Chapter Twenty Three

HISTORY OF PLEASANT GROVE, PRAIRIE AND RICHLAND TOWNSHIPS.

PLEASANT GROVE.

This township was suveyed about the same time as the other townships of the county, but not settled until 1850.

Amos Holloway, S. Whitaker, Noah Van Winkle, William Hambleton, John Wymore, John Wyatt, John Whitaker and Benjamin Murrey were among its early settlers. These men, with their families, came from Ohio and Indiana. After they had erected cabins for themselves they proceeded to provide churches and schools for the growing settlement. The first school was taught by Richard Mayberry. This school was a private enterprise, but two years later the districts were organized under the law and three school houses were built. The township now has eight modern schoolhouses outside of Barnes City.

The township was named from a fine grove of timber which it contained. Coal and limestone are its mineral products. The northern and eastern portions of the township are mostly prairie. North Skunk river runs across the southwest corner, and by its tributaries the lands are well watered and drained.

Dr. Fisher is said to have conducted the first re1igious services in the township; which resulted in the organization of a Christian church in 1854.

Agricola, a village near the north center of the township, was laid out in the last named year by David Santee. It furnished a home market and trading place for the community until in recent years the coming of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad across the northeast corner of the township changed the center of business to Barnes City.

This village has an excellent school building, which, with its well ordered schools, is the pride of the place. It contains about three hundred population and is well represented with churches and commercial interests.

The township contains 190 farms, whose value is $223,560, and its personal property value is $47,909. It has a population of about 1,000 persons.

PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP.

This township was originally a part of Madison township and was not separately organized until 1856. It received its name from the fact that there was almost no timber at all on its rich, rolling prairies. For that reason it was among the last townships to be settled and organized. Its homes and farms are now among the most valuable in the county.

Middle creek originates in Prairie township and drains almost its entire surface. It has no rock quarries or coal deposits.

The first settler was John Hiler, a halfblooded negro, who settled on section 3 in 1844· A man named Wallace came next from Indiana in 1845. Alexander Stewart moved from Pennsylvania in 1847, living alone for one year in his claim cabin before his family joined him. A. C. Doze came in 1848. Other settlers followed, locating mostly in the northern sections.

The first schoolhouse was built in 1856 in the center of section 3, and Jesse Ballinger taught the first school. Shortly after the close of this term of school this young man professed the Mormon faith and took up his march to Salt Lake, where he has since made his home.

The first sermon is said to have been preached in the same year at the home of Levi Stewart, by John Curry, a Baptist minister from Virginia.

As the demand for public lands grew the township became the home of enterprising farmers who had learned the value of good prairie lands. The first election was held April, 1856, at the home of Jesse Grace on the southwest quarter of section 8. Alexander Stewart and T. B. Campbell were elected justices ; Jesse Grace, assessor, and John McCrery, clerk. The trustees were Levi Stewart, P. Heitsman and J. R Jackson. Milton Crookham was elected constable and Robert VV. Oldham and Alexander Morton supervisors. The oath of office was administered by J. B. Stewart, Esq., who was then a resident of union township. Though the last to be organized Prairie is now one of the richest and best townships in the county.

The village of Taintor is located on section 6, of the Newton branch of the Iowa Central Railroad, and affords a trading point and market for the farmers of a rich section of country.

The township has 194 farms, whose valuation is $397,041. Personal property amounting to $142,190. The entire population is 2,600.

NEW SHARON.

This town was platted July 22, 1856, and is located on sections 13 and 24. After some searching for a suitable name, it was decided that the name of the postoffice should be Sharon. When it was found that Warren county already had an office by that name New Sharon was recommended to the postoffice department and was accepted by all as the name of the town.

Edward Quaintance erected the first building in 1856 and James Winder the second, in which he opened the first store for general merchandise in 1857.

Mr. H. J. Vail, the editor and founder of the New Sharon Star, has written a quite complete history of Prairie township, from which we quote: "The growth of the town was decidedly slow until the years of speculation, as one of the natural results of the Civil war, which was inaugurated in this country in 1860. Gradually it developed until the close of the war, when the spirit of enterprise and speculation that was swelling every avenue of our commercial system with unhealthy vigor, pushed it rapidly forward. In 1870 the prospect for the early completion of the Central Railroad of Iowa through the town was so flattering that the attention of enterprising men in various parts of the country was directed thereto, and as a result the population of the town increased by hundreds. Like all other towns, New Sharon reached a point when a too rapid growth necessarily received a check. Between the years of '72 and '76 she added more than 400 to her population through emigration alone and could boast of about 900 inhabitants."

New Sharon was incorporated in 1871, the first election being held on October 4th of that year. H. M. Forney was elected mayor. A prohibition ordinance was the first act passed by the council, and the city has always maintained a clean record on the liquor question.

The city has had two severe fires in its history, one April 29, 1876, in which the damage amounted to $30,000, and another December 14, 1886, resulted in a loss of $16,000.

It is a good trading point, being well represented in the various lines of business. It has an electric light plant, a good system of water works, substantial business buildings and elegant homes.

Its present population is 1,300, and a large per cent of them are church-going people. The denominations represented are Friends, Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian and Baptist.

They have a fine school building and employ the best talent in their teaching force.

RICHLAND TOWNSHIP.

Richland township is in the northwest corner of the county. The name was suggested by William Laurance, who came in 1843, because of the productiveness of its soil. Its section lines were run in 1845 by James Grant, who afterward became a leading attorney, a district judge and a man of wealth. In the draft of his surveys among the county records are found located the claim of George Buckley, who was the first settler in the township, and built the first cabin about one mile west of the town of Peoria.

J. E. Godby, L. Miller, J. James, Thomas Baldwin; Moses Wasson, L. Osborn, Powell Bush and William Laurance are among the first settlers.

Moses Wasson was the first justice of the peace of the township, having been elected in 1846.

The first school in the township was taught by Miss Mary Westlake in 1847 in a log cabin belonging to T. Baldwin. The second was conducted by Warren Lathrop.

The Methodist Episcopal church in Peoria, built in 1856, was the first church. The first religious services, however, were held in George Westlake's cabin some time prior to the building of the church.

The very early settlers went to Whistler's mill, southeast of Sigourney, on North Skunk. A majority, however, went to Duncan's mill where a register was kept of each grist and applications for grinding were waited on in the order in which their names appeared on the record. It is said that work was thus engaged for two more weeks for a constant run day and night. This scarcity of mills, however, was only temporary. The Robert Warren mill was built on South Skunk in the southwest portion of the township and did a good business in its day.

Near the center of the township the village of Peoria is located. It was laid out May 21, 1853, by Theodric Spain on land owned by himself, George Westlake and Sanford Haines. The Hollanders have absorbed almost everything in that part of the township. There is a Methodist and Christian church, but they have fallen into decay for want of support. The best farm lands are in the northern and eastern portions of the township. The southwestern portion is broken and covered with timber. There are excellent quarries of building stone near Peoria. From these quarries some fifty years ago Jasper county obtained stone to build a courthouse. Granville, located on section I, was also laid out by Theodric Spain. It served as a neighborhood trading place in the early years, but the business has gone to the railroads. Richland township now has ten schools. At least half of its population are Hollanders, who are among its best citizens. It has two hundred and twenty-two farms, whose value is $218,060, and personal property to the value of $48,991. Its last reported population was 1,200.