CHAPTER XIX.
BEAR GROVE TOWNSHIP.
SETTLERS OF THE 'SIXTIES.
Lorenzo Dow Marsh was one of the best known pioneers of this locality, owned a fine farm of 360 acres, and reared a large family of sons and daughters, some of whom married and became honored residents of Cass county. One of his sons, Isaac, was the first constable of Bear Grove township. Mr. Marsh was an Ohio farmer, who removed to Grant county, Ind., in early manhood, where he was married and whence, with his wife, her family and her parents, he came to Bear Grove township in 1860. At that time, as Mr. Marsh once said, "we had no near neighbors except wolves." His purchase was 360 acres of land, to which the entire party removed during the first winter of their arrival. The father died on the homestead, at the anniversary of his birth, aged fifty-five years. His widow retained the homestead and 12 acres of land, the balance being divided among the eight children then (1873) living, viz.: Isaac, of Villisca, Iowa; Enoch W., of this township; Eveline, wife of Ephraim Martin, of Lewis; James, of Davis county, Iowa; William, living in Holt county, Neb.; Rachel, wife of J. McFadden; Ray, of Cass county; and Lorenzo Dow and Almeda, both living on the family homestead.
In the spring of 1859 Charles H. Hebing, a Prussian, who had pluckily fought his way to an education and a few hundred dollars in New York, Ohio and the West, built a log cabin on section 9, and then crossed the plains to the mines of Colorado. After making the trip on a mustang pony, he engaged in mining there for a year, and then for three years transported supplies from the Missouri river to Colorado. In 1864 he returned to his former headquarters at Lewis, and, in company with his brother, G. A. Hebing, bought 360 acres of land in section 16, this township, paying therefor [sic] from $4.50 to $25 per acre. Later they purchased a large tract in Union township, but finally divided their interests between the two townships, Charles H. retaining the holdings in Bear Grove.
It is said that Mr. Hebing was the first man in the county to declare his intention to become a citizen of the United States, afterward holding the office of township clerk for two terms and serving as school director. Although the son of a master mechanic and himself skilled with tools, he became a successful farmer and stock-raiser. He kept cattle on the prairie, in this county, when the wolves were so numerous and vicious that they would attack the young stock in the daytime, while he was herding them. Deer and elk were also plentiful then. Upon one occasion, in company with two friends, he went from Lewis to hunt in the vicinity of where Marne now stands. The party killed thirty-two elk, by running them into ravines and gulches, filled level with snow, and dispatching them with knives, hatchets and clubs. Mr. Hebing, in attempting to cut the throat of one of the animals, got astride his neck, when the elk plowed his way out of the deep snow, and gave him a free ride. He remained upon the back of the frightened animal as far as Indian Grove, when he got off and walked back to Eight-Mile Grove.
Mr. Hebing was a great lover of pets and wild animals, and while farming in Bear Grove township had elk, deer, bears and wolves, which he had tamed so that they would follow him. While freighting from the Missouri river to Colorado, he owned a yoke of buffalo which he drove across the plains with other cattle. About twenty years ago, during one of his recreation trips to Colorado, he captured a young bear which he brought back to Bear Grove. He kept the animal for a year and taught him such tricks as to shoulder arms and waltz, but finally the beast got so large and strong that he was dangerous and had to be killed.
In 1862 Dr. A. Teele came from Elkhart county, Ind., and settled on section 8, but apparently made a success neither of his profession nor his farming, for after a few years he sold his property and removed to Crawford county, where he afterward died. Rev. W. M. Graham located on section 11, in 1867, where he resided for many years.
Two well known and prosperous farmers, the fathers of large families, members of which afterward became useful members of the township, were settlers of 1869, viz.: Jerome N. Peters and Jacob T. Martin. Mr. Peters was an Ohio farmer, and first came to the Hawkeye State in 1851, settling in Clayton county two years after his marriage. There he resided for eighteen years, and when he settled in Cass county, in March, 1879, purchased 360 acres in sections 11 and 14, this township, a portion of which he at once broke for a home. He had a family of eight children.
Jacob T. Martin was a West Virginian by birth, and in September, 1861, at the age of seventeen, enlisted in the Seventh Infantry of his State. He was with the Union Army of the Potomac and participated in the McClellan campaign; was with Burnside at Fredericksburg, with Hooker at Chancellorsville, with Meade at Gettysburg, and with Grant at the siege of Petersburg. He was taken prisoner at Hatch's Run, confined at Richmond, Va., returned to his regiment, veteranized in 1864, and was honorably discharged from the service June 25, 1865. He had been married the previous March, and in April, 1867, removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of Noble township in October, 1869. Afterward he bought a fine farm of 240 acres on section 28, Bear Grove township, buying the property of George Carter. His family consisted of six children, several of whom were born in Cass county.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 206-208.Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2017.
