Vol. 1 of the 1914 Delaware County History pgs.
275-278
CHAPTER XXIII
ELK TOWNSHIP
Elk Township was organized in 1853 and is
congressional township 90, range 4. It lies in the northern tier, with Clayton County for the northern boundary line. On
its west line is Honey Creek Township, on the south Oneida Township and on the east Colony Township.
In its primitive state this township had considerable timber,
principally along the streams. Plum Creek, the largest tributary of the
Maquoketa in Delaware County, has a number of ramifying branches
in the southern part of the township. The northeastern part is drained by
branches of the Turkey River or Elk Creek. Thus the land
conditions, in so far as water and drainage are concerned, are very good.
Alluvial plains, but of no great width, border Elk Creek and its branches,
which make for fertile fields. And there are many of them here, as the fine
buildings, fences, roads, bridges and other improvements attest.
It definitely has not been determined who was the first
settler in Elk Township, but as far as can be learned Richard
T. Barrett was located here about 1840 or 1841. His name is on the tax list of
1842, which is some indication of his early settlement.
Squire Stancliffe, one of the
township's first justices of the peace, came as early as 1842 and located on
section 1. Benjamin Lakin was also here about this
time and was one of the pioneer justices of the township.
Herman E. Steele was accompanied by his son of the same
name, to this county from the State of New York, in 1845, and settled in this
locality, where there were but few white men but plenty of Indians, as well as
an abundance of game and wild animals of all kinds.
Jerome Baker was one of the first, if not the first, wagonmaker to locate in Greeley. He, like so many of the early
settlers in Elk Township, was a man of character and lived
an honest upright life. He married a Miss Witter and the daughter of this
worthy couple married A. B. Holbert, the noted
importer of horses and the present candidate for state representative. Mr. and
Mrs. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. Holbert are still
residents of Greeley.
Amos Wood, one of the first settlers in this section of the
county, came here in 1845. A daughter, Julia, was married in 1847 to James H.
Robinson, who came here in 1845. He met his death in 1874 by being gored to
death by an infuriated bull.
About the year 1846, James Stalnaker
and ————— McLain located on section 29 and Stalnaker
erected a cabin on the land, near the future Town of Greeley. Both settlers remained but a short
time and disposed of their holdings, in 1847, to Samuel Lough.
About this time Grant Stebbins and one Balch located in the neighborhood. Then came
Elias Hutton.
John Grant became a citizen of the township in the ''forties”
and donated land for burial purposes, now a part of Grantview Cemetery, at Greeley.
John Corell settled in Elk Township in 1849, coming from the State of New York. His death took place at Greeley in 1860, and his widow, whose
maiden name was Elizabeth Risden, followed him to the
grave in 1878.
Henry C. Drybread was the
first blacksmith to permanently locate in Greeley. He was not only a good horseshoer, but he was one of the splendid citizens that
helped to make Delaware County an ideal place in which to live.
Every old settler in the vicinity of Greeley has only good words for Henry Drybread.
Samuel Penny and his wife, Elizabeth Le Lascheur, came to Delaware County on Christmas day of 1850, and
settled near Greeley. Mr. Penny died in 1860 and his
widow married John Harris in 1864.
Robert Hunter and his wife, Mary H.
Hunter, camewith his father James Hunter, to Illinois in 1845. At Rockford, Illinois, Robert enlisted in Company A, Sixteenth United States Regular Infantry for the Mexican
war and served in the Army of the Rio Grande under General Taylor until mustered
out at Newport. Kentucky, in August, 1848. He came to Delaware County in 1850 and located on a quarter section
of land on section 25, Elk Township, where he resided for more than
fifty-seven years. The land warrant entitled him to 160 acres of land, which
was offered and received in part payment for the farm upon which
representatives of his family still reside, under the original patent for the
same issued by the Government and still an honored possession of the Hunters.
Eli W. Le Lascheur came
from Prince Edward Island in May, 1850, and with him was his
wife, son Elisha, and daughter Elizabeth, who married
Samuel Penny. The family settled in this township near Greeley.
MALLORY'S TAVERN
In the early history of Delaware County one of the
central lounging places in Elk Township was Mallory's Tavern, located on the
stage road about three miles east of Greeley. It was owned by Elder Mallory who
was a preacher as well as landlord. The four-horse stages running between
Dubuque and West Union made Mallory's Tavern the half-way house, and as a rule this
tavern in those early days was crowded to the roof every night by passengers
who came in on the stage. Elder Mallory had two sons, Ira and John, all of whom
have gone to their reward and the old tavern was long ago put to other uses.
Augustus Davis came from Ohio to Iowa in 1851 and settled in Elk Township. He was one of the charter members
of the Christian Church, organized in a log schoolhouse near the Robert Hunter
home, in 1857. Mr. Davis died September 16, 1913.
Among the first settlers in this township was James
Martindale, who came in 1851. He proved to be one of the leading farmers in
this community, as was also John Martindale, who arrived in 1851. John
Martindale was a clergyman of the Christian Church and was a valiant expounder
of its tenets for over a half century. He settled two miles northwest of Greeley. He organized the Christian Church
at Greeley and was instrumental in erecting
the building there.
Job Odell settled in this township in 1851, coming from Ohio in that year. He built a residence
on his land, which was the only one between Greeley and Delhi on the main road. A son, G. H., was
one of the sheriffs of Delaware County and William Odell was a leading
farmer of this township.
Samuel Lewis was an early settler in Elk Township, coming from Dubuque county in
1852 or 1853 and settling here. He married Catherine Overocker
in 1854. Mr. Lewis became prominent in the township.
Thomas J. Armstrong came to Delaware County in 1852. He married Lucy M.
Bellows, a daughter of Ira Bellows, who was one of the first settlers in Elk Township. Mrs. Armstrong still resides at Greeley and is unusually active for a woman
of her age.
Zebina Snow immigrated to Iowa from Massachusetts in 1853 and settled here in the
brush, where he opened a farm consisting of 164 acres.
Henry Millen had reached the venerable age of ninety-one
years at the time of his death in August, 1913. Up to that time he had been a
resident of Delaware County sixty-two years, having settled in Elk Township in 1853. He joined the Advent Church at Greeley soon after his arrival and was one
of its leading spirits. H. G. Millen of Marion, once superintendent of schools
for Delaware County, and W. I. Millen of Earlville, are sons of Henry Millen.
William Stoner came to Delaware County as early as 1853 and settled on a
farm in Elk Township north of Earlville, where for many
years he resided. He was a good farmer, thrifty and industrious, and died in
1913, regretted by a large number of friends.
John S. Drybread came to this
county in 1853 and settled on a farm on section 21, near Greeley, where he lived many years. About
twenty years before his death he retired, making his home at Greeley. Mr. Drybread,
or " Uncle John," as he was more familiarly
known, was for many years prominent in the county as one of its leading farmers
and business men, having bought and sold grain at Greeley for many years.
Father John Trowbridge, as his neighbors called him,
with Philander Dawley, his son, and their families,
moved from Solon, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to the eastern part of Elk Township in 1854.
Father Trowbridge was born in 1790 and died in 1884. The
forty years of his life in the West were nearly all spent in Elk Township with his son Dawley,
as he was familiarly known. Both of these men were
physically strong, were also men of strong convictions and ardent Methodists,
They not only preached, but practiced the Golden Rule.
In 1906 P. D. moved to Holtville, in the Imperial Valley, California. In 1911 he died and his remains
were brought to Earlville. His wife, one of the noblest of women, died at
Holtville, September 27, 1914, and her remains were also brought
to Earlville and now these two worthy people who lived together so many years
in Elk Township, sleep side by side on the same lot
in Fairview Cemetery, Earlville.
John Winters belongs in the ranks of Elk Township's first settlers, coming here in
1850 and entering land on which he located and improved. The elder Winters died
that spring and John's mother then built a log cabin on the farm, which gave
way to a frame house in 1857, still standing on the (now Lillibridge)
place.
Ira Bellows built a log cabin on his land 1 ½ miles from the
present Corell schoolhouse, in 1852. With a large
family he had left ''the old home in Ohio,'' and made his way by ox team to
the blooming Iowa prairies, in the year above mentioned. A heavy snow
falling made the journey from Dubuque long and tedious; four days were
consumed.
William Cattron made his first
stop in Delaware County after his arrival in May, 1854, in Elk Township, and in the following year opened a
store in Greeley. Mr. Cattron continued to live on
his Plum Creek place until 1860, when he removed to Earlville and became
prominent in all the activities of that community. From Earlville he moved to Manchester and until the time of his death was
engaged in the mercantile business. He was one of God's noblemen, an honest
man. To him and his wife, Judith, were born three daughters, Mary, Emma and
Eva. Mrs. Cattron, at the age of ninety, is still
vigorous, and resides with her eldest daughter, Mary, at Tacoma, Washington. The second daughter, Emma,
married Capt. John .Merry in 1866, and died January 18,
1903. The
youngest daughter, Eva, married Capt. W. T. Rigby, chairman of the National Military
Park Commission at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they now reside.
Duane and James M. Jenkins located here in 1856, upon
land entered from the Government.
Horace
C. Merry was one of the men who assisted in building up Elk Township from its early days. He was a
native of New York and in 1853 removed to Ohio. The far West attracted his notice
and in 1857 he found his way to Iowa and became a citizen of Delaware County, first locating in Elk Township. In 1866 Mr. Merry became a
resident of Oneida Township, settling on a farm in section 23.
Capt. John F. Merry, supervising editor of this history, was a son. For several
years the elder Merry was a justice of the peace for Elk Township, and during
this period of his official activities there lived at "Yankee Settlement''
two brothers named Peet—Schuyler and Cornelius. It
chanced that two of 'Squire Merry's neighbors had a
disagreement which brought them into the justice court and, as was quite
common, the Peets figured as opposing lawyers. The trial
came on during the winter, when the farmers had more time to spare than
anything else, so that 'Squire Merry's court room
(the sitting room of his residence) was more than comfortably filled by the
neighboring farmers. Captain Merry was then but a lad in his teens, and was
well supplied with curiosity, an attribute always to be found in boys.
Therefore, it was not strange that he hurried home from school on this particular
day, to hear what the lawyers had to say in the case before his father. The
captain, now a boy of seventy years, still has clearly in his memory how those
lawyers lambasted each other, using language such as only the bitterest enemies
were expected to call up; but what surprised the callow youth most, after the
vitriolic tongue lashings had ceased, was to see these brothers, who had so
violently reviled each other, get into the same seat of their conveyance after
the trial, and ride home together, a distance of twelve miles, in amiable and brotherly
converse.
Becky
Teubner, Contributor
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