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Subject: Ia-Polk Co. History (Soldiers and Fir)
Date: 9 Apr 2006 05:31:15 -0000
Polk County IA Archives History - Books .....Soldiers And First Settlers 1898
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Book Title: Annals Of Polk County, Iowa And City Of Des Moines
CHAPTER VII.
SOLDIERS AND FIRST SETTLERS.
THE first settlers of Polk county came from many states and countries. It is
noticeable that emigration has generally followed a line from east to west.
Hence we find the New Englander and the York state men generally locating as
near as possible on a line more or less due west from the place of their
nativity. For instance, northern Iowa was first settled by people who originally
sprung from the New England or states adjoining thereto, while southern Iowa
drew upon Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc., for a large
majority of its first inhabitants. Polk county being near the center of the new
territory, drew from all these sources, though a majority came from the states
last named. The fact, too, that Missouri, bordering on the south of Iowa, was a
"slave state," while the latter was a "free territory," had not a little to do
with turning the tide of emigration towards Iowa, Many who were southern born
and disliked slavery, mostly because they regarded the system as repressive and
injurious to the whites themselves, and in seeking a new home in the west they
came to Iowa because they knew slavery did not and never could exist. Hence
among the early settlers were to be found many natives of the more northern
slave states, and a few even from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
etc. They regarded the new free soil of Iowa as offering more advantageous
openings for themselves and their children than could be found in their old
homes. And further, the question of slavery in Iowa was settled at a very early
day, and it was known from the beginning this institution would never be
recognized on Iowa soil, and this, too, without the turmoil, trouble and even
bloodshed, which marked the early settlement of Kansas and other territories. In
fact, there never was but little, if any, trouble in regard to slavery in Iowa.
It was free soil from the he-ginning, notwithstanding it had once formed a part
of a province in which negro slavery was established and legally recognized.
The Irishman was to be found almost as a matter of course among the soldiers
of the garrison and with the earliest of the settlers, and the steady German was
not far behind in moving in to enjoy the opening up of this new and fertile
country. The Scandinavians, Swedes and Norwegians, were here also at an early
day, large numbers of them settling in the '50s in the north part of Polk and in
the adjoining counties of Story and Boone, where they formed large and
prosperous settlements, although it was some years later before they began
coming in such numbers to and living in the city of Des Moines. The Irish
farmers at first mostly settled south and west of the city in Polk and the
northern portion of Warren and Madison counties, and the "Irish Settlement," as
it was termed, became well and favorably known at an early day in the history of
this portion of Iowa. The sturdy, persevering Scots also came and made several
settlements formed almost exclusively of people of their own race, and soon
became among the most substantial and successful citizens of the country. Quite
a number of natives of England also found their way to this favored country, and
as farmers and as residents of the city fully held their own with all the others
And all these different people of various nationalties, have for years dwelt
together in the city and county in peace and harmony, their only rivalry being
to see which could do the most for the advancement of their individual interests
and the good of the community generally. This mingling of different people has
also had a broadening and liberalizing effect upon the entire community, in time
amalgamating all into a harmonious whole.
At the first there were very few of the colored race to be found in central
Iowa. They were almost unknown among the early settlers, though a few drifted
into the town between 1850 and 1860. During the Civil war they commenced coming
in and in the few years thereafter scores of them found homes here, mostly in
Des Moines. Their numbers, as the census of this year shows, have rapidly
increased. Their children are admitted to the public schools with the whites,
but they generally attend churches controlled by and ministered to by those of
their own race. They generally prefer the town to the country, though a limited
number of them have become successful farmers. Many of them own their own homes
and the large majority are industrious working men and women, who have proven
their right to freedom by the rapid advancement in many ways they have made
since this boon was conferred upon them throughout the entire country.
The Indians, the original possessors of the land, have long since
disappeared, and are seen no more save when a few Musquakiesmen, women and
childrenmay be rarely seen upon our streets or haunting the streams and woods
of the country. When they do appear they are looked upon with curiosity by the
young and later citizens who never saw the Indian in his natural state, before
he was driven away from his former home by the rapid advancement and sweeping
progress of the white man. A better race, perhaps, has taken their place and
civilization has been the gainerthe land has been cultivated and improved, and
the beneficent gifts of a kind Providence have been utilized, the wilderness has
been made to blossom and yet from the thoughtful man who contemplates these
great and almost wonderful changes wrought in so few-years, some sympathy must
go out to the poor red man who once had all this beautiful landand lost it.
As stated in the official history the United States troops and stores were
brought here by the little steamer lone, which made a landing at the Raccoon
Forks on the ninth day of May, 1843. Captain Allen, who was the commandant of
the new post, soon landed his soldiers, their arms, baggage and stores, and the
erection of the new fort buildings was soon commenced and carried to completion
as soon as possible. The barracks were built of rough logs, and were one-story
high, with good chimneys and puncheon floors. They soon became comfortable
quarters for the troops. These buildings, including stables, numbered
twenty-four. After starting the work Captain Allen returned to old Fort Sanford,
four miles south of Agency City, for the purpose of afterwards bringing the
remainder of the troops and stores to the new fort. The military force then
consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five officers and men. A portion were
infantry and the remainder cavalry, or dragoons as they were then termed. The
headquarters, or quarters of Captain Allen were near where Market Square is now
located. With the soldiers were a number of artisans and hangers-on who had been
permitted to accompany the soldiers to their new post. What had previously been
a wild solitude, occasionally occupied by Indians, now became the bustling haunt
of white soldiers, of traders and pioneers.
Soon after the arrival of the troops a trading post was established on the
east side of the river. In fact, according to the memorandum of Benjamin Bryant,
the traders were a few days in advance of the steamer lone and the soldiers.
This says: "May 3, 1843, the Ewings landed a keelboat at the water's edge on the
east side of the Des Moines River, laden with goods, corn, some provisions, and
tools with which to build a trading house." The Ewings also built a log cabin to
be used as a dwelling, the first in the future city. These Indian traders,
George W. and Washington G. Ewing, were from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They had first
traded with the Miamis on the Wabash, and afterwards extended their operations
to numerous other Indian tribes throughout a vast stretch of country, and had
previously dealt with the Sacs and Foxes. They had the exclusive right to this
trade at this point, though it also appears that by an arrangement between the
parties Phelps & Co., of Fulton, Ill., a branch of the American Fur company had
the right of dealing with the Indians for furs, etc. This firm built their
trading house farther down the river, near the present site of the packing houses.
The agency buildings were also placed on the east side situated near the
elegant residence subsequently built by the late Wesley Redhead. These agency
buildings remained standing for a number of years. The wife of the son of the
writer was born in this old agency building. While the Indians remained, here
lived Major Beach, the Indian agent, and with him was generally to be found
Joseph Smart, the interpreter. Major Beach was a graduate of West Point, had
served in the United States army, and several years before had resigned his
commission. He married the daughter of Gen. Street, the noted Indian
commissioner and agent, and upon his death was appointed government agent for
the Sacs and Foxes, lie was an honorable, upright man, faithful to his trust,
and highly respected alike by Indians and whites. Smart, the interpreter, was a
valuable assistant to him, and made his services indispensable to both whites
and Indians, he being popular with Indians, soldiers and civilians.
The first merchant of Des Moines was Robert A. Kinzie, who held the position
of sutler to the post. He had his store room near where the Prouty wholesale
grocery now is, east of the Rock Island depot. He was not allowed to trade with
the Indians, and confined his sales to the soldiers and the few others then in
and around the post. No white man was allowed in the limits of this territory
until after the expiration of the Indian title, except by special permission of
the Indian agent or the military authorities. Among the few who obtained these
special permits and afterwards made claims were: John B. Scott, Wilson Alexander
Scott, traders and farmers; James Drake, blacksmith and gunsmith; John
Sturtevant, Alexander Turner and William Lamb, were permitted to open claims and
raise corn for the agency troops. Joseph M. Thrift was the tailor, and did the
making and patching of the clothes of soldiers and civilians, while Charles
Worthington and a man named Baker looked after the shoeing of the horses. These
were the first mechanics of the future great city. Dr. Griffin, surgeon of the
post, attended to the health of soldiers and citizens, and was soon assisted and
followed by Dr. Thomas K. Brooks, who was for years a prominent, popular and
useful citizen of the city and county. Peter Newcomer, in February, 1844,
obtained permission of Captain Allen to make a claim on agency prairie east of
the capitol, if he would build a bridge over Four Mile Creek on the road leading
to the southeast. The bridge was built and Peter made his valuable claim and
held it for many years.
Thomas Mitchell, so prominent in the history of the county and so universally
esteemed by all, came into the county in April, 1844, and was given permission
to make a claim on Camp Creek, in the eastern portion of the county, if he would
build a bridge over that stream. This was on the road both to Iowa City and
Keokuk, and over the latter were hauled most of the supplies for the garrison
and settlers. Mr. Mitchell built the bridge, and as the travel increased when
the lands were opened to white settlers he opened a hotel at his place, Apple
Grove. He was virtually forced into this, as travelers would stop with him,
tavern or no tavern, and he was too hospitable and kind-hearted to turn them
away. For fifteen or twenty years the fame of Tom Mitchell's hostelry was abroad
in the land. There the weary traveler or emigrant was certain of clean,
wholesome food, good beds and a hospitable welcome. The main traveled roads from
Iowa City and Oskaloosa came together a short distance east of Mitchell's and
all coming from the east had to pass his house, and soon few there were who did
not stop with him for a time. Hungry and discontented travelers, by coach,
private conveyance or on foot, would grumble at the accommodations at other
places and then brighten up with the cheerful thought or remark: "Wait until we
get to Tom Mitchell's, and then we will be all right."
The only blacksmith shop, operated by Worthington and Baker, was within the
limits of the Fort on the west side of the river, and their principal work was
shoeing the horses of the dragoons. The coal they used is said to have been
procured from the banks along the river, and some of it from the exposed vein at
Rattlesnake Bend. The first coal shaft and stone quarry is said to have been
opened in 1843 by Captain Allen and A. N. Hays. The stone was not of the best
quality, and the coal being taken from the first vein was not of the superior
quality of that mined later and taken from the lower veins. Then there was not
much demand for coal as the abundant timber along the rivers and streams near by
made wood convenient and cheap for use as fuel. In fact it was not until years
after that coal became so much of an object and the mining of it was carried on
with skill and success. See chapter on coal.
From the data we have gleaned we find Des Moines in the first year of her
growth to sum up a town as follows: The garrison, consisting of from one hundred
to one hundred and twenty officers and enlisted men; Kinzie, the sutler;
Worthington and Baker, blacksmiths; Dr. Griffin, the surgeon; Joseph M. Thrift,
the tailor; the Scott, Lamb and Turner families; Indian Agent Beach and
Interpreter Joseph Smart; the Ewings trading store; Sturtevant & Drake,
gunsmiths; Phelps & Co., fur dealers; Benjamin Bryant, and a few other attaches
of the traders and the post. These were all the white people within a radius of
one mile of Raccoon Forks, now included within the city of Des Moines, which
according to the census of 1895, contains a population of 56,359, and will
approximate over 100,000 at the close of the century, now only five years
distant. All these changes have been made in a period of fifty-two years.
The navigation of the Des Moines River was precarious, to say the least, and
steamboats could make the trip only during the high water of the spring and
early summer, and at that time there were no great inducements for boats to
often make this dangerous and tedious trip. One boat could in one trip carry
goods and provisions enough to supply for many months the wants of the few and
scattered settlers then living one hundred or more miles above the mouth of the
river. At that time the natural tendency of trade was toward the Mississippi
River and on to St. Louis. Chicago was then and for years afterward,
comparatively unknown. Hence the first roads opened were in a southeasterly
direction to reach the mills toward the mouth of the river for flour and corn
meal and to obtain supplies of dry goods, groceries, etc., from St. Louis by way
of Keokuk and Burlington. Thus we find Captain Allen, in the first year of his
occupancy of the post of Fort Des Moines, planning and laying out a military
road from his post to Tool's Point, now Monroe, in Jasper county. There a
connection could be made with a road leading on to Oskaloosa, Eddyville,
Ottumwa, the old Agency, and then on either to Burlington or Keokuk. It should
be remembered that in 1843 Eddyville was the first town on the river below the
Fort, and between these two small villages there were no settlements; nothing
but an uninhabited country of prairie and timber. Eddyville was settled in June,
1843, and that year had less than a dozen families. Ottumwa was settled about
the same time and shortly after had many more inhabitants, not counting the
soldiers, than had Des Moines.
To open this road, so important to these early settlers, Captain Allen,
commandant of the Fort and Major Beach, the Indian agent, gave permission, as
previously stated, to Peter Newcomer, to make a claim if he would build a bridge
over Four Mile Creek, and the privilege was given Thomas Mitchell for a bridge
over Camp Creek, and other inducements were held out to others to improve or
make passable this much-needed road, over which the most of their necessary
supplies must be transported. And it was not expected to make of it one of the
improved highways of the present day; if it could only be made passable by
bridging some of the worst streams, this would be sufficient. The travelers
along the road must do the rest. Until the erection of a grist mill on Middle
River by Captain Allen and John D. Parmelee, the settlers were compelled to go
from fifty to more than one hundred miles below for the flour and meal they
used. They were compelled to take their "grist" as far as Bentonsport,
Fairfield, and a few other distant mills, and later on to Oskaloosa and other
mills later built farther up the river. They were compelled to haul their grain
these long distances over rough and unimproved and often unbridged roads, more
trails than highways, in all kinds of weather, and then perhaps be compelled to
wait days at the mill before their "grist was ground," or they could exchange
their grain for flour and meal. And not unfrequently, when flour and meal were
gone, they and their families were compelled for days and weeks to use as a
substitute for flour and meal, cracked wheat and corn and hominy. And yet with
all these hardships and privations they managed to extract no little enjoyment
out of this frontier life, and certainly were, if we are to believe the
testimony of many of them, as healthy, happy and content as at any other period
of their lives. Their sons and daughters of to-day, surrounded as they are with
all the appliances and luxuries of civilization, may wonder at these statements
of the early settlers, and yet their truth is beyond dispute.
The object in keeping the United States troops here was primarily to keep the
peace between the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes, who were, and had been for many
years, sworn foes to each other, and had often met in deadly conflict. The Sioux
then overrun northwestern Iowa, but seldom came as low down as the Raccoon
Forks. They, however, controlled all the country around the headwaters of the
Des Moines River and the two upper forks thereof. As stated previously, there
was a strip forty miles wide passing from the east in a southwesterly direction
between Fort Des Moines and Fort Dodge, which was designated as "Neutral
Ground," and was intended to keep the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes, Iowas, etc.,
as far apart as possible, and prevent collisions between these inveterate foes.
Several alarms were given that the Sioux were making, or about to make, a raid
upon the Indians around the Fort, but these generally turned out to have no
foundation in fact. They caused the dragoons, however to make a number of scouts
and hard inarches through the country to the north and west of the Fort.
The troops also had the more difficult task of keeping white intruders off
the Indian reservation until the three year limit fixed by the treaty had
expired. The pioneers of that day had heard of the beaut}' and fertility of the
country in and around the Raccoon Forks, of the rich land awaiting the emigrant
in the "Three River Country," and of the future beautiful homes to be secured in
a short time in the " 'Coon" and Des Moines valleys above the Fort. These
impatient, but honest, anxious settlers could be kept back without much
difficulty, but there was a class of men, generally found in all opening or
recently settled countries, who caused the soldiers and the few honest settlers
much more trouble. They were to be found hanging around the edges of the
reservation and making frequent dashes therein for the purpose of robbing both
Indians and whites. There were a number of these rascals hovering around in
those early days.
One of the chief rascals of that early day, and he remained about here for
several years, was one Jonas Carsner, who in some ten years made a long record
as a criminal in Polk and other counties of central Iowa. Turrell says of him in
his first history of Des Moines:
"Some renegade white men had penetrated into the reserve, sold whisky to the
Indians, and after gaining their friendship abused it by stealing their horses.
Incidents of this kind caused Captain Allen to send out detachments of dragoons
to capture the thieves and restore the stolen horses to their legal owners. This
was a difficult task, the illimitable wilderness around affording an ample
retreat for the miscreants. But finally one of them was captured and brought
into the Fort. This was Jonas Carsner, since notorious in the criminal records
of this and other counties for felonies of every description. He was tried by
the officers of the Fort, and, although there was no doubt of his guilt, no
direct proof of it could be obtained. Captain Allen, therefore, thought it best
not to sentence him under the law, but knowing he was deserving of some
punishment, turned him over to the Indians (some say white men disguised as
Indians). They took him out, tied him to a tree, and gave him a most unmerciful
whipping. This certainly should have had a beneficial effect, but subsequent
events proved otherwise. One of the horses stolen by Carsner had been found. The
same night Carsner was rewarded with the cat-o'-ninetails two horses were stolen
from a man by the name of Fish, who was bringing supplies to the Fort and had
encamped for the night a few miles from the settlement. The Indians kindly lent
Fish the horse they had just reclaimed and he started in search of his own. But
while following their trail through a lonesome strip of timber suddenly Jonas
Carsner appeared, and coming abruptly up, he dextrously cut the saddle girth
with a huge knife, hurled Fish to the ground, and bore away at full speed the
twice-captured horse. The discomfitted man now felt 'like a Fish out of water.'"
No course was left him but to trudge doggedly back to his Indian friends
whose curses, when they fully comprehended Carsner's coup de et etat, may be
imagined, but not recorded.
Among the first white men, if not the very first, to visit Des Moines and
become a resident and afterwards a settler near by, was John D. Parmelee. He was
a native of Vermont and had lived north and south, and finally came to Iowa in
1840 as the agent of a fur company. His first location was in what is now
Wapello county, near Ottumwa. In a letter written by him in 1841 he says:
"It is one of the most pleasant countries that can be found in the world; and
I think very healthy. The Des Moines River is one of the most beautiful streams
that ever flowed. It is about as wide as the Connecticut River, but shallow,
with high banks, with gravel or rock bottom and as clear as the streams that
tumble from the mountains of Vermont. The country is well divided into timber
and prairie for the convenience of the farmer."
On March 27,1843, he again writes, dating from the Des Moines River:
"The Indians have sold their whole country, but retain one-half of it for
three years more. This will cause us to move our trading post one hundred miles
up the river, by the first of May, and there remain for three years. You can see
where I have located our new trading post by looking at your map of the United
States. We shall be on the north side of the Des Moines River, directly opposite
to the mouth of the Raccoon River, which is a little more than one hundred miles
above where we now are. The winter has been remarkably cold, with an immense
fall of snow, from one and one half to two feet deep. Since the twelfth of this
month (March) I have been to Raccoon River, and have taken men and provisions
for building our post on the ice. It is still cold winter weather, very good
sleighing, and ice from twelve to eighteen inches thick on the river. It is
equal to old Vermont. Its parallel was never known in this country."
In the same letter Mr. Parmelee states he was married about a month before.
Thus it will be seen John D. Parmelee was in Fort Des Moines some months before
the arrival of the troops. He came again in May, about the time the troops first
came, owing to the non-payment of some five hundred dollarsa small fortune in
those daysdue him from his employers, he quit their service in June, 1848, and
took the place of Moses Barlow, as a partner of Captain James Allen in operating
the first saw mill in this section of the country. This mill was located on
Middle River, not far from the present town of Carlisle. The first object of the
mill was to furnish lumber for use at the buildings at the fort. The erection
and progress of this enterprise is given in a letter written by Parmelee some
time after to his friends in Vermont. In this he says:
"The work at that time was just commenced. I took charge of the work,
completed the saw mill that winter and furnished lumber to build Fort Des
Moines, and have since that time added to the building sufficiently for a grist
mill with four runs of burs, one of which we have in operationall of the best
qualityand shall put in more as the country settles and requires it. Our frame
is 45x35 and three stories highas fine a building as any of that size you can
see in Vermont. . . . Captain Allen was an officer in the First regiment, United
States dragoons, and was promoted last spring, at the commencement of the
Mexican war, to be lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, and ordered to California,
but was taken sick just at the time he was to start, and died at Fort
Leavenworth. It has been very expensive work, and it was done at a time when
this was an Indian country, and, of course, hands and provisions were hard to
get. But it is in the flower of Iowa, and the garden of the world. I have a farm
adjoining, with eighty acres in cultivation, and about one hundred and forty
under fence, but this I will have to pay Uncle Sam for when it comes into
market, at $1.25 per acre, though my claim includes three hundred and twenty
acres, half timber and the rest river bottom, all lying on the banks of the Des
Moines River, one of the prettiest rivers that flows, and only ten miles below
Fort Des Moines, the probable place of our future seat of government, it being
within eighteen miles of the centre. The commissioners are at tin's time in the
county for the purpose of locating."
The location of the mill was in Polk county at first, and remained therein
for several years, but that strip, or tier of townships, was afterwards, by
legislative enactment taken from Polk and given to Warren county. This first saw
and grist mill was a great boon to the early settlers not only of Des Moines,
but to those also settling within a large area of territory around the Raccoon
Forks. They were no longer compelled to travel many weary miles south and east
to procure necessary breadstuff's. They could now be supplied nearer their
homes. John D. Parmelee was indeed a benefactor to the early settlers of this
entire section of Iowa, and his memory was and will be cherished by them as long
as life exists. Parmelee's mill was a very important factor in the early
settlement of Polk, Warren, Madison and adjacent counties.
William Mason, for many years a citizen of Warren county, came to Fort Des
Moines in 1843, and assisted in cutting the shingles for the Government
building, and afterwards worked in the building of the Parmelee mills, After
going- back to New Jersey he returned in 1845 and took the claim, which he
subsequently entered and lived upon so many years.
Mention might also here be made of a name, so familiar to nearly every one of
the early settlers, that of Benjamin Bryant. He came here in May as a trusted
employe of the trading company, and after their occupation was gone with the
Indians, Mr. Bryant remained a citizen of Des Moines, to which lie was always
most ardently attached. He held a number of county and town offices, and always
faithfully discharged every public and private duty. He was one of the first
county treasurers, deputy sheriff, constable, and for a number of years was
justice of the peace for Des Moines township. He was a man of excellent judgment
and strict honesty, liberal and generous hearted. He had also the distinction of
having sustained a leading part in the first legal performance of the marriage
ceremony within the limits of Polk county. The records show that the first
marriage license issued in the county was in June, 1816, when Benjamin Bryant
was married to Elvira Birge, in Franklin township. Addison Michael, a justice of
the peace of Des Moines township, officiating as the marrying magistrate. Mrs.
Bryant died a few years thereafter, and Mr. Bryant, some years later again
married. Benjamin Bryant, died in 1866; and was sincerely mourned by the many
friends with whom he had been associated so closely in the early and later days
of the city and county.
Isaac Cooper, who made a claim among the early ones on Four Mile Creek, and
was for years a prominent citizen of the city and county, writes thus of the
early settlers from his present home in Oleta, Amador County, California, under
date of June 30,1895:
"I received your letter some time since, but as you asked no particular
points, I hardly know .what to write you. When your history is published I want
a copy, of course. Casady and others can give later names than those I give.
Should there be any point you wish to know about that I am conversant with,
write me.
"I shall give you names I know who settled in Polk county prior and up to the
spring of 1846. I think the earliest and continuous settler of the county will
be found in Anna Mills, born Newcomer, who was only a babe in arms when brother
William and I arrived there late in July or early August. Anna Mills has a
sister, Cassy, older than she, but I think she is with her mother in Louisiana.
Newcomer moved his family to the county in 1844. He came himself in 1843 and
worked as a carpenter at the Fort, his family living in a cabin on the Lamb
place. The Lamb and Scott families came up from Fairfield early in 1843, as corn
contractors for the troops, and settled on their several places. They found an
army sergeant and three soldiers in possession of the 'Raccoon Forks.' Newcomer
got permission to make his claim by building a bridge over Four Mile Creek just
below where the Rock Island railroad crosses.
"William Lamb raised a crop of wheat, the first in Polk county, in 1845, and
my brother William and I sowed twelve acres to wheat on the Lamb place the same
year, about September 1. Dr. T. Brooks came late in 1845, settled in the Indian
agent's house, and early in 1840 laid out the town of Brooklyn on the ground
occupied by Phelps as a trading' post, and where Tattle built his pork house. In
the same year Dr. Brooks was appointed postmaster and William Cooper deputy.
John Savior was living on Savior bottom and was beef contractor for the
garrison. A man named Post was mail contractor. William Hughes came early in
1S45; also, old man Myers and his son John, and I assisted in raising their
cabin. Mr. Harris and his son Nate were there in 1845. Newton Lamb and family
came late in the same year. Jerry Church was fiddling and locating ground for
the state capitol in 1845.
"Thomas Newell claimed South Des Moines. Eli Smithson, a roustabout at the
garrison, claimed the ground back of the dragoon stables, which would include
the low lands on the Raccoon about the old fair grounds. Benjamin Bryant was an
employe of Phelps, and was married in the early summer of 1840 to Miss Birge.
This was the first marriage in the county, she at that time was living with her
father on the Skunk River. William Cooper and Martha Lamb were guests, James
Lamb was the fiddler for the party, and the dancing was on a ground floor under
a brush roof. John Baird and William Warden worked for the Scotts and Thad
Wellman for Lamb in 1845. Jacob Fredericks and sons made claims in Four Mile
timber in 1845. Fred Elliott and Isaac and Riley Thornton claimed on upper Four
Mile timber in 1845. There were most probably others that I did not know and
some that I can't recall as I write from memory. Reese Wilkins can probably give
you more full information, as he has remained in the county.
"The Indian race course was from near where Syphr lived on Fourth street
(where the State Insurance building now stands), over the ground where the
Methodist church once stood (Iowa Loan and Trust building), as far as about
Seventh street. I attended the races there in 1845, and the Indians beat the
whites, who had brought race horses from the south part of the state of
Missouri. Among those who had race stock was old Billy Ware.
"Thomas Mitchell you know all about. I brought the first threshing machine to
Polk county and threshed in Jasper, Mahaska and Marion counties. Daniel Justice,
Peter Newcomer and myself brought the first reaper and mower in 1847. Mr.
Oglesvie and family came in the winter of 1845, and Thomas Henderson and family
in the fall of the same year.
"I can think of nothing further and have had to scratch to remember this.
Norris and Stutsman came in the spring of 1846. William Cooper sold Norris forty
feet of rope to dig a well with, and at the depth of forty feet he struck the
top of a pine or cedar tree and had to come for more rope.
"We are in good health, mine especially so, for a man half along in his 83d
year.
"Very truly yours,
"ISAAC COOPER."
ABOUT OLD SETTLERS.
The following letter was drawn out by that of Mr. Cooper, and was written
from Maloy, Iowa, under date of July 5, 1895, by John D. Carter, and is an
interesting contribution:
"I read Isaac Cooper's letter in Sunday's Register, and it brought the long
ago to my mind very vividly. Mr. Cooper says John Baird and William Warden
worked for the Scotts in 1845. I will tell you that A. Davis, John Gossage, Eli
Kirk and I worked for the Scotts in 1844. My father settled in Jefferson county
near Fairfield, in 1843, on Cedar Creek, near Henry and Thomas Mitchell, and
when Thomas Mitchell moved to Camp Creek, in Polk county, in April, 1844, I,
John Beard, Eli Kirk and Davis went to the Fort to work for the Scotts. Davis
had a wife and she worked for Mrs. John Scott. Davis made all the rails for the
Scott improvements in the winter of 1843-4, and I helped build the fence. The
rails were all made of white walnut timber or butternut.
"John Beard was hauling corn from Fairfield for the Scotts. The summer of
1844 was wet and Scott fell short on corn for the dragoons. I went home to
Fairfield, got my father's ox team, and brought seventy-five bushels of corn to
the Fort for the Scotts, and then broke up, I think, seventy-five acres of
prairie for the Scotts. I also broke up a garden patch for Smart, the Indian
interpreter for the Government. He lived out at the agency buildings by the spring.
"Mr. Cooper gives the location of the race track right at the Fort. We had
another one on the bottom towards where Lamb farmed, and Ave put in most of the
Sundays one place or the other; mostly in the bottom for the reason it was too
much trouble to swim our horses over the river to the Fort. John Scott outran
Ingram Baker, the agency blacksmith, on the track in the Fort that summer, and
also outran the fleetest Indians in the Sac tribe.
"The only families I know outside of the agency people were the Scotts,
Lambs, Thomas Mitchell and Joseph Thrift, a tailor by trade, who lived over
north and east of the capitol building. A Mr. Parmelee was building a mill over
on one of the three rivers.
"Now I want to say my only reason for writing this bungling letter is to let
you know that I helped to make one of the first farms in Polk county; that I
plowed up and fenced quite a field where East Des Moines now stands. I was 20
years old then. I went to California in 1849, dug up some money, and entered the
land I am now living upon.
"Yours truly,
"JOHN D. CARTER."
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
ANNALS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA,
AND
CITY OF DES MOINES
BY WILL PORTER.
"And this volume, dedicated to its people, sets forth in attractive style all
the facts and incidents that go to make up the history of which all citizens are
justly proud."
Major Hoyt Sherman.
GEO. A. MILLLER PRINTING COMPANY,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,
DES MOINES, IOWA,
1898.
File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ia/polk/history/1898/annalsof/soldiers8ms.txt
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