Polk County

One of the most unique and noted characters of the very early days in Polk County and Des Moines was Cave J. McFarland, the second Judge of the District Court, who stands out the most prominent in the judicial history of the state of any man connected therewith. A native of Ohio, he came to Iowa when in the full vigor of early manhood; was of strong, athletic physique,which made him especially attractive anywhere; was social, convivial, and of pleasing manner. He stopped in Lee County, opened a law office, and was soon after elected County Attorney. In 1851, he …

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Late one day in the last week of October, 1851, Samuel N. Dyer sailed into Raccoon Forks in a prairie schooner, with his family, and tied up for the night at the Marvin House, on Third Street. The next morning, he went house hunting, and found a small vacant dwelling on Walnut street, where Vorse’s implement warehouse stood for many years afterward, but it was so uninhabitable, he soon after moved to one of the double log barrack cabins in First Street,near Walnut. Conrad Stutsman, a radical East Sider, had built a tavern at the corner, which he named “Pennsylvania …

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A conspicuous person among the early settlers was Cyrus A. Mosier, or Cy., as he was better known among them. He came here when eleven years old, with his father, early in 1848, who, in November of that year, entered several tracts of Government land in the northwestern part of the present city. One tract was on the north side of what is now University Avenue, between Thirtieth and Thirty-fifth streets, on which he built a log cabin, about ten rods north of the avenue and west of Thirty-first street. There he planted the first apple tree and peach orchard …

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Known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, along the great western trail of civilization, was Colonel — everybody called him “Colonel” — Edward Foster Mills Hooker, descendant of an English family, entitled by Royal decree to wear the heraldic arms of Thomas Hart Hooker, founder of the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and cousin of the famous fighting General, Joe Hooker. He was a conspicuous figure wherever he was, and for nearly thirty years his time-silvered head, sheltered under a white, soft wool, broad-brimmed hat every day of the year, and all his life, which, with his heavy white beard, gave …

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The pioneers of Polk County who are still living have a vivid remembrance of Judge Curtis Bates, who was a prominent factor in civic affairs in the early days. It was little known that he was a Yankee, born in Connecticut, as he always preferred being considered a Buckeye, for he went to Trumbull County, Ohio, when three years old. There he passed his youth and early manhood, and began the practice of law. Soon after commencing practice, he was elected State Senator, as a Democrat, but his opponent contested the election, when it was shown that he was ineligible …

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If the early settlers who helped to build the town, few were better known, though very quiet and unostentatious, than Samuel Green, or Sam., as he was familiarly called by old-timers. Having thoroughly learned the foundry business in New York, he came to Des Moines in March, 1857, the first practical foundry-man in town. He did, for a short time after his arrival, what all newcomers did — whatever he could find to do. One of his introductory jobs was helping S. A. Robertson, with one of his first jobs, to make repairs on the old “Grout House,” which stood …

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A notable character among the pioneers was Dr. James Campbell. He was a hustler from the start, and had a hand in everything going on about The Fort — politics, trade, real estate, amusements — everything which made up the wild, bustling life of that early period. He was a man of many eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, good-hearted, blunt of speech, and of peppery temperament. He came to Iowa on horseback, in 1839, stopped for a time in Van Buren County, and came to Fort Des Moines early in January, 1846, the second physician in the Settlement, Doctor T. K. Brooks …

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Passengers on the Winterset Branch of the Rock Island Road, just after leaving the city, pass a narrow space between the high bluff and the river, barely wide enough for the track, known as “Newcomer’s Point,” named from Peter Newcomer, one of the very earliest settlers in Polk County. It was an important landmark in the early days to the emigrant. Newcomer came here with the soldiers, in 1843, and was employed as a carpenter in building barracks at the garrison, his family living in a cabin at the Agency and Trading Post, down where the packing-houses now are. There …

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An active, zealous promoter of the growth and prosperity of Des Moines was John H. Given. Its development was his constant desire and incentive to action. Very few men were more widely known in Polk County in the early days, or were more helpful to the betterment of the community. He was one of the solid men of those days. Of English descent, a native of Virginia, his youth was passed on a farm, his education obtained during Winter months in the District School. At the age of seventeen, he entered an apprenticeship to learn the trade of wagon-maker. After …

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Of all men prominently connected with the history of the state and of Des Moines, none stand out more conspicuously than General Nathaniel B. Baker. Born in Hillsborough, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, in 1818, he received a liberal education preparatory to entering Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1839, when twenty-one years old; studied law with Franklin Pierce, subsequently President of the United States; admitted to the Bar in 1842; appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in 1845; Clerk of the Superior Court of Merrimack County in 1846; elected Representative to the Legislature in 1851, and chosen …

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One of the best known men in Des Moines, and it may be said from Chicago to Sundown, is William H. Quick, or “Billy,” as he is best known. Though not a pioneer of civilization, he was the pioneer of what has become an important part of the business life of the city and country — a great express business. born in Hamburg, Sussex County, New Jersey, July First, 1832, a descendant of sturdy Holland stock from the land of windmills, who settled in New Jersey on a land grant from Queen Anne, he is, as he said a few …

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Prominent among those who tramped down the weeds and brush at Fort Des Moines — in fact, all over Polk County — in the very early days, and helped materially to transform the scene first presented to him,in 1846, of a row of whitewashed log cabins strung along the Des Moines and ‘Coon rivers, and eastward only a wide expanse of timber and brush, to a prosperous and beautiful city, was John Hays. Of Irish parentage, born in Virginia, raised on a farm, educated and fitted for a school teacher, which profession he followed two years, in 1846, he determined …

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Although not a pioneer, according to a strict construction of the code, Levi J. Wells came early enough to be entitled an “Old Settler.” He hove into Des Moines in 1856, with intent and purpose to do something, but there was little or nothing doing. The town was small, times were hard, and money was scarce, and what there was of it was of the “wild-cat” variety, and of doubtful paternity. The first job he struck was hauling brick for “Jim” Savery, who was building what is now the Kirkwood House. He was a good carpenter and master workman. By …

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A pioneer of Des Moines who took an active and influential part in the formative period of the town was Major William McKay, a graduate of a Kentucky military school, hence his title. He came in February, 1846, while the soldiers were here, and while Fort Des Moines was under military control, but considerably relaxed, settlers having been permitted to come in and take residences as best they could. He was a young man of culture, courtly manners, genial and attractive. He soon gained public attention, and was considered a very desirable acquisition to the little hamlet just entering into …

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Thirty years ago, a very dignified and prominent individual in Des Moines was Colonel J. N. Dewey. How he acquired the military title, I never learned. He was not a Kentuckian, nor was he ever in the military service, except by implication. By profession, he was a civil engineer, and in the early ‘Fifties, did railroad engineering in Massachusetts and New York. When Hugh Riddle was at the head of the New York and Erie Road, the Colonel surveyed, laid out, and assisted largely in building that road, and when Riddle came to Chicago and became President and head of …

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Of the pioneers of Des Moines who came early, grew up with the town, and became prominent factors in civic affairs was William W. Williamson, or Judge, as he was more familiarly known, a Kentuckian by birth. On learning, through the newspapers, in 1848, that the Capital of the state was to be removed from Iowa City to Monroe City, which had been selected by a lot of Quakers appointed by the Legislature,because of faith in them to resist the machinations of sharpers, speculators, and temptations of “the flesh and devil.” So, with his wife, a carriage, and two fine …

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