CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL ADDRESS

[As the author of the following address was a prominent citizen of Buchanan County, and as the occasion of its delivery forms an important landmark in the history of the county, we have concluded to insert it entire; although some of the details, given in other parts of the work, will necessarily contain repetitions of many of the facts herein recorded.]

That this sketch may be read and heard on such an occasion,without weariness beyond endurance, it is necessary to study brevity rather than rhetorical effect. With scant space for facts, there is still less for fancy, and many interesting incidents and individual experiences must of necessity be omitted.

Beginning with the advent of the first permanent settlement in the county, we are carried back about one-third of a century; for the pioneer was one William Bennett, who settled where now is the thriving village of Quasqueton in the early spring of 1842. Mr. Bennett is said to have been the first settler in the county of Delaware also, and had probably chanced upon the site of Quasqueton in some hunting expedition. The beauty of the locality captivated his fancy, and the rapid stream showed that its power could be utilized. He at once laid claim to the place, and proceeded to make his claim good by erecting a log cabin on the east bank of the river, and occupying it with his family

It is almost as difficult for us to conceive the appearance which the county then presented to its first citizen, as it would have been for him to paint by aid of fancy, that which it now presents to us. Approaching his new home from the east, he had crossed many miles of prairie, stretching away to the north beyond the limits of vision; looking across the stream to the southwest, still the same undulating prairie; and if he passed the river a little to the west he beheld still the same gently swelling sea of treeless green extending toward the northwest to all appearance boundless.

He might have caught some floating canoe drifted from its mooring

__________________

*By Hon. O. H. P. Roszell. Read at the Centennial Celebration at Independence, July 4, 1876.

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far up the stream, and following the timber-skirted river through the entire extent of the county, no other trace of art or industry would have met his gaze, save perhaps the lodge-poles of some deserted Indian camp. But though he would have found the country a wilderness, it was not a solitude. From every thicket on the river's bank, the dip of his paddles would have startled the deer, and its splash been echoed by the sudden plunge of the beaver and otter, while wild fowls,—ducks, geese and the majestic swan, rose at his approach in countless thousands, and mingled their screams with the cry of innumerable cranes wheeling their flight far up in the blue ether. The whole country was as if just completed—fresh and new and perfect from the hand of the Creator; an unpeopled paradise. Hardly had Bennett taken possession of his cabin before he was joined by one Evans, and by Ezra Allen who settled about one and a half miles north of Quasqueton, and in April the settlement was increased by the arrival of Frederick Kessler and wife, Rufus B. Clark and family, S. G. and H. T. Sanford, a Mr. Daggett and Simmons and Lambert and Edward Brewer; the latter who was then unmarried, made his home with Kessler. Clark and Kessler each made claims, and built cabins about one and one-half mile west of Quasqueton and near together, and as soon as possible commenced breaking prairie, so that in June they had ten acres broken which they planted with corn and beans; but though frost did not appear that fall till October 10th, there was not sufficient time for the crop to ripen. They all, men and women, went to work the day after the frost, and gathered the crop so as to secure it in the best condition possible, for corn and beans were important articles. For provisions during the summer of 1842 it was necessary to go to the Maquoketa—a distance of sixty miles. One person was sent with an ox team, and brought supplies for the whole community. The land was yet unsurveyed, and, of course, not in market. The government surveyors were engaged that summer in making subdivisions, and were in camp for some time near Kessler's. The sight of these and an occasional squad of cavalry galloping across the prairie and fording the river at the rapids, served to remind the settlers that they were not alone in the world.

During that summer a man named Stiles settled at Quasqueton; and to him belongs the honor of keeping the first whiskey shop in the county. He called his place a "tavern" and "grocery." Some addition was made to the settlers aside from emigration, for in May, 1842, was born Charles Kessler, the first white child born in this county. In the autumn of 1842 there arrived Nathaniel Hatch and family and Henry B. Hatch without family. Nathaniel build himself a house and Henry B. made his home with Kessler's. Mr. Bennett built a log dam across the river and raised the frame of a saw-mill that fall. There were several young men in his employ who never became permanent settlers. This same season also one Johnson made his appearance and located on the east side of the river, about half way between Quasqueton and Independence. He asserted that he was the notorious"Canadian Patriot," and that young woman who accompanied him as his sole companion was his daughter, Kate, and the veritable "queen of the Thousand Isles." His language and conduct excited the suspicion and hatred of the settlers and a part of them seized Johnson, administered a severe whipping and an admonition to leave the settlement, which he soon did. This episode was long referred to by the settlers as the "Patriot War."

The winter of 1842-43 proved a very severe one, and the settlers endured many privations. On the seventeenth of November a terrible snow storm commenced, accompanied with wind which caused immense drifts. Most of the houses having been hastily erected that spring, of logs, were imperfectly chinked and plastered, and it was impossible to keep out the drifting snow—Kessler's was in this condition, and his family took refuge at Clark's, which was better protected. On returning after the storm they found their house drifted completely full and buried—even to the chimney, and had to dig out their furniture piece by piece. They dug a regular stairway from the door to the top of the snow; and the same to reach the water in the spring close by, through snow fourteen feet in depth. The storm ended in sleet, which left a hard crust on the surface, which would bear the weight of a man if not too heavy. It was almost impossible to get about except on foot, an din that way the mail was carried to and from the "Colony," near "Edes' Grove," in Delaware county, by Kessler, he being selected for that service on account of being small and light. Deer were abundant and easily overtaken, as their sharp feet broke through the crust; so venison was plenty. Bee trees also had been found in large numbers in the fall, and there was a plentiful supply of honey. Some families had three or four barrels of that commodity, but honey and venison, though each delicious, were found hardly adequate food for sole and constant use; and grain there was none, nor other food of any kind to be had short of a journey to the "colony."

H. B. Hatch was the first to venture out after corn. He went with two yoke of oxen and on his return was overtaken by a storm of sleet so severe that the freezing rain blinded not only himself, but his oxen. But by walking on the off side of his cattle he managed to shelter himself somewhat, and after stopping many times to remove the ice from his eyes, and those of his oxen, he succeeded in reaching home with his load of corn, much to the joy of the settlers, who had been greatly alarmed for his safety. This corn was immediately distributed, and when exhausted, Mr. Sanford went to the same place and brought another load, which he carefully dealt out, sternly refusing any applicant more than one peck at a time; not from any want of kindness or generosity, but to enforce that severe economy in its use, which was absolutely necessary. For several months during that winter, venison, hone, and boiled corn constituted the only food of the settlers. Wolves were numerous and bold, and often came to the springs within a few steps from the doors of the settlers, to drink. On the first of April, 1943, the river was still frozen and teams crossed on the ice.

In the spring of 1843, the land in the south part of the county was put in market, and on the thirteenth of March of that year the first entry was made by Edwin R. Fulton, the entry being the west half northeast thirty-four, eighty-eight, eight, and eighty, which Bennett had claimed and settled on. Fulton was never a citizen of this county, and was probably some friend of Bennett, who he procured to make the entry for him. In May, 1843, Malcom McBane and John Cordell—both with their familes—settled in the immediate vicinity of Quasqueton, on the east side of the river. They entered their first land May 2, 1843. Sometime in the summer or fall of 1843, came James Biddinger, S. V. Thompson, and W. W. Hadden; the former settled near, and the two latter at, Quasqueton. During the summer of 1843, a flouing-mill was erected at Quasqueton by Mr. Stiles, but was probably not completed until 1844, about which time a Mr. Richards settled there and opened the first store. Up to this time the place has been known only as "The Rapids of the Wapsipinicon," but now it had a saw-mill and grist-mill, a store, tavern and saloon, and had become quite a village, and was named "Trenton," which name it retained until about 1847, when it was regularly laid out into lots and rechristened Quasqueton, which name is euphonized from Quasquetuck, signifying in the Indian tongue "Swift Waters."

The first settlers had now begun to raise wheat as well as corn, and, with a mill in their immediate vicinity where it could be ground, were in little danger of being again compelled to subsist on boiled corn. Fish were abundant in the river, and it is told, and is undoubtedly true, that they were caught of such size that, tied together by the gills and thrown across a horse, their caudal fins touched the ground on each side. It is surmised, however that he horse was an Indian pony and of not unusual height. The species of fish which attained to such size was the "muscalonge," and some of the same species weighing twenty-four pounds were caught at Independence as late as 1854. During the year 1844 there seems to have been but little additional emigration to the county; but in 1845 quite a number of families arrived, among them one Abbott, James Rundle, and Benoni and Harvey B. Haskins, and, I think, David Merrill; these families all settled near Quasqueton. During that year, also, was made the first entry of land north of the correction line. It was on section 25, 89. 9. a part of what is now known as the "County Poor Far," and was entered by John Kimmis, December 4, 1845.

Rufus B. Clark, in his hunting excursions, had early visited, observed and admired the site of Independence. He had no means with which to purchase the land, but he laid claim to the place, and in the spring of 1847 built a log house on the east side of the river, at a spot near the present junction of Chatham and Mott streets, and removed his family thereto. After making the claim he had visited Janesville, Wisconsin, and induced S. P. Stoughton and Nicholas A. McClure to purchase the land. Stoughton came to Independence the same spring—April, 1847—entered the land, and during that summer built a dam and saw-mill, and brought also a small stock of goods. With him came Samuel Sherwood, Mervin Dunton, and a Dr. Lovejoy. In July, 1847, S. S. McClure, Eli D. Phelps, A. H. Trask, and Thomas W. Close arrived, and all settled at Independence. In June of that year three commissioners, appointed by the State legislature for that purpose, visited the county, and on the fifteenth of June located the county seat on section 34, 89, 9, and called it Independence. In 1846 John Boon and Frank Hathaway had settled on the edge of the prairie two miles northeast of Independence, so that the Fourth of July, 1847, saw at Independence quite a little community of settlers, and if the celebration here on that day was not as largely attended as this, it was fully as enthusiastic as this can be. The location being made at a date so near

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to the Fourth of July had probably a great influence in the selection of the name of Independence for the future city. The overflow caused by the erection of the dam produced malaria, and most of the settlers suffered from fever and ague. Mrs. R. B. Clark and Dr. Lovejoy died in the fall of 1847. In June, 1848, the colony was increased by the arrival of Asa Blood, senior and junior, Elijah and Anthony Beardsely and a Mr. Babbitt. Dr. Brewer removed to Independence also that year, having been elected clerk of county commissioners the year before, and consequently being required to be at the county seat. John Obenchain had settled in the spring of 1848 two miles north of Independence; Thomas Barr, six miles north of Independence; Samuel and Orlando Sufficool, William Bunce, Daniel Greeley, and William Greeley, at Greeley's Grove; John Scott, on what is now known as the Smyser farm; Jacob Minton, William Minton, and Gamaliel Walker, on Pine creek; a Mr. Trongden, on the west side of the river, about five miles above Quasqueton; and some fifteen or twenty others, mostly at or in the vicinity of Quasqueton, among them D. S. Davis, George I. Cummins, James Cummins, Charles Robbings, Benjamin Congdon, and others, not forgetting to mention Hamilton Megonigle, who came for the banks of the Juaiata, in Pennsylvania, a regular, careless, jovial free-hearted, open-handed backwoodsman, who was known to everybody, and loved to be called "Old Juny."

The tax list for 1847 shows eighty-one names as resident tax payers. Among them are Thomas Barr, Samuel and Orlando Sufficool, William Bunce, I. F. Hathaway, John Boon, Gamaliel Walker, William Biddinger, N. G. Parker, Samuel Caskey, Ami H. Trask, Thomas W. Close, Samuel Sherwood and Edward Brewer, who are still living and residents of the county. the same tax list shows that there were then sixty forty-acre tracts of land entered in the county, being a little less than four sections. The valuation of all property, real and personal, was twenty-one thousand, seven hundred and nine dollars, and total tax one hundred and sixty-seven dollars and forty cents. Of the eighty-one residents seventy-four were voters. The total moneys and credits assessed were three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which W. W. Hadden had two thousand, six hundred and seventy dollars. There were two hundred and forty-nine head of cattle, four hundred and seventeen hogs, sixty-eight horses, forty-two wagons, six hundred and forty-two sheep, and not one mule. Few of the settlers indulged in the luxury of watches, for there seem to have been but six in the whole county. The mills and machinery at Quasqueton had at this time become the property of D. S. Davis, and were valued at two thousand dollars. the saw-mill at Independence is put down at nine hundred dollars. W. W. Hadden paid the highest tax, the enormous sum of twenty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents.

The first election of which I find any record was in August, 1847. The county was then divided into two election precincts, one called "Quasqueton" and the other "Centre" precinct. John Scott, Frederick Kessler and B. D. Springer were elected county commissioners, and Edward Brewer clerk; and it is a conclusive proof of his worth and ability that he continued in that office twenty-three years. On the fourth of October, 1847, the county commissioners held their first meeting at the house of Edward Brewer, in Independence. Their first official act was to divide the county into three commissioner's districts. The first district comprised all the north half of the county. The south half was divided by a line running north and south about one and a half miles west of Quasqueton.

Three road petitions were presented, and viewers appointed at that session. One from Independence east to county line. One from Independence east to intersect the territorial road from Marion to Fort Atkinson, and one from Quasqueton to Independence on the west side of the river. It was ordered also that a surveyor be employed to lay off a town at the county-seat. The land was still Government land and not entered by the county until January, 1849, though it was legally pre-empted, and thus secured to the county in January, 1848. The ots [lots] were ten rods in length by five in width, and the price fixed for them was five dollars each. In January, 1848, also the three roads first petitioned for, were declared public highways.

Up to that time there had been no regularly laid out roads in the county, except a territorial road from Marion to Fort Atkinson, crossing the river at Quasqueton, and running thence nearly north through the county, passing near where is now the village of Winthrop. This was know [known] as the "Mission" road. And another from Marion to the north line of the State laid out in 1846, crossing the river at the same place and passing about two miles east of Independence, at the edge of the timber. The settlers followed such routes as suited their convenience, from house to house and from neighborhood to neighborhood. Indian trails crossed the prairie from stream to stream, leading to fording places, and well worn paths led up and down the river, touching, surely, every bubbly spring. Such trails, which recent settlers suppose to be merely cattle paths, can be pointed out in may places even to this day by the pioneers.

Though in the spring of 1848 several families came to Independence the prevalence of fever and ague was so discouraging that not only they, but most of those who came earlier, left the place, either in the fall of 1848 or spring of 1849, so that in the summer of 1849 only four families remained. In July, 1849, the first entry of land was made in Newton township, by Joseph B. Potter. the first settlement in that township was by Joseph Austin, in the spring of 1847, on section thtrty-three [thirty-three]. Reuben C. Walton was the next, and built his cabin on the same forty as Austin, in 1848. In 1850 William P. Harris, Aaron M. Long, Henry Holman and a Mr. Ogden settled in the same vicinity on Spring Creek, and James McCanna on section twelve on Buffalo creek. John Cordell entered the first land in Cono township in 1843, and Leander Keyes and T. K. Burgess settled in that township just below Quasqueton in 1848. No land was entered in Homer township till 1851, when John S. Williams entered forty acres on section nineteen. The first actual settler in Jefferson township was J. B. Stainbrook, in June, 1850, and his daughter, Martha, now Mrs. Masters, and residing in Brandon, was the first white child born in the township. Mr. Stainbrook yet occupies the same farm he first settled upon, and the first cabin he built is still standing. John Rouse and Abel Cox were the next settlers, and arrive in July, 1850, and in September Nicholas Albert, Philip Zinn and Joseph Rouse. The next year came John Rice, Thomas Frink, Mathew Davis and Hamilton Wood.

In the fall of 1851 a State road was surveyed from Quasqueton to the county-seat of Marshall county. Two of the commissioners were D. S. Davis and John Cordell. The party started from Quasqueton to look out the route, and passed near Brandon, or where Brandon now is. No one, even at Quasqueton, had ever visited Jefferson township, nor did any one of the party know whether there was a settler there or not. It was known that some persons from that direction had crossed the prairie to the Quasqueton mill, but there was no road, not even a discernible track of any kind. Aided by the compass, the party made its way to Lime creek, and found nestled in the brush near that stream, the cabins of Joseph and John Rouse, and close by them went into camp the first night out. From Rouse it was learned that there were two or three families a little south, and by strict search and Rouse for a guide, they found their houses the next forenoon.

No settlement was made in Westburgh township till 1853; nor do I know who was the first settler; but William B. Wilkinson must have been among the first. In 1849 Michael Ginther settled in Sumner township, and, being at a loss to describe the land he desired to enter, he carried the corner stake to the land office at Dubuque, going there on foot for that purpose. This entry was afterward found to be on the wrong section entirely. He had intended to buy the land on which he had settled, and on which is the famous spring known yet as the "Ginther Spring," about half way between Independence and Quasqueton, on the west side of the river; and when he found the entry he had really made was one mile west, and out on the prairie, he was completely discouraged, being a poor man, and believing that land so far out would never be of any value whatever. The first settler in Middlefield was P. M. Dunn, who entered his land on section thirty-four, April 24, 1850, followed soon after by Daniel Leatherman and Stillman Berry. Fremont township remained unsettled till 1853, when Z. P. and S. W. Rich located on Buffalo creek, near the southeast corner of the township. They were induced to venture so far out from the timber from the fact that at that time the road direct from Independence to Coffin's Grove, Delhi and Dubuque, had begun to be considerably traveled, though almost up to that year the only traveled route had been via Quasqueton; but in 1852 the few citizens of Independence, and vicinity had turned out voluntarily and built a bridge of split logs across buffalo creek, near the correction line, making the route practicable—Robert Sutton settled in Byron, on section Thirty-two, as early as 1850, if not in 1849; and Thomas Ozias in 1851. The first settlers in Perry township were James Minton, Charles Melrose and Gamaliel Walker, in 1849. Martin Depoy and Jacob Slaughter entered land in that

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township the same year, but did not become settlers till 1850; and in that same year Alexander Stevenson, and John and Thomas Cameron settled in the same township, all in the northeast corner, near Littleton. Melrose had made an error in his entry, entering in the north part of town eight-eight, ten, instead of eighty-nine, ten, being near the present village of Jessup, and not supposing land in that locality would ever be valuable, by much effort and the aid of the then United States Senator, G. W. Jones, a special act of Congress was passed vacating his entry and placing it on the section intended, where Mr. Melrose now lives. Of the first settlement in Hazelton township I have already spoken. William Jewell settled and made the first entry of land in buffalo township, in 1849, where now lives C. H. Jakeway. Abiathar Richardson and Silas K. Messenger came next, in 1850; and Thomas and Rockwell Jewell and A. J. Eddy, in 1851. In Madison township, Silas Ross, L. R. Ward, and Seymour Whitney settled at nearly the same time, in 1853, and were the first comers. They located in the east part of the township, near the place now known as Ward's Corners. In Fairbank township, William S. Clark was the first to locate, settling in the south part, just above Littleton, in 1848, or 1849, and was the very first settler in that region. He went to California about 1856, but the house he built is yet standing.— Thomas Wilson must have found his way into the timber west of the little Wapsie very soon after, for I remember finding him and one McKinstry settled there in 1850. Robert Wroten located near Clark, in 1850.

In 1849, S. P. Stoughton and S. S. McClure returned to Independence, and with them came the writer of this sketch. There were then in Independence only Dr. Brewer, Thomas W. Close and E. Beardsley and a Mr. Horton, each with their families. Samuel Sherwood, though still reckoned a citizen of Independence, was absent that winter building a mill at Cedar Rapids. There was an unenclosed saw-mill, and no other buildings occupied by the families named, a vacant blacksmith shop and three vacant dwellings, among them the house built by Rufus B. Clark, who, after the death of his wife, had sold his interest in the place to Soughton & McClure, and removed to the Cedar river, in Chickasaw county.

The families in the north of the county could almost be counted on one's fingers. W. S. Clark, James Newton, Charles Melrose and Gamaliel Walker were up the river near where Littleton now is, Jacob Minton, Thomas Barr, Joseph Ross and Isaac Hathaway, on the creek five miles north of Independence; the Greeleys, William Bunce, John Kint, and Samuel Sufficool, still further north in Hazleton township; William Jewell, A. Richardson, and Silas K. Messenger, at Buffalo Grove; and John Obenchain, Carmi Hickox, Frank Hathaway, John Boon, Isaac Sufficool (who had bought the Isaac Hathaway farm), and H. Megonigle, located around the edge of the timber north and east of Independence, and that completes the list.

Quasqueton had become quite a village. It had a flouring-mill, to which came settlers from the west and southwest with their grain, for sixty or seventy miles; also a saw-mill, a store, grocery, hotel, and blacksmith shop, and really was a growing, prosperous town. but Independence was a forlorn looking place, indeed. Four families only, and they anxious to leave, but too poor to get away; an idle saw-mill, and not a store or shop of any kind and little prospect of either. The county had laid out forty acres into lots, and Stoughton and McClure a few blocks on each side of Main street. There was nothing to distinguish streets from lots; even Main street was only a crooked wagon path through the brush. There was a wagon road cut through the timber to the Hickox farm (now known as the Smyser farm), and one more crooked still, out to the prairie est, which crossed the first little creek near the Brewer place, and the next at the old Sufficool place (now occupied by Elzy Wilson), and from it followed the edge of the timber down to Quasqueton, about where the traveled road now runs. There was also a track north, via of the Obenchain farm and thence across the prairie toward Thomas Barr's and up Otter creek, but so faint as to be hardly discernible. Neither road nor track up the river, except an Indian trail, and not even that west across the prairie, nor east beyond the timber, nor to, or toward Brandon or Buffalo Grove. To venture two miles west on the prairie was about as dangerous as to venture to sea out of sight of land without a compass. Thomas Close carried the mail once each week to Cedar Falls, on an Indian pony. There were no marks of any kind to guide him, and if by careful observation he kept within a mile of the direct course, it was quite a feat of prairie craft. Wolves prowled about the houses, and bands of them made night vocal with their howling. The east bank of the river was where is now the middle of the bridge, and large trees were growing where now stands the centre pier.

The assessment roll for 1849 shows ninety-seven resident taxpayers of which about thirty lived in the north half of the county. That of 1850 shows only eighty-three resident taxpayers in the county, thirty-three being in the north half. At the August election in 1848 Washington township polled twenty-three, Spring fifteen, and Liberty thirty-two votes; and in August, 1850. Washington nineteen, Spring nineteen, and Liberty thirty, in all sixty-eight votes. The tax book of 1850 shows the total valuation of property, real and personal, to have been forty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight dollars, and total tax assessed, three hundred and seventy dollars and twenty cents. Twelve thousand six hundred and eighty-one acres of land were entered—about twenty sections in all. The total value of merchandise was nine hundred dollars, and that was at Quasqueton. Mills and machinery were valued at four thousand three hundred dollars; three thousand dollars at Quasqueton, one thousand one hundred and sixty-seven dollars at Independence, and five hundred and thirty-three dollars at Pine Creek. There were six watches, valued at one hundred and eighty-eight dollars; forty-three wagons, valued at one thousand six hundred dollars; seventy-four horses, valued at three thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars; two hundred and forty-one cattle, assessed at three thousand six hundred and seventy dollars; two hundred and eighty-eight sheep, valued at four hundred and three dollars, and five hundred and fifty-five hogs, valued at eight hundred and sixty-four dollars.

There was a post office at Quasqueton and at Independence, and the mail came from Dubuque once a week, via Quasqueton, in a one-horse wagon. There was not a bridge in the county, nor across any stream between this and Dubuque, nor any regular ferry. If steams were too deep to be forded, they must be crossed in canoes, or by swimming, or by rafts. All houses in the county were of logs, save a few at Quasqueton and at Independence. Almost every farm thus far selected was so located as to embrace prairie for tillage, and timber for fencing, fuel, and shelter, and on some little stream, and a spring near which to build. No special pains were taken to construct warm houses, and fuel was used as prodigally as though the whole country had been timbered. Pork and bread were abundant, and honey, venison and wild fruits, in their season. There was no market for surplus produce, and little surplus produce to market, except pork, and if that was hauled to the Mississippi it would bring two dollars per hundred. But everybody had plenty of good wholesome food to eat, and they didn't trouble themselves about luxuries. Everybody in the county knew, and was neighbor to everybody else, no matter how far apart they lived.

In 1849, the California gold excitement prevailed, and the fever siezed [seized] many of the settlers here, an din the spring of 1850 several of them crossed the plains to that ElDorado. Among them were William Bunce, John Obenchain, Kessler, B. D. Springer, Trask and Phelps and Stoughton. Some of them returned, others remained, and some died there. Among the latter was Kessler. Stoughton returned the next year, but died shortly after, of consumption, in the south, where he had gone hoping to benefit his health. In May or June, 1850, Horton and Beardsley left the place, and there remained but two families, Close and Brewer, and two young men, McClure and Rozell, to keep the village alive. Mcclure caused the land belonging to Stoughton and McClure, on the west side of the river, to be surveyed into lots, and named the place New Haven. In July of that year, William Brazelton moved to Independence from Jones county, and soon after, James A. Dyer, and a young man, George Counts; and in September, Thomas Denton and family arrived. John Vargason and James Bigelow came to the county also that summer, and McClure tried to induce them to settle in Independence, offering to give them any lots they might select, if they would build on them and remain there; but the inducement was not sufficient, and they settled five miles north.

In June, McClure traded fractional block number one and the east half of block number two, on the west side of the river, to Andrew Mullarkey for a barrel of gin and a box of cigars, and thought it a good trade. With this assistance, we had a grand celebration on that fourth of July. Samuel Sherwood, Samuel S. McClure, Dr. Brewer, Alexander Hathaway, and O. H. P. Roszell were officers, orators and procession.

Henry Sparling and family settled near the county poor farm that autumn, and Philander French and Ephraim Miller and J. C. Neidy, in the timber, between Independence and Quasqueton. John W. Melone came during the winter of 1850-51; also William B. Wilkinson. Melone entered the quarter section of land immediately east of Independence, and Wilkinson the quarter section northeast.

In the spring of 1851 came Casper Rowse and family; and in the

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