Chapter I: Introduction

The history of Linn county is covered by the events of only a few years, if compared with the history of communities east of the Mississippi. The space of one life-time embraces all that has happened here since the first white man looked upon our goodly heritage. True, that life has been prolonged beyond the scriptural three score and ten years. Robert Ellis, who came to this community more than seventy years ago, and who was one of the very early settlers, yet lives in a hale and vigorous age on land he "claimed" at that time.

But if the history of the county does not cover many years, it yet is a history crowded with happenings of interest, some of the incidents being more or less stirring.

History is defined as a record of the past. It does not concern itself with the present. It has been the purpose of the editors of this volume to treat somewhat at length of the early days in the county. Those conversant with events occurring prior to the Civil war are rapidly moving on, and it is high time that their recollections of beginnings here were gathered and put in permanent form.

This has been attempted--how imperfectly done no one realizes more keenly than we realize it. But like little Mary Wood of the story, we have done the best we could in the few months given us to prepare the pages which follow. We have done some things which need not be done again by any one who follows us. We have made definite some things in our history as a county that heretofore have been matters of uncertainty. It is felt that the present volume will make an excellent starting point for some future chronicler.

The task of the historian has been an arduous one--far more arduous than can be imagined by any save those who have done similar work. Withal the task has been one of pleasure and of inspiration. The pursuit of knowledge in this instance has really been a delight.

We have been taught many things by our work that add to the sum of the pleasures of living in a day crowded with all the conveniences of the twentieth century. Our respect for the courageous pioneer men and the equally courageous and self-sacrificing pioneer women of our county has been placed high. Nobly did they suffer, enduring privations now undreamed of, and never complaining that theirs was a hard lot. We stand with uncovered heads and with a reverent feeling in their presence.

It is not possible to make due acknowledgments to all those who aided in gathering the material in this volume. Many who came here in the early years of the county have been consulted, and always with profit. The drudgery of the work of making this book has been greatly lessened by their courtesy and their help. We thank them all. Some of them have been credited with their assistance in the narrative itself. In addition to the names mentioned in the text we desire to give thanks for aid and counsel to N. E. Brown, perhaps the best posted man in Cedar Rapids on the early history of the city; to Ed. M. Scott, for most valuable aid in the preparation of the chapter on banks and banking; to Capt. J. O. Stewart and Col. W. G. Dows for appreciated assistance in the writing of the chapter on our military history; to Carle D. Brown, of the Commercial Art Press, who gathered most of the illustrations for the volume; to W. F. Stahl, for aid in giving the history of the United Brethren church in the county. Robert Ellis, Mrs. Susan Mekeel, Mrs. Susan Shields, Mrs. Elizabeth Hrdlicka, Augustus Abbe, J. H. Preston, C. G. Greene, J. S. Ely, Wm. Smyth, C. F. Butler, L. W. Mansfield, and many others have assisted in gathering much valuable material concerning the lives of the pioneers.

Much that has been gathered concerning times far removed from the present, is from "hearsay," hence it has been difficult to be certain as to the correct facts in some instances. Inaccuracies may be found, but these are due to unavoidable omissions, largely on the part of those who have related these happenings and not from any sense of bias or prejudice.

All prior county histories have been consulted as well as the early state gazetteers, Andreas' _Atlas_, Carroll's _History_, _History of Crescent Lodge_, _History of the Bench and Bar of Iowa_, _History of the Courts and Legal Profession_, _Proceedings_ of the Linn County Historical Society; and the files of the newspapers published in the county in an early day. It is needless to add that the early city directories have been largely used with reference to the business men of Cedar Rapids in the early days.

References to persons have been confined to mere statements of facts and have been free from undue flattery on the one hand and from anything derogatory on the other. The members of the legal and medical professions have been referred to at some length for the reason that the lawyers and doctors were important factors in pioneer days, both in the organization of the county and in the promotion of the various enterprises in our towns.

Trusting that this history may be of some value in preserving material which ere long would pass beyond reach of preservation, this work is respectfully dedicated to the early pioneers of the county, whose lives and careers the authors have attempted to describe in the following pages.

LUTHER A. BREWER
BARTHINIUS L. WICK

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I THE BIRTH OF IOWA 1

CHAPTER II THE FIRST INHABITANTS 3

CHAPTER III IOWA HISTORICALLY 13

CHAPTER IV IOWA AND HER PEOPLE 17

CHAPTER V THE GEOLOGY OF LINN COUNTY 24

CHAPTER VI BEGINNINGS IN LINN COUNTY 31

CHAPTER VII WILLIAM ABBE, FIRST SETTLER 51

CHAPTER VIII COUNTY SEAT CONTESTS--FIRST RAILROAD IN COUNTY 57

CHAPTER IX THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 66

CHAPTER X POSTOFFICES AND POLITICS 82

CHAPTER XI THE PHYSICIANS OF THE COUNTY 86

CHAPTER XII THE MATERIAL GROWTH OF THE COUNTY 92

CHAPTER XIII RURAL LIFE 98

CHAPTER XIV A HERO OF THE CANADIAN REBELLION 101

CHAPTER XV THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE COUNTY 106

CHAPTER XVI THE BOHEMIAN ELEMENT IN THE COUNTY 121

CHAPTER XVII THE EARLY MARRIAGE RECORD 127

CHAPTER XVIII HISTORIC ROADS AND OTHER MONUMENTS 142

CHAPTER XIX SOME OF THE OLD SETTLERS 145

CHAPTER XX EARLY LINN COUNTY LAWYERS AND COURTS 169

CHAPTER XXI CHATTY MENTION OF BENCH AND BAR 177

CHAPTER XXII THE SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY 194

CHAPTER XXIII HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CORNELL COLLEGE 201

CHAPTER XXIV HISTORY OF COE COLLEGE 215

CHAPTER XXV THE OLD BLAIR BUILDING 232

CHAPTER XXVI SOME OF THE OLD CEMETERIES 242

CHAPTER XXVII EARLY EXPERIENCES IN STAGE AND EXPRESS 244

CHAPTER XXVIII LINN COUNTY LIBRARIES 248

CHAPTER XXIX WAGES AND PRICES IN COUNTY FROM 1846 TO 1856 253

CHAPTER XXX SOME OF THE FIRST THINGS IN CEDAR RAPIDS AND LINN COUNTY 256

CHAPTER XXXI SOCIETY IN THE EARLY DAYS 261

CHAPTER XXXII SOUTHERN INFLUENCE 267

CHAPTER XXXIII SOME TOWNSHIP HISTORY 270

CHAPTER XXXIV LISBON AND THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH 291

CHAPTER XXXV COUNTY AND DISTRICT POLITICS 298

CHAPTER XXXVI CEDAR RAPIDS 307

CHAPTER XXXVII BEGINNINGS OF CHURCHES AND FRATERNITIES IN CEDAR RAPIDS 395

CHAPTER XXXVIII CATHOLICISM IN LINN COUNTY 401

CHAPTER XXXIX LINN COUNTY STATISTICS 416

CHAPTER XL THE BRIDGES ACROSS THE CEDAR AT CEDAR RAPIDS AND EARLY STEAMBOATING ON THE CEDAR RIVER 420

CHAPTER XLI BANKS AND BANKING IN LINN COUNTY 435

CHAPTER XLII ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS 451

CHAPTER XLIII HISTORY OF MARION, THE COUNTY SEAT 460

CHAPTER XLIV LINN COUNTY IN WAR 470