History of Linn County Iowa United States of America

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Local History Notes:

This society was organized in 1855, at Cedar Rapids. The first Board of Officers was, Hosea W. Gray, President; A. R. Sausman and Henry Pence, Vice Presidents: J. L. Enos, Secretary; and S. C. Bever, Treasurer. The first fair was held at Cedar Rapids, on the first Wednesday and Thursday of October in that year, and is spoken of as a very creditable exhibition. The second exhibition was held at Marion, October 1st and 2nd, 1856; the third at Cedar Rapids in September, 1857. In the year 1858, land was purchased about half way between Marion and Cedar Rapids, and the fair grounds permanently located. It was supposed that this would put an end to the rivalry between the two towns, and concentrate the whole agricultural interests of the county. The annual exhibitions of the society held there were successful for a number of years. Both towns gradually lost their interest in the subject. In November, 1863, the Board passed a resolution appointing a committee to "report upon the propriety and legality of changing the place of holding the fairs to some more appropriate and convenient point, either at Marion or Cedar Rapids." In February, 1864, this committee reported to accept the proposition of the citizens of Marion, who offered $1,000 if the fair grounds were permanently located there. Sixteen acres of land were purchased on Scott's prairie, adjoining the town plat, and the first fair held on the new grounds in September, 1864. This was probably the most successful fair the society ever had. The weather was good, the list of entries large, and the receipts very satisfactory. From this time on, the history of the society alternated between good and bad luck--the latter probably predominating. Bad weather prevailed at many of the fairs, reducing the receipts and augmenting the debts. In 1865, it rained every day of the fair except one. In 1868, the society was $3,000 in debt, and the receipts during the fair of that year only about paid the expenses. At the fair of 1870, the record books says, "the elements were against us; loss, $350." In that year, a mortgage on the society's grounds of $1,885 was paid off by a subscription. The location of the State Fair at Cedar Rapids in 1871 was a severe blow on the County society. The records of that year show that there was a good exhibition, but with small receipts. The last fair held by the society was in 1874, at which time the receipts were quite satisfactory. Commencing with 1871, six State fairs have been held in the county, including the present year (1878), destroying the interest in the county fairs. The society will, no doubt, be revived at an early day.

The duty of placing permanently upon record the facts herein recited is one of an exceedingly delicate nature and is keenly appreciated by the historian. To properly discharge his work, he has not only interviewed the greater part of those pioneers who still survive, and also the descendants of those who have passed away, but he has carried on a general system of correspondence with men who are in other sections of the country at present, but who were, at one time, identified with the affairs of Linn County.

Notable among these letters is one from the Hon. Hosea W. Gray, now a resident of Nebraska, but a pioneer of Linn, and the first Sheriff ever appointed in this county.

In response to the inquiry, "Who do you regard as the first settler?" Mr. Gray stated that he considered Jacob Mann the person entitled to that distinction. Mr. Mann's claim had never been disputed prior to his death in 1851, and the fact that he came in February, 1838, seemed conclusive evidence substantiating his right to the first place on the list.

With due respect to Mr. Gray's opinion, and with an equal degree of consideration for the statements of all others, it was deemed the only course for us to pursue to give the literal version of Mr. Crow's story; and to place the matter fully before the intelligent men of the county prior to the publication of this work.

This was done, and such men as Hon. Horace N. Brown, A. J. McKean and others practically agree that the theory herein advanced is correct. Mr. Brown, whose father, Nathan, was one of the early parties, as hereafter related, does not say that Mr. Crow wintered here in 1837-8, but he does admit that the three men--the Crow brothers and Dawson--were in the county in the year 1837, and that upon their return to the State of Illinois, the men named further on in this history constituted the band of pioneers who made the second settlement.

The lucid circumstantiality of Mr. Crow's statement; the remarkable freshness of his memory, and the overwhelming force of corroborative events, leave no alternative in the mind of the writer but to place his name ahead, not only of Jacob Mann's, but also before that of C. C. Haskins, whose friends assert his priority. There is no link in the chain of evidence missing. It is what a lawyer would term a "clear case." The reliability of the account depends upon the veracity of Mr. Crow, and from our acquaintance with him, as well as from the assurances of others, we feel that it is prudent and proper to place confidence in his memory and his intentions.

The "logic of events" which goes to upset the established theory of settlement may be summarized thus:

No settler who is able to furnish positive date of coming, had penetrated into Linn County prior to July, 1837. If any white man had passed through the county, as Dyer Usher claims to have done, in 1836, it was at the peril of life, and solely for the purpose of adventure. Therefore, when Edward M. Crow reached Linn, in July, 1837, and made a break in the wilderness, he struck the first blow. That he did come in 1837 is corroborated by Mr. H. N. Brown; that the date was July, depends upon his own word.

The facts that the two men, Earl and Farnsworth, in November, 1837, found a settler in the neighborhood of the Linn County line; that the woman was sick, and that the prospectors aided in repairing the cabin, which needed more work than the settler himself, who was reported an "an easy-going man," was disposed to bestow upon it, demonstrate the point that the settler was Jacob Mann and daughter. The travelers supposed that the woman was the settler's wife, because she had an infant, but a secret page in the life history of that man and woman reads somewhat differently from the properly regulated pages of domestic affairs. It is stated, on what appears to be good authority, that Sally Mann gave birth to a son while on the way to the claim made by her father in Cherry Grove. The illness spoken of may have resulted from her confinement. The father of the child did not accompany the Manns. The settler was "an easy-going man," and answered the description given by Earl. The only conflict of statement is in regard to the locality, but it is reasonable to suppose that two men, traveling without particular purpose, were mistaken as to the line, then so vague. Cherry Grove reaches nearly to the dividing line, and we doubt if any man could have determined accurately the exact location of the hut in those days. Then, it must also be remembered that these men did not discover the Crow cabin, a fact which goes to prove that they were east of their supposed position. Haskins, as shown elsewhere, was a bachelor, and could not have been the settler found by Earl, since it is admitted that the settler was living with a woman. Finally, it should be recollected that the statement made by them comes to us second-handed, and after the lapse of forty-one years.

Following the line of argument, we see that Edward Crow knew of Jacob Mann's claim on a creek in Cherry Grove and visited him there. Sally Mann was of the family. Crow, however, knew of no settler in the southeast corner of the county--a remarkable fact in view of the sparseness of settlement in this section.

Crow returned to Illinois in 1837, and reported favorably on this country. He then came back, and remained in his cabin with his brother and Dawson, until February, 1838. At that time he started East, and stayed with Jacob Mann, in Cherry Grove, who, at that time, told him that he (Mann) intended to remove to Big Creek the following day.

It is admitted by all that Mann did locate in this county in February, 1838, and thus the statement made by Mr. Crow is substantiated.

Crow's party went on East, in 1838, and encountered immigrants, bound for Linn County. The band consisted of John Crow, father of Edward, John Lyon, O. Bennett, Charles Pinckney, Benjamin Simmons, Solomon Peckham and Alexander Rhotan. This list is confirmed by Mr. Brown. The first settlers completed their business and returned with these men. Peckham and Rhotan located in the Crow neighborhood, but the others went on to Linn Grove and there made a claim three miles square. Mann's claim touched this larger claim, and therefore a jog was made in it; but Mann was no farmer and desired merely the privilege of the water power on the creek, which, of course, he secured.

While this method of reasoning and the correlative statement of fact revolutionizes the heretofore published accounts of the settlement of Linn, the historian feels confident that those who differ from him will admit the soundness of his arguments. We desire to give the truth only, for the benefit of posterity.

Of those who made claims in 1838, the writer has been able to obtain a very nearly correct list. It is possible that some parties came in that year who do not appear here. Owing to the difficulty of locomotion, the necessity for close application to the work of breaking farms, and the long distances between claims, it is probable that some men may have come and gone without leaving much trace of their residence here. The list is made up entirely from memory by the persons interviewed, and not from any record, diary or official statement. These who settled in the northeast did not personally know those of the Rapids district; and even the centrally situated pioneers are not quite clear on many points relative to early settlement.

On such hearsay evidence it is found that, in addition to the parties of settlers referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and the five men who located in Putnam, mentioned later on, there were present in the county in 1838 the following persons:

Samuel C. Stewart, Peter McRoberts, John McAfferty, William Abbe (came in May), Israel Mitchell, William Gilbert, J. G. Cole, Hiram Thomas, Joseph Carraway, Jacob Lebo, Albert Henry, William Stone, Osgood Shepard, Robert Ellis, O. S. Bowling, Mr. Ashmore, W. K. Farnsworth, Robert Osborn, Perry Oxley, Thomas Campbell, Mr. Williams, Mr. Evans, William Vineyard, James Hunter, John Gibson, Robert Dean, Michael and Peter Donohoo, William Chamberlain, J. B. Sergent, John Sergent, Andrew J. McKean, John Scott, Hosea W. Gray, Socrates H. Tryon, Anson Cowles, Andrew Safley, Rev. Christian Troup, Daniel S. Hahn (came in March), Hiram Bales, Ash Edgerton, Peter Rolan, John Stewart, J. E. Boyd (two last named located on the claim of -- Duthridge), Philip Hull, John Young, Mr. Granger, L. H. Powell, John McCloud, Mr. Kemp.

History of Linn County Iowa

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