STREET, Joseph Monfort 1782 - 1840

STREET, SPAULDING, WAPELLO, PERKINS, LEVY, HOWARD

Posted By: Richard K Thompson (email)
Date: 3/3/2014 at 13:54:14

Fairfield Ledger
Fairfield, Jefferson county, Iowa
December 18, 1901
Pg. 3 Col. 5

Caring for the Old Graves

At the monument works of W. C. Spalding of this city, prepared for shipment, is a tablet to the memory of Gen. Joseph M. Street. It is made from Bedford limestone, and is 36x72 (sic. microfilm image had slight line through the story, so the first numeral could be 86, but 36 seems more likely) inches in size. It bears the following inscription:

* * * (emphasis added for clarity)
(Note: text on each line of verse was centered in published column)

In Memory of
GEN. JOSEPH M. STREET
Son of Anthony and Mary, born in
Virginia, October 19th, 1782.

Firm in the hour of danger, he had a
soul sincere and a heart fraught with
the best feelings of human-
ity. Virtue, Honor and
Piety were his
guides.
He died at the Sac and Fox Agency,
May 15th, 1840.

" Say to the righteous that it shall be
well with him; for they that eat of
the fruit of their doings." - Isa., 3:10.

* * * (emphasis added for clarity)

Gen. Street was for many years agent for the government with the Sac and Fox Indian tribes at their agency on the Des Moines river, where the town of Agency now stands and whence it derived its name. He had formerly been agent for the Winnebagoes at Prairie du Chien, Wis. Under a treaty made in 1836, the Sacs and Foxes ceded the Blackhawk purchase to the United States and were removed shortly afterward to the Des Moines river agency. They were a turbulent and warlike people, and Gen. Street had so won the confidence and good will of other tribes with which he had been associated that his selection for this position was considered a mark of honor. He selected lands, erected neccessary buildings and conducted a farm, built two mills and endeavored to start the red men in the ways of civilization. The Sacs and Foxes relinquished their title to these lands, and to all others in Iowa, October 11th, 1842, and all were removed from the state within two or three years following.

Gen. Street died at the agency and his remains were interred there, a short distance east of the town. The remains of his wife, Eliza Maria Street, Wapello (sic. Chief Wapello), a well known chief of the Sacs and Foxes, are interred in the same plot of ground, as well as those of other persons of lesser note (sic. there are 10 burial memorials on FindAGrave for 'Chief Wapello Memorial Park', as it has been designated). Their graves can be seen from passenger trains of the C. B. & Q. Railway company, to the south of the right of way. Several years ago the company erected a tablet in memory of Chief Wapello. Recently that which marked the resting place of Gen. Street had become broken and decayed, and this one will take its place. Mrs. Street's grave is marked in like manner. In the construction of its new double track, the company has purchased the tract of ground on which these graves are located. It proposes to fence and park it (sic. meaning to enclose it) and will preserve it in memory of these people who were so closely associated with the earliest history of the state. The idea is said to be that of ex President C. E. Perkins of Burlington, and it has been carried into execution by Superintendent C. M. Levy, under whose orders E. A. Howard of this city was acting when he placed the order for this tablet.

* Transcribed for genealogy and historical purposes. I am not related to the person(s) named.

Note: This account was found in a microfilm image reel of the Fairfield Ledger, on file in the Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield, Iowa. Other accounts found elsewhere have tried to interpret the original text, but evidently there was (is ?) much weathering of the inscription, so some lettering was not legible enough to read. Because this item details the full inscription it is transcribed by this contributor to assist those researching Gen. Street, Chief Wapello, and their gravesite near Agency, Wapello county, Iowa.

A FindAGrave memorial (see link) for Gen. Joseph Monfort Street is maintained by FindAGrave as a 'famous' memorial. That entry lists the DOB as October 18, 1782. The story above quotes the inscription as "October 19th, 1782" for the DOB. The biography used on that memorial is written per the guidelines for FindAGrave 'famous' memorials, which limits any use of genealogy or other notes that would otherwise pertain to the person designated as 'famous'.

Joseph Monfort Street - FindAGrave memorial
 

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