History of the Counties of Woodbury and Plymouth, Iowa, Chicago: A. Warner & Co., 1890-1891

Northwestern Iowa: It's History and Traditions, 1804-1926

Submitted and typed by Sandra Belshaw, volunteer

History of the Counties of Woodbury and Plymouth, Iowa: Pages 532 - 533

The First Actual Settlers.--In older countries it is no easy matter to
delve back into the dim past and establish the facts concerning the first
settlers, but here in Plymouth county, many still survived who saw and helped to erect the pioneer buildings, and by this class it is stated that the settlement of Johnson township was effected, at first by a number of homesteaders, among whom the very earliest ones were: John P. HOFFMANN, on section thirty-six; he still resides on the land originally claimed. Theodore HOFFMANN came at the same time. August HAUSWALD homesteaded a part of section twenty-six. Andrew WILSON came from Jackson county, Iowa, in the spring of 1871, and homesteaded the northeast quarter of section twenty-two, where he still remains--a well-to-do farmer. The earliest settlers came in 1868-69. Thomas STANTON came from Jackson county, Iowa, and homesteaded the south half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-two, and still occupies the place. Wallace FULLER came from eastern Iowa, and in the spring of 1871 homesteaded the southwest quarter of section eight. In a great and sweeping prairie fire, about 1880, his wife was burned to death. He married again, however, and is now a large farmer of this township. Isaac N. JEFFERS was a homesteader about the same date, who claimed a portion of section four. He came here from Black Hawk county, Iowa, and is still an honored resident of Johnson Township. Peter and Donald McKINNON came in the fall, and took homesteads on section two. Later on they bought forms on sections one and three, where they still reside.

Richard GOLDIE, now editor of the "Sun" at LeMars, homesteaded the
northeast quarter of section twelve, in 1870-71. He proved up and remained
there until a few years ago, when he entered the journalistic field. August
McGUINIS claimed the east half of the northwest quarter of section twelve, in
1870. He is still a resident of his original homestead. C. F. WENDT was a
settler of 1872, on section twelve, where he still remains. August MUECKE, in
the fall of 1870, homesteaded the northeast quarter of section fourteen, where
he still lives. Christian KASPER homesteaded the southeast quarter of section
fourteen, in the autumn of 1870. He is still an honored resident of this
township. Chris MILLER homesteaded on the northwest quarter of section
fourteen, and still remains a resident. B. H. MICHAEL located a homestead in
the fall of 1871, on the northeast quarter of section twenty-four. About the
same time came in Henry BECKEBERG, claiming the south half of the northeast
quarter of section twenty-four. He is now a large land owner in Johnson and
Washington townships.

Richard FAULL homesteaded land on the south half of the southwest quarter
of section twenty-four. He still resides there, possessing a well-tilled and
finely-improved farm. William BORNSCHEIN settled on the north half of the
northeast quarter of section twenty-six, in the fall of 1870, took land on
section thirty-two. He was driven out of the county by grasshoppers, and now
lives at Emproia, Kas. Moses ARCHER came in at the same time and claimed a part of section thrity. He was also compelled to leave the county during the plague years, and is now a resident of another part of Iowa. John ARNDT, now living at LeMars, homesteaded on section thrity-four about 1869. A Scotchman named SHAW was an early homesteader in the north part of the township. After proving up his claim he sold and removed to a point farther west. Julius GOECKY
homesteaded on section four, in 1870, and removed soon after he proved up his claim, about 1875. These, with a few more, made up the first settlement of the township. But few others sought homes here until after the country had escaped the grasshopper ravages of 1874 to 1877, years long to be remembered by the early pioneers and homesteaders of Plymouth county.

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From the Title:
Northwestern Iowa: its history and traditions, 1804-1926 : comprising the
counties of Woodbury, Monona, Plymouth, Cherokee, O'Brien, Sioux, Lyon,
Osceola, Sac, Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Palo Alto, Pocahontas,
Calhoun, Ida, Crawford, Carroll and Greene
Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1927,
Page 805 - 820; Chapter XXX,

PLYMOUTH AND MONONA COUNTIES
DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY--A COUNTY
BEFORE HAVING SETTLERS--EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE
COUNTY--COUNTY SEATS AND TOWN SITES PROJECTED--
PLYMOUTH COUNTY ORGANIZED--CITY OF LEMARS, THE COUNTY
SEAT--COUNTY SEATS AND COURTHOUSES--THE ENGLISH
COLONY AT LEMARS--THE TOWN OF AKRON--REMSEN AND
KINGSLEY--OTHER TOWNS--

Plymouth, with its 856 square miles of land area, is one of the largest counties in Iowa, and is a trifle larger than Woodbury. Together they comprise about 1,100,000 acres, and may be considered as part of an extensive plain with a gentle slope toward the southwest. In riding over this portion of Northwestern Iowa, one is struck very forcefully by the apparent equality in height of the peaks and ridges within his horizon, and with the conviction that all the streams in the drainage system have carved a comparatively level surface, which, by the sweep of winds, has been molded into gentle curves and rounded swellings.

DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

The counties of Plymouth and Woodbury are plentifully watered by numerous streams, flowing by gentle descents southwesterly into Missouri. On the western border flows the Big Sioux from the northwest corner of Plymouth County to its mouth as Sioux City. Where it enters Plymouth County its elevation is 1,100 feet above sea level, and it falls less than six inches per mile to its mouth, draining, with its tributaries, at least 140 square miles of land in that county. Its alluvial plain is countinuous, and from half to one and a half miles in width, is rarely overflowed, and forms a body of land unsurpassed for fertility and ease of cultivation. In the upper part of the county the bluffs are quite gentle of ascent and the valleys opening through them have little rough land, but a short distance below Westfield, the rocks and precipitous bluffs commence to appear.

The tributaries of the Big Sioux are Indian, Beaver, Westfield and Broken Kettle creeks, which last has a course of more than twenty miles with much good land in its valley. The Floyd River, which empties into the Missouri River at Sioux City, rises in O'Brien County, enters Plymouth over its northeastern border and continues through the county toward the southwest. No rock is found in the county, but its banks slope gradually toward the upland prairies, forming a wide, open valley and broad alluvium. The practical result is an unbroken succession of beautiful and highly cultivated farms. At Merrill, the Floyd receives its large tributary, Beaver Creek, or the West Fork, and its valley, with that of Mink Creek its branch, is also a thing of beauty and fertility.

The West Fork of the Little Sioux has its source in Cherokee County, and passing to the southwest drains a large area of southeastern Plymouth County, runs north and south through the center of Woodbury County, and finally joins the Little Sioux in Monona County. It receives a number of tributary streams in Plymouth County, within which it drains an area of nearly 100,000 acres.

A COUNTY BEFORE HAVING SETTLERS

Like most of the frontier counties of Northwestern Iowa, Plymouth was known as a county before it had a single white inhabitant. The western portion of its territory was ceded to the United States by various Indian tribes i 1830, but the Santee Sioux did not relinquish their claims to the eastern portion until more than six months after the county was politically created and bounded; and even with and unclouded Indian title, no white was to settle within the prescribed bounds of Plymouth County until after five years from the time it was known to Iowa legislators.

The southern tier of townships in Plymouth County was included for a few years within the temporary County of Buchanan, created by the Territory of Wisconsin in 1837. The remainder of the county belonged from 1837 to 1847 to the temporary County of Fayette. The latter was the largest county ever established in connection with Iowa. It was also created in 1837 by act of Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, and covered most of the territory of the two Dakotas and Minnesota, together with a fourth part of Iowa. Its area has been estimated at 140,000 square miles, nearly three times that of the present State of Iowa.

Plymouth County was named, bounded and created by the legislative act approved January 15, 1851, which brought into like existence forty-nine other counties. The boundaries allotted it at that time have never been altered. In 1853, it was attached to Woodbury County for judicial and political purposes, but was not organized as a separate governing body until the fall of 1858, when was held the first election for county officers.

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.

The first settlers of Plymouth County came to the Big Sioux are said to have been two Swiss families named VERAGATH and ULRICH, and Barney ROONEY and James DORMANDY, with an Irish atmosphere.

In the spring of 1857 came a number of Germans to the Floyd Valley including Philip John and Mrs. Elizabeth SCHNEIDER, with younger members of the families, Christian SCHMIDT, Peter SHINTEL and Peter EMMERT. The Americans who joined them were the STAFFORDS and the CARTERS, with others whose settlement was not permanent. The next settlement along the Big Sioux was effected by J. B. PINCKNEY, D. M MILLS, John HIPKINS, I. T. MARTIN, B. VIDETO, W. HAVILAND, Thomas McGILL and Patrick and John JASSON (brothers).

COUNTY SEATS AND TOWN SITES PROJECTED

When several settlers are thus brought together in a region which is a county in name, there is a American instinct to organize one in fact. Thus it was that during the spring of 1857 a company composed of G. W. F. SHERWIN, Henry R. DAGGETT, John C. FLINT, Amos FRENCH, John McCLELLAND, D. WHITMER, George W. GREGG and John BARBER, platted a town on section 6, township 91, range 45, and called to it Plymouth. It was declared the intention of the proprietors to secure for their pet the location of the county seat and when an organization should be effected.

About half a mile below this point, another village plat was laid off by H. C. ASH and J. J. SAVILLE, of Sioux City, and they christened their town Junction, in the belief that it was there that the two railroad lines would meet when the Chicago & NorthWestern and the Dubuque & Sioux City enterprises should be projected thus far.

At the same time the Western Land & Town Lot Company, with headquarters at Dubuque under Colonel Thomas, laid out a large tract of land in the Big Sioux Valley, in township 92, range 49, also designed to be a county seat. The chief resident of shareholders were I. T. MARTIN, John HIPKINS and Bratton VIDETO.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY ORGANIZED.

When Plymouth County was organized in 1858, having been detached from what is now known as Woodbury County, the local government was vested in what was termed the County Court, which consisted of a judge, sheriff and clerk. The county judge had sole jurisdiction in all matters which were not within the jurisdiction of the District Court. Until 1860, the affairs of the county remained virtually in the hands of the county judge; after that year, until 1868, in the hands of the Board of Supervisors and its clerk, and in the year named the office of the county auditor was created.

The first officers of Plymouth County, elected October 12, 1858, were as follows: William VAN O'LINDA, judge; Isaac T. MARTIN, recorder and treasurer; A. C. SHEETZ, district clerk and surveryor; Daniel M. MILLS, sheriff; E. S. HUNGERFORD, coroner, and A. E. REA, superintendent of schools. This seems like quite an array of county officials, but, with the exception of the county judge, they held position largely in name and little in fact.

Judge Van O'Linda, as the name is written in the early records, had settled on the Floyd River in the winter of 1857-58, and was among the first and most insistent to protest against the inconvenience of going to Sioux City to vote to pay taxes, to go to court and do many other things which an American citizen is called upon to do. This inconvenience brought about the organization of Plymouth County, which at first was erected into two precincts, or civil townships, Plymouth and Westfield.

John L. CAMPBELL, judge of Woodbury County, therefore appointed William Van O'Linda as organizing sheriff of the Plymouth County which was reaching out for independence. In that capacity it became his duty to post notices ten days before the proposed election at the house of Morgan STAFFORD, in Plymouth Township, and at the residence of Isaac T. MARTIN, Westfield Township.

As stated, the election was held in October, 1858, and Mr. Van O'Linda as the leading figure in this declaration of county independence, was elected to the chief office. The greatest number of votes cast was for coroner--twenty-nine for E. S. HUNGERFORD. Having been politically organized, the new county, as a matter of form, established its offices in the homes of those holding them. Judge Van O'Linda had his office on section 29, township 90, range 46, on the Floyd River; I. T. MARTIN, as treasurer, at Westfield, township 92, range 49; A. C. SHEETZ, clerk, headquarters on the Floyd, section 29, township 90, range 46; D. M. MILLS, sheriff, on the Big Sioux River, section 14, township 91, range 49.

After a short experience in dealing with these scattered officials, the settlers and taxpayers decided that the inconvenience was almost as bad as being obliged to go to Sioux City, where, at least, the offices would be within walking distance of each other. Accordingly, they petitioned Judge Van O'Linda to designate commissioners to locate a seat of justice for the newly organized county. Andrew LEACH, of Sioux City, and Lemuel PARKHURST, of Cherokee, who had examined various localities in the county, reported to Judge Van O'Linda, in October, 1859, that they designated as the site of the county seat, the southeast quarter of section 34, township 91, range 46. It was platted as a town on April 12, 1860, by C. C. ORR, and was called Melbourne. Soon afterward a little $2,000 courthouse was erected and for more than a dozen years Melbourne remained the county seat. It is now listed as one of the defunct towns of Plymouth County--in the same class with Plymouth City.

CITY OF LEMARS, THE COUNTY SEAT.

LeMars, one of Iowa's most beautiful and progressive prairie cities, was platted by John I. BLAIR, of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company, now the Illinois Central, on the 4th of June, 1870. It was not named until the month of September, of the same year, when a party made up of John I. BLAIR and family, W. W. WAKER, of Cedar Rapids, Mrs. John WEARE (Mrs. REYNOLDS, of Clinton, Miss Underhill, of New York, Mrs. SWAIN and Mrs. PARSONS, of Fort Dodge, Mrs. George WEARE, Dr and Mrs. William R. SMITH, of Sioux City, and Mrs. John CLEGHORN, of the same city, Colonel WAYNE, of New York, and Mr. Anabel, of Iowa, all came by special train to the platted but unnamed town site. The ladies were allowed to write the initials of their names and then arrange them so as to produce a fitting cognomem. The result was Lemars, written LeMars.

The land now occupied by the city plat was originally owned by Capt. B. F. BETSWORTH, Jerry LADD and Amos MARTIN. In 1866, Captain BETSWORTH had claimed that portion of the site on section 9, and finally exchanged it for large and valuable acreage owned by the Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad Company. Soon after the platting of the town site by Mr. BLAIR, the main line of the Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad (Illinois Central) was completed, and stations established at LeMars, Remsen, Oyens, Merrill, Hinton and James. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad was completed from Worthington, Minn., to LeMars, in the autumn of 1872, with stations located at the county seat, as well as at Seney, in Elgin Township. At LeMars, the new line made junction with the Illinois Central, using the same rails into Sioux City by right of a lease.

LeMars was made the county seat in 1872, the people voting to move the seat of justice from the declining town of Melbourne by 476 to 111. The completion of the two roads, with LeMars as their junction, made the decision thus emphatic. The county seat became an incorporated town in 1881 and soon afterward, a city of the second class. C. P. WOODARD was its first mayor. The city took early measures to obtain a good water supply and protect itself against fire. In 1884, a steam fire engine was purchased and in 1888 the city bonded itself to increase the apparatus and purchase a city hall. LeMars was largely stirred to activity in providing a fire protection for its citizens by the burning of the famous Depot Hotel in May, 1878. The latter had been erected by the Illinois Central Railroad Company, in 1870, about the time the line was completed to LeMars, and served for eight years as station house, hotel and residence for the local agent, who was usually the landlord in charge. When the public lost the Depot Hotel by fire, the blow was hearby, and agitation increased for a more efficient fire department and better system of waterworks. In 1888, the foundation of both was laid. In June of that year engineers commenced the work of construction on the present waterworks. The system was known as the Holly direct-pressure system, by which the water reaches the consumer without outward exposure, and includes a storage reservoir and a filter. It also provides for special pressure in case of fire. Both the fire and the water systems have been continuously extended to meet increase of territory and population.

Although the unusual expansion of Sioux City has somewhat restricted the growth of LeMars, it is still one of the largest banking, commercial and industrial centers in Northwestern Iowa. Its flour-milling business is especially noticeable and for a number of years the Plymouth Roller Mill was the largest single establishment of the kind in Iowa. Its business houses and public buildings, its schools and churches, are substantial and often handsome. Of its higher institutions of learning none stands better than the Western Union College, which is co-educational and is under the control of the Evangelical Church. Its enrollment is now about 250 and it has been steadily increasing. Two courthouses have been erected in LeMars for county purposes, the one now occupied meeting the requirements of the citizens and taxpayers.

COUNTY SEATS AND COURTHOUSES.

Westfield, the competitor of Melbourne for the county seat, was abandoned in 1860, on account of a settlement of half-breed Indians on lands in the vicinity upon which their scrip was located. As stated, Melbourne continued as the county seat until 1872. During the September meeting of the Board of Supervisors, it was determined that Melbourne was no longer a proper location in which to have the county offices, and in view of the fact that the people of LeMars had offered to furnish suitable offices for the county, the members resolved to avail themselves of the offer, and hence met, September 28, 1872, in Andrews Block, that city. Then the people voted for the regular transfer of the county seat to LeMars. The board of 1873 met at the office of STRUBLE Brothers leading lawyers, and accepted the proposition of Young & Corkery to erect a building to be used by the county officers for two years. This first courthouse in LeMars was occupied in April, 1873, and in the following year the old courthouse at Melbourne was sold for $31. At the April meeting of 1874 the board voted to appropriate $3,000 to erect a courthouse and jail on block 35, to be completed by November, 1874. The site had been donated to he county by the Sioux City & Iowa Falls Town Lot and Land Company, and $3,000 of the swamp land fund was apporpiated to seat, paint and furnish the new courthouse and to provide suitable vaults for it. This courthouse answered all practical purposes until August, 1885, when it was voted to build a brick addition to the west side of the structure, in order to provide additional accommodations for vault and office purposes.

In fall of 1888 the people refused to vote a two-mill tax for the purpose of erecting a new jail, but in the following year they thought better of such action, as the judge had repeatedly stated that he would no longer confine prisoners in the old shack, which was insecure as well as unsanitary. In the fall of 1889, the tax was voted, and in May, 1890, the Board of Supervisors awarded the contract to build a $11,000 Jail, which was the time enthusiastically pronounced the "finest in Western Iowa."

THE ENGLISH COLONY AT LEMARS.

The investments of the CLOSE brothers, young Englishmen of education and high standing, in Northwestern Iowa, both for themselves and other fellow capitalists, in the early '80s, were strikingly illustrated at LeMars and vicinity. William B. CLOSE, the moving spirit in the English immigration to Woodbury, Plymouth, Osceola, Sioux and Lyon counties, was in attendance at the centennial exposition in 1876, as captain of a Cambridge University rowing crew, and after leaving Philadelphia came into Northwestern Iowa to investigate the chances for financial investment in its beautiful and fertile lands. He returned to England filled with enthusiasm over the prospects, and he and his brothers organized a company to invest both for themselves and others--not only to invest, but to open farms and put them in operation. The basis of their operations was the raising of stock. Their operations were so immense that no attempt can be made to describe them here. To understand them, the reader is referred to an article published in Volume II of The Palimpsest, based upon material furnished by Jacob VAN DER ZEE. This states that a trip to LeMars made by William B. CLOSE convinced him that there was the most favorable nucleus for his most ambitious enterprise. The three brothers purchased his most ambitious enterprise. The three brothers purchased 30,000 acres in Plymouth County for about $2.50 an acre and the two younger brothers came to Iowa to reside.

Some of the land was farmed directly by the owners. William B. CLOSE, for example, had a farm of 2,000 acres at West Fork, some twenty miles west of LeMars, where he had 2,000 sheep and some 1,600 head of cattle. His two brothers had a farm of 960 acres near LeMars with a three-story frame house and stables for thirty horses. Tracts of 1,000 acres belonging to other wealthy Englishmen were not uncommon, and many of these farms were given such names as Gypsy Hill, Inchinnoch and Troscoed. It is said that letters addressed to a farm by name, but not having the town and state designated, were always sent to LeMars. Stock raising was the chief activity on these farms, and high-grade horses, cattle, sheep and hogs were imported. A servant of William B. CLOSE is reported to have made eighty-five trips across the Atlantic in charge of stock for the Iowa colony.

These large purchases of lands at such cheap prices were made possible by the recent grasshopper invasions and the exodus of many discouraged and even desperate farmers. Just how many thousands of acres in Northwestern Iowa were purchased by the CLOSE brothers and their associates have never been estimated, although it is known that at different times they obtained tracts of 14,000, 18,000, 19,000, 25,000 and 40,000 acres. In addition, they acted as agents for the sale of railroad lands.

Besides engaging in the real estate business, they made a definite attempt to establish a central English community in the LeMars neighborhood, and some five or six hundred people settled there, bringing with them their English ideas of business, food, living conditions and recreation. They were educated, well-to-do and self-reliant, accustomed to comfort and even luxury. There was even a sprinkling of titles among the new comers and university graduates were not uncommon. "No young English gentleman could work hard on a diet of beans and bacon, such as he gets in the house of the Western American farmer," declared a visitor, and it seems that these English farmers added roast beef, marmalade, plum pudding and tea to the usual fornteir fare. Pianos, furnaces and bathrooms were sometimes mentioned in descriptions of the houses on the larger farms.

Some of the younger men who came to Iowa knew nothing of farming, but were willing to learn from the natives and paid them for the instruction. Naturally, also the CLOSE brothers were interested in these high-class apprentices and did all they could to assist them. Among the gentlemen who joined the CLOSE brothers in assuming responsibility for these young fellows was Capt. Reynolds MORETON, a retired officer of the English navy and a brother of Lord Decies. MORETON's farm was a short distance from LeMars. It comprised about 1,000 acres and good old Captain MORETON was working and instructing twenty-two young aristocrats on the same principle as the "Close pupils." As an English correspondent noted: "Admission to the Captain's establishment is not an easy matter to procure. His boys do all the work on the farm. Lord HOBART, when I was there, was mowing, assisted by two of Lord St. Vincent's sons, and the Hon. Captain was feeding a threshing machine. It was hot, but everyone looked happy, even young Moreton, who was firing and driving the steam engine." This establishment was nicknamed "Moreton's pup farm" by the neighbors, to whom the escapades of these English boys were a constant source of criticism and amusement."

REMSEN AND KINGLSEY.

Remsen is a town of about 1,200 people, on the Illinois Central Railroad, some ten miles east of LeMars, and was originally platted in August, 1876, by the Sioux City & Iowa Falls Town Lot and Land Company. It derived its name from Dr. William Remsen SMITH, of Sioux City, a large landowner, and was made a station on the original Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad. It became a post office in 1879 and an incorporated town in 1889.

Kingsley, a town of about the same size as Remsen, is in the southeastern corner of the county, on the Chicago & NorthWestern line, and is the leading trade and shipping center in that part of the county. It was platted in 1883, when the NorthWestern railway was completed. Kingsley was laid out on section 30. Three years before, two of the Close brothers had platted Quorn on section 25, about a mile to the west. When the railroad touched the Kinglsley site, Quorn was abandoned and transported itself bodily to its more fortunate neighbor. Kingsley obtained its first post office in 1880 and was incorporated as a town in 1884.

OTHER TOWNS.

Merrill, which lies a little to the west of the center of Plymouth County, has access to three railroads--the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, the Illinois Central and the Chicago & NorthWestern. Naturally, it is a good shipping point for grain and live stock. It was platted as a town site in February, 1872, by the Sioux City & Iowa Falls Town Lot and Land Company. It is now an incorporated town of more than 6000 people.

Although the original Westfield, which was the rival of Melbourne for the county seat, was vacated in 1860, another town by that name was platted in 1877 on sections 26 and 27. It is on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line and the Big Sioux River, and is a station of less than 300 people.

Brunsville and Craig are stations on the Chicago & NorthWestern, in the northwestern part of the county; Dalton, a few miles east of Brunsville, on the Great Northern; Struble, farther north on the same line; Seney, on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, and Hinton and oyens, stations on the Illinois Central.