesting political history of
those early dayE it is sent to you for such disposition as you
may wish to give it. It reads :

* * In politics my father and all his people were Whigs. About
1850 the slavery question created serious divisions in this
party. Father was somewhat conservative, but grandfather
and Uncle Aaron openly espoused the ideas of the progressive
leaders of the day. Father was surreptitiously, I may say,
captured about the year 1854, by the Know Nothing party,
a capture for which I was partly responsible.

** Without his knowledge, or grandfather's I had joined the
new party which was then strictly a secret organization. Hav-
ing a retentive memory, it was but a short time until I knew
by heart the ritual of the order, the tedious and grandiloquent
formularies for the initiation and instruction of members, and
all the rest of it, and was made a sort of factotum for the or-
ganization in that part of the country.

** Plans were soon set on foot for a growth which would
sweep our whole community into the new party. In ways too
tedious to mention we got a man who stood well in the esteem
of such as my father, father-in-law, and others in the com-
munity who thought they were themselves the leaders of the
public sentiment, and had these agents of ours interview them
cautiously and ply them with the stock arguments of the day
in favor of the new party or society.

188 ANNALS OF IOWA

''More easily than we had expected, they were won over,
and agreed to become members of the party if, when properly
enlightened, they considered it the right thing to do.

* * I remember well their initiation. It took place in the old
brick Academy building which is still standing at Kossuth.
The candidates were admitted into a little entry room. There
was a large class of them, as many as the room would hold by
close packing. Father, father-in-law and other leading men
were amongst them. After waiting a suitable length of time
the factotum appeared, attended by a young man to hold a
candle for him. You can imagine how those grave old men
looked when they saw that young chap appear in that role.
However they felt, they maintained a sort of quizzical silence
as they were gravely advised as to some of the leading princi-
ples of the order, but none of its secrets. They were then
told that if with this presentation of outlines they still de-
sired initiation the formal ceremony would proceed in the ad-
joining room. If not they were at liberty to retire and keep
to themselves, as in honor bound, all that had thus far been
divulged to them.

* * It was a critical moment. At first it seemed possible that
they would rise up in rebellion, but the situation had some
philosophical as well as comical features, and they finally con-
cluded that they were in for it whatever it was, and bowed in
acquiescence to the solemn exhortation to prove themselves
worthy to be countrymen of Washington and the immortiil
heroes of the Revolution. So they were taken in.

**At the next election, men nominated in secret councils of
the party, and not publicly proclaimed as candidates, were
triumphantly elected, making a clean sweep of the county.

* ' That victory was an astonishment to the outsiders. Grand-
father was not in the secret, and was the implacable enemy
of secret societies, but he never said a word to me about it.
He was wise enough to see what it would lead to, and was
satisfied.

**What transpired in our county was transpiring every-
where. The new party grew like Jonah's gourd, but it was
formed of such incongruous materials that its continued ex-
istence was impossible.

WILLIAM SAVAGE,
Iowa Pioneer, Diarist, and Painter op Birds

[Continued from the October, 1933, number]

October 26, 1868. Cut out Dr. Allen's cloak and sewed on it, and
packed wood.

£7tK Finished said cloak and worked on my pants. Bain.

tStK Pack wood and went to Cap 's and got some molasses, and went
to the timber and chopped a load of wood.

29th, Went to Hillsboro. Took Dr. Allen's cloak. L. and B. Wells
came here and changed chickens.

SOth, Went to mill and had Bennett's team to haul a load of wood,
and hunting. Bain every day this week.

Slst, Sunday. Chopped said load of wood and went to Salem.

November 1, 1868. Sewed some for Dr. Siveter (30 cts.) and S. and D.
and I went to Frazier's sorghum works.

2nd. Sam S. and I went to Dr. Shriner's and to Steadman's cutlery.

Srd, Sewing all day for Dr. Siveter (75 cts.).

4th. Went from there to Uncle William's and helped lay cellar floor
with stone.

6th. Underpinned Uncle 's house with rock, and we killed two hogs.

6th. John and I hunted. I kill one prairie chicken and come home.
Bain all this week.

7 th. Sunday, hunting cow bell the cow lost on the 2nd. No find.
Cleaned clock.

8th, Hunted bell and found it in brush fence. Put clock together and
husked some corn.

9th. Shelled corn and hunted Bennett's horses and went to mill. Tom
Siveter came here. First snow fell today.

10th. Hunting and Tom went home in evening.

11th. Went to mill, got my meal and commenced making Dr. S's pants.

12th. Help Wells undress two sheep some dogs killed early in the
morning, then helped Cap kill a fat cow, and went back to Wells's and
set trap.

ISth. Went to Wells's and hunted till noon. Came home and sewed
on Dr.'s pants.

14th. Sunday, snow an inch deep. Foddered cow second time this fall.

16th. Went around Stanley's and Weaver's field to Wells's.

16th. Sewing on Dr.'s pants.

17th. Finished said pants and made a shot pouch for David Siveter
out of my coon skin, and went to Wells's and to Cap's after Anna.

18th, Harry Brothers and I ground our axes at Gill's, cut out my vest
and went hunting.

190 ANNALS OP IOWA

19th. Cut two coats for Jack and Jim Bennett and cut some wood.
A. Bennett hauled it.

^'Oth. Work on sehaolhouse free gratis.

Slst. Sunday, paint a bird I killed four weeks ago.

£Snd. Shelled some corn and took it to mill. Went to McCreadie's
and to Sigler's field, and to Bennett's after Anna.

£3rd, P. W. Bennett and I went to creek to get some peg timber,
then he and I went to making shoes for his wife and girls.

£4th. At the same.

£5th. One half day at the same and a half day hunting hogs and
mending Mr. Loomis' coat.

£6th. Husking corn for said Loomis. Took a bushel basket for pay.

I^th. Rain all day. Finished said coat and kill a hog, weighed 71^.

esth. Sunday.

S9th. Went to Wells's, dug up some small peach trees he gave me,
then I went to mill.

30th, Chopped and split rails for self.

December 1, 1858. Cord bed. Put handle in ax, shelled com and
went to mill.

2nd. Went to Salem and took Dr.'s pants and Dave's pouch. Stayed
there all night. It snowed deep.

3rd. Went to Uncle William's, ate dinner, and came home by two
bridges.
• 4th. Chopped wood.

5th. Sunday, went to Brothers'.

6th. Help O. M. Wells kill a beef and three hogs.

7 th. Very cold. Fix my shoe and get some wood.

8th. Went to Josiah Bailey's. He paid me 30 cents for cutting a
coat. Came home and shelled some corn.

9th. Took corn to mill and went to chop wood for self. I eat mj
left foot badly on big joint of small toe.

10th. Feed and cut wood.

11th. Shot two hogs for P. W. Bennett and he packed my wood.

12th. Sunday, David Siveter came here and brought pair of psnli
for me to make. L. and R. Wells came and we went to the ereel^
they to skate.

ISth. Help O. M. Wells kill six hogs, then came home and cut ost
Dave's pants.

14th. Making Dave's pants.

15 th. Had Cap Killebrew hauling wood and rails all day. He and
I settled accounts even.

16th. In morning, help P. W. Bennett fix his boots. In evening,
finished said pants.

17th. Kill a pig. Work on my vest and fix my shoe. Samuel Siveter
came here.

18th. I fix the wadding in Sam's coat. Put my shoe on cut foot
first time.

WILLIAM SAVAGE

191

19th. 8nnda7, painting on cardinal grorabeak I caught in Bteel trap
in my Geld.

iOth. Hunted np the cattle and then went to Conley'B and bought
bottle of liniment, 25 ct8. From there, up ou prairie hunting. Bain and
snoir. Kill a pouum.

Hist. Commenced making Walter's eled. Uncle William and eau«in
John came with cattle to haul me iome wood. Hauled one load and
broke their sled roller. Then we commenced making a new tongue and
roller. Finished it in morning.

Sind. I mended boots and shoes while the; hanled wood and rails.

SSrd, They went home. I mended Tom's boots and Aunt Mary's

mh. Shelled corn and took it to mill. Mend one shoe and got wood,
esth. Chriatmaa. Went to Uncle William's. Took his boots and
ghooa. John and I hunted and I soled two boots.
S6th. Sundaj, staved at Uncle William's.
S7lh, Came home and split some rails at home.

Uulnt-s here to look ■

n<1 Mp. AlrtrU'h from
'Sge DIsrf, July 15. :

192 ANNALS OF IOWA

gSih, Ck>minenced building fence around feed lot, and worked in
house.

g9th. Went to Wells's. Leonidas and I strapped his skates. Stayed
there all day. Got 5% lbs. tallow. Saw two wild geese fly south and
turn east. Rained at night.

SOth. Snowed finely. I made Walter's sled, and dog bell collar.

Slsi. A. C. Bennett and I went deer hunting. We each wounded
a deer and lost them.

January 1, 1859. A. C. Bennett, Tom and I hunted. Killed nothing.

Snd, Sunday, Tom went home. He took Bounce dog with him. I
went a piece with him.

Srd, Help A. C. Bennett kill a hog, and I shelled com.

4th. Took com to mill, and Anna and I killed two hogs.

5th. Cut up hogs, and fetched home my meal. Killed an opossum.

6th. Too cold to do anything but feed and make fire.

■

7th. The same.

8th. Work on L. Wells's wammus.^

9th. Sunday, H. Sneath and his wife here (to protracted meeting).

10th. Helped Bennett kill hogs.

11th. Killed two more hogs for Bennett and two for self.

l£th. A. C. Bennett and I went to Rome with said hogs. I sold two
for $5.25.

13th. Commenced making last.

14th. Finished last and fixed one shoe and commenced the other.

15th. Finished my shoes and got up some wood.

16th. Sunday.

17th. Went to Wells's and told liim about the taxes, and from thenco
to Weaver's. They not at home. Got up some wood and then went
to Uncle William's and stayed all night.

18th. Went to Salem and paid my interest all up to Dr. Siveter.
Sewed some for the Dr.

19th. Sewed some and went back to Uncle William's and stayed all
night.

SOth. Came home and got some wood.

SUt. Very cold. I shelled corn. G. and W. Watson took it to mill
for me, and waited and got it ground.

SSnd. Intense cold. Chopped and split eighteen rails and poles and
some wood.

SSrd. Sunday.

S4th. Threshed my buckwheat.

S5th. Cut brush and cut out Walter 's pants.

S6th. Mend shoes at Bennett's half the day, then cut out Walter's
coat.

S7th. Fixed to go to Kcosauqua. Rained so hard we did not go.
I tracked a mink from my field to Wells's pasture and lost it on ac-
count the light snow and rain. Then sewed on said coat.

iWammus, an undercoat or Jacket, usually with a short skirt

WILLIAM SAVAGE 193

S8th, Went to Wells's and gave him money to pay my taxes. Then
eat out Dr. Siveter's vest.

e9th. Cut off brush in field.

SOth, Sunday.

Slst. Cut brush and went to creek bottom and set two steel traps.

February 1, 1859. Went to traps, and shelled corn and to mill.
Finished Walter's coat.

2nd. Anna and I and the two boys went to Uncle William's. Left
them there and I came back the same day.

Srd. Had a very bad cold. Sewed some on Dr. Siveter's vest and
helped Harny Brothers kill some woods chickens.^

4th. Very cold. To trap, and stayed to Bennett's most of the time.

5th. Cold. Fed cattle and went to Bennett's.

6th. Sunday, to trap. Had a large mink in steel trap.

7th. Went to Uncle William's after Anna. Thawed and was very
muddy.

8ih. Stayed at Uncle William's. Snowed.

9th. Very cold, but we started and came home. Crossed at Warner
ford and Carter bottom cutoff.

10th. Went to mill and got some meal. Sewed some.

11th. Sewing, and to the trap.

12th. To Bennett's, and pack wood.

ISth. Sunday. Harny Brothers and wife came here.

14th. P. W. Bennett and I went to Bonaparte. I bought a sack of
salt, $1.60.

15th. To trap. Kill a possum, sliell corn and went to mill.

ISth. Got wood, sewed, went to trap.

17th. Finished Dr. Siveter's vest and got wood. Went to mill.
Got my mail.

18th. Saw first wild geese. Went to Salem with Dr. 's vest. Heard
blue birds. Stayed all night.

19th. Went to Uncle William's and stayed that night.

SOth. Sunday. Came home. John S. was here.

21st. Mend John 's and Thomas ' boots, and went part way home with
John and saw wild ducks. Anna sold mink skin, 75 cents.

22nd. Anna and I went to Sneath's. I stayed till noon, then went
by creek and got my traps.

23rd. Mend my pants, split some rails south side of field, and set
my traps below Sigler's mill.

24th. To trap and to Sneath's after Anna. While there it snowed
so hard she could not come home. I came home.

25th. I started for Weaver's. Lem B. said he was not at home.
I stayed there most of the day.

JfDomostlc chickens frequently take to the woods. — J. A. S. (This and subse-
quent notes thus initialed is by .Tohn Albert Savage, born September 17. 18r»8,
To William, the diarist, and Anna, his wife. See ante for that date, Annals,
XIX, p. 112. Any other footnotes are by B. R. Harlan, unless by neither of
these, when they will be accredited to the source by name. — E. R. Harlan.)

194 ANNALS OF IOWA

£6th. Mending my shoes.

S7th, Sunday. Sneath brought Anna with his and Jim's wives on
his ox sled on their way to meeting.

S8th, Shell eorn and took it to mill, and to trap.

March 1, 1869, Bainy. Went on prairie chicken hunting and killed
one. Saw meadow larks. Went to mill and got my com meaL Bennett
and I went over the creek and got some grass.

gnd. To trap and Samuel Siveter came here and we went to miU.
Then I fixed his coat.

Srd, To trap and shelled com. H. Giberson came and told me May-
berry Killebrew was very sick. Anna and I went there. He was dead.
Died about noon. I went to Hillsboro for them. We stayed all night.

4th, Came home and fed and went back and stayed all that day.

5th. Mayberry buried at the Spencer graveyard. I drove Captain's
team. Roads very muddy. Cap and family went to William Morris'
and we stayed at Cap's house till Sunday evening when they came home.

?th. Heavy rain. Went to creek and got my steel trap. Was afraid
the creek would rise over it as it did over my two-springed ones, which
are five feet under water. Put a back in Dr. Allen's doak.

8th, Went to Sneath 's for milk and to bottom and to trap. Caught
a mink in deadfall.'

9th, To trap and chop some poles for rails.

10th, To trap. Shot first duck this spring. Shot prairie chicken
and a fox squirrel, and chopped poles.

11th, To trap. Got wood and went to Wells's and got my receipt
Took Dr. Allen's cloak for him to take to Hillsboro.

ISth, Trap caught a possum. Went to mill, and to Loomis'. Got a
small basket for fixing his coat. Mrs. McCreadie paid me $1.00 cash.
Tom Savage came here. I shelled some com and we took it to mill
and got it ground.

ISth, Sunday, to trap. A possum in deadfaU. I shot three ducks.

14th, Trap, and went home with Thomas. Stayed all night.

tSth, Went to William Deacon's to get some black, white, and red
current and gooseberry slips, then back to Uncle WiUiam's and helped
fix the well and put a curb on. Stayed all night.

t6th. Csme home and set out said slips.

17th, To trap and got my large trap by taking off one spring and
letting the chain remain in creek. Rained and finally turned to snow-
ing furiously, and a very cold wind.

ISth, H. Sneath came with his cattle and took a sack of com to mill
for me. He and I ground my ax, and got our com ground.

19th. Went to Csp's and to Wells's and to Sneath 's for milk. Wrote
a letter for Mrs. Sneath.

*!>/*. Sundav.

^l*t. Chopping brush for H. Sneath for one bushel seed com.

^A trap, met commonly with figure four tri<s<Nv so ricfed under a log that
falling. It crushes th« animal.

WiLLUk dAVAGfi 19S

Sgnd, For the same, he agrees to come and plow my field after he
has done his own.

fSrd, The same.

£4th. Husk my corn and built part of the fenee on south side of
the field.

gSth. Also next day grubbing for Sneath as before stated.

^th, Sunday. Kill two ducks.

!^8th. Cut pair pants for A. C. Bennett, fixed shoes and sewed in
house. Stormy.

B9th, Oot woody and went to Sneath 's. They not at home. Went
to Gill's shop. Found Sneath there. Told him I took my sack to his
house.

SOth. Went again to Sneath 's and picked out my seed com. Oot wood.

Slst, Went to Uncle William's and from there to Salem. Stayed all
night at Dr. Siveter's.

AprU 1, 1869, Back to Uncle William's and fixed Tom's boot, and
then home.

gnd. Got wood and sewed some, and moved the stove. John Savage
came and I fixed his boot and went fishing, first time this spring.
Caught two suckers.

Srd, Sunday. Kill one duck.

4th, Chopping poles and shelled corn and went to mill twice.

5th, Chopped poles, and cut out a coat for Hen Hopper.

€th. Splitting rails and dykes [or stakes. — J. A. S.] for O. M. Wells,
50 cts. per day. Same next day.

8th, Liem Bennett cut brush for me to pay for Arthur's pants, and
I hunted in the evening.

9th. Piled brush, and went to HiUsboro and to Wells's.

10th, Sunday. Fixed my boot.

11th, Cut out a coat for L. McGee. P. M., work for O. M. Wells
chopping.

l^h. For the same in the stoop and making garden fence.

ISth, The same.

14th, At home. Shelled com and went to mill. Caught a good mess
of fish.

16th, Got wood and went to Wells 's. Stayed there chatting till after-
noon. Bought S% lbs. soap of him. Chopped south side.

16th, I went to Uncle William's. Shot one duck and one turkey
going.

17th. Sunday. Came home in evening and John with me.

18ih, I mended a pair of boots for Uncle William. John went duck
hunting. Kill two. C. Giberson sent for Anna, his wife being sick.
I work on fence.

19th. Went to Hillsboro, bought one gallon molasses, 60 cts. P.M.,
worked on south fence.

SOth, Not well. Burnt some brush in field.

196 ANNALS OF IOWA

SSrd, Cut poles and commenced making garden. Sowed parsnips,
beets, carrots and lettuce.

g4th, Sunday. Kill two ducks.

B5th. Cut brush, work on fence, and sowed grass seed.

g€th. Fishing, came a tremendous hail, rain, thunder and lightning
storm.

27th, Shell corn and put it aloft.

B8th, Work on fence. Thomas Savage came here and we went
fishing.

' SSth, Rainj. Fishing.
>. SOth, Finished said fence, and Tom and I went fishing with Cap.

May If 1859, Sunday. Tom went home.
: ind. Fishing for Solomon Gill to partly pay him for making a hoe
for me. Went in creek with Frazier's Co. seining. We caught thirty.
Then work on fence.

Srd, Cut poles, shelled corn and went to mill. Caught eight fish,
sold them for 10 cts.

4th, Went to McCreadie's, bought 7 lbs. pork. Went to Gill's with
Jonathan Hoskins and got my hoe. Then worked on fence north.

5th, Making garden and fishing.

6th, Finished fence round shed yard.

7th, A. M. on fence. P. M., rainy, and fished.

8th, Sunday. We went to Carter bottom and dug flower roots, and
I caught a good mess of fish.

9th, Fixed brush fence around pasture and work on pole fence.

10th, Burnt brush in yard and went to Sneath's to see how they
prospered with their work. Set in there and helped plant Jim's corn and
mark out Sneath's.

nth. Worked for Sneath.

Uith, I carried our harrow to Sneath's for 25 cts. P. M., worked
for Sneath.

ISth, Worked for Sneath. Finished his old corn ground.

14th, Sneath came here with team and commenced plowing my
ground.

15th, Sunday. Rain at night.

ISth, Fix my boot, shelled corn and made hoe handle.

17th, Sneath came and tried plowing. It was too wet and we quit.

18th, Also 19th, plowing.

SOth, Commenced marking out my ground.

2l8t, Finished marking out and I commenced planting.

SSnd, Sunday. Pile preached here.

2Srd, Sneath and I planting my corn.

24th, Rainy, but we finished planting my corn and went and chopped
and split rails for Sneath.

26th, At the same.

2Sth. Rainy. Got most of my corn in the house.

27th, Making rails.

WILLIAM SAVAGE X97

S8th. Cotting and burning brush for Sneath.

t9th. Sunday. Aunt Hannah died.

SOth. Bain. Went to mill, got some corn ground, and caught fish.
Made a bar and cut out Anna's shoes. Set out cabbage and tomato
plants.

SUt. Plant beans, dug a piece of ground and plant 14 potatoes Tom
bought.

June 1, 1859, Old cow had heifer calf, Birdie. I helped O. M. Wells
plant corn.

gnd. Also the 3rd and 4th, Planting, hoeing and fencing for Wells.

5th. Sunday.

6th. Cut poles and went to mill.

7 th. Picked my corn with a fork and replant. It was covered too
deep. Sam Siveter just called here. Rainy.

8th. Forking my com.

9th. Finished my corn. Fix brush fence, east P. M. cut poles.

10th. Work on road south of Andrew Simon's.

11th, Work on road.

IBth. Sunday. Went in creek swimming first time.

ISth. Bain. Shelled com and went to mill and got it ground. Went
to S. Gill's and had fire shovel fixed and two [h] arrow spikes, and
chopped sprouts and gave him some six-weeks [seed] corn for pay.

14th. Had P. W. Bennett plowing my new ground. I fetched the
harrow from Cap's and we harrowed and marked it out. I planted a
few rows. At night came a terrible storm.

15th. Cut out a coat for George Stanley, mowed weeds and set out
tobacco plants. I went to Cap's.

16th. Went to Cap's with Anna and then fixed brush fence. Cut
some poles. Baiuy.

17 th. Got wood, then went to Salem. Stayed all night.

18th. Traded some in town and went to Uncle William's. Bainy.
We boys went fishing.

19th. Sunday. Bought 125 sweet potato sets. Brought a coat to
make for Dr. Siveter.

SOth. Set out sweet potatoes and cut out Dr. 's coat and planted corn.

Slst. Went to Bonaparte with Cap, sold feathers (duck and chicken)
for $2.25 and bought six yards of cottonade and thread and two pairs
of shoes for $3.00. Caught a few fish.

£Snd. Finished planting my new piece of corn and went to mill.
Caught a good mess of fish and sewed on Dr. 's coat.

SSrd. Had Cap's mare and plowed corn.

S4th. The same. Bainy. P.M., went to Gill's shop and got ring
and plow fixed.

S5th. Finished Dr. 's coat.

26th. Sunday. Went to Salem with said cojE^t.

i7th. Sewing for Dr. and carnQjipme^jin; ^fining.
28th. Worked on pole fence and. liped my 09;go sojn^..

198 ANNALS OF IOWA

t9th, Bainy. Worked on my pants. Qot all my com in house.

30th, Hog got in field. Mend my pants and went to mill, and hoed
com.

July If 1869, Hoe com and garden.

tnd, Bainy. Finished my bine pants. Thomas Savage came here.

Srd, Thomas and I went to Wells's and then to the creek.

4ih, Tom fished homewards and I hoed sorgo for old Cap.

Sih, Hoed my sorgo and com.

7ih, Had Cap's mare to plow com.

Sih, Plowed part of day. Not well. Anna took mare home.

9th, Went to mill with Bennett's mare. Canght some fish. Went
to Wells's and to Sneath's. Got some sage to dry.

lOih, Sunday. We all went down to the ereek.

llihf also the 12th, hoed com.

14th, Bainy. Hoed some and helped Bennett kill a sheep.

ISthf also 16thy harvesting for Wells. Hottest days.

17th, Sunday. Hunting some.

18th, Worked for Wells % day and then hoed corn at home. A
heavy storm at night blew my com down badly.

19th, Went with Wayne Watson to cut a bee tree on Bock Creek.
He had a bucket full of honey. I hunted the rest of the day.

tOthf also 21st and 22nd, mowing, haying and stacking for O. M. Wells.

tSrd, Haying and hoeing for O. M. Wells, all for 75 cts. per day.

tdth, Sunday. H. Brothers and wife here.

eSth, Haying for O. M. Wells.

teth. Went to Salem, and from there to Uncle William 's after a letter
from Sarah Merritt.

g7th, also 28th, and half of 29th haying for Wells, other half of 29th
hoeing at home.

SOth, Bainy. Fix my boots and pants.

SUt, Sunday.

August 1, 1869, Shelled com, went to mill and hoed com at home.

tnd. Hoed in my new piece of corn. Bain at night.

Srd, Thomas Lefevere died. Bain. Cut out and sewed on Dr. Siveter's
pants. David Siveter came here.

4th. He and I went to Scrabble Point turkey hunting. I killed my
first one this season.

6th, Cut poles.

6th, Finished hoeing my new piece of corn.

7th, Sunday. Bee hunting.

8thj also the 9th. Stacking wheat at Wells's.

lOih, Stacked hay for Wells a half day, the other half cut out
Leonidas' coat.

llthf also 12th, sewing on same.

ISth, Finished it, and cut out vest and sewed on Bufus Wells's coat.

14th. Sunday. Bee hunting. Found two trees. One I mark W. H.,
the [first] I had the pleasure of marking.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 199

ISih. Mowing for Bneath.

16th, One half day for same, other half sewed, went to creek bottom,
and made a bee hive.

17 th. Wells, L. B. and I went and cut my bee tree. Had about 50 lbs.
of honey. Hived the bees. Game home and Anna and I and the boys
went to Bneath 's. They stayed all night and I came home.

18th. We went to Salem with Sneath and his family. On the road
going the oxen broke the fore azletree. We rigged up with a pole and
went to town and he had a new one made, $2.50. I bought a sack of flour,
$2.85; Anna, dress, $1.12 V^. I came home with Sneath and Anna stayed
in Salem.

19th. Sewing.

SOth. Sewed on two coats and went to mill. L. Wells came and
stayed all night here.

Slut. Sunday. He and I went bee hunting. I found two, and he one.

iBnd. We went and cut said trees. Of my first, 60 lbs. ; L. Wells, 20 ;
my next, 8. The one who found the tree had the bees.

iSrd. Divided our honey, and I cut brush and made fence.

Sdth. Cut poles and made fence.

SSth. The same. Thomas Savage came here.

iSth. Tom and I went down the branch to pick grapes. Watch treed
some turkeys. I went to the house, got my gun and shot one turkey and
one partridge. P. M., we picked some grapes.

t7th. Very rainy, so that we could not go to camp meeting.

S8th. Sunday. Tom and I went to Uncle William's and from there
to camp meeting. I stayed at Dr. Siveter's all night.

!t9th. To camp meeting. Then David Siveter took Anna and the boys
to camp ground and we rode home with Cap Killebrew.

SOth. In A. M. I chopped brush and in P. M. Sam'l Siveter came.
He and I went to Scrabble Point and stayed all night at Mr. James's.
Had supper and breakfast. Sam paid 50 cts.

Slst, Then went to George Sears 's. Sam brought home a cow they
lent him. Sears going to Ohio next day. Afternoon I cut poles and wood
and went to Cap's.

September 1, 1859, Help Cap mow and stack part of his Hungarian
grass in return for his mare.

2nd, Finished Dr. Siveter 's pants. Sick at night.

Srd, Not well all day.

4th, Sunday. Better. Sneath and wife here.

bth. Went to Sneath 's after Anna's shoes. They not at home. I
hunted some. Hogs got in my cornfield. Second time I worked on fence.

6th, Help Cap stack his hay, and he hauled one load of wood for me.
I work on fence.

7th, On said fence.

8th, At the same, finish north string.

9th, Bainy. Cut out and sewed Dr. Siveter 's vest.

10th, Work on fence.

200 ANNALS OF IOWA

11th. Sunday. Stopped gap in fence. Went to Uncle William's
all niglit.

l£th. Went to Salem, sewed there in tlie afternoon. At uight Thomas
and David Siveter and I went to Wesleyan camp meeting.

ISth, Went back to Uncle William's, from there to Sneath's and
thence home.

14th. Went to mill and on other side of creek hunting. David Bur-
den came here and he and I went to Wells's and to Sneath's and to
Carter bottom hunting his ox Luke.

15th. A.M., on fence. P.M., went to Uncle William's to tell Dave
I heard of his ox at Killebrew's.

16th, He came home with me and it was not there then. I picked
some seed corn.

17th, Dave went home without his ox. I mended Anna's shoes and
worked on my fence.

18th. Sunday. Paint a bird D. B. shot, resembling a moor hen,
its name unknown.

19th. Rainy. Mend my pants and went to Well's' and picked elder-
berries.

SOth. Finished said fence and wrote a letter for Mrs. Sncath.

£l8t. Commenced cutting my corn, one shock, it was too green. Then
went over to creek to see my bees. Two stands at work well and one
nothing in it. Sat up all night at Sigler's with the sick.

SSnd. Sleepy. Got wood, shot three squirrels and carried rails down
to gap to make hogpen.

iSrd. Work for Cap quarrying and hunting rock, and cut and hauled
a load of wood.

S4th, Chopped wood afternoon. Had Cap's team and hauled two
loads.

£5th, Sunday. Went to Nicholas Boley's; they not at home, came
back as far as Brothers'. Stayed there till middle of afternoon and
came home and wrote a letter to Jolm R. Wetsel. Rainy all day.

£6th. Chopped wood and bladed sorgo for Cap.

I^th. Slielled corn, took it to mill and cut corn, four shocks.

£8th. Cut seven shocks corn.

£9th. Cut six shocks.

30th. To Wells 's and to Cap 's twice. One of my shoats died. Buried
it, and cut three shocks.

October i, 1859. Cut five shocks.

£nd. Sunday. Shot four quails for W. D. Sigler and two squirrels,
and we went to Wells's. He paid me $3.75 in cash. Mrs. Sigler died.

3rd. Anna and I went to the funeral. Anna stayed at house and I
went to graveyard. I cut a few hills of corn.

4th. Cut pants for West Runyan, and cut five shocks of corn.

5th. Cut five shocks.

6th. A sharp frost. Hunting and shelled corn and took it to mill.
Cut two shocks.

WILLIAH SAVAGE 201

7 th. Thunder shower. Put up four shocks and finished, forty- two
in all. Dug sweet potatoes and went to mill.

8th, Dug Irish potatoes, then shelled beans and made hogpen. H.
Sneath and Samuel Siveter came here. I went down to creek bottom
to see Sam's land.

9th. Sunday. Anna and I went to Uncle William's with Cap's team,
and back at night.

10th. Work for Cap making molasses.

11th. Cut up my cane and Cap hauled it. Worked for Cap and
called the day even.

l£th. Boiled my juice and some of Wells's,

15th. Shot one prairie chicken. Beceived of Cap six gallons molasses,
two due me. David Siveter came here. I not well.

16th. Sunday. I sick. David went home.

17th. Not well. Bennett and I went to Cap's. He helped me carry
my molasses home and I mowed south fence corners. Then came the
first snow squall.

18th. Better. Went down to Sneath 's to see how they were. Kill
three squirrels and one prairie chicken in field.

19th. To Cap's and got said two gallons of molasses. Shell corn
and take it to mill. Fix side board and put rounds in ladder and clean
out cistern .

gOth. Cutting up and binding my fodder. Stack it up.

ilst. Went to Cap's. Paid him borrowed powder, and to Wells's.
Shot one hog. Got some beets and horse-radish leaves. Wheeled some
manure.

iSlSnd. Wheeling manure.

SSrd. Sunday. Went over creek twice. Got my two bee hives.

S4th. Cut out a coat for old Loomis. Went to Wells's to borrow
his trowel, and daub some on house.

£5th. Daubing house.

S6th. Wheeled one load of lime and two of sand and plastered in-
side of house.

S7th. Shelled corn and took to mill, then cut forks and fix eaves
troughs.

S8th. Went to creek and got white oak bark* for John. Kill one
partridge. Took Wells's trowel home, and to Cap's and got my single-
tree and device.

£9th. Went on to prairie. Kill no chickens. Then went to Siglcr 's
mill to the sale of bridge timber. I bought 1 long bar, 11 nuts and 11
caps for 35 cts. and sold the caps for 10 cts. to John Watson.

30th. Sunday. Went to N. Boley's. Not at home, then went to
Widow C. Stanley's, stayed all day, shot prairie chicken.

Slst. Cleaned one clock. Got wood and carry water. P. M., chopped
in woods.

dinner bark of the white oak mfide .^n astringent tea. or poultice, applied
in various maladies. — J; A. 8. . . . / . ;

202 ANNALS OP IOWA

November 1, 1869. Cut wood. Kill one prairie chicken.

tnd. A. G. Bennett and I hauled two loads of sand for them and
one load of wood for self.

Srd, Went to Uncle William's to ask John to apply for onr school.
Back at night.

4ih. Went to Captain's sale. I acted as clerk &c 36 cts. Bought
big pot and taffy, $1.00.

5ih, Cut out vest for Cap. Cleaned out hole. Sewed on Dr. Siveter's
vest. At night I watched T. McCreadie's field.

6iK Sunday. Anna and I went to Daniel Burger's on visit.

7th, Not well. Went to Watson's mill. Gk>t a bird John shot.

8iK Unwell. Drew off said bird.

9iK Better. Shelled corn.

lOih, Painted said bird. Jack Bennett took my corn to mill. At
night Anna and I went to Bennett's party.

llih. Sewed some and went to bed. At night came snow one inch
deep.

Itih, Foddered cattle first time. Very cold. Carry water and did
chores.

ISth, Sunday. At home.

14th, On prairie hunting.

16th, Chopped a load of wood. In P. M. A. C. Bennett hauled it
for me.

16th, Sewed some on Dr. Siveter's vest.

17th, Finished said vest.

18th, Helped P. W. Bennett tend his plasterer, Sam Pope.

19th, Went to William C. Morris' and traded Lady heifer for three
calves and a new ox yoke.

gOth, Sunday. To meeting. Jasper Boley buried.

21st, James L. Davis and I took Lady to William C. Morris' and
brought said three heifer calves back.

ttnd. Fix Dick's poker and the brush fence around calf lot, split
four rails and chopped some wood.

tSrd, Husked and shelled some corn. Went to Job Davis' and helped
him unload corn, then he hauled one load of wood for me. Went to
mill and carried two boards up from creek.

tith. Went as far as Sneath's. Rained. Stayed to dinner, then
went to Salem. Bained very hard. Stayed at D. Shriner's all night.

25th. Went to Dr. Siveter's. Dr. and I hunted some, then I sewed
in house.

26th, Sewed for Dr. till 2 o'clock, traded in Salem and went as far
as Uncle William's and stayed all night.

27th, Sunday. Kill prairie chicken and came home.

28th, Cut out a coat for John Mae Davis and cut a pair of shoes
for Walter.

29th, Made said shoes.

SOth, Anna and I went on prairie to W. C. Morris' to get a bill of

WILLIAM SAVAGE 203

Auna's wages written out legally. He advised me to write on east and
get it written out there according to New York laws. Dr. Siveter came
here and stayed all night.

December 1, 1869, Very cold. Husked and shelled corn, took it to
mill and got it ground.

Snd, Lousy calf died. Chopped wood for self. Had Job Davis' one-
horse team and hauled one load.

Srd. Partly cut a coat for James Carter, and helped Bennett kill
two hogs. Cut out Jacob Runyan's coat.

4 th. Sunday. Bennett and wife and Anna and I went to Jacob
Davis '.

5th. Cut out a coat for James L. Davis.

6th. Work on Runyon coat and pack wood.

7th. The same, and cut two small sacks for W. C. Morris' boys.

8th. A. C. Bennett and I hauled barrel of water for them and a
load of wood for self. Work on said coat.

10th. Finished said coat and went up to Morris' to post a stray
ralf that came there.

11th. Sunday. All went to Wells's.

lith. Cut out Wells's coat and sewed on it.

13th. At the same.

14th. At the same, and husked and shelled corn.

15th. Sent com to Bonaparte mills by Bennett. Finished said coat
and cut out R.Wells' coat.

16th. Sew on said coat. Eve at Bennett's party.

17 th. Finished said coat.

18th. Sunday. One small steel trap missing out at Bennett's field.
Chopped one load of wood and sewed some on J. Carter's coat.

19th. A. C. Bennett and I hauled a load of wood and I sewed.

iOth. On said coat.

SlMt. Finished it and cut out a coat for Bennett.

£2nd. Sewing some and chopped wood. A. C. Bennett hauled one load.

SSrd. Help O. M. Wells kiU a beef.

S4th. Finished P. W. Bennett's coat.

S5th. Christmas. Sunday. Anna and I went to Sneath's to dine.

S6th. Hoop wash tub, shot a hawk, and chased a turkey.

£7th. P. W. Bennett and I hauled two loads of wood. I commenced
M. Sigler's coat.

£9th. Finished said coat. Thomas Savage came here.

30th. Awful cold. Tom and I went to Bennett's and stayed all day.

31st. A. C. Bennett and I hauled one load of wood. I hauled up
and husked fodder and cut wood at house and went liome with Tom.

January i, 1860. Sunday. At Uncle William's. Monday hunted
some and came home.

3rd. Cut out M. Sigler's vest and hauled a load of ice with Ben-
nett's team.

4th. Made said vest.

204 ANNALS OF IOWA

5th. Took it home and A. C. Bennett and I hauled a load of wood.

6th. Went to Runyon's to get two sheep. Did not get them. It
rained all day. Then went to Sigler's mill and cut off my iron bar.

7th. Went again to I. Runyon's and brought home said sheep as
pay for making his coat. Thomas S. came here and I fix John's boots.

9th. Monday. Went to Sneath's and brought home a pig, $2.00 in
work. Then went to B. I. Livers' and Farmer's sheep lawsuit. Livers
victorious.

10th. Shell corn.

11th. Went to mill twice witli Bennett's mare.

l£th. Fix my shoes with legs.

13th. A. C. Bennett and I hauled a load of wood and I sewed in house.

14th. Help Job Davis move his stable and crib.

15th. Sunday. David Siveter here. He and I went hunting and
he went home.

16th. I killed three hogs at home.

17th. Help O. M. Wells kill seven hogs.

18th. P. W. Bennett and I hauled two loads of wood for him and
two for self, then he and I kill my three hogs.

19th. Fix corn box and put Sandy and Ann pig in pen. Cut np
hogs and went to Brothers'.

£Oth, Made my wammus.

£lst. Made my pants.

SBnd. Sunday. Hunting. Carry home a plank I got out of the creek.

£Srd. Husked "corn. Fix my brown coat, and A. C. B. 's shoes and
made broom.

S4th. Started for Salem. Went a little beyond Wells's and it rained
and I came back and split some rails.

S5th. Went to Salem. Saw a bluebird. Traded in town. Blacknuin
and I fix my gun.

£6th. Snow eight inches deep. Sewed for Dr. and came home.

S7th. Chopped wood. P. W. B. [Bennett] and I hauled one load,
then I hauled one, and one load of fodder.

S8th. Went with Job and Mack Davis on north side of creek to catch
tliree hogs with Watch. Then Mack and I went to I. Conley's to bor-
row his swine. Fix bureau.

S9th. Sunday. L. Wells here. We went to Stanley's field and to
creek.

30th. To Stanley's field. Cut a maul stick and to creek. Set two
steel traps. Made maul and fix John's and Anna's shoes.

31st. Intense cold. Cut out a coat for I. Conley, cut wood and fed.

February 1, 1860. Took bar of iron to I. Conley's and got an ox
staple and ring made and liook put on log chain. Went to Job Davis'
and ground my ax.

Snd. Took staple and ring to W. C. Morris'. I killed four prairie
chickens.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 205

3rd. Dressed Birdie calf with snlphur and grease. Chopped wood,
and to trap. •

4th. Split some rails and trim brush in branch and hauled a load of
wood, B.'s team.

5th. Sunday. L. and R. Wells and I went to the creek and got my
two steel traps.

6th. Had Bennett's t«am and hauled three loads of wood.

7ih. Bennett and I went to mill and got our grinding. I cut stove
wood, and went to Uncle William's and stayed all night.

8th. Went up on prairie east and to John's school and then home
and carried rails to make fence by branch.

9th. Mighty cold. Mended my overcoat. Went to Sigler's after
money. He not at home.

10th. Work for Sneath.

11th. The same, cutting brush, part pay for a pig.

ISth. Sunday. Sneath and family here.

13th. For Sneath, making brush fence.

14th. Cut wood for self and work on fence by branch.

15th. Bennett's and I hauled three loads of wood for them and two
for self.

16th. Split 51 rails for self on Dr.'s land.

17 th. Split 34 rails and cut some wood.

18th. Split 24 rails and cut wood.

19th. Sunday. N. Boley and wife here, and Jacob Syphers and
family here (a protracted meeting at the Rock House).

i^Oth. Went up to I. Conley's. He not at home. I fixed my iron
Medge, then put a window in south door, and split eight rails and
c-ut wood.

Slst. Split thirty- two rails and cut wood. Saw wild duck and
flock of pigeons.5

^2nd. Rainy. Cut stick for ax handle.

23rd. Went to creek and got some elm bark, then went to I. Conley's
and got Dr. S. and my tax receipt. Went to prairie and killed eight
prairie chickens.

^4th. Killed one prairie chicken on fence by home. Made handle
for meat ax, and went to schoolhouse. Kate had a calf. Bally. Went
to Bennett's party at night.

25th. Had Bennett's team and hauled fourteen loads of wood. Marth
Sneath here two nights.

S6th. Sunday. I went to creek and to Bennett's.

27th. Hung up meat in pantry to smoke. One sheep had a lamb.

28th. Cut wood and split 15 rails. Bennett and I went to Job Davis'
and ground my two axes.

29th. Cut wood and split 30 rails and dressed calf skin.

March i, 1860. Split 67 rails and cut some wood.

SThls was tho wild pigeon, ectopintea migratoriouH.

^06 AKNALd 09 IOWA

Bnd, Went to Salem and traded some. Stayed at Dr. Siveter's all
night.

Srd. Sewing for Dr. Siveter all day. Went to Uncle William's and
stayed all night.

4th, Sunday. Came home. Found Thomas Savage here.

5th, I mended Lem Bennett's boots and Thomas' boots and went
to creek. Shot a c [common] partridge.

6th, Bainy. Went to creek. Weather cleared off and I went to Job
Davis' and helped him trim apple trees.

7th, The same.

8th, Went to Solomon Gill's shop. He made me an iron wedge,
50 cts.y and seven harrow teeth, 35 cts. I blowed and struck and fur-
nished the iron.*

9th, Mended S. Gill's shoes, 10 cts., and went on prairie to Samuel
Carter 's.

10th. Making 115 rails for Solomon Gill, 75 cts.

11th, Sunday. Shot my first duck this spring at Carter's bottom.

Igth, Work for Henry Sneath cutting brush. Finished paying for
Ann, pig.

ISth, Split 55 rails, 48 of them out of a drift log on Carter Island,
and carried them up the bank.

14th, Shot one prairie chicken, split 28 rails and shot two ducks.

15th, Split 40 rails and chopped wood.

l€th. Shot two prairie chickens. Went to trap. Caught a fox squir-
rel. Grubbed up butternut roots and fixed brush fence around pasture.

17th. Shot one prairie chicken and split 69 rails.

18th, Sunday. We all went down to the creek.

19th, Made mat for Dr. T. Siveter and went to mill with Mack Davis.

SOth, Cut wood and split 40 rails.

Slst, Killed two ducks and grubbed.

gSnd, Went to Salem, traded some and went to Dr. Siveter 's and
stayed all night.

£Srd, Sewed some for Dr., went to Uncle William's and then home.

g4th. Got my ox yoke from Job Davis's, made keys and holes in
bows, and went hunting.

£5th, Sunday. Anna, John and I went to Uncle William's on Ben-
nett's mare Eliz and back at night.

£6th. Cut vest and pants for Thomas McCreadie, 50 cts. Went to
Job Davis'. Then grubbed for self.

£7th. Yoked up Dick and Peter, and grubbed.

S8th. Went to creek bottom. Kill two ducks. P. M., grafted apple
trees for Job Davis. Set 28 scions.

£9th. Grubbing. Grafted three trees, yellow harvest, for self by the
house.

oFrontier blacksmiths often afforded the customer opportunity to operate
the smith'R bellows and to assist him by wielding a supplemental hammer,
for doing which something was deducted from his bill, and a further deduc-
tion was allowed when he furnished his own Rtock.

WILLUM dAVAOE 207

SOth. Commenced making garden and grub.

3l8t. A. [Anna] planted onions and I grubbed and went to creek
bottom. In the evening rain and thunder.

April 1, I860. Sunday. Hunting in A. M. Kill a pigeon, a squir-
rel and two ducks. L. and B. Wells here.

tnd. Portrayed one of said ducks. If it is a duck, it resembles a
coot. Grubbed some.

Srd, Put two hoops on washtub and write a letter for Mrs. Sneath
and grabbed.

4th. Grabbing. John and Cyrus Garrettson came here. We hunted
the cattle and found them, then we yoked up Dick and Peter and they
took them home to put in their team to plow. Saw a wild turkey in
my field.

5th. James Carter came here with his team and wagon and hauled
rails all day and finished paying for the making of his coat.

€th. Went to Job Davis' after saw, and then grubbed.

7th. Grabbed and burned brush. P. M. kill two ducks.

8th. Easter Sunday. Samuel Siveter, L. and B. Wells and I shot
some fish on riffle in Big Cedar. I kill one common partridge.

9th. Cut out vest for Walter G. Dug parsnips. Grubbed. Thomas
Siveter came here.

10th. Made pair pants for Thomas, 75 cts.

11th. Cut oat a coat for Solomon Gill. Helped chain half around
Dr. Siveter 's north 80 acres with Dr., Thomas, Samuel and David Si-
veter. I killed eight fish on Carter Island. Cut out a vest for 8. Gill.

l£th. Carried otl my com and J. Mack Davis commences plowing
my ground. I dug garden and planted four rows of potatoes, and com-
menced making rail fence east side of field.

ISth. On said fence and made John A. S. [Savage] a pair of shoes.

14th. Went to Bennett's, had their horses, and to Job Davis', had
his wagon, then we all went to Salem. Traded some, went to Dr.
Shriner's and to Dr. Siveter 's, and then to Uncle William's and stayed
all night.

15th. Sunday. Stayed there till P. M. Brought one bushel potatoes
and my plow, &c., home. Thomas and John Savage came here Satur-
day. John went home, Thomas stayed till we came home.

16th. Fixed Tom's boot and cut out a coat for Thurman Elarton
and grub some.

17 th. Tom went home. I went part way with him and killed seven
ducks. Sewed some on S. Gill's coat and grubbed.

18th, also 19th, planting corn for H. Sneath.

£Oth. Went to Croton on Des Moines River fishing with Garens and
Wayne Watson, Job Davis, Benjamin Weaver and Leonidas Wells.

Slst. Fishing.

££nd. Sunday. Came home. Did not catch many fish.

£Srd. Grubbed, and P. W. Bennett and I put a new side on my
harrow.

208 ANNALS OF IOWA

gdth. Went to mill and grub.

S5th, Harroi^ing for P. W. Bennett % day and % day for self.

S6th. Finished harrowing my piece, then Len B. and I marked it
out one way, and I grubbed.

S7th. Planting corn for Job Davis.

SSth. Plant for Job Me day and ^ day J. Mack Davis and I marked
out my ground the other way with Job's horses.

£9th. Sunday. I kill one turkey. Then Job Davis, Sam Davis, Wil-
liam Barger, Frank Lucas and I went to Warner ford. I kill one duck
and four fish.

SOth, Job Davis helped me plant corn, and we commenced making
a seine.

May i, 1860. Finished planting my old ground corn. Left eleven
rows, south side, for sorgo, and a patch of potatoes on west aide.

Snd, Cut brush and put around spring, and grub some and knit on
sein.

3rd, Went to Salem and back at night.

4th. Also the 5th., plant corn for P. W. Bennett.

8th. P. W. Bennett helped me grub.

9th. Bennett and I grubbed and burned brush.

10th f also the 11th, grubbed.

l£th. Grubbed. David Siveter and Isaac Pigeon came here.

13th. Sunday. We went to the creek and in the evening they
went home.

14th. Grub, and went to Vega Post Office.''

15th. Grubbed.

16th. Burning brush and chopping poles.

17th. Cut poles and Lem and I hauled some roots to the house.

18th. Hunt horses. Lem and I hauled roots and Lem commenced
plowing. H. Sneath came with his ca.ttle and hauled six loads of rails,
I with him in afternoon.

19th. Lem B. and I plowed on my new ground.

^Oth. Sunday. I portrayed a black-throated orchard oriole. Anna
went to Wells's, then the boys, L. and R. and I went to the Carter
bottom.

£l8t. Lem B. and I finished plowing my new ground, and I took
Bricen Mickey /s plow home. Bennett went to town, then I had the
horses and harrowed said new ground.

££nd. Cut out a coat for Jacob Syphers, then had Eliz mare and
marked off said ground. Then we planted watermelons, muskmelons,
sweet corn and cucumbers, and I burnt a piece of brush fence.

7This was a country post office established In 1851 near the northwest
cornor of Salem Township, Henry County. Joseph M. Frame was postmaster
until the late 1860's when George Chapman assumed the duties. Id 1877 it
was removed two or three miles northwest to the northeast corner of section
35, Round Prairie Townshid, Jefferson County, though Mr. Chapman con-
tinued as postmaster until 1891 when he was succeeded by Abel Trueblood,
and he by Nathan O. I<nilott in 1895. It was discontinued In about 1900.
Authorities : U. H. Olficial Register, and early Iowa maps.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 209

gSrd. Made a piece of pole fence and planted corn.

gdih. Finished planting my new piece of corn and potatoes. Hilled
up 44 sweet potato hills.

SSth. Warned out on road to work. Lem G. Bennett worked in
my place and I mended his shoes. P. W. B. [Bennett] and I went to
Jonathan Hoskin's. I got 125 sweet potato plants, 25 cts., and set
them out in the evening.

S6th. Work on road. Thomas McCreadie paid me 90 cents.

e7th, Sunday. We all went to Nicholas Boley's. P. M., I went
to Job Davis' and we finished our seine.

SSth. Sewing on S. Gill's coat. P. M., Thomas Savage came here.
He, Anna and self went to Carter bottom gooseberrying.

g9th. Thomas went home and I sewed on Gill's coat.

SOth. Went to Salem. Took 14% lbs. butter @ 8 cts. Sewed for
Dr. Siveter that day. Stayed all night.

Slst. Sewed some, then went to Uncle William's and got some
tomato plants. And then home, and sewed on David Siveter 's pants.
He brought two pairs on Wednesday.

June 1, 1860, Sewing on said pants.

Snd. Finished said pants and Sol Gill's coat. A heavy thunder
storm this evening and a tremendous rain.

Srd, Sunday. Went to Salem with David's pants. Came home in
P. M. Samuel came with me.

4th. Samuel went on north side of the creek. I hoed in my corn.

5th, also 6th, help Bennetts replant and hoe corn.

7th. Replant my corn, and fix brush fence, then fix boot and shoe.

8th. Cut pair of pants for Mac Davis and fix my shovel plow.
Went to Carter bottom, found Bennett's horses and plowed my corn.

9th. Hunting B.'s horses till noon. Called at Sneath's and at
Wells's. I went to Bennett's party.

10th. Sunday. Wells and I bee hunting, and then P. W. B. and I
horse hunting. Did not find them.

11th. Lem B. and I went to Salem bridge, found the horses, then
I plowed in my corn. Heavy rain at night.

l^th. Shell corn, spade garden, went to mill and caught some fish,
and drew a branch of skunk wood.^

13th. W. B. and I went to Carter bottom, got two horses and plowed
corn.

14th. Lem and I went after the horses. I plowed corn and broke
my big device. Went to Widow Stanley's and got Bennett's device and
plowed more.

15th. Hunt horses, and finished plowing my corn in about an hour,
and then plowed my sorgo.

16th. Hoed com. Anna went to Hillsboro, took 13% lbs. butter.
Bought her a pair of shoes and a pound of coifee.

80r BkuDk hazel. The pungent sumac — rhus.

210 ANNALS OP IOWA

17 ih, Sunday. Painted ground work for two birds, and Anna and I
went to Carter bottom.

ISth, Hoed corn at home in A. M. and plowed com for Bennetts
in P.M.

19th, Plowed corn for Bennetts.

gOth, Hoeing my corn.

Slat. Shot a weasel in new field, and hoed my corn, and fixed Lem
B.'s boot.

iSnd. Finished hoeing my new piece of corn and hoed in old ground.
Wrote a letter to J. R. Wetsel and went swimming.

gSrd. Worked in old ground.

gdth, Sunday. Bee hunting.

S5th. Hoeing.

B6th, Finished hoeing my corn and potatoes at 9 o'clock and poled
beans, cut out a coat for Harrison Bub Gill, put cuifs on Sol Gill's coat,
&c., and went to John Turnham's and bought ^ gallon whiskey, 30 cts.

£7th. Went east to creek picking gooseberries, and to Wells's, then
cleaned out spring.

S8th. Bain. Cut out my ticking pants and went to Gill's blacksmith
shop and got an open ring, a link for a chain, a small hoe, and two heel
wedges® and two scythes fixed, 45 cts. Went to Wells 's. Bain very heavy.

S9th. Went to Carter bottom and got some foxglove roots and caught
some fish. Made a bee box, set out beets, and work on fence.

30th. Work on said fence. Thomas Siveter came here. Bains hard
and we went swimming.

July i, 1860. Sunday. Went as far as Sneath's with T. Siveter, and
back with Sneath. I to Wells's and he to meeting, then Job Davis and
the boys and I went bee hunting and swimming.

iSnd. Hunting old cow. A man here to take the census, stock $100,
land $616. Sewed on tick pants and mend my shoe. Went to creek and
got a bolt of wood for shingles and fastened it to the bank. Then went
to Demo' meeting.

3rd. Very hot. Had Bennett's team and borrowed A. Simon's wagon
and hauled six loads of rails and wood and said bolt of wood.

4th. Bufus Wells and I celebrated this day hunting and swimming.
I shot an orchard oriole, a common partridge, and a redheaded woodpecker.

Sth. Work on rail fence. E. and Anna and I went on north side of
creek gooseberrying.

€th. Drew orchard oriole, and work on said fence and cutting out
the brush.

7 th. On said fence, and cut pair of pants for Mack Davis.

Sth. Sunday. Painted said oriole and went on north side of creek.

9th. Commenced harvesting. Bound wheat for Job Davis half day,
other half went to mill, and fixed my pants.

lOih. Went up on prairie to William Morris' and got work there

^Devised for tightening handle-rings of a scythe, or cradle snath or handle.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 211

harvesting. Pitched hay an hour and a half, then William commenced
cutting his wheat and I bound wheat. The same the 11th.

Itih. Cut H. Morris' wheat.

13th. For H. and William Morris in wheat and oats.

14th. Mowing for William G. Morris. Earned of him $5.00.

15 th. Sunday. Tom Lewis and Joel Garretson came here and we went
swimming.

16th. Went up on prairie. Came home and got my scythe and mowed
grass ^ day for Arthur Frazier. Beceived 50 cts.

17 th. Help Alexander Morris bind wheat three hours, received 25 cts.,
then went on to George Morris' and bound wheat for him. Did same
18th, 19th, 20th and 21st until noon, at $1.00 per day. Earned this
week 94. 7d.

SBnd. Sunday. At home.

SSrd. Went up on prairie and mowed grass in forenoon, and in after-
noon plowed com.

S4th. Plowed corn and shocked hay.

£5 thy also 26th, plowed com.

t7th. Plowed corn. In afternoon tore down an old fence, and hauled
hay into the bam.

S8th. Plowed com in forenoon, all for W. C. Morris, 50 cts. per day.
Earned this week $2.75. In afternoon brought home a buck sheep W. C. M.
gave us for taking care of his heifer. Lady.

£9th. Sunday Had Bennett's horses and Simon's wagon and we all
went to Uncle William's, and back at night.

SOth. Rainy. Hunted and shelled corn and took it to mill and got it
ground.

31st. Painted a flag for the Demo' party at Jacob Sypher's.

August 1, 1860. Went to Salem and sold 17 lbs. butter, 10 cts. in trade.
Went to Uncle William's and stayed all night.

Snd. Came home, dug up a turnip patch and sowed turnips.

Srd. Hunting and blackberrying. Shot at on the wing and think I
killed two young turkeys, but lost both of them. Eainy.

4th. Went to Salem. Saw them raise a Lincoln pole and heard two
speeches, one from Senator Harlan and one from a Wilson from Fairfield.
Coming home I found an Indian ax. Great excitement about presidential
election.

5th. Sunday. Eainy. L. and R. Wells here, and H. Sneath and wife
here. Boys and I went to creek.

6th. Cut weeds in fence corners. After noon helped Bennetts wind
up dirt out of their well.

7 th. Went blackberrying, pick a milk bucket nearly full, and hunted
Dees.

8th. Went to Weaver's grubbing, frolic and party at night at Jack
Shriner's house.

9th. Clean out well in branch, hoop a bucket, mend my pants, and go
to Uncle William's.

212 ANNALS OF IOWA

10th. John and T. and I went to creek and got some sand, went swim-
ming, then I built a small chimney in kitchen for Uncle William, and
hunted.

11th. Took my wool to Salem, bought a molasses barrel, 75 cts., then
back to Uncle W.'s and from thence home. David Siveter here and we
went hunting.

ISth. Sunday. David and I hunting.

13th. David and I hunting in forenoon. Kill in all two squirrels, one
quail, one common partridge and one rabbit. David went home. I cut
out Dr. Siveter 's vest.

14th, Picked blackberries and grapes and sewed on vest.

15th. Birdie heifer got into cornfield. Dogged her out and fijced the
fence, and fixed the brush fence around the pasture, and sewed on vest.

16th. Finished said vest. Anna went to Sneath's. I cut a summer
coat for self. Went to Carter bottom with O. M. Wells and a cattle buyer
to look at my steers. They were too small for him.

17th, Went to creek bottom picking grapes. Met Wells and chat with
him, then sewed on my coat.

ISth. Hunt bees and sewed some.

19th. Sunday. William F. Barger, L. and R. Wells and I went bee
hunting. Anna went to Wells's. I made a mole trap and caught one in
flower bed.

20th. Sewing and went to Wells's and got some of my salt.

21st. Finished my coat.

S2nd. Shelled 3^8 bushels of corn and went to Job Davis' and borrowed
his wagon bed.

2Srd. Went to Salem with Bennett and wife. Took Dr. Siveter 's vest,
and brought home my barrels and rolls. Paid $1.00.

24th. Sent said corn to Bonaparte mills by Lem Bennett. I mended
my shoes. Afternoon shot and saved my first wild turkey this season.
Caught Ann pig in Bennett's cornfield and put her out.

25th. Went to M. E. camp meeting with Rufus Wells. We went to
Uncle William's at night.

26th. Sunday. Eufus, Thomas, Aunt Mary and I went to camp meet-
ing at night. R. went home and T. and I went back to Uncle William's.

27 th. Thomas came home with me. We picked cherries, &c. I made
bowstring.

28th. Thomas and I hunted and fished. I shot one squirrel and one
turkey and we caught fourteen fish. Afternoon, Thomas Siveter here.
He, Tom and I went to creek swimming.

29th. Fix brush fence, and bent broomcorn tops. Thomas Savage
went home. Thomas Siveter and I went swimming. P. M., I fixed my
shoes and went to creek and shot a fish, weight 4% lbs., and we swam.

30th. Grub some. T. Siveter and I went to Job Davis' and ground
my ax and mattock and went to Wells's after my steelyards. Thomas
went home. I fixed my pants and commenced digging hole under floor.

3l8t. Grub an hour or two in morning (midday too hot, nights very

WILLIAM SAVAGE 213

cool) and dug in said hole. Picked some seed corn. Hunting. Cut up
one shock of corn. In the night C. Giberson came after Anna, his wife
being sick. Had a son.

September 1, 1860, Wrote a letter to John Wetsel. Nailed some boards
overhead. Fixed fence and picked hazelnuts.

Snd. Sunday. Went to Simon's and to Bunyon's to look for my
sheep. Came home. Rufus Wells here. He and I hunted some. Ben-
nett put my sheep in his pasture and in evening we separated them.

3rd, Went to Salem. Took 9% lbs. butter, traded out. Came home
at night.

4 th. Cut up seven shocks of corn.

5th. Rainy. Gathered seed corn and hung it up. Afternoon, cut three
shocks of corn.

6th. Very hot. Cut three shocks. Partly traded with Frazier for a
colt pony. In the morning I withdrew.

7th. Cut four shocks.

8th. Cut one shock. Went to Glasgow. Demo' pole raising, two
speeches.

9th, Sunday. Hunting. Leonidas Wells hunted. Found me at Hopper
branch. Then O. M., L. and R. Wells and self went to C. Creek hunting
cedar trees. I got twenty-four very small ones.

10th. Cut six shocks of corn.

11th. Cut five shocks and hunted some.

ISth. Cut two shocks and it rained the remainder of the day.

ISth. Cut corn ; and the forks and poles, five shocks.

14th. Work on road nearly one half day. Finished my road tax,
$2.46—6/10, then cut half a shock of corn and it rained.

15th. Cut corn and the forks and poles, two and a half shocks.

16th. Sunday. L. Wells and I went to Cook's burned mill, and I shot
one duck and one pigeon.

17th. Shot one pigeon and cut five shocks.

18th. Cut corn, five shocks. Finished cutting my corn 4th hour p. m.
Forty-eight shocks in all.

19th. Hunting. Saw sand-hill cranes. Shot three partridges and cut
up and topped broom corn and shelled off some seed. Fixed fence where
Bally broke out and Dick broke his poker.

20th. Fixed said poker and bladed some sorgo. Afternoon cut up
com for O. M. Wells to pay up the difference between us, 21 cts.

Slst. Grubbed some and bladed cane, and hunted.

£Snd. Hunted old cow and went up on prairie to see about getting
my cane made up. Widow C. Stanley agrees to make it for one third,
I to find wood. Then went as far as Oldacre's, and then home. Fix my
cap and cut a pattern of it.

SSrd. Sunday. Wrote a letter to Mother, went to class meeting and
dug our sweet potatoes.

S4th. Went to Simon's and borrowed their wagon, unloaded it and
hauled two barrels of water. P. M., bladed cane.

214 ANNALS OF IOWA

gSth. Bladed cane. Saw wild geese going sonth. Finished my cane.

gSih, Helped Job Davis strip his cane. At night a heavy rain.

g7th. Helped Job strip cane. Cat wood and cat np cane.

gSth, Bound np the rest of my blades and cnt np and topped my cane.

g9th. Mack Davis and I hanled my cane to Stanley's with Job's team
and Simon's wagon, and then we went np on the prairie to William
Morris'. I shot one quail.

30th. Sunday. Rainy. I made one shoe for John A.

October i, 1860. Made the other shoe and conunenced shelling corn.
Then went and cut up and topped the rest of Job £. Davis' cane.

gnd. Job and I went and helped William Stanley repair his mill cog,
the second roller, &c., gratis.

Srd. Fix my cow yard fence that Dick knocked down. Then shelled
some corn. David Siveter came here with team. I went to Salem with
them and David and I went hunting. Stayed at Dr.'s all night.

4th. Traded some and went to Uncle William's and stayed all night.

5th. Came home. P. M., went to Job Davis' and Mack and I hauled
one load of wood up to Stanley's. I stacked my blades.

6th. Went to mill, took some corn. Cut out a coat for Lewis Sigler,
then dug potatoes and Mack D and I went to Stanley's and got our
molasses.

7th. Sunday. R. Wells and I went to the creek north and then home
and to Wells's. L. and R. and I went to creek east.

Sth. Dug potatoes and mend Thomas Siveter 's pants.

9th. Dug potatoes and cut a pair of pants for John Hen Mastersen.
Samuel here. I work on mending T. Siveter 's coat. Helped Samuel fix
his wagon to haul rock. In the night Watch treed a skunk up a jack oak
by the house. About 2 o'clock I got up and struck a light but could
not see where it was.

10th. Shot said skunk and finished Thomas' coat, then went to John
Turnham's. I shot one common partridge, one quail and one turkey.

11th. First frost I saw this fall. Cut out and sewed on Dr. Siveter 's
coat and dressed skins.

l£th. Sharp frost. Sewed on said coat. Kill two rabbits and one
possum that Watch treed. Shot one prairie chicken on corn shock, the
first this fall.

ISth. Freeze. Sewing. Went to Rock House meeting. There saw
William Coltrane, Bricen Mickey, and William, Josephine and Caroline
Sigler taken in as M. E. members. The latter three were sprinkled.
Finished said coat.

14th. Sunday. Hunting. Shot one squirrel.

15th. Fixed J. Wesley Runyon's coat.

16th. Fixed Samuel Siveter 's coat and chopped wood on north side
of creek. Samuel hauled one load, then worked on pair of pants for
Davis Siveter.

17th. Hunt two hours, then sewed on said pants.

WILLIAM SAYAOE 215

18th. Finiflhed said pants. Went to Wells's and Sneath's. Borrowed
3% lbs. floor of Sneath.

19th, Went to Keosanqua. Delegation went in the hickory wagon
with L. and B. Wells, W. £. Taylor, T. Clarke, B. Weaver, William, James
and Newton Stanley, L. J. and T. Walker, L. and A. Bennett, back at
night.

gOth. Hunt cows and trim some brush. Went to Wells's. Picked up
some crab apples and Leo and I went hunting.

Slst, Sunday. Anna and I went west side of branch and picked out
a spot for a house and went to Samuel Siveter's well. I sewed some on
wammus and traced out my west line between Knowles and me.

giSnd. Dug potatoes. Samuel Siveter came here. He and I went to
Carter bottom and caught their heifer and took her to Salem. Saw the
Salem men bring in a horse thief from Luray, Missouri. His name, Frank
Arnold, of Salem. Stole a span of horses of William Crew. Was at his
trial [preliminary] at night. He was bound over to court, $1,000 bond.

gSrd. Came home and shelled corn.

S4th, O. M. Wells and I went to Bonaparte to mill with said corn
and got home in the night.

gSth. Hunt cows, dig out spring and cut poles and put around it, and
dig potatoes. Shot one prairie chicken in field. Have to hunt cows every
evening now.

gSth, Rain. Finished fixing David Siveter 's coat and Samuel 's pants,
and finished digging potatoes.

S7th. Rainy. Foddered calves second time. Grubbed some. Went
south of Hillsboro, shot five quails. Hunt for cows and did not find
them.

gSth, Sunday. Hunt cows. Found them near Samuel's well. Car-
ried poles and made hog pen.

g9th. Bennett and I went to Keosauqua to get my papers of natural-
ization. Judge Sloan would not issue any. Left Lem at Bratton's grove
and I came home.

30th, Grub, and bury my potatoes.

Slst, Grub. Went to Hillsboro. Got a letter from Smith & Co.,
Keosauqua.

November i, 1S60. Cut out another pair of shoes for John A.
Rainy and cold.

gnd. Rainy. Made said shoes, and knit on quail net.

Srd, A. M., hunting. Kill one turkey. P. M., carry wood and fix
so as to go to Salem.

4th. Sunday. Went to Uncle William's. Stayed all night.

5th. Snow. Went to Salem with my butter and eggs, $1.07 worth.
Traded it out, and 62 cents more. Went back to Uncle William's and
then home.

6th. Burned brush and grubbed.

7th. Fixed my shoe and grubbed.

Sth, Snow on ground. I grubbed.

216 ANNALS OF IOWA

9th, Grubbed. Trapped Beven quails and shot one tnrkej that Watch
treed northwest of school house.

10th. Hunt cows and grubbed some and burned brush.

Jlth. Sunday. To Wells's to meeting and to mill. There Meshack
Sigler baptized by pouring. Sold Dick and Peter for $32.50 to Job
E. Davis.

ISth, Went to Gill's, to Wells's and to Sneath's to borrow a wagon.
Got Sneath's and Job Davis' horses and hauled three loads of wood.
Trapped four quails.

ISth. Grub and burn brush. Trapped seven quails.

14th, Went to John Turnham's after my jug. Bought one half
gallon whiskey, 30 ets., one quart for Wells. Cut out a coat for A.
Martin, 30cts.

15th. Shelled corn. Anna and I went to the spring to wash. I grub
and burn brush.

16th. Grub and burn.

17 th, Grub. Kill a rabbit and one fox sqirrel.

18th, Sunday. Hunted.

19th, Went to Wells's. Sent letter to John B. Wetsel.
Hooping my quail net.

SOth. Grub.

ISlst. Grub. At night watch Sigler 's field on the 20th and 2l8t.

gSnd. Snow all day. Made last for Walter.

SSrd, Cut out coats for William and Harmon Giberson. Take pay
in work. Cut out pair shoes for Walter. Awfully cold. Snow two
inches deep. Giberson boys brought home my small steel trap, the one
I lost in Bennett's field the Sunday before Christmas last. Said they
found it very near their house about that time.

£4th. Sewed some on said shoes, and Mrs. Bennett and I made some
shoe wax.

^5th. Sunday. Hunting for sign.*®

S7th. Fix my gray pants. Shot one crow and one owl.

£8th. Went to Job E. Davis' and to Wells's, then cut road to some
wood and Mac D. and I hauled one load.

S9th, Gathered corn for Job and Mac Davis.

SOth. Went to Salem and bought a pair of boots, $3.75, then to
Uncle William's and stayed all night.

December i, 1S60. Came home. Carried one half bushel apples he
gave me. Dr. and David Siveter here. David and I went to north side
of creek. Found them hunting the lines.

Snd, Sunday. Snowed fast nearly all day. Hunted some.

Srd, Snow four inches deep. Knit on quail net and wrote a letter
for Mrs. Sneath to T. L. Deacon, Liberty, Amite County, Mississippi.

lOA trapper's term Implying evidence of quarry, as the scratching or dusting
of birds, their feathers on the ground or on shrubs, their tracks ; or those
of animals in the dust, snow, or mud, and the lilce.

£6th. Made said shoes and cut out a coat for George Martin.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 217

4th. I cut a coat for Frank Bonjoiiy then cut one for Joseph and
agreed to make it for $2.00. Commenced sewing on said coat.

5thf also the 6th, sewing on the same.

7th. Finished said coat.

8th. Chopping wood in my timber and partly cutting a road to it.

9th. Sunday. Went to Uncle William's. Took two roosters and his
Mo. seed corn. Snows all day.

10th. Came home. Brought two roosters back. J. Runyon here with
Frank's coat to make. Mack Davis and I hauled three loads of wood.
At 10 o'clock, eve, Samuel Bichard Savage born. Had Mrs. Bennett.

11th. Went to Sneath's, got my steelyards. Did housework and
sewed some on Frank B.'s coat.

l£th. Mrs. Sneath here washing. Mrs. B. here. I waited on Mrs.
Sneath. Eliz' Davis here.

13th. Cut a coat for James H. GDI and a pair of sleeves for his
father, 40 cts. chd. Got Mrs. Sneath her dinner, &c. Got in clothes.
I did not sew any.

14th. Mrs. B. and Mrs. Sneath here. She ironed said clothes. Wes-
ley Runyon brought a forequarter of beef here, 113 lbs. at 3 cts. per lb.
Went to Bennett 's after barrel and saw and then cut up beef.

15th. 1 sewed some. Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Wells, and Mrs. Sneath
here. Got dinner and washed up. Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Simon and her
daughter here.

16th. Sunday. Quite a number of ladies here. Watch bit Mrs.
Simon's arm. H. Sneath here.

17 th. Mrs. Bennett here. I finished Frank Runyon 's coat and went
to Job Davis'.

18th. Mack and I hauled one load of wood. Rainy. Made two
brooms and partly fixed a coat for Mack Davis.

19th. Mrs. Sneath here washing. I waited on her and finished Mack 's
coat, 40 cts.

iOth. Hung out, and went to Hillsboro with Job Davis to post stray
heifer (a red roan yearling). Newbold not at home. Came home. Shot
seven quails. Did chorea, then in evening we went up to William C.
Morris' and did up the business.

Slst. Very cold. Not very well. Went to Job's field. Shot at a
turkey fiying and missed it. Took out skins and cut some wood at the
schoolhouse for Sneath.

i£nd. Did chores and went to Job's field and shot six quails.

£3rd. Sunday. Hauled some poles from clearing and made a shed
for Bally. H. Sneath and wife here to dinner.

£4th. Mend a pair of pants for Mac Davis, 20 cts., and chopped
some wood for self. Snowed like fury.

gSth. Christmas. Mack and I hauled a load of wood, then I went
hunting. Kill one rabbit and two quails. Fell in with L. Wells and
we hunted together. He killed one quail and I shot one quail. Snow
nearly knee deep. Turkeys in my field this day.

218 ANNALS OF IOWA

gSth, Mrs. Sneath here washing. Waited on her and shelled a sack
of corn.

97th, Took said corn np to Bennett's. Then I went to Salem and
sold 21 quails, 52% cts. to J. W. Olds. Traded it out (booked). Came
back at night. Kill one quail. Some of mj cattle in the field and some
in the sheep yard. Put them all right again.

gSth, Rainy. Fix brush fence where said cattle broke in, then mended
Anna's and John A.'s shoes.

IS9th, Chopped wood in mj timber.

30th, Sunday. Mrs. Wells here, R. and Leo also.

Slst, Cut out a coat for David Boley. Received 25 cts. Then Mack
D. and I hauled one load of wood. I went to Bennett's and got my two
sacks of meal they took to mill for me. I measured O. Perry Taylor for
a coat, and chop wood and fix to go to Uncle William's.

January 1, 1861, Went to Uncle William's. Shot one common par-
tridge. Stayed till half past ten at night and then came home.

Snd, Cut out a coat for James Boley, Jr., at I. Conley's, charged 25
cts. Also cut a coat for O. P. Taylor, charged 30 cts. Mrs. Sneath here
washing. I carried some poles to sheep pen.

$rd,. Made ax handle and finished a pen for sheep. Trap two quails.

4th, Chopped some wood for self and made hogs a shed. Trap one
quail.
' 5th, Mack and I hauled one load of wood.

6th, Sunday. Hunting. Kill two squirrels. Discover the tumbler
of my gun lock is fractured. Came home and cleaned the lock.

7th, Mend a pair of boots for A. C. Bennett and he agrees to haul
two loads of wood for pay. I partly hung my ax.

8th, Fix a pair of pants for Mack D., 10 cents, then went to Wells's
and took back their meal, 23% lbs. Went on to H. Sneath 's. He going
to Mount Pleasant soon, I left my gun for him to take to be repaired.
Trap one quail.

9th, A. C. Bennett and I hauled said two loads of wood, and I partly
cut out my cat-fur cap.

10th, Sewing on said cap, mend mitten, &c.

11th, Kill one hog. H. Sneath came here, he helped me, then I
wrote three estray notices for him.

ISth, Cut up said hog, weighed 179 lbs., salted the meat, and trimmed
some brush.

ISth, Sunday. Went to Wells's. The boys and I went east to creek.
My old sheep had a lamb.

14th, Finished my cat-skin cap and dressed some skins.

15th, Went to McCreadie's field and in a big branch set three traps
for mink.

16th, To trap. Quite a heavy snow. I knit on qail net.

17th. To trap and took some of Mrs. Wells's borrowed lard home.

I8th, Chopped a load of wood in timber.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 219

19th. Went to Job's, and from there to 0111 's timber. Found them
there cutting logs on shares. Then Mack and I hanled two loads wood
and went np to William C. Morris' and stayed all night. Beceived $2.00.

SOth. Sunday. Came home and to trap. Ganght one mink and
brought traps home.

gut. Took Mrs. Wells's lard home, and to Oill's timber and got
some buttemut bark and doctored sick sheep. Two quaiL

gSnd. Went on north side of creek, then cut some wood.

SSrd. On north side of creek hunting sign, and chopped some wood,
P. M., snowing, work on trap and quail net. Assessor, Mr. Davidson,
here.

24th. Very cold. Fix my old coat. Dr. Siveter here.

S5th. On north side of creek and set two big steel traps on the creek.

S6th. To trap. Brought them home. Then Mack Davis and I went
to Salem. I took 21 eggs and traded for coffee, and home at night.

S7th. Sunday . Lent Leo' Wells my two big steel traps till Tuesday
morning. He set them for turkeys in their field, then he and I went
on creek east hunting for sign. Found plenty.

gSth. A. M., chopped some wood in Dr. 's timber. P. M., commenced
making a box trap.

g9th. Mack and I hauled one load of wood, then went to creek east
and set three traps.

SOth. To trap, and fix my ticking pants.

31st. To trap, and went to school from noon to recess, and partly
fixed my vest.

February 1, 1861. Helped Sol Oill make a sled. He agrees to haul
wood for me for pay.

£nd. To trap, and to Sneath's, then home. Sent by Watsons for my
gun at Mount Pleasant.

Srd. Sunday. Rufus Wells here. We went to Gill's shop.

4th. To trap and then to William C. Morris 's court. Jonathan Ander-
son sued a Mr. Miller for rent. Jury's verdict, $28.00 in favor of de-
fendant, and plaintiff pay costs.

5th. Sent letter to John Wetsel. Cliopped wood. In evening Isaac
Watson brought my gun to schoolhouse. Repairing a now tumbler cost
$1.50.

6th. Mack and I hauled one load of wood. To trap, caught one
possum.

7th. Fixed my mittens and shelled some corn. Very cold.

8th. To trap. Caught one possum, and then chopped some wood.

9th. Lem Bennett and I hauled two loads wood for self, and to trap.
A thaw.

10th. Sunday. Rainy. A big thaw. Went to creek and got my
two steel traps. Stayed at Wells's all day.

11th. Went to Sigler's mill. Creek very high, first time this year.
Hunted some and came home. Fixed my boot and put my loft to rights.

220 ANNALS OF IOWA

ISih, Went up on prairie to W. C. Morris' and to Jonathan Ander-
son's. Did no business with either of them. Shot two prairie chickens.

ISth, Opened potato hole and got them in the cellar. Some frozen.
Sorted them.

14th. Went to Job Davis'. Mack did not kill hogs. Then went to
Gill's shop and got an open ring, a frow, a wedge, and my mattock
fixed, 40 cts.

ISth, Went to schoolhouse and carried and chopped some wood for
the school. Then mended Anna's shoes.

16th. I went to Sncath's. Anna and boys went to Bennett's. I rode
home with Sneath.

17th. Sunday. Went to Wells's. L. and R. and J. and Frank Bun-
yon and I went to creek. Came home and skin a cat.

18th. Went up on prairie with Job and Mack Davis. Got one sheep
of Jacob Runyon. Mack hauled it home for me. In evening it jumped
out and I tracked it nearly back. Runyon put it in with theirs and I
left it for a few days.

19th. Went on prairie. Kill nothing.

SOth. Hauling fodder till noon. Then went to creek north.

SI St. We went to Bennett's, saw Hiram Steward and Esther L. Ben-
nett married by Mr. Williamson at 3 o 'clock, 30 min. P. M.

£fnd. Saw wild ducks and blue birds, first time this year. Went to
creek and set three traps. Weather very mild. Joseph Frazier here.
I sold one mink, 75 cts., two possums, 15 cts.

BSrd. Went to Davis', then to Gill's after Mack. He and I ground
my ax and mattock and his ax, then went to trap. Creek very high —
covered one steel trap. Carried some roots, &c.

IS4th. Sunday. We all went to Wells's and stayed all day. I went
to trap.

S5th. Mack and I hauled one load of wood. I went to Runyon 's and
carried said sheep home, and to trap. Cut some brush and put in ditch
by old road.

S6th. Fixed brush fence around pasture. Chopped stove wood and
husked corn. Preparing to go to Salem. About noon David Siveter
came here, brought a fine coat and pair pants for me to make for Samuel
Siveter. He went home on account of the creeks being high. I went
to school, it being the last day.

S7th. To trap, and sewing on said coat.

S8th. William and H. Giberson came here and helped me chop brush
to pay for cutting their coats.

[To be continiied]

AN ORIGINAL STUDY OP MESQUAKIE (FOX) LIFE

Following the council of Mesquakie Indians with Des Moines
teachers which was held February 18, 1928, the interest of
schools and teachers in the Mesquakie Indians of Iowa con-
tinued. So many questions came into the Historical Depart-
ment to be answered on this group of Indians that an Indian
Life School was attempted by Curator Harlan as an effort
to put into the hand of teachers in Iowa schools, such direct
and first hand aid to their teaching of pioneer and Indian
Life as he could. Meetings were held on the banks of a small
stream on a wooded plot near Altoona, Iowa, with no acces-
sories or advantages for the teachers that the Indians did not
need in such a camping place as they make in their usual pro-
ceeding in 1928 their occasional hunting and trapping trips.
There was no heat except such as they provided for Indians'
needs, and no illuminants except the moon, which was near
full, no seats except the natural sward whose irregularities
formed the arrangement of persons participating as either
audience or management. The curve of the brook and the pitch
of the ground toward it formed the natural stage and audi-
torium of the Indians' choice.

♦ »»♦•• Ere man learned

To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,

And spread the roof above them — ere he framed

The lofty vault, to gather and roll back

The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,

Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down.

And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks

And supplication.* •♦♦»»» » — Bryant.

INDIAN LIFE SCHOOL
(Talk between Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore^ and E. R. Harlan on the one part
and Young Bear and Jim Poweshiek on the other, George Young Bear,
interpreter. Stenographic record and transcript by Harriet King Card.)

Tuesday evening, August 28, 1928.
Mr. Harlan : I want to tell Young Bear through George, the
occasion of this meeting.'^

iSee Who's Who In America for 1928, page 808, for Dr. Gllmore.

^The end of each of those paragraphs indicates a pause during which George
Young Bear Interpreted the words of Mr. Harlan or of Dr. Gllmore into Indian,
or the words of Young Bear or of Jim Poweshiek into English.

222 ANNALS OP IOWA

For some time there have been from one to a dozen of those
who teach our children in the Des Moines city schools coming
to the Historical Building, or otherwise asking our assistance
in their preparation to teach these children Indian Life. It
occurred to me that there might be an arrangement for a few
teachers to hear the Indians' answers to their questions, and
in other ways to get acquainted with you and your way of
living ; for that reason only was this series of meetings planned.

From the fact that there are about two and a half million
white people in Iowa and but three hundred and eighty of the
Sac and Fox tribe that in 1846 and earlier occupied the lands
where we are now, it seems like the white people ought in some
way to arrange to become better acquainted with you and
your ancient ways. This is meant to help you show your
white friends, who may be here during the week and Sunday
and Monday, that it is not at all impossible to meet and get
acquainted with you.

The books that we study tell us what lands, now in the state
of Iowa, you inhabited a hundred years ago. If our books
have it right, in about 1810 to 1820 there were a niimber of
tribes that we ought to know more about. They are your
own, the Sioux, Winnebagoes, lowas, Omahas, and Pottawat-
tamies. But we can learn this also from you. I thought that
during this week we might have a talk about each of those
different ones. Let us tell you what our books teach us, and
then hear you tell us what you know of these different tribes.

Now, I would like to hear your thoughts about this plan.
What do you think of it? Would it be agreeable to you and
your people, and can we make of it a benefit to both your
people and to our own ?

Young Bear: My friends, as I look upon the face of each
one of you I realize that our race will soon be no more in the
future, because the conditions of our homes are changing.
Each year we can see the difference as the new generations
come. There is a great deal of change. We are losing our
customs, habits, and many of our arts are past and gone. The
government is educating our people, sending our children
to school, and when these children come back to our homes
they are not as we have taught them. They learn things from
the books, therefore their habits are formed and they go out

OBIOIKAL STUDY OP INDIAN LIFE 223

into the world more like the white people, and so all these
things will be all past in a few more years, and those of you who
are interested in us, I hope that some good will be accomplished
between us, and toward the understanding of our people and
your people, and so any questions that you may ask will be
welcome, and we will attempt to answer the best we can.

Mr. Harlan : I propose that this group of teachers have the
benefit, as you do too, of Dr. Oilmore's being with us. I want
to introduce Dr. Oilmore to you as being the truest man in
regard to the Indians and other races that it has been my
pleasure ever to meet. Not only is he true and just, but he
was bom in Nebraska, and as a boy and as a student in the
colleges he perfected himself in his knowledge of the Indians'
use of plants and plant life. He has associated with, lived
with and respected the Indians of other tribes and languages.
During the week he will be able to ask questions ^nd to answer
questions which will contribute to this very good purpose that
yon and I would like to see brought about.

Then I propose that those of us who are here and find you
willing to give us whatever information that you feel we ought
to have — I propose that anything we ask of you should be a
question which, if you were to ask us, would seem to us to
be fair and right. That is, we would like to know, for in-
stance, all about the way you conduct your family. But we
will not ask you any question that we would not want you to
ask us about our family. Whatever is said tonight will be in
the spirit that will help us to understand your ways. We
will write it down, and then tomorrow evening that question
will be asked of you and of Dr. Gilmore. We will see that
it is all right, and, if answered, will be a contribution to the
knowledge of these folks who teach Indian Life.

If it is a question that would not be right to ask about my
children or my wife, then you and Dr. Gilmore will pay no
attention to that question, and no one will inquire any further
about it. I know from my association with you and your
people that white people are often not very tactful about the
wa,y they try to inquire into your way of living. This body,
and every one that is in this group will be just as nice and
just as respectful of you as they would expect you to be re-

224 ANNALS OF IOWA

spectf ul of them. With that arrangement we believe it will be
a happy experience.

Now, we recognize that you, Young Bear, being around
sixty years old, who, when you first remember, were in your
father Push e ton e qua's house, that you, as a boy must have
learned from him or from some one else, a good deal the same
as my children have learned from their teachers in school. You
must have learned the things that made you a good man, and
Jim Poweshiek, over seventy years old — say sixty-five years
ago, when he was five years old — he must have been taught
such things as made him a good man. I wish you would
teach us how, a hundred years ago, the Indian boy or girl
got his knowledge. How were they taught these lessons?

Young Bear: We all know that to seek knowledge is one
of the hardest tasks for any one to take, and so it is with us,
and tonight there are probably more people than this that
would like to hear just the things we are talking about, but
they have no time. xVnd so it is with us. Sometimes there
may be a council, there may be some knowledge that has been
acquired by our old people — ^would be taught to our people,
and they are called together to one lodge. There may be a few
that would go, and so the human being is almost the same
everywhere. And in the teaching of our customs and habits
and our legends and the stories and ceremonial rites, the record
has been made. But we find everywhere the books that you
read — the books that have been recorded of the habits of our
people — were made long before the white people settled this
country. The travelers and explorers and tradera would come
through the village and stay for a day and go away and write
their records. Of course the people today depend on those
records. They learn about the Indians only from those rec-
ords. The records even that are these days made by the men
who came on in our own reservation — they are made often by
men that went out from Washington to learn our sacred cere-
monials, about our customs and our rituals, our beliefs — ^they
come out to learn these and to make record of them, and of
course they often do not meet the right kind of our people.
We have various classes of Indians. Some live just accord-
ing to their own way, and of course they will do anything, when
some white man comes along they expect to be compensated

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 225

by the white man, and so the white men are misinformed, but
if the white man would go to the thinking Indian, the Indian
who tries to do what is right — they cannot, by giving money
or presents — they cannot get the information, and so the rec-
ords that you get are something entirely wrong. Your people
have been misinformed. And so it is with our children. We
are teaching things that our parents taught us, and there are
many ways that they are teaching it. We teach the lesson
through experience and through talks, and through showing
how to do things, and so we live throughout the course of our
lives. Each thing has to be taught during the certain age
from the very beginning. Year after year things are taught
to us until the knowledge that we have in our old age has be-
come thorough.

Any question that any one wishes to ask will be answered,
and the question asking anything I do not know, I will admit
that I do not know. Of course, Mr. Harlan knows me well,
and I always tell him what I know.

Mr. Harlan : Let me ask Young Bear to go back in his own
recollection to when he was a little boy, and tell us of some
one who showed him something that has been good for him
all his life. Tell us the name of the person and the circum-
stance under which he learned that lesson.

Young Bear: It is hard to remember certain things that
make us good later on in life, because the things that are
taught to us are taught to us little by little, from year to
year, and so we cannot remember certain ones or names, but,
however, later on in life we remember them and we think
about them.

As I remember in early childhood, the right and wrong was
taught to me by my parents. They showed me what was right
and what was wrong. They taught me not to do what was
bad, and so one of these things was not to take the things that
belonged to some one else. Stealing has been taught to us as
being one of the worst evils to be done by any one, and the life
that is taught to us is that if any one takes the road that is
not right he will not have life — he will not live long, but the
one who keeps his life clean will live long and will be looked
upon by the Great Spirit.

Kindness is another thing that is taught to us — to be kind

226 ANNALS OF IOWA

to all living things; to be kind to the poor, and to be kind
to every one, and so if we see any one who is old and feeble
and tottering along we should not laugh, we should not mock
him ; if we see any one crippled, we should not say anything,
but favor him and feel kind toward him.

To make friends wherever we go is another thing. We were
taught to respect every one and to be friendly, and so one of
the things that is taught to us is to be free with everything
that we have. In those days food was regarded as one of
the greatest gifts any one could give; and so the food, if we
have food, if we have plenty we should not think only of our-
selves, but of our people first, and so we should give — give —
and always give as much as we can. If we see any one, if we
see old people in a lodge by themselves, having a hard time,
we should go over with food and enter their lodge. We should
give them the things that will make them comfortable. And
so the custom was, in the old days, that whenever a family is
sick and cannot get their own food and cannot make their
own things, that it was up to the people to help them, not
for pay, but just kindness, to help one another. If the old
people who live in a house by themselves, they should be helped.
And so it was the duty of every young man who was able to
do anything, it was to help the old people and give them food
or whatever they needed. In this way the Great Spirit blesses
the young people, and it is because of this they live long. Why
is it that a young man helps his old people? It is because
the thing that has been taught to us is that the Great Spirit
blesses and makes those young people live long, those who help
the old people. The old people when they live to be of old age,
they do not live to an old age because they have taken care
of themselves, but they are blessed by the Great Spirit, and
so the young man who helps them are those blessed by the
Great Spirit.

We should not say things that are not so. To lie to one
another is an evil thing, and we should not lie to one another,
and when we say the things that are true we should not be
ashamed to tell one another the truth. Be true to one an-
other, be true to your friends, be true to every one, because
the one who lies is not the one who is looked upon by the

OBIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 227

Great Spirit, but truth is the thing that the Great Spirit
\nshes to have, and he blesses the children who tell the truth.

So there are a great many things as we grow old — ^things
the old people were taught by their parents to teach their
children to lead the life that is full of kindness and love. And
they were taught to go out to hunt, so they came upon white
men's homesteads everywhere, and as they went by a school-
house all of the children came out. They came and threw
rocks, sticks, and threw everything at the horses and at our
people, and so our old people supposed white people teach
their children in their schoolhouses to throw at people. They
teach the things different than the Indians teach, and we don 't
want our children to be taught those things.

Mr. Harlan: I wonder if we can, all of us, now, consider
what Young Bear could tell us tomorrow evening that would
apply to our own job, as teaching our children, or teaching
our pupils in school ; and so if any one has queries, write them
out, and if you come in the evening Dr. Qilmore will arrange
them so the queries will bring out whatever our Indian friends
can give us of their own culture in the direction that the queries
point. I wish we could have Dr. Gilmore tell us, and George
interpret it, so Young Bear and Jim will understand.

Dr. Gilmore : It occurs to me that the teachers might leave
their queries today, and tomorrow it will be easier and more
economical in time.

Mr. Harlan : Dr. Gilmore, I am anxious that these Indians
learn what other Indians you have visited and studied, so that
whenever the name is mentioned among them they will see
that your learning comes from their own relations or with
those not related to you. I want them to know you.

Mr. Gilmore : Well, Mr. Harlan said I was born in Nebraska
— in eastern Nebraska, in the Omaha country. I was used to
seeing the Omahas and Pawnees when I was a small boy — saw
them traveling from their homes to trading posts at Elk
Horn. I was acquainted with the Indians, and saw them as
friends. It was after I was in college that I first came to know
the Omahas well. I was teaching in a college in Nebraska
near Lincoln, and was at the same time doing graduate work
in the University of Nebraska, when I went on an experimental

228 ANNALS OF IOWA

trip on the Omaha reservation. I got acquainted with them
then, and learned a number of interesting things from them
about their native plants and their uses, and also of their old
time agriculture. When I came back to the University I was
talking of the interesting things I learned from the Omahas,
it was suggested that I make that my special study. Then
I made a special inquiry into the Omahas' use of plants, and
from that to other tribes of the Missouri region.

I then extended my study to the Pawnees, the Poncas, the
Sioux, the Mandans and others. I was curator of the State
Historical Society of Nebraska. Some years after that I went
to North Dakota as curator of that state, and got acquainted
with the Aricaras, the Mandans, and as I had been well ac-
quainted with the Pawnees, I went down into Oklahoma to
make a study of them. While I was still in Nebraska their
chief visited that state. He was then eighty-three years old.
He said he wanted to visit his homeland before he died, so I
took him out along the Platte River. He showed me where he
was born, his old village scenes and many things of old time
life. On the way back to Lincoln he said to me one day, **I
have in mind to give you a Pawnee name.'* He considered
for some time, and mentioned two names he had in mind. He
spoke up again and said, **I have now made up my mind.'*
And when he returned home he made a declaration of the
name, and so I have always felt acquainted with the Pawnees
and the Aricaras — since they are of the same stock. When I
went to North Dakota the Aricaras felt especially friendly to
me because I bore a Pawnee name.

I have gone to all these people in a friendly way, ac-
knowledging them as my teachers. They have been very kind
to me, and have taught me what I know. It is by their teach-
ing that I am able to teach white people Indian lore, especially
of the Poncas and the Aricaras. They are people of superior
culture. Yet the white people have not learned so much about
them as they have about some other tribes. The Mandans for
instance are better known. Yet the Mandans and other tribes
learned from the Aricaras and the Pawnees. It was these
people who came from the Southwest, and taught the other
tribes, and so they have been glad for me to record their knowl-

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 229

edge. They have felt slighted that the people that they them-
selves taught before white men came, have come to be con-
sidered by white people to be of superior culture, when in
reality they borrowed their culture from them. For that
reason the Aricaras especially have been very desirous for
me to get all of the information I can before it is too late, be-
cause the old people have died, and the young people of the
tribes are not learning things alone of their own tribes.

I have learned from these people, not only what I started
out to do — ^their knowledge of native plants, and of their
agriculture, but also of the native animals and birds and
mammals, and their knowledge of geography, their systems
of teaching the children, their educational system, how their
children acquire their education, and everything of interest
that concerns the old-time people. To me there is a strange
ignorance in white people. It seems to me that the white
people know more of the native peoples of foreign lands
than they do of our own people here. So I have tried to
lead white people to know some of the beautiful things that
there are in America, and something of the worth of the life
and teachings of the races that are native to this country.

In my association with these tribes, and more especially
with the Pawnees and the Aricaras, they have often said that
they do not feel me to be a stranger. They feel as though I
am one of them, and I have been invited to take part with them
in their sacred rituals. I have been through these societies,
taking part in the rituals, and have made record of these things.
They are not printed yet, but a good deal of the work that I have
done in plants has been printed by the Bureau of American
Ethnology, in the Thirty-third Annual Report,'' and many
of these other things that I have learned from them I have
not yet published.

After several years in the service of the state of North Da-
kota I was called to the Museum of the American Indian in
Xew York, and have since then been in field work with the tribes.
I have got acquainted with the Iroquois, and have some inter-
esting information from them.

^Thirty-third Annual Report of tht Bureau of American Ethnology, 1911-12,
pagp .39. Also see Dr. Gllmore'a articles Id the .\nnal8 op Iowa, "Folklore
concerning the Meadow Lark." Vol. XIII, p. 137 ; "The Ground Bean and the
Bean Mouse and their E:^onomic Relations,^' Vol. XII, pp. 606-09.

230 ANNALS OF IOWA

Mr. Harlan : Would you like to ask Dr. Qilmore anything
about these different things, or the people he was acquainted
with?

Young Bear: I have listened to my friend's talk, and every
word that he uttered is true. I believe in everything he said,
but of course I do not understand or do not know anything
about the people he spoke of. However, I know several tribes,
and the people that we understand — ^there are several of us
that understand each other — ^we have the same customs, habits
and beliefs — we are almost the same, and also are friendly to
these tribes, and every one of these tribes we have visited and
become acquainted with, but our friend and the people he
spoke about — I do not know anything about those people.

Mr. Harian: I believe you can all see, you. Young Bear,
and Jim, and Dr. Gilmore, how much those of us sitting by can
leam. If, as you talk to one another before us during the
week. Young Bear should inquire of Dr. Qilmore about the
customs of the Pawnees or the Aricaras or any other, and will
let us hear the question and answer, and if you, Dr. Gilmore,
should ask of Young Bear and his people any thing of interest
here in the meeting, we can have as much benefit as you two do.
That is my thought of what a school is. It need never be called
a school, and yet we are all learning very, very much. Because
Dr. Gilmore has paid special attention to the plants, I am
going to suggest that if Dr. Gilmore can spare the time, per-
haps Thursday morning, he and Young Bear can spend some
time looking at the native plants in this region which Dr. Gil-
more is interested in, and he can explain the plants to Young
Bear as he understands them and has learned from other
people.

Dr. Gilmore ; And Young Bear can tell me things from his
people that I do not know.

It may be well to say that these tribes that I have been
speaking of — I was speaking of two interesting stocks — our
Indians here are of another stock — I do not know a word they
are saying, because I have not worked with any of the tribes
that speak Algonquin — I spoke of two tribes of the Cadoan
stock, and several other tribes that I mentioned, that are en-
tirely different from the Siouan stock, and both entirely dif-
ferent from the Algonquin, with different customs and different

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 231

blood, just as there are different divisions of the white race.
For instance, Slavonic, Teutonic and Celtic. There are more
than fifty, nearly sixty different Indian stocks, and these dif-
ferent stocks comprise more than two hundred languages. For
instance, each one of these stocks may have contributed to the
number of Kiowa as only one stock, and many of the others
may have from several up to two dozen languages — languages
related to each other, yet not intelligible to each other, as there
are Germans and Swedes and Hollanders, and each of these
languages may have several dialects, just as you know the
Germans and Swedes and several in Norway. So I mention
that there are several tribes of these stocks, but Young Bear
was not acquainted with these other people. I have never been
thrown with any of the people of his stock except a little boy
with the Chippewas — ^there was one in North Dakota — and
that is all I know of the Algonquin, except also a little boy
of the Pottawattamies. My acquaintance has been mostly Ca-
doan and Siouan and Iroquois. The Iroquois is a great stock
of New York and Canada, and the Cherokee in the South.

Mr. Harlan [to George Young Bear] : Will you tell your
father what Dr. Gilmore has just said of the diversity of the
stocks T

Dr. Gilmore: There are many different stocks in America,
just as there are in Europe, of the white people.

Mr. Harlan : Now, I want Young Bear to learn from Miss
Mershon how it is you go about teaching Indian Life?

Miss Mershon : I am afraid we never had much success doing
it. We have so little material we can use. Just exactly how
do vou mean?

Mr. Harlan : When a class comes to you and you have a
study of Indian Life. Just what do you dot

Miss Mershon: At the beginning of the work I generally
trj' to find out what they would like to know, and make a list.
And then, of course, during the last semester's work* I knew
much more about it myself. That has to be true when we
have no texts. When the children of the third grade, seven or
eight years old, have no texts, and we find out what they want

<The B<»ine8tor*H work refcrrpd to was done after the Council of the Indiann
and teachers was held, a report of which Im puhlishcd in the first division of
this article.

232 ANNALS OF IOWA

to know — for instance, about the houses, I generally talk about
our own homes first, and then about the Indians' homes.

Mr. Harlan : George, explain that to your father. Now
then, if you are giving to them the information they want to
know about the Indians' houses or homes, what have you in
the shape of a book?

Miss Mershon : That 's what I have been anticipating. We
have had nothing to go on. I felt better equipped to teach
after I was out here last spring than ever before.

Dr. Gilmore: Are you acquainted with the Hand Book of
the American Indian published by the Bureau of American
Ethnology, sometimes referred to as the Encyclopedia?

Miss Mershon : Yes, I go to that, but it must all come from
the teacher. The teacher has only what she can get from
books. We have nothing definite on Indians in our own locality.

Mr. Harlan : George, will you make that plain to Young
Bear. Now in that line Dr. Gilmore has studies and notes,
and I believe a manuscript which, when it is published,
ought to supply you, Miss Mershon, and any one in your
situation, substantially what you are seeking, and my part
in the matter here would be to have Dr. Gilmore acquainted
with that problem, even more, perhaps, than he is, and that
he connect that with our own Indian resources of this state.
This is the object and all the object I have. Tell your folks,
too, George, so we can make all minds alike.

Young Bear, our books tell us that in the earliest time, the
earliest people, learning, education, was gained from the wisest
men in just talks this way. Even the Nazarene taught those
who believed him, blessed them, and taught his faith in just
conversations, sometimes with no more people about than are
here, and that has been studied for thousands of years after-
wards. And so your people, in talking around your fires in
winter have done this. Without any pretense at all this even-
ing we have had an interchange of thoughts of the different
races and different languages, and have talked of the diflferent
problems that we all have. I wish we could recollect with what
seriousness, and I would say success, we have met in this little
party in this way.

Now, we understand that all these people that Dr. Gilmore
has mentioned are races in the world's history who have had

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 233

similar problems and similar experiences. Among the experi-
ences of each one have been spiritual experiences, through, for
instance, the art of music. I would like to have some music
by Jim on his flute. Just enough of it so that each evening
the rest of the week we can get together on the experiences
or the enjoyment of it. I want Young Bear and Jim to under-
stand this idea. Jim, did you bring your flute ?

Jim : Yes.

Mr. Harian: Will you get it? Later in the week I hope
Dr. Gilmore will give to you all the thoughts he gave to me
today, about this. And while Jim is getting ready I wish
our friends would reflect just a little upon the fact that these
sounds that we hear today will not be the same as from our
violins or saxophones. I have always felt like we can associate
the notes of the flute with the notes of the doves or the whip-
poorwiUs, or any sound in nature, as he will play it for us. If I
am mistaken about that, Dr. Gilmore will correct me at a later
time.

George Young Bear : He is playing a certain class of music —
songs, and he wishes to know if any one cares to hear any par-
ticular song. He knows different kinds of songs — songs he
played, and there are two particular songs that he has always
played. The two are love songs, and the meaning of these
love songs he always tries to explain. Some people are inter-
ested in these songs, and they want to know them, and he has
mentioned two or three of his friends that he has tried to
teach.

Dr. Gilmore : I was going to suggest that Indians have differ-
ent kinds of instruments for different classes of music — there
are different classes. I mention sentimental songs, and there
are songs for other purposes, as other races have ballads, and
other types of songs. Indians have victory songs, songs of
war, and songs in relation to all phases of life, and so they
have different instruments for different emotions. The flute
is for sentimental songs and love songs.

Mr. Harlan : Let me ask that he play some one song, some
one melody, until we get it in our own natures, to see if we
cannot get it this week. Let's stick to one until we get the
spirit of it 1 What is the song about ?

(Jim plays onr his flute; the teachers applaud.)

234 ANNALS OF IOWA

Jim : The origin of this song is unknown. Our own people
have sung this song for generations, and it tells of a certain
couple. It is a young man and a young woman who were very
much in love with each other, and of course eventually married.
They had a lodge of their own and they were very happy.
They lived together for some years, and finally there was some
diflSculty between them. They began to quarrel, and began
to find fault 'with each other. They were very unhappy. They
began to worry over the future. Finally the young woman
became so unhappy and so dissatisfied with her lodge that she
decided at last to leave, to go out alone, and become of her
whatever may happen to her. And so she goes out — ^left her
home with a heavy heart, worried and saddened, and so she
sings this song. The title of it is **I am going away."

Mr. Harlan : Can you sing it, Jim T

George: He said he would try to sing it — of course he is
not much of a singer.

Mr. Harlan : I am going to say this. That if Young Bear
and Jim will sing this tomorrow night, and these folks will
try to learn it, Dr. Qilmore and I will try it.

Dr. Gilmore : You are promising too much.

Mr. Harlan : Well, anyway, nothing would please me better
than to have some one try to sing it. What is **Ni be no'*t

George: It means **I am going away."

Jim plays his flute, then sings the song **Ni be no."

Mr. Harlan : Well, I think that song might be treated as the
end of the evening. I can 't see why we cannot get a great deal
of good out of this experience and this exchange of thought.
So far as I know this is the only record ever made of a Mes-
quakie conference as an aid to the teaching of Indian Life
by white teachers in schools. Whether one song or a dozen
makes no particular difference until the music and the mean-
ing of it is understood by the pupils being taught. I would
like to have Miss Rhode or Mrs. Card make a record of your
criticism or particular questions as to the value to you of this
method. I want also to canvass the subject of the comfort of
the evening. By tomorrow evening Dr. Gilmore will have
some additional ideas, all within proper scope, and if you miss
it, it will, I think, be to abuse an opportunity.

[To be continued]

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

John Loomis Stevens was born in Northiield, Vermont, May 19, 1850,
and died in Ames, Iowa, October 23, 1933. Burial was in the Ames
Cemetery. His parents were John Loomis Stevens and Harriet E.
(Tucker) Stevens. The family removed* to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1863,
and later to Belle Plaine. John Loomis, Jr., attended primary school and
academy in Northfield, and public school in Cedar Rapids and Belle Plaine.
On the opening of the State Agricultural College at Ames in 1868 he
entered the freshman class and was graduated in 1872 in the first class
of that institution, and received the B. S. degree. He read law with
Frank G. Clark of BeUe Plaine and was admitted to the bar at Vinton
in 1873. In November of that year he began practice at Ames in partner-
ship with Daniel McCarthy. He served Ames as city recorder, then as
city attorney, and in 1878 was elected district attorney for the Eleventh
Judicial District composed of Boone, Story, Marshall, Webster, Hamilton,
Hardin, Wright and Franklin counties and was re-elected four years later,
serving until January 1, 1887. He was thus one of the last district
attorneys under the old plan that preceded county attorneys. The fall
of 1886 he was elected judge of the Eleventh District, was re-elected in
1890, but resigned in 1893 and entered private practice in Boone, re-
moving to that city. Besides his distinguished career as a lawyer he led
in many business enterprises, such as the Ames- Nevada telephone line
in 1881, the Boone County and the Boone and Marshalltown telephone
companies, the Ames and College Railway Company, and the Boone Brick
and Tile Company, being president at some time of the most of these
concerns. He was a Tenth District delegate to the Republican National
Convention of 1900, as well as of the Republican National Convention
of June 18, 1912. However, he was delegate at large to the Progressive
National Convention of August 5, 1912, and became the national com-
mitteeman for Iowa of the Progressive party, and was also nominated
September 4, 1912, as the candidate of the Progressive party for governor.
During the world war Judge Stevens was Boone County chairman in the
third and fourth liberty loan drives. Soon after the world war he again
made Ames his home. He induced Theodore Roosevelt to present some
souvenirs of his expeditions to the Historical, Memorial and Art Depart-
ment of Iowa.

Edward Payson Hetzer was born in Kossuth, a former town near the
present town of MediapoUs, Iowa, June 20, 1855, and died in a hospital
in Sioux City November 8, 1933. Burial was in Logan Park Cemetery,

236 ANNALS OF IOWA

Sioux City. His parents were James C. and Margaret (Blair) Heizer.
The family removed to Galesburg, Illinois^ in 1870, and Edward P. became
a student in Knox College from which he was graduated in liberal arts.
He then entered the law school of the State University of Iowa and
finished his course there in 1878. He taught school in western Missouri
and eastern Kansas a few years, then in the early 1880 's he did his first
newspaper work by joining the staflP of the Burlington Hawkey e. From
the Hawheye he went to the Bloom field Eepublican where he did editorial
work. In 1883 he went to Sioux City and became an editorial writer on
the Sioux City Journal of which George D. Perkins was editor. Mr.
Perkins was much engrossed in political matters and his assistant more
and more took over editorial work. When Mr. Perkins became a candidate
for Congress Mr. Heizer was his campaign manager, and the eight years
he was absent in Congress Mr. Heizer ably sustained the reputation of
the Journal. Indeed he himself became a figure and a factor in party con-
ventions and in state politics. In 1898 he was appointed postmaster at
Sioux City and served until 1902. Shortly thereafter he went to the
Omaha Bee and substituted as editor for Edward Bosowater for some
time, and also was at Lincoln as editor and part owner of the Lincoln Star,
but soon returned and established a beautiful farm home in Perry Creek
valley, north of Sioux City, where he spent his declining years. He was
an able and accomplished writer. As one of his friends has said "he
possessed the technique of appropriate phraseology." He contributed
many notable articles, and was many times called on for assistance as a
writer by the National Republican Committee, as well as the State Com-
mittee in drafting platforms or in preparing literature. Knox College,
as one of its distinguished alumni, awarded him the degree of doctor of
literature. He was affiliated with the conservative wing of his party and
had close friendships not only with Mr. Perkins, but with Gear, Blythe,
Shaw and others.

Thomas P. Hollowell was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, April 18,
1878, and died in Fort Madison October 20, 1933. His parents, Thomas
P. and Nettie (Charles) Hollowell, removed their family to Fort Madison
in 1882 where Mr. Hollowell became a guard in the State Penitentiary,
and later became deputy warden, in which position he remained until his
death a few years later. Thomas P., Jr., obtained his education in the
different grades of the public schools of Fort Madison, and added a
course in Johnson 's Business College in the same city. In 1898 he enlisted
in the Iowa National Guard and served in the Spanish American. War.
In 1899 he entered the United States mail service as a letter carrier and
March 6, 1906, was appointed postmaster at Fort Madison, serving until
April, 1914. During this time, following the Spanish American War,
Mr. Hollowell retained connection with the Iowa National Guard. He
became a lieutenant of Company A, Fifty-fourth Regiment, captain in
1906, and major in 1909, retiring in 1914. Before leaving the post office
in 1914 he had become principal owner of the Gem City, a daily and weekly

EDITORIAL 237

newspaper of Fort Madison and assiAted by his wife Miriam (Stewart)
HoUowell, had also been its editor for some three years, and continued
to be until November 17 when it was sold to and absorbed by the Fort
Madison Democrat. In July, 1917, he enlisted in the motor battalion of
the One Hundred and Ninth Ammunition train, Thirty-fourth Division,
U. S. Army. He served with that unit in France, remaining with the
Army of Occupation in Germany until 1919. Returning home he assisted
in the reorganization of the Iowa National Guard. In 1920 he became
secretary to Governor Harding, but on August 16, 1920, he was appointed
warden of the State Penitentiary at Fort Madison and served until he
resigned because of failing health in August, 1933. As a warden he was
conservative, and succeeded in giving a good administration.

GiLLUM S. TOLIVER w^as born in Owen County, Indiana, February 11,
1840, and died in Jefferson, Iowa, October 24, 1933. His parents, Isom
and Matilda (Reynolds) Toliver, removed their family by covered wagon
first, in 1848 to Missouri, later to Arkansas, then back to Illinois, and
finally to Greene County, Iowa, in 1854, and located on land six miles
southeast of the present city of Jefferson. Gillum S. had attended school
a few months in the various places of the family's abode, and attended
a few winter terms of country school in Greene County, taught one term
in Wapello County and studied a few months in Western College, Linn
County. On September 28, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Tenth Iowa
Infantry, registering from Rippey (Old Rippey). However, he was dis-
charged in about a year because of disability. He entered the State
University of Iowa, Iowa City, the fall of 1862 where he pursued the
liberal arts course two years, and began a law course at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, when during his absence he was appointed county surveyor
of Greene County. He returned home and served in that position from
1864 to 1867. However, in 1865 he was admitted to the bar. He served
as county treasurer in 1868 and 1869. The fall of 1869 he was elected
representative and served in the Thirteenth General Assembly. In 1870
he formed a law partnership with John J. Russell as Russell & Toliver,
which was continued until Mr. Russell's death in 1901. During those
years they acquired a large general practice. Mr. Toliver 's work was
described by a local historian as being ** characterized by continuity and
thoroughness." At the time of his death he was the dean of the bar of
Greene County, and was thought to be the only survivor of those who
served in the General Assembly as early as the Thirteenth, 1870.

Thomas W. Drumm was born in Fore, Ireland, July 12, 1871, and
died in Des Moines, Iowa, October 24, 1933. Burial was in Catholic
Glendale Cemetery. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Cullen) Drumm.
He came to the United States in 1888 and lived with an uncle on a farm
near Rockwell, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, did farm work, and also
worked in a country store. Entering St. Joseph 's College (now Columbia
College) at Dubuque, he received from it his B. A. degree in 1898. He

238 ANNALS OF IOWA

then studied in Grand Seminary, Montreal| Canada, and was ordained a
priest in 1901. Then for two years he served as curate to churches at
Rockwell and at Monti, Buchanan County. Entering the Catholic Uni-
versity at Washington, D. C, in less than a year he was called to New
York for mission work and from there to the Dubuque diocese for mission
work. For twelve years he conducted missions and gave lectures. In
1915 he became pastor of St. Patrick's church in Cedar Rapids, and in
1919 was consecrated bishop of Des Moines. He was president of the
Board of Trustees of Des Moines Catholic College, a fourth degree Knight
of Columbus and a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters. During
the time he was bishop of Des Moines he made extensive improvements
on the cathedral property, erected a new rectory, developed new parishes
and cultivated and made better understanding between Catholics and non-
Catholics. The Passionist order located their monastery on the Merle Hay
road near Des Moines during his tenure of office. He was noted for his
interest in relief and social work, and combined a missionary spirit with
good administrative ability.

Joseph Schuyler Long was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, January 1,
1869, and died at his home at the Iowa School for the Deaf, Council Bluffs,
October 30, 1933. Burial was in Riverside Cemetery, Marshalltown.
His parents were William and Lucy Catherine Perry Long. His early
education was obtained in the public schools of Marshalltown. Child-
hood injuries and meningitis deprived him of his hearing when he was
about twelve years old, but he retained his speech perfectly throughout
his Ufe. As a student he entered the Iowa School for the Deaf and was
graduated in 1883 in the first graduating class of that institution. The
fall of the same year he entered Oallaudet College, Washington, D. C,
completed the course with honors and received the degree of B. A. In
1889 he became an instructor in the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and
boys' athletic director, remaining there eleven years, and in 1901 accepted
the position of a teacher in the Iowa School for the Deaf, the following
year was made active principal, and in 1908 principal, and remained so
to be until his death. From 1901 to 1923 he edited The Iowa HawJceye,
a small paper published by the school. He contributed many professional
papers, especially to the American Annals of the Deaf. For ten years
or more he was on the staff of the Council Bluffs Nonpareil as a proof
reader, as a writer of special articles, and sometimes as an editorial
writer. In 1909 he published Out of the Silence^ a book of verse, and
in 1910 The Sign Language.

August Henry Bergman was born on a farm eight miles north of
Newton, Iowa, and died in Newton November 2, 1933. Burial was at
Newton Union Cemetery. His parents were William and Louisa Berg-
man. He was graduated from rural public school and in 1890 from
Capital City Commercial College, Des Moines. The same year he engaged
in the implement business in Newton. In 1893 he became a partner in

EDITOBIAL 239

the manufacturing of the Parsons band eutter and self feeder Ck>. In
1900 he entered the washing machine manufacturing business and became
president of the One Minute Manufacturing Company, now the One
Minute Washer Company. He was also interested in banking and in
1925 was made president of the then First National Bank of Newton.
He was the owner of several farms in Jasper County. His large business
activities and responsibilities did not prevent him from having an interest
in civic affairs. In 1922 he was elected senator and was re-elected in
1926, and served inclusively from the Fortieth to the Forty-third general
assemblies. He soon attained large influence in the assembly. He intro-
duced the first bill, which became a law, creating the gasoline tax. The
subjects to which he gave most attention were roads, banking. and agri-
culture. During his last two sessions he was chairman of the Committee
on Banks and Banking. He was prominently mentioned in connection
with the governorship in 1930, but had commenced a campaign for re-
election to the Senate when he was stricken with paralysis, which
eventually took his life.

Orson Gideon Beeve was born in New Lyme, Ashtabula County, Ohio,
July 4, 1846, and died in Hampton, Iowa, May 3, 1932. His parents
were James Baldwin Reeve and Adaline (Biggs) Beeve. The family re-
moved to Franklin County, Iowa, in 1853, Mr. Beeve having preceded
them in the fall of 1852, becoming the first white settler of the county.
The homestead was established about six miles southeast of the present
town of Hampton, in what is now Beeve Township. Orson O. was reared
in the farm home of his parents. He enlisted in Company G, Eighth
Iowa Cavalry, June 15, 1863, underwent two years of arduous military
service and was mustered out at Macon, Georgia, August 13, 1865. Re-
turning home, he became a farmer, which vocation he continued in Beeve
Township until 1913, when he retired and removed to Hampton. During
his residence on the farm he held several township offices and in 1912 was
elected representative to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Repre-
sentative Frank A. Thayer, and served during the latter portion of the
Thirty-fifth General Assembly.

Robert U. Spence was born in Henry County, Illinois, April 15, 1852,
and died at Mount Ayr, Iowa, October 7, 1933. At the age of nineteen
he was with his parents as they removed to Ringgold County, Iowa. His
boyhood was spent in the country and he early began teaching country
schools. He was graduated from the College of Law of the State Uni-
versity of Iowa in 1875 and the same year began practice at Mount Ayr
which he continued until a few weeks before his death. During that fifty-
eight years he was in turn associated in partnership with R. F. Askern,
I. W. Keller, R. C. Henry, Albert I. Smith, and for the last twenty years
with H. C. Beard. For four years, 1889-92, he was county attorney of
Binggold County. He was active in state polities, but not a candidate
for office. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in

240 ANNALS OF IOWA

1896. For seven years, 1898-1904, he was a member of the Bepublican
State Central Committee, and was chairman of that committee for four
years, 1901-04.

Henry Frederick Wick ham was born in Shrewton, Wiltshire, Eng-
land, October 26, 1866, and died in Iowa City, Iowa, November 16, 1933.
Burial was in Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City. He was with hia parents,
George and Sarah (Light) Wickhara in their removal to Iowa City in
1871. He attended Iowa City High School three years and the State
University of Iowa from 1887 to 1891. His major studies were zoology
and botany. In 1894 he received from the University the degree of Master
of Science. From 1891 to 1903 he was an instructor and associate pro-
fessor in the University, and from 1903 to 1933 he was professor of
entomology. His knowledge of insects brought him recognition from the
United States Department of Agriculture. For several summers he
asssisted that department in its field work, a part of the time being
technical assistant in the biological survey in different parts of the
country. His entire educational career was at the State University of
Iowa.

Emanuel J. Hines was born on a farm near Anamosa, Iowa, February
4, 1883, and died in Toledo, Iowa, November 8, 1833. Burial was at
Anamosa. His parents were John W. and Jennie E. Hines. About the
time he became twenty-one years old he left the farm, removed to Anamosa
and engaged in the meat and grocery business. Several years afterward
he removed to Onslow and followed the same line of business there until
in 1912 he was nominated by the Democratic party for county auditor
of Jones County, and was elected. He was re-elected in 1914, 1916, and
1918, but during the last year of his fourth term he resigned to become ^
secretary of the State Board of Control. He took over the duties of
that office March 1, 1920, and relinquished it March 15, 1931, to become
superintendent of the State Juvenile Home at Toledo, which he did
April 1 of the same year. His administration of his duties in these
several positions was marked by efficiency and integrity.

Bruce Beese Mills was born in Bushnell, Illinois, January 28, 1867,
and died in Woodbine, Iowa, October 1, 1933. He was with his parents
when they removed in 1870 to Logan, Iowa. His education was acquired
in the public schools at Logan. In 1897 he removed to Woodbine where
he entered the livestock and real estate business. During his residence
there he was for a time a member of the town council, and was school
treasurer. In 1907 he was appointed postmaster at Woodbine, was re-
appointed four years later and served until 1916. In 1918 he was elected
representative, was re-elected in 1920, and served in the Thirty-eighth
and Thirty-ninth general assemblies. In 1925 he was again appointed
postmaster, was re-appointed four years later, and served until September
30, 1933, thus serving under seven presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft,
Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Boosevelt.

WILLIAM 8ALTKR AND MARt ANN (MACKINTIRB) HALTBR

From ■ daguetrotfpe loaDed by George B. SaltPF. BurllngtoD.

made about tbe Clmv ol tbelr marrlase Id 1S4Q.

Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 4 Des Moines, Iowa, April, 1934 Third Series

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS TO

MARY ANN MACKINTIRE

1845-1846

By Philip D. Jordan

Introduction

On Wednesday, June 11, 1845, William Salter, preacher,
left Maquoketa, Territory of Iowa, for a visit to New York.^
This was his first vacation since his arrival on the frontier two
years previously. He had come, fresh from Andover Theo-
lo^eal Seminary, imbued with high hopes for the success of
his labors; he was returning disillusioned and disappointed.
The subject of his ministry, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,
had not found a generous reception in the hearts of a ** whole
community . . . filled up with families who are TJniversalists
or ignorant persons [and] who have never been brought up to
respect the Sabbath or attend public worship.**' A ** torrent
of abuse" had been the only reward for his faithfulness in
administering to men who quarreled over land titles, drank
prodigiously, and gambled on the Mississippi steamboats.
For two years he had been forced to travel on foot and horse-
back through Jackson County, preaching wherever he could
gather a few of the faithful or coerce a few of the unregener-
ates. He had lived in a log house and his study had been a
portion of the main room partitioned off by a swaying curtain.
The prospect of leaving unleavened Iowa to experience again
the delight of paved streets with omnibuses running to schedule,
to browse in the libraries of New York University and Union

1 Vid. thp Indexes to the Annals of Iowa for many references. The Dictionary
of American Hiof/raithy will alHO contain a sketch.

2 This and subsequent dln«ct quotations are taken from the letters here
printed, and I therefore omit any further citations.

244 ANNALS OF IOWA

Theological Seminary, where he had attended classes, and to
talk with educated people must have brought eager anticipa-
tion to this twenty-four year old Congregational pastor. He
was anxious, too, for the sight of Mary Ann Mackintire, only
daughter of Eliab Parker Mackintire, prominent Boston mer-
chant. He hoped to make this girl his wife. If she would
accept him, he desired to announce their engagement before
he returned to Iowa.

From Galena, Illinois, he went by stage to Chicago, and then
across the Lakes to Detroit where he arrived on June 21. On
July 2 he was safe in his father's New York home and was
warmly greeted by his brother Benjamin. For twenty-eight
days Rev. Salter remained in the East, and when he left, about
July 30, he carried both Mary Ann's promise to marry him
and her daguerreotype. On August 16, the journey from New
York was ended and again Preacher Salter, bachelor, was at
his pastoral duties in Maquoketa.

II
William Salter's first sojourn in the West had extended
from October 24, 1843, to June 11, 1845. In this period he
saw Iowa for the first time, was ordained at Denmark, Novem-
ber 5, 1843, organized churches at Andrew and Maquoketa,
and began the saddle period of his ministry. Then came his
return to New York and Boston. His second period in the
West was from August 16, 1845, to July 6, 1846, when he left to
be married. He had now grown accustomed, in a measure, to
the frontier, for Iowa was close on the line of settlement in the
1840 's and he was preparing himself to say, **I shall aim to
show that the West will be just what others make it, and that
they which will work the hardest and do most for it shall have
it. Prayer and pain will save the West and the country is
worth it." There is something here of the dignity of the
frontier, a something which no man could have uttered had he
not first experienced it. William Salter, perhaps unkno¥m to
himself, was succumbing to the spirit of enterprise, strength,
and determinism of Lubberland. From youth he had been
taught that slavery was an abomination in the sight of both
God and man. So well did he learn this lesson that he always
was ready to attack that system wherever it showed itself. He

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 245

ran a station on the underground railroad and he preached of
the evils of Negro servitude many times. In this second period
of his life on the frontier he wrote with evident satisfaction,
** There is one interesting thing about Iowa, to wit: that it is
the only part of the country west of the Father of Waters
which is free ..." Here is the thesis for his volume, Iowa —
The First Free State of the Louisiana Purchase, published
sixty years later. He early learned that in the West a man's
measure was taken on the basis of his personal worth rather
than upon any academic or professional training. ** People
distinguish," he said, ** between a black coat and a fine man."
His parishioners wanted a preacher to visit them in their log
cabins and sod houses and to talk ''direct and plain." An
ornate sermon was an unsuccessful one. A minister who was
only a scholar was almost worse than none at all. Here lies
one of the minor tragedies of Rev. Salter's ministerial career.
He had been bred to books, and he loved them. He perhaps
loved the quiet of his study even more than he loved his parish
work. **I would much rather be in my study," he said, **but
the work, [of visiting] though humble, is great." His duties
as a clergyman frequently intruded upon his duties as a
scholar. It is perhaps safe to say that, in one sense, he felt
more at home in the role of historiographer than of preacher.
This applies to his entire career.

He had much to confound him in the West where everything
went by noise. Bilious fever and ague stole tlie few members
of his congregation. As he sat beside the sick and dying he
sometimes jotted down the cause and course of the disease,
complaining of the lack of judicious medical treatment. Con-
sumption is given again and again as tlie cause of death and
* * death by drink ' ' is frequently recorded. Children and young
people especially felt the hand of death on this Iowa frontier.
In one list of eleven deaths. Rev. Salter records that six of them
were of children under three years of age. When a general
court was in session, the meeting house, when time for service
came, remained empty. And he found it inadvisable to schedule
a meeting at the same time as a land sale. His deacons were
not always pillars of the church, and so the church excom-
municated them. It is little wonder that he wrote, * * In so new
a country, where so many other interests absorb the minds of

246 ANNALS OP IOWA

men, the objects in which we are engaged are very much
slighted/*

Although William Salter was willing to go where Providence
should send him, he, at times, wondered if Jackson County
was the appointed place for him to round out his life. Perhaps
Providence would, in its infinite wisdom, direct him to a more
fruitful field. In 1843 when the members of the Iowa Band,
after praying, had selected their fields of ministry. Rev. Horace
Hutchinson, recently married, had chosen Burlington. Now,
two years later, he was ill with consumption, and his congre-
gation was falling away. How long Rev. Hutchinson could
keep this parish, no one knew, but everyone saw that it would
not be a great length before he would have to give in to the
disease. Then Mr. Badger, of the American Home Missionary
Society, learned of the sad state of affairs in Burlington
and, when Rev. Salter went East in 1845, approached him
with the idea of going to Burlington when the Congregational
pulpit there should become vacant. Although Burlington was
an important and growing town of about 2500 persons in 1845,
possessed of more culture and social life than the majority of
Iowa river towns in the forties, it was not an altogether attrac-
tive parish, and Rev. Salter wrote aptly when he said of the
Congregational prospects, **The church is feeble. The house
of worship unfinished. A deacon and leading man in the
church is a political newspaper editor and has not much
influence and is not highly esteemed as a Christian.*' By
January, 1846, Rev. Hutchinson's health again failed and he
gave up the thought of continuing his ministry in Burlington.
Immediately Albert Shackford of the Burlington congregation
wrote Rev. Salter inviting him to Burlington with a view to
settling there. This was not a formal call, but only an invitation
for Rev. Salter to come and acquaint himself with the situation.
The news brought by Mr. Shackford 's letter troubled the young
preacher. He was building a small brick study where he could
prepare his sermons free from the interruptions of lovable, yet
noisy, children, and where he might store his letters safe from
curious eyes. He felt hardship and privation to be part of his
duty. Yet the thought of Burlington with its elements of
southern society and its larger sphere of usefulness intrigued
him. But he would not go unless he felt it to be the Lord 's will

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 247

and unless the church would give him a unanimous call. On
February 24, 1846, he, wrapped in a buffalo robe and seated
in an open wagon, left Maquoketa for Burlington. Driving
through a heavy snow, he reached Davenport that same even-
ing. From Davenport a sleigh took him to Bloomington (now
Muscatine) where he failed to meet the Burlington stage.
There he stayed from Friday until the following Tuesday
when the stage finally got through. On Wednesday morning,
February 30, he arrived in Burlington to find Rev. Hutchin-
son dying. On Saturday, March 7, at ten minutes past three
in the afternoon he died, and Burlington was left without a
Congregational pastor. On March 16, Rev. Salter received a
unanimous invitation to become Rev. Hutchinson's successor.
However, nothing was said about salary, and Mr. Salter left
on the steamer Lynx wondering if Burlington Congrega-
tionalists could raise $150 for them to add to the $300 which
they hoped the American Home Missionary Society might pay.
If he was able to write seriously, **The cause in Burlington
will require an unremitting study and protracted effort in
order to make advancement," he was also able to write
humorously, ** Everything in the West goes by noise. This is
a high pressure boat. I was amused to see the mulattoes rattle
every plate they put on the breakfast table this morning. At
one table some of the passengers are earnestly engaged in card
playing. Here sits your friend solus, . . ' *

In Maquoketa, on March 25, he decided to accept the call and
go to Burlington. This decision disturbed many of his friends
in Jackson County, even causing an excommunicated parish-
ioner to urge his remaining. On Sunday afternoon, April 5,
he preached his farewell sermon from I Corinthians 2 :2, **For
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. * ' He preached in the morning from
John 6 :28-29 and in the evening from II Kings 2 :2. In his
farewell, he said in part :*

**I therefore take you to record this day that I am free from
the blood of all men. If any of you die in your sins, it will
not be because I have not warned you of the way of death.

3 F*ortunately, I have found a fragment, apparently the conclusion, of this
farewell sermon, and I include it here ; unfortunately, the introduction and
body of the sermon appear to be lost.

248 ANNALS OP IOWA

and urged you to choose life. I have endeavored to keep back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you
and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testi-
fying to one and all repentence toward God, and faith toward
our Lord J[esus] C[hrist].

**And now behold I know that ye all, among whom I have
gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Brethren, I do not leave you without a struggle. It has been
in my heart to live and die with you. I could willingly have
laboured with you in the work of the ministry that I might
have built up here a goodly ch[urch] of Christ, and led you
to Heaven. But in the Providence of God I am called to leave
these quiet scenes, and this promising community, and my
beloved friends, that I may enter upon more weighty respon-
sibilities and engage in severer labors. But I can never forget
you. I can never forget that here I have spent nearly two years
and a half of my ministry, that here with you I set up the stand-
ard of Christ and Him Crucified, and that here with you I have
toiled and wept and prayed. The trials I have passed through
with you will I trust never cease to exert a chastening influence
over my spirit. I have been with you in every good work. I
have labored to secure the purity of the public morals. I have
aimed to discourage and repress the pursuits of vanity and
folly. I have endeavored to promote the Education of your
youth. I have been with you in your days of darkness and
stood by the beds of sickness and death. I have followed the
remains of eleven persons to*the narrow house on yonder hill,
and administered to weeping friends the consolations of the
Gospel. Two years ago this month we buried the first corpse
in that graveyard, and already it has become a congregation
of the dead. More than twenty now rest there in the sleep of
death. How is that congregation increasing? Alas they wait
for our coming. Children are there, waiting for their parents,
and parents for their children. Brothers for Sisters, and
Sisters for Brothers. My bones may not lay among them,
though God only knows — ^yet from some spot of earth I must
rise to meet them at the last day — 0 that we may meet in peace,
to be forever with the Lord. But I forbear. I shall hope to
meet you again on the Earth, to hear of your welfare and
rejoice in your prosperity. Nothing will afford me greater

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 249

joy than to hear that you walk in the truth — that this ch[urchj
is growing in numbers and graces, and that this community
is enjoying in all its interests the smile of Heaven.

** Brethren Farewell — ^Remember the words that I have
spoken to you. The subject of my ministry has been J[esus]
C[hrist] and Him Crucified. Be of good comfort."

On April 11 he was lodged in the home of J. G. Edwards in
Burlington, being unable to live with H. W. Starr which he
desired. He was not installed as pastor until December 30,
1846. May was spent in settling himself, writing sermons,
visiting members of his congregation, and preparing for his
wedding. The Mexican War was filling the minds of Burling-
ton residents much to the annoyance of Rev. Salter who dis-
approved of the principles involved and so took frequent
occasion to discourse on the evils of war and the benefits of
peace. At the same time he was looking for a house suitable
for a minister and his wife. In June he went up the Missis-
sippi on the steamer Tempest to attend an associational meet-
ing at Dubuque. While in Dubuque plans were discussed for
the establishment of a college to be sponsored by the Congre-
gational ministers and to be known as **Iowa College." Daven-
port was settled upon as the proper location, even though the
society there **is very uncongenial to a literary institution of
the character we wish to establish. *' Burlington was chosen as
the next meeting place of the association, a decision due perhaps
to Rev. Salter's influence. When he returned, on the Fortune,
he found the roof of his church nearly completed. As he rode
through the country he noticed the grain turning golden, saw
the bountiful crop of wheat, and the heavy-laden blackberry
bushes. He traveled across the Illinois prairies to Galesburg,
found that plans were being made for the establishment of a
college (now Knox) there, and coming home broke a piece of
harness, was two minutes late for the Shockoquon ferry, and
missing it, had to wait eighteen hours amid the mosquitoes
before the Mississippi could be crossed. On July 6, the steamer
Atlas carried him on the first leg on his trip to the East and his
wedding. He was feeling unwell on the trip and in New York
took down with that old enemy of the frontiersman, the fever
and ague. His health permitted him, however, to leave his

250 ANNALS OP IOWA

father's home the last of July, and he was married in the
Winthrop Church, on Union Street, in Charlestown, Massa-
chusetts, on Tuesday, August 25, 1846, to the girl whose
daguerreotype he had taken West with him in 1845.

Ill

Dr. Salter's early ministry in Iowa may be divided into four
periods, each of which is in itself worthy of examination. The
first is from 1843 to 1845, the second from 1845 to 1846 (the
period just discussed), the third from 1845 to the Civil War,
and the fourth comprises the Civil War period. Until recently
no adequate or sufficient first-hand information has been avail-
able upon which to build an accurate, true account of these
chronological periods. Now, however, I have access to original
source material covering each. This material is being edited
gradually with proper historical introductions and footnotes.
For the period from 1845 to 1846 there is the following col-
lection of letters, comprising the correspondence of Dr. Salter
to Miss Mackintire. I have transcribed and edited them,
removing, in the main, those sentiments which even today
are personal and which contribute nothing historically. Omis-
sions have been carefully indicated and, as usual, square
brackets indicate material added by the editor. Footnotes
perform their customary task of identifying persons, places,
and events.

The source material for the first period (1843-1845) com-
prises a closely written diary of some 130 manuscript pages.
This will eventually appear in the Annals of Iowa. The third
period overlapping the second by one year, as it does, unfor-
tunately is not revealed by Dr. Salter himself, but indirectly
in a long series of hundreds of letters written to Dr. Salter
by his father-in-law, Eliab Parker Mackintire, of Boston and
Charlestown. Dr. Salter, however, again contributes to the
Civil War period in a joint diary and account book which lists,
in detail, the author's work and adventures as a member of
the Christian Commission. Supplementary to all these periods
is a quantity of notes, observations, sermons, lectures, accoimt
and cost books. These all are holographic.

It is hoped that the editing and subsequent printing of the

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 251

pertinent portions of this collection will throw additional light
upon the history of Iowa for the period covered, will alter the
traditional notions concerning the lives, works, and other
activities of the members of the Iowa Band, and will reveal
Dr. Salter in a clearer focus than those who have previously
written of his work have been able to obtain.

Lake Michigan. August 8, 1845.
Mv dear friend:

How are you this rainy, foggy day! . . . Few objects are calculated
to affect our minds with exalted conceptions of the Great Supreme as
vast bodies of water. . . .

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. August 9.

I am now, my dear M., comfortably settled in the study of Brother
Cliapin of this place, and I gladly resume my pen to converse with you.
I intended to have written out my letter in the steamboat but was hindered
by unexpected interruption. My last^ told you of my progress as far as
Detroit. You will be interested in hearing of my subsequent adventures.
We have been favored with delightful ^'eather. The lake has been very
calm. The first evening after we left Detroit, I was requested to preach,
and at the hour appointed a very attentive congregation to the number
of eighty, assembled in the cabin,''^ and I spoke to them ' ' Of Him in whose
Iiands our breath is".^ The next evening we had an address by Rev. Mr.
Kinney, of Whitewater, Wis., with devotional exercises on the subject of
education. I found on board two other clergymen, one a Methodist
from Ireland, and the other a Lutheran from Germany. With the latter
I became much acquainted, and I must give some account of him. I
noticed a man with unshaved face, and from that fact formed rather an
unfavorable opinion of him, but I soon after found him with a Greek
testament, and introduced conversation with him. I could not speak
German, and he could not talk English, so we were likely to continue
ignorant of one another, but as an interest in him had been awakened in
me, I felt unwilling to give him up, so proposed to talk Latin. I held
several hours talk in Latin with him, and learned the following, among
other interesting facts. He was educated in Halle University, under the
best instructors as Knapp and Gesenines [?]. Has been in the ministry
of the Lutheran church twelve years, and came to America last year, and
a few months since buried his wife. This affliction seems to have un-
settled his mind, and to have led him to embrace some strange views in

1 Appart'Dtly. this letter Is not extant.

2 Of the Stramer New Orleans.

3 The exact date was .\ugust G, and he s|K>ke from Danh*l 7i :23. But hast
lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven ; and they have brought the vesseFs
of his house before thee, and thou, and thy Lords, thy wives, and thy concubines,
have drunk wine in them ; and thou hast praised tne gods of silver, and gold,
of brass, iron. woo<l and stone, which see not. nor hear, nor know : and the
('Od in whose hand thy breath Is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not
glorified.

252 ANNALS OP IOWA

religion— viz. Mark 16:17-18; John 14:12; James 5:14-15.* These
passages seem to have led him to think that the prayer of faith would
have saved his wife. He told me in his ow^n simple Latin that he prayed
for his wife and called the physician, but of no avail — his prayers were
not of faith, and his wife was taken away. Ilence his conclusion that he
has not faith. Now he is determined to seek after faith, to seek God
until he finds him. He is coming into the New World to live away from
men in solitude. I dwelt as well as 1 could to explain the true nature of
faith, as being simple confidence in God, a belief that he will do what
He says, (anything more than this being superstitious is a belief in some-
thing besides and beyond that which has a foundation, viz., the derivation
of the word in the Lexicon) but the poor German's mind was fully made
up and I could not convince him. We talked on many subjects, and I
found him possessed of many high and generous sentiments. I need not
assure you how much I enjoyed this adventure. My heart went forth
spontaneously in sympathy with this stranger yet brother of the human
race. I was very happy to confer a favor on him in getting a reduction
made in the price of his paper. He took me warmly by the hand and
Ills eye beamed with feelings of gratitude and good will. I found that
many of our passengers were on ^lieir way to the copper country on Lake
Superior, among them was a son of a professor Olmstead of New Haven
who projects a tour from the west end of the lake to the waters of the
Mississippi. He seems to be a young man of promise, and is enthusiastic
in his devotion to geological studies. He presented me with a copy of
the last edition of his father's school philosophy. You have heard of
Mackinaw. You have looked at it on the map. I trust another year your
eyes will see it. The shores of Michigan are generally low and sandy.
This island possesses high rocky bluffs. At the south end is a little
village and over it on the bluff is the U. S. garrison. The whitewashed
walls and barracks, contrasting with the green of land and water, make
a picturesque appearance. Here we saw a few Indians, and half-breeds
who presented a degraded specimen of what intemperance and the vices
of civilization will do for the savage. I ascended the bluffs, north was
a corner of Lake Superior, southeast was Lake Huron, southwest was
Lake Micliigan. These immense lakes . . . will be covered with fleets.
As the bays of New England are lined with the sails, so must these waters
bear on their bosoms thousands of vessels and multitudes of interested
men. (O my country, what a destiny is thine, and as I am linked with
all the past as the men of the Mayflower and of Bunker Hill lived and
toiled and died for me, and I enjoy the benefits of their labors, so the

4 Mark 16 :17-18. And these signs shall follow them that believe ; In my
name shall they cast out devils ; they Hhall speak with new tongues : They
shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them ; they shall lay bands on the sick, and they shall recover.

John 14 :12. Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believed on me, the
works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father.

James 5:14-15. Is any^ sick among you? let him call for the elders of the
church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of
the Ix>rd : And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise
him up ; and if he have committeed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 253

millions of future time may be blessed through the humble efforts which
God maj enable me to put forth in laying now the foundation of many
generations.) When I visited a garrison of troops, over the instruments
of death, I cannot but mourn that the day has not yet come when nations
will learn war no more, and I cannot but lift up the desires of my heart
that the Prince of Peace may become the Prince of the Kings of the Earth.
I arrived here last evening at seven o'clock, four days from Buffalo.
I caUed at a bookstore and found a gentleman who was seven years ago
with me in the University of New York. We were then preparing for
the ministry. I was thinking of something else. We have not seen each
other since. Both our plans in life have been changed, and we meet in
a place which had then but just begun to have a name. I have a few
old friends here. I had proposed to have gone West as far as Madison
today, but it being a little uncertain about my being able to get through
before Sabbath morning, I shall remain here until Monday when I leave
for Galena where I hope to arrive on Wednesday afternoon. I am invited
to preach three times tomorrow, twice in the Presbyterian and once in
the Congregational church.^ Rev. Mr. Chapin, who has kindly invited
mo to his home, was in the class before me in the New York Theological
Seminary. He is a lovely man, a finished scholar, and much beloved by
his church. I happened to preach here two years ago and preached the
only good sermon I ever wrote, as a consequence I liave the reputation of
being something of a preacher here. Hence I am called on to deliver
myself tomorrow, and you may expect my reputation after tomorrow will
be ''done for" in Milwaukee. . . . You will believe me when I tell you
tliat I do mean to study this winter and to prepare some sermons that
I shall not be ashamed to preach and which you will not be sorry to have
me, if the Lord will help me.

The Presbyterian and Congregational churclies here are perfectly
harmonious, about the only difference between them is that one is on this
side and the other on the other side of the river. The geographical and
other questions than those of "ism" decide to which church anyone
will go. . . . Mr. White of the Congregational church ranks among the
first of the ministers in Wisconsin. He is a clear-headed, sound, and
acceptable preacher. There have been several warm days this week. . . .

One of my fellow passengers, Judge Doty of New York, is on a very
melancholy journey. A son-in-law of his, a clergyman, left home in May,
attended the Old School General Assembly at Cincinnati, and started on
a journey up the Mississippi and down by the lakes. He was last heard
from at Madison, Iowa, early in June. There are some circumstances
which have occasioned the fear that there has been foul play somewhere.
Judge Doty is on a tour of inquiry and search. . . .

5 In the Milwaukee Presbytorian Church he preached from Psalms 00 :9,
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years as a tale
that is told ; and from I I'eter 4:10, As every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace
of Clod, on August 10. In the (Congregational Church he preached from John
1 :'Jft. The next day John seeth JeHUs coming unto him, and saith. Behold the
l«amb of God which talceth away the sin of the world.

254 ANNALS OF IOWA

I feel more and more a confidence in the Divine Government that God
will do what is best for me in relation to the field of my labors. My
desire is that I may never do anything else but stand and see the Salva-
tion of God. When He calls, I know he will sustain me, but woe be unto
m3 if I lean to my own understanding. ... I am sometimes afraid that
in my letters I may be betrayed into some extravagance of expression
of my feelings which a dignified Christian man would not approve. In
this I really desire to write nothing which in after life we might not
review with conscientious satisfaction and approbation. . . . Mrs. Cliapin
is a lady of cultivated mind and of great dignity of character. She was
from Berkshire Co., Mass. . . . Good evening, my M., quiet and pleasant
sleep, divine aid in your devotions in the closet and in the house of God
be yours, a holy, useful quiet life. My love to your parents and to
George. Adieu.

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. Jackson County, Iowa, August 16, 1845.
My dear Mary:

O what a change in eighteen days from you to tliis study and this log
cabin. I had hoped to have made you out a long letter this evening, but
how little do we know what is before us. I arrived here this afternoon
and found that the kind family in which I board had this morning buried
their beloved and only son. That bright little boy whom I left two months
ago the hope of his parents and in health and vigor now sleeps beneath
the clods of the prairie.® He was a promising child of six years of age,
one of our most interesting Sabbath School Scholars and perhaps the
last of all the children in the neighborhood whom we should liave been
willing to give up. I sat down and wept with these afflicted parents.
It is a severe stroke, and as I have spent nearly two years in the family,
I could not but make their sorrow my own.

My last left me at Milwaukee. I had the benefit of Bro. Chapin's
criticisms after preaching which I must have you compare with yours.
He says my style needs simplicity, and a conversational, every day air,
is too stately and wants more action in delivery. I came to Janesville
on Rock River, 65 miles on Monday. The twenty miles from the Lake
the country is heavily timbered and broken, after which are the most
beautiful prairies. At Janesville, I found an old friend, Rev. C. H. A.
Bulkley with whom I spent a very pleasant night. He was a New York
student. I found him boarding in a very pleasant family and in most
comfortable quarters. He complains of his *Miard field," as does every-
body. The ministers in Milwaukee, perhaps one of the most eligible
I3laces in the West, tell me they are not by any means on a bed of roses.
Rev. Bulkley has a lively and cultivated imagination, I expect has read
more than he has mastered, has a fine library. He is gathering a small
church and doing good. The next day I came to Wiota [ f ] a little mining
village where I found lodging in the garret of a log cabin in which were

6 The son of Mr. and Mrs. John Shaw.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 255

fiTe beds ''some" on the floor. Wednesday at 2 p. m. I reached Galena
and enjoyed the hospitality of Brother Kent. Mr. K. is a pioneer of the
Upper Mississippi, he eame to Galena 16 years ago, held on under great
and many discouragements and has now an active, flourishing church of
225 members. Thursday morning, I came by steamboat to Dubuque
whence by stage to this place today. Br. Holbrook corresponds with the
Ladies of Park st. church who assist in his support. He is a very animated
interesting writer. I should be glad, if in some way, you could get hold
of his letters. He has recently engaged the ladies to make up a box of
articles to be sold at a fair in Dubuque for the benefit of his meeting
house. He is the missionary who makes ''plea for the West" in the
August number of the Home Missionary, ... He is a man of great ardor
and zeal and perhaps colors a little too highly, so that you may sometimes
receive what he says cum parvo grano salis. . . .

This is Iowa. The chance is great when I think of what I have
proposed to you. That you should leave the best of homes and the best
of laud to be the wife of a humble missionary. I 'm so humble and weak
I almost tremble at my presumption. You thank God in your prayers
that you were born in this age of the world, and yet you are willing to
put yourself five centuries back and be as those who two hundred years
ago settled in New England. But this is a great work, and I trust is of
God. Blessed be His name. If He has put it into my heart to be willing
to endure privations and hardships here. Men and history may both
blunder as to the use of our lives, but if God sees our efforts to be of
some avail we shall have the plaudits of Him whose smile is better than
that of ten thousand worlds. And He who puts us into this ministry will
sustain us in it. God ¥rill not give.

Sabbath evening.

When my candle expired last night, not wishing to disturb the family,
I retired. I have just been looking through Payson's^ life to see if I
could have his sanction to taking up my pen this evening. First, as was
natural, I examined chapter 12 (Tract Society edition) but no light in
the matter, then chapter 17, but nothing there. At last, I found some-
thing to the purpose on page 159, and now I am in medias res. Payson 's
has been a favorite memoir of mine. He was a minister in earnest. I was
about saying last night that God will not give us willing heart to come
and labor here and then desert us but will give more grace as our day may
require. Let me have your feeling about this Sabbath writing. My
conscience commends this use of it. . . . We had a delightful shower this
morning which in some measure refreshed the parched earth, a beautiful
day. In consequence of my late arrival yesterday and a Methodist camp
meeting four miles off . . . my congregation was very small today. Tliis
afternoon I took my text in Romans 1:10,' gave a report of what were

7 A»a Cumming, A Memoir of Rev. Edtcard Pavaon, D. D. Late Paator of
the Sexrond Church in Portland. There are several editions. Mr. Salter was
nsing the one of the American Tract Society, New York (183?).

8 Romans 1 :10. Making reqaest. if by any means now at length I might
have a prosperous Journey by the will of God to come unto you.

256 ANNALS OP IOWA

said and done in the Western Convention at Detroit. There has been a
good deal of sickness through the country this summer. There has been
oppressively warm weather here. I feel anxious to hear of your health
and of your mother's. . . . The exact condition of matters in Burlington
as far as I can learn as follows: Br. Hutchinson® is their stated supply.
His year is up next November. In consequence of ill health, he has now
a summer recess. Tlie church is feeble. Their house of worship unfinished.
A deacon and leading man in the church is a political newspaper editor
and has not much influence and is not highly esteemed as a Christian.^^
An Old School Presbyterian minister is soon expected there. Burlington
is an important and growing town of 2500 inhabitants. The ease is only
presented to me through the A. H. M. S. In case of failure of Brother
Hutcliinson 's health, then they would like to have me go there. But the
church will have a mind of its own, and I am told feels its own importance
very fully. In Burlington there is much of Kentucky and Southern
society and influence. I rode in the stage with one of Mr. Adam's^
congregation yesterday. He says they are expecting Mrs. Adams to return
with him to Davenport. Rumorji in Andover and elsewhere said that she
was a Miss Gould. You have seen Brother Alden^^ no doubt. For
remember that one good turn deserves another. Let me hear how he is
getting along. I have been talking mostly this evening with this bereaved
family. Mrs. Shaw is a member of my church and a woman of very lovely
quiet, meek and amiable spirit. Their three surviving children have the
whooping cough and summer complaint, the same disease which carried
off her son. It seems as though she could hardly restrain her grief. She
mourns, but does not complain. How near death seems in that home
whence one has just been taken out to his long home. The little boy was
laid out in my study. I seem to hear the angel's whisper as he warns
me that soon he may bear his commission to me. God help me to live
with a conscience void of offense toward God and man, that at any time
I may be prepared to give up my account. A preparation to live is the
best preparation to die.

Tliis is a beautiful evening. The full orbed moon walks the Heavens
queen of the night. ... As I am so lately from you I probably think
more of the privations of this country than I shall after I shall have in
a few weeks become fairly introduced again into the harness. Many of
my people receive me with very warm hearts. Mr. Shaw's little boy
wanted to hear me preach again. Three men who were sometimes in my
congregation and wliom I saw but a short time before I went away are
now in their graves. How loud the admonition to be faithful. . . . O,

s Rev. Horace Hutchlnsoo, a member of the Iowa Band.

10 .Tames Gardiner Edwards, editor of the Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patrioi. A file
of this newspaper, the property of the Burlington Public Library, has for some
years been housed in the vaults of the Burlington Hawk-Bye. These flies were
presented to the library through the efforts of Mr. Salter. For an itemised
list of this collection see : Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. VII, p. 814.

11 Rev. ICptaraim Adams, a member of the Iowa Band and author of The Iowa
Hand (New and Revised edition) Boston, 1868.

12 Rev. Ebenezer Alden, a member of the Iowa Band. Vid. Annals of Iowa.
Third Series, Vol. VI, pp. 576, 584, 685, 589, 500, 508.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 257

how delightful to acknowledge God in all our ways. How correct the
sentiment of the noble Robert HalU' in those two (I had almost said)
best sentences in the English language, which I have often studied and
which I know you will love to study: "Ood himself is immutable; but
our conception of his character is continually receiving fresh accessions,
is continually growing more extended and refulgent by having transferred
to it new elements of beauty and goodness, by attaching to itself as a
centre whatever bears the impress of dignity, order, or happiness. It
borrows splendor from all that is fair, subordinate to itself all that is
great, and sits enthroned on the riches of the universe,'' This God is
our God. . . . Tour daguerreotype is before me. . . .

Yours most affectionately,

Wm. Salter.

[Maquoketa] Saturday evening, August 23, 1845.
My dearest Mary:

. . . Your rich, precious (O, for a new language) letter from Oxford,
mailed the 6th., reached me Wednesday afternoon. I could hardly repress
my feelings. I wanted to get on the wide prairie and give thanks. . . .
These things and death and sickness in this family, and some sickness in
the country made me feel I cannot tell how bad until I got your letter.
And then we are five weeks apart, i. e. before we can write and get an
answer. . . . The Eastern Mail comes here twice a week, Wednesday and
Saturday evenings. ... I think if you and I could get hold of Uncle
Sam together he would be apt to make tracks powerful fast for one
while. . . . This evening at sunset I went and visited the grave of the
little boy whose death I mentioned in my last. Over his new made grave
and with a sense of my own mentality I had great joy in looking up and
dedicating anew my life to God and in supplicating upon you his
blessing. . . .

Yours, Wm. Salter.

[Maquoketa] Monday. August, 25, 1845.
Good morning, my dearest friend. How are you this pleasant morning?
Did you enjoy a pleasant Sabbath? We had a beautiful day here. At
10 a. m. our Sabbath School met. Our superintendent was absent from
sickness, many of the children sick, but few of our teachers realize their
responsibilities, only 15 scholars were present. I promised a copy of the
New England Primer (from your donation) to all the children who would
be punctually present on the four Sabbaths of the next month. I hope
this will serve to provide a large attendance, and prepare the way for
doing good. At 11 a. m. I preached a funeral sermon for the death of
Mr. Shaw 's child. The house was crowded, a complete jam, about seventy
present, and many at the doors and windows. My congregation very

13 Robert Hall (1764-1831) an Flnglish Baptist divino whose fame rests
mainly on the tradition of his pulpit oratory. Vid. Dictionary of National
ttiography.

258 ANNALS OP IOWA

serious and attentive. It might startle you in the coarse of the service
to hear a child cry or to sec a mother unable to quiet her child, go out
with it. But you will soon get used to these things. It can't be helped
in a new country. I always tell parents to come to meeting and bring
their little ones with them. I have a little choir and tolerable singing for
the backwoods. In the afternoon I resumed the account of my "journey",
told them, among other things, of my visit to the Sabbath SchooP^ in
Massachusetts which had sent us such beautiful Library Books. I have
then made two sermons of my "prosperous journey". My people think
I have seen and done great things. And the least of all has been told
them. Poor blind mortals. They will open their eyes one of these days.
The Methodist Circuit Preacher was here at 6 p. m. and organized a class
of ten members. They are disposed to be sectarian and push a little with
their horns. . . .

Dr. Alexander^* of Princeton in the New York Observer (under signa-
ture of A. A.) is one of the most heavenly writers I have ever met with.
He excells all men in facility and appropriateness in introduring the
language of the Bible on every subject. I heard him preach several years
ago on the sufferings of Christ. His style is very simple and tender.
The truths of the Bible seem to be in him as an ever gushing well of
water. His delight is in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.

Wednesday evening. August 27.

I have been sitting an hour trying to read the life of Evarts,^^ but
with my eyes half the time looking down the road for the stage . . .
anxiously anticipating information of you. . . . And now the stage comes.
Hurrah! Hurrah! (But, my son, don't disturb the neighborhood.)
... I walk over to the post office and with the most consummate equa-
nimity of speech and countenance ask for my letter. ' ' nothing for you. ' '

• • •

The Methodist Preacher last Sabbath evening told us the death of
Clirist accomplished two objects. 1 — it took away the sin of the world,
i. e., the sin of Adam, then the death of Christ was the reason Adam
did not die the very day in which he sinned, and thus infants are savedl
2 — it took away the sins of the world. We are impelled to join the church
because we are more likely to be converted in the church than out of it,
the church being an hospital where there are physicians to doctor the sick.
And all these preachers, in the eyes of many, just as good as you and
better too. Has not tliis, my Mary, a great tendency to exalt a man
and make him think more highly of himself than he ought to think?
One of the severest trials of ministers in such a field as this arises from
the fact that most of the people, on account of being used to such preach-
ing, as I have given you a specimen of, make no kind of requisition upon
a minister to study and divide the word of truth. Great occasion, it is

14 The Winthrop Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

15 Dr. Archibald Alexander (April 17, 1772-October 22, 1851) the first

grofessor of Princeton Theological Seminary. Vid. Dictionary of American
iography.

i« E. C. Tracy, Memoir of the Life of Jeremiah Evarts. New York. 1846.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 259

proverbially said, make great men. He must be a dull preacher who can
preach well before an educated and enlightened congregation who will
estimate what is said. O the difficulty of studying to preach well when
there is no immediate purpose to do so. There is but one collegiately
educated man in this country, and he does not come to meeting more
than half a dozen times in the year. If it be the glory of the Gospel
as of old that it is preached to the poor, it has that glory here. It is
not an ignoble enterprise to elevate the unenlightened. I met a little
boy today and asked him why he was not to Sabbath School last Sabbath.
**I dirtied my clothes," he replied, "and could not come." **I am
sorry," I said, ''you will get these clean and come next Sabbath, won'^t
youf" "Yes, sir, if I can get a cap, I'll be sure to come." We had
an interesting prayer meeting this evening, about thirty present. We
are suffering delay in not getting brick for our Acadcmy^^ as soon as
we had anticipated. The brick makers are expecting to burn their kiln
in a fortnight after which we expect to go right on and get upon building.
I have thought some of having a study built this fall which may answer
another year as an addition to our house.

Though there are many troubling things in this new country, it is
after all a glorious work and one in which I would not change places with
* * 15/16ths ' ' of the ministers of New England. The future is all bright.
I feel confident that if I can hold on the Lord will give me in ten years
a flourishing church and large congregation. This country is rapidly
filling up. Many strange faces have come in during my absence. Among
others a merchant with a small stock of goods from Springfield, Mass.
But we come here not because the field is inviting and easy, but because
it is hard, expecting to endure self-denials and not repining at any priva-
tions, if so be we may save souls and extend the name of Christ, building
not on others' foundations. I rejoice in feeling assured that these are
your feelings. I believe I have no other desire than to be in the highest
possible degree useful. I desire to be the child of Providence. God
probably knows better than I do where I can be most useful. I want to
feel that the best way to prepare for future usefulness is to do the best
you can in present circumstances. I feel renewed strength and confidence
in having your prayers. . . .

Maquoketa. August 30. Saturday afternoon.

... As my horse is lame and I have been disappointed in getting
another I must go afoot to Andrew. It is most 6 o'clock. In my next
I will write particularly of the many interesting tilings you speak of.
I am afraid there will be a long space between your receiving my Detroit
and Milwaukee papers. If I have any time Monday morning, I will fill

17 Rev. Salter saw the need of a school In Maquoketa and persuaded mem-
hers of his congregation to donate land, material, and labor. Meanwhile, Uev.
Salter collected $300 from friends and relatives in the East. The Academy
was Incorporated by act of the legislative assembly, January 15, 1846. The
iiuilding was completed in 1848, and Rev. George F. Magoun, pastor of the
Second Presbyterian Church in Galena, delivered the address. PIventually,
the property was turned over to the public school system of Maquoketa.

260 ANNALS OF IOWA

out this sheet. Goodbye, my Mary, the thoughts of you will make my
walk short. . . .

I am yours,

Wm. Salter.

I got about one half mile on my way and met one of my church here
who had compassion on me and engaged to go up to attend meeting at
Andrew tomorrow and carry me, so I returned and have the pleasure of
talking with you. . . . My health has been very good though the warm
weather be somewhat enervating. We have an abundance of wild plums
and delicious melons. . . .

Your Wm.

Maquoketa. Jackson County, lowa^ Sept. 6, 1845.
My dear Mary:

Saturday evening has come again and I have half a sermon to write.
Other multiplicity of cares this week have prevented my taking up my
pen * * toyouwards ' ', hitherto, so that now I must be hurried when I ought
to have time to express my best thanks for your two letters, (am I not
rich?) received this week, those of August 18th. and 25th., and the last
received tonight in ten days after it was mailed. I guess XJnele Sam has
profited by our threatened chastisements and begins to find out that the
route between No. 7 Union street and this prairie is of the first importance.
You write of many interesting matters which perhaps I ought to talk
over first, but I presume to opine that you will want to know what I have
been doing the last week. Last Sabbath morning I rode to Andrew and
preached in the courthouse (a log building) to a small congregation of
forty, but some of the excellent of the earth are in that church. I have
two families in it who for much worth and devotion to the cause of Christ
are not excelled in Iowa. They come regularly six miles to meeting,
really hunger for the bread of life. I cut a little account of one of them
from an Iowa paper and send it to you in a transcript the last mail.
Some of your friends may be interested in seeing from it that the people
are not all "heathen" in the Far West. The other family named
''Young" arc pure gold in the ore, plain, honest, and good from Penn-
sylvania. Mrs. Young was brought up in Mr. Duffield's** church in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who, by the way, was a very faithful, useful pastor.
He is now in Detroit. You will be delighted to attend prayers in this
beloved family. Here all the children sing and unite with Mrs. Y.,
children and all, in calling upon the name of the Lord. I preached twice.
The Sabbath School has declined during my absence owing to sickness
and other causes, and I was requested to form the whole congregation
into a Bible class which was done. We are to study "the Bomans".
I have one very intelligent and gentlemanly lawyer in my congregation
there from Virginia.

i*i Rev. George Duffleld (.July 4, 1704-June 26, 1868), for thirty years pastor
of the Presbyterian Church in Detroit, author of many theological books, and
of the hymn, "Stand up. Stand up for Jesus." Vid. Dictionary of Atnerican
Hiouraphy,

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 261

... I commenced early in the week a sennon on Josh. 24:15,^* but
could not make it go. Yesterday I took up Psalms 144:12.20 . . . My
subject is education. It should be thorough, preparatory to usefulness in
life, and to another state of existence, and the whole applied to our
Academy here which is commended to the prayers and generous benefica-
tions of my people. My text in the p. m. is what Christ said to Matthew.
What a text for your pulpit. Almost equal to Isaiah 53 : 1.^^ But about my
journey in the p. m. — I rode to Deacon Cotton 's^* and found my appoint-
ment had not been sufficiently circulated to get a congregation. Mrs.
Cotton had just returned from the East (western New York) bringing
her mother with her, aged eighty years. The old lady endured the fatigues
of her journey remarkably well. She was one of the first settlers on what
was called the Holland Purchase in Western New York. Her husband
in 1802 erected the first frame bam on the purchase. Men came to the
raising of it a distance of thirty miles. How wonderful the growth of
our country. Monday morning I borrowed a horse and rode to Bellevue,
found most of my friends having the ague. Rev. Mr. Smith who has
gone there this summer, a Bangor theological student, has the ague, and
the family in which he boarded being sick, he has gone into the country
to stay, so that I did not see him. He must have a hard time. Bellevuc
is one of the most abandoned places I was ever in — a most dreadful
population. The only evidence I have that I have preached the truth
among them is that they hate me. I can assure you that it is very trying
to know how to get along with wicked men here. I treat them kindly
and take trouble to gain their confidence, that if by any means I may
save them until I feel that necessity is laid upon me to repair their vices
when a torrent of abuse is the only reward of my faithfulness. I have
had much of this experience. The leading physician of this country is
of this character. Once he was polite and afifable, but reproof has
wounded him and now he never passes me without curling his lip in scorn.
Living among such men one is able to appreciate and unite in the prayer
[of J Psalms 26:9.23 . . .

Sabbath evening.

If the "evening and the morning" are the first day of the week then
the second day of the week has come. ... I have had a pleasant Sabbath,
a beautiful day, a house full of people, and some attentive hearers. . . .

ivjoflhua 24:15. And if it seem evil unto you to «orve the Lord, cliooso
)rou this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your father served
that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Aniorites. in whoso
land ye dwell : but aM for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

30 l*salma 144 :12. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth :
that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of
a palace.

21 Isaiah 53 :1. Who hath believed our report, and to whom Is the arm of
the Lord revealed.

22 Samuel Cotton, a descendent of .Tohn Cotton, Puritan preacher. Mrs.
Cotton was of the BemIs family, from "Bemis Heights," Saratoga, New York,
rid. Salter's. Hirty Yfarn. p. 263.

23 I*salmH 20 :0. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody
men.

262 ANNALS OF IOWA

Judge Wilson^^ of the district court for this part of the country came
along here with his wife (who is a member of the church in Dubuque)
just before the hour of meeting on his way to hold court in a county below.
He and his wife came into meeting in the course of the services, after
which they got their dinner and went on their journey, a pretty example
for a judge's family! I had 30 at the monthly concert this evening.
I am in hopes of getting out a good sermon one of these weeks on the
text ''My Kingdom is not of this world." ... I spent last Monday night
with Mr. Magoun^^ at Galena. He has nobly and enthusiastically thrown
himself upon the rising current of education in the West. He promises
to be one of the most awful men of the country. We talked nearly the
whole night about everything. Preliminary measures are on foot for get-
ting up the new church in Galena. It will consist of some choice spirits
and will afiford a most desirable field of usefulness. They will be very
particular about their minister. He ought to be first rate. ... I went
to Dubuque on Tuesday and entered at the land sales 80 acres of land
for the gentleman I board with who is unfortunately in some pecuniary
trouble.28 I did it entirely to relieve him and have no advantage from it.
I had a very hard horse and finding myself sore from riding, I came
directly home on Wednesday. . . .

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. September 12, Friday afternoon.
My dear Mary:

The wind has been blowing very severely all day, and the heavens are
brewing a storm. I have had but little success in my studies. Many
things discourage me among my own people. I have too much reason to
complain that they all seek their own, rather than to help one another,
and to advance the cause of Christ. Then, when all that love the Saviour
ought to love one another and strive together for the faith of the Gospel
there exist alienations and divisions. In reading the fifth [chapter] of
Matthew, I was led to think that if I would require my people before
coming to meeting to be reconciled to their brethren (verse 23-24)^
I should have a very thin congregation. Contention about lands and one
thing and another distract our community very much. I asked a very
intelligent gentleman who was here this week and who has purchased
some property in the neighborhood from Cincinnati, if he would not move
his family out soon. No, said he, I think I must wait until you get a
little further along. Isn't that encouraging? . . .

24 Supreme Court Justice Thomas S. Wilson. Vid. EMward H. Stiles, Recol-
lections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early Iowa, Dos
Moines. 1916, pp. 45, 571.

25 Uev. George F. Magoun was the author of Asa Turner and His Times,
Boston. 1889 : and was the first president of Iowa College. Vid. Annai.s op
Iowa, Third Series, Vols. Ill, pp. 53, 86, 92 ; VI, p. 357 ; VII, pp. 68, 370-371 ;
VIII. p. 190.

26 Mr. Shaw.

27 Matthew 5 -.23-24. Therefore If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy ^t
before the altar and go thy way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 263

Is Mars indeed the God of War and does he indicate the approach of
that dreadful scourge upon our land. I pray not, and yet I watch with
fearful anxiety the belligerent on the South West. Who does not hang
his head to own himself an American who looking at the course our
government has taken to perpetuate and extend slavery. I tremble for
my country, said an infidel, in view of the commissions of slavery;, when
I remember that God is just. And has not the Christian who believes
God governs among the nations, removes the fears. There are few evils
to be so dreaded as war. What a commentary upon the little Christianity
in our laud is the existence of so much desire for war. I am going to
fire a charge on the subject as soon as I can ''make ready".

I suppose some of your friends will have to study their geography to
find out where Iowa and especially Maquoketa is. You must make them
all interested in this land, and tell them you will find something for them
to do here. There is one interesting thing about Iowa, to wit: that it
is the only part of the country West of the Father of Waters which is
frecy thus affording both a more promising field of labor and a more
desirable home to all that believe that the Messiah's kingdom "shall
break in pieces the oppressor". Psalms 72:4.^^ It is washed by that
river of which that prophetic observer of our country 's progress, Jeremiah
Evarts, said nearly twenty years ago, ''that in a hundred years, it will
be more traveled than any other thoroughfare in the world." Still as
I have often told you — our work is one of self-denial. By the way, I
saw in Evart's life, pages 195 and 196, his observations on the difficulties
of planting religion in a destitute portion of Tennessee through which he
traveled. They apply very nearly to this country. New difficulties are
discouraging and yet they are the very reason why we must labor and
toil here. The greater the difficulties, the louder the call to self-denying
effort. . . .

I have two very excellent ladies here Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Shaw, women
of intelligence, good sense, and worth. . . . But I feel that our good
efforts must be in behalf of the rising generation. If we can be instru-
mental in establishing our Academy aright, we shall not have lived in
vain. In relation to the education of our public schools, strenuous efforts
will be needed to have it of a Christian character, and if this cannot be
accomplished, we shall have to abandon those schools and walk in our own
way. You know and I know the importance of French education. We
want mothers to build up the church and to save the state. In all these
enterprises I shall feel strong in your cooperation. . . .

I have had no opportunity to preach my Western sermon since I saw
you. I preached it once in Buffalo and in New York. I shall get up a
new sermon on the subject for this latitude next month. I am also plot-
ting a sermon on the original condition of man. Do you think the Garden
of Eden was located on a prairie f If not, you may have your eyes
opened on the subject another year. . . .

28 pgalms 72 :4. He shall Judge the poor of the people, he shall save the
children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

264 ANNALS OF IOWA

I really get fatigued in preaching. I believe it is my business as it
is my enjoyment. Monday I generally spend reading papers, on little
things. Though I look at newspapers as matters of the greatest import-
ance. They are of wonderful power in controlling public sentiment. I
want they should be under a Christian influence. There are few objects
of greater moments to my view than the reformation of the press. I hope
we shall be able to do something in this case one of these days. I am
very thankful for papers from you. . . . My relatives were all from
Portsmouth and New Hampshire where the family has been for several
generations. There was a Dr. Salter, clergyman, in Mansfield, it seems,
60 years ago after whom Dr. Storrs was named, but I know nothing of
his family. Those whose names were in the Puritan you sent me, I know
nothing of. . . .

Most aflfectionately yours,

Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. September 20, 1845.
My dearest Mary:

I have much to write you. ... It is now Saturday night and nearly
11 o'clock. I have had a week of joy and grief. I want to go over all
with you, but I have not time. Last Sabbath I preached three times to
a small congregation, Monday a. m. I visited a little, and then set my
face toward Cascade. On my way I visited Mr. Alexander's family.
They are an excellent family, Scotch Presbyterian. The girls have
attended the Romish school in Dubuque because there was no other school
in the country. I could not but think of you as I was remined by my
preaching in the neighborhood last winter when I had one of the girls to
ride to meeting a mile and a half on my horse behind me. I passed
through a settlement of Irish Papists where is a log church and school
and resident priest. I believe this is one instance of the executing of the
plan formed in Europe to Romanize the West of which you have seen
notices. I had a delightful visit at Cascade, spent Tuesday there. We
talked and sang together. ...

I found some new cases of sickness on my return home. We are called
to mourn a very distressing death in this village. Though I might have
mentioned that while at Cascade, I heard of the death by lockjaw of Mr.
Alexander, the father of the family I have spoken of above. He died in
Dubuque very suddenly. He has left a large family. The other death
was that of Mrs. Plato on yesterday morning. She was a widow lady,
sister of Mrs. Hall. There were many extremely melancholy circumstances
in her decease. I hardly dare to write of them. I was completely un-
nerved yesterday so that I could do nothing. I was with her when she
breathed her last. She was sick but five days, taken with rather a severe
bilious fever, but the immediate cause of her death was unquestionably
injudicious medical treatment. Her funeral is to be attended tomorrow.
I have been engaged all day in preparing a sermon from Romans 14:8.^

29 Romans 14 :8. For whether we live, we liv^ unto the Lord ; and whether
we die, we die unto the Ix>rd ; whether we live therefor, or die, we are the

lord's.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 265

She waa a verr useful woman in my little society here, one of the kindest
friends I had had. She was very active and intelligent, a good Sabbath
School Teacher. The Lord seems to have no mercy on us. Taking away the
best of our Society. Not that I mourn, for this I would never do, but it
does seem to be a dark cloud in the prospects of this country. Mrs. P
was expecting here in a fortnight from the East a son and a sister. Her
heart was set on seeing them. But inexorable death would not wait. It
is most twelve and I have not time for reflection. . . . Goodnight.

Sabbath eve.

The soft light of setting day seems kindly propitious to my thoughts
of the precious one far away. All is peaceful and serene. I trust it is the
emblem of the peace of my soul. I had a large congregation this morning,
about one hundred, a sad service it was to me. I trust I shall be made
better by it. In preaching this afternoon from Luke 21:34-35^ I could
not but illustrate the state of mind in which we ought always to live by
the fact that Mr. Crosby mentions in his sermon on your grandfather's^^
death, that a few hours before his death he said, "Seventy and seven
years have I been waiting for this crisis. ' ' By the help of Heaven 's grace,
let us so live. . . .

I must go and visit a sick man and then to prayer meeting, after which
I will write a few lines if I can get out of this preaching strain.

It has got to be past midnight . . . and the bedside of a sick man
is a poor place whence to write you. But I am in a good school. The
lesson I learn tonight will come in play perhaps when you want a little
nursing. My patient is a Rhode Islander. A sketch of his history may
add a short chapter to your idea of the motley mixture of society in the
West. He fell out with some of his family at home, and came here where
he has been engaged like a true Yankee in all kinds of business to get
a living by his wits, keeping school, talking, and trading. He is irritable
and cross and has made himself obnoxious to many of our people. He
is a Unitarian, he has a severe attack of bilious fever. I am doing the
best I can for him, but I find myself a poor nurse. . . .

You understand from what Mr. Bridges told you the relation of the
A. H. M. S. to churches in the West. The Society does not direct or
dictate either to church or minister. It advises. The church at Burling-
ton probably feel very independent and high-minded. I have never
preached to them. My conduct in relation to the whole matter will be,
as I know you will wish it to be, directed, I trust, by that Latin motto
which we fell in with at the McLean Asylum. I have Coleridge's Aids
to Seflection, The light of my candle is about dim enough to tell you
my cloudy views of his speculation. But as I write for your compre-
hension, I had better wait for the light of day and for a time when my
mind has turned from the Ubor of preaching. My portfolio is I believe

w> Luke 21 :34-35. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts
be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and eares of this life, and so
that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all thom
that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

SI Amos Tufts.

266 ANNALS OF IOWA

perfectly a sanctum. I have all confidence that the family I board with
arc not busy bodies. I have a lock and key to it. . . .

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. September 25, 1845.
My dearest friend :

I have been in vain trying to write a sermon this week. . . . There are
troubles in the community. You never know what to expect or rather
what not to expect in so new a country. When you begin to think that
the prospects of society are good they are perhaps well clouded over in
half a day. I have a sore trial with one of my elders, he has been
behaving very bad, and we shall probably have to cut him ofif. I had a
pretty good attendance at prayer meeting last evening. . . .

You ask about ministers around me. Mr. Kent is a dull preacher,
always writes, but can make a very fervent appeal and tell a rousing
story for the West. I. D. Stevens of Platteville, W. T., 60 miles north
east of this, is now in the East. The West has a competent advocate in
him. He was for many years a missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. among
the Indians at Mackinaw and St. Peters. Rev. Mr. Wells, chaplain at
Prairie Du Chien, would charm any congregation with the felicity of his
style and the grace of his address. J. J. Hill in Clayton eo. is of rather
a heavy, slow cast of mind, but Mrs. Hill is all soul and goes ahead. You
know of Mr. Holbrook as a forceful animated preacher, a vigorous writer
and devoted to his work. Brother Boal of Marion, I have never heard.
He, however, has a good reputation. Brother Turner has a well-balanced
mind and preaches good plain sermons. Brother Emerson is a very
zealous animated preacher, unfortunately sings a little when excited, I
mean has a singing tone. He labors at Albany, Illinois and in Dewitt,
20 miles east of me. Brother Adams preaches a serious, sober, dignified
and instructive sermon. Brother Bobbins is a plain, clear and interesting
preacher. In the South, Rev. D. Lane is in my opinion, head and shoulders
above his brethren. I tliink he always writes. He has a discriminating
strong mind, is of the highest moral excellence, and commends himself
as a man of God and minister of Christ to every man 's conscience. I had
a letter from him last week in which he informs me that he is going East
very soon for his wife's sake. She has the dropsey and is considered
dangerous. He hopes that ''home" and the sea air may benefit Mrs. L.

• • •

Saturday afternoon. September 27.

I had just mended my quill when I was interrupted by a call from the
new Methodist preacher who has just arrived on the circuit. . . . Our
association is at Davenport October 21. I shall probably preach in
Dubuque Oct. 12. . . .

Yours, Wm. Salter.

[To be continued]

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE
Somewhat of His Life and Letters

By F. I. Herriott
Professor in Drake University

[Continued]

Part II — Correspondence — 1855-1863

Orlando C. Howe's letters to Mrs. Howe were with few
exceptions matter-of-fact in narrative, free from all flippancy
or smartness, and with no attempts at rhetorical finesse or
flare. They give us accounts of business trips with descrip-
tions of scenery that attracted him which he thinks will interest
those in the home circle. Inquiries about the domestic needs
and perplexities and observations upon the common serious
concerns of daily life abound. Now and then, but rarely, he
comments upon matters and men within his business con-
nections or professional circuit. Throughout, his letters are
remarkably free from animadversion, or any adverse reflections
upon business competitors or professional associates. They
relate none of the common current gossip that constitutes so
much of the daily conversation of ordinary mortals.

Here and there he indulges in mild facetiousness. In his
first letter written from Iowa, penned at Dubuque, sometime
in November, 1855, he hits off effectively the mushroom growth
of new towns on the frontier, and the fantastic creations and
expectations of western land boomers:

Now, Maria, I am mad. While eating my breakfast somebody stole
my town; for on looking on the map for 185611 (folks get early starts
out this way) I find two cities at the south bend [of the Minnesota Biver]
Mankato City and South Bend City, probably started by some enter-
prising capitalist like myself, perhaps not so rich in money as I am, but
having a few spare $% instead of halves, but having more energy, he
worked while I dreamed and wished over the stove at home.

Captain Howe's letters from barracks or camp while in

ANNALS OF IOWA

service with the Ninth Iowa Cavalry in Missouri and Arkansas,
were of the same general character — earnest in purpose,
serious in narrative, direct and simple in style. As they con-
stitute a clearly marked group they will be characterized later.
Mrs. Howe's letters are like her husband's, direct in ex-
pression and concerned with the prosaic every-day affairs of
her family and connections. She sees the humor in the doings
of those roundabout ; but she does not forget that life is always
a serious matter when children and health, income and edu-
cation are to be insured.

MARIA WHEBLOCK HOWE

(Mrs. OrlBDdo C. Howe}.
rom ■ tlnlypc turolabHl by h<T diugblpr
ra. KvPlyn II. Porter, Lyno llnvcn. PlorMa

The letters of Mr. and Mrs. Howe give us two sets of con-
temporary pictures that are of present-day interest :

First, Mr. Howe's letters enable ub to see somewhat of the
industrial conditions in Iowa just before the panic of 185T
prostrated business enterprise, and Mrs. Howe's letters show
us some of the depression and distress in New York that pre-
ceded the panic which impelled the Howes to leave their old

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 283

ing, been more and more convinced of the advantages of the place, and
think all of my estimates of the value of the farm next fall have been
too low. But if I go on the farm I shall soon have an office and school
in some of the villages and make money in land business. You can have
no idea how easily and surely money can be made here with a small
capital. If father would come out here with a few hundred dollars in
money or warrants we could get rich in a year or two, and the security
would, in my opinion, be as good as mortgages on any farm in Aldcn
[N. Y.]. If I find no other way of speculating I shall cuter a few
thmtjtand acres of land on time, at the moderate interest of 409^ and
upwards, and shall only lose, in case of failure, a few years' hard labor.
I have not found a man of ordinary intelligence who has invested $200
in land business, and been in it two years, who is worth less tlian $2,000,
and from that to $10,000. AH make money.

Excuse my apparent exclusiveness of thought about money. I cannot
hear to think and write about the folks at home, most of all you and
Linnie. Write to Newton, Jasper County, Iowa.

O. C. Howe.

Newton, January 24, '56.
My dear Wife:

No letter from you yet, but hope for one today, but dread disappoint-
ment, and then what news it may bring after so long an absence, for the
time is long. If you are lonesome you still hear from me often, and long
before this know that I am settled for the winter. But Maria, it is only
for the winter. If another place presents as good inducements for im-
mediate business, and should be a better country than this, I shall leave
in the spring.

I can hardly give up beautiful Hardin County, and especially around
Iowa Falls, and have found nothing to equal it, either in beauty or
advantages, but if there we go I shall necessarily work on a farm next
summer. I yesterday sent for % a section of land to be entered on time
in Greene or Carroll County. This adds 320 acres to my landed interest.
I owe for this last farm $560. If I should not be able to pay for it in
one year it will go back, and my note will be canceled, so that all the risk
is the loss of $10.00 sent to begin with. I'll risk it.

The weather is milder. It is now fair winter weather. You have
doubtless read terrible stories about people freezing to death on the
prairies. They are all true, and half do not reach you. The mercury has
been 30 below zero near here, when it is much further south than you are.
But anything like such a winter was never before known here. It is just
as cold as far south as Missouri. I think it has been colder here than in
the northern part of the state and in Minnesota. The cold is the excuse
why I have done so little this winter. No work was to be done. No one
would work at buildings, and usually much is left to be done during the
pleasant winters.

I have written to Kate. While in Iowa Falls I wrote you a detailed

270 ANNALS OF IOWA

the vast majority of the average citizenship of the two decades
comprehended in the letters, to wit — 1850-1860.

The correspondence of Judge Howe, received from the
daughters and deposited in the Historical Department, relates
to five general periods :

1 — Letters written in New York by him or by members of
his family, prior to his coming to Iowa in 1855, several by
Maria Wheelock, then a teacher in the public schools of Buf-
falo, later his wife;

2 — Letters written from Iowa by Mr. Howe to Mrs. Howe,
incident to his coming to Iowa and settling in Newton, in
Jasper County;

3 — Letters written chiefly by Mr. Howe preceding and fol-
lowing the Indian Massacre at Spirit Lake, between 1856 and
1858;

4 — Letters written between 1858 and the Sioux outbreak of
1862 which caused him to remove with his family from Spirit
Lake to Newton ; and

5 — Letters by Captain Howe while in Missouri and Arkansas
with the Ninth Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War, 1863-
1864, to Mrs. Howe, and various letters of Mrs. Howe to
Captain Howe.

Many more letters might have been available but for their
destruction by rain, in whole or in part, or their dispersion
in one of the storms that so frequently in recent years have
devastated various sections of Florida. Several of those in
possession have some portions obliterated, and some pages
are missing in others.

With the foregoing there is a considerable number of letters
written by Judge's Howe's father and mother, and his sisters
and brothers- and sisters-in-law, before and after their removal
from New York to Iowa ; but only a few of them are reproduced
in what follows.

The letters which follow relate mainly to three periods,
namely :

First, Mr. Howe's experiences in Iowa in 1855-56, giving
his first impressions of the state and its landscapes, and de-
scriptions of its life in the rush of the middle years of the '50s;

Second, the doings of Mr. Howe and his partners in for-
warding their Spirit Lake venture and .their experiences after

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 271

discovering the victims of Inkpaduta's attack upon the settle-
ment on the shores of the Obobojis; and,

Third, the correspondence of Captain and Mrs. Howe while
the former was in service as captain of Company L of the
Ninth Iowa Cavalry in Missouri and Arkansas in 1863-1864.

Mr. Howe left his family in Alden, New York, sometime in
the middle or latter part of October, or possibly in the fore-
part of November, 1855. The first letter that we have was
written at Dubuque, Iowa, on the evening of the first day of
his arrival, but the date of the month is not stated.

From various items in Mrs. Howe's letters it seems clear
that she was engaged in teaching school at the same time that
she was attending to her household duties. The letters of the
sisters of Mr. Howe indicate that they were all more or less
engaged in studies, learning German, among other scholarly
pursuits.

The full names, addresses, occupations, and connections of
various persons referred to in Mrs. Howe's letters penned in
Alden, New York, before she departed for Iowa, other than
the brothers and sisters of Mr. and Mrs. Howe, have not been
traced, nor any attempt made to show them.

Dubuque, Iowa, [1855]. Wednesday, 9^ P. M.
My dear Wife:

Here I am in Iowa at last. Have just arrived and not seen anything
for it is as dark as the ''Lancaster Ride from Institute Night." A
stirring city this. I am at the Peaselee House, cheap house comparatively,
though nothing is cheap in this state. Do you know what I-0-W-A-H
means in Indian? A book here tells me it is ''I have found the happy
land. "*^ The ride today after getting a few miles from Chicago is
through a most beautiful and rich country. The houses look very few
and scattered but are of fine appearance. Some places appear like

40 Mr. Howe apparently had Just read the first edition of lotca Am It In in
I8.S5 : A Gazetteer for Citizens and a Uandt>ook for Kmmlg^ants, etc., by N.
Howe Parker, wherein he was informed :

"A home can be had by the poorest, with prudence and economy. .Vo place
in the wide tporld can offer greater inducements to the immiorant than lotca ;
but he must look at it as it is [Italics by Parker] * * * He may fancy Iowa
a garden, and, roaming over its prairies, gather flowers from its rich soil, and
ezcialm with the Indian, in ecstacies of delight, 'I-o-wah' — 'I have found the
beautiful land !' but it will never make him rich, nor create him a happy home,
without toil and labor." — p. 68.

The local poets and romanticists have a sorry controversy with the prosaic
realists who dwell in the matter-of-fact. The latter insist that the true mean-
ing of "Iowa" was either "This is the place," or "The Crossing" or "Dirty
noses" or "Dusty Faces."

272 ANNALS OP IOWA

elegant couutry seats iu the midst of the most fertile land. Everj [thing]
whirls fast in this country. It most makes me dizzy, railroads and rail-
road schemes are so thick that no one can keep track of them. Four
distinct routes are projected (and all commenced but one), that lead
from the Mississippi to the Missouri.

I made up my mind when leaving Buffalo and seeing the number of
persons going to "look up a home in Iowa or Minnesota" that I would
preempt a farm as soon as I could get back a hundred miles or so from
the river and find plenty of timber. I do not believe there are twenty
lots in market in the state that have good timber on them, and in the
extreme northwest counties squatter claims cover every good location of
timber and can be bought for from $50.00 to $10,000.00 a claim of 320
acres. Pretty profitable squatting that.

The towns in the country that were just heard of last year have from
500 to 1500 inhabitants. Sioux City was started last year by some one
who guessed out my idea of a great place at the mouth of the Great Sioux
on the Missouri and went there. ' ' Eligible city lots near the wharf con-
tiguous to the market and on the college square, and containing from %
to a whole acre can be bought for from $50.00 to $1,000.00, one half down,
the rest in one year." The railroad from Dubuque will be built there
in a few years. "Good timber claims can be bought reasonably within
a few miles, and plenty of the best of prairie at government price, and
north and northwest it is supposed that some vacant timber may be found
that can be claimed but is not in market."

All the lumber except oak for this city has to be brought from St.
Louis, transportation from 1 to 2 dollars a hundred. Think of buying
pine and then paying **2 cents a pound" for taking it home, rather
expensive I guess. You had better send Linnie^^ along with a handful
of Katie's shingles.^^

You may remember that I spoke of Fort Dodge on the Des Moines as
a good site. It is some 180 miles west of here, and the railroad is going
through it. Last winter there was a fort there, now some 30 houses and
the old fort full of settlers, 2 stores, a blacksmith shop, government land
office, &c. The houses are logs or built of oaJc boards hauled 30 miles
from the nearest mill where they were thirty dollars a thousand. You
must know that I mean by now, three months ago probably the city has
doubled two or three times since then.

I have received a good deal of information from a man living in
Sandusky who has been looking up land on a large scale. Last May
tliey hired a surveyor and his team took a tent and provisions and started
paying their surveyor ten dollars a day for him and team, and boarded
both.

They traveled through 20 counties in the middle and northern part of
the state, and bought over 20,000 acres of land best of prairie but did
not find forty acres of timber in the whole tract visited that was not

*i Kvelyn Howe, now Mrs. Ezra F. Porter of Lynn Haven, Florida, older
daughter of Judge Howe.

42 Refers either to Katherlne Howe, or Katharine Wheelock.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 273

bought or claimed. Their land is worth donble what they paid for it,
and within two years they can, I don't donbt, sell most of it at that and
a greater advance. I rode from Chicago with him and kept him busy
talking. He is a fine man, plainly one of the ''first citizens" and gave
me more useful information than I could have found by a month of travel.

I will tell you of an instance he gave of the way they are settling the
northern part of Iowa. A man moved from Pennsylvania last spring or
fall, I forget which, and found a place in Howard Ck>unty 15 miles from
any house that he liked, (I mean he liked the location, not the house)
and built a house of sod and roofed it with hay cut in prairie. The day
after it was done three men called for meals and lodging, so he turned
tavern keeper. He paid $200 for his 160 acres and paid $2.25 per acre
for breaking up 50 acres. When my informant was there last spring,
he was breaking and planting corn and potatoes in the sod. This
fall he was there again, he had a good block tavern and neighbors all
around had been selling off his crops as fast as he could harvest, had
received after paying everything, labor, land, and all, $300 profit. I have
no doubt he will do better next year. This was without counting his
tavern proceeds, only his crops.

The emigration is beyond all precedent. The cars are full of men
coming on in the spring.

I have not found what to do. I know of a place where there is probably
timber to be claimed (that is, put stakes at the corners of the claim).
It is in the southern part of Minnesota, 150 miles from the river, and
a railroad is doubtless to be built in that region. If I could make a claim
this winter it would be worth next spring more than double a winter's
wages, and I think of going that way, and if settlements extend near
enough to make traveling safe I shall try it. If not, I shall start a school
or something else and wait till spring. If I get time I will write more
before putting this in the ofiice.

Thursday before daylight.

I am most ready for starting. The place I have selected is near the
south bend of the Minnesota River about 40 miles from the Iowa line,
and 150 above, that is, south of St. Paul. I am confidentially informed
that a railroad will run from here to the south bend in less than five years.
I hope to find a place 20 or 30 miles from settlements, and if so I will
stake as good a claim as I can and pay for it when it comes into market,
or sell part for enough to purchase tlie rest.

Don't be alarmed about my taking you into the woods to live. I am
in doubt whether to find a school now and teach one quarter and get you
here before looking [for] my location, or to look it up, then go to some
town in the spring, start a school for you and sisters while I play gentle-
man and watch the claim. Without joking, I think I can make more
money and easier within a year by settling than either schools or
law, but don't want to travel in the winter north, though there is but
little snow at any time there.

What I want is to be near by in spring. Now, Maria, I am mad.

274 ANNALS OF IOWA

While eating breakfast somebody stole mj town; for on look[ing] at
the map for 1856! I (folks get early starts oat this way) I find two cities
at the south bend, Mankato City and South Bend City, probably started
by some enterprising capitalist like myself, perhaps not so rich in money
as I am, but having a few spare $% instead of halves, but having more
energy, he worked while I dreamed and wished over the stove at home.

My informant's information was three months old, so useless here.
Now the western people sha'n't steal my ideas in this way. Ill start.
Don't be scared again. I sha'n't go far. Ill work my way in the
settlements and as soon as winter breaks up will try to hit near where
the railroad I speak of will cross the road from Superior City on Lake
Superior to Saint Paul, will when extended southwest reach somewhere
on the Pacific or Missouri or somewhere else. The last railroad is sure
to be built, for the last named place is to be a great city.

Now as soon as you read this rhapsody or whatever you call it, just
write me a letter directed * * West Union, Fayette County, Iowa. ' ' I shaD
remain near that place long enough to get a letter from you, perhaps two
or three. Kiss dear Liunie for me. Don't let her forget me. Bead my
letter to our folks. I think of you all the time but have no regrets at
leaving, and am full of hope. May our God protect thee and all ours.

Orlando C. Howe.

P. S. The great defect of Northern Iowa is want of timber. The
great west a thousand miles beyond have the same. All the roads projected
from Wisconsin westward will find transportation of timber enough to
pay all expenses.

The informant, I have found, is Bice Harper of Sandusky, Ohio. He
is some acquainted with Mr. Estabrook. He came to Alden with Dr.
Bronson when Eliza was buried. He appears to be a fine man and though
a "speculator" will do more to build up the country than most men.

My pet city at the mouth of the Sioux Biver that you have heard me
project so often, has a rival, "Sergeant's Bluffs," a few miles below.
I don't think a very great city will grow up this century in that region,
but enough to form a good sized city and enrich the proprietors.

O. C. H.

The following is a fragment of a letter of Mrs. Howe, the

first pages of which are lost. It is not quite clear whether it

was written before or after she had received her first letter

from Mr. Howe.

[Alden N. Y.f]
The weather has been so horrible that the scholars were very unsteady
last week and the week before. I dunned them Thursday and have
received 12 dollars up to last night so that you see, we are well provided
with funds. I wish to bring with me in the spring (if I have money
enough to pay transportation) six chairs and one rocking chair, one table,
one stand, one bedstead and if I could possibly get a cheap bureau to

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 275

pack clothes in instead of box it would cost but little more to bring and
be indescribably convenient.

If I can sell the looking-glass I will, if not, may be it could be sold
after we got there if we wished it. Mr. Maples returned two or three
weeks ago. He liked the country but thinks he cannot stand the huts
and want of bams and conveniences. Likes Wisconsin better, but thinks
Iowa is the place to make money. Says he spoke to the minister at Clinton
about your coming there; and living and teaching together. He (the
minister) thought it would be a fine place for a school, but I do not like
his description of the place at all. Mr. Maples says before he went this
winter he intended if he moved in the spring to take only a little furniture
and that the best; now he says all, everything you will need to use if
you can possibly pay transportation, if you do not have place for it it
will sell so as to pay well.

I spoke with your father about (that apple butter). We concluded
that the trouble and expense would be too much to bring it, and so use
it to save butter this winter and take a couple bushels extra dried apples.
They will dry for me next week racks twice full, (I will prepare them in
the evening going down there with all hands).

James is a very good boy this winter and very useful. Lavinia is just
as usual, always kind; she says she has no brother in the world so near
to her by any approach as yourself, and would rather go with me than
be left with all the others, poor girl she will miss us very much.

I have not seen any of Henry V* people nor heard from them since
you left. Winspear** and all the family of five children and one very
extensive ^ife were her New Years. I have been at mothers once, on
Christmas. Robert** came after me the night before.

Linnie says she don't like cow horses, they have such slow legs. In
regard to bringing roots and shrubs, never fear but that I will bring all
we can pay for.

I wish I knew something about what it will cost to get there. What
if I don't have money enough, what is to be done thenf I hope I shall
and had supposed it certain until in your last letter you say it cost you
three times what you expected. Did it cost you over fifty dollars to go
there f I don't think I shall have any more, perhaps not that. Tell me
how it costs a great deal to live, and my wood bill will be some.

• • •

Write me all the particulars of places and people of yourself, and
your employment, your board, mending, and everything in connection
with your prospects, dark or bright as they may be. Have they any
Sabbath where you are, and if so how do they keep itf Or does the
hurry and whirl of speculation and improvement confine thought to this
life only and the things "that perish with the using"! When you think

43 John Henry Schuneman.

** John Wlnspear, husband of Katberine Wheelock ; later residents of
Webstrr City, Iowa.

♦5 Robert Wbeeiock, brother of Mrs. Howe.

276 ANNALS OF IOWA

of liome my dear husband is it sometimes with the prayer that He in
whose hand are the appointed times, will bring us all together in health
and lovef Does absence make your home still dearer t Or, does your
heart wander with your footsteps! I trust not, I do not fear it, and
believe tliat when we meet, we will be better prepared to live lovingly,
bearing and forbearing tenderly with one another, having learned how
necessary we arc to each other's happiness. Good-bye for the present.

Wife.

The first sheets of the letter which follows contained letters
from Mr. Howe's sisters, Mary and Sarah, who later came to
Spirit Lake and became respectively Mrs. Alfred Arthur, and
Mrs. David Weaver, but omitted here.

[Alden, N. Y.], Wednesday, Dec. 17, 1855.
My Dear Husband:

This is quite a family letter you see, the girls commencing what the
old ladies must finish. I am glad that you are so well pleased with the
' * far west * ' for to me it seems as if you were almost there. It is Friday
night just after the scholars are gone and before Linnie has been brought
home from your mother's. I am tired for the girls are very wild and
sometimes I am discouraged with them and think I will let them act
just as they please and learn or not without caring for their interest
any more.

It seems a long two weeks since you went away but I know spring
will come by and by and Linnie is very impatient to see her new log
house. James had a letter from home a few days ago. Catherine is
very unwell with a troublesome cough and very low spirited, she does
not think she will ever be better, but I cannot think of such a probability.
I suppose your next letter will give a description of your new home if
that can be home to you without wife and baby.

Be particular in your description of houses, inhabitants, and scenery,
so that I may become acquainted with the place, through your eyes.
Bob Kelly called here last night and left an order with me for five dollars
worth of goods from Sander 's store. He said he had no money, he could
not raise any and all his whining stories as usual, I took it to your father

who said he would have Sanders so much on your account at the

store. He said he would keep me agoing in groceries or orders of any
kind at [the] store if there was any more coming to [torn off].

I told him it was a very small part of your account against him but
would not tell him how much it was for fear he would stop doing altogether.

Your father wants to know what the account is. Do you knowf I
have not looked for it. There has been no money sent by mail yet, and
so Van Buren has not been paid but he does not seem troubled at all.

I must finish this for the post tonight. Take care of yourself and do
not worry about us at home. Write often and tell the particulars.

Your Wife.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 277

Orlando C. Howe,
Newton, Iowa Falls,

Jasper, Co. Hardin Co. Iowa.

[Alden N. Y.] Dec. 20th, 1855.
My Husband:

It is Sunday afternoon and the snow so deep there is no going to
church today, it lies in great drifts all around. I find upon a survey that
my stationery is in a dilapidated condition, no paper, no pen, but will
write today with such materials as are on hand since I do not feel tliat
greatest want of time. Jimmy has gone home to stay a few days. I expect
him back New Year's Day with his mother, who is better than formerly.
I received your letter yesterday after waiting many anxious days in vain.
If it will not cost too much I will try and bring a post office up with me
in the spring for the accommodation of friends left behind. It was a
long time without a letter almost two weeks but when it came at last it
was two, both letters coming in, in the same mail. Things move on here
about as usual, dull very, and lonesome, but I do not wish you here, oh, no,
no, no. I feel that we have stayed here too long already, where a poor
man can do nothing unless * * * Ijast week Mr. Grimes brought that long
expected crock of butter for which I paid 25 cts. a pound. How much
in lowaf The weather was very fine until last Wednesday but now it is
ferocious, so cold and windy. I hope you will soon find sometliing to do
tliat suits you but I do not mean to worry about you as long as you write
you are well, and employment so plenty. I am sure you will earn as much
as vou could here for there is no law business at all this winter and if
you had not gone in the fall I do not think you would in the spring.

Corlett sent a letter with notice of trial in the Johnson suit. I gave
it to your father who sent it to Parmenter, was it right? Robert says
if you will send him your account against Eggleston and Pat Smith with
their assignment he will certainly collect them both or any other accounts
that are left unsettled. He will do it I think. Mr. Case (I don't know
what one) saw Robert a few days ago and asked when you were coming
back, he said he wondered you did not see him before you left, that he
had a note of 20 dollars which had been due sometime he had always
felt as if you would pay it he said and never wanted to press it, and now
he supposed he was safe enough for your father was on the note. I think
you had better write to him.

Robert wishes very much to go to Iowa and I sometimes think it would
be l>etter for Mother to let him go and see what he could do, but don't
know and will not say anything about it.

Aside from the trial of leaving friends I do not in the least shrink
from the prospect of hardship, I know that although of a different kind
they cannot be worse than we have suffered here. Of a kind more apparent
to the stranger 's eye perhaps, but without the bitterness of the continually
disappointed, and hearts forever wearied by a necessary strife for food
and clothing. Oh, no, I do not dread it, the prospect is full of joy. I am
so tired of being where the necessity to do is so great and the ability
80 limited.

278 ANNALS OF IOWA

Alden, January 2, [1856].
My dear Husband:

Yesterday I wrote a few lines to you promising both you and myself
a long letter today, but today, has brought with it the sick headache so
that although now four o'clock I have just got up. I was very sorry to
hear that you have not heard from home. Truly your heart has wandered
with your footsteps. I know that you have suffered much from anxiety
and suspense. Before this you have I hope received letters informing
that we were well and have been so through the winter. My eyes are about
as usual, very weak and painful in the evening, no worse than last winter
I think. Eveline is well, and grows fast; she does not improve much in
morals or deportment, but physically is in excellent condition. Tour
mother pronounces her uncommonly good, rather mischievous sometimes
but very good. I have written you so many letters none of which you
liave received that I don't know what to say in this without going over
as it were with all the others. I have no doubt that your preemption of
a farm was the best thing you could do for the future, and the best for
the present probably. Although attended with many hardships, I cannot
say that I fear them much, of a different kind from those we have endured
but not attended with such heartbreaking, courage-deadening hopelessness.

I have never regretted the decision to go to Iowa and if you can live
through the winter, have no doubt it was better to go when you did than
to have waited until spring. Alden is duller than ever, positively nothing
doing here, no law business, no blacksmitliing, nothing at all. Tour
father wishes much to go and I know he wants to go with us but mother
leans strongly towards Galva. They had a letter from there yesterday.
Babcock and Kate are both in school.^ He has let the job of building
a new house on his village lot to be finished the first of April, a very
pretty plan, two stories high and 18 by 22 on the inside. Expects to do
the inside work himself. Kate writes that she is happy with her husband,
in fact their letters seem to be each a laudatory panegyric of the other.

I do not know what kind of a farmer you will make, nor what kind
of a farmer's wife I will be, but we have long wanted a farm to own as
a dependence in sickness, or hard times of any kind. I shall not certainly
like living four miles from neighbors, and hope if you succeed in getting
the adjoining farm you mil sell it to some good family man. Lavinia^^
is almost insane in regard to going with me, but I do not think it best
and discourage it entirely. She wants to know if you could get her a
school within a few miles. She went home yesterday after her money,
has had not a cent yet. Robert*^ wishes much to go west but says little
about it. Unless something unforeseen prevents Sarah will go as far as
Kate 's with me in the spring, that is, if you think it best for me to come
that way, for I am coming the very next day after school is out. In my

46 B. F. Babcock and Katherlne Howe, later married and residents of
Welmter City, Iowa.

47 Lavinia Wheelook, wife of B. F. Parmenter. later of Spirit Lake, Iowa.
She is usually referred to as **Vine" In the letters which follow.

4A Robert B. Wheelock came west and was with Mr. Howe in the journey
to the I^kes when they discovered massacred settlers.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 279

last letter I aaked a great many qaestions many of which related to our
new home and many to yourself, your victuals, clothes, health, employ-
ment, and things too numerous to mention. Answer all which you have
not answered in past letters, you do not know how much I am interested
in the minutia. Had you any money left to live on! Are you all ragged?
How are your frozen parts f What are you doing and what are your
wages f If you can make enough to pay expenses of your board this
winter, your father says it is more than you could have done here. How
much did it cost to Dubuque from heref How much from there to Hardin
County f Oh, if you had only been where we could have exchanged letters
regularly and often it would not have been so hard, but I do not allow
myself to think much about these things. I feel enough without thought.
For days after you left it seemed as if each five o'clock train would
surely bring you home and when at last the reality of the separation was
pressed home it came so heavy, and so cold, so death like, it was dreadful.
Linnie has not forgotten you, and is very much pleased with the descrip-
tion of the house always excepting the hay top which she insists the cows
will eat all up. I am glad that you think of two rooms, it will be much
better in the end if a little harder to build, I shall bring paper for the
walls with me, and with carpets and Linnie I think we shall find it very
comfortable and tidy inside, and we will cover up the outside with vines,
(now for business).

Bob Kelly gave me an order on Sanders for five dollars the week after
you went off and said if there was any more due you he would keep me
in orders, but that is the last of it. There was no money came by mail
after you left. Bob's brother says if you will send him the transferred
account against Pat Smith, Eggleston or anybody else he will certainly
collect them for me (try him, do). . . . Lmnie is sleepy and cross.

Newton, January 10, 1856.
My dear Wife :

I do not like to write so often without having anything to write
respecting being in business. I have found no employment yet. I have
been to several school districts but either there is no schoolhouse or it is
not warm enough this cold winter, and hardly any one will work this
weather. I have worked southward to find it some warmer, but it is really
colder than in Hardin Ck>unty.

I tried a lawsuit yesterday and got beat. Received no blame and con-
siderable praise.

This town is larger tlian Lancaster [N. T.] but has no schoolhouse.
There are two select schools kept in small rooms. I intend to try to get
up a class in elocution, but don't know [how] well I shall succeed.

There is a fine opening for me as a lawyer if it was not for my old
complaint, want of capital. I do not like the country as well as further
north, and I have found no place that promises to be so good a point for
school-teaching as Iowa Falls will be in a year.

I am in a fit of the blues almost today by imagining every possible
evil as having befallen you or Linnie . . .

280 ANNALS OP IOWA

After writing so far this morning I was interrupted by some men who
wanted to use the room by themselves. It turned out to be a caucus
preparatory to the April election. Before I could find a place to write
the mail left, so this can not go until tomorrow. A deputation from the
caucus requested me to accept the nomination for judge, provided I was
eligible and would run on a Know-Nothing ticket. Unfortunately, I shall
want two months of residence to make me eligible. I am sorry, as I
think I could easily carry the county, the party being in the majority,
and timber for judges scarce.

This dissipated the blues, but on commencing writing to you how plain
I see your image. I am homesicky no mistake about it, and should start
tomorrow for Iowa Falls (70 miles) to get a letter which I hope to find
there from you, if a sense of duty did not compel me to try a course of
lectures next week.

A strange state is Iowa, employment so easy to get, but still I can't
get any. The simple fact is the cold weather has paralyzed everything.
Nobody can work. Most of the mechanics refuse to work. Everybody
is too independent to work in cold weather, and I have found but two
buildings to work in, and I am as adverse as the rest to outdoor work.
All waiting for spring. That word spring; that is to bring my loved
ones to me if some great evil does not befall us, but perhaps you have
already written that my description of the hardships has so terrified you
that you wish to wait. If so I can stand [it], I suppose. Don't know,
though.

Saturday Morning, January 11, 1856.

Well, this morning write to me at Jasper, Newton County, Iowa, also
to Iowa Falls, Hardin Ck>unty. I may stay here long enough to get a
letter, as the prospect is fair for forming a class in elocution.

May God protect all at home, and bring our little family together again.

Your Husband,

Orlando C. Howe.

[Alden N Y] January 12th, 1856.
My dear Husband:

It is Sabbath afternoon and such a depth of snow on the ground as
I hope never to see again in New York.

Your father cAme up on the pony this morning and had a hard time
getting here. He says the snow is 2 and a half feet everywhere. We had
only two mails last week, one on Monday, the other yesterday. The wind
has blown tremendously all the past week, and the thermometer stood 23
dgs. below zero. Before last Sabbath it had never been to zero this
winter. We are all well and have been since you left. I was alarmed
upon reading that you were frost bitten, not so much from the fear of
injury from those bites, but it made me think you were not careful about
exposing yourself and I fear some cold snowstorm will find you bewildered
on the prairie, a terrible situation in which it would be very wrong to
place yourself. I was glad to learn that you were settled, where you are

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 281

80 much pleased with the conntrj and the people. I have no doubt I shall
like them both as well as Alden society or scenery, better I hope.

Do not be ensnared by the spirit of speculation into taking up or buying
more land than you can pay for. We leave Alden to avoid incurring debts
we cannot pay, and it would be a sad thing to go so far, only to become
more involved than here, with no better prospect of extricating yourself.
Do not think I am only a croaker, seeing the difficulty, and not the way
to surmount it, but remember I am used only to the day of small things,
and such large figures frighten me, acres by the hundred, and bushels
by the thousand, are a novelty among my thoughts accustomed as you
know, to measure land by the foot and potatoes by the half peck.

Are there no houses between your farm and the village f How far to
the next house, or as you call them, hutf Where do you livef With
whomf What kind of creatures are theyf Where did they come fromt
Where are the settlers principally fromt Are they married generally or
notf are there any children there, and if so do they learn to speak
English? How do the people live and lookf What do you have to eat,
and what are you doing? What are you going down the river forf I
want to know all these things and dozens more. You see I mean to keep
track of you, and not find the slab house occupied by some lady with
whom I am unacquainted. As to the hardships I say again I do not fear
them, although they will be of a different description from those expected.
I do think it will be frightfully lonely living on a prairie, four miles
from houses one way and I dont know how far the others, yet more agree-
able than living away from you. If you bargain for that other 160 acres
I hope you will sell it to some one who will live on it. The idea of
farming is hardly what we intended but I have no doubt it is the best
thing at present prices, and prospects, but how can you get money to buy
seed, farming tools, pay for breaking, building, and all these things?
To say nothing of provisions through the summer. The last was a hard
job here. I do think Robert and Henry^^ ought to come with me in the
spring. It appears to be just the kind of place we wanted to find, new
and growing, and I am quite delighted with the thought of coming to
you, only that terrible distance from neighbors frightens me, no wonder.
Where will you get the slabs to make the house? And, how in the world
can you make a hay roof? I think if we have two rooms plastered we
shall be very comfortable. I will bring paper to paper the walls, one
room at least, and then we will have a fine yard around it and the sides
covered with vines. I dont like the thought of sodding it wmters. I
think it would be like a cellar, damp and unhealthy, perhaps not. I wish
it was built and Linnie and I were in it. I dare not think of the long,
long time before spring. The mind recoils from the prospect, but each
day will come I know with its own cares and blessings and be no harder
than the previous ones. It is a very long time between your letters, I
H-ish you would write oftener if you can. I would have written without

*» Robert B. Wheelock and Henry Schuneman. Mr. Scbuneman marritMl
Ruphenia Wheelock In 1849 and they came to Spirit Lake in 1859. Mr. S.
died In Boone, Iowa, AuKust 4, 1908.

282 ANNALS OP IOWA

waiting but did not know but you had moved. Now I have [put] every
thing into this and have nothing left for the other letter. Linnie does
not forget her Pa. Vine wants to come with me in the spring but I do
not want her. Perhaps Sarah will come as far as Kate's. Write to Kate,
she wishes you would. I think your father^ will go west within a year.
He has written to [Babcock] to look [for] him a small farm near their
village, he says Alden never was so dull.

M. H.

I wish you would set the house up from the ground if you can. Mr.
Hcndee says Mr. Brewer says building so near the ground is the first

and only cause of sickness at the west.

• • •

Vine has not got her money yet. Winspear, wife and all the children
were here New Year's day. They brought me one crock of apple butter
which we were eating, and it hardly seems as if I could bring it without
so much risk of losing if it was alone or of spoiling other things if packed
witli them. Do you have any apples or apple sauce, what do you have?

Newton, January 22, 1856.
My dear Wife:

No news from you yet but I live in hope. Have had an opportunity
to send to Iowa Falls and Eldora, so if any letters are there I shall get
them in about two weeks. I have found work for the rest of the winter,
and might do very well here permanently. I have had some talk of going
into law and "banking" and land agency business, and might do so if
I could be sure that the person who wishes to be a partner could raise
sufficient capital, that is $500 which would make a good start. On that
if I liad that amount alone I could easily clear from $1000 to two or
three times that amount. The difficulty here would be to get a place to
live in. Such a house as the old shell you are in would rent here for $400
a year.

I do not think that this is as good place to live in as Hardin County
will soon be, nor will the country improve so fast but it is older and more
settled, though one or two years will make Iowa Falls a more desirable
place for you than here. The people there are New York and New
England people. I pay $4.00 per week for board.

Have given a lecture before the "Newton Literary Society," and
have obtained some reputation as a lawyer. There is no one in the county
to compete with me in that business, although it is more than supplied
with lawyers, and some are men of promise and ability, but lack study
and practice.

Schools will not pay quite well enough to make up for the high price
of board. If I should conclude to live here it would throw away my
"prairie home" in Hardin County without any pay, and I have, since
coming here and looking over the state, and seeing how places are grow-

so james D. Howe, later resident of Webster City, Iowa.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 283

ing, been more and more convinced of the advantages of the place, and
think all of my estimates of the value of the farm next fall have been
too low. But if I go on the farm I shall soon have an office and school
in some of the villages and make money in land business. You can have
no idea how easily and surely money can be made here with a small
capital. If father would come out here with a few hundred dollars in
money or warrants we could get rich in a year or two, and the security
would, in my opinion, be as good as mortgages on any farm in Alden
(N. Y.]. If I find no other way of speculating I shall enter a few
thousand acres of land on time, at the moderate interest of 40% and
upwards, and shall only lose, in case of failure, a few years' hard labor.
I have not found a man of ordinary intelligence who has invested $200
in land business, and been in it two years, who is worth less than $2,000,
and from that to $10,000. All make money.

Excuse my apparent exclusiveness of thought about money. I cannot
hear to think and write about the folks at home, most of all you and
Linnie. Write to Newton, Jasper CJounty, Iowa.

O. C. Howe.

Newton, January 24, '56.
My dear Wife:

I can hardly give up beautiful Hardin County, and especially around
Iowa Falls, and have found nothing to equal it, either in beauty or
advantages, but if there we go I shall necessarily work on a farm next
summer. I yesterday sent for Yi a section of land to be entered on time
in Greene or Carroll County. This adds 320 acres to my landed interest.
I owe for tliis last farm $560. If I should not be able to pay for it in
one year it will go back, and my note will be canceled, so that all the risk
is ihe loss of $10.00 sent to begin with. I'll risk it.

The weather is milder. It is now fair winter weather. You have
doubtless read terrible stories about people freezing to death on the
prairies. They are all true, and half do not reach you. The mercury has
been 30 below zero near here, when it is much further south than you are.
But anything like such a winter was never before known here. It is just
as cold as far south as Missouri. I think it lias been colder here than in
the northern part of the state and in Minnesota. The cold is the excuse
why I have done so little this winter. No work was to be done. No one
would work at buildings, and usually much is left to be done during the
pleasant winters.

I have written to Kate. While in Iowa Falls I wrote you a detailed

284 ANNALS OF IOWA

ae«oiint of some incidents relative to the climate as far as it had affected
me, but had no chance to send the letters till they were worn out in mj
pocket. I will repeat them here.

While there a Mr. Shaw and an old gentleman and mjself hired a
teamster to take us on the prairie to make our preemptions. We did not
get started till late and I saw a storm was coming, but thought we could
go five or six miles and back without any trouble. We first came to the
old man 's preemption, when he left us to go back across the prairie, while
we went on to finish ours. Shaw led off for his a mile or so, when I
noticed that our driver looked rather queer, he soon began to complain
that there was danger of freezing on the prairie, the storm having come
on so tliat we could not see a very great distance, but I had a compass
and felt safe. Shaw soon became slightly puzzled in liis route, which
so alarmed our driver that he (Shaw) concluded to give up going to liis
claim, and told me to strike off for mine, and he got in the sleigh with
the driver.

Looking at the compass I started directly into the wind, but soon
looking around saw there was something wrong in the sleigh, so I con-
cluded to humor the fears of the driver, and changed my course for the
timber about three miles off and on our way home. Looking round
again and Shaw was calling and motioning to me, so I waited for them
to come up, when I found the driver was freezing. I pointed Shaw the
direction to the timber, told him to lay on the whip while I took care
of the driver, who soon became in a pretty bad state. I kept rubbing
him, pounding and arousing him, but just before reaching timber he
had become faint, or insensible, so as to lie in the bottom of the sleigh.
But the horses were on tlie full run, and we reached timber and soon
aroused him. I think fifteen minutes longer and he certainly would
have frozen to death. He was a large, robust man, and more warmly
clothed than either of us. I froze my ear very little wliile attending him,
but neither Shaw nor myself thought it at all an uncomfortable day,
but fear and want of resolution was the main trouble. I wonder tliere
are not more deaths from cold than there are.

I will tomorrow or next day give you anotlier instance of exposure
wherein I did not come off quite so well. Do not be alarmed, I have
quite recovered from the frost bites I wrote about some time ago,
excepting that there is still on my mind a warning not to go on the
prairie in a winter storm.

But I must work now, for traveling, lying still, and speculating has
emptied my pocket, and the chances are that I shall keep it empty for
some time, that is, if I find entering land on time so promising a spec.

When I hear how many of our folks have been affected with western
mania by my rhapsodies, then I shall know what to do. If Henry and
Bob or John^* or Father have concluded to come, we will make a rush.
Tell Father that if emigration is as great next summer as it was last,

01 .Tohn T. Whoolock, brother of Mrs. Howe.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 285

he could come here with $500, spend the summer with us, and so invest
it as to make it worth four or fives times as much.

Love to all. Good-bye. Kiss Linnie. Does she talk about mef Will
she forget mef I know there is one at home who will not.

O. C. Howe.

Newton, January 28, 1856.
My dear Wife:

At last I have heard from home by Father's letter, and expect to-
morrow to receive yours, and in a day or two a host that you have sent
to Iowa Falls, as I have ordered them remailed to this place. What a
feast when they all come!

If you could know all my feelings while alone among strangers, then
you could imagine how I hope and fear for every mail tliat arrives.

I went to church yesterday. It was in a private house, the society
will have their house finished as soon as the weather is warm enough
for plastering. It is Old School Presbyterian. There are also societies
of N. S. Presbyterians, and "Free" Presbyterians, Baptists, Disciples,
and Methodists. The last have a church.

Village lots here are as liigh as in Buffalo, though there is no water
power and no natural advantage in this point over any other in the
state. But county seats will necessarily be flourishing business places
in this country. Father writes as though he might leave Alden, and I
have strong hopes that he will come up in the sprnig. I will go into any
sure business that he likes, if he will come, but have sent him word that
I want to start a law office with him. He would be at the head of the
profession in a week's study of **The Code of Iowa," if those I have
met are good specimens, but all make money. I have seen none of two
years' standing but who have something laid up, principally by specu-
lating. But every kind of business pays well. Farming next to specu-
lating. Vine, Sarah and Mary'^'a could in a few years earn a farm, a house,
and a husband, all by school-teaching. If Father comes I think Iowa
Falls or some of the villages near my place will be as good points as any,
but am not particular as to a hundred or two miles in a location for
our headquarters. My boss has gone to Franklin County to locate a
county seat by order of the state. There are three commissioners to
decide upon the point, and a fellow clerk here is anxiously expecting his
return, so as to know whether his land there is the favored spot. This
clerk has been here seven months, with a capital of $500, and has now
over $4,000. Pretty fair, is it not! If his land is selected for county
seat he will call it about $15,000 addition to his property.

If Father should come and go into law and land business with me
(and farm it too so as to make sure of a living) and emigration be as
large as the last five years, I would not ask to be insured $10,000 between
us in three years. Indeed, I should hate now to work for the sum of
$5,000 for three years, and agree not to earn any more in that time.

Ma Sarah and Mary Howe, sisters of O. C. H.

286 ANNALS OF IOWA

The only ones who fail are those that allow sharpers to cheat them
outrageously. All arc doing big business here. I have seen no such
thing as a cent here, a few three-cents I had went for half dimes, but
I have seen but two or three instances of half dimes being used in this
county. Dimes and bits (12%) are the coppers, and quarters and halves
and gold dollars are the small change.

To show what a face I have got I will mention that I was at the hotel
a week before any one had seen any money of mine, and I could stay
any where without money till it was earned. But perhaps if there was
nothing in my pocket, that assurance would be wanting. Are you tired
of my writing so much about money matters! You would have the fever
too if every day some acquaintance should speak of a sale by which
hundreds had been gained in a few months.

I did not get the 320 acres I wrote about, but have a thing in view
for which I am going to risk about $25.00 next May, and expect to make
several hundred on it by September.

If Bob or Henry will not come here in the spring tell them to send
a little money to me to enter land on time for them. The fees are from
$5.00 to $10.00 for 160 acres. I shall pay the $10.00 for mine, as I can
by that secure a personal selection by an acquaintance whom I can trust.
Tell them to send $10.00 or $20.00 apiece, and give me a wTitten consent
to sign their name to a note, or I will give my note for the land, just
as they wish. If at the end of the year they do not want the land, the
notes are canceled, so nothing but the ten is risked. But I promised to
write some more personal instances and narratives, so here goes.

On Christmas the stage driver from the west told us at the tavern at
Iowa Falls that he had seen a large drove of elk on the road. Mr.
Larkin,^2 ^.ho is a fine old hunter, started for a Mr. Yates of Illinois,
who had been slaying the deer awhile, and was going back next day,
but he came up and council of war was held, and two sleighs were found
with teams to carry three each, and so those who could get rifles soon
6iigaged places, but I was out, as I could find nothing but a shot gun.
At last it was thought that a good horse and a light but reckless rider
would be wanted to run the elk down. That was my only chance, so I
offered at once, and was of course elected by several pounds under all
others. We started about 2 a. m., mercury ten below zero, but clear,
rode ten miles and breakfasted, then started, struck the trail eight miles
off and followed more than 25 miles and cAme in sight of the elk about
noon. More than fifty of them, looked like a drove of mules or young
cattle.

To my great satisfaction the owner of the riding horse concluded to
ride himself, so I stayed in one sleigh while the horseman and Larkin
and Yates went at 'em. In less than two hours they had nearly a dozen
dowTi, while we followed to pick them up. Found eight of them, and it
was time to quit. So we loaded up the two sleighs and started for the
grove where we breakfasted. Thinking that we were about twelve miles

92 James R. Larkin.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 287

off as wc had come partly towards it, we followed till dark, and soon
mistook a stream for another, and got puzzled, and at last gave up that
we were lost. As not one knew anything about the country, so we con-
cluded to unload the elk, take some direct course by the stars. We came
to the best estimate we could as to our whereabouts, and started east
by south, knowing that if we were right we should find timber in two
or three miles, if wrong, in forty miles! But that was better than a
chance of 400! After going a mile or two we saw timber on the north,
and reached our breakfasting tavern before midnight. The next day
Tates and Larkin went after the live elk and we got the killed ones, and
then broke down so we could not start again. At night the hunters did
not come, and we were alarmed, especially a son of Mr. Larkin. The
morning was stormy and cold, but we had a compass, and we felt com-
pelled to hunt up the hunters, so we took their track and followed it
some forty miles, till it turned and then struck for the tavern, 25 miles
off in a straight line, and reached it and found the hunters there with
seven more elk. Every one of us were frozen, but none seriously, and
all felt thankful for our escape, and wondered at our rashness. But the
elk were different game from Alden sporting, some would weigh over
500 apiece! Think of fifteen shot in two days, making two large sleigh
loads of beef. But you don't catch me on the prairie again this winter
away from houses.

I meant to write a different kind of a letter but will send again. I
saw two or three children at meeting about Linnie's age, but none like
darling Linnie. When shall I see her again f If my wife and child were
here it would be easy working. How I long for spring. And will it
bring us all together again f And shall we not have other friends.
Father, Mother, and our sisters, all four of them, Robert, Henry, your
mother, why will they not all comef For Iowa will make a happy home
for all. Work, and leaving off some of the comforts of life for a year
or two, and then comfort, independence, competence and even wealth
for all. Crod bring us together in peace.

O. C. Howe.

[Alden, N. Y.] Monday Feb. 10th, [1856].
Dear Husband:

While one is at the black board working a long algebraical problem
I commence a letter to you, intending to finish it as soon as possible.
We have had no mail here for 9 days, previous to Saturday.

Such piles of snow were never seen in Alden as line every fence and
hide the houses.

(This is as far as I could write in school.) This morning's mail
brought me this very welcome letter long looked for but not so long as
you had looked in vain for news from home.

It has more than doubled the trials of the winter to be unable to
exchange letters but, I have had the best of it I know. With such horrid
accounts of freezing I was sometimes almost terrified for fear you would

288 ANNALS OP IOWA

be or were amoug the frozen ones, and it seems by your letter you were
very near freezing. How could you be so careless when only in search
of land. That other time when hunting I should expect of course you
would get it until you were an icicle. But your game was worth some-
thing to be sure. An account of the hunt was published so that your
father read it last week. I did not see the paper. We are all well and
school goes off every well, and if the scholars all pay I shall have con-
siderable money, a good many will leave at the end of this quarter but
I shall keep one month more, and that will bring it to the last days of
March and I hope to start very soon after. Your Father wants very
much to go west and with us, but I don't think he can sell his place so

as to go in the spring. He does not think he can and says he has not

to go with without selling, it is very dull here, nothing doing. I am
very anxious to get away and feel as if I could hardly wait the time
out but now I begin to count it by weeks instead of months and that
seems much better. Mr. Maxon says he saw a friend from New York
City who had just returned from Iowa west of Dubuque, near where you
have located. He said New York people were fools and was going to
close up his business as fast as possible and start for Iowa as soon as
possible. I was very glad to hear that there would be some one nearer
than the village, for until your letter to your father I thought we should
be alone on the prairie, but better alone with each other than separated.
I have not seen John or Henry's family since you were here. I wish
you would write to Henry urging him to come up. I think he would.
Vine wants to come very much but I think it is not best now, in fact she
could not for want of money. Do tell me what it will cost for Linnie
and me to get there f I have asked so many times in letters unreceived
that it seems as if I never would know. You must have written letters
we have not received, a number I think. I will send this half sheet now
and another this week. I wish you would write twice a week if the letters
were short they would be so comfortable. Linnie is waiting to write to
her Pa. Yours always,

Maria.

Newton, February 14, 1856.
My dear Wife:

I have received nothing since those two letters that came at one time
with Linnie 's enclosed in one of them. How glad I was to hear at last
from you. The mail comes here from the east three times a week, but
today there was nothing farther east than Iowa City. The railroad from
Davenport was blocked up two days with snow.

I can not definitely conclude where I am to locate in the spring, till
I hear from Father as to whether he is to come or not. Here I can have
a salary of about $400 a year, but board is $4.00 a week and till within
a week I have only had enough to pay for my board. Bents are very high,
still I think we could get along well here, and I am in office being deputy
recorder and treasurer of Jasper County.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 289

Dr. Aiilt,*^ my principal, and a Mr. Preaton" of lUinoia and another
person have just laid out a new town joining this and are trying to
locate the courthouse upon it. If they succeed they will realize a large
fortune, and there is considerable talk about removing the capital of the
state here. I think Newton stands as good a chance as any other place.

The Dr. and Preston are also laying a town about nine miles from
here, and I can get good employment there and probably make more for
a few years than here. It would also be a first rate place for Father.

I can get 20 or 30 acres of land near the village there for $20 or $30
an acre and have time to pay for it in work in the office or a store or
something, for the founders are friends of mine and seem to value my
services. I can probably do something, in the meantime speculating
but must wait till I get you here before letting a dime go for anything
unnecessary. It will cost about $30.00 apiece for you and Levinia to
reach Galva with Linnie, and I can not bear the thought that you should
come alone. I hope Father will be coming too. It will be a great dis-
appointment to me if he does not come here early in the spring. John T.
would make a fortune anywhere here in a short time, and I hope some
time that he will come. I am sorry that Mother thinks more of Illinois
than Iowa for it is certain that they would do better here than at Galva^
and would find it equally comfortable and Father and I could do so much
better together than alone, either in farming or in law business or black-
smithing.

I hear that land is rising in price about Iowa Falls and do not want
to give up my home there. You say that you have written for a descrip-
tion of the farm and many other matters. I have not yet received the
letters. The "farm" is nearly as rolling as the Ferris farm, it has two
or three sink holes on it, but not to hurt it in the least. There are
neighbors about three miles off and will be several near by before we
can get there. The nearest timber is about 2% miles off. You have
probably seen a rough draft of the township that I sent Father.

If I had the means to purchase timber and prairie adjoining and
stock a farm it would be a sufficient fortune to me for farming here is
not much like work after the land is fenced and broken up. Land is
high here, prairie in this county is from 2% to 40 dollars an acre,
according to quality and location.

If Father or Robert comes probably some considerable time will be
taken up for a year or two in traveling in the western part of the state
and in Nebraska. I would like to send some money next week to have
some land entered for me on time in Monona County, may send for 160
or 320 acres. The 160 acres joining me in Hardin County is for Father
so you need not wish me to sell it, even if I am able to get it. I am glad
to see you so resolute about enduring the hardships of Iowa life and
think you will be agreeably disappointed in many respects.

M Dr. A. T. Ault.

M Probably Edwin D. PreHton who came to Jasper County in 1855 and
engaged in surveying.

SB Galva, in Henry County, Illinois.

290 ANNALS OP IOWA

I think Levinia had better come and Sarah too and aU the rest.
Schools could be got for all.

I will meet you in Qalva and you will need to send me several letters
for five or six weeks before starting to let me know when to come after
you. I have not heard from Katie yet. Ton know how I wish to see
you all. Kiss Linnie for me.

Tour husband,

O. C. Howe.

The letters which follow were written on the same sheet of
paper by the parents of Mr. Howe, the first one by John D.
Howe, and the second by Sarah P. Howe. They came west in
1858 with John Henry Schuneman and Eupehmia Wheelock
Schuneman, and settled in Spirit Lake.

Alden [N. Y.], Feb 17, 1856.
Yesterday was a comfortable wintry day but snowed some and last
evening just at dark mother and myself went up to your house, wind in
the south, warm and soft balmy air but we had not been there more than
20 minutes before the wind chopped round suddenly to the north and
blew hard and the snow flew merrily and through the night grew colder
and more cold and to day as severe a day as we have had this winter,
so that we are all at home trying to keep warm and do not think of going
to church it is so boisterous. Such a winter, that respectable individual,
the oldest inhabitant, never knew before. No business doing anywhere.
No work in the shop. The farmer has all that he can do to get wood
and take care of his stock. Roads almost completely blocked up. Bail-
road cars don't run scarcely at all on our road or on some others. It
has cost much more than their receipts to try to keep them open. It has
been for 2 or 3 times that we have not had a mail from three to 9 days
at a time and today the prospect is that the track may be filled as bad
as ever. So it goes, and I sometimes think that I should like to live
where there was no snow at all, at all. We have aU enjoyed comfortable
health so far except bad colds. Maria stands it better than we supposed
she could as the winter has been. Mr. Vandervent keeps a supply of
wood but says that he would not draw for any body else for $3.00 per
cord but says I am bound to keep her in wood and shaU do so. * * *
As to our town meeting not much said as yet, but there are symptoms
that things are working among the fusion as Fullerton and Durkee and
Slater, Jacobs, Brake and others are together some. Who they are in-
tending to support for town officers has not transpired. E. H. Ewell
wants to be the candidate of the American party for supervisor but
whether he will get the nomination I don 't know, but he is as usual anxious.
As it respects my coming or rather going west all is very uncertain as
I cannot go without selling to raise money to go with and I do not know
of any chance of selling. You wrote in your last to Maria that you
thought you should make a strike soon. All I can say is strike as you

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 291

have uotliiug to lose and may gain and if anything turns up so tliat I
can help you by and by I will do so, but I do not see any better way for
you than to keep the ball in motion. You wrote to Kate you say and
now write to Ira and Bosalia lest they should find fault.^

L. P. Jacobs inquired a day or two ago for your address, what his
object was I do not know, but you must remember that he is like the
Indian's White Man, very uncertain. Many inquiries concerning you
and when you are coming back are made, but I have but one answer,
that is, I do not know. When the mail will go out is uncertain as it
continues blowing hard.

(Sig.) J. D. Howe.

Orlando, your father has left room for me to write some and I will
try you need not fear of being forgotten by us I think more about you
than I do the girls on account of your being alone and from your wife
and child but they will not suffer as long as we can stir and Linnie is
happy with us days and then goes home nights to comfort her mother
she generally wants something to carry to her dear ma and she is put
in mind of you often and says she is going west and will cook prairie
hens for her poor pa she thinks she can't go without granpa and granma
go. We have all felt better about you after we learned you was in some
business this winter for it has been so cold and hard. I should [have]
worried all the time if you had not fare, I was afraid you would see
very liard times and it seems you did when out preempting and hunting
I do hope you will be more careful in time to come and try to preserve
your health we got a letter from Ira and Rosalia last week were well
and anxious to hear from you have not heard from Katie since the fore
part of January it seems lonely to have you and Kate both gone at once
but hope it is for the best I hope you will succeed in getting along and
do better than you could here but we know but little what is before us
we must do what we can and trust in God. I hope you will have your
dear wife and child in the spring to comfort you be assured you are ever
in our minds and pray for your prosperity.

[Sig] 8. P. Howe.

Feby. 21st. The prospect is for a mail to go out tonight G. Dodge
was buried this afternoon.

Newton, February 22, 1856.
My dear Wife:

I send you a few lines in haste as I am about starting on a trip
stumping for moving the county seat. I have been to one place with
Dr. Ault and we give 'em some, I reckon. There is not much chance in
succeeding in the effort.

You have probably received my last, in which I spoke of the various
employments offering to me. None will pay very well, but can make

5« Kattle Howe later Mrs. B. F. Babcock. Ira was Ira Tromalno, husband
of Rosalie Howe, sister or daughter of J. D. Howe, writer of the letter quoted,
all latter residents of Webster City, Iowa.

292 ANNALS OF IOWA

something out of most. I have failed of receiving anything since your
first two from you, but have seen by the papers that the B Boads are
blocked up with snow.

If we conclude to stop here or near here it will be best to ship goods
to Burlington rather than Davenport, as I can get from here to Burling-
ton with a team in two days and come back with a load in three.

Ault and Preston have made me a good offer in building a village
out in the country. I can take an undivided y^ with them of 80, 160,
or 240 acres of a most beautiful location for a village, and directly on
a coal bank of superior quality.

Price about $18 an acre on good time, and I can pay for my share
by selling village lots, and have considerable left, besides reserving the
coal. It is my opinion that a large manufacturing town must some time
or other spring up there. Write oftencr.

In haste,

O. C. Howe.

Neii-ton, March 8, 1856.
My dear Wife:

I received your letter dated February 28 last night, and am sorry to
find you are sick. You do not tell how sicJc^ only I find by the letter that
Linnie is not at home, but at Mother's. I am glad that you are out of
school and are coming here so aoouy for I am homesick, too. I am tired
of fighting my way alone, though I do not mean to have you help do the
fighting, but intend to become peaceable and let all matters go easy,
though Fillmore's nomination may set me agoing again. By the way,
that nomination takes remarkably well here with the true Americans,
and will draw from every other party a strong vote.

About our county seat matter. The county judge has decided not to
order an election, but I am going to get a mandamus from the district
judge and put the matter through. My friends are sometimes astonished
at my way of finding the way to do legal matters. There are several
practicing attorneys here, but only one has any great amount of knowl-
edge. John T.*^ is a much better lawyer than most of them, including
the prosecuting attorney. Law business will pay soon, but at present
not more than enough to make a living. Circumstances have prevented
my speculating yet, and I shall want all I can get hold of to get you and
the furniture here. Can you raise $30? If not, can you sell furniture
enough to raise it I Unless you can, write and I will send some to you,
for I do not think you and Linnie can come for less than that to Oalvs
and be prepared for slight accidents and detentions. The fare will be
$14 to Chicago, and perhaps $6 to Galva, making $20. Linnie goes free,
and I think that if Sarah is with you she can come at half price by
coming as servant and nurse for Linnie, but I am not certain as to that.
At Chicago you will stay all night, and I think you had better stop at

57 A New York lawyer referred to In O. C. H.'s letter, Feb. 14, 1856. Ante.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 293

the Matteson House, price $2.00 a day. Then take the ' ' Chicago, Burling-
ton and Quincy Rail Road" to Galva.

I shall go to Ft. Desmoine the 16th of March, as I have business there,
and I shall then get admitted to practice, and I want you to start as
soon after that time as you think a letter can reach me, and then you
will get to GaWa a day before me.

I now think you had better get Father to send the furniture as soon
as possible to me at Newton, directed in care of "Salsbury, Daniels &
Co. Iowa City." I shall not be at the expense of getting a team to go
for them till I hear they have arrived. Ask Father to get a receipt from
some forwarder in Buffalo and send it by you. I tliiuk you had better
send as little furniture as you can get along with. I suppose you will
not be able to get the cheap bureau you wrote about. I wish I was able
to send the money for it, but cannot yet.

I wish you could be able to start by the 24th if you get this in time
to send a letter to me by the 17th, giving seven days for a letter to
reach me.

Write a letter every day for four days at least, sending the date you
intend starting, and do come as soon as you can.

I am wTiting in the dark and must wait for a light.

Monday morning.
Have no time to write now. Good-by.

O. C. Howe.

Newton, March 15, '56.
Mv dear Wife:

I received from the west last night your long letter of the 24th of
February, it having been missent. I will try and see if the postmaster
will send this east today, although it is not the day for the through mail.

I see that you were sick at the time, but hope that you are better now,
for the journey to Galva will be tedious. I do hope Sarah will come
with you, and wish Schuneman would send his family along, and then
come himself as soon as he can sell. If he were here I think that we
should all conclude to go to the Missouri River.

Don't be afraid of my going into too wild a place, but the whole of
Iowa is nearly alike, the northern part newer, but settled by Eastern
people, and having more schools, churches, better houses, &c than the
southern. I think Sioux CMty (at the mouth of the Big Sioux River)
one of the best places to commence in that now offers, but shall not go
there unless Father or Schuneman go with us. It being on the Missouri
where steamboats land, it is not so far from all the conveniences of
civilization as the interior of the state. Were you and one of the other
home families here, I would think it best to go this spring, but now
think it best to postpone till fall, when we will take a pleasure journey
there to see how it will work.

A friend, Mr. Spencer of New York City,** who has been here a few

<*KGoorgo E. Sponcer, see footnote 11, ante.

294 ANNALS OF IOWA

weeks, says be will go there and pat us up a house if we will moTe there
in the summer.

I can do very well here, and you may perhaps like it as being so far
south. The weather this winter has been very cold, but the old residents
say that it never has been so before.

Do be careful on your journey and not expose yourself to accident.
Take good care of Liiiuie. I wrote that Sarah can come at one half fare
if she would condescend to be Linnie's nurse for the trip. Linnie will
come free probably. I sent you the rate of fare ($14 to Chicago and 5
or 6 to Galva). I see that you and Father have thought that twenty
would be enough, but tlie ten extra will be needed, as there are numerous
expenses you will find unavoidable. You will be compelled to stop over
night at Cliicago.

How I long to see you. How much I fear accidents, all imaginable
trouble for you is liaunting me. You can only tell by your own feelings
my solicitude. I can only hope for the best. The time is soon to come.
I shall expect a letter by next Tuesday telling me when you start.

Good-by till Monday.

Yours in hope and love,

Orlando.

Love to all.

Newton, March 17, '56.
My dear Wife:

I did not get a letter from you Saturday and as usual am hoping for
the next mail Tuesday. I fear that your letter telling me when you start
will not reach me in time but you must not be disappointed if I should
be delayed two or three days in getting to Galva. I guess Kate and
Frank<^^ will see that you are taken care of till I get there.

In my last I wrote you something about Sioux City. I do not know
whether you would take from the letter that I was intending to go and
settle or not. What I meant is that I shall take several trips in different
directions in speculating tours as soon as I can get any one of our
acquaintances to go with me, and if it should turn up that I find a good
place to start a large town may think it best to move there but not unless
you are willing.

I liave had good health all the time except two days past and am well
again. I think it a healthy state except on the bottom lands on the rivers.

I see by the letters that Father and Sarah have written that Father
will come as soon as he can sell. I hope he will find a purchaser soon
and think he will before summer is out. What a settlement we could
start with [if] those would come soon.

But even if we are here alone, I think we can be happy, here or any-
where in the state. You can hardly imagine how much I think of you
and Linnie, all tlie time you are before me. Father's family I think
about most. It is hard at times living here alone and you have no idea

69 Kate Wheelock. wife of B. F. Parmenter.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 295

how disagreeable hotel life in Iowa is. We will soon be together and
soon keeping house, then what a pleasure it will be to have a home. I am
sorry I did not send ten dollars home to you and would now were I sure
you would receive this before starting. Probably tomorrow I shall know
when you start and hope that it will be necessary for me to go the day
after. If so you will not get this.
Good-bye till we meet.

Tour husband,

Orlando C. Howe.

Newton, March 19, 1856.
My dear Wife:

Again much disappointed as last night's mail brought me no letter.
I am afraid that some of you are sick and do not write though I lay the
fault to the mails. It troubles me to think you may start before I get
word as to the day. I will direct this to Father as well as you, as probably
you will be on the way before this reaches Alden.

Am in good health and my greatest trouble is being away from my
friends but hope soon that we shall meet.

The weather is fine now, but everybody complains that it is a very
backward spring. The frost is not out of the ground but it does not
break up in the mud as in New York. The roads are dusty on top while
it is thawing below.

I .suppose that this letter ought to be addressed to the folks at home
as Maria, Linnie and Sarah are probably on the way. Mary, you must
write often as most of the "foreign correspondence" will rest on you.
If you will write once a day to each of the families abroad, I will con-
sent to take my turn with the rest. Tou must write to me once a week
anyway.

O. C. Howe.

Newton, April 1, 1856.
Brother Lester,
Wife and Daughter, if there:

At last I have word that Maria is to start the 7th of April, and I
intended then to change my proposition that I wrote you, and go for
her, but I can not very well leave till after the 18th, and perhaps not
then. Besides, if Maria can afford the hardship of another journey
alone, the expense to take me there and back is quite an item, not much
lees than $40.00, which at this time we shall need to commence house-
keeping with. I have made no arrangements yet about a house, as I can
not tell when the furniture will come, but think we had better go to
housekeeping without it rather than wait. I am sorry they were shipped
to Burlington, as I wished they would go rather to Iowa City. I send
$5.00 and will keep sending every mail till there is enough* If you can
raise enough to start with $20 for here, do it, and if by borrowing I will
send the amount back. I shall not start till I hear from yon that Maria

296 ANNALS OP IOWA

is there. The route here is by railroad to Bock Island, then to Iowa City
on the cars, and then by stage to Newton.

Tours in haste,

O. 0. Howe.

Tpsilanti, Mich.

Aug. 25th, 1856
My Dear Howe:

I arrived here on Saturday evening after a pleasant trip by the way
of Dubuque. I have had a pleasant time thus far and a very pleasant
visit here. I leave here today for "home**. Please write me on receipt
of this at Water town all about Ault, what you have done learned and
think and I will await yours at Watertown and then go to New York
and have all of those a/c 's sent to you the matter troubles me very much,
but I liave confidence in your discretion and judgment. The excitement
on the Presidential question is intense. My faith and confidence in Fre-
mont increases every day. He is certain of Success. We took a vote on
the Mich. Cent, cars on Saturday the vote was Fremont 88, Buch 31,
Fillmore 17, it is the general topic of conversation every where. Fre-
mont meetings are being held in every town. I never saw such enthusiasm
exhibited before. Write me the kind and description of shawl Mrs. Howe
wants and I will get it with great pleasure. I am making my uncle here
a visit but leave today. Give Mr. Parmenter and Lady and Mrs. Howe
my compliments I am

Faithfully yours

George E. Spencer

Senate Chamber. Iowa City, Dec 14th, 1856.
My Dear Howe:

I received a letter today from Parmenter stating that you had returned
also one from our friend Skiff stating that he and many others were in
favor of your nomination for the Judgeship of the 11th Judicial District
he wanted to know how I stood on the Goose question &c I wrote him
I was allright there will be several candidates to wit. Stone of Knox-
ville, Loughridge of Oskaloosa, Williamson and Jewett of Fort Des
Moines.^ I dont see but that your chances would be as good as any of
them but it will require sharp figuring. One important thing is when
the convention is called is to have the delegation in ratio to the Bepublican
votes cast at the last election and not in ratio to the whole number cast.
In case it was in ratio to the republican votes we would have as large a
delegation as any county in the District in the other case we would have
about the 4th. I will do all I can here. Stone will probably get Marion
and Warren Co. delegations and perhaps Madison. Williamson will get
Polk and Dallas, Loughridge will get Mahaska, and you had [sic] ought
to have Jasper and Poweshiek.

60 Refers to Wm. M. Stone, Wm. Loughridge, W. W. Williamson, and J. E.
Jewett.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 297

Please write me all about your northern trip, did you prove up your
pre-emption and did you sell it.

Tell me all the news at Newton &c. What do you think of Kellogg and
my trade with Powell. That bet of mine with the Dr. I committed and
gave him an order on you for $75. the remaining $25 please place to my
credit.

Please give my kind regards to your wife.

Faithfully yours

George E. Spencer

Iowa City, Jan'y 14th, 1857.
Dear Howe:

I saw Foster from Montezuma^^ a few days ago and he said that he
was in favor of Stone for Judge, you had better see some of the politicians
and fix things then don't have the convention held at Monroe, but have it
held at Keith's, I should prefer Fort Des Moines to Monroe. Keith's
would be the most central place.

In haste yours

George E. Spencer.

Ill

Mr. Howe's letters after leaving Newton in February, 1857,
on their journey to the Lakes, thence for six years to be his
home, have more than ordinary interest for those interested
in the pioneer days of Iowa because of their relation to the
impending tragedy between the shores of the Okobojis, then
in the making. They serve as road or trail marks of their
journey, as the wayfarers slowly proceeded towards their
destination, only to come upon death and desolation. Save
the letters of Dr. Isaac H. Harriott, one of the victims of the
Massacre, Mr. Howe's letters constitute the only contemporary
correspondence extant by any of the dramatis personae in the
dark drama on the shores of Mini-Wakan.®^

Some of the Howe letters and documents or papers bear-
ing upon the Spirit Lake Massacre and its Aftermath have
been published in previous issues of the Annals of Iowa;
and they are not reproduced in their chronological order in
what follows. Footnotes will indicate where they may be
found by those wishing to learn their contents and purport,.

M C. L. J. Foster, reprosentatlvo of FoweBhieck County In the Seventh General
Afwembly.

«2 F. I. Herriott, "Dr. iMiac II. Harriott : One of the Victims of the Spirit
Ijilce Massacre, etc.," An.vals of Iowa (Third series). Vol. XVIII, pp. 276-«7.

298 ANNALS OF IOWA

At Manns, Feb. 22, 1857.
My dear Wife:

We have traveled the full distance of ten miles but find the Nevada
road is not passable so we must turn for Ft Demoine route, we hope
to get to Ft. Demoine Tuesday.

We will probably trade the old mare off for a yoke of cattle as we
have a good chance here to do it and it will not do to work her hard
and she was sick yesterday. We hear that we are to have good roads
after reaching Ft. Demoine all the way. We are in good health and
spirits and none feel disheartened though the difficulties in the way of
reaching our place in eight days are yet wholly imaginary.

Do not send Potter^^s ^ith the load as we wrote as we must get through
as we can and have heard from Ft. Dodge and provisions and horse feed
etc. have not raised in price since we were there. We will not try to get
things up till settled weather except ourselves and we have enough means,
men and provisions, and find that there is no danger at all for all the
high water is over when we get to Demoine.

Good-bye my dear wife and child. Parmenter was going to write but
lias not time just now as the man is starting soon.

O. 0. Howe.

Ft Demoine, February 24, '57.
My dear Wife:

We have at last reached the capital of Iowa, after a quick passage
of four days. We are well and in good spirits and will go on as fast as
possible without incurring danger. Do not be alarmed at any reports
of the state of the roads or high water. It is not half as bad as
represented.

I do not wish to see any of my acquaintances here and am in too much
of a hurry to wait for the 26th to see the result of that.^ Write the
result to Ft. Dodge the day you hear of it. I expect by the time I get
to Ft. Dodge to find a letter or two that you have written by this time.

We swapped the old mare for a yoke of cattle and can go with less
trouble and expense and save corn when we get there. Jule ia the best
horse we had and R. begins to own it. Old Spot was well got rid of and
I urged the trade and all agreed to it.

There is going to [be] some strong efforts made by others to start a
town at Spirit Lake but we will get the start if possible.

Good-bye, Linnie and all.

Your husband,

Orlando 0. Howe.

Boonsboro, February 27, 1857
My dear Wife:

We liave stopped the teams here long enough to write a line. The

02a Thomas Potter of Newton.

83 Refers to the Convention held in Fort Des Moinrs to select a nominee for
district judge, when George K. Spencer and others hoped to secure the nomina-
tion for Mr. Howe.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 299

roacLs have now beeome better and we make more progress. There ia no
trouble here or north of here with high water, though we expect to be
shut up at Spirit Lake till the middle of April after it once breaks up.

Do write often to Ft Dodge.

We heard yesterday from the settlement on the Demoin Biver in
Minnesota twelve miles north of Spirit Lake. The weather there has
been no worse than here and there is plenty of hay and provisions and
no SiouXf so do not let Indians trouble you at all.

Good-bye again till we get to Ft Dodge.

Your husband,

Orlando C. Howe.

At Casters, Palo Alto County, March 5, 1857.
My dear Wife:

We are now within two days' journey of the lakes and begin to feel
quite contented. It was so cold and windy and Robert's^ eyes are sore
and Laura is some lame, so we waited here today.

When we hear from you is uncertain as the Demoin will rise so high
that it will be impassable until June or longer, though I shall go down
to Ft. Dodge for letters by the first of April or soon after. How I wish
to hear from you. The winter has been hard here for the settlers though
I find none who are going to leave. The prospect is fair and the accounts
of the country encourage Parmenter & Snyder very much. You will have
plenty of eggs here and at the lakes, for geese and ducks without number
build their nests on the shores. Provisions of the game kind will all be
plenty. I have no further light tonight.

Good-bye again to both.

Orlando C. Howe.

[In pencil on back of letter]
Saturday, March 6,
We have laid by on account of the storm and are now starting. We
shall travel about twelve miles and stop over Sunday and get there next
day. Robert's eyes are better. Adieu.

Orlando.

Here may be mentioned Mr. Howe's draft of the affidavit
setting forth the gruesome details of the Massacre which he
and Messrs. Snyder, Parmenter and Wheelock came upon at
the Lakes on March 16, which Mr. Howe penned on the after-
noon or evening of March 21 at Fort Dodge, on their return
from the Lakes to notify that community of the catastrophe
to the Spirit Lake Settlement, which affidavit was forwarded

«♦ Robert WheolcK-k.

300 ANNALS OF IOWA

to Gov. James W. Grimes at Burlington. It has been given
in previous pages.**

Ft Dodge, March 22, 1857.
My dear Wife:

Since you last heard from me what strange events have taken place,
but by the mercy of God we are all spared though through many apparent
dangers. After leaving here we were much hindered and at last left
our horses and went with the oxen to Dr. Bidwell's claim in Palo Alto
County about twenty-five or thirty miles from Spirit Lake.** Here we
waited for several days as the cattle were lame and we were nearly tired
out but at last started again. On the 16th (last Monday) we reached
within three miles of the Lakes with the teams and then got fast in the
snow drifts. So we took a hand sled with a little provisions and bedding
and went to Mr. Joel Howe's house, the same place where Robert and I
stopped last fall.

We remarked that no one appeared to be on the lookout and thought
it strange, but a dog came out barking at us. As we approached nearer,
the house appeared deserted and on the outside there was much confusion,
things being thrown out and scattered around. We looked into the house
through the window and saw the bedding &e piled up on the floor.

Robert and I then went on to Mr. Thatcher's^ to see if they were at
home, thinking that actual starvation had driven away Howe's family.
As we came to Thatcher's, we saw that things were in worse confusion
there, the beds having been ripped open and feathers scattered out and
cattle killed at the door and saw moccasin tracks about and suspected
that Indians had been at mischief. We did not break into the house,
but went back to Howe's where Parmenter and Snyder had remained.
They had built a fire in the stove and told us they had seen a corpse in
tho house and so had come out doors to wait for us. We did not like to
stay in the house but concluded it was necessary, so we went in and stayed
all night as it was too dark to travel.

We expected to find the whole family dead in the house either by
starvation or violence but concluded to make no examination till we left.
When ready to start we found such a scene as I hope never to see again.
Mr. Howe 's family^ had all been murdered and probably by the Indians.
We did not wait long to examine the bodies, but only saw a few, I re-
collect seven, there were probably more, one child younger than Idnnie.

We went back to the Demoine River at the Irish Colony as soon as
possible, leaving all the load in the prairie by the Lakes except our
clothing, arms and some provisions to last us through.

On reaching the settlements we found that people had given us up for
murdered as we had gone on and not been heard from and several others

«6 F. I. Herrlott, "The Aftormath of the Spirit Lake Massacre." Annals
OF Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XVIII, pp. 439-40.

flfi The location not known.

07 .1. M. Thatchrr, whose wife was one of the four women taken captive by
Inkpaduta'fl band and later murdered on the way up to Dakota.

««.Toel Howe.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 301

had within a few weeks gone to the Lakes and only one, a Mr. Morris
Markham, had escaped.^ He was there some ten days previous to us and
went to Mr. Gardner's house^® and found the people all murdered and
then he went to Mr. Thatcher 's and found it plundered, but Mrs. Thatcher
and child missing. We found Thatcher at the settlements nearly dis-
tracted at the loss of liis family and especially the uncertainty as to their
fate. They may be prisoners, but I fear they are dead. From twelve to
twenty of the bodies at the Lakes have been seen by Markham and our-
selves but the other persons have not been heard from. There were about
forty in all.

My dear wife how I now wish to come to you for a short time, but I
cannot. I am impelled by a sense of duty too strong to be resisted to
assist in finding those missing persons. Robert, Snyder^^ and myself
came here to raise a company and look for them and we shall start Tues-
day with a very strong force.

Parmenter waited at the colony for us to return with the company
as he could not walk fast enough for the emergency. Snyder has heard
his child is sick and has today concluded to go back to Newton but
promises to come up again and perhaps will bring some help.

How I have dreaded to write so much that will pain and alarm you
but I have no wish to conceal my intentions if I could. It may be some
consolation to you that there is not much probability of our overtaking
the Indians though I think and hope you will rather wish we should
succeed even at much danger. Had I not seen those murdered children
and heard Thatcher 's appeal for help to find his family I might not think
it right to leave you and Linnie to go back; but God in his providence
placed me there, and has most mercifully and almost miraculously spared
our lives and you will agree with me that it would be wrong for me to
leave this work to others. We intend to go to the Lakes and pursue the
Indians as far as any prospect of success appears and then will build
a strong block house on our claim that will be a defence in future from
any aggressions. Of course we do not think of ever taking our families
into a place of danger but this terrible massacre will probably be the
occasion of driving the Sioux out of the country and in a few years if
God so will it we may be spared to think over his many mercies and
praise his goodness in safety in that country now so gloomy.

I hope to return to Newton in two months or less and will have several
opportunities of writing to you. Continue to write to Dacotah^^ ^n^
Ft. Dodge. How I love those letters you sent me.

Have good courage, we will do our duty and leave the result with God

69 Morris Markham was the one who first carried the news of the Spirit
Lalce Massacre to Fort Ridgely, Minn.

70 Rowland Gardner. One of his daughters was not present at the time of
the attack, and the other, Abble, was taken to Dakota and later releaned
through the good offices of the authorities of Minnesota Territory. Sec
Herrlott, Op. (it., pp. 48»-88.

71 Cyrus Snyder of Newton.

72 Now Dakota City in Huml)oldt County, Iowa.

302 ANNALS OF IOWA

and you need not fear if the hour of trial comes that I will cause jou or
Linnie to be ashamed of me.

Tell Linnie that I must go to drive away the Indians that killed the
little children.

Have not you and Linnie been wonderfully preserved from being there f

Your husband

Orlando C. Howe.
March 23

Snyder starts now
Goodby and God protect you

Orlando.

Ft. Dodge, March 26, 1857.
My dear Wife:

We start today with a very strong force and shall have about one
hundred men in our army. This will make our effort sucx;essful without
doubt and will prevent all danger or nearly so. Do not be unnecessarily
alarmed. Write to Father's folks, I have written a short letter. We
will try to get some work done this summer on our place but unless a
large settlement is formed ii\'ill not think of staying in the winter. Of
course you will not have the pleasure of seeing that most beautiful of
countries for a long time as I shall not ask yon to go while there is
possibility of danger if at all.

God protect you both.

Orlando C. Howe.

I send an order for you to sign with one that may satisfy Upton.^'

[Near Spirit Lakef] Wednesday, April 2, 1857.
My dear Wife:

The troops from Fort Ridgeley have arrived one day in advance of us
and driven away all the Indians, but not till they had destroyed another
settlement. Part of our company return today, the others stay to assist
burying the dead. We are all well and will remain for some time, and
I shall perhaps go to Sioux City before returning. Will try and write
again in a few weeks.

Goodby.

Orlando C. Howe.

Newton, Jasper Co., Iowa
March 25th, 1857
Friend Howe:

As your wife has requested me to write you at Fort Dodge thinking
perliaps I might be able to give you more news in relation to business
matters than herself. I will just write you a few words. Suppose you
have heard on this that Stone received the nomination for judge. Jasper

78 Name not found in Census of Jasix^r Couuty for 1856.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 303

was not represented in convention — the river was so high that no one
could get there. That aifair with Sloan did not amount to anything.
I sent to them the proper instructions to take depositions and in the
meantime they had sent up an affidavit as to the truth of the claim and
upon receiving my instructions sent back word that they had sent up the
depositions before as a matter of course had to with draw the papers.
M. . . .on has failed up entirely and is either sneaking about town hid
up half of the time or ran away I know not which. Weather warm and
nice and farmers soon will be plowing wishing you success

I remain yours truly,

H. 8. Winslow.75

Sioux aty, May 15th, 1857.
My dear Howe:

I reached here yesterday 3 days from Spirit Lake, we found every-
tliing peaceable and quiet, there was none of the Bed Skins in that region.
We left your friends all well there and in good spirits. We located
Spirit Liake City on the cite you proposed. Forman^^^ is now platting
the town I expect to sell enough stock in the town to help you start
it weU.

Bill Granger^ arrived the day after we did. I don't fear him much.

don 't amount to putty he is the most insufficient man I ever saw.

He however, agreed with me perfectly in everything. I will write you
the particulars be the next mail. We located the town of Spencer in
Clay County. There is a perfect rush here. Write me here.

yours, etc.
Geo. E. Spencer

Here it is to be noted in passing the public protest against
the newspaper articles reflecting upon the conduct of Dr. John
S. Prescott in respect of the Gardner claim and his alleged
desecration of the graves of the victims of the Massacre,
penned by Judge Howe, and signed by him and all of his
fellow townsmen at the Lakes, already quoted by me in the
Annals of Iowa in dealing with the ** Aftermath of the Spirit
Lake Massacre.**^®

There might be reproduced here properly the appeal of the
residents of Spirit Lake and nearby communities to the mem-
bers of the Seventh General Assembly then in session at Des
Moines, asking for provision for protecting the northwestern

75 H. S. Wlnslow, who later had a notable carter as an attorney and district
Judge.

76 s. w. Foreman, then of Newton, later of Spirit Lake.

77 Wm. H. Granger, member of the Red Wing Company, see An.nals or
Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XVI 1 1, pp. 247, 264-72, 60S-09.

78 IMd. pp 612-14.

304 ANNALS OF IOWA

frontier from Indian attacks, the first among the thirty-two
signers being Orlando C. Howe, who we may infer was the
author of the appeal. It was reproduced some twenty years
since by Captain Charles B. Richards in his account of the
** Organization and Service of the Frontier Guards" published
in these pages in April, 1913.^

[Spirit Lake] May 23, 1857.
Brother Howe:

We a party of six are in the Snyder Grove in a small cabin and besides
us one man of Dr. Prescott's company^ is now here putting up a house

on his claim. The doctor has about the same number of men and Granger
seven or eight, though as I am informed today two af Granger's men
left yesterday sick. Granger is absent, having left as he says for Bed
Wing for recruits.

Granger as you were informed before this claims the Snyder and
Mattock Grove and the contest promises to grow hotter and hotter.
There is now one cabin completed in the Snyder grove and two bodies
of others up that only want roofing and chinking &c. We are laboring
under much disadvantages from want of our plow and another ox team,
because as it is we shall get only half of the breaking done by the team
as we furnish two yoke only and the other yoke is furnished by Mark-
ham & Leamont as well as the plow. You can take everything into
account and make such arrangements as you think advisable. We are
also greatly in want of seed potatoes. Each of our party has a garden
broken on as good ground as could be found. I have broken us three-
fourths of an acre for a garden on the town site and have made beds
and sown them &c. We want metif men to keep the balance of the world
straight, particularly the Granger portion of it. The black walnut grove
is not yet taken and there are any quantity of splendid prairie claims.
The Newton boys must come up immediately or they will lose their
timber. You will of course have Forman come up as soon as possible,
and would it not be a good idea for him to get a sub contract to sectionize
a townsliip or two in this county, then we could immediately preemt and
it would give us an advantage over the Grangers as they would not
suspect Forman to be engaged in that business. I spoke to Dr. Prescott
about adopting this plan and he was decidedly pleased with it and said
"There should be no difficulty between us respecting the expenses."
Please to think of this subject and learn the name of the man who has
the contract and see him or have Forman see him, as yon think best.
Prescott goes to the Fort tomorrow or the next day and will make some
inquiry respecting this matter and take our letters along.

I think there is a chance for another timber claim in the grove next
north of the Marble grove. When contests arrive among preemptors the

79 ihid.. Vol. XI, p. 2.

80 Dr. John S. Prescott. Herrlott, Op. cit., pp. 510, 515, 610-17.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 305

statute provides that he who made the first settlement shall prevail.
Query? In determining who made the first settlement are improvements
made prior to the seetionizing of the land taken into account? Please
to sec how the Register of the Ft Dodge office construes the statute.
Robert tliinks it would be a good plan to get some buckwheat & a seine
& salt which he forgot to mention in Ids letter. I hope you will make
haste to come up here and bring as many settlers as possible. Toll Arthur
that I am waiting impatiently for him.^^

Yours,

B. F. Parmeuter.

P. S. Our dishes are for the most part missing. Perhaps you will
think it best to bring a set. Decidedly the best road to this place is
through Clay County. Bob has claimed 320 acres, 80 of timber in
Snyder 's grove. I have claimed for you 8 more on section south of town,
including two small groves.

Newton, Jany. 12th, 1858.
Messrs Howe & Wheolock:

I confidently expected that Spencer and myself would have got up to
the Lakes before this. I was anxious above all to have Spencer go up
and take care of his claim that there might be no difficulty about that
and that we might arrange everything in a satisfactory manner.

It was announced here last evening that Spencer was appointed Clerk
of the Senate and Colonel Shelledy speaker of the House. Spencer hails
from Spirit Lake.^^a

After the adjournment of the legislature I presume Spencer will be
on hand and make everything right and meantime he will no doubt labor
for the interest of Spirit Lake. Two petitions have been drawn up one
to the Senate and House of Representatives for a new land district and
land office which petition I have forwarded to the Doctor at the city of
Washington, the other petition is addressed to the Senate and House of
Representatives of this state for a memorial to Congress for a grant of
lands for a railroad from Sioux City to connect with the Mankato road.
Spencer will see this through.

Will it not be well for the boys at the Lakes to know that if Spencer
is not at work with them he is at work for them, and that too at a point
where he can be most serviceable?

The names of the settlers now at the Lakes were signed to these
petitions by their friends here for them.

I have never seen so tight times for money as the present. I am
positively in want of funds to make my family comfortable. As soon as
I can see them comfortable and get money enough to get to the Lakes

81 May refer to Tbomas Arthur of Newton, or to .\ if red Arthur, husband
of Sarah Howe, sister of O. C\ Howe.

81a (leorge K. Spencer, chief cierk of Senate, and Coi. Stephen B. Shelledy,
speaker of the House of Representatives of the Seventh General Assembly.

306 ANNALS OP IOWA

and back I shaU be up there and till such time I will do whatever I can
to forward the interests of the settlement.

Money is plenty at the East and the prospect of emigration is good
as the Doctor writes and as I am informed from other sources.

BespectiFully yours,

B. F. Parmenter

Sioux City, Iowa, Oct. 30th, 1858
O. C. Howe, Esq.
Dear Sir:

The Mankato mail came and went without my knowing it so I will
write a few lines and send by the buffalo hunters. If this could reach
you before they will I would give you some account of the expedition
but as it is I will let each tell his own story.

You probably have already learned that you are elected by nearly 300
majority as near as is now known here.^'

I leave the mare, saddle and bridle for you, she will be taken to Mr.
Hungerford*^ 8 miles above here on Floyd tomorrow eve, or next day.
Mr. Charles^ and others say that is a good place and I think it will not
cost much for keeping. He has a field of com by his house that he wants
to use her with his horse to liaul in. I think "Bet" will enable yon to
prosecute the traveling part of the duties of your office to your entire
satisfaction.

You can get Mr. Palmer^^ to help you select the twenty lots and you
can make me the necessary papers and send them to me at Alden. I
expect to start for there next Monday via Omaha and St. Louis.

The boys here had a jubilee last night over the election, using the
canon that was brought down from the Ft. to rejoice over the election
of those that "couldn't ".

I located two quarters and one 80 in Clay co.

Yours truly,

D. Hathorn.w

Ft Dodge, November, 1858.
C C Carpenter, Esq.

Having seen communication addressed to you by John S. Prescott
respecting the sending of troops to the vicinity of Spirit Lake I take
the liberty of correcting several gross misstatements in it.

The matter was not "the offspring of fraud" but on the contrary
was demanded by nearly every settler in the county, from a belief that
the frontier in that vicinity needs protection.

82 Refers to O. C. H's election as district attorney of the Fourth Judicial
District. See Ante., p. 171.

83 E. S. Hungerford, after whom Hungerford Township was named.

84 John H. Charles, banlcer of Sioux City.

8«Jared Palmer of Spirit Lalce.

8« Probably David Hawthorne referred to in Jos. H. Taylor, Twenty Yeart
on the Trap Une. pp. 29, 40, 42.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 307

The petition was drawn up by myself and for the very object expressed
and not to subserve the private interests of George E. Spencer or any
other person, and was signed by nearly every inhabitant of the county.

The statement that "not a man or woman in the neighborhood has
any fear" is false; and the assertion that "all the known facts show
no cause for fear" is untrue.

The citizens of our county have nothing to interest them in any ques-
tion of veracity between Mr. Spencer and Mr. Prescott, but as the former
has in this matter only repeated their message it may be proper for them
to inform "all whom it may concern" who is utterly unworthy of credit
in [this] matter.

For this reason as one of those citizens I have taken this opportunity
to give my opinion. I will further state that the actions of Mr. Prescott
seem to indicate that he would prefer the destruction of the whole settle-
ment (excepting himself — perhaps his family) to the stationing of troops
there which might pecuniarily injure him.^^

[O. C. H.]

Humboldt County, Iowa
Dakota aty, Dec. 19, 1859.
Sir:

The late County Judge of this County was accidentally killed in Fort
Dodge last Thursday, leaving his office vacant. At the October election
of the present year he was re-elected for the coming term commencing
January first, 1860.

The question has arisen, — Can the office be filled by the County Clerk
acting as Judge, until the next General Election, or will it be requisite
for me to order a Special Election to fill the vacancy.

If a Special Election is necessary, how long will the person elected
hold office — till the next October Election, or the balance of the term
commencing Jan. 1, 1860.

Will my acts as County Judge until a new Judge be elected be legal.

Your immediate opinion on the above questions would oblige.

Respectfully yours,
Orlando Howe, Esq. John E. Cragg

District Attorney County Clerk

Spirit Lake, August 3rd, 1859
My dear Husband:

I have nothing new to write you, all are about as well as usual at home,
Katy is better, Henry's family seems stationary only the baby grows
weaker.

Tlie mail of Tuesday brought you four letters, one from William
Larkin, Iowa Falls, wishing to know whether the surveyors were here
and had with them two dogs which he says were stolen from him. He

87 gee F. I. Herriott, Op. Cit., pp. 509-11, for controversy between Messrs.
Howe and Prescott aoeot the Indian menace.

308 ANNALS OF IOWA

wished you to get the dogs or tell him how to do it, also to know if it
would pay his father to briug flour here to sell. Another from Asa G.
Call, Algona, (if I can read the name it is Call)*** calling your attention
"to a suit commenced by him against Amos S. Collins and William A.
Wilson". He sends a statement of circumstances and a copy of *• Wil-
son's deposition". Says he has much legal business this fall in all of
wliich he wishes to engage you in connection with Finch, Kasson, and
Mitchell but calls your particular attention to this suit.^

A third letter from Lewis Smith, of Algona, saying that they would
elect delegates for the choice of Representatives the same time that they
did for the Senatorial Convention at Sac City, and if the other Counties
did the same would go into convention with them there. The fourth
from Morris McHenry, Dept. Treasurer, Crawford County, asking in
relation to the settlement of deliquent interests due the school fund. He
wishes to know whether he shall send you the names of deliquents to
commence suit against immediately or whether he shall continue to receive
what they can pay in until their next term of court.

Dr. Ball*' has not returned. Parmenter says Judge C.®^ is very wrathy
against George S.®^ and that the water story is true.

If I do not hear anything from you to prevent I will WTite you by
the next mail at Onawa City, Monona.

Wheelock®^ misses you very much and mourns for Perey the singer.

Your wife M. W. Howe

Algona, May 17th, 1862
My Dear Wife:

I concluded to come this way with Kingman^ and the mail carrier
and camped out on the road. It is raining now and I shall wait for it to
clear up before going to Dakotah.

I paid for a sack of flour at Estherville that will arrive there by
Monday and Kingman promises to take it over when he goes which will
be bv the mail that carries this.

Ambrose Call has the mail routes that I bid on at lower rates than I
would take them if even now offered the chance.

This mail carries you great news, Norfolk and Porthsmouth taken,
tlic Mcrrimac blown up by the rebels, Richmond evacuated, rumored
intervention of France and England in favor of the rebels and the
Homestead Bill passed the senate and awaiting only the President's
signature which it will surely receive.

I forgot to get two dollars from Matteson®^ so that Patrick could

8» X. C. Call with his brother Ambrosp Call, founded the city of Algona.

89 Daniel O. Finch. John A. Kasson, and John Mltcbel, attorneys of Des
Moines.

»« Dr. James Ball.

91 Possibly A. C. Call of Algona.

92 George Spencer.

93 John Whcelock Howe, son of O. C. Howe.

94 Rosalvo Kingman of Spirit Lake.

95 Probably M. M. Matbeson, a merchant of Spirit Lake.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 309

have it but I think Pat can get some money of him on my account if he
or you need it.

Please write by this mail to Algona as I wish much to know whether
another warrant has arrived, you need not send the warrant if it has
come as I can make my arrangements without if I know whether it has
come or not.

Your Husband

O. C. Howe

This Division of the Howe letters may fittinji:ly conclude
with the following vivid memoir written by Mrs. Howe of the
Sioux outbreak of 1862 which worked such loss of life and
indescribable horrors throughout southwestern Minnesota, and
terrorized the pioneers of northwestern Iowa. The date of its
composition and the occasion for its preparation are not
known but it was written while Mrs. Howe was resident in
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, some time between 1885 and 1902 —
probably in commemoration of some anniversary of the out-
break. The narrative discloses the foresightedness, decisive
character and courage of Judge Howe when dire catastrophe
spread terror about him.

M. W. HOWE

A Memory of the Minnesota Indian Massacre

Those who spend their summers at the pleasant resorts around and
at Spirit Lake now seldom tliink wliat a comparatively short time it is
since the warlike Sioux brought terror and destruction into that quiet
neighborhood.

During the spring of 1862 there was a feeling of unrest in northern
Iowa. The Indians of Minnesota in the vicinity of Ft Ulm and west-
ward had heard vague rumors of our Civil War, and were only waiting
their opportunity to make an attack upon the settlers. I had gone with
my husband through his district in Iowa, and when at Onawa we heard
of the attack upon Fort Sumpter. Judge Hubbard adjourned his court
and gave him permission to return at once to Spirit Lake to be with his
family. This was in May and going up the Sioux River we met several
small parties of officers on their way homeward. They were all from
the South, and had resigned their commissions in the northern army and
were hoping for service in their respective states.

They seemed aware of the ill feeling among the Sioux and Dakotas
and told us tauntingly we would 'Miave enough to do to manage them,
without meddling with the Southerners."

When we reached Spirit Lake all seemed about as usual. The small

310 ANNALS OP IOWA

squad of soldiers kept there were at that time all awaj, bat no one
appeared much afraid. They returned in a few days and reported having
been fired upon as they were crossing a small stream, by Indians con-
cealed in the tall grass and thick weeds that bordered all the streams in
tliat country.

Bo the matter went on, we hearing oecasionaUy of some man shot in
his field or of straggling parties of '' braves " who were seen in the
neighborhood.

They were afraid to come to Spirit Lake as the memory of that terrible
massacre of 1857 was still too strong in the minds of that community.
On the morning of August 8th [18 f], 1862, my husband rushed into the
house greatly excited saying ' * They are at it, they are at it. ' ' In answer
to my questioning he said that a report had just reached town that the
entire settlement at Springfield was murdered and a party would start
from the Lakes in a few moments to learn the truth. "And leave us all
here with no protection" I shrieked in terror. **My darling, my
darling" he said, **it is our only way to protect you; be brave as you
have always been, and pray that we may get there before all are killed,"
and he was gone.

I heard some one knocking and found at the door John Nelson, a
Norwegian from Springfield, one little child about two years old in his
arms and holding by his hand a girl of 6 or 7. The baby kept up a con-
tinuous moaning, but was unconscious.

''These all I got now, wife and boys all killed by Indians" said the
poor man, as I took the bruised little one from Ids arms. He had walked
16 miles through the night carrying one or both the children. Ho took
some warm coffee, but would not eat anything.

My sister came in immediately and we put the child into a warm bath.
The heat revived it a little but it soon went into spasms and we dis-
continued it, when it resumed that pitiful moaning. Mr. Nelson took
tlie little girl to a neiglibor's and returned himself with the rescue party.
All that day and the most of tlie night we cared for the little one and
in the early morning death came.

The soldiers were not there that night and nearly the entire town
were in the courthouse, a large brick building surrounded by a strong
stockade. My sister remained with me, and a young man, the son of Dr.
Prescott, remained with us, watching outside for Indians while we waited
for the coming of death. It was a fearful night, husband and brothers
all away, we knew not where, nor whether they were then living or had
been murdered. The next day some of the party came back, a part
remaining to bury the dead. Men, women and children scattered through
the fields and groves, or lying in their homes killed and mutilated in
every conceivable manner.

Years after my husband told me how happening to look into the oven
of a cook stove they found a very young babe in a large dripping pan,
prepared as a turkey to roast.

We kept the Norwegian 's child until the father returned, when it was
laid away in a small grove on the shore of Lake OkobojL Several of

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 311

the neighbors who escaped the savages accompanied Nelson back. They
were all at the burial and after the grave was filled up they knelt around
it and sang most mournfully a funeral song in their own language.

There were no depredations of any kind committed at Spirit Lake at
the time of the fearful massacre at Fort Ulm. The vigilance of the
settlers and the presence of the soldiers were doubtless what prevented it.

Now lovely residences adorn the groves and shores of Spirit Lake.
Stately hotels offer ample accommodation to crowds of visitors, and the
shriek of the locomotive is heard on all sides. The murderous Inkpaduta
and his warriors are all creatures of the past, used only to give a wierd
touch of romance to the present. But few of the original settlers remain
in that vicinity. Most of them are resting in some silent city of the dead,
and even the historical facts are fading from the memory of the living.

M. W. Howe
Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

[To he continued]

PLENTY AND STARVATION

This is a great country ! Instead of wheat and flour rising,
as the politicians promised the farmers a year ago, it will soon
be impossible to find a market for the surplus of the West at
any price. Millions of pork can be bought for one cent and
a half a pound, and no buyers. Tet English artisans are
starving by the hundred thousand; and yet its brutal aris-
tocracy keeps up the price of bread by a high duty of foreign
grain. See ! The millions of England cramped upon their little
island, a continent full of bread to overflowing ; and a pampered
aristocracy, rather than forego a few luxuries, tell Englishmen
to starve. — Bloomingion (Muscatine) Herald, copying from
the New Era, February 4, 1842. In the Newspaper Division
of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

TOWARD CORRECT LANGUAGE IN EARLY IOWA

Some words not now current, used 1850 to 1860 in the
William Savage settlement (roughly the southeast township
of Jefferson County, and those contiguous in Henry and
Van Buren counties, Iowa) are by the student to be considered
at least in the following lights.

Born September 2, 1833, William Savage, an orphaned boy
in England was taken into the family of his late father's
brother, William. The deceased father and the Uncle William
were Quakers. Therefore the earliest vocabulary of the diarist
was formed of Quaker usage in England in an intelligent, if
humble family in the tailor trade.

Migrating to Cayuga County, New York, the diarist in
1847, still in his Uncle William's family, as an apprenticed
tailor extended his contacts, hence enlarged his vocabulary,
with his trade and through the country school, until he was
fourteen years old.

An apprentice to any of the trades in the 1840 's currently
employed not only that trade's facilities, including its tools,
devices, methods, but its nomenclature. A dextrous, apt and
needy boy adapted other trade processes of practical aid in
getting on in life, with those neighboring trades* particular
nomenclature.

Prior to and in the 1850's, frontier settlers in eastern Iowa
as often as not had been apprenticed workmen in a score of
trades such as weaver, sailor, cooper, millwright, rope wainer.
So that Savage's first Iowa country school in Cedar Township,
Van Buren County, Iowa, of the 40 's and 50 's drew into it the
trade-language of all. The babble was further affected by such
variation of words and their pronunciation, of trade-, tool-, and
use-nomenclature as the respective family antecedants had
brought into Iowa, as Savage's neighbors had, from the older
states of New York, Virginia, both Carolinas and their com-

EDITORIAL 313

monwealth-children, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and
Missouri. Therefore William Savage, as a patron, slowly shed
his peculiar usage (see his diary where he drops the use of
the solemn Quaker style on Friday, September 17, 1858). His
neighbors dropped their oddly applied or differently pro-
nounced ancestral words, though these may have been current
as of the time and place they were acquired. Each pupil in
the Savage settlement had to rid his child-mind of its habitual,
faulty words and faulty pronunciation as he found it false
by example of teacher in the schoolroom or by snubs and
sneers of playmates in their merciless mocking at play. The
authority of Webster's ** blue-backed speller** was the standard
of synonymns for ideas and for correct utterance of words.

Unfamiliar words of William Savage will nearly all be
found in Webster's New International Dictionary, 1920 edition,
as ordinary, provincial, archaic or obsolete. Other standard
dictionaries in current use today by scholars carry most if not
all save one : ** Dykes" as it occurs in Savage's diary for April
6, 1859, is not so found. But even this exception may be as a
provincialism recalled by Iowa ** scholars'* of sixty years ago
and workers on farms or in trades in that time.

We are often ungracious heirs to the social achievement,
through use by our folks of these and much other defective
language. The all but obsolete words that William Savage
used in his diary touched talent, valor, integrity, faith, hope
and work. The fruits of all this came down to us cost free.
We should and do enjoy a view of his unspoiled or faulty
usage. The diary is a retrieval of what may fairly be termed
evidence of original Iowa culture. By contrast with today's
corresponding words and experience, it is a true basis for
admeasuring this gift, and of our own improvement, if any.
The trend outward and upward through the country school
and home life, during and before the Civil War, in the Savage
settlement, and to a degree in all older Iowa settlements, is inti-
mated if not clearly proved.

NOTABLE DEATHS

Leigh 8. J. Hunt waa born on a fann near Larwill, Whitley County,
Indiana, August 11, 1855, and died in Laa Vegas, Nevada, October 5,
1933. His ashes were deposited in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale,
California. His parents were Franklin Leigh and Martha Long Hunt.
His primary education was obtained in public schools in Indiana, and
his secondary education from a correspondence course with Middlebury
College, Vermont. He also studied independently while teaching and
qualified himself in the law, passing the examination for the bar in
Indiana. He taught in public schools in Indiana, and in September,
1880, became superintendent of schools at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where
he remained until June, 1882. In September, 1882, he waa made super-
intendent of schools in East Des Moines Independent School District,
Des Moines, Iowa. At that time what is known as East Dea Moines
had a school district separate from the rest of the city of Dea Moines.
He held this position until he resigned to become president of Iowa
Agricultural College at Ames, which position he assumed February 1,
1885, following the resignation of S. A. Knapp. He relinquished the
presidency at Ames July 19, 1886, and removed to Seattle, Washington,
where he acquired the Post-Intelligencer which grew under his manage-
ment. Seattle was in a period of rapid development. Mr. Hunt
acquired and developed important real estate holdings there, and
became president of a leading bank as well as influential in business
affairs and politics. The 1893 financial panic struck Seattle with
such force that Mr. Hunt's fortune was wrecked. Loaded with debts,
he left for Japan, and then went to China and finally Korea, in search
of mining opportunities. He found such an opportunity in the almost
inaccessible mountains of Northern Korea near the Yalu Biver, some
500 miles north of the coast town of Chemulpo (destined for some time
to serve as the post office of his enterprise). The Korean government
there owned a mine rich in gold ore but operated by primitive and un-
productive methods. Mr. Hunt offered to install modem machinery,
greatly increase the output, and give the government large royalties. He
was granted the concession and in a few years realized handsome profits
which enabled him to return to Seattle and repay his creditors. Without
divesting himself of his entire interest in the Korean mines, Mr. Hunt
later went for his health to Egypt and the Soudan, where he became
interested in the possibilities of growing cotton. He obtained from the
British government a grant to a large tract of land in the Soudan and
there grew cotton so successfully that one of the most flourishing colonial
enterprises of the British Empire has grown out of Mr. Hunt's vision
and initiative. For American interests, Mr. Hunt visited the interior of
Brazil to report on cattle-raising possibilities there, and for the Canadian
Government Railways he made a similar study of the suitability of the
Peace River Valley in northwestern Canada for the growing of wheat.

EDITORIAL 315

Most of the last ten years of Mr. Hunt's life was spent at Las Vegas,
where he had entered upon familiar actiTities in the field of agricultural
and mineral development. Educator, publisher, explorer, developer of
nature's liidden resources, he was a man of varied and brilliant talents,
daring and ambitious in his undertakings and world-wide in his interests.
He never followed a beaten path long without blazing a new one.

Jamss W. Holden was born in Iowa Citj, Iowa, November 15, 1862,
and died at Scranton, Greene County, Iowa, February 21, 1934. He was
a son of Mr. and Mrs. James Holden, who removed with their family to
a farm in Jackson Township, Greene County, in 1875. When James W.
reached young manhood he went to Ouray, Colorado, and engaged in
mining, in which venture he was successful. He returned to Greene
County, Iowa, and purchased a farm in Greenbrier Township where he
successfully followed farming and stockraising and added to his acreage
until he became a large landowner. In 1897 he removed to Scranton.
He became president of the Bank of Scranton, also served as a member
of the Town Council of Scranton. In 1906 he was elected a member of
the Board of Supervisors of Greene County for the term of three years
commencing January, 1907, and was re-elected in 1908 for three years
commencing January, 1910, and served in that position until January,
1913. At that time he was president of the State Association of Boards
of County Supervisors. In 1913 the General Assembly passed the act
reorganizing and strengthening the road law, creating the present High-
way Commission. Mr. Holden took much interest in formulating the
law. Governor Clarke appointed him a member of the new commission
and by reappointments he served fourteen years, or until 1927. He was
its chairman for ten years. This was in the formation period of the
work of building Iowa's present system of improved highways, when
the policies were shaped and the programs were planned. He was able
as an executive, had large acquaintance with his subject and with the
public, had energy and enthusiasm, and was trusted for his integrity.
Thus equipped he contributed a leading part in the great work.

Norman Newell Jones was born at Vernon, Oneida County, New
York, September 5, 1842, and died at Griswold, Iowa, February 22, 1919.
His parents were John R. and Amanthis (Newell) Jones. He was
employed for some time in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and did some
railroading, but in 1864 he, in company with his father, a brother and
their families, removed to Iowa County, Wisconsin, where they engaged
in farming. In 1872 these Jones families removed to Cass County, Iowa.
Norman Newell Jones there engaged in selling organs and sewing ma-
chines, and later, windmills. For years he bought and sold livestock,
and conducted a meat market at Lewis, Cass County. He took an active
part in politics and in 1885 was elected sheriff of Cass County and began
his duties January 1, 1886. He was three times reelected, serving until
January 1, 1894. He served as chairman of tlie Republican Central
Committee of Cass County for some years, and in 1893 was the Ninth

316 ANNALS OP IOWA

District member of tlie Bepublican State Central Committee. In January,
1894, the General Assembly elected him warden of the State Penitentiary
at Fort Madison. He was re-elected by the assemblies of 1896 and 1898
after which the Board of Control reappointed him, so that he served until
March 31, 1908, in all fourteen years. He then retired to Griswold
where his son, Charles Rutgar Jones, was engaged in the practice of
medicine, and near where his son, Jesse N., was farming. Mr. Jones
had a faculty for making friendships and retaining them. He was
regarded as one of the leaders of the Republican party in his part of
the state. He was an efficient sheriff, and he successfully administered
the difficult duties of warden, exhibiting qualities of integrity, ability,
firmness and good judgment.

Robert Bonson was born in Dubuque County, Iowa, January 5, 1868,
and die4 in Dubuque December 13, 1933. His parents were Richard and
Harriet (Watts) Bonson. He attended public school, was graduated
from Dubuque High School, from the Law Department of the State
University of Iowa in 1890, and from the Law School of Columbia Uni-
versity, New York City, in 1892. He began practice in Dubuque, first
in partnership with Robert Stewart. Later he had partnerships with
H. C. Kenline and R. P. Roedell, and after retiring from the judgeship,
with John P. Frantzen. In 1895 he was elected senator to fill the un-
expired term of Isaac W. Baldwin and served in the Twenty-sixth General
Assembly, 1896, and also in the Twenty-sixth Extra, 1897, the code
revision session. He was not a candidate again, and gave his attention
to his practice, but in 1906 was elected judge of the Nineteenth Judicial
District and served for ten years when he resigned and re-entered private
practice. He acted with the Democratic party so far as party matters
were concerned. He took much interest in community affairs. He gave
unstintingly of his time and talent in the establishment and later in the
operation of the Sunnycrest Sanitarium, the county tuberculosis hospital.
He stood liigh in liis profession as a lawyer, and made an enviable record
as a judge, while his admirable personal and social qualities made him a
general favorite of the public.

JA.MES Elliott Harlan was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, June
25, 1845, and died in Mount Vernon, Iowa, December 13, 1933. His
parents were Samuel and Sarah Ann (Elliott) Harlan. The family
removed to southeastern Iowa in 1857. James spent his boyhood prin-
cipally on his father 's farm. In October, 1863, he entered Cornell College
as a freshman student. On May 15, 1864, he enlisted from Mahaska
County in Company D, Forty-fourth Iowa Infantry, and was mustered
out September 15, 1864, at the expiration of his service. He was
graduated from Cornell College with the degree of A. B. in 1869. From
1869 to 1872 he was superintendent of the public schools of Cedar Rapids.
He received his A. M. degree from Cornell College in 1872, and for the
year 1872-73 was principal of a ward school in Sterling, XUinois. In

EDITORIAL 317

1873 he returned to Cornell as alumni professor of mathematics, which
a few years later was made mathematics and astronomy. In 1883 he
became chairman of the Executive Committee, and financial secretary
in 1893, and retained both positions until 1927. He became vice presi-
dent in 1881, and was president from 1908 to 1914. For many years he
carried much of the burden of the financial management of the institu-
tion, as well as its government. The success of the campaigns of those
years for endowment were largely because of his wise management. In
1904 he received the degree of LL. D. from three institutions. North-
western University, Upper Iowa University, and Cornell College.

Harry D. Rawson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, September 1, 1872,
and died in that city February 14, 1934. Burial was in Woodland
Cemetery. His parents were A. Y. and Mary (Scott) Rawson. He was
graduated from West Des Moines High School, attended Grinnell College
two years, but transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology at
Cambridge from which he was graduated. Following that he toured
Europe studying styles of architecture. In 1910 he began work in Des
Moines in the firm of Hallett & Rawson. Later Mr. Hallett removed to
California and Mr. Rawson joined with the firm of Proudfoot, Bird &
Rawson, from which was organized the present firm of Proudfoot, Raw-
sou, Brooks & Borg. He designed some of the outstanding buildings in
Des Moines and Iowa. Among the more noted ones that he or his firm
have designed in recent years are the lowa-Des Moines National Bank
and Trust Company Building, the Memorial Union Building at Ames,
the University Hospital Building at Iowa City and the Equitable Life
Insurance Building at Des Moines. During the World War Mr. Rawson
served with the rank of colonel at Washington, D. C, planning the con-
struction of army cantonenients and munitions buildings. He was a
brother of former United States Senator Charles A. Rawson.

Herbert Vergil Scarborough was born at Pulaski, Davis County,
Iowa, February 5, 1876, and died in Norton, Kansas, January 1, 1934.
Burial was at Grand Junction, Iowa. His parents were Dr. Dallas and
Katherine Scarborough. The family removed to Grand Junction in 1879.
Herbert was graduated from Grand Junction High School, attended
Simpson College, Indianola, and was graduated from the College of
Medicine of the State University of Iowa in 1902. For the following
five years he practiced medicine in connection with his father at Grand
Junction. Because of failing health he became in 1908 a patient in the
State Sanatorium for the Treatment of Tuberculosis at Oakdale. During
his convalescence he worked in the laboratory, also became an assistant
physician, later acting superintendent, and in 1911 was appointed super-
intendent. He continued in that position nineteen years, until July 1,
1930, when he went to Sunnyside Sanatorium near Indianapolis, Indiana,
as its superintendent. Two years later he went in the same capacity to
a sanatorium at Lyons, Kansas. He rendered valuable work to his native

318 ANNALS OF IOWA

state in building up the Oakdale institution and in contributing to the
scientific and humane treatment of those afflicted with tuberculosis.

Alice French was born in Andover, Massachusetts, March 19, 1850,
and died in Davenport, Iowa, January 9, 1934. Burial was in Oakdale
Cemetery, Davenport. Her father was George Henry French. She was
a sister of Colonel George W. French and the late Judge Nathaniel
French, both of Davenport. She was educated in Abbott Academy,
Andovcr. The family removed to Davenport during her youth, and it
continued to be her home, although she occasionally sojourned elsewhere.
She had the advantages of affluence and culture in her home, and early
cultivated the art of writing, beginning in earnest in 1878, and not long
thereafter her novels and contributions began to be accepted by such
magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Cosmopolitan, and Scribner's.
Her first book. Knitters in the Sun, was published in 1887. Then came
Otto the Knight, 1893; Stories of a Western Town, 1893; The Heart of
Toil, 1898; Man of the Hour, 1905; The Lion's Share, 1911, and many
others. All her writings were under the pen name of Octave Thanet.
She is generally regarded as being a pioneer among those who have made
Iowa and the Middle West the home of the production of good literature.

John T. Mulvaney was born at Elkhart, Polk County, Iowa, April 16,
1870, and died in Des Moines December 20, 1933. Burial was in St.
Ambrose Cemetery, Des Moines. His parents were Bryan and Catherine
(Markham) Mulvaney. He passed through the grades of the public
school of Elkhart and was graduated from the Law School of Drake
University in 1894. He then entered the practice of law in Des Moines
in which he attained honorable distinction. He was counsel for the
defense in some notable criminal cases, among them the Charles Thomas
ease, and another, the Dr. Harry B. Kelly case. However, his practice
was not at all confined to criminal cases. For all the later years of his
life his brother, M. J. Mulvaney, was associated with him in practice.
He was actively interested in civic and political affairs. In 1908 he was
a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1914 he was the
Democratic candidate for Congress in the Seventh District against C. C.
Dowell, who that year was first elected to Congress. He was a candidate
on the Democratic ticket in 1906 and again in 1910 for judge of the
District Court, and was also a candidate for the same position in 1918
when judges were elected without party designation.

Karl J. Johnson was born in Osage, Iowa, June 6, 1870, and died in
Rochester, Minnesota, February 1, 1934. Burial was in Osage Cemetery.
His parents were Mr. and Mrs. John H. Johnson. He was graduated from
the Osage High School in 1887, from Cedar Valley Seminary, Osage, in
1893, and from the Law Department of the State University of Iowa in
1900. Early in his life he was agent at Osage of the American Express
Company. He was connected with the Farmers National Bank of Osage

EDITORIAL 319

from its organization in 1893, first as bookkeeper, then as cashier, and
as president from 1914 until the consolidation with the Osage National
Bank in 1928, after which he acted as president of the combined organi-
zation. He was a man of great usefulness to his community, being active
in local affairs of a social, religious, political, and business nature. His
fine abilities and his devotion to his duties made him a general favorite.
He was elected representative in 1908 and was re-elected in 1910, and
served in the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth general assemblies.

Eli Grimes was born in Kellogg, Iowa, October 30, 1867, and died in
Des Moines, Iowa, January 14, 1934. The body was cremated. His
parents were Elihu and Miriam Grimes. He attended school at Kellogg,
attended a private school at Shenandoah, received a bachelor of science
degree from Highland Park College, Des Moines, and was graduated
from the College of Medicine of the State University of Iowa in 1897.
He took an internship in Bellevue Hospital, New York City. For several
years he did teaching in Highland Park College and in the Medical School
of Drake University, and during that time carried on a general medical
practice. In later years he specialized in consultation and diagnosis.
As a student, teacher and physician he was recognized as a scientist of
unusual ability. He contributed many articles to leading medical journals,
and was an active member of several medical societies. He enriched his
education by travel, home and foreign, and by the study of science in
many fields.

Asa Lee Ames was born on a farm a few miles north of Traer, Iowa,
July 2, 1859, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Doris Shearer,
in Chicago, February 7, 1934. Burial was in Buckingham Cemetery, not
far from his birthplace. His parents were John T. and Mary J. (Reed)
Ames, pioneers in that locality. Asa L. was educated in rural common
school, and in Grinnell College, from which he was graduated in 1882.
He followed his father's vocation, that of farmer and stockman, remain-
ing on the original homestead where he was born. Besides holding various
school and township offices, he was a member of the Traer Town Council.
He was prominent in farm organizations and was tlie first president of
the Corn Belt Meat Producers Association at the time of its organization
and held that position three years, resigning it to become president of
the Co-operative Livestock Commission Company. He became Chicago
manager of the latter company, and temporarily resided in Chicago for
some years. In 1910 he was elected senator from the Benton-Tama Dis-
trict and served in the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth general assemblies.

RuFUS W. HiNKHOUSE was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, August 17,
1850, and died in West Liberty, Iowa, December 2, 1933. Burial was in
Oak Ridge Cemetery, West Liberty. His parents were Frederick and
Hanna (Hunick) Hinkhouse. The family migrated to Iowa in 1853 and
settled in Sugar Creek Township, Cedar County. Rufus attended public

320 ANNALS OF IOWA

school and Wiltou Normal School. He followed fanning in Cedar County
for many years. He became prominent in business activities. Among
other enterprises he helped organize two banks in Wilton, one at Atalissa,
and one at Downey, being president of the one at Downey. For six
years he was a member of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors, the
most of the time being its chairman. In 1895 he was elected repre-
sentative, and served in the Twenty-sixth Oeneral Assembly, and also in
the Twenty-sixth Extra. In 1909 he removed to West Liberty.

Jame8 Wallace Bailey was born at Camp Point, Adams County,
Illinois, May 21, 1871, and died in Harlan, Iowa, February 13, 1934.
His parents, Cyrus and Elinor Bailey, removed to Des Moines, Iowa, in
1872. James W. grew up in that city and in 1892 removed to Harlan.
During most of his early manhood he was employed in some capacity or
other by Shelby County. In 1914 he was elected representative and was
re-elected in 1916, and served in the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh
general assemblies. At the time of his death he was city clerk of Harlan,
and had been for several years. He had the reputation of being an
efficient and popular official. He was a Democrat in politics.

Fred B. Witt was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, July 24, 1884,
and died in an automobile accident near Hubbard, Iowa, February 28,
1934. Burial was at Shell Rock, Iowa. His parents were Frank L. and
Vashti (Griggs) Witt. He was with his parents when they removed to
Shell Rock in 1900. For several years he was in newspaper work, and
later engaged in lumber, coal and grain business in Shell Rock. For
several years he was a member of the Butler County Republican Central
Committee, and was its chairman in 1928. In 1930 he was elected repre-
sentative and served in the Forty-fourth General Assembly.

John Sherman Pritchard was born at Pittsfield, Washtenaw County,
Michigan, May 6, 1847, and died in Los Angeles, California, October 29,
1933. Burial was at Belmond, Iowa. He was a don of Philo A. and Eliza
(Woodard) Pritchard. His father having died, John Sherman when a
mere boy had to earn his own living, working at whatever he could find.
The family removed to Wright County, Iowa, in 1856. On January 4,
1864, he enlisted in Company F, Second Iowa Cavalry, and was with that
regiment until he was mustered out September 19, 1865. Returning to
Wright County he followed farming, first as a renter, later as a land
owner, varying farming with buying and selling livestock. His residence
was near Alden for a time, but later at Belmond. He was a member of
the county Board of Supervisors from 1892 for six years. In 1901 he
was elected representative, was re-elected and served in the Twenty-ninth,
Thirtieth, and Thirty-first general assemblies. He was influential in the
enactment of the drainage legislation of those sessions. During his later
years he resided in Los Angeles.

Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 5 Dks Moinss, Iowa, July, 1934 Third Sebiss

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE
Somewhat op His Life and Letters

By p. I. Herbiott

Professor in Brake University

[Continued]

Part III — Correspondence — 1863-1865

Judge Howe enlisted first, as already indicated, in the
Eighth Iowa Cavalry, a regiment authorized under a special
order of the War Department at Washington. He held a
commission as a second lieutenant, and was mustered into
service at Davenport on June 5, 1863. His career in the Eighth
is not certain: but from a letter addressed him by Captain
William M. Hoxie of Company M it may be inferred that he
was advanced to a captaincy. On November 30, 1863, Governor
Samuel J. Kirkwood issued him a commission as captain of
Company L of the Ninth Volunteer Cavalry, and he was
mustered into the service on the same date.®**

His regiment was ordered south on December 8, going into
quarters first at old Camp Jackson in the suburbs of St. Louis,
where they suffered sadly for a few days from low temperature
and lack of tents and camp equipment. On the 16th they were
transferred to Benton Barracks, where they remained until

M Judge Howe*8 papers contain both commissions referred to above: but
the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers does not record his name or appoint-
ment in the Roster of the Line Officers of the 0ghth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry.
See Volume IV. pp. 1507-1525.

For officers and men and movements of the Ninth Regiment. Ibid., pp.
1643-1658.

In footnotes following which give the names of members of Captain Howe's
company of regimental associates reliance has been upon the Roster herein
cited, unless otherwise stated.

324 ANNALS OF IOWA

April, 1864, undergoing severe training. This regiment's
oflScers, unlike those of earlier regiments, had to pass a rigid
examination in the ** technicalities of cavalry tactics and army
regulations,'* that kept the oflScers on the anxious seat until
it was over.^

The Ninth Iowa Cavalry was ordered on April 14, 1864, to
proceed to RoUa, Missouri, with Little Rock, Arkansas, as its
destination; but the defeat of General Banks's Red River
expedition caused a change of plans and on May 19 they went
into quarters at Devall's Bluflf which was then the main dis-
tribution point in the movement of troops and supplies for
the southwestern campaigns. Here for the next year and more
the regiment was held for the most part, intermittently going
on scouting and foraging expeditions, and various military
forays in pursuit of sundry guerrilla bands that infested that
portion of Arkansas. The operations of the Confederate
generals. Price and Shelby, occupied the energies and time of
the various regiments brigaded together.

Captain Howe's letters from Missouri and Arkansas, in
consequence of the conditions in camp aflFording him more time
for leisurely composition, are more varied and thus more inter-
esting and instructive reading than his earlier letters previ-
ously printed. He is more expansive in his descriptions of
people and landscapes that attracted him. They give us, too,
the feelings and trials of one who was not exactly on the
ground with the private soldiers and j'et who was not far up
in the official ranks. We may suspect — ^and with much reason,
too — ^that Captain Howe entered into the feelings of the men
of his company, or regiment, more easily than he did into the
feelings and attitudes of the higher officials of his regiment,
brigade, or corps. There is a constant modesty and unpre-
tentiousness about the man and his letters that are engaging;
and these facts enhance their verity' and value. Captain
Howe 's practice as a lawyer probably induced the careful con-
cern for moderate statement one may observe in all of his
letters.

87 Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. IV, p. 1644.

CAPTAIN ORLANDO C. HOWE 326

His letters are uniformly serious in tone ; but here and there
he allows his sense of humor to play about the subject of a
paragraph, and anon a flash of gentle humor illumines a page.
Thus in the first letter of his that we have from Benton Bar-
racks (Feb. 15, 1864) he indulges in various facetious flings
anent a photograph of himself in his uniform as a captain
which he sends home.®^ In his letter of June 8 there is a deli-
cious bit in referring to the traditions respecting the origins
of the natives in the region roundabout Ashley's Station,
Arkansas, where his regiment was then encamped :

The Rackensacks do not inhabit the prairies but live in the timber
and swamps and bayous. They are said to be amphibian, and some of
the men say they have ascertained that the people, especially the females,
have rudiments of fins, but of course you know I am too modest to
ascertain the truth as to this.

Obviously Captain Howe and his men were more or less
familiar with Darwin's evolutionary theories then splitting
the heavens and disturbing the peace of the saints.

Anon here and there in his letters there is a genial lambant
cynicisms that gives a tang to some of his observations and
discloses that he was not unobservant of the ways of the world
and the doings of Demos. For many reasons — anxieties about
business at home, his health, etc. — Captain Howe was anxious
to obtain a furlough, and had made application for one, but
he had withdrawn it because of his improving health, and
anent the matter he quietly observes August 31, 1864: **You
may wonder why some can get leave of absence and others not,
but you need not wonder at nothing in the army unless it be
common sense which is rare here." In his letter of July 19,
1864, he asked Mrs. Howe if the society in Newton concerned
with promoting the physicial comforts of the men in camp
and on the march could not forward some needed articles,
medicines, etc., direct to the camp, and then he put a query,
**or does it all go to some general fund and thus become sub-
ject to the Circumlocution office ? ' * Apparently he was familiar
with Dickens' famous descriptions of governmental work in
Little Dorrit,

w See frontispiece.

326 ANNALS OF IOWA

III

Mrs. Howe's letters confirm Mr. R. A. Smith's recollections
and characterization of her ability, disposition and versatility.
She was mentally alert and keen in her observations of men
and things. She had a facile pen and a lighter touch in
description than Judge Howe, although she was always earnest
in narrative. Her sentences are clear-cut, and in general more
concise than the latter 's. She was more conscious in phrasing
her letters than Judge Howe was. Occasionally she quotes her
favorite poets or throws in an allusion with a literary flavor;
and she shows that she remembers her Virgil.

Her household and wifely cares were always her constant
concern. The welfare of her husband and children absorbed
the most of her daily thought and effort. She seems to have
cared but little for club or social life. Her letters also demon-
strate that amidst trials she maintained with rare exceptions
a steady balance of feeling and a reserve which betokens staunch
character. When intense anxiety gripped her heart lest the
next news she would hear from the army bring tragic words,
she might let her feelings go ; but there is no display of a com-
plaining spirit, no sentimental gushing, no assumption of
grievous personal sacrifices, no outcrys in the midst of her
many troubles against others or the Pates.

Mrs. Howe's letters disclose more conscious religious con-
cern and religious feelings and dependence than her husband's
letters do. This difference was to be expected. He was always
in the midst of the press of practical problems and harrassing
perplexities, concrete and crowding — conditions which kept
his mind on things right in front of him. Mrs. Howe, although
busy with domestic cares and distractions, was not contending
with the harsh elements, clashing with men and foes. She had
to stand or sit and wait through the days and in the long
watches of the night when fears and imagination would riot
in dread possibilities, and the religious tenets and traditions
of her folk alone sustained her.

Mrs. Howe's letters give us many glimpses of variable phases
of an interesting personality, of an optimistic disposition, and
of many fine and solid traits of character that make the Ameri-

CAPTAIN ORLANDO C. HOWE 327

can housewife, be she on the American frontier, or within the
crowded urban centers, the major factor in the home, on which
so much of what is best in our civilization depends, and whence
the chief hope of the future safety of states.

The letters make vivid the anxiety and trials of those left
at home by husbands and providers who were in army camps
or on the firing lines — ^when the normal income was made un-
certain, first, by the stoppage of income from the usual source,
second, by the difficulties of the transmission of funds by hus-
bands from migratory camps, which was enhanced by the ir-
regular payment of troops because legimental paymasters
could not always be certain of safe communications with troops
in transmitting the pay of officers and men. Mrs. Howe
suffered no little distress on this account. The housewives of
those days were not provided with doles because their husbands
were drafted or in distant camps. Despite many trials she
was always cheerful, although many times she was sorely per-
plexed by pressing demands or needs. She was fortunate in
having to deal with neighbors and creditors at Newton who
were almost always considerate and lenient, they realizing
that her difficulties were in no sense due to her indifference,
or heedlessness, negligence or trickery in avoidance. They
knew : C'etait la guerre.

Mrs. Howe's letters give us many pointed, and often pungent
observations upon human nature as she saw its kaleidoscopic
phases in the characters and conduct of neighbors and relatives
— and the nearness of kinship did not blind or dim her keen-
ness of vision. Her lively sense of humor frequently flashes
through or about the edges of her sentences; and such is the
case often when her heart was sadly distracted with anxiety
anent household cares and the pressure of urgent money needs.
Some of her keen thrusts may be appreciated in the following,
dealing with the efforts of the government to secure enlist-
ments in the call for men for **One Hundred Days'' in the
middle months of 1864 :

.... Recruiting for 100 days drags slowly here, they are doing
better at Monroe®^ and other places.

w In Jasper County.

328 ANNALS OF IOWA

A number of ladies married and single volunteered to take the place
of all clerks who would enlist and retaining only 13 dollars a month give
up all surplus wages with their place upon their return, but there is no
enthusiasm among those who can go and many will not. Mr. 6. is most
industrious in trying to influence others, calling on all professional men
to go en masse assuring them (the truth) that the country will spare
them 100 days. Dr. W. replied to him by saying that he would go as
a private if G. would go and that O. should be Capt., W. said further
that he would go if any Minister or County officer would volunteer, but
no. How I do wish the draft would take T., A. and H. with big S.
and scores of others.

We can almost see the sardonic smile spreading over her
features as she penned the words **the country will spare
them''; and we may suspect that local discussion in Newton's
families and roundabout her public square was caustic,
peppery, and violent as the women of Newton sought by open
drives and scorching irony and winged quips, to coerce their
lusty compatriots into enlisting under the national colors.

The deftness of her pen and the airy fancies with which she
covers her lonesomeness and drives out the sprites of gloom
and melancholy that flitted about her may be seen in the fol-
lowing quoted at length from her letter of May 15, 1864:

Certainly my dear husband you are very much in my debt on this letter
question. I have written, this is the fourth in the week, and received
one in 12 days, now think how impoverished my poor brain will soon be
at this rate, to say nothing of the starving condition of my heart. You
must indeed mend your ways or I will take a trip down the river just to
give you a scolding ; now appropos of scolding how are all these military
men who are so long free from curtain lectures, ever to be brought into
a tolerable state of ''sub Jugam matrimorium" again and all these
administrators at home will they voluntarily give up the reins after a
three years lesson of * ' going it alone. ' ' I know of one who intends never
to see a market basket for years after her lord's return and to forget
entirely that fires must be built mornings. And as to care and so forth
I just intend to "sleep in the carriage" for awhile. You might suggest
perhaps that the carriage may be a wheelbarrow, just as well only it shall
not be self propelling. Can you realize how pleasant it is to be told
what to do instead of deciding it yourself?

Although often hard put to make ends meet, and sorely
harrassed by anxiety about the house rent, and nagging worries
about the family budget, no acid got into her blood, and there
were no parthian arrows in her facetiousness.

CAPTAIN ORLANDO C. HOWE 329

There are few expressions of political views in the letters
of either correspondent during the period covered, although
during the time the nation 's affairs were passing through very
critical developments; and it is interesting for Judge Howe
was always in the thick of politics when at home. But in his
first letter quoted (Feb. 15, 1864) in his facetious references
to his photograph lie intimates that his wife may infer that
the man, whose features are pictured, is governed by a ** hatred
to tyranny, slavery intemperance, meanness, &c, and still
more apparent can be seen from the expression a strong
admiration for Abe Lincoln.'' He was evidently a ** conserva-
tive" in the best sense of the term, a supporter of public
authority. Mrs. Howe, likewise, was more conservative than
liberal, or, better, than radical, for she was liberally minded
in the large. Thus dwelling upon the horrors of the conflict —
which she deemed a punishment in part of the people's sins,
she said: **.... for so many years, in fact ever since I
thought at all, I have been an abolitionist, not of the Gerrit
Smith school perhaps, but a hater of slavery and of the com-
promises made with it, but I little thought that my husband
would be one of the many who must stake their life against
its barbarism." Her conservatism in religion was disclosed
when she deplored the holding of army reviews on Sunday —
**....! am sure it was an offence in the sight of Heaven and
I do believe that so much needless Sabbath desecration is one
of the sins which is prolonging this war, and will prolong it
until heart and strength shall both fail. I wish your Division
commander was such as [O. 0.] Howard — dont you?"

Another fact stands out in the letters. The alluring beauty
of the region roundabout what was the first real home of the
Howe's in Iowa between the Okobojis and Spirit Lake made
a vivid and lasting impression upon the minds of Judge and
Mrs. Howe. They never forgot the wooded shore lines and
glorious sunsets, and the shimmering waves of West Okoboji
under beams of a full moon. After removing to Newton when
Mrs. Howe saw an entrancing sunset, or the brilliant colors
of the autumn leaves they reminded her of the multi-colored
shore line of the Okobojis. When Captain Howe was relating
his observations of attractive landscapes seen on scouting
expeditions in Arkansas in 1863-64 he compared them with

330 ANNALS OF IOWA

the views about the Lake region in Dickinson County, but the
beauty of the southern views never excelled nor quite equalled
the charm of Mini-Wakan. Variable Pates caused the Howes
to travel farther and farther from the Lakes, but fond
memories of their sojourn there always made them long to
return.

Captain Howe's letters, and Mrs. Howe's also, written while
he was at Camp Roberts at Davenport, between the time of
his being mustered into the Eighth Cavalry in June, 1863,
and his going with the Ninth regiment to St. Louis and thence
into quarters at Jefferson Barracks — ^if any were penned —
appear to have been lost either in the migrations of the family,
or in the storms experienced at Lynn Haven, Florida.

The letters of this section (save the first two) were written
during his period of regimental drill at Jefferson Barracks.
Because of the delays in the mails the logical order in pre-
senting the lettera has not been attempted. They are given
in their chronological order.

The date of the second letter presented is not certain. It
is included at the outset of this section because from its con-
tents it seems to suggest that Mrs. Howe assumes that Captain
Howe was within easy travelling distance, and Davenport fits
this assumption. On the other hand it could with almost equal
assurance be assigned to September, 1864, when Mrs. Howe
was hoping that he would secure a furlough and knowing his
hopes naturally expected to see him get out of the coach at
Newton any day.

In the letters of both Captain and Mrs. Howe the comma
is often used in lieu of a period — due to the hurry of com-
position— but as it is not always clear whether the sentence
was closed, or whether the writer was simply adding another
clause, no editorial clarifying has been exercised.

Des Moines, Iowa
Aug. 8th, 1863

Capt. Howe

8th Iowa Cav.

Newton, Iowa: — Dear Sir:

Have you received as yet marching orders f — ^I see by this morning

paper that one company has already gone to the rendezyoiia but haTe

CAPTAIN ORLANDO C. HOWE 331

received no orders as yet myself. If you have received orders please let
me know also when you intend sending your men down. I have about
90 men with a fair prospect of soon making it up to 100.
Let me hear from you.

Respectfully,

Wm. H. Hozie
8th Iowa Gav.

Newton, Sept. 8th, [18631]
My dear Husband :

I have not written to you for a long week as I have watched the coach
every night hoping to see you get out of it. As I got no letters since the
one saying that yon would bring the next perhaps and that you would send
money soon if you did not come. I think you must be on the road and
only write for fear something bad has happened and you are not able to
come. I have company to night, two ministers from Dubuque who have
come here to the Synod and they will be with me until Monday. They
are old men one Mr. Newberry buried his oldest son Sunday his remains
sent home from the Army. He was Capt. in the regular and was killed
last month on the Weldon R. R. name of the other Holmes.

If I do not hear from or see you soon I shall not know what to think.
I have a long letter in my mind but must save it to tell if you come
tomorow.

Yours loving and looking

M. W. Howe

Benton Barracks, Mo.
February 15, 1864.
My dear Wife :

Your letter came since my last to you but it was not the long one you
promised, and which you must send, as the Regiment is any day liable
to be sent anyvohere^ and I may soon be where mails are scarce.

I am glad you were willing to judge for yourself in Nellie's case
instead of doing just what the doctor's say. I do hope you will depend
on yourself much, though of course you will need a Doctor too when any
are sick.

Let me know when Abbott^^ leaves and to what point as I have not
learned where his regiment is. It is the 13th, is it notf We have lost
our General Hatch who has been ordered to Charleston under Gilmore,
so we are relieved from some of the difficulty I wrote you [about]. But
we are far from being a pet regiment, on the contrary, we are generally
reported as "Demoralized" but this is entirely false as I do not believe
any cavalry regiment as new as this is in better discipline or better
instructed. I think the trouble is that some of the officers grumbled at
what they thought some swindling operations respecting our fuel &c, and
that you know will never do. Our Colonel is a trump, (if you know what

100 Harvey Abbott, husband of Isabelle Wbeelock.

332 ANNALS OP IOWA

that is) (and a right bower, too).^®^ There is not a man but what likes

him and though he will enforce discipline, be is kind to the men.

I send yon my likeness. The straps have so faded that the bars do
not show making me look like a Lieutenant. What do you think of it
as a likeness? As a picture it is of course superb from the beauty of the
original. Can you see the fierce soldier in it or does it show the con-
templative philosopher or sagacious statesman? The grizzly beard may
cover all three, but I can detect underneath the surface a latent love of
some particular ones in Iowa together with a hatred to tyranny, slavery,
intemperance, meanness, &c and still more apparent can be seen from the
expression, a strong admiration for Abe Lilcoln. But that crook in the
nose indicates disgust for north western speculations.

But my dear, do you never regret that lovely home that we had formed
with such toil and suffering? At times I do much, it was so beautiful,
but pleasant as it was in some respects, and also pleasant to have so
many relations around us yet the trouble of those years there was too
much for the pleasure yet I have often been surprised to find a lingering
hope that sometime I might have our old place, farm and all back again
for the children 's sake at least, yet it seems certain that if we could have
our health, children & all, that Central Iowa is the better place. But
being a soldier a home for us all may be conquered in a still more pleasant
climate. I would much like to provide a home as soon as possible and
if I had the money would buy a place near Newton for you in case I fall
or perish by disease, but yet I believe that we shall after the war have
such hard times as we have not yet experienced, for business of all kinds
is now on a fictitious basis and farming products must then fall, so if
we are not able now to buy we then can get a home much cheaper than
now. It would be strange if at last hard times should help us, wouldn 't it?
I am glad that you find opportunities of being acquainted with some
of my old business acquaintances, and besides it seems as though you
were quite successful in picking up soldiers both at home and on the road.
I wonder if your thinking of a soldier down here does not lead you to
this. I feel pleased tliat you seem to think in that way though I do not
want you to dwell so much upon the army and my small portion of it in
particular, as to neglect thinking of other matters, or so as to become
melancholy. Do strike to divert yourself and feel as pleasant as possible.

Today while writing this the weather was like June, now (10 o'clock
P. M. or later) it is again winter, freezing and some snow falling. I
fear you are to have another cold spell.

By the latest from the south it seems as though the rebels were not
going to raise their soldiers as fast as expected. Desertions from their
army are now very frequent. I do hope that a strong energetic display
of force will end the war this summer coming. I feel willing to do my
part of considerable sharp fighting to close it up, but may feel different
when the danger is to be faced. Do you think I wiU be apt to falter

101 Col. M. M. Trumbull.

CAPTAIN OBLANDO C. HOWE 333

when the trial comes f Sometimes I feel as though if danger should come
when I am in a peculiar mood that it will require all mj fortitude to
stand up under it, yet I have seen danger in worse forms than a battle
threatens. You all had to pass though as trying a scene as anything
I need expect.

I have laid still three days from sickness more properly exhaustion
but am now well, both my lieutenants are sick, not seriously .^^ Joseph
Logston from near Newton and Stephen Welch from Prairie City were
returned from Small Pox hospital today, cured. They had it light, the
last one so light they are doubtful whether it was that or a slight rash.
Thomas Broomliall was sent to the Barracks hospital day before yester-
day quite sick, fever I think but he is not considered dangerous. Sick
ones from near Newton are slowly gaining except James B. (Gentry who
does not regain his voice.*"* I will write oftener now, will you toot
How do you like the Colonel's looks?

Tour husband,

O. C. Howe.

Newton, March 18th. [1864]
My dear Husband:

I am sorry that you have waited so long without hearing from home
as I know so well how hard it is to wait without the brain becoming fruit-
ful with all evil imaginations. I have not written you as often as usual
the past ten days but have never failed of writing as often as twice in a
week at least, but my fore finger is still sore enough to prevent my using
a pen with any comfort or in fact using anything else.

The Thirteenth is now at home, Capt. Skiff *"* in command (it was
Miller's company). We gave them a fine reception with the best supper
could be got up. You will excuse the vanity if I say that Mrs. Howe's
fruit cakes, (two large really splendid ones) were universally acknowledged
as never having been equalled in Newton [or the] county. I was very proud
of their looks as the frosting was superb and our mottoes all legible and

plain. has changed entirely in looks and to my fancy not for the

better. He is now more stout than was with a great fat red face,

he must be 50 pounds heavier than when I knew him. The whole regiment
being scut home on furlough of course my evil genius in the form of

returned having been only six days in Vicksburg. I was really very

sorry to see him but the stay will not be long. His mind is much steadier
than when he left, but is yet by no means in a sound condition if it ever
was. He is now very jovial and laughs loud and long. He seems quite
incapable of keeping money as he buys the most trivial things at great
prices and has spent I know now far more for conveniences and fixins
generally than you have done since you have been in service.

102 Wm. W. Moore, first lieutenant and John G. RoekafoUow, second lieutenant.

if^ All four men named were members of Captain Howe's Co. L.

104 Harvey J. Skiff, later husband of Lavinia Wheelock, widow of B. P.
Parmenter.

334 ANNALS OF IOWA

I have heard nothing of Campbell giying up the Press bnt he is yet
there and I think will be.^^ Mrs. C. visits and calls freqoentlj and I
like her with increasing like. I am sare that I do not know one item of
news that could interest you the town is improving all the time and many
more would stop here if they could find houses. We have yet no prospect
of a house and I do not know what we will do, but do not fret yet as I
hope we shall find some place, but rents are very high and I don't know
but it would be almost as cheap to board but much leas pleasant, I think
you will have to take me along with you for want of a place to keep me
in don't you think sof Lockie^^ has just come in from the kitchen

radiant with fun to tell me tliat has broken a saucer which he thinks

a joke. I do hope tliat you will not over exert yourself but am almost
sure that you are doing that very thing. When the 13th went to Meridien

was not (by his own account) well enough to go but stayed at

Vicksburg and his Lieut, took his company. He really looks like a coward.

I do wish that I could send you some goodies and if you think there
is prospect of your being in St. Louis long enough to get them I will try
and find something for you but we have had only four pounds of butter
for three weeks, it cannot be had here now, but will soon be more abujidant.
I know that now when you are recovering your appetite ought to be
petted a little and I wish I could help you. Gould you get a cheese and
shall I send you a fruit cakef

I am interested for us botli on the pay question which threatens to be
a serious one if not relieved soon but we have weathered too many
monetary squalls to be easily upset by small ones. Linnie has a sore
finger now and cannot write very well but is talking about it. A letter
from Mary yesterday says they do not hear from you often and only
through me or Maxwell. I have written them since you were discharged
from hospital. You say nothing more of your Cousins.

It is 80 very hard to rent that it seems to me that it would be a good
plan to buy the house that Porter is occupying if I can do it by paying
when we could get possession, which would not be until October. It is
valued at 275 dollars and we will soon pay that for the rent of worse
places. Tell mc in your next what you think of the plan and if you think
favorably write to Bill Skiff and tell him what you will do in the case,
or I will see what a bargain I can make. Sherrill has bought the Helfrey
house and every old hut in town is full.

God bless and keep you my darling.

Your wife,

M. W. Howe.

Benton Barracks Mo.
April 14th, 1864.
My Dear:

It is now night and our things are all ready to start tomorrow morning

loft It Is not certain whether Mrs. Howe refers to Frank T. or A. K. Campbell,
owners and publishers of the Newton Express.
lOttjohn Wbeelock Howe.

CAPTAIN ORLANDO C. HOWE 336

for BoUa bj Bail from St. Louis and from there to Little Bock by waj
of Springfield Mo. We should have started this morning but we learned
that the first battallion which went yesterday had to leave part of their
horses on the way, so Go. L staid while the other 3 Go's of the battallion
went today. The men are all noisy tonight and I have had to go in and
stop the muss and you will have a confused letter. My Go. are good
soldiers but when elated are not all strictly total abstinence men and
there is always whiskey in the Army.

I will try and get word to you often but while traveling for the next
trip you will not receive the letters regularly. Do my dear take good
care of your health and keep up that visiting you spoke of as I see that
when you have just been out by your letters, as there is not so much
moping style. I fear that your eyes are growing weak, is this sof How
I would have liked that visit we have thought of so much but as we can-
not now meet we can call it postponed.

Our destination is not one I object to at all, as the country is probably
healthier than any other southern route as part of the country we pass
through is mountainous. I hope the Newton people will not be dis-
appointed in the railroad, as I have strong hopes of some time having a
quiet home in that vicinity.

Tou may think it is like a new start for the war to go to Arkansas,
but except the time it takes to get letters it seems only an ordinary trip
to me so many soldiers are passing through from there. It is possible
we will stop at some point on the route for a month or two to recruit
our horses some of which are very young. My Go. has the youngest in
the Beg't. and Col. Marez said the youngest he had seen in the service
were in the Beg't. I have only lost 3 horses while the other Go's average
from 6 to 15 each, all because I am so poor a horse tender as a horseman
always kills his beast to show his skill.

That examination is over as to me by default as tomorrow would be
the day and I march then. Lt. [John G.] Bockafellow was examined
yesterday as I could not leave and he was sent instead and will doubtless
pass as he has studied hard and has a good idea of tactics.

I have expressed 80 dollars to you today and sent you 20 when paid
and hope to get pay on the route if we stop to camp or at Little Bock
if not and will send you a larger sum then if possible.

You see my letter is a rambling concern but I am busy and the boys
are very noisy though very good natured. By the way I get along decently
with the men and though lenient as the other officers say to a fault yet
we have a fair discipline and I control the Go. easily while some have
considerable difficulty. B. can do nothing with them except through fear
and but little anyway and Moore can only coax and succeeds fairly for
that way.

I would so like to see the littlers^^ tonight as well as the other one.
Poor Linuie seems to be sick a good deal. I hope to see you in the fall
as by that time a furlough will have been deserved. The Bebs are stir-

107 His name for the little ones of the family.

336 ANNALS OP IOWA

ring about Kentucky and Tennessee and some of the bojs are hoping
to have a brush on the way but except guerrilla attacks I apprehend
nothing. I think the danger less than a solitary journey from the Lakes
to Sioux City any time for the past four years. Yet we may of course
liave a battle and you must not begin to think I am about to fall as soon
as I start, for the business of the rest of the 3 years or more I am to stay.

Every one thinks the summer will end the war as far as large armies
are concerned and the Rebs think so too but they say they are going
to beat.

I will write again soon but must go to sleep now I was op night before
last till morning and last night till 12 and up by 5. I will sleep tonight
and start fresh.

Good night and God bless you all.

O. C. Howe.

Benton Barracks, Mo.
April 18th, 1864
My dear Wife:

On Friday we were ready for the cars but did not get orders to start,
and on Saturday saddled up and went to the cars 3 miles to start for
Little Rock by way of Rolla, on reaching the railroad found there were no
cars for us, came back for the night and yesterday started again and took
the cars, horses and all baggage and reached Rolla in the southern part
of the state 120 miles from here about 8V^ p. m. and found a despatch
there ordering a return of the 9th to St. Louis so without unloading we
returned and are now waiting for orders. We do not know our destination
but expect to start tomorrow or else as soon as the rest of the Regt. can
be brought back from Rolla. Seven companies are there having preceded
us. This is the uncertainty of the army. I will write you as soon as we
know where we are going but that may be only an hour before starting.
Keep writing me here and I shall get some of the letters. Our horses all
stood the car ride alive, but Perry junior is some the worse for it, hope
he will be well soon he is too lively for such a trip.

The part of Missouri we passed through is a most miserable country,
rough, rocky, sandy, with a poor soil covered with scrubly timber and the
few inhabitants a miserable looking set.

If this is a specimen of the south the country was hardly worth con-
quering and the people not worth subjugating, but we can hardly be fair
judges of the country as everything is compared with Iowa and Minnesota
etc. while we must not expect to find them equaled unless it be in Texas.

It is generally supposed we are going to Kentucky and Tennessee, I
am ready for cither and was willing to be recalled from the poor route
we were sent.

I cannot hope to hear often from you now, but you must write all the
oftener or I shall not hear at all. I will write so often to you that yon
will be fully posted up as to our movements.

CAPTAIN OBLANDO C. HOWE 337

I sent yoQ $80. by express. Send me word whether it reached you.

The Newton boys are now nearly well: Banks has recovered from his
hurt, Wert has been here to see us nearly well from the smallpox, Church
is sick in hospital and will probably remain an invalid. James Drake will
remain as nurse in smallpox hospital as he is poorly not recovered from
measles of last summer. James Gentry is fast recovering his voice, can
talk tolerably well now. That box has never arrived though one for Cross
and Baldwin sent at about that time came through right.^^^

My dear, you must imagine all the love I feel for you, but I cannot
express it, how I would like to see you all, but that must be postponed.
I do not permit myself to doubt but we shall be allowed again to meet as
one family.

That awful crime of Ft. Pillow fill us all with indignation and desire
to avenge the cruel massacre and I do think will aid in ending the war.
Such acts show the desperation of the rebels and if we can only defeat
them in Virginia soon we will have peace.

Goodbye and God bless you all.

Orlando C. Howe.

[Newton] May 5th, '64.
My Dear:

I write only a little tonight or I sliall lose the mail which closes at 8
o 'clock. We are well. By the evening paper I see we are losing in North
Carolina and am now waiting with great anxiety for the battles which
seem to be necessarily soon coming on in Virginia. I am much disgusted
to see so little alacrity in responding to the call for 100 days, but two or
three are going from Newton, in Monroe, they are doing much better.
Baxter George is going from here, he is the only one of whom I have heard.
Sister Kate Winspear is to be here in June and Maria Long comes with
her. Jim is going to California soon. He is at Poughkeepsie now.

I am teaching the children at home this summer and teach Ella and
Henry Vaughn with mine so as to have some stimulus for Lockie and
Linnie, Locke learns fast, and Nell also. Linnie is a slow scholar wliich
is a great grief to me some times I cannot understand it, how one who
really knows so much should learn from books so slowly. She cannot
memorize quickly and is not quick in reckoning, maybe she will **come
of it" as the Hoosiers say. When I remember her great love of the
beautiful everywhere and her sensitive nervous indolent ways I am often
troubled about her future.

About coming to St. Louis I don 't mean to think anything of it now,
there is such a long line of if 's to be overcome.

Good bye,

**Mizpah"

M. W. Howe.

108 Baxti'r Banks, Daniel M. Wort, Napoleon Church, David Y. Cross and
JuIliiH A. Baldwin and the other two named in the aI)ove paragraph were all
members of Capt. Uowe's Company L and residents of Newton.

338 ANNALS OF IOWA

Gamp 9th Iowa Gav.
Near Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
May 6, 1864
My Dear Wife:

Tear letter of the second is here today and yesterday one in which
you said you had the dumps. I am some alarmed about your health by
what you write but hope the summer may improve it. It seems horrible
to tliink that I may be spared in the army and you sacrificed at home.
As to climate it is doubtful whether if Central Iowa is not healthy for
you, which would be preferable Missouri or Minesota. I hope the awful
punishment of your loss is not to fall upon me during the war.

As to peace I believe that it will come soon either by the subjugation
of the rebels or some patchwork for a few years. It seems as though
the northern people wore now depending solely upon Grant's success this
summer and look no further. I do not like this but prefer that a deter-
mination to conquer at all events should be the feeling even if several
more favorites of the people made so by circumstances instead of talent
or genius should follow McDowell, McClellan &c into disfavor. We can
succeed and we ought to use the effort necessary.

I passed tlie dreaded examination day before yesterday and a few
minutes ago received the very agreeable "sentence" "Qualified" so that
trouble is over.

Wo are still in camp with orders to be ready to march at one hour's
notice and Co. L. shall do so at all sacrifice. I suppose that we will be
sent into different part of this State and perhaps Illinois if there should
])e trouble there.

Goodbye

O. C. Howe

No pay yet.

Camp of 9th Iowa Cav.
Near Jeff. Bks. Mo.
May 12, 1864
My Dear Wife:

T received your letter yesterday and they are not very common
oecurreuces though I must admit being more remiss of late than usual.
Since passing the examination I have been in good health and Spirits.

The news from Grant, Butler and Sherman is now so very favorable
as to enliven us all though there is a chance of being too sanguine.

Banks and Steele's repulse are terrible reverses for the West and
there will be a desperate fight in the southwest perhaps in one great battle
or more likely in a destructive guerrilla war.

We are hourly expecting an order to march somewhere to meet those
Guerrillas but know not where we go of course. Two companies left last
week as we supposed for up the Missouri but it turns out they were for
Palmyra Mo. opposite Quincy, Illinois.

CAPTAIN OBLANDO 0. HOWE 839

Since sundown last night till now (noon) we have been waiting ex-
pecting orders for two more companies to start for Central or Western
Missouri. If orders come and L is one of the Co's we will be readj in
an hoar for me to start my Co.

I now think that we will most certainly be needed in this state and
that Gen. Rosccrantz was right in bringing us back, though at the time
I thought the matter had no particular intention in it.

I wish you would send a copy of those lines on Murf rieeboro that you
wrote and I admired so much. I would like much to send them to the
Sanitary Fair of which General B. is President. If you wish it shall be
anonymous.

Do not think me neglectful if I confess to losing that picture of yours
but I wish another so much that it must be told. I have not been able
to find it since I was sick, it disappeared with many other things while
I was sick but without any fault of mine.

Do write oftener send to me as usual to St. Louis.

Goodbye

O. 0, Howe

Newton, May 10th, '64.
My Dear Husband:

After a long cold season of wet, and wind, it has cleared away warm
and pleasant, and just now there is one of those mellow sunsets so often
seen at the Lakes, which makes it beautiful even here and reminds me
of the surpassing beauty which seemed at times to rest upon all nature
there. But I miss the familiar Lakes and the landscape here has no
comparison with that. Perhaps when we are so spiritualized as to be
insensible to cold and terror we will transmigrate into that country. It
lias more homelike memories than any other place although they are
nearly all under a cloud. So far, my dear, was written on Sunday and
now it is Tuesday and O, how cold, quite a thick ice formed on the water
pail last night and an east wind this morning is very chillly or freezy.

I have been waiting some days for a letter as it is now ten days since
I liad one, and while I am less anxious than if you were nearer the
expected place of heavy battles yet I do not wait long beyond my usual
time without much uneasiness. Yesterday I went to League to hear Mrs.
Simmins (State Agent for the Iowa Sanitary Commission) and the
League disbanded and organized an aid society as an auxilliary to the
General Commission.

It seems to me tliat as this matter is now systemized it must [be] an
agent for much good although much quite unnecessary expense is in-
curred in its various agencies. I suppose you have not seen much of its
working personally but what is the opinion of those officers who have seen
field service. Last fall on my route home from Marengo I conversed much
with Col. Bedfield^^ and the Surgeon of his regiment in regard to this

109 Lt. Col. James Redfleld, killed at AUatoona, Ga., Oct. 5, 1804.

340 ANNALS OP IOWA

matter both of whom said that these voluntary aid societies bj whatever
name called were of more benefit than the surgeons themselves certainly
work more than all except surgeons while Dr. Hunter from what he saw
or did not see, at Vicksburg speaks of them as of (no account).

I suppose you are through your examination by this time but cannot
tell how you came out, I can not wish you to fail as it would be a trouble
to you but it would have some equivalents certainly as you would come
home. I did not think you would be so long in the army without getting
further from home and did hope that a whole year would have brought
the 'beginning of the end' more than is now to be seen.

I wrote you that Catherine is expected here in June, I think my trip
to St. Louis will hardly be in time for the Fair which I did not have
much anxiety to see. I think three days at home would work more than
six in St. Louis, but I think but little of either as among the speedy
possibilities. Nell is learning very fast and Locke does tolerably, Linnie
does not learn readily but is not well enough to be forced to hard study
and she has no will for it. Bailroad matters are not favorable to Newton
at present as the roads are to [go] somewhere west of here, this road
running northwest from Grinnell to meet the other and then a single
track to Des Moines and westward, this is the present programme but it
is very variable. Business is lively here and everything both to eat and
wear is at enormous prices, approaching what it was south two years
ago. This does not hinder the sale of things, Mr. Ford told me they
sold four barrels of sugar now to one three years ago, while we get but
4 pounds for a dollar, 25 cts. is big price for one pound of sugar and
this is only brown.

I hope tonight will bring me a letter and I will not wait again before
writing.

Tours fondly,

M. W. Howe.

Gamp 9th Iowa Cav. Near Jeff. Bks. Mo.
May 13th, 1864
My dear Wife:

The order for the 9th to proceed to Little Rock, Ark. with all dispatch
came in an hour ago, and we are packing and waiting. Our major started
for town to see as to transportation, as we do not know the route we are
to take, but most of us think we will go by River to Devall's Bluff.

I think we are needed there, and do not fear the danger more than
what we might meet scattered in this state. Write both to Little Rock
and here and I will get the letters after awhile.

We are anxiously reading the news from the Potomac army and rejoice
with fear over Grant's success so far.

If Lee should be defeated finally, then our fighting is soon over. But
it is yet not impossible for a terrible reverse there.

[Other pages missing]

CAPTAIN ORLANDO 0. HOWE 341

Newton, May 13th, 1864.
My Dear:

The Littles are all through with books today and are out in the brush
at play. Summer seems at last to have reached us but was a long time
coming. On the 11th there was quite a thick ice on the water in the
house, and nearly all the early tomatoes were nipped, I am now feeling
so well that I hardly know myself and am sorry that I wrote to you the
day that I had the dumps. I suppose it is now settled that the railroad
runs some miles north of Newton, and perhaps this will bring down
house rent.

I know nothing in the way of news. People are rejoicing much over
the Eastern battle news but I think there must be an undercurrent of
fear, there is to my gladness certainly as a day may change all so fear-
fully. I imagine that if your regiment had not been ordered back you
would have seen shot and shell when Marmaduke approached Little Bock,
Banks defeat on Bed Biver did not involve many from Newton in trouble.
James Wilson is reported killed and some one named Brothers. There
is less activity and zeal here in regard to the 100 days service than in
most Bepublican towns. At Grinnell the whole College who are old
enough are going with one of their professors as captain.^^® We have
been in this house three weeks today and paid one month in advance
when we came in and I expect Kennedy on hand the 20th of May for
another month's rent, which I wish you would send me if you can, (it is
six dollars) I am not in want of money for anything and am not quite
out but will be by then. When you send me again and every debt is
straightened up as it will be I shall feel quite rich. It has often troubled
mc that I cannot make money last longer but it will not. Since the last
August I have spent 300 dollars and it is hard to tell for what, although
this does not include some considerable of last summers grocery bill at
Ford's. I sometimes fear that you will be discouraged that I cannot
make less answer but you must know something of the expenses of
provisions & since you are a housekeeper too. We cannot get a yard of
calico now for less than 28 or 30 cts. and sheeting is 50. As I made no
calculations upon going to the Fair at St. Louis I am of course not dis-
appointed and now have taught my heart to wait until fall, when surely
you will have earned a furlough I would send you Newton papers if you
think it worth while. I anticipate much from a visit with Catherine
when she comes. Eight years have probably changed us both much, but
we will soon forget that and the old time will come back to us again.
Abbott is nearing Huntsville, Jim Winspear is going to California. I
will write on Sunday, day after tomorrow and tell you the news if there
is any. May God love and keep us in his care until we meet.

Yours with increasing love,

M. W. Howe.

110 Professor Leonard F. Parker.

356 ANNALS OP IOWA

was made and carried about and made ready for use. As I
have learned it, they boil the material, and skim off the skum
from that, then keep skimming it off until it is a clear liquid.
And after it is clear of all skum, sticks were prepared about
the size of a pencil, which they dipped into the glue and
turned it about and gathered a little glue on the end, let it
harden, and so continued dipping and cooling it until they
had a sizable lump on the end of the stick. It was convenient
to carry about for future use. The way they used it would
be to heat a vessel of water hot and dip the glue stick into it,
when the hardened glue which touched the hot water would
be liquid, ready for use, and when they laid the stick down
it was hard and smooth, as it was before. That's the way the
tribe carried the glue, and put it away for future use. I want
to ask Jim if that is the way they did it.

Jim : In making the glue from the horns of the deer, that's
the only way they made their glue. They did not have any
glue from buffaloes, so in making the glue they boiled it and
would take a stick, and of course while it is boiling they
dipped this stick in, and took it out and cooled it off until it
hardens, and they get as much as they v/ant for their own use,
then whenever they wanted to use it it was a hard substance,
then they take the substance and moisten it — sometimes they
spit on it and sometimes they stick it in their mouths, and
then hold it by the fire until it melts, and then rub it on what-
ever they want to use it on and then they glue this together,
so that's the way they make the glue.

Dr. Gilmore: Substantially the same plan of making the
glue sticks and the form of using them as I described. There
is one more thing about the use of the glue. The glue could
be moistened, as he said or by hot water. To make a nice
smooth workmanlike job of finishing the glued parts a certain
powder was used to take up the surplus glue, and that powder
was made from gypsum. The tribe that I am acquainted with
found gypsum on the plains — the Pawnees and the Omahas
got it in Kansas. It is a stone that when heated will become
a white powder, and that white powder would take up the
surplus glue, and I supposed these eastern people had some
means of finishing off the glued materials also. Perhaps they

OfilGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 357

had some powder — ^I do not know whether gypsum or what,
but they must have had some way of finishing up the glued
work.

Perhaps it might be interesting for all of you to know some-
thing about the method of procedure in finding out informa-
tion of the old time.

(George interprets Dr. Gilmore's question, Jim answers,
and Young Bear cuts in with information to Jim.) George
interprets : In making the arrows, and the feathers you put on
and also the point or the arrow head — well, the glue is mostly
used, and in order to make this glue, why you do the same
thing again as in making the flute, and you want to have a
smooth surface. In order to do this it is done — of course some
are experts in making the arrows, and some are not. Not
every one can make the arrow — ^they have got to be taught,
and so in making these arrows and applying the glue you
first take the glue and moisten it — ^you stick that in your
mouth, and then you hold it before the fire. Of course it must
not be too hot, and before it gets too hot you have to very
quickly apply it on the arrow. You do that all around that
which you put the glue on, and then the bones of the deer are
used to smooth it off so it would not be rough, and the glue
that sticks on, the surface glue, is scraped off by the use of
the same bone — ^taken out and made from the bones of the deer,-
and of course in making their points and putting the feathers
in they do not only use the glue, but of course the glue fastens
them first time, then it is tied with the guts and the muscles
taken from the deer. They tie this on, and then also the glue
is applied, and in this way the feather does not come off easily.

Mr. Harlan : Do they use a powder to keep it from being
sticky ?

(George interprets Mr. Harlan's question. Young Bear
speaks to Jim) — Jim answers: In making the arrows and
putting on the glue they did not use any powder of any kind,
although our old people have often told us a certain powder
should be used in smoothing out this glue, but we have never
known just what it is. They shaped them out by the use of a
rock, shaping them out, and so the glued pieces — ^they put on
the same glue that holds it by tieing it with the muscles and

358 ANNALS OP IOWA

all and those hold it. Of course they smoothed it — ^they also
used a bone.

Mr. Harlan : I think that will be all we will ask him now.
My friends [the teachers], you will see that when the Indians
are asked a question to which you and I would answer yes or
no, our Indian friends add a little information that they
would otherwise fail to impart. Now we will ask Dr. Gilmore
to continue his observations on the flute or whatever subject
he sees fit. Our Indian friends as well as ourselves, are eager
for his words.

Dr. Gilmore : Some of the company have come in since the
description was given of how the flute is made. Jim said there
were six holes made and you can see that. He said they were
burned, and of course that is the way it was done, but in the
old times they would have trouble drilling, I suppose, with a
stone drill. Maybe he can tell about that. But another thing
you will notice. If you touch the flute, you will find a place
in the barrel for the passage of the air, and for finishing the
wood, among the tribes I am acquainted with, a certain plant
is used. They use a plant which is very full of silica. We call
it horse tail, jointed grass, snake grass, and that plant is used
for polishing, and I wonder what these people used for polish-
ing in the old time, before they had sand paper, emery paper,
etc. I would like to know if that plant was used. It is very
hard, and when you are using it it will make your teeth grit
— ^it is jointed grass.

(George interprets Dr. Gilmore 's talk. Young Bear speaks
to Jim.) Jim talks: In the old time there was nothing that
was impossible for them, because before the time when the
white men came to our people and brought the implements
they used to make their things, our people did not have these
implements, and they had to make them themselves. Of course,
to make them they must first think these things out and try to
make things, so it would not be hard to make whatever they
wish to make, and so it is with everything. In making arrows
and bows some one must first know the kind of tools they
want to use to make whatever they wish to make, and so in
finding things out, in making these tools, it was not the thought
or the making of the people, but through the Great Spirit.

ORIGINAL STUDY OF INDIAN LIFE 359

They first pray to the Great Spirit, and the Great Spirit blesses
them and in that way they find out the things they want to
make, and in making these flutes they want to make the surface
smooth — well, in those days they used the rocks, and the flint,
etc. Sometimes they used sand and ashes, and such things
as that.

Dr. Gilmore: You people [the teachers] here tonight are
swinging in and looking in on the v/ay and getting some
information of the way they [the Indians] learn, and on that
matter of the use of gypsum in polishing, the bureau of
ethnology published an erroneous statement in their report
of the polishing of arrows, the smoothing off of surplus glue.
The writer there said they used mica in polishing — ^that they
burned it to a powder, and the powder was used to take oflf
the surplus. Now you know mica will not burn, and that the
material burned to make the white powder was gypsum,
instead of mica.

Mr. Harlan : I wonder if we may not have George explain
to the Indians what Dr. Gilmore tells of a mistake in one of
our books.

Dr. Gilmore: The point is that the investigators need to
know more.

Mr. Harlan: The conversation began on the flute. Any
other person who is trained like Dr. Gilmore would have had
the information on the flute only, but now this party of
teachers has gained authentic information through his pursu-
ing the matter into the different materials and different points.
Without his expert knowledge we would have remained with-
out this complete information from the Mesquakies, and par-
ticularly the old Mesquakies. Somehow I am aware. Dr. Gil-
more, this is the first expert information they have ever been
invited to publicly impart, and they have never exchanged
with any white man the information you have exchanged with
them in these teachers' hearing.

(Some one asks of what material the wickiup matting is
made. )

Mr. Harlan : Let us see if we can get that answered.

Jim: I imagine it is made out of bull rushes — cat-tails.

Dr. Gilmore: That is not all. I wish the visitors would

360 ANNALS OF IOWA

notice how skilfully they are laid together, and they are
bound together by a needle — that is through the middle of
the end of the cat-tail.

Mr. Harlan : Jim, Dr. Gilmore alludes to the cat-tail leaf
made into the matting. Is it the leaf?

Jim : It is the leaf.

Mr. Harlan : Do you make it of the flat part, or the round
stalk ?

(Jim does not understand the question.)

Mr. Harlan : When we say leaf, we mean the flat part, not
the round part.

Dr. Gilmore: It is the blade that they use, not the round
stalk.

Mr. Harlan : Do they use the rod or the blade that bends
over ?

(George interprets, Jim answers, and Young Bear speaks,
with George interpreting.) : It is the flat part. If any of you
look carefully at the wickiup and examine each of those leaves
you will find that they are all flat — none of them round. The
round part is not used, but the blades are used.

Dr. Gilmore : That is what I wanted the visitors to notice —
that the flat part is used so it sheds the rain, and is very skill-
fully done.

Mr. Harlan : On next Sunday afternoon will you get some
cat-tails and start a mat so we can see just how it is made?

Jim: Yes.

Mr. Harlan : Let me make this suggestion. Dr. Gilmore has
told us of the woodland and the prairie people. He tells us
that the plains people had a separate style of habitation,
and the woodland people had their style. I wonder if he will
tell us more about these styles of habitation?

Dr. Gilmore: As Mr. Harlan has said, I was born in
Nebraska, in the Omaha region, so I know the people of that
region better than I know the woods people. The prairie, you
see, is the country without so much timber. These people had
these materials, and the geographic condition always controls
the forms of dwellings. There was some timber along the
streams, and the skins of the buffalo were excellent for making
the covering of the tent, but these people of the prairie had

ORIGINAL STUDY OP INDIAN LIFE 361

not only to cut the poles, but in many instances had to
drag them long distances. But when they traveled any-
where, going in quest for meat, on a buffalo hunt, or going
after other products, they had to have portable dwellings,
and the tepee was the type. Some of the tribes had the
custom of using four poles for the frame work, and some
tribes used only three poles. Of course, a camp would include
much more ground than there is here. The Omahas and other
tribes have good camps, and these tepees are set in a circle,
according to the size of the party traveling — it might be half
a mile in diameter. The circle of each division of the tribe —
and in the Omaha tribe there are ten divisions — there are two
main divisions of five each — and as the camp is set it is set
like the tepee itself. The entrance to the camp is like the
entrance to the tepee — which is set according to the way they
travel. And so each of these would have its circle. They had
a system of placing the tepees. If they did not have a system
they could never find anything, but each one knew just where
to go for his own tent, because it was always there.

Mr. Harlan : Now, I expect Young Bear and Jim are asleep.
But tomorrow evening we will ask them if there is a similar
custom with respect to their wickiups.

Dr. Gilmore : Each nation had its own system.

Mr. Harlan: Well, we are all probably within twenty
minutes of our sleepy time, and I wonder if we can stir up
Jim and have him play that song he played last night.

Jim plays on his flute.

Mr. Harlan: Can that be sung?

George: That is the same one he sang last night.

Mr. Harlan : The one you sang, but didn 't play with the
flute — sing that.

(Jim sings then tells the story.) George interprets: The
words of the song are repeated over and over. Of course in
a chorus there are different words, but these words tell the
story of a certain young couple.

Once upon a time there was a maid who was of marrying
age, and her parents were considering a certain young man,
who was already a mighty hunter. This young man seems to
have a future before him, and was considered as a likely hus-

362 ANNALS OP IOWA

band of this girl. So they made an agreement between the
parents that this young couple should marry, and they were
married, but the girl was in love with another young man,
and she did not love this young man she had to marry. She
was very unhappy, and so she told her parents that she did
not love the one she was living w4th but she loved another, and
she was very unhappy, and she could not have a happy life
and she wanted a happy life — to have a lodge of her own,
and the rule was that she should serve and try to love the one
she was living with, and so they moved them to an island far
away, and they could not be seen by any one, and this way
they could forget every one and be forced to love the one they
lived with. However, she could not forget the young man she
loved, no matter how far away they moved her, and so she
swam ashore to the main land, and she made this song, and
the words are, **I hate him, I hate him ! Even from the island
I could swim across.*'

Mr. Harlan : Sing the chorus once more, Jim.

(Jim sings the chorus.)

Mr. Harlan : Now, let us ask Dr. Gilmore if, in his acquaint-
ance of other songs, this particular story has come to his
knowledge.

Dr. Gilmore: No, I never heard this one, but similar in-
stances and similar songs I have known of. The first part of
the song is the same — I recognize the first part of it in different
songs, but the latter part of it is different. It shows the
borrowing of music, just as with us.

Mr. Harlan : Will you \e\\ Jim to think up a different one
for tomorrow night to play or sing or both f

(George interprets Mr. Harlan's question, and interprets
Jim's answer.) : He is not sure he can be here for tomorrow
night, but he will do as you ask if he can be here.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS TO

MARY ANN MACKINTIRE

1845-1846

By Philip D. Jordan

[Continued]

This is the second of a series of edited excerpts from the
letters of Dr. William Salter, a member of the famous Andover
Band in Iowa and for over sixty years pastor of the Congre-
gational Church at Burlington, Iowa. These letters were
written during the years 1845-46, while Dr. Salter was preach-
ing at Maquoketa and Burlington, to Miss Mary Ann Mackin-
tire, his fiancee, of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Maquoketa, Iowa. October 4, 1845.
[Dear Mary:]

.... This week has been of chilly blustering weather, and a little cold
with the sickness and death around me have perhaps too much perturbed
me. Having heard that Mr. Smith, a missionary of the A. H. M. S. at
Bellevue who came into this country in June was sick, I went to see him.
I found him just recovering from ague and bilious fever. He thinks
that he cannot have his health in this country and so is about returning
home (Litchfield, Maine). I endeavored to encourage him and urged him
to go home with me, promising to nurse him the best I could, but his head
is set in getting by his mother's fireside. He thought of leaving this

week I got some cold in riding, was overtaken by two showers, and

should have rested this week, but have been called on to visit the sick and
attend funerals. I am much better today. So much sickness is indeed
very distressing. There are very few families in which some are not or
have not been sick. The whole country shares in the calamity. I saw
this afternoon a gentleman from Rock River who says there is much
more sickness there than here. I hope the people may learn righteous-
ness, but at present the sickness is so extensive that little else can be
thought of than the care of the sick. I cannot but hope that as cold
weather is setting in health will return. I feel that I cannot be too thank-
ful for that kind Providence that has watched over and sustained me
while sickness and death visited so many. How loud the admonition to
work while it is day for night cometh when no man can work

You will be amazed when I tell you that the last of my written ser-
mons is number 24, and two years in the vicinity ! .... I had letters this

364 ANNALS OF IOWA

evening from New York from mj father and brother, and Sister Mary
which speak of Mr. Bhackford of Burlington who heard of our matters
in Charlestown. He was on his way West. He was from Portsmouth,
N. H., and is probably acquainted with some of jour friends. He spoke
of mr good fortune in the highest terms. Mr. 8. was sent to collect
funds in aid of the church in Burlington. He raised $i50.00 in drive for
the church. An excellent man.

The sickness of the country is hindering every kind of labor. Our
bricks are just burned, but it is now so late that it is found we shall
not be able to start our building this fall. I have engaged to have me a
study built for about $135 — 14 feet by 22 — nine feet high room. It is
uncertain about my leaving here and in case I should I think I could
sell it without loss. I have a very pleasant location. If we remain
here, I shall build a brick house in front of it next spring, and this may
serve as a kitchen

Some of my friends want me to go East. But I have never allowed
myself to think in earnest of the matter. My father in his last expresses
the wish that in a year or two I would think of settling in the East. He
has always wanted me to feel young, telling me that I should not be in
my prime till I was past thirty, and that I ought not to have much before
that age. You will not indulge the thought, my dear, that I came West
from any [desire] for the privileges of cultivated society. I deem it as
sacred a trust to guard well the temples which the fathers founded as
to lay in regions beyond the foundations of society. The work in both

places demands the best men. I desire to be the child of Providence

Ever yours, Wm. Salter.

[Dubuque. October 13, 1845.]
How are you this early Monday morning, October 13, 1845, . . . . f
Now I have my pen in the study corner of Mr. HolbrookV^ sitting

room I cAme here from home on Saturday, a very raw and chilly

day, got some cold which was a poor preparation for preaching yester-
day. Preached to a congregation of seventy-five in the Baptist meeting
house. The Congregational Church is getting along very well with their
house, will have it finished in December. Mr. Holbrook has had to [plan]
its erection and attended to almost everything about it. Ladies in Park
Street Church, Boston, and in Hartford Church are sending out boxes
of articles to be sold at a fair this winter for the benefit of the house.
The Ladies here have also a society to sew for the same object, of which
Mrs. Holbrook has the superintendence. She, by the way, I may say, is
a native of Farrington County, but has lived several years in Jackson-
ville, Illinois. Is a good housekeeper. On my arrival here, I heard
that Brother Turner has had a bilious attack. I am only now waiting
for clear weather to go out and see him. The church here is small for
so large a place, there being about 2,000 population here, only 50 mem-

32 Rev. John C. Holbrook, Vid. Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vols. I, p. 527 ;
VII, pp. 594, 602-«04.

WILLIAM SALTEB'8 LETTERS 365

bers. The Methodist church has now the most wealth and largest mem-
bers of any Protestant sociotj. ....

Last week we had at Andrew the annual meeting of our country Bible
Society during the session of court. You would have laughed to have
seen me lodged in a log cabin with some twenty persons, some few on
beds and many on the floor. But the good landlady gave me the best
bed in company with an old gentleman from Delaware, formerly an
Indian agent in Illinois. He had been at one time a prisoner among the
Indians and expecting to be shot, but was rescued by a friendly tribe.
Our Bible Society is small and but a few take any interest in it.

One of the old settlers has just been in to see me. He was here
18 years ago when nothing but grass and bush were here, where as he says,
"are now four story brick buildings and back in the country is a
four story mill." He is an old miner. If, he says, this place be so
changed in thirteen years, what will it be in a century? ....

Ever yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. October 16,

1845.
Good evening, Mary:

.... My last left me on the eve of going to Cascade. I was in hopes
it had cleared up, but was disappointed and rode twelve miles in the
rain. I was in a buggy and tolerably well protected so that I suffered
nothing serious. I stopped at a good woman's on the road, a member
of brother Turner's church who begged so hard to tarry over night (I
stopped to warm), but I could not. I found Brother Turner better

though weak

Wm. Salter.

Davenport, Iowa. October
24, 1845.
My dear Mary:

How do you like this pleasant Indian summer? It is just two years
ago since I landed in Iowa. May I not say hitherto hath the Lord
helped me. I am reminded of a walk I took two years ago tliis evening
up the bank of the Mississippi at Burlington in company with Brother
Turner. We got into a retired place and leaning against a prostrate tree,
united in prayer to God, giving up ourselves to the direction of his
Providence, and asking, Lord, what wilt thou have us to do? Verily,
I have been led in a way that I knew not, may I not indulge the hope
that it has been of the Lord.

Here am I this morning in the home of Brother Prescott, an excellent
colporteur of the American Tract Society, who is laboring in this region.
His wife is an active intelligent woman and useful Christian. Brother
Hill and wife are also here. Mrs. Hill is a daughter of Deacon Hyde of
Bath, Maine, an enthusiastic, cheerful, contented, affectionate spirit,
thinks the world of Iowa and of her fleld in Clayton County. She says

366 ANNALS OP IOWA

she has no desire to go back to New England except to see her father

and mother We have had a tolerably interesting association, but

owing to the absence of Brother Adams, who has not yet retorned, the
ministers here, things have been more at loose ends than would other-
wise be the case. The only two subjects of interest that have been
discussed were those of a union with Presb3rteriani8m, and Education.
Brother Bobbins had not prepared his paper on fellowship with slave-
holders on account of sickness in his family and congregation and he
was excused until the next meeting.

Last Monday night Brother Turner and wife arrived at Maquoketa.
They tarried the night which I enjoyed very much with them. Mrs. T.

was very happy at being introduced to your daguerreotype Monday

we rode here, 40 miles, most of the way over burnt prairie, rather a
dismal prospect. No town on the Mississippi is more handsomely situ-
ated than Davenport. It has a population of 900, but they are divided
into all the different sects. The Congregational church is small, although
it has some excellent members. The church [has] but little character
in the community. It would seem strange to you to be in a place where
Methodists and Campbellites, Bomanists, were the leading sects. Bev.
J. A. Beed, lately appointed missionary agent of Iowa, has just taken
up his residence here. He was a native of New Windsor and a New
Haven student. Conn. He has been for a number of years in the West,
was formerly at Warsaw, Illinois, and last at Fairfield, Iowa. In rela-
tion to Burlington he says that last summer Brother Hutchinson's health
being very poor, he was advised by Brothers Asa Turner and Lane to
give up that field, and in that case, those brethren proposed that I should
be sent for, and Brother Turner corresponded with Brother Badger on
the subject, who recommended it. But, Brother Hutchinson's health
being now very much better, so that he says he feels as well as ever he
has, he has renewed his labors with a prospect of continuing them.
Brother Reed, however, says that he thinks that though Brother Hutcliin-
son may remain this winter, then he 'will not stay much longer. In
this state of things I think that we ought to disburse our minds of all
apprehension or concern on that subject. I feel very happy that I have
never opened my mouth on this subject, so that any of my brethren
could suppose that I was asking great things for myself. What a de-
lightful consciousness is that of having the feeling of Psalms 131:1.^
.... When I see how comparatively little the brethren on the river towns
are doing, I cannot but think that in usefulness I may not be behind
them and indeed that my own field provides well in comparison with

theirs I am going as far as Dewitt today to spend the night

with Brother Emerson. He has been suffering dreadfully from the ague
and is now thin as a shadow. Some of the brethren are thinking they
will have a joke with Brother Alden about his house if he comes single
handed. The Association appointed the first Wednesday of December

33 Psalms 181:1. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty:
nelthor do I exorcise myself in great matters, or In things too high for mo.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 367

a day of fasting and prayer in view of the superview of Divine Influ-
ence. We adjourned to meet at Tipton the first Monday in May.

.... Mr. Hill is building a house, 26 by 38, which will cost him
300 dollars. A part of it is finished and they are living in it. I have

taken the plan All the members of the Association report that their

labors have been greatly interrupted by sickness. It is now ten o'clock,
a boat has arrived on which Mr. and Mrs. Hill are going up the river,

and Brother Emerson is getting ready for riding home I preached

here last week of First Corinthians, 14 chapter, in doctrine: that the
New Testament does not give us a definite and full form of church
policy and that God requires wisdom and discretion at our hands in
managing our church affairs, all things must be done in order, but
wisdom is needed and profitable to direct in what order. Sermons were
also preached on the nature and advantages of revivals by Brother Rob-
bins. Reasons why we should not be ashamed of the Gospel by Mr.
Hitchcock of Moline, Illinois — with cliaracter and conduct and testimony
of witnesses of God on the text: **Ye are my witnesses" by Brother Hill.

Ever yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. October 31, 1845.
My dearest Mary:

.... This has been like most other days in the West, a mixed day
with me. There is no dull uniformity here. I arose about morning
from my bed on the floor, having resigned my room last night to a
gentleman and his wife from Prairie du Chien. I read from 2nd. Hebrews

of Paul on Mars Hill After breakfast .... I got into my study

and notwithstanding that the children have been very noisy and a few
interruptions .... I read an interesting lesson in my Greek Harmony
of the Gospels and wrote about the third of a sermon, when 4 o'clock
called me to an adjourned meeting of my church, at which the resig-
nation of one of my elders was accepted, the other was excommunicated
from the church, and it was voted that we hereafter be governed ac-
cording to the usages of the Congregational Church. This is the second
excommunication from the Church, both of the offending members being
somewhat prominent citizens in the neighborhood and being the only
ones in the church who subscri)>ed ten dollars towards my support. I have
had a severe trial with these men. They have been great stumbling blocks
to the advancement of religion. Both united with the church by letter
from other churches. I trust and believe the Lord will overrule it for
good. After this meeting came on supper and chopping a little

wood

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, November 8, 1845.
My Mary:

I have just got home from a curious week's work I told you

in my last that Dr. Reed was to spend the last Sabbath with me. He

368 ANNALS OP IOWA

preached to a house full. We now meet in a private house and as I
looked upon the various substitutes for seats which the people occupied,
I could not but think of Paul and his companions at Melite, who escaped
from the wreck ''some on boards and some on broken pieces of the
ships." Monday morning I rode to the eastern part of the country with
Brother Reed to explain the destitution or rather to make him ac-
quainted with them. We visited a number of scattered families who
were sorry that Mr. Smith had left them no church [t] in the wilder-
ness and who were anxious to hear one sent among them to break the
bread of life. Tuesday p. m. we rode into Rellevue where I had previ-
ously sent in an appointment for Brother Reed to preach. Who do
you think was the first man I met? Brother Alden. Even so. I may
have mentioned that I promised to go sometime or other on a journey
to Wisconsin with him, and he had taken that time for the business. We
found an awful state of stupor as to the interests of religion in that
town. There was but a dozen to meeting. Brother Alden 's plans [made]
an entire change in my .arrangement for the work, so that the next
morning we crossed the river, rode to Galena, where we had a very pleas-
ant call in the family of Mr. Kent.

.... That p. m. we rode to Hard Scrubble, W. T., and spent the
night with Mrs. Curtis. She has two sons in the ministry at Adrian

and Ann Arbor, Michigan We learned here that we were only

eight miles from New Diggings, so the next morning we rode thither
and found Brother Lewis on the eve of going to attend a funeral, whither
we accompanied him. There were almost 50 or 60 graves in the burying

ground. After this service, we had a very delightful talk [In the]

p. m. we rode to Platte vi lie within a few miles of the Platte Mounds
and described in the Home Missionary for October. Last year I rode
over them several times, or rather around them. They present a singular
and wonderful appearance. We spent the night at D. J. W. Clark's who,
as we wanted to see Magoun, hunted him up and brought in also Miss
Johnson and two Miss Buels. We had a piano and good music which

made the evening pass off very pleasantly I came home on the

stage (a very black chilly day)

Your own. Wm. Salter.

Br. Salter's Study. November
12, 1845.
[The following description of William Salter's study in Maquoketa
is extracted from a note written to Miss Mackintire by Rev. E. Alden, Jr.,
a friend of Salter's and Miss Mackintire 's. Rev Salt^jr then resumes the
letter.]

.... I must ask you to imagine a bedstead, light stand, trunks, book-
case, stove, and a cou])le of chairs, crowded together into an unfinished
apartment a trifle over 6 by 10 feet. You will readily suppose that Br.

Salter and I are placed in close proximity

Yours sincerely,

E. Alden, Jr.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTEBS 369

[Here Rev. Salter takes up the writing.]

Friday evening. November 14.

.... I don 't know as I have told yon that I have an air tight stove.
It is a common new sheet iron one and heats and cools quickly, but fire-
wood is cheap here The health of the country is much improved,

although there are many cases of ague yet, generally due to exposure
and carelessness I am ecclesiastically connected with the Congre-
gational Association of Northern Iowa, as you will see by the Congre-
gational Almanac, so that it is perfectly proper to call me a Congrega-
tionalist, and I very much prefer tliat connection to belonging to either

the Old or the New School Presbytery in Iowa In Iowa the Old

School body have been very unfortunate in having as their leaders two
very bigoted and sectarian ministers who are very jealous of the spread
of Congregationalism, and who even misrepresent our character, and it
is to be feared take pains so to do

You know fully about my pecuniary circumstances. I have nothing
but a salary of 200 dollars a year. I have a library wliich cost me $150,
and a horse. And when my study is built and paid for, I shall have that

and perhaps $100 on hand

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. November 28, 1845.
[Dear Mary:]

.... Oh, if we had such settlers as New England first had, we might
hope that this wilderness world would bud and blossom. But alas, the
wicked and the worldly and the backsliders are the main settlers of this
country, and what can be expected unless God remarkably interposes but
much desolation? Not only must ministers and teachers but pious mer-
chants, farmers and mechanics must come here ^^dth the main intent of
doing good. And those that take care of the Lord's cause. He will take
care of. I preached a Thanksgiving sermon this week to a very small
congregation, a written sermon however. Most of the people were in
their fields husking their corn. I have a written sermon for tomorrow
morning, though it was written six months ago. I Iiave been very much
disappointed in not having my study finished. Tliis is indeed the West,
Only think it is not yet covered. I think I have learned this much, how-
ever, to wit — to go to work about building my house the first thing in
the spring and to sec that it is in a fair way before June. In conse-
quence of a man getting intoxicated while burning a lime kiln, his lime
proved a failure and our selioolhouse is in status quo, the bricks being
on the ground instead of in the wall. When I have many things to vex

my patience, I bear up the best way I can

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. December 3, 1845.
My dear Mary:

This day has been observed in my church here as one of humiliation

370 ANNALS OP IOWA

and fasting by recommendation of oar Association in view of the low
state of religion. I preached a written sermon .... from Luke 5:35,®*
adapted to this longitude and as you may very well suppose in no wise
suited to Eastern Churches Monday and Tuesday afternoon I de-
voted to visiting. Shall I introduce the people to youf Here is Mrs.
Macloy in a small disagreeable house by the side of a millpond just re-
covering from an attack of inflammation upon the lungs. She is a good
woman, has experienced a reverse of fortune and passed through the
furnace. She was of the Bellows family at Walpole, N. H. Mr. M.
failed several years ago, **he took to drink/' and though he has made
several temporary reformations, and now only once in a while uses the
poison, his character is much injured. He was excommunicated from
the church last spring. He does business in a slovenly way, so that his
family suffer. Mrs. M. returned this fall from a visit to New Hampshire.
She seemed much pleased with my visit and urged me to call as often
as I could. She has three daughters (young girls) who are in desperate
need of our Academy. I next called on Mrs. Marshall, a widow in a
very uncomfortable cabin. She has four little children. Is of an ex-
tremely covetous disposition, so that though she has means enough to
make herself comfortable, yet it seems that she would rather want than
part with her money. Going % of a mile down a "hollow," I came
to another poverty-stricken cabin and on knocking and pulling the string
I entered the habitation of a Virginian who for forty years has been
moving west with the West. I found the old lady in one corner, suffer-
ing from ague and from a severe cough. She has seemed to be declining
for some time, though she has lived all her days in ignorance, she pro-
fesses a hope in the mercy of God, that she may find beyond the grave
a more comfortable world than this. On another bed were two young
men, one afflicted with the ague, and the other with an inflammation
of the kidney. I gave what instruction I could, and rode on a mile
to visit another family where sickness and death had been this fall.
At one time the whole family had the ague. Mr. Haines had been a
Christian in the East (New Hampshire) but has backslided in this
country. He hopes however that his affliction has been sanctified to him,
and now expresses self-determination to serve the Lord. Another family
in which I visited is a young woman who for many years has been con-
fined most of the time to her bed from .... a state of ague You

may ask if I like pastoral visiting. I may reply that I like it as a
matter of duty, and as enabling me to keep a conscience void of offense
toward God and men. And after performing it, I come back to my
books with a keen relief and I trust with some thankfulness in my heart
that God has ordered my birth and education in so much more favorable
circumstances than are those of the mass of men. I am lead to feel a
deeper interest in the improvement of the social conditions of the poor.
I am sure this is one of the great problems

34 Luke r» :3r>. But tho days will come, whon the bridegroom shall be taken
away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTEES 371

Friday evening.

I have just returned from fulfilling an appointment at an embryo
\nllage called because of contention there. Had a small room of 30
people who gave good attention. I had ''freedom" in extemporaneous
discourse, presenting some of the reasons for our being Christians (1 Peter
3:18).^ I was urged to come again, but thought it not best to leave
an appointment. The place is two miles east on the river Maquoketa,
and sometimes called Bridgeport, from there being a bridge there. In
the neighborhood is a Mr. Chandler who was one of the Canada rebels
who was sentenced to be hung. At the intercession of a daughter his
sentence was commuted to banishment to Van Diemen's land whence
he made his escape some three years ago. I came down by moonlight.
I ride horseback. I hope to buy a buggy next fall. The roads have
been beautiful this fall, and in riding I have often thought how much

I should enjoy your company They are putting shingles upon my

study today. It is very cold work

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. December 19, 1845.
[Dear Mary:]

.... It has been exceedingly cold for four weeks and having made
my calculations for being in my study a month ago, I am poorly ac-
commodated as I now am. I am expecting, however, to have my study
plastered the first mild day, intending to have only one .... eoat put
on this winter, and I shall soon be better off. I shall ride tomorrow
to Mr. Young's (10 miles) and after preaching on Sabbath at Andrew
and Dr. Cotton's and visiting a little, expect to spend Christmas with
Brother Holbrook (at which time his church hold a fair) when I hope
to meet Brother Turner and wife. I shall be home again last of next

week

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Sanctum Sanctorum
Maquoketa, Iowa. December
27, 1845.
[Dear Mary:]

.... I must tell you a short history of a regular Western week's
life. Last Saturday afternoon and evening I rode to Br. Young's, I had
some business with him as one of the Committee of the Andrew Church
to circulate a subscription for my support. He was from Union Co.

Penn., where the antislavery fever there runs high So we talked

till midnight on the great subject. [On] Sabbath I had but a small
congregation at Andrew and Deacon Cotton's. The whole community
is filled up with families who are Universalists or ignorant persons who

3« I Peter 3 :18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for
the unjust, that he might bring ns to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened ^y the Spirit.

372 ANNALS OF IOWA

have never been brought up to respect the Sabbath, or attend pnblie
worship. .... Monday and Tuesday I visited a number of families
six or eight miles west of Deacon Cotton's. Found one old settler whose
history is quite a romantic one. Dixon by name, a native of Virginia,
lived in St. Louis or thereabouts during the last war. He has traveled
five or six times from Illinois to the Silkink [f]*^ settlement on the
Upper Bed River which empties into Hudson Bay, driving cattle a great
portion of the way. He has traveled on the high ridge which divides
the streams flowing into the Mississippi from those flowing into the
Missouri. He is an intelligent, gentlemanly man. Tuesday evening I
preached to a cabin full in which I spent the night, where [I] found a

Mr. Bradley of family from Boston this last summer Wednesday

I rode into Dubuque, walking occasionally however (to tell the truth)
of getting my feet warm. I purchased some bedding, and had a pleas-
ant evening at the Ladies' Fair. What, however, I enjoyed most of
all was a good talk with Jane. Br. Turner stopped to preach on the

road and could not come in until Thursday

Tours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. January

I, 1846.
A happy New Year, my dear Mary. Only think of it, this is 1846.
I trust you are well and have a heart to praise the name of the Lord.
If 80, let us unite in that inimitable doxology, "praise Ood from whom
all blessings flow." .... I never could write poetry and it is several
years since I made a rhymn, but as I am in the West and this is
New Year's the following just popped in my head:

Five moons apart, my chosen friend;

And Love the other five will end.

Then let us meet no more to part.

And liand with hand, and heart with heart,

We'll join ourselves as long as life

To be your Imsband and my wife.
What think you, dear, of this proposal?
Please let me know in rhymn or prosal.

After a severely cold December the weather has moderated a little
and today has IxHin an old-fashioned rainstorm. The rain comes pit-pat
upon my roof. The wind is rising and with every heavy gust my house
shakes a little. It was so late in the season I could not get the under-
pinning laid, 80 that the house stands on stone only at the corners

With my thick boots'*^ I tramped down to Mr. Shaw's to supper (about

36 Dixon and McKniKht drove cattle from Pittsburgh, Van Buren County,
Iowa, to the Selkirk settlements, afterwards called Pembina, the first town on
the Red Klver of the North after it crosses into Canada. The Dixon and
McKnight trail, 1822, is shown in a map owned by the Wisconsin Historical
Society. The rilstorlcal. Memorial, and Art Department of Iowa has a copy of
that portion of the map r<>latlng to the trail In Iowa.

37 On NovemlxT 12, 1844, he purchased the following Items: overcoat $5:
shut-in, air-tight stove $5; fur cap $'A : a pair of boots $2.37 V^ ; and on De-
ceml>er 3 a pair of leggings costing $1.00. A leghorn hat, purchased June 23,
1845. cost $2.50.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 373

^ mile) and back again. The road has become very muddy. I bor-
rowed a lantern to light my self back again to bed. .... My study
is delightfully situated on high ground overlooking the embryo village,
two thirds of a mile north is the Maquoketa and its timber.^ South
stretches off the boundless prairies, west is a beautiful farming country,
there being beautiful groves at a mile distance in that direction. East
on the other side of the road is the five acres belonging to the Academy,
on the highest point of land in which is the site for the institution,
being the highest point of land in the neighborhood, and still farther
cast, a little north, is No. 7 Union street. The road in front of the
house is the stage road from Dubuque to Davenport. My study door is

some 80 feet from the road

Tours, Wm. Salter.

[Maquoketa.] Saturday afternoon
January 10, 1846.
My dearest one:

How do you this beautiful, clear, comfortably cold weather! . • . •
Well, my dear, this has been a busy week with me. Last Sabbath I
had a congregation of over fifty at Andrew. On Monday I visited and
preached seven miles west of Deacon Cotton's, [and] in the evening Br.
Turner came, and I was very glad to see him. He is sitting by me.
We have just returned from preaching. He gave a good written sermon
on the character of Balaam. Tuesday of this week I visited several
schools, and returned here in the evening. Wednesday was pretty much
devoted to reading up newspapers etc. In the evening we had an inter-
esting Temperance meeting, a good wTitten address from our school-
master, and good singing, that is, good for this country. Some twenty
signed the pledge and among these one who had been at times in the
habit of drinking excessively. Thursday and Friday I expected Br.
Turner here but as he did not come, I had to preach those evenings and
visit some during the day. Yesterday afternoon we had a church meet-
ing and seven united with us by letter. I had hoped there would have
been some interest among the people at this time, but they are generally
stupid though the attendance in meeting has been pretty good and there
is a better state of feeling in the church than there lias been for some
time. There will be no difficulty in getting locks on our doors. I have
one on this, but the cabins of the people are often without them.

I shall want to hear Father's lectures on economy, but from your
last letter, for I have been so fortunate (here I left off to have a talk
with Br. T[urner] about our house, the privations of the missionary etc.)
as to have received yours of 20th. Dec. [on] the 7th. inst., I know not

38 Rev. Salter built bis study on the two acres of land be owned. Mr. Shaw
had given blm an acre and he had purchased an adjoining acre for $25. The
house cost 1125.00, and its underpinning $25. He paid $63.00 for digging and
welling the well, and $18.21 for lining it with 5025 bricks. The cedar fence
posts cost $55, and he paid Mr. Shaw fifty cents to set out two maple trees.
His taxes for 184^-7 were $6.20, and he figured the total cost to be $318.46.

374 ANNALS OP IOWA

but I must talk to liim on the same subject, for a house that cost 1,000
dollars will make many eyes stare in so new a country, and 500 dollars
of furniture will give some the impression that we are very proud. This
reminds me of the inquiry of a man who got me some wood and was
in to see me this week. As he looked at my small library, [he said],
"Why, you keep a great bookstore, don't youf" To a reasonable ex-
tent we must not expose ourselves to the prejudices of the x>eople. As
you say, wo want comforts. Extravagence is bad taste and it is bad
policy. And yet for the Far West I am comparatively well off in having
a few families who having themselves been used to comfortable circum-
stances elsewhere, will not be surprised or prejudiced against us. And
this place, I think, is destined to improve so rapidly that we shall have
many good families in the neighborhood. There are nine families living
in what is called [the] town. The country around is settled in every
direction by a rapidly increasing population. A valuable mill privilege
on the South Fork of Maquoketa, Mt mile from town, is now being im-
proved. I think that in case of building as you propose, if we should want
to sell immediately wo might find difficulty in obtaining a purchase, but
in a few years we should probably be able to sell to some advantage.
In this state of things, as you might very well suppose, I feel some

delicacy about going ahead You will think it strange that I have

not had time this week to read Milton, but I will do so tonight.

There are over 3,000 people in this county. It is universally ad-
mitted to be the next best county after Linn in northern Iowa for

agricultural purposes. Andrew contains some fourteen families

I have to visit a great deal more than I like. I would much rather be
in my study, but the work, though humble, is great. Unless we can
outwit, outtalk, and outpush Methodists, sectarianists, and deists. Con-
gregationalists can't live, much less flourish here. Why, a man told
Br. Turner that he never heard of a Congregationalist church before.
He really thought Br. Turner was starting some new sect, and when Br.
Turner told him there were Congregational churches in New England

over 200 years old, he looked up, in utter amazement I ride

to Andrew horseback and preached in the uncomfortable log court-
house

[Yours, Wm. Salter]

Maquoketa, Iowa. January 23, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... Last Saturday at Andrew I found a letter from Burlington,

giving a sad account of things there. I wish I could read it to you

Br. Hutchinson's health has failed again, so that he has not preached
since the middle of last month. The letter says, **Mr. H[utchinson]
has signified his wish not to be considered any longer as our minister,
nor can we indulge the hope that he will ever preach again." How
hard to have a minister out in this wilderness laid aside. Br. H. is
very much beloved by his brethren here. How disturbing it must

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS 375

be to Mrs. H. I am not acquainted with her, but report gives her a
high character. Mj letter is from Mr. Albert Shackford,^ formerly
from Portsmouth, N. H. He has a sister in Cambridge (Mrs. Stacey,
I believe) who used to be a fine girl. He says, ** truth is trodden in
the dust and orthodoxy is a reproach in Burlington." His brother
(C. C. Shackford) who was formerly settled near Boston and at whose
installation Mr. Theodore Parker preached his famous sermou which
was of the first development of modern Unitarianism, preached to a
"moral and spiritual reform society," which, however, vulgarly goes
under the name of the ** India Rubber and Free and Easy Church."
He is popular and has a large congregation from the very men who
ought to be under orthodox preaching. Br. Hutchinson's congregation
is represented as scattered and liis "little church discouraged." The
letter invites me to "come to Burlington, and see its condition, and
ascertain if there I could not be more widely useful than anywhere
else in Iowa. ". . . . I have sought wisdom from above. I am sure I have

no desire to go to Burlington unless it is plainly the Lord's will

Yet the Lord knoweth what is best. I have committed the matter to
Him, and trust I shall never ask any other question than, "Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do?" I had engaged to preach for Br. Turner
the third Sabbath in February, so that I cannot leave here until the
18th of that month, when I propose to go in the stage to Burlington,
as I have WTitten Mr. Shackford. I shall probably spend two Sabbaths

there, leaving to return here the 2nd. of March I should say that

I desired Mr. Shackford to write me if that time would be agreeable
to the Church for mc to visit them, and I shall probably hear by the
2nd of February Burlington is, I know, a hard place. My ener-
gies will be far more taxed than they have been — but in those things
I rejoice that the power of Christ may abound in me. But it ia strange
that just at this time as I have at last got fixed for study, and as I

am on the eve of arranging to build, this invitation should come

You will want me to be where the Lord would have me. If the Lord
makes the way plain, I shall go cheerfully and gladly. We should find
much more society there, and if I can be adapted to the state of
things there and reach the folks that we must reach in order to effect
much, it will be a grand field of usefulness, but the Church must be
united, and they must want me for their pastor (as I told Mr. Badger

in New York last summer)

We have beautiful winter weather this month. No snow of any ac-
count, not enough for sleighing. Happiness depends upon the mind, not
upon circumstances. People here are very poor, but as happy as any
I ever met with. Many have their own joys. A crop of the finest of
the wheat makes them as happy as a successful year's business pleases
the Milk street merchants I have written this week a sermon, "Sin

39 The complete story of this correspondi'nce, together with the letters, may
be found in my article, "Notes on the Salter-Shackford Correspondence" in
ANNALS or Iowa, Third Series, Voi. XVIII, No. 0, pp. 412-410.

376 ANNALS OF IOWA

and Its Consequences," Romans 5:12,^<^ and laid it away We

have no Sabbath school in the winter. Deacon Ck>tton was superin-
tendent at Andrew, and Mr. Fletcher [f] here in the summer. Good
men, but not competent. I have but few good teachers.

Saturday night. Jan. 24.

.... My dear come and hear me tomorrow. Take a scat on that hard
bench. Wo have no pews in this country. In the p. m. I will tell you
of the evils of covetousness in making a man (1) discontented (2) envious
(3) of a grasping disposition (4) leading him to fraud and crime (5) or
perhaps engendering a miserable disposition (6) in being fatal to the
existence of religion as (a) it prevents conscience (b) is forbidden in
the church (c) is excluded from Heaven — ^the application, I don't know
what it will be, for I have yet to write that. I believe my sermons
are on no particular model — I aim at variety of style, and have not
been crowded to be an3rthing else than ** Preacher" Salter, as is the
universal title of the clergy in this country. By the way, that word
lets you into the knowledge of a minister's business here. He must
preach. If he can't do that, this is no place for him. Br. Holbrook
has sent me an invitation to his dedication next Thursday. I shall
probably go if the weather is good, in which case I will write you

from Dubuque on Friday

Your affectionate,

Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, Iowa. Feb. 17, 1846.
My very dear Mary:

The Antislavery folks have sent me their missionary paper and as
it is part of my religion to read all sides and then think for myself,
I will give you a thought

Wednesday p. m.

I returned Monday after an interesting time at Cascade where I
exceedingly enjoyed a visit with Br. [Edwin B.] T[urner] and had a
congregation of 100 on the Sabbath. I preached six times, some seemed
to be affected. Br. T. has some difRculty in his church from the preju-
dices from an Associate Reformed Presbyterian who objects to the
singing by tho choir, and to the principle of total abstinence and to
all new manners. Br. T. has done a great work in Cascade, gathered a
church in the midst of much opposition and out of the most unprofitable
material You will be pleased to hear that we have very comfort-
able weather now. The roads are in good order and I am expecting a
tolerably pleasant, though long and lonely, ride to Burlington

Monday morning, February 23. Bloomington, Iowa.

.... Shall I tell you about my journey! I left home as I had ar-
ranged on Thursday. The weather became cold and before noon a

*o Romans 5 :12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LBTTEBS 377

regular Yankee snowBtorm from the northeast came down upon me.
I wrapped myself as well as could be in blankets of buffalo (being in an
open wagon) and reached Br. Adams at Davenport before night. I
then found Br. Emerson of DoWitt and enjoyed a very pleasant evening.
Davenport is a favorite place of many of my brethren of the East of
our college. The next day I came in on an open sleigh to this place
where I expected to have met the Burlington stage, but it did not come
through, not being able to get over the Iowa River, it is supposed, in
consequence of the running ice. So I am here. I am happy the Lord
ordered it so, as Brs. Bobbins and Alden went to Burlington to see
Br. Hutchinson last week and were there to supply yesterday. It is
also supposed that Br. Beed is there. The Congregational church has a
now house here, built mainly by themselves at a cost of $800. I had
a congregation of about 100 yesterday who gave good attention.^^ I
was requested to preach again this evening.^^ tiiq Burlington stage is
expected up today. If it comes, I shall leave in it tomorrow at 3 a. m.
Br. Hutchinson is said to be failing very fast. Br. Bobbins has a pleas-
ant church hero, a number of good families in it, but there is unhappily
an Old School Church here dividing those who ought to be one.

Your rhymns, my dear, are very good,
And if I could, I surely would
Beply to you in rhymn again
And bless you for your curious strain.
But ah this dull and wintry day.
Are slow to help a rhymnster's lays.
The snow and ice and frozen ground
Afford a dreary prospect round;
Oh soar, my muse, to nobler things!
And lend me, hope, thy blessed wings!
Whilst I may see next June at hand
And Mary; Mary's heart, Mary's hand
Fast bound with mine, in holy love.
With raptuous joy like that above.
Then hearts, ye lingering months away
And brings that bright and blessed day.

The village of Maquoketa is south from my house. Houses are scat-
tered on the prairies Our log schoolhouse is near Mr. Shaw's on

the other side of the road. Now don't think of such a village as you

ever saw, but only of a few poor houses near one another

This place is 60 miles from Burlington. If I get there this week, unless

strongly urged, I shall return next week and be home March 5

Ever yours,

Wm. Salter.

41 Deuteronomy 28 :1. And It shall come to pass if thou shall hearken dili-
gently unto the voice of the Lord thv God, to observe and to do all his com-
mandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set
thee on high above all nations of the earth.

Romans 5 :12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

42 Psalms $)0 :0. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath ; wc siK'ud
our years as a tale that is told.

378 ANNALS OF IOWA

Burlingfton, Iowa. February

28, 1846.
My very dear Mary :

.... This has been a sad week, but chastening and subdueing are
the lessons of life. I mailed a letter to you at Bloomington the first
of the week. On Tuesday at ^ [past] 2 a. m., I took the stage for
this place, and had a most cheerless and cold ride.^^ Just after leaving
Bloomington, we crossed Muscatine Island, a distance of 12 miles with-
out a house. I made out to live with the aid of a Buffalo [robe] and
with getting out, running, until we stopped at a cabin to warm. We
went right in before day, the folks were abed. On reaching the Iowa
River, we found it had closed the night before. It seemed problematical
about the safety of crossing, but the driver unhitched his horses, led
them, one at a time, others drew the wagon over. Sixteen miles from

here our forward axle broke We arrived about 7 p. m. I found

Mr. Hutchinson much farther gone than I had anticipated. He is
very much emaciated, nothing but skin and bones. I found Brs. Beed,
Bobbins, and Aldcn with him who had assisted him in arranging his
temporal affairs. His physicians and friends and liimself think him
in the lowest stage of consumption. But there are some singular symp-
toms in liis case. He has labored hard to satisfy the demands of his

people and worn himself out in their ser\dce O what a change in

him from 1843 when we came to Iowa. He was apparently in robust
health and had the most flattering prospect of usefulness. Now he is

a skeleton on the verge of the grave Since I have been here my

time has been mainly engaged in taking care of Br. H. His equa-
nimity and cheerfulness are truly wonderful and interesting. Mrs. H.
is very much beloved and esteemed here and exerts a commanding in-
fluence even over those ladies who belong to the India Eubber Church.
They have waited upon her with the most unwearied assiduity [Mrs.
Hutchinson's child having been prematurely born.] Her purpose is, I
understand, in case of Br. H's removal by death to remain here and
ciiga^e ill teaching. I think she has been a teacher in the Auton [?]
Seminary, Mass. She is a lady of dignified manners and winning address.

I am again reminded by these things of the uncertainty of all that
may be before us

Br. Reed and the other brotliers left for their homes on Wednesday.
Br. Ripley of Bentonsport preached here a short time ago with great
acceptance to the people. I am enjoying the hospitality of Mr. and

Mrs. Starr,** formerly of New York, where I was acquainted with him
though more intimately with the rest of his father's family (Mr. Charles
Starr). Mrs. Starr was from Farmington, Ct., and is a very pleasant
lady.

43 The stage fare from Bloomington was $5.75, and Rev. Salter records his
cxi)en8es on the road as $2.25.

44 U. W. Starr.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTERS 379

I have not had opportunity to become acquainted here enough to
tell you of the state of things. Mr. C. C. Shackford has got hold of
that class of people who ought to be under the influence of evangelical
preaching and I have no reason to think that I could win them from
him. They have shown this attachment to him by offering him a salary
of $500 if he would remain with them, which they will raise among
themselves, while Br. H. has never received but little over $100 from
the people here. The Old School Presbyterian church here is small and
its minister exerting no influence about leaving. They raised, it is said,
$3,000 in the East last summer to build a church, not only where it is
not needed, but where it is doing harm. Let Eastern Cliristians take
care to whom they give funds for the West.

We have very cold weather this week, and the river has closed up.
I shall dread going home on the stage. The Church wants I should
stay two Sabbaths and longer, but unless there be special reason, I
shall leave a week from next Monday. Br. Beed thinks I should do
more good at Maquoketa than I could here in a long course of years;
or any of the Brethren think it advisable that a strong man would be
got here from the East. In this case, unless everything here should

urge my removal, I shall not hesitate to dismiss the subject Br.

Asa Turner's health is poorly. It is feared that he is in consump-
tion

I have visited in a few families here and And them pleasant. Society
here is comparatively formed and cultivated from what it is with us.
.... The Methodists are now holding a protracted meeting here with
much noise and stir, but the interest is confined chiefly to their

people

Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. March
7, 1846.
My dearest Mary:

I have barely time to mention that our dear Brother Hutchinson de-
parted this life at 10 minutes after 3 this afternoon. I sat up with
him the last half of last night. He was very weary, complained much
of pain, but seemed this morning as he had for the two or three days
before. About 12 o'clock an ulcer broke, it is supposed, in his lungs
and he gradually sunk away in an unconscious state until he gently
breathed his last. His funeral is appointed for Wednesday morning,

and we shall send for Br. Bobbins to preach the funeral sermon

I count myself happy in having been able to minister in his last days
to this departed brother. He was a consistent, faithful, and devoted
laborer in the Gospel ministry, and has gone to his reward. He was
regarded as first among his brethren who came to Iowa in 1843 and
was called to occupy a most important post. Beyond a question he wore
liimself out in his efforts to build up the church here. Oh, that his
labors may be a memorial .... and bring down upon us the richest

380 ANNALS OF IOWA

blesflings of Christ's Kingdom You will ezctuie me for not writing

more now as I have many arrangements for Br. H's funeral to make.
I still walk in darkness as to my future prospects, but looking up
I find all light. I cannot think I "take" with the i>eople as a whole.
I try to wish nothing but that the will of God be done. Whether I
shall go home next week is now uncertain. The ice is going out of

the river, and in case steamboats come up, I may go up in one

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Tuesday afternoon. March 10, 1846.
Burlington, Iowa.
My very dear Mary :

I was obliged to write you a few very hasty lines last week in the
midst of duties devolved upon me by Br. Hutchinson's death. I had a

pleasant Sabbath, preached in the morning from Psalms 90: 9,^^ and
concluded with a brief reference to the late sad event. In the after-
noon I preached from I Corinthians 15:3.^* Let me take you to the place
of meeting. Let us go down the street (Columbia) which runs to the
river and a few doors from Water street, which is the river street [now
Front street], we enter an old store and find ourselves in the Lord's
house. The seats will accommodate a hundred persons. At one end in the
corner is the desk. The singing is poor. The audience is attentive and
apparently interested. There are a few educated hearers. Mr. Starr
was of the class of 1824 in Tab. [or] College. His wife was brought up

under Dr. Partin's [f] ministry in Farmington, C't

I have been so much taken up with Br. Hutchinson that I have not
become very much acquainted here yet. But I see many things that
would make this a desirable place of residence and that offer some
reason to hope that if God should call me hither, I might be useful in
the ministry. The Church here had a meeting last night, and though I
have no direct or formal information from it, I have been given to
understand that the Church feels united in desiring my services. In
what shape the matter may come up for decision, I know not. We
have left the matter with the Lord, and I truly believe we desire nothing
but to know his will. I remarked to one of the deacons yesterday that
it would perhaps be better for the cause for them to get a minister
from the East, but to this he would by no means consent. Some are
asking, How long I shall want to be gone in the East this summer f

4»Soc footnote 42.

46 I Corinthians 15 :3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

On Sunday, March 1, he preached from John 18 :36 : Jesus answered, Hy
kingdom is not of this worid : if my kingdom were of this world, then would
my servants tight, that I shouid not be delivered to the Jews : but now is my
kingdom not from hence ; and from Romans 16 :8 : Greet Amplias, my l>elovea
In the I^rd.

On Sunday, March 8, he preached from Psalms 90 :9 : For all car days are
passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years as a tale that is told : and
from I Corinthians 15 :3 : For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTEB8 881

And when I reply, "Three months, " they think that won't do I

can't think of anything less, but the cause may require some sacrifice
on our part. Would you let me stay till July, and shall we return in
September. I merely suggest these things now. There is a possibility
that we may be called to meet them. The Church has suffered much
from having Br. Hutchinson away a good deal and sick much of the
time. They want a man that can and will hang on. They are about
going on with the House of Worship. They have a tolerably eligible lot.
The foundation was laid about three years ago. The House is to be
40 by 60 feet. Two men have engaged to go on with the building,
putting up the walls and covering it, and this, it is said, will consume
all the means of the Church. Should I remain here, I shall be in hopes
to awaken interest enough in the community to have it finished this y^ar.
There is wealth enough here to do so, if we can only get hold of it

Br. Bobbins arrived last night and is expected to preach the funeral
sermon tomorrow. Mrs. Hutchinson is comfortable but very weak, and
we feel will not be able to go out to the funeral. Her mind is com-
posed and resigned. By a very kind Providence Mr. Hutchinson's sister
reached here from Springfield, Illinois, the day before he died. It is
hoped that Mrs. H. will remain here and engage in teaching. It is
said that some of her friends in the East were unwilling to have her
come to Iowa.

Boats arrive and depart and do business here on Sunday. The sight
of the first boat that came up the river this season excited the wish to
depart and hasten toyouward. But I must wait,

. . . . C. C. Shackford is going East next month. His sympathies
are not now with the Unitatianism at all. He is rather Swedenborjianist.
Thinks the whole Bible the word of God, and that every verse has a
spiritual meaning. He is an erratic genius. He preaches without pay,
having refunded the salary that they offered him.

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Steamer Lynx on the Mississippi

March 17, 1846.
My dear Mary:

I wrote you a week ago from Burlington. And now I am starting
home that I may hear from you and decide this eventful question, whether
I ought to break up my present relations and settle on the church in
Burlington. The Lord has preciously led me hitherto and though my
visit has been a melancholy one in connection with the death of Br.
Hutchinson, yet I have very much to be thankful for. Last Wednesday
was indeed a sad day. The weather was disagreeable. O, the agony of
Mrs. Hutchinson, as for the last time she gazed on the remains of her
husband. Her afflictions are very severe. She came West contrary to the
wishes of many of her friends, and now how desolate is the loneliness.
She feels that she has nothing to live for. I can only commend her to
the sympathies of a compassionate Saviour, and the mercies of a God of

382 ANNALS OF IOWA

all Peace. It is hoped that she will remain in Burlington, and open a
school there next fall. She was unable to attend the funeral services at
the church where Br. Bobbins gave a hastily prepared discourse on the
fact that this is not our rest from toil, trouble, and disappointment, and
showing that the life of Br. H. was not exempt from the common lot.
He had prepared a brief obituary notice of the departed which will appear
in the Hawk-Eye this week. Brs. Gaylor, Burnham, and myself also took
part in the services. After the assembly at the grave had retired, Br.
Bobbins and myself waited as the narrow house of one of our Brothers
was filled up. At the thought that pressed upon me as I then stood —
soon thus with me, the dust shall return to the earth as it was, the oak
shall send its roots and pierce my mould, and my clay shall be a brother
to the insensible rock and sluggish clod which the rude swain turns with
his hoe and stands upon

I had a pleasant Sabbath. Preached two old sermons written in
Andover.^^ After preaching in the afternoon there was a joint meeting
and Society and a unanimous invitation extended to me to become the
pastor of the Church. This invitation was handed to me yesterday. The
call is about as regular as could be expected in this irregular country.
They desired to give it to me before I left, and so did not wait to circulate
a subscription for me and consequently nothing is said about salary. They
think the A. H. M. S. will grant them $300 and that they can raise $100
or $150. Think you we could live on such a salary f

.... I believe that somehow or other the Lord has given me unusual
favor with the Society in Burlington. At any rate, they profess it and
their hearts are set upon having me as their pastor. We had prayer
meeting nearly every evening last week which were unusually well
attended. There is some interest in a few minds on the subject of

religion Wliile there are many things which make a residence at

Maquoketa desirable — its quiet retirement, its pleasant situation, the
prospects of our getting a comfortable home there and an affectionate
people all (and especially the fact that I have lived among them over
two years and secured an influence in the country) attach me strongly
to that spot. I am very sensible to what I shall lose by leaving there.
But the importance of Burlington, the union of the Church there in call-
ing me, the fact of its society and manners being more congenial to my
early habits and the consideration that the emergencies of the cause
there may serve to develop the father's [?] end has given me to their
highest and most serviceable activity, lead me to think that the call is
of the Lord — ^and if you and the A. H. M. S. and my brothers generally
advise my removal, I shall accept the call. As this seems altogether

4T On Sunday, March 15, he preached from Galatlans 2 : 15-16 : And I went
up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles, but privately to them that were of reputation, lest by
any means I should run, or had run In vain. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised ; and from John 6 :66-G8 :
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter
answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTERS 383

possible, I will presume to request you to write me next at Burlington,
whither if I go, it will be in a few weeks. The Church there has suffered
very much from the failure of Br. H 's health. For a long time his efforts
were of an irregular character, things have become very much scattered,
and there is now no time to be lost. The cause in Burlington will require
an unremitting study and protracted effort in order to make advance-
ment. I can't tell you how sad I feel to think my removal there will
make it desirable that my visit with you this summer be so much shorter

than I had contemplated If I go to Burlington I am in hopes to

obtain board in Mr. Starr's pleasant family **

After waiting all day yesterday for a boat, I went to bed at 10, but
was turned out at 12 with a report of a boat being on hand. So I sent
word to Br. Bobbins, and made haste and reached the river just as the
boat was under way. I detained it till Br. Bobbins and family came
along when we put up steam. The river is now very low, lower, our
Captain says, than he has known it before for 18 years at this time. We
expect to be at Bloomington at noon, and I hope to be at Davenport to-
night where I shall take the stage for home tomorrow.^**

The scenery on the Mississippi is interesting to a stranger, but soon
becomes tedious and dull. Spring has as yet developed on some sunny
slopes, and few blades of grass. Nature seems dead. Nothing but
islands crowded with trees and great banks appear around us. Yet in
silent majesty this stream rolls on. In a few centuries the wealth of the
Indies will not surpass, the treasures that will be embarked on this river.
Everything in the West goes by noise. This is a high pressure boat.
I was amused to sec the mulattoes rattle every plate they put on the
breakfast table this morning. At one table some of the passengers are

earnestly engaged in card playing. Here sita your friend solus

Yours most affectionately,

Wm. Salter.

[To he contintied]

*» On March 16, he purchased from Mrs. Hutchinson a part of her huHband's
library for $8.40.

*^ The fare on the Lynx from Burlington to Davenport was $2.50.

JOHN ROSS MILLER

By C. C. Stiles

The subject of tliis sketch was bom in slavery in the state of
Kentucky, November 8, 1841, and died December 29, 1923,
being over eiglity-two years of age at the time of his death,
which occurred suddenly, being stricken with heart failure
just as he was boarding a street car on his way to work at the
Historical, Memorial and Art Building of Iowa, at which place
he had been employed as janitor for a great many years.
Funeral services were held in Des Moines, and the burial was
at Newton, Iowa, his former home.

The writer of this article knew him intimately as he always
came to me to do his writing for him and to ask my advice in
business deals. He was frugal and saving in his expenses and
had accumulated considerable property, owning property both
in Des Moines and in Newton. He was of a jolly disposition
and got a great deal of pleasure out of life. He was honest,
faithful and true to his friends and respected by all who
knew him.

He gave me an account of his life. His master was a man
by the name of Graves, who left Kentucky and located in Mis-
souri, in Nodaway County, near Maryville. When Graves
left Kentucky he was compelled to leave a part of his slaves
on account of their being mortgaged. The holder of the mort-
gat^e liad levied on the slaves and among them was the subject
of this sketch (he being a small boy known at that time as
John Graves) and he and several of the small children were
thrown in jail for safe keeping. The mother of the children
was not thrown in jail for the reason that she would not run
away and leave the small children. This man Graves after-
wards returned to Kentucky and stole these slaves and took
them away in the night time. By traveling at night and
hiding during the day, when the mother would cover up the
children with leaves, so they were hid in the timber or brush
and let sleep, they finally landed in Missouri. Here they

JOHN R. MILLER 385

remained with their master until after the breaking out of
the Civil War. Excitement was running high in northern
Missouri and the 'Taw Paw" militia was aiding the slave
owners in holding their slaves and capturing those that ran
away to Iowa. Among the runaways were four colored boys
by the names of John Graves, Alec Nicols, Henderson Hays
and Anderson Hays.

John Graves gave me the story of their flight from Mis-
souri. He said: ** They were making preparations to send us
all down to Texas, so us boys just borrowed two horses and
two mules from our masters and lit out for Canada. We
thought that it was just a little ways up there. We traveled
after night and hid in the brush in the daytime. The second
day we traveled during the day and landed in Winterset,
Madison County, Iowa, about one o'clock. It was on Satur-
day in the latter part of October, 1861. I wanted to get some
shoes put on my horse, but the blacksmith told me I would
have to wait about two hours. There was a great crowd in,
and a company of militia was drilling, so we done got scared
and left. We had gone about two or three miles and was in a
long lane when a crowd of men on horseback come on the run
down the lane after us. They had shotguns and rifles and
was rasing an awful dust and making a lot of noise. We was
shore some scared and thought that our time had come to go
to Texas, but it wouldn't do any good for us to run, on account
of them mules, they couldn't run as fast as horses. One of
the men after us was riding a big white horse and had a gun
on the saddle in front of him. He run past us and then turned
and headed us oflf. They surrounded us and took us back to
town, but they couldn 't find any officers to put us in jail and
while they were lookin' for the officers they formed a ring
around us boys to keep the crowd back. They got to talking
pretty loud and some one dared any one to try to come inside
that ring, and they hadn't more than said it than the coats
began to fly and there wasn 't any ring at all. The men that took
us out of the ring gave us something to eat and told us which
way to go, and we wasn't long in getting out of there. We
started east and at the top of a long hill we hid in the brush
till night. Then we traveled by the north star and landed in

386 ANNALS OF IOWA

Indianola the next morning. We went from there to Newton
in Jasper County. I worked on a farm near Newton the fol-
lowing summer for a man by the name of Sherer. I took his
name for you know that us colored boys had no names only
the names of our masters. I enlisted under the name of John
Sherer^ in the First Regiment (Colored) Infantry, which was
afterwards the Sixtieth Regiment U. S. Colored Troops. I
served through the war and then come back to Newton. After
the war was over I went back to the South and learned that
my father had taken his father's name, which was Miller, so
our folks all took that name and I have been known by the
name of John Miller ever since.''

Several years prior to the death of Mr. Miller the writer of
this sketch was invited by the Historical Society of Madison
County to appear on the programme at their annual meeting
and present an article on the history of Madison County
which had heretofore never been written. I asked Mr. Miller
for permission to write a sketch of what he had told me, and
also to go with me to Winterset, to which he consented, but
with the remark **I don't know about that town of Winter-
set." I laughingly assured him that he would not be court-
martialed for getting away from the mob that day, nor prose-
cuted for borrowing that horse from his master, for he still
insisted that he just borrowed it and said, **0f course under
the circumstances you couldn't expect me to take it back, and
anyway my master learned me himself how to run away."

1 See Roster Iowa Soldiers, War of the Rebellion, Vol. V, p. 1666.

INDIAN MOUNDS OP SOUTHEASTERN IOWA

A radio talk (excerpted) by E. R. Harlan over WHO,
Des Moines, Iowa, August 29, 1933.

I.
How Came These Mounds?

We speak of these as Indian mounds; but they are, ordi-
narily, merely burial places. They are imperfectly under-
stood even by those who have tried scientifically to determine
all about them.

It happens that in Iowa three-fourths of our streams flow
almost parallel southeastward into the Mississippi River. Prom
their upper reaches they first run in the soil, then onward
to their mouths they are rocky in character. After the beds
of the streams break down into the rocky country, they form
low bluffs on one or the other side.

The ancient Sac and Fox Chi-ca-qua Sepo and Keosauqua
Sepo (Skunk and Des Moines) so run, separated by an average
of about thirty miles.

Southeast of Oskaloosa Cedar Creek rises in the prairie and
as it flows, splits that ridge or prairie by its rather shallow
system down into its region of hills and narrow, rocky, crooked
bed. In Henry County it makes an abrupt turn to the north,
and empties into Skunk River near the town of Rome.

Like all its sister streams, Cedar Creek is flanked by Indian
mounds on all its higher hills. Just now, August, 1933, there
is much more than usual interest in the mounds in that locality,
since at least four are under ** exploration."

Let me attempt my explanation of the occurrence of these
** Indian mounds'' on the crests of ridges overlooking all the
valleys of southeastern Iowa, known to all the white people
of each generation since settlement in 1837.

A mound opened in Cedar Township, Van Buren County,
in the present month, has been explored at least once before.

I quote from the notes of United States Deputy Land
Surveyor, Edwin F. Lucas, who laid out the section lines and

388 ANNALS OF IOWA

set their corners, adjacent, on July 19, 1837 (96 years ago) :

Large wigwam surrounded oii both sides [of the section line] with a
beautiful sugar grove.

Also near :

Enter corn field claimed by Finess Killebrew, who is occupant and
settler.

Ninety-six years ago a white man's cornfield was a few
rods east of a large wickiup^ in a beautiful sugar grove, which
I have seen, throughout more than sixty years, in use by my
relatives for sugar making every February and March of each
year; the grove, or its trees, replaced earlier ones that died
off. The large wickiup which served an Indian family in 1837
and earlier, was built as early as 1832, since Lucas saw it in
1837 in Finess Killebrew 's claim. These relatives of mine,
descendants of neighbors of Killebrew, still make sugar from
these trees in 1933 ; these same Sac and Fox Indians annually
returned to that ** beautiful sugar grove" on Killebrew 's
claim for some years after. They made sugar there, and their
descendants now living in Tama County, Iowa, are also making
sugar along the Iowa River on their lands. I also know that
the occupants of that large wickiup in 1837 were more than
one family of Indians, else it would not have been a large
wickiup. There were at least three families in it when it was
new, which must have been at least five years earlier, or 1832,
and each spring later up to 1837. It was probably built to
take the place of one that had rotted down, and that in turn
had replaced an earlier one, and so on back perhaps for two
hundred years. Each may have been but one of a village in
that region. Time and hunger make no change, whatever
races and methods do in the scheme of creation.

Now, that large wickiup in July, 1837, in the beautiful
sugar grove on Killebrew 's claim served a vital purpose other
than for sugar making. The two or three families of Indians
in the spring of 1837, and other years, had built that camp,
or had repaired an earlier one in a previous fall, to receive
the Indian families for fishing, trapping and hunting. It did

1 A Sac and P'ox habitation was by thpmselves callpd a wickiup : by many
white men it was called wigwam, as early eastern writers usually designated
every Indian habitation.

INDIAN MOUNDS OF SOUTHEASTERN IOWA 389

not cease serving for shelter after the trapping in the fall and
winter of 1836, or of any year. It continued a home of these
Indians for their sugar making in the early spring of 1837.
Each winter or spring it, or its predecessor, had so served for
hundreds of seasons. Hence that one wickiup had been lived
in by scores, yes, hundreds of individuals first and last.

And the sugar grove on Killebrew's claim on Cedar Creek
was not the only one in that region. I remember more than
twenty-five such beautiful sugar groves on the same or adjoin-
ing streams not twenty miles from that large wickiup. Willtam
Savage^ trapped, hunted and made sugar on or adjacent to
the Killebrew claim from 1855 to 1908. Prom his diary I
learn that in 1856, and therefore earlier, there were taken in
or near each of these twenty-five groves the pelts of deer, or
raccoon, skunk, oppossum, muskrat and otter, all the skins of
which were marketable, and most all the flesh of which was
food, both fresh and dried, for later use elsewhere. Mr. Savage
in and after 1855 shot or trapped on the grounds, not only
many deer, but wild turkeys, pheasants (ruffed grouse), quails,
geese, wild ducks of all kinds, brant, pigeons (passenger),
every one edible and all afforded feathers for sale or family
use in pillows and beds. Enough eggs of the first three species
were found for use of the William Savage family in 1855,
hence for use in the large wickiup and all the earlier Mrickiups
for hundreds of years before 1837.

This beautiful sugar grove was on both the low and high
lands back from Cedar Creek for half a mile on its right and
left. A perennial swamp or bog lay between the margin of
the creek and the remoter base of the hills. This was kept
damp by occasional overflow of the stream, or of the ravines,
which separated the hills, in their drainage from their own
headwaters. The run-off was retarded by rocks. Evaporation
was delayed by dense shade of the beautiful sugar groves,
whose undergrowth embraced every species of shrub or tree
required for use for the comfort or safety of the Indian, and
became so to his white successor — and that was everything of
necessity and much for his acquired or fancied tastes. This

2*'9th [Feb. 0, 1858] At night I watch my field. At 20 minutes

before 8 o'clock I shot a young buck killing him on the spot." "William
Savage Diary," Annals of Iowa. Vol. XIX, p. 906.

390 ANNALS OF IOWA

condition, repeated in twenty-five beautiful sugar camps sepa-
rated by intervals of not more than four miles, on Cedar Creek
for fifty miles of its lower reaches, and for an equal distance
of the other streams confluent of the Mississippi River in Iowa,
intimates potentially what was meant when a Sac or Fox spoke
of the region in his word, ah yo i, **This is the place" — ^to
worship, to trap, to hunt, to bathe, to be a creature among
his brother creatures of his Manitou.

Now, the hilltops between those ravines are where the
** Indian mounds'' occur. They are to be accounted for by
reflecting on the resemblance in all races, in all times, climes
and countries of the feelings, philosophies and faiths regard-
ing the dead. Starting Mrith an understanding of these re-
semblances, we realize that in the disposition by the living of
bodies of the dead (except in emergency, war and pestilence)
all mankind are and have been prone to perform the rites or
ceremonies of superstition or of sacred character, according
to the viewpoint of the particular cult or inherited custom.
No one, even the Mrildest wild Indian, neglected nor abused
the sick nor the dead of his family, of his creed or clan. He
relieved the sick and took measures to protect his dead. In
his scheme of things the Indian on Cedar Creek in and earlier
than 1837 removed from the large wickiup any of which he
was bereft — his spouse, his child, or even his friend — ^to that
point or place to which, near the same camp, in previous
winters or in earlier years, he had seen others of his dead
interred. And precisely as at earlier times, he laid his dead
in or on the ground, in nature's keeping. He protected the
body as best he could from vandal beast or man. He covered
it with leaves or snow or soil. From the bed of the ravine he
worked a day or more carrying such stones as he could lift
and placed them upon the grave, obscuring these with dirt
that he carried in his basket or his blanket to help in hiding
his sacred place, then left the friendly grass and falling leaves
to do the rest. Loading his canoe with traps, his winter's
catch of furs, his spring's run of maple sugar, and with the
remaining members of his family, drifted toward his perma-
nent summer home on or near the banks of the Mississippi.
Life for him until the next fur season was with his family

INDIAN MOUNDS OF 80UTHEASTEBN IOWA 391

among their patches of pumpkins, corn and beans. This type
of human life rotated with the seasons of all the years, and
with fortunes of life for uncounted generations.

Some view is gained of summer life from the field notes of
the original land survey fifty miles northeastward for Seventy-
six and Lake townships, Muscatine County, which were being
surveyed at the same time as Killebrew's claim, but by Thomas
Brown, between July 11 and September 13, 1837, as follows :

This township [Seventy-six, which is 76 N, Bange 3 West] has been
the home of thousands of Indians, and not many years since. The whole
range of bottom land immediately under the bluff has been eoyered with
Indian diggings, as we call them, cornhills yet visible where they have
cultivated many years ago. Indeed, I think it not surprising that either
Whites or Indians should make this great cove a place of residence. The
soil is in general of the first quality of prairie, the timber very convenient
on the hillsides, and valleys which make through the bluff, and spring

water of the best quality springs from the bluff in many places

There can be no doubt of the fertility of the soil. Many squatters prove
this fact, having raised this season heavy crops of com, potatoes, turnips,
cabbage, etc. to great perfection. Many of them have now from 100
acres down to 1^ enclosed and cultivated.

Of Lake Township Thomas Brown says:

This township [adjoining Seventy-six on the south] abounds with an
unusual quantity of rich soil, well adapted to the culture of com, wheat,
potatoes, flour, clover, herd grass, timothy, oats, barley, rye, etc., par-
ticularly the three latter species of grain. Pumpkins, melons and all
kinds of vines, onions, etc. These articles can be raised in abundance,
and the Bed Cedar river is the channel by which a market wiU come to
every man's door who may be a settler on this desirable spot

Dlrec-
Record tion

Between
See's

Chains

p 166 E

2-11

31.25

NE from this point is a cornfield 8 or 10
acres claimed and occupied by Charley
Phipps and Robert Holmes, who stay in
an Indian wigwam, and claim 8% of
Sec. 2.
p 167 N $t. 8 60.00 Cluster of Indian wigwams, without in-
mates

Indian village evacuated
Indian trail NE
Indian trail S£
Indian trail NW
Indian traU NE
Indian trail NE

78.21

p 169

27-34

64.40

p 171

22-27

69.65

p 173

15-22

58.50

p 176

9-10

38.90
58.75

392 ANNALS OF IOWA

p 177 E 3-10 20.00 Indian trail NE

57.59 From this point a cornfield and cabin
bears south, claimed by Q«orge W. Clark,
a settler.

And so mounds grew for an unknown stretch of time. How
many died at each camp where there was a beautiful grove no
one knows. But it is known that Indian children and adults
had every illness, except venereal disease, w^hich white men
know; that Asiatic cholera stopped not with white victims;
that smallpox nor yellow fever knew no color.

II.

How Mounds Should Be Regarded

Now, I don't know what all legal rights in Indian mounds
may be. Some good lawyer ought to make a brief of it. If
he did, I apprehend he would find a few things which I do
know. The owner of land on which a mound stands, according
to Blackstone's doctrine, holds the title to the land, owns it,
and all the ground contains, to the center of the earth and to
the utmost height above it. If no arrangement is made for
burial of a human body on a man 's land, or such arrangement
had not been made for such burial with the one from whom
he bought the land, then that human body — ^yes, bad as it
seems — that body absolutely is abandoned to, and it actually
belongs, as **dust to dust,'' to the owner of the ground. Others
have no right to go upon his land today without his consent,
and if one does he is guilty of a trespass. Yet no one has the
right to disturb a grave without consent of our State Board
of Health, or an order of our District Court. We have some-
times, under the auspices of science, or out of mere curiosity,
forgotten that the grave of an Indian is none the less a grave.
Our health regulations require that it be shown of the dead
on the United States standard certificate of death (Iowa Code,
1931, Ch. 110) of what *' Color or rdce, as white, black, mulatto
(or other negro descent), Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or other
race. ' ' I don 't know a rule of law or ethics that justifies one
in disturbing any grave. If it be of a dead Indian, his grave
was, and ought to remain, as much in our respect as ours in
the respect of the Indian. He is entitled to be undisturbed

INDIAN MOUNDS OF 80UTHEASTEBN IOWA 393

until some consideration is raised that overcomes that right.
The thing that usually is believed to overcome it is the interest
of science, be that prehistoric lore, or the quest for Spanish
or Mormon evidence, or such as identity of kinship. But even
with the support of reason, one must obtain consent of the
land owner, of the Board of Health, and of the District Court.
But above all it is abhorrent to human feelings if one's kin
or kind be disturbed after going to the long rest. What culture
is exempt, or which may say of another that its feelings are
immune ?

Black Hawk died on the lower Des Moines River the third
day of October, 1838. His people carried his body something
more than a mile from his wickiup and buried him ''in a sit-
ting posture'* in a low ** mound" on the prairie. **0n or
about the first day of November, 1839," so the grand jury
proceedings recite, **one Dr. James F. Turner removed the
body. ' ' Afterward Black Hawk's widow and her friends went
**to scatter tobacco [incense]" on the grave. Finding it
desecrated, they went among their few white friends and,
savage like, declared that for the outrage they were disposed
to avenge themselves [on the settlement]. White men, to
appease the Indians, took them to Governor Robert Lucas in
Burlington, who promptly sent for Dr. Turner. The Doctor
sent for Black Hawk's bones, that he had had articulated for
alleged scientific purposes. Phrenology was then a new, ** up-
lifting" force in the current of frontier life, calculated to
carry the human race out into the fuller light of learning.
Dr. Turner, a self-made pilot, proposed the exhibition of
Black Hawk's skeleton in lectures and exhibitions with paid
admissions. When Governor Lucas' emissary brought the
skeleton to him, he called in Madam Black Hawk and sug-
gested that she leave the bones of the great brave to the
** cabinet" of the Historical Society. She inspected this and
found it to be **a good dry (safe) place," too dry, in fact,
for it was soon burned, and Black Hawk's bones with it.

There is another shocking instance of which I know. Fifty
years ago a party from the Tama ** reservation" of Sac and
Foxes was trapping along an Iowa stream. Sickness and
death came. An old lady among them died. Her body was

394 ANNALS OF IOWA

put away in the earth just where her ancestors had lain for
generations. Some men of her race who were then young and
who helped to lay her away, returned in 1932 as old men to
** decorate*' that grave, not with flowers, but with incense.
They saw the grave had been violated and found the body
had been taken away. While trading in a nearby town they
saw the **find" from that grave exhibited in a store window.
My Tama friends were deeply hurt. I don't know whether
the persons who ** opened'' that ** mound" are yet aware of
doing wrong.

There may be some question whether we ought to treat with
much consideration the feelings of persons of another race,
color or religion. But I hope the time will come when no
disturbance of any grave will be made without the knowledge
or consent of some public authority, which keeps permanent
records, and makes definite plans and precise reports.

No one knows whether Indian cemeteries (mounds) are
more free **of the dead from communicable diseases" than
our own sacred acres. Our scientists set no period for vitality
of such ** germs" as ** carry" diseases. The burial of Indian
and white pioneers in Iowa, in and previous to 1837, were
alike naked of preventive or destructive agents to disease
germs. What stays the spade at one grave ought to spare it
in the other, be it law, prejudice or sentiment.

In friendship these Indian Iowa voters inquired of me, a
minor state official, in effect this: **What shall be doneV^
They were asked, **What can be donef" Neither query has
been officially answered to this day. Yet the questioner in
each retains in faith and consicence the assurance that if there
is an Almighty Judge (which the cults of both teach us), be
he God or Manitou or both, we will some day hear one truth,
albeit beyond the grave.

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

John W. Betnolds was born at Afton, Iowa, October 25, 1877, and
died in Detroit, Michigan, March 14, 1934. Burial was in Galyary
Cemetery, Creston. He was a son of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Beynolds. When
he was a small child the family removed to Creston. He was educated
in the Creston Schools, in Kansas City College, and in Bush Medical Col-
lege, Chicago. After being graduated from the latter at the age of
twenty-five, he commenced the practice of medicine at Creston and suc-
cessfully pursued it for many years. He was active in civic affairs,
served on the City Council, was mayor, was chairman of the Park Com-
mission of Creston, and was a leader in many local enterprises. In 1908
he became the Eighth District member of the Democratic State Central
Committee which he retained until 1920. In 1914 he was advanced to
the chairmanship of the committee which he held until his resignation
in 1924. In 1928 he became the Iowa member of the Democratic National
Committee, which position he resigned in 1929 when Qovernor Hammill
appointed him a member of the State Board of Assessment and Beview;
Governor Turner reappointed him in 1931 to a full six-year term. At
the time of his death he was on a trip east investigating the operation
of sale tax laws in other states. To his profession and to all his publie
activities he brought great devotion and high ability.

Frank A. Bonebright was bom in Webster City, Iowa, April 16,
1868, and died in the city of his birth March 5, 1934. His parents were
Thomas Blackwell Bonebright and Sarah Jane (Brewer) Bonebright,
honored pioneer residents of Webster City, the father, a member of the
Spirit Lake Belief Expedition in 1857, the mother a daughter of Wilson
Brewer, founder and promoter of the town of Newcastle, now Webster
City. Frank obtained a common school education and during his earlier
manhood followed farming. Later he was in the employ of Webster City
and became an expert electrician. For the ten years previous to his death
he was official weather and crop reporter for Hamilton County. During
the last several years of his life he devoted much of his time to acquiring
a collection of articles illustrative of the pioneer times in his locality.
He secured the remains of the old log cabin in which he was bom and
re-erected it in his own back yard, and assembled there the results of his
years of collections of tools, household goods, contrivances of pioneers,
and local prehistoric specimens. In January, 1932, he and his sister,
Harriet M. Carmichael, gave to Webster City a substantial portion of
the old Bonebright homestead containing the log cabin and the collected
museum.

A8 mSTON MACBRltlE, A.M.. I.L.D.

EDITORIAL 397

Thomas Huston Macbride was born in Rogersville, Tennessee, July
31, 1848, and died in Seattle, Washington, March 27, 1934. His parents
were Rev. James Bovard Macbride and Sarah Huston Macbride. He
received his degree of A. B. from Monmouth College in 1869, and A. M.
in 1873. He began his teaching career at Lenox College, Hopkinton,
where he was professor of mathematics and modern languages from 1870
to 1878. He went to the State University of Iowa and was assistant
professor of natural sciences in 1878, continuing in that position until
1884, followed that as professor of botany from 1884 to 1914, then was
president from 1914 to 1916, and president emeritus from 1916. He was
awarded the degree of Ph. D. by Lenox College in 1875, and LL.D. by
Monmouth College in 1914, by Coe College in 1915, and by the University
of Iowa in 1928. He was a member of the American Forestry Associa-
tion, National Conservation Association, Paleontological Society, Iowa
Academy of Science, Botany Society of America, Iowa Park and Forestry
Association, American Society for the Advancement of Science, and
many other scientific organizations. Among his many writings were
chapters in the Iowa Geological Survey, Popular Science Monthly, Science
and other magazines. He was also the author of Botany (a text book),
1895; Slime Moulds, 1890; On the Campus, 1916; In Cabins and Sod
Houses, 1928. He founded the Lakeside Laboratory on West Okoboji
Lake which is used each summer by students of the University in part
of their work in botany and zoology. Dr. Macbride was a man of exten-
sive knowledge in many lines, mathematics, languages and geology, but
achieved his greatest distinction as a botanist. He was a national
authority on fungi and slime moulds. The esthetic side of his nature
largely dominated. He dearly loved the beautiful in nature, literature
and art. He was one of the earliest conservationists of Iowa. His
personal qualities endeared him to a host of friends.

WiLLABD G. Fletcher was born in New York state February 9, 1855,
and died in Williamsburg, Iowa, October 25, 1932. His parents were
George and Ellen McAlpine Fletcher. The family removed to Iowa City,
Iowa, in 1857 and to Williamsburg in 1858. Willard worked on a farm,
attended public school, attended the State University of Iowa one year
and taught school two years at Onawa, Monona County. In 1876 he
entered the drug business in Williamsburg. In the early 1880 's he spent
some time at Glenwood and at Shenandoah, but in 1884 returned to
Williamsburg and re-entered the drug business in which he continued for
over forty years, attaining business success. He was one of the organizers
of the town of Williamsburg in 1885, and was a member of the first town
council. He was a member of the local school board for over thirty years,
was a member of the Iowa County Board of Supervisors for a few years,
during which the present Court House was built, was elected representative
in 1910, running as a Democrat, and served in the Thirty-fourth General
Assembly. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers Savings Bank
of Williamsburg, was on its board of directors for years, and was its
president the last five years of his life.

398 ANNALS OF IOWA

Herbert Grant Campbeu^ was born at Hale, Jones County, Iowa,
December 15, 1868, and died in Des Moines April 8, 1934. Burial was
in Graceland Cemetery, Sioux City. His parents were John H. and
Sarah A. (Pike) Campbell. His early education was received at Hale.
He was graduated from £p worth Seminary, Ep worth, in 1891, and
received a Ph. D. degree from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, in 1896.
He was made a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal church in 1897 and
an elder in 1900, and served as pastor of the Methodist church at Akron,
Iowa, in 1897-99, and at Sheldon in 1899-1901. He obtained an M. A.
degree from Columbia University, New York, in 1902. From 1902 to
1903 he studied in Union Theological Seminary. In 1904 he became vice
president of Momingside College, Sioux City, and professor of philosophy,
and held these positions until 1907 when he assumed the duties of
instructor of philosophy and psychology, which he retained until his death*
In 1910 and 1911 he studied in Berlin and Heidelberg University,
Germany. From 1914 he and his wife. Pearl E. (Boeder) CampbeU,
during each summer except during the World War conducted tours
through Europe. During the World War he served in France with the
Y. M. C. A. He was a firm believer in cooperation between nations, the
League of Nations, the World Court, and any other agencies to promote
peace. At the time of his death he was on his way home from attending
at Grinnell a meeting of International Belations clubs. By his will he
left a bequest of $25,000, the proceeds of which is to be used to bring
to Sioux City each year lectures by the ablest thinkers available in the
world, admission to the lectures to be free.

Lester W. Lewis was born at Lodi, DeKalb County, Illinois, August
8, 1860, and died in Seattle, Washington, April 5, 1933. Burial was in
Seattle. His parents were Seth and CeUna (Woodworth) Lewis. He
attended public school, was graduated from high school in Chicago in
1877, and from Wheatou College, Wheaton, Illinois, in 1882. His father
removed to Seymour, Iowa, in 1882 where he engaged in banking and
other business lines, and Lester W. assisted as a bank clerk. In 1884 he
established the Lone Tree PresSj a local newspaper, and edited it for ten
years as a side line to his banking work. In 1887 he was elected repre-
sentative from Wayne County, was re-elected in 1889, and served in the
Twenty-second and Twenty-third general assemblies. In 1891 he was
elected senator from the Wayne-Lucas District and served in the Twenty-
fourth and Twenty-fifth assemblies. In the Twenty-fifth he was chair-
man of the Appropriations Committee of the Senate. In 1894 he removed
to Clarinda where he engaged in banking. In 1901 he was elected senator
from the Page-Fremont District and served in the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth,
and Thirty-first general assemblies, being continued over through the
Thirty-first because of the then new biennial election law. Mr. Lewis
rendered excellent service as a legislator, being a man of good judgment,
industry and integrity. In 1907 he removed to Seattle, Washington,
where for several years he was engaged as a banker and an organizer
of banks.

EDITOBIAL 399

Albert G. Hotchkiss was born in Binghampton, New York, Noyem-
ber 21, 1842, and died in Adel, Iowa, March 4, 1934. His parents were
William and Sarah (Gilbert) Hotchkiss. He was reared on a farm and
aided in farm work until fourteen years old when he became a clerk in
a dry goods store, which vocation he followed until in 1862, when he
enlisted in Ciompany H, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth New York Volun-
teers, and remained with it fourteen months, or until the expiration of
the term of his enlistment. In September, 1864, he enlisted in Company
M, First New York Veteran Cavalry, and remained with it until the end
of the war. In 1867 he removed to a farm in Dallas County, Iowa, near
Adel. His abilities and interest in public matters attracted the publie
so that in 1873 the Republican party nominated him for clerk of the
District Court. He was elected and continued to serve in that position
six years. In the meantime he became interested in the DaUoB Cowity
News published at Adel, and in 1879 purchased an interest in it, and
became its editor, a position he continued to hold until his retirement
in 1925. He was elected senator in 1895 and served in the Twenty-sixth,
Twenty-sixth Extra, and Twenty-seventh general assemblies. He served
as postmaster at Adel two terms, one under President Benjamin Harrison
and one under President Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Hotchkiss displayed
rare ability as a public speaker, as a newspaper editor and as a legislator,
and was held in high regard in his own community and in the state.

Ernest W. Caldwell was born in Curwinsville, Pennsylvania, June
13, 1846, and died in Sioux City, Iowa, October 31, 1932. Burial was in
Floyd Cemetery, Sioux City. He came with his father in the latter 's
removal to Boonesboro, Iowa, in 1856. In 1857, when only eleven years
old, he began work in a local printing office. In 1864 he enlisted in
Company H, Forty-fourth Iowa Infantry and served until the regiment
was mustered out. Soon after the war he became a printer in Omaha,
but in 1869 aided in establishing the first daily paper in Sioux City, the
Evening Times, From 1870 to 1878 he was on the staff of the Sioux City
Daily Journal. From 1878 to 1896 he was a citizen of South Dakota,
first as editor of the Sioux Falls Press, was postmaster at Sioux Falls
from 1883 to 1885, was territorial auditor and insurance commissioner
from 1885 to 1887, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of
South Dakota in 1889, and held other important publie positions. In
1896 he returned to Sioux City and renewed his editorial connection with
the Journal which was maintained until his retirement in 1919. He was
mayor of Sioux City from 1902 to 1904. He was a man of wide informa-
tion, able and popular as a writer, and radiated humor and good will,
being known far and wide as "Happy CaL''

400 ANNALS OF IOWA

William £. Haugeb was born in Washington, Tazewell County, Illi-
nois, March 9, 1866, and died in Long Beach, California, September 1,
1933. Burial was in West View Cemetery, La Porte City, Iowa. His
parents, Bev. John S. and Harriet (Lint) Hanger, removed their family
to Waterloo, Iowa, in April, 1866, and two years later to a farm near
La Porte City. William E. was graduated from the La Porte City High
School in 1883, taught common school one year, received the degree of
B. A. from Cornell College in 1888, and of M. A. in 1891. He was super-
intendent of the schools of La Porte City for two years, and was principal
of Waterloo Commercial College for two years. He served as chairman
of the Bepublican County Central Committee of Black Hawk County for
a time. In 1895 he was elected representative and was re-elected in 1897
and served in the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-sixth Extra, and Twenty-seventh
general assemblies. He was temporary speaker of the House of the
Twenty-seventh previous to its regular organization. In 1899 he was
admitted to the bar and successfully practiced law in La Porte City
during a number of years. He was an accomplished public speaker and
lecturer. The last seven years of his life were spent in Long Beach.

CuFTORD B. Paul was born at Onslow, Jones County, Iowa, June 9,
1877, and died in Anamosa May 22, 1933. Burial was in Biverside
Cemetery, Anamosa. His parents were John T. and Isabella (Wherry)
Paul. He received his education in rural public schools, in Wyoming
High School, and in Lenox College, Hopkinton, from which he was
graduated in 1898. He was a teacher in the schools of Coggon, Linn
County, for a year and in 1899 was elected county superintendent of
schools in Jones County and served in that position for seven years. He
became active in the Iowa State Teachers' Association, was a member
of the Educational Council, and was president of the County Super-
intendents' Association. He was elected representative in 1906 and
served in the Thirty-second General Assembly. He read law in the office
of Judge Benjamin H. Miller, obtained his degree from the Law School
of the State University of Iowa and was admitted to the bar in 1908,
becoming a partner of Judge Miller. He served eight years as coimty
attorney of Jones County, 1925 to 1933. In 1930 he was elected presi-
dent of the State Association of County Attorneys. He had a fine
personality and was a general favorite among all classes wherever known.

Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 6 Dis Momss, Iowa, Ootobkb, 1934 Third Series

REAR ADMIRAL GEORGE COLLIER REMEY

1841-1928

Of especial interest to lowans is the career of George Collier
Remey, a native of Burlington, the first rear admiral of the
United States Navy bom west of the Mississippi River.

On his father's side Admiral Remey was descended from
Abram Remy, a Huguenot refugee to this country, landing
at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1700.

On his mother's side Admiral Remey descended from the
Pilgrim Father, John Howland. Nathan Howland who served
in the last French and Colonial War and was an ofScer in
the Revolution was his great-grandfather. Admiral Remey 's
parents, William Butler Remey and Eliza Howland, were mar-
ried in St. Charles, Mo., and migrated to Burlington the same
year, 1837. Three of their sons performed distinguished serv-
ice in the United States Navy. The second son. Colonel Wil-
liam Butler Remey, U. S. M. C, was first judge advocate gen-
eral of the Navy, which post he filled from 1880 to 1892. The
third son, Edward Wallace Remey, was lieutenant U. S. N.
who was lost from his ship while a young man.

Admiral Remey 's career was one of all-around achievement,
in times of peace as in times of war. He served this country
in four wars. He was a midshipman aboard the U. S. S. Hart-
ford in Chinese waters at the outbreak of the Civil War. It
was several months before news of the opening up of hostilities
between the states reached China and several months later
the Hartford reached home. He had various details one of
which was the command of a vessel off the Charleston blockade
where he had various encounters capturing blockade runners
bringing munitions of war from Europe to the Conferedates.
Remey commanded one of the attacking parties on the attack

404 ANNALS OF IOWA

on Fort Sumpter. He was captured by the Confederates and
was in prison thirteen months in Columbia jail in South Caro-
lina, later being transferred to Libby Prison in Richmond
where he was held for several weeks before his exchange was
accomplished.

In 1873 in the town of Burlington George Collier Remey,
then a commander, married Mary Josephine Mason, the
daughter of Charles Mason, the first chief justice of Iowa.
They were blessed with a family of six children.

In the years following the Civil War Remey had frequent
duty in Washington, intermingled with sea duty. He was
on the staflf of Admiral Gherardi from 1880 to 1882 and wit-
nessed the bombardment of Alexandria, Egypt, by the British
squadron in the latter year.

Remey commanded the base of naval operations at Key
West during the Spanish- American War, and two years later
he took command of the United States squadrons in the Far
East, at that time the largest squadron that the United States
Navy had ever mobilized. During his duty there as comman-
der in chief in the Far East he engaged in putting down the
insurrection in the Philippines and took part in quelling the
Boxer uprising in China.

Admiral Remey 's entire career was one of eflBciency and
service so well carried out that there never was any question
or criticism brought against him. When the problem of adopt-
ing modern methods of gunnery came up in our Navy in the
early 1900 's and the feeling was very bitter in the service be-
tween those on one hand who thought the old methods suf-
ficient, and the progressives on the other hand led by Admiral
Sims, who reaUzed that our gunnery needed improvement to
keep us abreast of the European navies. Admiral Remey en-
dorsed Sim's recommendations. This was the beginning of
the modern improved gunnery in our Navy.

Although Admiral Remey was removed by eight genera-
tions from his pioneer French ancestors he was the French
gentleman in type, strikingly handsome with a politeness and
charm that won the hearts of all who knew him. He was broad
and universal in his religious sympathies as is noted in a foun-
dation which he created in the name of his wife for the poor

BEAB ADMIRAL QEOBGE 0. BEMEY 405

of the Diocese of Washington, stating in the writ of gift that
its benefits were to be distributed to the needy regardless of
creed, nationality or race. The appreciation in which he was
held in the service is summed up in the inscription on a loving
cup presented to him on the completion of his last cruise, which
reads as follows :

PRESENTED

REAR ADMIRAL GEORGE COLLIER REMEY,

UNITED STATES NAVY
COMMANDER IN CHIEF, U. S. NAVAL FORCES

ON THE ASIATIC STATION
APRIL 19, 1900 TO MARCH 1, 1902

THE CREW OF HIS FLAG SHIP

THE BROOKLYN

AS A MARK OF ESTEEM AND A TOKEN OF THEIR

LASTING REMEMBRANCE OF HIS UNIFORMLY KIND

AND JUST TREATMENT TO THE ENLISTED MEN OF

HIS COMMAND

(The facts that George Collier Bemey was born and reared in Iowa,
that he was appointed to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, that he re-
turned to Iowa and married the daughter of Chief Justice Charles Mason,
and that he was the first man from Iowa to attain the rank of rear
admiral warrant us in presenting the foregoing brief biography and
character sketch. He was born in Burlington, Iowa, August 10, 1841, died
at his home in Washington, D. C, February 10, 1928, and was buried
in Arlington National Cemetery. The vast accumulation of Admiral
Bemey 's letters, papers, art objects and other mementos have recently
been deposited in the collections of the Historical, Memorial and Art
Department of Iowa at Des Moines. — E. B. H.)

JUDQB ORLANDO C. HOWE
Somewhat of His Life and Lettebs

By F. I. Hebbiott

Trofe99wr in Drake University

[Concluded]

Part III — Correspondence — 1863-1865

In the letters which follow, beginning with Captain Howe's
of June 26, 1864, dated at Devall's Bluff, Arkansas, and dos-
ing with Mrs. Howe's written approximately six months later
at Newton, Iowa, we have many glimpses of the kaleidescopic
events of that momentous year. They deal, as those previously
presented, mainly with their intimate personal concerns, do-
mestic difiSculties, business plans, relations with acquaintances,
neighbors and relatives, but incidentally the writers disclose
more or less of their feelings and opinions about events and
personalities in the national theatre of the Civil War and
their immediate local reactions.

It was in the six months covered by these letters that Cap-
tain Howe 's health broke down. The months of July, August,
September and October almost proved fatal to him. Amidst
the relentless heat, the lack of pure water, forced in the many
hurried marches to camp in low swampy regions along the
rivers and streams between Devall's Bluff and Little Bock,
and compelled to breathe air and drink water polluted with
miasmic poisons Captain Howe and his men struggled with
ague, dysentery, fever and typhus. Captain Howe was sev-
eral times incapacitated and finally succumbed and after a
a period in the hospital was invalided home with meager
chances for recovery.

In the previous letters we have displayed the variable feel-
ings of the correspondents in the first days after the distur-
bance of their domestic routine and severance of their home
ties — ^they deal with efforts at new adjustments on Mrs.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 407

Howe's part and with Captain Howe's new relations and
first flush impressions. The letters now presented are more
serious — the horrors of the incessant bloody strife weights the
pen of the wife struggling with her anxious feelings, and de-
spite a natural optimism of temperament, discouragement and
weariness, due to ill health, show in the husband's letters.

Captain Howe's letters, as previously indicated, remain
astonishingly free from personal animadversion upon asso-
ciates or casuals. But Mrs. Howe, amidst her trials and har-
assing aggravations, anon dips her pen in acidulated ink and
with much reason. In the military crisis of 1864 when Presi-
dent Lincoln was calling for men to fill up the armies of
Grant, Sherman and Thomas in the grand closing in move-
ments of tliat year, enlistments were slow. As Mrs. Howe heard
the neighbors discuss the course of things and listened to
sundry lusty patriots, the **Home Guards" in Newton, and
thought of her husband's trials and dangers and those endured
by neighbors, whose husbands and sons were also on the distant
firing lines cynical feelings surged up in her heart and biting
comments got into her letters. As they were intended for her
husband's eye only, I have struck out all names of those ad-
versely referred to, lest living descendants or other relatives
suffer needless irritation or injury.

Many a passage in the letters of the period covered might
be noted or quoted for their general or local interest. Captain
Howe displays the same serene, steady confidence in the wis-
dom of the course of President Lincoln in the conduct of the
war, and his dissent from and disgust with much of the cap-
tious popular criticisms of the nation's chief are clear and
emphatic. At no time during his trying intermittent, pro-
gressive illness which finally brought him to the ground did
he manifest in his letters any irritation at the treatment he
was accorded by those in authority over him. The effects of
his illness, however, were clearly indicated in the discourage-
ment that appears more and more in his letters home when
speaking about the financial prospects of the family when he
contemplates his return, or considers the possible effects of
his growing weakness from the fevers which sapped his
strength.

408 ANNALS OF IOWA

Mrs. Howe's ceaseless devotion to her family and her im-
perturbable confidence in her absent soldier husband shine
steadily and more brightly in these letters and because of the
fact that the word from the front about him was more and
more discouraging, she was kept in a constant state of dread.
The test of courage and faith are the periods of constant trial
and trouble when dark clouds are roundabout. Those who
can stand upright and staunch through the long days with
their hours of weary waiting are of the earth's elect. The
following passage from Mrs. Howe's letter of October 16,
1864, gives us an earnest of her evenly balanced soul :

You speak quite often, my dear, of our being "poor folks" after
your return as though that had some new, undefinable terror for us.
. . . . Why my dear haven't we always been suchf To be sure we
never seemed to half believe it, neither will we now, but the facts will
be the same as ever. There is no terror to me in any future that in-
cludes my husband and children in one family with myself. There is
now no difficulty in all men finding such employment as pleases them
but no doublt after the war when all the soldiers return there wiU be
more competition but we shall surely find a way to make a comfortable
and also respectable living among civilized people. I do not fear it, my
dear, and do not let any thoughts of this kind trouble you. If only God
in his goodness will bring us together an unbroken family again then
surely must all our life be a thanksgiving song.

One must be obtuse who can read those lines with indiffer-
ence. Such devotion, such love and trust, and buoyant con-
fidence are not the accompaniment of a frivolous soul nor the
complements of a shallow person ; and such a nature, we may
assume

.... does not come with houses or with gold.
With place, with honour and a flattering crew.

VII

The movements of Captain Howe's Company L between
June 26, 1864, and December 1 ranged over at least seven
counties in central Arkansas between the White and Arkansas
rivers.^" His letters mention expeditions or marches to Searcy,

the county seat town of White County on the north and to

112 The counties were Arkansas, Jefferson, Lonoke, Monroe, Prairie, Pn-
laski, and White.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 409

Austin on the north middle line of Lonoke County, the former
fifty miles north of DevaU's BluflP, to Clarendon in Monroe
County, and St. Charles on the White River in Arkansas
County about forty miles to the south and east of Devall's
Bluff. The letters here reproduced were written for the most
part at Devall's Bluff, where the company was apparently en-
camped when not on scouting expeditions.

Devall's Bluff, Ark.,
Jane 26th, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

We are here again after several marches having been sent to aid in
opening White River which the rebels had blockaded at Clarendon 15
miles below, bat a boat up this morning shows the river clear and also
brought two letters from you. We were too late to go on the expedi-
tion to do the work of clearing the river, though a hundred or so of the
Ninth convalescents &c who were in camp got there in time. We were
on the way from Searcy to our camp in hot haste having learned that
Shelby^^^ had come southward when a message came that we were all
wanted here as the rebs had sunk a gunboat at St. Charles &c. We
stopped 2 hours in camp after 25 miles march on a hot day and then
came in the night here 18 miles further. The men feel disappointed about
the matter as they bore the march in hopes of a fight, and there is a
camp rumor that the few who came from camp have distinguished them-
selves. For one I am willing to wait my time and meanwhile do such
duty as I am called on for. My company has had a very hard time hav-
ing been scouting 12 days, but company E has been out 10 days longer.
I never fail to go when L goes, and though we have had no chance to
get much glory yet the Bushwhackers have learned that the ' * Oray Horse
Company" as they call us are not to be trifled with. On this last scout
my men were recognized by that title and I learn that my own self
had been noticed by them while in the bushes, but I cannot get a fight
out of them.

Company B on this trip had a brisk skirmish that I wrote you about
but maybe the rebs got the letter from near Austin. Do not be alarmed
if the river should be closed and you have to wait to hear from me,
as this is liable to happen at any time. We do not expect to stay long
but cannot tell an hour ahead where we will be, and of course I cannot
even guess where we will be when you try to make that visit you speak
of in the fall. If we are at Little Bock or here it may do. I hope to get
money but cannot even guess. While on the trip we lived partly on the
inhabitants who are learning what war really means and will not I think
be in a hurry to begin it again. There is but little union feeling in this
country but a good deal of submission and contrary to my former

113 General Joseph O. Shelby.

410 ANNALS OF IOWA

opinion the people exeept the rich are a servile people, and will be
conquered either by na or the Gnerrillas, thej claim to be neutral.

The man Kennedy shot in Jaaper Conntj was the father of Milton
Lee one of my soldiers. Let me know the facts as they appear to the
public.

Linnie's letter was easily read and she most write again when yon
have time to wait for her.

Hurrah for Lincoln and Johnson.

Your Husband,

O. C. Howe.

I will write as soon as I can again.

DuvaU's Bluff, Ark., July 10, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

A fleet of boats with gunboat convoy is expected to leave soon and
of course a mail will go, and I only write at such times. The river is all
the time exposed to the incursions of squads of rebels and steamboats
are often fired into but generally without damage.

I visited Little Bock and returned yesterday, saw Capt's. Campbell,
Bennett, Cozad, and Thompson, and Col. Garrett and Maj. Smith. Judge
Edmundson and many other Newton men.^^^ They all appeared in fair
health and it was a good visit.

On going I found the rebs had tinkered with the track at Ashley's
Station so that the interruption I wrote of in my last was caused by
them. One fireman was killed by the engine falling on him and the
engineer badly hurt. We found the track not meddled with on either
trip but between trips they attempted to burn the bridge at my old
station. Ft. Miner, but the guard there beat them off. The rebs burnt
the house of a Union man near, and some Ohio boys have severely re-
taliated by burning several dwellings. One was of a notorious Bush-
wacker who carries a hair rope for the purpose of hanging such soldiers
as they capture. Two of the Ohio 22' were found dead, one had been
shot and then both hung. This is their reason given for burning the
building and I do not blame them.

A captain of the Ohio 22' served the Bushwackers a pretty trick.
He came with a party through Hickory Plains some 20 miles northwest
of here, and commenced recruiting for Shelby, representing that he had
captured a lot of Fed uniforms and arms and was going down to take
Brownsville and then return to Shelby's command. Fourteen volun-
teered, nearly if not quite all had the Amnesty oath in their pockets.
They had been good peaceable, neutral citizens when I was there, but

11* Captain Frank T. Campbell, Co. B, Fortieth la. Inf.. editor Free Pretn,
later lieutenant governor of Iowa, 1878-82 ; J. W. Sennet, captain of Co. E.
Fortieth la. Inf., attorney ; Felix W. Coaad, captain of Co. I). Fortieth la.
Inf. ; probably William Thompson, captain in Co. E, First la. Cav.. colonel
and brigadier general ; John A. Garrett, colonel of the Fortieth la. Inf. : 8. G.
Smith, major Fortieth la. Inf. ; David Edmundson, sheriff of Jasper County,
la., lS4e-48, and county judge, 1858-62.

JUDGE OBLANDO 0. HOWE 411

on enlisting were quite commnnicatiTe to their captain and told him all
about the Bushwacking and were exalting over the dismay the Yanks
would feel when thej had entered their lines by means of the nniforms
and were boasting of their bloody intentions to kill the Tanks, when
some of the citizens whom they passed told them of the deceit. They
are held as prisoners of war, but ought to be executed for taking arms
after taking the oath, but I expected they would be released and sent
home to Bushwack and so am much pleased at their detention.

The rebs are always lurking about our posts taking stragglers, four
soldiers (none of the 9th) were found murdered in a field near here
a few days ago killed while blackberrying.

How I hate to be cooped up here when so much might be done if I
could be turned loose with a few men outside the lines, and my success
in horse hunting etc. ought to let me out some, but none can go without
such limitations and restriction as prevent doing anything. It would
be so easy for me to lie in wait for the marauders while a few should
be apparently straggling that I wish much to try it and the first el-
cuse I have by being sent on any errand will do so.

The soldiers of course know nothing of the plans of the commanders
but we feel disheartened at what might be done by small parties even
if we are too weak for any general attempt (as I think we are) in this
department.

Shelby has in my opinion recruited and conscripted at least 1500 or
2000 men, north of here and within reach of us, but been unmolested
except when he took the advance and attacking part.

A fleet is expected today, with letters, news, and money for us all,
we are anxious about Grant and Sherman. As to politics I care only
that our country be sustained by a united north even if they differ in
the way of doing it, but northern traitors and fools will perhaps write
and do much hurt. Lincoln has the heart of the army and will have
their vote unless some new matter changes everything.

You seem to be in good health now, do you think the climate there
healthy enough? I do not admire the south quite well enough to live
in [the] way we would be compelled to here and the beautiful northwest
lias too much danger to incline me to risk you and the children at
Spirit Lake, and much as I loved that place and long for it now I do
not know as I should live there with its dangers, all are gone we care
for but P's^^^ family. Newton is the next to home of any place and I
am longing for a look at my little home there though it has neither
house or land. I am not going to save much of pay as it will take so
much to support us, but we can I hope buy a home of some kind, and I
would prefer a farm even 6 or 10 miles from Newton to living there en-
tirely unless some good business offers, but perhaps my thoughts of
Newton are all colored by thinking of the four in it that make any
place so dear.

ii« B. F. Parmenter's family.

412 ANNALS OP IOWA

Iowa soldiers never find a country that excells our incomparable state
and "It looks like Iowa" is the extreme of praise for a fine country,
but its equal in beauty, fertility, and natural resources I have not seen.
Only cotton cannot be grown, and cotton is riches if not King. My old
notion that wool as a staple will be grown in that treeless northwest
so as to enrich thousands is renewed but it is not for me to try it. The
war has put off that experiment at least 20 years.^^^

I am glad to hear you arc satisfied with Linnie's advancement as I
fear she will be discouraged. I have no doubt of her active mind being
all we used to think it if she is not mentally stunted, and her erratic
way of thinking around a matter then approaching with startling direct-
ness is her father's. That combination of the slow and active is only
natural. Her knowledge of mathematics will all come right. Don't you
recollect I was something at that, and don't you also know that my
dullness at [reckoning] always vexed youf It is so with her, but don't
by all means increase that little evil by discouragement.

I wish much to see Catherine and Maria but must wait for another
visit and more peaceable times. My love to all and all to you.

O. C. Howe.

July 13 2y2 o'clock a.m. no boat has left since writing and I have
been busy as ofiicer of the day and am now up and write this while
the Co. are getting ready for two day's scout. You shall hear from me
whenever a mail goes.

VIII

From middle July, 1864, for the next eight months the
country's common thought was centered on the movements
of Grant 's and Sherman 's armies. The battles waged by Grant
in his great enveloping movement about Richmond were ap-
palling in their frightful losses of life and the daring advances
of Sherman 's columns towards Atlanta, while steadily success-
ful, were accompanied with heavy toll of precious lives, to
say nothing of the increasing popular dread that he was mak-
ing a risky, suicidal movement into the heart of the Con-
federacy. Captain Howe's and Mrs. Howe's letters reflect
the common feelings of the people of the North and West.
Captain Howe, after the manner of your true soldier, thinks
mainly of the movements of the armies in the mass and his
confidence in the grand maneuvers and objectives of those two
famous generals, and not at all of the losses of treasure and
man power ; while Mrs. Howe, like all good women, thinks of

116 The national census for 1930 states that Iowa had 1,131,000 sheep, ex-
ceeding Minnesota's quota, and but a few thousand less than Missouri had.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 413

the horrors of the conflict, of the fields littered with the killed
and wounded, and of the stricken homes, the desolate wives
and orphaned children — ^yet she steels her heart with the hope
that the end will soon come and righteousness will again pre-
vail in high places.

DuvaU'8 Bluff, Ark.,
July 19th, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

The long waited for boat whistle sounded today and part of a fleet
came up the river, the mail is behind, hourly expected. The few papers
bring news of Sherman's movements, the sinking of the Alabama, and
the raid toward Washington and Baltimore, but just enough to let us
conjecture what may have happened by this time. I sometimes wish
to be in some more important point of operations but am resigned to my
fate of banishment, and wiU exclude thought of the outer world (except
the little world of home) and only write of the unimportant but perhaps
to you interesting events of daily life.

The next day after returning from the foraging trip I wrote about,
six of us went out of the lines towards night looking for a stray horse.
No incident occurred except one of the men and myself got shot at by
an officer of scouting party of Union soldiers whose zeal or something
else were too much for his judgment, but his revolver was as wild as he
and we were in no danger, till he found out at last we were friends.
We stayed over night about 8 miles out at a house where there were
four or five families of widows the men being in the Union army or
workmen here except one real widow whose son was a week before
taken by the rebels and conscripted. Of course we kept a good lookout
and I laid down at 1 o 'clock A. M. but rose before daylight and we
came back. In two hours after returning we heard that the railroad
liad been torn up nine miles from here and I was sent with 50 men
to follow them with orders to return before daylight. We started before
noon of the hottest day I ever knew and started over a prairie for 3 miles
which worried the men and horses much, but I halted for water at the
edge of the timber and then we rode on in the shade. We found the
trail and learned that from 150 to 300 variously estimated had come
down the night before and did the mischief early in the morning and
then part or all returned in the direction toward Searcy. I returned
in the night and reported to Colonel Geiger who conmiands our brigade
and then to General Andrews^^^ the commander of the post and our
division. They were satisfied well with my days work. We made 30 miles
(part of us 40) and both men and horses were fresh and vigorous.
I can make better distance without fatiguing either than any of them here,

117 Colonel W. F. Geiger of the Eighth Missouri Inf. and General C. C.
Andrews of the Third Minnesota Volunteers.

414 ANNALS OF IOWA

thanks to frontier experience of traveling without grain and of resting
and selecting the times for traveL

I fell asleep a few times while listening or talking to the General
bnt gness he did not know it bnt if he had known how mneh I had been
np he would not have blamed me. I was waked before daj (went to
bed after midnight) by the Commissary notifying me to draw ten days
rations as the Regiment was going to march. I let the others attend
to it till sunrise and then got everything ready for the word to saddle
but it has not come and has probably blown over, so yesterday and
today I rest in good part. But Moore is sick again and B.^* is away
with a few men guarding haymakers and the work is considerable.

The whistle sounds again and I will wait for maiL

July 20thy sunrise. Last evening the mail came and the whole camp
was busy reading letters, my share was two from you of June 30th, and
July 3rd., and now I must wait for the next boat again to hear from
home. I am pleased to learn that Newton is to have the railroad as I
expect to remain near there after the war. Matters are in a peculiar
state here, the war is conducted about as the whites managed on the fron-
tier, and I am tired of waiting to see intellect used in war. The President 's
Amnesty proclamation has not the esteem of all the officers from its
want of effects but I think if it had been fully tried it would have
proved a wise and beneficent measure. No punishment has followed its
violation and men who take the oath and then aid the enemy are onlj
laughed at. The execution of one hundred men in Arkansas though it
would have been a terrible thing would have saved many lives.

I do not like to think much about your circumstances without money
and prices so high but it is a continual trouble. For a time the hope
that money would soon come sustained me, but come it has not.

Nothing could induce me to leave the army but to save you from
suffering, but I would at once resign if I could reach home in time to
earn in any way a little money, but it would be many months before
tliat could be brought about, and probably I should then only be
waiting as now, only now for pay then for a discharge, and which would
come first none can know. In the distressed state of the inhabitants
here I see only our own situation, fine homes desolate, property aban-
doned, and women and children left to themselves, only this difference,
here the rebel soldier's families have never received any money that will
buy anything. This cruel war teaches us what suffering is, and I only
bear to witness the distress we inflict by taking away the teams, cows &c
of the miserable inhabitants, by thinking how you have suffered and
still do, and in fact from the indirect work of these rebels.

The regiment is now sickly and in accordance with the usual manage-
ment of public affairs, it is without medicine and the surgeon in
charge this morning wished the Captains would send for quinine for

118 wm. M. Moore of Newton, first lieutenant of Co. L, Ninth la. Cav.
"R," refers to John O. Rockafellow, second lieutenant of the same company.

JUDGE OBLANDO 0. HOWE 415

their companies, but how they are to get the means I dont know. I onlj
wish some sanitary or other commission would send this necessity in
this climate at this season if only an ounce in a letter. Could your
society send us this summer a few things needed, or does it all go to
some general fund and thus become subject to the Circumlocution office?

We have none in this company dangerously sick from Jasper County,
but several that are considerably sick and the worst season of the year
has only commenced. It is not uncommon to see men drop from sun-
stroke. My greatest trouble is want of water except the warm sicken-
ing fluid of White river. On scouts we sometimes fare better and while
over the river on the "surrounded hill" I never tasted better, several
wells have been dug here and there is now enough for hospital use and
some to spare and our regiment is at work on several more wells and in
a few days we expect to have one. The water is good but from 40 to 50
feet deep and the soil caves so as to need curbing all the way down.
We had one nearly finished that caved.

My health is good only over work and climate has exhausted me,
weight 125 pounds which does well enough. I hear that Lieutenant
Moore will resign from ill health, but do not know. He will not be able
to bear the climate long I do not know [who] will take his place if he
does. Sergeant Richardson^^^ would be the most help to me but I do not
know as circumstances will allow that to be done.

You see that all the letter is about myself but letters to you must
be egotistic, and I think of nothing about you at home except want of
money and that troubles me all the time.

Good bye.

Tour Husband,

O. C. Howe.

Devall's Bluff, Ark.
July 23rd, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

The fleet left yesterday, and this will not reach you for some time,
but I feel lonesome and concluded to write though there is nothing new.
Scouting parties are daily leaving, but none know of their destination
till they return, and I am considered entitled to a little rest, but when
my papers are fixed up I shall wish to start out again.

As the cars went west an hour ago I noticed a Battery of Artillery
on the train, which is suggestive of fighting going on or expected some-
where, and there was a rumor yesterday that there was fighting at Searcy
again. The other affair there I wrote you about was that part of the
10th Illinois cavalry about 250 men were surprised by 800 of the enemy,
and considerably over 100 of our men killed wounded or prisoners.

119 Norris RicbardsoD of Monroe, first sergeant and later first lieutenant of
Co. L, Ninth la. Cav.

416 ANNALS OP IOWA

mostly the latter. Since then we had orders to march there bat was
countermanded.

We have received orders to be stationed again at Bayon Two Prairie
but this is revoked and we are here indefinitely. Since some weUa have
been dug we have good drinking water and the health of the regiment
is already improving, but the sick season is upon us and many of the
men look puny. The Newton boys are none dangerously sick, but
several poorly, Lieutenant Moore has signified his intention of resign-
ing but I do not know as it will be accepted. Several officers have lately
sent in their resignations, but none accepted now, and one refused, the
others to hear from. I expect to be able to stand the service better than
the majority of the officers, but the want of vegetables may hurt me
until scouting commences again in my company.

If I should become so sick as to render it necessary I will take a
sick furlough and visit you, if means can be had which I suppose could
in such a case as I believe preparations are made for such cases.

24th — I found yesterday the letter I had written to you, and it
troubles me much to think it was not sent by the boats as the one that
carries this may not go for several days, but I shall send all that I
write even if they are old. The fleet carried at least two letters and the
next will carry more, that you will probably get at a time. I have found
it necessary to be off duty for a few days to rest and get recruited,
and feel better this morning than for a week past. The weather has
been comfortable for 3 days with refreshing breezes, the nights cool
as August at the Lakes, and this is helping us though it may increase
the ague. We now get little or no fruit and will have none till on a
scout, except a little dried apple which is not dear at 15 cents a pound,
and sometimes the luxury of canned fruits at high prices.

Wo are to have a review of the troops at this post at 5 o'clock and
my company will be small, I shall go. We had one last Sunday or two
weeks ago, I forget which and it is quite a sight to see several regi-
ments especially the mounted troops, though the ranks of the old regi-
ments are sadly thinned. You cannot tell how much your letters en-
courage me and I cannot help showing them at times to my brother of-
ficers with much pride as well as affection. That picture of yours turned
up at last it had slipped into some papers or probably I put it there as
I have a dim recollection of hiding it when I had the smallpox and was
a little out of my head.

The fact that Judge Edmundson went on the last fleet consoles me
a little for the loss of those letters that should have gone, as he saw
me only the day before as I was starting on a short scout and probably
heard of our return before he went. I will see to it myself that all
our letters go in future.

We hear a rumor that money for our pay started down the river
for us but news of blockade sent it back to St. Louis, if so it will come
next fleet and I can send right back to you, but how are you to live

JUDGE OBLAKDO C. HOWE 417

in the meantime f As to us what we get from Government is cheap
as transportation is not added but we have to pay cash on delivery, and
we can sometimes get credit for some things but at ezhorbitaut prices,
but all the officers manage to get along somehow.

July 25th.

On the way to review grounds last night we heard the welcome boat
whistle which told us of news from home and made me impatient of
the review. It was however a fine scene, the place a level prairie two
to four miles wide running away to the south west with points of timber
running into it and occasional small mts of timber in its midst, and
the cavalry extended nearly two miles across it. What added to the
scenes was the smoke of "Linkum Gunboats" and steamers of the
fleet that rose over the timber in plain sight. On our return at sunset
found a letter from you and also from Linnie of the 7th and 8th July,
but no news of any pay having come up this time. My letters to you do
not go very regularly it seems or you would by that time have received
later ones from me than you tell of.

I am glad you had a visit from so many relatives and it made me
homesick to think of missing them, for you know all your relatives are
also mine, and Robert has been like an own brother in many respects,
and will always seem nearer to me than any of the others of the
brothers-in-law.

It is pleasant to learn that the boys write favorably of me, and
tliat so influential a man as Mr. Grinnell^^ hears of it, but you must not
expect to hear of any promotion for me in this regiment for there are
too many senior captains to give me a chance, and besides this, though
I am liked well enough by my fellow officers, still I am not' "in the
ring" of those who would endeavor to control promotions here. There
are too many old officers that is, those who have seen former service,
who would of right have the advantage of me. A friend or two at home
could at almost any time give me a promotion if they were so inclined
and hit the right time, but of this enough, I have no wish to quit my
company or regiment and am content to take matters as they are and be
C*aptain till the end of the war, provided I can have a furlough once
in awhile, say one a year.

I have been interrupted by Lieutenant Moore, who is trying to let
Toe have my time now, but has some trouble in discipline with a man
who would not work nor go to the guard house either, and none but
Lieutenant R. seems to be able ever to make the men obey unless I am
present. Lieutenant R. with all his faults can command, but is too
arbitrary perhaps not so severe as I, but less discriminating. My
punishments generally trouble some but are not complained of, as they
are always deserved.

120 Josiah B. Grlnnell of Grinnell, member of the Senate of the General As-
M Iowa 1856-1859 and representative from Iowa in the Thirty-eighth
and Thirty-ninth congresses.

418 ANNALS OF IOWA

This time I had merely to tell the man who was shamming siek to go
and he is now in the guard house.

A party of 100 has left this morning for 8t. Charles on the river
below where it is romored the enemy are in foree but this is a mere
rumor and if true we would know nothing about it only as some of the
regiment have gone there.

Ck>od bye,

O. C. Howe.

Newton, Aug. 4, 1864.
My Dear Husband:

I ^-ish all vainly that I could see how yon were passing this Fast Day.
All is quiet here; every store on the square is closed and the morning
service was fully attended. There are meetings for prayer this afternoon
and evening. Externally all seems subdued, how much of real humility
of soul exists God only knows.

To me it is a very solemn day, with the terrible fight still progress-
ing at Atlanta and the destruction of life at Petersburg, not to think
of losses of property through rebel raids, how death enshrouded is the
prospect everywhere. I cannot doubt the result ultimately, but must
all this generation pass away in blood that those coming after may be
free, I often look at Lockie and wish he was old enough to be with
you that you might be sure of love and care, and then how quickly I
rejoice that he is so young that he at least may escape the slaughter
of the battle field.

I saw in a Chicago paper that a cavalry force had been sent after
Shelby in the direction of Searcy and all the time since have felt that
your regiment would go, and had gone, but I do not know that I fear
more for you there than cooped up in Devall's Bluff which is by all ac-
counts so very sickly. My nights are long, and wakeful, weary with doubt
and anxiety. My Darlings are what and where, in the turmoil of camp,
in the gloom of impending battle or, tossing with pain in the hospital?
If not to me, all this sorrow, oh, to how many wives all this, until the
final crowning sorrow of widowhood.

These are all far from the promise of our youth, trouble and care
we did expect doubtless, but not this; for so many years in fact ever
since I thought at all, I have been an abolitionist not of the Gerrit
Smith school perhaps, but a hater of slavery and of the compromises
made with it, but I little thought that my husband would be one of
the many who must stake their life against its barbarism. Perhaps it is
that nothing is heard from Abbott, and I think him dead, perhaps he
thought that Bell's sorrow may be mine, though how fearfully heavy in
comparison it may be this that distresses me so now, and although not
sick my heart cries out I can not bear this anxiety and absence.

What land has borne such a weight of sorrow in so holy a cause.
Armies counted by millions, and mourners, who can enumerate I Ashes

JUDGE OBLANDO 0. HOWE 419

for beavtj all over our country, God grant that the nation on its knees
today may cry unitedly for help. There has not been so many from
Newton wounded at Atlanta as we feared. Lieutenant Hunter^'^ in the
thigh, not very seriously, and two or three killed who were not known
to me. How many more today's mail may bring word of, I cannot telL
It still continues healthy here, remarkably so all summer and our own
little ones are very well indeed.

Lockie said today, that if his Pa must go from home he wished he
would go to Idaho for then if he got gold it was good, but now if he
did get a rebel they were not good for anything dead, and too bad
to live.

My dear husband, I was interrupted just here for a long time and see
this unfilled for fear it would not go.

Gk>d bless and keep you my darling and restore you safe to your
wife.

M. W. Howe.

In the next letter dated at Devall's Bluff August 5, we en-
counter for the first time a plump, outspoken adverse criti-
cism from Captain Howe of the way matters were conducted
by those in charge of the military department in which his
brigade and regiment were operating. He says: ''.... our
people are in despair at the way matters are in this depart-
ment. The whole thing is same as frontier management on a
large scale, and it discourages us though complaints must be
secret or none at all." His company and regiment were with
General West in the futile expedition from the Little Bed
River starting from Searcy to the White River. Failure of
expected boats to arrive in time was a major cause of the bri-
gade's inability to cross speedily the white Biver. The delay
at the crossing enabled Shelby's divided columns to reunite
and General West deemed it best to retreat and avoid a gen-
eral engagement.

Devall's Bluff, Ark.,
August 5, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

When we reached here as I last wrote there came a rumor that a
party of rebels had taken 2000 mules and captured or killed the guard
of 50 men near Little Bock, this has been confirmed, and our people

in James L. Hunter, tint lieutenant Co. B, Fortieth la. Inf.

420 ANNALS OF IOWA

are in despair at the way matters are in this Department. The whole
thing is same as frontier management on a large scale, and it dis-
courages us though complaints must be secret or none at all. I do not
know what the end will be but it would be better to abandon the State
than to occupy it and merely to bring supplies to the rebels.

We arc suffering much from the sickly season, Baldwin had been pretty
sick but recovering and is a great help, he is with Charles Mendenhall
and Cross, my best corporals. Springer also a good corporal is in poor
health but recovering. James Gentry is very sick and for two days we
had little hopes of him, but he is better now, Daniel West has been
dangerously sick is better and nearly well. Corporal Cross is sick but
able to be about. Wm. Moore (Barton) has been sever ly injured in the
groin by accident while riding but is improving. Banks general health
is good. Burrow and Ellis are better than they have been. Wm. Allen
is in good health, Charles Jennings is poorly, but on duty, I think of
no other ailing ones from near Newton. I am suffering some from
diarrhea which is the common complaint, Scott and Knapp of Monroe
are pretty sick, and several from other places.^22

Yesterday we sent off our pay roll, signed as ordered and I have
some hopes that pay will come.

Evening. An hour ago came the welcome order to prepare to march
with the effective men at a moments notice, and my time has all been
taken up and your letter neglected, we expect to be gone about ten days,
but may be much longer. I hope to send you the money as soon aa we
return. Do not my dear think of blaming me for want of it as I have
tried every means known to raise some, but could not. Do keep up
your courage.

The White river is falling fast, and may be unnavigable soon and
our letter not reach either way, so do not give way if you hear nothing
for a long time. I will try and send word when possible, but cannot
for ten days to come.

Believe all you can wish as to my affection for you and the little ones.

This march will improve the health of the men able to go which
will be about 40 of my company. It is supposed we go northwest to
Austin, near which place I have written to you.

You cannot tell how our Iowa people think of their State, we all
know there is nothing that compares with it, though a few of us northers
put in a claim for Minnesota. If your health is good and you like Jasper
as well as ever, we will probably stay there though I still dream of
the great and beautiful North West, but to us it has also been terrible.

122 Those referred to in the above paragraph were In order the foUowlDg
and all of Newton or environs unlrss otherwise stated :

Julius A. Baldwin, promoted from fourth sergeant to commissary ser-
geant ; Charles H. MeDdenball and David T. Cross ; Oliver P. Springer, pro-
moted from seventh to second corporal ; James R. Grntry ; Daniel West was
probably Daniel Wert; William Moore (Barton) probably refers to Wm. H.
Barton : Baxter Banlcs, James F. Burrow, Jehu Ellis, Wm. W. Alien, Charles
H. Jennings. James B. Scott and Carmi D. Knapp were each of Monroe,
Jasper County. The latter died on August 8, 1864.

JUDGE OBLANDO C. HOWE 421

Several officers talk about that region and think of going there to
settle and raise sheep and cattle. I generally recommend Palo Alto
or Pocahontas as being the best and safe. What do you think of thatf
The country on the Little Sioux above and below Correetionville would
perhaps be better if safe and as healthy. How would you like Monona
or Harrison County, or do you like Jasper well enough to live there,
even if I do have to labor at something to make us a living. Can you
help in the Dairy or sheep business, or will you learn to hoe corn if
you stay there. At any rate believe we can do something that will
make an honest living and take care of the little ones.

God bless you all, good bye,

O. C. Howe.
P.S.

I learn that we start by daylight with 10 days rations.

Newton, Aug. 14th, [1864]
My Dear Husband:

How do you do this warm Sunday f and what have you been doing f
You can hardly think how often I wait almost expecting an answer to
these queries which seem so abiding in my thoughts. Why I have been
thinking, thinking, until my heart aches with the burden of its own
dark thoughts.

If I could sit just one little half hour now with you, your arm thrown
tenderly around me, how it would lift this heaviness from heart and
life. My poor dear husband, how do you get along with so little of
home comfort, and not even the pomp of war, only a dull routine of
disagreeable, or the same recurring monotonies. Surely if you can not
feel that it is duty, and God wills it so I am sure you have little else
to satisfy you.

The summer is passing away, this summer which was to accomplish
so much good for us all. It will soon be gone, and the end of the war
continually removes itself beyond mortal reckoning I confess that I
have full faith in all that is written of the atrocious Valandigham^*
Conspiricies and look with much of fear as to what may precede the
elections of November.

Would you laugh to know that many nervous people in Newton are

often troubled by fear of an invasion from Missouri. Even Mr. G

declares himself convinced that we may hear at any time of Guerrillas
a few miles from us and traitors helping them in our midst. I don't
attach much consequence to what he says however as he seems always
asking for a chance to make a speech I have heard him so much this
summer that the last time I saw him I felt like singing out "Lift up
your head, you everlasting G ." I believe I have not told you yet

123 Clement L. Vallandigham, member Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth and Thirty-
seventh congresses, whose violent opposition to the prosecution of the Civil
War by President Lincoln lead to his arrest and deportation to the Con-
federate States.

422 ANNALS OF IOWA

that we have a letter from Abbott. He is just getting well, has been
free from small pox of coarse for a long time, and writes sad aeeounts
of neglect and suffering I am so distressed often by what I hear of
suffering among sick and wounded soldiers in the ranks that I fear the
sight would be more than I could endure. William Skiff's son writes
to his sister Mrs. Emerson that he has been assisting in hospital for
some weeks and that it seems impossible to keep the maggots out of the
wounds of the men. He says his own clothes swarm with them continu-
ally from coming in contact with the wounded. Such things are terrible.
The soldiers now at home whose time has expired are aU enthusiastie
in praise of the Sanitary Com. unite in saying that thousands of lives
have been saved by the efforts of the commission which must otherwise
have been lost.

Great efforts are now made all the time in the direction of Sherman's
forces as the continual fighting there makes the call for supplies the
most urgent. It is cheering to know that those who labor do it not vainly.
On Friday we had an ice cream festival for the benefit of our exhausted
treasury and although it was horrid muddy and rainy cleared about
forty five dollars which will give us quite a lift until something else

turns up. Mr. K called on me yesterday to tell me not to worry

about the rent that he would wait just as long as it seemed desirable
and seemed rather to enjoy the chance of showing his kindness and
wealth. He is a good patriot so far as he knows which is of course not
very far. There is a good deal of quiet slurring about -. His com-
pany lost a number in killed and wounded before Atlanta but they say "of
course he want [wa'n't] in the fight, he never was yet." Jordan of Spirit

Lake memory told me last winter that said he was not well enough

to go with his company when they went on a raid into Mississippi and
said Jordan we were all glad he didn't go for we would have had to put
him in an ambulance every time we saw a rebel or heard a gun. I have
not heard from Kate or Belle since they left here and don't know
where they are. I think they must have gone back to New York before
this time. There is great alarm in the vicinity of Buffalo now for fear
of an invasion of rebels from Canada to bum the city. Danger seems
every where and perhaps some time we may learn as a nation that we
are in a state of war. I was sorry to read of your grand reviews on
Sunday it may have been a grand sight but I am sure it was an offence
in the sight of Heaven and I do believe that so much needless Sab-
bath desecration is one of the sins which is prolonging this war, and will
prolong it until heart and strength shall both fail. I wish your divi-
sion commander was such as Howard don't youf The little ones have
all been asleep some time.

Both Linnie and Locke seem at times quite homesick for their old
home. They do not realize as well as I can that it is the missing "pa"
that makes home seem lonely. I am expecting you in the fall and hope
I am not to be disappointed in this. I look with much anxiety for my
tomorrow's letter and hope you will not be sick although I fear yon

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 423

have been sick instead of a little ill. Catharine says that both James
and Creorge experienced great benefit from a bandage a quarter of a
jard wide, of flannel, worn round the bowels. They wore it all through
the hot weather in the Cheektowaga country [f] or Chickahoming. It
prevents diseases of the bowels.

My eyes are very poor and I would not write in the evening if I
could be free from interruption any other time.

What can I say my beloved "now I sit, alone alone and the hot
tears break and burn" but this is a sorrow so common now that it
hardly merits a mention although its very commonness is the saddest
thought of all.

God bless thee, and keep thee safe from harm and sin. How much
need have all of us poor weak mortals to pray that we be not led into
temptation as well as delivered from evil. God keep us both and bring
us together that our joy may be full.

Yours truly, M. W. Howe.

DevaU's Bluff, Ark., Aug. 19, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

We returned night before last from our chase after Shelby which re-
sulted in much chase and little catch, took some prisoners, wore out
some horses and tired some men, and lost several sick men.

It has rained considerably for several days and a regular wet season
has set in. I started out sick came back exhausted, but cured of the
terrible diarrhea that is so troublesome here. Found your letters of the
5th and 8th with acid and quinine. They will be in good play, especially
the acid.

We lost one of our best men in the hospital here. Corporal Carmi D.
Knapp of Monroe who loaves a family. None of the rest are dangerously
sick. Most are getting better. John Knox of Prairie City is pretty sick.
Hartley Courman of Vandalia had a large tree fall across him while
we were out but it was so bent that the surgeon thinks he will recover
without permanent injury.

I am hurried and just heard that a boat will perhaps leave in an hour
and must send a scrawl or lose the chance. Pay is coming soon but my
restored health may prevent a visit home. Sennett is at the depot I hear
but cannot now go to see him.

Do keep up courage and health and believe not half the stories of
battles and defeats Ac that get into the papers.

Good bye in haste,

O. C. Howe.

Aug. 21, 1864.
My Dear Husband:

I wonder who writes such long letters and says so little. Life here,
is varied only by the recurrence of the same events each day; to rise
mornings, and eat so many meals each day, seems to embrace it all.

424 ANNALS OP IOWA

To say, that "we are all well and hope you are in the enjoyment
of the same blessings", would in the old stereotyped phrase express
about all that it contained in my longest letters; and yet, when I know
there is nothing to tell the pen runs on.

I have around me just now, a cloud of witnesses — and of what —
of the truth, never a pleasant one, that to us, in all probability, life's
longest shadows now point backward. Here are three likenesses of your-
self— one life like and precious, the others precious but, from the
military dress less husband like, and familiar. In all of them there
is a sprinkling of the silver sheen, that tells of life's meridian.

Sister Catherine seems to smile pleasantly at me, but there is a
look of care that shows her mother heart has suffered, while the image
of James a tall, fine looking young man and yet so like his boy faee,
tells me more plainly perhaps that all the others that the Spring is over.

This thought of growing old, (you will remember) was never a pleas-
ant one to me. Not I think, that I dread more than others the fJiTntning
touch of time, but the fading out of youths' fancies, and loss of heart
bloom, this is saddening.

The bubbles on our cup are only hollow nothings but when they are
all gone the wine is flat.

The great gain of growing old together, is that we do not see these
changes in each other, they come over us so gradually, and for the
image that we love, we draw from memory, quite as often as from sight.
I do hope my husband can come home before he is much changed, and
before time deals too hardly with his wife, but joy is a great rejuvenator,
and I think we shall count our years backward, for a season after your
return.

It is strange, how absence or death invests the merest trifle with a
sacredness, the trifling toy becomes a relic. I have near me now an old
account book, which I keep always in sight, but when you come back
it will be thought unsightly. In this diary of your ejcpenses, your luxuries
seem all to come under the head of figs and apples, what now c-onsti-
tuto them, when buttermilk has become desireable. I fear your fig eating
propensities find no chance for exercise now.

Perhaps you don't hear much about peace propositions where you
are, but I suppose petitions for a delay of the draft until an attempt
at negotiation has failed, are getting many signatures, among the rowdies
of Democratic cities, and silly women every where. What a fearful
development of treason is the e3cpose of "The Son's of Liberty," our
poor unhappy country so betrayed by her own children.

I am glad that this is a Republican town as even the dullest fear
riot, and mobs, as an accompaniment to the fall campaign. If Lincoln
is not elected, then will all this suffering, and bloodshed be in vain,
and to those who have risked all, how terrible this is. The Democrats
say we may make a desert and call it Peace, but would eyen that be any
more a mockery than the Peace described by Mrs. Browning, "That
sits at home in self commended mood, and takes no thought how wind

JUDGE OBLANDO G. HOWE 425

and rain by fits, are howling out of doors against the good of the poor
wanderer. Peace which admits all outside anguish while it sleeps at
home. ' '

A long quotation this my dear, and somewhat varied from the original,
but better words than mine and equal truth. And jet how I long for
the first promise of a coming peace not for mj sake alone, but for the
countless ones who sit alone and watch in night that has no coming dawn,
but moonless, starless dark, as the dark night of Death. I know from
what you have written that I need not expect to hear from jou for
a long time, and yet how I shall look for the letters. Captain Frank
Campbell from Little Bock is expected here tomorrow and I hope to
see him, and find out how you looked when he left.

My dear Husband you w^rite often of different plans for the future
.... I dont wish ever to go to the wild north west to live either to
raise sheep or anything else. I think the prospect of Indian troubles
greater now than it ever was before and have had enough of all such

excitement. I never could be pleased to go to Arkansas The

climate here this summer seems very favorable, so the children and I
am well although my throat has never recovered from the effect of last
winter burning coal with a poor draft. I hope I can get some wood to
mix with coal the coming winter but dont know, at any rate I have a
straight pipe here that will ensure a good draft, I often wish you could
look in and see how comfortable we are here this summer, such large
cool rooms and such pleasant neighbors. Mr. Kennedy seems accommo-
dative, and I think will not trouble me about the rent which is kind,
as he can any day rent our part of the house for more than twice what
I pay him. Six dollars seems a high rent, but it is very cheap now,
every old tumble down tenement of any kind is now filled up and filled
to overflowing. There are many families here from Missouri and the
railroad brings some, while war widows find it cheaper to live in town
and more comfortable to be where some one can care for them.

Linnie is very anxious that I shall ask her Pa what books he has
to read and what kind of church he goes to, and if they have a chaplain
in their regiment. Lockie wants me to tell Pa that he has had the
"Relaxes" awful from eating "crabs," his diminutive for crabapples.
Nellie says tell him "I am always just as good as I can be" which must
be qualified by a recollection of natural depravity, in order to know
her real state of goodness.

A letter from your mother says she wrote to you the Monday before,
I hope you got it. One word as to your pains about writing of your
boys, particularly, if you could see the pleasure on Mr. Cross' face when
I read to him that his own son was a good soldier and also Miss Menden-
hall's delight in her brother's good name, it would surely more than
pay you all the trouble not to say one word about the mother's blessing
which poor Mrs. Banks sends the Captain for his kind mention of her
Baxter. I tell you my dear, these good wishes are worth something to
us both.

426 ANNALS OF lOWA

Would there be any use to send you papers. I have asked several
times and jou do not tell me to send them, so I have thought you saw
no chance to get them.

The corner stone of a new Baptist Church will be laid this week.
Winslow and Lindley^*^ have occupied their new office on the north
side of the square for some time.

Major is expected home this week. He is not spoken of favorably

here as a military man. Was he liked at Little Bockf has re-
signed, also £ but probably you know these things much better than

I can tell them.

I do hope you will get a furlough this fall, I think even more of that
than the long looked for pay. Don't worry about us at home, we will
do well enough and I am sorry I should have written what has troubled
you. I never doubt that you would do all you could to send home.

I send you the state nominees, you will see the name of Allen for
attorney general.^^ He is the one I spoke of as beauing me so finely
in the winter when I saw Mr. Sells^^^ at Marengo. I am going to vote
for him, he is so gallant.

[Last sheet missing.]

From Aug. 23 to about September 28 Captain Howe was
engaged in seeking the whereabouts of General Shelby's Con-
federate troopers who proved so elusive. They had captured
a considerable number of the Federal troopers who were cut-
ting and gathering hay near Ashley's Station; and on the
24th of August Captain Howe's company L witnessed their
first real battle, but they were held in reserve and could watch
the contest and not participate in the clash.

Devall's Bluff, Ark., Aug. 25, 1864.
My Dear Wife:

Yesterday we had our first battle that could really be eaUed such,
and the 9th acted as reserve and though within range did not lose a
man. We were waiting in camp and preparing for inspection by General
West^^ and about one P. M. I was lying down looking at the prepara-
tions, not being well enough to attend the review, when the alarm was
sounded and while arming the command was given for every available
man to arm and mount and we were soon ready. The enemy were rumored

124 Horacp 8. Winslow and 8. N. Llndley — the former later elected district
Judge, and the latter circuit judge.

126 Isaac L. Allen, attorney general of Iowa, 1865-66.

126 EHljah Sells, secretary of state of Iowa, 1856-1868.

127 General Joseph R. West.

JUDGE OELANDO C. HOWE 427

to be advancing to town on the railroad, and we soon started with
the 11th and 8th Missouri regiments all under Colonel Geiger our Bri-
gade Commander, in all about 800 men all mounted, our regiment in
the rear. Many thought the alarm a ruse to bring the ailing ones out
to review. I thought the fight was close by and went in command of
mj company, both lieutenants with us. As we reached the prairie I
sent back a few men too sick to go further, having learned the enemy
were two hours before about 12 miles out, from some fugitives passing
the line, and I also changed horses with a sick man, as Perry^^ is sick
and hungry and lame. We saw smoke rising from where haymakers were
at work guarded by infantry and pressed on and soon heard the sound
of cannon and could see the smoke of the battle. We traveled 10 miles
over the level prairie and our advance came up with them about % an hour
after the rebs had burned all the hay, and killed or taken all troops
defending them, about 200 in all, perhaps more.

The enemy's artillery was withdrawn out of sight and we followed
them about a mile when they halted and threw out a line of skirmishers,
and one of the strangest scenes of this or any war was exhibited. A
prairie fight on a level plain between cavalry. Their skirmishers were
extended about fj of a mile in a single line across our route and the
8th and 11th Missouri, deployed in the same way and attacked them;
we following in a column of 4's (a long line of 4 abreast of each other).
We drove them slowly a mile or more, the two fighting lines about parallel
and 40 to 80 rods apart, when they stopped and we formed in another
line or two lines a portion in the rear and part at nearly right angles
with the others. The boys had a full chance to see the kind of work on
hand, as we had followed over the battleground a mile, meeting several
wounded or dismounted men, and the whole of the time everything in
plain sight. We passed one dead enemy a few feet from our column,
shot through the head, the imagination of some of the boys magnified
this body to 3 or 4.

We remained halted in the rear about y^ a mile from the enemys line
for an hour of very sharp fighting, the balls in many cases passing
through and over our own line, but only hit one horse except two or
three spent balls. The enemy gradually fell back and we kept our rela-
tive positions. The 8th Missouri a splendid set of men made a strong
advance from our left on the enemy who then hastily withdrew his right
after a sharp close exchange of fire, but extended his left rapidly ap-
parently to flank our right.

One battallion of the ninth went to support the Missouri 11 on our
right and we were ordered to advance to relieve (the) 8th who were
withdrawn for that purpose. As they withdrew the rebs again advanced
in the center and against our left cheering and we soon passed through
the line of the 8th (both lines in open order) who were cooly watering
their horses along the ditch of the railroad. We were halted and the

128 Perry seems to be the name of his horse.

428 ANNALS OF IOWA

enemy did the same and we waited for the order to go in, oar lines be
from ^ to a mile apart. We could see about 1000 or 1200 of
enemy in three parallel lines the last resting upon the timber and eo
give no guess as to the rest of their force. This looked a little tick!
as we suspected a ruse of some kind and could not account for the sile
j of their artillery which had not been used in this fight at all. Wl

waiting I counted 42 riderless horses on the battle ground between
!| showing a sharp contest for the number engaged. After waiting

■!| while we found the enemy were withdrawing slowly with a menac

i j rear, but our horses were starved, and exhausted and we could

^1 charge and it of course would be madness to follow a vastly supei

•i force into timber where was artillery some where in wait, so the Am

ll lances were set to work gathering the dead and wounded, and their s

I'j did the same. I noticed Wert^29 of Kewton busily at work between

I.' lines with his ambulance.

We then returned here leaving the battlefield free from a living ene
at about an hour before sunset and I reached here exhausted. On
side the 8th Missouri lost 34 wounded 4 killed, and I have not he
from the 11th, I think our loss in all about 50 killed and wounded out
about 400 or less who took active part in the fight. The enemy I th
lost considerably more and were fairly beaten by not much more tl
^ their force in this battle.

But the whole affair was I must own in their favor as they ca
down upon the railroad tore up the track burned large quantities
' hay and stores and destroyed or captured several hundred men and

caped with the slight defeat we gave them.

Now as to our own affairs, the paymaster missed one train,
1^' next I suppose turned back and no communication with Little R

now and I fear it will not be till next week the money comes. As m
as money comes, and if matters are less exciting here and I dp not
!. cover my health I shall try to come home for a few days, do not

sanguine about it. I am at times almost home sick and have only y
^ letters to solace me. I got yours of 12 today and one from Father ^

1!^ has heard you had gone to Sioux City on a visit. Tell the Littlers

r keep the bugs off one tomato plant for me if I come.

I ! Good bye,

i: Your husband

O. C. How€

■i

Devall's Bluff, Arl
|; Aug. 29, 1864.

Jj My dear Wife:

j : I have just a moment to write a line as I am to go out on the gu

i' line to relieve one who has not had any chance to come into camp

j 36 hours. We have been paid and I have just expressed $150. to ;

I,.

' a

j. 120 Daniel M. Wert.

'o-

JUDGE OELANDO 0. HOWE 429

at au ejcpense of $5. Will write soon again but boat may leave before
I come back. The well men of the Begt. are off on a scout and for
once I stayed here. We learn that Shelby's forces were worse defeated
at our battle than I supposed, his loss in that battle over a hundred, ours
about sixty, but he had just taken and destroyed some three hundred
men of our side whom we were too late to relieve.

Lieut. Collins of Iowa, 32, is on his way through here. You may
remember the tall trapper who ran against Smith and Smeltzer for legis-
lature.130

My health is better but I may visit home in the course of the fall.

Good bye

O. C. Howe.

Devall's Bluff, Ark.
Aug. 31st, 1864.
My dear Wife:

Your letters of 15th and 18th post mark came in this morning and
were of course welcome messengers from home. I am pleased to see
you find something to interest you about, but do not let your mind run
too much on war matters. We have at last received some sanitary aid
in a supply of 25 barrels of potatoes which were welcome enough. Our
boys are enjoying themselves and we all riot in potatoes and in sutler's
stores since pay day, having canned fruits regardless of expense though
I do not intend to dip very heavy into such excess, but an occasional
steamboat meal I do take, at the dollars expense. My health is im-
proving much and it is doubtful whether I am entitled to a furlough,
as present appearances point to complete recovery, this is the fourth
day without diarrhoea. I have had much work writing through the day
as it is regular muster day for pay, as it is rumored that if the Regt.
comes back before the paymaster leaves he will pay us the two months
now again due, but I do not expect this, and we may have to wait again.

I would like to see you and talk of our future course, but cannot
and so will write a little. We will not be able to save much and I wish
to get a home again. If I return it will be necessary for me to live
much in the air, and my dear, I fear my capacity to stick to office busi-
ness so as to depend upon law alone. How would it do for us to calcu-
late upon my working at anything that comes up in Newton that will
not take all my time and earn enough to keep a hand on a small farm
of not over 40 acres within a few miles. I can teach, clerk, trade little,
or form a special partnership in a law office keeping short hours and
working hard during court, or find other business, any one of which
will pay 30 dollars a month and upwards if not support us would do so
if we could keep a few cows and farm some, principally raise cattle
or colts. Four miles out would not be too far if we kept a team and
buggy, provided you were willing to live so far. The great advantage

130 Amos S. Collins of Fort Dodge, first lieutenant of Co. I, Thirty-second
la. Inf. Lewis H. Smith of Algona and C. C. Smeltser of Clay County.

430 ANNALS OF IOWA

of preparing for this is that we could pay for a small farm soon, and
it would cost no more than a poor house and lot in town, and be of
much more value for a means of living and also be better for yon in
case of my not returning.

I am willing when again at home to work hard, but sad experience
makes me distrust my ability to stick to business unless I have some
such change almost daily. Still I could be content to work moderately at
farming or office work, if alternated and hope to have acquired more
stability. If you would like this, can you find a place to suit near
town that is improved? Mrs. Logston whose son Joe is in my company
bought a pretty place of 40 acres, a fair little house, 10 acres timber,
rest improved, four miles northwest of Newton for $200. It waa called
the Linder place and I used to think it a fine little place. Joseph says
she will settle for 300, and I think it worth 400 nearly, if land is raising.
Can you not make a pleasant visit there and see it and if you think
best buy it, of course in your own name. You can make arrangement
to pay down 300 or 400 or more and I will now be able to see you can
borrow the full amount of my acquaintances here, and still leave me a
chance to send you enough to live on. In this way we can get a home.
I think that place may possibly be got for $250 or 300. The White
farm west of Newton, four miles is for sale at 800 but that is too
much for 40 acres and indifferent buildings. How do these suggestions
strike youf Do not be in the least troubled if you do not like them
for I merely think of this thing and sometimes think a house and lot
would be as well. I must own that another employment is aU the time
depended some upon by me that is ' ' Orpheus C. ' ' King if yon can stand
a parody. And the mode I speak of would aid more than exclusive law
business. Of course I would not like to say as much openly but anything
to you.

Morning Sept. 1st. I learn that the officers who sent for furlough on
account of ill health have been refused and recommended to be sent to
Little Bock hospital, for treatment. I am glad my application was
taken back by me, as it would have failed. You may wonder why some
can get leave of absence and others not, but you need wonder at noth-
ing in the army unless it be common sense which is rare here. I may
come home this fall but it is doubtful, as I expect soon to be in full
health and now am nearly so.

Just notified to go out on guard and must start now. It is no work
but I need to stay and write.

Goodbye for 24 hours, will write again when back.

O. C. Howe.

I sent by express $150.

The letters which follow indicate increasing concern about
domestic difiScuIties and concern about Captain Howe's health.

JUDGE ORLANDO G. HOWE 431

Mrs. Howe shows the strain of the long struggle and relentless
pull on her heartstrings of the daily anxiety and the fright-
ful news from the eastern fronts; and Captain Howe's letters
give like signs of the wear and tear of the manifold anxieties
to which his condition made him subject.

September 19th, 1864.
My Dear Husband:

I have left Ldnnie to wash the dishes while I write to "Pa". I was
disappointed in not getting a letter last night but felt as if I deserved
it for not writing to you all tliat week when I thought you were surely
coming home. I shall keep on writing until you really show yourself.

We are having very cool weather here for the season and I hope it
is cool with you and that your dangers from sickness may lessen as
they increase from the enemy.

My dear Husband I am homesick for yon, that is I know how you
must want to come home and it makes me think less of my own dis-
appointment when I remember yours. For a long time your part of
the army seemed only to lie and stagnate inactively at that sickly post,
but now that inactivity seems all over with. Of course this does not
lessen the anxiety at home and I look so anxiously for news and mail.
Sherman's sweep at Atlanta has revived some little hope that if it is
followed by Grant's at Bichmond and all by Lincoln's reelection then
perhaps we may look for peace, but oh, those are so many (ifs) in the
way of all this and even the attainment of all must cost more precious
lives. You may recollect perhaps that you thought there was really no
prospect of your having to serve out three years in actual service.
What do you think of the prospect now. A term not yet half out and
the end seems so far off; but I will not think of this if only God is
kind in giving you back to us, we will wait the time.

Now, my dear husband while I do not wish to conflict in the least
with your wish in this matter yet I will say that the more I think of
it the more I am impressed with the belief that a home in town is
the thing for us at present, then this secured, a few acres somewhere
for a small farm (say four or five) within walking easy distance. If the
railroad comes here the rise in town property will be so great that a
house a little fixed up will sell for more than we give and two years
rent or more perhaps saved. This rent eats up everything while I think
every day how fortunate that I have so good a place even at what seems
so much I could rent the same any day for 10 or 12 dollars and Kennedy
can take 10 any day that I leave. I would not think it nearly so
hard to get along with my little ones here with a home as on a small
farm. Perhaps you may wonder my dearest how I spend so much and aside
from your absence it is the grief of my life that what you are risking
all to earn should be spent so soon but there is no use in fretting.
The Littles will eat so enormously and victuals cost so much and old

432 ANNALS OP IOWA

accounts did run into this year so far. I only do think that I am yerj
economical even if it seems against appearances. Just think flour 12
dollars a barrel and butter 45 cents a pound with cotton cloth a dollar
a yard. Yesterday I paid 75 cents for a poor broom, why one cannot
afford to keep swept up now a days. I have received your money and
paid out most of it but do intend to secure postage this time. Now that
it is over let me tell you how we worked to keep in stamps when I had
used up the last why, then Locke sold paper rags for 35 cts. which
just lasted until the money came.

I have been wondering whether your regiment would be sent any
where else this fall, or whether you will stay all winter where you are.
Of course we can only guess at these things. If you stay there can't
you tell me of some things to send to you that you need. I have asked
you often whether — it would be of any use to send you magazines
or papers and as you did not say yes I thought not. Now good bye this
time do not forget to pray with and for us, with us in heart and for
us always, and God bless and keep you my husband dearer to me than
all else and now so far away and whether we are present or absent
may we always be present with Jesus and humbly waiting His purposes
for us.

Yours in love,

M. W. Howe.

Sept. 25, [1864]
My dear Husband :

Vine and Parmenter*^* are here to night and Parmenter leaves for
Chicago tomorrow. He is in the fur business. Until Vine came he
boarded with me this winter and will stay awhile but as this house is
sold and I can not tell what I may do for myself I don't make any
great calculation upon her staying.

I have a month yet before leaving and it ^^ill all come out right
bye and bye. I look very anxiously now for letters as I fear every day
to hear of some terrible battle in which your regiment is on the field.

I fear that Price can not be headed off from , then there will be

the old bloody scenes of the early war over again. Oh, how anxious I
am now from day to day, and while I know that I ought not to expect
to hear regularly yet I find it hard to wait. I am glad that you are
better than formerly but the only alternative seemed a hard one to me,
sickness or absence so it is.

All are well at home and just recovering a little from the great
disappointment of your not coming home. I have no word of news to
night. On Saturday Gov. Stone made a long [and] very good speech
to a large crowd. Much is expected here from Lincoln's election and

131 Livinia Wheelock Parmenter and husband B. F. Parmenter.

JUDGE ORLANDO C. HOWE 433

many prophecy that as nearly the end of the war, I am not so sanqnine
by any means, are youf

What a great fall in Gold. To day quoted at 180, this looks like
less expensive living here.

My dear husband, I am so full of thought for you that I seem not
to think much of matters in general and am scarcely affected by any-
thing which does not connect itself with you. It is very late tonight
and this is one [of] the days when every body has been here and I
have been to Aid Society and worked hard all day. I find so much de-
termination among the ladies here that I shall continue their President
that it seems almost ugly not to but I resigned today and they voted
unanimously that they would not receive the resignation and so it
stands. I can not give so much time and care and they offer to do my
sewing and come and help me any time. For once I believe I am
popular as both Mr. Vail and Mr. Barnes (CongregationaUst minis-
ter )^32 have been to see me and request that I would not leave the
society as it had never done so much and work so harmoniously as the
past six months.

I will send you a few stamps to night, all I have in the house and
more the next letter.

Good night and God bless and keep you my most beloved.

M. W. Howe.

Austin, Oct. 5, 1864.
My dear Wife:

I am so troubled that I do not know what to write. I got four
letters from you day before yesterday and was much pleased with them,
as I am quite unwell and have written to you fairly about my health.
And, now this morning I learn from some of my company that you were
about starting to come and see me. How could you do this after my
writing so often about its absurdity? But I need write nothing as you
w^ill have started before this gets to you.

I have been taking a course of medicine and hope soon either to
get well or to know that I cannot stand the service and resign, Moore
lias resigned.^^ I write on the supposition you have not committed that
awful folly and are still at home, but the rumor and the fact that the
fear of this has all along troubled me has hurt me much and I am
not able to bear much addition to present troubles.

It will take over $100 to get here and God only knows whether I
shall ever draw pay to raise another 100 to send you back with, and it
settles the question that I cannot resign however sick, as I shall not
in two years be able to raise the sum to get home.

I write plainly in case you are at home so that you will write a
promise and set at rest the most horrible fear that has haunted me

132 Mr. K. 8. Vail, pastor Presbyterian church and Mr. H. £?. Barnes.

133 First lieutenant Wm. M. Moore.

484 ANNALS OF IOWA

dnee in the army, that is, that 70a would leave the children to, I don't
know what fate and eome and if by 8ome remote chanee found me,
then for us to live on nothing. I had thought seriously of resigning but
must wait now two months to get word from you and if you are on the
way of eourse I cannot resign.

I did not like to write a word about it as some things must not be
written even to you without fear of being seen on the way and doing
much injury and I could not in any way intimate anything without
your taking it as certain.

I see that you were much affected by my not coming home but I
wrote for two weeks preparing you and telling you how doubtful it
was and then merely wrote that I had applied and if successful would
bring my letter. How you could have taken this as any encouragement
I cannot see as I let you understand that I had not one chance in a
thousand of coming.

Now, if you have not started do promise me you will consult with
me and give me a chance to tell you why you cannot come but, I do
not like to write all the reasons by letters that can be opened. I have
waited thinking you would not start but trust me at least a little.

O. C. Howe.

Oct. 9th, 1864.
My dear Husband:

I hardly know how I should maintain my regular correspondence with
you if it were not for this inexhaustable old book which always furnishes
so large a sheet when I have neglected to provide any other.

Since I have known that you are located in Austin I have watched
the papers narrowly and seen nothing yet of that place and have never
found it upon any map. Well, if it is only where the raiders do not
find it, that is well. Since this last alarm about Price attacking St. Louis,
I have thought that perhaps Fremont was unjustly blamed for his ex-
penditures there upon the defenses. No doubt they are now a source
of comfort to many who growled at their construction.

I suppose we are having an exciting election campaign but see so
little of these things that I can judge only from papers and the oc-
casional speeches that come to my ears.

Last week Grinnell and Mitchell had a discussion here.^^ I have
heard no comment upon it. The day was rainy and not as much enthusi-
asm as usual in Newton. Tomorrow is a grand rally and all expect a
"big affair" were it not that I think the election of Lincoln almost
a military necessity now, all this speech making and everything in its
connection would seem only a sorry farce. Now perhaps it has a mean-
ing and a use.

P has gone. He was as formerly, quite disgusted with Newton,

particularly the "want of culture and courtesy" among the gentlemen

184 Hon. Josiah B. Grinnell and I. C. Mitchell, the Republican and Demo-
cratic candidates for Congress.

JUDGE OBLANDO 0. HOWE 435

of the bar, and it was the old song over again about its very exorbitant
prices, and the many ways of avoiding their payment. It was easily
seen that his old home gone and himself outstripped by those who were
boys here at that time had a souring effect upon his view of all things,
but it is no wonder.

Linnie and Vine are at church this evening with Ralph, now a great
boy, and I have told stories to Lock and Nell until my throat is tired
and even then there was no sign of their being sated.

Linnie is improving in looks and manner and is a great pet among
teachers and scholars. She certainly is one of the most amiable of
little girls and manifest no inconsiderable talent in her "essays", as
her weekly productions are named. If she lives she will hold the pen
of a "ready writer" but, whether that will be of equal use with
skill in housewifery depends I suppose upon very many contingencies.
I sometimes think that she is the valuable woman "who only bears
sons" and that they are most blessed among women who know nothing,
care for naught, and having no wit of their own, have perhaps no will.
If the children of such mothers were not always fools, I would adopt
it as a firm belief, but even women ought not to be merely fool pro-
ducing animals. Now I wonder what sent my pen off upon such a
steeple chase as these last long sentences. I believe it was thinking of

the apparent connubial bliss of Mr. and Lady, the latter of which

is certainly calculated to retain a husband's love only by her extremely
uncommon sense of good victuals. The fact is it makes me sour to
see them so cozy these lengthening evenings while I to whom the law
has given equal right, to equal comfort "sit alone with fading hair
and lips unkissed".

Another thing, I have got to move soon, and to move with no man,
this is enough to dissipate all sentimental opposition to second husbands.

This house is sold and after wandering more days than Noah's famed
dove, I still found no resting place. Up street, and down street into
every possible and impossible looking house, have I found my way, until
the very dogs forgot to growl, they saw me so often and found me
always so gentle and harmless. At last good Mrs. Lee from pure pity
will let me have two little rooms in her house. The largest is only
nine by fourteen feet, the other, nine feet square. Now, how to so
concentrate and shrink myself as to fit these new quarters is my only
present study, as it is two weeks before moving time I have proposed
the system of quarter rations for the coming fortnight but it meets
with no favor even as a theory and the practice I fear would fail of
success.

Now, my dear husband, I feel very much like just telling you how
lonely I am tonight, with no sound but the breathing of the little
ones, and no hope of a coming step for which I have often longed.
But does it make your duties lighter or chase away any gathering

436 ANNALS OF IOWA

shadow of homesickness to hear or read these things. We both ks
that they must be and are. That to both of us are appointed d
all dark, and nights all moonless, when we do so yearn for home fa
and fond words that the heart is sick and the whole soul grieves. 1
rest have just come in and I must stop writing now so God keep ]
my dearest, and keep you near to Him and hide you as in the hoU
of His hand from all evil and danger. Let us live my dearest, as
the light of God, so shall the darkness of sin and of sorrow fail
mislead us, and the end will be well. Think of us all at home not o:
fondly but prayerfully and remember us not only as subject to '
ills of life but the joy or sorrow of eternity. Oh, may we be kept fr
temptation, from weakness, and sin, and be united to live a song
praise.

Yours fondly,

M. W. Howe

Newton, Oct. 13th. [1864]
My Dear Husband:

I have just come home from prayer meeting which was interrupted
Mr. Seymour coming to tell the members of Capt. Manning's Compa
that they were ordered to arm and march to Oskaloosa as 500 or m<
Bebels from Missouri were now at Ottumwa. There is excitement agi
among most of the town people but it does not worry me at all, Guerri
scares have no terror for me beside I have had no letter from you foi
long time and that is my great source of anxiety as I do not kn<
where to send your letters I send part to Austin and part to Duval
Bluff. Where shall I send themf I am feeling very sad tonight a
don't think I will write much as I have no news to tell. I have writi
a number of times about the difficulty of finding a house and that
have to move, also about my great disgust at that Logston place
the country, and of the houses to sell in town. The old Shellenber^
house, red bordered and two by Mr. Edmundson. The house Mr. Porl
lived in is for sale at 700 dollars and property everywhere now is
speculation prices. The Shellenberger house with its two well fenced h
and good well for 500 is far the lowest in price of any that I know <

McGregor whom you will remember as the grocer here long ago I
come back and gone in with Meyer^^^ again. Newton has a stran
power of drawing its settlers back again to itself after they have tri
vainly to do better elsewhere.

The rush here is immense and the amount of business of all kin
increasing daily. The merchants are so much afraid of a great f
in dry goods that they are selling at auction a trifle below, or at co
We are having most delightful October weather and it makes my hei
ache badly to think what pleasant walks and rides might have be

135 James McGregor and probably John Meyer, lieutenant colonel of 1
Twenty-eighth Inf.

JUDGE OELANDO C. HOWE 437

to us under less trying circumstances. You can easily imagine just about
how I am employed much of the time washing dishes, making fires,
putting cliildren to bed etc, etc, while I can have no idea of what duties
or pleasures, time, or season, can bring to you. Yau can think of your
home as a thing remaining while you are drifting here, and there, while
my divided loves and fears toss to and fro without rest or calm. Par-
menter told me of a clergyman from Bockford who went to Petersburg
sent by the Christian commission and while there during a battle, saw
so much of misery and death as the result of only one day of war, that
his sentiments were all changed, and he became (although a hater of
Southern policy and principle) almost a peace man. Now while I
do not commend nor yet quite sympathize with this man, I do not in
the least wonder at his conclusion. If I did not believe that in some way
(now all dimly understood) all this sorrow was necessary under God's
plan for our redemption I too would feel that nothing could pay for
all of sorrow and death that darken our hearts and homes.

We are all well and thinking much of the time when Pa is coming
home. Nellie was much disappointed that you could not see how large
she was on her birthday. I do hope tomorrow will bring a letter,
Yours in love undying

M. W. Howe.

XII

From middle October, 1864, Mrs. Howe had increasing
cause for anxiety about her husband's health and prospects.
His letters due to illness were less frequent. Further she was
hearing from officers of his regiment, home on furlough, that
his physical condition was precarious, and that his health was
in such critical stage that he might be unable to come home
even if granted leave or discharged.

In the beginning of her third paragraph in the following
letter Mrs. Howe refers to two incidents of the Civil War
that shocked the public peace rudely and produced panic in
south and central Iowa. The first event was the sudden in-
vasion of Davis County by a band of guerrillas, who by mur-
der and rapine spread terror until checked. The second was
the brutal murder in Poweshiek County south and west of
Grinnell of two deputy provost marshals, Captains John L.
Bashore of Appanoose County and Josiah L. Woodruff of
Marion County, who had been sent to apprehend some men
who refused to answer to the draft. A local organization com-
posed of resident Southerners who called themselves ''Demo-

438 ANNALS OF IOWA

cratic Bangers" (it was probably a nnit of the Knights of
the Golden Circle), focussed the opposition, and backed the
resistance of the local resistants — ^it had delegated Messrs.
Mike Gleason and John and Joseph Fleener ''to attend" to
the deputies and prevent their mission, with the sorry conclu-
sion named by Mrs. Howe.

Newton, Oct. 16th [1864]
My dear Hiuband :

Yours of Sept. 29th came in last night the first letter in 12 days
but I kept up pretty weU as I knew everything in your region was aU
confusion.

I am very sorry to know that your health is stiU poor but I had
heard so from Maj. Smith who told me some weeks ago that the maj. of
your regiment told him that your health would not permit you to go
north if the regiment did go in pursuit of Price.

The big invasion panic here seemed to resolve itself into 200 Mis-
rourians who came within a few miles of Ottumwa and were driven
back. It created quite a panic here. Capt. Manning's company are
armed with Enfield rifles and are to be mounted infantry .^>^ Capts.
Woodruff and Bashore were the men killed in the GrinneU War as we
call it here.^"^ I take more hope from the late election returns from
the East than from anything for a long time before. I believe a heavy
Union majority in New York and Pennsylvania would be better tokens
of a coming peace than even Bichmond taken. You speak quite often,
my dear, of our being "poor folks" after your return as though that
had some, new, undefinable, terror for us. Why my dear haven't we
always been suchf To be sure we never seemed to half believe it
neither will we now, but the facts wiU be the same as ever. There is
no terror to me in any future that includes my husband and children
in one family with myself. There is now no difficulty in all men finding
such employment as pleases them but no doubt after the war when all
the soldiers return there will be more competition but we shall surely
find a way to make a comfortable and also respectable living among
civilized people. I do not fear it my dear, and do not let any thoughts
of this kind trouble you. If only Gk>d in his goodness will bring us to-

186 The Captain Manning referred to above was probably Wm. Manning,
formerly first lieutenant of Co. I. Tenth la. Inf. and later adjutant. Mrs.
Howe repeats the rumors current in the press that 200 Missourians bad in-
vaded Davis and Wapello counties (see article entitled **Tbe Guerrilla Raid'*
In Ottumwa Courier for Oct. 18, 1864). The number was considerably exag-
gerated. Lt. Col. S. A. Moore in his report to Adlutant General N. 8. Baker
states that there were only twelve guerrillas who Invaded Davis County. But
they were disguised in Federal uniforms and did much sorry damage before
Col. Jas. B. weaver dispersed and captured some of the murdering marauders
(see Adjutant QeneraVa Report, 1864-65, Vol. 11. pp. 1417-28 ; reprinted in
Annals of Iowa, Third Series; Vol XIII, pp. 862-374).

187 L. F. Parker, History of Poweshiek County, Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 100-102 ;
Gue, History of Iowa, Vol. II, pp. 01-02.

JUDGE OBLANDO G. HGWE 439

gether an unbroken family again then surely must all our life be a
thanksgiving song.

Mr. Edmundson asked me if you had ever got your pay yet for the
time spent in the State service before your regiment was mustered inf
I told him no. Was that not correct f He said then there was so much
laid up as it was all right when you wanted it. If so that wiU help some
about a home if we do not find one sooner.

I often wish that I dared to teach school or do something that
would help a little more but really my dear, I dare not for the great
anxiety for you and perhaps a change of climate has not affected me
very kindly as to health while I am not sick much I am tired all the
time and find that I need to take expectorant often to keep down the
pain and soreness of my lungs and throat. I dare not now venture more
as a few months of sickness would lose more than I could make.

My dearest, I have written a long letter about nothing. I hope that
you have learned long ago that I did receive the money sent by ex-
press. One hundred and fifty dollars but no money ever came in letters
nor did any letters come that told of enclosing any. Good night again,
so often said, always so sadly. God bless and keep you and return you
to your loving wife.

M. W. Howe.

Locke wants me to tell you that he has made the fire and put on
the kettle for two days.

Newton, Oct. 20, 1864.
My dear Husband:

I have received nothing from you since yours of Oct. 5th in which
you were so disturbed about my coming down the river. I have been
looking anxiously all the week hoping that in your next you would say
that all uneasiness on that score was gone, or it seemed to me that my
letters must soon convince you it was all nonsense even without the
assertion from myself. But the letters do not come yet and I fear either
that you are expecting me or that you are unable to write, both of
which are a sorry state for you and me.

It is one of those beautiful Oct. days so often seen in Iowa when
we can hardly realize that the ** year's departing beauty bides of wintry
storms the sullen threat" for the air seems all sunshine and balm and
the russet dress of the trees is as if a golden summer sunset was bathing
them. Do you remember those splendid sunsets at the Lakes, when after
a heavy thunder storm with the dark clouds piled as a solid back-
ground in the eastf The whole landscape, wood, field, and wave, seemed
bathed in such a flood of golden light as if it were indeed reflected
from the very pavement of Heaven. It was such beauty as this united

440 ANNALS OP IOWA

with the feeling of a home all our own that made a residence in that
far off region not only tolerable, but at times delightful, not that I
have ever had one momentary regret that we left all this for the
beauty is to me only as the beauty of death; the rose around the tomb,
nothing to rely upon, nothing to sustain us, only a veil over the realities
of disappointment and great sorrow.

I find every where, even in my own mind, the hope, almost belief,
that the war is drawing to a close, and yet the reason for this is hard
to give, since every step southward is just as sternly contested now as
three yars ago. Perhaps it is that we are all expecting great results
from the re-election of Lincoln, (now so trustingly hoped for) perhaps
relying some upon the rumors of a wish for peace among some of the
rebel states themselves, or it may be that we are only without reason be-
lieving what we all so earnestly desire. Oh, these three years of cruel
war, in which over the bleeding hearts of many, others have strode on,
to wealth, and power. This is one of the sad things in the war that
so many seem not to have coined their own, but their brothers blood,
and have built up their immense fortunes from their Country's sorrow.

There are evidently some things troubling you of which I am ignor-
ant and which you think not best for various reasons to WTite about.
Is there any probability that letters written to you are ever meddled
withf I am sure that your position must naturally furnish difficulties
enough for you to surmount, and if you have to encounter those not on
the record, it is hard, truly. There were a number of allusions which
I could not in the least understand but they shall give me no uneasiness,
(apart from the knowledge of their trouble to you) and some time it
will all be right.

I wish you were not so discouraged both about things at home and
with you, for I can only feel that we have already lived through so
much real trial that it is worse than useless to anticipate anything.
We have many causes for thankfulness. In but few, comparatively very
few, of the families of those in the army, do things remain as they
were, so many have lost either husband, wife, or child, that while we all
remain an unbroken household, even although separated widely, let us
thank God for the mercies and not, not grieve about some sorrow or
trial which may never come, and for which at best the only remedy is
submission and patience. Forgive me, by dear, that I have vrritten such
a lecture particularly as no doubt it is needed most by myself.

I wonder if I had better tell you what a time I am having trying
to find, and not finding a house, while the new owner of this is waiting
not very patiently for us to get out, well you may imagine it all just
as well as I can tell it, only the hunt for a house when you were here
was all a joke compared with now. I do not even think of a house, one
or at most two rooms is all that I could think of paying rent for, so
much has rent raised the last year. The rush here still continues and I
often wonder what people are coming here for when it is full to over-

JUDGE OBLANDO G. HGWE 441

flowing now. I hope if Moore comes home that he will come and see me.
Hifl wife will almost or qaite be glad that he was sick as she is very tired
of living alone. It is so dark that I can only guess the lines and say
good bye and may God keep you in safety and bring us together soon.

Yours in love,

M. W. Howe.

I have been to church and just got back. You cannot tell how often
on Sabbath Evening I wonder where you are, and what you are doing,
whether there is any even apparent regard for Sabbath. Do you have
any Chaplain and does it seem of any use. I have often wished that I
could get a clearer view of your every day life in camp, but must wait
until like old Aeneas in the olden time school book, "it shall delight
you to tell."

You seem very desirous that the children should "be good" noth-
ing can do more towards bringing this about than such expressions
addressed to them as they all think much of hearing pa's letters read
and are always pleased when they are mentioned particularly. I think
they are good children though of course each of them have faults of
character, and their own individual ways of them showing.

Brownsville, Ark.
Nov. 1, 1864.
My dear Wife:

Gaining fast and will be able to start for home on furlough as soon
as it can be got, unless it is denied which all say is not going to be.

Goodbye,

O. C. Howe.

Newton, Dec. 5th. [1864]
My dearest:

For a long time I have tried to school my heart to bear with patient
fortitude the blow which I knew must come some time, but it is a re-
bellious heart and now I feel all unprepared to bear this my greatest
trial. Oh, will nothing but blood and tears wipe out our Nations sinf
I know the path of duty is the one where we should love to walk and
that you have chosen it I feel, but it is a false theory that teaches joy
as the inevitable fruit of duty, no, no it is those who "come up through
much tribulation" whose robes are whitest. This stunning grief must
pass away and life wiU roll on in its dull sluggish current looking only
to the "coming home" as the one thing desirable. It is very easy to
preach patriotism and sacrifice to others but when the gift upon the
altar is our choicest I fear we would if possible recall the offering.
I do not know that I have any wish to come to Davenport, I fear I would
not without injury to us both, for do not, my dear husband, imagine
that I am so selfish as to think the pain of parting aU my own.

442 ANNALS OF IOWA

I am going to do better by and by and although I think I shall
hardly covet the cheer of a flirting "war widow", I will try and do
my dnty by the children and not keep them in an atmosphere of gloom,
also will I cultivate that brave trust which has so often the power of
prophesy. There is much of account and business matters at home
which I had hoped you might settle yourself before leaving the state. I
will do as well as I can and you can when settled still advise in many
things although absent. Perhaps I can come and visit you in the spring.
Do make such an arrangement if possible.

If you have not written to your parents do so at once after reaching
St. Louis, I believe you have some cousins there. Now, my dear hus-
band, I beseech you that you do not amid the care and tumult of eamp
life forget your God. Oh, try and live nearer to Him when absent from
all your earthly loved ones. Pray often for your wife and little ones
who will not forget their father.

I have not another moment before mail time, and can never tell you
how dear you are to me now and have ever been. God keep and com-
fort us.

M. W. Howe.

December, 1864.
My Dear Husband:

I have just heard from you that you were mustered [out] and ex-
pected to leave soon for St. Louis. Well, it has been expected a long
time but will be no easier to bear when it comes. I do hope that you
can come home as Linnie and indeed all the children wish so much to
see their Pa but if not I suppose I must bear that too. I hope you
will remain in St. Louis all winter and that the war will be over before
many months. I am doing very well, Abbott has been here since Satur-
day and banked us all in as you never saw a house banked, aU around
and under, and fixed us up generally for winter, besides doing some
marketing for time to come. Belle will stay here through the winter.
Abbott says that he has written to you upon some matters and seems
anxious for an answer. You need not call this a letter as it is only
an attachment to Linnie 's letter.

The greatest trouble we have in the house keeping line is for fueL
Wood is scarce and very dear and coal can hardly be obtained in quan-
tities for the demand. I think when I am in funds I will get two or
three cords of wood and try to find some one to cut it then we can
have that for exigences and not be distressed for fuel. Phillip Beitter
was buried last week and many children are again sick, with a variety
of diseases. I will write again soon and you have probably received a
long letter from me vrritten last Sunday. Goodnight.

Your loving wanting wife

M. W. Howe.

JUDGE OBLANBO 0. HOWB 448

Brownsville Station Arks. April 25th, 1865.
Mr. O. G. Howe:

Dear Sir : I have the honor and pleasure again of writing yon a note.
My health is very poor again this spring and appears to be continually
failing. I am going to resign if I can for if I have to stay here I will
die before faU the health of the Regiment is good, better then I have
ever saw it since we have been in the service. Go. L. is right side op
the boys are all weU and in good spirits they think of getting to come
home soon there is flags of truce passing between Kirby Smith and
General Reynolds the supposition is that Smith is abont Surrendering
all his army to the U. S. Authorities and if so fighting is very near
plaid out in the west. WeU Gaptain I have disposed of your horse I em-
ployed a man to take care of him just as soon as you wrote me word
that you wished me to take the horse and do the best I could with him
he had the greese heel then and did not get well for a long time
neither did he improve any and just at the time that I thought he was
about well took sick and for ten days I never knew him eat one bite of
anything he had reduced very much but I finely disposed of the horse
for fifty dollars I have paid Martin Beeson twelve dollars which Serg.
Richardson says you owed him I then paid the remainder thirty eight
dollars to J. G. Rockafellow as Gompany fund enclosed is the Receppt
given by Lieut. J. G. R. I am sorry that I could do no better but I
have done the very best I could for you knowing that you needed all the
money you could get well Gaptain if I am fortunate enough to get home
once more the rest of my time shall be spent in some other business
where I can enjoy the associations of friend and home I would be glad
to hear from you and family but I may be at home soon if so I will give
you a call. I remain your friend as ever

Lieut. Richard Armstrong.
O. G. Howe, Newton
Jasper Go., Iowa

Captain Howe's condition apparently was so serious that
instead of a furlough, for which he had applied, he was given
a complete honorable discharge from service on December 6,
1864, and invalided home. His health must have been pre-
carious for he remained for some weeks in the army hospital
at Davenport, where for a time his life was despaired of ; but
his rugged constitution withstood the ravages of the fevers
that for weeks had harassed his health, and Mrs. Howe was
able to take him to their home in Newton.

[Concluded]

JOHN FRANCIS RAGUE—
PIONEER ARCHITECT OP IOWA

By M. M. Hoffman

John F. Rague came to Dubuque in 1854. There he met the
Honorable Stephen Hempstead, just returned from his four
years of governorship of the state of Iowa at Iowa City. He
and Hempstead became friends and he allowed Hempstead
to prevail upon him to remain in Iowa as a permanent resi-
dent. Rague had been in Iowa before. His name was con-
nected with the erection of **01d Capitol'' at Iowa City, in
which building Hempstead had held forth as governor of Iowa.
A persistent tradition has made an artistic Italian missioner,
the Dominican priest, Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, the designer
of the plans of * * Old Capitol ' ', but cold historical facts make
John Francis Rague the constructing architect of that ex-
quisite, old state house, the pride of classic Iowa. And just
as Father Mazzuchelli had erected his edifices in three dif-
ferent states, so had Rague likewise reared his monuments
of beauty in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Rague 's father was a surgeon in the French army who came
to America with Lafayette during the Revolutionary War.^
After the war he remained in America and married the
daughter of a New Jersey family. The family Bible of this
Presbyterian lady, John F. Hague's mother, which he brought
to Dubuque with him, states in the birth records: **John
Francis Rague, born at Scotch Plains, N. J., March 24, 1799."
His mother, forty-one years of age at the time of his birth,
had previously been an intimate friend of Washington Ir-
ving's mother, and had helped rear young Washington dur-
ing his babyhood while Mrs. Irving had been incapacitated
by illness. In 1806 young Rague commenced to attend school
in New York, and later received his architectural education

1 The material about Hague's domestic life, and ancestry, the writer ob-
tained in 1928 from interviews with Mrs. John O'Keefe who for over twenty
years had lived with the second Mrs. Rague as business partner and companion.
She has in her possession now the Rague family Bible, In which is written down
much concerning Mr. Rague.

JOHN FBANCIS HAGUE 445

;

under the then famous Milard Le Pevre. In 1824 when La-
fayette was making his last triumphal visit to America, he
was tendered a monster civic banquet in New York. Learn-
ing that young Rague, the son of his former military surgeon
— now long since dead as the result of an obstinate wound re-
ceived during the Revolutionary War — ^was in the assemblage,
he requested that he be brought forward and seated next to
him during the celebration.

After engaging in architectural work for a few years in
New York, Rague came west to the growing town of Spring-
field, Illinois, in 1831. Here he affiliated with the Presbyterian
church and being a musician with more than ordinary talents
and endowed with a rare tenor voice, he became a leader in
the church choir. With him in this choir during the follow-
ing years were, among others, Mary Todd, Abraham Lincoln
and Stephan A. Dougles, and a young lady whom Rague
courted and married- Although Rague was Lincoln's senior
by ten years, a close friendship sprang up between the two,
and the awkward young lawyer allowed himself to be groomed
for public functions by the polished architect from New York.
It was Rague who induced Lincoln to wear white gloves for
the first time to attend a dance.^

In 1836 John F. Rague was elected one of the trustees of
the town of Springfield. When, during the following year,
Springfield having just been made the capital of Illinois, it
was decided to erect a state house there, Rague had already
risen to such prominence in his field, that he was retained
by the building commissioners as supervising architect of the
structure at a salary of one thousand dollars a year.* The
building was of the colonial-classic type, and at its comple-
tion brought Rague such renown that he was asked to pre-
pare the plans in 1839 for the first capitol of Iowa at Iowa
City. He made the plans for the Iowa capitol while still
living at Springfield ; and as some sort of an outline or sketch
had been probably sent to him (the proposals for the design
of the building having been previously published in the Iowa

2 Mrs. O'Keefe, op. cii.

3 Prom correspondPDce with Miss Georgia L. Osborne, secretary of the
Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield. Also see Transactions of Illinois
Historical Society, No. 31, p. 148.

446 ANNALS OF IOWA

News, at Dubuque), it was doubtless at this point that the
original design of Father Mazzuchelli was forwarded to him.

The contracting firm of Skeen and McDonald began opera-
tions in the spring of 1840 and pushed the work so vigorously
that on July 4th an imposing ceremony of laying the comer
stone was able to take place. ''John F. Hague, after doing
about ten thousand dollars worth of work, nearly completing
the basement, threw up his contract and abandoned the work."
Thus states H. W. Lathrop in the Iowa Historical Record;^ but
this is not entirely true as it was Hague's contracting firm of
Skeen and McDonald which abandoned the contract. The
building was completed under the direction of Chauncey
Swan.

In 1844, due to business and domestic difiSculties, Bague left
Springfield and took up his abode in Milwaukee. He lived
alone there as he had divorced his wife, Eliza. In his adver-
tisement he made no reference to his thirteen years' resi-
dence in Springfield: ** After twenty years of practical build-
ing in the city of New York, he will draw plans and specifi-
cations and contracts for all types of buildings." He was one
of the first two architects known to have worked in Milwaukee
as architects. He also spent considerable time at Chicago,
Madison and Janesville. Among the buildings in Milwaukee
designed by him was the Phoenix Building and several school
buildings for the city for two of which he received the sum
of one hundred dollars. In regard to his projects in Madi-
son, Arthur Peabody wrote: **The most interesting record
of the man concerns the designing of the three buildings for
the University of Wisconsin : University (now Bascom) Hall,
North Hall, and South Hall The buildings still re-
main and have been admired by several architects of note for
their simple lines and refined architectural character. It would
be a graceful thing to inscribe his name on these buildings.
The records of the Board of Regents of 1850 and the notices
of the Wisconsin Argus of the time are all that an architect
could desire for commendation."*

Bague kept up his interest in music as well as in local
politics. He was treasurer of the Beethoven Society, the first

4 Iowa HUtorical Record, Vol. IV, p. 102.
5 WUcofuin Maffoaine of HUiory, Vol. X, Dec., 1026, p. 220.

JOHN FBANdS BAGUE 447

musical organization in Milwaukee. He was defeated in the
race for justice of the peace in 1846 and for alderman in 1849.

After coming to Wisconsin, Hague abandoned the Presby-
terian faith, and although still believing in Gk)d, he became
an open and avowed Freethinker. At Janesville he met Miss
Chestina Scales and her he assiduously courted. Her family,
being strict members of the Episcopalian church, forbade her
marriage to a divorced man, a rara avis in those days, but they
were later married by a Gongregationalist minister. She was
many years his jimior and it was shortly after this marriage
that the couple came to Iowa.

At Dubuque, Oovemor Hempstead's influence did much for
his friend Hague. The latter designed and built the Dubuque
county jail which still stands in service today. He modelled
it closely after the old Tombs of New York, even down to the
fierce, mediaeval-looking dungeons deep below the structure.
When James O'Donnell Bennett, the literary and cultural
critic of the Chicago Tribune was in Dubuque several years
ago, he marvelled at 'Hhis gem of Egyptian architecture,
transplanted across the Mississippi Biver." Hague built the
present City Hall of Dubuque ; for this he obtained the idea
from the old Fulton Market House in New York. But some
of his designs were entirely original, such as the old octagonal
Langworthy home which still is in use today. He designed and
built the First, Third and Fifth ward school buildings, the
Third Ward building being used today as an apartment house.
Its gingerbread decorations reveal the taste of the old Milard
LeFevre school. One of his finest buildings, no longer stand-
ing, was the residence of the Hon. F. E. Bissell, the then at-
torney general of Iowa.®

In Dubuque his proclivity for local politics again mani-
fested itself, and he was elected to the school board of which
he became an active member.

In the 60 's Hague's eyesight began to show impairment
and in a few years he became pitiably and totally blind. In
1868, Governor Hempstead, because of an accident, was com-
pelled to have his right leg amputated below the knee, and
the two old friends were wont to visit and commiserate with

0 We were greatly helped in collecting these biographical facts not onlv by
Mrs. 0*Keefe, bat by a long obituary article in the Dubuque Telegraph of
September 26, 1877.

448 ANNALS OF IOWA

one another. Rague's first wife, Eliza, came to Dubuque to
visit him several times in his affliction, and upon her death
he had her body brought to Dubuque and buried upon his lot
in Linwood cemetery. He arranged his own funeral cere-
monies before he died, and wrote out a long poetical epitaph
to be inscribed on his monument embodying his peculiar phi-
losophy of life. He passed away on September 24, 1877.

His second wife, during her husband's blindness, and for
many years after his death, conducted a combination studio
and lace- and fancy-work shop, which many of the matrons
of present-day Dubuque patronized in their youth. And to-
day she, like the first wife, lies buried beside the remains of
that pioneer architect of Iowa, John Francis Bague.

(It is pertinent for the editor of the Annals to add the poetical
epitaph referred to above as it appears in the files of the Dubuque HerM
of September 26, 1877, as follows:)

This planet earth, it's face I've trod

For three score years and o'er,
Now in it's bosom make my bed.

To rest for evermore.

Though ere a thousand years shall pass,

My dust shall rise again;
May generate e'en flowers or grass.

By aid of sun and rain.

The bees will sip these fragrant flowers,

The lambs will eat the grass,
And thus they'll spend their earthly hours.
Till from this life they pass.

Then all return to mother earth,

Some time again to rise,
Though no one knows the kind of birth,

But God, the only wise.

Thus Nature's laws are Ood's own cause.

Obedient to his will;
Men sometimes teach, but let them pause;

All Nature speaks — ^be still.

Roll on our planet, in the train

With million others, roll.
Man need not fear, he can't be slain —

He's under God's control.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS TO

MARY ANN MACKINTIRE

1845-1846

Edited bt Philip D. Jordan

[Concluded]

Maqaoketa, Iowa. March
21, 1846.
My dear Mary :

I arrived home on the 19th .... I found the stage at Davenport
full of passengers, so Br. Adams loaned me his horse and borrowed a
sulky for me, and on Wednesday I came to Dewitt where I passed a
pleasant night with Br. Emerson. Thursday morning I got five miles
on my way and met the stage with Br. Turner and wife in on their
way to his father's near Alton, HI., so I turned back, took dinner with

them at Dewitt, had a pleasant chat .... and came on home I

have pretty nearly made up my mind that the Lord will have me labor
in his cause at Burlington and shall probably write the Church accept-
ing their invitation next week. I design removing there then, if the
Lord will, the 6th and 7th of April, but how much have I to do by way
of preparation. My people have here generally expressed a strong de-
sire that I should remain with them. I believe the Lord has given me
a place — and some affectionate hearts here and it grieves me to think
of leaving them. With them I have labored and prayed. Here I have
toiled and suffered. I have reason to think that I have the confidence
of the people in a large and rapidly growing section of the country,
and that in time I can do them great good. Here is my pleasant study,
and as fair prospect of a comfortable and quiet home. Were in these
circumstances, the change a thing of my own seeking, I should distrust
[it]. Although my labors here have given me a promise of accomplishing
much in the future, yet I trust they may be of service to me in Bur-
lington, although my efforts there must be in many respects of a different
character. At any rate, as Br. Emerson remarked, I shall be able to
sympathize with my brethren in the country.

Before I leave I am anxious to visit a good many of my people.
I must prepare a farewell sermon. I have a good deal of business with
one man and another to settle up, property to dispose of etc.

Burlington is a hard place, but I beg you not to think too bad of it.
Don't for a moment imagine that we shall be martyrs in going there.
As to worldly comforts, society, and this life we shall be more comfort-
ably situated than we could be anywhere in the territory, unless Dubuque
be excepted. If we can get the House of Worship finished this sunmier,

450 ANNALS OF IOWA

I shan't want a better place to preach in. There are many kind ax
honest-hearted people, and if I can only get hold of those who ougl
to be under orthodox influence, I may do great good. There is a lar|
community to work on, and though the present place of worship is fv
(holding about one hundred) yet when we get the chnreh up, I sha
have to gather in a congregation to fill it. A great deal depends upc
a man 's personal aside from his ministerial influence. People distinguii
between a black coat and a fine man. My position will be a tryii

one

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa. Iowa. March 25, 1846.
My dear Mary :

I have now decided one of the most eventful questions of my Hi
and accepted the invitation to become pastor of the church in Burling
ton. I have endeavored this day to draw nigh to God and especial
humbling myself in view of my unworthiness and unfaithfulness as
minister of Christ and imploring the divine direction [in facing] tl
new trying scenes before me. We have acknowledged €k>d, thou predoi
friend, in this as in all our ways, and I cannot but think that th
counsel is of Him, and yet I go forward in weakness and fear and i
much trembling. The union of the Church and Society, the advice c
many friends, the congeniality of society in Burlington to our predilo
tions, tastes, and habits, the wide field of usefulness, and the pressui
there on my mental activity which I am conscious is developed, m
self -moved but only on demand, and many little things make my dnt
tolerably clear to my mind. Let us then go forward, giving thanl

to the Lord, and trusting in His holy name I shall comment

my labors on the second Sabbath in April, and design preaching on thj
day from I Corinthians 2:2.'^. . . .

From the fact that the church in Burlington has given me a unan
mous call, you may well suppose that they are not so critical as hai
sometimes been represented. The people were extremely kind and a
tentive to Br. Hutchinson. He spoke to me of their kindness to hii
with deep emotion, and Mrs. Hutchinson is very much beloved an
tenderly sympathized with. There is but one House of Worship in tl
place, that is the Methodist one, a plain brick building which will sei
some 350, and is generally filled. They talk of enlarging it. Mr. Norri
their minister, is a man of good spirit from Maine. His wife is goii
East this summer. There are two German congregations, one Evai
gelical and the other Methodist. I mistake, there is a Bomish Hous
but they have no priest now. This influence is comparatively smal
though some leading political characters are connected with it. The:
is an Episcopal church ministered to by Mr. Bachelor, an old Andovi

BO I CorinthiaoB 2 :2. For I determined not to know any thing among yo
3ave Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

WILLIAM 8ALT£B'S LETTERS 451

student, and an Old School Presbyterian church of some dozen members.
Their minister preaches ^ his time, is from Kentucky, and it is said,
is about leaving. This Congregational church consists of about 40 mem-
bers. James 6. Edwards (editor of the HawJe-Eye) and A. S. Shack-
ford are the deacons. Mrs. Edwards was formerly a member of Dr.

Wisner's church in Boston, and is a devoted Christian I preached

in Burlington from John 18:36,«i Bom. 16:8,»* Psahois 90:9," I Cor-
inthians 15:3.,^ Gal. 2:15-16," John 6:6G-j68," generally with ease and
to an attentive congregation. Whether they will listen with so much
interest when I have ceased to be "a new thing" among them is prob-
lematical I find it a greater struggle than I had anticipated to

break away from my relations here. Many are expressing their regret
at my leaving them. Mr. Shaw offered to give me an acre of land for
which he has charged me $25 if I will stay. One man who was ex-
communicated from the church last spring was in to see me yesterday
and said he wants me to stay. I find I have formed a strong attach-
ment to this study and to my plans for building here. One good mother
in the church says she don't think I will go yet. Another thinks I will
be back in a year. Mrs. Shaw complains of the people in Burlington,
and Mr. Shaw says he shall feel discouraged for if they send a smart
man here, someone will call him away, and if they (i. e. the A. H. M. S.)

send a fool, they don't want him

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, April 3, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... I had a hard struggle in breaking away from Deacon Cotton
and Br. Young this week. The old men seemed to sorrow most that
they should see my face no more. I shall have people of more polish
and less roughness, but no warmer, no truer hearts. It seems strange that

I am breaking away from them I must shave before it is all

night

Yours, Wm. Salter.

u John 18 :36. Jesus answered. My kingdom is not of this world : if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not
be delivered to the Jews : but now is my kingdom not from hence.

&2 Romans 16 :8. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

S3 Psalms 90 :9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend
our years as a tale that is told.

6** I Corinthians 15 :3. For I delivered unto yon first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

60 Galatians 2 : 15-16. We who are Jews by nature, and not slnuers of the
Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we
might be Justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law :
for by the works of the law shall no fiesh be Justified.

66 John 6 :66-C8. From that time many of his disciples went back, and
walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will ye also go
away? Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom snail we go, thou
hast the words of eternal life.

452 ANNALS OF IOWA

Burlington, Iowa. April 11, 18i6.
Mj dear Mary:

How strange is this thing of a new home! Time in its rapid flight
has hurried me here. I am surrounded by new friends, new assoda-
tions, and am to engage almost in new pursuits. I am just prospec-
tively anchored again. I moved this morning to Mr. J. O. Edward's.''
Have unpacked my books, put the table into the middle of the room,
now my first pleasure is to give you my first thoughts. Would that you

were with me I must tell you of my journey. Last Sabbath I

had a large and deeply interested congregation at Maquoketa. Br. Young
and his two boys came 10 miles on foot to be present. In the after-
noon, I preached my farewell, and administered the sacrament. An
interesting young lady was received into the church from the Methodist
church in New York. As I briefly reviewed my ministry and pointed
to the graveyard where but two years ago we had buried the first corpse
and where we were now almost a congregation of the dead, there was
hardly a dry eye in the house. It was hard to leave so many good
friends. They accepted the idea that I would come back [to] live with
them in a few years. Monday of this week was a very stormy day.
Tuesday it blew a tempest. Wednesday afternoon I came to De Witt
and passed a very pleasant night with Br. Emerson. The next day I came
to Davenport. I found the Wopsipinicon was rising, and fording it the
water came into our wagon box. I just had time to get dinner with
Br. Adams, call on a few friends, and visit the ground for the location
of the projected college when a steamboat (the Falcon) came in sight
The next morning at 9 o'clock, I reached Burlington. I do not board
with Mr. Starr's family, as I had anticipated, in consequence of their
intending to take Mrs. Hutchinson with them as soon as she can be
moved, as they are also contemplating a visit East this summer. Mrs. H.
has been quite sick since I was here and is not now able to leave her
room, though some better. Ah, the severity of her lot! How dark the
ways of Providence! She has my tenderest sympathies. Anything I can
do for her shall not be wanting. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were Boston
folks, they are very kind. I have a pleasant room in a one-story house.
From my windows is a view of the Mississippi. In one corner are my
books on some rickety shelves. In another, my bed — on the east side a
Franklin stove (it is quite cold today). The family is rather large,
and I shall not be so retired as I could wish. But if you can form any

idea of my situation, you may think of it as tolerably pleasant

The streets are very muddy at present. Burlington is very different from
Maquoketa, but hardly more so than it is from Charlestown. There is
everything to be done here. Some one remarked yesterday that the

church never had a minister who was here through the summer

Mr. C. C. Shackford left for the East this week before I arrived, other-

67 vid. Philip D. Jordan, "The Life and Works of James Gardiner Edwards"
In The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XXIII, No. 8.
October, 1930.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTERS 453

wise I would have desired him to call on your father. He is uncertain
about his returning. It is rather to be hoped for that you can keep
him East. He has property here, a steam flouring mill. My Church have
not procured a better room for meeting, and we may have to suffer for
the want until the church is built. Our singing is very poor, not much
better than we had at Maquoketa.

.... My study hours are in the morning and evening. The morn-
ings for research or planning, the evening for writing and light read-
ing. I can make very good resolutions in entering upon my labors here.
I know what it will be for me to attend to this people, but in this
country we have so much outdoor work for the whole country which
can only be done at sacrifice of much time, that I dare not prophesy
how I shall manage. You will find out that my study is par excellence
my home. I cannot tell whether I shall succeed in my studies and in
preaching, but one thing I know, that I can never succeed in anything
else. I would be sorry to make my own feelings and habits a cri-
terion by which to judge others, for these are divinations of gifts, but I
cannot see how anyone can succeed in the ministry unless he gives him-
self "wholly" to the work. It would be wicked to deny having at
times some hankering after a pleasant settlement in the East, but to
try to suppress those desires which, like the fool's eyes, are to the ends
of the earth. I shall never lack anything of the kind. As I came down
the river and meditated upon the elements of future greatness in this
valley ,my spirit was stirred within me to do something to make this
a goodly commonwealth, which should belong to the Kingdom of Christ
and be to His praise. But our destiny is sealed. We are but the East
over again unless indeed there is a determination. I realize more
deeply than ever the vast importance of influential men in the East.
Our Jaw in the West comes forth from your Zion. At present, however,
if you are agreed, Burlington shall be enough for the measure of our
ambition. And in this uncertain world we will not presume upon to-
morrow

Your, Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. April 22, 1846.
My dear Mary:

How do you do this pleasant afternoon? As I look out over the
river and see the fresh green of young life on shrub and tree on its

banks, I want you here to respond as I call it beautiful Our

congregation was crowded last Sabbath morning. I am preparing for
next Sunday on the necessity of Bevelation from Job 37:23,5« and in
the afternoon wish to preach on the church as an hour of prayer for
all nations. In my morning sermon I design, with some implications,
to go through a systematic presentation of divine truth. My afternoon

S8 Job 37 :23. ToucblDg the Almighty, we cannot And him out : he is
excellent in power, and in Judgment, and In plenty of Justice, he will not
afflict.

448 ANNALS OF IOWA

one another. Rague's first wife, Eliza, came to Dubuque to
visit him several times in his afiSiction, and upon her death
he had her body brought to Dubuque and buried upon his lot
in Linwood cemetery. He arranged his own funeral cere-
monies before he died, and wrote out a long poetical epitaph
to be inscribed on his monument embodying his peculiar phi-
losophy of life. He passed away on September 24, 1877.

(It is pertinent for the editor of the Annals to add the poetieal
epitaph referred to above as it appears in the files of the Dubuque Herald
of September 26, 1877, as follows:)

This planet earth, it's face I've trod

For three score years and o'er,
Now in it's bosom make my bed.

To rest for evermore.

Though ere a thousand years shall pass,

My dust shall rise again;
May generate e'en flowers or grass,

By aid of sun and rain.

The bees will sip these fragrant flowers,

The lambs will eat the grass,
And thus they'll spend their earthly hours.
Till from this life they pass.

Then all return to mother earth,

Some time again to rise,
Though no one knows the kind of birth,

But God, the only wise.

Thus Nature's laws are God's own cause.

Obedient to his will;
Men sometimes teach, but let them pause;

All Nature speaks — ^be still.

Boll on our planet, in the train

With million others, roll.
Man need not fear, he can't be slain —

He's under God's control.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTERS TO

MARY ANN MACKINTIRE

1845-1846

Edited by Philip D. Jordan

[Concluded]

Maqnoketa, Iowa. March
21, 1846.
My dear Marj:

them at Dewitt, had a pleasant chat .... and came on home I

have pretty nearly made up my mind that the Lord will have me labor
in his cause at Burlington and shall probably write the Church accept-
ing their invitation next week. I design removing there then, if the
Lord will, the 6th and 7th of April, but how much have I to do by way
of preparation. My people have here generally expressed a strong de-
sire that I should remain with them. I believe the Lord has given me
a place— and some affectionate hearts here and it grieves me to think
of leaving them. With them I have labored and prayed. Here I have
toiled and suffered. I have reason to think that I have the confidence
of the people in a large and rapidly growing section of the country,
and that in time I can do them great good. Here is my pleasant study,
and as fair prospect of a comfortable and quiet home. Were in these
circumstances, the change a thing of my own seeking, I should distrust
[it]. Although my labors here have given me a promise of accomplishing
much in the future, yet I trust they may be of service to me in Bur-
lington, although my efforts there must be in many respects of a different
character. At any rate, as Br. Emerson remarked, I shall be able to
sympathize with my brethren in the country.

Before I leave I am anxious to visit a good many of my people.
I must prepare a farewell sermon. I have a good deal of business with
one man and another to settle up, property to dispose of etc.

450 ANNALS OF IOWA

I shan't want a better place to preach in. There are many kind and
honest-hearted people, and if I can only get hold of those who onght
to be under orthodox influence, I may do great good. There is a large
community to work on, and though the present place of worship is full
(holding about one hundred) yet when we get the church up, I shall
have to gather in a congregation to fill it. A great deal depends upon
a man 's personal aside from his ministerial influence. People distinguish
between a black coat and a fine man. My position will be a trying

one

Yours, Wm. Baiter.

Maquoketa. Iowa. March 25, 1846.
My dear Mary :

I have now decided one of the most eventful questions of my life
and accepted the invitation to become pastor of the church in Burling-
ton. I have endeavored this day to draw nigh to God and especiaUy
humbling myself in view of my unworthiness and unfaithfulness as a
minister of Christ and imploring the divine direction [in facing] the
new trying scenes before me. We have acknowledged Gk>d, thou precious
friend, in this as in all our ways, and I cannot but think that this
counsel is of Him, and yet I go forward in weakness and fear and in
much trembling. The union of the Church and Society, the advice of
many friends, the congeniality of society in Burlington to our predilec-
tions, tastes, and habits, the wide field of usefulness, and the pressure
there on my mental activity which I am conscious is developed, not
self -moved but only on demand, and many little things make my duty
tolerably clear to my mind. Let us then go forward, giving thanks

to the Lord, and trusting in His holy name I shall commence

my labors on the second Sabbath in April, and design preaching on that
day from I Corinthians 2:2.«>. . . .

From the fact that the church in Burlington has given me a unani-
mous call, you may well suppose that they are not so critical as have
sometimes been represented. The people were extremely kind and at-
tentive to Br. Hutchinson. He spoke to me of their kindness to him
with deep emotion, and Mrs. Hutchinson is very much beloved and
tenderly sympathized with. There is but one House of Worship in the
place, that is the Methodist one, a plain brick building which will seat
some 350, and is generally filled. They talk of enlarging it. Mr. Norris,
their minister, is a man of good spirit from Maine. His wife is going
East this summer. There are two German congregations, one Evan-
gelical and the other Methodist. I mistake, there is a Bomish House,
but they have no priest now. This influence is comparatively small,
though some leading political characters are connected with it. There
is an Episcopal church ministered to by Mr. Bachelor, an old Andover

so I Corinthiang 2 :2. For I determined not to know any thing among you,
iave JesuB Christ and Him crucified.

WILLIAM 8ALT£B'S LETTEBS 451

Wisner 's church in Boston, and is a devoted Christian I preached

in Burlington from John 18:36,^^ Bom. 16:8,^ Psahns 90:9,^ I Cor-
inthians 15:3.,^ Gal. 2:15-16,^ John 6:6G-j68,<^ generally with ease and
to an attentive congregation. Whether they will listen with so much
interest when I have ceased to be "a new thing" among them is prob-
lematical I find it a greater struggle than I had anticipated to

send a fool, they don't want him

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Maquoketa, April 3, 1846.
My dear Mary:

I am breaking away from them I must shave before it is all

night

Yours, Wm. Salter.

51 John 18 :36. Jesus answered, My kingdom Is not of this world : if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not
be delivered to the Jews : but now is my kingdom not from hence.

52 Romans 16 :8. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

53 Psalms 90 :9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend
our years as a tale that is told.

M I Corinthians 15 :3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

u Galatians 2 :1&-16. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the
Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not Justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we
might be Justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law :
for by the works of the law shall no fiesh be Justified.

S6 John 6 :66-C8. From that time many of his disciples went back, and
walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will ye also go
away? Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go, thou
hast the words of eternal life.

452 ANNALS OF IOWA

Burlington^ Iowa. April 11, 1846.
My dear Mary:

How strange is this thing of a new home! Time in its rapid flight
has hurried me here. I am surrounded by new friends, new assoeia-
tions, and am to engage almost in new pursuits. I am just prospec-
tively anchored again. I moved this morning to Mr. J. G. Edward 's.^^
Have unpacked my books, put the table into the middle of the room,
now my first pleasure is to give you my first thoughts. Would that you

were with me I must tell you of my journey. Last Sabbath I

had a large and deeply interested congregation at Maquoketa. Br. Young
and his two boys came 10 miles on foot to be present. In the after-
noon, I preached my farewell, and administered the sacrament. An
interesting young lady was received into the church from the Methodist
church in New York. As I briefly reviewed my ministry and pointed
to the graveyard where but two years ago we had buried the flrst corpse
and where we were now almost a congregation of the dead, there was
hardly a dry eye in the house. It was hard to leave so many good
friends. They accepted the idea that I would come back [to] live with
them in a few years. Monday of this week was a very stormy day.
Tuesday it blew a tempest. Wednesday afternoon I came to De Witt
and passed a very pleasant night with Br. Emerson. The next day I came
to Davenport. I found the Wopsipinicon was rising, and fording it the
water came into our wagon box. I just had time to get dinner with
Br. Adams, call on a few friends, and visit the ground for the location
of the projected college when a steamboat (the Falcon) came in sight.
The next morning at 9 o'clock, I reached Burlington. I do not board
with Mr. Starr's family, as I had anticipated, in consequence of their
intending to take Mrs. Hutchinson with them as soon as she can be
moved, as they are also contemplating a visit East this summer. M[rs. H.
has been quite sick since I was here and is not now able to leave her
room, though some better. Ah, the severity of her lot! How dark the
ways of Providence 1 She has my tenderest sympathies. Anything I can
do for her shall not be wanting. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were Boston
folks, they are very kind. I have a pleasant room in a one-story house.
From my windows is a view of the Mississippi. In one corner are my
books on some rickety shelves. In another, my bed — on the east side a
Franklin stove (it is quite cold today). The family is rather large,
and I shall not be so retired as I could wish. But if you can form any

idea of my situation, you may think of it as tolerably pleasant

church never had a minister who was here through the summer

Mr. C. C. Shackford left for the East this week before I arrived, other-

67 vid. Philip D. Jordan, "The Life and Works of James Gardiner Edwards'*
In The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XXIII, No. 8.
October, 1930.

WILLIAM BALTEB'S LETTERS 453

vriae I would have desired him to call on your father. He is uncertain
about his returning. It is rather to be hoped for that you can keep
him East. He has property here, a steam flouring mill. My Church have
not procured a better room for meeting, and we may have to suffer for
the want until the church is built. Our singing is very poor, not much
better than we had at Maquoketa.

Your, Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. April 22, 1846.
My dear Mary:

How do you do this pleasant afternoon? As I look out over the
river and see the fresh green of young life on shrub and tree on its

banks, I want you here to respond as I call it beautiful Our

congregation was crowded last Sabbath morning. I am preparing for
next Sunday on the necessity of Bevelation from Job 37:23,*« and in
the afternoon wish to preach on the church as an hour of prayer for
all nations. In my morning sermon I design, with some implications,
to go through a systematic presentation of divine truth. My afternoon

58 Job 37 :23. TouchiDg the Almighty, we cannot find him out : he Is
excellent In power, and In Judgment, and In plenty of Justice, he will not
afflict.

454 ANNALS OF IOWA

sermon will be occasional and pro tempore. Thursday evening the regu-
lar weekly prayer meeting held at private homes. Friday evening of
this week we design making an effort to advance the Sabbath School
cause, and have a meeting appointed for that purpose. The attendance
of our school is generally 60. We want more teachers and a new library.
There is also a school in a destitute part of the town called "Lower
Town," superintended by one of my congregation which is in pressing
want of a library. I think it deserves a donation. And if your sewing
circle has not dispursed [sic] all their charities yet, would be happy if they
would send on a library. The singing in my church continues very poor.
The ladies have a sewing circle to aid in building the church. They think

of furnishing it. They meet every fortnight

Burlington has about 3000 inhabitants. The land rises from the river
gradually. The fifth street from the river on the north part of town
is on the bluff some 120 feet or more above the level of the river. Hawk-
Eye creek a spring, runs a very little bubbling stream, through the north
part of town, below which is the lower town built on a more level ground.
I am sorry I can't give you a draft. There are many large brick stores
and some good houses with many very poor ones. A few families live
in good style as people do with you, but most are poor. I don't know
any town in the East like B. New Branch on the Hudson which is

more than twice as large looks a little like it Mrs. Hutchinson's

[health] is much better, was moved to Mr. Starr's last week. She is

a woman of great fortitude. I generally call on her every day

Wm. Salter.

[Burlington, Iowa] Thursday
6 p. m. April 28, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... I had planned a ride out in the country yesterday with Mrs.
Hutchinson, but bad weather kept me home and it rained all the day.

We shall go the first pleasant day. She is mending very slowly

I visited eight families yesterday with Deacon Edwards

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. April 30, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... Mr. Warren*^® went East this morning, via St. Louis. I gave
him a letter to your father. He is a member of my congregation. A
very intelligent man, broke down in business East, I understand, and
came here in 1844. His wife is from Granby (not Granville), went
East a short time ago. He had learned Mr. Shackford's mill which
burned doyra here is thrown out of business. He has gone East to
get funds for a new mill. I hope he will succeed in raising them.
He told me he meant to return immediately. Father can question him

58Fitz Henry Warren.

WILLIAM BALTEB'S LETTERS 455

in extenso about Burlington. Mr. Starr talks of going East in two
weeks. You ask about Mr. Starr's family. I suppose your questions
now would apply to Mr. Edwards. They have no children, but an
adopted daughter some 15 years old, besides Mrs. Prince, a sister of
Mrs. Edwards [who] has two girls. There is also Mrs. E's mother,
formerly from Portsmouth, N. H. Mr. E. has four printer boys ap-
prentices. The house is small. Mine is a very good room. My bed is
in the northeast corner. I have a bedfellow occasionally. Now Mr. Beipe,
a German minister from the neighborhood of St. Louis where he is an
agent of the Tract Society, is stopping with me. Several years ago, he

had a Grerman congregation here. Is a very amiable man I

really do not know what street this house is on. It is, however, the
next one north of Columbia. The house is in the west end of the
lot at the corner on Main street (which as you correctly say is parallel
with Water street, the second street from the river). Mr. Starr lives
on Fourth street, i. e. the fourth street from the river. On the same
street the new church is building, one lot from the corner of Jefferson

on the west side of the street Mr. Shackford thinks you were

very successful in studying the geography of Burlington in the Hawk-
Eye,

Ever yours, Wm. Salter

Burlington, Iowa. May 5, 1846.
My own dear Mary:

.... I preached my sermon on Christ and Him Crucified three times,
viz., at Andrew, Burlington, and Maquoketa. Ain't I a Yankee?
Adapting it, as was easily done, to different circumstances. I study and
write in the forenoon. In the p. m. I want to chat and have some
music and walk with you. The sewing circle meets here (at Mrs. Ed-
wards) this afternoon. They desire furnishing the church. They meet
once a fortnight. Mrs. Hutchinson is president. They have some 60
dollars in the treasury. Perhaps I shall be commissioned to buy carpets

and lamps for them, and I will conmiission you I united with

this church last week. It has now 42 members. I preached a prepara-
tory lecture on Friday extemporaneous on "Christ and Passover." We
had [a] full house on [the] Sabbath and an interesting day. A mem-
ber of this church was led into dancing on a steamboat excursion this
spring and it has made a good deal of talk. I called on her last
Saturday. She professed penitence, and I hope that may be the end
of it. But isn't that unpleasant work for a minister? .... Jackson-
ville^o is 100 miles from here. Mr. Edwards talks of going there to
commencement the last of June, but I will wait until we can go to-
gether I expect to see Mr. Keith at Farmington next week at

the annual meeting of the Denmark Association, with which the church
is now connected. Mr. Shackford talks of going out with me as dele-

60 Jacksonville, Illinois, where Jacksonville College is located.

456 ANNALS OF IOWA

gate from this church. There are many, or rather a few good houses

here, but none built for a minister

Shall probably soon ascertain if I can rent Mr. Parson's*^ [house].
A man offered me a house on Fourth street this week for $2000. It is
an eligible situation, a new house, yet not finished, and not in all respects

in the best taste, but has some good things about it I want to

ride out to Mr. Leonard V^ thia p. m. He was formerly in the ministry
in Ohio. Is an excellent man, one of the best in my church, lives three
miles out of town, nearly all his family (two sons and their wives)
are members of the church

To Mary Mackintire
from Wm. Salter
Shall August be the month, MA.
To furnish us the happy day.
To give our hearts and hands away,
in marriage bonds. I pray you sayl

[Wm. Salter]

Burlington, Iowa. May 11, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... After a great deal of rain we have some fine weather at last.
Yesterday was beautiful. I had full houses both parts of the day. Our
afternoon service is hereafter at 2 o'clock in order to accommodate a
few families in the country. But going to meeting here is very different
than it is with you. Our house is a gloomy structure and in the imme-
diate vicinity of the steamboat landing. It would seem as though the
boats conspired to annoy us, for yesterday, the thing happens not in-
frequently, several boats stopped there while we were engaged in public
worship. One of the boats had a band which played at the time a very
lively air. We were exceedingly annoyed in this way during the com-
munion service Sabbath before last. As to my studies, I prepared two
sermons last week. I know this is too much for me to write to ad-
vantage every week and as I have a few old sermons, I can occasionally
spare myself. I generally aim to prepare a good sermon. I mean to
keep in some kind of a course of subjects. Now I have commenced with
the existence of God, liave preached on one of his attributes and on the
necessity of Revelation. Shall have several sermons on the attributes
and on the evidence of Bevelation. I wish to devote most of the week
to a sermon, and on Saturday to get off a kind of extemporaneous effu-
sion I often find that a hastily written sermon is often more

acceptable than a labored one. I believe it was so yesterday.

Mrs. Hutchinson's health which was very poor last week is now much

61 A BurllngtoD merchaut.

82 Abner Leonard, with his two sons, David and Isaac, lived on a farm three
miles west of BurllDgton. Although Father Leonard (the term **father" indi-
cating only age) assisted in meeting the Burlington church debt, he, as time
wont on, sought to dictate church policies, and annoyed Mr. Salter by his
criticisms of the pastor's preaching and even his style of clothing.

WILLIAM SALTER'S LETTEB8 457

improved. We moved her on Wednesday to Mr. Edwards', and as I am
going to the Association today, she occupies my room this week. I rode
out with her this morning. I took her to the cemetery where her hus-
band is buried. It was an affecting hour. The Lord prepare us, my
dear friend, to die. That will soon be to us a reality. Soon we shall
enter upon the glories of eternity and experience what Paul and John

and all departed saints have long enjoyed

I am expecting Mr. Shackford here soon who will go with me as a
delegate to the Association. We shall go as far as Denmark tonight.
.... The weather is very pleasant and warm today, and I am expecting

a fine ride

Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. May 15, 1846.
My own dear Mary:

How to do this chilly east wind? It has been cold enough this
morning to sit by a fire, but I have been too lazy to make one. I have
projected four sermons on the genuineness [of] inspiration and of the
Bible, which I suppose with a sermon on war and one on Home Missions
will engage my morning services on the Sabbath until my vacation. I
had a pleasant journey and meeting of brethren at Farmington last
week. The road, however, was in some places very muddy. The country
is charming, consisting of beautiful prairies and pleasant groves. Br.
Keith was present. He has left Missouri. He found the door closed in
that state against the Gospel as a system of deliverance to him that hath
no helper. I trust the attention of Eastern Christians will be turned
to the propriety of sending ministers when the law that tolerates them
(and I speak of the law of the churches) is a studied and absolute si-
lence on the system of southern slavery. Would it not be well, would
it not probably in the issue further the cause of liberty [and] religion
if the slave states and slave-holding churches were given to understand
that the Gospel cannot be let down, at least at the expense of the

A. H. M. S. in accommodations to their prejudices and sins I

have just returned from a short ride with Mrs. Hutchinson upon the
river road under the bluff. The country is beautiful in the flush of
early life. It is a melancholy gratification to ride with Mrs. H. It does
her a great deal of good, but she is so sad and she is not disposed to
engage the sympathies of others. You ask of her character. She is

dignified, reserved rather than communicative She is young, but

little over 22, but has a very active appearance and mind. Her health
is very much better. She now thinks she will go East in the fall. Ex-
pects to go to the Association at Dubuque. I preached my old sermon
at Farmington on I Cor. 2:2,^ telling ministers what they ought to
preach. Don't you think I am a Yankee and a labor-saving man? It

M I Corinthians 2 :2. For I determined not to know any thing among you,
save Jestui Christ and Him crucified.

458 ANNALS OF IOWA

rained on Wednesday night and Thursday morning at Farmington, so
that the roads were muddy coming home Saturday. I wrote a sermon
on "The Christian Life, a Warfare" from I Tim. 6:12,«* being my
41st. written sermon. The sewing circle are in the other room this
evening and chatting at a pretty good rate. Some of them asked me
if I came in from riding? If I had been to Boston f They joke me
occasionally. I have written a letter to your father introducing Mr.
Starr, who leaves on the next boat. It is uncertain when he will go to
Boston, probably not till July. He is one of the best men here, and a
very interesting man. I have charged him to call and see you. I hope
he will get a few hundred dollars for the church. He and Dr. Bansom
are of the leading men in my congregation, .... [who] .... have
undertaken to build the church. They have their pay in subscriptions
and from sale of pews. The doctor's wife is a member of the church

and an excellent woman I hope Dr. Ransom will call and see me.

My pulpit Hill probably only be partially supplied during my absence,
and that by different brethren here, some of whom have engaged to

give me one Sabbath

There will probably be a preparatory school at Davenport in a year
or two. The Brethren generally have concluded that to be the best
location, and the stakes are to be put down, it is supposed, next month.
It is a beautiful place, and our college will be the only one of the kind
on the Mississippi. The only objection to the location is its proximity
to Galesburg. I have not yet extemporized but once on the Sabbath
when I did not make much of a go off, and probably shall not try it
again at present. Mr. Starr, Mr. Shackford, Mr. Edwards are my main
dependents here. Whether I can write a good sermon about the West
remains to be seen. I shall try. I shall aim to show that the West
will be just what others make it, and that they which will work the
hardest and do most for it shall have it. Prayers and pains will save
the West and the country is worth both. I don't want to ly [lie] if

I can help it Burlington is a rising ground, but a great deal

of low land on the other side of the river and above and below, as is
everywhere the case on the Mississippi. Some call it healthy and some

sickly

Yours ever, Wm. Salter.

Burlington, [Iowa] Monday morning.

May 25, 1846.
My dearest Mary:

.... It really at last feels like summer, and I long to be away.
.... We had the news this morning of a battle between Gen. Taylor
and the Mexicans on the 8th. I want to preach on the evils of war
next Sabbath. I suppose there will be an end to trade from New Orleans,

6i I Timothy 6 .12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses.

WILLIAM BALTEB'S LETTEBS 459

80 we may have some difficulty in getting our freight around. I had
hoped I should never be in a country engaged in a war. Alas, for the
prospects of humanity! ....

May 26.

And now we have another day warm and pleasant. We, Mr. Leonard
[and] I, visited Bev. Abner Leonard whose name you see in the Congre-
gational Almanac, He is an old man and has given up preaching. He
is a good man, has a fine farm [now, 1934, the Deem's farm on the
Agency Boad], is a member of my church, was from Ohio. His son
lives round him. We had a few strawberries by way of variety. They
grow wild and were improved by cultivation. Mrs. Hutchinson does

not gain her strength as fast as we could wish We hoped to

ride out to the grave of Mr. H. this afternoon. Instead of preaching on
the evil of war, I shall discourse, I believe, on the blessing of peace
from I Kings 5:6,^<^ as there is too much of a war spirit here, as in
the West generally. I may avoid perhaps giving offense [and] secure

the same object by telling what a good thing peace is The

rooms in Mr. Parson's house which we shall probably rent are very
small. There is unfortunately a cellar kitchen from which there is a
dumb-waiter to the room which must be our parlor and dining room,
though I don't know but what we can make our kitchen the dining

room I don't know as I told you that my nerves or rather my

limbs failed to sustain me a few Sabbaths ago in visiting a sick and
dying woman after service. She was in a very close and small room,
through which was no circulation at all, and was very low, and in much
distress. I talked a little with her, but feeling the room too close for
me, I went out to take the air, and returning again, talked and prayed
with her. But I stayed too long and just succeeded in bidding her
good-bye and in getting out of the room when I dropped into the
arms of Mr. Edwards who was with mc, who got me out onto the porch

where the air and a little camphor restored me

Yours entirely,

Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. June 1, 1846.
My dear Mary:

How do you this chilly day, which is more like April than June?
. . . . Burlington is in the latitude of New York. The summers are
probably some warmer than with you. We had green peas last week.
I called at Mr. Parson's last week, but he had gone to St. Louis. Shall
call again this p.m. His house joins the end of the church lot. The
Church is on Fourth street, one lot from the corner, which is unoccupied

60 1 KiDKS 5 :6. Now therefore commaDd thou that they hew me cedar
trees out oi Lebanon : and my servants shall be with thy servants : and unto
thee I will give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint :
for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber
lilce unto the Sidonians.

4M ANNALS OF IOWA

I moit finUh tocUij, for tomorrow aftemooD, on aonM kiwlogiM n
by wluit I h«Te Men in my traveb this week, betwoon the wbei
m.nd mor&l enlture (PnUine 147:14)." For tlw morning an old
(s prsetiul •tatement of the Trisitj} mnit •otBce. Tueedaj aJ
I went to Qmleebiirgb. Hn. E[Dtehiiison] wmi too onweQ to go i
■o I took Hr. A. S. Shaekford. After loeiiiK the road on the pra
got to OalMbnrgh (M) tniloi that night and enjoyed the boapit
a good Mr. Swift from Vermont I learned to my eorrow tl
Blauehard** wai going East tbi* inmmer to get fnnde for a
building. I engaged Bev. L. H. Parkin [IJ, formerlj p«at«r ai
bnrgh, to preach Are Sabbathi for me. He ii a brother of 1
Parkin [t], now of Philadelplua, formerlj of New Orleana, and
to be a tolerable preacher. Ferbape I will write a little notice
Haiek-Kye next week. Coming home we got loet again and broke
of our barneea and were two miantea too late for the ferry at 8ho<
where we were obliged to wait IS hoar* amid moeqnitoea and th
eerta. Happily we got behind a bar at night, but the rcat of t
we were mneh annoyed. Then I did not get home ontil yeeterda
in the morning.

Tears ardently,
Wm. 8

BarlingtoD, Iowa. Monday after

Jnne 89, 184«.
My own dearest Mary:

.... We had a heavy rain and wind lait night, and today the
are no muddy and I have not been out yet and I am annoyed with M
What eompanyf, jon aah. There are more than 100 fliee (I hi
counted them) in this rooni, catting op all kinds of antics, flying i
direction, now on my ears, now on my liands, and paper, and erei
in the way. I can do nothing bnt bear it. I had an intaresti
yesterday, preached iu the morning to a full hoase on tbe '.
brought it out clear and fnll, and trnit in such a manner that no
able man can object. It was an old eermon, or rather wri^
December last. I preached thrice yesterday, in the evening ii
town iu a log School House. During the serTica there it rained,
came home in the mud. The ladies have been expecting to hai
4th. [of] July dinner in the Chorch, hot if this wet weather eoi
we cannot get the roof ou or the floor laid. Tlie whole affaii inv
great deal of trouble, and I cannot say that I am eorry that yoa

" Pulms 14T :14. He maketh peace In th; bordrrs, and fllleth U

ncbsrd <1SI1-18S2) wss craduated Irom Mlddlebury

. ™_.._. ._,. — .j^ jij AndOTsr and Laa

■ ordained pastor ot tl

IsuKht St PlattibDix Acsdemr, itudl«I at Andover and Laa
■ — 'nostl. Id 1838 be i ■" ' — — - - -■

iburz. Illinois.

1, IlUnoU. He wu a atronf trmperauct ■

tlonlst. VU. iMoMiMisrv of imtrtoon Woprspfei

Whcston, 1

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTEBS 461

Monday evening. June 1.

What a dreadful sound is this stirring drum. A meeting to enlist
and fire at Patriotism tonight was held in the Methodist ehurch. Strange
place, indeed! But this is the West I .... Took tea tonight with Mrs.

Sheldon,^" an old widow ladj, aged 72. She keeps a school of very
small children, some 30 or 40 in number and lives alone. She was from
East Windsor, Conn., is really an interesting lady. I visited her with
my deacons and had a little monthly concert. She made a great pass
at the supper table for us which was loaded. Mr. Parsons wanted a
little more time to consider how much rent I must pay. Our church
has made no progress since Mr. Starr left. Everything looks uncertain.
It is impossible to foretell the result. If the House is not enclosed by
July 1, it will be pretty much a gone case with us, but we will do the
best we can .... and not be discouraged

Tuesday. 4% p. m. We have been to ride with Mrs. Hutchinson,
called on the doctor with her, who advises her going to Dubuque. I

must take tea with the ladies' society this evening We have

not many young ladies in our society. Hardly any. Most of the folks
are young married people with small children.

Yours devotedly, Wm. Salter.

Steamer Tempest, Mississippi River
near Galena, Illinois, June 4, 1846.
My dear Mary:

We are en route for Dubuque You cannot yet be much inter-
ested in this country, and I know not that any account of a journey
would be of any concern to you, but as I have taken my pencil (there
being but one inkstand on the boat, and the clerk being unable to spare
that) and as nothing else especial occurs, and I want to say a word
to you .... I will tell you what I am about and perhaps it may not
be an unpleasant episode from the commonplaces of the conmiunica-
tions generally. I mailed you a letter Tuesday evening, after which I
sat up till eleven o'clock, expecting this boat, but not coming, I went
to bed and engaged in a sound sleep from which I was aroused at 2
a.m. by loud ringing of the steamboat bell. I got up, though with
some reluctance, for really sleep is a good thing and I always love
to have it though when I am at it, and struck a light, and dressed
and hurried to the landing where I found the Tempest and learned that
she would be off in some 20 minutes. So I hastened back to the house
and got the folks up and down to the boat and about break of day
we were on our way up stream. This disturbance at an irregular hour
did not correspond very well with my staid habits. So I could eat no
breakfast and soon I was troubled with the toothache and vainly longed
for relief in my berth, but a crying child in the next stateroom drove

66 Mrs. Ruth Sheldon.

462 ANNALS OP IOWA

sleep from mj eyes, so I worried through the morning in onlj tolerable
style. At Bloomington we took on board Mrs. Bobbins and child. Her
hnsband having gone up bj land with Br. Alden. I might have said
that we have Mr. and Mrs. Edwards and their neice, Ellen Prince, a
young girl of 14, and Mr. Shackford and Mrs. Hutchinson on our party.
The scenery on the river is very monotonous, though with some variety.
At one time we are sailing through islands, which are all very low and
generally covered with a rank growth of timber and underbrush, at an-
other time by the main shore of Iowa or Illinois, which is frequently
crowned with high, rocky bluffs, 150 to 200 above the river. Sometimes
the shore consists of high sand banks. About 15 miles above Blooming-
ton commences some of the prettiest views on the Mississippi. They
are on the Iowa shore, alongside of which is the channel of the river.
There is a gradual slope from the river bank some 2 or 3 miles up
which terminates in bluffs. This slope is frequently open prairie and is
mostly under cultivation. It contains many pleasant residences. The
situation of Davenport is very handsome, the projected site for our
college is one of the most beautiful and commanding that could be
selected. On the island of Rock Island is the beautiful residence of the
late Colonel Davenport. Opposite the head of this island, on the Illinois
shore, is Moline, where by damming the Mississippi a great water power
has been secured. Here is one of the finest flouring mills in the West.
At Bock Island, there came aboard Rev. W. Jones, of Canton, Illinois.
He is a product of Jacksonville College, and Lane Seminary, belongs
to the Alton Presbytery and is going up to attend our Association. A
young lady. Miss Shaw, is with him, who is, it is said, his particular
friend. Last evening, he preached for us. The passengers gave very
good attention. Audiences in the West generally are very attentive.

We had pretty good singing This morning we had worship. On

awakening this morning, found we were laying to on the Iowa shore
just above Charlestown and on inquiring the cause, learned that we
had broken "the doctor" about twelve o'clock last night (it is the
regulator of some part of the engine). We were till after 7 remedying
that evil, and are now going direct to Dubuque. The country above
the Upper Bapids is very pretty. Here the river which elsewhere spreads
out, shores and all some 2 or 3 miles, passes along in a narrow channel,
the banks being high on both sides. The land generally lies in hand-
some slopes. We have passed on our way many little towns, though
towns hardly otherwise than in their names, which yet evident the am-
bitious views of the people. Here we have New Boston, New York,
Albany, and Buffalo etc. In these Western boats the cabin is all on
the upper deck in a long saloon with staterooms on the sides. I don't
remember ever having been on a boat here without seeing card playing
going on in one end of the saloon in the proximity of the bar. You
would be amused at our Mrs. Edwards. She has brought along with
her some of the purses made by our society and is selling them as she
has opportunity. She is a lady of great energy and perseverence

WILLIAM SALTEB'8 LETTEBS 463

Friday morning. June 5, 1846. Bnbuqne.

Good morning, Mary. We have still chilly weather, and I have just
had a fire made up and hope to be more comfortable. We arrived here
at 11 a.m. yesterday. I am pleasantly quartered in the family of Mr.
Bissel with Mr. Shackford. Mr. Bissel was from Pittsfield, Mass., and
is a brother of the late Josiah Bissel, a distinguished philanthropist

of western New York We have a full meeting of the Association

and the prospects of an interesting time. A number of brethern are
over from Wisconsin. Br. Lewis is here from New Diggings. He was
an old classmate in New York University. We have been delighted to
meet so many old familiar faces. I could hardly contain myself as

brethren, one after another, drove up yesterday afternoon I

have the thankless office of scribe, and have my hands full. A number
of my old people from Andrew and Maquoketa are here, which I am

very happy to meet

[Wm. Salter]

Steamer Fortune. June 10, 1846.
Good evening, my dear Mary:

.... We had an interesting meeting at Dubuque. There was noth-
ing special but good feeling and the presence of a good spirit

The cruel toothache affected me very much however. I tried various
remedies in vail until .... Dr. Finley extracted it At Daven-
port we have been spending the day in talking about locating a col-
lege in Iowa. If we can carry out our projects it will be an important
day, full of great results, to Iowa. May God bless our efforts to serve
Him. But we have many embarrassments. Beyond a question we have
one of the finest locations on the whole Mississippi. At this season of
the year ''you can't say anything else" of this region than that it is
charming. But society in Davenport is very uncongenial to a literary
institution of the character we wish to establish. And the people are
very unwilling to assist in putting up a suitable building. We have
settled upon Davenport as the location though with some conditions
which, it is expected, will be met. The meeting is not through, but as
I am anxious to be home in the morning, I left at 8 this evening. No

other boat is expected down under twenty-four hours [The]

Association adjourned to meet at Burlington the first Monday of June
1847

Burlington. June 11, 1846.

Good afternoon, my dear. I got home this morning and found yours
of 23 May in the office. The framing of the roof of the church is
nearly completed, and it is expected to be raised next week. The Old
School Presbyterians have their walls about half up, but I think we

shall have the best house after all, as we have the best situation

I have sold most of my furniture at Maquoketa. It was of but little
account. I could not have removed it at present. If I come by the Ohio

WILLIAM SAVAGE,
Iowa Pioneer, Diabist, and Painteb of Bibds

t (Thifl is the diary of a naturalist and farmer wbo lettled in the northeast

part of Van Biiren Coon^. Iowa, in 1855. Earlier inatmllments appeared
the Annals of October, 1988, and January, 1984.)

[Continued from the January, 19S4, number]

March 1, 1861. Sewing on said coat. Every indication of aprin^
prairie chickens blowing, woodcocks and wild geese and ehewinks be
and seen.

£nd. To trap, and sewing on said coat. Heard frogs. Saw one d
on creek.

Srd, Sunday. To creek. Gk>t said traps out and went to Garter 1
torn and home. H. and E. Steward here. L.WeDs eame and lie an
went to creek and got traps and set them.

4th. Sewing on said coat.

6th, Sewing on same, and on pants.

€th. The same.

7th. Sewing, and chopped a load of wood.

8th. Mack and I hanled one load of wood, and I sewed. Thoi
Siveter here. Finished said coat and pants.

9th. Thomas and I went to Salem with them and I eame back
night. Thomas Savage here.

10th. Sunday. Thomas and I went to creek and to ereek bot
and home. Then I went to creek east.

11th. Got potatoes out of cellar and sorted them, and took a
kidney [beans] to Sneath's and got some gooseberry bushes. Kill
possum. Anna &c. stayed at Wells's.

lith. Set out bushes and went to Wells's. Gk>t spare ribe Ae.
wood and haul and husk fodder. Then T. Savage and I went to V:
William's. I shot two ducks, the first this spring. Stayed all nigh

ISth. Then went to Salem. Seven doz. eggs, 5 pr. doxen. Tn
it out. Went to Dr. Siveter 's and stayed all night.

14th. Went back to Uncle William's and from there home.

16th. Chopped wood in Br.'s timber. Mack hauled one load, I
Saw pigeon, the first.

16th. Mend Anna 's shoe. Went to creek and set two d. f . [dead i
traps, and home. Old cow had a calf, Fannie. I built a pen for it
made a pair bar posts. Ground froze so hard I could not set them

17th. Sunday. We all went to Job Davis'.

18th. Prepared to kill hogs and went to get Job to help me. He
at home, then cut out a pair pants for Dr. Siveter and sewed m
Job came and we killed my two hogs. One weighed 151 and one 18

19th. Cut up said hogs and Uncle William came here with his t

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTEBS 465

are indivisible and who make up for living in their children, they haven't
any, by living in one anottier) which was funny enough taking all things
into account, and lost our road and slept in one room (Mr. and Mrs. £.
behind curtains) and attended church in the new meeting house without
doors and with rough boards for seats and a work bench for my pulpit.
When we left on Friday it was exceptionally hot, and I went in thin
clothes with no overcoat, but it grew colder and colder, so that Mr. E.
took a severe cold and I a slight one The country is very beauti-
ful now. The grain is assuming its golden hues. There will be a great
wheat crop in this country. There will be plenty of blackberries, but

they are not ripe yet Since yesterday morning I have had a fire

in my room. You have seen the discussion in the general assembly on
slavery Two companies [for the Mexican War] have been organ-
ized in Burlington. I feel very sad in view of it. They, I hope, will not
be called to war. But it exhibits such a deplorable state of sentiments

among the people that I cannot but mourn Now, I have my fears

about Mrs. Hutchinson who by the way returned here on Saturday, that
she is in a decline. She has a very slight hacking cough at times, a hectic
flush on her cheek, but I would not have any of her friends hear of it
from me on any account. We are expecting to go together to Oalesburg.
She also has much pain in her side. I feel very anxious about her. Dr.
Ransom is esteemed a good physician and is in many respects an inter-
esting man. He has always been very kind to me We have a

number of tolerably good physicians here, but I suppose none of them

are first rate We have some first rate folks here, but not all by

any means. To some extent we must be tlie world to one another. In
so new a country, where so many other interests absorb the minds of men,
the objects in which we are engaged are very much slighted. As an index
for our society I may say the war is popular, and some of the leading

cliaracters are foremost in it Our ladies are making a great fuss

now about getting up a dinner the 4th. of July in behalf of the church.
Singular to build a house by eating. Isn't this the West? But tliere
seems no other way of raising money! Mrs. Edwards has just returned
from the meeting about it, is highly elated in the prospect of getting up
a good dinner. O, I do want this church built and all these trials out of

the way before you come here

Yours devotedly,

Wm. Salter.

Mr. A. S. Shackford is not successful in business. Is about breaking
up. If he goes, it will be a great loss to us.

[Burlington, Iowa] Saturday evening,
June 27, 1846.
My very dear Mary:

IIow to dof I am very busy. Have just finished writing five letters,
to which I have turned my attention from the middle of a summer, which

466 ANNALS OF IOWA

I miiBt finish today, for tomorrow afternoon, on some analogies suggested
bj what I have seen in my travels this week, between the wheat fields
and moral culture (Psalms 147:14).*' For the morning an old sermon
(a practical statement of the Trinity) must suffice. Tuesday afternoon
I went to Galesburgh. Mrs. H[ntchinson] was too unwell to go with me,
so I took Mr. A. 8. Shaekford. After losing the road on the prairies we
got to Oalesbnrgh (46) miles that night and enjoyed the hospitality of
a good Mr. Swift from Vermont. I learned to my sorrow that Mr.
Blanchard^ was going East this summer to get funds for a coUege
building. I engaged Rev. L. H. Parkin [f], formerly pastor at Gales-
burgh, to preach five Sabbaths for me. He is a brother of Dr. Joel
Parkin [f], now of Philadelphia, formerly of New Orleans, and is said
to be a tolerable preacher. Perhaps I will write a Uttle notice for the
Hawk-Eye next week. Coming home we got lost again and broke a piece
of our harness and were two minutes too late for the ferry at Shockoquon
where we were obliged to wait 18 hours amid mosquitoes and their con-
certs. Happily we got behind a bar at night, but the rest of the time
we were much annoyed. Then I did not get home until yesterday at 11
in the morning.

Yours ardently,

Wm. Salter.

Burlington, Iowa. Monday afternoon

June 29, 1846.
My own dearest Mary:

.... We had a heavy rain and wind last night, and today the streets
are so muddy and 1 have not been out yet and I am annoyed with company.
What company f, you ask. There are more than 100 flies (I have not
counted them) in this room, cutting up all kinds of antics, flying in every
direction, now on my ears, now on my hands, and paper, and everywhere
in the way. I can do nothing but bear it. I had an interesting day
yesterday, preached iu the morning to a full house on the Trinity,
brought it out clear and full, and trust in such a manner that no reason-
able man can object. It was an old sermon, or rather written in
December last. I preached thrice yesterday, in the evening in lower
town iu a log School House. During the service there it rained, and I
came home in the mud. The ladies have been expecting to have their
4th. [of] July dinner in the Church, but if this wet weather continues,
we cannot get the roof on or the floor laid. The whole affair involves a
great deal of trouble, and I cannot say that I am sorry that you are not

67 Psalms 147 :14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and fllleth thee with
the finest of the wheat.

M Jonathan Blanchard (1811-1892) was graduated from Middlebury College
in 1832, taught at Plattsburg Academy, studied at Andover and Lane Theo-
logical Beminary in Cincinnati. In 1838 he was ordained pastor of the Sixth
Presbyterian Church there. In 1845 he was elected president of Knox College,
at Galesburg, Illinois, and In 1860 became president of Wbeaton College.
Wheaton, Illinois. He was a strong temperance advocate, and a violent aboli-
tionist. Fid. DicUonary of American Biography,

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTEB8 467

here to share in the fuss. I feel very anxious to have the church finished
so that we can meet in it by the time we get back in the fall. I want the
way of the Lord here made ready so that we can devote our undivided

energies to building up God's spiritual House I rode out Friday

p. m. with Mrs. Hutchinson six miles to a Miss Robinson 's of whom you
will know more one of these days. Mrs. H. was to church yesterday. Her
health is about the same, very delicate. She is a woman of strong mind,

and I do not think has been to Mr. H's grave more than twice

Tours ardently, Wm. Salter.

Chicago, [lUinoisj July 11, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... [Let us begin] with that long, longed-for day, July 6th. At
length after a most solemn and seemingly never-ending delay, its sun

arose Monday morning, I turned my eyes down the river and

looked and wished for a boat. I packed my trunk and arranged matters
a little, engaged Mr. Parsons to write me in August if I could have his
house, .... all the time keeping my ears open for the ringing of the
steamboat bell, my eyes down stream. Two boats, it was said, were
expected that day, but all day long I waited to no purpose. I might
have said that Sabbath night (after twelve o'clock of course), I was
awake more than half the time in hopes of hearing a boat. Monday night
I slept in Mr. E 's lounge in the parlor (in the expectation of my departure
that day, Mr. and Mrs. E, having resumed their occupancy of my room)
and kept on longing for a boat, annoyed too with mosquitoes and dis-
turbed by a very heavy thunder storm. I found no rest. Toward morn-
ing an old boat came up and about daylight, I found the Atlas at the
levee. About 8 o'clock we left Burlington. Now .... I must spare
you the details of a slow boat with two keels, intense heat, mosquitoes
etc., and teU you that we reached Galena at 7 Wednesday morning. I
had a young lady under my care, a Miss Wheeler from Vermont. She
has been teaching in the West and lost her health, is visiting some friends
in this city. At 8 o'clock at Galena, we took the stage, via Dixon, and
you cannot conceive and I will not attempt to describe our intolerable
sufferings from intense heat, a loaded coach, disagreeable companions,
slow traveling, and more than all arriving here last night ten minutes
too late for the steamboat Champion. Had it not been for that I might
have spent the Sabbath in Kalamazoo and been with you the last of next
week. But now I must wait until Monday night and perhaps get no
further than Albany next week. I had probably better go to New York
before visiting you, so I must continue to wait and live until Wednesday,
the 22 inst., to see you. I don 't feel, however, much like waiting so long,

and I may take the cars to Boston at Albany Miss Wheeler's

health is poor. She was rather uneasy and could not exemplify the

patience of Job, but we had an interesting time together I hope

to be in Detroit in time for the London and may possibly get along

468 ANNALS OF IOWA

quicker than I anticipate The Saratoga, a beautiful boat, left

here for Buffalo this morning. I went down to see it off, but it only
made me feel bad that I must stay here. I don't know as it is verr
wicked to send this off tonight. At anj rate. Christian sentiment has
not decided so jet, though it may be hard to tell why it is any wise
different to send my letter to travel on Sunday from travelling myself

on that day The boat leaves Sunday night at 10 o'clock, if it

were only two hours later I might be off

Yours, Wm. Salter.

Lake Erie. July 16, 1846.
My dear:

.... I find in the Edinburgh Beview for April a notice of Walter
Savage Lander's Collected Writings (London, 1846) which have made
me very much in love with the man. [He here quotes liberally passages
concerning Milton, friendship. Bacon and Shakespeare.]

New York. Monday p. m.

Dear Mary: I got home Saturday evening in a few hours less than
five days from Chicago. My heart is set on seeing you tomorrow morning,
but the folks think 1 am too much jaded out to travel. Indeed, I have
journeyed rather too hard. Perhaps I had better wait until Wednesday
afternoon and come to you fresh and rested on Wednesday a. m. Should
I, however, be entirely rested on tomorrow, I will come then. As to
bridesmaids and all that, I shall leave it with you, as I told you sometime
ago. My taste is decidedly against them, 1 apprehend, however, how
girls have a little more fancy than we have for parade, I leave it and
the time with you. I feel bad to linger on my way to you, but it seems

it can't be helped

Ardently Yours, Wm. Salter.

New York. Wednesday, July 22, 1846.
Well, my dear, isn't this lingering in New York decidedly cool, but
upon my honor, it can 't be helped. Sunday I was so imprudent as to go
to church all day, and on going to bed found myself possessed of a strange
inclination to look up some blankets and after a while my fever came on.
I thought, however, it was only a temporary affair, though on Monday
I stirred around, but soon found I must lay by, and at night my attack
came on again. I am now under our doctor's care, who promises to
break up the fever soon. Probably, then, I cannot be with you till next
week, so don't have the blues, but I leave it with a wise Providence who
has always ordered all things to His will. My chill is now coming on,
and I would write out my sheet. I traveled in Michigan with an excellent

minister, Mr. Wells of Salem

Yours, Wm. Salter.

WILLIAM SALTEB'S LETTERS 469

New York. Jnlj 24, 1846.
My dear Marj:

I am certainly the last man to whom you should say "tell me the
worst", for I have been doing that very thing now for a twelvemonth.
I have been out all day and even presumed to ask the doctor if I might
not go to Boston tomorrow, but be says, I am too weak. He suggests
that to "eat and drink" will be my best way for gaining strength, rather

than to take stimulants If I only had time I would [write] a

prose essay on ague and fever. Suffice, however, to say, I escaped my
ague yesterday and think it is broke on me. I ate dinner enough today
for any hale and hearty man, so that by the middle of next week, if not
on Tuesday, I think I may see you. Am glad you are so philosophical
and resigned. I have not been really confined to the house in several
years and this attack has many lessons for me. I hope it will serve to
moderate all my earthly attachments (i. e. so far as they are earthly)
and refine and elevate my spiritual being and relations. I have no doubt
that it is for the best. Yes, I ought to have given more heed to your
caution about not travelling so fast, but it was excessively hot and I
was very much [worn out] when I left Burlington. Then I ought not
to have been up nearly all the evening at a crowded missionary meeting
on the Sabbath here as I did.

.... I met Mr. Magoun coming East. He is begging for his

Academy I am pledged to raise a bell somehow or other. I want

a goody large fine sounding one. I mean such a one as I can get

Yours .... Wm. Salter.

New York. July 27, 1846.
My dear Mary:

.... I have not been out since a week ago this morning, and I do
not now feel as smart as I hoped I would by this time when I wrote you
on Friday, and the folks won't listen to such a thing as my going east
this afternoon. They say it would be the height of imprudence, and
moreover, my dear, I fancy you and your friends would rather see me
when I am a little less lazy than I am just now, so on the whole I have
concluded to wait till Wednesday, when, in addition to all,' I can have
the company of my Uncle Benjamin and Cousin Caroline, who are going
east that day. We shall come by the Mass. via Providence. I think by
that time I may be in pretty good order, but it is singular how my fever

reduced my strength. Fever sores, too, have broken out on my lips

I think of going down town in the omnibus today, and tomorrow I must
make a call or two, and by Wednesday, I shall be myself again, I trust.
I feel very bad to think of the disarrangements this little ague may

have caused you and your friends

Wm. Salter.

WILLIAM SAVAGE,
Iowa Pioneer, Diabist, and Painter of Birds

(This ifl the diary of a naturalist and farmer who settled In the northeastern
part of Van Bnren Countj. Iowa, in 1855. Earlier Installments appeared in
the Annals of October, 1938, and January, 1984.)

[Continued from the January, 19S4, number]

March 1, 1861. Sewing on said coat. Every indieatioii of aprin^—
prairie chickens blowing, woodcocks and wild geeee and chewinkB lieard
and seen.

f fkf. To trap, and sewing on said coat. Heard frogs. Saw one dock
on creek.

Srd. Sunday. To creek. Got said traps out and went to Garter bot-
tom and home. H. and E. Steward here. L. Wells came and he and I
went to creek and got traps and set them.

4ih, Sewing on said coat.

6th, Sewing on same, and on pants.

6th. The same.

7th, Sewing, and chopped a load of wood.

Sth, Mack and I hauled one load of wood, and I sewed. Thomas
Siveter here. Finished said coat and pants.

9th, Thomas and I went to Salem with them and I came back at
night. Thomas Savage here.

10th, Sunday. Thomas and I went to creek and to ereek bottom
and home. Then I went to creek east.

11th, Got potatoes out of cellar and sorted them, and took a few
kidney [beans] to Sneath's and got some gooseberry bushes. Kill one
possum. Anna &c. stayed at Wells's.

Itth, Set out bushes and went to Wells's. Gk>t spare ribs Ae. Cot
wood and haul and husk fodder. Then T. Savage and I went to Uncle
William's. I shot two ducks, the first this spring. Stayed all night.

ISth, Then went to Salem. Seven doz. eggs, 5 pr. doxen. Ihttded
it out. Went to Br. Siveter 's and stayed all night.

14th, Went back to Uncle William's and from there home.

16th, Chopped wood in Br.'s timber. Mack hauled one load, I one.
Saw pigeon, the first.

16th, Mend Anna's shoe. Went to creek and set two d. f. [dead fall]
traps, and home. Old cow had a calf, Fannie. I built a pen for it and
made a pair bar posts. Ground froze so hard I could not set them.

17th, Sunday. We all went to Job Davis'.

18th, Prepared to kill hogs and went to get Job to help me. He not
at home, then cut out a pair pants for Dr. Siveter and sewed some.
Job came and we killed my two hogs. One weighed 151 and one 184.

19th, Cut up said hogs and Uncle William came here with hit team

WILLIAM 8AYAGB 471

and took Anna and boyi Imnm witk Urn. I want u far u Joka Oobva^
with him.

gOth. To trapy and wwinf oa «ud pants.

gist. On Mid pants. SawMl Sirelflr narried Baehel Smith. Mack
and I went to Wells's and fanned two sseks of wheat. Then hamM
one load of wood and went to miD and got mj meal and eaDed the day
eren.

ttnd. Grubbed some. Maek and I hsaled one load of wood. I sMaded
a shoe for A. Bennett, then eonuieneed msking a mat.

tSrd, Finished said mat and made another. Grabbed some.

£4th. Snndaj. Ifaek Daris and I went with his team to Unele Wi^
liam 's. We Ivoaght Anna and the boys home. Darid BiToter here.

iSth. Went part way home with I>sTid, then grabbed.

gSih, Trap. Osnght a mink. Then I went np on the prairie to
William C. Morris' and he paid me $4.10.

g7tK Cut oat Dayid SiTeter's pants. P. M., grab.

tSih. Sewing on said pants.

i9ih. To trap. Brooght my steel trap home, then finished said pants
and mended my gray <mes, and carry fodder.

30th, Intended to go to Salem, bat hsd a stiif neek and did not.
Sore throat and weat to bed.

Slst. Snnday. Siek in bed all day.

April If 1861, Monday. Some better. Throat very sore.

tnd. Some better. Kate had heifer ealf , Jade. Sewed straps on my
boots and grafted some small apple trees.

3rd. Went to Wells's and got some turpentine to pat on Kate's head.
Shot a meadow lark coming home. Not qoite so well. Knit some on dip
net spUee.

4th. Went to Sigler's mill to try to get some floor. Did not get any,
then finished my dip net. Thomas Siveter here. He and I went to creek
fishing. Canght a good mess.

Sth. T. and I went to Carter bottom. I shot 1 duck and 1 pigeon,
then went to mill and canght a mess of fish, 1 pike 26 inches long.

Sth. Shell 2 seeks of corn. Bainy day. Sewing on pair of pants T.
Siveter broig^t here.

7th. Sunday. Thomas went home. Bain. L. Wells here.

Sth. Sewing on Thomas' pants. P. M., fishing, canght some.

9th. Finished said pants, P. M., split 22 rails for self in big branch.

10th. Fishing. P. M., split 24 rails in Dr.'s woods.

11th. Split 10 rails and chop some wood, then carry fodder and hosk
it, and chop stove wood.

Itth. Went to Salem. Took 3 mats. (1 mink skin and 1 possom skin,
left them at Frank Woodrof 's for Joe Frasier, received $1.00 for them)
and Thomas' pants, received 75 cts. Bought 2% yds. calico and 6 yds.
ticking (20 cts.). Sold 7^ dot. eggs. Left $5.00 for Woodruf to send
to bank to see if good, then went to Dr. Siveter 's and stayed all night.
War began in U. S. between North and South.

472 ANNALS OF IOWA

ISth. Sewing some for Br. and went to Uncle William's and stayed
all night.

J4th, Sunday. Came home. Ballj been missing since Friday and old
Peggy sick.

16th. Mrs. Brothers died. I hunted for Bally, could not find him.
Came home and cut out 2 pairs pants for David Siveter.

16th, Cut out a vest for Sol Gill, 25 cts., then grub some and sewed
on said pants.

17th. Fix lye leech, and grub, and commenc-e making garden. Plant
13 rows of potatoes and 1 double row of peas, and 3 of dwarf peas. Job
Davis said Bally was at his house.

18th. Went to Job's and drove Bally home, then grub.

19th. Sewing on Dr. Siveter's pants.

£Oth. Finish said pants and went to school to a meeting. It adjourned.
Old Peggy died.

tlst. Sunday. Buried said hog and we all went to Carter Island and
caught a mess of fish.

tgnd. 1 went to Salem with said pants and eggs and butter and home
at night.

X3rd. Rain and sewed some on Mack Davis' shirt. P. M., grubbed
and went fishing.

g4th. Grubbed.

tSth. Went part way to Gill's after his cattle. Baily had them.
Then grub.

t6th. Grub, and sew some on Mack's red shirt.

!S7th. Finished said shirt, and got Gill's cattle and hauled up my com
fodder and plowed a piece of garden.

gSth. Sunday. L. Wells here. He and I went to creek fishing, and
Sneath and wife here.

}S9th. Went to Gill's shop with plow, then grub.

30th. Grub and went to Wells 's.

May 1, 1861. Grub.

2nd. Fix one of my boots, and grub.

Srd. Burn brush.

4 th. Burn brush and grub.

5th. Sunday. A. M., rain, P. M., L. Wells here. He and I went to
Carter Island and caught a mess of fish and a woodchnck.

6th. Chopping of roots off poles, &c. Rainy.

7th. Grubbing.

8th. Went to Hillsboro and took Z\^ lbs. butter. P. M., grub.

9th. Stuck peas and grub and burn brush.

10th. Went to Gill's. He was fixing my plow, then at 10 o'clock he
commenced plowing my old ground.

11th. Had his cattle and Bub. He and I plowed.

Itth. Sunday. Went to Uncle William's and back at night.

ISth. Bub and I plowed.

WILLIAM SAVAGE 473

14 th, A. M,, hauled poles and roots off new piece. P. M., plowing.

15th, Gill had his oxen and I grabbed some, and cnt ont coat and
pants for William Davis. Canght a mess of fish.

16th. Had the oxen and plowed.

17th, Finished plowing mj ground, old and new. At 3 o'clock went
to Gills. Stopped and mended mj harrow and I harrowed my new piece.

J 8th, A. M., help Job Davis pltnt com. P. M., fishing with seine
and dip net. I caught a pike in dip net, 6^ lbs. S. Gill came and took
his pig, $4.00, to paj for [work of] his oxen.

19th, Sunday. L. and R. Wells and Job Davis and I fishing with seine.
Caught one large catfish and dipped some. Bain very hard.

SOth, Shelled corn and cut coat and pants for G. C. Stephens, 50 cts.,
chd., and coat for J. Dothert, 30 [cts.], 10 [cts.] chd.

Slst. Finished my wammus, then J. Mack Davis and I marked off
part of my ground with his colts.

S£nd, Mack and [I] finished said ground a little after noon, then I
commenced planting my com.

SSrd. Walter and I planting corn.

24th. A. M., planting at home. P. M., help Mack Davis plant corn.

S5th, William Weaver, Sr., died. Went to Job E. Davis' and got 100
cabbage plants, dug ground and set them out, then plant sorgo, water-
melons and cucumbers. David Siveter came here and we went fishing
some.

£6th, Sunday. Hoe garden, and D[avid] and I fishing P. M., stayed
home. D. went home.

^th. Finished planting my corn, watermelons and mam. pumpkins.

S8th, Went to Hillsboro, sold 7% lbs. butter, 8 cts. Borrowed Simon's
sheep shears and sheared four of my sheep. Bainy. Fishing.

S9th. Sheared other four sheep and took shears home and went to
Well's. Planted my potatoes and stick some peas.

30th. Mend my boot and Anna's shoe, and cut out a pair of pants for
Mack Davis. Anna went to Sneath's on a visit.

Slst. Made said pants, 75 cts. Locusts appear. Spade some garden.

June If 1861, Sprout stumps in field, stick peas, and spade garden
for tomatoes. B. Wells came here and we went fishing. Bainy.

2nd. Sunday. Fishing, swimming and pick strawberries.

3rd. Went to Wells's helped him sprout potatoes. He gave me 1%
bushels. Then I sewed on my tick pants.

4th. Finished said pants, then cut a hoop pole and found a small
cowbell. Hoop washtub and went to creek and got a sack full of butter
nut bark. Went to mill and got a sack of meal.

Sth. Help Job Davis plant corn.

6th. Work for Sol Gill clearing.

7th. 4" Sth.f work on road. Beceived letter from John Wetsell.

9th. Sunday. Went to Uncle William's and back in evening. Service
berry Sunday and strawberries ripe.

474 ANNALS OF IOWA

10th. Went to HiUsboro, took 4% lbs. bntter, 6 ets. Fixed boot
Beee swarmed. Hived them, and then grabbed.

llih. Grubbed. Locnsts innumerable — ^have done no mischief yet.

Itth, also 13th, grabbed. I discover said locusts suck the sap of trees,
also bore holes in them this shape [shape of an inverted "V"], and lay
their eggs in them.

14th, Plow corn for Job Davis.

15th, A. M., plowing for Job. P. M./to Hillsboro mustering. Thomas
Savage came here.

16th, Sunday. Sneath and wife here, then T. and I went fishing.

17th, Grubbed and we went fishing.

18th. Made pole fence by cow yard, and swim.

19th, Went to Gill's shop and got my shovel plow, a wrench and a
small device fixed. I helped Gill put the tiree on two wheels. He charged
me 20 cts. Baled. P. M., picked wool and T. and I went to Wells's.

tOth, Had Mack Davis horse and plowed com, Tom went home.

ilst. Plow corn.

ttnd. Finished plowing corn one way at 10 A. M. Dug out hole and
spring. Coming from said spring saw Job Davis ' house was burnt nearly
to the ground. I went there and stayed till eve.

iSrd. Sunday. L. Wells, Newton Stanley and I went service berrying
and swimming then home.

tdth. Shell corn and take it to mill. Grub some in buckwheat ground.

tSth. Had Mack's horses and plowed com. Bain in evening.

iSth. Plowing corn.

i7th. Bain. Shell corn and go to mill and cover my buekwheat
with hoe.

iSth. Hoed sorgo and Mack and I went to mill.

i9th. Went to Widow Weaver's sale. P. M., finished plowing my
com.

SOth, 'Sunday. L. and B. Wells, James Stanley and I went to creek
east, fish and swim.

July 1, 1861, Helped Job Davis cut his rye.

tnd. The same, at two bushels per day for pay.

3rd. Went on prairie and mowed grass for William C. Morris.

July 4th, 1861. L. Wells and I went to Hillsboro celebration. Quite
a large crowd of people there, three companies drilling.

5th, also the 6th. harvesting for William and George Morris.

7th. Sunday. Went to mill pond and swimming, then shot and por-
trayed a bird — ^yellow breasted chat.

8th. Harvesting fall wheat for William Morris.

9th. A. M., mow grass for W. M. P. M., in (George's fall wheat, and
the 10th the same.

11th. Came home and hoed my sorgo.

[To he continued]

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

Oborob Anson Jewett was born near Bed Boek, Marion Ck>iintj,
Iowa, September 9, 1847, and died in Dee Moines July 15, 1934. Burial
was in Woodland Cemetery. His parents were George Enoch and Pattj
Maria (Matthews) Jewett. He attended public school at Bed Bock and
when he was ten years old the family removed to Pella. He was graduated
with the degree of Ph. B. from Central College, Pella, in 1864, and from
Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Chicago, in 1865. In 1865 he
walked to Des Moines and soon became a bookkeeper for Brown, Beatty
& Spoif ord, agricultural implement dealers, held the position eight years,
becoming manager of the company. In 1873 he organized the Des Moines
Scale Company and was its manager. The same year he also entered
the lumber business as manager for H. F. Getchel ft Sons. In 1879 he
organized the lumber company of Ewing, Jewett A Chandler which became
in 1906 the Jewett Lumber Company, of which he was president and
manager. He was also president of the Jewett Bealty Company. In 1888
he organized the Jewett Typewriter Company and for twenty years gaye
attention to marketing the typewriter both in America and Europe. In
1887 he founded and edited the Christian Worker, a monthly religious
and social paper, and continued it until his last brief illness. He was
one of the founders in 1881 of Drake University and since then was a
member of the Board of Trustees, and as its secretary signed the diplomas
of all graduates, approximately 10,000, since the University's beginning.
He was founder and president of the Jewett Family in America, an
organization the headquarters of which is in New England. From April,
1923, he was secretary of the Iowa State Society, Sons of the American
Bevolution, and editor of the Old Continental and became one of the most
expert genealogists in the country. In 1892 Drake University conferred
on him the degree of LL.D., and in 1922 Central College gave him the
degree of A. M. An honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa was con-
ferred on him a few years ago by the Drake chapter, which indicated the
estimation his friends had of him as a scholar. His activities and interests
carried him into many fields. He was a successful business man, organiser,
builder, promoter, student, scholar, church worker, and benefactor.

Lawbbncx DbGbait was born at Apple Biver, Illinois, June 24, 1871,
and died in Des Moines, Iowa, June 7, 1934. Burial was in the Des
Moines Masonic Cemetery. His parents were Hiram and Sarah (Eplett)
DeGraif . He was graduted from Dixon College, Dixon, Illinois, with the

476 ANNALS OF IOWA

degree of A. B. in 1892 ; from Illinois Ck>llege of Law, with the degrees
of LL. B. and LL. M. in 1896 ; and from the University of Chicago with
the degree of Ph. B. in 1898. He began practice in Chicago in 1896 but
in 1898 removed to Des Moines and became secretary of and an instructor
in Highland Park College of Law. In 1902 he became the junior mem-
ber of the firm of Miller (Jesse A.), Wallingford (J. D.) & DeGraff,
but in October, 1903, was appointed assistant attorney general under
C. W. Mullan and served in that posotion until January 1, 1907. Having
been elected county attorney of Polk County in November, 1906, he served
three years, or until he was appointed by Governor Carroll January 3,
1910, judge of the District Court. He served as judge until elevated to
the Supreme Court January 1, 1921, having been elected the previous
November. This position he retained until December 31, 1932, having
been defeated in the election of the previous November. Judge DeGraff
was a scholarly man and a popular jurist. He was the author of Outlines
of American Government, 1898; Outlines in Economics, 1900; and
Pharmacy Law, 1916.

Henry Silwold was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, January
12, 1860, and died in Newton, Iowa, April 28, 1934. Burial was in the
cemetery of St. John's Evangelical Church in the country near Newton.
His parents were Henry and Charlotte (Depping) Silwold. They re-
moved from Wisconsin to Malaka Township, Jasper County, Iowa, in
1866. The son Henry helped on the farm during crop seasons, and at-
tended public school in the country during winters, later took a prepara-
tory course at Hazel Dell Academy, Newton, entered Drake University
in 1885 and was graduated in 1890. He then began the study of law
in the office of W. O. McElroy at Newton, was admitted to the bar in
1892 and began practice at Baxter. In 1898 he removed to Newton.
In March, 1900, he was appointed county attorney of Jasper County
to succeed W. O. McElroy, resigned, and the fall of 1901 was nominated
by the Republicans for that office, was elected and served until January
1, 1904. Governor Carroll appointed him a judge of the Sixth Judicial
District to succeed Byron W. Preston and he assumed the duties Janu-
ary 1, 1913. In 1914 he was elected for a full term and served until
December 31, 1918. He then returned to the practice in Newton which
he continued up to a short time before his death. He was honorable
in his profession and in his official duties, as well as in his private life.
He was scholarly, interested in local history, and was an occasional con-
tributor to the Annals.

Harry Mattingly Cowper ("Holmes Cowper") was born in Dun-
das, Ontario, Canada, March 4, 1870, and died in Des Moines, Iowa,
July 2, 1934. Burial was in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines. His parents
were Roland Frederick and Sara Ann (Bishop) Cowper. He attended
Quaker College, Pickering, Ontario, and studied music in London under

EDITORIAL 477

Frederick Walker, in Berlin under George Ferguaon, in Paris under
Vergenet, and in Chicago under Qottschalk. He was a tenor soloist with
leading choral and oratorio societies, including the Apollo Club of Chi-
cago, the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, Pittsburg Orchestra, Cincinnatti
Orchestra, Boston Festival, etc. He taught singing and interpretation in
the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, 1897-1900; in the Sher-
wood School of Music, 1900-02 ; and was a private teacher, 1902-09. With
this background of experience and culture, in 1909 he accepted the po-
sition of dean of the College of Fine Arts and teacher of singing in
Drake University, Des Moines. During his twenty-five years at Drake
some 5,000 students were trained in music under him. One of his out-
standing accomplishments was his ability to lead community singing
which was demonstrated on numberless occasions in city affairs and in
congregations, but especially at Camp Dodge during the World War
where for eighteen months thousands of soldiers followed his inspira-
tional leadership in song. Those who heard him will long remember
the beauty of the tones of his vibrant voice.

John Heffelfinoeb was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, April
17, 1843, and died in Grundy Center, Iowa, June 12, 1934. He was with
his parents. Dr. Lewis and Mary (Miles) Heifelfinger when they re-
moved with their family to Carrol County, Illinois, in 1857. In the
early part of the Civil War he was for a short time in Company I,
Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, the company of which his father was
captain. On May 15, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred
and Forty-second Illinois Infantry, was given the rank of sergeant and
was honorably discharged October 26, 1864. In 1867 he removed to a
farm three miles northwest of Grundy Center, Iowa, but in 1877 located
in Grundy Center where during most of his life thereafter he con-
ducted an insurance business. In 1888 he removed to Des Moines and
for a time was an employee in the office of treasurer of state, but soon
returned to his insurance business at Grundy Center. Although never
being a candidate for an elective office it is said he was probably more
closely associated with the politics of Grundy County than any other
man. He also became a well-kno\^'n figure in Republican state politics,
principally by reason of his attendance at sessions of the General As-
sembly as doorkeeper or sergeant at arms. In the Twenty-second General
Assembly, 1888, he was doorkeeper of the House, and for the next forty-
one years he was present as a doorkeeper or a sergeant at arms in either
the Senate or the House during sixteen regular sessions and two important
extra sessions. From 1904 to 1929 he only missed one session, 1909. He
was a charter member of the Grundy Center Grand Army post and re-
mained to see all the members excepting one laid away.

Herbert B. Wyman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, April 26,
1850, and died in Los Angeles, California, July 28, 1934. His parents

478 ANNALS OF IOWA

were Charles D. and Mary A. (Bartlet) Wyman. The familj removed
to Wabasha Wy Minnesota, in 1856. Herbert B. obtained hia earlj edu-
cation in public school, and later attended Shattuck C!ollege, Faribault,
Minnesota. He early entered the employ of Hamilton So Holmes at
Wabasha as clerk in their warehouse and express business, following that
by buying grain on his own account. A year later he became a sales-
man for a nursery company in Minneapolis which he eontinaed for four
yei^rs. In 1873 he removed to Sheldon, Iowa, and with his brother Frank
£. engaged in the grain business. At the time of Sheldon's incorporation
in 1876 he was elected mayor, and altogether served six terms in that
ofSce. He was instrumental in establishing the Union Bank of Sheldon
in 1882, and was president of it for some time in its early hiatory. Bis-
posing of his banking interests he wrote insurance for the Northwestern
Mutual Life Company. He took an active part in polities, vras a presi-
dential elector in 1888 and in 1889 was elected representatiye and served
in the Twenty-third General Assembly, the session of the famous dead-
lock in the organization of the House. About 1899 he removed to Des
Moines, was president of the Merchants Savings Bank of that city, but
later sold his Des Moines interests and removed to Los Angeles where
he lived in retirement, although retaining farming interests in Iowa and
Minnesota.

COKLLA Orlando Bolino was born in Holmes County, Ohio, August
28, 1867, and died in Tipton, Iowa, June 20, 1934. Burial was in Masonic
Cemetery, Tipton. He was with his parents, John and Harriet Hoyman
Boling, in their removal to Cedar County, Iowa, in 1869. He spent the
early years of his life on his parents' farm near Stanwood. He attended
rural school, was graduated from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, in
1892, and from the College of Law of Northwestern University, Evans-
ton, Illinois, in 1894. In 1894 he began the practice of law at Tipton,
occupying the law office of Robert G. Cousins who the previous year had
begun his congressional career. He continued in active practice until
shortly before his death. Miss Edith Hill being associated with him
during his last few years. He was county attorney of Cedar County
from January, 1897, to January, 1903, and was city solicitor of Tipton
for eight years. For a number of years he was chairman of the Cedar
County Chapter of the American Bed Cross. While Mr. Boling was
keenly interested in the civic, political and educational life of the com-
munity and gave generously of his time and thought to those interests,
his great work was in the practice of his profession. His ability, honor
and integrity aided him in winning a high place as a lawyer and a
citizen.

John F. Olivxb was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, June
15, 1855, and died in Onawa, Iowa, May 18, 1934. His parents were Ad-
dison and Hannah (Towne) Oliver. He was with them in their removal

EDITOBIAL 479

to Onawa in 1858. Addison Oliver was for several years circuit judge
of the Fourth Judicial District of Iowa, and also served two terms as
representative in C!ongress. John F. grew to manhood in Onawa, re-
ceived his early education in schools there, attended Iowa State C!ollege
at Ames, and was graduated from the Law Department of the State
University of Iowa in 1879. He began practice at Eddyville, but in
1888 returned to Onawa where he became a member of the firm of Oliver
Brothers & Tillson. In 1894 he was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial
District, was several times re-elected, and served from 1895 to 1914
inclusively. He then resumed practice in Onawa. He was proficient as
a lawyer and was highly regarded as a judge.

William Jackson Quinn was bom on a farm two miles southeast of
Belle Plaine, Iowa, September 3, 1852, and died in Belle Plaine June
20, 1934. His parents were Hyrcanus and Melissa (Dinwiddle) Quinn.
He was educated in public school in the country and in Belle Plaine
High SchooL He began school-teaching at an early age and taught first
in country schools and later in Belle Plaine, in all fifteen terms. He
engaged in farming, residing on the Guinn homestead. He held some
school and township offices and in 1891 was elected representative and
served in the Twenty-Fourth General Assembly. In 1901 he removed to
Belle Plaine and entered the real estate and insurance business. He
was active in the organization of the CJorn Belt Trust and Savings Bank,
became its first president and served until increasing age caused him
to retire in 1930. Politically he was a Democrat.

Will Lkach Clark was born at Lyndon, Whiteside CJounty, Illinois,
December 15, 1853, and died in Woodbine, Iowa, July 22, 1934. His
parents were John B. and Cathrine B. Clark. The family removed to
Webster City, Iowa, when he was a small boy. There he grew to man-
hood when he engaged for a time in mercantile business, but in 1880
turned to newspaper work, writing for the Webster City Argus from
1880 to 1881. For a few years he was editor and publisher of the Ben-
wick Times, then did editorial work on the Le Mars Sentinel, and later
was owner for a time of the Woodbine Twiner, He did historical writing
for many years, doing editorial work on histories of Hamilton and
Wright counties (1889), Shelby and Audubon counties (1889), O'Brien
and Osceola counties (1915), Harrison County (1915), a municipal his-
tory of Essex County, Massachusetts (1922), and a history of Okla-
homa (1929).

Eluott Drigos Baird was bom near Clinton, Oneida County, New
York, January 2, 1849, and died in North English, Iowa, September 28,
1932. In 1855 he was with his parents, Isaac W. and Emma E. (Driggs)
Baird in their removal to land west of Marengo, Iowa, which th^ entered
from the government and developed into a farm. The son attended rural

480 ANNALS OP IOWA

school in winters and worked on the farm in summers. He later attended
the Marengo High School from which he was graduated, and taught
rural schools two years. He became a telegraph operator and followed
that Toeation some time. In 1876 he was appointed deputy county
treasurer of Iowa County and continued in that position eight years,
regardless of political changes. After being deputy county auditor one
year he was elected clerk of the District Court in 1884 and again in 1886,
and served four years. In 1889 he organized the North English Sayings
Bank and was its cashier or its president until it ceased to exist in May
1928. He was the first mayor of North English, was for many years a
member of the school board, and 1906 was elected representative and
served in the Thirty-second General Assembly. His political affiliation
was with the Democratic party.

Willis Hall Thobnilet was bom near Marietta, Ohio, in 1841, and
died in the same neighborhood in 1928. He was attending school in
Marietta when, on November 5, 1861, he entered service in the Union
Army as a member of Company B, Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, and was mustered out December 10, 1864, having attained the
rank of corporal. After the war he returned home and engaged in farm-
ing, but in the early 1880'8 removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where
he pursued farming and stock raising. Politically he was a Republican
and was elected representative in 1887 and served in the Twenty-second
General Assembly. Some ten years later he returned to the vicinity of
his birth in Ohio where he remained the rest of his life. There he
organized the Washington County Mutual Insurance Company and was
an officer in it at the time of his death, also helped to organize the Ohio
Valley Farmers ' Club, and for many years was a trustee of the Washing-
ton County Children's Home.

Dallas D. Rorick was born in Franklin County, Ohio, June 18, 1846,
and died in Monticello, Iowa, July 29, 1932. He was with his parents,
C. H. and Julia P. (Kimball) Rorick, in their removal to a farm near
Oxford Junction, Jones County, Iowa, in 1859. In 1864 he entered the
employ of his brother, G. H. Rorick, then a merchant at Lowden, Cedar
County. In 1867 he removed to Toronto, Clinton County, where he was
by turns carpenter, railroad bridge builder, and g^ain buyer. He was also
justice of the peace, began the study of law and was admitted to the bar
in 1874. In 1878 he located at Wheatland, Clinton County, in the practice
of law, was elected representative in 1881 and served in the Nineteenth
General Assembly, the last assembly that met in the old Capitol. Later
he practiced his profession at Miller, South Dakota, seven years. He
then returned to Oxford Junction and practiced until 1915 when he
removed to Monticello, where he continued his practice until shortlly
before his death.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 487

Johnson. He was a vigorous and forcible speaker^ and numbered
among his hearers many of the intelligent citizens of the city.
He was fresh from his field of labor in Iowa City, where he
became notorious for his attempt to steal away their church bell
and bring it to Keokuk. He was then just at the beginning of
his career as a believer in Spiritualism, and among his co-believ-
ers were numbered some of our best citizens.

A few weeks after I came to Keokuk, I drove with J. P. Reed
in a buggy to Montrose, where Reed had a branch store in con-
nection with George L. Coleman, only son and child of "Sweet"
William and "Aunt" Nancy Coleman, the latter being a sister of
David W. and Edward Kilbourne. This worthy couple (Mr. and
Mrs. Coleman) first kept the Rapids Hotel, where they became
famous for their kindness, hospitality, and many Christian vir-
tues. They made their hotel the stranger's home. At the time
of my visit to Montrose referred to, they had removed there, and
made that place their home thereafter. Here I had a fine view
of the Mormon City on the opposite side of the river, and the
standing walls of the famous Temple which had been burned
on the 9th of October of the previous year (1848).

The cholera made its appearance in Keokuk very soon after
my arrival. Travel by steamboat between this point and St.
I^ouis was large, and the latter place was suffering terribly from
the disease. At one time it was said that six hundred died there
in one day. Almost every boat put off dead or affected persons
here.

Among the first citizens to die with the disease was Mr. Van
Ix)on, an employe of R. B. Ogden in the Post Office. He died
in March (1849). A. H. Seamans, barkeeper at the Hotel House,
died April 4; on May 6 Mrs. Catherine Brooks; in June, William
Condon, clerk for P. D. Foster, William McFadden, proprietor
of the Keokuk House, John B. Russell, editor of the Keokuk
Dispatch; in July, Dr. C. P. Smith, Dr. W. S. Birdsell, Phil-
ander Hilliard, and "Cock-eyed Brooks." These are only a few
of the well known citizens now remembered, and all died after
only a few hours illness. The terror occasioned by the first few
cases soon gave way, and we did not hesitate to lend our assist-
ance wherever needed, and for a time in midsummer deaths oc-
curred almost daily. Among the noted ones who died the follow-

Annals of Iowa

Vol. XIX, No. 7 Des Moines, Iowa, Jaxi-ary, I9.'i5 Tiiibd Skbiks

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF AN IOWA FATHER AND

SON

Caleb Forbes Davis, Late of Keokuk, Iowa
James Cox Davis, of Des Moines, Iowa

1829-1931

FOREWORD
Recently I reread the account of mv father's life which he
left for his children. The story seemed to have for me a pe-
culiar interest. The idea suggested itself that I might carry on
by adding a simple narrative account of my own life. This has
been written with the thought not that the lives of these two
ordinary and typical citizens of Iowa contain any matters of
public moment, but that perhaps a recital might interest my
children and grandchildren and give them some information
concerning the lives and surroundings of their forbears. — .FaiiK's
C. Davis.

PART I
Caleb Forbes Davis

The writer, whose full name appears abov<-, was born in
Clarksburg, Harrison County, Virginia, on the 27th day of
April, 1829.

My father, Rezin Davis, was born in Woodstock, Virginia,
I'Vbruary 1*J, 1801-, and is now at this date (1882) living at his
home in Clarksburg, West Virginia, carrying on the business of
saddle and harness making, in which business he has been con-
stantly engaged in the same place for over fifty years. During
most of that time, in that country, all the travel was on horse-
back or in stage coach, and the transportation of produce or
merchandise was by wagon; and the business of saddle and
harness making was an extensive and important one.

My mother, Ann Pollard Brjtton, daughter of Forbes and

4«4 ANNALS OF IOWA

Elizabeth Britton, was l)orii in Morgantown, Monongahela Coun-
ty, \'irginia, November 10, 1807. My father and mother were
married at Clarksburg, Virginia, June 5, 1828. They had born
to them nine ehildren, of whom the writer is the oldest. Three
are dead, and six now living and have families, except Kate, the
youngest; and all, except myself, living in the town where they
were born.

My mother died in Clarksburg, West Virginia, May 19, 1877.
My paternal grandfather, Caleb Davis, was of Welsh descent,
and was born in Annapolis, Maryland, March 15, 1769, and died
at Clarksburg, Virginia, April 25, 183i. He was a silversmith,
a watch and clock maker by trade, and continued to work in his
little shop until his death. I now have in my possession an old-
fashioned clock, seven feet high, with face showing the moon's
changes, that was made by him entirely by hand. He also made
some pretension to painting as a recreation, and left many speci-
mens, one of which I now have, painted on an eight by ten plate
of common window glass, representing Captain Lawrence, a naval
officer of the war of 1812.

I was placed in school in early childhood, and received such
education only as could be secured at that day among the hills
of Western Virginia, and confined almost entirely to the three
primitive (and most important) branches, viz., reading, writing
and arithmetic. My first teacher was Miss Elizabeth Moore, a
cousin of my mother, who afterward married IJoyd Lowndes, a
wealthy merchant of Clarksburg, whose son is now a member of
Congress from the Cumberland district, Maryland. The teacher
to whom I was most indebted for the little early education I
received was a young man who taught the school only one year,
named Francis Pierpoint, who afterward became a lawyer and
settled at Fairmont, Virginia, and during the War of the Re-
bellion was a distinguished leader of the Union supporters, and
became the first governor of the new state of West Virginia.

At the age of sixteen my father put me in the saddler's shop,
astride a wooden horse, to learn the trade. My father was a
hard working man, and exercised the strictest economy in his
household affairs; and up to this time, I, with my brothers and
sisters, did our share as best we could in helping to care for and
milk the cows, feed the pigs^ dip candles and scrub and sand the

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 486

floors (we used no carpets in those days) every Saturday, pre-
paratory to Sunday. Botli parents being strict members of the
Old School Presbyterian church, Sunday was faithfully observed
by the family as a day of quiet rest and devotion, reading the
Diblc, studying the Shorter Catechism, and singing hymns, so
that all preparations were made on Saturday with that in view.

The sedentary confinement disagreed with me, and after a
short time I was engaged as a clerk in a general retail store,
where I remained until the winter of 1848-9. At this time, my
cousin, John P. Reed, and Moses B. Cox, had established them-
selves in the business of general merchandise at Keokuk, in the
new state of Iowa. I was offered a position in their store, which
I acct^ited. J. P. Reed was then in Baltimore purchasing goods,
and notified me that he would come through Clarksburg on his
return west, so I made ready, and on the 25th day of February,
ISH), we left Clarksburg, for Keokuk, Iowa. We traveled from
Clarksburg to Sistersville, the nearest point on the Ohio River,
in a two-horse hack, being two days on the road. We then took
the steamboat North America, from Pittsburg, bound for St.
Louis, Missouri. The boat was about a week on the way, stop-
ping a day at Cincinnati, Louisville, and other points, discharg-
ing freight, etc.

Up to this time in my life I had never been outside of the state
of Virginia, and only thrice outside of the county in which I was
born: had never seen .'i railroad locomotive or train, and had
never been on board a steamboat. My verdancy was exceedingly
embarrassing, and I now know that my efforts to appear wise
only made my ignorance the more visible. On arriving at St.
Louis, we found that the cholera, which had prevailed on the
lower Mississippi the previous season, had now reached that city.
We remained there over night, and the next day took passage on
the steamboat Kdward Bates for Keokuk, which we reached in
good time ('Jl- hours). The river being high, the boat landed
near the porch of the old Rapids Hotel, located at the foot of
Concert Street, and then kept by a man named Harris. This
was the first week in March, 18i9.

My worldly possessions being at that time a fair outfit of
clothes, a gold watch worth one hundred dollars, and four hun-
dred dollars in money, being the savings of my three years*

iS6 ANNALS OF IOWA

clerkship before leaving home^ I engaged board at the Keokuk
House, on Water Street, between Main and Johnson, kept by
William McKadden, and was to pay three dollars and a half
per week.

I at once entered the store of Bridgman & Reed on Main
Street, between the Levee and First streets, as a clerk, at a
salary of four hundred dollars per annum, with sleeping room
in rear of upper story. General Arthur Bridgman, the senior
member of the firm, had just removed from Burlington, Iowa,
to Keokuk, and purchased the interest of Moses B. Cox, former
partner of J. P. Reed. Frank Bridgman, brother of the General,
and a man named Keifer, were also clerks in the same store.
The business of the firm was one of general merchandise and the
4)urchase of country produce, principally fall wheat for ship-
ment b}' boat to St. Louis. The finest wheat ever raised in Iowa
was being produced then on the new ground in the vicinity of
Keokuk, and in the lower Des Moines Valley. There was a long
shed building in the rear of the storehouse which had been built
and used for a tenpin alley, in which 1 think I spent the greater
part of my first year in Keokuk, not rolling tenpins, but sacking
wheat for shipment, for the tenpin alley had been converted into
a warehouse.

Among my first acquaintances was Bill Clark, called "Devil
Creek Bill," who had been the first mayor of the city, and was
an intimate friend of J. P. Reed, and the fact that I was the
latter's cousin and a native of Virginia, if not "one of the first
families," gave me an easy passport into Bill's affections. I
think on the first night after my arrival I was invited by Reed
and Clark to visit the billiard room and saloon kept by Kinney
Said, in the upstairs of a two-story frame building owned by
Moses Gray, just opposite the storeroom of Bridgman and Reed.
Here I met Jake Neuse, Henry J. Campbell, Charley Moore,
Col. Hillis (called Doublehead), Ad. Hine, and others. This,
and a restaurant and drug store on the corner of First and
Johnson streets, and the old-time barroom of the hotel, were the
principal places of resort for amusement and refreshment, and
patronized by the larger portion of the male inhabitants.

The first sermon I heard was delivered by Rev. Michael Hum-
mer, in a log schoolhouse on Third Street between Main and

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 487

The cholera made its appearance in Keokuk very soon after
my arrival. Travel by steamboat between this point and St.
Louis was large, and the latter place was suffering terribly from
the disease. At one time it was said that six hundred died there
in one day. Almost every boat put off dead or affected persons
here.

Among the first citizens to die with the disease was Mr. Van
I^on, an employe of R. B. Ogden in the Post Office. He died
in March (1849). A. H. Seamans, barkeeper at the Hotel House,
died April 4; on May 6 Mrs. Catherine Brooks; in June, William
Condon, clerk for P. D. P'oster, William McFadden, proprietor
of the Keokuk House, John B. Russell, editor of the Keokuk
Dispatch; in July, Dr. C. P. Smith, Dr. W. S. Birdsell, Phil-
ander Hilliard, and "Cock-eyed Brooks." These are only a few
of the well known citizens now remembered, and all died after
only a few hours illness. The terror occasioned by the first few
cases soon gave way, and we did not hesitate to lend our assist-
ance wherever needed, and for a time in midsummer deaths oc-
curred almost daily. Among the noted ones who died the follow-

4^ ANNALS OF IOWA

ing year (1850) were "Penny" Price, the barber, and "the wick-
edest man in town," Samuel Van Fossen and NefF, a clerk in
tlie store of C. Garber & Co. This latter death was coming
pretty near home to me, we being employed in adjoining stores
and sleeping upstairs with only a partition between us. He died
about daylight of May 18, 1850. The evening previous, he, with
George IJ. Smythe, who was also a clerk in Garber & Co.'s store,
and myself, sat in front of our stores talking until after nine
o'clock, all apparently as well as usual, when he and Smythe,
who roomed together, retired to their room, I going to mine.
About midniglit Smythe came over, and waking me said, "Neff
has the cholera." I immediately dressed and went over, found
Dr. Hoover, who had been sent for, already there, and Neff in a
collapsed condition. We worked with him, under the doctor's
direction; but to no avail, for by the dawn of morning he was
dead.

I have long recognized the fact that I should have been edu-
cated in the law, but I had no choice, and circumstances forced
me into a mercantile trade, which in time became distasteful to
me, and too late to make a change.

On the morning of May 24, 184>9, the cry of "fire" aroused
our citizens to find that "Rat Row" was burning. The fire was
discovered in about the center of the row, owned and occupied
by Mother Jorden. Tom Crook occupied the south end of the
row as a grocery, boat store and butcher shop. A German had a
bakery and "Penny" Price the barber had a shop in other parts
of the row. This row of log cabins was built about 1824 by the
American Fur Company, and used by them as a trading post with
the Indians until 1832, when they sold it to Isaac R. Campbell.
It w^as located on the bank of the river, mostly in front of Block
Five and the foot of Blondeau Street. In front of the Row, in
the river, was the wharf boat of Ad. and Dan Hine, then used
as a steamboat landing, boat stores, wet grocery and for various
other purposes to accommodate new comers to the state. In the
rear of the row, on the front line of Lot Three in Block Five,
had been built the two-story brick building of Chittenden &
McGavic, which they occupied as a general store on the first
floor. The upper story was divided into two apartments, which
they occupied with their families. Next to them toward Blon-

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 489

deau Street was Tom Davis' drug store^ Pigner's barber shop,
Mrs. Treiber's bakery, etc. On the other side toward Main
Street was the log house occupied by Mrs. Gaines, and on the
corner of Main and Levee was the boat store and grocery of
D. T. Rudd & Co. The general effort and desire of the citizens
was to save the buildings and contents located in Block Five and
let Rat Row burn, in both of which their desire was gratified.
Thus passed away the most noted land mark of pioneer days in
Keokuk.

The week preceding this (May 17, 1849) occurred the great
fire in St. Louis, which destroyed twenty-three steamboats, lying
at the levee, with their cargoes, and about six blocks of the
business portion of the city, on Pine, Ix)cust, Chestnut and Olive
streets, and between the wharf and Second Street. In this fire
was burned the steamboat Edward Bates, on which two months
before I had made my first trip to Keokuk.

Keokuk was just beginning to assume some importance as a
town, attracting wide-spread attention, being at the foot of the
Des Moines Rapids, where in low water steamboats were com-
pelled to transfer their freight and passengers; railroads were
not thought of, and it was not unusual to see from four to ten
steamboats lying at the landing at one time; emigrants arriving
and departing daily for the interior with their goods and chat-
tels, by horse and ox team, gave the town a business appear-
ance, and improvements were being made out as far as Ninth on
Main Street. The town was divided by a deep ravine which ran
from north to south crossing Blondeau Street and Main Street
on or near Sixth, where it was from twenty to twenty-five feet
deep, and was spanned on the south side by a foot bridge. All
that part of the town west of the ravine, or Sixth Street, was
called "Cattaraugas." Main Street was not then opened up for
travel from the river, except to First Street, Johnson Street
being the one by which teams passed from the town under the
hill to the town on the hill.

In 1850 or 1851, the city let a contract to Mitchell Marshall
for grading Main Street. The cut at the top of the hill at Second
Street, was about ten feet, and about the same at the intersection
of Fourth Street. The material taken from this part of Main
Street was used in filling the ravine at Sixth Street.

4-90 ANNALS OF IOWA

' At this time, a large number of Mormons, on their way to
Salt Lake, stopped here for the summer and camped on the bluff
above town. They had their own teams, and offered to work
very cheap, Marshall hired them, and with their large force
soon completed his contract, thus uniting the main part of town
with Cattaraugas, and the latter name became obsolete. Marshall
received his pay from the city, but it is understood that the
labor performed by the Mormons will be settled for at the **crack
of doom."

In those days we had more solid fun to the square inch than
has been experienced here since or ever will be again. Then we
did not bar our doors against thieves; and criminals met with
speedy justice. Civilization has wrought a great change in these
things. We had our dances and steamboat excursions then as
now; and such steamboat captains as John C. Ainsworth, Silas
Heaight, Charley Morrison, Mahlon, Matson and Ford, and
clerks Dan Able, John Scudder, Watson and John Roberts, par-
ticipated in and enjoyed our frolics with the jolliest of us, and
their entertainments on board boat were not to be surpassed.

During the winter of 1850-51, a party of us organized a
dancing set of ten couples, and were called "the twenties." We
met every two weeks at the Keokuk House and danced in the
dining room, with "Old Cotton" as fiddler and caller. Shep. Mc-
Fadden kept the hotel and furnished refreshments.

In 1852 I went to Montrose, to assist George L. Coleman in
his store. He was then engaged with Benjamin Roop in run-
ning a distillery and cooper shop, which made a market for large
amounts of grain, wood, and cooper stuff, and employed from
twenty-five to thirty men. This made Montrose a good business
point, and being at the head of the rapids, it had to some extent
similar advantages in regard to steamboat business with Keokuk.
Here were the young lawyers who afterwards became men of
some prominence, J. M. Beck, now serving his third term as one
of the Supreme Court judges of the state of Iowa; Samuel
Boyles, elected county judge of Lee County, and C. J. McFar-
land, who was for one term prosecuting attorney for the county,
and removing to Boone County about 1856, was elected district
judge for the district in which were the counties of Polk, Boone,
Dallas and others.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 491

In the winter of 1852-53 I purchased the interest of Hawkin
Taylor in a fleet of lighters used in transferring freight over the
rapids^ Cornelius Falkner and William Owens, of Montrose,
being my partners. I returned to Keokuk and with Faulkner
attended to the business at this end of the route, boarding at the
LaCledc House, kept by Pressell and Allyn. In January, 1851,
we sold out our lighters to Ad. and Dan Hine, who had been our
competitors in the business, thus giving them the exclusive trade.

On the 25th of February, 1854, I engaged with the firm of
Chittenden & McGavic as bookkeeper, for one year on trial.
Their business was then wholesale groceries and iron, and they
ulso did a commission and storage business, their sales then
amounting to over one hundred thousand dollars per annum, and
rapidly increasing. All I then knew about bookkeeping I had
learned from General Arthur Bridgman during my stay with
the firm of Bridgman & Reed. He kept the books of the firm, and
I assisted him in taking off his monthly balances, thereby gain-
ing a practical insight into the system of bookkeeping by double
entry.

My engagement with Chittenden & McGavic was for one year
without any specified salary. I wanted the position, and said to
them, "If I suit you, at the end of the year pay me what I am
worth." At the close of the year they paid me one thousand
dollars, which at that time was considered a large salary. I
then boarded at the Ivins House, kept by the owner, ('harlcs
Ivins, whose family made the house a pleasant home for their
guests.

During this year a number of us organized a military com-
pany, called the "Keokuk Guards." Our uniform was blue cloth,
trimmed with gilt lace and buttons, felt hat with white and red
flowing plume, white linen pants for summer dress, and fur-
nished with U. S. muskets. Thos. B. Cuming, then editor of the
Keokuk Dispatch, was captain; the lieutenants were T. I. Mc-
Kinney, C. F. Davis and R. H. Huston; corporals, Thos. W.
Claggett, Jr., Wray Brown, Norman Starkweather, and Jim
Deivey. As members of the company I call to mind J. A.
Graham, Thos. Wooster, William Baldridge, Thomas Swanwick,
James Bebee, J. F. Stotts, Dan Hine, Joseph Trimble, and
Brady, the drayman. Among the many pleasant incidents con-

1-92 ANNALS OF IOWA

nected with our company's history was the exchange of cour-
tesies and visits witli tlie "Quincy Blues,'* a similar organization
in our neighboring city of Quincy, and under command of Cap-
tain Ben Prentiss. That year, 1854, Captain Cuming received
tlie appointment of secretary of the new territory of Nebraska,
and he was succeeded as captain by R. H. Huston.

T. B. Cuming and myself were warm personal friends, and
he urged me to go with him to Omaha, as it had been designated
as the capital of the new territory. I had almost concluded to
do so, when, mentioning the subject to Mr. McGavic, he advised
against the move, and said he and Mr. Chittenden had been con-
sidering a change in their firm, admitting his brother, LeRoy
McGavic, to a partnership at the end of the year, and if I would
remain they would also admit me as a member of the firm. This
was something I had not anticipated, but the prospect of enter-
ing a firm with an established and prosperous business, with
large capital and No. 1 credit was very encouraging. LeRoy
McGavic and myself being without capital were to share in the
net profits annually, he receiving three-fifths of one-third, and
I two-fifths of one-third.

For several years we did a large and profitable business. Then
we did not travel to sell goods. Country merchants came here
twice a year, spring and fall, to make their purchases, and in
the interim sent their orders by the teamsters who did the haul-
ing. Our trade then extended over the greater part of the south
half of the state, as far west as Tavlor and Guthrie counties and
north to Ft. Dodge. Railroads were then just beginning to
extend west of the Mississippi River, and passenger travel was
(in Iowa) altogether by the old Frink & Walker stage coach or
by private conveyance; and goods for all points interior were
transported by horse or ox teams, the rate of freight to I)es
Moines being two dollars per hundred pounds ; and two and one-
half per hundred pounds to Fort Dodge. The principal grocery
houses here then were McGavic, Chittenden & Co., (the name
the firm assumed when Lee McG. and myself were admitted),
Connable, Smythe & Co., and Cleghorn & Harrison.

Occasionally during the summer months small steamboats navi-
gated the Des Moines River (it having been improved by locks
and dams as far up as Bentonsport), going as far as Des Moines,

AUTOBIOGRAPJIIES OF A FATHER AND SON 493

or Raccoon forks, as it was then called, charging for freight to
that point from 50 to 75 cents per hundred pounds. At such
times, merchants in the interior took advantage of low freight,
and bought largely. In this connection, I relate the following
account of the first boat passing above Des Moines. In May,
J 859, our firm chartered the steamboat Charles Rodgers, a small
craft of about fifty tons, we agreeing to load her to her full ca-
pacity, destination. Fort Dodge, on the Des Moines River, rate
of freight through, 50 cents per hundred pounds. We loaded
the boat with sugar, coffee, molasses, tobacco, salt, flour, etc.,
and I went on board as supercargo. We left the landing at
Keokuk Wednesday, May 18, 1859, at six o'clock in the evening,
and entered the mouth of the Des Moines River before dark.
The boat had no cabin, only the pilot house on the hurricane
d<*ck. We ate and slept on the lower deck, just back of the engine
and boiler. The boat was laid up at the bank whenever night
overtook us, only running in daylight, warping through the locks
at Bonaparte and Bentonsport. One of the pilots was a violinist,
and at several places where we tied up to shore for the night,
with the assistance of the neighboring belles and beaux, we had
old-fashioned dances. Our cargo being billed through for Fort
Dodge, we made no stops for way business, and arrived at Des
Moines Friday evening, where we remained all night. Saturday
morning we left Des Moines. Our boat being light draught and
the river a good stage of w\iter, we passed over the dam at Des
Moines and arrived that evening at tlie Boonesboro landing,
several miles from the town of that name. Here we remained for
the night, and some parties coming over from the town, we had
a dance in a building on shore. Between this point and Fort
Dodge we ran out of fuel, and had to land several times, all
hands going into the woods and gathering dead timber to keep
our fire going. The shrill whistle of the boat every now and then
brought people in to the* river bank for miles back to see a boat.
That evening (Sunday) we made a landing at a farm owned by
a man named L. Mericlc, a short distance below Fort Dodge.
The farmer being very anxious for supplies, I made my first
sale of groceries to him, the bill amounting to .f 100.60, which he
paid in gold.

The next morning, Monday, about noon we steamed up to the

4«4 ANNALS OF IOWA

landing at Fort Dodge. The town was up on the high ground
some distance from the river, but all the population were at the
landing to greet us. I went on shore with my invoice, and by
noon of next day the cargo was all sold, and paid for in gold,
that being the currency of the country then. The merchants of
Fort Dodge whom I remember as purchasers were W. W. Haire,
S. C. Hinton, Gregory & Mesmore, J. I. Howe, Chas. Ranke,
and F. A. Blackshire, one of the pilots of the boat, who lived at
or near the town.

On the evening of the day our boat arrived, the citizens of
Fort Dodge gav<» a dance at Masonic Hall, in honor of the ar-
rival of the first steamboat loaded with freight for tliat port. I
now have one of the invitation cards used upon that occasion,
on whicli appear the following names as managers: Maj. Wil-
liam Williams, Hon. W. N. Messervy, Hon. J. L. Stockdale, C.
C. Carpenter, L. L. Pease, J. D. Stowe, W. W. White, Thomas
Sargent, A. W. Dawley, Israel Jenkins, Geo. W^. Reeve.

Going back to the winter of 1850-51, it was at one of the
parties given by "The Twenties," at the Keokuk House, here-
tofore referred to, that I met General Daniel S. Lee, a scion of
the distinguished Virginia family of that name. He was a noble
looking specimen of manhood, and greatly prided himself on the
fact of being "one of the first families." He was particularly
neat in his dress, and his manners of the Chesterfieldian style,
as we plain folks understood it. His dress was a swallow-tailed
coat of blue cloth, with gilt buttons, light cassimere pants, a
flowing auburn beard and mustache, his hair parted in the middle
and his coat buttoned up to the chin, his hands encased in neatly
fitting lavender kids. It was thus, (having gone from the dancing
room down to the barroom below "to see a man") that the Gen-
eral first appeared to us. Introducing himself as a gentleman
just arrived in the city from Virginia, with the intention of
locating with us, and learning that a dance was in progress, he
desired to participate in the festivities of the occasion, and be
introduced to some of the elite of the city, if it would not be
considered intrusive. Being myself a native of Virginia, though
born on the wrong side of the Blue Ridge to claim connection
with the "first families," I expressed great pleasure in meeting
so distinguished a fellow countryman^ and had the honor of in-

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 495

troducing him into the ballroom. He at once became the lion of
the evening. The boys took in the situation at once^ and each
one buttoned up his coat to the chin and assumed all the dignity
possible. The girls vied with each other as to who should "trot
the General through" the liveliest dances. Those unacquainted
with pioneer life cannot imagine the fun we had; and the un-
sophisticated General took it all in good earnest, and we sep-
arated mutually pleased with each other.

The General brought with him a brother-in-law, named Rinex
or Rinick, who engaged in the hat and cap business at the corner
of Main and Third streets, north side. Rinex was a little, in-
significant looking individual, who wore large s[>ectacles; his
wife was large, masculine^ and commanding in appearance. All
took rooms and board at the LaClede House. The (General being
**too-too'* to engage in any sordid employment, was satisfied to
be the sleeping partner of the firm of Rinex & Co. He devoted
most of his time to the ladies, dress and politics. There was no
particular harm in the man, yet his inordinate vanity made him
a subject of ridicule. After basking in the sunshine of western
rural beauty for the space of about "four moons" he concluded
to make a visit to his ancestral home, somewhere near the spot
where Pocahontas saved tlie life of Captain Smith. In the mean-
time, through the request of some of his friends, Governor
Stephen Hempstead appointed him adjutant general of the state
militia, a position entirely honorary, there being no duties or
compensation attached thereto, consequently not cared for or
sought after by anyone else. However, it answered the purpose
of our chivalrie friend, in enabling him to return so soon to his
Virginia home, loaded down with a distinguished title. He was
to leave Sunday evening on the St. Louis packet. On Sunday
morning during the breakfast hour, some wild boys, not having
the fear of a representative of one of the first families before
their eyes, discovered a box sitting under a table in the hall of
the LaClede Hotel, their special attention being drawn to it by
the marks on the top, which read as follows:

"Adjutant General Daniel S. Lee,
Strausburg,

Virginia."

I..

-I

502 ANNALS OF IOWA

the South. I have some recollection of the soldiers and
camps and tents in and about Keokuk. Keokuk is located <
border line of northeast Missouri. There were constant r
that t]ie rebels^ especially roving guerrilla bands in Missou
tended to attack and raid the city. There was a military <
ization of the citizens created for defense. In the even^
niglit attack^ there was to be a special signal given by tl
fire bells. One summer nighty about midnight^ this alan
given. One of the fire houses with bell was located ne;
home. I have a very distinct recollection of my childish
when I was awakened by this alarm. I got up and s£
father with a musket hurry to the defense of the city. My i
and I spent a very unhappy and anxious time until my
returned with the report of a false alarm. As a matter o
Keokuk was never attacked during the Civil War, but th<
of Alexandria, Missouri, five miles south of Keokuk, ^
vaded and sacked by the rebels.

As I recall, the details of housekeeping and family life
my early childhood were very different and much more
than those we are now accustomed to. When I was abc
years old my father purchased and we moved into a larg
fashioned stone house, with a yard which covered one ha
city block. From the time we moved into this house, my i
always kept two maids, a cook and an "upstairs girl." The
for the cook were $2.50 to $3.00 per week; the upstairs gi
paid $2.00. On Mondays they did the washing, and T
was ironing day, With special washing and ironing day i
dinners. About the time we acquired the new home Fath
})loyed a Negro man about fifty years old by the name of i
Red. Sam was quite a character. He had belonged as :
to a family living near Macon, Georgia. When General SI
ma relied through Georgia on his way to the sea, Sam's w
sent him with six mules to hide in the woods until the Y
got by. He was discovered and Sam said the Yankees toe
and de mules" and they went along with the soldiers. Sar
with Sherman's Army to Savannah, Georgia, then by occji
to Washington, D. C, then to St. Louis, Missouri, where
mustered out, and, like many other of his people came
Mississippi River to Keokuk. He lived in a little bri<

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON Siti

house on our place^ and many winter evenings we boys in the
neighborhood spent in "Sam's house** listening to his stories of
plantation and army life. Sam frequently told us he went all
through Sherman's "champagne."

Sam had quite a repertoire of plantation songs. One thing that
was characteristic of them was thev were easv to memorize, and
when once memorized they were never forgotten. One of them
went something like this:

There is a girl in this here town.

She always wears a blue-green gown.
And every time that she turns round.

The hollow of her foot cuts a hole in the ground.

Chorus:

Clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,
Clar de kitchen, old Virginny never tire.

I went down to de river, but I couldn't get across.
There was nothing there but an old blind horse,

Gineral Jacicson, he came aridin* by.

Said he, young man, your horse will die.

1 am reluctant to record the last verse on account of its por-
fanity, but the beauty of its rhythm overcomes my scruples:

There was a frog in Uncle Bill's well.

He swore by G- d he was just from hell.
He was just as full of fire as he could be crammed.

If that ain't a hot place I'll be damned.

Sam was a typical example of a simple-minded "before the
war" plantation Negro, faithful and loyal. He always referred
to our yard as "the plantation." He left a wife and eight chil-
dren when he was taken bv the soldiers, and each of niv brothers
and sisters and myself tried without avail by correspondence to
locate Sam's familv. He lived with us until his death. He is
buried in our familv lot in the cenicterv at Keokuk. Mv father
placed a stone marker on his grave, with this inscription on it:

Samuel Red

Born a slave, died a free man.

An honest man, a faithful servant.

I recall with interest tlie preparations that were made in those
days for winter. You would have thought we were preparing to

4«8 ANNALS OF IOWA

lican party endorse them. I look upon the nomination and elec-
tion of James A. Garfield to the presidency as a triumph of the
same element in the Republican party that nominated Horace
Greelev in 1872, the contest at Chicago which resulted in Gar-
field's nomination being between the best element of the party,
those who favored a general reform of public abuses and an
honest administration of the government, as against those who
were struggling for Grant as the medium to perpetuate them-
selves in place, and the enjoyment of spoils of office.

I never had ambition for public position, and was never volun-
tarily a candidate for any office. In April, 1861, I was elected
alderman of the city from the First Ward, and re-elected in
1863, serving four consecutive years. I was again elected from
the same ward, without opposition, in 1879, and served two
years. In January, 1870, I was elected treasurer of the Iowa
State Agricultural Society, serving one year; was then elected
one of the Board of Directors for two years, re-elected in 1873,
and again in 1875, serving until I resigned the position in May,
1876, George C. Duffield, of Van Buren County being chosen to
fill the vacancy, at my request, since which time he has served
continuously.

I have been connected with the Keokuk Savings Bank since
its organization in 1867, having been one of the incorporators.
Was elected president of the bank in 1869, which position I
have held continuously to the present time.

My religious views are not very well defined in my own mind.
My early training in that regard was in the strictest Old Pres-
byterian School. From these early teachings I have wandered
far. Since attaining my majority, my convictions have been that
much that was taught me in my youth was mythological and
superstitious.. Yet I cannot but respect and reverence the honest
efforts of my parents, and their earnest solicitude for what they
thought was for the best interest and future welfare of their
children. If there is such a Heaven as they believed in and
taught, I have no doubt my mother is now enjoying its bliss, and
waiting to welcome my father whose three score years and ten
are already numbered, and approaching near to four score.

In 1872 I formed the acquaintance of Dr. Joshua M. Shaffer,
then a resident of Fairfield, Iowa, and secretary of the Iowa

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 499

State Agricultural Society. Soon after this lie removed to Keo-
kuk, and we became intimately associated^ occupying the same
office. The warm friendship^ commenced with and increasing
from our first acquaintance to this date, lias aiforded nie the
greatest pleasure. To his knowledge, skill, taste and labor, I
am indebted for the best collection of specimens in ornithology
and zo-ology in the West, and the largest and finest collection of
geodes in the world. We two have spent many happy hours in
the work, not expecting pecuniary reward, being amply repaid
in the knowledge gained and the fun we had, and the hopt; that
our work would be of some benefit in the future.

From my earliest recollection I have had a desirt* to preserve
old things, or save everything that to my mind might be useful
some day. The consequence is I have an accumulation of what
many will call stuff, that I make room for and prize, and in
culling it over in future someone may find a part of it good for
something, or it may all, after I am gone, be dumped into a junk
shop, like Dr. Sanford's medical library, at one cent per pound.

In 186*3 I purchased of Hon. James B. Howell bound volumes
of the daily Gate City complete from its first number to that
date. Since that time I have been a regular subserilxrr, pres<*rv
ing the file, and have had them regularly and uniformly bound ;
and now have the bound volumes continuous from 1855 to tin*
present date.

This same desire to preserve old things that my friend Sam
Clark calls a hobby (and everyone shtmld have a hobby), has
partially inspired me to undertake to get together tliC! familiar
faces of "auld lang syne" and such facts and reminiscences in
connection with each one as those now living may chooser to give.

If this work should benefit those who follow after us, and keep
in grateful memory the grand men, who, with toil and privation
(not unmingled with the pleasures of their time), wenr the pio-
neers on the border of one of the greatest states of the Union,
my time and labor will not have been spent for naught.

Keokuk, Iowa, June 10, 1882.

NOTE

My father died in Keokuk on the 6th day of January, 1898, a
few months before he was sixty-nine years old. He continued
as president of the Keokuk Savings Bank until his death.

UTt 111 liulit: T>t1^s(■ll^

DAVIS ilOMRSTEAD. KKOKUK, ]

, Iliy Miire -Kit." S;iinii<:l l(.-.l, V. V. Jr..

JAMES C DAVIS HOMESTEAD, DE5 MOIM

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 501

PART II
James Cox Davis
My father, Caleb Forbes Davis, was born in Clarksburg,
Harrison County, West Virginia, April 27, 1829. My mother,
Caroline Thistle Cox, was bom in New Martinsdale, Wetzel
County, West Virginia, July 7, 1832. My father and mother
lirst met in Keokuk, Iowa, while my mother, in 1855, was on u

AND MRS. CALEB FORBES DAVIS

visit in Keoknk to her brother, James F. Cox, who was then
engaged io the wholesale dry goods business. My father and
mother were married in St. John's Episcopal Churrh, Keokuk,
Iowa, November 5, J856, and I was born in Keokuk September
2, 1857.

My earliest recollections are some vague memories of inci-
dents during the Civil War. Keokuk was a concentration point
for soldiers from the north and west who were sent south in
Mississippi River steamboats. There was also established in
Keokuk during the Civil War a very large hospital, to which
wounded, sick and disabled soldiers were sent bv steamboat from

502 ANNALS OF IOWA

the South. I have some recollection of the soldiers and their
camps and tents in and ahout Keokuk. Keokuk is located on the
border line of nortlicast Missouri. There were constant rumors
that the rebels^ especially roving guerrilla bands in Missouri, in-
tended to attack and raid the city. There was a military organ-
ization of the citizens created for defense. In the event of a
night attack, there was to be a special signal given by the city
Hre bells. One summer night, about midnight, this alarm was
given. One of the fire houses with bell was located near our
home. I have a very distinct recollection of my childish terror
when I was awakened by this alarm. I got up and saw mv
father with a musket hurry to the defense of the city. My mother
and I spent a very unhappy and anxious time until my father
returned with the report of a false alarm. As a matter of fact,
Keokuk was never attacked during the Civil War, but the town
of Alexandria, Missouri, five miles south of Keokuk, was in-
vaded and sacked by the rebels.

As I recall, the details of housekeeping and family life during
my early childhood were very different and much more simple
than those we are now accustomed to. When I was about ten
years old my father purcliased and we moved into a large, old-
fashioned stone house, with a yard which covered one half of a
city block. From the time we moved into this house, my mother
always kept two maids, a cook and an "upstairs girl." The wages
for the cook were $2.50 to $3.00 per week; the upstairs girl was
paid $2.00. On Mondays they did the washing, and Tuesday
was ironing day. With special washing and ironing day midday
dinners. About the time we acquired the new home Fatlier em-
ployed a Negro man about fifty years old by the name of Samuel
Red. Sam was quite a character. He had belonged as a slave
to a family living near Macon, Georgia. When General Sherman
marched through Georgia on his way to the sea, Sam's mistress
sent him with six mules to hide in the woods until tlie Yankees
got l)y. He was discovered and Sam said the Yankees took *'nie
and de mules" and they went along with the soldiers. Sam went
with Sherman's Army to Savannah, Georgia, then by ocean boat
to Washington, D. C, then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was
mustered out, and, like many other of his people came up the
Mississippi River to Keokuk. He lived in a little brick tool

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 503

house on our place^ and many winter evenings we boys in the
neighborhood spent in *'Sam's house" listening to his stories of
plantation and army life. Sam frequently told us he went all
through Sherman's "champagne."

Sam had quite a repertoire of plantation songs. One thing that
was characteristic of them was they were easy to memorize, and
wlien once memorized they were never forgotten. One of tliem
went something like this:

There is a girl in this here town,

She always wears a hluc-green gown,
And every time that she turns round,

The hollow of her foot cuts a hole in the ground.

Chorus :

Clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,
Clar de kitchen, old Virginny never tire.

I went down to de river, but I couldn't get across.
There was nothing there but an old blind horse,

Glneral Jackson, he came aridin' by.

Said he, young man, your horse will die.

I am reluctant to record the last verse on account of its por-
fanity, hut the beauty of its rhythm overcomes my scruples:

There was a frop in Uncle Bill's well.

He swore by G — d he was just from hell,
lie was just as full of tire as he could be crammed.

If that ain*t a hot place Dl be damned.

Sam was a typical example of a simple-minded "before the
war" plantation Negro, faithful and loyal. He always referred
to our yard as "the plantation." He left a wife and eight chil-
dren when he was taken bv the soldiers, and each of mv brothers
and sisters and inyself tried without avail by correspondence to
locate Sam's family. He lived with us until his death. He is
buried in our faniilv lot in the cemeterv at Keokuk. Mv father
placed a stone marker on his grave, with this inscription on it:

Samuel Red

Born a slave, died a free man,

An h<»nest man, a faithful servant.

I recall with interest the preparations that were made in those
days for winter. You would have thought we were preparing to

504 ANNALS OF IOWA

withstand a siege from an invading army. During the summer
ray mother would put up great quantities of fruit in cans^ and
pickles in jars. The cans were tin, sealed airtight with red
sealing wax. My father would buy in the fall and store in the
cellar 20 bushels of apples — genitens, rome beauties, and bell-
flowers — 20 bushels of winter potatoes, 2 or 3 dozen heads of
cabbage, a dozen pumpkins, a number of hams and pieces of
pork side meat. He would also buy 15 or 20 cords of wood,
which would have to be sawed and split, and Mother would
make a big jar of mincemeat liberally seasoned with cognac
brandy so when you ate a piece of pie you got a fair sized drink.
During the summer, sweet corn and lima beans were sun-dried
and preserved for winter consumption. The corn on the ear was
momentarily placed in boiling water, the grains cut off of the
cob, the beans were taken out of their pods, then the corn and
beans were exposed on sheets laid down on a tin porch and sub-
jected to the drying processes of the August sun. When prop-
erly dried the corn and beans were put in bags. In the winter
time these dried vegetables appeared in very palatable and tasty
dishes of succotash. Apples and peaches were frequently pre-
served by the same sun-drying process. My mother always dis-
pensed a very generous Southern hospitality in the way of good
things to eat.

My education was largely obtained in the Keokuk public
schools, with one year at a preparatory school known as Hell-
muth Boys' College, located in London, Ontario, Canada. There
was one matter of interest in our family in connection with the
public schools. Keokuk had a very large colored population.
One ward, the Fifth, had more colored people residing in it than
white. My mother had some very definite Southern prejudices.
She was a great favorite with many of the older colored people,
but her relations with them were strictly a la Southern. Mother
did not care for the public schools. She called them "free"
schools, and said in Virginia it was only the children of poor
white people that attended free schools. Reluctantly she per-
mitted my brother and myself to attend the public schools; in
fact, there were no other schools we could attend, but she al-
ways told us that if they put a "nigger" in our room to pack
up our books and come home. Fortunately, I got through school

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OP A PATHER AND SON 505

without any race conflicts. The School Board of Keokuk main-
tained separate schools for white and colored children, but advo-
cates of race equality applied to the court to permit colored
children to attend all public schools on an equality with the
white children and finally the Supreme Court of Iowa sustained
this right. One day my brother Frank came home with all his
hooks. When asked what was the matter, he said there was a
"nigger" in his room. Well, he loafed around for a day or two
and then he went back to school. There was no other place for
liini to go. My sisters and younger brother had a plentiful
sprinkling of the colored children in all their classes, but my
mother's surrender to the inevitable situation was not verv
gracious.

The spring and summer of 1873, when I was nearly sixteen
years old, I spent on a farm owned by my father and one of his
former partners. The farm consisted of 160 acres, and was
located at Charleston, Lee County, Iowa, about eighteen miles
from Keokuk. A son of my father's partner and myself at-
tempted to farm twenty acres. As a farming experiment, the
venture was a failure. As a matter of experience, it was cjuite
a success. As a result of exposure on the farm I had an attack
of inflammatory rheumatism in September, 1873, which pre-
vented my returning to school until after January 1, 1871, and
thus made it impossible for me to graduate in the spring of
1874, with my class in the Keokuk High School. In September,
1874, I was sent to a school known as Hellmuth Boys' College,
London, Ontario, where I stayed until June, 1875. This was a
preparatory boarding school of about the same standards as an
ordinary high school. Living in Canada for a school year, taught
by English masters, mingling with Canadian and P'inglish boys
and American boys from the Canadian border, was a great ex-
perience to me and I came back to Keokuk quite a sophisticated
young man. I became acquainted with Plnglish athletic sports,
which were then unknown in the Middle West, and at one of the
athletic meets won a prize in a 150-yard hurdle race. The boy
ahead of me tripped on the last hurdle, and I cleared the liurdle
and did not wait for him.

While I was in Canada my father wrote me a very fine letter
suggesting his regret that he had been unable to study law and

JAMES C. DAVIS HOMESTEAD, DES MUINES, IOWA, Itii

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 507

offering me an opportunity to attend the Law School at tlie Uni-
versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I have often wished I had
kept a copy of the letter I wrote in reply. As I remember, I
advised my father that he could not afford the expense of send-
ing me to a law college; that he had four other cliildren to edu-
cate, and that on my return home I intended to go to work and
be "self-supporting.'' I do not know just what the old gentleman
thought of that letter, for so far as I can recollect the subject
was not again referred to either in conversation or correspond-
ence.

In June, 1875, I returned to Keokuk and tried to get em-
ployment. I was finally employed in the office of R. G. Dun &
Co., Commercial Agents. My duties consisted largely in copying
records. My compensation when I started was $6.00 a week.
The man in charge of the office was an Englishman. On the
first two Saturdays he paid me a five-dollar bill and a one-dollar
bill. After that, every Saturday he paid me a five-dollar bill
and a two-dollar bill. I tried to save the $5.00 by depositing
it in the bank, and sported on the $2.00. I stayed with R. G.
Dun & Co. for ten or eleven months. I was dissatisfied with
my surroundings and prospects. Among my most intimate friends
were two or three boys studying law in some of the Keokuk law
offices. In those days a substantial majority of the law students
aecjuired their profession in offices reading text books on the
primary and controlling subjects of the law, rather than attend-
ing law colleges. So early in 1876 I began seriously to consider
studying law. I was uncertain as to whether or not I had pa-
tience and industry enough to read a law book, so I surrep-
titiouslv borrowed a book from the widow of a lawvor who lived
in our neighborhood. I had no particular book in mind - just
wanted to try and read a "law book." Fortunately for nie, I
selected one of the volumes of KenVs CommeniaTWH, and
took it down to the Dun & Co. office to read when I had
spare time. Chancellor Kent was one of the most entertaining
of the law writers in those davs. I found mvself fascinated with
the book, and read it not only with interest but with enthusiasm
and then concluded I wanted to become a lawver. With some
misgivings, I communicated this conclusion to my f.'ither. He
was quite a master of sarcasm, and as a result of our eonver-

608 ANNAI.S OF IOWA

sation he advised me that he had been watching me pretty
carefully for the last few months; that he did not believe I had
either industry or concentration enough to accomplish very much
of anything; that he had given me a chance to attend a law
school which 1 had refused, and so far as he was concerned he
was through and I could work out my own salvation. I admit
I was a little sore at this reception and it only heightened my
ambition to show my father what I could do. Among my law
student friends was Frank Hagerman, who afterwards became
a very successful lawyer in Kansas City. He was just leaving,
as a student, the office of P. T. Lomax, and I arranged to enter
Mr. Lomax's office. This was a most fortunate arrangement for
me. Mr. Lomax was a very high class typical Virginia gentle-
man of the old school. He believed in and practiced the highest
standards of ethics in the legal profession, and I have always
been greatly indebted to him for impressing on me rules of pro-
fessional conduct which I have tried to live up to during all of
my professional life. One of his most frequent admonitions was:
*'James, never mind the compensation nor the fee. Let your first
and only thought be the protection of your client's interests.
The compensation will take care of itself."

In Mr. Lomax's office I read most of the then recognized text
books on the different branches of the law — Grotius' Institutes
of Natural Law, Kent's Commentaries, Blackstone's Commen-
taries, Greenleaf on Evidence, Parsons on Contracts, Story's
Constitutional Law, JVashburn on Real Estate, and Wharton's
Criminal Law. I finished this course of reading in about a year,
and then was readv to be admitted to the bar. The Iowa stat-
utes required an applicant to be twenty -one years of age, and I
was then not twenty so there was no chance to be admitted to
the bar in Iowa. The neighboring state of Missouri had no age
restriction so in August, 1877, under the guardianship of and in
company with my friend Frank Hagerman, who had had a simi-
lar experience, 1 went before Judge Anderson of the Missouri
Circuit Court, whose circuit adjoined the southern border of
Iowa. Judge Anderson lived at Canton, Missouri, and had a farm
a few miles out of Canton. It was vacation time, and the Judge
was at his farm, so we went out and found the Judge in a hay
field. We all sat down on the shady side of a haystack. Judge

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 509

Anderson and my preceptor, Mr. Lomax, were old friends. I
presented to the Judge a very flattering letter of recommenda-
tion from Mr. Lomax. After Judge Anderson read Mr. Lomax's
letter he asked me a few questions, principally as to the books
I had read, and then he turned to my friend, Flagerman, and
said: "I am going to admit this boy to practice in Missouri.
I am doing it largely on Mr. Lomax's letter. He is a gentleman
I know and admire. But I want to say to you that this is the
last time I am going to help you evade the Iowa law by bringing
young fellows down here who have been rubbing u]) against
Blackstone and having them admitted to practice law in Mis-
souri when they are not eligible in Iowa." About August 20,
1877, .Fudge Anderson sent me a certificate authorizing me to
practice law in Missouri, and on the first day of September, 1877,
the day before I was twenty years old, I was on motion ad-
mitted as a practicing lawyer from Missouri to practice law in
Iowa. Of cour.se I was not competent as a lawyer, but I started
right in trying cases in Justice Court and assisting in trials in
the District Court, places where I could not do much harm, and,
in the way of becoming familiar with the art of the trial lawyer,
doing myself a lot of good.

During the time I was in Mr. I.omax's office there was one
break in the routine of study that was of interest. In the early
summer of 187G my brother Frank (nearly three years my
junior) and two other boys and myself made a visit to the Phila-
delphia Centennial Exposition. As was the style in those d?iys,
we all wore long linen dusters and carried carpet bags. In C'hi-
cago we were much impressed with the $1.00 table de bote dinner
served in the gold room of the then new Palmer House, which,
as I recall, was a very impressive building of about five stories
in height. Also we marveled at the silver dollars inlaid in ce-
mented tile flooring ornamenting the barber shop in the hotel.
While on the trip I wrote letters to the daily Keokuk Constitu-
tion describing our adventures. I remember I wrote one from
Chicago, one from Niagara Falls, one describing the boat trip on
the Hudson from Albany to New York, one describing a two-
days* stay in the city of New York, and several from Phila-
delphia. The publisher of the newspaper headlined the letters,

510 ANNALS OF IOWA

"Our Boy at the Centennial." I got quite a bit of publicity out
of these letters.

I was in active law practice in Keokuk from September 1,
1877, to January 1, 1903 — over twenty-six years. I had no
specialty in tlie law, but acquired the reputation of being a fairly
successful trial lawyer. I represented very few plaintiffs. I was
ordinarily for the defense. I tried, as I now remember, but four
personal injury cases in which I represented the plaintiffs. In
these cases, I obtained verdicts one for $10,000.00; two for
$7,500.00, and one for $1',500.00. I collected all of these except
the one for $1,500.00, and in those days a $7,500.00 personal
injury verdict was considered large. I did not try many criminal
cases, but I did defend three persons indicted for murder. They
were all acquitted, and at the time of the trials I believed under
the law none of them should have been convicted. In later vears
I am rather of the opinion that they were all guilty, but by
reason of faulty prosecution or undue sympathy on the part of
the jurors they were acquitted.

After I was admitted to the bar, I went into the office of Gill-
more & Anderson, at that time the busiest law office in Keokuk.
Upon the death of Mr. Gillmore, I became a member of the firm
of Anderson Bros. & Davis. This firm was succeeded bv the
firm of Anderson & Davis, Mr. Joseph G. Anderson continuing
with me, which firm was succeeded by Anderson, Davis & Hager-
man. When I was about thirty-three or thirty-four years old,
Mr. Hagerman left Keokuk to accept a very attractive offer in
Kansas City, and my other partner, Mr. Joseph G. Anderson,
died, leaving me alone. For some twelve years I carried on a
general law practice without a partner, but always had in my
office some bright young students anxious to avail themselves of
the library and the experience which a busy office afforded.
During this period I worked very hard, and as individual fees
were not large it took a great many to make my income from
law practice $12,000.00 to $16,000.00 per annum, and in those
days such amounts were equivalent to three or four times that
much at the present time.

The first case I tried in the Supreme Court of Iowa was San-
ford vs. Lee County (19 Iowa, 148), decided in 1878. While in
Keokuk, I tried some very important cases in the Supreme Court

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 511

of the United States^ one of them entitled Leisy vs, Hardin
(135 U. S., 100). This case was submitted to the Supreme Court
January 6, 1890, decided April 28, 1890, and involved the con-
stitutionality of the then Iowa Proliibitory Liquor Law. Tlie
I-eisy family, originally from Germany, built and operated a
brewery in Keokuk. After the Iowa Prohibitory Law was en-
acted they removed to Peoria, Illinois, where they operated a
brewery. They retained the Keokuk plant and used it as a ware-
house, shipping beer from Peoria to Keokuk. These shipments
were in the recognized packages of interstate commerce. About
July 1, 1899, probably in anticipation of the Fourth of July
celebration, the I^^isys shipped a carload of beer from their
brewerv in Peoria to their warehouse in Keokuk. The beer was
all in kegs or in bottles, packed in sealed boxes. Some over-
enthusiastic prohibitionists sued out of the office of a justice of
the peace a search warrant, seized the beer, and in proceedings
looking to condemnation and destruction the beer was held in the
possession of Hardin, city marshal at Keokuk and acting con-
stable. There were loud lamentations among the beer loving
population over the prospect of a dry Fourth of July. On the
2nd of July, I sued out, on behalf of the Leisys, a writ of re-
plevin from the Superior Court of the city of Keokuk, gave a
bond, the beer was returned to Leisy Bros., and the Fourth of
July celebrated according to program. As a ground for the issue
of the writ of replevin, it was alleged that the Iowa law was
unconstitutional in that it interfered with interstate commerce;
that the beer was protected by the Federal Constitution so long
as it remained in he hands of the original consignee and did not
come under the jurisdiction of the state authorities until one sah*
had been made, and the beer thus intermingled with the general
property of the state. The Suprior Court of Iowa sustained my
contention that the law was unconstitutional as applied to these
interstate shipments. The Supreme Court of Iowa reversed the
Superior Court, and sustained the constitutionality of the law.
The United States Supreme Court, in quite an elaborate opinion,
sustained the contention that the Iowa law was unconstitutional
and affirmed the finding of the Superior Court of the city of
Keokuk. This case received a great deal of newspaper publicity

612 ANNALS OF IOWA

throughout the entire country, and was popularly referred to as
thf "original package case."

Another interesting case was entitled, State of Iowa vs. State
of lUinoig, reported in l-i-T U. S., page 1. This was a contro-
versy between the taxing authorities of the states of Iowa and
Illinois as to the location of the state boundary line in the Mis-
sissippi River between Keokuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Illinois,
and arose in the matter of the taxation of the property of the
Keokuk and Hamilton bridge, a railroad and highway bridge
crossing the Mississippi River. The Supreme Court of the United
States has original jurisdiction over controversies between the
several states, and this case was No. 5 of such original juris-
diction cases. The court sustained the contention of the state of
Illinois that the boundary line between the several states, where
such states are divided by a navigable river, was the "middle
of the main navigable channel," rather than midway between the
well-defined banks as contended for by the state of Iowa.

During the more than twenty-six years that I was in active
practice in Keokuk, I had a varied and valuable experience in
the trial and adjustment of the great variety of controversies
that come to the lawyer in general active practice. If I acquired
any sort of a desirable reputation in Keokuk, it was as much that
of being a fair adjuster as it was of being a capable trial lawyer.
I have always believed that any sort of a fair adjustment was
better than litigation, and the first duty of a lawyer is to com-
pose, rather than to incite litigation. A lawsuit is full of dis-
appointments, and, like a spell of sickness, is to be avoided. It
is my experience that in the aggregate more money is lost than
is won in the courthouse.

Every lawyer has some interesting experiences, especially in
jury trials. One of my prize stories is entitled, "The Most
Apprehensive Moment of My Life." My office in Keokuk was
on a corner. There was an east and west street, and a north
and south street. On the north and south street there was laid
and operated an electric street railway. Approaching the street
intersection from the north, the street was down grade. One
summer day, about noon, while sitting in the office I heard an
unusual sounding of the gong of the street car coming south
down grade. In a few moments I heard a violent impact and on

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 513

going out I found the street car had collided with a onc-horsc
two-seated surrey. The judge of the Superior Court of Keokuk^
riding in the back seat, was fatally injured. The driver in the
front seat, a well-known constable, was seriously injured. I-.ater
on the constable brought a suit for personal injuries, alleging
as negligence in the operation of the street car excessive speed
and a failure to sound the gong. As usual, representing the
downtrodden and oppressed, I represented the street car com-
pany. There were several amusing incidents developed in the
trial. An old and evidently quite ignorant little man from Mis-
souri claimed to be an eyewitness. When asked as to the speed
of the street car as it came down the grade, he said it came
down "like a shot out of a gun." The court sustained a motion
to strike this out as an opinion and conclusion and in answer to
a question propounded by the judge as to the speed the witness
said, "Well, Judge, she came down like hell abeatin* tanbark."
The witness never did give his opinion as to the speed of the
train. During the trial, at noon one day after court adjourned,
a one-legged colored man, who was quite a Courthouse loafer
and lived near my office, stopped me and said his little daughter
saw the entire accident. I went at once with the man to see the
girl. I found her studying her lesson sitting on the front porch
of a house facing north, near the intersection of the streets where
the accident happened, and you could quite plainly see from
where she sat a street car approaching from the north and a
vehicle approaching from the west. She then explained that on
the day of the accident she was sitting on the porch studying
her lesson when she was attracted by tlie loud sounding of the
gong on the street car. Looking up, she saw the street car going
south and the vehicle coming east. She said the man in the front
seat driving was turned around with his face south and his back
toward the approaching car, apparently talking to the man in
the rear seat; that the horse slowed down as he approached the
street car track but the driver, without looking up, slapped the
horse with the lines and forced the outfit directly in the ))ath
of the approaching car. She was quite small for her age, which
was about twelve years, but very intelligent. I arranged with
her father to have her in court at two o'clock. When court con-
vened, I put her on the witness stand. The scene was quite

ANNALS OF IOWA

(irainatic. The court room was crowded. The little girl, I re-
inciuhcr^ Iiad on a red dress. Her hair was in curling pins^ and
as she sat on the chair facing the jury and the crowd her feet
did not reach the floor and she certainly looked very small and
very young. As a preliminary, plaintiff's attorney raised the
question that the girl was not competent to testify, not under-
standing the sanctity of an oath. Upon examination by the judge
she said she knew what it was to be sworn to tell the truth, and
when the judge asked her what would happen if she told a lie
she said, "she would go to hell," and the court promptly held
lier competent. In the examination in chief she very clearly and
without hesitation told the details just as she had related them
to me. To emphasize the situation, the last question I asked her
was this : "What do you say attracted your attention to the street
car just before the collision.'^" and in a shrill, childish treble,
sounding to me like a phonograph, she said: "My attention was
attracted by the loud and unusual ringing of the gong." At this
unexpected outburst the crowd laughed, and one of plaintiff's
attorneys, in quite an audible voice, suggested: "That sounds
like Jim Davis was testifying." With some trepidation I turned
the witness over for cross-examination, and this is what occurred :

"You know Mr. Davis }"

"Yes."

"You live near his oflGlce?"

"Yes."

"Your father pays his rent at Mr. Davis's office?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Davis came to see you about this case?"

Yes."
"He came to see you at noon today?"

Yes."
"He talked to you about the case?"

Yes."

"He told you he wanted you to be a witness?"
"Yes."

"He told you what to say as a witness?"
"Yes."

Then very impressively plaintiff's attorney arose and in a loud

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 515

voice asked the witness: '*What did Mr. Davis tell you to say?"
And then was the most apprehensive moment of my life. In
a shrill, childish treble, audible all over the entire court room,
sl)e said: "He told me to tell the truth and no harm could come
to me," and then she began to cry, and the crowd in the court
room gave a demonstration of support and sympathy for the
little girl. It is needless to say I won the case.

January 1, 1903, I accepted the appointment of Iowa attor-
ney for the Chicago & North Western Railway Company, with
headquarters at Des Moines, and moved with my family from
Keokuk to Des Moines. This change gave me a much broader
and more interesting field of activity. The North Western Rail-
road, in point of earnings and service, was one of the leading,
if not the leading, railroad in Iowa. It operated over 1,600 miles
of track in the state, valued for tax purposes at a much higher
rate per mile than any other system. The Iowa attorney was
the only representative of the company whose jurisdiction ex-
tended over the entire state. Traffic and operating officials were
limited to specific divisions and districts. The duties of the office
of Iowa attorney required experience in all of the branches of
practical railroading operation, maintenance, freight rates, taxes,
and a knowledge of the many sources of liability, often a subject
of litigation, growing out of the complex relation of a busy rail-
road with its employes, its patrons and the general public. One
of the duties of the state attorney for a railroad was to protect
the company from adverse and punitive legislation. P'or nearly
fifteen years I acted as chairman of the Railroad Legislative
Committee composed of the state attorneys for the leading rail-
roads in Iowa, and in this position I became intimately ac-
quainted with the state officials, senators and representatives.
The fifteen-year period during which I acted as Iowa attorney
or the North Western Railway was a wonderful school of ex-
perience and a preparation for some responsibilities that rested
in the future. I organized a very efficient Law Department com-
])osed of Mr. Angus A. McLaughlin of Des Moines, Mr. George
E. Ilise of Des Moines, and Miss Elizabeth Hyde, who came
'.vith me from Keokuk. This organization has never been com-
^)letely broken up and we are all now again associated in the
general practice of the law under the firm name and style of

516 ANNALS OF IOWA

Davis, McLauglilin & Hisc. During my term as Iowa attorney
we never paid a judgment against the railroad in excess of
$5,000.00. We quite definitely followed the plan^ when possible,
of settling all claims of doubtful liability and winning cases
where in our judgment no liability existed. Much of the success,
if any, in the conduct of this office is due to the efficiency and
loyalty of my associates.

Effective midnight, December 31, 1917, and as a war measure
in the conduct of the World War, the president of the United
States took over the possession and operation of all the railroads
of the United States. The operating plan set up by the govern-
ment consisted of a director general and regional directors. Mr.
11. H. Aishton, president of the North Western Railroad, was
appointed regional director in charge of the conduct and opera-
tion of all the railroads north of the Union Pacific, extending
from Chicago to the Pacific Coast. His jurisdiction included
control of a number of large railway systems, among which were
the North Western, Milwaukee, Great Northern, Northern Pa-
cific, Soo Line, and Great Western. On April 18, 1918, I was
appointed general solicitor of the North Western Railway, with
headquarters in Chicago. By virtue of this appointment, I also
acted as the legal adviser and a member of the staff of Mr. Aish-
ton as regional director. On receiving this appointment, I moved
with my family to Evans ton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Federal control ended at midnight of March 1, 1920 (12:01
A. M.), when the entire properties of the several railroad com-
panies were returned to their respective owners.

In my service as general solicitor of the North Western Rail-
way, during the period of Federal control, I was frequently in
Washington and in touch with the Director General of Rail-
roads, and was in a position to acquire an intimate knowledge
of the details of the operation of the railroads under Federal
control. The operation of all the railroads in the country as a
war measure was wholly without precedent, and presented many
complex questions for determination. My two years in Chicago
were very busy, but an interesting experience.

At the end of Federal control there was a reorganization of
the corporate management of the North Western Railway Com-
pany. Differences of opinion had arisen during Federal control

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 517

between Mr. Aishton as regional director and Mr. Marvin Hugh-
itt, chairman of the Board of Directors of the railway. Mr. Aish-
ton and those closely allied with him were not included in the re-
organization. As a result^ on March 1^ 1920^ I returned to Des
Moines and resumed my position as Iowa attorney for the North
Western Railway Company. On June 15^ 1920^ I was appointed
by Hon. John Barton Payne, then secretary of the Interior under
President Wilson and also director general of railroads, general
counsel of the United States Railroad Administration with head-
quarters in Washington, at a salary of $25,000.00 per annum,
the same compensation I had received as general solicitor of the
North Western Railway. I was in Washington when the ap-
pointment was made, and at once assumed the duties of the
office. On March 28, 1921, I was appointed, by President Hard-
ing, director general of railroads and continued in that office
until December 1, 1925, a period of nearly five years. My entire
residence in Washington, as general counsel of the United States
Railroad Administration and director general of railroads, was
about five and one-half years.

My experience in Washington was by far the most interesting
period of my life. The taking over and the operation of all the
railroads of the United States (except what were known as in-
dependent short lines) represented, I believe, the largest and
most valuable aggregation of privately owned property devoted
to a particular use ever taken possession of by a single govern-
mental action. To visualize the extent and character of the
property taken over, there were 532 individually owned proper-
ties. This included the Pullman Company, twenty coastwise and
inland steamship lines, docks, wharves, floating equipment, grain
elevators, and all of the various facilities owned and leased by
the railroads of tliis country, including bridges, buildings, sta-
tions, roundhouses and shops. The total mileage in main lines,
passing tracks, switches and terminals aggregated 366,197 miles.
The total number of freight cars was 2,408,518. There were
66,070 locomotives and 55,913 passenger cars. There was
$532,000,000.00 worth of material and supplies scattered over
the vast mileage of the country, and the government took over
the working capital of the carriers aggregating $300,324,633.62.

618 ANNALS OF IOWA

The extent and value of this aggregate amount of railroad prop-
erty is well illustrated by the following facts.

For the year 1917, just previous to the taking over of the
railroads, the tentative value of Class "A" railroad property in
the United States was fixed by the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission in excess of eighteen billion dollars. The gross earnings
for the year immediately preceding Federal control in 1917 were
$4,050, 1-63,597.00. The net earnings, after deducting taxes and
rentals for that year, were $971,778,937.00. There were 1,500,-
000 individual or corporate stock and bond holders, and the
employes numbered nearly two million. The annual rent which
the government finally obligated itself to pay for the use of
this property was in excess of $900,000,000.00 Another impor-
tant factor to be considered is the fact that the possession of this
vast and complex property was taken overnight. There was no
record made of the location and condition of the nearly 2,500,000
freight cars, the condition of the maintenance of way, of the
locomotives and passenger cars, nor was there any inventory
taken as to the condition, location, value and amount of more
than $500,000,000.00 worth of material and supplies on hand
at the time of the taking. During the period of Federal control,
the entire freight car equipment of all the railroads of the
United States was pooled in one group and only a small per-
centage of freight car equipment (from 25% to 40%) was on
the home owned lines of the owner carrier. In the proclamation
of President Wilson in taking over the property of the railroads,
he gave the owners of the property the following assurance:
^'Investors in railway securities may rest assured that their
riglits and interests will be as scrupulously looked after by the
government as they could be by the directors of the several
railway systems. Immediately upon the reassembling of Con-
gress I shall recommend that these definite guaranties be given:
First, of course, that the railway properties will be maintained
during tlie period of Federal control in as good repair and as
complete equipment as when taken over by the government; and,
second, that the roads shall receive a net operating income equal
in each case to the average net income of the three years pre-
ceding June 30, 1917.*' Congress subsequently carried out, by
proper legislation, these recommendations of the President.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 519

Anticipating the termination of Federal control^ the Congress
of the United States^ in what is known as the Transportation
Act, made the following provision for the liquidation and ad-
justment of all matters ''arising out of or incident to Federal
control": "The president shall, as soon as practicable after the
termination of Federal control, adjust, settle, liquidate, and wind
up all matters, including compensation, and all questions and
disputes of whatsoever nature, arising. out of or incident to
Federal control."

The president, in carrying out this broad and unlimited au-
thority, appointed the existing director general of railroads as
his agent to determine the amount of and pay all claims arising
out of Federal control. So far as practicable, the director gen-
eral's operating force was continued to complete the liquidation.

The authority granted the president was unlimited and with-
out condition. It contemplated a speedy and summary adjust-
ment of all disputes arising out of or connected with Federal
control. There was no official interference with speedy adjust-
ment; no committees or commissions to wrangle over disputed
questions. It was definitely a one-man job; clearly a distinct
innovation over the ordinary conduct of governmental affairs,
and, as the results established, this method of adjustment saved
the government many hundreds of millions of dollars over the
usual method ordinarily followed by the government in appoint-
ing commissions or committees where there is opportunity for
difference of opinion and extended disputes.

Claims of the carriers against the government for matters
arising out of Federal control, as originally presented, were in
the aggregate in excess of one billion dollars. Some downward
revisions were made before final hearings for adjustment, so that
the claims as finally presented by the railroads against the gov-
ernment, growing out of the use of their property during the
period of Federal control, aggregated $769,011,218.83. The
items making up this aggregate, and in dispute, were largely
for under maintenance of way and equipment and compensation
for material and supplies taken over. The government on its
part set up claims against the carriers largely for alleged over
maintenance of way and equipment aggregating $138,130,81 l.Ti.
In making the final settlements, the creditor roads were finally

620 ANNALS OF IOWA

allowed and paid $243,647,196.91, and there was collected from
the debtor companies $195,072,295.17, leaving a net amount paid
by the government of $48,574,901.74 or slightly in excess of
6% of the claims as finally presented. In view of the vast ex-
tent and complex character of the property taken over, and the
type of use to which same had been put, it at once became ap-
parent in making adjustments with the owners of this property
that on the important questions of maintenance of way and
equi))nient there could be no physical comparison as to the
multitude of items of property as between the date the property
was taken over by the government and the date of its return to
the respective owners. The situation presented was wholly unique
and without either legal or practical precedent. The property
involved was most complex, presenting an ever-changing aspect.
A railroad plant never stands still. Depreciation, maintenance,
retirements and replacements are constantly at work. It covered
a period abnormal in a high degree, involving all the disorgan-
ization and disorder incident to a great war. During this period
there was a scarcity of competent labor. Private manufacturers
turning out war materials competed at high prices for all classes
of railroad labor. In many localities there was a scarcity of
proper materials necessary to a fair standard of maintenance,
and it was a time when there was an ever increasing market
price for labor and materials. There was in many instances a
substantial difference between the use that was made of the
property during the test period and that made during the period
of Federal control. During the period of Federal control the
winning of the war was the controlling factor, and efficient
transportation without regard to cost was one of the essential
elements of success. It was difficult to determine a fair formula
by which the amount of under maintenance and over maintenance
of the different kinds of property and the difference in cost or
value of materials and supplies as between what was known as
the test period (the three years preceding June 30, 1917) and
the period of Federal control, could be reached. During the war
prices for all work and all materials greatly increased, and there
was a well recognized falling off in what was known as the
efficiency of labor. There were no accurate records in existence
by which a physical comparison could be made of each item of

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 621

property^ and the extent and varying conditions of the property
precluded that method. Finally the Railroad Administration
adopted the following as a general rule to determine the vexed
question of maintenance.

The final rule adopted by the Railroad Administration in mak-
ing these settlements and in recognizing the liability of tlie gov-
ernment in the matter of maititenance^ was to * 'match" the
expenditures of the carriers made during the pro rata time of
the test period corresponding with the period of Federal control,
making due allowance for any difference that existed between
the cost or price of labor and materials, taking into considera-
tion any difference in the amount of property taken over as be-
tween Federal control and the test period, and any difference in
use substantial enough to be considered, these expenditures to
be subject to a fair distribution, as provided for by the contract
entered into between the railroads and the government. I believe
this rule, followed as consistently as was humanly possible in
all adjustments, making in exceptional cases, when the account-
ing method resulted in grossly unjust conclusions, equitabk- modi-
fications, came as near as practicable doing substantial justice
between the parties.

The adjustments made with the several railroads were matters
of great personal interest to me. The railroads in the first in-
stance submitted their claims to the government. These claims
in turn were submitted for analysis and examination to the
proper departments in the Railroad Administration organization.
The general heads under which the claims were made were main-
tenance of equipment, maintenance of way, compensation, and
material and supplies. After careful examination of these vari-
ous matters by the proper departments, the result of the exami-
nations were submitted to the Director General and his staff.
After careful discussion by the staff, a general conclusion as to
the statement of account of the particular railroad under con-
sideration was reached, and the railroad interested was advised
that the administration was ready for a conference witli a view
to making an adjustment. In these conferences tlie railroads
were ordinarily represented by the president of the road and his
staff, generally consisting of the general counsel, operating vice-
president, comptroller, and others familiar with the details of

622 ANNALS OF IOWA

the account. As tliese settlements progressed, my recollection
is that I personally met the president of every Class "A** rail-
road in the country in and across the table conferences, except
two, the New York Central and the Southern Railroad. These
companies were rej)resented by officers other than their presi-
dents. After full discussion, the administration would suggest
a lump sum in settlement. We never settled on the amounts
allowed for specific items. Such a method led to too much com-
parison as between rival roads as to comparative allowances for
particular items, and involved too much discussion. One great
advantage on the part of the administration in making these
adjustments was the fact that the companies, immediately after
the end of Federal control, needed money, and the administra-
tion was in funds, ready to pay without red tape the amount
agreed upon as soon as the adjustment was concluded. Congress
at the inception of Federjil control having appropriated the sum
of .$500,000,000.00 as a revolving fund, to be used by the Rail-
road Administration, the use of this fund, for the purpose of
adjusting the government liabilities, was continued during the
period of liquidation. Another advantage was the difficulty of
submitting these controversies to a court. There were so many
expert and complex questions in which litigation would have
been very expensive, long protracted, and, in the end, difficult for
a judge or a jury to comprehend and intelligently decide. The
settlements clearly presented a field for the exercise by the
railroads and the government of a fair and just spirit of com-
promise. It was not long before the managing officers of the
railroads were impressed with the desire on the part of the
government to treat these claims fairly, and as a result we soon
had, in most cases, the cordial co-operation on the part of the
managing officers of the carriers in making settlements.

There were many other important controversies adjusted by
the Railroad Administration outside of the claims for the use
of property of the carriers. One of them is popularly known as
the Minnesota Fire Cases. In October, 1918, a most devastating
fire occurred in the forest regions of Minnesota. Roughly speak-
ing, some 1,500 square miles of territory was burned over; 4,000
homes and 5,000 barns were burned, and a number of good sized
towns wholly destroyed, including the town of Cloquet with a

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 623

population of some 12^000 people; 450 people lost their lives
and some 2,000 people received personal injuries sufficient to
require medical attention.

The burned area is served by the Great Northern, Northern
Pacific, Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, and Duluth,
Missabe & Northern railroads, all of them at the time of the
fire under Federal control.

During the conflagration the wind was blowing at a velocity
of from fifty to seventy miles per hour and, as a result of this
hurricane, an irresistible and devastating fire occurred, which
swept the area of country above described and resulted in a
claimed money loss of more than $73,000,000.00.

Originally it was not supposed that there was any ground
upon which a liability against the Railroad Administration, oper-
ating the systems of railroad above described, could be sus-
tained, for the reason that there were a very large number of
independent fires, fixed in an investigation made by the state
authorities at the number of 100, which arose from causes en-
tirely independent and disconnected with the operation of any
of the railroads. Some of these fires had been burning in peat
hogs for months; others were set out by campers, loggers, hunt-
ers, farmers burning weeds and brush, or were of unknown
origin, and it was believed to be impossible to attribute any
specific portion of this loss directly to any particular fire or
fires set out by the operation of the railroads under Federal
control, the existing hurricane and the large number of inde-
pendent fires making it impossible, as the administration be-
lieved, to locate any definite liability. This disastrous confla-
gration undoubtedly would have occurred, under existing condi-
tions, had there been no railroads in Minnesota.

More than 15,000 lawsuits were commenced in the state courts
against the Railroad Administration on account of this fire. Able
legal talent was employed both by the government and the fire
claimants, and much litigation ensued.

In one case of McCool vs, Davis (197 N. \V., 95) the Supreme
Court of Minnesota, by a divided court, held the Railroad Ad-
ministration was not liable, the court saying:

The evidence fails to show any probahility that this fire (one claimed
to be set out by the railroads) was even a concurring element in the

524 ANNALS OF IOWA

destruction of this property. The evidence leaves plaintiffs' case in
the realm of speculation and conjecture.

This opinion was three to two for the administration. In a
retrial of the same case of McCool vs, Davis (202 N. W., 903),
the same court by a three to two opinion changed its ruling and
found against the administration. One of the judges "changed
his mind." In the last case the chief justice in a dissenting
opinion said:

I cannot concur in the result reached. The evidence in this case, in
my judgment, does not warrant the inference that the loss in fact
resulted from the railroad fire. The legal identification of the destruc-
tive fire has not been established.

This second opinion was by the same courts and before the
same judges^ on substantially the same record. (Administra-
tion's attorneys claimed the evidence in the second case was
more favorable to the defense than the first case.) On questions
of law, the cases came before judges elected by voters in the
burned district, and questions of fact were determined by juries
who were residents of the same territory. It being practically
impossible to obtain an unprejudiced hearing before judges
elected by and juries selected from residents of the burned dis-
trict, human nature was not strong enough to stand out against
local interest.

The Supreme Court of Minnesota held, in case of Anderson
vs. Director General of Railroads (179 N. W., 48), that if a
fire started by a railroad united with a fire or fires of other or
unknown origin, it was a question of fact for a jurj to determine
whether or not the fire started by the railroad was a material
or substantial element in creating the damage, and if it were,
the railroad so starting the fire would be liable for all damages
to which the fire started by it substantially contributed. In ad-
dition, the court held that, although there was a hurricane blow-
ing, without which the separate fires would not have spread and
united as they did, the great conflagration could not be consid-
ered an act of God.

At a session of the legislature held in the state of Minnesota
during the year 1921 an act was passed authorizing the governor
to appoint a number of special judges, residents of the burned

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 625

district^ for the purpose of trying these cases^ unless some gen-
eral plan of adjustment was entered into by the United States
government.

In view of the holding of the Supreme Court of Minnesota
and the experience which the Railroad Administration had had
in the trial of a number of preliminary and what were considered
fair test cases^ it was believed that it would save the government
a large amount of money if some general plan of adjustment
could be agreed upon.

After a very careful investigation a general plan of adjust-
ment was finally agreed upon^ by which the Railroad Adminis-
tration adjusted these claims within such limited area as could
fairly be said to be within the ruling of the Supreme Court. Such
settlements were based upon the payment in no case of more
than 50 per cent of the actual loss sustained^ and in those terri-
tories more remote from the railroads^ but possibly within the
ruling of the courts claims were adjusted upon a less percentage.

Growing out of this Minnesota forest fire controversy, 15^003
independent suits were commenced. The amount claimed in these
actions aggregated $73^112^146.17. The total amount paid in
the adjustment of these fire cases was $12^701^664.87. Some
vears after the end of Federal control efforts were made bv the
attorneys representing the fire claimants, acting through a senator
and representatives from Minnesota, to obtain appropriations
from Congress to pay these claims in full on the ground that the
adjustments made by the Railroad Administration were unfair
and oppressive. I appeared before committees of the FIousc and
Senate opposing such action, and defended the action of the
Railroad Administration. Up to this date no such legislation
has been enacted. In my opinion, settlement of these highly dis-
puted and controversial claims, many of which could not have
been legally established, was not only just but extremely gener-
ous on the part of the United States government.

During the period of Federal control, the United States Rail-
way Administration advanced loans to the carriers, taking their
definite obligations, and in most instances collateral security.
These loans, roughly speaking, exceeded $600,000,000.00. The
administration during the liquidation period collected and re-
turned into the United States Treasury between $400,000,000.00

526 ANNALS OF IOWA

and $500,000,000.00 of these loans. In addition to these items,
the administration had general supervision over a vast amount
of general litigation in disputes arising during the period of
Federal eontrol — personal injury elaims^ freight elaim disputes,
and the innumerable eontroversies that would naturally arise
between all of the railroad earriers of this country on one side
and their employes, patrons and the general public on the other.
The details of this enormous amount of litigation were conducted,
after Federal eontrol ended, by the law departments of the
various carrier companies, the administration in Washington re-
taining general supervision over same. At one time it was esti-
mated there were pending in the various courts of the country
over 50,000 separate lawsuits in which the Director General was
either the plaintiff or the defendant. In looking back over four
and one-half years of service as director general it is a matter
of amazement that the administration was able, in so short a
time, to effect and complete the adjustment of the large and
varied claims presented. I was particularly fortunate in having
a very efficient and loyal organization, to whom is due much of
the credit, if any, this adjustment is entitled to.

There is one peculiar situation perhaps worthy of attention.
During all the time I was in Washington, I never had a call or
an inquiry from any member of Congress, House or Senate, as
to the method the Railroad Administration had adopted in mak-
ing adjustments, or the progress we were making. Perhaps the
fact that the administration was always in funds, and required
no appropriations, accounts for this seeming indifference, and
there was never a criticism on the part of any governmental
department or official as to any of our disbursements or the
method of keeping our accounts. On the other hand, there was
never any outside effort made by railroad interests, or persons
representing them, to influence in any way the amount and char-
acter of these adjustments.

During my term as director general and agent of the presi-
dent, I had many intimate interviews with Presidents Harding
and Coolidge, and some opportunity of noting their personal
characteristics. President Harding was one of the handsomest
men I have ever known. He had a most charming and per-
suasive personality which should have entitled his administration

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 627

to tlic lovaltv of every one of his associates and subordinates.
I received my appointment of director general largely due to the
recommendations of Senator Albert B. Cummins of Des Moines.
While the Senator and I had not always agreed in politics^ we
had been warm personal friends for many years. The first time
I saw President Harding was a day or two before I received
my appointment. The second time I saw him was a day or two
after I had received the appointment and qualified. On the
occasion of the second visit, as I entered the President's office,
he arose, met me half way, took hold of my right hand in a
cordial grasp, put his left hand on my shoulder, and said: *'Jim
(he always called everyone associated with him by his first
name), how are you? I am glad to see you. I do not know why
I call you Jim, except I like you." This greeting was not pe-
culiar or personal to me. It was *'his way," the way he met most
of his associates, made them feel at ease with him. That sort
of greeting from your superior should ever enlist you as one
of his loyal subordinates. His trust in the honor and honesty
of his subordinates was without limit.

The adjustment with the Pennsylvania Railroad System was
perhaps the largest and most difficult to make. The Pennsylvania
Railroad had more mileage, more freight cars and more engines
than any other system in the United States, and during Federal
control by reason of the location of coal mines and steel industries
upon its line was subject to heavy and unusual traffic. In the
original set-up, the company admitted an indebtedness of some
if 1-0,000,000.00 to the administration, largely on account of over
maintenance, and the administration claimed a balance largely
on the same subject of $140,0Q0,000.00. In view of the large
discrepancy, and the unusual amounts involved, I thought it wise
to confer with the President before attempting a final settlement.
In an interview with him, I explained the situation and the im-
possibility of arriving at absolutely definite conclusions. I sug-
gested to the President amounts within which I thought a fair
adjustment could be arrived at. After I had finished my state-
ment. President Harding said: **Jim, have you carefully studied
this matter.^" I said, "Yes, sir.*' The President then said: "Are
you sure you understand the details?" Again I said, "Yes, sir."
Then he said: "Go ahead, make a settlement you consider fair

528 ANNALS OF IOWA

and just, an J I will back you.*' The case was settled for $90,-
000,000.00, and that amount was all paid before I left Wash-
ington.

My recollection of President Harding is that he was strictly
an honest man^ with high standards as to honor and honesty,
but with some human and excusable weaknesses. I believe his
misfortune in his public life was that he trusted his associates
"not wisely but too well," and that he was betrayed by a number
of Judas Iscariots who sold their birthright for a few pieces of
"dirty silver." I recall an incident which illustrates his extreme
kindliness and consideration. One very hot summer day a friend
of mine, the United States marshal for the Northern District
of Iowa, called at my office in company with his son, a boy about
twelve years old. My friend told me he was very anxious to have
the boy meet the President, and asked if I could arrange it. I
demurred on the ground that I thought it an imposition to impose
such visits on a busy man, but when my friend explained that
his boy was given leave of absence from school for this trip on
condition that he would write an account of his adventures, and
if he did not see the President his trip would be a failure, I
surrendered. It so happened I had an engagement at the White
House for that afternoon at four o'clock, and I took my Iowa
friend and his son over. It was a very hot afternoon, and the
President was in his shirt sleeves, smoking a briarwood pipe.
After introducing them to the President, my friend said to his
boy: "What were you going to say to the President.'*" The little
fellow straightened himself up and said: "Mr. President, I read
in the paper that your birthday was an the 2nd of November,
and that is mv birthdav, too." The President said: "That is
fine," and then asked the boy if he had ever seen his dog, Laddie.
The bov said "No." The President touched an electric bell and
on the appearance of Mike, one of the White House attendants,
said: "Mike, this boy will be here tomorrow at one o'clock. See
that he and Laddie have a good play in the White House yard."
The President then said: "My son, I hope you will never smoke,
but if you do wait until you are twenty-one years old." After
my Iowa friends had withdrawn, the President turned to me and
said: "Jim, I am damned sorry that boy saw me smoking a pij)c."

President Coolidge was altogether a different type of man.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 629

Perhaps you could hardly find two men so absolutely the anti-
thesis of each other. While President Harding was cordial, vol-
uble, and at once put you at your ease, Mr. Coolidge, with his
New England reserve, was cold, distant, reserved, and anything
but cordial. Yet of the two men, Mr. Coolidge was undoubtedly
the abler and safer executive. During the President Coolidge
administration, I had a very troublesome fuel oil proposition to
adjust. Prior to the World War and Federal control, many of
the railroads had made long time contracts for fuel, coal and
oil at very low prices. During the war these prices doubled and
in some instances quadrupled. The Railroad Administration
during the period of operation, recognizing it was impossible
to carry out these contracts, had offered and made reasonable
adjustments of prices. In one instance, however, a Texas Oil
Company refused to make any adjustment, claiming under ad-
vice of counsel that their contract was void and could not be
enforced. During the term of one of my predecessors, suit had
been brought claiming, as I recall it, damages in the sum of
if'5,000,000.00. In the early part of Federal control there was
some doubt as to the name in "which actions of this character
should be brought — whether in the name of the United States,
the director general as agent of the president, or the railroad
comj)any, party to the contract. Attorneys representing the Rail-
road Administration, to be on the safe side, brought three dupli-
cate actions at Kansas City, each for the same claim of '^•'5,-
000,000.00. There was also some question as to the jurisdic-
tion of the court over the oil company, which was incorporated
under the laws of Delaware, so these overcautious lawyers
brought three actions in Delaware, each for .^.5,000,000. 00, in
favor of the United States, the director general, and the railroad
comj)any, party to the contract. So we had six actions, each for
♦t 5 ,000,000.00, all duplicates and all based on a single cause of
action. A careful investigation of the oil company disclosed the
fact that its entire assets consisted of an out of date refining
plant of a value not to exceed $250,000.00 to »t300,000.00. The
oil company against which the government had the claim, while
an independent corporation, was a subsidiary of and controlled
by a well-to-do concern, and to avoid litigation the government
was offered in compromise $300^000.00 cash in full of all claims.

5m ANNALS OF IOWA

This matter canu* up about tlu* time of the Teapot Dome Oil
seandal, and I eould readily see that there might arise some
eritieism or diseussion if six lawsuits aggregating $30,000,000.00
were settled for 1 per eent of the faee of the claim, so I thought
it |)rudent to advise President Coolidge of the situation. He
listened very carefully to my detailed statement, when I was
through asked no (piestions, hut very drily remarked, *'I think
you should get all the real money you can/*

The important work of the administration having been com-
pleted, I wanted to return to Des Moines. On December 14,
1925, I personally presented to the President my resignation,
effective December 31, 1925. I handed the resignation to Presi-
dent Coolidge, who was seated at his desk in his office. He read
it, laid it on his desk, and said nothing. I shifted around in my
chair, and finally said, "I have a typewritten summary of the
financial condition of the administration, in which you may be
interested," and I handed him the statement, consisting of some
five or six typewritten pages. Without saying a word, he looked
through the statement and finally said : **I see you have over
$100,000,000.00 to your credit with the Treasury. If you make
this public, won't Congress immediately begin spending it?'* I
explained that this fact had been heretofore made public, and
then followed another period of embarrassing silence, and after
some inane remark on my part that I hoped to see the President
before I finally left, I beat, in some embarrassment, a retreat.
Having represented the President in quite intimate relations for
a number of years, the work on my part apparently having been
done to his satisfaction, I left the White House with a distinct
feeling of disappointment and some chagrin at my reception, the
President having no word of regret at my leaving, no word of
commendation as to the work I had done. When I reached home
that evening, Mrs. Davis asked me if I had seen the President.
1 answered "Yes." She said, "Did you give him your resigna-
tion.^'* Again I said "Yes." She then asked me, "What did he
say.^'* "Not a word," said I. She asked: "Did he not express
any regret at your leaving or any commendation of your work }"
I answered, "He did not say a damn word.** She then asked me
if I had seen the W^ashington Evening Star. I said "No.** She
handed me the paper and I found, shortly after I had left, the

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 531

White House had given to the press a copy of a letter which the
President sent me, the letter being as follows:

The White House
Washington

December 14, 1925.
My dear Mr. Davis:

I hereby accept your resignation as Director General of Railroads
and Agent of the President, to take effect at midnight of Decemher 31,
1925, your successor having heen duly appointed and qualified at that
time.

The liquidation of the controversies growing out of Federal control
of the railroads has been substantially completed in a most satisfactory
manner, due to your energy, ability and tact. Therefore, I cannot well
ask you to remain longer at your post. When one contemplates the
extent of the work accomplished under your direction, he feels that the
thanks of the country should be extended to you in most generous
measure. Instead of endless litigation, as prophesied by many, we have
seen such adjustments of the claims between the railroads and the gov-
ernment, growing out of our handling of these vast properties during
the war, as to bring about satisfactory settlements out of court. The
claims of the railroads against the government, amounting to over one
billion of dollars, were adjusted for less than $244,000,000. Our claims
against the carriers, amounting to approximately $440,000,000, resulted
in our collection of nearly $200,000,000. The net result is that the claims
against the government have been liquidated on a basis of less than five
per cent. All through these operations, you have preserved cordial rela-
tions with the railway executives obtaining their generous cooperation
and helping to establish an era of good feeling between the government
and the carriers, which are so vital a factor in the nation\s life.

In extending my personal appreciation of your fine service, let me
add best wishes for the future.

Most sincerely yours,

Calvin Coolidge.
Honorable James C. Davis,
Director General of Railroads and
Agent of the President,
W^ashington, D. C.

Mr. Coolidge appreciated loyal service, and was always willing
to commend efficiency, but in a personal interview he could not
break through that New England reserve with which he uniform-
Iv surrounded himself.

I returned to Des Moines January 1, 1926, and organized,
with my old a.ssociates of nearly thirty years, a law firm entitled
"Davis, Mclaughlin & Hise." A little later there was added to

5ii2 ANNALS OF IOWA

the firm my son, .fames C. Davis, Jr., and Elizabeth Hyde, and
now, surrounded by congenial associates and in a city and state
wliere I have lifelong friends, I am winding up a career that to
me has been full of interest and activities.

In politics, I have always been a consistent and conservative
Rei)ublican. While I have never sought office, I have been fairly
active in local, state and national politics. In an early day I
served two terms as city attorney in Keokuk, and, a little later,
two terms as mayor of Keokuk. In 1896, I was a delegate to the
National Republican Convention, which nominated William Mc-
Kinley for president, and in 1901 I was temporary chairman
of the State Republican Convention at Cedar Rapids, which
nominated Hon. A. B. Cummins for governor. I had some oppor-
tunities to enter politics in a large way. When I was about
thirty-five years old I could have gone to Congress from the
First Congressional District, but I preferred to stick to the law
and be able to take care of my family in a financial way, an
opportunity which honest politics did not afford.

As I look back, I think I have been peculiarly happy and
fortunate in the home life of my father and mother and in my
own life. The little success I may have had is largely due to
the sustaining influence of the good women with whom I have
been associated. My mother was an unusual woman, very beau-
tiful in her appearance. When a girl, she was recognized as the
most beautiful girl in Wetzel County, West Virginia. Her great
ambition was to make our home attractive for her husband and
lier children. She was a devout Episcopalian and saw to it that
each of her children attended Sunday school and church and
was instructed in the catechisms and the doctrines of the church.
I lived at home until my marriage, December 10, 1884, and my
recollection of my home life with my father and mother, brothers
and sisters, is full of pleasant and fragrant memories.

On December 10, 1884, I was married to Clara Belle Mooar,
daughter of Judge Daniel Mooar, of Keokuk, Iowa. The cere-
mony took place in St. John's Episcopal Church, Keokuk, and
was performed by the Rev. R. C. Mcllwain. Judge Mooar and
his family, who were Episcopalians, moved from Covington,
Kentucky, to Keokuk, Iowa, shortly after the close of the Civil
War in 1865, and Clara Mooar and I were boy and girl together.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 633

She died March 21^ 1895^ leaving me with three children^ Daniel
Mooar, aged ten^ Ora^ aged eighty and Carolina Tliistle^ aged
four. Daniel married Dorothy Blackburn and lives in a suburb
of Philadelphia^ and has one daughter. Ora married Robert
Fullerton^ Jr., and lives in Pasadena and has three children^ a
daughter and two sons. Caroline Thistle married John 8. Cor-
ley^ and lives in Des Moines and has one daughter.

Clara Mooar was a petite^ beautiful girl^ with great Southern
charm and hospitality and a wonderful capacity for the practical
duties of home and mother. My life with her has always been a
happy and a sacred memory.

On the death of ray wife, my sister, Caroline Thistle, came
to live with me and for more than six years took care of my
children and my home. My sister Caroline inherited the many
admirable qualities of my mother, and with a conscientious love
and efficiency looked after my home and my children. Iler sacri-
fice, willingly made during those years when I was in great
trouble, created a debt of gratitude that can never be forgotten
or paid.

On the 1 5th of August, 1901, 1 was married to Louise Pomeroy,
daughter of Dr. Joseph C. Pomeroy, of Waverly, Iowa. The
ceremony was performed at the Pomeroy residence in Waverly
by the Rev. R. C. Mcllwain, Rector of St. John's Church, Keo-
kuk. Louise Pomeroy had always taken an active interest in the
affairs of the Episcopal Church, especially the music, having an
unusual voice which had been highly cultivated. In tliis mar-
riage I have been extremely fortunate and happy, and my wife
and I have had over thirty-three years of very congenial married
life. There have been four boys born to us. The oldest died in
early infancy. James C, Jr. is a member of our firm, married
Elizabeth Linn of Des Moines, and has three children. Josepli
Pomeroy married Maribea Swanson of Des Moines on May 20,
1933, lives in Keokuk, and as yet has no children. Frank W.,
our youngest boy, is now a student in the I^aw Department of
the State University at Iowa City. Louise Pomeroy is a woman
of unusual mental endowments, has always taken an interest in
my professional work, and has an intelligent appreciation and
concern in all matters of public interest. She has quite consis-
tently kept her husband in the "straight and narrow" and has

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 5:J5

been a very dominant factor in the happiness I have enjoyed
and the little success that has come to me in the middle period
of my life^ for all of which I am duly thankful.

In religion^ following the teachings and the example of my
mother, I have been a contributing member of the Protestant
Episcopal Church. I am not interested in the construction or
the differences in creeds or dogmas. So far as my religious be-
liefs are concerned, they are summed up in the answer which
Jesus Christ made to the lawyer who asked him, "Master, what
is the great commandment of the law?" And Jesus answered
saying: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy (iod with all thy heart
and with all thy soul. This is the first and great commandment
and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.*' To my mind, this is the sum total of all religion.

My father and I have lived through more than a century of
perhaps the most interesting period of the world's history. We
have lived more than eighty-five years in Iowa. We have seen
Iowa grow from a young, sparsely settled state to the leading
state in agricultural products, with a population with practically
no illiteracy, the smallest percent in the sisterhood of states, and
with the most equitable distribution of wealth of any state in
the Union. Ordinarily there are no vulgarly rich and few des-
perately poor people in Iowa. Surely, if it is humanly possible,
Iowa should be the home of a happy and contented people.

While we boast of the progress and culture as a civilization
we have made, I sometimes wonder if our so-called progress and
culture has materially added to the measure of human happiness
and contentment. Are we now, surrounded with all our luxuries
and improved methods of living, any happier or more contented
than the boys and girls and men and women of sixty or seventy
years ago, or, if you please, of 2,000 years ago.'^

In my early days the men wore boots and galluses instead of
oxfords and belts; the women wore basques and corsets with
whalebone ribs, and dresses sometimes witli hoop skirts and long
trains instead of the tight fitting clothes of today. We read bv
the light of kerosene lamps instead of electricity. We heated
our houses with stoves and open fireplaces instead of automatic
oil and gas furnaces. If we wanted to take a pleasure drive, we

53G ANNALS OF IOWA

li itched up the old bay mare "Kit" to the two-seated surrey and
sot sail on dirt roads at the rate of five or six miles i>er hour,
instead of speeding in a Ford or a Cadillac on cement roads at
the rati* of sixty miles an hour. There was practically no plumb-
ing or running water in houses^ or adequate sewerage, in those
days. Saturday night was religiously observed as bath night with
a bucket of hot water from the kitchen stove. In winter we all
wore heavy knitted woolen socks, and if we were at all rheumatic
we wore heavy home-made red flanned underclothing. In the old
days, a woman in confinement was taken care of in her own home,
attended by a motherly colored midwife at $1.00 per day or
$5.00 per week. The maximum medical charge for confinement
was $25.00, and a new baby in the homes of the well-to-do never
cost mor ethan $50.00. Now in confinement there is a room at a
hospital, a night and day trained nurse, charges for pre-natal
service, and for various kinds of expert medical attention, so
that the cost of a modern baby in families of the same relative
standing as in the old days is about $500.00, but if you have
the money the baby is a good investment at the price.

In the old days, notwithstanding what appeals to us now as
primitive and crude surroundings, families of from five to ten
children seemed more numerous than families nowadays of three
or four, yet in those days of more simple living we lived, laughed,
sang, danced, had picnics and parties, and to all appearances
had just as much enjoyment and pleasure in life, with just as
much happines and contentment, as we have now. I think per-
haps there is in humanity just about so much capacity for pleas-
ure and enjoyment, and each generation in turn takes its part.
I sometimes wonder if since the dawn of civilization there has
been any lessening of those predatory instincts of humanity
which lead to and beget cruelty, anger, hate, avarice, and a
ruthless ambition which overrides and sets aside the rights of
the less courageous and competent, and whether or not our civil-
ization is but a thin veneer and a scratch under the skin finds
the same old ugly and undesirable traits that have always existed
in the human race. Surely in the World War there was more
ruthlessness, more cruel and unnecessary destruction of life, than
the world has ever seen. Submarines sank loaded passenger
ships, defenseless cities were bombarded from the air, and ad-

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF A FATHER AND SON 537

vanced science lent its aid to the wholesale destruction of human
life. It is true that we have advanced in the science of medicine
and sanitation; that there is less mortality among infants, and
the average life of adults has been extended. On the other hand,
there has been a falling off in the attendance and support of
orthodox churches, and the younger generation of today does not
take a very great interest in the spiritual welfare of the world.
In our lifetime there has been a marvelous growth in the field
of invention — the telephone, radio, airplane, moving pictures,
extended uses of electricity, automobiles, good roads and labor-
saving machinery have all contributed to the comfort and luxury
of mankind. These were all unknown in my early boyhood. It
is also true that the cost of living has tremendously increased.
My father and mother occupied about the same relative position
in society that my wife and I now occupy, and yet I am very
sure that in many single months I have spent, in the support
and comfort of my family, as much as my father spent in a year,
and comparatively speaking his family lived in as much comfort
and luxury as we do.

I am ordinarily a consistent optimist, but I confess at the
present time a great apprehension as to the future of our govern-
ment and the permanent happiness and prosperity of our people.
The whole world, largely as the result of the World War, is in
chaos and confusion, with widespread depression, unhappincss
and discontent. In our own country I recognize quite fully the
necessity for progress and reform, but I believe this progress
and reform should be accomplished within rather than in the
face of our constitutions. State and Federal. I am opposed to
the Federal government entering into the detailed conduct of
affairs peculiarly local in the several states — undertaking to fix
hours of labor, wages, amount of output, and prices. I am op-
posed to the states surrendering to the Federal government tlie
exercise of the local police power, the state control of affairs
purely local. I am opposed to the surrender by the legislative
arm of our government to the executive of legislative power to
the end that the executive, in his own right or by cabinet officers,
or tlirough the creation of bureaus and commissions, may fix the
amount of taxes and levy same, may raise or lower tariff duties,
and may promulgate rules and regulations having the autliority

aas ANNALS OF IOWA

of It'^isliitivc acts, lixing pi'niiltifS for the violation of sue
in till' way of fiiii's and impriMOniiH-nt. I am opposed to t^
iiK'ntatiim of ihv. AmerUnn [xopli- to tilt- standard of dill
ocrity, nnd I .still Ix-liivt' in inilividiial reward for ability, •
lioiiesty and etfieieiiey. 1 do not lielieve that "a pair of t
ha.s <'v('r been made with legs lon^ eniiugh to be pressed ii
stale eoi.imertf," and 1 believe that the government sho;
eonrafre and reward personal endeavor, rather than on bo
money mortgage the birthright of future generations, ar
unheard of extravagance distribute money with no adequ;
eriiiiination among the wiirtliy and those who are not, a
puriHises wholly visionary and temporary. KxiM^nditures
kind eneimrage a spirit iif ile|ii-ndenee, and eagernexs to
dobs, that will eventually destroy the independent mo
great luimbcrs of people, men ami women who have on;
taken |iri<le in being independent and self-supporting.

In looking baek over a life that in years is in excess
averag.'. I believe I have not lived altogether in vain,
foiiniled a family, 1 owe no man, in my travels down thi
way of life I have been able to extend a helping hand U
of my less fortunate brothers, and now at the age of si
sevin, surrounded by eonsi<lerate, eongenial and loyal b
asNoeiates, my wife, my ebihlren, and my grandchildren,
lifelong friends, I am easing up from strenuous business,
ing ill moderation the good things of life, and waiting wit
and eonfidenee, and unafraid, tlif linal exit.

Dated September i, I9;U.

WILLIAM SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA,

184.3-1846"

FiDiTKD BY Philip I). Jordan

In 1906 Dr. William Salter, pastor of tlie Congregational
Church at Burlington, the last surviving member of the
**Andover Band,*' that group of eleven young elergymen who
came from the Andover Theological Seminary to Iowa in 1843,
wrote an account of his experiences as a missionary in Jackson
County, where he labored from November, 1843, until the spring
of 1846 when, upon the death of the Rev. Horace Hutchinson,
he was called to fill the Burlington pulpit. Dr. Salter entitled
his account, "Journal of a Missionary in Jackson County, Iowa
Territory, 1843-6," and he first published it in the Annals of
Iowa for J'anuary, 1907. The Maquoketa Sentinel soon copied
the account, and by April it was reprinted in the Annals of Jack-
*on County, Three years later, in 1910, the year of Dr. Salter's
death, James W. Ellis included the "Journal" in his Wntory of
Jackson County. The account may also be found in Mr. Salter's
S'lJtty Years,

An examination of Dr. Salter's narrative of his work under
the direction of the American Home Missionarv Societv indi-
rated that it was not a "journal" at all in the sense that it was
a diary or running account, but that it partook more of the
nature of the reminiscences of an elderly man who, in the closing
years of life, renu^mbered only the glories and romantic adven-
tures of an earlier day and forgot the disappointments and hard-
ships which were necessarily a part of the Iowa frontier pattern
in 1843. A closer examination led me to believe that the ac-
count, although not a "journal'* itself, was based uj)on a diary
or log book of some type which Mr. Salter actually kept from
day to day for the period covered. This judgment was con-
firmed two years ago when the original diary entitled, "My
Ministry in Iowa," was uncovered, worn and torn from its many
journeys in saddlebags and its frequent adventures in the pockets
of the young missionary as he journeyed through Jackson and
adjoining counties in his far-flung prairie, parish work.

510 ANNALS OF IOWA

The little volume^ bound in black boards^ measures about
loxlOVii ^'"^- ^"^ "o^ contains about 172 pages. Originally there
were more, but some have been torn out, i)erhaps for memoranda,
and only fragments of others remain. The inside front and back
covers are filled with jottings and notes^ some listing texts for
sermons and others recording household and personal ex{K*nses.
The majority of the entries are in ink, and all are in the cramped
script characteristic of the author's hand even when, at the age
of sixteen, he was recording his observations of Brooklyn
weather on small scraps of paper. The first dated entry is No-
veniber 20, 181.'J, and the last, January 1, lS-^6.

Between these dates are entered Dr. Salter's almost daily
observations and comments upon the frontier. Drawn from his
immediate and personal experiences, they are set down at the
day's end with faithful and candid goose quill. Here is the
humor as well as the pathos, the inspirations and disappoint-
ments, and the shrewd, but not always charitable, estimates of
the immigrants who flocked into Jackson County from many parts
of the world — the Goodcnows, Wrights, and Nimses, from Lake
(leorge, New York, the Nickersons and Sutherlands from New
I'ingland, the Dyers from Virginia, the Thompsons from Penn-
sylvania and the Ellises from Indiana^ the Livermores from
Oliio, the Woods from Michigan, the Chandlers and Currents
from Canada, and finally the McCloys from Ireland. Doctors
and lawyers practice their professions, and land feuds make ene-
mies of neighbors. And always there appear the determined
efforts of the twenty-two-year-old minister to preach the Gospel,
bury the dead, sponsor the temperance cause, fight the slavery
evil, and establish academies and colleges.

Dr. Salter's spelling and punctuation have been followed as
closely as his script would permit. In some instances it has been
necessary to photograph passages where the writing was inde-
cipherable, enlarge the positive, and so arrive at a satisfactory
reading. Intentional emendations are enclosed in the square
bracket. Material enclosed in parentheses within the text is Dr.
Salter's, not the editor's. The pagination of the diary is indi-
cated in square brackets in the text. Finally, no portion of the
diary has been cut, even in those few places where the author has
passed what appear to be uncomplimentary remarks upon men

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA'' 541

and events. To remove such comments would serve only to de-
crease the value of this excellent source material in tlie history
of the West, and thus destroy the document's worth. This diary
supplements ''William Salter's Letters to Mary Ann Mackintire,
18 tS- 18 16/' which appeared in the Annals of Iowa for April,
July, and October, 193 k

MY MINISTRY IN IOWA

Springfield, Jackson County,

November 20, 1843.

Talked much about coming to this territory^ thru the winter 1842-13,

with E. B. Turner,-' Sam Gridley,-' and E. Adams.* In the course of

the coming summer H. Adams,^ Robbins," Hammond,^ Hutchinson,**

Hill,", Spaulding,^*^ Alden^^ concluded to come hither. Gridley's poor

iThe Territory of Iowa.

2Edwin B. Turner (October 2, 1812-July 0, 1895), l)orn at Great B:irrinf;ton,
Mass., Illinois College, Cascade, Colesliurjc, Yankee Settlement, Iowa, lKi.l-lHr)4,
Morris, Illinois, 1H53-1HG4, superintendent in Missouri, 1H04-1876. Vid. the in-
dexes for tlie Annai.s ok Iowa for references to Turner and the oilier members
of the Iowa Band mentioned here.

•"^Sam Gridley di<i not come to Iowa.

^Ephraim Adams (February — , 1818-Novembcr 30, 1907), born at New Ips-
wich, N. H., came to Iowa with the Band, preached at Mount Pleasant for one
vear, supplied in Burlington in July isii when Mr. Hutchinson returned East to
be married, went to Davenport where he remained eleven years and where* he
assisted in founding Iowa College, remove<l to Decorah where he preached for
fifteen years. For the following ten years he was superintendent of the Ameri-
can Home Missionary Society, the first year for the northern part of Iowa and
later for the entire state with headquarters in Waterloo. lie was pastor at
RIdora for six years and then moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a year to live
with his sons. He returned to Waterloo in 1889. Vid. Salter, The Old Peojtfe's
PsfUm and the Golden Wedding of the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Adams and ]Vife.
Burlington. 1895. Et The Decorah Repuldican. Decemwr 5, 1907.

SHarvey Adams (January 16, I8l8-Septeml>er 23. 1896) was born at Alstead,
N. H., came to Iowa with the Band, preached at Farmington, Council Bluffs,
returned to Farmington, went to New Hampton, and later Bowen's Prairie
where his active ministry closed in 1882.

«Alden B. Bobbins (February 18, 1817-December 27. 1896), born at Salem.
Mass., came to Iowa with the Band, and preached at Muscatine from 1813 to
1896.

7VVilliam B. Hammond did not come to Iowa.

SHorace Hutchinson (.August in, 1817-Marcli 7. 18i6). born at Sutton, Mass.,
came to Iowa with the Band, and preached at Burlington until his death. He
was the first of the Ban<l to die.

ojames J. Hill (May 29, 1815-October 29, 1870), Iwrn at Phinpshurg, Maine,
came to Iowa In isti after settling the estate of his father. His first churches
In Iowa were Garnavillo, Sodom and (;omorr:ih, of Clayton County where he
said the staple foo<l was "corn-dodgers, be-ir's meat and wild honey." Lnter
he had pastorates at Indiantown, Green Mountain, Genoa Bluffs, an<l Fnyette.
He also had churches at Albany and Savannah, Illinois, and at Blencoe and
Hutchinson, Minnesota. From 1H85 to 1H68 he was agent of the American Home
Missionary Association for Iowa. Kansas, and Minnesota.

••'Benjamin A. .Spaulding (June 20, 1815-March 31, 1867), Ijorn at Blllerica,
Mass., came to Iowa with the Band, settling near the later towns of Agency.
Oskaloosa, Eddyville. an<l Gttumwa. For several years he was missionary at
large. Of a communion season which he held in the old Indian Council House
at Agency, September 15, 181*, he wrote: "Here less than two years ago
savages were sitting and lying upon the floor, smoking their pipes and singing
Uieir .songs; now a congregation of Christians are celebrating the dying love
of their Redeemer." In April, 1851, he was called to the Ottumwa Church where
he remained for twelve years. Later, his health failing, he removed to Eau
Oaire, Wisconsin, for a year, and returned to Ottumwa as superintendent of
schools for Wapello County. He was the second of the Band to die. Vid. A
Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Rev. Benjamin A. Spauldinrf, Ottumwa,
Iowa. April 2, 1867, by Rev. William Salter.

iiEbenezer Alden, born at Randolph, Mass., came to Iowa with the Band,
settling at Solon. Tipton (with a church of three meml>ers) and returning in
1849 to New Engrland where he found a church in Marshfleld, Mass.

542 ANNALS OF IOWA

liealth const rained him to remain in the East. Hammond and Hill were
detained hv siekness. Thru the latter half of the summer term we had
a weekly prayer meeting in the south end of the Library to implore the
Divine direction.'- Our design was to establish the institution of the
Oospel with ail their hhvssed attendants of learning and refinement, and
social progress in this new country and underneath their healthful
shade to build up a goodly Commonwealth which should be a kingdom
of Christ and to His praise.

'i'he enterprise found favor with men and, I may not doubt with
(iod, for surely never did any undertaking enjoy more smiles from the
good or iind ['2\ all circumstances and events more w^orking together
to help forward its commencement.

I left home'" Oct. 1— visited Niagara, spent the Sabbath Oct. 8 in
lUiffalo'* in the family of Rev. A. T. Hopkins. His good family and
chureli comforted and strengthened us in our work.

Sailed for Chicago Oct. 9 at 4 P. M.'^ prof. Fost,^« who traveled
with us, is a man of fine strong i>owers of mind. He promises to accom-
plish much benefit for the Western Country. On Saturday 14th. jnst.
it became evident that we could not reach Chicago before Sabbath
morning and hence the question whether we should go ashore at Mil-
waukee Saturday night. I thought we .should be justifiable in going on.
Hut better counsels prevailed and I went ashore — made the acquaintance
of Rev'd Stephen Peet^ — and J. J. Wintcr[?] — the former the indus-
trious and laborious agent of the A. H. M. S. in Wiskonsan, on whom
has been the care of all the churches in that territory and who has
(h)ne much in bringing about the state of quiet safety and progress in
which the cause of Christ there is. He is a man of practical abilities —
of strong common sense — very plain [3] in manner and of great in-
fluence in Wiskonsan. Mr. Miter[?] (formerly of Knoxville, 111.) is
Pastor of Congregational Church — a student of Dr. Bcrraan and Mr.
Kirk. A faithful minister — a good speaker — of good popular talent,
and much respected.

Mr. Ruel M. Pearson, a New Haven student, traveled in our com-
j)any— is a very clever man, of strong natural good sense, amicable
by nature — of sound mind, and a man of promise. He comes West to
preach in Northern Illinois.

At Chicago Oct. 17. Saw Rev'd Mr. Bascom[?], he is plain in ap-
pearance, nothing prepossessing — but 1 should judge a man of prudence
and good sense, said to be a fine preacher.

J2The proup met on Tuesday eveninps in the library of tlie Andover Theo-
lof^ical Seminary wliere they were .*itu(lent*<. Vid. T. O. DouKlas>S The PUgrimi
of town (1911) Chap. IV, and Ephr:iim Adam.s. The lotm Baud (2nd ed.)
Chap. III.

i-'New York City. The place of meeting for the members of the Band
was at the Delevan House, a temperance hotel, at Albany. Salter did not
arrive there until the evening.

J^They went by train to Biiffalo. then the terminus of western railway trivel.

'•'On the stenmer Mismturi. They touched at Erie, Cleveland, Detroit, Macki-
naw, and on October II, Mr. Salter landed, after a rough voyage, at Milwaukee,
not wishing to travel on Sunday. On Monday, October 16, he took a boat for
Qiicago. arriving there the following day.

lORev. Truman Po.st. Vid. Salter, Sixty Years, Qiap. XXXIV.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" ' 5«

Rode to Burlinfcton in an open wngon.^'' Spent the Sabbath Oct. 22
in Galesburg and Knoxville. At latter place made the acquahitance of
Mr. CharlevoyI?] and family of daughters (friends of Brother Turner
and from Kinderhook) and his son in law Mr. West, and of Rev. Mr.
Cole who was a Princeton student in Seminary with Cyrus Mason,
Henry White and E. N. Kirk. Mr. Cole is of moderate abilities, a
moderate abolitionist — rather a stiff Presbyterian. His wife is a good
housekeeper.

Was much exilerated at sight of Mississippi river M<mday afternotm
Oct. 23rd.^* The thought of the destinies <»f men— immortal men — of
my country as connected with this great highway of the West— of the
u.se of this river more affected me than did the sight of Niagara. Cro>sed
to this territory Tuesday morning Oct. 24th. 184.3.^^. In Burlington
enjoyed the [4] hospitalities of Mr. J. CI. Kdwards and wife."" She
was a native of Portsmouth N. H., formerly resident in Boston. Dr.
Wisner considered [her] tmc of the most efficient members in his church.
She is a smart housekeeper, given to hospitality, nmch interested in the
church, of quick perception, close observation, large intelligence, and
great benevolence. The Church (Pres.) has been much divided, but the
field is promising and inviting. Visited Rev. Asa Turner Jr.-^ at Den-
mark Oct. 26. He has been a very laborious workman in the West.
Came to Quincy III. some 13 years since, organized many churches in
that neighborhiMKl — came to this territory some six years ago and has
had charge of the wliole territory — is a man of strong natural powers
of mind — of fiexibleness of character and consequent easiness of adapt-
ing himself to circumstances — ^lias great influence amcmg the people
which he has gained by identifying himself with them and sharing in
their privations and iqteresting himself in their interests.

With Brother K. B. Turner n)de over the Des Moines country. At
Farmington is a small church. Its principal members with whom I be-
came acquainted, are Mr. Houghton and brother, Scpiire Beckley and
wife. Saw Mr. Dulton|?] who has been preaching there this Summer
— who was abed with a fever and is rather discouraged. [.5| Rode West
thru Bonaparte, (i miles from Farmingtim, on the Des Moines. A thriv-
ing village, some 50 or 60 houses many of them jwiinted white — there
are mills on both sides of the River. To the mill at Farmington slaves
come from 30 or AO miles South in Missouri. Lexington two miles

i7Mr. Salter's {?roup. the brethren witli wives Koins to Dtivenport. 8e<'ured
transportation in the wagons of some Illinois farmers who had come to Ctiicago
to market their wheat, and were returnlnir to their farms with empty wagons.
The members of the Hand, with the ex^-eption of Alden H. Kol)bins and Daniel
Lane who were married and went to Davenport, iMiusdit cinvas wagon cover-
ings, provisions, and general supplies for the journey to Burlington in Cliictgo,
En route, they were able to purchase a meal of honey, milk, butter, and ^^ggs
for twelve and one-half cents. Vifi. Adams, <*;>. cit.. pp. H-a.

'"They left Galesburg. Illinois, early that morning.

i^Salter and Turner guarded the group's supplies on the Illinois side of the
Mississippi through tlie night, while the others crossed to Hurlingttm on the
evening of the 28rd.

'-'••rid. Philip D. Jordan, "The Life and Works of .Fames (lardiner Edwards'
in The Journal of the Illinois State Historiral Soriett/, Vol. XXIII, No. 3, Octo-
ber, 1980.

21 rw. George F. Magoun, Asa Turner and His Times, 1HH».

•■;

5U ANNALS OF IOWA

'■«■ . .

fartlier up the river presented a rather shabby appearance. At 1
jMirt called on Mr. Seth Richards (a brother of one of that :
firm Bacy[?| Richanh and Piatt New York) He and his fam
been shaking with the apie, his wife (a Miss Gardmen) from \
Mass. helped in raising the timbers of a mill belonging to a Mr
cock and Mr. Cotton. The raising was done on cold water pr
•10 or 50 rough looking fellows were present.

Found in a house here a sermon advertising Presbyterian d
thus scattered to work mischief. Rode on thru Columbus, wl
prrtty much run down, to Keosauque — |**V| the ride along
.Moines is a most beautiful one and will doubtless be taken for ]
after 30 years hence. We had some difficulty at times in keep
road and more scare than danger in crossing the river at nigh

At Keosaqua [/nV] found a home with Mr. Huddon an in'
gentleman from Indiana. His wife, a smart woman — original
Virginia then from Kentucky and Indiana. He is the only |
f()| the church there. Saw his son and Mr. Thompson who sta
Oct. 31 from Buchanan County where Mr. T. has bought 80 Ac
a mill privilege (m the Wapsipinicon. This is one place which
posed as the seat of the college which is to be established
territory.

Oct. 30. Rode West to Troy, Davis County. This is on the
the old purchase — many of the former inhabitants have move^
the new ])urchase. Of the church here which last year numb
members no less than 19 have moved awav to the New Pure
dined with Squire Sam'l Evans, has a claim on the N. P. a
preparing to move on to it. He is desirous of having what h
*'a stiff minister", i. e. smart. His cousin Squire Wm. Evam
efficient man in the church there. These Evans were from Ea
nessee and were used to good preaching there. I preached at K«
Rev. Mr. Bell was ])resent and offered prayer for me. He is t
influential and active Preacher of 0[ld] School Prcsbyterianisn
territory, and a moderately smart man, but rather too much oi
tarist. We rode from Trov to the Old Lac and fox Indian a
crossed the river two miles above lowaville — broke our axle
woods — were tumbled and detained — borrowed horses and rod<
hack, reached the [7| Indian farm about 9 P. M. Mr. Wilson
home. Next morning Oct. 3Lst. rode to the Agency House. S
Wilson, Mrs. Street, and their families. Mrs. S. from Tennes.see,
herland Presbyterian, has a **holy horror" of Abolition, has be<
afflicted lately by loss of husband and daughter — a little d(
Visited Wapello's— grave which is l>y the side of Gen. Street
upright ])ost is placed at his head on which are marked in re

'•J-'Cliief Wnpello (17S7-M.irch 15, 1842). Vid. Annals of Iowa, Thir
Vol. II, pp. fl36-n3M for hlopraphlcal sketch.

-•"•Oenernl .Fosepli M. Street, for many years Indian a^ent In the W'
AxNAi.H OF Iowa. Third Series, Vol. II. pp. si-io.'S for a hlosrniphicnl Rk<
a picture (faclnp p. 104) of the graves of General Street and Wi
Apency City.

/
I

SALTER'S •'MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 545

drawings of a decapitated and a decimated human body signifying that
the Chief had slain such and so in battle. Rode that afternoon in the
rain to Fairfield where enjoyed the hospitalities of Mrs. Reed. The
next day (Nov. II) to Denmark, where put up with Deacon Isaac Field
(from Salem St. Church Boston). He and his wife treated us with the
greatest cordiality and kindness. They made us at home. Mr. F. is a
very well informed Christian, a correct abolitionist. I was examined
for ordination, and ordained by Denmark Association, Sabbath, Nov. 5,
1843.-* Julius A. Reed preached a good popular sermon on the charac-
teristics of a good minister and Turner Jr. offered the ordaining prayer.

Monday morning Nov. 6 the brethren separated — some to the South —
some to the West — and others to the North — our parting [8] was sad,
yet hopeful — E. Adams to Mt. Pleasant, and Trenton in Henry Co.
H. Adams, Farmington. Alden, Johnson and Cedar Counties — Hutchin-
son, Burlington — Lane, Keosauqua, Robbins, Bloomington. Spaulding,
Wai>ello Co., Turner, Cascade. M. A. Thompson to Davis Co. These
locations were all agreed on tho' some of them not without protracted
or anxious thought, in peace and love. If the Pilgrims on board the
Speedwell could inscribe on the sails over their heads "God with us"
before they had crossed the perilous ocean — surely we liaving experi-
enced so much of the Divine Favor, can make the same inscription as
we set up our banners, being now in the place where we have so long
desired to be.

Came up the river^s on the **New Brazil", Cap't. Smith, a gentlemanly
and intelligent officer. Staid at Davenport with Rev. A. B. Hitchcock.
He was a Jacksonville and N. Haven student. Spent one night Nov. 9,
with Rev. O. Emerson of Clinton Co. He has been an untiring laborer
in the Gospel and has nearly worn himself out in journeying — he is well
fitted for this country, having a heart to bear all things — is liked among
the people. Reached this place^ Friday night Nov. 10. [9] Board
with Mr. Shaw,^' a gentleman who has seen much of the world and is a
man of intelligence. His wife is a most quiet — active and amiable
woman. Nov. 11. Called on Dr. Effin,^® a mile West of Mr. Shaw's, he
is from Pres. Church in Albany, 111., is gentlemanly and polite, rather
stiff in his opinions, to be managed by kindness and by never distinctly
opposing. Rode over to Andrew where preached in Court House on
the Sabbath — a log building not tight or comfortable in any respect.
Met there Rev. Mr. Littlefield from Apple River, IIJ. — has been holding

24Tlie memliera of the Band ordained were: E. B. Turner, William Salter,
E. Alden, Horace Hutchinfion, E. Adams, Daniel Lane, and B. A. Spiuldinf?.
The Rev. J. H. Reed preached the sermon from Acts 20:2H, and the Rev. Asa
Turner offered the ordaining prayer. Vid. Adams, op. cit.. Chap. VI.

s-'^The Mississippi.

WMiquoketa. It is located on the line l>etween South Fork and Maquoketa
townships, on sections 10, Maonoketa Township, 24-25 South Fork; it is 170
miles west of Chicago, 200 miles from Des Moines, and about midw^ay on a
straight line north and south between Davenport and Dubuque.

27John Shaw, of EUisburgh, New York, moved to Dubuque in iHSO.lo Bclle-
vue in 1840, and to Maquoketa on June 6, 1842. On November 0, 1885, he mar-
ried Miss Sophia Fiske, of Oxford, Mass., and Ellisburgh, New York. Mr. Shaw
died in 1858, and Mrs. Shaw in 1887.

S8pr. William H. Efner, or Effner. He had a son, Jerome.

5Ui ANNALS OF IOWA

a pnitracted meeting in Andrew, but at an unfortunate time as the
people were very busy petting in their corn — lie seems to be a faithful
minister and very faithful in visiting from house to house. In his
preaching and measures he is correctly styled by a Methodist woman—
**a Methodist Presbyterian". One member in the Methodist church there,
a Justice of the Peace, told me that in this country they received "with
open arms all ministers, no matter what their tenements were.'' This
was Mr. Hopkins rather a credulous superstitious and weak-minded
man- -at the same time a bigamist, having |10] a wife in Ohio and one
here. His declaration reminds me of the sermon of Mr. Shinn, a Metho-
dist preacher, whom I heard in Keosauqua the first Sabbath I was in
the territory. He told the people about what King Samuel said and did.

Last week on Thursday I took Hr. Turner sixteen miles West
toward his diocese. Yesterday had some 50 hearers. They were atten-
tive. The prospect of planting a church here does not seem verj' en-
couraging. There are within five and six miles on all sides surrounding
me but nine Professors of Religion, of Presbyterians (O. and X. S.)
and Congregationilists, and none of these seem much interested in this
undertaking but Mrs. Shaw and Dr. Eflfner. If the people could only
be united one good church might be build up. Be this the subject of
my prayers and the object of my labors.

Visited Mrs. Nimns[?] last week, member of a church in Alton — a
smart active woman, desirous of educating her children. Was formerly
a Baptist (her parents Presbyterians) her children have not been bap-
tized. Mr. Xinins-» was a Professor in New York but in his frequent
immigrations, first to New York, then to Illinois, and here has never
taken his c»ertificate of church |I1| membership. Met there Mr. Liver-
man"^*' wlu) lives in the first cabin North of Mr. Shaw's, an infidel tho
he onlv considers himself a I'niversalist. Sent him Baxter's call.'^
He comes to read it. Mr. Dorr,*^- of Krie Co. New York, commenced
t«*aching school here this day — he is engaged for 4 months, at 12 dollars
a month and board.

There has been a great deal of sickness (ague and bilious fever)
thru the territory this fall owing to the heavy frCvShlets in the spring
and early summer.

This has been a very wet fall. The people in the territory are much
poorer than ever before I have had any idea of.

In the upi^er part of the territory are more New England and New
York People than I found in the Southern part. Formerly in this
County were many desjierados, black legs and horse thieves, but since

'OEilel Nims. Mr. Salter's spelling differs, but NInifl is ffenerally used.

«^<'Prol)ably Abraham Livertnorc. His children. Julia, Abraham, and Laura,
attended the old so<l-covcred Maquoketa school in the winters of 1842-1844. Vid.
James W. Ellis, Historic of Jarkaon Counip, Iowa, 2 vols. (1910) Vol. I, p. 574.

31 Rev. Richard Baxter, A Call io fhe Unronverfed, with an introauctory
essay by Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D., New York. American Tract Society.
[18-.M

32Ebenezcr Dorr, who married the daughter of George Earle. He taught
two winters, 1848-1844. Vid. Ellis, op. cit., pp. 569-574.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 547

the mob at Bellevuc'*-'* thev have mostly cleared out. In the trial for
murder last year of the murder of a man** at Andrew, there were
several persons from the East on the Jury — when the murderer's lawyer
from Davenport came into Court and saw the character of the Jury —
"Ah," said he, *there are too many Eastern men for us/* And so [12]
it proved for that Jury brought in the murderer guilty and he was
executed. Not so sure of it that the Anglo-Saxon race is to build here
a good Common-Wealth as it is that if such a state do arise and shine
here the work will have to be done in the main by Novo Anglo-Saxon
men.

Saturday night Dec. 2. Here ends a hard week of labor, yet the
Lord has strengthened me. Have rode some 85 miles this week and
visited thirty families. Thursday Nov. 30 we observed a day of Thanks-
giving. Preached from Ps. 105 :L''*''* Sunday had a meeting of those who
will unite in forming the Church here. They were equally divided on
the question of the form of government. The Methodist Preacher on
this circuit (Mr. Walker)'^*'' has an unfortunate practice of using the
plural for the singular. Thus on last Sabbath he told the people here,
"Brethern, pray for each others goods, labor for each others goods."

Was encouraged by a prospect of forming a church about six miles
below Bellevue this Winter. Saw there Mrs. Reed. She was brought
up in the Episcopal Church. Her [13] husband (died in August) was
for twenty-five years an elder in a Presbyterian church in the North
of Ireland. They lived in this County two or three years, and saw but
one Presbvterian minister. He died and was buried uncomforted and
unhonored by any Clergyman.

Thursday Dec. 12. -Visited today ^fnl. Decker;'* one mile South of
Mr. McCloy's. Mr, and Mrs. I), are Baptists, experienced Religion
some eight years since in Western New York. Mr. D. united with the
Baptist church here. Mrs. D. refused to unite because the church re-
ceived those who trafficked in ardent spirits, viz. Mr. Taylor. Visited
Mr. Dunham, a native of Windsor, Berkshire Co., Mass. His grand-
father was a minister at Martha's Vinevard. Mr. D. moved to Southern
Illinois near Vandalia when a young man and has become a thorough
Sucker. Knew there Rev'd. Mr. Ellis, one of the founders of Illinois
College. Mr. E. was at his house frequently. Mr. D. lives a mile East
of Mr. Decker's. Was a widower with three or four children and mar-
ried a widow with as many — is a man of good natural powers of mind
not much improved— sceptical as to Divinity of Christ. |li] Visited

ysA long series of Bellevue crimes, coinmittcil by Brown's (rang, was lirought
to a close April 1, isjo, when forty citizens luulor the ooninvind of Colonel
Thomas Cox, after a gun fight, liroke up tlie g.ing. .Some were killed, others
whipped, and but few indicted. L'lter some pers<ms protested against this dis-
play of rough frontier justice, but in the main, the citizens <»f Bellemc ap-
proved this method of justice. Vid. Kills, op. rit., pp. 103-473.

'i^Joseph T. Jackson, who was tried an<l f(»und guilty In .Andrew <if the
murder of Xenophon Perkins, and hanged July l.'i, is 42. Vid. Kills, op. eit.,
pp. 223-227.

•■^•'•Psalms 105:1. O Give thanks unto the Lord; rdl upon his name: make
known his deeds among the people.

36Rev. John Walker.

37Mr8. Levi Decker.

54H ANNALS OF IOWA

vcstrrdHV Mr. Fairbrotlier,^ bee-keeper, he is awakened — has been a
careless man. Sabbath breaker, has kept bad company, but desires to
be and do better. Yet havinpc lived in much ignorance sees things as
yet darkly. The inconsistant lives of professors is a great stumbling
block in his way. Also visited Mr. Estabrook, a mile and a half North-
east of Mr. F. Mr. and Mrs. E. who were natives of New Hampshire,
but lived in Vermont. Mrs. E. brought up a Baptist. Mr. E. a Uni-
versal ist. They have a daughter, Laura, who has been sick and nearly
hrlph*ss from childhot)d. She professes sweet resignation to the Divine
Will, exercises patience and says her afflictions have weaned her from
earth and led her to seek the truth[?] in heaven. Appointed for her
benefit a meeting at her house, Jan. 2. Preached to lead her [to] the
Saint's Hest.

Hrothcrs Turner, Emerson, Robbins, and Mr. Hitchcock of Daven-
j>ort were here last week to form an Association for Northern Iowa.
I endeavored in adopting a Constitution to give the Association the
p:jwers of a Presbytery in accordance [15] with the plan of Union,
recommended by General Association of the Presbyterian Church, so
that the church here and others might come under its care — ^but Con-
gregational Counsels were too strong and bore rule. I, however, suc-
ceeded in accomplishing the results desired by inducing the association
to pass a Resolution to take Presbyterian churches under its care. Mr.
llolbrook and myself were appointed Committeemen to report at next
meeting on Catechitical Instruction.

The ministers preached to attentive audiences to as many as our
house could hold.

On Sabbath Dec. 10 the church was constituted. Dr. Effner and Mr.
Thomas Flathers set apart as Elders, to continue in office two years —
the little flock consisted of seven — the Lord's Supper administered.

Most every im])enitent man with whom I have conversed on Religion
sj>eaks of the inconsistent lives of church members.

Dec. 15. Br. Emerson preached here [the] 13th. on Repentance.
The evening was dark but some 30 present. Br. E. is native of Spring-
field, Mass. [16] His fath*»r, a deacon in Baptist church in North
Reading — was educated at Phillipp's Academy, Andover, (a beneficiary
of A[mcrican] Education Society), at Waterville College and I-ane
Seminary — his lungs are diseased, had a bad cough in the East of which
he is rid out here. Yet complained yesterday morning an hour before
day of severe pain in his side and expressed desire to get up thinking
that setting up would relieve him. He said he would get up and read.
1 got up and made him a fire and he obtained relief. He rides over too
great an extent of country. He thinks he might live longer by going
South, but said not to accomplish so much there and stays here.

Visited yesterday Mr. Wendall 2 miles South, he is a German,
brought up a Lutheran, baptized and confirmed — ^has been in America
20 years. Lived in Pennsylvania — ^lias not been connected with any

•wAlvin Falrbrother. Fid. Western Historical Company, The History of Jack-
son County, Iowa (1879), p. 644.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 549

church in this country — says he believes in Christianity. Loves money
too much, is a kind of pedlar. His wife was several years ago a Metho-
dist for 8 years, but being dissatisfied with some of the members and
unwilling to fellowship, she withdrew. Mr. Rathburn, her brother, is
a Professor (Methodist) in Penn.

Called on Mr. David Bently. His wife was a .smart woman — a large
family. Has been so much engrossed in this life that they think little
of the next. Mrs. Alfred Wright, a sister of Mr. Bentley, is [17 J a
clever woman. Called at Mr. Sam'l. Wright's, his father, who lives
with him, is 68 years old, an intelligent man, was trustee of the Pres-
byterian church in New York state. Thinks he is not good enough to
join the church. Called on Mrs. John Riggs — she was (also her hus-
band) brought up mainly in Presbyterian church in Western New York,
Ontario County — thinks she experienced religion about three years since
— her mind was led to contrition by the burning to death of a neighbor's
child. Has been careless since, says her husband, [who J was brought
up in I^yons, Wayne Co., N. Y. (gone this Winter to Arkansas and N.
Orleans) experienced Religion when aged 17. Called on Mr. Nimns.
His wife a sister of Mr. Goodenow.^®

Dec. 14 visited Miss Nickinson's**^ school, has 20 scholars — the furni-
ture of the room is little and uncomfortable — scholars backward. She
receives six dollars and board per month. Preached in the evening on
the nature and reason of the necessity and means of regeneration —
had 30 hearers. Am somewhat troubled for a room, cannot study —
there is no lumber to make or stove to warm, or room to be had — have
no opportunity for secret communion with God unless it be when I am
walking or riding alone over the country when the constant necessity
of resulting to expedient to keep warm prevents any steady devotion
of the mind to Divine things.

Dec. 16. Organized last evening a society for the support of the
church here. Mr. Flathers staid with me last night. He was a native
of Kentucky, moved to Craw fords ville, Indiana, could neither read nor
write when he was [18] 20 years old — had a desire for knowledge —
went to school and prepared for College — entered Wabash College with
the ministry in view, but this want of means was necessitated to give
up study.

Dec. 29. Monday of last week (18th.) went to Andrew and Deacon
Cotton's.** Thursday morning started off afoot thru the ravine South
West Deacon C's. Visited Mr. Smith on the West side of Farmer's
creek — he is from Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois, 7 miles West of

^John Elliott Goodenow (March 28, 1812-September 3, 1902) was later known
u the ^'Father of Maquokcta.'* Vid. Ellis, op, cit., pp. 351-352 el picture fucing
p. 848.

40Mi8S ^arcia Nickerson, cime to Jacksonville from Ticonderopra, New York,
with her parents on September 6, 1H42, at the age of nineteen. In 1846 she was
married to Dr. L. T. Hubliard. Vid. Ellis, op, cit.. Vol. II, pp. 227-228 for
bio^aphical sketch.

4iDeacon Samuel Cotton, a descendant of John Cotton, the first minister of
Boston. Mass. Mrs. Cotton was of the Bemis family, from "Bemis Heifthts,'*
Saratoi», New York. Their house was six miles nortli of Andrew. Vu!. Siilter,
Sixty Yean, p. 263.

650 ANNALS OF IOWA

Guleiiu on the Mississippi brought up u Baptist but prefers the Metho-
dist— the dissensions of Christians his excuse for neglecting Religion
- his house is 3 miles West of Mr. Sawtell's and 4 S. W. of Deacon Cs.
lie warned me of his next neighbor as an intemperant scoffing man, and
advised me not to speak with him on religious subjects lest I should
be put out of his house. 2 miles X. W. is Mr. Millsass[?]. He is from
Kentucky and Missouri. Found him in bed thru intoxication and sick-
ness— he was in a neighbor's one morning when a minister was present.
He used some profane expressions in speaking of the coldness of the
weather for which the clergjinan rebuked him when with an horrible
oath he threatened to throw him into the fire if he spoke another word.
I inquired my road and passed on. Mat. 1:6*^ Mr. Sind[?] is 3 miles
W. over a broken and romantic [19] country.

I stopped on my way thru Rocky Hollow to wonder at the rougbne^
and cumbrous and uncouth shapes of the rocks. Mr. S. was not at home
being up on the little Makoqueta at Sage's Mill.'**'* His wife a fine open
sociable and easy woman. They are Scotch. Mr. S. from church in
I.argo under care of Rev. Jas. Gardner. Mrs. S. from church in Levern
under ministry of Rev. George Brewster Jr. have been in America
some fifteen years, first in Pennsylvania when they were in Pord Carbon
and sat under the ministry of Dr. McCarter. Rev. Mr. Brewster, above
mentioned, is a brother of Sir David Brewster. Mrs. S. told me she
had heard Dr. Chalmers, Andrew Thompson and Edward Irving preach.
Mrs. S's father was a ruling elder, and she has a brother in law a
minister (Mr. Richardson). She loves a little Scotdi mirth and com-
plains that we discountenance love, singing and dancing. Has a large
log house unfloored in which I preached. Mr. S. has trouble about a
claim with Mr. Alexander, who lives a short distance North. Mr. A.
and his wife are members of the church in Dubuque. He is a carpenter
by trade and mostly away from home. They are Scotch people — have
an interesting family of children. Their two eldest daughters were at
school [20] of Sisters of Charity^* in Dubuque this summer. Mrs. S.
says there was no other school to which she could have sent her daugh-
ters, and what could I reply to this. The Scholars address their teachers
as **Sister'\ I mourn much over this strife about a claim between these
two families. They are the only Presbyterian families in that section,
for many miles and tliey divided. Returning to Deacon C's I waded
Farmer's creek taking off my boots and stockings, my feet were chilled
for the moment (Dec. 20) but I soon made them warm by running.

Dec. 21 saw Mr. Potter from Tete Des Morts, thinks he has ex-
perienced religion. Dec. 22 — found it very melancholy duty to attend
to a case in which the discipline of the church is required, Mrs. Van

42Matthew 7:6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
again and rend you.

^•'^For a description and discussion of Jackson County grist mills vid. Ellis,
op. r/f., pp. 855-359.

*4This school, as well as other Catholic organizations In the region, was
under the jurisdiction of the Rt. Rev. Mathuis Loras.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" fiSl

Dolan, 3 miles E. & N. of Mr. Bottenwultis[?] — acknowledges her guilt,
but is undecided whether to make a confession before the church. I fear
her heart is not right, but God is the judge. After long and painful
conversation she finally concluded to come before the church, acknowl-
edging and repenting her sin — prayed with her. Went to see her hus-
band at the saw mill — told him what I had done, he said if he had been
in the house he should have turned me out. I looked him in the face,
he seemed ashamed of his [21] threat and I told him I would call and
see his wife again. Evil communications corrupt good manners. I low
true is the family relation — he says if his wife makes a confession he
shall leave her. Called at Dr. Clark*s. Mrs. C. from N[ew] I^ondon
Co. Conn't. well brought up. Called on Mr. Macaulay, an ()[ld] S[choolJ
Presbyterian from North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
His wife from Kentucky. He is by trade a carpenter, by profession
a lawyer.

Called on Mrs. Glenn, next house W. of court house — brought up to
use tokens and tables at Lord's Supper, and thinks she cannot com-
mence without them — hope by kindness she may be one of them. John
(.1. Nealus called in while we were at supper. He is from ^30 miles W.
of Philadelphia, left home when 13 yrs. old with his parents consent —
now aged 17 — has a monomania of going over the whole world and then
writing a book like Peter Parley, Capt. (!ook and the like. Has a
wonderful memory, never forgets, and consequently does not need to
lake any pencillings by the way— he travels afoot— gatf» he never gets
lired for he knows how to travel — believer in Presbyterianism — his
father an Irish papist — knows a little I^atin and Greek and has learned
Ihe Hebrew alphabet from Ps. 119: — ^^ Rode to Bellevue from Mr.
Richard Cotton's*® (Dec. 23) in three hours and a quarter. Called at
Mr. Dyers'[?] a mile below Bellevue. Has been in the West 17 years —
In the mines — lived near Galena when there was but one or two houses
there — his was the first family which settled in Jackson Co. — origin-
ally from Ireland near Dublin where was in an Episcopal church —
now Methodists whom they joined because there was no other meeting
[of] a church in this county---his wife a smart intelligent [22] woman
— much of a lady in her manners and appearance — well read. Have a
fine family of sons, industrious, and most of them pious.

Preached in Bellevue to an attentive audience of 60. Mr. Walker has
been laboring thru the last fortnight and says he intends to convert
B[ellevue]. Found a very interesting audience assembled at Mr. Alex
Reed*s. I know not that anything has so much cheered me since I came
to this County as did my finding there some 50 waiting to hear the word
of the Lord — ^a thrill of exultation and of gratitude to God that there
were such here waiting for me. In B[ellevue] I saw Mr. Sharp, his
father in law is an Episcopal Minister and he a member of the Epis-
copal Church in Galena — is willing to unite in a Presbyterian church

^opsalms 119, beginning: Blessed are the undeflled In the way, who walk In
the law of the Lord.
MDeacoD Cotton's son.

552 ANNALS OF IOWA

in R[ellevue] and wished me to come and preach. Saw Mr. Holliday
who was of Church of Scotland — has a turning mill 2 miles below
H|ollrvu<»J, a well instructed Calvinist. Mr. Lewis, merchant in Blelle-
vue] expressed a readiness to contribute to my support if I would
preach in B[ellcvue]. Mr. Dyer says that when Mr. Kent came to
Galena there was no one there that sympathized with him or would
take him to their homes. He went to tavern and boarded. Consulted
with Mrs. l)|yer] as to what he had best do. She told him to go to
preaching.

Sunday evening walked in company with Mr. Robert Reed to Mr.
Nottington\s[?] house 3 miles W. up on the South side of the bottom
to see Robert Caldwell, aged about 21, dangerously sick of inflamma-
tion of the bowels. After my preaching at Alex Reed's a [23] brother
of the young man came to me, told me his brother was very sick and
desired me to come up that evening. It was a dark and disagreeable
night — found the young man in great distress. ... His mother and
sisters were sitting by — took my seat by his bed side, inquired as to
his pain and desired him to tell me the state of his mind. Said he was
a sinner and hardly dared to hope in the forgiveness of God, but
trusted in the Saviour and desired to be resigned to the will of the
Lord. He spoke with great grief and deep emotion of leaving his
parents, of his being among strangers in a strange land, 'and of his
having neglected in health preparation for death — his utterance was low
and indistinct. I inquired particularly in relation to the foundation of
his confidence which he declared to be J[esus} C[hrist] in relation to
his guilt and danger in having neglected religion which he now saw
to have been a great sin. I endeavored to fix his thoughts on the rock
of ages — his friends and himself had given up all expectations of re-
covery. I asked him what advice he would give to the young — he .said
to prepare for death.

I visited him again on Monday and regretted that if he is to die
I could not he nigh to close his eyes and perform the Christian rites
of burial, but my congregation called me to Bellevue, Andrew and this
place. He came to this county some two years since a rugged lad-
made a claim and has worked hard — had the fever last summer and
recovered, but imprudent exposure brought a relapse and inflammation
set in — he deprived of religious privileges became thoughtless. His
parents were pious and had instructed him aright. They came on this
fall (from Armstrong Co. Penn.). On his sick, and perhaps dying bed
their instructions lead him to Christ and give him peace and ho|)e.
() the value of Christian nurture. His parents were from N[orth] of
Ireland — have been in Penn. over 20 years. According to last accounts
I have from the young man he was exorting all who came to see him
[24] to repent and prepare for death now. O that his young com-
panions might hear and obey. Mr. David Young was at meetings — lie
is an Abolitionist from Penn. — prefers a Congregational Church. I trust
the Lord has sent him here to build up and bless society. Seems to
be a warm hearted man — some of his children ar« pious.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 563

Visited (Dec. 26) Gen'l Cubbage*^ 4 miles S. W. of Robert Reed^s—
came to the West in 1829 originally from Delaware (his wife's divorced
from him) was a sub Indian agent in Illinois — taken prisoner by Sac
Indians at their village on Rock River, condemned to death — they kept
him 8 months — he was ransomed by the Winnebagoes — has a mono-
mania of hating foreigners. Papists, and other Irish. Is of gentlemanly
appearance — spent some of my time with Mr. Robert Reed, a son of
Widow Reed, mentioned page 12 supra. An intelligent, clever young
man aged 26, amiable and kind and open hearted, full of sprightliness.
Was formerly deputy sheriff — had charge of Jackson.*® Says he kept
him mostly in a private house, Butterworth*s, without ban or bolts.
Mrs. Reed was very sick last fall, during her recovery she took great
delight in singing Ps. 116.*^ Her son Wm. is a likely young man, but
has not enjoyed good advantages in this county — Catherine a smart
and affectionate girl.

Two Papists (Mr. Kathaleen, Mr. Roach,) came to my preaching on
Sabbath after sermon is over. They had mistaken the [25] time. Mr.
K[athaleenJ had heard there had been a good sermon. He said to me
"he was develish sorry he had not come earlier for he wanted to hear
a good sermon.^' Dec. 26. Riding up to B[ellevue] I came by Mr.
Ilemington's. It was most night. It snowed and was very slippery.
I was in so much of a hurry that I had not time to get off my horse
und lead him — the path was very narrow and sideling. My horse
stumbled and threw me. I rolled right under him. He got up on his
legs but I was afraid to stir for fear I should frighten him and he step
on me, but I made a desperate effort and succeeded. Men never [ought J
to be in so much of a hurry as not to be prudent.

Spent a night with Mr. Garnel — he is from Pennsylvania — an abo-
litionist tho' rather ultra — his wife a Quakeress — his parents from Pais-
ley, Scotland and brought up in Pres. church. He is building a flouring
mill in company with Mr. Potter (a deist). The hypocrisy of professors
[is] his excuse for rejecting Religion and not professing Christ. Mrs.
Means, his sister, lost her husband this fall. She has three small bright
children.

Jan. 1, 1844. Thanks for mercies past and trust for days to come.
The year has commenced with a severe storm, so severe that 1 judge
it imprudent and unwise to ride to my appointment at county seat to-
night. This I much regret as it will be my first failure olfVmeeting my
appoint- 1 26] ments. I made the appointment because the Probate Court
and County Commissioners were to meet there this day and there would
he a gathering from different parts of the county — all my other even-
ings this week are engaged.

[To be continued]

^'General Gcorire Cabbage. He had been clerk to Felix St. Vrain, United
States agent for the Sacs and Foxes. He taught the first schocri in Dulmque,
was doorkeeper of the Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin Territory at Belmont,
1838, and was one of the commissioners to lay out Dubuque, Burlington, and
other towns, 1887-1838.

48Jo8eph T. Jackson. Vid, footnote S4.

^BPsalms 118, beginning: I love the Lord, because be hath heard my voice
and my supplications.

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

■OKPHEUSC." KING

In tile October issue of the Annals we published a 1r
pages 429 and 430, written by Captain Orlando C. How
Devall's filulT, Arkun.sas, datid August 25, 1864, and dire
Mrs. Howe at Newton, Iowa. Captain Howe was in frail
and the rigors of army life in that climate in the heat of s
had weakened him so he expected an early honorable dis
and a return home. His depleted finaneial resourees were <
him worry, so he wrote in this letter to his wife about tl
priety of their buying a small farm near Newton, and the

How do these suggestions strike vuu? Do not be in the leust t
If yuu liu nut like them, fur I merely think of thii^ thin^; and soi
think a huuse and tot would be us well. 1 mu.^l own that anoti
ployment is all tlie time dejiended some ufioa by me, that is "i
C." King if you ean stand a parody. And the mode I .ipeak ol
aid more than exclusive law business. Of course I would not like
as much openly, but anything to you.

The allusion to "Orpheus C." King was, especially
reader of today, a profound mystery. But a suggestion tha
was in the early 1860's a humorist with a name similar I
caused a search which produced a long forgotten and dus<
nnie which revealed what few of this generation know, thi
Kobert Henry Newell, a prolihe newspaper writer and bui
flourished in popularity somewhat similar to our Will Roj
today. In 1862, he published a .series of articles signing h
'Orpheus C. Kerr," a camouflage for •■Office Seeker." I
OrphfU» C. AVrr, published in New York in 1862, page :
curs this language :

Thus, my lioy, liave I answered your desire for an outline
personal history; and liencefortb let me devote my attention ti
and more important inhabitants of our distracted country. I
certain postmastership in my eye when 1 Arst came hither (Wash

EDITORIAL fi66

D. C.) ; but war's alarms indicate that I may do better as an amateur
hero. Yours iconodastically, Orpheus C. Kerr.

Evidently Captain and Mrs. Howe were familiar with Newell's
writings^ perhaps had enjoyed reading them together. The Cap-
tain recalling that his condition was similar to that expressed
by the humorist in the above lines^ found it easy to parody them
by changing "Kerr** to "King," making it Orpheus C. King, or
"Office Seeking.** In this subtle way he was conveying to Mrs.
Howe his secret hope that a public office might come his way,
and help them over their financial embarrassment. He evidently
did not want anyone else to know he harbored such a thought.
Captain Howe was much more diffident and modest about his
political ambitions than some others of that period, or even than
some of more recent times.

THE STATE BIRD OF IOWA

The Forty-fifth General Assembly in compliance with the
wishes of the Iowa Ornithological Union designated the beau-
tiful Eastern Goldfinch as the official bird of Iowa. On March
16, 1933, Representative J. Wilbur Dole of Jefferson County
introduced in the House (see House .Journal, page 821) the
following concurrent resolution:

IIOL'SE CoxcrRRKNT Rksolition' No. 22

Whereas, the Twenty-sixth General Assembly of the state of Iowa,
in the year 1897, by concurrent resolution, adopted the Wild Rose as
the state flower of Iowa, the record of which is duly recorded in the
Senate Journal, pa^^es 112-1' and ll(J4, and in the House Journal, ])age
1025; and

Whereas, many states have not only adopted certain named flowers
as their state flowers, but have also a<1opted certain named birds as
their state birds, and

Whereas, the Iowa Ornithological Union, an association com])rising
students and lovers of birds, residinp: within our state, at their annual
meeting held in Des Moines, Iowa, in May, 1932, by resolution and vote,
designated the Eastern Goldfinch as their choice for a state bird, and
recommended that said Eastern Goldfinch be adopted as the ofTicial
state bird of Iowa, therefore

Be It Resolved in the House of Representatives, the Senate concur-
ring, that the Eastern Goldfinch, Spinus trlstis tristis, is hereby desig-
nated and shall hereafter be officially known as the state bird of Iowa.

556 ANNAI3 OF IOWA

The resolution was laid over under the rule and called up
March 21 and was adopted. The same day it was messaged over
to the Senate. On March 22 Senator William Garden of Henry
County called up the resolution for consideration and moved its
adoption. The motion prevailed and the resolution was adopted.

This is a small yellow bird popularly known as the wild canary.
The male is bright yellow with black wings and tail and black
top of head ; the female is similarly marked^ but not so brilliant.
They are fairly common permanent residents in the southern part
of the state^ but less numerous in the north. They are often
seen in flocks in undulating flight.

LONGEST LEGISLATIVE SERVICE IN IOWA

Attention has been called recently as to who in the history of
the state has given longest service in the legislative branch of
our government. The summary below shows the interesting facts.

William Larrabee, afterward governor, was a member of the
Senate continuously from 1868 to 1886, or eighteen years.

David W. Kimberly of Davenport was a member of the House
of Representatives four years, 1915 to 1919, and of the Senate
sixteen years, 1919 to 1935, thus giving twenty years of con-
tinuous service in one or the other of the two branches.

John J., Wilson of Clinton was a member of the House of
Representatives four years, 1894 to 1898, and of the Senate
seventeen years, 1898 to 1915, giving twenty-one years of con-
tinuous service in one or the other branches.

No other legislator has equalled the length of service of any
one of these three members excepting Lemuel R. Bolter of Logan,
and he exceeded them, as he served in one or the other branch for
eleven assemblies, twenty-two years, but his service was not
continuous, and was between 1866 and 1902.

Senator Kimberly was re-elected last November and if he
serves his coming four-year term he will have completed twenty-
four vears of continuous service in one or the other chamber of
the assembly, and will exceed in length the service of any other
member.

EDITORIAL SS7

NOTABLE DEATHS

Walter Scott Atheabn was born at Marengo, Iowa, July 25, 1872,
and died in St. Louis, Missouri, November 13, 1934*, when in that city
on business. Burial was in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston, Massachu-
setts. His parents were Elisha S. and Susan £. Athearn. He was edu-
cated in public schools and early began teaching in country schoo!s.
His advanced education was secured at Drake University, Des Moines,
at the State University of Iowa, and at the University of Chicago. He
was principal of public schools at Delta, Iowa, 1894-99; assistant pro-
fessor of pedagogy at Drake University, 1900-04; editor of Midland
Schools, Des Moines, 1902-07; dean of Highland Park Normal College,
1906-09; professor of religious education at Drake University, 1909-16;
professor of religious education at Bostorn University, 1916-29; dean of
School of Religious Education and Social Service, 1918-29; president
of Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1931-33; and president of
Oklahoma City University from June, 1934, until his death. In 1919 he
was director of the American religious educational division survey de-
partment of the Interchurch World Movement. He delivered many
lectures and addresses on religious education and was the author of
The Church School, 1914; Religious Education and American Democ-
rarif, 1917; An Introduction to the Study of the Mind^ 1921, as well as
many other books, brochures and leaflets on similar subjects. While at
Drake University he established there one of the earliest religious edu-
cation libraries in this part of the country. He was a pioneer in re-
ligious education in this country and became one of its most outstand-
ing figures.

I^eMebtox E. CiisT was bom on a farm in Clarke County, Iowa, July
7, 1872, and died in Osceola May 1, 1934. He attended country public
school, taught school, studied law in the office of William B. Tallman of
Osceola, was admitted to the bar in 1894 and began practice in Osceola.
From 1898 until 1908 he was a partner of Mr. Tallman. For four years
he was city attorney of Osceola, and for four years was mayor. In 1910
he was elected representative and served in the Thirty-fourth General
Assembly. In 1912 he was elected senator from the Clarke-Warren
district, and served in the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth general assem-
blies. He was a Republican in politics, and was a member of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church. He was regarded as an able lawyer and a faith-
ful and efficient public officer.

PAirLiXE Gn'EX Swalm was bom at Dahlonega, Wapello County,
Iowa, in 1850, and died in Washington, D. C, November 13, 1934. She
was buried in Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines. Her parents, John H.
and Cynthia A. Given, removed their family to Des Moines in 1851.
Pauline was educated in the public schools of Des Moines and in Iowa
College, Grinnell (now Grinnell College), from which she was graduated

658 ANNALS OF IOWA

in 1871. She w«s associate editor of the Iowa State Register from 1871
to 1872, then published by Clarkson Brothers. On October 1, 1872, she
was married to Albert W. Swalin. From 187t to 1877 Mr. and Mrs.
Swalm jointly edited the Fort Dodge Messenger, and from 1880 to 1897
they jointly published and edited the Oskaloosa Herald, weekly and
daily. She was with Mr. Swalm in his consulship service at Montevideo,
rrajruay, 1897-1903; Southampton, England, 1903-19, and Hamilton,
Hermuda Islands, 1919-22. After Mr. Swalm's death in 1922 (sec
Annal8 of Iowa, Vol. \l\\ page 389) she lived most of the time with
her daughter, Mrs. Nina Swalm Reed at Washington, D. C. Mrs. Swalm
was a very talented and charming woman. Both as writer and public
sj)eaker she exhibited literary ability and the substantial qualities of a
well informed person. Among the subjects on which she spoke before
clubs, conventions, etc., were sociological and literary topics, news-
pa j>ers, on the citizenship of women, and on her experiences in foreign
countries. She was a force in supporting Charles Aldrich in founding
the Historical r)ej)artment of Iowa.

Matrick Cahhx was born in Fairfax, Iowa, June 24, 1888, and died
in Cedar Rapids, August li, 19'M'. Burial was in Mount Calvary Ceme-
tery, Cedar Rapids. He attended public school at Fairfax, was gradu-
ated from the Iowa College of Law, State University of Iowa, in 1910,
and the same year began j)ractice as a lawyer at Timber Lake, South
Dakota. In 1913 he removed to Cedar Rapids and opened a law office
there. He enlisted in the United States Naw Januarv 3, 1918, >vas a.s-
signed to the U. S. S. Trinidad as a gunner, and served from April 10
to November 22 on the high seas, making five. trips across the Atlantic.
He received an honorable discharge December 22, 1918, and returned to
his law practice in Cedar Rapids where he became the senior member
of the firm of Cahill, Boland & I lines. He early became identified with
the American Legion, was commander of his local post, was a member
of the State Fixecutive Committee, was a member of the national Execu-
tive Committee in 1925, and was state commander in 1930. He was
active in civic affairs and in politics, was the Democratic candidate for
count v attornev in 1920 and in 1922, was the Democratic candidate for
Congress from the Fifth District in 1928, losing to Cyrenus Cole, and
was a delegate from the Fifth District to the Democratic National
Convention in 1932.

Mathkw Nki.son N'oldkni; was born near Decorah, Iowa, January 21,
1863, and died at his home on the State Hospital grounds near Wood-
ward, October 21, 1931'. Burial was in Oak drove Cemetery, Independ-
ence. His parents were Nels Lars and Anna Mathia (Christian) Vol-
deng. He was graduated from Luther College, Decorah, with the degree
of A. B. in 1883, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Chicago, with the degree of M. D. in 1887. He was an assistant phy-
sician at the Independence State Hospital for Insane in 1888-95, was

EDITORIAL 569

professor of pathology In the Medical Department of Drake University,
Des Moines, In 1897-98, and of neurology and psychiatry in 1899-1902.
During part of this time he was in medical practice in Des Moines with
Dr. Eli Grimes. He was the first superintendent and director of the
new Cherokee State Hospital for Insane, serving from 1902 to 1915.
He aided greatly in planning and supervising construction of the new
State Hospital and Colony for Epileptics at Woodward and was its
first superintendent and director, serving from 1915 until his death.
He was a member of the American Medical Association, and of the
luwa State Medical Society, holding positions of honor and responsi-
bility in each, and being president of the Iowa society in 1910-11. He
was fitted by nature, talent, education and knowledge of science for the
many duties he assumed. His fine personal qualities and good adminis-
trative ability added to his qualifications.

Alva C Hobabt was born at Royalston, Wisconsin, July 26, 1860,
and died in Palo Alto, California, August 25, 1934. Burial was at Palo
Alto. His parents were Caleb E. P. and Eliza Ann (TIbbetts) Hobart,
who removed with their family to Cherokee, Iowa, in 1870. Alva C. was
graduated from the State University of Iowa in 1885, began the study
of law, was elected clerk of the District Court of Cherokee County in
1886 and served two years, was admitted to the bar in 1889, was elected
county attorney in 1890, was re-elected in 1892, serving four years. He
also served for some time as mayor of Cherokee. In 1895 he was elected
senator, was re-elected in 1899, and served in the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-
sixth Extra, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth general
assemblies. He took an active part in important legislation, being chair-
man in his last session of the Committee on Corporations. In 1900 he
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for at-
torney general of the state, losing in the state convention to Charles
W. Mullan. Not long thereafter he removed to Palo Alto where he re-
sumed the practice of law and participated actively in public affairs.
He served that city as mayor and occupied other positions of public
trust.

MABGARirr BiLLixosLEY MiLLS was born near the village of Glasgow,
Jeiferson County, Iowa, September 8, 1861, and died in Ottumwa Sep-
tember 30, 1934'. Burial was in the Glasgow Cemetery. Her parents
were Elijah and Prudence (Strong) Billingsley. She was graduated
from Howe's Academy, Mount Pleasant, in 1884, attended the State
University of Iowa, and received her M. D. degree from Northwestern
l^niversitv, Evanston, Illinois, in 1893. For more than thirtv vears she
was a practicing physician In Ottumwa, being associated in her profes-
sion with Dr. Alice Stark, and her husband. Dr. Frank W. Mills. She
served as city health officer of Ottumwa for four years, was active in
the work and support of the Y. W. C. A. of Ottumwa, was a lifelong
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was active in Its sup-

fi60 ANNALS OF IOWA

port, as well as in many phases of civil and welfare work. During the
World War her record as chairman of the women's division of tlie Lib-
erty I^oan drive was notable. Her name is one of those inscribed on
the bronse tablet in the Historical, Memorial and Art Building in Dcs
Moines in company with others in recognition of their services in the
cause of woman suffrage. Her life was one of service.

Edwik p. Healy was bom at Greenwich, Huron County, Ohio, No-
vember 30, 1853, and died in Britt, Iowa, August 21, 1934. His parents
were Abram and Phoebe C. (Warren) Healy. He lived on a farm until
fourteen years old, attended public school in the country, and later,
Oberlin College for a time, and night school in Cleveland. When seven-
teen years old he engaged as a brakeman on the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern Railroad, not long thereafter becoming a conductor. He re-
moved to New Hampton, Iowa, in 1876, learned telegraphy, and in 1879
became station agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
at Britt. He entered the banking business at Britt in 1890, organized
the Farmers Savings Bank, became its cashier, and followed banking
the most of his active business career. He was a member of the local
school board, and was a member of the Britt Town Council, holding
both positions several years. He was elected representative in 19'J0,
was re-elected in 1922, and served in the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and
Fortieth Extra general assemblies. In politics he was a Republican,
was reared a member of the Quaker church, but at Britt affiliated with
the Congregational church.

Edward Montgomf.iy McCall was born in Nevada, Iowa, August 30,
1873, and died in Fort Dodge October 28, 1934. Burial was at Nevada.
His parents were Thomas Clifton and Mary Abigail (Boynton) McCall.
He obtained his early education in the public schools of Nevada, took
one year in the preparatory department of Cornell College, Mount Ver-
non, three years in liberal arts in the State Agricultural College, Ames,
and was graduated from the Law Department of the State University
of Iowa in 1896. He began practice of the law at Nevada. He was
city attorney of Nevada two years, 1900 to 1902, and county attorney
of Story County four years, 1905 to 1909. In 1910 he joined with J. A.
Fitzpatrick in the law firm of Fitzpatrick & McCall. The fall of 19U
he was elected a judge of the Eleventh Judicial District and served ten
years, or until 1926, when he removed to Fort Dodge to become a memluT
of the firm of Helscll, McCall & Dolliver. When C. A. Helsell was
transferred to Chicago in the legal department of the Illinois Central
Railroad in January, 1934, Judge McCall was named district attorney
for the railroad.

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION fi67

times notices for a caucus were posted an hour or two before the
meeting, which was fixed at a time convenient for the powers that be,
knowing none others would be in attendan(!e; but the remedy ban not
proven all that we hoped for. But we can truthfully say **truth crushed
to earth shall rise again." If it does not rise it is fair to infer that it
laclced trutli, but it may require the efforts of a pioneer to cause it to
rise when clothed in better form.

Many who do not understand a proposition generally deny its value.
If it contains merit the pioneer will steadily advocate its virtues until
under the power of reasoning right will prevail. Those who opposed the
enactment of the primary can find little, if any, comfort at this day by
saying **I told you so"; but wc may with satisfaction look upon those
who offered constructive measures to overcome the evils with which we
were disgusted.

We do not care to return to the former unregulated method, but
should provide for a legalized caucus, safeguarded and ample oppor-
tunity given to every member of the respective parties to attend and
make known their choice of delegates. The delegates thus chosen for
the county convention to nominate candidates for county offices and elect
delegates to the state convention to nominate candidates for state offices,
and like procedure for district officers, in these times when by reason
of the depression the saving in expense would be a valuable asset worth
favorable consideration.

Some may say why devote our time to such measures? The ready
answer is found in the words of wisdom uttered by Franklin: "Leisure
is the time to do something useful."

As president of the Association I greet you and trust that in due
course of the splendid program prepared by our secretary you will
express yourself freely as of yore, remembering we have others, old and
young, who are ready, anxious and willing.

Short talks of a reminiscent nature were then made by former
Senator Frederick Eversmeyer, former Representative John C.
I)e Mar, former Senator Charles J. F'ulton, former Governor B.
F. Carroll, former Senator A. B. Funk, former Senator George
Cosson, former Judge J. H. Henderson, and former Representa-
tive E. J. Bradley. Mr. Bradley offered a resolution urging the
General Assembly to have replaced in future editions of the
Official Register the alphabetical list of names of all who have
served in the General Assembly in former sessions and moved its
adoption. Governor Carroll moved as a substitute that the presi-
dent and secretary of this association be directed to request the
secretary of state to replace the names of former members of the
General Assembly and also of former state officers in the next

Annals of Iowa

Vou XIX, No. 8 Des Moines, Iowa, April, 1935 Tiiiro Series

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION

By David C. Mott

The Pioneer Lawmakers Association of Iowa met in its twenty-
fourth biennial session in the Portrait Gallery of the Historical,
Memorial and Art Department, Des Moines, February 20, 1935.
President John T. Clarkson called the meeting to order at about
9:30 A. M. and asked the Reverend Percy M. Thomas, ])astor
of Friends Church, East Des Moines, to give the invocation, and
he spoke in part as follows:

INVOCATION BY THE REVEREND PERCY M. THOMAS

Almighty God, our gracious Heavenly Father, our hearts fill with
gratitude as we are caused to rememher the multitude of hlessings with
which thou hast surrounded us. As we contemplate the pleasant situa-
tion in which we find ourselves, living in this wonderful state in the
midst of the richest nation in the world, with every modern convenience
placed at our command, we are made to remember that other men have
labored and we have entered into their labors. "Truly the lines have
fallen to us in pleasant places.*'

Not only are we the beneficiaries of material blessings without number,
but we arc heirs to the noblest ideals that have ever motivated anv
people. Ideals forged on the anvil of pioneer living and in the white
heat of a simple yet unwavering faith in God. As we stand today in
this art gallery, whose walls are adorned with the portraits of those
who have served this their state in public life and have left behind a
record of faithfulness to their generation, we recall the words of St.
Paul, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, . . . and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us."

We would not pray, our Father, that the difiiculties and adversities
of this hour be removed, but we do pray that thou wouldst give to us
something of the courage, fearlessness, and faith of the pioneer men
and women who blazed the trails of human progress and achievement
into the Middle West. As we of this generation are matched against
this hour, give us grace and wisdom to .so order our lives and discharge
our duties that our children may honor us, as we seek to honor those
who are dead yet speak to us this day through their noble achievements.

564 ANNALS OF IOWA

We ask these favors in the name of our Lord and Master, Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Brigadier General Charles H. Grahl^ adjutant general, was

introduced and spoke as follows:

ADDRESS OF BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES H. GRAHL

Mr. Chairman, Members and Friends of the Pioneer Lawmakers As-
sociation: Governor Herring has requested me to extend to you his
genuine disappointment in being unable to welcome you this morning.
As I left his office a few moments ago he was in conference with mem-
bers of both houses of the legislature on matters of vital importance.
In view of the fact that many of you present are former legislators, I
am confident you will fully appreciate his situation.

I feel particularly honored to have been selected by the Governor to
represent him upon this occasion. It was my privilege to serve as a
page in the Senate during the Thirty-second and Thirty-third general
assemblies. The associations, the friendships, and the contacts I made
with legislators and public officials as a boy have been a constant in-
spiration to me. Many of the friends I made at that time have had a
direct bearing upon my life, and I consider that experience to have
been a real education.

On belmlf of our Governor, I wish to extend to all of you a most
cordial welcome, and I know it is his sincere wish that your meeting
here this morning, and your meeting this afternoon with the joint session
of the legislature will be a memorable one.

Former Speaker of the House, Joseph H. Anderson, was then
introduced to respond. Governor Herring not having been able
to be present and deliver his address of welcome in person, and
having sent a representative there to do it for him, the following
response to the Governor was therefore modified in its dlivery
to fit the situation that had arisen. It is here given as it would
have been delivered if the Governor had been present in person.

ADDRESS OF FORMER SPEAKER JOSEPH H. ANDERSON

Mr. Chairman, Pioneer Lawmakers, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Ex-
cellency Governor Herring: It is gracious of you. Governor, to come
over here to greet the Pioneer Lawmakers. It is pleasant to have our
presence recognized. It is nice of you to extol our virtues and to
acknowledge the par excellence of our services to the state. I am sure
you can sense the significance of our existence. I am equally certain
that any one who can sound the depths of our experience will also surelf
have got himself "a heart of wisdom."

Whether we stage our appearance and performance under the Golden
Dome of notoriety in a Republican era of prosperity or in the dark
ages of a depression, there is always the possible consolation that when

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 565

we go out with the tide of time, we will surely find our proper place
among the immortals. What that proper place may be I do not know.

Governor, there are a number of things for which you are to be com-
mended. May I pause to pay you just one simple sincere compliment.
I believe the people like you. Governor, because you seem to be so
utterly unafraid. You dare to think aloud and you dare to do things.
That quality alone covers a multitude of sins, if you have any.

I have in mind a man upon whose headstone I believe the historian
will write just one single sentence: ''They sought to impeach the War
Governor for the folly of his patriotism." That was the price he paid
for immortality. It is enough. No one will inquire further. I have in
mind another man too that I also love to think of as a friend. He too
knew the pain that malicious hatred can inflict upon him who would
stand between poverty and oppression. No one can rob either of his
place among those who will never be forgotten.

In a little while the veil will be drawn to reveal the portraits of these
men that will henceforth hang among those of other illustrious sons of
Iowa in this gallery of art.

Legislative investigations still seem to retain all the alluring and en-
ticing qualities and characteristics of old. Investigation designed for
intensive study of vital public problems is evidently an intelligent and
effective method of approach to remedial legislation. Investigation in-
volving the assumption and the exercise of judicial and executive func-
tions by a General Assembly is usually a total loss to the state. Investi-
gation designed as a factory for political munitions and war is de-
structive of good government. Here's hoping that investigations by this
General Assembly may be of a kind and character to promote sound,
sober, deliberative, constructive results.

Pioneer Lawmakers is an intriguing term, cleverly appropriated to
perpetuate our interest — and perhaps our importance. It implies almost
an unlimited historical horizon. When we qualified as members of this
Supreme Council of Pioneer Lawmakers, we were initiated into the great-
ness and grandeur that was once Rome. It is our ticket of admission to
all the mysteries of antiquity. We can hob-nob with the Solons of the
centuries. We can sit down with Moses and compare our Iowa Code
with his tablets of stone. In an argument I believe we could convince
Moses that we have a larger legislative vocabulary than he had and that
we can pass more numerous and complicated laws than he, whether they
mean anything or not. Of course, while we were sunning ourselves in
our own conceit on the Summit of Mount Sinai, some darn fool might
come along and tell us that Pioneer Lawmaker is only a glorified desig-
nation of a political has-been.

Now, Governor, if you choose to retain your present position in the
public service until you can qualify as a member of our Supreme
Council of Pioneer Lawmakers, I shall then come back and insist that
you give your own response to the governor. If my computations are
correct, you have only eighteen years left to serve.

see ANNALS OF IOWA

May I again express our appreciation of your courteous words of
welcome. Thank you!

Then followed the address of the president of the association,
former Senator John T. Clarkson of Albia^ who spoke in part
as follows:

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JOHN T. CLARKSON

Two years have passed since last we met in convention to renew
friendships and erase bitterness, if any, formed during the time when
as members of the Iowa General Assembly we rendered public service
in one branch of our state government.

It is a source of inspiration to see the splendid attendance at this
convention of the Pioneer Lawmakers Association, but I would not have
you infer timt the name means old has-beens, but rather in the sense
of preparing the way for another. Perhaps it may be truthfully said
of some of our members who are convinced that we not only prepared
the way but completed the job, leaving nothing further to be had or
done, except perhaps to do a little painting to cover the spots where
the heat of the battles left its mark.

He that as it may, those who fail to attend our conventions miss the
enjoyable phase of their past legislative experiences in that the many
words uttered, which then seemed mean and ofttimes hurt, have passed
away, the wounds healed over, and we revel in the pleasant recollection
of the many courtesies extended, and especially enjoy greeting the
fellow who predicted dire results if your measure became law, when
experience has proven they were mistaken.

I would not have you feel that reviewing the past is our primary
duty and obligation — far from it. With our past experience we owe a
duty to the people of our state to continue in the work of pioneering
that is paving the way for others, and we can do that work with far
greater freedom than as members of the General Assembly. Then we
were somewhat restricted by our Supreme Court, the guardians of our
Constitution. Now we defy them, as our bills are always constitutional,
and truthfully say "Your conscience is your constitution and guide.**

I note that the Supreme Court of recent date held that in passing
upon the constitutionality of a presumed law it is their duty to gn
behind the enrolled bill. This may be good law as applied to an act
passed by a body operating under restriction, but we function in the
realms of pure and unrestricted freedom and deny the power of any
other body to pass upon our laws. This, they cannot do if they would,
as our bills find a repository in the waste basket.

Speaking seriously, I present for your consideration the repeal of
what is known as the Primary Law; a law that imposes a heavy burden
upon the tax payer and the candidates. The law was enacted to correct
evils that were intolerable. Night club meetings were resolved into po-
litical caucuses to elect delegates to county and state conventions. Many

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 567

times notices for a caucus were posted an hour or two before the
meeting, which was fixed at a time convenient for the powers that be,
Icnowing none others would be in attendance; but the remedy has not
proven all that we hoped for. But we can truthfully say "truth crushed
to earth shall rise again." If it does not rise it is fair to infer that it
laclced truth, but it may require the efforts of a pioneer to cause it to
rise when clothed in better form.

Many who do not understand a proposition generally deny its value.
If it contains merit the pioneer will steadily advocate its virtues until
under the power of reasoning right will prevail. Those who opposed the
enactment of the primary can find little, if any, comfort at this day by
saying "I told you so"; but we may with satisfaction look upon those
who offered constructive measures to overcome the evils with which we
were disgusted.

Some may say why devote our time to such measures? The ready
answer is found in the words of wisdom uttered by Franklin: **Leisure
is the time to do something useful."

Short talks of a reminiscent nature were then made by former
Senator Frederick Eversmeyer, former Representative John C.
De Mar, former Senator Charles J. Fulton, former Governor B.
F. Carroll, former Senator A. B. Funk, former Senator George
Cosson, former Judge J. H. Henderson, and former Representa-
tive E. J. Bradley. Mr. Bradley offered a resolution urging the
General Assembly to have replaced in future editions of the
Official Register the alphabetical list of names of all who have
served in the General Assembly in former sesisions and moved its
adoption. Governor Carroll moved as a substitute that the presi-
dent and secretary of this association be directed to request the
secretary of state to replace the names of former members of the
General Assembly and also of former state officers in the next

568 ANNALS OP IOWA

edition of the Official Register. The motion to substitute carried
and the motion as substituted carried.

President Clarkson appointed as the Committee on Nomina-
tions the following members: A. B. Funk, Charles J. Fulton,
and John C. De Mar.

The association at this time participated with the Historical,
Memorial and Art Department in the installation of two por-
traits, one of former United States Circuit Judge William S.
Kenyon, and one of former Governor William L. Harding. Presi-
dent Clarkson turned the gavel over to Justice E. G. Albert,
member of the Board of Trustees of the Department, who de-
livered the following address:

ADDRESS OF JUSTICE E. G. ALBERT

When I view the beauties of BlashAeld's allegorical picture at the
head of the grand stairway in the Statehouse, marred only by the fact
that the driver is on the wrong side of the ox team, which is intended
to typify the old saying that "Westward the star of empire takes its
way," my mind reverts to our forebears who forded the Father of
Waters seeking a place where they could hew out their fortunes. They
were an adventurous class of people, rough and rugged in their ways,
but they became the nucleus of our present civilization. Amidst all the
surroundings of pioneer life, they fought against the bitter cold and
snows of the winter and the burning heat of the summer, seeking to
acquire the possession of a part of the earth that they could call their
own, from which they could wrestle a living and accumulate something
for their old age, and possibly accumulate sufficient of the world's goods
that the lives of their children should be less laborious than were their
forebears'. Possibly this was a mistaken notion, at least in the face of
the divine command, "In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy
bread." It was supposed that these forefathers laid a firm foundation
on which our civilization was to be built, and passed it on to us to
carry on. Do we appreciate the duties resting upon us to continue the
superstructure as was anticipated by our ancestors? We are now told
that many of the foundation stones thus laid by our forefathers, and
their notions of the accumulation of wealth for their old age and for
the benefit of their progeny, were mistaken ideas; that they are not
entitled to the same; that the accumulations, through their struggles
and thrift, shall be taken away from them and given to those who have
been less thrifty and saving. In the subduing of the virgin states by
our forefathers, one struggle was to dispose of the surface water on
these agricultural lands, to the end that there would be larger produc-
tivity. As I look back, even in my days, I can see the old-fashioned
ditching machine, drawn by four, eight, or twelve ox teams, through
the low and swampy land. Later a wave swept over northwestern Iowa

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 569

and, at an expense of millions of dollars and the loss of many farms
to the owners, or at least the creation of excessive burdens, the wet
part of the state was largely freed from surface water, thus bringing
into production more than a million acres of land. We are now told
that this was all a mistake, that we have too many productive acres,
and that the same must be reduced. We have had for many years a
State Agricultural College, rightly recognized as the outstanding insti-
tution in its line in the United States. It has devoted its purposes to
making two blades of grass grow where one grew before, and two stalks
of corn with a double size ear; not to make twt> hogs grow where one
grew before, but, by scientific feeding and care, to reduce the time and
the quantity of feed necessary to produce the finished product. We are
now advised that this also was a mistake. We have, at the expense of
the state, between fifteen and twenty thousand young people in our
colleges and universities, and we are educating in our public school
system, about five hundred and twenty-five thousand students, at an
expense of more than one-half of all the taxes paid to the state. Is it
{Kissible that this, also, is a mistake? When one views the condition of
our civilization at the present time and in the light of present condi-
tions, one can but wonder whether the stones in the foundation of our
civilization, which were thus laid by our forebears, are not being gradu-
ally swept away. The growth of civilization is slow; it is not a question
of months or years, but a question of decades and centuries. Any
theories founded on the bright and insidious sands of expediency are
bound to slow up, if not stop, the growth and progress. The student
of civilization is compelled to pause and wonder whether we are at a
stopping point in the growth of our civilization, and must reconstruct
and rebuild the foundation.

Through the generosity of the state, this department has been able
to accumulate this gallery of portraits. You will find here the portraits
of all the governors of the state of Iowa, from the territorial govern-
ment to the present administration. Arrangements have been made for
the painting of the portrait of the present governor, which will be taken
care of in due time. In addition, you will find the portraits of a number
of senators and representatives of this state in Congress, together with
those of men who have been outstanding in the history and development
of the state. The occasion causes an alarm at the door of memory. I
presume that there is no one present whose memory extends beyond the
time when Governor Kirkwood was the first war governor of Iowa.
You will see many faces here that are familiar to you, and many others
wliich are shrouded in the mists of time. I must confess to you that,
as to the artistry connected with these portraits, I know nothing. I have
no power to view these portraits from an artistic standpoint. When I
gaze upon Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and see the eyes which
appear to follow me around the room, the changing expressions aj)par-
entiy shown on the countenance, the .smile on one occasion, and the
cynical smile on another, I seem to feel that she is alive. This measures

670 ANNALS OF IOWA

my view of a portrait. When these two excellent portraits are pre-
sented to your view, and I look at them, I measure their value to me
by the same rule. My long and intimate acquaintance with both of
these men makes me wonder, when these portraits are in veiled and I
these men makes me wonder, when these portraits are unveiled and I
gaze upon them, are they of such character as that when I address them
as "Bill," and "Bill,'' as 1 have done on many occasions in the past,
they will look to me as though they are alive, or will they simply look
to me as a conglomeration of design, colors, canvas, and a gilded frame.

Miss Barbara Harding then unveiled the two portraits. Justice
Mitchell spoke as follows concerning Judge Kenjon:

ADDRESS OF JUSTICE RICHARD F. MITCHELL

When a boy in grade school in Fort Dodge, together with two of
my young companions I took French leave one afternoon and followed
the crowd to the court room in the old Federal Building. The room was
jammed. A murder trial — the most sensational in the history of the
county and that part of the state — was in progress, and as in this day,
so in that, murder trials attracted the attention of the people. Two
brothers were charged with the murder of their two neighbors over a
boundary line dispute. The State of Iowa was represented by its then
county attorney and as special prosecutor, the Honorable John F. Dun-
combe, known to the bench and the bar of this state as one of Iowa's
really great lawyers. The defendants were represented by Senator
Thomas D. Healy, and his distinguished brother, the Honorable M. F.
Healy. The presiding judge was a young man, hardly thirty, but, due
to his knowiedge of the law, his fairness in his rulings, and the dignified
manner in which he presided, he won the admiration of all that at-
tended, including the three members of the audience that were supposed
to be in school rather than in court.

That is my first impression of William S. Kenyon. From that time
on to the date of his death it was my privilege to respect his great
ability, to admire his progress in life, and to claim him as a friend.
When I graduated from law school, at his request it was my privilege
to work in his office in Washington, Judge Kenyon being at that time
a member of the United States Senate. And when, two years ago, I
was a candidate for the Supreme Court of Iowa, I received a letter
from him, written in longhand, in which he said, "I want you to know
that there are three absent-voters' ballots being sent from Maine, all
marked for you — Mrs. Kenyon's, my secretary's, and mine."

While Judge Kenyon was not born in Iowa, practically his entire life
was spent within the borders of this state, and the better part of it in
the service of the people of Iowa. At Grinnell College he received his
early education. Then to the University of Iowa for his legal training.
Returning to Fort Dodge after graduating, he started upon the prac-
tice of his chosen profession. At the age of twenty-five we find him
elected to the office of county attorney of Webster County, In which

572 ANNALS OF IOWA

position he served as prosecuting attorney for a period of four years.
He step|)ed from prosecuting attorney to judge of the District Court
of the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa. After two years as one of
the presiding judges of that district he resigned and re-entered the
practice of law at Fort Dodge. Stiortly thereafter he was appointed
district attorney of the Illinois Central Railroad, and within a few
year^ we find him as general counsel of that great system. In 1910 he
was ap]>ointed by President Taft as assistant to the attorney general
of the Ignited States in charge of the enforcement of the Hepburn
Hate Act and the Sherman Anti-trust Act, and while holding that office
he represented the government in litigation of national importance.
While still serving in the Department of Justice he was, in 1911, elected
by the General Assembly of Iowa United States senator to fill the
unexpired term of Senator Jonathan P. DoUiver. He was twice re-
elected as senator from Iowa and resigned from t)ie Senate in 1922,
when ap}x)inted by President Harding as judge of the Circuit Court of
Appeals fur the Eighth Circuit, which position he filled until the time
of his death in 1933. President Cooiidge tendered to him the pK>sition
of Secretary of the Navy, which position iie refused to accept. Presi-
dent Hoover appointed him a member of the Law Enforcement Com-
mission, of which the Hon. George W. Wiclcersham was chairman^ and
for months there was added to the many duties of his office the arduous
labor incident to that commission. Many times he was prominently
S])oken of as a candidate for vice president, and president of the United
States.

This, in brief, is a short record of a man of remarlcable industry,
energy and capacity, who cheerfully gave the best that was in him to
the labors and duties of whatever taslc he undertoolc His great mind
served with intelligence and comprehension the rights and wants of the
people and his big heart drove him on and on to accomplish something
in their behalf. He had a fine instinct of justice, and in attempting
to secure it for the multitudes of his country, he bore upon his own
shoulders the burden which injustice had imposed upon others. He was
nn apostle of progressive political thinking in this state, and an earnest
advocate of the causes which he championed. As United States senator
he labored in Washington in behalf of the common people of his state
and country. Here was one of the most untiring defenders of the masses.
His whole effort in Congress was devoted to the cause of social justice,
for as a senator he fully realized the injustices suffered by the people
because of their exploitation by the privileged classes. He was one of
the first real statesmen of America to be lined up on the side of hu-
manity in its perpetual conflict with privilege. Possessed of a powerful
intellect and a great, human heart, he fought year after year for the
forgotten man, woman and child of his time.

At the time of his resignation from the United States Senate in
1922 to accept the appointment on the United States Circuit Court of
Appeals, .second in authority and power only to the United States Su-

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 573

preme Court, critics of Judge Kenyon — and like all men of prominence
he had his critics — charged him with leaving the field of battle for the
quiet, peace and dignity of the court. To these accusations — and some
of them found their way into public print — Judge Kenyon made no
public response, but with his intimate friends he did not hesitate to
discuss this matter frankly and candidly as was his custom. "They say
I am deserting the field of battle," Kenyon told his friends, "that I am
running away from the fight to the solitude and calm of the court. I
do not feel that way about it. In fact, I believe that I am but leaving
a minor engagement to enter what is destined to be the greatest battle-
field in the history of the American Republic. I am convinced the time
is rapidly approaching when the whole question of the preservation of
American liberty and constitutional government will be fought in the
courts, when the courts will be our safeguard against the overthrow
of the American concept of government as handed down to us by the
Fathers of the Republic." Remember that Judge Kenyon made this
statement some ten or twelve years ago. I am not suggesting that the
time he feared has actually arrived, but that there was much farsighted-
ness in his remarks cannot be questioned. Bear in mind that Judge
Kenyon was a Liberal, in the very best sense of the word. He brought
to the bench all the human qualities, the tenderness, the consideration,
the passion for fair play, that he possessed as an individual, and which
endeared him so to those of us whose privilege it was to know him
intimately. A wise judge, skilled in the law, and yet ever the human
being. And so, when Judge Kenyon talked about the preservation of
the constitutional government and the great struggle facing the courts,
he was not by any manner or means echoing the philosophy of those
reactionary individuals who can do no more than blindly follow rules
laid down by men long since dead. But as Judge Kenyon was ever the
human judge, never hesitating to evoke the rule of common sense in
his judicial opinions, nevertheless he realized that the fundamental prin-
ciples of our constitutional system of government must be maintained
at all hazards, lest in loosening one brick the whole structure tumble
down. He knew that scoundrels can wear the mask of liberals. He
knew that expediency must be considered but that it must be measured
carefully, else for the apparent advantage of the moment we bring on
ourselves far greater ills than those from which we tried to escape.
Such was Kenyon's intelligent liberalism.

Much has happened in the world since Judge Kenyon took his place
on the federal bench. Autocracy under the guise of dictatorship pre-
vails in nuiny countries. Liberty and freedom are forgotten words in
these countries. In the throes of the greatest economic depression in
history, the United States carries on, our great governmental institu-
tions standing as erect as ever, and the constitutional rights of our
citizens have been maintained. For the continuation of this happy situa-
tion we must look, and I believe with perfect confidence, to our courts.
Great questions are before the courts today, probably the greatest in

574 ANNALS OF IOWA

the history of the American judiciary, carrying out to some extent the
prophecy of Judge Kenyon of a dozen years ago. In meeting these
great issues, we can have perfect faith that the courts will decide for
the best, facing situations that exist and at the same time doing so
without weakening our constitutional principles of government. Such is
the gloriou«« record of our judiciary. One can only regret that Judge
Kenyon was not spared a few years longer, so that his great and noble
mind could have participated in the framing of these historic decisions.

And so, as we meet here today in this building, dedicated to the
history of Iowa — and truly, the history of Iowa is the history of her
great men — as we recall his record as prosecuting attorney, as district
judge, as assistant attorney general of the United States, as United
States senator, as judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and as
wc think that in these public positions which he held, he contacted all
sorts and conditions of men — the good and the bad, the virtuous and
the vicious, the educated and the unlettered, the rich and the poor, the
honored and the obscure — and as we remember, in the words of ex-
Goovernor Kendall, this man, after forty years of public service, emerged
"unsoiled and unspoiled,'' truly, his portrait should hang upon the walls
of this Historical Building that it may be an inspiration to the men
and women of tomorrow who will be charged with carrying on the
good work that Judge Kenyon has rendered the state of Iowa.

1 have the privilege to present to this Historical Department, the por-
trait of Judge William S. Kenyon.

Former .Justice Truman S. Stevens spoke as follows concern-
ing Governor Harding:

ADDRESS OF FORMER JUSTICE TRUMAN S. STEVENS

We arc assembled in this wonderful portrait gallery in the midst of
faces typifying the greatness of Iowa's citizenship. Here are gathered
the faces of the brave and mighty heroes and heroines of each past and
succeeding generation. We can feel the spirit of the pioneers and the
builders of the decade in which they and their successors wrought,
hovering over us. Men and women — toilers and leaders, compatriots all.
Imbued with the same spirit, animated by the same purpose, inspired
by the same hoj>e they transformed the wilderness into homes, villages
and prosperous cities. Each succeeding generation with renewed faith
and determination took up and carried forward the task of building
and equipping a commonwealth.

Forward has ever been the watchword, and the march has not and
never will halt. This great gathering of portraits constitutes and pre-
sents an illustration of our beginnings and of our progress as the
builders of a great and enduring commonwealth.

No state, no nation ever reaches the point of greatest usefulness
without leaders — men and women gifted with high character, under-
standing and vision — men and women who comprehend and understand
the spirit, purpose and mission of their followers.

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 575

lliis commonwealth was builded and brought to its present greatness
by the unbroken unity of all classes, leaders, masters at the arts of
government and culture, leaders of heroic mould, high holy purpose,
with visions ever widening to survey the expanding horiaton.

Organized society must go forward or ultimately perish. If there is
no progress stagnation must result. The character of every great move-
ment is typified by its leaders. In them the masses center their hopes.

Here are gathered the portraits of a host of our great leaders — men
and women of sublime faith in the eternal, of undaunted courage —
men and women who believe in the highest and best — in justice, in hu-
manity, in righteousness and in liberty.

Although they have passed from the stage of human action and rest
from their labors, they remain and continue to be leaders. The history
of their lives, of their sacrifices and devotion arc written upon every
page.

They can never die; as the procession moves on, in the hearts of our
peoi)le they still lead.

Such an one of the great leaders and teachers of the past was Wil-
liam Lloyd Harding. His portrait just unveiled by his own lovely
daughter richly belongs in this gallery of Iowa's great and noble. Born
to the soil which he cultivated in his youth he became strong in body
and mind. Gifted with vision and ambition he saw far beyond the con-
fines of his rustic surroundings and longed to enter a field of broader
and greater possibilities. He sought and obtained an education. He
entered the profession of the law. He quickly obtained rccoprnition in
his chosen profession for which his talents so ably fitted him. The
humdrum of his profession did not however satisfy his desire for a
wider and more useful field of endeavor. He sought the political arena.
He became a candidate and was elected to the state legislature. Re-
elected again and again he came into new activities, visioned new and
wider horizons. His growing convictions, understanding and ambition
drove him forward; he sought higher and wider recognition by his
f(»llowers and became lieutenant governor, and then governor of his
native state. In each of the stations filled he displayed the qualities of
leadership that gave him the high place he filled in the affairs of our
commonwealth. His terms as governor covered the period of the World
War. His natural talents, his quick perception of public problems, his
keen understanding of the complexities fitted him better, far better,
than his fellows to discharge the onerous duties of this period. He was
patriotic, patient, farseeing, capable. He possessed the ability to ana-
Ivze and construct. He was a builder.

Time does not permit a review of his achievements. They are written
imperishably in the history of his time. I prefer to speak of his per-
sonal and public qualities, of the spirit that animated his great career.
He loved his state and his country. He no sooner comprehended the
problems of the hour than he offered some constructive solution thereof.
He was a natural public speaker. His power of clear and comprehensive

57G ANNALS OF IOWA

statement was marvelous. He made his hearers understand. As a cam-
paigner for his party he had no rival. He was more than a great cam-
paigner, he was an administrator of public affairs. What he promised
to his constituents he sought with great scruples and ability to perform.
His eye was on the future. His part in public life was to continue and
ever push forward the building of our commonwealth; he saw no place
to halt. His answer to his followers, to the ever restless throng was
always a promise of the future. Yet he left no task of today unper-
formed. His culture was of the mind and heart. He was sincere, honest
and ever faithful. Fidelity to every public trust was to him a solemn
duty.

Brilliant, ambitious, patriotic, farseeing, he quickly won his way into
public confidence. He filled a large niche in the affairs of his genera-
tion. PI is usefulness continued to the last — ^he fell in battle, in the
advocacy of a cause in which he believed with all the intensity of his
nature. He could not falter; his broken health did not deter him. To
(he last he was the public servant and benefactor. He was indeed a
great leader of men. The history of his career, of his part in building
and serving his commonwealth, can never perish and will loom high in
its history.

He has joined the men and women of the past who wrought before
or with him in the building of an empire. It is appropriate that we
today in this presence and in the light of his achievements place
his portrait in this galaxy of the immortals. It is with pride and
pleasure that I now tender this magnificent portrait of our illustrious
friend and leader to this Department to be preserved and kept for the
generations to come. With the close of this ceremony his portrait will
help tell the story of his part in the achievements of our state, and
enlist him in the ever growing procession of our beloved men and women
wht3 shall forever inspire and beckon us forward.

ADDRESS OF ACCEPTANCE BY CURATOR EDGAR R. HARLAN

It remains for mc to express the pleasure of this institution in
having the Pioneer Lawmakers Association our guest in its twenty-
fourth biennial session.

It has been in other recent years our guest. Earlier, when Charles
A Id rich was an active member, it approved his purpose of creating
here a formal repository for materials produced in the service of your
membership in previous times, saved then and to be preserved always
thereafter.

We are here in the inspiring presence and amongst the spirits of
lawmakers of Iowa of the past ninety-eight years. If we are not dumb
we will be inspired with their thought and purpose for as many scores
of years in future.

Today in this program we are formally adding to these deposits,
the portraits of two great figures in Iowa lawmaking history. It is
becoming in us that we study in portraiture their faces, now that they
are gone, among the faces they and you were familiar with; study the

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 577

laws thej made, interpretations they wrote. Their labors, as labors of
your own, my friends, and the scores of Iowa public citizens, are not
lost, at least not yet. Those records are under this roof and shall so
remain until their and your own foresight in providing the means, be
not continued and not sustained in the policy of Iowa.

It has concerned some of you that this structure may not be fully
passed on to the next generation in all the service it now performs;
that these grounds may be in part devoted to less sacred but more
"practical" use; that the adjacent ground may be used to "enlarge"
this building, but for current office or other uses.

I remind you, in whose hands repose the moral trust, that your
appropriations of the public funds, for erecting this temple to receive
these original materials, and thereafter to support the functions of
their administration, began in the administration of Horace Boies; were
followed in that of Leslie M. Shaw, and afterward from time to time
up to and during the administration of William L. Harding; that in
Shaw's administration the cornerstone of this very structure was laid,
and with his participation. John A. Kasson, in a memorable address,
cast the public mind of Iowa in the direction of preserving the original
evidence, from which may always be retrieved, if a modicum of brains
be used, the facts of Iowa in its origin, in evolution and in its arrival
at a fruition through the devoted labor of all pioneers. Afterwards,
in the first administration of George W. Clarke, was passed Chapter 14,
of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly. It corrected and completed the
Capitol grounds. That had been recommended, in principle, by his prede-
cessors Carroll, Garst, Cummins and Larrabee. Section 3 of the Act
provided the plan for such corrected and completed grounds ". . . in
accordance with the plan covering said extended grounds as contem-
plated herein, submitted as the *Allison Memorial Commission plan,'
now on file in the office of the secretary of state . . .," etc., etc. That
plan for the grounds was drawn, submitted to and reccive<l the full
approbation of all concerned, including that of the mind of General
Grenville M. Dodge. Zeal increased for the plan because it provided for
the long future. Governor Clarke and General Dodge directed Emanuel
L. Masqueray, architect of the plan, marking upon it not only the site
of the Capitol and of this building as they already stood, but indicating
that the ground lying immediately to the north, "future Historical
Building." By the same method it placed elsewhere the "future Su-
preme Court Building" and "future Office Building." It follows then
in your implied trust to say whether, if not when, the General Assembly
shall comply.

But we bow to an emergency which commands "not now." I also
am of the stock which gave you to Iowa. We were not lawmakers as
were you and all these men (the gallery) here portrayed. We have
been liberal contributors to Iowa census rolls, modest and persistent
payers of Iowa taxes and evaders of jails and chain gangs your laws
have authorized, these eighty years. You, like they, come but two or

678 ANNALS OF IOWA

three generations from those lands and landmarks of prudence and
heard **In bad times build barns; in good times, houses; in all times
shun debt''; 'Two and two malce four; work and thrift alone makes
more," and "Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee."

This is a time when wisdom would save — save opportunity as well
as money resources that you yourselves provided. It came cost free to
the present generation to have and have aiwayt in hands and hearts of
those who love our state; who keep the soul and spirit of these good
citizens who observe and who inspire us.

Thus I feel it is mine now to speak more than a welcome to the pio-
neers and all they represent; a welcome to my superiors — ^my Board
of Trustees, in the persons of our chairman and that of our sponsor
of the Kenyon portrait; and no less also of him who speaks with such
eloquence and great appreciation of the Harding canvas; to her whose
gentle hand unveiled these new arrivals in this galaxy of Iowa*8 great.

Soon thereafter the meeting dispersed and the members assem-
bled at tables in the basement of Capitol Hill Chureb of Christ
for lunch. During lunch A. B. Funk reported on behalf of the
Nominating Committee the following for officers for the coming
biennium:

President, Emory H. English^ Des Moines.

Vice president, Aaron V. Proud foot, Indianola.

Secretary, David C. Mott, Des Moines.

District vice presidents: First District, Charles J. Fulton,
Fairfield; Second District, H. C. Lounsberry, Marshalltown ;
Third District, N. W. Bebee, Hampton; Fourth District, R. J.
Bixby, Edgewood; Fifth District, Ralph Sherman, Grinnell;
Sixth District, B. F. Carroll, Des Moines; Seventh District,
George W. Van Camp, Greenfield; Eighth District, Joseph H.
Anderson, Thompson; Ninth District, Robert Hunter, Sioux City.
The report was adopted and the above gentlemen were declared
elected.

Immediately after lunch the members assembled on the second
floor of the Capitol and at 2 P. M. were escorted to seats in the
House Chamber where the senators and representatives were in
joint session. President pro tem H. L. Irvin presiding. Senator
L. T. Shangle was recognized and spoke as follows:

ADDRESS OF SENATOR L. T. SHANGLE

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Pioneer Lawmakers
Association: We all feel honored in having you with us today in this
twenty-fourth session of your biennial reunion and in being permitted

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 579

to have a part in this celebration which means so much to you in this
happy renewal of old and cherished associations. It is my pleasant duty
in behalf of the Senate to give audible expression to that kindly wel-
come we feel for you in all our hearts.

The word "welcome" is one of the sweetest and pleasantest words in
the English language, but it is sweet and pleasant only because of the
sentiment that lies back of it. If it comes from a heart filled with real
kindness, it will excite in the recipient some of the finest emotions known
to the human heart. It is in that spirit and that spirit alone that I here
and now bid you "well come" or "welcome."

To simply say you are welcome were superfluous, but just how wel-
come are you. "You are as welcome as good tidings after distressing
fears." And welcome as fresh showers to the dry and parched earth
after such a drouth as we had last summer.

My own life has fallen far enough into the sere and yellow leaf that
I have some personal appreciation of the universal respect we have for
the gray hairs that betoken old age. By common consent gray hairs are
a crown of glory: the only object of respect that never can and never
does excite envy. We all venerate old age; we love not the man who
can look without emotion upon the sunset of life when the dusk of even-
ing begins to gather over the watery eye and faltering step, and the
shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.

Your active days are over. You have reached that period in life
when you can say with Goldsmith:

"Oh blest retirement, friend to IJfe's decline,
Retreat from cares, that never must be mine.
How blest is he who crowns in shades like these,
A youth of labor with an age of ease."

With heads silvered o'er with the gray hairs that the poet has been
pleased to call "death's blossoms," it is your happy privilege to revisit
the scenes of your former triumphs and live over again those sturdy
battles where in the clash of mind with mind, and opinion with opinion,
you hammered out upon the anvil of Truth that wise and beneficent
legislation that laid broad and deep those sure foundations upon which
our great state was built and that have made her second to none in all
that makes for a happy, a contented, and a prosperous citizenry.

In that return may you meet with nothing but joy and pleasure and
that happy appreciation of reward for service well done that is so justly
your due.

And now, venerable men, may that Providence that has bounteously
lengthened your days that you might behold this joyous occasion, con-
tinue to be gracious unto you and continue to grant to us, your suc-
cessors and your countrj'men, the proud and happy privilege of meet-
ing you here and in the name of the state thank you for your patriotic
services that have so enriched our people.

Whether a man is rich or poor depends more upon what he is than
upon what he has.

5K0 ANNALS OF IOWA

Our grand old state of Iowa is rich by both what she is and by what
slie has, to both of which, by your patriotic services, you have largely
contributed. May our joy in you and your joy in us never be less.

"Welcome ever smiles and Farewell goes out sighing.*' So with a
Hail and Farewell, I greet you. A smile of welcome and a tear for that
farewell so soon to follow. Let me add this parting wish: When your
little day of life on earth shall end, as end some time it must, may you
each and all behold a glorious sunset. I don^t know whether this ad-
dress is more of a how-de-do or a good-by.

Representative Arch W. McFarlane gave the following ad-
dress of welcome on the part of the House:

Mr. President and Members of the Pioneer Lawmakers Association:
It is with profound pleasure that I bespeak the sentiments of every
member of this assembly, in extending to the Pioneer Lawmakers of
Iowa a heart V welcome home. To vou who have labored here in the davs
gone by, I can only say that you played your parts well, and have con-
tributed in no small degree to the upholding of one of the leading com-
monwealths of the nation.

Your conception of governmental institutions was in accord with
those of the great George Washington, whose natal day we celebrate
this week, and the founders of this republic. You kept in mind the
fundamental principles of government, with a keen sense of right and
wrong. You asked no special favors from the state or nation, only the
protection of liberties and property, and the guarantee of an equal
opportunity and chance in the race of life.

Your triumphs come to us as an obligation, and your unstinted sacri-
fices Invoke our pledge of devotion to the responsibilities of our time.
To you we pay our tribute of praise and appreciation, as we accept
the burdens of the tasks unfinished and seek to carry on.

I^et us also admonish those who shall rise to fill our places in the
long line of generations yet to come, to follow in the footsteps of the
Pioneer Lawmakers — the Old Dealers of Iowa — and be glided by your
precepts, and governed by your examples. Your advice and counsel is
valuable to the members of this assembly, and we bid you welcome
today and every day.

President pro tem Irvin then introduced President Clarkson,
who spoke briefly and introduced former Senator Aaron V.
Proud foot, who delivered the main address, which was as follows:

ADDRESS OF FORMER SENATOR AARON V. PROUDFOOT

Leoislattve axd PoLniCAL Rrmikiscence

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Forty-sixth General Assembly, Pio-
neers and Citizens: As a former legislator in the Thirty-third, Thirty-
fourth, Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth general assemblies, together
with two or three extra sessions, and now numbered among the pioneer

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 581

lawmakers of the state, I greet you one and all with an open heart and
hearty hands. And speaking for your predecessors who are present, and
who ere long will contemplate the time which the poet refers to as the
"sere and yellow leaf," and entertaining, I trust, a proper degree of
sympathy and understanding, I salute the Forty-sixth General Assembly
now in the midst of its biennial session.

To be entirely frank, it is proper for me to say, what Iowa history
has already revealed, namely, that prior to this very moment, I had
not lived long enough to have been confronted with a legislature of
the political complexion borne by the decided majority which I see
before me, and to be again entirely frank, I must say that a preliminary
survey does not reveal countenances any more swarthy than those I
saw in former years about these corridors.

Quite aside from any political affiliations or party preferences, how-
ever, I am entirely truthful when I say that I am not these days very
anxious to be occupying seat No. 40 in the chamber across the rotunda.
I shall speak somewhat briefly, and will be pardoned by being person-
ally involved in some reminiscences, which reminiscences are given in no
partisan spirit, but historically only. However much we would like to
do it, I have not conceived this afternoon to be the time, nor this legis-
lative hall to be the place, for discussion and recommendation as to the
many controverted problems, state and national, that weigh upon the
minds and hearts of legislators and congressmen.

My experience has taught me also, that members. of a general assem-
bly are in no great hurry to accept the opinions of others than them-
selves. This Pioneer Lawmakers Association is purely voluntary, with-
out politics, without platforms, without responsibility, save only the
responsibility, grave though it is, of continuing as good citizens of the
state and community. We are subject to no official investigation by
this body, even though prior sessions have appropriated a very modest
sum for printing, etc., and this appropriation, I think, has been with-
drawn. Therefore, we are entitled to immunity from any inquisition
and are entitled to go home and vote when the time comes, and worship
under our own vine and fig tree.

These occasions are very largely reunions of a reminiscent character,
and incidentally afford an opportunity of lending age and some dignity
to present and future statesmen, both men and women to whom the
world looks for salvation, and to impose upon them our political contacts
and experiences now twenty years old and more, shake the dust from
our feet and return in peace and quiet to our homes.

It is true that once in a while some distinguished pioneer on occasions
like this may have seen fit to advance his own opinions and arguments
as to pending or future legislation, but he was no doubt sure of his audi-
ence. I shall take no such chances. The passing years continue to breed
new ideas. Now for some reason not altogether patent, former legis-
lators never saw the necessity of stretching a cordon around the seats
of the mighty, and I have never heard of any of them suffering martyr-

582 ANNALS OF IOWA

dom for a failure so to do, and I am persuaded that the people of the
state could very properly regard a barrier of that kind as serving two
distinct purposes, namely: That of keeping those on the outside from
getting in and those on the inside from getting out. From all this it is
not to be anticipated that this new form of protection will ever develop
into a picket enclosure. If I were to divulge the whole truth, which
after the lapse of two decades I am disposed to do, it would be to tell
you that on one certain occasion which I very vividly recall, when an
important bill was under serious consideration and a vote was soon to
be taken, a closely woven web fence, with three barbed wires on top,
should have been thrown around my room in a certain hotel, and an
inside enclosure of similar structure thrown about my humble cot, as a
member of the so-called **third house" in the wee small hours of the
morning gained admittance, seeking an advance pledge for my vote on
the measure he was hoping to save from defeat. Pioneers of other days,
however, who had similar experiences may now be disposed not to with-
hold approval of the new departure on the part of the Forty-sixth
Senate.

As former lawmakers returning to these familiar chambers, we are
frank to confess we cannot suppress a flood of recollections that crowd
in upon our memories, as we recall our herculean efforts to save the
state and leave our everlasting impress upon the statute books of the
commonwealth. In those days as well as these, the number of willing
and sacrificial embryo commissioners, board members, congressional as-
pirants, governors, consuls, etc., that appeared from the membership of
a general assembly was simply astonishing and altogether bewildering
then as now, to the appointing power and to the voting constituency of
the state. Yet while these personal interests frequently, and I should
hope, unselfishly conflict, and very often clash, men and women other-
where never get quite so close together in their relationships in life as
do legislators when mingling together in state and social contacts for
ninety strenuous days throughout these halls. Here we learn to know
the motives, the ambitions, the histories of each other. Here we detect
likes and dislikes, and learn each other's conception of life and its out-
come, estimate loves and hates, if any there be, services to human kind
and a])praisements of the world that now is and that which is to corae.

How many of us, in sadness, have gone home after adjournment with
hopes blasted, ambitions defeated, motives questioned, and the sense of
failure to accomplish what we thought the state so sorely needed. How-
ever, with those of us who are so many steps removed, such experiences
are well nigh forgotten and we are relegated to a day one-fifth of a
century in the past.

Notwithstanding all this, the fair state of our birth with many of us,
and the state of their adoption with others, for which we all studiously
strove, lives on and will continue to live on, until the remnant of this
assembly and its successors for decades to come, shall automatically be
eligible to membership in a pioneer association. But who can tell, unless

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 683

forsooth it be the senator from Jackson, and her immediate proponents,
how long it will be before your membership will be split in twain and
Iowa will enact its laws in a unicameral legislature, a thing never
dreamed of in daytime or night by a Pioneer Lawmaker. And who
knows but that this assembly along other lines may have come to the
kingdom of the state for such a time as this? A time of newer and
bigger and more unheard of problems than were ever before known to
a general assembly. May I take a moment along a little different line?

Legislatures and congresses as well, have ever exhibited a tendency
to delegate their authority to other bodies or other high officials. This
tendency has grown in recent years. We all feel some concern because
of this apparent abdication of fixed authority in the legislative branch
of both state and federal governments.

The Constitution of the United States, In its very first article, pro-
vides that all legislative powers shall be vested in a senate and house of
representatives, and our own Constitution in article three thereof, or-
dains that in the state also legislative authority shall reside in a general
assembly, consisting of a senate and house of representatives (unless of
course the Constitution shall be amended). The legislative department
in both instances being the very first of the three great primary depart-
ments of government, to be set up by both state and federal authority,
and for the manifest reason, no doubt, that the judiciary cannot con-
strue and determine and the executive cannot execute and enforce until
the legislative branch has enacted, and possibly enacted such laws as
may be submitted for construction and execution.

Congress is wrestling afresh with this very question, not yet fully
knowing, legally, how far it may go toward conferring authority upon
the cliief executive and others below him. Legislation of such character
is quite numerously in the hands of various United States courts, for
determination, and the Supreme Court is being frequently called upon
to say how elastic the Constitution may be held to be, in authorizing
such enactments, even in the days of extreme emergencies.

I am one of those who feels that the Constitution, inspired by the
people and crystallized into written form by their direct representa-
tives, was made to serve the people, who are its real authors, and should
be construed from time to time to fit the various justifiable emergencies
in which the people find themselves. All of course within legal bounds,
and following the principles of right and justice and the good of human
kind which should be the goal of all interpretation. Mr. Cooley has
said, however, "that there are some bounds to the authority of govern-
ment" and that some people may entertain a vain impression that "gov-
ernment may rightfully do whatever it has the power to do.'* Such
must not be the case. And such he further says "is not the theory of
American constitutions. The sovereignty with us is in the people, who
have delegated to the agencies of their creation only so much of the
powers of government, as they deemed safe, proper and expedient.*'
So when laws have been enacted and carried to the highest court for

584 ANNALS OF IOWA

interpretation, we are still able to observe with what loyalty and almost
respectful silence a patriotic people await the decision of the supreme
judicial tribunal, and with what sensible submission they bow to the
will of that decision.

This attitude on the part of vitally interested citizens throughout
the country, is being demonstrated anew since the momentous so-called
"gold clause" decision, handed down only forty-eight hours ago, after
a wait of months in almost breathless anxiety. While it was a five to
four decision with which the minority flatly dissented, saying the ''Con-
stitution has been swept away," yet our people, schooled in the doctrine
of majority rule, even among courts, will loyally submit as they have
always done, when the highest legal authority has spoken.

Hut as before indicated, your body for the state, and Congress for
the nation, constitute the first and only authority of the three great
triumvirate primary departments which solely and alone are charged
with the highest duty of creating law. Mr. Blackstone says: "The
power of making laws constitutes the supreme authority, and wherever
the supreme authority in any state resides, it is the right of that author-
ity to make the laws." At the risk therefore of being called in question
by the executive and the judiciary, may I congratulate lawmaking
bodies here and elsewhere upon the exalted position to which Cooley
and Blackstone have assigned them.

All this, however, means that the legislature must keep within its
own bounds and enact no laws if possible which could be found to have
no standing under the Constitution, much less undertake to say what
the law shall mean or how it shall be applied rather than to state what
the law is.

Removed as pioneers from the more active participation in the affairs
of state, yet we continue to be interested and cannot refrain from ex-
pressing anxiety as to whether legislatures and the Congress as well,
are failing to hold fast and intact the grants solemnly conferred by the
organic law of both state and nation. We are constrained to exhort
this assembly to be wary of its high and exclusive authority and jealous
of its inherent rights which should never be compromised, much less
delegated away from its superior granted powers.

Tlie Congress of the United States now and for some years has been
charged with this very abdication, and the Supreme Court as the in-
terjireting branch of the government alone is clothed with power to
say just how far the Constitution may be stretched even under an
emergency such as today prevails throughout the country.

By reference to the "Annals of Iowa" of four years ago, in which the
proceedings of the Pioneer Lawmakers Association appear, I find the
highly interesting speech of Hon. Irving B. Richman of Muscatine, re-
calling before the Forty-fourth General Assembly some Iowa politics
under the significant title "Pioneer Iowa Lawmakers Who Were Demo-
crats." If he were delivering that address now I presume he would en-
title it, "Iowa Lawmakers Who Are Democrats** and St would take him

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 685

most of the afternoon to do it. The minority then very much needed re-
viving, just as the minority now is suffering a very bad case of atrophy.
Mr. Richman is a distinguished citizen and Democrat — a former assem-
blyman from Muscatine County, and by reason of his youth was referred
to as the "boy" legislator. He was chairman of the Democratic State
Convention in Sioux City in 1889 that nominated Horace Boies for gov-
ernor. He is a writer, having compiled a history of the state of Rhode
Island and a history of the state of California. Was consul general
to Switzerland, out of whose lofty peaks no doubt came some of the
inspiration for his poetic and political oratory, and only recently pub-
lished the interesting volume called "loway to Iowa" which many of you
have read. He wound up his speech that day by saying "Long live the
Middle West, and as the heart of the Middle West, long live Iowa, and
as a badly needed element in Iowa politics, long live Iowa Democrats."
And they did live and lived long and seem yet to be very much alive, and
Mr. Richman has stayed to see this element predominate. I wonder if
we could induce him now to say that a badly needed element in Iowa
politics is a little more Republicanism.

Like Brother Richman I have from a lad always been interested in
political campaigns, political candidates and political platforms and
elections, but after the recent most significant vote in the United States
Senate, I am wondering just how much adherence should be attached to
platforms and elections, especially on the part of those who helped to
construct the platform and stood as candidates thereon. I have always
regarded party declarations made in convention assembled by properly
accredited delegates, as something more than a ''mere scrap of paper"
and learned to look upon candidates accepting nomination and election
thereon to be solemnly charged with such adherence. Cleveland, you
know, said way back yonder, "Party honesty is party expediency."

So much in my youth was I interested in men and campaigns that as
a boy in my teens, I rode sixteen miles on top of a freight train to hear
James G. Blaine of Maine, that versatile, accomplished legislator, speaker
of the national House of Representatives, United States senator, orator,
statesman, secretary of state in Harrison's cabinet, father-in-law to
Walter Damrosch of orchestral fame, candidate for the presidency, to
whom Robert G. Ingersoll, in nominating him for that position, referred
as being like "an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, who walked down
the halls of Congress, and threw his shining lance full and fair against
the brazen foreheads of his defamers." James G. Blaine never said it,
but Samuel D. Burchard, one of a deputation who visited him in 1884,
made this radical and unwarranted statement: "We are Republicans,
and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the
party whose antecedents have been Rum, Romanism and Rebellion."
That statement defeated Blaine. Though he tried to explain it away, he
never succeeded. Sometimes a man's fool friends are as dangerous as
his enemies. How I recall the gallant, soldierly, commanding General
James B. Weaver, who entered the army from Davis County — almost

586 ANNALS OF IOWA

nominated for governor against Kirkwood. Afterward in Congress, as
a Greenbacker — an ardent prohibitionist, candidate for the presidency.
During one of his active campaigns I saw him in action before a whole
township of people, out in the open air, a campaigner of the old school,
interesting and dramatic but the champion of a lost cause.

Then in those same Greenback days, we had from this district, right
out from under the shadow of this Capitol, a congressman by the name
of Gillette — E. H. Gillette, somewhat contemptuously called "Heifer
Cair' Gillette — elected in 1878 — reflecting somewhat the adverse eco-
nomic conditions of those days. I think heifer calves in recent months
have been worth about what they were at that time. He appeared also
with his distinguished colleague. General Weaver, at the township out-
pouring above referred to. I wonder if these men would have a follow-
ing if they were here now. But Gillette didn*t stay long in Washington,
having been succeeded in 1880 by the able, pioneer Iowa lawmaker, long-
time prominent statesman and accomplished diplomat, whom many of
us have heard with profit and delight, John A. Kasson.

William Howard Taft was a guest of the joint assembly during my
day, soon after involuntarily retiring from the presidency by reason of
an avalanche of Democratic votes, which left him only eight electors,
and which swept Woodrow Wilson, the classical professor from Prince-
ton, into the White House for eight years. While we arc dealing in
reminiscences more or less personal, may I be pardoned for saying that
it fell to ray lot on that occasion to introduce the jolly ex-president to
the lawraakers of Iowa from this platform.

Most of my hearers do not know it, and had you known it, have long
since forgotten it, and that is that my name once upon a time appeared
on the Republican primary ballot for nomination to the highest office in
the state. I sometimes wish I might forget it myself. But that ticket
received 30,000 votes, yet notwithstanding that vote Perry Holden and
I went down to inglorious defeat and Governor Clarke was nominated
and subsequently twice elected, and the opposition got mighty close to
Governor Clarke in one of his elections. We shall not soon forget his
campaign, however, in which he championed extension of the Capitol
grounds as one plank in his platform and because of which some people
feared a coming high tax, but none ever came. Who now among all our
citizens regrets for a moment that this Statehouse occupies one of the
most commanding sites of any capitol in the country?

In this same connection, if you please, I am going to boast of having
made the first capitol extension speech ever made in the state. During
my first term there was a movement on foot, brought about by the city
of Des Moines, to beautify the river front and move the soldiers' monu-
ment to the foot of one of these streets. This to be done without ex-
pense to the state. Captain and Senator J. D. Brown of Leon was on
the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate to which the proposal
had been referred. The old soldiers were ppposed to it. Senator Brown
Induced me to make a speech adverse to the proposition. I said the old

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION 587

soldiers' preference should be respected — the monument ought not be
moved. Why not the state get title to all this land south clear down to
the railroad tracks, clean it off, beautify it, so that every man, woman
and child going through Des Moines by rail would see the beauty spot
where the Capitol and monument stand. A fine advertisement for the
state. The state got the land. The monument was not moved, not from
what I said but because of the wishes of the soldiers of 1861.

I have never been quite willing to admit that I was an uncompro-
mising, hidebound partisan, at least till that matter had to be decided
in the voting booth where every one of us, men and women alike, should
deposit his ballot confronted with his conscience and his God. I have
really had some consideration at the bands of those who honestly dif-
fered with me in matters of political affiliation. As one of these con-
siderations I had the rare privilege of dining with William Jennings
Bryan when he was at his zenith, and was after dinner called upon to
introduce him to a Chautauqua audience of fifteen hundred people who
sut spellbound for an hour and a half while he swept them to their
very depths with his soul-stirring lecture on the "Prince of Peace.*'
Such Hights of oratory, such sublime conception, such convincing state-
ment and such commanding Christian expression I have scarcely ever
heard before or since from the lips of any man. A polished Christian
gentleman, a delightful companion, orator of the first magnitude —
twice candidate for president of the United States, but differing with
his own party, thousands of whom could not follow his lead — probably
wrong on the money question. Congressman, churchman, secretary of
state with Woodrow Wilson — got out of the cabinet because the war
spirit was too strong — such was William Jennings Bryan, the boy
orator of the Platte — but we could not vote with him. But if he were
wrong then, just how nearly would he be right now?

Conclusion

We have just passed the 12th of February, the day on which 126
years ago America's great Emancipator was born, and whose birthday
is annually observed by a grateful people numbering one hundred thirty
millions. «

In getting its permanent organisation finally perfected I have read
that the Forty-sixth General Assembly has been talking a good deal
about prayer observance, quoting scripture, and among other sugges-
tions announcing the doctrine that the laity as well as the clergy may
also pray, and indeed indicating that it is his duty to do so, even silent-
ly. This movement on the part of any legislature is altogether a hopeful
sign.

Ida M. Tarbell, the distinguished, reliable and lifelong biographer of
the martyred President, has a brief article in the current March number
of the Cosmopolitan, which she calls "The Greatest Lincoln Story of
All.'' In this article she pictures the great burden bearer of a race at
night upon his knees before a table in his dingy law office in Spring-

588 ANNALS OF IOWA

field, pouring out his great soul in prayer, asking Divine guidance as
to whether he should enter upon those now historical and never-to-be-
forgotten debates with Douglas, the final outcome of which made Lin-
coln the successful candidate for the presidency.

There he knelt, silent and alone, his great angular frame shaking
with emotion, saying to his God: ^Here I am in middle life, politics
aside, and just settled down to the practice of the law, with a family
of boys to educate. How my political enemies will ridicule me, as they
are already doing, saying I want a Negro wife and am trying to break
up the Union. I can't win against a great man like Douglas — me, a
nobody — all I can do is try to make more people see that his efforts
mean an America all slave. O God! not that — ^the men who started
this Union never meant that.'* Thus he continued to wrestle until rising
from his knees, he began pacing up and down, his great soul in utmost
agony. How like Gethsemane of old! In fact he picked up his old Bible
that lay upon his office table, and read Matthew's account of that age-
old tragedy, in the garden. There was no escape. That prayer led Lin-
coln Into the fray, and into the spotlight before the American people.
Months later when taunts of ambition were hurled into his teeth he
wrote these words in memory of that night, "God knows how sincerely
I prayed from the very first that this field of ambition might not be
opened."

Lincoln was a layman. He was not then even an office holder. A
country lawyer in a dingy office in the town of Springfield. But he was
Divinely called. With an exception or two this legislature is composed
of laymen. You are part and parcel of this same government that was
then at stake. You are here to legislate for one sector of that govern-
ment. Great problems confront you. Problems of taxation — problems
of relief — problems of social betterment — ^problems of department re-
organization— problems of liquor control — problems of crime and law
enforcement. Problems of actual want coming up from thousands of
men, women and children — citizens and wards of the state.

May your predecessors who were once similarly called, modestly in-
dicate that the same spirit which hovered about Lincoln in his deepest
trials and led him forth to duty and to die, is also your spfrit for the
asking, to encourage and inspire in the weeks and years that are to
come.

"This I'll say for the men I know;
Most of them want to be clean and true;
In spite of the selfish things they do
Most of them try, as they come and go
To leave some glory for men to view.
A few turn traitor to God and State,
But most of the men I know walk straight."

This was one of the most enjoyable and worthwhile sessions
of the Pioneer Lawmakers Association in recent years. Forty-

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION

589

three were registered in the big registration book which contains*
the autographs of many noted lowans. Besides those already
mentioned in these proceedings there were also present:

J. H. Allen, Des Moines

W. P. AUred, Corydon

W. I. Beans, Oskaloosa

H. H. Boettger, Davenport

R. G. Clark, Des Moines

J. £. Craven, Kellogg

A. M. Deyoe, Des Moines

S. B. Durant, Forest City

R. H. Gregory, Fontanelle

Fred Hunter, Des Moines

J. C. Jessen, Story City

P. L. Kepple, Nashua

William G. Kerr, Grundy Center

John M. Lin^ly, Winfield

O. K. Maben, Garner

George McCulloch, Humeston

R. J. Martin, Des Moines

Roy Murray, Marion

Oley Nelson, Slater

Arthur Pickford, Mason City

W. G. Ray, Grinnell

R. J. Reaney, Columbus Junction

H. T. Saberson, Des Moines

Frank Shane, Ottumwa

F. E. Shortess, Traer

G. M. Titus, Muscatine

We received letters of regret from several who could not at-
tend^ some because of illness, some because of advanced age. We
have room here for a few of them :

Adel, Iowa, February 15, 1935.
Hon. David C. Mott, Secretary,
Des Moines, Iowa.
Dear Sir:

I should be very glad indeed to be present at the meeting of the
members of the Pioneer lawmakers Association, but 1 cannot be. For
more than two weeks I have been confined to my room, bed and reclin-
ing chair. It Is not at all likely that I shall be well enough to be out
by the 20th.

My word of greeting to all and always sincere good wishes.

Yours truly,

G. W. Clarke.

IOWA SANITARIUM AND HOSPITAL

Nevada, Iowa

February 15, 1935.
D. C. Mott,

Secretary Pioneer Lawmakers Assn.,
Des Moines, Iowa.
Dear Mr. Mott:

I have received the Invitation to attend the twenty-fourth session of
the Pioneer Lawmakers. Thank you. It came to me at the above ad-
dress where my wife and I are spending the winter.

I greatly regret that I am unable to attend owing to physical in-
firmities, but I hope for the session a most pleasant reunion.

690 ANNALS OF IOWA

It is now nearly sixty years since I first became a member of the
Iowa General Assembly and many changes have occurred since then.
We are living in a new world and the work we laid down has passed to
other hands. May they be equal to it.

In my ninety-second year I send greetings to you all.

G. S. Robinson.

(Telegram)
Santa Monica, Calif., February 19, 1935.
David C. Mott,
Historical Bldg., Des Moines, Iowa.

Sorry I cannot attend meeting of Pioneer Lawmakers tomorrow.
Give my greetings to any old friends. I cherish their memory. The
more I see of the way state business is handled here the prouder 1 am
of the wisdom of Iowa Lawmakers. Am well and enjoying life here.

H. I. FOSKETT.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Governor's Office

Sacramento

February 19, 1935.
Hon. David C. Mott,
Secretary, Pioneer Lawmakers Assn.,
Des Moines, Iowa.
My dear Mott:

Announcement of the twenty-fourth session of the Pioneer Law-
makers Association to be held in Des Moines on February 20th is before
me. Thanks to you for favoring me with the announcement.

It will be impossible for me to accept, much as I would enjoy being
in attendance to meet and greet old friends. Official duties prevent my
absence from the state at this time. The California Legislature meets
each odd numbered year in January, holds a session of not more than
thirty days, at which organization of the two houses is effected and bills
introduced. Then follows a recess of not less than thirty days. The
second session is to convene on March 4th, and it requires much of my
time to prepare for the work devolving upon this office.

Trusting you may have a most successful program, and with best
wishes, I am

Very sincerely yours,

Frank F. Mebriam,
Governor of California.

So far as we are able to learn^ the following is a list of the
members still living whose first service in the General Assembly
dates farthest back. We have followed the list from the date
farthest back only to the Twenty-second General Assembly, 1888:

PIONEER LAWMAKERS ASSOCIATION

591

Gifford S. Robinson

Bruce T. Seaman

George McCuUoch

Henry O. Seiffert

John A. Storey

James G. Berryhill

John E. Craig

Oley Nelson

E. C. Roach

James E. Blythe

John Foley (New Hampton)
A. B. Funk

OLDEST IN SERVICE

Representative Sixteenth

Representative Seventeenth

Representative Nineteenth

Representative Twentieth

Representative Twenty-first

...Representative Twenty-second
.Representative Twenty-second
Senator Twenty-second

, 1876

A..

, 1878

, 1882

A.,

, 1884

A.,

, 1886

A.,

, 1886

A.,

, 1886

A.,

, 1886

A..

, 1888

A.,

1888

A.,

, 1888

Following is a list of the deaths of members within the last
two years, so far as we have learned:

DEATHS SINCE

Asa L. Ames, Traer
James W. Bailey, Harlan
August A. Balluff, Davenport
Robert Bonson, Dubuque
John T. Brooks, Hedrick (So.

Calif.)
Robert G. Cousins, Tipton
L. E. Crist, Osceola
Robert M. Finlayson, Grundy

Center
Thomas F. Griffin, Sioux City
Wm. J. Gulnn, Belle Plaine
Wm. L. Harding, Des Moines
G. N. Haugen, Northwood
W. E. Hauger, La Porte City
Edwin P. Healy, Britt
R. W. Hinkhouse, West Liberty
A. C. Hobart, Cherokee
A. C. Hotchkiss, Adel

LAST MEETING

Karl J. Johnson, Osage

F. M. Laird, Tabor

Wm. Larrabee, Jr., Clermont

Leslie W. Lewis, Seymour, Clar-

inda
J. C. Milliman, I^ogan
J. K. Montgomery, West Union
Lewis J. Neff, Walnut
Clifford B. Paul, Anamosa
Frank S. Payne, Centerville
J. S. Pritchard, Belmond
Tollef C. Rone, Northwood
Wm. B. Seeley, Mt. Pleasant
Charles C. Smith, Griswold
George W. Speer, Indianola
Gillum S. Tolliver, Jefferson, Thir-
teenth G. A., 1870
Joseph Wallace, Eldora
Harry O. Weaver, Wapello
Herbert B. Wyman, Sheldon

WILLIAM SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA,

1843-1846"

Edited by Philip D. Jordan
[Contmued]

At Bellcvue made the acquaintance of Mr. Foley .^o member of House
of Representatives, from this County — a gentlemanly man — Irish — has
been in [the] West 15 or 20 years — a tailor and miner — lived in Galena
where [he] was sheriff and Dubuque. A decided Papist. Col. Cox,"
member of Council from this district, originally from Kentucky — lived
in Illinois — was engaged in taking first census of what is now that
State when it had but two Counties and 6000 inhabitants. He is a
profane man — drinks — was at the head of the Bellevue mob and in-
toxicated at the time.

Found it my melancholy duty to investigate case of Mr. McCloy^c
occurred by general rumor of intemperance. Called on him — said he
drank wine at Dubuque and whiskey at Andrew and because he was
wet and exposed and judged it necessary, denies he was intoxicated—
requested him to appear before the session which he did yesterday.
Said he thought the session was going beyond the bounds of its duties
and expressed an unwillingness to go into an examination. Session ad-
journed [27] for further consideration to Monday eve.

On Dec. 20 visited in the Forks. Mr. Lawless, a kind genuine man-
converted some three years ago — formerly lived in the mines and origin-
ally from Kentucky. Preached at Mrs. Van Horn's — take the first left
hand track after crossing the creek beyond Mr. DaniePs. She was
from Ohio and lately from Parkhurst — has an interesting family. Her
eldest daughter is serious — ^her eldest son a Cooper and clever young
man. Mr. Curtis from Lytch's creek was at the preaching — originally
from North of England — has not heard a sermon before in eight years.

The mail today brought me letters from Brothers Hitchcock and
Emerson requesting me to come and labor with them in a protracted
meeting on [the] 2nd. Sabbath in January — but my engagements else-
where prevent — the Lord send us more laborers.

Jan. 3. Severe N[orth] West snowstorm yesterday. Preached at Mr.
Estabrook's, vid. p. 14 supra. Miss Laura Estabrook has not beard a

s^John Foley, from Jackson County, member of the Sixth Legislative As-
sembly, and sometime Bellevue postmaster.

^^Colonel Thomas Cox (vid. footnote 88) has been the subject of a contro-
versy since the "Bellevue War." However, it now appears that Mr. Salter
erred in liis statement that Col. Cox was intoxicated when he led the irroup of
citizens which put an end to "Brown's Gang," although it Is evident tliat the
"dominant will" of Col. Cox was responsible for the killings. Vid. Ellis, op. cU.,
p. 47.'(. For a biographical sketch of Col. Cox, vid. Annals op Iowa, Third
Series, Vol. VII. p. 241.

02jogeph McCIoy. Vid. Western Historical Company, The History of Jacluon
County, towa (1870), p. 085.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 693

sermon since she came into [the] Territory — ^was very feeble and abed.
Mr. £[stabroo]c] supposes that all will be punished in another world
more or less and all sometime or other will be happy. He argues this
from death of [Christ] for all. Miss Marietta is seriously inclined —
seems to understand the Gospel.

Jan. 4. Visited yesterday at Mr. Wilkin's (from Canada.) His wife
a daughter of old Mr. Stimpson, Methodist preacher at Lyons — at
Jeff[?] Wilson's saw Mr. Current — he is a deist — a man of naturally
good [28] parts — educated in Methodist church — of pleasant disposition
— active mind. I asked him to come to my preaching — ^he said no —
after some conversation he remarked that he should like to give me
some contradicting (as he thought) texts to preach on. I told him I
should be glad to preach on them and would do so at his house — ^he
rather shrank from this latter part, but finally consented to it.

Called on old Mr. Wilson who is favorably disposed to our church —
was a Methodist many years in Canada, but is dissatisfied with the con-
sequence of division there. Seems an upright Christian man — ^has some
gift in prayer. Old Mr. Chandler is kindly disposed toward us.

Mrs. Alfred Wright is [a] Methodist professor and seems a clever
woman — is a sister of Mr. Bentley.

Church session met this evening. Mr. McCloy professed penitence
and promised entire abstinence from intoxicating drinks. He was in
fear of worse things — but the Lord had (we trust) mercy, and the
brethren present (Dr. EiFner and Mr. Nimns) seemed much affected.

Jan. 10. Had anticipated going to Cascade yesterday — ^but am pre-
vented. Spent Sabbath night with Mr. Glenn (p. 21 supra.) He means
to maintain his profession here — has been strictly and correctly [29]
brought up as to Christian duties — but having known nothing of Con-
gregationalists is unwilling to unite with the church at Andrew, hoping
to have an 0[ld] S[chool] Presbyterian Church here. He and his wife
[and] six children, their furniture, team, and two horses were brouglit
from Pittsburg to Charleston for 30 dollars — cheap enough and an
encouragement to Emigration — returning thither on 8th inst. could not
get over the Mauquoketa in consequence of the running ice — went down
South two miles to Col. Cox's (p. 26 supra). Mrs. C[ox] originally
from Rhode Island whence she came with [her] parents to St. Gene-
vieve, when aged 16. Her mother was a Quakeress, a gentle woman —
thinks she is a Christian and means to unite with a Church. Has one
daughter married, Mrs. Nichols — two daughters, Cordelia and Mary.
Rather an interesting family for this country. Their son, Thomas, is
a genuine Sucker.^^ Simon Boliva, aged 12, a pleasant boy. Monday
morning returned to Doan's and after great difficulty succeeded in
getting across.

Jan. 27. I regret that I have no time or opportunity for writing up

<^3The state of Illinois, where Thomas was bom, has five sobriquets: the Corn
State, Enrpt, the Garden of the West, the Prairie State, and the Suclcer State.
The people are called: Esrsrptians, Sand-hillers, and Suclcers. Vid. Geonce E.
Shankle, State Name$, SeaiM, Songi, BirdM, FlovKrt, ond Other Symbols, (1084),
fyp. llf-llt.

59i ANNALS OF IOWA

my journal. The minds of Mrs. Cox and Miss Eliza Van Horn (p. 27)
are both astray on the subject of knowing (by feeling) that their sins
are forgiven. The Methodists have instructed them that the evidence
of sins forgiven is in feeling such to be the fact in their own minds
and these being rational intelligent rather than entirely sensitive, they
not having these feelings have deemed their sins were not forgiven.
I have endeavored to show them that the forgiveness [30] of sins is a
Divine act consequent upon penitence and faith in Christ, i. e. upon
Conversion (Ac. 3:19) and that God performs this act when we repent,
and that consequently when we have repented we have reason to believe
that God has forgiven our sins. The thought of such a favor should
and does naturally awaken gratitude and peace in our minds, but to
require this before the Divine forgiveness is exercised is to require the
consequent before the existence of the antecedent. Furthermore this
doctrine of the Methodists is a dangerous one — as persons (and there
are many such) of merely sensitive natures can easily (and especially
by contagion) get up such feeling and may be deluded.

Visited DeWitt, 19 miles South and South East. Mr. Loring Wheeler,
a native of N[ew] Hampshire, near Keens, his wife of Kentucky
(daughter of Mrs. Harrison of Dubuque). She desires to become a
Christian — a lady of pleasant manners. Mr. W[heeler] is somewhat
serious and inquiring about religion. Mr. Bower, Sheriff of the County
(a gentlemanly man) says he will be a Christian if he can only iiave
his doubts removed about the truth of the Bible. Was brought up in
the Episcopal Church. Mr. Evans in the East edge of [31] the grove
N|orth] of DeWitt has his mother living with him — born August 1753
— lived in Boston and Cambridge — was a member of Dr. Stillman*s
church in Boston. Heard Whitfield preach. Her maiden name was
Phillips. She frequently saw Washington and the other great men of
those days. Saw the British on their way to Concord (1100 of them.)
As they passed thru Main Street to Cambridge [she] heard their song
(which she repeated to me)

"Yankee doodle dandy
Comstock Rum and cider handy,
Stinking gin that^s made of rye
So will make the Yankee's fly."

The old lady's memory has failed. Her sight and hearing are far
pone. She has little remembrance of recent events. Probably the things
of the Revolution which she saw made so great an impression on her
mind and she has thought of them so much that they will be the last
things to be forgotten by her. I prayed with her — for which she ex-
pressed great thanks. Mr. Gowdy %th of a mile N[orth] of Mr. Evan's
[came] originally from [the] North of Ireland where [he] was in
[the] Presbyterian church and [also] from Canada. Says they are
loose in requiring evidence of conversion for admittance to church in
Ireland — seems to [32] be a good man, has an interesting family. Thinks
the trouble in Canada is by no means finally redressed.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA' 695

Called on Mr. Oakes' family Vg mile N. W. of Mr. Gowdy's— they
are from Maine — lived a few years in Cedar Co. West, but did not
enjoy living among tlie old country people.

I hope good will be done in DeWitt. There probably will be even-
tually there a pleasant village. It has a handsome site.

Feb. 2, 1844. Last Sabbath (Jan. 28th.) was the coldest day of the
winter. Preached to some 20 people at this place.*^* Monday I moved
Westward. Called on Mrs. Blanchard 20 miles west of this. She was
a Lovejoy. An intelligent woman from Maine. Has become rather too
much westernized. Got some refreshment and fed my horse, when
about to move again my horse broke his halter and took the back track.
I was in trouble and worry of mind — started off afoot North — and at
night reached [the] house of Mr. Nichols (a Methodist from Ohio)
[and] lodged with him and next morning walked five miles to Cascade.
Surprised Br. Turner and had a joyful time. He helped me on my way
back. Cascade is more of a village than I had [33] anticipated — some
130 inhabitants. Mr. Thomas* house is eligibly situated. His mill^^' is
the best in Northern Iowa. People come there from great distances —
saw a man there from 60 miles North in Clayton Co. Mr. Styles,*"*® the
Post Master, has been a drunkard — now President of their Temperance
Society. Called on Mr. Pangheart^^ y^ a mile South (a Methodist).
Took tea at Mr. Meachan*s — ^a mile and l^ North. Saw Mrs. and Miss
Cook, genteel ladies for this country. The Lord smiles upon Br. Turner's
labors and gives him favor with the people. He organised a Congre-
gational Church of 12 members [on Jan. 28].

Returning called on Deacon Turner 13 miles South of Cascade. An
enterprising and warm hearted Christian. [He] offered 26 dollars
towards building a meeting house in Cascade. Mr. Styles married last
fall his daughter Mary.

Spent Thursday night with Mr. Solomon Pence. Born in Ohio, raised
in Indiana, lived in Warren Co., Illinois — was in the employ of [the]
Am[crican] Fur Company among the Winnebagoes on Rock River —
enjoyed Sucker far par excellence. His parents were Baptists. [34]
Mrs. Burleson was brought up in [the] Presbyterian Church in Dr.
McLeod's church, corner of Liberty and Nassau, New York, converted
when aged 17. Has been united with the Methodists.

Feb. 23. Preached at Dubuque [on] Feb. 11. The largest and most
respectable congregation I had preached to in the Territory. The church
was organized by Mr. Clark. Mrs. Shaw was one of the members at
the organization. Mr. I^ockwood was one of the most efficient men in
erecting their stone Church. His. wife tinged with perfectionism.*® Mr.

s^Maauoketn.

BSArtnur Thomas, togrether with John Sherman, in 1R87 built the first flouring
mill in Cascade Township. In that year they also built the first hotel and store.

^L. A. Styles tauirht the first scho<4, it is said, in his home, and in January
1842, when the Cascade post office was established, he was named postmaster.
Vid. C. Child^s History of Dubuque County, Iowa (1880), pp. 748-744.

57jason Pangborn. V%d. Western Historical Company, The History of Jack-
son County, Iowa (1879), p. 687.

ssThe doctrine that perfection of moral character I9 the supreme ethical end,
rather than happiness or utOitarlan beqefl^

596 ANNALS OF IOWA

L[ockwood] was one of their original elders, but being unpopular [he]
resigned. The church is now governed in a Congregational way, in whidi
state Mr. Holbrook desires it may continue. Mr. Evans, Clerk of the
Church, [is] an interesting young man. So [is] Mr. Smith formerly of
Dr. Pott's church in St. Louis. Mr. Stewart, a miner, converted under
Mr. Holbrookes ministry [is] a devoted Christian. Miss Jack [is] a
small hunchback woman formerly of Mr. Duffield*s church in Carlisle,
Penn., of whom she thinks the world. She is intelligent and smart-
lives in a Papal family. Mr. Hill [is] a miner and teacher [and is]
Superintendent of the Sabbath School [and comes] from Maine [and
is] distantly related to Rev. J. J. Hill. Studied in Gorham Academy
with Mr. Robbins and Kellogg of my class at Andover. Called on Mrs.
Crawford, sister of Mrs. [35] McCloy, a zealous Christian. Took tea
with Mrs. Robbins, a widow, keeps boarders. Mrs. Holbrook was a
student at Monticello, originally from Conn't., lived in Illinois since a
young girl — ^a smart intelligent woman, but does not seem so happy as
could be wished, owing to [the] absence of Mr. H[olbrook] — has a
sister with her. Miss Clarke, Piatt eville where her parents reside. Her
brother. Dr. Clark[e?], [is] an elder of the church in Plattcvilic. Mr.
Holbrookyi^o formerly of Boston, [of the] firm of Richardson, Lord &
Holbrook, Booksellers, [was] concerned in the Brattleboro publishing
company — [was] unsuccessful in trade, [and] came West. Vid Home
Missionary, Vol. 16, p. 66. Mr. R. Cotton tells me that Mr. H[olbrook]
spoke at Andrew of his reverses and afflictions as the dealings of God's
hand with him to put him into the ministry. Mr. H[olbrook] was or-
dained by [the] Iowa Association — is of amiable disposition — in his
manner manifests a tender gentle Christian spirit, is pointed and plain
in preaching — earnest and familiar — heard him at Galena on the reasons
why men enter not into the strait gate and on how to obtain a new
heart (Ezek. ISrdl.)"^ Expressed the sinner's duty with great plainness.
[36] At Galena visited Rev. Aratus Kent (Feb. 7) of plain open
honest appearance — found him happy, happy, rejoicing in the outpour-
ing of the Spirit on his Congregation and on sinners being converted.
Told him about my difficulties and discouragements — he gave me some
account of the state of things in the days of small things in Galena.
But he labored on and long — and God has blessed him and crowned his
labors with success. He appeared one of the happiest of men — is a
man of strong common sense — prudence, and [a] good manager.
Preaches written sermons — has the universal confidence and love of his
people of Galena and of the country around and [is of] g^eat influence.
His wife much like him as to mind and abilities. The church has a
good body o1 elders [who are] Mr. Wood, who lives opposite Bellevuc,
Dr. Newhall, the first physician in the city, Mr. Puller and Mr. Camp-
bell, [both] school teachers.

69Rev. John C. Holbrook. VicL Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. VII, pp.
594. 002, 004.

ooExekiel 18:81. Cast away from you all your transinressions, whereby re
have transgressed: and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will
ye die, 0 house or Israel?

SALTER'S -MY MINISTRY IX IOWA" 597

Enjojrcd the hospiUlitiet of Mr. Hempstead formerly [a] native of
Conn*t.— 4>iit from a bay Uwtd in SL Louis. [He] is an intelligent man.
Mrs. H[empsteadJ one of tlie earliest members of Mr. KenVs church
— a Tery interesting and lovely woman. [97] [She] has a native and
Christian grace in her manners — one of their sons [was] a convert this
winter. Visited Mrs. Bradley, her husband now in Cuba for his health
[and is] a brother of P. B. Bradley of Andrew. She informed me that
her hu8band*8 brother was a backslider having been a church member
in Ridgefleld, Conn*!, and in judgment of the church converted some
fifteen years ago whai [he] was considered a promising youth — came
West [and] took to drink and is almost ruined. Engaged in a sweet
service of prayer for him. Mrs. Campbell [is] an interesting woman.
Called on Mrs. Fowles, Mrs. Carpenter and her daughter, Mrs. Potts
of Charleston and on Mr. Reed.

Three miles North of Galena on PlattevUle road visited Rev. Jno.
Lewis at house of Mr. Stillman. How deligfatful to shake hands with
an old friend here among so many new faces. Bro. Lewis preached at
Fairplay and New Diggings, is much encouraged and interested in his
work. His wife is a helpmate and well fitted for a Missionary's wife.
Bro. L[ewis] visited Savannah and Carrol's mills and thinlcs them to
be an important place for missionary labor. He finds [38] a peculiar
charm in preaching among the miners. Drove Feb. 14 from Galena to
Mr. Robert Reed's, 16 miles on tlie river in three hours. There were
some cold days in the beginning of February, but has since been milder
and is now like Spring.

I hardly know what is my duty in relation to Bellevue. They seem
to be reprobates, and yet there are one or two good people who how-
ever are ineificient, met there Mr. Rood[?J who came to visit Mrs.
Jenning's — he lives at Fairplay — elder in church there — brother of An-
son[?] and Rood[?] of Wilmantown and Philadelphia — Mr. An-
son Herring^on was bom in Vt., came to Bellevue, 1838, is a high
minded n&an, but proud, too proud to submit to J[e8us] C[hristJ. His
brother Charley came 1841.

At Andrew Feb. 17 visited Mr. Bradley,*^ he seemed a little affected
but I fear sinful habits and companions will destroy his soul — one refuge
is the Almighty arm. I sought two opportunities to talk with him faith-
fully but was on both occasions interrupted by ungodly company.

[The] Jackson County Bible Society met Feb. 19 at Andrew — gave
an address for which I received a [39] vote of thanlcs — was amused
and could hardly keep from laughing at the manner in wliich business
was done. Yesterday I started off to preach for Br. Emerson — got to
DEEP creek — found the bridge carried away by the floor and the creek
high— deeply regretted that I was obliged to return, but have now a
day of rest.

Feb. 26. The snow is vanishing rapidly and the streams are high.
In consequence of the rise in the South Fork [I] was detained from

np. B. Bradley. The flnt hotel buildinf in Andrew was rented to Bradley
in 184S.

598 ANNALS OF IOWA

my appointment at Mrs. Van Horn's. Preached yesterday for the first
time this side of the Mississippi a written sermon. It was the first
sermon I ever wrote. On **the Wages of Sin" — written nearly three
years ago.

Mr. Kent, when I was in Galena week before last, informed me that
Mr. Peet*^' has expressed his desire and intention of getting me into
Wisconsin. This was news to me. I hardly know what to think of it.
But must abide the future.

Had I any prospects of soon settling in life and were I able, I might
be better reconciled to [40J my present privations, for then the hopes
of a home and a house of my own would animate and encourage me to
endure for this present. Further my Congregations are so very small
and they so scattered that my field of usefulness is comparatively small,
and this view of the case is especially important when I learn of places
that are destitute where I might have regularly from one to two hun-
dred or more houses. Here I must wait in good manner for the coming
in of settlers before I can have houses of any number. Yesterday, when
I had a rather unusually large congregation for this place, there were
18 grown people and 9 children out in the Morning — viz. Mr. and Mrs.
Shaw and three children, Mr. McCloy Dr. Effner, Mrs. Nimns, and two
children, Mrs. Grovden[?J and child, Miss Goodman, old Mr. Clark and
wife, Squire Clark and two children, Mr. Wendall, wife and child. Miss
Nickerson, Mr. Rathburn, Mr. Estabrook, Mr. Livermore, Mr. Ralph
Wright, Mr. Mallen[?J, Mr. Earle.*^ At the prayer meeting in the
evening were five grown persons, and but two who could pray, Mr.
McCloy and old Mr. Chandler.

In coming to this county I seemed to follow the invitation of Provi-
dence and have on the whole not met [41] with as much success as I
could normally [?J have anticipated, considering the circumstances of
the country.

There appears no prospect of my having this year a study or of my
ever getting a place for my books. They live here in indistinguished
yet ignominious obscurity with wheat and cooking[?] groceries in Mr.
Shaw's store. However, I try to be some Content — and shall not seek
to flee from this field or make any effort to get elsewhere. Providence
seems to send me here and Providence must send me away. As I look
at the poverty of my intellectual attainments this winter, my mind cries
out "my leanness, my leanness."

27 Feb. Visited yesterday Mr. Sam'l Wright. His father, Thomas
M. Wright, seems a good man but there was some defect in his christian
education. He expresses an interest in my efforts here — was brought
up a Presbyterian — ^has always supported that church — was once on a
committee to build a Presbyterian church. Alfred Wright joined the
Methodists ten or twelve years since when he thinks he was converted

c2Rev. Stephen Feet, afcent for the American Home Missionary Society, for
Wisconsin Territory. He had previously discouraged Mr. Salter from going
Wcfft

03W. Y. Earie. Vid. Western Historical Ckimpany, TAe History of Jackson
County, lovxL (1879), p. 828.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IX IOWA" 599

— has since left them, and lost an interest in Religion — doubtful whether
he ever was converted. Appointed [42] a prayer meeting in this settle-
ment tonight — owing to the small number of the churches and their
distances from one another and from the school house it is very difficult
to sustain a prayer meeting — and in every other settlement the diffi-
culties are even greater than they are here.

Feb. 28. A very stormy day which detains me from Charlston where
I had engaged to preach with Br. Emerson. Visited yesterday at Dr.
Efner*s. Mr. Nimns, Mr. Bagley's and Evert's (who are moving on to
Alfred Clark's place, who is going to Andrew) and Squire Clark's and
Mr. Fairbrothers. Squire Clark was one of the first settlers, came in
with Phillipps some seven years since from Indiana. Has worked too
hard and injured his health — he experienced religion with the Metho-
dists some two years since and generally leads a consistant life tho
not a man of much energy or force of character. Is about moving to
a farm five miles West of Dubuque in order to be near a market.
Found Mr. Fairbrother sick (p. 14). He has been in wicked company
and it is to be feared grieved the Spirit — he subscribed for the Day
Spring and paid. Had a prayer meeting last night. Dr. Efner [43]
Mr. EIiot[?] Nimns, Mr. Rathburn, Mr. Stinson[?] (who has recently
come in and made a claim South of old Mr. Wilson's) Mr. Shaw and
wife, Mrs and Miss Goodenow, Squire Clark and wife were out.

Have today been reading Guizot's His[tory] of Civilisation in Mod-
ern Europe, Ch[apters] 12, 13.<^ Am much pleased with these chapters
— the notes of the American Editor disfigures the margin. They can be
of no injury save to the tyro in historical studies — ^the well read know
differently. His statement of the policy of the primitive church (p. 50.
264) corresponds to what I thought to be the facts in this case and
with what I wrote on this subject some years since — vid. my notes on
the church.

March 6. Last Friday [I] rode to Deacon Cotton's. The mud was
very deep and rough and [I had] hard traveling. Saturday visited
Capt. Silbus' [?] and Mr. Parraday's [?]. In the afternoon Br. Turner
came along. His visit did me- [as much] good as a medicine. His
labors, trials and privations are about the same as mine. Cascade is a
rather more promising field than any in this country. He is more
patient and contented than I am. Preached for me at Andrew. In
[the] evening preached at Capt. Silbus' [?]. He was in [the] army in
the last war. A part of his right arm near the elbow was shot off —
he was stationed [44] on the western frontier of N[ew] York — first
came this side of the Mississippi with his son in law, Mr. Sawtell. Has
a pension — a man of coarse habits, violent temper, yet of some intelli-
gence— hates abolition on which [we] had some discussions — wants
Texas and Oregon annexed to the Union and the pride of Britian hum-

G^Guizors, General History of Civilization in Europe. There were several
American editions, the first appearing in 1888. Mr. Salter may have been using
the edition published by D. Appleton, New- York, 1842. The occasional notes in
this edition were by C. S. Henry, D. D.

600 ANNALS OF IOWA

bled — is afflicted with m disease of the kidneys. Monday rode to Du-
buque with Br. Turner. His company charmed away the hardships of
the travel and the dreariness of the prairie. Attended the Monthly
Concert, which was made an interesting meeting and a collection of
some four dollars was listed. Made an arrangement with Br. Holbrook
to come and hold a sacramental season liere with this diurch the last
of this month. Called on Mrs. Lockwood. Mr. L[ockwood] lias been
an old Indian trader. They have been on the frontier fifteen or twenty
years — were some of the first members of the church in Galena, also in
Dubuque — ^have lived at Prairie Du Chien. She is an active Christian
and [a] smart lady. Her daughter, Mary, bright but rather too for-
ward. Had appointed preadiing for Monday evening by Br. [46J
Turner at Deacon Cotton*s — ^but the roads [were] so muddy [that] but
one person (Mr. Parmely[?]) came out and we spent the evening in
singing. Started this morning for Mrs. Van Hom*s but could not get
over the north fork — and came hither [and] called on Mrs. Webb
(daughter of Mr. Graham four miles North of Bellevue) [who is] from
Baltimore and Pittsburgh. She and Mr. W[ebb] are Methodists. Called
on Mr. Bradley (p. 87) but he not In. This is the fourth time in which
I have called to have a talk with him and been frustrated. Mrs. B[rad-
ley] says she wants to serve God and will come out if Mr. B[radley]
will. At Mr. Bergh's saw Mr. McGinnis [who was] brought up in the
Presbyterian church, Pennsylvania, [he] has lived in [the] mines at
Fairplay — was awakened under Br. Holbrook's preaching in winter of
1842-43, but thinks [he] was not converted, is seriously disposed — ^his
wife a Baptist — is making a claim near Toronto[?]. Met Mr. Butten[?]
chopping — had a talk about universalism. [He] lived in N[ew]-York
and Ohio — finds fault with Election — says he don't come to meeting
because his views are spoken against. [I] told him I would preach in
a calm way on Mat. 25 fi^ in relation to which he asked some questions
— he engaged to come, [46] I have inadvertantly given occasion to the
people in Doan's Settlement to complain of me in relation of the neigh-
borhood jealousies between that and this place by taidng some of Mr.
Shaw's notices in relation to his road to Andrew. Mr. Mitchell, a mile
and [a] half North of Doan's was very severe upon me. I plead not
to blame, or if to blame unintentionally so. I hear tonight of Mr.
Spaulding on Mineral creek having trouble with Mr. Osborne in rela-
tion to a claim. These things making society so unsettled are a great
hindrance in the way of planting Gospel institutions.

Steamboats have been up as high as Bellevue. There were two at
Davenport last week. The channel is still blocked up at Dubuque.
Last Saturday we had six inches of snow which is now all gone. People
are burning the prairie.

March 11, 1844. Saturday evening had a prayer meeting here.
[There] were present Mr. Shaw and family and Mr. McCloy. Yesterday
morning the Methodist circuit Rider took up my appointment here and

65Matthew 25, beginning: Then shall the idngdom of heaven be likened unto
ten virgins, which toolc their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 601

preached. He used as many plurals and was as much of a Polytheist
as ever (p. 12 supra). Preached [47] last evening on the doctrine of
election — but few out viz. Mr. Shaw and family, Mr. Dorr, Mr. I^iver-
more. Mead, Nimns, Fiarbrother, Dr. Effner, Mrs. Gudon, Miss Good-
enow, and Miss Estabrook. The poverty of the people, [their J want of
clothing and of teams and their small number [contribute to J the great
difficulty in the way of building a church here.

I preached tonight at Mr. Current's on the objection to Revelation
from indecent and seriously immoral passages in the Bible (Prov. 27),^
an objection urged by Mr. Current.

There was a steamboat (the Iowa) at Dubuque on the 6th inst.

Visited last week at Dr. Efner's, Mr. Montgomery Dominick (he
French, she German, both raised in the Papacy[)]. She finds fault
with the diversity of sects. [And called on] Thos. Wrights, [and the]
Mitchells. (Mrs. M[itchell] a good Baptist woman [and] had a season
of prayer with her family in which she united Mr. M[itchell] self-
righteous.)

Had a satisfactory explanation with Mr. Doan in relation to the
complaint alluded to [on] p. 47.

The population of this county increases as rapidly and perhaps more
rapidly by births than by emigration.

There are very few females to meeting who have [48] not their
infants in their arms.

March 12. Preached last night at Mr. Current's, lent him Nelson's
cause and cure of Infldelity.^^^ The night was stormy and of black
darkness. Mr. Stimpson (p. 43), young Mr. Chandler, Mrs. Shaw, and
Mrs. Dominick were out. On my return lost the road and wandered
on the prairie, but got back safely.

March 16. At preaching at Mr. T. Wright's [there] were present on
12th Mr. Nickson and son,<^ Mr. Perkins, Sherman, Mallard and four
of Liveroirs[?]®® children. Rode from thence to Mrs. Van Horn's viz.
Mr. Shaws, Doans Ferry, and the bridge at North Fork Saw Mills,
some thirteen miles round while in a direct line this distance was about
five miles. At preaching at Mrs. Van Horn's there were out but three
of the Mr. Esystes. On the morning of 14th inst rode with Mr. J no.
Van Horn to the Makoquoketa Cave four miles South West of his house.
1 had heard of the existence of the cave there but had no Idea of finding
such awful and sublime works of the Almighty hand as I there wit-
nessed. The cave is on the South of the Dividing ridge In the forks
along which runs the road to Cascade.

The first object was the bridge — I first passed [49] under this and
was filled with wonder and admiration at the massiveness and solidity

MProverbs 27, beginning: Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest
not what a day may bring forth.

07David Neison. TKe Cause and Cure of JnfideiitV' Including a Notice of
the Author's Unbelief and the Means of his Rescue, by the Rev. David Nelson,
M. D. Snd stereotype ed. cor. by the author. New-York. American Tract So-
ciety. i;i84-?].

wThis might be Miss Nickerson. Mr. Salter's script is most diflicuit here.

•VThis might be Bir. Livermore.

602 ANNALS OF IOWA

of the arch, entirely of rock — at the base I should judge the width to
be some thirty feet. The course in the arch rises very gradually. Ic
the center I should think the height of the arch was about fifteen feet.
The creek (which I call Cave creek) passes under this bridge. Having
wondered long at this handy work of God I scrambled up the South
East side of the bridge and was amazed at the curious shapes and holes
of the rocks. I next walked over the bridge which is some fourteen
feet wide, [on the] east side of the bridge is a precipitous steep.

I next visited the magnificent portico of the cave, one of the grand-
est works of nature which I ever saw — ^the solid rock form a height
of about 90 feet [and] arches inwards gradually — the entrance to the
cave itself is low. I put myself in a little ways, but the water of the
creek prevented my going further. I dared not remain long under this
awful arch of nature as I saw one massive piece of rock which in a
few days had fallen from its old situation and the likes of which would
crush a mortal to atoms in [50] a moment. I passed down the ravine,
went thru another part of the cave under what might also be caUed a
natural bridge — saw other wonders of which I have not time now to
write, was surprised and filled with feelings of awe and reverence of
the wonder working hand of God. When there I was in a great hurry
as I had to preach in the evening at Mr. Doan's and now write in a
hurry as I have to preach this evening at Andrew. I must mention
however that in returning we amused ourselves by hurling rocks from
some of the dizzy heights of the bluffs down into the ravine below. The
sound of some of them was not a little like young thunder.

March 25. Preached the sermon referred to on page 46 at Andrew —
the man for whom I promised to preach it was not out. Spent that
night, March 15th, with Mrs. Hopkins. She experienced religion about
two years ago — put up my horse with Mr. Bradley who on being asked
for his bill said he would take it in preaching. Rode to Bellevue next
day and found my [51] great coat uncomfortably warm. — rode thru
the fire below Bellevue on way to Mr. Reed's. It was about dusk — the
flames rolled on — the brush cracked — I saw a deer sporting among the
fires. The people in the Reed settlement and on the ridge below have
raised some hundred dollars towards a meeting house but they are di-
vided about the location. I wish them to contribute their resources to
Bellevue but they reasonably complain of the distance and of the neglect
of the people in B[ellevue] to meetings.

I have concluded with old Mr. Caldwell (father of the youth on p.
22) for his black mare and saddle and harness for 75 dollars. She is
four years old this spring, he recommends her highly as of a good breed
— but having tried her I fear I have the worst of the bargain.

Visited Charleston'^^ 21 miles South of Bellevue, four miles this side
of C[ascade] at the forks of the road from C[ascade] to Bellevue and
to the Forks of Maquoketa. Called on Mr. Westbrook.'^ (Came to
Iowa 1839.) He [is] an Universalist — an interesting family. The son,

70Now Sabula. Iowa.
TiJames Westbrook.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 603

Royal, somewhat awakened. The [62] family originally from N[ew|
York, but raised mostly in the West.

Visited all the families in Charleston. They are nearly universally
from N[ew] York and Maryland. The best settlement in the county.
Had as good audiences as I have had anywhere in Jackson Co.

Mr, Leonard" from Griswold (near Norwich) C't. well brought-up
— rather a poor manager. His wife a smart active woman, church mem-
ber, the means and pleasures of the world have hindered her piety —
and his deprivation of religious privileges have caused his leanness.
Mrs. Parker a Methodist, a good and catholic christian, formerly lived
in Davenport. Mr. Marshall" from Goffstown, N[ewJ Hampshire, a
Universalist and notorious worldling. His wife an interesting woman
and would like to be a christian. She has a Sister an instructress in
Monticello Female Seminary. Mr. Donivan^^ [is] a candid gentlemanly
man, blacksmith, a little tinged with some notions of the Restoration-
ists." His wife a friendly woman. Mr. Benjamin Hudson,"^ came [to
the county] in 1838, [was] originally from Lynn, Mass. dislikes Calvin-
ism, rather a [53] weak-minded man — was once intemperate. Mrs.
H[udson] a devoted woman and friendly. Had a prayer meeting in
her house. I saw several steamboats passing up and down, a noble and
exilerating sight. While looking at the "Iowa'* and engaged in Conver-
sation with a gentleman, a gray headed man who had learned that I
was from N[ew] York asked me if I knew Joseph McElroy. I inquired
in relation to the business and character of this man and found he
meant Dr. McElroy of Grant St[reet] Presbyterian Church. I told
him I had several times heard him preach — "He's my brother," said
the stranger. I looked up and thought I could see some resemblance
in features and general appearances between the two. I made some
particular inquiries and learned he had not seen his brother for 30 years
or heard of him for four years. His name [is] Hugh McElroy — has a
large family of some eight children, nine miles S[outh] West of Charles-
ton in Clinton County. [He] lost a daughter last year. He wished me
to write his brother urging him to write to him — which I promised
to do.

[54] Saw a young man named Jones who had lived in Portsmouth
several years and knew my relatives there. He was much reduced by
bad habits and by intemperance.

Returning from Charleston — visited in the Buckeye or Swanney Set-
tlement on Copper creek. They have a good school house. Mr. Bixley
and family were Lutherans in Ohio. His wife desired I would baptize
her children. Heard that there were some Presbyterian families in the
settlement. Rode off two miles to their homes [and] found one a Uni-
versalist and another a Baptist.

72jame8 Leonard.

73Thoina8 Marshall kept a tavern.

f*James Dominy.

7SThe doctrine of those who believe In n tempornry future punishment and
a final restoration of all to the favor and presence or God.

70BenJamin Hudson in 1848 lived In a small shanty on a few acres of broken
land on Section S4, 8i-0.

604 ANNALS OF IOWA

Visited on Rock creek this side of Deep creek [at] Mr. Reed*s
family. Tliey had been much afflicted since thej came into this County.
In Pennsylvania they lost their house by fire and pride that would not
allow them to live in humble circumstances sent them West. Mrs.
R[eedJ died on the journey as did some of the grandchildren. Poverty
has rubbed them some here, tho the world has not known it. They lost
their crop last year by the June [55] freshet. Mr. R[eed] was of
Linden [?] church [and] his wife of Old School Presbyterian. Spent the
night with them[.] Next day [I] had a dreary ride over burnt and
barren prairies — the very image of loneliness, it suggestc^d to me the
thoughts of the dread fulness of the condition of that man who liad no
friends. An Eagle was flying in the distances, and upon discerning me
came and floated directly over my head. I confess to a little sense of
fear or not so much of fear as of an indescribable sense of [sentence
not completed] called at Mr. Dunbauer*s but no one at home.

April 1, 1844. Brs. Holbrook and Turner have been laboring with
my people the last week. Mr. H[olbrook] preadied six sermons faith-
fully warning the sinners of [their] guilt and dangers and directing
him to J[esus] C[hrist]. There were some cases of awakening. We
labored faithfully with Mr. Shaw and [Mr.] Goodenow, the former
seems hardened under an excess of light and knowledge — ^the latter
suffers from a deficiency of the same. Marietta Estabrook, 4 years,
herself determined to be on the Lord*s side. Mr. Cliandier,^^ Jno. Van
Horn, Leonard [?] and Ralph Wright [and] Mrs. Fairbrother are awak-
ened. The weather during most of our meetings was very un- [56 J
favorable so that the attendance was small. On Saturday and Sunday
the days were clear and our house [was] crowded. Br. H[olbrookl
gained the favor of the people and is esteemed by them.

April 10. Returned last night from a circuit. On 1st inst rode out
in company with Br. Turner to Mr. Spaulding's y^ a mile beyond
Mineral creek. The old man got into trouble by entering under pe-
culiarly extenuating circumstances the claim of Mr. Osborne — a mob
was raised and he compelled to give up his title. His life was and
still is threatened. These circumstances and the abandoned State of
Society In the neighborhood have induced Mr. S[paulding] to buy out
one-half of Mr. Brown*s claim (120 Acres) North of Mr. Simw's. Mr.
S[pauldingJ promises to give the lot on the S. £. corner of this claim
for our meeting house. Mrs. S[paulding] seems to be a good hearted
woman. Their son Alonzo, is a worldly young man.

The next morning rode to Deacon Turner's (page 38) [and from]
whence over the prairie crossing Bear [?] creek at Tottenburgh's [?]

77Samuel Chandler was one of the revolters, under the leadership of William
Lyon Mackenzie, against the Canadian government in 1887-1888. Chandler, a
wagon maker living at St. Johns on the Welland Canal« assisted Mackenxie to
escape. In June, 1888, Chandler took part in an armed attack upon tlie Cana-
dians at Overholt's Tavern, but the venture failed. Chandler was arrested,
tried, and sentenced to be bung. Tbe sentence was commuted to banishment
for life in Van Dleman*s Land, but after four years. Chandler escaped on a
Yankee whaling vessel. He arrived In Jackson County in 1848. William Cur-
rent, frequently mentioned in the diary, was in sympathy with the revolten
and left Canada to eventually settle in Jackson Counqr.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 005

and the Wapsipinicon at Crook's Ford one mile below Walnut creek to
the Seely settlement where a town has been laid out called Rome. [57]
Much of the Road we followed [was] a single wagon track — tlie wind
was very high and all around the prairies were burning. Vast clouds
of smoke rolled over the heavens. The settlement near Tottenburg
consists of United Brethren. They originated and differ but little from
the Methodists — generally a moral and illiterate people. At Rome
spent the night with Mr. Cleveland, a native of Eastern Massachusetts
— his parents are now living in Roxbury — a gentleman of information
and travel. We found him busy with a law suit (he being a Justice
of the Peace) in which all the people seemed interested and which pre-
vented our holding a meeting. Mr. C[leveland] has a good library.
Unhappily, he Is a Unitarian. His wife [is] of coarse habits and man-
ners from N[ew] York, a Methodist professor, yet a kind hearted and
active young woman. Mr. Stiver [?] the blacksmith is quite a gentleman
and pays a decent respect to religion — is from Ohio. Mr. Crooks is a
fine family, the old gentleman from Rock River, originally from Erie
Co. N[ew] York. The son [is] a very interesting man — his wife was
sick and regarded dangerously so — expressed quiet and comfortable
resignation to the Divine will. Mr. Crooks owns the Saw Mill in com-
pany with Mr. Suly. His family are Methodists but want an intelligent
[58] ministry and like and respect and sympathize with Br. Turner.
Visited Miss Warren from Worcester Co. Mass., a good but rather
weak minded and credulous woman — came to this county with Mr.
Whittemore from N[ew] Hampshire [and] brought several hundred
dollars in money (proceeds from working in the factory) commenced
school in Cascade but was obliged to give up from sickness, afterwards
moved to Rome and opened school when Mr. Warren fell in with lirr
and they married — with her money she has entered land and brick etc.
Saw Mrs. McFarland who lives three miles West, originally [she was]
a Congregationalist from Mass., but has been united with the Metlio-
dists — her husband is a fine and active man.

Rev. T. P. Emerson rather injured than benefited our cause. The
fruits of his imprudence are seen along the Wapsipinicon. On the 3rd
rode to Tipton, 20 miles thru Pioneer, Picayaune, and Red Oak groves.
In the latter dined with Mr. Robert Cousins from Ireland — has been
in this county two years, came by way of N[ew] Orleans. [He is| an
intelligent and generous hearted man — warmly and conscientiously at-
tached to David's Psalms and cares not for anything else in the worsliip
of God. Is much interested in Sabbath Schools — was a Superintendent
[59] in Ireland many years. There is an 0[ld] [School] church of some
20 members in this grove. Mr. Ferguson is one of the elders. Mr. Mead
has preached there the last year, but has left. Br. Turner by request
was to preach for them on the 5th. inst.

At Tipton found that Br. Alden had gone to the South part of the
Territory — was disappointed in not seeing him. Fifteen curtains, [in]
some 12 or 14 farm houses, two taverns, [and] one store. Stopped with

606 ANNALS OF IOWA

Mr. Patterson Fleming,'^ Clerk of the Court — a gentlemanly man yet
I must confess to the appearance of smallness, his wife appears a nice
woman. Mr. Addison Gillett^* keeps store, came to the Territory last
summer from Hudson N[ewJ York where [he] was a member of Dr.
Waterbury's Church. Br. Alden has a hard row I plainly perceive, with
no active professors to hold up his hands. On 4th rode thru Postain's
grove (where fed my horse and dined with Mr. Postain) [then to)
Walnut grove, by Mr. Heller, over the Wapsipinicon at Algcrs to Mr.
Button's, some 34 miles — ^a long and hard ride. Mr. Dutton a member
of the church in DeWitt, originally from Vermont, lived mostly in
N[ew) York — a widower — keeps bachelor [quarters] with his two sons
in a shabby way. In a bachelor's cabin one [60] realises the worth of
the [other] sex. One of the sons has lately married a daughter of Mr.
Heller. They are putting up a new house for her reception.

The next morning rode to Br. Emerson's [and] I found him with
the ague and fever — he got lost a few weeks ago on the prairie going
to Charleston in the w^et. The consequence of his sickness he was un-
able to make preparations for the sacrament and wished me to go to
Camanche to preach a funeral sermon for him according to his ap-
pointment— I went. 15 miles East of Mr. Emerson's over the prairie.
At Camanche enjoyed the hospitalities of Mr. Dunning and lady. They
are from N|ew] York. Mr. Dunning [is] a native of Vermont: has
lived in Troy where [he] married his wife and was member of Dr.
Berman's Church — his wife a member of Dr. Snodgrass* — she has heard
Mr. Kirk. They came West some eight years ago. Spent one year in
Chicago — then Camanche. He's considerable of a name. Some of Mr.
D(unning's] brothers came on with him. They took up a section of
land. At that time there was no one but IieClair*<* in Davenport. Mr.
Dunning visited its present site and preferred Camanche. They laid out
some 8,030 dollars, built the Beaver [fie] Mills. [61] This property
now is of little worth. Have a comfortable home. Mrs. D[unning] is
not contented and would be glad to return — her maiden name was
Monroe. Her parents now reside in N[ew] York. Mr. Holbrook took
up a claim near them. They speak in the highest terms of his first wife.

Preached a funeral sermon for the death of Mr. Root — received 62y,
c[en]ts for this sermon — the first money for ministerial services I have
received this side of the Mississippi — ^he died Dec. 3. Was of [the)
Baptist church [and] left a widow and several children. In the after-
noon and evening preached in Albany for Mr. Jessup. His church
occupies a small room over a whare house [sic] — had a good and at-
tentive Congregation, tho in the afternoon just as I was commencing

7«In 1845, Mr. Fleminp:. then sheriff, was stabbed by Asa Young with a pen-
knife. For a while the Flemings ran a tavern. Vid, Aurner, A Topical History
of Cedar County. loira (1910), Vol. I, p. 115.

"^His Iiome was in block 17, and he maintained a general store In a small
frame building on lot 5 in block 11. Fid. Aurner, op. cit.. Vol. I, p. 115.

«*"Antoine Le Claire, variously a fur trader, government interpreter, post-
master at Davenport (1888), justice of the peace, and Davenport merchant. It
is »aid that he knew and spoke fluently twelve or fourteen Indian dialects. For
a biographical sketch, vid. Franc B. Wflkie, Davenport — PoMt and Present (1858),
pp. 167-169.

SALTER'S **MY MINISTRY IN IOWA' 607

my sermon a steamboat (the New Brazil p. 8) came right along the
warehouse which stands on the shore and disconcerted my hearers' at-
tention. The people in Albany are a moral community, all go to meet-
ing, the contrast between them and my people struck me very forcibly.
The Presbyterian church was unfortunate in having a few years since
a stiff 0[ldj S[chool] minister whose excesses or deficiencies drove off
some of the best members to form a Congregational Church. The divi-
sion still remains and I could see no prospect of its termination. This
is the most unpleasant thing in the field at Albany. The pillar in the
Presbyterian church [62] is Mr. Mitchill who lives 5 miles North on
the road to Fulton. Mr. McKav lives several miles South towards Cor-
dovia. Mr. Bothwell and Mr. Buck in the Congregational Church are
men of worth, Mr. Mitchill, the ferryman, is a brother of Elden Mitchill,
a gentlemanly man, not a professor, complains of the strife between
the Churches. Mr. Jessup has a pleasant house, well furnished, a good
library, and a good wife — found her just recovering from a severe
bilious attack — ^his wife a daughter of Deacon Callcnder [?J of 1st.
Church in Buffalo. Br. J[essup] became acquainted with her when she
was visiting a sister on Rock River. They were married in Buffalo last
summer. She is affectionate and intelligent and smart.

I should like now to have a home to come to and to rest for three [?]
days, but I have not the one and cannot do the other.

April 12. Br. Julius A. Reed"^ came along yesterday afternoon and
spent [the] night with me — preaching in the evening. He was a native
of East Windsor, Conn't. — was a teacher in [a] private family in Mis-
sissippi at Natchez one year — was settled at Warsaw, III. Once rode
horseback from Jackson- [63] ville. Til. to his father's house in six
weeks — now at Fairfield, Jefferson County where [he] was installed
over [the] Congregational Church last winter — his church is small. Into
his region there is but little emigration from N[ew] E[ngland] or New
York. [He] has been on an exploring tour through Buchanan and
Deleware counties to find the best site for the location of a literary
institution, the land in the neighborhood of Bennet's Mill, which Deacon
Huddon purchased last year (vid. page 6) is too much under claim
and the country is too far from the Mississippi. There are some other
good mill sites the claims of which might be bought for a trifle — the
geographical center of the county is entirely vacant and said to be well
situated for timber. There are but few families in the countv. Br.
R[eed] thinks there is a population of about 100 and that they are
hardly enough to call for Missionary laborers at present. He was
rather better pleased with Delaware County tho in this county the
best lands are all under claim. CoflSn (in Township 6 west of range 89)
near Prairie Creek is from Northampton, Mass., not a pious man, yet
sympathizes with us and wants Presbyterian preaching. There is a

81 Rev. Julius A. Reed be^^an his labors in Fairfiekl, Noveml>er 28. iSiO, under
the auspices of the American Home Missionary Society at a cluircli sal iry of
flOO annually, and continued to serve until August 1845 when he resigned to
become Missionary of the Society in Iowa.

G08 ANNALS OF IOWA

settlement and fine timber in £adi8[?] grove on Honey Creels (town-
sliip 5 west of range 90) [64]. At Delhi the geographical center of
Delaware Co. is but one cabin, on a fine prairie with good timber near
— Br. R[eed] was the most favorably impressed with this location.
Br. Reed complains of being much fatigued by his journey.

April 16. Preached last Sabbath (Ap. 14) at county seat.^ There
were present Deacon Cotton, his two daughters, daughter in law, Ber-
nice Cotton, Mr. Larkin, Mr. Young and two sons, Mr. Means, Mr.
Brown, Mr. Gleason[?] and daughter and wife and infant, Mr. Briggs,
Mr. McGinnis, Miss Hadley and two Miss Davis': 20 [in the entire
congregation]. The day was rainy which prevented my going to Belle-
vue to fulfill an appointment there in the afternoon. Spent Sabbath
evening with Mr. Young on Bundi[?] creek (p. 24). He is of Irish
extraction — his grandfather a native of Erin — has two likely amiable
boys, John and Thomas, who made a profession of religion last year in
Pennsylvania — about 14 and 15 years old. Elizabeth, of about the same
age, has also made a profession. Their other children are Wm., David,
and James. A very promising family — Mr. John Means, a worthy young
man [and a] member of Linden [?] Church lives with them — also Mr.
Brown [.'] and Mr. Clark. Yesterday started off for Mr. Reed's to
fulfill an appointment [65] at 2 in the afternoon but a shower arising
after I had gone V^ a mile I returned and it clearing off in the after-
noon I came to this place, Thomas [Young] guiding me through the
woods as far as Mr. Chapman's near Mr. Trouts [?]. Mr. Young was
brought up in 0[ld] S[chool] church but united with the N[ew]
S[chool] under Mr. Pettibone, an Andover student.

April 17. Visited at Mr, Paryburrls' [?] — his boy Hubert [tie] has
been sick for weeks. Dr. Efner thinks it a case of Diabetes. The
sickness commenced with ague and fever at which time the boy (eight)
had an ordinary appetite. He had since been wasting away and is
now most a skeleton, but has an excessive appetite. He was a bright
boy and [a] good scholar. His parents have been very stupid and I
presume criminally negligent of religious education. I opened to him
the probability of death, but he is so young and has grown up in so
much ignorance of the Saviour that I can form no judgment in relation
to his faith. The Lord bless this Providence to the awakening of his
parents, the only question the little fellow asked me was if Mr. Shaw
had those testaments yet — on answering in the affirmative, he added,
**I mean to get one" —

[I] have been visiting round this week to stir up [66] the people in
relation to building a house for the Lord. There are various excuses —
they are too poor — have too much else to do — must build a school house,
don't like the proposed location etc. One man imploringly begged o£F
by directing me to look at his coat, which, said he, however comfortable
now were not so last winter, and again he begged me look at his shabby
cabin. I wished myself not from any desire for the toil or from the

82 Andrew.

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA' 609

honor but from realizing tiiat it was the only sure way of accomplishing
this object, to push the matter to its issue, selecting the location and
taking up subscriptions, appointing and superintending a building Com-
mittee, and liaving tiie house completed early in the Fall or Sept. 1st.
I proposed that the property should be the property of the Church
under [the] care of the Elders or of the Committee of the Church.
But Mr. Shaw thinks the matter must be all done by the Society and
this House be the property of the Society. I am obliged to concede
and tonight a meeting has been called.

April 18. Last night the meeting was held. Fifty [67] dollars sub-
scribed and the trustees requested me to solicit aid in Dubuque and
Galena. I leave this afternoon on this enterprise and on my route
visit Cascade, Clayton County, and Fairplay to attend the ordination
of Br. I^ewis. Rec'd. this morning a letter from Br. Ch[arles] A.
Bulkley*^ inquiring into this field in the Territories and as to what
would be his prospects of usefulness. The expression of his feelings
immbled me in my coldness. He writes in a nervous state of mind. I
liave not time today to send him an answer. God is answering my
prayers and those of his people here for new laborers by putting it
into the hearts of liis young servants to desire to endure hardness in
this land for Christ. The Lord give me grace that I may faithfully
lay the facts in the case before the mind of Br. B[ulkley].

April 26. Having postponed my visit to Clayton County, I returned
to this point yesterday afternoon having spent one night with Br.
Turner and three nights at Dubuque. Br. T[urner] secured a good
hold in Cascade and if his patience and perseverance hold out he will
have a [68] good church in a few years. His contentment and willing-
ness to endure hardships under many discouragements is almost a
marvel. In riding from Cascade to Dubuque on Saturday afternoon
(26 miles) was overtaken by a severe thunder shower and wet through
to the skin. The voice of this thunder enters the soul of the man who
is traveling alone on the naked prairie. The Mississippi is higher now
than it has been for many years. Br. Holbrook, though he has a more
dignified and important (as regards living) comfortable field than
mine has yet nearly as hard a one. The money troubles in relation to
the meeting house, and the alienation of some of the church members
are disheartening. I succeeded in securing the promise of help in build-
ing our meeting house to the amount of some 30 dollars in work and
materials. This was the first begging expedition I ever engaged in —
disagreeable enough to one's sensitive feelings.

The boy referred to on p. 66 [Hubert] died at seven this morning,
and his father had just been in to request me to preach the funeral
sermon. O that the Lord may give me grace to be faithful and sanctify
this Providence to this [69] family and to the community. [I| have
to preach a funeral sermon for Mrs. McGinnis (p. 46). She died in
Childbed [and] gave no evidence of a change of heart — has left three
small children.

ssRev. Charles A. Biilkley.

G]0 ANNALS OF IOWA

May 9. 10th. Returned on Wednesday from a tour in Wisconsin.
[On the] 30th ult. [I J crossed the Mississippi at Bellevue, ferried over
the islands, the river being higher than it has been since 1828 — was two
hours in crossing — called on Mr. Wood (p. 36) [whose] wife was killed
three or four years ago by being thrown from a sleigh in going up the
branch at Bellevue on [the] way to meeting. Reached Fairplay just
before dark where [I] enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Wood and lady
(from Suffield Conn*t.). Mr. W[ood] keeps store and is an intelligent
man and interested in religion. Of Mr. Rood (p. 38) and of Mr. Sim-
mons (from Canada) leader of the Methodist class there. The Moder-
ator, Rev. E. G. Bradford, opened [the] Convention by [a J sermon on
[the] immutability of Divine Purposes. [The] sermon was badly ar-
ranged, or rather there was no order about it. There were present
[the following) ministers, Holbrook, Lewis (New Diggings), Bradford,
(Prairie Du Lac), Stevens (Platteville), Street, (Cassville), Cook (Min-
eral Point), Turner and self. Afterwards [70] Mr. Kent came in
Delegates [were] Richards, from Cassville, Barton from Fairplay, Clark
from Platteville, Mills from Lancaster, Baker from Mineral Point, Rice
from Potosi, Reed from Dubuque, [and] Simpson from New Diggings.

Br. Bradford was last year at Platteville. H[ome] M[issionary] v.
15, p. 279. [He] was formerly in Vermont [and] his habits are rather
too strongly easternized for a western settlement, his manner not popu-
lar enough — a straight forward man and of real worth [and] of [a]
well furnished mind. Br. Stevens was formerly Missionary of A. B.
C. F. M. among the Sioux, has just accepted a call from Church in
Platteville and is to be installed on the 11th. [of] June. Br. Lewis was
ordained by the Convention. In the course of his examination he stated
that he was reared in a Unitarian neighborhood (Walpole, Mass.)
[and] when a lad was a clerk in [a] book store in Boston., where [he]
was in the class of a faithful Sabbath School teacher and sat under
[the] teaching of Dr. Beecher. Was awakened thru this effort of his
S[abbath] S[chool] Teacher and attended Dr. B[eecher's] inquiry meet-

ings. As soon as Dr. B[eecher] learned the state of his mind for several
successive mornings he came to the store where it was Br. Lewis' duty
[71] to open and sweep out by sunrise and embraced that opportunity
for private religious conversation.

Br. Street is [the] son of Gen. Street (p. 7) formerly was some-
thing of an Indian trader and did business at Cassville, [but] was un-
fortunate in trade — was aroused in a revival, was useful in exhorta-
tion, the Methodists endeavored to get him as a preacher in their
Connection, at [the] request of some of the church [members] in Cass-
ville [he] was licensed for one year by [the] Convention. He applied
to this Convention for a renewal of his license which was granted altho
the examination was not satisfactory. There [during the examination]
Mr. Street dated the reformation at the 8th. century and made Calvin
an Anglican. Br. Cook formerly was connected with St. Joseph's Pres-
bytery, came to Mineral Point for six months expecting to be settled

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA'' 611

at termination of that period, but has not given satisfaction, seems to
have rather over many sharp points in his character, his appearance
not prepossessing. Br. Richards appears a devoted pleasant man. Br.
Balcer is intelligent. Father Clark is [the] father of Br. Holbrookes
wife, from Conn't., was steward of Illinois college. Br. Jos. T. Mills,
[is] a native of Kentucky, cousin of Rev. Thornton [72] Mills of Cin-
cinnati, studied at Jacksonville, held an office in Indian agency at
Prairie Du Chien, a man of acute mind, liberal soul, rather inclined to
enthusiasm. Br. Rice is an excellent brother of warm devoted soul,
from Chatauqua Co. N[ew] Y[ork] [and] has lived at Fulton, Illinois
where his father now resides. [I] was pleased with the orderly busi-
ness manner of [the] Convention. Father Kent's ordination sermon
was a consecration of property to Christ, and a comfortable support
of Ministers — a plain good sermon (all written) nothing new or bril-
liant. Mr. Kent is a man of large experiences, prudence and common
sense (p. 36).

On May 2nd. visited Platteville, dined with Mr. Clark's family.
The Dr. [is] an intelligent man, his wife a niece of Mr. Holbrook —
an interesting family. Visited Br. Stevens, his wife [is] a fine woman
— some six children. Br. S[tevens] urged me to come over and labor
in Wisconsin. On the Big Piatt at Mr. Kenzie's, 9 miles from Lan-
caster, visited Mr. Drake, at the bridge, from western N[ew] Y[ork]
— ^the church there has 22 members — wished to erect a meeting house
this summer. Rode on to Lancaster which has a handsome situation —
the finest court house I have seen in this section, two taverns, two
stores, a weekly [73] newspaper and some thirty families in the neigh-
borhood. I rode in company with Mr. Mills — ^he almost insisted upon
my settling with them. Spent one night at his house and another with
Widow Otis, from Pennsylvania, has lived at Belvidcre, 111. — a very
pleasant woman. Preached in the court house on Worldliness [and]
had an attentive and intelligent congregation of about sixty — called on
Mr. Otis, and Barber and main storekeepers. Mr. Wittse, Editor of
Grant Co. Herald, an intelligent and gentlemanly man, has lived in
Texas. Mr. Mahood [is] a native of Virginia whence he removed on
acc't of Slavery first to Indiana and 12 years ago to Mineral Point, a
very excellent man, well informed — ^has been afflicted with the gravel
for 20 years. Mr. Macaulay, father of [the] one of [the] same name
mentioned [on] p. 21. Mr. Fletcher, his son in law lives with him.

May 4th. rode to Potosi — called on Mrs. Mosehead three miles East
of P[otosi], a native of Derry, N[ew] H[ampshire], has taught school
in Dubuque, a very pleasant lady. Saw her sister, Mrs. Pow[?] and
daughter, Mrs. P[ow] thinks she has experienced religion — was a gay
worldly minded woman, but not with seven crosses. Mr. M[acaulay],
an Englishman, was successful in mining and has now a fine farm.
Potosi is curiously situated on the sides of a long and crooked hollow.
It is vulgarly known as Snake Hollow, from the fact that [74] the
first mineral found there was takeq from a cave which was surrounded

612 ANNALS OF IOWA

by snakes. For the history of the church vid. H[ome] M[issionani|
V. 15 p. 57-p. 222. I found it scattered and preached. Mr. Warren was
expected to labor with them, but was detained in the eastern portion
of this Territory so that the church has had no preaching this winter.
Some of the members have become discouraged. Some united with the
Methodists who have been holding a protracted meeting in [the] Pres-
byterian Meeting House, this winter and have gone back. Br. Rice is
a leading and most active man in the church.

There is fa] Mr. Gillartin, native of North of Ireland [who] has
lived in N[ew] Y[ork] city where [he] was a distiller, afterwards in
Niagara. Mrs. Bickrall, Dr. Bickrall, a native of Rhode Island [is]
an intelligent clever man [as] also his brother a merchant. Miss Fisher,
teacher, lived in Canada, taught school in Beloit. Called on Mr. Emer-
son, lawyer, native of Maine, is dissatisfied with Society in Potosi and
preparing to move to Racine, his wife a very fine lady, good singer,
was teacher in Academy at Parsonsfield, Maine, a Baptist. The Sunday
I spent there was rainy, had a congregation of about 45. On my return
was detained a day in crossing the river — crossed at [75] Wild's Ferry
10 miles above Dubuque. In crossing was overtaken by heavy shower
and wet through. I stopped at Saw Mill on [the] Little Maquoketa
but Mr. Sims (p. 19) was not there, the mill not being in operation
in consequence of the back water from the Mississippi. On returning
here found a letter from Mr. Buck[?] of Mineral Point W. T. desiring
me to come and see the Church. Is the Lord thus opening a wider door
of usefulness performing? O Lord lead me in the way in which thou
wouldst have me to go.

Visited Mrs. Payburn[?], found her soft and tender, visited Mr.
Earl, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Marchell, a native of Conn*t. near Stanford,
formerly owned Mr. McCloy's mill property, injured himself by hard
work and is now in consumption. Day before yesterday what he sup-
poses an ulcer broke on his lungs and discharged largely and now he
has some relief. He and his wife have been Professors in [the] Baptist
church some nine years at Potosi. Saw Mr. Wood, native of Boxford,
Mass., an old bachelor, lived many years in Ononfoago Co. N[ew] York,
where [he] was engaged in making salt — ^thinks there are salt springs
in Essex Co. Mass., from the fact that in the examination of the waters
on the coast of Mass., the [76] largest in preparation [#tc] of salt was
in waters taken from [the] mouths of Merrimack and Plum rivers.

Of [the] votes taken in April on subject of a Convention for form-
ing a Constitution for a State Government, there was

For a Convention 6,719

Against 8,974

Whole number of votes 10,698

Majority for Convention 2,746

SALTER'S "MY MINISTRY IN IOWA" 613

This is taken from the proclamation of the Governor,^ but it does
not include the votes in [the] Counties of Clayton, Washington, and
Davis from which the returns had not been sent in, which however,
would probably have made the whole number of votes in this Territory
near 12,000.

May 15. Saw Mr. Cabin who lives [in the] house west of Mr. Bur-
leson's, a Unitarian in sentiment, was the first Merchant in Milwaulcee
(in 1886) wiio had on a stocic of goods from N[ewJ Yorlc, was unfor-
tunate in trading by crediting his goods, afterwards engaged in for-
warding, grocery and baicing businesses.

May 18. Read today, Jos. Scott Kirlcpat rider's **Private thoughts on
Theology", published at Dubuque 1839.^ There is much bad grammar
and bad use of language. The founda- [77] tion of his errors is in
relation to original condition of Adam who acted then instinctively and
ignorantly. He supposes Satan told the truth, Gen. 3:5,^ and that the
Lord speaks literally in Gen. 3:22^^ and that Adam did not have the
complete image of God untill [sic] his transgression which says the
writer was '*the very finishing stroke" that stamped in him the image
of God and confirmation of the great design of man*s creation, p. 8.
[**]So that the account of what divines term the fall is in reality the
plain and simple narration of man's creaion." Page 10. The death in
Gen. 2:17^ according to Mr. K[irkpatrick] is spiritual death only. Mr.
K[irkpatrick] further discusses on the prevolition of the mind — sup-
poses the atonement has no influences on the son of God, but only on
the mind of sinners as a motive to him to repent, and that there is no
such thing as punishment (properly so called) in Gov[ernment] of
God but only consequences of sin.

[To be continued]

MGov. John Chamliers* message of May 1, 1844. Vid. BenJ. F. Shambaugh
(ed.), Mestagea and Proelamationa of the Oovemort of Iowa (1908), Vol. I,
pp. S08-SM for complete text.

•STbe full title of this twenty-eight page pamphlet is: Joseph S. Kirlcpatrick.
Private Thoughte on Theology to the SeriouM Enquirer after Truth. Russell &
Reeves, Printers. Du Buque, 1889. The State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa
City, has a copy.

MGenesis 8:5. For God doth know that In the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, luiowing good and evil.

STOenesis 8:22. And the Lord God said. Behold, the man is become as one
of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his band, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

^^Genesis 2:17. But of the tree of the luiowledge of sood and evil, thou
Shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR (OR TALLY WAR)
Keokuk County, August, 1863

By C. C. Stiles, Superintendent op Archives Division

Among the manuscripts and printed documents on file in the
different divisions of the Historical, Memorial and Art Depart-
ment of Iowa may be found materials relating to any subject
incident to the history of the state. In writing this article 1
have used materials found in each of the following divisions:
Public Archives, Newspaper, and Library divisions.

During the Civil War period the correspondence, reports, etc.,
show the intense excitement existing attendant upon the raising
of troops to be sent to the front, and the home guards for the
purpose of maintaining peace at home, also letters informing the
authorities of the organizing of secret societies to aid the South
in their struggle against the loyal states.

The clashings of the two elements were frequent, deeds of
lawlessness often occurred, property was destroyed and lives
taken. But the reins of government during this period were held
by the firm unwavering hands of our "Old War Governor,"
Samuel J. Kirkwood, aided by Adjutant General N. B. Baker,
and the state passed through this trying period without any
stains that could not be erased from its untarnished history.

In the records of the legislature I found a petition by J. B.
Shollenbargcr relating to the subject of this article. Following
is an exact copy:

To the Senate and House of Representatives
of the State of Iowa:

Your petitioner respectfully represents that in the latter part of
July, 1863, there was great excitement in Keokuk County, Iowa, in rela-
tion to the raising of troops to put down the war of the Southern Re-
bellion, that one Sype Tally professedly a Democrat took strong grounds
jn opposition to the war and went about the country making speeches
that were called treasonable in opposition to the raising; after one of
tliese inflamatory speeches there was tremendous excitement accompanied
by the discharge of fire arn^, in the opinion of the petitioner not for
the purpose of taking life but for the purpose of intimidation. One of

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 616

these shots whether by intention or not, is not known, killed the said
Sype Tally, he dying instantly by a ball through the head. By this act
the entire county was thrown into great commotion. The friends of Mn
Tally declared vengeance and threatened to destroy the town of Sigour-
ney, situated fourteen miles from the scene of the murder, because of
the pre$vmed BepublicaiUsm of a majority of the inhabitants of said
town of Sigourney. Our late governor, Samuel J. Kirkwood, being ap-
prised of the above facts, instantly called out troops and with artUlery,
repaired to Sigourney to put down what was called the Tally War.
The Governor arrived some hours or more before the arrival of his
troops. When prominent town people thought it best to appoint a com-
mittee of five to wait on the insurgents at Camp Tally (in the Hoobs
Grove) and occupy their time and attention until the troops should
arrive. In the opinion of Governor Kirkwood one hour would be suffi-
cient. Judge Harned, T. A. Morgan, James Adams, Geary Wilkinson,
and J. B. Shollenbarger (the petitioner) were appointed on said com-
mittee. Parenthetically it may be said here that immediately before this
time your petitioner edited a Douglas Democratic paper^ but at the
same time thoroughly endorsed the war and favored all legitimate means
to secure its successful termination in favor of the Union.

That he had at that time served over a year in the Union Army,
that my son Hiram W. Shollenbarger had enlisted in the Thirty-third
Regiment, and that my partner, Samuel B. Evans, served his term of
enlistment in the Army.

At the last moment two of said committee declined to go, and the
other two being on duty left for myself, alone, to do what could be done
(if anything). Single and alone in the uniform of the United States
your petitioner repaired to the camp of the insurgents (Hobbs Grove).
There I moved that Austin Jacobs act as chairman, then called for
speeches from William Bunt and D. N. Henderson and others. My hour
ha^l expired and I returned to town where I saw, with my own eyes,
an assault on my press by the man that filed the information against
the Copperheads, as they were termed, with an iron poker, telling the
boys to stand aside until he would give that **Dammed Copperhead
Hell,*' which was Ben Franklin's bust on the top of my press. He
threw the bust out of its socket and it being of cast iron came down
heavy on the floor and broke the plastering down in the room, now
occupied by Cunningham & Anderson as a hardware store. By calling
for speeches and by other devices the belligerents were detained until
the troops arrived.

The insurgents, having (in part) come to town, the Governor made
to them one of his characteristic speeches, plain, patriotic and practical.
He told them in conclusion that all unlawful conduct on their part must
inevitably be put down. He counselled a quiet acquiescence in the laws

1 [Sigourney] lotoa Democrat, established in 1858 by S. B. Evans and

Farra. In 1860 Farra sold his interest to J. B. Scrflenbarger. In 1802 both pro-
prietors enlisted in the Union Army and the paper was suspended. — Annals of
Iowa, Vol. XVI, p. 191.

616 ANNALS OF IOWA

of the land and said if necessary the governors of friendly states near
would furnish him assistance and that even if required the government
of the United States was pledged to furnish a portion of the Army and
Navy to put down any insurrection, even In a small county like Keokuk,
Iowa. The speech being concluded your petitioner called for three cheers
for Governor Kirkwood, the first was faintly given but the last most
vociferously and uproariously given. The troops of the Governor were
obliged to have quarters and a portion of them, by necessity, were lo-
cated in my oflSce against my will and consent I, knowing the character
of the soldier, offered my parlor with carpet in it rather than get my
type all pied, but nevertheless, they quartered a lot of soldiers in my
oflSce who pied all the type, then in form, which was the whole paper
tax list all new type, and while there so quartered observing by unmis-
takable signs that mine was a Democratic oflSce and totally ignorant of
the character of my democracy, these soldiers destroyed my press and
scattered the type about the oflSce and threw a share of it into the street
and on the sidewalk and after my re-enlistment in the Ninth Iowa
Cavalry I recaptured one of my printer sticks in Arkansas from a
young boy who told me he got it in my oflSoe in Sigoumey and that be
had been informed that I was a Rebel and I have the same stick in my
trunk now as a war relic. Any printer knows that after this was done
what remained was almost worthless.

Your petitioner has given the foregoing brief history and statement
of facts for the purpose of appealing to the justice of your honorable
body for reimbursement in amount equal to the value of above named
losses. If ever property was lost in the service of his country and de-
served reimbursement it occurs to your petitioner that this is one of the
cases. At a moderate valuation the foregoing property was richly worth
$1000.00. It is proper to add that $200.00 of said amount has already
been paid to your petitioner by a previous legislature.

Before concluding I shall add that I am now very near sixty years
of age. Since the War in which I took part your petitioner has been a
great sufferer from diarrhea and scurvy, and that I also become afflicted
with a semi-paralysis of the left side which has in a great degree im-
paired my mental faculties and prevents me from doing clerical duty
which I might otherwise do.

Your petitioner represents that he is not a pensioner, although he
has not seen a well day since he was first discharged; that mentally
and physically he is a wreck and totally unable to maintain himself by
manual labor. Your petitioner respectfully solicits such reimbursement
as your honorable body may ascertain is just and due in his case ac-
cording to the true equity in his case. Petitioner further states that
through inability to maintain himself by manual labor that he has been
compelled to occupy quarters at the National Sc^diers Home at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, since the 15th of August, 1879. Your petitioner
represents that he served two terms of service dudng the late War,
that he served about fifteen months in the Fifth Iowa Volunteers and

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 617

afterwards his three years hi Ninth Iowa Cavalry Volunteers as will
appear by the Adjutant General's Report.

Joseph B. Sciiolxjsnbaioek.

State of Wisconsin )

> ss
County of MilwaulceeC *

Subscribed and sworn to before me and in my presence by J. B.

Shollenbarger late of Fifth Iowa Volunteers and Ninth Iowa Cavalry

Volunteers.

C. WOOLLETP,

Notary Public.

This petition was presented January 22, 1880, to the legisla-
ture by Cyrus H. Mackey* of Sigourney, then member of the
House of Representatives from Keokuk County. The committee
to whom it was referred reported back to the House that it "Be
not granted."

To give the reader a clearer understanding of the beginning
and cause of the Skunk River War I call vour attention to an
article on the subject published in 1880 on pages 44>3-48 of a
History of Keokuk County on file in the Library Division of tlie
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa.

In 1848, there came to Keokuk County a family by the name of Tally.
They had previously resided in Tennessee, and by birth and education
were in sympathy with the ^'peculiar institution*' of the South. Upon
the breaking out of the war they arrayed themselves on the side of the
anti-war party, believing, as many thousands throughout the North did
tKflieve, that unless the erring sisters could be peaceably prevailed upon
to remain, they should be allowed to go in peace.

One of the family, Cyphert Tally, was a young man of more than
ordinary brilliancy of intellect, and though possessed of meager educa-
tion, was an orator of great force and ability. A short time prior to
the war he had entered the ministry of the Baptist church, and as far
as appears from the evidence of those most likely to know, was, in his
private character as an individual and in his public character as a
minister, above reproach. Some time after the beginning of the war he

^Cyrua H. Mackey was born in Lewlston, Illinois. August 22, 1887, and died
in Sigourney, Iowa, July 17, 1909. He was with bis parents, James and Abinrail
Mackey, in their removal to Springfield, Keokuk County, Iowa, in 1855. He read
law with the Arm of Sampson (B. S.) & Harned (S.) of Sigourney and was
admitted to the bar in 1858 and began practice in Sigourney. He entered the
Union Army August 10, 1802, as lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-third Iowa
Infantry, was promoted to colonel August 18. 180S, was wounded severely April
SO, 1S04, at Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas, and was mustered out July 17, 1805, at
New Orleans. He returned to Sigourney and resumed his law practice in which
he attained distinction, and in which he continued until shortly before his death.
He was a representative in the Eighteenth General Assembly, 1880, was the
Donocratic nominee for Congress from the Sixth District in 1882, was the Demo-
cratic nominee for attorney general of Iowa in 1880, and again in 1890, was
more than once a delegate to a national convention of his party, and in 1900
was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for presidential elector at large.

618 ANNALS OF IOWA

was called upon to preach the funeral of a soldier who had died in the
Union Army. He consented to do so, the place where the appointment
was made being Mt. Zion Church, in Steady Run Township.

When the congregation had assembled, and after Tally had taken his
place in the pulpit, the question of his loyalty was raised by some of the
brethren and, at their suggestion, another Baptist minister who was
present went into the pulpit and informed him that his loyalty was
questioned and if rumors were true as to certain sentiments which be
was reported to have uttered, there were those in the audience who
preferred not to listen to his discourse. After a short consultation Tally
arose and announced that as there appeared to be objections to his
preaching from that pulpit he would dismiss the congregation and those
who desired to hear him should go to a certain schoolhouse nearby. He
thereupon left the church and started for the schoolhouse followed by
the greater part of the audience, but upon his arrival at the place
found the schoolhouse locked and the subdirector refused to give up
the key. They then went to a grove where the funeral sermon was
preached and the audience dismissed. The circumstances attending the
preaching of this funeral gave rise to bitter disputes and bickerings in
the neighborhood and party feeling ran high. Encouraged by his friends
Tally became still more pronounced in the expression of his political
views and soon after abandoned the pulpit and took the stump. Numer-
ous opposition meetings were held in the county and Tally was invari-
ably the chief speaker. He soon became quite a hero and received and
accepted invitations to speak in various parts of the adjoining counties.
On every hand he was extolled and lionized by those of a like political
faith. Thus flattered and petted it is not at all remarkable that as
young a man as Tally should become bold to commit some very indis-
creet deeds and make some very unwise statements. In his public
speeches he used language which was very offensive to the war party
and threats were made in some parts of the county that Tally could not
speak there. Whenever such threats were made the friends of Tally
seemed to be particularly anxious that he should speak at those very
places, and urged forward by the injudicious counsels of these friends
improved the very first opportunities which presented themselves in
making good the assertion that he could speak and would speak at any
place in the county where he chose to. To these meetings people from
all parts of the county would flock, many of them well armed. Such
was the condition of affairs when occurred the tragic event which put
an end to the eventful career of young Tally.

On Saturday, August 1, 1863, a Democratic mass meeting was held
near English River, in Keokuk County. The speaking occurred in a
grove, about one half mile from town. The chief speaker was Tally.
Several hundred persons were present at this meeting, most of whom
had come in wagons, in the bottom of which was hay or straw, and
therein secreted were arms of different kinds which fact was developed
at a later hour in the day. Speeches were made during the forenoon.

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 619

and as some Republicans were present, party spirit ran high. As an
illustration of the excitement, it is related that in stripping of butter-
nut badges the clothing was almost torn from a couple of ladies present
who displayed the objectionable emblem. Wild and perhaps idle threats
were made that the party would come up in the afternoon and clean
out the town of South English, which was quite a radical stronghold.
Reports of these were carried up into town, where, from the balcony of
a hotel, a Republican was addressing a meeting of his party, and in
the town the radical feeling was also quite strong. To be prepared for
emergencies, the citizens were armed as far as there were weapons for
their use. In the afternoon the Tally party came up to the town in
wagons. In the front wagon were several men, including Tally, who
stood up in the rear part.

The Republican meeting had just closed, and arms were freely dis-
played. Some person warned Tally that he had best not go through
the town, as there would be trouble; but he claimed he meant no injury
to anyone, and merely asked the privilege of the street. As the first
wagon came into the crowd, there were cries from the street of "coward !"
"copperhead !'' "afraid to shoot !'' etc. Previous to this time no weapons
had been displayed by the party in the wagon, but upon these cries
they came up from the bottom of the conveyance. Just then the street
became so crowded that it was necessary to stop the wagon for a
moment. At that instant a citizen accidentally, as he claimed, discharged
one barrel of his revolver into the ground. This was the occasion for
a general firing, and it is marvelous that the loss of life was not much
greater. It has been estimated that one hundred and fifty shots were
fired, which is evidently a great exaggeration. Tally stood in the back
part of the wagon, with revolver and bowie knife in hand; he evidently
fired twice, as two chambers were empty, when he fell from the wagon
dead, having been shot once through the head and twice through the
body. One of the horses attached to the wagon was wounded, which
caused the team to run, and probably avoided more serious consequences.
The only other party seriously wounded was a man by the name of
Wyant, who recovered. Upon receiving the fatal shot. Tally fell pros-
trate in the wagon, and it was not known that he was dead until the
driver of the team succeeded in controlling the horses, when an exami-
nation revealed the fact that life had already departed.

The next day being Sunday, preparations were being made at the
home of Tally, whither his remains had been conveyed the previous
evening, for the funeral, while messages were sent in every direction
informing Tally's friends of his death, and calling upon them to avenge
it. At the solicitation of certain influential citizens of Sigourney and
elsewhere, a committee, consisting of S. A. [B.] Evans, Wm. H. Brunt.
Presley Doggett and others, proceeded to the Tally neighborhood on
the Monday following. When they arrived Tally had already been
buried, and about one hundred people, from various parts of the county
had assembled, determined on revenge. The committee said they had

620 ANNALS OF IOWA

come in the interest of peace, and that they were authorised to guar-
antee the arrest and speedy trial of the person or persons who killed
Tally. Their words seemed to have had little effect on the crowd, and
they departed. All this time wagon loads of men were on their way
from Wapello, Mahaska and Poweshiek counties to the place ot rendei-
vous on Skunk River. Probably as many as one hundred and fifty came
from Mahaska County alone. These volunteers formed what is currently
known as the Skunk River Army.

By Monday night affairs began to present quite a dangerous aspect
to the people of South English and Sigoumey, and that night two citi-
zens of the latter place made their way to Washington on horsebaclL,
and there, procuring a hand car, proceeded to Wilton Junction, where
they took a train for Davenport, in order to consult Governor Kirk-
wood, who was known to be there at that time. They found the Gover-
nor early on Tuesday morning, and stated the facts; his first reply was
a verbal order for three hundred stands of arms, which he then gave
the gentlemen in writing, and told them to procure the arms and return
to Keokuk County. One of the gentlemen replied: '^My God Governor,
am I to understand you [want us] to return home and shoot down our
neighbors?*' The Governor replied: '^On second thought, I guess FU
go myself.*' And go he did, just as he was, without collar or necktie,
and attired in the careless dress which he was accustomed to wear when
at his regular employment. The Governor arrived on Wednesday even-
ing at Sigourney; troops and a couple of cannons followed soon after.
That night he made a speech in front of the Court House.

The popular story of the Governor's threat of minie balls and canister
to the Skunk River Army and of their terror-stricken flight from their
camp is a myth, the truth being that there was no considerable number
of armed men nearer English River than Skunk River, which is sixteen
miles from the town. The project of armed resistance had been prac-
tically abandoned before Governor Kirkwood reached the town, many
of the Mahaska County troopa having returned to their homes on Mon-
day or Tuesday. It is probable that there were still some men assembled
at the time of Governor Kirkwood*s visit, and that his proclamation
was read to them which gave rise to the more extravagant story. There
was nobody badly frightened on either side, and no paricular cowardice
manifested. It is highly probable that if Bill Tally had continued as
leader that the result would have been quite disastrous. The Skunk
River Army has been variously estimated at numbers ranging from
five hundred to four thousand; the first figure is probably not far from
the truth. . . . The grand jury at the following term of the District
Court, took the Tally matter under consideration, but no one was in-
dicted, and up to the present time it has not been found out who fired
the fatal shot. It is highly probable, however, from the nature of the
wound, that the shot was not an accidental one, but well aimed, and
from an unerring hand.

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 621

From the Adjutant General's Report for the year 1863 on file
in the Public Archives Division of the Historical^ Memorial and
Art Department I submit the following:

South English,
Aug. 2, 1863.
Governor Kirkwood:

Dear Sir: — Our town was thrown into great commotion yesterday,
in consequence of treasonable acts committed by the "Copperhead'^ party,
resulting in the death of probably three or four persons, including their
leader — Tally. There were near a hundred shots fired on either side.
They retired, making threats to return, reinforced, and burn the town,
&c. We can say that we were not the aggressive party. We bore their
Insults (butternut badges) as well as listened to their treasonable talk
with patience, until they came through the village with their g^ns, and
knives, &c^ exhibited, when some one called out "cowards!^* which was
repeated by several, when they commenced firing into the crowd; and
as there had been so many threats made by them before, it was natural
for us to stand on the defensive. We very much desire you to take
measures to protect our town, by sending us aid. If you cannot do so,
send us arms.

Yours, Respectfully,
Allek Hale
Wm. Cocheak,

ThOS. J. MOOKMAX

South English, ^
Aug. 8rd, 1863.
To His Excellency Gov. Kirkwood, or Adjt. Gen. Baker:

Dear Sirs: — Excitement still continues here. Our ambassadors, that
we sent from here yesterday to come to an accommodation with the
friends of Tally, are detained now over twelve hours longer than the
time appointed for their return, or at least the time expected. We
have rumors from different sources of an attack on our town, and are
expecting it hourly. We have not over two hundred armed men, if
that, and the arms are nothing but shotguns and rifles, a few revolvers,
knives, &c. We beg of you to reinforce us immediately. If you cannot
possibly do this, send us available arms, as many as you can. We
have organised.

Your Humble Servants,
A. Hale,

T. J. MOOBMAX,

Committee appointed to communicate with you.

Adjutant General *s Office,
Davenport, Iowa, Aug. 4th, 1863.

Hon. S. J. Kirkwood:

On Saturday, August 1st Inst, a riot occurred In the town of South

English, in the Coounty of Keokuk, Iowa, resulting In the death of one

622 ANNALS OF IOWA

person, and severely wounding several others. Since that time the county
has been in a feverish state of excitement. A large body of men, armed
with rifles and shotguns, have formed, and are camped in the western
part of the county, threatening to take the law into their own hands,
and murder, plunder, burn and destroy, unless their unreasonable de-
mands are complied with. According to their own statements, this force
thus assembled in violation of law, amounts to over three thousand men,
and from my own knowledge of the matter I think there must be at
least one thousand men in the county unlawfully under arms. Our citi-
zens are in very great fear for the safety of person and property, and
the county funds, valuable public records, and the greater portion of
the funds of private individuals, have been removed from the county
for safe keeping. Under these circumstances we feel ourselves justified
in calling upon the state authorities for aid in dispersing this lawless
assemblage of men.

J. H. Sandebs.

SPECIAL ORDER

Head Quarters, Sigourney,
Aug. 8th, 1863.
The troops now here will remain until notified by the sheriflF of
Keokuk County that they will be no longer needed.

The soldiers will avoid all occassion of quarrel with the citizens, and
are hereby strictly enjoined not to injure or molest any citizen, either
in person or property, unless in execution of orders and in the line of
duty.

• The military force at this place will be strictly subordinate to the
civil authority, and will be under the direction of the sheriff. They
arc only to protect and assist the officers of the law in the performance
of their duties.

Captain Satterlee will be in command of all the troops at this place
and will see that this order is strictly obeyed.
By order of the Governor.

M. M. Trumbull,

Asst. Adjt. Gen.

COMPANIES CALLED OUT

List of companies engaged in suppressing disturbances in Keokuk
Co., August, 1863:

Muscatine Rangers— Captain Satterlee

Washington Provost Guards Captain Andrus

Brighton Guards Captain Sheridan

Richland Home Guards Captain Drummond

Fairfield Prarie Guards . Captain Alexander

Fairfield Union Guards Captain Ratcliff

Abingdon Home Guards Captain W. D. Peck

Liberty ville Guards „ . . Captain Cowan

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 623

Mt. Pleasant Infantry Captain Jericho

Mt. Pleasant Artillery Captain Burr

Sigourney Home Guards™ Captain Price

To give the reader a clearer understanding of the attitude
taken by Governor Kirk wood on the subject I herewith submit
the following from the Governor's Journal of 1 862-1 863 now on
file in the Public Archives Division of the Historical, Memorial
and Art Department of Iowa;

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF

Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood

1862-1863

Executive Office Iowa
Iowa City, Aug. 3rd, 1863.
James M. Adams
Sheriff Keokuk Co. Iowa.
Sir:

Information has reached me that on Saturdav last a conflict occurred
at a political meeting had at South English in your county which re-
sulted in the death of one or more persons and it is represented to me
that there is danger of an attack on the people of that place in revenge
for the death of the person or persons killed.

Such events as that of Saturday, & that said to be threatened are
dangerous to the peace of the state and must if possible be prevented.
The laws must be maintained & enforced.

Investigate the occurrences of Saturday last & present conditions of
affairs there. The local authorities should at once take the necessary
steps to ascertain the facts attending the death of the person or persons
killed and the guilty persons on one side or the other. But I wish you
& it is your duty to prevent further conflicts and breaches of the peace.
The people of South English must be protected if in danger — A mob
must not be permitted to take the law into their own hands and mete
out punishment to those whom they may consider guilty. This would
produce retaliation & further conflict.

Examine into all the facts clearly and carefully and report to me in
writing.

It is your duty to prevent further disturbance and so far as is in
my power I will hold you responsible for a failure to perform that
duty. You have the power to summons to your assistance a sufficient
force to preserve the peace and enforce the laws and should do so
promptly.

Very Respectfully

Your Obt. Servant,

Samuel J. Kibkwood.

624 ANNALS OF IOWA

Executive Office Iowa
Iowa City, Aug. 5, 1863.
N. B. Baker,
Adjt. Genl. of Iowa.
Sir:

You will immediately upon receipt of this order send to the sheriff
of Washington County by tlie express train of tomorrow morning & by
express, forty stands of arm with a due allowance of ammunition. Be
sure to send the arms by express and the early train tomorrow for
Washington. Send with the arms by the express messenger the enclosed
letter to the sheriff of Washington County. Don*t fail in the prompt
execution of this order.

Very Respectfully

Your Obt. Servant,

Samuel J. Kibkwooo.
P. S. Pay express charges.

Executive Office Iowa
Iowa City Aug. 3rd, 1863.
Sheriff of Washington County, Iowa.
Sir:

There will be delivered to you with this letter forty stands of arms
& an amount of ammunition for the same.

You will deliver these forty stands of arms and the ammunition to
the written order of Allen Hale, Wm. Cochran and Thos. Morseman
or of any two of them. They live in South English, Keokuk County
and I am informed there is danger of an attack on that place and a
serious breach of the peace on account of an unfortunate occurrence
there on Saturday last. These arms are intended for their defence.

Very Respectfully

Your Obt. Servant,

Samuel J. Kibkwood.

Executive Office Iowa
Iowa City, Aug. 3rd, 1863.
Messrs. Allan Hale,
Wm. Cochran & Thos. Morsman,
South English, Keokuk Co., Iowa.
Gentlemen :

I have learned with regret the unfortunate occurrence at your place
on Saturday last, and also that there is danger of further conflict and
disturbance in consequence. I, of course, cannot determine where the
fault is or who are the responsible parties, but it is very clear this is a
matter to he determined by the law and not by a mob. If it shall turn
out that Tally was unlawfully killed, the law must show who is the
guilty person and must inflict the punishment. If a mob of his friends
are permitted to determine who is guilty and to inflict punishment it
is just as probable that the innocent will suffer as the guilty. Besides

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 625

such proceedings unsettle society and render every man^s life and prop-
erty insecure.

I have sent to tlie sheriff of Washington County forty stands of arms
And ammunition for the same for you. These arms are intended only
and strictly for the defense of your people against any lawless attack
on your town by a mob and for the purpose of aiding the lawful au-
thorities in enforcing the laws and maintaining the public peace. They
must not be used for any other purpose or in any other manner. You
must keep your people strictly on the defensive and clearly within the
law. You must not resist the execution of legal process but must aid
in enforcing & executing it. If you are attacked by a mob of riotous
and lawless men you will of course defend yourselves.

The public mind is much excited by the acts of mischievous and de-
signing men and it becomes lawablding and peaceful citizens not to
add to this excitement. Act prudently and cooly and lawfully.

I trust that the threatened danger may pass over without further
disturbances. I have written the sheriff of your county to act in this
matter. Until his arrival I must trust to your judgment & discretion.
Upon his arrival act under his authority.

Very Respectfully

Samuel J. Kirkwood.

ORGANIZING AND ARMING VOLUNTEER COMPANIES

From Governor Kirk wood's Biennial Message to the Tenth General

Assembly

I became satisfied during the early part of last summer that design-
ing men in this, as in other loyal states, were making preparations for
an armed resistance to the authority of the general government. The
law of Congress, providing for a draft to fill the ranks of the Union
Army, contained a provision that was eagerly seised upon to array the
poorer of our people against the government upon the specious pretence
that the object of the law was to discriminate between the rich and
the poor, to the injury of the poor.

The action of the government, in freeing and using the slaves in the
rebel states for the suppression of the Rebellion, was represented as
a scheme, by the government, to overrun the free states with the freed
slaves, to the prejudice of the interest of the poor white man.

The government had in some instances, arrested and temporarily im-
prisoned or sent beyond our lines, persons whose restraint the public
safety required; and this was interpreted to mean, an intention on the
part of the government to break down all the defenses of civil liberty,
and to establish a despotism. The entire policy of our government, as
interpreted by these men, was that the war was waged, not for the
preservation of the Union, but for the abolition of slavery; that the
object of the government, in seeking to abolish slavery was to bring
the freed slaves north, and force their labor into competition with that
of the poor white man; that by the so-called Conscription Law, the

626 ANNALS OF IOWA

jrovernmcnt sought to force only the poor men of the country into the
ranks of the army, to effect these objects so prejudicial to their inter-
ests, and that while these objects were being eflPected, the government
intended to overthrow our free institutions, and establish in their stead
a des}>otism.

It is passing strange that intelligent men could be found so wicked
as to make these statements, and that other men could be found so
ignorant and foolish as to believe them. But so it was. These state-
ments were made through the press and from the stump, in the most
violent and exciting language, apparently with all the earnestness of
conviction, and thousands of honest, but deluded men believed them,
and in consequence entertained feeling of deep hostility to the govem-
nient. In this excited state of the public mind, secret societies were
organized in many, if not all of the loyal states, the members of which
were, to some extent, secretly armed for the avowed purpose of pro-
tecting themselves against what were called "arbitrary arrests," but as
I am satisfied with the intent upon the part of the leaders to bring
their members into armed collision with the general government, in
case any attempt should be made to enforce the draft. The natural
result of these teachings and this action, was seen in the bloody riot
that occurred in the chief city of the Union, and in similar smaller out-
breaks in other places.

Under these circumstances, my duty seemed to me to be plain and
clear. I was bound to see the enforcement of the law^s and the preser-
vation of peace and good order; and when organized action w^as being
taken throughout the state to prevent the one, and violate the other, I
did not think my duty permitted me to wait until the evil was upon us
before I took steps for its prevention. I accordingly called upon the
loyal men of the state, who were willing to aid in the enforcement of
the law, to organize a volunteer military company in each county of the
state. Such companies were promptly organized, in most of the coun-
ties, of loyal and substantial citizens, and as they were organized, I
placed arms and ammunition in their hands to make their organization
effective. By these means a sufficient force was provided to preserve
the peace of the state and insure the enforcement of the law of Con-
gress, without weakening our army facing the enemy by withdrawing
any portion of it for that purpose, and in my judgment, this state of
preparation to preserve the peace, tended largely to prevent Its vio-
lation.

There was but a single occasion in which it was necessary to use the
force thus organized. About the first day of August last, as a number
of persons who had been attending a political meeting near the village
of South English, in Keokuk County, were returning through that vil-
lage, a collision took place between them and other persons in the
village, in which a Mr. Tally, who had addressed the meeting, was
killed. The friends of Tally, instead of appealing to the laws and the
officers of the law for redress, chose to assume that the officers of the

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 627

law would not do their duty. They sent runners to various points and
in a short time had gathered, near Sigourney, the county seat of the
county, a large body of armed men, who undertook to dictate to the
oflBcers of the law for what oflFence and in what manner, the persons
charged with killing Tally should be tried and punished. Much alarm
existed throughout the county. The county funds were sent off for
safety, and arrangements were made to send away the county records;
and orderly and law-abiding people were in great anxiety and terror.
As soon as these facts were made known to me, I at once ordered to
Sigourney a sufficient number of volunteer companies, of infantry and
artillery, to give protection to the people and the officers of the law,
and to show those assembled for unlawful purposes, not only the hope-
lessness, but the danger of their attempt to overawe the authorities;
and I am glad to be able to inform you that the display of force was
sufficient to effect the desired object. As soon as it became known that
a force was being gathered to sustain the law, the unlawful assemblage
quietly dispersed, order and tranquility were restored, and the officers
of the law were left unmolested in the performance of their duty.

The companies thus organized and armed are still in existence and,
should any further legislation be deemed necessary for their efficiencjs
I recommend that such legislation be had.

In closing this subject, I would return my thanks to the officers and
men ordered by me to Sigourney and South English, on the occasion
referred to, for the promptness with which they responded to the order,
and their soldierly conduct and bearing while on duty.

In the Annals of Iowa, Vol. IX, pages 142-45, will be found
an article on this subject by Hon. Frank W. Eichelberger, who
at that time, 1863, was representing the Muscatine Journal, This
article I am presenting in full from the fact it presents clearly
the action taken by Governor Kirkwood in the episode:

GOVERNOR KIRKWOOD AND THE SKUNK RIVER WAR

By Hon. Frank W. Eichelberger

During the dark days of the summer of 1863, when Grant was in-
vesting Vicksburg and Lee marching on Pennsylvania, there existed
in portions of Keokuk, Poweshiek and Wapello counties a large number
of southern sympathizers, who had from the outset of the war made
a fierce opposition to its prosecution.

A man named Tally, living near loka in Keokuk County, a Baptist
preacher, made himself a leader among this element by his blatant,
disloyal speeches in different parts of the country, rendering himself
obnoxious to the Union-loving portion of the community. He usually
went armed with a couple of revolvers and a bowie knife and openly
defied the authorities to arrest him. The fall of Vicksburg and defeat
of Lee at Gettysburg seemed to embitter bin) ^nd his harangue became
more violent and threatening.

628 ANNALS OF IOWA

On the first of August, accompanied by seventy or eighty men in
wagons, all armed, he went to South English in Keokuk County, and
held a meeting in the outskirts of the village. Wliilst this was in prog-
ress, a Republican meeting was organized in the street opposite the
hotel, which was addressed by a man named Settler, from ML Pleasant,
who happened to be at the hotel. During the progress of this meeting,
Tally and his crowd in wagons drove through tiie meeting, exhibiting
butternut and copperhead pins, which were the recognised badges of
disloyalty in the North at that time. A wounded soldier named Moor-
man, seized one of the men wearing a butternut and stripped it off
and was proceeding to serve others in the same manner when lie was
seized by some of them. His father went to his rescue and disdiarged
his revolver. At this. Tally raised up in his wagon and gave the word
to fire, at the same time firing his own revolver into the crowd and a
regular fusilade was discharged by his armed followers, but singular
to relate without hitting anyone. I was there the next day and saw
many bullets imbedded in the hotel front. The firing was returned and
Tally was killed and one of his men wounded. On the fall of their
leader they drove off, vowing to return and hang a number of the
citizens and burn the town.

Word was sent to Washington, Iowa, where C^l. N. P. Chipman,
chief of staff for General Samuel R. Curtis, happened to be at home
on a short furlough. He left immediately for South English, whither
I accompanied him in the interests of the MusctUin^ DaUy Journal of
which paper I was then city editor.

On our arrival Col. Chipman organized a company, erected barricades
and prepared to resist any effort to take the town. During the day
companies of state militia arrived from Wasliing^on and others came
in from Poweshiek and Iowa counties, and the town was turned into a
military camp, with Col. Chipman in command and J. F. McJunkin
of Washington, afterwards attorney general of Iowa, as adjutant.

In the meantime a mob of six or seven hundred men had gathered
in the bottoms of Skunk River armed with all kinds of weapons from
shotguns to meat axes. They demanded that ten of the best citizens of
South English should be arrrested and immediately tried, charged with
the crime of murder in the first degree, and threatening to march on
the town and burn it, and seize the men themselves and hang them,
unless their demand was complied with.

The messenger sent by them, discovering the preparations made for
their reception, returned and reported that the men were willing to
give themselves up to the proper authorities for trial, which under the
circumstances of Col. Chipman's preparation was accepted.

They were arrested by Sheriff Adams, had a preliminary hearing
before a justice of the peace and were bound over in the sum of
$1000.00 each for their appearance at the next term of the District
Court. The army of the Skunk was dispersed and Col. Chipman's forces
sent home and it was supposed the affair ended. But during the night

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 629

another mob of nearly a thousand men gathered on Skunk River bottom
near Sigourney and threatened to march on that place and destroy it
unless the men bound over at South English were immediately brought
to Sigourney and placed on trial. There was great excitement at
Sigourney, the business houses were closed and nearly every man turned
out to defend the place. There was no railroad or telegraph line to
Sigourney at the time.

Mr. Sanders, the clerk of the court, who afterwards established and
conducted Sanders* Stock Journal at Chicago, drove to Washington and
took an engine from there to Muscatine, where he got into telegraphic
communication with Governor Kirkwood. I went back on the engine
and drove to Sigourney, finding the town in a state of great excitement,
patrolled by a company of home guards, only half of them armed. The
town was filled with ugly, scpwling, armed rioters from the rendezvous
on Skunk River and things looked pretty squally.

During the night Governor Kirkwood came in from Washington ac-
companied only by Col. Trumbull of his staff, afterwards colonel of
the Ninth Cavalry. They drove direct to the Court House and Governor
Kirkwood at once proceeded to make a speech.

It is only once in a lifetime that a man is permitted to hear such a
speech, and especially to such an audience under such circumstances.
The grand old man seemed to be inspired; he was utterly fearless, al-
though apparently in imminent danger from the rough crowd that sur-
rounded and threatened at times to hang him, hissing and howling
curses at him, which however failed to interrupt his speech. And such
a speech! Its like never came from the mouth of any other governor
of any state.

It was far from ladylike, in fact would hardly do for print, but was
vigorous, virile and to the point, filled with good old English and inter-
spersed with an occasional round mouth-filling epithet as he referred
to the Rebels. It was exhilarating, exciting but fearsome to see that
rugged, fearless, earnest, grand man standing up in the middle of the
night hurling denunciations and threats to such a mob. He told them
that he had come to see that the law was enforced; that the people of
South English would be fairly tried and if guilty punished, but not by
such a scoundrelly mob as confronted him; that he had reason to be-
lieve that they were drawn together not so much to punish crime or
see that it was punished, as to throw obstacles in the way of the govern-
ment in putting down the rebellion; that he didn't propose to have any
fire-in-the-rear rebellion in Iowa and unless they dispersed before morn-
ing he would have them shot down like dogs ; that he had ordered troops
whidi were on their way, and when they arrived the next day they
would shoot, and shoot straight, and shoot leaden bullets, not blank
cartridges; that he would put down this mob if he had to kill every
mother^s son of them — although that was not exactly the name he ap-
plied, but it would not be polite to give it verbatim.

His appearance and bravery cowed them and they commenced to

630 ANNALS OF IOWA

slink away, and before the Governor would go to bed most of them
had left town. The next morning a company from Muscatine and dar-
ing the day others arrived from Mt. Pleasant, Washington and other
towns, and by evening there were ten companies of nodlitia quartered in
and around the town and the mob had entirely dissolved and gone
home.

I have always thought that there would have been bloodshed if Gov-
ernor Kirkwood had not fearlessly met the crisis.

A number of the rioters were arrested and bound over, charged with
exciting riot, but they together with the South English prisoners, were
releai»ed and all prosecution was wisely dropped at the next term of
court.

Following are two articles, one from the Weekly Courier of

Muscatine and one from the Muscatine Journal. These articles

are submitted to portray the attitude taken by the newspapers

and the people, on each side, of the great controversy at that

time:

THE DISTURBANCE IN KEOKUK COUNTY

From the Muscatine Weekly Courier, August 6, 1863

On Saturday, the first day of August, the Democrats of Keokuk
County, in obedience to the suggestion made by the State Central Com-
mittee, assembled in mass convention near South English, for the pur-
pose of ratifying the proceedings of the Democratic State Convention.
Ileturning from the meeting many of the Democrats passed through the
town of South English, where they were set upon by so-called Union
men, and the badges worn by some of the Democrats were torn off and
trampled under foot by abolition rioters.

Shooting followed this raid upon Democratic badges, and the first
shot fired was by a ''Union man" The principal speaker at the Demo-
cratic meeting was then killed, and two other Democrats mortally
wounded — and as far as we have been able to learn, not one "Union
man" or abolitionist was in any manner injured. Yet abolition news-
papers, Instigated by the friends of perdition, gravely charge that
Democrats are to blame for this wicked and murderous outrage upon
the persons of Iowa citizens. A mob of abolitionists get together, armed
to the very teeth, and intercept Democratic speakers and others as they
return from a public meeting, and wickedly and fiendishly kill and
murder three of those Democrats, and then abolition editors, desiring
to hire these pretended "Union men" to shed more blood, call upon
them to exterminate the Democrats, assuring the fighting abolitionists
that "Iowa is unsafe for" Democrats.

O, blind and Infatuated tool of a wicked despotism! When will you
get your eyes open to see the enormity of the crime you arc commit-
ting? You sit in your editorial chair and applaud abolition miscreants
for shooting down in cold blood, Democrat speakers, and then lecture

THE SKUNK RIVER WAR 631

those Democrats for interfering to prevent themselves from being ex-
terminated! What wily fiend has taken posession of your heart that
you can thus madly provoke the angry spirit of a mob when all good
men are trying to allay the growing storm? You, Mr. Journal, for
twelve long months, have advocated mob law in this city — You have
threatened quiet and peaceable citizens with hanging — you have tamp-
ered with the mob spirit which your own infernal malice has created
in our midst — You have, by repeated falsehoods and calumniation,
sought to bring Iowa citizens into disfavor with the masses, so that a
mob incited by your bowlings, would kill and murder them — You have
urged the mob to destroy property as well as lives, and in every man-
ner that your own wicked passions could plot, you have aimed at sub-
stituting the hellish acts of mobs and demons, for law and order. In
obedience to your teachings your party in an adjoining county have
organized a mob — ^and as you directed in your issue of yesterday, they
have **fired" at Democrats and killed and murdered them — and you,
poor, driveling tool of mad masters — you approve the bloody deed and
threaten vengance on those who will not quietly stand and be murdered.
Poor sniveller, seek your hole and hide yourself, and no longer contami-
nate tlie free air of heaven with your pestilential breath. You want
mobs do you?

A DEAD DESPERADO

Prom the Muscatine Journal, republished in the Keokuk Oate City,

August 10, 1863

Rev. S. Tally, of loka, Keokuk County, who was killed in the difll-
culty at South English on Saturday last, was about thirty years of age.
He was a Baptist preacher, but we are informed, had no charge and
spent his time mostly in traveling through Keokuk and adjoining coun-
ties making Inflammatory appeals to the people against the government.
He was known throughout that region as a reckless character, and
among the ignorant classes who compose the Copperhead faction was
a most dangerous man.

We are informed by J. H. Williamson, Esq., of Louisa County, that
in June last he had a public discussion on politics with Tally. The latter
was then armed to the teeth, having a large bowie knife conspicuously
suspended from a belt around his waist, and also a pistol in his vest
pocket and one or two in his coat pockets. The burden of his remarks
was the tyranny of the administration and the duty of the Democrats
to take up arms against it.

This is the character of the man whom the Muscatine tory sheet
mildly denominates "a Democratic speaker," and upon whose death,
while in the act of unprovokedly shooting down his fellow citizens and
calling upon his followers to imitate his example, it takes occasion to
charge the administration and its friends with a "fiendish murder."

We want no stronger evidence of the deep-seated sympathy for
treason in the mind of the editor of the Courier than this fact.

634 ANNALS OF IOWA

member of the firm of Harding, Ruffcorn & Jones, Des Moines. He
also engaged in lecturing, and in the promotion of the Great Lakes and
St. Lawrence waterway project. He was in great demand as a political
speaker, and took part in all recent state and national campaigns,
speaking in many states under the direction of the Republican National
Committee. His final illness began while he was making campaign
speeches in Indiana. His readiness and felicity of expression, his
abounding humor and his engaging personality were qualities that great-
ly contributed to his success as an orator.

Gkorqe Watson Frexcu was born in Davenport, Iowa, October 26,
1858, and died in that city November 27, 1934. Burial was in Oakdale
Cemetery, Davenport. His parents were George Henry and Frances
Wood (Morton) French. He received his education in public schools in
Davenport and in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. At the
age of nineteen he became an apprentice in his father's factory, the
Eagle Manufacturing Company in Davenport, makers of farm machin-
ery, succeeding to the presidency of the company in 1886. He joined
with the Bettendorfs in the Bettendorf Metal Wheel Company in 1888
and became president. The French & Hecht Company developed from
this with Mr. French as president. In 1896 he and his brother, Na-
thaniel French, formed the Sylvan Steel Company with the former as
president. He was connected with several other corporaticms. Besides
being an outstanding figure in that industrial center, he had many other
activities. In 1878 he joined the Iowa National Guard and rose through
different ranks until in 1882 he was commissioned lieutenant colonel
and assistant adjutant general of the First Brigade, but resigned in
1897. He gained political prominence and was a delegate to the Repub-
lican National Conventions of 1896, 1930, 1904, 1912, 1916, and 1928.
He had a great interest in farming and developed a model farm just
east of Bettendorf, purchasing it in about 1910 and centering his atten-
tion on Holstein cows. In 1914 Governor Clarke appointed him a mem-
ber of the Permanent Iowa Commission to the Panama-Pacific Expo-
sition. He did his part in civic development, was for a time president
of the Davenport Chamber of Commerce, and was a liberal contributor
to charitable movements. He and Mrs. Frencli gave to St. Luke's Hos-
pital, French Hall, a nurse's home. He took a great interest in Friendly
House of Davenport, aiding in its establishment and maintenance. He
was a brother of Alice French (Octave Thanet), noted author, and of
Judge Nathaniel French.

Edwin S. Ormsbt was born at Summerfield, Monroe County, Michi-
gan, April 17, 1842, and died in Long Beach, California, October 24,
1934. Interment was at Long Beach. His parents were Lysander and
Olive C. Ormsby. He was a member of the Eighth Michigan Infantry
during the Civil War and became a lieutenant. He practiced law a
brief time in Michigan, but removed to Emmetsburg, Iowa, in 1872,

ANNALS OF IOWA

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

NOTABLE DEATHS

LxoTD Haboino was born on a farm near Sibley, Osceola
r» Iowa, October 3» 1877, and died in Des Moines December 17,
The body was placed in the family vault of the Graceland Mauso-
Sfcmx City. His parents were O. B. and Emalyn (Moyer) Hard-
He received his early education in the public schools of his home
r» attended Mornlngside College, Sioux City, 1897-1901, and was
with the degree of LI^. B. from the law college of South
University, Vermillion, in 1905. The same year he began prac-
of law In Sioux City. At one time James W. Kindig, later a justice
lipf the Supreme Court of Iowa, was his partner. He had a natural
fjpptttvde for politics and In 1906, only a year after commencing his law
and when but twenty-nine years old, he was elected representa-
tive from Woodbury County, was re-elected in 1908, and also in 1910,
;«ening in the Thirty-second, Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth general
i|Hr liibUi n He naturally grew with experience, had second place on
(he Judiciary Committee, and was chairman of the Committee on Mu-
■icipal Corporations. He also greatly enlarged his acquaintance and
ftrtoidships and In 1912 won the nomination for lieutenant governor,
fan on tlie ticket headed by George W. Clarke for governor, and was
decled. He was re-elected in 1914, again running on the ticket with
S Governor Clarke. In 1916 in a strong field of four candidates he won
the Republican nomination for governor, and in the memorable cam-
|Mdgn tliat fall he was elected governor over the Democratic nominee,
Edwin T. Meredith. In 1918 he was renominated for governor and was
re-elected, winning over Claude R. Porter, the Democratic candidate.
When first elected he was but little over thirty-nine years old, the young-
est governor-elect of Iowa since William M. Stone in 1863. A few weeks
after the beginning of his first term as governor the United States
entered the World War and Iowa did its full share in furnishing sol-
diers, provisions, and materials, buying liberty bonds and co-operating
with the national government, and in it all was the patriotic leadership
of Governor Harding. It was during his administration and by his help-
fulness that the State Board of Conservation and the state park system
were established, also that the present highway system was put on its
present organization. In that period, too, prison contract labor was
abolished, and the state ratified the amendments to the federal Consti-
tution for prohibition and for woman suffrage. After leaving the gov-
ernor's chair Mr. Harding returned to the practice of law, becoming a

684 ANNALS OF IOWA

George Watson French was born in Davenport, Iowa, October 26,
1858, and died in that city November 27, 1934>. Burial was in Oakdale
Cemetery, Davenport. His parents were George Henry and Frances
Wood (Morton) French. He received his education in public schools in
Davenport and in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. At the
age of nineteen he became an apprentice in his father's factory, the
£agle Manufacturing Company in Davenport, makers of farm machin-
ery, succeeding to the presidency of the company in 1886. He joined
with the Bettendorfs in the Bettendorf Metal Wheel Company in 1888
and became president. The French & Hecht Company developed from
this with Mr. French as president. In 1896 he and his brother, Na-
thaniel French, formed the Sylvan Steel Company with the former as
president. He was connected with several other corporations. Besides
being an outstanding figure in that Industrial center, he had many other
activities. In 1878 he joined the Iowa National Guard and rose through
different ranks until in 1882 he was commissioned lieutenant colonel
and assistant adjutant general of the First Brigade, but resigned in
1897. He gained political prominence and was a delegate to the Repub-
lican National Conventions of 1896, 1900, 1904, 1912, 1916, and 1928.
He had a great interest in farming and developed a model farm just
east of Bettendorf, purchasing it in about 1910 and centering his atten-
tion on Holstein cows. In 1914 Governor Clarke appointed him a mem-
ber of the Permanent Iowa Commission to the Panama-Pacific Expo-
sition. He did his part in civic development, was for a time president
of the Davenport Chamber of Commerce, and was a liberal contributor
to charitable movements. He and Mrs. French gave to St. Luke's Hos-
pital, French Hall, a nurse's home. He took a great interest in Friendly
House of Davenport, aiding in its establishment and maintenance. He
was a brother of Alice French (Octave Thanet), noted author, and of
Judge Nathaniel French.

EDITORIAL 635

locating first at the old town a mile west of the present town, but
moving to the new town in 1874. He aided in establishing the first bank
in the town. For many years he was associated with his brother, A. L.
Ormsby, in the management of the American Investment Company of
Emmetsburg. He was for years president of the First National Bank
of Emmetsburg, later the Farmers Trust and Savings Bank. Soon
after arriving in town he led in organizing a local Methodist Episcopal
church, and a Sunday school, and throughout his residence there he
was an active church worker. He was superintendent of his local Sunday
school twenty-five years and for some years was president of fhe State
Sunday School Association. In 1881 he was appointed on the military
staff of Governor John H. Gear with the title of lieutenant colonel,
and thereafter was popularly known as Colonel Ormsby. From 1884
to 1896 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell College,
and was vice president of the board from 1887 to 1895. He was also
active in politics and in 1893 was a candidate for the Republican nomi-
nation for governor. In a field of six candidates he received 81 votes.
Again in the 1895 convention in a field of seven candidates he received
84 votes. In 1904 he was elected as a presidential elector at large
running on the Republican ticket. About 1905 he removed to California
where he lived in retirement.

Labs Johak Skbomme was born in Norway in 1879 and died in a
hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, December 23, 1934. Burial was at Roland,
Story County. He was with his parents when they emigrated to the
United States in 1885, settling on a farm near Roland. He received his
early education in a country public school, and later attended Highland
Park College, Des Moines, Red Wing Seminary, Red Wing, Minnesota,
and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He was ordained a
minister in the Lutheran church and served for a time as pastor at
Eagle Grove, and at Pontiac, Illinois. At different times he was en-
gaged in real estate business at Clarion, Iowa, and at Thief River Falls,
Minnesota. On the entry of the United States into the World War he
enlisted at Roland in the Iowa National Guard on April 6, 1917, and
was assigned to the Second Ambulance Company, Medical Department.
He became first class private, August 1, 1917; sergeant, August 17,
1917; and was honorably discharged June 4, 1918, to accept commission;
appointed second lieutenant in infantry June 5, 1918; first lieutenant
September 27, 1918. His principal stations were at Camp Pike, Ar-
kansas; Camp McArthur, Texas; Camp Merritt, New Jersey; and Camp
Funston, Kansas. He was honorably discharged December 11, 1918.
After the war he was engaged in farm operations, and in the seed busi-
ness at Roland where he organized the Skromme Seed Company. In
1924 he was elected senator and served in the Forty-first and Forty-
second general assemblies. In 1928 he was a candidate in the primary
election for the Republican nomination of goverKor in a field of four
candidates when John Hammill received the nomination for a third term.

686 ANNALS OF IOWA

C11AUJE8 Lkplkt Hats was bom in Iowa City, Iowa, February 16,
1858, and died in Aberdeen, South Dakota, December 20, 1984. Burial
was at Eldora, Iowa. His parents were Silas and Christina Leplcy
Hays. The family removed to a farm near Eldora where Charles grew
to manhood, receiving his early education in country public school. He
later attended Oskaloosa College, and Drake University, being gradu-
ated in liberal arts from the latter in 1884^ and from the Law School
of Drake in 1885. He taught school for several years, country school
in Hardin County, and city sc1k>oI in East Des Moines. He followed
that by the practice of law at Eldora, which he pursued for forty years.
He was an active lay member of the Christian church, and served his
community in many ways. He was city attorney of Eldora for some
time, was a member of the Eldora City Council, of the library board,
and of the park committee. He assisted materially in securing Pine
Creek State Park at Eldora. On December 1, 1929, he was appointed
by Governor John Hammill as judge of the Superior Court at Iowa
Falls. He was elected to that position March 29, 1931, and continued
to act until September 8, 1931, when he resigned on account of ill health.
He was a man of fine character and mental attainments. The last
portion of his life was spent at Aberdeen, South Dakota, the residence
of his son, Wendell J. Hays.

Peter Alfbkd Bekdixen was bom in Davenport, Iowa, October 8,
1882, and died while temporarily absent at Beardstown, Illinois, De-
cember 30, 1934. Burial was in Oakdale Cemetery, Davenport. His
parents were Peter and Katherine Bendixen. He was graduated from
Glenbrook High School in 1899, attended Coe College, Iowa State Nor-
mal School, was graduated from University of Chicago with the degree
of B. S. in 1902, received his M. D. degree from Rush Medical College
in 1905, and began practice in Davenport soon thereafter. At various
times he took postgraduate work, studying at the University of Vienna,
the University of Berlin, and the University of Budapest. In 1914 he
received the degree of F. A. C. S. from tlie American College of
Surgery. He became known as an authority on bone fractures and
breaks. He was employed by several railroads and other corporations
and had a very extensive practice. He received distinguished honors
from the leading medical associations, a recent one being his election
in 1934 as president of the Central States Society of Industrial Medicine
and Surgery at its convention at Springfield, Illinois. His charity was
extensive and his activities in many lines were such as to draw too
heavily on his vigorous constitution, bringing his early death.

ToLLEF Christiaksok Roke was born in Romsdahl, Norway, April
27, 1854, and died in Northwood, Iowa, January 7, 1985. Burial was in
Shell Rock Cemetery three miles northwest of Northwood. He was with
his parents. Christen and Ingeborg Rone, when they immigrated to
America, settling in Dane County, Wisconsin, In 1870. He obtained a

EDITORIAL 63T

common school education while in his native country, and in 1874 entered
as a student Augsburg Seminary, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he
remained four years, then taught school, first parochial, and later public
school in Worth County, Iowa, for a few years. He then located on a
farm about three miles south of North wood, remaining there until 1914
when he retired from farming and became a resident of Northwood.
He held different township offices and in 1887 became secretary of
Worth County Farmers Mutual Insurance Association whidi he retained
for forty years. In 1912 he was elected representative and was re-
elected In 1914, serving in the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth general
assemblies. He was an educated and cultured man, was on the local
library board, had a large private library, and had traveled extensively
on this continent and in Europe.

RoBEiT M. FiKLATsoK was bom in Salem Township, Carroll County,
Illinois, October 7, 1844^ and died in Mount Carroll, Illinois, February
10, 1935. Burial was in the Grundy Center Cemetery, Grundy Center,
Iowa. He grew to manhood at the farm home of his parents, William
and Jessie (Mackay) Finlayson, attended common school in the country,
and was graduated from the Mount Carroll High School. For a few
years he aided his father on the farm in summers and taught country
schools in winter. In 1866 he removed to Tama County, Iowa, and fol-
lowed farming in summers and school-teaching in winters. In 1868 he
bought 240 acres of wild land in Beaver Township, Grundy County, and
for the next seventeen years followed the life of a pioneer farmer,
broke prairie, farmed, ran threshing machines, and took part in public
matters, held some township offices, and was a member of the County
Board of Supervisors. In January, 1885, he was appointed county
auditor to fill a vacancy, and by reason of subsequent elections he held
that office until January, 1895. In 1893 he became cashier of the First
National Bank of Grundy Center, in 1896 became president, and con-
tinued in that position until 1920 when he retired. In 1908 he was
elected representative and was re-elected in 1910, and served in the
ITiirty-third and Thirty-fourth general assemblies. He was a man of
unusual ability and fine spirit and served his county, town and com-
munity in many ways.

August A. Baixuff was bom in Davenport, Iowa, January 12, 1859,
and died in that city November 18, 1934. Burial was in St. Marguerite's
Cemetery, Davenport. His parents were John C. and Matilda Hesse
Balluff. He attended St. Marguerite's School, and when fifteen was
apprenticed to learn the drug business. He remained in that business
until 1884v following that by being deputy derk of the District Court
five years, derk in the law office of Cook & Dodge four years, secre-
tary and treasurer of the Iowa Telephone Company two years, cashier
of the Citizens National Bank of Davenport seven years and vice presi-
dent of the German Savings Bank of Davenport for two years. He was

638 ANNALS OF IOWA

clerk of the District Court from January 1, 1903, to January 1, 1907.
About 1909 he returned to Cook & Dodge and remained with that firm
or its successor. Cook & Balluff, until his death. In 1908 he was elected
representative and served in the Thirty-third General Assembly, and
was elected senator in 1910 and served in the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-
fifth assemblies. He served for some time as chairman of the Scott
County Democratic Central Committee, and was the Second District
member of the Democratic State Committee from 1914 to 1920.

Hr.RBRRT A. M AiKE was born in Newton, Iowa, October 12, 1880, and
died in Waterloo November 25, 1934. Burial was at Jessup. He was
graduated from North High School, Des Moines, and from the civil
engineering department of the Agricultural College (now the Iowa State
College), Ames, in 1902. He at once associated himself with his father,
James K. Maine, in the James E. Maine Construction Company, Des
Moines. In 1910 he removed to Waterloo and established the H. A.
Maine Company and in the course of the next several years erected
many important buildings in Waterloo, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Newton
and other cities, including the ten-story Levitt & Johnson building in
Waterloo. They also built two power dams on the Cedar River, one
at Waterloo and one at Nashua. During the World War he was com-
missioned a first lieutenant in the Navy and was stationed at New York
City as an assistant in charge of naval construction. He was formerly
president of the First National Bank of Waterloo, and later vice presi-
dent of the Commercial National Bank of the same city. On July 4,
1933, Governor Herring appointed him a member of the State Highway
Commission, and three months later he became chairman of the com-
mission.

William Hepburn Bremxer was born In Marshalltown, Iowa, October
24, 1869, and died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 11, 1934. He
received his law degree from the State University of Iowa in 1895 and
shortly thereafter entered general practice of law in Des Moines, first
with Robert Shuler as Bremner & Shuler, and later with Crom Bowen
and Raymond B. Alberson, as Bowen, Bremner & Alberson. In 1902
he was named city solicitor and served until 1908, when the commission
plan of city government became operative. Soon thereafter he was
named general attorney for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Co.
He was advanced to general solicitor of the company in 1913, to general
counsel in 1916, and to president in 1917. He held the presidency until
the road went into receivership in 1923, and from that time until his
death was receiver. He had exceptional ability as a lawyer and an
executive. When in the University he played both football and baseball
and upon graduation became representative of that institution on the
committee which had charge of the annual track meet sponsored by the
University, Iowa State College, Drake University, and Grinnell College.
He kept his enthusiasms and his friendships to the end.

EDITORIAL 639

Gkorge C. Call was born in Kossuth County, Iowa, September 24,
1860, and died in Sioux City December 18, 1934. His parents were Asa
C. and Sarah (Heclsart) Call, noted Kossuth County pioneers. He ob-
tained his education at Algona and early turned his attention to real
estate business and became a large land owner. He was active in civic
affairs and was for a time mayor of Algona. In 1902 he removed to
Sioux City, disposed of his properties in and around Algona, and sotm
became an extensive real estate owner in Sioux City and devoted much
time and energy to forwarding that city's business interests. In 1916
he helped organise the Call Bond and Mortgage Company and at his
death was its president. He early became an active advocate of the
improvement of the Missouri River for navigation and worked inces-
santly for it. He labored for more equitable freight rates for his city,
and for the improvement of the highways leading to Sioux City. He
served as president of the Sioux City Real Estate Board, and was presi-
dent of the Greater Sioux City Committee. For twenty years he was
a member of the Board of Trustees of Morningside College.

Fkrofs L. Andf.r.son was born near Ohio, Illinois, March 16, 1865,
and died in Marion, Iowa, December 25, 1934. Burial was in Oak Shade
Cemetery, Marion. His parents were Fenwick and Jeanette Peck An-
derson. He acquired his education in rural public school. When seven-
teen years old he began to learn telegraphy and afterward was stationed
as an operator at several points on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway, going to Marion in 1890 as a night operator. During leisure
hours he took up the study of law and was graduated from the Ann
Arbor Law School in 1894 and began practice in Marion. He served
as city attorney of Marion for six years, and was mayor of the city.
On September 1, 1921, Governor Kendall appointed him as one of the
judges of the Eighteenth Judicial District in place of Milo P. Smith,
resigned. By reason of elections he served for eight years, or until in
1929 when he resigned and returned to the practice of his profession.

Gkorge W. Spfek was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, No-
vember 19, 1865, and died in Indianola, Iowa, February 4, 1935. He
was reared on a farm and received a common school education. In 1887
he removed to Indianola and engaged in abstract, real estate, loan and
insurance business in which he continued until shortly before his death.
He was a member of the Indianola City Council, was elected representa-
tive in 1910 and served in the Thirty-fourth General Assembly, was
active in civic affairs of Indianola, was mayor of the city, and for
several years was justice of the peace.

William Bierkamp was born in Hanover, Germany, September 18,
1849, and died in Durant, Cedar County, Iowa, December 13, 1934.
Burial was in Durant Cemetery. He spent his boyhood in his native
country, and migrated to the United States in 1868, settling at Daven-
port. There he attended a private school for a time and later entered

640 ANNALS OF IOWA

the implement business, removing to Durant in 1874. He also engaged
in real estate business and was financially interested in and a director
of several banks. He served as school director, councilman, mayor, and
representative, being elected to the latter position in 1924s and serving
in tlie Forty-first General Assembly. He was a member of the Luth-
eran church, and in politics was a Republican. September 2, 1934, he
and his wife, who was Miss Minnie Feldhahn of Durant, celebrated
their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

FiANcis Maiiok Laibd was bom on a farm five miles south of Tabor,
Iowa, in 1855, and died in Tabor December 3, 1934. His parents were
Johnston and Mary Laird, pioneer settlers of Fremont County. He
followed farming in his early life, and although retired and living in
Tabor, he continued until his death to own the farm on which he was
born. He was secretary of the local schoc^ board, was a trustee of
Tabor College, a member of the town council, and was elected repre-
sentative from Fremont County in 1903, serving in the Thirtieth and
Thirty-first general assemblies. He was a Democrat in politics, and an
active member of the Congregational church.

Milton Remlet was bom in Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Vir-
ginia), October 12, 1844, and died in Iowa City, Iowa, March 17, 1^0.
Burial was in Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City. He came with his parents
to a farm in Johnson County, Iowa, in 1855. He was gpraduated with
the degree of A. B. from the State University of Iowa in 1867, and the
degree of A. M. in 1872. He began the practice of law at Anamosa in
1868, and in 1872 his brother, Howard Marshall Remley, joined with
him as a partner, but in 1874 he removed to Iowa City where he con-
tinued in practice until a few years before his death. In 1894 he was
elected attorney general and was twice re-elected, serving six years,
1895-1901. He ranlced among the abler men who in the history of the
state, occupied that important position.

Otto Starzixger was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1882, and died in
the same city March 12, 1935. Burial was in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Des
Moines. He was graduated from East Des Moines High School in 1899
and from Iowa State College, Ames, in 1903. For a few years he was
employed by the General Electric Company, and the Fort Wayne, In-
diana, Electric Company, but in 1908 returned to Des Moines and as-
sumed the management of the Northwestern Hotel in East Des Moines
which he continued to do until his death. For years he was interested
in raising prize stock. In 1916 he was elected representative and served
in the Thirty-seventh General Assembly.

INDEX

VOLUME XIX— THIRD SERIES

PERSONS

Abbott, Harvey „..331, 341

346, 347, 418, 422, 442

Able, Dan 4®0

Adams, A P 8

Adams (Justice), Austin 180

Adams (Rev), Ephraim..^256, 266

366 377, 449, 452, 541, 542, 545

Adams (Mrs), Ephraim 256

Adams (Rev), Harvey 541, 545

Adams, James M 615, 623, 628

Ainsworth (Capt), John C 490

Aishton, R H ( Pres C & N W

R R) „..516

Alberson, Amos Norris 77

Alberson, James 77

Alberson, Ravmond B „638

Albert (Justice), Elma G 568

Albright, R Wilson 13, 14

Albright, Samuel J „ 5

Alden (Rev), Ebenezer 256

366, 368, 377, 378, 462, 541, 5«,

605, 606
Aldrich, Charles 22, 83

182, 183, 191, 558, 576

Aldrich, Mary J 134

Alexander — ^ 264, 550

Alexander (Capt), 622

Alexander (Dr), Archibald 258

Allen (Atty Gen), Isaac L 426

Allen (Dr), James Boyd 104

106, 111, 112, 113, 189, 194

Allen, Jonathan 60

Allen, Joseph H 589

Allen, William W „._420

Allison (U S Sen), William B..137

Allred, W P 589

Allyn, 491

Ames, Asa Lee 319, 591

Ames (Dr), J G 55, 58

Ames, John T 319

Ames, Mary J (Reed) (Mrs J

T) „ 319

Anderson (Judge), —508, 509

Anderson, Fenwick 639

Anderson (Judge), Fergus L™639

Anderson, James 96

Anderson, Jeanette Peck (Mrs
F) 639

Anderson, Jonathan 219, 220

Anderson, Joseph G 510

Anderson, Joseph H 564, 578

Anderson Bros & Davis (J C) JlflQ

Anderson (J G) & Davis (J

C ) 5 1 0

Anderson (J G), Davis (J C)

& Hagerman (F) 510

Andrews (Gen), C C^ 413

Andrus (Capt), 622

Angle, Paul M 55

Appleton, D 599

Aristotle (Greek philosopher) „163

186

Armistead, David 87

Armistead, Francis — 85

Armstrong (Mr), 140

Armstrong (lA), Richard 44'3

Arnold, Frank 215

Arthur, Alfred „ „ 305

Arthur (Pres), Chester A 68

Arthur, Mary (Howe), (Mrs

Alfred) „ 276, 305

Arthur, Thomas 305

Askern, R F 239

Athearn, Elisha S — 557

Athearn, Susan E (Mrs E S)„557

Athearn, Walter Scott 557

Audubon, John James 83

Ault (Dr), A T.._.289. 291, 292, 298
Aurner (Prof), Clarence Ray -606

Babbit, Alman W _ _ „_ „ 20

Babcock, B F .278, 282, 346

Babcock, Katie (Howe) (Mrs

B F) „.291

Babcock, Wilioughby M, Jr „. 22

Bachelor (Rev), „ „ 450

Bacon (Sir), Francis™ „_ 468

Bacy, Richards & Platt_ „544

Badger (Dr), Milton„546, 366, 375

Bagley, _. 599

Bailev, Cyrus 320

Bailey, Elinor (Mrs C)-.... 320

Bailey, James Wallace .320, 591

Bailey, Josiah 190

Bailey, W D 16

Bain, James G 179, 180

Bainb ridge, M 17

Baird, Elliott Driggs 479

Baird, Emma E (Mrs I W) _.479

Baird, Isaac W _ 479

Baird, Matilda Hanks (Akers)

(Mrs Samuel) 74

Baird (Rev), Samuel „ 74

Baird, William S 74

3^ker; — „, 610, 6U

(i\2

INDEX

Baker (Atty Grn), Andrew

Jaekson „ „ _ » - l.*35

Haker (Col), Pklward Dickin-
son .- - » _.. 70

Haker (Adj Gen), Nathaniel

B " _ \m, 614, 621, 624

Haldridpe, William ._ ....„_ 491

Baldwin, Isaac W „ 316

Baldwin, Julius A ..„ 337, 420

Ball (Dr), James _ 30H

Ballard (Dr), S M „.„ „ 17

Balluff, August A „_ 591, 637

Balluff, John C „ _ - 637

Balluff, Matilda Hesse (Mrs J

C ) - - - -..- 637

Banks, _ - _ .^347

Banks (Mrs), 425

Banks, Baxter 337, 420, 425

Banks (Gen), Nathaniel Pren-
tiss „ ....324, 3:^8, 341

Barper, Daniel _ 98, 104

109, 111, 202

Barper, William F _ 105

110, 208, 212

Barnes (Rev), H E „ 345, 4:W

Barton, .„ __. _ „.610

Barton, James ._ „.„ _ 102, 103

Barton, William H _ 420

Bascom (Rev), 542

Bashore (Capt), John L 437, 4:38

Baxter (Rev), Richard _ 646

Bavard (U S Sen), Thomas

Francis, Sr „ „ 71

Beans, Wellington I „ „ 589

Beard, Alhert _ .„ „ _. „.... 51

Beard, H C _ 239

Beauregard (Gen), P G T„„24, 27

Behee, James .„ — _ 491

Tiehee, N W „ „ -- 578

Beck, Frederick — 51

Beck (Justice), Joseph M„ 490

Beck ley. Squire „^ „ ™ „.543

Beckwlth, John 149, 150

Beecher (Rev), Henry Ward 610

Beeson, Martin .„ „ 443

Bell (Miss), .„ „ 140

Bell (Rev), „ 544

Bemis f amil v „ „ 26 1

Bendixen, Katherine (Mrs P)_.636

Bcndixen, Peter „ „ ...636

Bendixen (Dr), Peter Alfred.„636
Bennet, Lem G 193, 195

206, 208, 209, 210, 212, 215, 219
Bennett, Arthur C 112, 190, 192

195, 202, 203, 204, 215, 218, 471

Bennett, Esther L „ .„ „ 220

Bennett, Jack ^ 190, 202

Bennett, James O'Donnell ^ 447

Bennett, Jim 190

Bennett, P W^ _.„ 109, 112, lU

189, 190, 193, 194, 197, 198, AU.

202, 203, 204, 205, 208, 209, 210,

211, 212, 215, 216, 217, 218, '220

Bennett (Mrs), P W_112, 216, 217

Bentlev, David 549, 593

Bergh," m

Bergman, August Henry .238

Bergman, Louisa (Mrs W) 238

Bergman, William iJ*

Berman (Dr), 542,606

Bcrryhill, James G 591

Bettendorf, Catherine (Reck)

(Mrs M)

Bettendorf, Joseph William.

Bettendorf, Michael .

Bettendorf, W P

Bettendorf Metal Wheel Co__

Bickrall (Dr),

Bickrall (Mrs),
Bidwell (Dr),

71
71
71
71
6a4

612

300

Bierkamp, William 6^39

Bierman (U S Repr), Fred 157

Billingsley, Elijah 559

Billingslev, Prudence (Strong),

(Mrs E) - 559

Birdsell (Dr), W S 487

Bissell (Attv Gen), Frederick

E S.. 447, 4fi3

Bissell, Josiah _ 463

T^ixbv, R J 578

Bixlev, 603

Blackburn, Dorothv (Mrs D M

Davis ) ' .- 533

Black Hawk (Sac chief) _143, 393

Black Hawk, Madame 393

Blackman, 204

Blackshire, F A 404

Blackstone (Sir), William 584

Blaine (U S Secy of State),

James G 136, 585

Blanchard (Mrs), 595

Blanchard, Jonatlian 466

Blashfield, Edwin H (Artist) -568
Bliss (Lt), William Strong_28, 29

Bloomer, D C 69

Bloomer (D C) & Edmundson

(J D) _ 69

Blvthe, James E 157, 591

Blythe, Joseph William -236

Boal (Rev), 266

Boettger, Henry H 589

Boies (Gov), Horace 577, 585

Bolev, David 218

Bolev, Jjimes, Jr 218

-_202
„102

Boley, Jasper

Bolcy, Nicholas

104, 110, 200, 201, 205,
Bollng, Coella Orlando

209

.478

INDEX

643

Bolinp, Harriet Hovinan (Mrs

J ) „„ _„ !...„ _ 478

Bol Ing, John „ 478

Bolter, Lemuel R „ 556

Bonebripht, Frank A _ 395

Bonebripht, Sarah Jane (Brew-
er) (Mrs T B).. „.„ „.395

Bonebripht, Thomas Black well. .396

Bonnell, Nathl _ „ „... 60

Bonson, Harriet (Watts) (Mrs

R ) _ „.„ _ „ 31 6

Bonson, Richard _ .„ 316

Bonson (Judge), Robert...316, 591
Booth, Edwin T (Am actor)_..140

Bothwell, -.-„ _. _ 607

Bottenwultis, _ 551

Bowen, Crom „ 638

Bowen (C), Bremner (W H)

& Albcrson (R B) 638

Bower, „ _.„ 594

Bowler (Adjt), Daniel F.„ 38, 39

Bowles, Samuel „ 490

Bovd, William R .„ „ „ „ 71

Bover, 1 44

Bradford (Rev), E G 610

Bradley, . - 372

Bradley (Mrs), „ 597, 600

Bradley, E J .„ - „ ™ 567

Bradley, P B. 597, 600, 602

Brady,' „ „ „ .„ 491

Bragg (Gen), Braxton.„ _.„ 24

Brake, „..._ „.„ 290

Brandt, Isaac „ _„ _ 150

Bremner, William Hepburn 638

Bremner (W H) & Shuler

( R ) „ „ - „ ™ 638

Brewer, „ _ „.282

Brewer (Col), — _ _ 24

Brewer, Jacob ._ „ 72

Brewer, Kate (Mrs Jacob) 72

Brewer, Luther Albertus 72

Brewer, Wilson _ „ 395

Brewster (Sir), David 550

Brewster (Rev), George, Jr.„ 550

Bridges, „ „ 265

Bridgman (Gen), Arthur...486, 491

Bridgman, Frank „ 486

Bridgman (Arthur) & Reed (J

P) - _ 486, 491

Briggs, _ _ _ 608

Briggs (Gov), Ansel 18

Brigham, Johnson „ 128, 134

Britton, Ann Pollard (Mrs C

F Davis) „„ „ 483

Britton, Elizabeth (Mrs F)- 484

Britton, Forbes 483

Broad well, Ann „ __ „„ 60, 62

Broadwell, Baxter _„ 56, 57

59, 60, 61, 62

Broadwell, Chloe .„ ...» 60, 62

Broadwell, Ebenezer _„ „ 62

Broadwell, Esther » „...60, 62

Broadwell, George Washington 58

Broadwell, Hattie 55

Broadwell, Henry 60, 62

Broadwell, Hester ^ 60, 62

Broadwell, Hezekiah 60, 62

Broadwell, Jacob „„ „ 60, 62

Broadwell, James Madison 55, 62

Broadwell (Mrs), James M

(Mrs Jas G Edwards) 58

Broadwell, Jane _ „„.60, 62

Broadwell, Jane (Mrs Moses

Broadwell) 60, 62

Broadwell, Jane (Mrs Wm

Broadwell) (b) 59, 62

Broadwell, Josiah 59, 60, 62

Broadwell, Mary ( Darling) _60, 62

Broadwell, Moses „..59, 60, 62

Broadwell, Norman M „ 58

Broadwell (Judge), Norman M 60

Broadwell, Samuel „_ 60, 62

Broadwell, Sarah (Mrs Josiah

Broadwell ) _ _ „ 60, 62

Broadwell, Simeon 59, 60, 62

Broadwell, Susanside (Day) 62

Broadwell, William (a) -.™L59, 62

Broadwell, William (b) 59, 62

Broadwell, William (c)„69, 60, 62

Broadwell, William (d) 61

Bronson (Dr), „.. 274

Brookhart (U S Sen), Smith

W 151, 152

Brooks (Mrs), Catherine„ „_.„ .487

Brooks, "Cock-eyed" „_„ 487

Brooks, John T „ _ „._ _ 591

Brooks (Dr), Thomas K™_ „.11'6

Broomhall, Thomas 333

Brothers, „ 341

Brothers, Harry _. _ 110

189, 190, 193,' 198, 200, 204
Brothers, (Mrs), Harry„„112, 472

Brown, .' 604, 608

Brown, Albert M _ 43

Brown (U S Sen), B Gratz 497

Brown, D 95

Brown, Edward 43, 52

Brown, Elizabeth (Mrs W M

Meroney) 43, 45

Brown, Elizabeth (Reed) (Mrs

Brown, Ezra ..„ _ _ 19

Brown, Fred A .„ „™42, 4i, 4-5

Brown, Frederick A 43, 54

Brown, Hattie 43

Brown, John D _. 586

Brown, John L 78

Brown (Aud of State), John L 70

«u

INDEX

Brown, JonathHn „ 78

Brown, Lew ^ „«. 53

Brown, Marv (Mrs C S Palm-
er) ^_ I 43, 46

Brown, Robert Lewis 43, 45

Brown, Thomas 391

Brown, William K 43, 52, 53

Brown, Wrav 491

Brown, Beatty & Spafford 4-75

Browning, Elisabeth Barrett

(Mrs Robert) „ 424

Bruinfrton, C _ __ 96

Brunt, William 11 _ „ „ „ „619

Bryan (U S Secy of State),

William .Jennings _587

Bryant, William Cullen 221

Buchanan (Pres), James 296

Buck, „....„ „ 607, 612

Buckholder, William E _170

Buckner (Gen), Simon Bolivar 28
Buell (Gen), Don Carlos ...„. 27, 29

Buels (Miss), 368

Bulklev (Rev), C H A 264

BulkleV (Rev), Charles A...- 609

Bunt, William _ 616

Burchard, Samuel D 685

Burden, David 95, 96, 98, 200

Burden, Rosa (Mrs David) 98

Burgess, John 4-7

Burleson, „ „ „„ ^ _ 613

Burleson (Mrs), 595

Burnham (Rev), Charles 382

Burns, Robert (Scottish poet).- 71

Burr (Capt), „ 623

Burras, _ 110

Burroughs, John (Scientist) 83

Burrow, James F 420

Butler (Gen), Benjamin F .338

Butten, „ 600

Byers, James M „ 68

Byers, Par me 1 a (Marshall)

(Mrs J M) „ „.„ 68

Byers (Maj), Samuel Hawkins

Marshall _ 68, 70, 176

Byrnes, John H 34, 37

Cabin, _ „ 613

Cahill, Maurice) ^ 558

Cahill (Maurice), Boland &

H ines „ „ 658

Caldwell, „ 140

Caldwell, _ 602

Caldwell, Ernest W 399

Caldwell, Lucy Morse 58

Caldwell, Robert _ 552

Calhoun (U S Sen), John C 41

Call, Ambrose 308

Call, Asa C - 308, 639

Call, George C 639

John Man-

Call, Sarah (Heckart) (Mrs A
C) 639

Callanan (Mrs), Martha C 134

Callender (Deacon), 607

Camp, Carrie

Camp, Carroll

Camp, Cora

Camp, Delia

Camp, Flora (Mrs
ning)

Camp, Ida

Camp, Laura (Mrs R
son )

Camp (Dr), Marshall _.

Camp (Dr), Matt

Camp Bros

Campbell,

Campbell (Mrs), „

Campbell, A K

Eraer-
50,

Campbell (Lt Gov), Frank T

410, 425
Campbell, Henrv J
Campbell (Prof),

Grant

Campbell, Isaac R _
Campbell, James T .
Campbell, John H „
Campbell, John L _
Campbell, Pearl E

(Mrs H G)

Campbell, Sarah

(Mrs J H)

Card, Harriet King...

Carden, William

Carey, DeWitt

Carhart (Mrs), L D
Carman, William

50
50
50
50

50
50

51
. 50
_ 50
_ 42
.596
_597
.334
„334

-WO

Herbert

398

488

15, 16

398

172

( Reeder)

A ( Pike)

398

.„115, 221, -234

556

134

Carmichael (Mrs), Harriet M_395

Carpenter (Mrs), 597

Carpenter (Gov), C C 494

Carpenter, Daniel W 20

Carr, Anna (Kane) (Mrs J)™158

Carr, Edward Michael 158

Carr, John 158

Carroll (Gov), Beryl F 83

476, 567, 577, 578

Carter, James .20:3, 207

Carter, Samuel 206

Casady, Phineas N 146, 147

Case, * 277

Chalmers (Rev), Thomas-.54«, 550

613

371

Chambers (Gov), Jc^n.

Chandler,

Chandler, John

Chandler, Samuel
Chandlers, The __

Chapin,

Chapin (Mrs), —
Chapman, -„

-693, 598, 604

540

J251, 253, 254
254

608

Chapmar

DW _

C'hartcK, John H _
Charirs the Grei
t'harvevoy,
Chase, Ben T ,
Cheever, Estkiii

Child, C - —895

Chipman (Col), N" (■ _ -6-iS

Chittenden, *»•

ChitLndfTi i MfG«vlc.-.4«8, «1

Clapttett, Thomu- W Jr Ml

Clapp, E R UT

Ctark. BOi

Clark, - 69S

Clark, — AM

Clark, #10. 611

Collins (I.t), Amos S .838, 429

Collins, Charles 2t

Collins, William Henrv-2g, 30. 34 '
Coltrane. William 1_— 214

_SS

—BS9

Clark (Dr).
Clark, Aifn-il
Clark, Ben

Clark, Bill V\f>

Clark, Cathrine 11 (Mrs J R)..479

Clark (Cul), Charles A _ 70

Clark, Frank O .235

Clark. J W 368

(lark, John It , —479

Clark, M II IH

flark. R G _ _— M9

Clark (L' S llcpr}, Samuel M„499

Clark, Squire _„ HBH

Clark. Thadi-us 113, 215

_SflJ

315. STT, 586, StiS, 033, 634

Clarke (Gov), James 7

12, 400
Clarke (James) & McKenny
■ ' I H) — 12. 13

Clnrkson, James S _

_149

Clarkson, .rohn t 563, S6&, Ji6A

Clay (U S Sen), Henrr «7

Cleghorn & Harrison J 4S2

Clendenen, lliornas 24, 37 38

Cleveland, ^ flOfi

Cleveland (Free
Clum, 1. G
Cobum, JMiri .
Codiran (Dr),
Cochran, Willia

G rover 68, 49

„..ao7

Coffij

Cole (Rev),

Cole, A I iw

Cole (Mrs) Al Mrs F S

Rhodes) 4tt, 49

Cole (U S Hi-pr), CyrenuR 5SH

Coleman, Georfce I. .. ^„487, 490

Coleman. Nancv Mrs Wni _W7
Crieinan, William 4*7

98, 110, 112, 191, 204, 20B, 218

Connable. Smythe ft Co 492

Cook (Mrs), 096

Cook (Rev), ——010

Cook (Capt) James (Bnp

navigator SSI

Coiricc, __—__._ 140

Cooke, Helen (Howe) (Mrs W

H) ^ .._104, 168, 170

Ciwlev. 'nioinns Mrlnlvrr (Am

St)

_.5M;l

Coolidge (Pres)

240, 626, B28, 5:;a. S'M, 5:tl 571!

Cooper, Isaac |47

Cooper, Royal 8

Coridl, WW 7 8. 9

Corlell, 4t?

Corley, Carolina Thistle Da-
vis) (Mrs J S) S33

Corley, John S _

Cornellson, David SI lOo

Corning & Urohe _ _____1S0

Cosson (Atlv Gen), Georf^. 5B7

Cotton, ~ — „ S4t

Cotton, (Deacon) —599

600, 608

Cotton, Rernice .608

Cotton (Rev), Jolm _2B1 549

Cotton, Richard ^ 561 698

Cotton, Samuel ■?fl1 871

372, 373. 376. 431, 649, 650, 651

Cotton (Mrs), Samuel J361, 549

Courman, Bartlcv .423

Cousins, Mary (Dallas) (Mrs

James) 70

Cousins Rol>erl finfl

Cousins (U S Repr) Robert

Gordon) 1(l, 478, 691

Cnusina. JardM tO

Cowan (Capt), , 622

t'uwpcr, Harrv Maltingrly

(Holnies)

CowjMT, Roland Frederick

_621, 624 Cowper, Sara Ann Blsliop
(Mrs R F)

4T6

Coji, Caroline Thintlc (Ml

F Dnvls)

Cox. Conielj,!

(?ox. Friend ______

Cox, James F

Cojc. Mary

Cox, Moses 1( _ _
Cox, Simon Boliva _

107 SOI
M!i

■WO. 486

646

INDEX

Cox, Thomas -.547, 592, 593

Cox (Mrs), Thomas _ _ .593, 594

Cox, Thomas, Jr _ _ 593

Cozad (Capt), Felix W „....410

Crabb (Capt), - - 38

Cragg, John E 307

Craig (Judge), John E„ 691

Craven, James E 589

Crawford (Mrs), _ 596

Crew, William 215

Crist, I.eMerton E „557, 591

Crocker (Col), James G 168

Crocker (Gen), Marcellus M....-167

168

Crook, Tom 488

Crooks, — _ 605

Crosby, 265

Crosby, James S 34, 37

Cross, „ 425

Cross, David Y „ „. ._ 337, 420

Crosslev (Col), George W 176

Crum, William . 16, 17

Cubbage (Gen), George„ „ ...553

Cumming, Asa „ _ „_ _ 255

Cumming (Capt), Thomas B 491

492
Cummins (U S Sen), Albert

B.- 151, 152, 527, 532, 577

Cunningham & Anderson „ „.615

Current, William „.593, 601, 604

Currents, The _ „ 540

Curtis, _ „ „. 592

Curtis (Mrs), .„ „ -368

Curtis (Gen), Samuel H 628

Cutter (Dr), Irving „.„ „... 58

Damroscli, Walter „ _ 585

Daniel, „ _ 692

Daniels, Ivan ^ „ 48

Darling, J S _. „ „ 130

Darling, Mary (Broadwell)„ 60

Davenport (Col), George 14

Davenport, Perry _ _ 53

Davidson, _ 219

Davidson (Mrs), Anna B 55

Davidson (Gen), John Wynn™175

Davis, Misses 608

Davis, Annie Britton 4-97

Davis, Caleb „ „ 484

Davis, Caleb Forbes „ .483, 501

Davis, C^leb Forbes, Jr„ „ 497

Davis, Carolina Thistle (Mrs J

S Corley) „ „.533

Davis, Caroline Thistle (Cox)

(Mrs C F) „ _ „..497, 501, 532

Davis, Carrie Thistle...„ 497, 533

Davis, Clara Belle (Mooar)

(Mrs J C) -. 532, 533

Davis, Daniel Mooar ^ 533

Davis, Eliz' 217

Davis, Frank
Davis, Frank Wells.
Davis, Jacob

-505, 509
-497, 533
203

Davis, James Cox 483

497, 500-38
Davis, James Cox, Jr_497, 532, 533

Davis, James L 98, 202, 203

Davis, Job E 110

113, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207,

208, 209, 210, 212, 214, 216, 217,

219, 220, 470, 472, 473, 474
Davis, John Mac 202

204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 214,

216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 470, 471,

472, 473, 474

Davis, Joseph Pomeroy 533

Davis, Kate 1 484

Davis, Levi 15

Davis, Louise (Pomerov) (Mrs

J C) *. 530, 53:3

Davis, M V 49

Davis, Ora (Mrs R Fuller ton,

Jr) 533

Davis, Rezin 483

Davis, Sam ..208

Davis, Tom 489

Davis, William 473

Davis (J C), McLaughlin (A

A) & Hise (G E) 516, 531

Dawley, A W 494

Dawson, Jacob 20

Day, Susanna (Broad well). _ 60

Deacon, T L _ _

Deacon, William

DeChine (Dr),

Decker, Levi

„„21fi
._194
„_139
... 547
„347
„._i:30
.„475

Decker (Mrs), Levi .„

Defreest, William .„ „

DeGraff, Hiram

DeGrafF (Justice), I^awrence 475

DeGrafF, Sarah (Eplett) Mrs

H ) 475

DeMar, John C 567, 568

Dennison (Rev), George 497

DeSmet (Rev), Pierre Jean 63

65, 67
Dewey (US Judge), Charles

A 153

Deyoe (Supt Pub Instr), Al-
bert M „. _ „589

Dickens, Charles (Eng novel-

Dickinson (U S Sen), Lester

Jesse - 75

Dievey, Jim 491

Dillon (U S Judge), John F.....180
181

Dixon, 372

Doan, 693, 601, 602

INDEX

647

Dodge, C - „- 291

Dodge (Gen), Grenville M 577

Doggett, Presley ~. 619

Dole, J Wilbur*. _ „..„ ^ 555

Dolliver (U S Sen), Jonathan

P „ „ 137, 156, 572

Doininick, Montgomery „.„ „.601

Dominv, James ^ „....60;3

Don Ivan, _ -.603

Donnell (Mrs), „ „ 348

Dorr, Ebenezer „ 546, 601

Dorr (Col), Joseph B 37, SH

Dothert, J „ „ 473

Dotv (Judge), „ „ „.253

Douglas (U S Sen), Stephen

A „ „ „ 76, 445, 588

Douglas (Rev), Truman 0 542

Dowell (U S Repr), Cassius

C „ „ .146, 149, 150, 318

Doyle, Frank ._ „„ „ „ 38

Doyle, Reuben I.. „ „ 18

Drake, „ „ _. „ „ 611

Drake (Prof), 139

Drake, James _.337

Drake, John „ _ 51

Drumm, Mary (Cullen) (Mrs

T^ '''37

Drumm, Thomas „ „ 237

Drumm (Bishop), Thomas W„.237

Drummond (Capt), „ 622

Drummond (Maj), Willis 351

Duflfield (Rev), „ „ 596

Duffield (Rev), George _ 260

Duflfield, George C „ -498

Dulton, „ ™ _ 543

Dun, R G, & C^o .„ „„ _.„ 507

Dunbauer, „ _ 604

Duncan, ™ „ 39

Duncombe, John F 156, 181, 570

Dunham, _ 547

Dunham (Mrs), Marion H 134

Dunning, _ - 606

Dunning (Mrs), (Monroe) 606

Durant, Seth B „....589

Durkee, 290

Dutton, 606

Dyer (Mrs), 552

Dyers, 551, 552

Dyers, The 540

Eagle, Susie (Fox) 116

Earle, George 546

Earle, W Y 598, 612

Eastabrook, 548, 592, 598

Eastabrook, Laura 548, 592, 601

Eastabrook, Marietta _ 593, 604

Edmundson, David 410

416, 4:36, 4:39
Edmundson, James Depew 69

Edmundson, Priscilla (Depew)

(Mrs Wm) 69

Edmundson, William 69

Edmundson, William, Jr 69

Edwards, George 88

Edwards, George 68

Edwards, James Gardiner 11

12, 13, 55, 57, 68, 249, 256, 451,
452, 454, 455, 457, 458, 4^9, 469,
462, 464, 643
Edwards (Mrs), James Gardi-
ner „ „ 67, 68

451, 452, 455, 4-62, 464, 466, 643

Efner, Jerome - _ ™ „.645

Efner (Dr), William H_ 546

546, 548, 593, 598, 699, 601, 608

Eggleston, „ 277, 279

Eiboeck, Joseph ._.. 160

Eichelberger (Judge), Frank
W _ „ „627

Elarton, Jim „108

Elarton, Thurman .207

Elliott, Nathan O ._ 208

Ellis (Rev), 647

Ellis, James W „„ 639

646, 547, 549, 550, 692
Ellis, Jehu

Ellis, Marv
Ellises, The
Elwcll,

Elv (Rev),

Ely, B D -.

Ely, Clarence L

Emerson, ..

Emerson (Mrs),

420

140

640

144

160

612

„...422

Emerson (Rev), Oliver 266

366, 367, 377, 449, 462, 646, 547,
592, 597, 599, 606

Emerson, Richard - 51

Emerson (Rev), T P 606

Endersby, Frederic 112

English, Emory H 678

Espy, J E „ _. 163

Estabrook, _. _ ^ 274

601

-...47, 48

694

596

Esystes,

Euritt, Joe ._ — ..

Evans,

Evans, James 33, 34, 36, 39

Evans (Squire), Samuel 544

Evans, Samuel B -....„ 615, 619

Evans (Squire), William -„ „_544

Everest, Frank F 163

Eversmeyer, Frederick 667

Everts, 599

Everts, Jeremiah 258, 263

Ewell ._„ .290

Fairbrother, Alvin 548

599, 601, 604

648

INDEX

Falkner, Cornelius

Farmer,

Farra,

.491
J204
.615
51

Faulkner (Mrs), Lizzie
Feldhahn. xMinnie (Mrs W Bier-

kamp) 640

Fellows (Prof), S N 134

Ferguson, 605

Fergruson, George 477

Ferrand, Elsie (Mrs C H

Green) . 47

Field, Isaac 545

Fillmore (Pres), MillardJ292, 296

Finch, Daniel O 308

Finlavson, Jessie (Mackay)

(Mrs W) „ 637

Finlayson, Robert M 591, 637

Finlayson, William _ 637

Finley (Dr), 463

Firden (Mrs), 37

Fishel (Lt), Robert 24

Fisher (Miss), 612

Fisk, Sophia (Mrs John Shaw)_.545

Fitzpatrick, J A 560

Fitzpatrick, Thomas Jefferson. 12

22
Fitzpatrick (J A) & McCall

(EM) 560

Flathers, Thomas 54«, 549

Fleener, John 438

Fleener, Joseph 438

Fleming, Patterson 606

Fleming, William H 146

Fletcher, 61 1

Fletcher, 376

Fletcher, Ellen McAlpine (Mrs

George) 397

Fletcher, George ^97

Fletcher, Willard G 397

Foley, John 591

Foley, John 592

Foran (Mrs), 130

Ford, 340, 341

Ford (Capt), 490

Ford (Col), 61

Ford, A C ^ _ 20

Ford, Elizabeth Freeman (Mrs

John Lindsley), (b)„„„60, 61, 62

Foreman, S W 303, 304

Foskett, Herbert I _. ™.590

Foster, Bill 52

Foster, C L J ^ 297

Foster, E C 127, 128, 130, 137

Foster, Jotham „ „ 127

Foster, Judith Ellen (Mrs E

C) - „ „ _„ „127-38

Foster, Judith (Delano) Hor-

ton (Mrs Jotham) 127

Foster, P D 487

Foster, Silas —
Fowlcs (Mrs),
Fox, John

— 697

Frame, Joseph M 208

Franklin (Dr), Benjamin 667

Frantzen, John P S16

Frazier, Arthur 211, 213

Frazier, Joseph 220, 471

Frazier Co 196

Fremont (Gen), John C 296

434v 497
French, Alice (Octave Thanet)-318
634

French, Beth A 139

French, Ed 51

French, Frances Wood (Mor-
ton) (Mrs G H) 634

French, George Henry 318, 634

French (Col), George Watson-318

634
French (Mrs), George Watson-634

French (Judge), Nathaniel ^18

634

French (G W) & Hecht Co 634

Frink & Walker 492

Frisk, Edwin J 152

Fuller, 596

Fullerton, 290

FuUerton, Robert, Jr 533

Fullerton (Mrs), Robert, Jr__533

Fulton, Charles J 667, 568, 578

Funk, A B 567, 568, 578, 591

Gaines (Mrs), 489

Galland (Dr), Isaac 9, 10, 14

Galloway, G G 21

Galloway, John Tilford 44

Galloway, William A U

Galloway, William H 43, 44

Garber, C & Co 488, 496

Gardiner, Mary (Mrs Joseph

Lindsley) 61

Gardmen (Miss), 544

Gardner, Abbie (Mrs Abigail

Gardner Sharp) 301

Gardner (Rev), James

Gardner, Rowland

Garens,

-550
-301
-207

Garfield (Pres), James A 498

Garnel, 553

Garrett (Col), John A 410

Garrettson, Cyrus 207

Garrettson, Joel
Garrettson, John
Garrettson, Polly
Garst (Gov), Warren
Gates,

J382

Gaylord (Rev), Reuben

Gear (U S Sen), John H.->236, 635
Geiger (Col), W F 418, 427

INDEX

6A9

Gentry, _

Gentry, James R.. 333, SSI, 420

George, Baxter ;..„ 337

Getchel, H F & Sons „476

Gherardi (Rear Adml), Wal-
ter 404

Giberson, Caleb _ „...108

111, 113, 114, 195, 213
Giberson, Harman 110

194, 216, 220

Giberson, Will „ 110, 216, 22D

Gill, „ „ _ _ ^ 4^

Gill, Harrison Bub ^10, 472

Gill, James H _ 217

Gill, Solomon _ 92

93, 94, 96, 97, 102, 105, 110, 189,

195, 196, 197, 206, 207, 209, 210,
216, 219, 220, 273, 472, 474

Gillartin, _ _ ...612

Gillett, Addison .„ „ 606

Gillett (U S Repr), Edward

Hooker „ ™ „ _586

Gilmore (Dr), Melvin Ran-
dolph „ „ „ 1 1 6

221, 223, 227, 229, 230, 231, 232,
233, 234, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356,
357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362
Gilmore (Gen), Quincy

Adams 1 „ asi

Gilmore & Anderson 510

Given, Cynthia A (Mrs J H)..557

Given, John H 557

Gleason, — , — „ „ 608

Gleason, Mike _ „ 438

Glenn, „ „ 593

Glenn (Mrs), _ 551

Goldsmith, Oliver (Eng au-
thor) „ „ .„ 579

Gooch, John. Jr „ „ „ 20

Goodenow (Miss), „ 601

Goodenow, John Elliott„ „ _.549

599, 604

Goodenows, The _ 540

Goodhue, J M _ 5

Goodman (Miss), „ „.598

Goodrich, Bessie Bacon -.115, 116

Goodrich, Frank „ „ _ 38

Gough, John B _ „ 129

Gould (Miss), „„.256

Gowdy, _ _ __. 594, 595

Graeser, George W _ „ 153

Graham, '. _ „ 600

Graham, J A _ „ 491

Grahl (Gen), Charles H „564

Granger, Barlow _„ 21

Granger, William Hi 303, 304

Grant (Pres), Ulysses Simp-
son * 68, 168, 338, 340, 350

407, 411, 412, 431, 497, 498, 627

.347 Graves,

-384

Graves, John (John Ross Mil-

384^ 385

486

1(567497, 498
47

ler)

Gray, Moses

Gray, W H

Greeley, Horace

Green, Addie H

Green, Chester H 47

Green, Lois 47

Green, Miles 47

Green, Ruth (Mrs L G Clum).- 47
Green, Tena (Mrs Dr E Shaf-
fer) 47

Green, Truman _. 63

Greene (Justice), George 8, 9

Gregg, Thomas _. 9, 10, 18

Gregory (Dr), Ross H ^689

Gregory & Mesmore _. 494

Gridley, Sam »

Griflfin, Rose (Mrs T).™

Griffin, Thomas »

Griffin, Thomas Francis
Griffiths (Col), H H >...
Grimes, _ „

JS41

nrar

...75, 691
14^

319, 669
™.319

Grimes (Dr), Eli _ „„

Grimes, Elihu

Grimes (U S Sen). James W 300

Grimes, Mirriam (Mrs Elihu)>.319
Grinnell (U S Repr), Joslah

B „ „ „ 417, 434

Grovenden (Mrs), _ „..„..698

Gudon (Mrs), „ „ _ „.601

Gue (Lt Gov), Benjamin F.....-134

Guild, Charles „ 43

Guild, David L ^ _ _„ 43

Guild, Flora „ -._ „ 43, 51

Guild, John M „ 43, 44, 51

Guild, Marv „ _ „ 4:3

Guild, S H .... _ _„ _„ 4:3, 44

Guild, William ^ „ _...„.. 43

Guinn, Hyrcanus „ „ 479

Gulnn, Mellissa (Dinwiddle)

(Mrs H) „ „ 479

Guinn, William Jackson....„479, 691

Hackley, A W „...„ „„ 8

Hadley (Miss) _ „„ 608

Hagerman, Frank _. „ 508, 509

Haggard (Rev), Alfred Mar-
tin _ „.160

Haines, „..„ 141

Haines, „„ 370

Haire, W W _ „ „ „„..„ 494

Hale (or Heald) (Dr), Allen..621
624

Hale, John „ _ _. 43

Hale, Will „... 43

Hale, William „ _ _..„ _ 69

Hall (Mrs), 263, 264

Hall, Robert .267

650

INDEX

Halleck (Gen), Henry W 29. 37

Hallett & Rawson J 317

Hamilton (U S Repr), Daniel

W „ - - 156

Hamilton, W W _ 8

Hamilton & Holmes 4*78

Hammer, llda M » 146-55

Hammill (Gov), John.„_ 395

635, 636

Hammond, William B _ „ 541

Hammond (Chancellor), Wil-
liam G --...: ^180, 181

Hand, Marv (Mrs Wm Broad-
well) (c)* _ _.^ - 59, 60, 62

Harbach, William C „™„151, 152

Hardee (Gen), William J 24

Harding, Barbara _ _ ~.- 570

Harding, Emalvn (Mover)

(Mrs O B) 1 „ _J._ „ 633

Harding, O B _ _ „ _ 633

Harding (Pres), Warren G „156

240, 517, 526, 527, 528, 529, 572

Harding (Gov), William 1 237

568, 574-76, 577, 578, 591, 633
Harding (W L), RufFcorn &

Jones „_ „ 633

Harlan, Edgar R _ _ _ 59

84, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,
121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 191, 193,
221, 223, 225, 227, 230, 231, 232,
233, 234, 352, 353, 355, 357, 358,
359, 360, 361, 362, 387-94, 576

Harlan (U S Sen), James „.211

Harlan (Dr), James Elliott„„...316

Harlan, Samuel „ 316

Harlan, Sarah Ann (Elliott)

(Mrs S) _ „ 316

Harned, San ford _ _ ™615

Harrington, John P 75

Harrington, Margaret

(O'Leary) (Mrs J P)... _.. 75

Harrington, Timothy P „ „ 75

Harrington (T P) & Dickin-
son (L J) _ - 75

Harriott (Dr), Isaac H„ „...„„297

Harris, A ™ „_ 86

Harrison, _ 140

Harrison (Mrs), 594

Harrison (Pres), Benjamin _ 68

399, 500

Hartnagle, John .„ 42, 46, 47

Harvey, A L „. 158

Harvey,- J A _ „ _ „134

Hatch (Col), Edward .„ „.. „-.331

Hatch, Estella „ _.„ _ „ 51

Hatfield (Rev), Edwin F 59

Hathaway, M H ^ «. 20

Haugen, Carrie (Mrs N) 157

Haugen (U S Repr), Gilbert

X 157, 591

Haugen, Nels 157

Hauger, Harriet (Lint) (Mrs

J S) 400

Huuger (Rev), John S 400

.400, 591
-38,39
347

Hauger, William E

Haw (Capt), -„

Hawk (Mrs), -„

Hawthorne, David _.

Hay (U S Secy of

•John

Haves, Fisher

Hays, Anderson

Hays, Arabella (Mrs

Camp) .„ _

Hays, Charles Lepley _
Hays, Christina Lepley

Hiavs, Henderson

Havs, Silas

HaVs, Wendell J

Height (Capt), __

Heald (or Hale) (Dr), Allen. 72
Heald, Rebecca (Neill) (Mrs

Allen) 72

Healey, Abram 560

Healev, Edwin P 560, 591

.570

_,306
State),

137

106, 112

385

Marsh

636

385

636

490

(Warren)

Healey, Michael F
Healey, Phoebe C

(Mrs A) l 1560

Healey, Thomas D 570

Hean, I 140

Heffelfinger, John 477

Heffelfinger (Dr), Lewis 477

Heffelfinger, Mary (Miles)

(Mrs L) 477

Heinl, Frank J 55

Heizer, Edward Payson 235

Heizer, James C 236

Heizer, Margaret (Blair) (Mrs

J C) 230

Helgason, E O 77

Heller, 606

Helsell, C A 560

Helsell (C A), McCall (EM)

& Dolliver ^ 560

Hemington, 553

Hemstead (Gov), Stephen 9

444, 447, 495, 597

Hemstead (Mrs), Stephen 597

Hendee, 282

Henderson, D N 615

Henderson (U S Repr), David

Henderson (Judge), John H_
Hendrie,

Henkle & McClelland

Henn (US Repr), Bernhart.
Henry, C S

157
,567
.460
. 14
. 11
.599

INDEX

661

Henry (Dr), G R 58

Henrv, R C 239

Herring (Gov), Clyde I 564, 638

Herrington, Anson 597

Herriott (Dr), Frank I „..163-86

267-3n, 323-51, 406-43

Higgins, Frank 63

Higgins, John „ 52

Higgins, Tom _. 63

Hildreth, James T 15

Hill, ^96

Hill, Edith „ 478

Hill (Rev), James Jeremiah 266

365, 367, 541, 596
Hill (Mrs), James Jeremiah 266

365

Hillard, Philander „„487

Hillis (Col), 486

Hilton, Bob _ 39

Hine, Ad 486, 4«8, 491

Hine, Dan _ >. ASS, 491

Hines, Emanuel J ^ _ 240

Hines, Jennie E (Mrs J W)„-.240

Hines, John W 240

Hinkhouse, Frederick 319

Hinkhouse, Hanna (Hunick)

(Mrs F) ^19

Hinkhouse, Rufus W 319, 591

Hinton, S C -. _ _„ 494

Hise, George E _ „ 515

Hitchcock, „ 544

Hitchcock (Rev), A B „ 367

545, 548, 592
Hitchcock, Margaret (Mrs I. W

Jackson) _ „_ „ 23

Hobart, Alva C _ „ 559, 591

Hobart, Caleb E .„_ ™_ _ 559

Hobart, Eliza Ann (Tibbetts)

(Mrs C E) ..„ _ „ 559

Hoffman (Rev), M M 444-4«

Holbrook (Rev), John C J255

266, 364, 371, 548, 596, 600, 604,

606, 609, 610, 611

Holbrook (Mrs), John C 596

Holden, James 315

Holden, James W >. 315

Holden (Prof), Perry G 586

Holliday, 552

Hollowell, Miram (Stewart)

(Mrs T P) 237

Hollowell, Nettie (Charles)

(Mrs T P, Sr) 236

Hollowell, Thomas P 236

Hollowell, Thomas P, Sr.. 236

Holmes, _. 331

Holmes, Charley 88

Holmes, John 88

Holmes, Robert 391

Holt, Harrison _ 8

Hoover (Dr), 4«8

Hoover (Pres), Herbert 72

156, 240, 272

Hopkins, 466

Hopkins (Mrs), 602

Hopkins (Rev), A T 642

Hopper, Henry 106, 106, 196

Hopper, William 94, 106, 109

Hoskins, Jonathan 107

108, 109, 196, 209

Hotchkiss, Albert C 399, 591

Hotchkiss, Sarah (Gilbert)

(Mrs Wm) > ^399

Hotchkiss, William 399

Houghton, 643

Houghton, H H «. 8

Howard (Gen), Oliver Otis .329

422
Howe, Evelyn (Mrs E F Por-
ter) 272

274, 275, 276, 278, 279, 282, 285,
287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294,
295, 298, 302, 331, 334, 336, 337,
340, 344, 348, 350, 410, 412, 417,
418, 419, 422, 425, 4<31, 435, 442
Howe, Helen (Mrs W H

Cooke ) 337

340, 347, 425, 435, 437

Howe, J I 494

Howe, James D 282, 290, 291

Howe, Joel 168, 169

Howe, John Deloss 164, 290, 300

Howe, John Wheelock 308

334, 337, 340, 422, 425, 435
Howe, Katherine (Mrs B F

Babcock ) _ 272

278, 291, 294, 307, 341, 344, 346,
348, 412, 422, 423, 424

Howe, I-,ester ^95

Howe, Maria (Wheelock) (Mrs

O C) 164, 168

169, 174., 175, 177, 178, 179, 267-
311, 3'23-51, 406-43, 654^ 556

Howe, Mary 285

Howe, Mary (Mrs Alfred Ar-
thur) 276, 296, 334

Howe (Judge), Orlando C„163-86
267-311, 323-51, 406-43, 554, 556

Howe, Rosalie 291

Howe, Samuel Luke 21

Howe, Sarah (Mrs David Wea-
ver ) 276

285, 292, 293, 294, 295
Howe, Sarah Cutter (Mrs J

D) . 164^ 166, 290, 291

Howe, Sarah F (Mrs J D) 166

290, 291
Howell (U S Sen), James B.._4y9
Howland, Elery 85

652

INDEX

Howland, John ~ 403

How land, Nathan _ 403

Hoxie (Capt), William H 324

331
Hubbard (Judge), Asahel W>.171

173 309

Hubbard (Dr), L T -549

Huddon, 544

Huddon (Deacon), 607

Hudson, Benjamin 603

Hudson (Mrs), Benjamin 603

Huffman, George A_ _....146, 151

Hughes, Tliomas _ _. „. 16, 17

Hughitt, Marvin - 517

Hummer (Rev), Michael 486

Hungerford, E S 306

Hunt, Franklin Leigh 314'

Hunt, James Henry Leigh

(Kng poet) - I „ 73

Hunt, Leigh S J „™ 314

Hunt, Martha Long (Mrs F

Hunter (i5r), 340

Hunter, Edward H 150

Hunter Fred H _ _ iW9

Hunter (Lt), James I... 419

Hunter, Robert „ „ 578

Hurst (Bishop), John F 135

Hussev, Tacitus 147

Huston (Capt), R H..„ 491, 492

Hutchinson (Rev), Horace 246

247, 256, 366, 374, 375, 377, 378,
379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 450, 539,
541, 545

Hutchinson (Mrs), Horace ^75

378, 381, 383, 4^0, 452, 454, 455,
456, 457, 459, 460, 461, 462, 465,
466, 467

Hyde, „ 365

Hyde, Elizabeth .„ J515, 532

Hvde, Orson „ _ _ 19, 20

Ingersoll (Col), Robert G.. -....585

Ingham (Capt), William H 174

Ingraham, E „ „ 95, 96, 97

Inkpaduta (Sioux) 168, 173

Irvin (Judge), David .„ _ 114

Irving (Mrs), _ 444*

Irving (Rev), Edward .„ _ „550

Irving, Harold L 578, 580

Irving, Washington _ ™ 444

Ivins, Charles „ _ „. „491

Jack (Miss), _„ 596

Jackson (Pres), Andrew 114

Jackson, Joseph T .547, 553

Jackson (Lt), Luther Wash-
ington „ „„ „23-41

Jackson,Margaret (Hitchcock)

(Mrs L W) „ 23

Jackson (Dr), Nathaniel 17

Jacobs, Austin

Jacobs, Cyrus S —
Jacobs, L P
James, .

__615

.-_ 11

,290, 291

Jefferson (Pres), Thomas 55

Jenkins, Isi>ael 494

Jennings (Mrs), 597

__430
.—623
„589
— 60G
—153
__475
_475
__296

Jennings, Charles H

Jericho (Capt),

Jessen, John C

Jessup (Rev), *• _

Jester, L A

Jewett, George Anson

Jewett, George Enoch ^

Jewett, J E

Jewett, Patty Maria (Matth-
ews) (Mrs Geo Enoch) 475

John the Blind 66

Johnson (Miss), 368

410

160

170

318

-318, 591

111

603

Johnson (Pres), Andrew
Johnson, G L

Johnson (Capt). J C
Johnson, John H

Johnson, Joseph E

Johnson, Karl J

Jolly, John

Jones,

Jones, Amanthis (Newell)

(Mrs J R) 315

Jones (Dr), Charles Rutgar_„316

Jones, David J 43

Jones, Jesse N 316

Jones, John R 315

Jones, Norman Newell 315

Jones (Rev), W 462

Jones, William 60

Jones, William Cary 3, 4, 6

Jordan, I 422

Jordan, Philip D 55-62, 243-66

363-83, 449-69, 539-53, 592-613

Jorden, Mother 488

Judd, John H 79

Justice, G A 78

Justice, John 78

Justice, Margaret (Allsworth)

(Mrs John) 78

Kaasataak, Anna (Fox) 116

Kasson (U S Repr), John A— 135

172, 808, 577, 586

Kathaleen, 553

Kauder (Father), 65

Kearney (Gen), Stephen Watts 41
Keesecker, Andrew 3

4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 18

Keifer, 486

Keith, 455, 457, 460

239

____-297

— 596

Keller, I W

Kellogg,

INDEX

653

Kellv, Bob 276, 279

Kellv (Dr), Harrv B 318

Kclscv, D M „* 21

Kendall (Gov), Nathan E 157

574, 639

Kendall, William „ 87

Kenline, H C ^ ™ ™ „ 316

Kennedy, -„.341, 347, 425

Kent (Rev), Aratus 255, 266

368, 552, 596, 597, 598, 610, 611

Kent, James (Am jurist) 507

Kenyon (Rev), Ferjrus L- _156

Kenvon, H a 1 1 i e A (Squire)

(Mrs F L)~ --■■- - - -156

Kenvon (US Judge), William

Sl- _ -156, 568, 570-74, 578

Kenyon (W S), Kelleher &

O Connor 156

Kensie, _ 611

Kepple, Presley L 589

Kerr, William G „ _ „589

Key (Postm Gen), David M..... 54

Keves (Dr), Charles Rollin 156

Kifhoume, David W _14, 487

Kil bourne, Edward „ „ _„ _487

Killebrew, Eliz „ _ „. 97

Killebrew, Ely _ 99

Killebrew (Capt), Finesse „ 90

91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,

100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106,

107, 108, HI, 112, 113, 189, 190,

194, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, '201,

202, 388, 391

Killebrew (Mrs), Finesse 112

Killebrew, May berry 194

Killebrew, Parthene' 106

Killebrew, Sarah Jane (Mrs M

B Sparks) 97, 109, 112

Kimball, Aaron 134

Kimberly, David W 556

Kindig (Justice), James W-. „6a3

King, John -™. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11

King, Nelson _ 17

King, Orpheus C ^J.. 430

Kingman, Rosalvo „ _ „ 308

Kinney (Rev), _.„ _251

Kirk (Rev), _ 542, 606

Kirkpatrick, Joseph Scott 613

Kirkwood (Gov), Samuel J 174

175, 324, 614, 615, 616, 620, 621,

623, 624, 625, 629, 630
Kltchell, Grace (Mrs Daniel

Lindsley) _ ^ _ 61, 62

Knapp, Carmi D _ „420, 423

Knapp (Prof), S A „ _ 314

Knox, John „„ „ 423

Koch, John F »_. 31

Kurtc, Louts C 150, 151

Lafayette (Gen), Marquis de 444

445

I^ird, Prances Marion 591, 640

Laird, Johnston 640

Laird, Mary (Mrs J) 640

Landon, Giles 87

Landor, Walter Savage— _....468

Lane (Rev), Daniel 266

366, 543, 545

Lane (Mrs), Daniel „ „ _266

I^rkin, 608

I^rkin, James R _ _.. -^286, 287

Larkin, William „ _ .307

Larrabee, Anna (Appleman)

(Mrs Wm) „ 76

Larrabee (Gov), William 76

556, 577

Larrabee, William, Jr 76, 591

-446

592

„.484

- 153

-.144

„ 80

Lathrop, H W

Lawless,

Lawrence (Capt),
I^wrenson, W A
Lavsham,

Leach, Elmer F

Leach, James M _.

Leach, Nancy (Campbell) (Mrs

Leamont, _ „ 304

Leavitt, Emily W 59

I^eClaire, Antoine „ 14^ 606

I-^e (Mrs), 435

Lee (Gen), Daniel S 494

495, 496, 497

Lee, Milton „ _ 410

Lee (Gen), Robert E -.627

Le Fevere, Milard 44V5

Lefevere, Thomas „ 105, 198

Leisy Bros 511

I^isy family „...511

Leonard, Abner ^ _„ „.„..456, 459

Leonard, David -. 456

I^eonard, Isaac _ - —.456

Leonard, James 60iJ, 604

Leonard, L O „ ^ 187

Leonard (Prof), Nathan R -187

I>esan, Arthur 51

Lesan, George M „ - 51

Lewis, 463, 464

Lewis, 652

Lewis (Rev), -. .368

Lewis, Ann (Mrs Robert

Morse) 59, 62

Lewis, C e 1 i n a ( Woodworth)

(Mrs Seth) _ _ „ „ „398

Lewis (Rev), John...„597, 609, 610

I^wis, Lester W-. -._ 398, 591

Lewis, Seth - _. _„ -.„398

Lewis, Tom 103, 104

105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 211

654

INDEX

IJeser, Irvin M „ _ 151

Lincoln (Pres), Abraham dH

76, 175, 329, 'SS2, i()7, 410, 411,
4-21, 424, 431, 432, 434, 440, 445,
497, 588

nd, M T _ _ „ _ 144

ndlev (Judge), S N„ 426

Macaulav,

Macbride (Rev), James
vard

L
L
L
L
L
L
1.
L
L
L

ndly, John

ndlv, John X

ndslev, Daniel ._..
ndslev, Francis .

ndsley, John

ndslev, John .„

ndsley, Joseph _.
ndsley, Mary (Mrs

.._ 60

_ 589

61, 62

._ _. 60

_ 60, 61

60, 61, 62

^.61, 62

Baxter

Broadwell)_ 56, 57, 60, 61, 62

Linn, Elizabeth (Mrs J C Da-
vis, Jr) „ „ _ „ _ 533

Little Crow (Sioux chief) _173

Littlefield (Rev), „..„ „545

Ijvcrmore, Abraham-.546, 598, 601

Livermore, Julia .„ „ _.546

Livermore, Laura _„ 546

Livermore (Mrs), Mary A 137

Livermores, The _ „ 540

Livers, B I „ „ _ „ 204

Lockwood, „ 595, 596, 600

- „ 600

_ 155

600

„ 14

430

430
509
. 34.

Lockwood (Mrs),

Lockwood, V.

I^ockwood, Mary .

Logan, Andrew

Logston (Mrs),

Logston, Joseph „ 333,

Lomax, P T _ _ 508,

Long (Capt),

Long, Joseph Schuyler „ 238

Long, Lucv Catherine Perry

(Mrs W) „ _ „. _ J.238

Long, Maria ^ _ „ „ 337

Long, William „ ^8

Loomis, 190, 194, 201

Loras (Rev), Mathias 550

Lord, Henry Dutch _ 59

Loughridge*(U S Repr), Wil-
liam „ _ „ „.„ „ „ „J296

Lounsberry, H C _ „„ „ 578

Love (U S Judge), James M„181

Lowndes, Lloyd ^ „ _ 484

Lucas, D R _ „ 134

Lucas, E F _ „ 89, 387

Lucas, Frank 208

Lucas, James „ 105

.-„ 393

.„ „ 60

« - 24

Lyon, William _ 88

Maben, O K -. „ ^ „ 589

Macaulay, 561

Lucas, Josiah M „

Lucas (Gov), Robert

Ludlam, Jeremiah

Lyle (Dr),

611

Bo-

_397

Macbride, Sarah Huston (Mrs

J B) 397

Macbride (Dr), Thomas Hus-
ton 397

McCaII (Judge), Edward Mont-
gomery 560

McCall, Mary Abigail (Boyn-

ton) (MrsTC) _ 560

McCall, Thomas Clifton 560

McCallan & Bruce 142

McCarter (Dr), 550

McCarthy, Daniel 235

McClellan (Gen), George B 338

McCloy, ...„„ : 547

McClov, Joseph 592, 593, 598, 600

McCloy (Mrs), Joseph 596

McCloys, The __540

McCraney, Orlando 8, 19

McCreadie, Thomas 99

103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 190, 194,
196, 202, 206, 209, 218
McCulloch (Dr), George„.589, 591

McDowell, 52

McDowell (Gen), Irwin a38

McDowell, Rives 139, 140

McElroy, Hugh 603

McElroy (Rev), Joseph 6a3

McElroy, W O 476

McFadden, Shep 490

McFadden, William 4«6, 487

McFarland (Mrs), 605

McFarland (Judge), C J.-:^ 490

McFarlane (Lt Gov), Arch W_580

McFec, James 182

McGavic, 492

McGavic, Lelioy 492

McGavic, Chittenden & Co 492

McGee, L
McGinnis,

„_98, 195

600, 608

— 609

436

308

McGinnis (Mrs),
McGregor, James
McHenry, Morris

Mcllwain (Rev), R C 532, 533

McJunkin, J F 628

McKay, 607

McKay, John 150

McKenny, John H 11, 12, 13

Mackenzie, William Lyon 604

Mackey, Abigail (Mrs'c H)_„617

Mackey (Col), Cyrus H 617

Mackey, James 617

McKinley (Pres), William 137

532

McKinney, T I 491

Mackintire, Eliab Parker-^44, 250

INDEX

655

Mackintire, Marv Ann (Mrs

William Salter) .. .._ _ 243-6G

363-813, 449-69, 541

McKnight, _ _^ -.372

McKnight, Virgil _. „ 140

McLaughlin, Angus A „.515

McLeod (Dr), „ „595

Macloy, ~ - 370

Macloy (Mrs), -.370

McMurtrie, Douglas C „.3-22

McNary (U S Sen), Charles L„157

Madison (Pres), James „.„ 56

Magee, John .„_ „ - _ 60

Magoun (Dr), George F 135

259, 262, 368, 469, 543

Mahin, John _ _ „.„ _ „ „134

Mahlon (Capt), „ 490

Mahood, _.„ „ — 611

M^ine, Herbert A „ „ 638

Maine, James E „ ..„ _.6:38

Mallard, _ „ „ 601

Mallen, ._ _ „598

Mallet, Charles „ „ 5

Manning (Capt), William-.436, 438

Maples, _. „ _ :275

Marchell, _.. „.612

Marez (Col), _ .335

Markham, Morris ._ 301, 304

Marks (Lt), J J 35, 38, 39

Marmaduke (Gen), John S J341

350

Marshall (Mrs), „370

Marshall, Mitchell 489, 490

Marshall, Thomas 603

Marston, Anson _ 153

Martin, Alex 104, 216

Martin, George „ 104, 216

Martin, Robert J - „ .589

Mason (Justice), Charles„.404, 405

Mason, Cvrus 54ii

Mason, William E „ „ 13

Masqueray, Emanuel L _ 577

Masterson, John Hen _ _.214

Matheson, M M ^ _ 308

Mathews, _ „ 130

Malson (Capt), _„ „ 490

Mattock, James H ^ _ 304

Maxfield, George I ^ _„ ™42, 44

>faxon, ™ .288

Maxwell, H W 134

Mazzuchelli (Rev), Samuel

Charles 444, 44.3

Meachan, J595

Mead, - „601

Mead (Rev), „ _ 605

Meagher, Glenn B 19

Means, John „ „. „ „„ „...608

Meares (Mrs), 553

Medbury (Rev), Charles S 122

Meek (Judge), _ ™ 39

Mendcnhall (Miss), 425

Mcndenhall, Alice (Heald) 72

Mendenhall, Charles H _ 420

Mendenhall, Chester 72

Mendenhall, William » 72

Merchon (Miss), 231, 232

Meredith (U S Secy Agric),

Edwin T -.. _ 633

Mericle, I . „ 493

Meroney (Mrs), W M (Eliza-
beth Brown) 43

Merrell (Lt), Lyman H„„ „ 36

38, 39

Mcrriam (Gov), Frank F 590

Merritt, Daniel .„ _. 44

Merritt, Sarah _ „„ _. 198

Merritt, Sarah (Mrs J T Gal-

lowav^ _ _ .. ..._.. 44

Merritt (Col)^ William iLl49, 150

Merritt, William J 4^

Messervcv, W N 494

Mever (Lt Col), John _.436

Mickey, Bricen 208, 214

Miller, _ 219

Miller (Judge), Benjamin H-.„.4O0

Miller (Mrs), Florence 134

Miller, John 42, 43, 46

Miller, John Ross 384-86

Miller (Capt), Thomas H.- „333

Miller (Justice), William E 180

Miller (J A), Wallingford (J

D) & DeGraff (L).... „476

Milliman, Emily (Hunt) (Mrs

F) .„ „ 158

Millin>an, Francis 158

Milliman (Lt Gov), James

Cutler _ „ -. „._ 158, 591

Mills, „ „ - _ 610, 611

Mills, Bruce Reese _..- „ „ -.240

Mills, Frank W „ 559

Mills, Margaret Billingslev

(Mrs F W) .„ .„ „ 1 559

Mills (Capt), Samuel „._ 60

Mills (Rev), Thornton _„ 611

Mills, Timothy, Jr „ „„ „... 60

Millsass, _ -. _ — 550

Milton (Eng poet), John„ „468

600, 601

— 601

434

_.308

Mitchell,
Mitchell (Mrs),
Mitchell, I C .„.
Mitchell, J L T
Mitchell, John ..

Mitchell (Justice), Richard F_.570

Mitchill, „ 607

Mitchill, Elden 607

Miter ( Rev), „ „._ _ 542

Moffitt, Tina (Mrs Chas Wat-
son) 51, 62

656

INDEX

Montjronirry, Alexander _ „ 15

Montproiiiery, J K _ ~591

Montpomerv (Lt), William

Hall „ * --- - 38

Mooar, Clara Belle (Mrs J C

Davis) _ _ 532, 5:«

Mooar, Daniel _ „ „.„ 532

Moore, _ ~ - 347

M<M)re, Charlev _ 4H6

Moore, Kli/^beth (Mrs L

Lowndes) _ _ AHA

Moore, Frank _ - 6

McMire (I. I Ton, S A „ _ 438

Moore (It), William W -177

33.3, 414, 415, 416, 417, 433, 441

Moorman, _ 628

Mwirman, Thomas J „ 621, 624

Moreland, David „ _„.. 39

Morfran, James M _ - _ 11

Morpran, T A „ „... „ _ _.615

Morjran (Col), Willouphbv „ 41

Morris, Alexander 211

Morris, Kaston „ ~ 17

Morris C.eor|re „ 211, 474

Morris, II „ -211

Morris, Samuel ... _ „ - 105

Morris, William C _ ^100

111, 194, 202, 203, 204, 210, 211,

214, 217, 219, 220, 471, 474

Morristm (Capt) Charley„ 490

Morse (Rev), Abner „ _ _. 59

Morse, Anthony - 58, 62

Morse, J Howard .„ _ 59

Morse, Marv (Mrs Wm Bnmd-

well (a))* - J59, 62

.Morse, Robert 59, 62

Morton (U S Secv Ajrr), J

Sterling „ _ _ » 20

Mosehead (Mrs), _ 611

Mo.*ies (Lawjriver) _ _ 565

Mosher, Tom _. 85

Mott, David C _ 3

14, 15, 10, 20, 22, 83, 84, 127,

563, 578, 589, 590
Mullan (Attv Gen), Charles

W „ *..._ 476, 559

Mulvanev, Brvan 318

Mulvanev, Catherine (M a r It-
ham) (Mrs B) 318

Mulvanev, John T „ 318

Mulvanev, M J „ „ „..318

Munsell,* Harry B 19

Murphy, Francis „129

Murrav, Rov W „ „ 589

Myerly, .loseph I „ 150

Mvers, Peter 21

Napoleon I (Emperor of the

French) ._ „ „ _ 64, 66

Nealus, John G 551

Neif, 488

Neif, Lewis J 591

Nepus, Charles 114

NejniS Henry 153

Nelson (Rev), David 601

Nelson, John 310

Nelson, Oley 589, 591

Nelson, William 6

Nennig, Elizabeth 63-67

Nennip, Marv Catherine Sad-
ler 1 64

Nennip, Nicholas 64

Nennig, Peter John 63-67

Neuse, Jake _ 486

Newberry, 331

Newbold (Squire), 104

Newell, Henrv Nassau 80

Newell, Robert Henry (Am

humorist ) .554

Newhall (Dr), _ 596

Nicholls (Gov), Richard 59

Nichols, 595

Nichols (Mrs), 59:3

Nickerson (Mrs), 598, 601

Nickerson (Lt), Joseph F 3:3

36, 38, 39
Nickersons, The _....
Nickinson, Marcia ,

Nickson, _ _

Nicols, Alec

Nims, Eliel

549, 593, 599, 601
Nims (Mrs), Eliel

Nimses, The

Noble, Bud

Noble, James
Noble (Secv

W ^...-

Noel, J B

Norris (Rev),
Nottinpton,

540

549

601

385

546

598

540, 546

42, 46

Interior), John

500

450

— 552

Nourse (Atty Gen), Charles C-.134

Nutting, R F 39

Oakes, 595

Odel, Uriah Leick 90

Opden, J W 18

Opden, R B 18, 487

O'Keefe (Mrs), John 444

445, 447

Oldacre, West 105, 213

Olds, J W 218

Oliver (Judpe), Addison 478

Oliver, Hannah (Townc) (Mrs

A ) 478

Oliver (Judpe), John F-_478, 479

Oliver Bros & Tilson 479

Olmstead (Prof), 252

O'Neill (Lt), 24

Ormsby, A L 685

O.Hhiirnr, (ieorfrla L _

Palmar, AH T IS

Palmer. Arch W. 46

Palmer, C S _ __ 42. 45, 46

PHlmcr (Mrs C S (Marv

er, Jai

-306

Parphorn. Jj.son —

PnnfrhcHrt, ano

I'lirish, Jcilin (' 8

4. fl. (i. 18. rl

Parkrr (Mrs), ..._ _ .fio3

Piirker (Prof), Leonard F_ *H

Parker. N Howe STl

Parker. N'Bthnnicl Hawthorne- tS

Parker (Rev) Theodore 378

Parkin (Dr), Joel —MS

Parkin (Kev). I. H 4«fl

Parlev, Peter Sarauei Gris-

wold Goodrich -_ „-,S51

Pflrnielv, fiOO

len'ter. H K IfiH

', 171, ITS. -ill, ^7H. 29*. agfi,

;, 209. 300, ;(05, son. 346, 347,

Payne. Morgan __ 91, 92, 94. 95

97, 98. 99, 100. 101, 102. 103, 104,
lOS. 106 107, 108. 109, 110

Payson (Riv), Edward- _ .255

Peabody, Artliur 446

Pearson (I.t), Benjamin F.84, «6

Pearson, Ruel M __642

Pease, I, L 494

Peck (Capt), W D 622

Peet (Kev), Stei>her 488. 6*3

Ptnce, Solomon B9S

Pentland (Capl), 41

Pepper <U S Repr), Irvinft S-160

Perkins (Dr), 139

Perkins (U S Rcpr Georfce

Perkins. H E

Perkins, Zcnophon

Prltibone. -^

Pierce (i'reg), J^rankUn

Pierpoint (Uov Francis—

Pierson, John

Hgeon, Isaac ,

_236

t.^9, Um, Ifil 464. 4«T

P«rtin (Dr), _^

Parybiirris,

Paryburris. Hubert

Pope, R B
Pope, Sam
Porter.

„400

Paul. Cliffi.rd B 100, M

Paul. Georpe 5

Paul. Isabella Wherry (.Mrs

J T) -.

Paul. John T

Payhurn Mrs) 6 2

Payne, Tbarles W 73

Payne. Frank S 73, 591

Payne (Secy nlcrlor John

Barton ,„ 517

Pavn.

590

..J150, 5S3

(Mrs

- T3

Post (Kev), Truman™

PoBtain.

Potl (Dr

Potter, ,

Potter. Thomas

Potts (Mrs), -^~~ . 597

Pow (Mrs , . _61

Powell. 297

Powers. - — - 60

Poweshiek, Jim (Mesquukie) 115

"-" '-- '"- ■■ ■■31.. :!52,

360, 3(!1,

(>58

INDEX

PouTsliirk, Kidiard - 121

Towpshlrk, Ruth (Mrs Jonas)..lJl
Pratt (T S Ropr), Henrv O- i:«

Prentiss (C'a|rt), Bon _ _ .492

Prentiss (CJen), Benjamin

Mavherrv „ „ „. . _ 24s '25, 28

Presc()tt, * — „ _ 3«5

Prescott (Or), John S ..„ „ 173

30.3, 304, 3()(n 307, 310

Prrssell, „ 491

Preston (Justice), Bvron W. ..47«

Preston, Kdwin D * 289, 292

Price (Capt), «23

Price (U S Repr), Hiram 1:34

Price, "Pennv" _ „ 488

Price ((len),' Sterlinjr 324

350, 4^32, 4.34, 4.38

Prince (Mrs), „ „ 455

Prince, Kllen 4^2

Pritchard, Kliza (Woodward)

(Mrs P A) _ „ .„320

Pritchard, John Sherman. 320, 590

Pritchard, Phih) A 320

Proudfoot, Aaron V 578, 580-88

Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson 317

Proudfoot, Rawson, Brooks &

Borp „ „ 317

Push e ton e qua (Mesquakie) 224
Quantrell, William C (Confed

guerilla) „ 17«

Qua ta che (Mes(juakie)„ ...121, 122
Rapue, Chest ina Scales (Mrs J

F Rajfue) „ 447, 448

Rapruc, Kliwi (Mrs J F) 444

IK), M8

Rapiie, John Francis 444-48

Ranke, Charles _ 494

Ransom (Dr), 458, 4(»5

Ransom (Mrs), .„ 464

RatcliflF (Capt), .„ 622

Rathhurn, 549, 598, 599

Rawson, A Y _ 317

Rawson (U S Sen), Charles A..317

Rawson, Harry D 317

Rawson, Marv (Scott) (Mrs A

Y) : 317

Ray, W G _ 589

Read, Bovd Francis 80

Read, ?:mily (Mrs J B) 80

Read, J B „ 80

Reaney, Rohert J 589

Red, Samuel (A former slave )„.502

503

Redfield (Lt Col), James 339

Redhead, Wesley „ _ 147

Reed, „.l „ ^ 610

Reed (Mrs), „ 54i5

Reed (Mrs), 547, 663

Reed, Alex 551

552, 602, 604, 608

Reed (Mrs), Alex 604

Reed, John P 485, 486, 487

Reed (Rev), Julius A 366, 367

368, 377, 378, 379, 545, 607, 608

Reed, Vina (Swalm) 558

Reed, Robert __ 552, 553

Reed, Rohert 597

Reed, William „„ 553

Reeve, Adaline (Rlffirs) (Mrs

J B ) .._ _ _ „„ „ -239

Reeve, George W' „ 491

Reeve, James Baldwin „. _-239

Reeve, Orson Gideon 3J59

Reeves, Edwin „ _ _ 7

Reipe, t55

Reitter, Philip _442

Remey (Lt), Edward Wallace„403
Remev, Elixa (Howland) (Mrs

W B) „ „ 403

Remev (Rear Adml), Georpe

Collier _ „ 403-05

Remey, Mary Josephine (Ma-
son) (Mrs George Collier).- .404

Remev, William Butler 40:3

Remev (Col), William Butler,

-4a3

-640

.640

.403

„_ .612

„._. 85

395

:395

Remley (Judge), Howard

Marshall „

Remley (Atty Gen), Milton

Remv, Abram „ _ „

Revnolds, _...

Revnolds, Abram

Revnolds, Henrv „

Revnolds (Dr),*J D

Reynolds (Or), John W
Revnolds (Gen), Jo.seph Jones_443

Rhode, Halla M „ 115,234

Rhodes, F S - „ _-_.42, 47, 48

Rice, .„ - 610, 611, 612

Rice, Byron ._ 147

Rice (Gen), Samuel A 346

Richards, „610, 611

Richards (Capt), Charles B„_304

Richards, Seth „ 544

Richardson (Rev), 550

Richardson, David X _ 14, 15

Richardson, Ed 34* 37

Richardson, Henry L 34, 37

Richardson (Lt), Norris 415

Richardson, Lord & Holbrook

(J v.) •- ""- -......- ....._ ^_ .. OSfH

Richman, Irving B -....584, 585

Riggs (Mrs), John 549

Rinex, » 495

Rinex & Co .„ 495

Ripley (Rev), Erastus 378

Roach, 668

INDEX

(>59

Roach, R C 591

Kobbins (Mrs), 596

Robbins (Rev), Allien H 266

:mu 867, 377, 378, 379, 381, 382,

383, 460, 541, 54s3, 545, 547, 596

Robbins (Mrs), Alden B 462

Roberts, John 490

Robespierre de (French Revo) 64

Robinson (Miss), 44

Robinson (Miss), .„ 467

Robinson, B F „ „ 347

Robinson (Justice), Gifford S..59()

591
Rockafellow (Li), John G 3:^3

335, 414, 417

Roedell, R P _ .316

Rogers, Will (Am humorist) 554

Rone, Christen ^ 636

Rone, Inpeborjr (Mrs C) 636

Rone, Tollef C 591, 636

Rood, _ 597, 610

Roop, Benjamin 4*90

Roosevelt (Pres), Theodore 73

137, 235, 240, 399
Roosevelt (Pres), Franklin D..240

Root, 606

Rorick, C H „ „ 4S0

Rorick, Dallas I) 4*J0

Rorick, G H „ „ „„ _ ™4^0

Rorick, Julia F (Kimball)

(Mrs C H) _ 4S0

Rosecrans (Gen), William S 339

Rosewater, Edward _.236

Ross, Lewis W „ „ „ „ 181

Rudd, D T & Co 489

Runyon, A „ 95, 96

Runyon, Frank „ 217, 220

Run von, J Weslev 105

20*0, 214, 217
Runvon, Jacob „ 1 13

203, 204, 213, 220

Runvon, Joseph „ Ill, 217, 220

Rusk, R I _ 10

Russell, John ._ „ „ 88

Russell, John B „ „ _ 7

11, 16, 18, 4«7

Russell, John J „ „ „ 237

Russell (J B) & Dovle (R L) 18
Russell (J B) & Hughes

(Thos ) _ _ „ - 16

Russell (J B) & Reeves (Ed-
win) „ 2, 8, 613

Russell {,1 J) & Toliver (G

S ) „ „ „ J>37

Rvan, John 146, 152, 153, 154

Saberson, Henry T „ 589

Said, Kennev 1 - „ 4^6

St Varian, Felix 553

Salisbury, Daniels & Co ^93

Salter, Benjamin _ „ 244

Salter (Dr), William .„ _ 56, 58

243-66, 363-83, 539-53, 592-613
Sampson (E S) & Harned (S)„.617

Sandberg, Carl „ ^ 84

Sanders, „ _ 276, 279

Sanders (Gen), Addison Hiatt 14

Sanders, Alfred „ _ „ 15

Sanders, J H 622, 629

Sanders (Alfred) & Davis

( I .evi ) „ „ 15

Sanford (Dr), John F 15, 499

Saterlee (Capt), „ -622

Sautell, „ 550, 599

Savage, Anna (Mrs Wm)„ 90

91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101,

103, 105, 107, 108, 110, 112, 113,

189, 190, 193, 194, 195, 197, 198,
199, 200, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207,
209, 210, 212, 215, 216, 218, 220,
470, 471, 473

Savage, David _ „„. 101, 108

Savage, Hannah „ ™ 86, 197

Savage, John 92, 96, 97

100, 101, 105, 107, 110, 114, 189,

190, 193, 195, 202, '204, 207, 212
Savage, John Albert 112, 193

195, 201, 206, 207, 214, 215, 218
Savage, Mary (Mrs E Simp-
kins) „ .' -. „ 105, 212

Savage, Marv (Mrs Wm, Sr).. 99

112, 191
Savage, Rosa (Mrs David Bur-
den ) _ „ ™ „ _ 95

Savage, Samuel -. _.„ „ 85, 101

Savage, Samuel Richard „ 217

Savage,Thomas „ _ 88

90, 92, 93, 96, 97, 99, 100, 105,
106, 107, 108, 109, 110, HI, 113,
114, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196,

197, 198, 199, 203, 204, 206, 207,
209, 212, 470, 474

Savage, Walter G -90, 94, 96, 98

101, 102, ia3, 104, 105, 108, 109,
111, 192, 193, 202, 207, 216, 473

Savage, William - 83-114

189-220, 312, 313, 389, 470-74

Savage, William, Sr „. _._ 85, 87

90, 92, 95, 96, 99, 101, 103, 105,
106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 189,
190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197,

198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 20:3, 205,
206, 207, 209, 211, 212, 214, 216,
216, 217, 218, 470, 471, 472, 473

Scarborough (Dr), Dallas 317

Scarborough (Dr), Herbert

Vergil 317

Scarborough, Katherine (Mrs

D ) 3 1 7

660

INDEX

Schooler, Lewis 150

Schuneman, Euphema (Wheel-

ock) (Mrs J H) 290, 293

Schuneman, John Henrv 276

281, 286, 287, 288, 290, 307

Scott, Andrew 48, 62

Scott, Franklin William 10

13, *22

Scott, Harrv 48

Scott, J F 1 46, 47

Scott, Jack F 48, 63

Scott, James B 420

Scott, Joe 4^

Scott, John 61

Scott, John A 48, 49

Scott, Joseph L 48, 49

Scott, Lucinda 61

Scott (Mrs), Margaret 42, 48

Scott, Roberta (Mrs R I.

Brown) 48

Scott (Ruth (Mrs Al Cole) 48

Scott (Capt), Thomas E-.42, AS, 49

Scott (Mrs), Thomas E 60

Scott (Gen), Winfield 497

Scudder, John 490

Seaman, Bruce T 691

Seamans, A H 487

Seamans, Emily 23

Sears, George 199

Seeley, Eli ^^ 76

Seeley, Martha (Beeler) (Mrs

Seeley, William Beeier_. „76, 591

Seiffert, Henry O -..._ 591

Sells (Secy of State), Elijah_.175

426

Sonnet (Capt), J W „ 410, 423

Settler, _ ^ 628

Shackford, Albert S 246

364, 375, 451, 454, 455, 457, 458,

460, 462, 463, 464, 4<65, 466
Shackford (Rev), C C 375

379, 381, 452, 464

Shaffer (Maj), 38

Shaffer (Dr), E 47

Shaffer (Dr), Joshua M „..498

499, 500

Shakespeare, William 468

Shambaugh (Dr), Benjamin F„.613

Shane, Frank „ ^ 589

Shaner & Davenport .„ _ „...„ 48

Shangle, L T „ _ „ 578

Shankle, George K „ 593

Sharp, „ „....551

Shaw, „ „ „ 284

Shaw (Miss), „ 462

Shaw, Helen Crane (Mrs W

T) 74

Shaw, Helen Louise 74

Shaw, John 254, 256, 257

262, 372, 373, 377, 451, 645, 546,

698, 699, 600, 601, 604, 608, 609
Shaw (Mrs), John 254

256, 263, 461, 545, 546, 595, 598
Shaw (Gov), Leslie Mortier 158

236, 677
Shaw (Mrs), William B 55

67, 58

Shaw (Col), William T 74

Shaw a ta (Fox) 116, 121, 122

Shearer (Mrs), Doris 319

Sheffev (Mrs), T 159

Shelby (Gen), Joseph O -324

409, 418, 426, 429
Sheldon,

Sheldon (Mrs), Ruth
Shelledy, Stephen B _

Shepherd, James

Shepherd, Jesse M

Sherer,

464

461

_305

386

Sherer, John (John Ross Mil-
ler) -386

Sheridan (Capt), 622

Sherman (Gov), Buren R 133

Sherman, Ho5rt 147

Sherman, John 595, 601

Sherman, Lampson P 21

Sherman, Ralph 578

Sherman (Gen), William Te-

cumseh 68, 168, 338, 350

407, 411, 412, 413, 422, 4<3L 502

Sherrill, 334

Shields, Harriet A (Mrs Marsh

Camp) 50

Shields, J S 50

Shinn (Rev), 546

Shollenbarger, Hiram W 615

Shollenbarger, J B 614, 615, 617

Shortess, Fremont E 589

Shriner (Dr), . 87

94, 189, 202, 207
Shriner, Jack

Shuler, Robert .„

Shumway, Horatio -

Shumway (Horatio)

Hams (C H S) _...

Sigler (Mrs),

-211

G3S

165

Wil-

165

i>00

_214

:>14

Sigler, Caroline

Sigler, Josephine

Sigler, Lewis „

Sigler, Meshack 91, 94, 95, 107

109, 110, 190, 200, 203, 205, 216

Sigler, W D 200, 214

Silbus (Capt), 599

Silwold. Cnarlotte (Depping)

(Mrs H, Sr) 476

Silwold (Judge), Henry 476

INDEX

661

Silwold, Henry, Sr 476

Simkins, Edward 98, 106

Simmins (Mrs), „ 389

Simmons, .» 610

Simon, Andrew _ _. _ 197

210, 213, 473
Simon (Mrs), Andrew
Simpson,

Simpson, Job
Sims, „....

Sims (Adml), William

den » „ _ - _ _

Sind, _ _.

Sind (Mrs),

217

610

oo. Ho

612

Sow-
404.

660

— 660

Siveler, Daniel -.._ _ _ 93

Siveter, David 90, 92, 93, 94

95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 106,
109, 112, 189, 190, 198, 199, 200,
201, 204, 207, 208, 209, 212, 214,
215, 216, 220, 471, 472, 473

Siveter Lydia (Mrs Dr) 92

Siveter, Samuel 89, 94

95, 110, 189, 190, 194, 197, 199,

201, 207, 209, 214, 216, 220, 4^1
Siveter, Thomas 106, 108

200, 2t)7, 210, 212, 214, 470, 471

Siveter (Dr), Thomas 88, 90, 92

93, 94, 100, 103, 104, 106, 189,
190, 192, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199,

202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209,
212, 214, 216, 219, 470, 471, 472

Skeen & McDonald _ 446

SkiflF, ...._ „ __ 296

Skiff (C^pt), Harvey J „ _338

Skiff, William _.„ „...' 334-, 4^2

Skromme, Lars Johan 636

Slater, „ „ ;i90

Slick, Sam „ _ „121

Sloan, _ _ _ „..303

Sloan (Judge), Robert _ 215

Slocum, Samuel ._ „ _ 10

Smart, Josiah _ „ „ 146

Smeltzer, C C _ _ _ ^. >.429

Smith, .„ „ „ 549

Smith, ._ „ „ i596

Smith ((^ipt), „ _ „„ 645

Smith (Hev), .261, 363, 368

Smith, Albert I _„ _ „. 239

Smith (I)r),C P- „ „ 487

Smith, Charles C „ » 80, 691

Smith (('apt), John _.496

Smith ((ien), Kirby 345, 350, 443

Smith, I-ewis J -„ „ 308

Smith, Lewis H „ _.429

Smith (Judge), Milo P 639

Smith, Pat „ „ 277, 279

Smith, Perrv _ 166

Smith, Rachel (Mrs Samuel
Siveter) 471

Smith, Roderick A 166

168, 170, 171, 176, 826

Smith (Maj), S G -410, 438

Smith & Co . 216

Smythe, George B 4«8, 406

Sneath, Henry 88, 89, 90

91, 92, 93, 94^ 96, 99, 101, 104,

109, 192, 193, 194, 196, 196, 197,

198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204,

206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212,

216, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220 470
Sneath (Mrs), Hcnr\' 88

99, 194, 200, 207, '216, 217, 218

Sneath, James B 90, 194, 196

Sneath, R D 97

Snodgrass (Dr), 606

Snook, Isaac N 78

Snook, J C 78

Snook, Jane (Cornelius) (Mrs

J C) 78

Snyder, Cyrus 169

299, 300, 301, 302, 304

Sparks, A R 19

Sparks, Mathew B 112

Spaulding, 600, 604

Spaulding (Mrs), 604

Spaulding, Alonzo 604

Spaulding (Rev), Benjamin AJ(4l

64«

Speer, Geo W .691, 698

Spcnce, Robert H 289

Spencer (U S Sen), George E-167

168, 171, 293, 296, 297, 298, 306,

307, 308

Spooner, Walter W 68

Spray, James 104

6, 22

-.420

876

Stanley, Andrew J 97

Stanley (Mrs), C 97

201, 209, 213, 214

Stanley, George _ _ -197

Stanley, Hannah (GruwHl)

(Mrs M) _ 79

Stanley, James „..lll, 216, 474

Stanley, John .™.96, 189

Stanley, Leonard E 7f

Stanley, Moses „ ~ 79

Stanley, Newton -.... „. .216, 474

Stanley, William „ „- Ill, 316

Stanley, Wisdom _ -.. „ - 93

Stanton (U S Sec of War),

Edwin M „ 29

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady „ 131

Starkweather, Norman „ -....491

Starr, Charles _378

Spray, Jonas

Springer, John

Springer, Oliver P

Spurrier, Dick

Stacey (Mrs),

662

INDEX

Starr, Henrv W 249, 378

380, 452, ii54, 4J55, 4V58, 460, 461

Starr (Mrs), Henrv W 378, ;380

Starxinper, Otto ...*. 640

Steadman, James „ ~ 94, 189

Steele (Gen), Frederick 338, 345

Steele, Lavinia ..- _ _ ™ 22

Steivens, William „ 90

Stevens, G C ™ 473

Stevens, Harriet E (Tucker)

(Mrs J L, Sr) „ 235

Stevens (Rev), I D 266, 610, 611

Stevens (Judge), John Loomis...235

Stevens, John Loomis, Sr _ 235

Stevens (Justice), Truman S 574

Steward, E 470

Steward, Hiram 220, 470

Stewart, „„ .596

Stewart, Robert „ 316

Stiles, Cassius C 384-86, 614-31

Stiles, Edward H 262

Stillman, .„ „„ 597

Stillman (Rev), „ 594

Stimpson, _ „ 599, 601

Stimpson (Rev), 593

Stingley, Barney » „ 53

Slingley, Lyman _ 53

Stiver, ^ „ „ „ 605

Stockdale, J L „ 494

Stokes (I.t), 29, 35

Stone (Gov), William M 68

167, 175, 296, 297, 302, 4:^2, 633

Storey (Judge), John A 591

Storms (Rev), Albert Bovn-

ton „..- ' 160

Storms, Irving 160

Storms, Marv (Bovnton) (Mrs

I) „ ' -^ 160

Slorrs (Dr), „ „ 264

Stolts, J F _ 491

Stowe, J D 494

Street (Rev), 610

Street, J H D „ 19

Street (Gen), Joseph M 544, 610

Street (Mrs), Joseph M„ 544

Studebaker (Supt), John W 115

Stull, O H W 17

Styles, L A „ „ 595

Sully, 605

Sumbardo, Charles S 40

Sutherlands, The 5-U)

Swalm, Albert W 558

Swalm, Pauline Given (Mrs A

W) „ „ 557

Swan, Chauncev 4-W

Swanson, Maribea (Mrs J P

Davis) 533

Swan wick, Thomas „ „ 491

Sypherd, Thomas H > „ „.... 21

Syphers, Jacob „ ...205, 208, 211

Taft (Pres), William Howard_137

240, 572, 586

Tallman, William B 557

Tally, Cvphert „ _„ „ _.„ 614

61*5, 6i7, 618, 619, 620, 621, 624,

626, 627, 628, 631

Tally family _ 617

Tarbell, Ida M .„ __^587

Taylor, „ _ „ _. _ 547

Taylor, Hawkins _ _491

Taylor, Joseph H .„ 306

Taylor, O Perrv „ „. _ „i218

Taylor, William* E _„ _. „98, 215

Taylor (Pres), Zacharv „ 458

Teesdale, John 1*47, 148, 149

Test (Judge), _ _„ ^172

Teter, Charles H .„ „_ _ m

Teter, Elson _ „ 87

Thatcher, Joseph M „ 300, :iO\

Thatcher (Mrs), Joseph M _ _301

Thayer, Frank A .2:59

Thayer (Dr), L P „ ..._42, 47

Thomas, Arthur „ 595

Thomas, Charles _ 318

Thomas (Dr), Charles M _ 55

Thomas (Gen), George H _ 407

Thomas, Lewis A .- 7

Thoma^s (Rev), Percy M„ . 56:3

Thompson, .„ _ _ 544

Thompson (Rev), Andrew„ _550

Thompson, M .„ „ 140

Thompson (Rev), M A _ 545

Thompson (Gen), William 410

Thompsons, The „ 540

Thoreau, Henrv David „ ^... 83

Thornburg, Z C „„..151, 152

Thornilev, Willis Hall „„ 480

Tichenor (Col), George C _-^ 149

Tidrick, George C „ -147

Tidrick, Robert I „ - 147

Tipton, Harriet 51

Titus, George M „ 589

Todd, Marv (Mrs A Lincoln)-.445

Toliver, Gillum S 237, 591

Toliver, Isom „ „ _„ 237

Toliver, Matilda (Reynolds)

(Mrs I) „ 1. „ „^.:>37

Tooley (Mrs), „ 37

Toolev, Elixa _ _ .. 37

Tracy, E C - _ _.„ _ 258

Treiber (Mrs), ^ „„ A89

Tremaine, Ira _ _.291

Trimble, Joseph „ „ „ 491

Trotter, Benjamin .- _ „ 60

Trout, '. „ 608

Trueblood, Abel ™ _ :208

Trumbull (Col), Mathew M.._.177

a32, 622, 629

INDEX

063

'J'ufts Amos 2()5

TurmT (Deacon), 505, (iOi

Turner (Rev), Asa 262

mti, 379, 545

Turner (Hev), Asa, .Fr 5W, 545

'J'urner (Ciov), Dan W 895

Turner (Rev), Edwin B „266

3r)4, 365, 366, 371, 372, 373, 374,
376, 449, 541, 54:3, 545, 546, 548,
595, 599, 600, 604, 605, 609, 610

Turner (Mrs), Edwin B 366, 44«

Turner (Dr), James F 393

Turner, Marv (Mrs I, A

Styles ) * 595

Turnliam, .lohn 88

92, 210, 214, 216

rurrill, H B 14(), 147

Tpdefrraph (US Repr),

Thomas .„ 157

r pton, 302

\'ail (Rev), E S 4,33

N'allandigham (I' S Repr),

Clement L „ „ 421

\'an Antwerp, Verplanc 17

\'an Antwerp (V) & Hughes

('J'hos) „ „ 17

\'an Camp, CJeorge W 578

X'andenherg, Dick SH, 39

N'andervenl, „ ^90

\'an Dolan (Mrs), 551

X'an Fossen, Samuel „ \HS

Van Horn (Mrs), Eliza „.592

591, 598, 600, 601

\'an Horn, John 601, 604

\'an Loon, „ 487

\'an Meter, „ 38

N'aufrhn (Mrs), .„ 342

N'aughn, Ella _ 337, 342

\'au/rhn, Henry ;}37

X'ergil (Roman poet) „ 326

X'ini'i, da, Leonardo (Italian

I)a inter) „ „ _ 569

X'oldeng, Anna Mathia (Chris-
tian) (Mrs N L) 558

Voldeng (Dr), Mathew Nel-
son „ _ 558

X'oldenp, Nels Lars „558

Wakefield (Judge), George W...165
172, 175

Waldrop, „ 94

Walker, Frederick _ „ 477

Walker (Rev), John 547, 551

Walker, L J „ „ „ „ „...215

Walker, T ._ _ __ ....._.215

Wallace, Henry .„ _._ „ „.135

Wallace, Isabella (Mrs J A

Young) „ „ _14<6

Wallace, Joseph „ 79, 591

Walworth, George H 17

Wapello (Fox chief) 541

Ward, John W^ _ 30, 34, 37

W'ard, Julia 27, 28, 29

Warden, Richard H „ 19

Warfel, Isaac „ 147

Warner, George _ 153

Warren (Miss), „ 605

Warren (Rev), _ 612

Warren (Gen), Fitz Henrv -175

454, 464
Washington (Prcs), George 56

580, 594
Wa so se a (Sauk) „ 116

118, 119, 121

W-asson (Dr), 34,3

Waterburv (Dr), .„ „.606

Watson, _ „ 490

W^atson (Rev), Charles 51, 52

W- atson, G „ „ 192

Watson, Isaac _ „ „ 219

Watson, John ». „ „ 201

Watson, Wavne ...- „ 192

198, -207, 2'l9

Wayne (Lt), John 34, 38

Weaver, Ben jamin ._ „ 1 1 1

207, 211, 215

Weaver, Erastus 73

Weaver, Harrv Otis -.73, 591

W^eaver (Gen), James B „ 438

585, 586
Weaver, Marv (Marshall)

(Mrs E) 1 73

Weaver, Sarah (Howe) (Mrs

David Weaver) „ -276, 282

Weaver, William „ 91, 93, 94

95, 100, 102, 189, 192, 193, 473

Weaver (Mrs), WMlliam 474

W>hb, - 600

Webh (Mrs), „ 600

W^eber, George R _ _ 76

Weber, John R - 76

W>lch, Stephen _ „ _. 333

Wells, „ „ 468

Wells (Rev), „ _ 266

Wells, Leonidas 108

112, 113, 189, 190, 192, 198, 199,

204, 205, 207, 208, 211, 212, 213,

214, 215, 217, 218, 219, 220, 471,

472, 473, 474
Wells, O M - „ „ 95

97, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106,

107, 111, 112, 189, 190, 192, 193,

194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201,

203, 204., 208, 209, 210, 212, 213,

214, 215, 216, 218, 219, 2-20, 470,

471, 472, 473, 474
W>lls (Mrs), O M.„ .217, 218, 219

664

INDEX

WrllK, Rufus - - ^. 108

189, 190, 198, 199, 205, 207, 208,
210, 211, 212, 213, 214s 215, 218,
219, 220, 478, 474

Wflls & LIIIv ^ 67

Wcndall '- 548, 598

Wert, Daniel M a37, 420, 428

West, -. ^ «.- 543

West, Georjre R _ — lH

West (Gen), Joseph Rodman.419
426

Westbrook, James — — 602

Westbrook, Roval _ .....603

Wethrell & Harrison __... -...153

Wetsel, John 86, 92

101, 200, 210, 213, 216, 219, 473

Wharton, Henrv 8

Wheeler (Lt), ' 38

Wheeler (Miss), .^ .467

Wheeler, Cyrenus, Jr -.„ _..86, 87

Wheeler, l/orinff 694

Wheelock, Ruphema (Mrs J H

Schuneman ) _ «-. 281

Wheelock, Isabclle (Mrs H Ab-
bott) - 331

334, 347, 348, 422, 442

Wheelock, John T _ 2SA'

Wheelock, Katherine (Mrs

John Wlnspear) 272, 275

Wheelock, I^vinla rMrs B F
Parmenter) (Mrs H J Skiff) J276
278, 285, 290, 330, 346, 347, 432,
435
Wheelock, Maria (Mrs O C

Howe) „ - „.- 165, 166, 270

Wheelock, Robert M 168, 169

171, 275, 277, 278, 281, 284, 286,
287, '289, 300, 301, 305 346, 417

White (Rev), „ 263

White, Henrv 543

White, W W „ 494

Whitfield (Rev), George 594

Whittier, John Greenleaf -.346

Wickersham (U S Atty Gen),

Georpre W _ _ - .'.„ _ -572

Wickham, George .„ - „ 240

Wickham, Henrv Frederick- 240

Wickham, Sarah (Light) (Mrs

G ) - - - ™ 240

Wilkie, Frank Bangs _ 22, 606

Wilkin, - _ 593

Wilkinson, (learv „ „ 615

Willard, Frances E _132, 136

Willcock, Peter „ „ 60

Williams, Charles H S „ » 165

Williams (U S Atty Gen),

George H „ 14

Williams, Jesse 17

Williams (Maj), William 169

170, 494

Williams & Seevers - 69

Williamson, 58

Williamson, 220

Williamson. J H 631

Williamson (Gen), James A„.167

Williamson, William W 296

Willibrord (St) 66

Wills, I 140

Wilson, 544

Wilson, 693, 599

Wilson (Col), David S 8, 9

Wilson (U S Sen), Henrv 37

Wilson, Henry Lusk 78

Wilson, James 341

Wilson (U S Sen), James F.-.-134

211

Wilson, Jeff 593

Wilson, John L 556

Wilson, Margaret Drvnan (Mrs

West) i 1 78

Wilson (Justice), Thomas S— 262

Wilson, West 78

Wilson, William A 308

Wilson (Pres), Woodrow _240

517, 518, 586, 587

Winslow (Lt), 29, 33, 37

Winslow (Judge), Horace S_.303

426

Wlnspear, Jim 341

Wlnspear, John 275, 282

Wlnspear, Kate a37

Winter, J J 642

Wisner (Rev), 4^1, 543

Witt, Frank I 320

Witt, Fred B 320

Witt, Vashti (Griggs) (Mrs F

Wittemore, 605

Wittse, . 611

Wolfe (Dr), 347

Wood, 596, 610, 612

Wood, A P — 6, 8, 16

Woodruf, Frank 471

Woodruff (Capt), Josiah L 437

438
Woods (Col), Joseph Jackson. 24

Woodson, George H 159

Woollett, C 617

Wooster, Thomas 491

Wright, Alfred 598

Wright (Mrs), Alfred 649, 593

Wright, B F VU

Wright, Ralph 698, 604

Wright, Samuel 549, 598

Wright, Thomas M 698, 601

Wrights, The 540

Wyant, 619

INDEX

665

Wvman, Charles D „477

Wvman, Frank .„ 478

Wyman, Herbert B 477, 591

Wvman, Mary A (Bartlet)

(Mrs C D) _ 477

Yancey (U S Repr), William

Lowndes „ _ _ 28

Yates, .„ 286, 287

Yeoman (Capt), J O A 156

^'ounjr, „ _ — 451, 452

Younp, 371

Young (Mrs), 560

Younp, Asa _ _ 606

Younjr, David 552

Younp, David 608

Younp, Elizabeth - 608

Younjr (I)r), Henry B 139

"^'ounp, .lames _ _ 608

Young, .lob __ »._ „...85, 86

TITLES OF

Autohiofrrapliies of an Iowa

Father and Son„ „ -WS

lUoadwell, .lames Madison, A

(Jenealofrical Note ~. — 65

Council Bluffs, Troops at, in

1820 186

I)cs Moines Post Office, History

of 146

Dubuque County Immigrant

from Luxemburg 63

First .ludgc of Iowa 114

Foster, .ludith Ellen 127

Howe, .ludge Orlando C, Life

and Letters of .16,3, 267, 232, 406
Indian Mounds in Soufbeastern

I owa 387

Iowa, How Northwestern Iowa

Api^eared in 1820_. 41

Know Nothing Party in Des

Moines County 187

Language, Toward Correct, in

Earlv Iowa 312

Longest Legislative Service in

Iowa .„ _ _ 556

Middle West, Traveling to, in

18,38 „ -_ _ 139

Young, John _ _ _ -608

Young (Dr), John A „.._ 139-45

Young (U S Sen), Lafayette_156
Young, Mary McKnight (Mrs

Wm) 139

Young, Stephen - — 90

Young, Thomas _ _ ~ „....608

Young, William 139

Young, William 608

Young Bear (Mesquakie) 115

116, 117, 118, 119, riO, 121, 122,

123, 124, 125, 221, 2*22, 224, 225,

227, 230, 231, 232, 233, 2:34, 352,

357, 360
Young Bear, George _ 115

116, 221, 227, 231, 232, 233, 234,

352, 357, 358, 360, 361
Ziebach, F M „_. _ _ 172

ARTICLES

Miller, John Ross .384

New Chicago -„ „ „.... „ 42

Notable Deaths ._ >. „ 69

156, 235, 314, 395, 475, 5.57, 633
Original Study of Mesquakie

(Fox) Life 115, 221, 352

"Orpheus C" King 554

Pioneer lawmakers Associa-

t ion -.. 663

Printing, The Beginning of in

Prisoner of War, A 23

Rague, John Francis„ _ 444

Remey, Rear Admiral George
Collier „ „ _ 403

Salter's, William, Letters to

Mary Ann Mackintire„ ^43

363, 449

Salter's, William, "My Minis-
try in Iowa'' 5ii9, 692

Savage, William, Diary of- -. 83

189, 470

Skunk River War (or Tally
Wa r ) 6 1 4

State Bird of Iowa, The 555

606

INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS

Aldrich, Charles and William

Savage _ _>. 191

Byers, Samuel Hawkins Mar-
shall (portrait) -.. 08

Davis, C^ileb Forbes, and Mrs

Davis (portrait) -.._.... _„ 501

Davis Homestead, Keokuk 50()

Davis, James C (portrait)- _.4*»2

Davis, James C and family „5iJ4

Davis, James C, Homestead,

Dcs Moines 50()

Edmundson, James Depew

(portrait) - 69

Foster, Judith Ellen (por-

Howe, Captain Orlando C
(portrait) -. 322

Howe, Mary Whoelock (Mrs
O C) (portrait)...„ „ _...269

Howe, Orlando V (portrait) 162

Macbride, T li o ni a s Huston
(portrait ) _ „ _ 396

Message to First Territorial
Assembly (facsimile) 12

Hemey, George Collier (por-
trait) „ „..- 402

Salter, William and Mary Ann
(Mackintire) Salter (por-
traits) „ _ 242

Savage, William (j)ortrait) „ 82

Statute Laws of the Territory

•

of Iowa (facsimile of first
page ) „ - » ™ - 2

EKHATA

Page 164, "Sarah Cutter Howe" should be "Sarah F Howe."

Pages 168 and 171, "Robert U Wheelock" should be "Robert M Wheel-
ock."

Pages 278 and 281, "Robert B Wheelock" should be "Robert M Wheel-
ock."

Page 282, "James D Howe" should be "John D Howe/'

Page 305, "Sarah Howe" should be "Mary Howe."

Page 324, "Wm M Hoxie'' should be "Wm H Hoxic."

Page 414, "William M Moore" should be "William W Moore/'

3 bios 013 AH5 sab

634879

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