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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XXXI
Des Moines Township

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In the original division of Boone County into the three townships of Pleasant, Boone and Boone River, it will be seen that the present Township of Des Moines was divided as follows: The south two-thirds was contained in Boone Township and the north one-third in Boone River Township. This division of the county continued until March 8, 1852,  when Boone River Township disappeared from the county map and Dodge Township was established. In this division Dodge Township included the north tier of sections of the present Township of Des Moines. The next change in the townships took place in 1857, when Jackson Township was established and named, by which the east line of the present Township of Des Moines was established. This was a year before the township itself was established. In January, 1858, S. B. McCall was again installed into the office of county judge. In March of that year he made many changes in the townships of the county, among which were the discontinuance of Boone Township, which had been on the map of the county about nine years, and the establishment of Des Moines Township in its stead. The boundaries given it at that time were almost the same as the present ones. Des Moines Township was named after Iowa's greatest river, which divides Boone County into nearly two equal halves. Des Moines Township is bounded on the north by Dodge Township, on the west by the Des Moines River, on the south by Worth Township, and on the east by Jackson Township. It contains about three sections more than a congressional township. One advantage which this township enjoys over any of the others is the fact that it contains the county seat. The first settler in this township was John M. Crooks. He came in April, 1846, and located a claim in section 33, township 84, range 26. His claim is a part of what has long been known as the Michael Myers farm. The next year Montgomery McCall and his sons, S. B. and William McCall, Samuel H. Bowers and R. S. Clark located in the township. At the time of the Indian raid on the Lott family at the mouth of Boone River, Henry Lott came down from the scene of the raid soliciting help to go to the rescue of his family. He made it appear that the Indians were coming south to murder the settlers and advised them to prepare to defend themselves. Lott went further south to secure help and the few settlers at and near Pea's Point and vicinity gathered at the house of John M. Crooks, with their guns and ammunition, and made ready to give Si-dom-i-na-do-tah, the Sioux chief, and his band a warm reception should they come within the range of their rifles. Lott succeeded in getting about four white settlers, and Johnnie Green and twenty-six of his band, who were then camped at Elk Rapids, to go north with him to chastise the Sioux Indians. The next evening after the settlers had met at the house of John M. Crooks they saw Lott and his Indian confederates coming across the neck of prairie from Pea's Point, and not knowing there were any Indians camped south of them, they at once took them to be the Sioux Indians, who were coming to attack them. They took up their rifles and made ready to defend themselves till the last man should die. As they approached, one Indian made a dash upon his pony toward the house in advance of the others, and as he approached John M. Crooks raised his rifle to his shoulder and was in the act of firing when John Pea, his father-in-law, recognized Henry Lott among the Indians as they approached. This convinced the settlers that the Indians were of a friendly tribe and not the murderous Sioux. The expected battle was now over, but one innocent Indian came near losing his life. This was the nearest to a battle between the settler and the Indians that ever occurred in the county. The next day Lott and the friendly Indians and five of the settlers went to the mouth of Boone River to chastise the Sioux Indians, but when they arrived there Si-dom-i-na-do-tah and his band were many miles from the scene of the Lott tragedy. The outcome of the raid of the Sioux Indians will be found in an article elsewhere in this work under the head of the Milton Lott Tragedy. In 1848 and 1849 Dr. James Hull, John M. Wane, Samuel A. Hull, James Carrel, William Thomas, John Thomas, Jonathan Godden all settled in the township. A number of the above named voted at the organizing election in 1849. Three of them, R. S. Clark, Samuel H. Bowers and John M. Wane, were elected to county offices. From 1849 to 1851 a large number of settlers came, all of whom were homeseekers and nearly all settled upon claims. They built log houses and commenced the improvement of their farms. Some of these were William Mcintosh, W. L. Pilcher, W. M. Boone, Joshua Wheeler, Jeremiah Gordon, Wesley, William and Samuel Carrel, and William Webster. These were all good citizens. The first schoolhouse built in Des Moines Township was located in Honey Creek bottom, in section 33, township 84, range 26. It was built in 1850. From that time until the county seat was located the board of county commissioners met in this schoolhouse to transact their official business. The first school in the township was taught here in this schoolhouse by S. B. McCall. Solomon McCall, a young brother of the teacher, was one of the pupils. Strange to say, this pupil is still living in Des Moines Township and his residence is about one block from the Milwaukee depot in Boone. The first murder in the county was committed in Des Moines Township. It occurred at the house of Montgomery McCall in February, 1850. A quarrel arose between Jacob Pea, son of John Pea, the pioneer, and a man by the name of Lewis Jewett. An encounter between the two young men ensued, in which Jewett stabbed Pea, from the efifect of which he died. The first postoffice in the present limits of Des Moines Township was located in the north part of section 33, township 84, range 26, only a short distance south of the corporate limits of the present City of Boone. It was established August 28, 1850, The postoffice was named Booneville and Samuel H. Bowers was appointed postmaster. He was the first postmaster in Des Moines Township and the third to be appointed in the county. On July 9, 1851, the county seat was located, and on November 29, 1851, the Booneville postoffice was moved to Boonesboro and Jonathan F. Rice was appointed postmaster. It will be seen from the above dates that the postoffice at Booneville remained there one year and three months. At the date the Booneville postoffice was established, it was further north than any other postoffice in the Des Moines Valley. At this date also the first mail carrier between the Booneville office and Des Moines was appointed. It does not appear that any particular mail route was at that time established, but it does appear that the carrier took the most suitable route he could find. As the mail over this forty miles was carried on horseback the best route to supply the other postoffices on the line could be more easily chosen. The country was about all unfenced at that time. The name of the hrst mail carrier was Solomon McCall, who at that time was a boy of only fourteen years. Mr. McCall has always been mentioned as one who attended the first school taught in Des Moines Township and in the hrst schoolhouse built within its borders. It is very remarkable that Mr. McCall, one of the first school boys in the township and the first mail carrier between the Booneville postoffice and the present capital city, is still a citizen of Des Moiues Township. Sixty-four years have come and gone since these events occurred. Four streams rise in Des Moines Township, but all of them empty into the Des Moines River outside of its borders. These are Big Creek, Pea's Branch, Honey Creek and Polecat Creek. There is a small creek which rises at the point of timber north of Boone near the east line of section 8, township 84, range 26, and empties into the river opposite the Town of Centerville. The interurban high bridge now spans this creek near its mouth. The point of timber above mentioned was first called Henry Fisher's Point, later Gordon's Point, and still later, Bass' Point. The name was changed as the land at the point changed owners, Henry Fisher being the first settler there. Lawrence Wahl, Fritz Wahl, S. D. Jewett, J. M. Thrift and Henry Goetzman were early settlers near this point of timber. Des Moines Township is well adapted to farming, except that part of it which lies in the hills of the Des Moines River. These are good pasture lands. The farmers of the township have well improved farms and have nice homes. They are up-to-date in their methods of farming and raise the best of crops. They have also shown themselves to be friends of common-scliool education, in the fact that they have established nine school districts and built nine schoolhouses, which they keep in good repair. Eight months of school is held each year and the best of teachers are employed. This speaks well for their progress and intelligence. The farmers and their families are supplied with daily mail by the rural routes and they are in communication with their neighbors through the medium of the telephone lines. It does not seem there is anything to prevent them from living happy and contented lives. All that part of Des Moines Township situated in the great bend of the river west of Boone was originally underlaid with beds of coal. For over forty years mining on an extensive scale has been done in this part of the township and the work is still in progress. In time other coal beds in the township will be developed and millions of tons of coal will be mined. The present officers of the township are as follows: Justices of the peace, Samuel McBirnie and William J. Carswell; constables, John Dickson, E. C. Snedeker; clerk, W. M. Bass; assessor, J. N. Ross; trustees, A. P. Alsin, Simon Kemmerer, Claus Anderson. To give a list of the number of citizens of Des Moines Township who have held office in the county from the first election in 1849 to the present time would make a very long list. It has been sixty-six years since the first election in the county was held. Very few elections have been held during that time in which from one to four citizens of Des Moines Township were not elected to county offices. The list would be too long to insert here in this write-up. The reader is referred to the general list which will be found in another part of this history. According to the census of 1910 the population of Des Moines Township, exclusive of the City of Boone, was 1,557. In 1900 the population was 1,785, and in 1890 it was 1,399. The census to be taken by the state next year will probably make a different showing. The number of miners has varied from time to time. The following are the names of the citizens of Des Moines Township who enlisted and took part in the Civil war: S. B. McCall, John H. Smith, W. H. Cummings, James Mitchell, N. G. Martin, S. W. Cree, J. B. White, A. Draper, J. V. Doran, C. L. Holcomb, Peter Joice, W. D. Templin, J. H. Upton, Edward Wilson, M. V. Barnes, C. W. Williams, John Miller, Thomas Parr, C. W. Summer, J. M. Thrift, J. M. Barnes, A. N. Stringer, W. D. Kinkade, Austin Warwick, M. Pettibone, N. P. Rogers, Samuel Andrews, I. B. Cummins, T. E. Dooley, J. B. Dooley, C. A. Eversole, George Fox, R. M. Gwinn, Nicholas Harter, D. M. Bass, James Diel, George Hoffman, Samuel Parks, Levi Parks, Samuel Remington, Albert Wilson, Theodore DeTar, W. D. Templin, R. J. Shannon, J. G. Miller, J. W. Holmes, John Herron, F. W. Hull, J. F. Joice, C. Leffers, John Merrick, Thomas Payne, James Shufling, E. D. Strunk, John E. Wright, W. C. Ainsworth, D. U. Parker, J. W. Webster, J. J. Adams, W. F. Boggs, A. Messmore, E. W. Caldwell, W. H. Decker, Henry Godden, W. S. Kintzley, W. W. Kintzley, D. M. Parks, R. S. Parker and Bird Webster. The above is thought to be a reasonably correct list of the volunteers who went from Des Moines Township to the Civil war. The following speech delivered by C. L. Lucas at an old settlers' meeting, held on the courthouse square in Boone on tlhe 11th day of August, 1911, contains some very interesting incidents which occurred in Des Moines Township and they are here given in full: "It affords me sincere pleasure to be here at this meeting. 1 am glad to meet with the old settlers of Boone County and to have the pleasure of clasping hands with them once more. "We are here today on historic ground. We are here today where the county government had its beginning and where the county records are kept. "During the short time allotted to me here today I shall talk but little of anything except what has come under my own observation. "I never come into the Fifth Ward that my mind does not run back to the first time 1 visited the place. This was in 1853. It was then a town of itself. It was then the county seat; it was then Boonesboro. The stake driven by the commissioners authorized to locate the county seat was yet visible, but there is no man now who can point out the exact spot on which it was driven. It was a sacrilegious omission of duty not to have kept the place marked and I charge this omission as much to myself as I do to any one whose duty it was to have watched after it. Every historic landmark should be sacredly kept. "Curator Harlan, as you all know, has recently gone over the old trail made bv the Mormons in their exit from Navoo across the State of Iowa on their way to Salt Lake. It is his purpose to relocate and preserve this historic trail. It will cost the taxpayers of the state something to relocate and mark the old trail. "This effort should incite us to keep and perpetuate our own local landmarks. "When I came here in 1853 there were three stores in Boonesboro. Diagonally across from the southwest corner of this square there was a store kept by William and Wesley Carrel. Across the street east from the square there was a store kept by John A. McFarland, Boone County's first banker, who also kept the postofhce. On the southeast corner of the block just north of this square was a store kept by John Houser. These were the business houses of the place at that date. "During the year of 1853 an affair which caused considerable excitement took place between John A. McFarland and John Houser. Houser came into the postoffice to register a letter. This was the only way there was at that time to transmit money through the mails as nobody could get a money order or a bank draft at that time. Postmaster McFarland took the letter, and seeing the return was on properly, he gave Houser a receipt for it and was just in the act of finishing the registry of the letter when a customer came in for some goods. He laid the letter on his desk and waited on his customer. When he came back to finish up Houser had taken his receipt and gone out and the letter was also gone. So he went to Houser's place of business and asked him if he had taken the letter back with him. He was assured by Houser that he had not. 'What did the letter contain?' asked the postmaster. The answer was that it contained $20.00. 'I suppose then,' said the postmaster, 'that, as I cannot find the letter and receipted you for it, I will have to pay you the $20.00.' " 'To be sure,' said Houser, 'I shall expect you to make good your failure to find the letter, or in other words your failure to send it through the mails.' McFarland paid the $20.00, took back the receipt and returned to his place of business. But after thinking the matter over carefully, he arrived at the conclusion that Houser had taken the letter from the desk and had carried it away when he went from the postoffice. As he meditated upon this his anger arose to such a pitch that he secured a cowhide and went again to Houser's place of business, called him out in front of the building and laid upon his back many stripes. McFarland was arrested, tried and found guilty of assault and battery and was fined $4.50. "This was the end of the first case of cowhiding in the county. In 1856 there was a case of horse whipping on the street east of this square. Elisha Bowman claimed that William Francis had captured, killed and used for meat in his family a pet elk which belonged to him, and he demanded pay for the same. Francis contended that the elk was running wild and at large, and that it was not a pet and never had been, and for this reason he should not give him a cent for it. Bowman went away, secured a horse whip and as he went south on the street found Francis standing in front of the old Parker House. Without form or ceremony he commenced plying his whip to the shoulders and back of Francis. The latter undertook to make his escape by fiight, but Bowman kept up with him, giving him a hard stroke every few steps as thev went. When Francis reached the allev at the center of the block he saw an axe in a wood pile a few feet east of the street and with one bound he seized the axe and turned upon Bowman with the ferocity of a Bengal tiger. Bowman turned and went up the street faster than he came down it, with Francis after him, having the axe raised in a striking attitude. When Bowman reached the barroom of the Parker House he made a hurried entry while others headed Francis off, ended the fracas of the pet elk, and took the axe from him. Ihis was the first case of horse whipping in the county. "The next thrilling incident I shall call attention to took place between two prominent individuals, both of whom at the time occupied official positions. One of them was C. J. McFarland, yho at the time was judge of the District Court, and the other was Hon. Cornelius Beal, at the time a member of the State Legislature. For some reason these officials had a spite one against the other. "The action which Beal took in support of the bill redistricting the state under the Constitution of 1857 met the disapproval of judge McFarland and greatly intensified his anger toward Representative Beal. This was in the year 1857. One day they were both at home, and free for that day from official duties. They met accidentally in front of the Parker House about where the Bowman-Francis encounter commenced. Judge McFarland was a large man with long, luxuriant whiskers and of very prepossessing personal appearance. Beal was a small man but very quick of motion. McFarland commenced the action by aiming a blow at Beal with his fist, which, if the latter had not succeeded in dodging, would have brought him to ground. Beal then made a quick lunge and caught a handfull of the judge's whiskers, and pulled with all his might until he separated a good bunch of them from the judge's face. By this time friends of both these men came up and separated them and thus the encounter ended. "There is a little piece of history connected with the election of Judge McFarland which is very interesting. It will be remembered that he was first appointed to fill a vacancy in 1854, by Governor Hempstead, and in April, 1855, he was elected for a full term. The district was very evenly divided as to party strength. Polk County was then in this judicial district, and W. W. Williamson, who lived in Des Moines, was the opposing candidate. When the votes were counted it developed that one precinct in one of the sparsely settled counties of the district had not held their election in the way prescribed by law, but had held it in a new and novel way. This precinct had not been furnished with a ballot box, poll books or tickets. So on election day they met, elected a president and secretary. The president called for every man who wanted to vote for McFarland to stand up in a row on his right hand side, and all who wished to vote for Williamson to stand up on his left hand side. It appears that nearly all of them voted in this way for McFarland. The secretary took note of all the proceedings and sent in the names of all the voters and the persons voted for to the county seat. "Immediately there was a dispute as to whether or not these votes should be counted. It so happened that if these votes were counted McFarland would be elected and if thrown out Williamson would be elected. So here was a contest of a very interesting character. "Those who had the count in charge decided the matter in favor of Williamson. McFarland appealed from the decision of this count and the court decided that unless it could be shown that there was fraud practiced in casting the votes in the precinct above referred to, they should be counted, for these voters were citizens of the state and entitled to their elective franchise. This gave the office to Judge McFarland, because no claim of fraud was ever made. "In the year 1858 there was an incident which occurred on the streets of the Town of Boonesboro which is now entirely forgotten so far as I know. There was a place up the street east from the corner, where a large amount of whiskey and beer was sold and drank. Boonesboro was not then incorporated and there did not seem to be any easy way to stop this place from doing business. Finally the women of the town to the number of about twenty-five met and organized themselves into an executive committee of which Mrs. Benjamin Brunning was chairman. They marched in a body to the place where the evil spirits were sold and there they found, as usual, a good number of men gathered. They were surprised at the sight of so many ladies in a saloon, and they gave place to them. "The committee rolled the beer kegs into the street, took the bottles from the shelves and carried them out and all were emptied of their contents upon the ground. This action caused intense excitement but Boonesboro was a dry town for several weeks afterward. When the committee was through with its work of casting out the evil spirits, Mrs. Brunning made a speech, thanking the committee for its triumphant action and then the committee adjourned subject to the call of the chairman. "Take notice that this took place long before Carrie Nation was heard of."

Source: History of Boone County, Iowa
N. E. Goldthwait, Supervising Editor
Illustrated, Volume I
Chicago, Pioneer Publishing Company
1914

Transcribed by Lynn Diemer-Mathews and uploaded September 9, 2024.

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