History of Linn County Iowa

he First Settle

ek." He returned to his home in Ohio and in the winter of 1837 he again crossed the Mississippi with his family on the ice as early as February of that year, according to his daughter's statement, and in April reached the location he had selected the previous year on Abbe's creek. Here he erected one of the first cabins in the county, being about 12×14 feet square, and covered with birch bark, having no floor

e was married to Olive Greene in 1824 and by her had four children: Lucy, Lois, Andrew, and Susan. Lois Abbe died young, Lucy Abbe die

non. He married a second time on September 13, 1840, his wife being Mary Wolcott, also from Ohio, and by her he had two sons, born at Marion: Augustus Wolcott Abbe and William Alden Abbe. William Ald

as married to John Harman March 16, 1848, who died shortly afterwards, and she later married John Shield

immigrants. When we first went there I was but a child seven years old. The men I remember most were Robert Ellis, one of our first acquaintances, and Asher Edgerton, the former being with us a long time when the count

a member of the state legislature when the capital was located at Iowa City. Later father sold our place on Abbe's Creek and purchased another on the old Marion road, of about three hundred acres, further north; there was a lovely creek, a grove of maple trees was on one side and a boundless prairie on the other side. The In

them. There were only one or two white settlers there at the time. By the way, I was the first school teacher they had in Cedar Rapids; I think it was about in 1846; I still have the certificate issued to me by Alexander Ely, who was superintendent at the time. After residing on this place a

r mined gold, but teamed and speculated; he was there about two years, returning to Iowa in 1851, remaining in Iowa only a short time when he returned to California with

y years of age gives only an idea of the hardships of pioneer life, and

e in Marion with her family until August 27, 1861, whe

est educated men in Linn county up to the time of his removal to California. For a number of years Mr. Abbe was the only person in the county having ready money, loaning the same to his friends for the purchase of their claims. He held government contracts for the delivery of meat and provisions to the Winnebago agency at Fort Atkinson and to the troops at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and at other places, and thus was acquainted with many of the military officers in the Black Hawk

UNITED BRETHREN

rly day to seek homes. It is also said that Mrs. Abbe was an excellent cook and many of the old surveyors would ride se

nd when the snow drifts generally were large. During the first two seasons there were very few crops grown, and consequently the father was kept busy earning a livelihood, the family subsisting mostly on

ber of the 9th Iowa Infantry, now a retired farmer residing at To

of Indians were gathered in our house and I climbed a post, sitting on the same to watch the redskins race their horses. One of the chiefs, one that had the most gaudy clothing on, rode by very fast and picked me off the post and put me in front on his saddle, going at full gallop; he rode a long ways down through the prairie and my mother expres

still remember when he put on moccasins, overshoes, and a buffalo overcoat of some kind; he would bundle up securely, kiss us good-bye and start off across the prairie at full speed. Many a t

e time; they would come in late in the night and in the morning, much to my surprise, I would find a number of people at breakfast, I not knowing when they came during the night. I never knew or heard of my mother making any charg

kind to them and the squaws used to sit on our door steps more than once. She gave

else I might have to stay in that jail or some other jail if I did not. These lessons were certainly deeply impressed on me for life. I remember, also, when we removed from Marion to Dubuque. I

father frequently. He was related, also, on his wife's side, to Ed Clark, an early settler in Linn county. Thes

ast bank of the river. The remainder of the town was a mass of sand burrs, weeds, and timber, and along Cedar Lake and along the river large numbers of Indians were camped, especially up along the Cedar Lake and along what is now known as McCloud's Springs. In this locality

urch she now and then attended, but there were not many

h the persons who had charge of the Winnebago school, as well as those in charge of Fort Atkinson. Nearly all the people who rode horseback from Iowa City to Dubuque came by way of Mount Vernon, and would generally stop over night at our home. I remember my father and the strangers talking over politics until way into the night, and still remember many of these discussions as to the future of Iowa and as to the political aspirat

to seek out an ideal location and get settled before he took us out there. But the day never came, and we never saw him again when he left on his second trip to California in 1852. All that we knew was that my mother received a letter from a Masonic order in Sacramento that the order had taken care of him in his sickness a

the age of fifty-eight years. As I felt downhearted at the time I joined the army and went to the fron

have been a deputy, I am not certain about that, but I know he was acting, at least, in the capacity of sheriff and caused the arrest of a number of horse thieves and other alleged crimi

ept also several horses, but these were used

r had the good will of all law-abiding citizens. He was affable to str

his never wavering from the path of right. Whether amid the influences of the home circle or surrounded by the temptations of the mining c

deceased friend, expressed words of deepest feeling

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nn county, and a son of Jeremiah Daniels, who came to Linn county in 1844, was pretty good authority on the subject of the early settlers. In a number of conversations had with him on this subject and from what he wrote for the Annals of Iowa, Vol. VI, p. 581, and for the Iowa Atlas, 1907, it is gathered

e a claim and built a cabin upon it, did some breaking, and in August removed with wife and five chi

statement made to him and others

y settlers and no one paid any attention to time or place, and it might be that Mr. Abbe, Mr. Hahn, an

ls's articles, the fol

g decided to locate in the county. In the latter part of August Edward Crow and his brother and James Dawson began to work on their new possessions; about this time there came also two other pioneers by the name of Joslyn and Russel

confines of Linn county. True, hunters and trappers may have been here earlier, but no actual bona fide settler, as far as we have been able to ascertain. The testimon

MUEL W.

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