Part 54 (1/2)

In the history of Linn county Bertram towns.h.i.+p has played a conspicuous part, and was at various times about to be the towns.h.i.+p in which were located some of the most enterprising towns in the county. Ivanhoe, Westport, also known as Newark, and other places are well known names among the early settlers. Their locations have been wiped off the map, so to speak, on account of changed conditions. The following sketch is taken largely from ma.n.u.scripts and articles written by the late John J.

Daniels, one of the old citizens of Linn county, one of the early county recorders, for many years a justice of the peace, and a well known and enterprising citizen, who was always interested in the old settlers and in the development of historical research in the county in early days. Mr. Daniels says:

”In the early settlement of Linn county the territory now forming Bertram towns.h.i.+p was selected by the early settlers for very prominent reasons, it having good mill streams, good water, and plenty of good timber near at hand, which was so much needed by the early settlers for building and fencing. Two of the early pioneers were Thomas W. and Sarah Campbell, of Dearborn county, Indiana. They came in the fall of 1838 and settled on the northeast quarter of section 27, and obtained a patent from the United States March 7, 1844.

Mr. Campbell was elected the first county treasurer in 1839, and in 1840 his first collection of county taxes for licenses, ferries, and lands was $985.85. He died February 22, 1876.

”Perry and Catherine Campbell Oxley, of Montgomery county, Indiana, first located in Linn towns.h.i.+p, but in the fall of 1838 came here and took up a claim on the southwest quarter of section 22 and built their cabin in the grove near the east line. Mr. Oxley was the first constable elected in the county in 1839, and was bailiff of the grand jury of the county. He was the best shot in the county. He died September 30, 1886, universally mourned.

”Norris and Ann Cone, of Connecticut, came in February, 1839, and settled on section 21. Mr. Cone later removed to Marion. George Cone, their son, claims the honor of being the first child born in the towns.h.i.+p in 1839.

”James and Elizabeth Leabo and Israel Mitch.e.l.l, natives of Kentucky, in 1838 left the mining regions near Dubuque and settled on claims in this towns.h.i.+p on the north side of the river. Mrs. Leabo died September, 1852, and James Leabo removed to Oregon, where he died.

”Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was a graduate of a Kentucky college and celebrated the first 4th of July at Westport in 1838, Judge Mitch.e.l.l being the orator.

”The first and only election of the county that year was held there, thirty-two votes being cast. The first store opened in the county was at Westport, by Albert Henry in the fall of 1838.

”James and Mary Scott, of Indiana, came in 1838 or 1839. Mr.

Scott was an enterprising farmer. He purchased a saw mill on Big creek and early built a large flouring mill during the fifties. On account of the failure of crops the mill was not a success. He died in 1894 in Marion towns.h.i.+p.

”Elias Doty, of Ohio, came in 1838 or '39, and in 1840 commenced the building of a saw mill on Big creek, but was accidentally killed at its raising. The mill property later pa.s.sed into the hands of James R. Briney.

”James Hunter, a native of Ireland, came in 1838 and took a claim; he died May 14, 1888, at the age of sixty-nine.

”Everett Oxley, a native of Kentucky, born in 1812, at the age of fifteen removed to Indiana where he married Catherine Milner, also a native of Kentucky, coming to Linn county in 1840. Mr. Oxley died in 1887. Several of the Oxley family emigrated to Linn county.

”Jeremiah Daniels arrived in the spring of 1844 with a stock of dry goods, trading for wheat in the fall, s.h.i.+pping same by flat-boat to St. Louis. In the fall of 1847-8 he built a saw mill on Indian creek and a few years later located a flour mill on Big creek. Mr. Daniels died in 1882.”

Mr. Daniels further states that some of the early settlers were the following:

”Michael and Peter McRoberts, Peter D. Harman, Ben and John Dewitt, John, Joseph, and Nancy Gourly, Andrew and Thomas Dill, Isaac, Lawrence, Elijah, and Joseph Wain, Louis Lafore, Perry and Ann Knapp, Ada J. James, Steve, Charles, Daniel, George, Theresa, and Ann Rose, Sylvester Lyons, Thomas Rose, James and Thomas Piner, James M. and Susan Doty, Abraham Darr, John Arford, Hiram and Mary Leabo-Deem, Sam and Rachel Stambaugh, Jonathan and Dorcas Paul, John Bromwell, Michael c.o.x, Louis Kramer, Dr. Grove, Dave Stambaugh, James Briney, Leonard Speckelmeyer, James Berry, James Anderson, Caleb Dyer, Joseph Caraway, John and Mary Scott, and Samuel Durham.”

Some of the Bertram justices have been William S. Darr, Frank Allen, W.

B. Plummer, E. Doty, J. C. Anderson.

Bertram towns.h.i.+p has been the location of a number of squatter towns.

William Stone first staked out a squatter town and called it Westport.

He sold out his right to Albert Henry and then staked out Columbus where Cedar Rapids is now located. Henry, it is stated, erected two of the first frame buildings in this town, and in fact in this part of the county. The only sawed lumber in the entire buildings were the window frames and the casings. The siding was what was known as shaved lumber.

These buildings were torn down in 1861 by Elias and Daniel Doty. One of these buildings was used by James Doty for his pottery shop up to the time of his death. Perry Oxley bought Albert Henry's squatter claim and he later sold his right, t.i.tle, and interest in the town as well as in about 117 acres of land at $2.50 an acre. Now for the first time James Doty thought he would comply with the law, and on November 12, 1844, filed a plat in accordance with the law and called the town Newark, from Newark, New Jersey, his birthplace. Ivanhoe was never platted, but was only a squatter town founded by Cowles. Colonel Merritt kept the first store at Ivanhoe for parties in Rock Island. This town had better prospects of becoming a great city than any other town in the county.

It had a good river frontage, a rich country around it, plenty of timber and good water, and had the government road besides. For some unknown cause the place seems to have been ignored when Marion and Cedar Rapids began to flourish. This is true, that Ivanhoe and Westport were laid out expecting the river to be the means of communicating with the outside world. The railroads, mills, dams and other things changed conditions, and the Indian trading villages came to naught.

FAIRFAX TOWNs.h.i.+P

Fairfax towns.h.i.+p lies in the extreme southwest portion of Linn county.

Prairie creek, at times an unruly stream, drains this part of the county. In the early day this portion of Linn county had more or less timber, especially in what is known as Scotch Grove, northeast of the town of Fairfax. This timber has, for the most part, been cut off.

The first settlers, as far as is known, who came to this part of the county were Robert and Jane Ure with their family of grown children, in the spring of 1841. The children were John, Margaret, James, William, Robert, Walter, and David. The family had emigrated from Scotland in 1838 and gone west, locating in Ohio for a short time, removing to Iowa territory in search of land. They located in the northwestern part of the towns.h.i.+p in the grove which has since been called ”Scotch Grove.”

The Ures wrote back to Scotland to their friends, and for many years emigrants came who located in and around Scotch Grove in Linn and Benton counties. Later came the McDowell family, the Listebargers, the McKinnons, the Mitch.e.l.ls, Giddings, Knickerbockers, Flahertys, Ferriters, Henrys, Cahills, Hines, McFarlands, and many others.

A cemetery was established in Scotch Grove where a number of the early settlers are buried. The cemetery near Fairfax is now the one in use, and also the Catholic cemetery southwest of Fairfax.

One of the first school teachers in the towns.h.i.+p was Mrs. Keziah McDowell, who taught in a private house. The first school building was erected in 1855 on the place where the Elm Grove school now stands. The first teacher who taught in a school building was a Mr. Eckerman, who boarded around. The families who had children attending school at that time were the McKinnons, the Listebargers, and the Hodges.