[CHAPTER XIX]
Some of the Old Settlers
It is, perhaps, impossible to say even now with any degree of certainty, who was the first actual settler in Linn county. However, it is not very difficult to mention at least some of the early settlers. It is said that Dyer Usher and James Ames came up the Cedar river as far as the rapids on a hunting expedition as early as the spring of 1836; how long these men remained in what later became Linn county is not known, but it is not likely that they stayed very long. We have pretty good evidence that later during the summer came Daniel C. Doty, his two sons, James, and Elias, and nephew, Jacob Crane, as far as Bertram and viewed the country expecting to locate when land was thrown open for settlement. Mr. Doty was born in Essex county, New Jersey, in 1764, had early drifted west to Cincinnati, and by boat had come down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, landing at what is now Muscatine. His children were born in Ohio. They followed the Cedar river until they struck what became later Linn county to locate claims. There were no settlers here, and they found no people with whom to converse, but figured that here would be a good location to get cheap land when this land was opened for settlement. They returned to Ohio for their families, expecting to return the following spring, but they did not, in fact, return for three years on account of the financial depression. Israel Mitchell staked out the town first called Westport in July, 1838, which town was later called Newark, named in honor of Newark, New Jersey, where the family originally came from. Here Elias Doty, Jr., was born in October, 1841. Elias Doty, Sr., erected the first sawmill on Big creek in 1841, in the erection of which mill he was killed in the raising of the timbers. Daniel Doty, Sr., had the following sons, to-wit: James, Elias, John, and Daniel, all young men who early drifted west. Daniel C. Doty, the father of these sons, was never a resident of this county, but simply came here to find homes for his children. He died in Ohio in 1849; the widow died in Ohio in 1863 at the advanced age of ninety-eight.
James Doty, born in 1809, was the first real pottery maker in Iowa. He had learned the trade in Ohio. This crude pottery building was standing on the old homestead up to within a few years ago. At the time of his death, January 17, 1847, he had over three hundred jars, jugs, crocks, etc., ready for delivery. In this early day there was great demand for such merchandise as it was something every farmer had to have, and it could only be obtained in a few places and at high prices on account of the transportation.
Another Linn county pioneer well known in the early days was Israel Mitchell, who staked out the town of Westport in 1838. Mr. Mitchell was born in Kentucky, January 15, 1796, the son of Moses Mitchell, of Scotch descent, and on the mother's side, Elizabeth Grant, of Welsh descent, and a near relative of Daniel Boone, the Indian fighter. As a young man Israel Mitchell attended a Kentucky college and graduated therefrom. He studied for the ministry, but gave that up on account of his voice, and later took a course in medicine, but gave up the practice, as his step-daughter, Mrs. Slavin, writes, "because he was too tender hearted." He had studied law as well as surveying. After his marriage he removed to Ohio in the early '20s with his wife and two children, viz: Angeline and John Mitchell. He soon drifted into Indiana, and from there he removed to Wisconsin, working in the lead mines near Apple river in the southwest part of the state as surveyor. From Wisconsin he came by way of Dubuque to Linn county in the spring of 1838 in company with John, James, and Chamber Hunter, and Jacob Leabo. They all settled on the banks of the Cedar river in sections 32 and 33, township 83, range 6. Mr. Mitchell was a widower at this time and he and his children stayed with the Leabo family. At Marion he married Mrs. Mary Ross, nee Mary Arnold, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, on November 7, 1845, Esquire Goudy, one of the first justices of the peace, performing the marriage ceremony according to the territorial laws of Iowa. Of this marriage were born five children: Luther H., Caroline, Israel, Boone, and Maris Morton. By her first marriage Mrs. Ross had four children. She died in Oregon in 1858.
Mr. Mitchell sat on the first grand jury summoned in the county, was one of the first justices of the peace in the county, and was also the first probate judge. He acted as a frontier lawyer, did more or less surveying, at which he was an expert, and in many ways was a most useful man to the community. Mr. Mitchell was a true southerner, his home was always open, and he did much entertaining. He spent much of his time interesting his friends and acquaintances in new enterprises, and in various ways tried to build up a great town on the banks of the Cedar river. Whether it was due to the failure of his new town to materialize or the western fever that got hold of him, we do not know, but just at a time when he should have remained he saw fit to emigrate, going with oxen overland with his family in 1847, locating about eight miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. Here he tilled the soil and became a noted surveyor. In 1873 he returned to Linn county to visit his old friends, giving glowing descriptions of the far west and especially of the Spokane country. On his return by way of San Francisco to Portland he fell in one of the gangways on the steamer, and received injuries from which he died a few days later after reaching home. Mr. Mitchell was a member of the Presbyterian church and affiliated with the democratic party. J. J. Daniels, his old friend, described Judge Mitchell as follows: "He was truly an educated man, and in early life had learned the science of surveying, and this was the work he was particularly called for; when not engaged in this occupation he farmed and kept a ferry. When the writer became acquainted with him on the Cedar river he was an active man on foot and could swim almost equal to a duck; bathing in the Cedar in warm weather was his usual custom. He was a medium sized man and stood very straight and erect, having black hair a little tinged with grey, large blue eyes, a high, round forehead, and in appearance resembled Edgar A. Poe, and was equally as brilliant a poet as Poe, having enough manuscript to make a book of poems. He was truly a Christian man in many acts of kindness, and verified his profession of faith in a true Christian religion."
Robert Ellis, Linn county's oldest living settler, was born in Westmoreland, county, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1817, emigrated to Ohio in 1837, later to Michigan, and started on foot to Iowa Territory in the winter of 1838. He remained for a few weeks in Cedar county and started again on foot looking for a claim in the timber near some river. Coming to the present site of Cedar Rapids the first man he found was a man by the name of Hull, who held down a claim where the T. M. Sinclair Company packing house is now located; coming further up along the river he found the tavern of Osgood Shepherd. Mr. Ellis liked the place and staked out his claim on his present location near what is known as Ellis Park. He was at work there cutting wood one day when Shepherd came along with another man, and insisted that this claim belonged to him. Ellis was not easily frightened, and as Shepherd was going to attack him, Ellis raised his ax and threatened to chop his head in two if he took another step. This threatening attitude on the part of Ellis frightened Shepherd and he and his companion retreated, Ellis never being disturbed afterwards. Shepherd never referred to the matter. The next summer when Shepherd's father died Ellis and Lichtebarger made the coffin and assisted at the burial, when Shepherd seemed to be very much touched by the kindness of these two men and thanked them profusely.
Ellis became a friend of the Lichtebarger boys and also of O. S. Bolling. Bolling and Ellis assisted Tom Lewis, the old pioneer, to get his wagon and cattle across the river when he came west to locate, on what became later known as "Lewis Bottoms." Ellis worked for awhile at the Winnebago Mission at Ft. Atkinson, Iowa, where he met a number of military men who later became known in the Mexican war, as well as in the Civil war.
As he was frequently in company with men who took newspapers and who had travelled about the country, he heard of the gold excitement in California and at once crossed the country to Marion wanting to go west. At Marion he met Dan Mentzer, a man by the name of Harvey, and another person by the name of Green. They purchased an outfit and started for California in April, 1849, arriving at the diggings in that state the same summer after many hard experiences. He remained for several years digging gold as a placer miner and keeping a grocery store, and for a time he ran a stage between Georgetown and Coloma, earning express, passengers, and the mail. Here he met and associated with Sutter, the old German who discovered the first gold diggings, as well as his partner, saw Fair, Huntington, Mackey, and the boisterous Stewart, some of them "running saloons today and owning mines tomorrow." After remaining in California for seven years he returned home by way of the Nicaragua route and there met and talked with General Walker, the famous filibusterer.
Philip Hull, according to Robert Ellis, had arrived in what became Cedar Rapids just a very few weeks before he came. He says: "Hull was of my age and I took a liking to him. He weighed about 170 pounds, was about five feet eight inches tall, had dark hair and was stoop shouldered. He was a native of Ohio, and returned to Illinois or Ohio in 1840 to get married, as he was very lonesome out here on the prairies of Iowa. Hull never returned to Cedar Rapids. Mr. Hull and I walked to William Abbe's and bought four yoke of oxen, a wagon, and a breaking plow. We had but little money so we agreed that in payment for this property we should break 75 acres of land and cut and split 10,000 rails, which we did. It took two men to break, one to handle the cattle and one to hold the plow. It was no easy job on a hot day when the oxen would pull for a pond with all their might if not closely watched, and many were the times they would give us the slip and would lie down in the pond and we could do nothing but wait till the air cooled and night came on. Neither one of us made anything, and I saw nothing of Mr. Hull till I met him at Sacramento, California, where he had preceded me by several months. We often talked over our lives in Linn county, neither one at the time even believing that Cedar Rapids had any future. Hull was an agreeable companion, a splendid fellow and square in all his dealings. He preferred frontier life and would be content in no other locality except on the frontier."
Ellis says further of Wm. Abbe: