History of Linn County Iowa / From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911]

by Luther Albertus Brewer; Barthinius L. Wick

One of the best known men in the state in an early date was Col. William H. Merritt. Mr. Merritt was born in New York city September 12, 1820, and received a fair education at Lima Seminary. At the age of eighteen he was compelled to rely on his own resources and sought the west, settling in Rock Island, Illinois, where he obtained a clerkship. Through government officials and others he was sent to Ivanhoe on the Red Cedar river in 1839 to take charge of an Indian trading depot. Ivanhoe was a squatter town, being staked out in October, 1838, by Anson Cowles. To this place, which was expected to become a large trading center, came also at the same time George Greene, who taught school in the vicinity during the winter of 1839. Mr. Merritt ran the store with considerable ability, and long before the Civil war showed his presence of mind and bravery. At this time, like in all other stores of its kind, whiskey, tobacco, and groceries were sold over the same counter, and one day a number of Indians came, insisting on buying "goody toss," designated in English as whiskey. Mr. Merritt refused, as he had such orders from his employers, but the Indians insisted and began to take possession of the store, and intended to drive the young clerk out. A few pioneer hangers-on fled, but not so the young clerk in charge of the goods and the store. He got hold of an axe and with this he cleaned out single handed a whole squad of Indians, who left as quickly as they had made their appearance, much to the surprise of the white settlers, who up to this time had always fled when the redskins outnumbered them ten to one.

Mr. Merritt was related to George Greene by marriage, and the two men were much together from this time on. Mr. Merritt became clerk in the Assembly at Burlington in 1841 and in company with George Greene edited the Miners' Express at Dubuque. Later he was caught with the gold fever rush and emigrated to California, returning in 1851, becoming once more editor and part owner of the old paper. In 1855 he removed to Ft. Dodge, being appointed registrar of the land office at that place. He returned once more to Cedar Rapids and founded a banking house under the style of Greene, Merritt & Co., which firm later disposed of their banking interests to Sampson C. Bever. He was nominated for governor on the democratic ticket in 1861 but was defeated by Samuel J. Kirkwood. Later he enlisted and served with distinction during the Civil war.

After the war Colonel Merritt became editor of the Statesman, one of the leading democratic papers of the state. He died at his home in Des Moines in 1891, mourned by a large circle of friends all over the state. Colonel Merritt was for half a century one of the most all-round men in Iowa and a leader of his party.

The Weare family arrived here in 1848 and for more than fifty years were prominent factors in the upbuilding of Cedar Rapids. John Weare became a noted banker and railroad promoter. Charles Weare became engaged in constructing railroads and took charge of large contracts, was mayor of Cedar Rapids, postmaster, and consul in foreign countries. He was also connected with the First National Bank of Cedar Rapids, as well as with the Cedar Rapids Water Company. George Weare became a noted banker in Sioux City, and P. B. Weare and Ely E. Weare promoters and members of the board of trade in the city of Chicago. Later they promoted steamboat traffic in the Yukon country at the time of the gold fever rush. All these were sons of John Weare, Sr., who removed here from Michigan in the spring of 1845 in order to be with his children who had previously emigrated. Mr. Weare, Sr., held the office of justice of the peace up to the time of his death in 1856.

William Stewart, a native of Pennsylvania, located in Cedar Rapids in 1847 and entered the blacksmith shop of Pollock, later putting up his own shop, and besides operating a large farm. Mr. Stewart removed to California and died there in 1891, having acquired a fortune in Cedar Rapids real estate.

Samuel S. Johnson was another Pennsylvanian who came to Cedar Rapids in 1847. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade but gave that up for farming on arriving in Linn county. Mr. Johnson lived to the grand old age of eighty-five, and passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Robert Taylor.

One of the most enterprising, active business men who located in Cedar Rapids in 1849 was Dr. Seymour D. Carpenter, who was then twenty-three years of age, and had ostensibly come out here to practice medicine, but he later turned his attention to land speculations, politics, and other enterprises. Dr. Carpenter is still residing in Chicago, enjoying a hale and hearty old age.

In order to give the reader an impression of Cedar Rapids as it was at that time we shall quote Carpenter's splendid article contained in the History of Crescent Lodge, by J. E. Morcombe, as follows:

"I turned north and went to Ottumwa where I met Judge Greene, then a member of the Supreme Bench of Iowa; he persuaded me that Cedar Rapids was in the near future to become a metropolis and I decided to go there. After four days' hard riding and swimming several swollen streams, I struck the town on the afternoon of June 14, 1849; I crossed the river on a rope ferry operated by David King, who lived in a cabin on the west side; on the other side of the river stood a cabin, once the home of a man named Shepherd, and said to be the resort of thieves in an early day. I can not say that I was very favorably impressed by the thirty or forty small one-story unpainted houses that were scattered about near the river. There seemed to be a great deal of sand, and the houses were so situated that there was no sign of a street. There were three two-story houses, one on the river near the foot of what is now Third avenue called the 'Park House' in which the Greenes had their store, one on Second street in which John Coffman kept a hotel, and one on Third avenue back of the Dows & Ely block, also a hotel. I was discouraged and would have travelled further but only had about $10.00 left and from necessity had to stop. I put up at the Coffman hotel which, as I have said, was a two-story structure with a wing; it had been built of unseasoned oak lumber and was not plastered; the whole of the second story of the main building was in one room and contained eight or ten beds and was the common sleeping room of the guests. The lumber had shrunk and there could be no complaint as to ventilation, however short the accommodations might be in other respects....

"Within a week I made the acquaintance of all the people of the town. Among the leading persons were William and Joseph Greene, brothers of the Judge, Lowell and Lawson Daniels, Homer Bishop and John Weare, all of whom were merchants. The three stores of which they were the proprietors would not compare well with the department stores of today, but all the same they were department stores and in their miscellaneous stocks the customer could find all he wanted—from castor oil to broad axes.