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Andrew Startz
Andrew Startz was a native of Pennsylvania, from whence he began to move westward in 1805, till he arrived at Burlington, Iowa, in 1839, and from thence to the White Breast Settlement, in 1844 or '45, and finally settled in Union. Since then he has been to California two or three times. He is now a citizen of Missouri.
In 1844 Mr. Startz went to Burlington to get some corn he had cultivated there, and took thirty-six bushels of it to get ground at Waterville. In this trip he was greatly detained by high waters, and did not reach home till about the end of six weeks. During this time Mrs. Startz and two of the children cultivated fifteen acres of corn with hoes and kept it clean.
Such was the scarcity of breadstuffs at this time that Mr. S.'s supply of meal was besieged by so many borrowers that he soon loaned out all but about three bushels. Fifteen bushels of it were never returned.
Mr. Startz made three trips to Burlington to mill. At this time there was no settlement between Fairfield and Oskaloosa, and but few houses between that and Red Rock. On one occasion it was so cold that Mr. S. was compelled to run for several miles to keep from freezing till he could reach a shelter, which he found at Blakeway's, in what is now Summit, after midnight.
Mr. Startz was the hero of a legal contest that came before a justice's court in Red Rock, in '46 or '47, under the title of "Brown vs. Startz," the object of which was to establish the ownership of a certain dog claimed by both parties. As the parties were well known, and the case rather novel, large numbers of people came to witness the trial. After it was over, and judgment was rendered in favor of Startz, the latter proposed to treat the company, which was not objected to. But, as enough whisky could not be found, several kinds of liquors were mixed, and the result was soon perceptible and highly entertaining. A small quantity of such a compound was sufficient to disturbe the mental if not the physical equilibrium of even those who had been accustomed to drinking one kind. It is supposed that there were more tipsy people in Red Rock that day than have been there at one time before or since. Even staid old fellows who prided themselves upon their sobriety, made the unfortunate mistake of taking "a drop too much" on that occasion.
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The Indians also proved troublesome by appropriating everything to their own use that could be used for food. Once during the absence of Mr. Startz, they appropriated most of his corn from the crib; and Mrs. S., in order to save some of it, had to store it in the house. Not having any sacks to carry it in, she used a bed tick for this purpose.