History of Linn County Iowa Part 99

Coroner--W. S. King.

Judges District Court--Milo P. Smith, W. N. Treichler, F. O. Ellison.

COUNTY OFFICERS FOR 1909-1910

Supervisors--Allan McDuff, Wm. P. Secrist, J. C. Gritman.

Auditor--F. J. Cleveland.

Treasurer--Harry E. Pratt.

Clerk District Court--Wm. Dennis.

Recorder--J. E. Cook.

Sheriff--Wm. G. Loftus.

County Attorney--Chas J. Haas.

Superintendent--A. B. Alderman.

Coroner--W. S. King.

Surveyor--J. W. Bowdish, Jr.

Judges District Court--Milo P. Smith, W. N. Treichler, F. O. Ellison.

COUNTY OFFICERS FOR 1911

Supervisors--Allan McDuff, Wm. P. Secrist, J. C. Gritman.

Auditor--F. A. Canfield.

Treasurer--J. B. Travis.

Clerk District Court--Wm. Dennis.

Recorder--J. E. Cook.

Sheriff--Wm. G. Loftus.

County Attorney--G. P. Linville.

Superintendent--A. B. Alderman.

Coroner--W. S. King.

Surveyor--Raymond Swem.

Judges District Court--Milo P. Smith, W. N. Treichler, F. O. Ellison.

CHAPTER XLIII

_History of Marion, the County Seat_

BY HON. JAMES E. BROMWELL

Marion, most fittingly called the "City Beautiful," or the "Grove City," was laid out in 1839 on a semi-circular plateau of prairie that lay within a timbered crescent bordering and following the course of Indian creek on the west, and opening into a vast extent of prairie on the east, to which it lay joined like a protected harbor of the sea.

Before it was laid out in the spring of 1839, it was located by a special board of commissioners appointed by the territorial legislature of Iowa in 1838, as the county seat of Linn county, and was named in honor of General Francis Marion.

David A. Woodbridge, who was appointed to superintend the work, and Ross McCloud, the first county surveyor, proceeded to lay out the town, and on December 2, 1839, a.s.sisted by Hosea W. Gray and A. J. McKean as chain carriers, Elisha Kemp stake driver, and Ira Wilson flagman, and under the direction of David A. Woodbridge, agent, the town of Marion was platted on the west half of the northwest quarter of section six, towns.h.i.+p eighty-three, range six, and the east half of the northeast quarter of section one, towns.h.i.+p eighty-three, range seven.

The town consisted of fifty-six blocks, 250 feet square. The lots were 60 by 120 feet, and the alleys ten feet wide. The four streets that enclose the public square were laid out eighty feet wide, all other streets sixty feet wide. The lots on which the court house and other county buildings now stand, were then reserved for public use, as was the park, consisting of the block directly north of that on which the county buildings now stand, and block fifty-six, the southwest block of the plat, was reserved for a public cemetery.

Isbell's Grove, now known as Irish Hill, lay to the southeast of the town plat like a beautiful emerald island cut off from the body of timber lying south of it by a strip of prairie, where, in 1838, William K. Farnsworth had entered a claim. He was the first actual town settler, although James Preston and Prior Scott had entered a large tract of land east of Isbell's Grove about the same time, and a part of which lay open until the eighties, and was known as Scott's Prairie.

Soon after the town was located, Luman M. Strong and James W. Ba.s.sitt located northwest of the town; Rufus H. Lucore, west; John C. Berry and Hosea W. Gray, north; James W. Willis, northeast: George W. Gray, south; John Margrave, northwest; and Aaron Moriarity, James and Henderson Smith on the land now owned by Emmett Kemp; James Blackman, adjoining on the northeast; Samuel Ross, his mother and several brothers, adjoining the Willis place, later known as the E. A. Vaughn farm.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF MARION, 1868]

Henry Thompson erected a mill three miles south on Indian creek. The timber southwest and west was taken up in small parcels; and Ephraim P.

Lewis, one of the second board of county commissioners, and A. B. Mason settled between Marion and Cedar Rapids and were the first settlers in that direction. All of these came to Iowa in 1839; and in the fall of that year the Brodies and Leveriches settled two miles northwest of town. A little later Norris Cone settled southeast towards Mount Vernon, and Norman, George, and John Elihu Ives, four miles east; and a large part of the Ives land is now owned by two sons of Elihu Ives, viz: John and Julius Ives. W. L. Winter and wife settled on Dry creek, northwest of Marion, in 1842; and the wife, Clarissa D.

Winter, eighty-eight years of age in March, 1910, with her mind unimpaired, and intellect grown seemingly brighter with the years, is living with her daughter, Mrs. R. Lee Taylor, in Marion.

The first house built in Marion, although then without the town plat, was that of Luman M. Strong, erected in 1839. It was also the first tavern. It stood on the Center Point road, now known as Central avenue, and occupied the site where Alvin M. Goldsberry built his home, which is now owned by J. B. Michel. The second house was built the same year by Henry Thompson and David A. Woodbridge, also outside the town plat, and on the site now occupied by the residence known for years as the H.

P. Elliott home, on Twelfth street, just north of the Odd Fellows building. These men also built the first store, a log shanty, near where Charles A. Patten's residence now stands on north Eleventh street; and were licensed by the commissioners as follows: "Ordered, that Woodbridge and Thompson be allowed a license to vend and retail foreign merchandise at their store in Marion, for one year from the 9th day of October, 1839." In 1840 Addison Daniels came to Marion on horseback from Iowa City, seeking a business location, although there was not a house nor tree within the city limits, just a sea of tall, waving, wild gra.s.s with cow-paths running here and there. But he contracted with Hosea W. Gray for the erection of a store building 2022 feet in size, and went to Muscatine by horse and thence to St.

Louis by boat, where he purchased a stock of goods and returned to Marion. It took him about six months to make the trip, and when he returned he found his store room ready, and three residences in the town proper, viz: that of George Greene, afterwards judge of the supreme court of Iowa, capitalist, and later a prominent citizen of Cedar Rapids, on Main street west of Market street on the lot later occupied by the residence of Joseph Mentzer in the rear of C. F.

Reichert's grocery store; that of Joseph W. Bigger, later a prominent farmer southeast of Marion, where Dr. Bardwell lived so many years, and now occupied by Eliza Bardwell: and that of L. D. Phillips, built by Joseph W. Bigger, a.s.sisted by James E. Bromwell, as a hotel and known for many years as the American House, later as the Newhall, on the site now occupied by Ed. Sigfred's clothing store.

The first store of Marion, in the city proper, was that of Addison Daniels, who continued in business for nearly half a century with marked success. It stood on the site now occupied by the Home Bakery of Mrs. Smith, on Tenth street. Mr. Daniels was Marion's first postmaster, a man of public spirit, sterling integrity, and unimpeachable character. He died June 18, 1883.

In the spring of 1840, O. S. Hall, a pioneer of marked christian character, built a one and a half story frame building just north of the first store of Mr. Daniels, where he opened a hotel known as the Iowa House. He also served one term as county recorder in 1843. He died in 1846, but the hotel was continued by his widow and son, O. S. Hall, Jr., still living in Marion, until 1871, but in later years in the large brick building in the same block at the corner of Tenth street and Eighth avenue. In the same spring the first jail of the county was built, a log structure, on lot two, block thirty-six, and where the Catholic church now stands, at a cost of $635.00. It was built by William Abbe and Asher Edgerton. William Abbe had removed to Marion from his claim near Mount Vernon on Abbe creek, which was named for him, and where the commissioners met to locate the county seat, and which was also one of the first polling places of the county. The first court house was built on the northeast corner of the block occupied by the present county buildings. Here the first school was held in Marion.

The building was bought in 1845 for use as a Methodist church. It was later occupied for many years by Leonard Stowe for a bakery and grocery, and has recently been remodeled for residence flats. However, the county records show that the Methodists had made provision for a church building several years before, but probably by reason of the scarcity of money in those days, had been unable to build such an edifice as was required by a resolution of the county commissioners at their April term, 1842, which read as follows: "Ordered by the Board that the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church of the Town of Marion be allowed and they are hereby authorized to purchase of the county agent lots number three and four in block number thirty-seven on condition that they pay said agent the sum of ten dollars and erect on said lots a good and substantial church building worth at least $1,500 within two years; and the said agent is hereby empowered to execute the above sale." This description of the lots was doubtless wrong, for these were the lots where A. J. McKean built his home, where he lived until his decease. The lots intended, and where the first Methodist church was built, were lots one and two in block twenty-seven. The present court house was built in 1841 by George W. Gray, contractor.

In the spring of 1840 Hiram Beales built and operated a saw mill, if not the first, one of the first in the county, on Indian creek west of the town and on the west side of Indian creek, opposite the site of the present Howler Mill. In 1841 Richard Thomas became a partner in this mill and mill stones were introduced for grinding grain. The first upper mill stone used in this mill has an interesting history. Ambrose Harland, once sheriff of Linn county, and who first lived at the place known later as the "Old Stone Barn," on the old road between Marion and Cedar Rapids, was a stone mason and built the first brick residence in Marion in 1842 for William H. Woodbridge. This house stood in the street, where now the Methodist parsonage stands, and was for years known as the Berry house. In 1884 Samuel Daniels, who settled in Marion after the war and was Linn county's third auditor, bought this Berry house, and by reason of it occupying a part of the street and thus disfiguring the block of which Mr. Daniels owned the greater part, tore it down. As one of the corner stones of this house, Mr. Daniels found this first upper mill stone of the Beales and Thomas mill, which had in 1842 been replaced by a larger one, and has preserved it as a relic of early days.

Richard Thomas, commonly known as "Uncle d.i.c.k," came to Marion in 1840, and was a remarkable character. His farm embraced what is now known as "Orchard Heights," one of the most beautiful additions of Marion. He was of southern birth, quaint, plain-spoken, energetic, and died in 1893 at the age of 111 years. His widow and daughter, Mary English, also a widow, occupy a beautiful home in "Orchard Heights" near the original building site of the old farm.

In 1841 the first school house was built in Marion by subscription, and on the site now occupied by the C. R. Fairfield Lumber Company's office. It stood alone in the open prairie, and was surrounded by wild gra.s.s fully five feet high. Mr. Higby was Marion's first school master.

It was in this building that Rev. Mr. Emerson organized the first Methodist society.

In 1838 the territorial legislature appointed Richard Knott, Lyman Dillon, and Benjamin Nye commissioners to locate the "seat of justice"

in Linn county, and on the first Monday in March, 1839, two of said commissioners, Richard Knott and Benjamin Nye, met at the house of William Abbe, on Abbe's creek, and chose the site of the town of Marion as the proper location for the county seat.

In August, 1839, three commissioners were elected to act as fiscal agents of the county. The polling place was Westport, near the present site of Bertram, and Samuel C. Stewart, Peter McRoberts, and Luman M.

Strong were elected. This commission was invested with about the same powers as are now exercised by the board of supervisors of the county.

They held their first meeting in Marion on September 9, 1839. H. W.

Gray, the first appointed and first elected sheriff of Linn county, proclaimed the board in session. Its first official act was the appointment of John C. Berry, clerk. It next named the county seat, Marion. It next appointed A. J. McKean and William H. Smith constables. At its October session, 1839, it divided the county into three election precincts, viz: one at William Abbe's, on Abbe creek, known as the Sugar Grove precinct; one at Marion, known as the Marion precinct; and one at Michael Green's, known as Green's Grove precinct.

The first election judges of Marion were James W. Ba.s.sitt, Henry Thompson, and Rufus H. Lucore. At this session James W. Willis was allowed $7.75 for five days' work making town stakes and hauling same, "three loads." The first road laid out was as follows, and ordered January 6, 1840: "Beginning at the county line west of Lathrup Olmsted's farm; thence on the nearest and best ground to the town of Marion; thence to the rapids of Cedar river; thence to the county line on a direction to Iowa City, the seat of the Territorial government."

We quote one other entry of the county commissioners made at the January term, 1840: "Ordered by the Board that James W. Willis be and is hereby allowed the privilege of cutting a sufficient amount of timber off from the quarter section of land on which the town of Marion is located to finish a certain frame for which he has already got a part; provided, however, that he shall not cut any timber that is not included in the streets of said town. Said privilege is granted in consideration of house rent and fuel for the January term of this board. 1840." A very significant entry was made by this board of commissioners at its April term, 1840, in which Luman M. Strong, one of the commissioners, was granted a license to keep a grocery and "vend spiritous liquors at retail for one year at his house near Marion by paying into the county treasury the sum of $50.00." In a later record, and the only one referring to the claimant as a public officer, R. P.

Lowe, district attorney for 1840, is allowed $75.00.

The county judge plan succeeded the commissioner system of government in 1851, and Norman W. Isbell was the first judge, and was elected in 1851. He was succeeded in turn by J. M. Berry, Daniel Lothian, Johnston Elliott, and A. B. Dumont. The supervisor system, one from each towns.h.i.+p of the county, by order of the legislature, supplanted the county judge in 1861; and Marion was represented on this first board by A. J. Twogood. In 1871 the present system of county government by a board of three supervisors was adopted. County Judge J. M. Berry, in 1855, in his official capacity, contracted for the erection of the present jail and fire proof building where the county offices are now located, and this brought on the court house fight of 1855, when the issues were fairly joined in the contest for election to the county judges.h.i.+p between J. M. Berry, representing Marion, and Rev. Elias Skinner, representing Cedar Rapids. Berry won by a handsome majority.

Hosea W. Gray, a man of marked ability and prominent in the early history of Marion, was elected the first sheriff of Linn county. At the same election, to wit: in August, 1839, Thomas W. Campbell was elected county treasurer; Socrates H. Tryon, who was also Marion's first physician, county clerk; and G. H. Tryon, was either elected or appointed the first county recorder. Although it is well authenticated that Richard Osborn and Sarah Haines were married in Linn county in 1839, the first marriage in Marion and the second license of record in the county is that of James E. Bromwell and Catherine Gray, date August 26, 1841. This saintly pioneer died in Marion May 5, 1900, after more than sixty years continuous residence in Marion and on his farm, one and a half miles east of the town, honored and loved by all. The same year John Hunter was married to Hannah Barbary Hines, and Charles Rowe to Phebe Putnam, and Ans Safely to Margaret Hunter, and Samuel Ross to Mary Vaughn, and John Mann to Mary Mann, and Julius Allen Peet to Esther Ann Crowe, and Aaron Moriarity to Hannah Ross, and Joseph Crane to Agnes Bogard.

Hosea W. Gray, who in the Civil war was captain of Company A, Sixth Iowa Infantry, and Linn county's first sheriff, took the first census of Linn county in 1840, which showed a population of 1,373. The vote at the first election in 1839 showed thirty-two ballots cast. October 28, 1840, Peter Garrow, born in Scotland, renounced allegiance to Queen Victoria and declared his intention to become of citizen of the United States. The first divorce case was filed May 26, 1842, and ent.i.tled Dyer Usher vs. Mary Ann Usher. At the September term, 1843, it was ordered dismissed. The first divorce granted in Linn county was at the March term, 1844, of the district court, when Parthena E. Hewitt obtained a decree of divorce from her husband, Oliver Hewitt. The t.i.tle of the first case filed in the district court of Linn county is Richard Thomas vs. O. S. Hall, being an appeal case brought for trespa.s.s. After several continuances it was dismissed. George Greene, Marion's first lawyer, was counsel for the plaintiff. William G. Thompson was the first prosecuting attorney for what was called the second circuit, consisting of the counties of Cedar, Jones, and Linn, and of the eighth judicial district after the establishment of the circuit court, in 1868. The first murder committed in Linn county occurred in Marion March 20, 1847, when James Reed--who then and for many years after occupied the farm later known as the Bachman farm, on the old road about half way between Marion and Cedar Rapids, and whose house was destroyed by the tornado of 1860--struck Nathaniel Carnagy with a sled stake, fracturing his skull, from which injuries he died two weeks later. Reed was indicted but found not guilty by a jury.

The tornado of 1860, which pa.s.sed through Linn county on Sunday, June 3, started about six miles west of Marion. It struck the southwest part of the town but the only damage done was to a brick smoke house standing west of the house then occupied by Willard Harlan, now the home of J. Q. A. Dutton, the last house on the street car line east of Indian creek. The first deed recorded was for lots five and six, block eleven, Marion, and was executed by the county commissioners April 4, 1843, to Horace Metcalf. The second deed is to Addison Daniels. The consideration is nine dollars. It bears the same date and is for lots one and two, block fourteen, the present Clogston home, lot seven, block twelve, where the T. J. Davis building on Tenth street now stands, and lot eight, block thirteen, on a part of which the First National Bank now stands. The selection of these lots is good evidence of the business ability of Mr. Daniels in those early days.

The plats of the towns of Marion and Cedar Rapids were recorded on the same day, to wit: April 3, 1843, "O. S. Hall, Recorder." In volume 216 on page 48, Recorder's office, is a record showing the organization of the Presbyterian society, on November 11, 1839. William Vaughn is named as one of the elders.

A. J. McKean, who came to Linn county in 1839, helped lay out the town of Marion, was the first constable of Linn county, and the first a.s.sessor for the whole county, by appointment in 1840. He served as clerk of the courts from 1854 to 1872, and was one of Marion's most prominent citizens for over half a century. His brother, Thomas J.