HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY

CHAPTER XXVI.

MISCELLANEOUS.

FARMER'S MUTUAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION OF O'BRIEN COUNTY

This O'Brien county insurance company, the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association, has developed into one of the substantial and permanent institutions of the county. It was established March 24, 1890, hence is just completing a quarter of a century. It has grown steadily as the county has increased in number of people and in numbers and value of insurable buildings and property. It has proved practical in that it has and is doing more fire and lightning insurance than any other one company now selling that class of insurance in the county, and also in that it does the service and furnishes a cheap insurance, which it is able to do, not having so many middle men and with its expenses reduced to the minimum. Its policy holders thus get their insurance at actual cost. Some of the best men in the county have been in the managemnt. The people appreciate it, as is evidencd by the figures given below. It is distinctly one of the well established and historic county-wide institutions.
J.P. Martin was its first president for five years until 1895. S.B. Crosser, its present president, followed and has served nineteen years. Its three secretaries have served, respectively, L. T. Gates, twelve; C. L. Rockwell, seven, and Theodore Zimmerman, five years. Its three treasurers have served, respectively, L. S. Austin, two; H. P. Scott, seven, and John H. Archer, fifteen years. It has, in total, issued four million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, measured by insurance values. It now has seventeen hundred outstanding living policies, and in total has issued six thousand nine hundred and ninety-six policies. Its average policy has been twenty-five hundred dollars. Its total losses paid since organization have been sixty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-five dollars and eleven cents. Its cost per thousand dollars per annum has been one dollar and ninety-eight cents, or nineteen cents and eight mills per hundred dollars per annum. It perhaps would be true that some companies insuring the larger town properties and stocks of goods would exceed this company in total insurance, the insurance of this

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company being largely issued on farm property. But therein lies still another item of safety and cheap insurance.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS.

We will here give a place for a brief mention of the present members in the Iowa State Legislature from these districts: Nicholas Balkema, state senator, of Sioux Center; Charles C. Cannon, representative of Paullina, state officials, present county officials and other items.

NICHOLAS BALKEMA.

Nicholas Balkema is the present state senator from this, the forty-ninth senatorial district, composed of the counties of Lyon, O'Brien, Sioux and Osceola. He was born in Gibbsville, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, April 7. 1865, of Dutch parents. He attended the Gibbsville district school and afterwards graduated from the Sheboygan Falls high school. He moved to Newkirk. Iowa, in 1884. He taught school one year, and then started in the mercantile business at that place, running the post office in connection therewith. He sold out in 1894 and moved to Sioux Center, in Sioux county, Iowa, and continued the same business and in which he is still engaged. He also runs a clothing store at Paullina in our own county. He has been interested in banking matters, in which he was vice-president. He has served on the city council, and is president of the school board at Sioux Center, having served in that capacity for ten years. He is a member of the Dutch Reformed church. He was elected senator in 1908 and re-elected in 1912. He is a Republican in politics.

CHARLES C. CANNON.

Charles C. Cannon is the present representative from O'Brien county. He was born in Loudon county, Tennessee, June 28, 1862, of American parentage. He attended the University of Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1886. The same year he moved to Paullina, Iowa, where he engaged in the grain business, which occupation he follows at the present. He was married to Grace Jennings June 16, 1896, and his family consists of four girls. He is a member of the First Presbvterian church of Paullina, and a member of the Masonic lodge. He was elected representative in 1912. He is a Democrat in politics.

470 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

OFFICIALS OF O'BRIEN COUNTY IN 1913.

County auditor, J.B. Stamp; coroner, Milo Avery; clerk of courts, W. J. E. Thatcher; county treasurer, H. C. May; county recorder, Bessie J. Beers; county attorney, R. J. Locke; sheriff, H. W. Geister; superintendent of schools, J. J. Billingsly; supervisors, chairman, Peter Swenson, M. F. McNutt, W.C. Jackson, Ralph C. Jordan, William Strampe.

IOWA STATE OFFICIALS, 1913.

Governor, George W. Clark, Adel, Dallas county; lieutenant-governor. William L. Harding, Sioux City; secretary of state, William S. Allen, Fairfield, Jefferson county; auditor of state, John L. Bleakly, Ida Grove, Ida county; treasurer of state, William C. Brown, Clarion, Wright county; attorney-general, George Cosson, Audobon, Audobon county; clerk supreme court, Burgess W. Garrett, Leon, Decatur county; superintendent public instruction, Albert M. Deyoe, Garner, Hancock county; reporter supreme court, Wendell W. Cornwall, Spencer, Clay county; railroad commission, Clifford Thorne, Washington, Washington county; David J. Calmer, Washington, Washington county; N. S. Ketchum, Marshalltown, Marshall county; adjutant-general, Guy E. Logan, Red Oak, Montgomery county (appointed).

CITIZENS OF O'BRIEN COUNTY WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE.

Osmond M. Barrett, of Sheldon, served in the House of Representatives of the state in the nineteenth Assembly in 1882, and in the State Senate in the twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second and twenty-third General Assemblies in 1884, 1886, 1888 and 1890. In politics he is a Republican.
George W. Schee, of Primghar, served in the House of Representatives of the state in the twentieth and twenty-first General Assemblies in 1884 and 1886, and again in the thirty-third and thirty-fourth Assemblies in 1909 and 1911. Republican in politics.
E. F. Parkhurst, of Sheldon, served in the House of Representatives in the twenty-second General Assembly in 1888. Republican in politics.
Herbert B. Wyman, then of Sheldon, now of Des Moines, served in the House of Representatives in the 23rd General Assembly in 1890. Republican in politics.
John F. Hinman, of Primghar, served in the House of Representatives in the twenty- fourth General Assembly in 1892. Democrat in politics.
Ezra M. Brady, of Sanborn, served in the House of Representatives in

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the regular session of the twenty-sixth General Assembly in 1896, and also in the long special session called together by the governor to enact, and which did enact, the Code of Iowa for 1897. Republican in politics.
Charles Youde, of Sutherland, served in the House of Representatives in the thirty-second General Assembly in 1907 and in the extra session of the same Legislature. Republican in politics.
George R. Whitmer, then of Primghar, now of Sioux City, served in the House of Representatives in 1906 and 1907, in the thirtieth and thirty-first Assemblies. Democrat in politics.
Charles C. Cannon served in the House of Representatives in the thirty fifth General Assembly in 1913. Democrat in politics.
It might be here added that E. J. English, for several years superintendent of the Primghar high schools, and for many years a resident of Primghar and vicinity, served several terms in the House of Representatives in the state of South Dakota, from De Smet, Kingsbury county.
William H. Noyes, for four years sheriff and four years county recorder in O'Brien county, was likewise a member of the Minnesota Legislature for two terms.

CITIZENS OF O'BRIEN COUNTY WHO HAVE SERVED AS DISTRICT JUDGES.

Scott M. Ladd, of Sheldon, occupied the district court bench of the then fourth judicial district of Iowa from January 1, 1887, to January 1, 1897. Republican in politics.
William D. Boies, of Sheldon, now occupies a seat on the district bench in what is now the twenty-first judicial district of Iowa, by appointment of the Governor of Iowa, serving from January 1, 1913. Republican in politics,

CITIZENS OF O'BRIEN COUNTY WHO HAVE SERVED IN STATE OFFICES.

Scott M. Ladd, of Sheldon, who first served as above shown on the district bench of Iowa, was at the election held November 3, 1896, elected and elevated to the supreme court of Iowa, and has served continuously to the present time, and has served as chief justice of that court in rotation with its other members from year to year according to the rules of that body.
Edward C. Brown, of Sheldon, was elected November 3, 1901, and served as railroad commissioner of the state from January 1, 1902, to January 1, 1905. Republican in politics.
Edward C. Brigham. who was raised on a farm in Dale township, O'Brien county, served as state labor commissioner from January 1, 1902, to January 1, 1909, seven years.

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OFFICIAL VOTE.

FOR CONGRESS
SCOTT	1020
VAN WAGENEN	1375
HALLAM	842

FOR GOVERNOR
CLARK	936
DUNN	1623
STEVENS	891

	PRESIDENTIAL VOTE
TAFT 1912
BRYANT 1326

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 473

POPULATION AND OTHER STATISTICS.

The following is the census for 1910 by towns and townships. The population of townships signifies the number outside the town within that township. Total population of county, 17,262.

Baker	442	Highland	690
Caledonia	826	Liberty	643
Carroll	403	Calumet	242
Archer	351	Lincoln	494
Center	629	Omega	586
Dale	633	Moneta	44
Floyd	571	Summit	502
Sheldon	2,941	Primghar	733
Franklin	500	Union	605
Sanborn	1,174	Paullina	796
Grant	666	Waterman	537
Hartley Tp.	484	Sutherland	664
Hartley Town	1,106

MILES OF RAILROAD BUILT.

Milwaukee road, built in 1878	24.08 miles
Sioux City road, built in 1872	6.55 miles
Illinois Central road, built in 1887	26.73 miles
Northwestern road, built in 1881	25.21 miles
Rock Island road, built in 1900	13.22 miles
Total mileage	95.70 miles

Males in the county	9,008
Females in county	8,254
Total population of county, 1910	17,262

Number of voters	4,846
Number ofdwellings in county	3,600
Number of families in county	3,656
Farms on which live native Americans only	1,127
Farms on which foreign languages are spoken in part	700
Total farms in county	1,827

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Acres of land in county	363,860
Acres actually in farming	327,809
Total value of farms	$40,380,379
Value of the land without buildings	31,170,886
Value of all buildings, farm and town	13,754,540
Value of farm machinery	965,270
Value of domestic animals	3,622,491
Square miles in county	569
Population per square mile in whole county	30.3
Farm population per square mile	25.2

DOMESTIC ANIMALS, 1913.

Cattle	47,722
Horses	13,972
Mules	136
Hogs	83,105
Sheep	22,624
Poultry		184,005
Hives of bees	807

COMPARISON OF FIVE YEARS' EXPENDITURES ON COUNTY FUND.

1908	$28,172.49
1909	28,769.30
191O	27,206.48
1911	31,629.28
1912	26,954.85

EXPENDITURES FOR 1912 ON COUNTY FUND.

County Auditor's Office	$ 2,566.49
County Treasurer's Office	2,189.35
Clerk District Court and Office	2,565.80
County Recorder's Office	1,781.93
Sheriff's Office	1,946.05
Superintendent of Schools and Office	1,961.76
County Attorney and Office	1,202.14
George J. Smith, Supervisor	153.45
Peter Swenson, Supervisor	160.45

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W. C.Jackson, Supervisor	106.10
M. F. McNutt, Supervisor	150.10
Ralph C. Jordan, Supervisor	169.75
Official Printing	1,417.35
Assessments and Supplies	2,215.85
Bounties on Scalps	79.10
Township Officers	580.20
Boards of Review	52.00
Primary Election Expense	1,056.77
General Election Expense	1,468.60
District Court Expenses	1,557.14
Justice's Court Expenses	145.50
Coroner's Court Expenses	50.04
Grand Jury Expense	189.30
Court House	1,734.85
Jail	371.40
School Books	1,183.38
Total on County Fund	$26,954.85

EXPENDITURES ON OTHER FUNDS.

Road Fund Expense	$ 1,973.10
Bridge Fund	26,120.05
Teacher's Institute Expense	376.90
Farmer's Institute Expense	75.00
Soldier's Relief Fund	294.50
Damages for Domestic Animals	322.11
Insane Fund	6,117.25
Feeble Minded Institute Fund, Seven Pupils 120.41
Total	$35,399.32

As will be seen, this foots up an aggregate of $62,354.17 as the total cost of running all branches of the county for one year. We have selected the year 1912 rather than 1913 in showing up expenditures, for the reason that it is the even numbered year, and includes the expenses of the primary andgeneral elections. The bridge fund expresses the amount of internal improvements.

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CEMETERIES.

The sacred dead now sleeping in the cemeteries throughout the county represent much of the history of which we write. Indeed, in another fifty eight years most of those now living in this county will have joined the great majority. Measuring the county alone by its numbers, this is not yet true. Our cemeteries have grown in beauty as the county has improved. In each town, ample provisions are made for their care. Local organizations and the state laws each contribute. The prairie sod has given way to the blue grass lawn and cemetery decoration. No other item better illustrates that highgrade development in the county measured by the sympathies of the heart, reverence for all that belongs to the good, the true and the beautiful, in all that belongs to the moral and sacred, than the well-kept and decorated cemeteries in each of our towns. We honor the sacred dust. They represent much of the now substantial moral and civilized standards and conditions in the county.

THE HERD LAW.

In reading the political papers the last few years, one would think that the referendum was a new question. O'Brien county, however, resorted to the referendum under the law of Iowa as early as 1874. Section 309 of the Code of 1873 (same as section 444 of the present Code) provided that the board of supervisors of O'Brien county might submit to the voters of the county the question: "Shall stock be restrained from running at large?" On July 11, 1874, the board of supervisors submitted that question to the voters, to be voted on at the election to be held the following October, 1874. At the election there were two hundred and seventy-nine votes cast on that question, of which two hundred and forty votes were in favor of the proposition and thirty-nine against same. After the election it was declared by the board adopted. It is one historic case where the early pioneers acted in referendum, and made the law for the county on this question. The resolution ordering the vote to be taken will be found in Supervisor's Record No. 1, on page 400, and the canvass of the vote and declaration of its adoption will be found in the same record on page 422.

A QUARTET SONG OF COUNTIES.

The four northwest counties of Iowa sing a quartet in unison. Its land all lays gently rolling. There is no waste. It is all the same, God only

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made land on one occasion. He made it solid. It can't blow away. They can't steal it. They can't burn it up. Its soil is all the genuine black loam stuff. It is all as good as a government bond. It beats the earth. In fact it is part of the earth. It is uniform in all respects. Many of its whole sections of six hundred and forty acres could be plowed as one land by team or engine gang-plow outfit. Therefore, here's to the Big Four counties with this rhyming couplet for a song by the quartet:

RELATIONS WITH CHEROKEE COUNTY OF O'BRIEN CITIZENS.

We should make note of the peculiar relations with Cherokee county of the early citizens, especially of the south half of our county, in the pioneer days. The county commencing its earliest settlements in the south part of county, brought this about. For instance, Mordecai Vandercook, one of the very early merchants in Cherokee, was almost a homesteader and citizen of O'Brien county, at least in sentiment and memory of its people. Clark Green had not the capital to carry or supply the credit of groceries and supplies necessary. Mr. Vandercook, like Clark Green, dished out his merchandise with over-generosity. With a heart that could not withstand the piteous appeals, he lost more or less money. The earliest homesteaders all had a good word for him. The Allison store there also performed a like, though lesser, part. The older physicians, like Dr. E. Butler, who represented Cherokee in the Legislature at the same time with George W. Schee in 1884, and Dr. Hornibrook, were household names in this county and were called to the sick bed in hundreds of occasions in the more dangerous cases, and for consultation and on actual practice, in long, tedious midnight rides. Its attorneys, E. C. Herrick, J. D. F. Smith, A. R. Molyneux and Robert McCulla, of the later attorneys, and Eugene Cowles and Judge Charles H. Lewis, of the earlier bar, have in their times become a familiar part of the O'Brien county bar. The earlier settlers were also financially accommodated on many occasions in the early days by Scribner & Burroughs, W. A. Sanforn and T. S. Steele & Son. The movements of our citizens in business and trade have been more toward Cherokee from all the east and south parts, than toward the other counties. The vicinity of Sheldon has had more of like situations with Henry Hospers and Mr. Van Oustenhout. of Sioux county, or H. L. Emmert. of Osceola countv, and other conditions in those counties.

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ABSTRACTS OF TITLE.

There have been during the period of forty years, in one shape and another, some six or seven sets of abstracts of title. John R. Pumphrey commenced the first set about 1869. S. A, Sage made part of a set a few years later. Cyrus McKay, of Decorah, Iowa, made a set in 1875. From this set J.L.E. Peck made a new set in 1889, later owned by C. S. Cooper & Co. E. Y. Royce made a set about 1890 to that date, but which have not been in use for many years. Warren Walker commenced a set about 1876. He went into the minutia and details of records more than any abstracter ever in the county; His set was rather over elaborate, and some of his details have since been omitted. Mr. Walker made plats of all towns and even copies of judgments, and a duplicate system of the abstracts itself which was found unnecessary. The following persons have at one time and another owned one or more of above sets and done abstract work: John R. Pumphrey, George W. Schee, Clinton E. Achorn, J.L.E. Peck, George R. Slocum, Frank A. Turney, Warren Walker, Isaac W. Daggett, Cyrus McKay, H.E. Thayer, S.O. Reese, Frank B. Royce, F.Y. Royce, S A. Sage, W.W. Artherholt, Clarence W. Ingham, J.F. Rover, Henry Rerick, Kenneth Rerick and F.L. Herrick. The E. Y. Royce set is now owned by his son, Frank B. Royce, but not in active use. The Warren Walker set is owned and conducted by Frank L. Herrick & Company. Henry Rerick & Son now own each of the other sets named. The business is now, therefore, centered down to the two active sets owned and conducted, one by F. L. Herrick & Company, and the other by Henry Rerick & Son, both at Primghar. Each of these two sets as now conducted contains a complete abstract of title to every tract of land, large and small, in the county, including town and suburban lots, and showing every deed, mortgage or other instrument affecting the several tracts, all systematically arranged for quick and ready reference.

EZRA M. BRADY, MEMBER OF BOARD AN EARLY INCIDENT.

During one of the county-seat contests and during the session of the board while holding the hearing or canvass, it seemed necessary to procure quickly some affidavits of some parties then working just south of Sibley. Mr. Brady started overland in the afternoon for Sheldon, procured a handcar, and, though he weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, he actually pumped that hand car from Sheldon to Ashton, procured a notary public there, and thence on to or near where these parties were working, got their

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affidavits and presented them before the board of supervisors the following morning as the board assembled in the middle of a contest then going on. On any ordinary occasion he would not have attempted such a transportation problem of thirty miles on a hand car.

A BIG STRETCH OF JUSTICE OF THE PEACE JURISDICTION IN THE COUNTY.

This incident occurred with, or rather happened to, George Hardin in Highland township, one of the old homesteaders in an early day. It was during those years when there was plenty of pasturage in the summer, that a bunch of nonresident cattle owners freely grazed their cattle over the township until cold weather They gave their names as Hartley brothers. They made a bargain with Mr. Hardin to winter about one hundred and fifty head of cattle through the winter on his corn stalks and corn feeding. In the spring Hartley brothers came on for their cattle. Mr. Hardin was absent fiom home. They made demand of the wife and hired man, and were refused. Mr. Hardin would have had a lien for his pay. They saw the advantage of his absence. They went before a justice of the peace in another part of the county, as a replevin suit can be brought in any justice court in the county, swore to a petition of replevin, and put up a straw bond, with one of their herders on the bond, which of necessity was no good. The justice should have known that he had no jurisdiction in the case, but he did not, it seemed. Here was this large herd of cattle, worth all the way from fifteen to twenty and twenty-five dollars per head. They were worth more than two thousand dollars. A justice has jurisdiction only up to a value of one hundred dollars. But with all that gall and self-assurance, they took the justice off his feet when taken unawares, and actually persuaded the justice to issue a writ of replevin for all those cattle and placed the writ in the hands of a constable for service. The constable should also have known that no such writ was good. He found it out a few days after. It was all done so quickly, and Mr. Hardin absent, that by the time he got back the cattle were outside the county and beyond the jurisdiction of even the district court, shipped, gone no one knew where, and probably out of the state.

THE HAY TWISTER.

The county being almost entirely prairie, the fuel question was an important matter. Early settlers had no money with which to buy coal. But necessity became the mother of invention. The rich prairie soil produced

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grass from one to five feet high. This hay grass supplied the fuel. This item was indeed a boon to the settler and supplied free grass hay and pasture. Many a man and most settlers could thus raise some stock, supply their own meat, butter and milk and market a little. The term "hay twister" was then familiar. Indeed every old homesteader became known as a "hay twister," and took pride in that rustic epithet.
This hay twisting machine was a simple device. The loose hay must first be twisted or pressed into compact form to retain heat. This simple machine consisted of an ordinary frame, with two uprights about three feet high. In the top of these uprights was attached a crank and cross rod; the crank turned and the hay spun on the rod like yarn is spun, and in a moment a quite solid stick of hay, or wood, is made. These hay twisters became so expert, that many made them simply by hand. These sticks were corded up in cords like wood in the barns or sheds, and would last about like cobs. But as hay was free and the labor the only question, and as this labor could be done in the winter, it proved very practical. It was claimed that a man with a hay stack could in a day twist more hay, that would last longer, than he could chop wood with the logs at hand. But as there were no logs save a few on the Waterman, and as coal was out of the question, and had to be hauled after being paid for from Cherokee or Fort Dodge, it was either twist hay or freeze, and a very comfortable alternative. Sheet iron stoves were soon made expressly for the purpose. One inventive genius actually worked on a patent on a device that would thus twist the hay direct from the hay stack into the stove, but as he forgot one material item, namely, that such a device left a dangerous haystack in too close proximity, and liable to burn up house and all, that it did not become practical. It was also found that in the winter time this settler could go out into a slough, where the tall grass stuck above the ice, and, with a horse hitched to a long heavy board, could soon scrape tons of dead grass from above the ice. and twist it into fuel in this way.
In 1877, one amusing political fight was made on Judge A. H. Willits, who was a candidate for re-election as clerk of courts, namely, that he had got so allfired tony, that he was actually burning coal for fuel, and that the poorer hay twister of a candidate should be voted for.

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O'BRIEN COUNTY AGRICULTRAL SOCIETY

Section 1660 of the Code of Iowa provides for the establishment of a county fair in each county of the state complying with the law, which when the conditions are complied with entitles it to receive sundry state relations and aids. Definite steps were taken at Sutherland at a public meeting held in Peterson hall August 17, 1887, with Dr. J. C. Bonham, chairman, and Bert Hamilton, secretary. Committees were appointed on incorporation, grounds and premiums. Mesdames C.N. Cass, F.L. Bidwell, S.A. Grosser, H.C. Kelsey, Silas Steele, H.A. Peck and J.C. Bonham were elected its first board of directors. Articles of incorporation were at once drafted and recorded and stock subscribed in the aggregate of one thousand dollars, in shares of ten debars each. A charter was procured running twenty years. On August 28th of the same year Dr. J. C. Bonham was elected its first president and C. E. Achorn. secretary. While the law only requires the purchase of ten acres, twenty acres was purchased of Nicholas Lutzell, just north of the city. As an instance of rapid, enterprising labor and effort of a united town, though much was to be contended with, on October 5 and 6, 1887, just forty-nine days after the first meeting relating to it, the society held its first county fair. The charter was renewed December 21, 1907. During this long period the societY has held highly commendable fairs every year but one. At the last fair held in 1913 from four to five thousand people were in attendance, which indicates that in an agriculture community interest will not be lost in a county fair.
The following men have held office and worked for the interest of the society, which has once each year brought these hundreds of people to Sutherland: C.N. Cass, Bert Hamilton, H.A. Peck, T.B. Bark, E.J. Elliott, W.P. Davis, R.C. Jordan, W.S. Hitchings, R.M. Van Horn, Charles Youde, J.C. Briggs, S.B. Crosser, J.B. Murphy, A.C. Bailey, L.J. Price, John Slick, H.P. Scott, F.L. Bidwell, Alex Martin, and many others.

COUNTY SEALER OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

His name was Adam Towberman. The office was never filled but once. The code of Iowa provides for it. It was April 7, 1880. There had been considerable discussion in the papers complaining of certain scales in the county. At all events Adam Towberman applied to the board of supervisors (3i)

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for appointment. He was appointed. Neither Mr. Towberman nor the board quite took in the significance of it until it was under way, as practically applied. A full set of weights and measures was purchased at a cost of one hundred and thirty dollars. When they arrived they weighed a ton or more, being test weights for all classes of scales. The law provides fees for each test made. He applied it to every merchant or public place handling articles to be weighed. Mr. Towberman started out with team and weights over the county from town to town. The owners of scales resented it as an interference, especially the fees, though not large. They thought he made more of it than the needs warranted. The news of his coming preceded him and it became a joke. At one big store in Sheldon, he started in to carrying in his big weights into one door and the clerks proceeded to carry them back around another door, and put them back into his wagon. They kept him packing weights and measures until he saw what was going on. He made but one round trip of the county. From his own standpoint it was impracticable.

WHAT BECAME OF FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND FEET OF LUMBER.

In the year 1873 Herman Greve, a large lumber dealer and mill owner in Wisconsin, shipped to John R. Pumphrey, Sheldon, Iowa, four hundred thousand feet of culls or secondary lumber from his mills. He expected Mr. Pumphrey to sell it out in the starting up of the new town Primghar. For some reason the train bringing the lumber sidetracked the cars containing it on a siding a mile north of Sheldon. This required an overland haul of nearly twenty miles to Primghar. It was during those years when help and supplies were distributed to the settlers. At all events it got noised abroad among the homesteaders that there was free lumber there for distribution. Pumphrey did not get on the ground quick enough, and did not land his lumber fast enough, and the result was that only about one hundred thousand feet ever arrived in Primghar. Some of this lumber went into the first court house built, and into sundry private dwellings. It was for many years a dispute between Pumphrey and Greve who should lose the lumber, and never was settled. Greve lost it.

THE HIGHEST POINT IN IOWA.

What is the highest point in Iowa, is very much like the question of "Who killed Cock Robin?" The "International Encyclopaedia," on the ques-

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tion of the topography of Iowa, says: "Iowa lies entirely within the great central prairie belt. Its surface is a plateau with an average height of one thousand feet in the northwestern corner of the state, the highest point being Primghar, in O'Brien county."
This, however, is still in dispute. Even the official reports do not agree. The town of Alta claims that Alta is an abbreviation of the word altitude and was so named because it is the highest point in the state. The visitor at Lake Okoboji is shown and taken to the "highest point in Iowa," on the elevation just west of Miller's bay on a part of that lake, where a cupola is built costing perhaps fifty dollars.
The "Official Register of Iowa," an official document issued by the state, gives the following altitudes in this part of Iowa: Primghar, 1498; Paullina, 1,412; Hartley, 1,458; Sibley, 1,512; Cherokee, 1,205; Des Moines, 805; Alta, 1,513; Sheldon, 1,415: Sutherland, 1,428; Spirit Lake, 1,458; Sioux City. 1,099; Ft. Dodge, 1,126; Council Bluffs, 990.
This gives it to Alta by one foot, Sibley being next. It all, however, simply means that northwestern Iowa is at the head waters of the streams in the state and hence, as a truism, northwestern Iowa is the highest point in the state. It also means that we are "up on high," with good dry land, and not in the gulf marsh. Our land is all real land. We have in actual acres in the county 363,860, and of these acres 327,800 are in actual cultivation, with the rest good pasture. This would place Primghar as the highest point in the county, but not in the state.

O'BRIEN COUNTY AND ITS DISTRICTS AND CONGRESSMEN

O'Brien county was in the second congressional district from 1860, the date of its organization, until 1863. From 1863 to 1873 in the sixth, from 1873 to 1883 in the ninth, and from 1883 until the present time in the elephantine eleventh district, so called because it was the largest. In fact, the northwest part of the state being the last to settle up, the district in which O'Brien has been has always been the largest district at the times named in the state. It will be observed that O'Brien's first representative in Congress resided at Dubuque. The following is the list with their addresses at time: William Vandever, Dubuque, 1860-63; Asahel W. Hubbard, Sioux City, 1863-69; Charles Pomeroy, Fort Dodge, 1869-71; Jackson Orr, Boone, 1871-75; Addison Oliver, Onawa, 1875-79; Cyrus C. Carpenter, Fort Dodge, 1879-83; Isaac S. Struble, Lemars, 1883-91; George D. Perkins, Sioux City, 1891-

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99; Lot Thomas, Storm Lake, 1899-05; Elbert H. Hubbard, Sioux City, 1905-12; George C. Scott, Sioux City, 1912-14; Elbert Hubbard died June 4, 1912, and George C. Scott was appointed by the governor of Iowa to fill the vacancy until election. On November 5, 1912, he was elected both for the unexpired term, and also for the present full term. The present eleventh congressional district is composed of Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sac, Sioux and Woodbury counties.

PREHISTORIC FORTIFICATIONS AND BURIAL MOUNDS.

It may not be generally known that there are definite evidences of prehistoric burial mounds and fortifications in O'Brien county. They are to be found in Grant and Waterman townships. The old homesteaders years ago were aware of them. Indeed, an atlas issued in 1911, and now in many homes in the county, show them up in part. However, they are more extensive and found in more places in the county than there set out. Frank W. Martin and Curtis L. Rockwell, ex-member of the board of supervisors, and each of Highland township, have made more specific study perhaps of the question than any other citizens in the county. Mr. Rockwell has even gone into it so far as to make considerable of a collection of relics gathered from the fortifications and burial mounds, made up of specimens of pottery, specimens of stone implements and other articles on which the handiwork of man had left its impress, which collection he presented to and is on exhibition in the Quaker school building on section 31 in Highland township. We gather these items mainly from Frank W. Martin, now residing in Highland and who homesteaded in 1871. He points out five different and definite prehistoric fortifications and three different burial mounds or ranges of mounds. The fortifications are found, one near the east line of section 22, in Grant, on Waterman creek, and while not as plain as the others, yet shows distinct evidences of excavations and pits, with pottery and other items. A second fortification is found right at the west end of the Cleghorn bridge, in that township, the road running right through the fort or fortifications. The third and most important of the fortifications is to be found on the northwest quarter of section 11, in Waterman township, on the farm of Jacob Wagoner, covering about an acre, in the form of a square, with an open entrance way on each of the four sides, the earthworks forming a very plain and distinct four square. The fourth is found on section 23, in Waterman, not far from

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the Waterman Siding, on the farm of Henry Braunschweig. The last and fifth of the forts is found about a stone's throw east of the iron bridge on Mr. Innes' farm in Waterman township. This fifth is nearly equal to the third above named, and shows very plain embankments or earth works for defense.
It is plain from the above that these mounds are at least prehistoric to O'Brien county recorded history. We see that the authorities in other states and counties differ as to the dates of origin of these earthworks, and even as to their purpose. Some authorities limit them to the Indian, other authorities date them back into the thousands of years and even into the stone age. Also some good authorities conclude that these earthwork squares were but places of worship for ceremonies of a religious nature and not as a means of defense. We will leave that question for the archaelogist to settle. If for defense, then certain it would be they were made by a people who had enemies, and who probably in their methods of fighting went further than the poor Indian, in merely in a sly manner getting to his enemy. These evidences of pottery and stone implements and relics are to be found in the earth below the top soil in places. They are, of course, much like similar earth works found in many places in the country, and perhaps not so pronounced or on so large a scale as have been found in other places and other states. It is probable they are not to be found in any other townships than Grant and Waterman. This is the only part of the county where may be found timbered streams and rugged hills in the county, the natural places to make a stand in fighting, as would be expected of such people.

BURIAL MOUNDS.

As stated, we find three distinct evidences and all in these townships. One series or ridge of these mounds may be found on the north half of the southeast quarter of section 23, just a little to the northeast of the junction of the Waterman and Little Sioux in Waterman township, on Loui Hill's farm. In one of these mounds in 1882 Frank W. Martin dug up a skeleton, evidently buried in a sitting posture. It bore evidence of being a young person, as the jaw bone had one new tooth pushing up an older one. The second and most extensive mounds, however, may be found just north of this on the same section on the farm of Charles J. Webb. Here are found mounds from six feet in height down to quite small ones, the ridge of same running somewhat irregular and extending fifty rods or more. A third

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series of like mounds may be found on section 18, in Brooks township, Buena Vista county, on the farm of William Brooks.
In this township is found what Mr. Martin terms the sort of capital of these people, a high elevation. Here was found a stone cooking stone, twelve inches in diameter, finely polished in the upper parts. This stone is in the hands of J. F. Hate, the brother-in-law of Mr. Martin, and residing in Brooks township. Several smaller burial mounds are also found in Brooks township.
Some have disputed the fact that buffaloes ever roamed in northwestern Iowa. Mr. Martin states that he has found numerous buffalo bones and wallows. Especially is he certain of this in the fact of the wide skull and the fact that the horns were black clear through and yielded to a hue black polish He found one horn in particular in an early day on the present site of Hartley where street excavations were being made.

THREE BRICK SCHOOL HOUSES IN GRANT TOWNSHIP.

It was singular that three brick school buildings were erected in Grant township in the very earliest days, when most of the school buildings in the county were but sort of shacks, like the homestead shanties. Before the people quite got on their feet, or quite knew what was going on, the school board of Grant township, about 1868, actually built three brick school buildings, each about twenty by thirty feet in size, of soft brick. On the east line of section 34 one of the three buildings was located, and known as the Wiard school house. A second one was built about eighty rods north of the present Jordan school house on section 30. A third brick was built on section 24 and known as the Rowland school house. Still a fourth brick school house was built in the same way at Old O'Brien. It was said that these school houses in fact cost the townships and boards four thousand dollars each, or quite out of proportion to the cost ideas of the early settlers, and caused more or less politics. They were voted into school bonds and. like the old county debt, finally paid off.

SCHOOL CEREMONY OVER COTTONWOOD TREES.

It was at the Wiard school house in 1871 that Frank W. Martin was the teacher and Ralph C. Jordan, the present member of the board of supervisors, and his brother, Clay P. Jordan, cashier of Jordan's Bank in Sutherland, and

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Byram Higbee and a son of Mr. Titus were pupils, that a cottonwood tree was planted by these boys and the teacher, as a part of school study and doings. Later on in years the cattle all but destroyed it. Four sprouts sprung up from the roots and grew some years, and were again nearly destroyed, leaving two sprouts or trees growing together, and which are still living.

CURIOUS INDIAN INCIDENT.

Mrs. Lottie Butler, now a lady about seventy years of age, and still residing at Peterson, and the widow of the late Dr. M.S. Butler, one of the early-day physicians of Cherokee, and who made many scores of trips to O'Brien county as a physician, and well remembered by all the early homesteaders, in 1856 was Miss Lottie Kirchner and then a little girl twelve years' of age. She was the sister of Jacob, August and John Kirchner. and a daughter of the elder Christian Kirchner, one of the very oldest of Clay county residents. Mr. Waterman lived on the O'Brien county side of the line.
The little colony at Peterson consisted of but a few families. The awful massacre of 1857 at Spirit Lake was enough to rouse up all sorts of feelings. Indeed, the Indians who perpetrated that awful outrage passed by and stopped at the home of Mr. Waterman, as stated in his narrative, and also stopped at Peterson on their trail up from Smithland to Spirit Lake at that time. The people of Peterson were rather disposed to treat the Indian from the hostile standpoint. Mr. Waterman was rather the opposite and disposed to open up communication with him and parley at times. An Indian was seen near Mr. Waterman's and Mr. Waterman, using the sign language, talked with him. The Peterson people heard of it. Miss Lottie was over to Waterman's and expressed surprise that he would even speak to one, and said. "Why, Mr. Waterman, didn't you shoot him with your gun?" "Why," said Mr. Waterman, "I wouldn't kill an Indian any quicker than I would kill your two brothers." Lottie went back home and, in a child way. reversed the statement, and said that Mr. Waterman said that "he would kill her two brothers just as quick as he would kill an Indian." The idea some way got quite set that Mr. Waterman was in cahoots or in sympathy with the Indians. and all hands were construing how much child truth she was telling in her innocence. Indeed, the real explanation was not put together for many years. At all events at the time it roused up some real sentiment at Peterson against Mr. Waterman.

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AN EARLY CANDIDATE TAKEN UNAWARES.

On one occasion, in an early day, at a county convention of the Greenback party, to which many old homesteaders belonged, Huse Woods, one of the earliest settlers in Waterman township, was a delegate. A candidate for the Legislature on the Republican ticket unwittingly allowed himself to be present, not dreaming of being called upon. Mr. Woods was much of a wit and politician, though he never sought office himself. Mr. Woods saw his point. He rose very seriously in the convention and stated that there was a candidate of the opposition party present, a candidate for the Legislature. That he believed in fair play, and that the voters of the county should hear from all the candidates from all sides. He moved the convention to call upon this candidate and give him an opportunity to state all those many questions he would urge and advocate in the Legislature, that would be of special interest to the people of O'Brien county, if he was elected to that body. The candidate was taken unawares. He managed to timidly get onto his feet, the convention cheering loudly, and began to stammer that "he did not know of any particular question that would specially interest O'Brien county." "That's all we want of you," shouted Mr. Woods. "Can it be possible that a citizen of even all this northwest Iowa would confess to such ignorance?" "Do you think, sir," Mr. Woods continued, "that the people and citizenship of O'Brien county, and of the other counties in this district, desire to send down to Des Moines to the greatest parliamentary body in the state, a man who has no opinions of his own, and who confesses that he has no knowledge of any question to urge before the legislature that would interest his fellow citizens?" It was a climax. The candidate perhaps could have made a speech and reply a week later, but it was too late. It was fatal. Another O'Brien county candidate took the county delegation and a candidate from one of the other counties was elected.

PRAIRIE CHICKENS.

The prairie chickens were untamed and untamable. Thev were not simply in scores, but in thousands in O'Brien county. The county was not noted for wild game, but the prairies were peculiarly adapted to this one fowl or bird. He absolutely would not be domesticated. Every flutter of nerve or wing or body said "Let me escape." Like the prairie grass which was his only shelter, he lost out. He was the earliest settler in the county, but lost his homestead. He could not stand civilization. But few remain. They were

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all of the same speckled gray color, no comb, nervy, would literally exhaust themselves when caught, and were very rapid in flight. Unlike wild geese and ducks, the prairie chicken did have a habitat. But that habitation was the broad expanse of a township without a boundary. They were all about the same size, with never a variation of color or mark, weight about three to four pounds. This bird seemed in utter abandon and careless with its nest and eggs and even the chicks but a few days old started out at once as wild, going everywhere. Its nesting and hatching period was May and June. The nest was a meager few dozen blades of grass, beaten down on the ground in the midst of the growing grass, ten to sixteen eggs in a nest. Even on the native prairie these eggs were at the mercy of their neighbors, the wolves and gophers. The breaking plow on prairie sod turned up and destroyed many. The roosters all had large, yellow throats, which, when extended or stretched, did the crowing stunt. It was not a crow, however, but rather a sort of sound no one could spell or pronounce, a little like the vowel sound "Oo." prolonged. These roosters during nesting time in spring stood in scores along a prairie ridge, all Oo-ing, and were quite military and grand. They were easily caught by a figure-four trap, or one of lath, six feet square, with drop doors that would swing in but not out, one of these traps often corralling a dozen at a time, with corn for inducement. They seemed to have no cunning, but fear intense. The writer on one occasion, during a month in winter, thus caught sufficient in number, by cutting simply the breast meat from each side, salted them, then hung on little hooks, and dried them like dried beef, and filled a four-gallon jar. They were fine. They helped out the homesteader much, as he could trap them without cost of ammunition. The shooting of them on the wing was fine recreation for the sportsmen, with setter or pointer dog to stir them from the tall grass. Many sports from the cities east made much in early times in a three days or weeks outing on these jungles of O'Brien county, as they were then called. During the days of court, the judge and nearly every attorney had his gun. He was a noble little bird, game, alert, ready for action, but, like the prairie sod, he went with it. He had the nobility of an Indian in proportion to his size. The sportsman admired his gamey movements and flight.

OTHER GAME.

As we have remarked, O'Brien county can not be said to be or have been noted for its game. What little there was was, as set out by John McCormack, confined to a small territory down on the Little Sioux and Waterman,

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where were found small fringes of timber, but, like the prairie chicken and prairie grass, now extinguished. The county now has practically no game. The migratory ducks and geese and other birds can hardly be said to belong to O'Brien county. The quails have immigrated in and settled, as the groves grew for their protection. They did not belong to the wild prairie. Companies of "sports" have at times organized in some towns, or as against other towns, choosing sides for the suppers, to test the killing of the largest number of gray squirrels injuring the corn. At one bout between Primghar and Hartley about 1884 they jointly killed thirty-five hundred. However, they can hardly be called game, but rather classed as pests. The county in the years 1872-76 offered a bounty of five, then seven, then ten cents, for gopher scalps. It reached, however, a sort of scandal stage. The argument made was to protect the fields of the homesteader, but so many brought them in, and whatever the truth may have been, it became the joke that the whole gopher hide was often cut up unto scalps, and by the time they got officially in all its gopher solemnity before County Auditor A. J. Edwards, they smelled so bad and in such condition, as to bring out his "dud blame it, boys," that he couldn't scientifically determine scalp from sliced hide, and all had to be counted. It soon smacked so loud of graft, to divvy up on county warrants, that it had to be shut off. It lasted four years, but those years were long referred to as jointly the "gopher scalp" and "grasshopper" years. The gopher scalp bounty sort of evened up the grasshopper ravages. But all this is perhaps aside from the game of the real sportsman. Migratory birds have followed in the years, but not many game birds or animals are found at this date, except the jack rabbit or an occasional wolf, mink, lynx, beaver or perhaps a few other animals. The streams being few, and not a single lake of any size, fishing is but a lost art in the county. We will make note of the few earlier large game in the note below on the one noted hunter of the county, John McCormack.

JOHN MCCORMACK, A NOTED HUNTER.

John McCormack was the most noted hunter of wild game ever in the county. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, February 15, 1834. He first came west to Waverly when a young man, and to O'Brien county in 1873. Though he came during the years of the homesteader influx, he bought his land of the Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad, which was, in fact, part of the real Illinois Central grant. He bought at five dollars per acre. He first opened up a hotel in Old O'Brien, but the doings going on there soon

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disgusted him and he settled on his farm in Waterman township, and continued there in all its period of pioneer life, until, but a few years ago, in his old age, he retired and now (1913) is still alive at the grand old age of seventy-nine, a hale, well-preserved man. He belongs to the school of the simple life, of baked beans and venison. He is perhaps the one and only man in the county who for a long series of years actually farmed, and at same time in real earnest shot and captured his own wild meat. The county being almost entirely prairie, around and near Old O'Brien and his farm was the only natural place in the county for the large game. Mr. McCormack in his time, and within the limits of that part of the county, killed and dressed over two hundred deer. In fact, as he states, he actually made a good living, while everybody else was being eaten up by grasshoppers, by selling the venison at Cherokee, Sioux City and Fort Dodge and shipping the hides. He also captured and trapped his full share of beaver and other animals for the fur. Wolves were plentiful, and a wolf scalp called for a bounty from the county. It is probable that not a single deer could now be found in the county even by so expert a hunter as Mr. McCormack. Game of the larger variety, like the Indian or the prairie grass, is a thing of the past. There never has been but one John McCormack in the county. He only had a small territory, and he practically got all there was. His experience in such a county as O'Brien can never be repeated, therefore this item specially applies to him, as a county incident. He was a brother of B. F. and F. M. McCormack.

REMINISCENT INTERVIEW OF B. F. M'CORMACK.

Benjamin Franklin McCormack, in my judgment, was one of the most unique and original characters of whom I had a personal acquaintance in the whole forty years in the county. I had one really memorable interview with him about one year prior to his death, when he grew reminiscent and confidential, but still in his usual style, which impressed me. He was even then suffering from the malady which caused his death, and even spoke of this feature of his serious trouble, which brought on the interview. I shall try to give it as nearly in his exact words as I can from memory. I can not put in his punctuation and emphasis. I believe that any one who ever knew him would pick him out as the author of what I give below. I give it place for the reason that it covers so much of the inner county matters in those early days, and expresses the truth so well, and from so original a source,

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and explains many shortcomings of those early men, and even gives some partial excuses for conditions, as we in other words have attempted to portray.
It must be remembered that Mr. McCormack did not arrive in the county until 1870, ten years after the Bosler-Cofer crowd commenced their bad work. As they contracted all the bad debt, or the body of it, in the five years from 1860 to 1865, it can be seen that Mr. McCormack should not be confounded with that bunch of worthies, even though he does himself boast of being the "successor in trust" to that crowd. Mr. McCormack strictly belonged to the crowd of actual settlers of 1870 and on. The most that can be struck at him, perhaps, is that as an official, with others, he allowed the old debt to be sued and put into judgment, when perhaps it might have been defeated in large part. Also that he participated too freely in those speculations with Pumphrey and others at Des Moines and Sioux City, in the depreciated county warrants and bonds to be in harmony with healthy official action. However, his comments on the surroundings of things will throw more or less light on the partial contributions of himself and others amid the hard grasshopper and other troublous situations.
Mr. McCormack was an educated man. He had a pronounced personality. He was a keen observer of men. He understood the street and the corner grocery crowds of men. He was long a member of the board of supervisors from 1871 to 1878, and chairman much of the time. He was grandiloquent instead of eloquent. He was a grand entertainer for a half day, sitting in a room with a small crowd, but could not talk to an assemblage. He had read poetry and the classics. He had a flow of language. He was trivial and sound in streaks. He was a politician somewhat on the "star chamber" order. On the board he was the whole "it." It was practically a one-man board on all questions that he desired to hit. He was a powerfully built man, six feet in height, weighed two hundred pounds, lived, as he said, as well as he could live in grasshopper times, clean in family life. He punctuated his conversation with good wholesome profanity. He had a full round face, heavy gray hair and light blue eyes. I shall make somewhat of an item of this interview, because he was linked with so much of all public affairs from 1870 to 1880, when the "old regime," as he proudly called it, went down in politics. It was, however, the "old regime" of the second decade.
In my mind I have termed this "McCormack's Soliloquy," for such it is. He in three hours covered main questions not here given. I have condensed that which relates strictly to county matters. In some of his phrases some readers will not exactly understand his significant meanings. One would have to understand the vernacular of the early times to fully appreciate them. This

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is also true of many items and phrases in this history, but we can not make explanations too extended. Mr. McCormack took in the whole range of the back matters in the county. It has been seen that up to January 1, 1884, many of the county treasurers had their troubles in various forms. He included in his remarks comments on the "old regime," as he would almost boastfully call it. Mr. McCormack, in his very truthfulness, in "fessen up," as he termed it, often took men unawares and off their feet, until unconsciously parted with him, with the parting thought, that "B. F.," after all, was not so bad. Indeed when one reads some of his comments, we can see that such a set of conditions was a hard matter to battle with from any standpoint.
Following is his "Soliloquy," commencing with T. J. Alexander, who was the most recent treasurer with his troubles:
"Yes, poor Jeff Alexander, county treasurer, he never knew what hit him. Many of those old officials didn't know what hit them. They were conditions. Poor Jeff. Oh, ye shades of John Wesley. Good Methodist, just like Jeff. Say, Peck, why in thunder didn't those Methodists take up a collection and make up Jeff's shortages? Then there was that other poor unfortunate, Chester W. Inman, county treasurer, with his visions and dreams of a three-story castle on the classic Waterman, with its big cedar cliffs bluff, trying to be a young Yellowstone Park; too much county treasury, busted farm, good man, old soldier, fought, bled and died for this blessed country of ours, and a good soldier too he was; first in politics a reformer, then joined our Old Regime, couldn't keep out of it, succumbed, fell flat. But such is hard fate. 'What fools we mortals be.' Then there was that poor sardine of a preacher, Rev. Rouse B. Crego, another poor dog tray, maybe, in part, county treasurer if you please, part of a term only; bought a load of horses ‐some told it on him that he bought them with county funds‐went to Sioux City, stayed there too long, several weeks. John Pumphrey said they had too much good whisky down there, but Crego said he made John his deputy, and then John stole the office. But then, a preacher had no business trying to handle money in such a hog trough as we had in them days. A two-dollar church collection was his size. He served our Old Regime fairly well, couldn't help himself, had to be good. John was his deputy and while he was gone to Sioux City John got the board to declare the office vacant and appointed John in his place. Crego soon found out he couldn't run a county by the church route. I knew he couldn't last long. He couldn't double shuffle county warrants with John Pumphrey. Yes, that reminds me of John, King

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John, prince of the royal blood. John R. Pumphrey for many years run the Wall street of O'Brien count. Yes, yes, again yes. John R. Pumphrey,

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and solace that heaven can bestow. He was God Father at the christening, and 'Fit Injuns.'
"Then there was that Isaac W. Daggett, saved every five-cent piece, got rich with the Old Harry going on all around him, too honest for our Old Regime, wouldn't join us. "Then, too, old Capt. A. J. Edwards, county auditor during the Gopher Scalp, joker of days, and during the worst of the grasshopper years; just think of reform during that period. But, Peck, when they condemn me, they should consider that I came here in 1870, and that grasshoppers were before every session of the board of supervisors nearly, in some form, during which I was a member, to get taxes thrown off or some worse plight. But back to Captain Edwards, tall, straight as an arrow, long beard, black as coal, in his best days an ideal soldier, a real, an actual captain, a soldier who did fighting, but nevertheless he had to be all O. K. for our Old Regime; bless that phrase, as Old Cap said, 'Dod blame it, boys, my old debts are big, just like the county debts; put 'em in judgment, sue 'em, and we can add 'em up better." Of course. Peck, we know, that was a curious idea of finance, and perhaps not a very good qualification for a public official to pilot a county through such troubles, but what in thunder could we all do? We had to live, and when we got a warrant we could only get from twenty-five to forty cents on the dollar for it.
"Then there was old Judge A. H. Willits, clerk of the district court, yes and of the old circuit court before it was abolished, editor of the O'Brien Pioneer, down at Old O'Brien, then at Primghar for some years, then later to Sanborn. The good old judge was always good humored, a pretty writer, best dancer in town, polite as a king, loved to see him stroke those long silken whiskers of his, happy all day, never saved a cent.
"But we mustn't forget Clark Green, our Clark, everybody's Clark Green, pioneer store keeper and merchant; had a hard row to hoe. We claimed him at times as part of our old crowd; honest Clark Green, he was honest, too honest for his own good, honest enough for you reformers. He was too generous, dished out his flour, sugar, clothing, boots and shoes to those unlucky grasshoppered old homesteaders, who came into his store in their pioneer poverty as it were; who could withstand such an appeal? What county treasurer could stand such an appeal? Talk about his store busting as it did; it couldn't do anything else. See here, Peck, you rantankerous reformers couldn't have killed, trapped or shot down with a shot gun those millions of grasshoppers any better than we did. We had to live, and we all had to do business among the business that was going on. Green and Pumphrey took

496 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

in county wararnts. (sic) Green took them in on his store bills. County warrants was the money, the legal tender of the realm over which we as kings and boodlers presided. Green took warrants for his goods, and the only merchant in the whole east half and south half of the county trying to carry the whole bunch, which, after he got them, could only get from twenty-five to forty cents on the dollar for them, from those fellows Polk & Hubbell, of Des Moines, or Weare & Allison, bankers at Sioux City, who bought them up, and then put them into judgment and collected it all. Why don't you reformers shed a few tears for them? Both Green and Pumphrey had to tumble round, as best they could, with the county treasurers, school treasurers, and every body else, and us old sinners, and the old gang, and the honest old settler and old homesteader. Things did get into an infernally bad fix. It did need real reformers. I really hope the county will get over its bad case of small pox. I played King Bee as well as I could. I lived during the funeral period of the county. Bosler, Cofer, Tiffey & Company handed to us an inheritance, and we all had to flounder around as best we could. I know that your humble servant and Warren Walker, and King John and the Inmans, caught blazes, but we were up against it. But the dear people did one righteous act to Clark Green when they elected him sheriff for eight years, and made amends for his store goods they ate up. He deserved it.
"But the end of the world came to our Old Regime in 1877, in the Alexander contest over the office of county treasurer, with and against Stephen Harris. But referring to this contest, of course the claim that was made at the time that voting in that cigar box should have affected that election was all a hoax. But he had to do something, we had to fight. The election was close, only seventeen majority. We grabbed at straws. That contest was an exciting event in the county. It was a climax. The two candidates were simply in the puddle. They couldn't swim out, and it took a contest to get the pole to either of them. Of course we know that many of those old treasurers had all kinds of troubles. Many of them got in over their depth. That contest became, as it were, Custer's last stand in O'Brien county, our last fight. When other folks attempt to save a drowning man, they get carried under the waters themselves. That's what happened to a lot of those county treasurers. The very cost of that contest, probably five hundred or more dollars to each one, was more than either of them was able to stand in those days. Debts were debts in those days, county debts, township debts, school debts, private debts.
"Then you fellows came on the scene, George W. Schee, and Ezra M. Brady, Thomas Holmes, William W. Johnson, Benjamin Jones, John L. Ken-

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 497

ney, Jacob H. Wolf, Frank and Fred Frisbee, Dr. C. Longshore, Hubert Sprague, David Algyer, W. N. Strong, Frank N. Derby, Lon F. Derby, O. H. Montzheimer, George R. Slocum, Frank A. Turner, William Harker, John Metcalf, J. A. Stocum, William P. Davis, E. E. Brintnall, Oliver M. Shonkwiler, Frank Patch, Joseph Shinski, Henry C. Lane, J. L. E. Peck, my dear friend here present, T. J. Alexander, and others of a large following: yes and Frank T. Piper of the Sheldon Mail, I must not forget him, who all concluded that payment was the solution, and, Peck, it was the only solution in fact.
"Of course, in natural sequence, sprung up the Taxpayers' Association to defeat the debt. Many good men were in it. Their intentions were honest. There was grand old A. P. Powers, who headed the list and signed the petition in court to knock out the debt. There was that original brusque character, William Huston Woods, as one of the most active leaders (Huse, you know, his favorite expression oft repeated). These men were supplemented and assisted by Ralph Dodge, W. R. Powers, Thomas J. Steele, Silas Steele, Judge A. H. Willits, Emanuel Kindig, member of the board, Joseph Rowland, also a member, Barney Harmon, Sid Hitchings, William Kenyon, Charles S. Stearns, Ezra W. McOmber, James Magee, and a large following who took the position that it was the best remedy to attempt to defeat the debt in the courts.
"This created two camps. So far as Bosler, Cofer & Co., were concerned most of this debt should have been defeated. That old debt was a good deal like Jeff Alexander's county treasurer's cash; yes, a good deal like the same money when it got into John Pumphrey's Bank of England, so mixed up with everything else on earth, they never could follow it up. Bosler, Cofer & Co. were a bad bunch. They handed us a lemon sure enough. But the defeat of the old snag or debt was impractical, I will concede. It had been clinched too tight. They blow blazes at some of us old officials, because we sat by and let them serve us with original notices and put them into judgment and not fighting them. But, Peck, did you ever think, most of that was done during the grasshopper times. Where were most of those judgments rendered? Not in our own dear little O'Brien county court house, where we at least might have been present, but mainly in the United States court at Des Moines or Sioux City. In those days also the law was that such a suit against a county could be brought in any county in the state, and many were so brought. Who had any money in them days I want to know to go tramping off to Sioux Citv or Des Moines or some distant county seat, and hiring (32)

498 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

thousand-dollar lawyers, and pay hotel bills with county warrants at forty cents? Old Captain Edwards was almost right in those days when he said, "Dod blame it, boys, put 'em in judgment; we can add 'em up easier." You reformers couldn't have fought them in those days. We couldn't and didn't. But that contest spoiled our hash all the same. Frank Frisbee was right in that contest, though I was on the other side, when he jumped up and out in the middle of the floor in that court room and shouted that 'It was time for some damm thing to be done.'"
Then Mr. McCormack turned on me with some flattery and perhaps some condemnation thus: "Here is J. L. E. Peck himself, scrapper and saviour of the county seat, rode that mule all over the county, when the Sanborn boys tried to play hookey with the county seat. Confound you, Peck, you and George W. Schee were the only reformers, who were ever able to tumble round in office and politics, during the period of our old regime, and who were able to get out from under the juggernaut, without getting their necks broke.
"But then. J. L. E. Peck, old settler, with Benjamin Franklin McCormack, two twins, with the gray hairs growing fast in our heads, like Topsy, we may as well 'fess up,' and 'fess plenty,' on our sins. Yes, J.L.E. Peck, keen observer of human nature, who is acquainted with the old records and knows the squirmings of all us old sinners, yes, J. L. E. Peck and Schee and Holmes and Brady able to be real reformers, and yet swing clear of Pumphrey, and Benjamin Franklin McCormack & Co., successors in trust to Bosler and his blessed bunch, we Peck and McCormack, will shake hands, you over your success. I over mine.
"But, Peck, do you realize that you and Schee and Holmes and Brady and others of your bunch could not have performed your mission, even five years earlier. Our Old Regime could not have done it, even had we been endowed from heaven with good intentions. That bad place they say is paved with good intentions, but it is that bad place all the same. We had grasshoppers to eat us up, we had prairie fires to burn us up, crops on prairie sod, in debt up to our necks, had to twist blue joint hay to keep warm; see here, Peck, be a trifle kind, be charitable, your skies were soon lifted, mine continued for the whole period here. I was not in at the christening of the county. I did not help organize the little still-born county. I have attended the long years of its living funeral, with prairie fires to burn over the county, leaving its black funeral path of destruction, to say nothing of debts for breakfast, debts for dinner, debts for supper, and then debts at night to dream over in blessed sleep, and still debts to leave and die unpaid. Peck, come now, don't

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 499

condemn us with a sledge hammer. Plant a prairie sweet william over my grave.
"Alas, poor Yorick. Alas, poor Richard. Poor fellows, poor old homesteaders, ate up by grasshoppers and chintz bugs, poor Old Regime. Alas, its county officials, poor old homesteaders, old settlers, the whole push, they were dark, dark days.
"Exit. Alas. Et Dieu."

COMMENTS BY THE EDITOR.

I knew B. F. McCormack well. I think he uttered every sentence I have written above, and much more. It was his characteristic conversation. His "soliloquy," as I term it, always seemed to me to be the embers of truth shot out from a heart that had passed through troublous times. Each of those public officials and others were bumped at in politics as they passed out of office. The conditions left by Mr. McCormack and his Old Regime, as he called it, while not to be spoken in the same breath with the Bosler doings, yet they were a set of conditions that had to be corrected. He is probably correct when he says that that correction could not have been made five years sooner, or any earlier than it was. The hard times were too strenuous for sooner action, that would really meet the situattion.(sic)
As carrying out and verifying some of Mr. McCormack's statements, the senior editor will give one item in his individual experience. In 1878 I was appointed as a committee to check up the term of office of Judge A. H. Willits, clerk of the courts. It occupied twelve and one-half days. I was allowed three dollars per day in a county warrant for thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents. I sold that warrant to John Pumphrey for fifteen dollars to pay my board. As one can see in result, I got about, or a trifle over one dollar per day. One can see from this item the significance of Mr. McCormack's remark, where he asks, "Who had any money in them days to go tramping down to Sioux City or Des Moines to hire thousand-dollar attorneys in United States courts to fight those debts?" And yet, when said and done, much of that debt and the large part of it was fraudulent, and as against those first men who created it and who deserved defeat.

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA AND ARMY RECORD OF OLD SOLDIERS
WHO HAVE LIVED IN O'BRIEN COUNTY.

This is the title of a book of one hundred and ninety-nine pages, compiled by George W. Schee and O. H. Montzheimer, and published in 1909. It gives

500 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

the residence, date of birth, names of wife and family, date of enlistment, name of company, regiment, division, brigade and corps, from what state, names of battles in which engaged, when discharged, whether paroled, or a prisoner, and, where imprisoned, with length of time. In addition to this army record, it further gives the date and place of settlement in the county, if an old homesteader, then his description of land entered, and located, with name of township, of what lodges or church a member, whether a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of what post, and other data. This book or army record thus gives a sketch of about one-third of a page to each of five hundred and seventy-five soldiers of the Mexican, Philippine, Civil and Indian wars, and who at some time have resided in the county.
One only needs to read the first biography given to grasp the very extensive research and correspondence necessary to complete this work, for work it was. O. H. Montzheimer spent some three months at Washington among the old army reports and archives, to secure this data of army record authentic; all this, besides much time spent at Primghar with Mr. Schee in the slow process of mails and letters, directed to those who have removed from the county or the families of those deceased. Mr. Schee published the book at his own expense and presented a copy to each old soldier or his family. Both its contents, as well as the publication itself, is a worthy item of history in the county.
The editors of this history had originally decided as far as possible to omit all statistics or long lists of names or figures on all questions. But we will deviate in this list of old soldiers. The Civil War was the greatest war in all history. As stated, five hundred and seventy-five settled in or have resided in the county. This would represent about that number of families. With the children and grandchildren of soldiers, they probably now represent a full fourth of about four thousand of the population of the county. The full army record of each name may be found in Mr. Schee's Book of Army Records. Each child and grandchild will be glad to read the name of grandfather in this honored list, and the old soldiers will be glad to run over this condensed statement. Many of these old soldiers were also old homesteaders and pioneers and helped to fight out the early problems of the county. The figures in parenthesis indicates the year of settlement when known.

LIST OF OLD SOLDIERS WHO HAVE SETTLED IN O'BRIEN COUNTY.

Baker Township‐Levi M. Allison, Abel H. Balcom (1871), William Wallace Beebe (1883), Gustavus Bollenbeck (1881), David Bryson (1877),

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 501

Andrew Carman(1871), Charles B. Dingly (1869), Andrew J. Donavan (1870), Byron Donovan (1870), J. W. Donovan (1870), Leonard Grady (1882), Demetrius J. Judd (1873), John Ker (1886), William H. Knepper (1871), Wallace Lasher (1884), William W. Luce (1870), Daniel Morfitt (1871), Enoch Philby (1870), J.J. Philby (1889), William Pursell (1871), Wallace E. Rinker (1870), William Short (1900), Henry Sutter (1870), Samuel G. Sutter (1870), Warren Walker (1871), William W. Walters (1871), John Wood (1871), Frank E. Wyman (1872).
Caledonia Township‐William O. Boyd (1876), Henry Frederick Gebert (1907), John Wollenberg (1883)

Center Township‐Jared P. Blood (1871), William Brander (1873), Adolphus V. Conaway (1882), William H. Brown (1871), Dewitt C. Chapman (1871), Charles J. Clark (1870), Ancil L. Creamer (1872), Willard H. Eaton (1875), John Evans (1871), David M. Gano (1870), Daniel Griffith (1870), Philip A. Hamm (1871), Marquiss (Mark) Hannon (1871), George Hay (1888), David Ingraham (1870), Jasper N. Marsh (1889), Francis Matott (1871), Frank Matott, Jr. (1871), Archibald McDonald (1870), Alfred P. McLaren (1870), Charles Moon (1870), James Morton (1876), William Oliver (1873), David Palen (1870), George Pfitzenmaier (1871), George Sanford (1873), Ephraim Scott (1873), Joseph Seidell (1884), Ezra F. Smith (1870), William H. Smith (1872), Milton Thornton (1876), Claudius Tifft (1871), Orlando M. Whitman (1871), Melvin C. Wilkins (1871), Edwin R. Wood (1872).

Carroll Township‐Abel Appleton (1871), Andrew J. Brock (1860), John Clements (1873), Harley Day (1871), Willard H. Dorsey (1871), John Durgin (1880), Gladney Ewers (1871), Dewitt C. Fields (1869), Milton Gillespie (1871), Miles H. Hart (1871), August F. Herrick (1870), Horace Parker Holyoke (1871), Elnathan S. Huber (1871), Benjamin Hutchinson (1871), George N. Klock (1872), Theodore Lemaster (1871), Marcellus G. McClellan (1872), Oscar McElwain (1869), J. E. McMillen (1871), George Mennig (1870), Silas Pool (1871), George W. Schee (1871), Isaac Sprague (1871), John F. Stone (1873), James Thomas (1871), Charles W. Toothaker (1871), George Van Epps (1871), James J. Wiley (1879), James M. Lewis (1883).

Town of Calumet‐James Burnworth (1804), William Meier (1884).

Dale Township‐Jacob C. Hillyer (1870), Thomas T. Shaffner (1871), Thomas J. Trulock (1883).

Floyd Township‐Edmund W. Bache (1881), William Bonner (1883), John A. Brown (1873), Asa G. Canfield, Isaac Clements (1871), Edward

502 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

J. Copping (1880), George W. Copping (1872), Ammon H. Damon, Henry Denny (1876), Timothy Donahue (1871), James A. Glenn (1871), Elijah W. Gregg (1874), Joshua W. Davis (1870), Joseph M. Kirk, Charles Lingenfelter, Benjamin F. H. Luce (1869), William Lyle (1870), Robert E. Osborn (1871), Seymour Shryock (1871), George Sill, L. S. Stone (1871), Frank Turfree (1878), Edwin A. Ward (1871), Leroy S. Hackett ( 1871).

Franklin Township‐Thomas F. Allen (1881), Thomas H. Croson (1881), Isaac Daniels (1874), William H. Dummitt (1872), Jacob H. Wolf (1873), Charles H. Zechman (1876).

Grant Township‐David Algyer (1872), Anson Albee (1876), Isaac P. Ashalter, William W. Barnes (1869), Don Carlos Barry (1870), Robert W. Boyd (1871), Joseph J. Bryant (1888), John F. Burroughs (1871), Solomon E. Carmichael (1878), Charles E. Chandler (1869), George H. Cobb (1871), William A. Compton (1871), Job H. Christ (1871), Charles A. Didiot (1869), George H. Diggins (1877), Byram H. Eckman (1869), Andrew J. Edwards (‐), Benjamin F. Epperson (colored) (1870), John H. Frush (1878), John B. Fumal (1881), Warren N. Gardner, Reuben Gross (1870), Desalvo B. Harmon (1869), Stephen Harris (1870), Luther E. Head (1870), Hiram H. Himebaugh (1871), Harvey Hoffman (1870), Daniel W. Inman (1860), Chester W. Inman (1866), August Jacob (1880), Corwin M. Johnson (1869), George W. Jones (1870), Samuel J. Jordan (1869), John W. Kelly (1868), James Kenyon, John Loder (1871), Thomas McBath (1870), John C. McCandlass (1869), Charles W. Merwin (1880), William Newell (1867), John H. Peck (1882), Newman Remington (1871), Louis Renville (1881), Napoleon Renville (1881), Alanson Clark Robinson (1878), William H. Seeley (1882), Joseph H. Shearer (1871), Edwin T. Shepard (1877), William Slack (1871), Edwin R. Smith (1870), Charles M. Stephenson (1871), Enoch R. Streeter (1873), James Streeter (1871), Orville A. Sutton (1872).

Highland Township‐Charles F. Albright (1871), Wallace Buchanan, Doctor F. Burke(1872), John M. Casey (1869), Anderson M. Cleghorn (1870), George Washington Collett, John S. Culbertson (1871), Cyrus I. Dewey (1873), James T. Dewey (1871), Zadoc P. Freeman (1870), William Gaskill (1870), Livingston T. Gates (1878), George Hakeman (1872), Abner M. Hunter (1877), John Jesop (1884), William W. Johnson (1871), Alexander 0. Long (1883), Asher Lyon (1871), Wallace Partridge (1882), Jonathan Richardson (1870), Russell Salisbury (1875), Edward Shea (1870), William M. Squire (1870), Herman Tiffany (1871), William G. Virgil (i860), Homer H. Webster (1870), Jasper H. Rickey (1880).

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 503

Hartley Town and Township‐Robert W. Ayers (1881), Samuel Boyce (1883), Walker W. Brown (1888), Thomas B. Carpenter (1880), W. H. Conrad (1881), John C. Cram (1882), Thomas E. Davis (1881), Christian Dorman(1891), William A. Elliott (1892), Joseph L. Gage (1885), Samuel Grapes (1888), Thomas V. Griffith, Alf. Hall, James Hall, Philip E. Hathaway (1885), John E. Holford (1885), Edmund J. Hurley (1888), Samuel Kaestlen (1880), Eleazer J. Kelly (1895), Franklin Kelley (1882), David Kroft (1893), Smedley H. McMaster (1887), Erwin Barker Messer (1887), Leonard Miller (1885), I. Morris (1882), George Nicodemus (1890), Robert Paiseley (1884), John N. Smith (1881), Francis Soucy, James Steece (1888), John I. Story (1888), Rufus Tarr (1888), James S. Webster (1883), John W. Thomas (1882).

Lincoln Township‐William H. Oppelt (1883)

Omega Township‐Byron C. Bouton (1884), Charles O. Cookinham (1881), Christopher Hopfe (1888), James H. Peanor (1890), Philo Stevens (1871), John J. Thompson (1894), William Wicks (1886).

Paullina‐John N. Bower (1886), Fletcher C. Boyd (1888), W. F. Clark, Elias H. Countryman (1807), Orson F. Eggleston, George C. Jones (1881), George H. Lyons, John Metcalf (1884), Charles W. Sprague (1885), William P. Stratton (1883)

Primghar‐Peter R. Bailey (1880), at Sheldon; Henry D. Ballard (1890), Sylvanus C. Bascom (1882), Ira Boat (1876), John W. Campbell (1892), Samuel A. Carter (1889), William Castledine (1887), George H. Cook (1887), James E. Daniels(1874), George W. Davis (1877), James B. Dunn (1880), Francis A. Gere (1888), Henry Goodman (1884), Nelson M. Hadden (1802), Elias T. Holt (1890), Julius Montzheimer, Bradford J. Peasley (1894), Charles H. Slocum (1888), Lewis D. Thomas (1876), Peter Torreson, Samuel C. Wood (1895).

Sanborn‐Henry Roden, James F. Sisson (1884), John Shine, Charles H. Stansbury (1885), John Stebbins, Samuel J. Stokes (1881), John W. Todd (1888), Harrison Vanderlip (1893), Joseph M. Vincent (1887), Henry M. Walston (1896), Tobias D. White (1878), Charles E. Whitney (1882), Ransom R. Wilcox (1897), William H. Woodman (1881), Hiram Winn(1895)

Sutherland‐Michael Betz (1895), Joseph Cowan (1871), Robert Cumming (1882), David Goldtrap, P. E. Greer, Edward L. Hudson, Frank M. Lee (1899), D. H. Lemburg (1885), Lewis J. McCulla (1870), Comfort C. Morrill (1882), Edward W. Parker (1890), James Parks, Jr. (1887), Charles Peaker (1870), David W. Pratt (1880), Julius Renville (1881),

504 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.

William Rheinhart (1884), Daniel M. Sheldon (1882), Charles M. Short (1884), H. C. Sperry, J. H. Stockwell (1881), Lewis P. Vance (1890), Nelson Wells, Clement M. Wiley (1899).

Liberty Township‐Thomas J. Alexander (1870), J. Hartley Alexander (1869), David R. Barmore (1869), William Thomas Bethel (1876), Benjamin Bidwell (1898), Francis L. Bidwell (1881), William M. Breyfogle (1870), Aaron Brown (1875), Jasper N. Burroughs (1870), Jerome B. Davis (1870), Julius C. Doling (1870), Philip A. Emery (1871), Thomas J. Fields (1869), David Harkness (1870), Elam Hiatt (1874), James H. Hicks (1870), Henry E. Hoagland (1870), George W. Louthan (1878), Squire Mack (1870), Joseph Manley (1870), William Marks, James B. Mason (1881), George Nelson (1871), Thomas B. Nott (1870), John R. Pumphrey (1869), Hiram W. Redman (1878), Isaac L. Rerick (1871), John M. Snyder (1872), James M. Stewart (1876), Thomas G. Stewart (1876), William J. Stewart (1871), Daniel Tuttle (1870), Richard M. Vanhorn (1871), Sidney Viers (1869), Fester C. Washburn (1870), Hiram C. Wheeler (1876), Martin D. Wheeler, William H. Wiltse (1871), Hiram A. Worden (1860), Jesse H. Wright (1870), Tyler Edward Sprague (1870).

Sanborn‐James V. Allen, William T. Bowen (1880), Hugh Erwin Carroll (1880), Abram DeLong (1879), Clinton Dewitt (1887), William C. Dewitt (1882), Ireneus Donaldson, Martin Finlay (1883), Abner W. Harmon (1882), Almoran A. Hitchcock (1887), John C. Inman, W. Craig Jackson (1892), Charles Jones (1804), George W. Kimball (1882), Elias Leonard, Barney McArdel (1882), Joseph E. McCormack (1893), Wilbur F. Mills (1880), Chauncey F. Owen (1880). G. F. Peckham (1879), Ira G. Pool (1879), R. G. Pratt, Caleb Pringle.

Sheldon‐ Sampson Adkins (1888), Ruel W. Allen (1894), William J. Anderson (1881), Orrison E. Andrews, George Ahrend (1801), Osmond M. Barrett (1873), James Beacom (1878), Erastus W. Bennett (1873), George E. Berry (1875), John D. Billings (1879), John F. Bishop (1884), Walter B. Bowne (1881), John Brennan (1874), Bryan George, Joseph D. Bunce, Robert Burnett, Horatio P. Burnham, John H. Butler, J. D. Butler, J. W. Carson, A. D. Coats (1891), Albert T. Cobb, Stephen A. Colburn, George F. Colcord (1873), Felix G. Cole (1879), Jesse Cole (1887), Harmon Cook (1871), Uriah Cook, Charles Cottel (1875). F.S. Cottel (1875), Palmer Crampton (1892), H.M. Crocker (1887), Mortimer B. Darnell (1883), Edgar J. Davis (1882), L.E. Davis, John R. Deacon, William H. Dorward (1884), Perry A. Eddington (1880), Daniel G. Eldridge (1883), Alpheus H. Ford, Charles W. Ford, J.W. Fuller (1882). William Gibson

O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 505

(1802), James N. Gingrey (1891), John A. Ginther, Charles W. Glynn (1880), George A. Greenfield (1885), Frank H. Guthrie (1872), George B. Hardell (1877), Albert T. Hart (1897), John M. Hayes (1884), Frank Healey, Davis Haastrand (1885), William Flecker (1870), J. W. Hicks (1870), Phineas C. Hicks (1870), William Hicks (1870), James Holland, Calvin Hook (1873), Andrew Hunt (1878), Alber Hurley (1899), Henry C. Lane (1872), Edwin T. Langley (1895), J.W. Lee, T.J. Lett (1878), J. O. Lias (1888), Robert B. Lockwood, Mortimer Lyons, Isaac E. Markham, L. D. Marshall, James Marston (1872), Robert Martin (1882), John D. McBroom (1801), James M. Merrill (1873), Edwin P. Messer (1882), Andrew Miller, John B. Miller, N. Harrison Montis, William H. Moore (1889), R.A. Morris (1882), Fred P. B. Morrison, Alfred Morton (1879), Lewis Myers (1805), Alber H. Neff (1881), William Olinger (1880), Edmond F. Parkhurst (1871), George Patterson (1882), James Peden (1804), Francis M. Perkins (1892), J.I. Perry (1893), Ai Seeley Powers (1888), Joseph W. Reagan (1881), Eugene Riddell (1882), Joseph Rider, William H. Riley.,Edwin Y. Royce (1804), Thomas Ryan, Henry A. Scott (1870), Jonathan T. Shaw, John M. Schrenk (1801), Charles H. Smith, John W. Steelman (1802), Henry C. Stephens, William N. Strong (1874), Joseph. W. Taylor, George Terry (1874 ), Andrew J. Treaster, Britton Vanness, John C. Vancampen (1873), David K. Vrooman (1896), Henry M. Walsmith (1882), O.W. Walker, Horace Wellman (1891), Nelson P. Wildrick, J. C. Wilsmuth, George W. Wilsey (1887), Henry H. Winters, John Woodard, Warren J. Woods, James Wykoff (1873), E. M. Young.

Summit Township‐George B. Davids (1880), Stephen F. Jordan(1873).

Union Township‐James R. Culp (1885), Peter Rich (1883).

Waterman Township‐Edward C. Brown (1870), Benjamin F. Campbell (1807), Erastus F. Cleveland (1882), Philo G. Coleman (1872), James A. Dewitt (1873), Russell Dewitt (1870), William S. Fuller (1870), Abraham K. Hardenbrook (1884), Asa Harkness (1871), Charles W. Hoxie (1871), Samuel B. Hulbert (1869), James C. Jenkins (1881), James P. Martin (1887), George A. McOmber (1869), Jerome Morse (1866), J. H. Reager (1885), James Roberts (1871), Charles M. Stephenson (1865), Almeron Waterman (1875), Lionel A. Worth (1869).

Miscellaneous‐D. W. Buell, Livingston A. Burnell, William H. Buchanan, Albert C. Burnside, Richard Butler (1876), John H. Creamer, George Denny, Albert Donovan, Marion Flanders, Zeph D. Hollenbeck, D. Morris, Israel Pancoast, George W. Rutherford (1873), Samuel C. Todd, William S. Wyatt.