CHAPTER V

SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION

FIRST WHITE MEN IN LEE COUNTY-TESSON'S GRANT-EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS-CLAIM ASSOCIATIONS-LAND SALE AT BURLINGTON-FORT DES MOINES-PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS-HARDSHIPS AND PASTIMES ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-EARLY ELECTIONS OWEN'S FERRY-FIRST JURYMEN-LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT—PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

As stated in a previous chapter, the first white men to visit what is now Lee County were Marquette and Joliet, who landed near the present Town of Montrose in 1673, while on the voyage down the Mississippi. The first attempt to form a permanent settlement within the limits of the county was made by Louis Honore Tesson, who in 1796 obtained a grant of land from the Spanish authorities of Louisiana. This grant was located "on the west bank of the River Mississippi, at the head of the Des Moines Rapids." A history of Tesson's establishment is given elsewhere in connection with Montrose Township.

After Tesson settled upon his grant, nearly a quarter of a century passed before any further efforts were made by white men to found settlements in this part of Iowa. In the meantime there had been a heavy tide of emigration from the older states toward the setting sun. Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816 and Illinois was admitted two years later. The margin of civilization had reached. the Mississippi River and it was not long until adventurous white men crossed the great river and occupied the fertile lands beyond. In 1820 a French trader named Lemoliese established a trading post at what is now Sandusky, about four miles below Tesson's place. The same year another Frenchman, Maurice Blondeau, opened a trading house about a mile above that of Lemoliese. Blondeau became a great favorite with the Indians, who frequently called upon him to settle disputes. As a mediator he heard the evidence of both the disputants and then handed down his opinion "with the wisdom of a modern Solomon." In the negotiation of some of the early treaties between the Indians and the United States, Blondeau was a trusted adviser of the Sacs and Foxes.

Another settler of 1820 was Dr. Samuel C. Muir, who built his cabin near the foot of the rapids, within the limits of the present City of Keokuk. The next year Isaac R. Campbell first visited the county. From that time until his death at St. Francisville, Missouri, he was a resident of Lee County or one of the adjoining counties in Illinois or Missouri. He first located near the upper landing at Nauvoo, Illinois, but in the fall of 1830 sold his farm there and moved across the river, settling where the little Village of Galland now stands. Dr. Isaac Galland had settled here the preceding year, coming from Edgar County, Illinois. His daughter, Eleanor, born in 1830, was the first white child born in the county.

Moses Stillwell and the Van Ausdals settled at the foot of the rapids in 1828. In 1830 a man named Dedman brought his family to the west side of the Mississippi and settled near Galland, where he lived until the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, when he became alarmed and sought the protection of Fort Edwards, on the east side. of the river.

The year 1831 witnessed a number of new arrivals in what is now Lee County. Samuel Brierly, whose son, James, was a member of the first Territorial Legislature of Iowa, brought his family and occupied the old cabin erected by the trader, Lemoliese, where he engaged in selling whisky until Colonel Kearney, commanding the post at Fort Des Moines, issued an order for the destruction of all intoxicating liquors found in the possession of the citizens of Nashville (now Galland), which order was duly executed by a detail of soldiers from the garrison. In the same year John Gaines, William Price, Alexander Hood, Thomas W. Taylor, William McBride, and probably a few others, joined the little settlement at the foot of the rapids.

Peter Williams settled on the site of Fort Madison in 1832. The same year, after the Indians vacated their village where Montrose is now situated, Capt. James White inclosed about seven or eight acres of ground there and built a double log house on the slope near the mouth of Jack Creek. Two years later he sold his claim and Fort Des Moines was built there in the early part of 1834.

Among those who came in 1833 were John Whitaker, who settled on the north side of the Skunk River, in what is now Des Moines County; James Bartlett, who landed at what is now Keokuk on the 4th of July, accompanied by his wife, three sons and a stepson. John Box came over from Illinois and located near Fort Madison. He was elected one of the seven representatives from Des Moines County,

which then included the present County of Lee, to the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin in 1836.

On June 1, 1833, the title to the lands in the Black Hawk Purchase became fully vested in the United States. During the remainder of that year and the year 1834 a large number of emigrants from the states east of the Mississippi crossed over into the new purchase and several families were added to the population of the district now comprising Lee County. Among them were Alexander Cruickshank, William Skinner, Devore Palmer, George Wilson, Henry Judy, John and James Hellman, A. W. Harlan, Joseph White, Samuel Ross, Benjamin Box and Hiram C. Smith. Although the new pur chase was open to settlement, the public surveys had not yet been made and each new arrival selected a tract of land to suit his taste and marked the boundaries by "blazing" the trees around the border of his claim. When the government survey was made it sometimes happened that one claim would overlap another and the houses of two settlers would be thrown upon the same quarter section.

To settle questions of dispute over titles, each settlement had a "Claim Association," to which all cases of this character were referred. Each association had certain rules and regulations for the mutual protection of the citizens. After the United States surveys were made, but before regular courts were established, these associations were frequently called on to adjust conflicting interests with regard to title or possession of certain parcels of land. A claim committee would be selected and the claimants and witnesses would appear and give their testimony, but without the formality of an oath or affirmation. After hearing all the evidence, the committee would decide the case and from that decision there was no appeal. And yet there was little complaint over the finding of the committee in such cases. The pioneers had all joined in the organization of the claim associations and their sense of honor was such that they always kept faith and abided by the decisions.

The first government sale of the lands in the Black Hawk Purchase was held at the land office in Burlington in November, 1838. The claim associations in the various localities had kept a record of every claim, and the settlers of each Congressional township selected a bidder to attend the sale and bid in each particular claim for the occupant. A copy of the record was furnished the bidder, who set out for Burlington to protect the rights of his neighbors against the rapacity of speculators and land sharks from afar. Many outsiders looked upon the settlers who had come into the territory in advance of the survey and sale as "squatters," without any rights

worthy of the respect of the land speculators or the Government officials. Fortunately for the pioneers General Dodge and General Van Antwerp were on their side and the township bidders had every opportunity to secure the lands. Hawkins Taylor was one of the bidders from Lee County. In the "Annals of Iowa" for July, 1870, he published an article descriptive of the sale. One incident mentioned by him shows in what spirit the speculator was received and it is regarded as worthy of reproduction here. Says he:

"There were thousands of settlers at the sale at Burlington in the fall of 1838. The officers could sell but one or two townships each day, and when the land in any one township was offered, the settlers of that township constituted the army on duty for that day. They surrounded the office for their own protection, with all the other settlers as a reserve force, if needed. The hotels were full of speculators of all kinds, from the money-lender, who would accommodate the settler at 50 per cent; that is, he would enter the settler's land in his own name, and file a bond for a deed at the end of two years, by the settler's paying him double the amount the land cost. these rates Doctor Barrett, of Springfield, Illinois, and Louis Benedict, of Albany, New York, loaned out $100,000 each, and Lyne Sterling and others, at least an equal amount, at the same, or higher rates of interest.

At

"The men who come to Iowa now cannot realize what the early settlers had to encounter. The hotels were full of this and a worse class of money sharks. There was a numerous class who wanted to rob the settlers of their lands and improvements entirely, holding that the settler was a squatter and a trespasser and should be driven from the lands. You would hear much of this sort of talk about the hotels, but none about the settlers' camps. Amongst the loudest talkers of this kind was an F. F. V., a class that has now about 'give out.' This valiant gentleman was going to invest his money as he pleased, without reference to settlers' claims. When the Township of West Point was sold, it was a rainy, disagreeable day. I was bidder and the officers let me go inside the office. Squire John Judy, who lived on section 32 or 33, whispered to me that he had been disappointed in getting his money, at the last moment, and asked me to pass over his tract and not bid it off. I did so, but the Virginian bid it off. I was inside and could not communicate with anyone until the sale of the township was through. As I did not bid on the tract, the outsiders supposed it was not claimed by a settler and the minute the bid was made, the bidder left for his hotel.