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Early History of City d Wapellosiuittlscettces of Pioa**r Lite *nd caused considerable trouble. We at ti*e Karl) Settlement of Louisa last called a meeting with a view of County, by Okmdiuh Garrison. 'disposing of this question, at wfiichI was born in 1809 in ■ Tompkins county, New York, where I remained until eighteen years of age, working on my father’s farm and brickyard.My fathe was a Huguenot and my mother was of English descent. After leaving' the farm in 1827, I spent three years with a company exploring Lake Michigan, and in 1S33 came from Buffalo to Chicago on a boat.meeting action was taken to prevent slavery, and after that anyone accused of the crime of misusing or mistreating colored people, /was notified to appear and show cause why such misdemeanor was committed. If guilty he was instructed to not .violate the law again, and after a third nolifiction, if he still persisted in disobeying the law, he was banishedThis was during the time -of the from the settlement.Blackhawk war and the boat was- At that time the mail was carriedloaded with ammunition, provisions, by stage and on horse back from Mus-etc. AVe were attacked by the Indians while ccming around Lakecatine to Burlington. Cavil Donaldson had the contract, and many wereMichigan, but a charge from our guns the trips I made over the route. Some-soon caused them to disappear.At that time there was only a few block houses in Chicago; one calledtimes we would carry it on horse back and sometimes we would use the hack. The stations' along thethe “fort” and two* or three others line included Yellow Springs, Tool-in which French- traders lived. After remaining there for a time, I again returned—to the lakes and remainedesboro, Grandview, Thoronlon Station and Muscatine. The ronton Station is at the foot of the bluffs be-_ — - ,until 1834, when I came to Chicago j tween Grandview and Muscatine, to the land sales, at which was gain- j.. The distance from Muscatine toered a great many people, and there being' no accommodations, they were ecmpelled to camp under wagons, in tents,' etc., and as it rained a. great portion of the time, and the land around Chicago being quite fiat and swampy; made it very disagreeable lor those attending the sale.In 1834 I was employed in thedraying business, the from Chicago to Detroit. I remained five years in Michigan # settling up that country, and from Detroit, in company with Abraham Bray and Clement Hathaway, drove to this country, coming the entire distance ina- sleigh.Burlington by way of the aforesaid stations was about 56 miles. This mail route continued until 1S42 or1843routebeingAVe crossed the. Mississippi jThis was before the territory ofWisconsin was organized. AVe had■no law at all. Iowa was organized out of the territory of AVisconsin into the territory of Iowa in 1S3S. In the latter part cf 1S3S Mr. Dodge was appointed to act as governor for the territory of Iowa, which extended about forty miles west of the Mississippi and as far ncrtir as Dubuque.In 183S the governor reported to Congress the laws at that time governing this ter-river on the 9th day of March, 1837, ritory. which Congress designated as at Tater Island and remained all a “Club law.” Th* law at this time night with Mr. Gates. The next! was vested absolutely in the govern-morning we drove up to Florence, atthat- time the most prominent settlement in-this part of the country. I buried my old companion, Bray, at Florence in the early part of August, 1837. Hathaway was taken sick and went away, and the last I heard ofhim he was in Chicago.At the time we arrived in this country (1837) there were very fewcr and until this territory was organized into a state in 1846.In 1838 the governor of Iowa called out all the troops of the country that were able to bear arms, and I was amcng* them, in order to settle a dispute between Iowa and Missouri in regard to the possession of a strip of land called the “Half Breed Tract,” situated in Lee county. jSappilyand Muscatine. Jn 1839, during theJune te:m of court, Uieru occurred a-- • .horse race on the street hi full view of the judge on the bench. The judge on beholding the race exclaimed* ‘Til bet cn the bay;** and immediately afterwards ordered the sheriff to bring in the parties engaged in racing. The sheriff did so, and when the parties were arraigned before him, on pleading guilty, were fined from $15 to §20 each. jIn ’37, ’38 and ”39 stock was ral-.uable as one would have to pay $100 for a yoke of cattle, and cows were worth from $45 to $50 per head, but in 1844 they became., very cheap and were worth only $1 per hundred • weight. ]The first sermon I ever heard preached in Louisa county, and I as- f suine the first that was ever preached j in the county, was delivered by Pet- j er Cartwright; a Methodist minister, j at Tool esboro in 1837. At this time jthere were no churches, and religious!.services were conducted in privatehouses. The first church erected in«the county was at AVapello.Jn 1S37 the Iowa river was navigable as far.north as Iowa City. A man by the name of Phelps had a trading post located at Iowa City, at which point he traded with the Indians. Phelps lived at Oquawka, and in ‘transmitting his goods from Oquawka to Iowa City, ;he used a boat 150 feet long and 30 feet wide. At one time the Iowa river was navigable as far north as Cedar Rapids but there has not been much traffic on the river since 1851. The first ferry across the Iowa river was constructed by Philip Harrison at Florence.The first postmasters in Louisa county were these/ Mr. Thoronton at Thoronton Station; Mr. Walling at Grandview; William Toole at Tooles-boro and John Delhi at Florence.There remains at the present time only tour of the old settlers of 1837, and they are B. Williams, Thomps Parsons, Silas Chrissman, and Obadi-ah Garrison; and the only woman that came here in 1837 is Mrs. Avery.Am(Bysettlers here. Among those.I now re-there was.no action taken, as Con-Four Generation Familycall were Philip Harrison, Jerry Smith, John DeihT, Da via Russell, Jim Wilson, Daniel P.riggs.' Mr. Skates, Silas Crissman, P-hil Pitt, Sam Pitt, John. Millard, AVilliam Creighton, Jim Gordon, Jeff, Frizzle. Garrett B% Garrison, Orin Briggs, Chrsitopher Shuck, William Tool, Mr, Hook, James Keever, Elias Kcev-er, Isaac Parsons, Jonathai Parsons and David Finney.The ^'.Educational, facilities of the couhtry^dtrtha't Time AVei*e not in the best; oonditioiL The first school teacher of Louisa County was Miss Dolly Finney, a daughter of David Finney. At this time the children cf the settlement numbered twelve or fifteen ,and Miss Finney felt that the children were being neglected as regards their education. She was only fifteen years of age, but very bright.She made the remark to the settlerscrress interfered and ordered Missouri to withdarw her troops, and concede the tract,in dispute to Iowa.The organization of our law wasbegun in 1837, and there were many obstacles to contend with and legislate against—especially the excessive use of intoxicating liquor. Fully nine-tenths of the people were addicted to its use. This became very obnoxious and the better /part of the community convened to consider some mode.;of' suppressing the' sainje: At the £meetihg called old Mr. Isaac Parsons ffamed the law which regulated the actions of the more intemperate ones—which law if disobeyed a third time, meant tarring and feathering to the offender.In-the fore part of February, 1S44,I came to Wapello from Florence, and Ives. I broke up 160 acres of prairie with a team of oxen. I also workedthat if she had a P^ce to gather the for the Isett brothers,; Edward and children together she felt it her Wilson Isett, in whose service I reduty to teach them. Accordingly the; mained for about eight years . settlers erected a little shanty, mah- In 1841 I threshed sixty bushels ofihg . the seats and floor out of pun-wheat by tramping it out with oxencheons and covering the roof with on the ground, and exchanged theMan the di must ihe.tro brow ; mightal ways from t to its day p* econoi prone grievafather: the ra the u; standa the rc days.”orv tc low tl agricuIn 1Louisa Christ i what the bf vaneeup tomacbiicult i vcslowplowCorn easier in hill regula hand,the stlt;wheneiJhark from the building used by Black Hawk as a council house. The windows consisted of two openings, three feet one way and eighteen inches the other, paper being pasted therein . tin lieu of glass. The di-isame for sixty pounds of coffee. There is a marked difference between the prices of that time as compared with the present ( A7*fbeat jah that time was worth’ 25 cents per bushel and coffee was Fne 'same price perznensions of the building were four- pound. Dressed pork was woith teen by eighteen feet and in this rude .$1.25 per hundred. Hogs that weigh-structure ' was conducted the fir st•school in Louisa county. Miss Finney received one dollar per week for her services as teacher, boarding herself. .We had to get our provisions fromIllinois the first year, with the exception of wild game that we wereable to kill. AVe would go by canoe»to Boston and Oquaqua, where we were compelled to pay fifteen dollars per barrel for flour; corn was worth one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel and bacon eighteen cents per pound. I remember on one occasion the lady with whom weboarded, Mrs. Smith, informed that she was entirely out of provisions, and that there was nothing in the house with which to get dinner. 1 said to John Delhi, “I guess IT1 take my gun and go out and see if I cannot get some game.” I started out and in a short time secured five turkeys and a big deer. Deihl went over to Shuck’s mill and ground some corn and after that we had plentyed 100 pounds were worth $1.25 per hundred; hogs that weigh® 200 pounds were worth $1.50 per hundred, and over $300 $1.75 per hundred. This difference in price was on account of the lard. The larger the hog, the more lard it contained— hence the difference in the price.In 1S44 we began packing pork in Wapello. AVe packed more Hian five thousand barrels cf pork and aboutthree hundred barrels of lard for the firm of Pekin Bacon, of St. Louis. This concern was conducted from1844 to TS54 and was quite an advantage to AVapello. One year weus! packed sixty thousand hogs, and em-* ployed fifty men during the entirewinter.The first judge to hold court in thiscounty was Judge Jesse AVilliams, and the first clerk of the courts was Zedic Ingham. The greater part of the court work at that time consisted in trying “claim” cases, that is, in regard to the possession of claims. The first claim case adjudicated inAT. AT. AVilliams and great-grand* daughter, Jean Joan Hawkins give us a look at a four generation family. Air. AVilliams is .go years of age and one of the few remaining AVapello veterans of the Civil war. Mrs. AVilliams, 82, is living' and tliey have four great-grandchildren. Tliey represent two pioneer families of theUnited States, descendants Roger AVilliams and Chie John Marshall.of raithat tbeast In adlt; patch etc. 1 the wi Hong ‘ mill : meal, take requii after% ■ships►winte]ThebrougLouis;them * i • ■.al im but s cultiy mn t grain' in shof Sir keptJusticecame the s ^downThewas t set ir her o ter obournOLD LONG JOHNThis is the story of Old Long -John Who always slept with his breeches on Said he, “If I must get up in. the deadcf nightI want to find ’em without a light.I aint a- skeered of spooks or witches j the .s But I won't traipse 'round without j bindemy britches. j ^esIf I’ve alius got 'em where I can I, • i machfeel em, i the tI know dam well the crooks won’t j is steal ’em. j gjrThe Dagoes and AVops and old Dutch ; jn ajiSehnausers j odsCan have my coat, but “nix” on the; periotrousers. sourcI don’t care a hoot for the styles in motici hundFranceIn the fall of 1837 I commenced this court was a contest over a claim working for Philip Harrison by the near Florence between Jerry Smithmonth, and continued with him overthree years.In 1836 John Deihl put. in ten acres of wheat on the Florence place, and that harvest I cut it—so we made our way on that.In 1836 Deihl and I broke up 900 acres of prairie and fenced it. with the assistance cf Philip Harrison. Harrison furnished the money andand Jeff Frizzle. I was a witness in the case. After the testimony wasBut 1 don’t wear skirts an I Gotta • ffn(^_ . ! itselfhave PANTS.—W. H. Gaskell. »Modernsubmitted, the bailiff conducted the | sjeep|ng£...... * - UonV thA rivnr—-ft kind 1_____25SW,jury to the bank of the river—a kind cf ravine—and in this place the juryconsidered the evidence, and w^e!\OAV yFE they were deliberating upon the case Jeff. Frizzle took a half gallon of liquor and slipped around under the bank and placed if where the jurylightrooms,housekeeping and; meals, telephone;25-tf:lt; prodilessduritpionefrom dnywe did the work. Harrison was the; could obtain it, in order to help themonly one of the settlers possessed of means. In 1837 I made rails.During the year 1837 a grejsf many people came to this country from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee,to determine the case. The jury soon came to the conclusion that Frizzle was the right man, and that his case was a merHorious one, and that he deserved a verdict in his favor. Butw u HAVE THEM — New Col-j umbia clasp envelopes in two sizes—j 6x9 and 9x12—for mailing heavy j ^e‘ manuscripts, photographs or light tiaecmerchandise. Large size 5c _eaeh or! Sratc 3 for 10c; small size, 2 for Scents. ;er w the imany of them bringing their slaves j tfis decision was soon reversed whenwith them, with a view of using them in the same manner as they did inrtheir former homes; many were the discussions we had' as to whether this should be a free or slave territory, and it became very/annoying to settlers not in favor of slavery. ItJerry Smith appeared with a gallon of liquor, and cf course he won the case. 1 was lying hid nearby in the grass, and could hear everything thatwas said, vThis district then contained- lour counties—Louisa, Des „ Moines, LeeRegular Customersare ourbest advertisement for our printing service. Ask your neighbor—he’ll tell you thatour printing on Hammermiii Papera ia,:.unixcelled.» Thtj be h KreiijI170nightMrs,BSwill
Newspaper Details
Wapello Republican
Wapello, Iowa, US
Thu, Jul 16, 1931
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USA 02 May 2020
Other Publications Near Wapello, Iowa
Wapello County Supervisors Books
Wapello Republican
Standard Atlas of Louisa County Iowa
Atlas Map of Louisa County Iowa
