CHAPTER XI.
BENTON TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).

PIONEER SETTLERS OF TOWNSHIP.

William Hamlin was the pioneer settler of Benton township, and was among the first dozen in Cass county. On the 6th day of May, 1851, he located on section 6, and commenced the improvement of his claim by the erection of a rude log cabin, sixteen by sixteen feet in dimensions. Mr. Hamlin remained about five years, when he removed to Pymosa township and later became a resident of Arkansas. Before taking final leave of Mr. Hamlin, it should be stated that besides erecting the first building of any kind in Benton township, he planted its first corn and potatoes and gathered its first crop.

Mr. Hamlin appears to have had the field pretty much to himself for a couple of years, the next settler to locate being Robert Stansbury, on section 11. He built a cabin and made some improvements, but became dissatisfied with the outlook and removed to Audubon county. In 1854 came William Millhollen and built a cabin and improved a farm on section 10, but later removed to Bear Grove, Guthrie county. James Montgomery, who located during the same year on section 14, likewise made a show of founding a home, but after a short time departed for Bates county, Mo. John Eagan, another settler of '54 , built a cabin and broke some land on section 14. He might have remained--but after about a year he was thrown from his wagon and died from the result of his fall. His family, however, remained in the vicinity for many years.

THE FIRST STABLE PIONEER.

The first pioneer of permanence and of stability to settle in Benton township was Joseph Northgraves, who in 1854 located a piece of land on section 29. After erecting thereon a house 16x20 feet, made from boards cut with a whip-saw out of native timber, he returned to Hamilton county, Ohio, where his family was awaiting him. In the fall of 1855 Mr. Northgraves removed his family and household effects to their new home, where for many years he engaged in farming and milling--the latter being the occupation to which he devoted most of his life. In 1870 he erected a flour mill on Troublesome creek, at a cost of about $3,000, which was well known throughout that section of the township as Northgraves' mill. In 1877 he disposed of this property to Henry Howell, who also combined milling with farming, and removed to Eureka, Adams county, this State, where he continued the industry in which he was so proficient.

THE FIRST FLOUR MILL.

The old Northgraves Mill was the first of its kind to be erected in Benton township. It had two run of stone, a good water power on Troublesome creek, and a capacity of about 1,200 bushels of grain in twelve hours. The machinery consisted of the Garden City Purifier, Eureka Smutter and Scourer, and a corn-sheller operated by water. The mill did good work, both under the old and the new management, and was patronized by the farmers for miles around.

Jonathan Decker and Renssalaer Silvers were settlers of 1855, both locating on section 1, where they remained about ten years, the former removing to Audubon county and the latter to Missouri.

Anson and Orson Brown, Indiana farmers, were of the more substantial class of pioneers. Anson came in 1854 and pre-empted several pieces of land, settling on eighty acres in sections 11 and 13. He represented Turkey Grove township in 1867 and 1868, on the Board of Supervisors, later residing in Atlantic township and finally locating at Ottawa, Kas.

Orson Brown, after going overland to California in 1852 and remaining four years in the Land of Promise, located on the northeast quarter of section 14, in the month of September, 1856. He purchased 120 acres of James Montgomery, who, as mentioned, had made a few improvements consisting of the erection of a log house and the breaking of sixty acres of prairie. Later Mr. Brown bought 120 acres in section 13, and in 1866 built upon the home farm one of the best residences in the township. He hauled the lumber for the house from Boonesborough and Des Moines, the trip requiring five days. Besides developing his land in the general lines of farming Mr. Brown planted and maintained a fine orchard of apples, cherries and other fruits, and was a fixed resident who was a credit to the township.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 143-144.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, July, 2018.