Early Days in Butler Co. by Elizabeth Corey

WALSH - GOUGH - PRINGLE

Posted By: Deborah (email)
Date: 10/11/2004 at 13:44:38

Iowa Recorder, The (Greene, Iowa) > 1943 > September > 22

Early Days in Butler County Told by Mrs. Elizabeth Corey at Hall's Grove

Editor's Note -- Each year the old settlers of Hall's Grove and their descendants meet together in commemoration of the efforts and courage which the pioneers displayed in making homes and communities out of the virgin prairie.

One of the speakers on this year's program, August 8, was Mrs. Elizabeth Corey of Bristow, for many years the Bristow Correspondent for both the Allison Tribune and the Iowa Recorder. At the editor's special request, Mrs. Corey sent the following text of her talk before the group.

Mrs. Corey is qualified to tell of the early days in Butler county because she is the daughter of the late Rev. and Mrs. William Gough. Her father came from England in 1850 and was the first foreigner to become an American Citizen in Butler county. He was one of the pioneer ministers with a circuit extending from Waterloo to Mason City. Line the other ministers of his day, he covered his circuit on horseback preaching each day of the week except Saturday and accepting as salary for his services, bacon and corn meal -- those two items of barter used far more often by the pioneers than actual money.

"On receiving an invitation from your president, Mrs. Henry Ebling to attend this annual meeting, honoring the pioneers of Butler county, and to participate in the program, with no suggested topic, I immediately turned back the pages of time to the home of my childhood, to the old lane, the old gate, the old house by a tree, to the meadow, the wild brook that will not let me be. In childhood I knew them and still they call to me.

"The tree planted by my father's hand; the old house and barn, built of hard wood under my father's direction are still in tact and are silent reminders of pioneer days and of a happy home notwithstanding the hardships and privations. Joys there were in roaming over the hill a quarter of a mile to the west where lived my uncle Thomas Walsh and his family, and another mile to the west where abode my Aunt Elizabeth Pringle and her family, returning home at nightfall laden with the traditions cooky of pioneer days.

"I have visited the old home frequently through the intervening years, occasionally on Mother's day, since my earliest recollection of my mother was at that place on Christmas eve when at the age of three years, with others of the family, we moved from the log cabin two miles north of Clarksville, where I was born, to the mansion of which I speak, located three and one half miles northeast of Clarksville.

"My mother had gone to the new home earlier in the day and when we arrived at nightfall, mother was dressing the Christmas turkey. Small wonder that I remember.

"But it is not of that that I wish to speak at length on this occasion, but rather to summarize a few incidents and facts which featured life here from the time of the first arrivals in the late forties and early fifties down through the intervening years.

"When the makers of this commonwealth arrived seeking a home where they could enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and, above all, freedom to worship God, they found what is now Butler county -- a most desirable place in which to pitch their tents.

"Vast prairies stretched away toward the rising and setting sun, and there were beautiful forests of oak, elm, maple, walnut, butternut, and other trees and shrubs, wild fruits and flowers.

"There forests abounded in animal life, buffalo, elk, deer, bear, lynx, grey fox, and other wild beasts. They, with the abundance of prairie fowl; pheasants, partridges, prairie chickens, wild turkeys, ducks and geese made hunting the chief sport of man and furnished a variety of choice meat for their sustenance.

"English, Irish, German and Dutch and others came, making the settlement and improvement quite rapid.

"Prairie wolves had a home near here at Mount Nebo and elsewhere in the vicinity. They were numerous and roamed at will and were a great menace in that early day. The people used stringent means to exterminate them. There were hardships and sorrows, but the settlers toiled on through sunshine and rain, keeping their eyes on the goal which they reached in due time as recorded by their posterity.

"The wild life passed out before advance of civilization, and by the end of the second decade, there was little left in this vicinity, although near the streams trappers are still able to catch animals valuable for their fur.

"Indians there were also in that early day, the Winnebagoes and Sioux, almost as numerous as white people, who frequently passed through to and from Hewett's at Clear Lake to James Newal's at a point on the Cedar River. The Musquakie tribe came annually hunting, begging and fishing. Their visits were always a matter of deep concern to the settlers and many were the amusing as well as more weighty incidents which marked their visits.

"Their favorite camping places were along the creeks and rivers. It was related to me by one of the pioneers visited by them, that they demonstrated the adage "Let the women do the work" while the men instituted their cunning devices to get money, such as charging a penny for seeing a papoose, and being skilled with the use of the bow and arrow, shooting pennies from a stick, taking the penny as their reward.

"The Indians visited the log cabin begging for meat, eggs and grain, and if their request was not granted, they not infrequently helped themselves. On the whole they were peaceable and no atrocities are reported.

"If the winding streams could give forth their secrets, if the stately oaks could tell what they witnessed, If the broad prairie round about could tell it's story, if the dauntless and persevering pioneers could speak out and relate what transpired here in these first years, they would tell us more than anything else of the slavish toil, the stern privations, the hardships and dangers incident to pioneer life and sometimes absolute want, while establishing homes on the frontier. Marvelous changes have been wrought in Butler county in the last three quarters of a century.

"They would tell us of the long tedious journeys over trackless prairies, of the clearing of roads through timber tracts, enroute, the fording of streams in that early day to market the fruit of the soil and to get provisions, and an occasional message from distant loved ones.

"The nearest places were Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, mere villages at that time and it require a week to make the trip with a four-horse team. When a market and post office were established at Cedar Falls and Janesville there was great rejoicing.

"Those pioneers would also speak of the splendid spirit of friendliness and neighborliness among the people and above all the hospitality and loyalty; hospitality to all who came seeking homes or for any legitimate purpose; loyalty to God and the church as evidenced by the early establishment of places for divine worship. Loyalty to country as demonstrated by the large number of volunteers also went out to help preserve the Union during the Civil war; and loyal to each other as manifested by the spirit of helpfulness in time of need.

"I have heard my people relate many times of the situation during the years of the Civil war; how the Christian people assembled together, many of them walking long distances to pray for the preservation of the Union. This is a precedent that we of this generation will do well to follow, for if ever there was need of prayer for the preservation of our Democratic way of life and for our men and boys who are in the service and for the preservation of our country and that right may prevail, it is now.

"We close our recital believing it is good for Young America to look back at the scenes of those early days which involved a life of toil, hardships and lack of many comforts. But it was the life that made people of character, and these communities today have no better men or women than the immediate descendants of those who built one-room log cabins in the forest or on the prairie and by patient endurance preserving industry, supported by economy and frugality from which there then was no escape, wrought out of the waste and wilderness the landmarks for the prosperous commonwealth.

"We look away to the future during the present world crisis that confronts us as individuals and as a nation, knowing the Father of all mankind is near as in the past emergencies, and that God who in former times didst lead our fathers in the ways of peace will bring us off more than conquerors in this gigantic struggle. "For behind the dim unknown standeth God amid the shadows, keeping watch above His own."

"Thomas Jefferson fittingly said, "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time and that God had placed in the hand of America, the sword of freedom, and with that sword, we may conquer every foe and conquer we must, for our cause it is just, and let this be our motto. In God we will trust."

God bless America, Land that we love; God save America from every evil way. For what avail the plow or sail, on land or sea, if Freedom fail."