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ber, 1832, Col. George Davenport made the first claim on the spot where the thriving city of Davenport now stands. As early as 1827, Col. Davenport had established a flatboat ferry, which ran between the island and the main shore of Iowa, by which he carried on a trade with the Indians west of the Mississippi. In 1833, Capt. Benjamin W. Clark moved across from Illinois, and laid the foundation of the town of Buffalo, in Scott County, which was the first actual settlement within the limits of that county. Among other early settlers in this part of the Territory were Adrian H. Davenport, Col. John Sullivan, Mulligan and Franklin Easly, Capt. John Coleman, J. M. Camp, William White, H. W. Higgins, Cornelius Harrold, Richard Harrison, E. H. Shepherd and Dr. E. S. Barrows.

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The first settlers of Davenport were Antoine LeClaire, Col. George Davenport, Major Thomas Smith, Major William Gordon, Philip Hambough, Alexander W. McGregor, Levi S. Colton, Capt. James May and others. Of Antoine LeClaire, as the representative of the two races of men who at this time occupied Iowa, Hon. C. C. Nourse, in his admirable Centennial Address, says: "Antoine LeClaire was born at St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1797. His father was French, his mother a granddaughter of a Pottowatomie chief. In 1818, he acted as official interpreter to Col. Davenport, at Fort Armstrong (now Rock Island). He was well acquainted with a dozen Indian dialects, and was a man of strict integrity and great energy. In 1820, he married the granddaughter of a Sac chief. The Sac and Fox Indians reserved for him and his wife two sections of land in the treaty of 1833, one at the town of LeClaire and one at Davenport. The Pottawatomies, in the treaty at Prairie du Chien, also reserved for him two sections of land, at the present site of Moline, Ill. He received the appointment of Postmaster and Justice of the Peace in the Black Hawk Purchase, at an early day. In 1833, he bought for $100 a claim on the land upon which the original town of Davenport was surveyed and platted in 1836. In 1836, LeClaire built the hotel, known since, with its valuable addition, as the LeClaire House. He died September 25, 1861."

In Clayton County, the first settlement was made in the Spring of 1832, on Turkey River, by Robert Hatfield and William W. Wayman. No further settlement was made in this part of the State till the beginning of 1836.

In that portion now known as Muscatine County, settlements were made in 1834, by Benjamin Nye, John Vanater and G. W. Kasey, who were the first settlers. E. E. Fay, William St. John, N. Fullington, H. Reece, Jona Pettibone, R. P. Lowe, Stephen Whicher, Abijah Whiting, J. E. Fletcher, W. D. Abernethy and Alexis Smith were early settlers of Muscatine.

During the Summer of 1835, William Bennett and his family, from Galena, built the first cabin within the present limits of Delaware County, in some timber since known as Eads' Grove.

The first post office in Iowa was established at Dubuque in 1833. Milo H. Prentice was appointed Postmaster.

The first Justice of the Peace was Antoine Le Claire, appointed in 1833, as "a very suitable person to adjust the difficulties between the white settlers and the Indians still remaining there."

The first Methodist Society in the Territory was formed at Dubuque on the 18th of May, 1834, and the first class meeting was held June 1st of that year.

The first church bell brought into Iowa was in March, 1834.

The first mass of the Roman Catholic Church in the Territory was celebrated at Dubuque, in the house of Patrick Quigley, in the Fall of 1833.

The first school house in the Territory was erected by the Dubuque miners in 1833.

The first Sabbath school was organized at Dubuque early in the Summer of 1834.

The first woman who came to this part of the Territory with a view to permanent residence was Mrs. Noble F. Dean, in the Fall of 1832.

The first family that lived in this part of Iowa was that of Hosea T. Camp,

in 1832.

The first meeting house was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Dubuque, in 1834.

The first newspaper in Iowa was the Dubuque Visitor, issued May 11th, 1836. John King, afterward Judge King, was editor, and William C. Jones, printer. The pioneers of Iowa, as a class, were brave, hardy, intelligent and enterprising people.

As early as 1824, a French trader named Hart had established a trading post, and built a cabin on the bluffs above the large spring now known as "Mynster Spring," within the limits of the present city of Council Bluffs, and had probably been there some time, as the post was known to the employes of the American Fur Company as Lacote de Hart, or "Hart's Bluff." În 1827, an agent of the American Fur Company, Francis Guittar, with others, encamped in the timber at the foot of the bluffs, about on the present location of Broadway, and afterward settled there. In 1839, a block house was built on the bluff in the east part of the city. The Pottawatomie Indians occupied this part of the State until 1846-7, when they relinquished the territory and removed to Kansas. Billy Caldwell was then principal chief. There were no white settlers in that part of the State except Indian traders, until the arrival of the Mormons under the lead of Brigham Young. These people on their way westward halted for the Winter of 1846-7 on the west bank of the Missouri River, about five miles above Omaha, at a place now called Florence. Some of them had reached the eastern bank of the river the Spring before, in season to plant a crop. In the Spring of 1847, Young and a portion of the colony pursued their journey to Salt Lake, but a large portion of them returned to the Iowa side and settled mainly within the limits of Pottawattamie County. The principal settlement of this strange community was at a place first called "Miller's Hollow," on Indian Creek, and afterward named Kanesville, in honor of Col. Kane, of Pennsylvania, who visited them soon afterward. The Mormon settlement extended over the county and into neighboring counties, wherever timber and water furnished desirable locations. Orson Hyde, priest, lawyer and editor, was installed as President of the Quorum of Twelve, and all that part of the State remained under Mormon control for several years. In 1846, they raised a battalion, numbering some five hundred men, for the Mexican war. In 1848, Hyde started a paper called the Frontier Guardian, at Kanesville. In 1849, after many of the faithful had left to join Brigham Young at Salt Lake, the Mormons in this section of Iowa numbered 6,552, and in 1850, 7,828, but they were not all within the limits of Pottawattamie County. This county was organized in 1848, all the first officials being Mormons. In 1852, the order was promulgated that all the true believers should gather together at Salt Lake. Gentiles flocked in, and in a few years nearly all the first settlers were gone.

May 9, 1843, Captain James Allen, with a small detachment of troops on board the steamer Ione, arrived at the present site of the capital of the State, Des Moines. The Ione was the first steamer to ascend the Des Moines River to this point. The troops and stores were landed at what is now the foot of

Court avenue, Des Moines, and Capt. Allen returned in the steamer to Fort Sanford to arrange for bringing up more soldiers and supplies. In due time they, too, arrived, and a fort was built near the mouth of Raccoon Fork, at its confluence with the Des Moines, and named Fort Des Moines. Soon after the arrival of the troops, a trading post was established on the east side of the river, by two noted Indian traders named Ewing, from Ohio.

Among the first settlers in this part of Iowa were Benjamin Bryant, J. B. Scott, James Drake (gunsmith), John Sturtevant, Robert Kinzie, Alexander Turner, Peter Newcomer, and others.

The Western States have been settled by many of the best and most enterprising men of the older States, and a large immigration of the best blood of the Old World, who, removing to an arena of larger opportunities, in a more fertile soil and congenial climate, have developed a spirit and an energy peculiarly Western. In no country on the globe have enterprises of all kinds been pushed forward with such rapidity, or has there been such independence and freedom of competition. Among those who have pioneered the civilization of the West, and been the founders of great States, none have ranked higher in the scale of intelligence and moral worth than the pioneers of Iowa, who came to the territory when it was an Indian country, and through hardship, privation and suffering, laid the foundations of the populous and prosperous commonwealth which to-day dispenses its blessings to a million and a quarter of people. From her first settlement and from her first organization as a territory to the present day, Iowa has had able men to manage her affairs, wise statesmen to shape her destiny and frame her laws, and intelligent and impartial jurists to administer justice to her citizens; her bar, pulpit and press have been able and widely influential; and in all the professions, arts, enterprises and industries which go to make up a great and prosperous commonwealth, she has taken and holds a front rank among her sister States of the West.

TERRITORIAL HISTORY.

By act of Congress, approved October 31, 1803, the President of the United States was authorized to take possession of the territory included in the Louisiana purchase, and provide for a temporary government. By another act of the same session, approved March 26, 1804, the newly acquired country was divided, October 1, 1804 into the Territory of Orleans, south of the thirty-third parallel of north latitude, and the district of Louisiana, which latter was placed under the authority of the officers of Indiana Territory.

In 1805, the District of Louisiana was organized as a Territory with a government of its own. In 1807, Iowa was included in the Territory of Illinois, and in 1812 in the Territory of Missouri. When Missouri was admitted as a State, March 2, 1821, "Iowa," says Hon. C. C. Nourse, "was left a political orphan," until by act of Congress, approved June 28, 1834, the Black Hawk purchase having been made, all the territory west of the Mississippi and north of the northern boundary of Missouri, was made a part of Michigan Territory. Up to this time there had been no county or other organization in what is now the State of Iowa, although one or two Justices of the Peace had been appointed and a post office was established at Dubuque in 1833. In September, 1834, however, the Territorial Legislature of Michigan created two counties on the west side of the Mississippi River, viz.: Dubuque and Des Moines, separated by a line drawn westward from the foot of Rock Island. These counties were

partially organized. John King was appointed Chief Justice of Dubuque County, and Isaac Leffler, of Burlington, of Des Moines County. Two Associate Justices, in each county, were appointed by the Governor.

On the first Monday in October, 1835, Gen. George W. Jones, now a citizen of Dubuque, was elected a Delegate to Congress from this part of Michigan Territory. On the 20th of April, 1836, through the efforts of Gen. Jones, Congress passed a bill creating the Territory of Wisconsin, which went into operation, July 4, 1836, and Iowa was then included in

THE TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN,

of which Gen. Henry Dodge was appointed Governor; John S. Horner, Secretary of the Territory; Charles Dunn, Chief Justice; David Irwin and William C. Frazer, Associate Justices.

September 9, 1836, Governor Dodge ordered the census of the new Territory to be taken. This census resulted in showing a population of 10,531 in the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines. Under the apportionment, these two counties were entitled to six members of the Council and thirteen of the House of Representatives. The Governor issued his proclamation for an election to be held on the first Monday of October, 1836, on which day the following members of the First Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin were elected from the two counties in the Black Hawk purchase:

Dubuque County.-Council: John Fally, Thomas McKnight, Thomas McCraney. House: Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlan, Peter Hill Engle, Patrick Quigley, Hosea T. Camp.

Des Moines County.-Council: Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Tcas, Arthur B. Ingram. House: Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, Warren L. Jenkins, John Box, George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds, David R. Chance.

The first Legislature assembled at Belmont, in the present State of Wisconsin, on the 25th day of October, 1836, and was organized by electing Henry T. Baird President of the Council, and Peter Hill Engle, of Dubuque, Speaker of the House. It adjourned December 9, 1836.

The second Legislature assembled at Burlington, November 10, 1837. Adjourned January 20, 1838. The third session was at Burlington; commenced June 1st, and adjourned June 12, 1838.

During the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, in 1836, the county of Des Moines was divided into Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine and Cook (the latter being subsequently changed to Scott) and defined their boundaries. During the second session, out of the territory embraced in Dubuque County, were created the counties of Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, Delaware, Buchanan, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Clinton and Cedar, and their boundaries defined, but the most of them were not organized until several years afterward, under the authority of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa.

The question of a separate territorial organization for Iowa, which was then a part of Wisconsin Territory, began to be agitated early in the Autumn of 1837. The wishes of the people found expression in a convention held at Burlington on the 1st of November, which memorialized Congress to organize a Territory west of the Mississippi, and to settle the boundary line between Wisconsin Territory and Missouri. The Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, then in session at Burlington, joined in the petition. Gen. George W. Jones, of Dubuque, then residing at Sinsinawa Mound, in what is now Wisconsin, was Delegate to Congress from Wisconsin Territory, and labored so earnestly and successfully, that "An act to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and to estab

lish the Territorial Government of Iowa," was approved June 12, 1838, to take effect and be in force on and after July 3, 1838. The new Territory embraced "all that part of the present Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi River, and west of a line drawn due north from the head water or sources of the Mississippi to the territorial line." The organic act provided for a Governor, whose term of office should be three years, and for a Secretary, Chief Justice, two Associate Justices, and Attorney and Marshal, who should serve four years, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The act also provided for the election, by the white male inhabitants, citizens of the United States, over twenty-one years of age, of a House of Representatives, consisting of twenty-six members, and a Council, to consist of thirteen members. It also appropriated $5,000 for a public library, and $20,000 for the erection of public buildings.

President Van Buren appointed Ex-Governor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, to be the first Governor of the new Territory. William B. Conway, of Pittsburgh, was appointed Secretary of the Territory; Charles Mason, of Burlington, Chief Justice, and Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Williams, of Pennsylvania, Associate Judges of the Supreme and District Courts; Mr. Van Allen, of New York, Attorney; Francis Gehon, of Dubuque, Marshal; Augustus C. Dodge, Register of the Land Office at Burlington, and Thomas McKnight, Receiver of the Land Office at Dubuque. Mr. Van Allen, the District Attorney, died at Rockingham, soon after his appointment, and Col. Charles Weston was appointed to fill his vacancy. Mr. Conway, the Secretary, also died at Burlington, during the second session of the Legislature, and James Clarke, editor of the Gazette, was appointed to succeed him.

Immediately after his arrival, Governor Lucas issued a proclamation for the election of members of the first Territorial Legislature, to be held on the 10th of September, dividing the Territory into election districts for that purpose, and appointing the 12th day of November for meeting of the Legislature to be elected, at Burlington.

The first Territorial Legislature was elected in September and assembled at Burlington on the 12th of November, and consisted of the following members:

Council. Jesse B. Brown, J. Keith, E. A. M. Swazey, Arthur Ingram, Robert Ralston, George Hepner, Jesse J. Payne, D. B. Hughes, James M. Clark, Charles Whittlesey, Jonathan W. Parker, Warner Lewis, Stephen Hempstead.

House.-William Patterson, Hawkins Taylor, Calvin J. Price, James Brierly, James Hall, Gideon S. Bailey, Samuel Parker, James W. Grimes, George Temple, Van B. Delashmutt, Thomas Blair, George H. Beeler, William G. Coop, William H. Wallace, Asbury B. Porter, John Frierson, William L. Toole, Levi Thornton, S. C. Hastings, Robert G. Roberts, Laurel Summers,† Jabez A. Burchard, Jr., Chauncey Swan, Andrew Bankson, Thomas Cox and Hardin Nowlin.

Notwithstanding a large majority of the members of both branches of the Legislature were Democrats, yet Gen. Jesse B. Browne (Whig), of Lee County, was elected President of the Council, and Hon. William H. Wallace (Whig), of Henry County, Speaker of the House of Representatives-the former unanimously and the latter with but little opposition. At that time, national politics

* Cyrus S. Jacobs, who was elected for Des Moines County, was killed in an unfortunate encounter at Burlington before the meeting of the Legislature, and Mr. Beeler was elected to fill the vacancy.

+Samuel R. Murray was returned as elected from Clinton County, but his seat was successfully contested by Burchard.

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