Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/333

This page has been validated.

OF IOWA

221

hogs, men and dogs, and frequently women and children forming the rear of the van—often ten, twenty or thirty wagons in company, all going into the new region west of the Mississippi River. These people had with them all of their possessions and very little money. They depended upon their own labor, ingenuity and resources to create homes in the wild uninhabited region into which they were going. Their wants were few, for generations they had descended from the self-reliant pioneers who had subdued the forests and populated the Eastern States of the Union. The ax and rifle were their chief implements and dependence, and every man and boy was an expert in the use of both. The men built their own houses and constructed nearly all of their farm implements, while the women of the household, in addition to the ordinary work, spun the yarn, wove the cloth and made all the clothing for the family. Such people could make homes beyond the reach of mills, stores, mails, churches or schools, and regard it no hardship.”

In the little book published in 1846 by Mr. Newhall are found many items of interest, showing the condition of Iowa when it became a State. He enumerates the principal towns as Fort Madison, Keokuk, West Point, Montrose and Franklin. In a directory of each of the chief towns are found names of men who became prominent in its history and development. In Fort Madison at this early day can be found in the list of lawyers: Edward Johnston, Hugh T. Keid, John F. Kinney, B. S. Roberts, Philip Velie and D. F. Miller. C. H. Perry kept a hotel. There were six churches and one weekly newspaper, the Lee County Democrat, published by R. W. Albright, with T. S. Epsy, editor. Thomas A. Walker was postmaster. In Bloomington (now Muscatine) were R. P. Lowe, W. G. Woodward, Jacob Butler, J. S. Richman and S. C. Hastings, lawyers; D. C. Cloud was a carpenter and a magistrate; T. S. Parvin also magistrate and lawyer. There were five churches, and one select school taught by Miss Sherer. William E. Leflingwell was a boat builder. The Bloomington Herald, a weekly paper, edited by M. T. Emerson, was the only paper published in the little city. Dr. James Weed had an extensive nursery of 100,000 fruit trees near the city. Joseph Williams, judge of the Supreme Court, lived there.