History of Linn County Iowa Part 32

"The house was built by a man by the name of George, of German descent, and afterwards bought and occupied by Ambrose Harland who gave the little irregular tract and house the name of Ft. George in honor of its first owner and its having the appearance of being constructed to resist, not Indians, but cold winds as they swept up Indian creek.

Harland was a character, born in Kentucky, removed to Crawfordsville, Indiana, and was the sheriff of that county.

This was the home of Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur, and also the home of Henry S. Lane who first named Abraham Lincoln as president in a convention in Chicago in 1860.

Harland moved to Linn county succeeding Hosea W. Gray as sheriff, and was succeeded by me in that office. He was a six-footer and large and would fight, but once fell heavily before Perry Oxley's huge fist."

The person who erected the house which appeared like a fort was no other than George Hesing, who owned the land and was a peculiar character in his day. He did plant cottonwood trees around the house and also sc.r.a.ped up dirt so as to keep out the wind and snows as much as possible from his yard. In a few years the trees grew up and the rubbish acc.u.mulated, and they gave the place the appearance and made it look like an old abandoned fortification. It is said that a certain Mr.

Willard having charge of the erection of a school house near this location named it the "Ft. George School House," which name it bore as long as it stood there.

A number of plats have been filed in the recorder's office at Marion, and these have again been transcripted for public use, but before towns could be platted a number of towns were staked out before the land was laid out and surveyed by the government; of these plats we have no record. The first plat was, no doubt, that of Westport, located on the banks of the Cedar river and near Bertram. This was staked out by Israel Mitch.e.l.l July 4, 1838. Ivanhoe was laid out some distance below at the present Ivanhoe bridge in the same year. Another town was staked out by J. Wilbert Stone along the Cedar river at the lower rapids within the corporate limits of the present Cedar Rapids. There is no record of any plat of this town. In 1844 Westport was again platted as Newark by James M. Doty. This is the first recorded plat and seems to have been filed November 21, 1844, by John Zinbar, recorder. (See Vol.

A, p. 301, Lands.) This is now a corn field and has long since been vacated.

New Linden was another town platted in the early days; this plat was filed by P. S. Embree, surveyor, April 15, 1853, being property owned by A. E. Simpson and A. P. Risley and located on sections 27 and 28, township 84, range 5, Brown township. This, also, now is nothing but a corn field.

Another was the plat of New Buffalo in the town of New Buffalo which is filed in Vol. 4, p. 217, of the Land Records of Linn county; this has also been vacated.

The plat of the town of Mayfield was made by J. M. May and filed for record in Vol. 143, p. 624. It bordered on the Cedar river and embraced lot 4 and part of section 34, township 83, range 7. It also has been abandoned, although May's twenty-five additions, re-plats, etc., made by Major May, are still parts of additions to Cedar Rapids. Major May was a man of enthusiasm, and speculated, believing, with Colonel Sellers, that in every enterprise he undertook there would be millions, but he died a poor, unknown and disappointed man.

Many of the old town sites have been vacated, and many of the old postoffices and country stores which one found throughout the county in the early fifties can no longer be found on the map. From _Iowa as It Is_, published in 1855, at page 153 we find the following notices concerning Linn county towns and postoffices: Spring Grove, Boulder, Central Point, Cedar Oak, Newark, St. Julien, Ivanhoe, and Hoosier Grove, besides such towns as Cedar Rapids, Palo, Marion, and Mount Vernon. The book also mentions Iowa Conference Seminary, with a three story building, and with Rev. S. N. Fellows as superintendent.

N. H. Parker in his _Handbook of Iowa_, issued in 1856, mentions a few more new towns not mentioned in the previous list, as follows: Fairfax, Lisbon, Lafayette, Mon Diu, Necot, Oak Grove, Prospect Hill, St. Mary, Springville, and Valley Farm. This author also speaks of the newspapers published in the county, the _Register_ at Marion, and the _Times_, the _Farmer_, and the _Democrat_ at Cedar Rapids.

Another handbook of the state, published by J. G. Mills, of New York, in 1857, mentions the towns set out in the handbook of a year previous and adds the new town of much promise by the high-toned name of Paris, located in Jackson township, near the present town of Coggon.

Few, if any, today can locate those villages and towns which sprang up from time to time over the county, and which long since have pa.s.sed out of history and memory.

Of the newspapers published at that time only the Marion _Register_ has continued to be issued. The others have pa.s.sed away and one does not now know who were the editors and publishers of these early attempts at journalism in the pioneer days. These newspapers, no doubt, did much in keeping open the spirit of the people and in advertising the state.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUTLER PARK AT SPRINGVILLE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUSINESS DISTRICT OF SPRINGVILLE]

CHAPTER XIX

_Some of the Old Settlers_

It is, perhaps, impossible to say even now with any degree of certainty, who was the first actual settler in Linn county. However, it is not very difficult to mention at least some of the early settlers.

It is said that Dyer Usher and James Ames came up the Cedar river as far as the rapids on a hunting expedition as early as the spring of 1836; how long these men remained in what later became Linn county is not known, but it is not likely that they stayed very long. We have pretty good evidence that later during the summer came Daniel C. Doty, his two sons, James, and Elias, and nephew, Jacob Crane, as far as Bertram and viewed the country expecting to locate when land was thrown open for settlement. Mr. Doty was born in Ess.e.x county, New Jersey, in 1764, had early drifted west to Cincinnati, and by boat had come down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, landing at what is now Muscatine. His children were born in Ohio. They followed the Cedar river until they struck what became later Linn county to locate claims. There were no settlers here, and they found no people with whom to converse, but figured that here would be a good location to get cheap land when this land was opened for settlement. They returned to Ohio for their families, expecting to return the following spring, but they did not, in fact, return for three years on account of the financial depression.

Israel Mitch.e.l.l staked out the town first called Westport in July, 1838, which town was later called Newark, named in honor of Newark, New Jersey, where the family originally came from. Here Elias Doty, Jr., was born in October, 1841. Elias Doty, Sr., erected the first sawmill on Big creek in 1841, in the erection of which mill he was killed in the raising of the timbers. Daniel Doty, Sr., had the following sons, to-wit: James, Elias, John, and Daniel, all young men who early drifted west. Daniel C. Doty, the father of these sons, was never a resident of this county, but simply came here to find homes for his children. He died in Ohio in 1849; the widow died in Ohio in 1863 at the advanced age of ninety-eight.

James Doty, born in 1809, was the first real pottery maker in Iowa. He had learned the trade in Ohio. This crude pottery building was standing on the old homestead up to within a few years ago. At the time of his death, January 17, 1847, he had over three hundred jars, jugs, crocks, etc., ready for delivery. In this early day there was great demand for such merchandise as it was something every farmer had to have, and it could only be obtained in a few places and at high prices on account of the transportation.

Another Linn county pioneer well known in the early days was Israel Mitch.e.l.l, who staked out the town of Westport in 1838. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was born in Kentucky, January 15, 1796, the son of Moses Mitch.e.l.l, of Scotch descent, and on the mother's side, Elizabeth Grant, of Welsh descent, and a near relative of Daniel Boone, the Indian fighter. As a young man Israel Mitch.e.l.l attended a Kentucky college and graduated therefrom. He studied for the ministry, but gave that up on account of his voice, and later took a course in medicine, but gave up the practice, as his step-daughter, Mrs. Slavin, writes, "because he was too tender hearted." He had studied law as well as surveying. After his marriage he removed to Ohio in the early '20s with his wife and two children, viz: Angeline and John Mitch.e.l.l. He soon drifted into Indiana, and from there he removed to Wisconsin, working in the lead mines near Apple river in the southwest part of the state as surveyor.

From Wisconsin he came by way of Dubuque to Linn county in the spring of 1838 in company with John, James, and Chamber Hunter, and Jacob Leabo. They all settled on the banks of the Cedar river in sections 32 and 33, township 83, range 6. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was a widower at this time and he and his children stayed with the Leabo family. At Marion he married Mrs. Mary Ross, nee Mary Arnold, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, on November 7, 1845, Esquire Goudy, one of the first justices of the peace, performing the marriage ceremony according to the territorial laws of Iowa. Of this marriage were born five children: Luther H., Caroline, Israel, Boone, and Maris Morton. By her first marriage Mrs. Ross had four children. She died in Oregon in 1858.

Mr. Mitch.e.l.l sat on the first grand jury summoned in the county, was one of the first justices of the peace in the county, and was also the first probate judge. He acted as a frontier lawyer, did more or less surveying, at which he was an expert, and in many ways was a most useful man to the community. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was a true southerner, his home was always open, and he did much entertaining. He spent much of his time interesting his friends and acquaintances in new enterprises, and in various ways tried to build up a great town on the banks of the Cedar river. Whether it was due to the failure of his new town to materialize or the western fever that got hold of him, we do not know, but just at a time when he should have remained he saw fit to emigrate, going with oxen overland with his family in 1847, locating about eight miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. Here he tilled the soil and became a noted surveyor. In 1873 he returned to Linn county to visit his old friends, giving glowing descriptions of the far west and especially of the Spokane country. On his return by way of San Francisco to Portland he fell in one of the gangways on the steamer, and received injuries from which he died a few days later after reaching home. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was a member of the Presbyterian church and affiliated with the democratic party. J. J. Daniels, his old friend, described Judge Mitch.e.l.l as follows: "He was truly an educated man, and in early life had learned the science of surveying, and this was the work he was particularly called for; when not engaged in this occupation he farmed and kept a ferry. When the writer became acquainted with him on the Cedar river he was an active man on foot and could swim almost equal to a duck; bathing in the Cedar in warm weather was his usual custom. He was a medium sized man and stood very straight and erect, having black hair a little tinged with grey, large blue eyes, a high, round forehead, and in appearance resembled Edgar A. Poe, and was equally as brilliant a poet as Poe, having enough ma.n.u.script to make a book of poems. He was truly a Christian man in many acts of kindness, and verified his profession of faith in a true Christian religion."

Robert Ellis, Linn county's oldest living settler, was born in Westmoreland, county, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1817, emigrated to Ohio in 1837, later to Michigan, and started on foot to Iowa Territory in the winter of 1838. He remained for a few weeks in Cedar county and started again on foot looking for a claim in the timber near some river. Coming to the present site of Cedar Rapids the first man he found was a man by the name of Hull, who held down a claim where the T.

M. Sinclair Company packing house is now located; coming further up along the river he found the tavern of Osgood Shepherd. Mr. Ellis liked the place and staked out his claim on his present location near what is known as Ellis Park. He was at work there cutting wood one day when Shepherd came along with another man, and insisted that this claim belonged to him. Ellis was not easily frightened, and as Shepherd was going to attack him, Ellis raised his ax and threatened to chop his head in two if he took another step. This threatening att.i.tude on the part of Ellis frightened Shepherd and he and his companion retreated, Ellis never being disturbed afterwards. Shepherd never referred to the matter. The next summer when Shepherd's father died Ellis and Lichtebarger made the coffin and a.s.sisted at the burial, when Shepherd seemed to be very much touched by the kindness of these two men and thanked them profusely.

Ellis became a friend of the Lichtebarger boys and also of O. S.

Bolling. Bolling and Ellis a.s.sisted Tom Lewis, the old pioneer, to get his wagon and cattle across the river when he came west to locate, on what became later known as "Lewis Bottoms." Ellis worked for awhile at the Winnebago Mission at Ft. Atkinson, Iowa, where he met a number of military men who later became known in the Mexican war, as well as in the Civil war.

As he was frequently in company with men who took newspapers and who had travelled about the country, he heard of the gold excitement in California and at once crossed the country to Marion wanting to go west. At Marion he met Dan Mentzer, a man by the name of Harvey, and another person by the name of Green. They purchased an outfit and started for California in April, 1849, arriving at the diggings in that state the same summer after many hard experiences. He remained for several years digging gold as a placer miner and keeping a grocery store, and for a time he ran a stage between Georgetown and Coloma, earning express, pa.s.sengers, and the mail. Here he met and a.s.sociated with Sutter, the old German who discovered the first gold diggings, as well as his partner, saw Fair, Huntington, Mackey, and the boisterous Stewart, some of them "running saloons today and owning mines tomorrow." After remaining in California for seven years he returned home by way of the Nicaragua route and there met and talked with General Walker, the famous filibusterer.

Philip Hull, according to Robert Ellis, had arrived in what became Cedar Rapids just a very few weeks before he came. He says: "Hull was of my age and I took a liking to him. He weighed about 170 pounds, was about five feet eight inches tall, had dark hair and was stoop shouldered. He was a native of Ohio, and returned to Illinois or Ohio in 1840 to get married, as he was very lonesome out here on the prairies of Iowa. Hull never returned to Cedar Rapids. Mr. Hull and I walked to William Abbe's and bought four yoke of oxen, a wagon, and a breaking plow. We had but little money so we agreed that in payment for this property we should break 75 acres of land and cut and split 10,000 rails, which we did. It took two men to break, one to handle the cattle and one to hold the plow. It was no easy job on a hot day when the oxen would pull for a pond with all their might if not closely watched, and many were the times they would give us the slip and would lie down in the pond and we could do nothing but wait till the air cooled and night came on. Neither one of us made anything, and I saw nothing of Mr. Hull till I met him at Sacramento, California, where he had preceded me by several months. We often talked over our lives in Linn county, neither one at the time even believing that Cedar Rapids had any future. Hull was an agreeable companion, a splendid fellow and square in all his dealings. He preferred frontier life and would be content in no other locality except on the frontier."

Ellis says further of Wm. Abbe:

"Abbe and I were in partnership in dealing with the government. Abbe made the deals with the government and I made most of the purchases from the settlers. At one time Abbe and I had just completed a contract with the government for provisions, and then Indian Agent Harvey in St. Louis insisted that we must also furnish 100 cattle within six days at Ft. Atkinson. This was rather a difficult task but Abbe said we had to do it and we rode away in a hurry back home to buy up cattle and drive them back to be there in time. We worked day and night and had the cattle at Ft.

Atkinson on time. As Abbe had to go to Prairie du Chien I was ordered to return home with $1,000.00 in gold which had been paid for the cattle. I did not like to go alone over the open prairie with the money but there was no way out of it and so I started bright and early. That night I reached Quasqueton and stayed over night at a small tavern where there were all kinds of people hanging about. The next day I set out again and got down in the neighborhood of Center Point and there spied a deer. I got off my horse and loaded my gun, aimed, and fired. The horse shied and off it started on a dead run with the gold in the saddle bags. I next wanted to shoot the horse for it was worth much less than the money, but before I could reload the horse was out of range. I ran as fast as I could and in an hour found the horse tied to a tree in the timber with the gold safe in the saddle bags."

Asked how about the deer, Mr. Ellis replied, "Well, I never took time to see whether I killed that deer or not. I was so excited about that gold and that horse that I forgot the deer at that time and never turned around to look."

Since his return home Mr. Ellis has lived quietly on his claim, which now for the most part has been platted into city lots. Mr. Ellis is the only person now living who can remember when he saw one cabin here become a city of 34,000 inhabitants.

John J. Daniels, the son of Jeremiah Daniels, came to Bertram township in the spring of 1844, his father entering land on what is known as Indian creek, erecting a log house and barn thereon. J. J. Daniels was one of the first school teachers in the county. He held many township offices, and was for a time county recorder. Jerry Daniels died in 1882, and John J. Daniels a short time ago.

James Ba.s.sitt and wife came to Linn county in March, 1839, and Mrs.

Ba.s.sitt is supposed to have been the first white woman to cross Indian creek, a stream which empties into the Cedar river below Cedar Rapids.

A short time afterwards Rufus H. and Sarah Ann Lucore came from Pennsylvania and stopped with the Ba.s.sitts. On the first day of April, 1839, arrived Joseph H. and John Lichtebarger, locating on what became Kingston or West Cedar Rapids; later a brother, Isaac, also arrived.

These brothers erected one of the first cabins, in May of that year, on the west side of the river. It is still standing.

At what became Central City arrived in August, 1839, Joseph Clark and family; this place was for a long time known as Clark's Ford. Here Mr.

Clark erected a primitive grist mill by selecting a hollow gum and placing in the trunk of the tree a stone; upon this was placed another stone which was operated by a long sweep and turned on a pivot; in this rude manner enough meal was ground out to supply the family.

Joel and James Leverich arrived in this county some time in 1839, and chose for their home what became later known as "Mound Farm." Ira Leverich jumped a claim which had been staked out in April of this year by Rufus Lucore and after more or less trouble, in which the settlers took Lucore's part, Leverich had to yield and give up his pretended right. Joel was a noted character. He is described as a man of commanding presence. For a number of years he controlled the elections and it was told that "as Joel Leverich went so went Linn county." Dr.

S. D. Carpenter, who arrived in 1849, has the following to say about Joel Leverich: "I had hardly got settled until I was interviewed by old Joel Leverich, the noted character of Linn county of that day. He was known as the 'bogus c.o.o.n' because, as was alleged, he had to do with counterfeiters. He was a power in politics and was the kind of a man from which the modern boss has evoluted. Joel looked me over, asked where I was from, where I was going, and what my business was, etc. I was somewhat indignant and tried to be sarcastic, but Joel in terminating his interview with me squelched me by remarking, 'Young man, a fellow who wears such a hat as you may pa.s.s in this country, but I consider it d--d doubtful.' I, unfortunately, wore a black plug hat which was not the style in Iowa at that time. In after years Joe and I became fast friends and I became quite convinced that the shady stories told of him were the talk of enemies who were jealous of him because he was smarter than the greater majority of them. I was with him when he died and although he was a free thinker he pa.s.sed away with all the calmness of a stoic philosopher." When on his death bed some one said to Leverich, "Joe, you have burned the candle at both ends." "Yes," he replied, "and now it burns me in the middle."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PICNIC AT HOME OF GEO. L. DURNO, SPRINGVILLE, 1884]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ILLINOIS CENTRAL DEPOT, CENTRAL CITY]

George R. Carroll in his _Pioneer History_, speaking of Leverich, says: "The Mound Farm did not remain long in the possession of Broady, possibly a year and a half, when it came into possession of the notorious Joel Leverich; everybody knew him and everybody dreaded him, especially when he was under the influence of liquor, which was often the case. Even his best friends then felt it to be prudent to give him a wide berth, not knowing what instant he would take it into his head to knock them down. Whiskey seemed to make a demon of him, and to attempt to reason with him while under its influence would have been as futile as to try to reason with a cyclone. His poor wife, a most patient and estimable Christian woman, would sometimes hide away from him for days lest in his fits of uncontrol and uncontrollable pa.s.sion he might take her life. And yet old Joe, as he was popularly called, had a good deal of influence in the community. He was a strong partisan politician, and whoever arrayed himself against him was sure to have a hard battle to fight and in the end would very likely meet with defeat.

He was as keen and cunning and wily as the old serpent himself, and it was very hard to circ.u.mvent him in his plans. He was accused of harboring horse thieves and of making counterfeit money; as to whether he ever did either or not I could not say."

While T. S. Parvin was United States attorney at Muscatine Joel Leverich was tried for counterfeiting, and while Parvin had said some hard things about Joel's mode of making a living he had also said some very nice things about Joel's wife. Later Leverich called on Parvin at the hotel, insisting upon speaking with him. Parvin's friends warned him not to do so as Joe would likely kill him, but Mr. Parvin thought he would take his chance and Joe did see him. Leverich said, "Ain't you afraid of me?" "No," replied Parvin, "you can kill me if you want to but you cannot scare me." "Well," replied Joe, "I admire your grit; I came not to scare you or to hurt you but to tell you that you did tell the truth about my wife." Some time after that Parvin pa.s.sed where Leverich lived and accepted of Mr. Leverich's hospitality.

Joel Leverich's brother, James, was a saloonkeeper in Cedar Rapids and when he ascertained that Joel's death was due to his dissipation, causing a serious stomach trouble, he quit the business. Joel Leverich sold his claim in 1843 to Judge Greene. He resided near the McCloud Run for a short time and then moved to town, dying in the '40s.

One of the most unique characters in Cedar Rapids, and a person we know the least about, was Osgood Shepherd, who was a hunter and trapper and who is said to have erected the first log cabin on the banks of the Cedar river where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands, unless Wilbert Stone's claim is correct that he was first. When Robert Ellis came to the Shepherd tavern in April or May, 1838, Shepherd had lived here for some time. He had a wife and his father was living with him at that time, and he also had a number of men who hung about his place, but what their business was no one knew. The log house was about 1620, covered with clapboards which were held in place by logs on top with ends protruding at the gables. There were also in the family three children, who made things lively about the house. This small cabin was known as Shepherd's Tavern. From Mr. Ellis's description of Shepherd, he was more than six feet tall, of a sandy or reddish complexion, was good natured as a rule and was an accommodating and agreeable landlord.

He was accused of being a horse thief, but Mr. Ellis does not know that he ever engaged in this kind of business. However, this is true, that his morals were not of the highest order and it is believed that he harbored horse thieves who, in fact, were his special favorites. On the various islands in the river they secreted their stolen goods. It was also stated that in Wisconsin he was convicted of horse stealing and sent to the penitentiary, but how true this is no one knows. His father and one or two children died here and were buried on top of the hill where the Cedar Rapids Candy Company's large building has since been erected. Mr. Ellis says that Shepherd told him he was from New York state and for some time had been a sailor on the lakes before coming west. He held all the land as a squatter, and when N. B. Brown, Addison Daniels, H. G. Angle, and others came they had to buy Shepherd off in order to get t.i.tle to this property. The patent to this land was dated December 1, 1845, although quit claim deeds and prior rights were dated in 1843, Addison Daniels and Nicholas B. Brown being the patentees. The patents included grants in the amount of two hundred and sixty-nine acres, and showed that they had paid the amount due at the land office at Marion according to the provisions of Act of Congress of April 24, 1820.

Osgood Shepherd had a friend named Bill Fisher, who always stuck by him, and of whom Shepherd's father used to say, "that when he moved something was going to happen, but it was not very often that he moved." He was a slow-going, lazy sort of an individual, and what Shepherd saw in Fisher, Ellis never knew. Nothing is known of Fisher and what became of him. In the fall of 1841 Shepherd removed to Wisconsin and was later killed in a railway accident. His widow married a person by the name of Carpenter and removed to Linn county, residing near Center Point. What became of the Shepherd family no one has been able to learn.

Osgood Shepherd and the pioneer settlers with whom he a.s.sociated were perhaps no worse or no better than the average frontiersmen. They had been trained in hardship and sordid poverty, and the women bore the stamp of the early pioneers, devoted to their families, shirking no hardships, ever willing to move westward on account of the freedom gained and the opportunities offered.