History of Linn County Iowa Part 51

Elizabeth Bennett, a native of Syracuse, New York, who had been reared in Canada and married to Edward Crow, November 14, 1839, is supposed to have been the first school teacher in the county. She died in Buffalo towns.h.i.+p February 5, 1844.

The first white child born within the confines of Linn county was Maria Osborn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Osborn, and was born in September, 1838. This statement has often been disputed and cannot be proved with certainty.

THE FIRST GRIST MILL

There has been more or less controversy as to the name of the man who erected the first grist mill in Linn county. Marshall Oxley insists that the first mill of this kind was built by John S. Oxley in 1842-43.

It was located in the northwest corner of Linn towns.h.i.+p on Big creek.

The material used was grown in the immediate vicinity. The dimension lumber was hewn out of the forest and the roofing was made of clapboard, then the primitive material used by the pioneers in covering their buildings. The machinery was purchased in Davenport and transported by wagon across the prairies. Before the erection of this mill the early settlers were compelled to take their grists to what was known as the Catfish mill near Dubuque. Frequently it required several days to go to the mill and to return home with the flour. Sometimes the good housewives ran short of flour while the meal was being ground. In such cases they would grind a little corn in the coffee mills, mix it with salt and water, cook it, and thank Providence that they lived in a land flowing with hoe cake, milk and honey.

After the mill had been in successful operation some time two well dressed gentlemen called at the home of the owner and asked to be given entertainment for the night. Their request was cheerfully complied with. Next morning they strolled down to the mill and looked it over.

After they had been hospitably entertained and were about to depart they represented that one was a patentee and the other a lawyer and that the owner was using an infringement on their patent. They told him that if he did not pay them forty dollars they would prosecute him to the full extent of the law. He paid them the sum asked but remarked afterwards that he guessed he should have given them a charge of shot.

The mill was operated in successful manner by the miller, Jacob Mann, until August 15, 1848, when he purchased the property for $500. He continued to operate it until it was swept away by the flood of 1851, Mann at this time losing his life in the flood.

A FEW OF THE EARLY ENTRIES TO LAND

A number of people resided in the county and were, so to speak, "squatters" before the land was opened for settlement and entry could be made. A few of the following names and locations will give the reader an idea of some of the old settlers who came here, some of whom resided on their respective claims before entry could be made.

Peter Kepler entered land in section 1-82-5 June 15, 1842; A. M. McCoy, James Huntington, Edward Isham, Horatio Sanford entered land in section 2-82-5 from May 17, 1844, to November 3, 1845.

Mary Ann Doty entered part of section 4-82-5 November 29, 1844; Abner Doty entered land March 11, 1845, in section 3-82-5; William Abbe entered land in section 5-82-5 in 1844; Henry Kepler entered land in the same section two years previously. Jesse H. Holman entered a forty acre tract in section 6 in the same towns.h.i.+p and range October 12, 1842. During the year 1845 Horatio Sanford, William Abbe and William Johnson entered considerable land in the same locality; also Allison I.

Willits and Fred Kinley as early as 1842. James, Joe and Robert Boyd entered considerable land from February, 1843 to 1844 in section 8, while entries were made in section 10 from 1842 to 1844 by John I.

Gibson, Oliver Day, Oakley Parker, and Robert Stinson.

During the same period the following entries were made in section 11, to-wit: by Simeon Archer, Oliver Day, John I. Gibson, Nathan Peddycord, and James Kelsey.

In section 13 the following entries were made from February, 1843, to 1845, viz: by Saul Elliott, Gabe Archer, James Bartley, and G. B.

Bowman.

In section 14 entries were made from 1843 to 1844 as follows: by James Kelsey, Leonard Platner, John Donahoo, Joe Smith, Ackley Parker, and Reuben Ash.

In section 15 entries were made from February 22, 1843, to September 18, 1844, by Dan Hahn and James Muckalls; and in section 17 by John Stewart and John McLaughlin.

In section 18 during the same period entries were made by Nate P.

Wilc.o.x, Meron C. Barnes, and A. J. McKean; George Greene entered a tract in section 29 February 21, 1843. Nearly all of the above described sections seem to have been picked up between the years 1842 and 1844.

A few names appear in various localities as having entered lands in smaller or larger tracts, viz: Hugh Downey, J. G. Berryhill, John J.

Gibson, H. W. Sanford, William Abbe, A. J. Willits, and Morgan Reno; a number of those men were not residents of the county at any time as far as is known, with the exception of William Abbe.

In Linn Grove towns.h.i.+p 83, range 5, the following entries were made:

In sections 1 and 2 by Cyrell M. Webster, Morgan Reno, and William Smythe during the years 1852 and 1853.

In sections 4 and 5 Benjamin Simons, David E. Fussel, Joe S. Butler, and John S. Oxley made entries from 1843 to 1844. In sections 6, 7 and 8 the following entries were made during the years 1842 and 1843: John Milner, Le Grand Byington, Socrates H. Tryon, Jesse Tryon, Dennis Tryon, Alexander Paul, Jacob Mann, John Safely, Jane Safely, Jacob Safely, and Adam Safely.

In section 9 and 11 entries were made during 1844 and 1845 by Ann Whitlatch, Alonzo B. Clark, Morgan Reno, Matt Lynch, Dan I. Finch, and Seward Kyles.

In sections 15, 17, 21 and 22 the following entries were made during the years 1842 and 1844: James S. Varner, Levi Lewis, S. A. Yeisley, John, Thomas and Will Goudy.

In sections 25 to 29 the following entries were made: by John and Andrew Safely, Sam Ellison, John Goudy, George Krow, and Lewis Fink during the years 1843 to 1844. Dan Peet made entry to certain tract of land in section 14 at the same time.

In section 1-85-5 and 6 the following entries were made from 1852 to 1856: by Stephen Conover, Barnett Cole, Nancy H. Hunt, and others.

Richard Barber made the first entry in section 4 in 1848, while in section 6 Philip Coffits made entry in June, 1847, and John Smith in November, 1849.

In section 7 Chandler, Ebenezer and Moses C. Jordan entered land from 1846 to 1848. Richard Barber makes an entry in section 9 in 1848. In section 14 Edward Crew, or Crow, enters land in November, 1840 to January, 1845. In section 15 Jacob Mann enters land in May, 1845, followed by another entry made by George Paddington in February, 1846.

In section 23 Absalom Cain makes an entry February, 1846, and in section 25 George C. Perkins and Morton Claypool enters land in 1845.

John Peet enters land in section 36 in 1844, and Joseph and Ormus Clark enters land in section 3 in 1844 and 1845.

In section 44, range 5, some of the early entries are by John Peet, Harvey Stone, and Nelson Crow from 1842 to 1845. Sam Kelly enters eighty acres in section 11 in 1840, and about the same time John Gillilan enters land in section 12. John Crow enters one hundred and sixty acres in 1840 in section 13.

Charles Pinkney makes an entry in section 28 in 1840; also another entry in section 29 the same date. In section 32 on August 5, 1840, Nathan Brown, G. H. Robinson, Thomas Sammis, and William Styles make entries. The first entry made in section 33 was made by Benjamin Simons and Abel M. Butler. Charles E. Haskins makes several entries from 1843 to 1848 in section 12-82-5, as well as in sections 1 and 2, Peter Kepler also making entries in January, 1842.

William Abbe made several entries of land in sections 5 and 6 from 1842 to 1843, while Thomas Craig made entries in sections 6 and 7 from 1843 to 1846, as well as Daniel Hahn in section 15.

Israel Mitch.e.l.l and James Hunter enter land in sections 4 and 5 in 1844, and Herman, or Harman, Boye made several entries in 1854 in sections 24 and 28. In sections 1 and 2-82-2 entries are found as of 1843 and 1844 made by Thomas Craig, Elizabeth D. Waln, Robert Smythe, and Samuel Littrell. In sections 7, 8 and 9 Thomas Crabtree, Abe Stotts, and James Hunter make entries from 1844 to 1846.

Daniel, William, Henry and Elias Rogers make numerous entries in section 14 in 1849; William Davey, Mary S. Legare, Edgar G. Stoney, J.

G. Berryhill, and Thomas J. c.o.x entered this land from 1849 to 1850 in sections 2 and 5-82-7. In section 12-83-7 entries were made in 1843 by S. H. Tryon, J. H. Blackman, M. Mitch.e.l.l, and E. T. Lewis. In sections 14 and 15 J. Stambaugh, N. and D. Chapman, Ambrose Harlan, H. Weare, Isaac Carroll, George Greene made entries from March 4, 1843, to June, 1844.

John G. McCloud makes an entry in section 16 in December, 1846. In section 17 Robert Ellis entered land July 19, and August 8, 1843, and John Lichtebarger in July of the same year. In section 18 the heirs of Dan Potter convey, and Thomas Gainer and Isaac Lichtebarger about the same time.

In section 21-83-7 Addison Daniels and N. B. Brown entered land March 31, 1843, and George Greene makes entry of land July 13, 1847 and October 31, 1848. From 1843 to 1847 entries were made in section 22 by A. Daniels, N. B. Brown, John G. Cole, Levi Lewis, Joshua Phillips, and Ambrose Harlan. In section 27 Otho S. Bolling, Levi Lewis, and Jason C. Bartholomew made entries from 1843 to 1845. In section 28 entries were made by David W. King, Tom Gainer, and J. M. May from March, 1843, to 1859.

The entries are made earlier in the eastern and southeastern part of the county, and later on the west side of the river and toward the west and northwest; the most entries were made from 1852 to 1859, when there seems to have been a wholesale tide of emigration.

ORGANIZATION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE COUNTY

Copy of a paper given the Linn County Historical Society by Miss Mary Durham, daughter of Hon. Samuel W. Durham.

Marion, April 27, 1843

Committee of organization met at Marion, Linn county, Iowa.

Resolved, that a sufficient number of gentlemen in each towns.h.i.+p be appointed to act as a committee of organization.

Franklin Towns.h.i.+p--C. C. Haskins, S. Elliott, Robt. Smyth, A. M. Artz, Jno. Wolfe, Jas. Stewart, Benj. De Witt, Henry Kepler.

Linn Towns.h.i.+p--William T. Gilbert, Sam'l C. Stewart, Ira Sammons, And. Safely, Jno. Scott.

Brown Towns.h.i.+p--Geo. Perkins, Jas. V. Hill, Isaac Butler, Horace N. Brown, Sam'l Kelly.

Was.h.i.+ngton Towns.h.i.+p--Bart Magonigle, Sam'l Lockhart, Ben D.

Springer, Wm. B. Davis, Thos. Lockhart, Sr., A. Moats, Wm.

Cress, Wm. B. Harrison.