CHAPTER XIX.
BEAR GROVE TOWNSHIP.

THE PIONEER OF BEAR GROVE TOWNSHIP.

No one disputes the claim of Osro Baldwin to this post of honor; in fact, for two years and a half he was the only settler within the limits of the present township. In the fall of 1855 Mr. Baldwin came from the Western Reserve of Ohio, and located on section 32. There he constructed a "dug-out," in which he lived until a short time before his death, which occurred in 1858. The "dug-out" and the log cabin, which replaced it, were the first two residences in the township, and Mr. Baldwin's death was the first.

THE BALDWIN FAMILY.

The Baldwin farm was afterward owned by J. W. Brown, ex-major of Atlantic, and previously one of the early settlers at Lewis, and the old log cabin remained upon it for several years. It should be added that in the year of Mr. Baldwin's death one of his daughters married a Seth Sackett, which constituted the first marital union in the township. Osro Baldwin was the uncle of Charles Baldwin, the county clerk, who was drowned while attempting to swim Seven-Mile creek, in July, 1858. It is therefore evident that 1858 was an eventful year in the Baldwin family.

ANOTHER PIONEER OF THE PIONEERS.

The second settler of Bear Grove township was H. B. Roselle, who came from Davenport and brought with him the fruit trees by which he established the first orchard here. He arrived in the spring of 1858, and built the family house of rails and hay. In the following winter the house caught fire, and the family barely escaped alive. Mr. Roselle carried his wife a mile and a half through the deep snow, bare-footed, to Mr. Baldwin's (still occupied by the widow and her family of children) and he himself nearly perished with cold before reaching shelter.

FIRST BIRTH AND SCHOOL HOUSE.

The birth of Mr. and Mrs. Roselle's child was the first in the township. About 1863 Mr. Roselle built the first school house on section 29, and afterward sold his homestead and removed to Cass township.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 205-206.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2017.