HISTORY:  History of Osceola County by D. A. W. Perkins 1892 
Preface - Chapter IX

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History of Osceola County by D. A. W. Perkins 1892 
 
Preface
The writer of these pages located in O'Brien County, Iowa, in the fall of 
1871, and hence knows something of the hardships and privations of the 
early settlers of these northwestern Counties of the State, and 
particularly of the County of Osceola. This book is intended to rescue 
from coming oblivion many of the incidents and reminiscences of the 
early days of the County, and to give them record for the entertainment 
and benefit of the old settlers and the new, and also to give a general 
history of the County from its first organization. 
 
The book is not produced as a money making scheme; is not written to 
advertise anybody or anything. The writer has simply taken a certain 
portion of his time from a busy professional life, and wielded the pen in 
gratifying a personal desire to preserve the County's history, and also to 
bring home to the intelligent people of Osceola, and all others interested 
in the County, a record of what has gone before, up to the present date, 
and from which point some future historian may continue the task, when 
we, who were active participants in its early struggles, will be numbered 
among those who are of the silent city of the dead.
 
HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA 
 
THE NAME
Osceola County was named after a Seminole chief who was the 
acknowledged head of that band of Indians inhabiting the everglades of 
Florida. In 1835, the United States authorities attempted to remove the 
tribe into the country west of the Mississippi, but Osceola at the head of 
his brave followers refused to go, and such renowned commanders as 
Scott and Taylor were out-generaled in every encounter. After two years 
he was captured by treachery, sent to Charleston in irons, and 
afterwards, at Ft. Moultrie, died of grief.
LAW PERTAINING TO ITS ORGANIZATION
Chapter 9 of the Laws of the Third General Assembly, approved January 
15, 1851, entitled, "An Act to Establish New Counties and Define Their 
Boundaries," among other things, provides as follows: 
 
"Section 49. That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county, 
which shall be called Osceola, to-wit: Beginning at the northwest corner 
of Township Ninety-seven, Range Thirty-eight, thence north to the north 
boundary line of the State, thence west to the northwest corner of 
Township One Hundred, Range Forty-two, thence south to the southwest 
corner of Township Ninety-eight, Range Forty-two, thence e east to the 
place of beginning." 
 
Section 27 of the same act created a new county called Wahkaw, which 
is the present County of Woodbury. 
 
Chapter 8 of the Laws of the Fourth General Assembly, approved 
January 12, 1853, entitled, "An Act of Organizing Certain Counties 
Therein Named, provides for the organization of the County of Wahkaw, 
and the holding of a special election for that purpose. 
 
And Section 14 of said chapter reads as follows: 
 
"Section 14. That for revenue, election and judicial purposes, the 
Counties of Ida, Sac, Buena Vista, Cherokee, Plymouth, Sioux, O'Brien, 
Clay, Dickenson, Osceola and Buncombe are hereby attached to 
Wahkaw, and the election for said county shall be held at Sergeant's 
Bluff, and as many other places as the organizing sheriff may designate 
in his notice of election." 
 
Thos. L. Griffey was the organizing sheriff of the County of Wahkaw. 
 
Chapter 12 of the Laws of the Fourth General Assembly, approved 
January 12, 1853, entitled, "An Act in Relation to New Counties," 
provides the manner in which citizens of an unorganized county may 
secure the organization of their county by application to the county judge 
of the county to which such unorganized county is attached, and also 
provides for establishing the county seat, notice of election, canvass of 
returns and qualification of officers elected. 
 
And Section 4 of said chapter provides that the name of the County of 
Wahkaw shall be changed to Woodbury. 
 
Sections 226 to 230 inclusive, of the revision of 1860 contain general 
provisions relating to unorganized counties, the holding of elections for 
organization, etc., in which the authority is stated to be in the county 
judge to perform certain duties, but Sections 312 to 326, inclusive, in 
effect confer upon the board of supervisors and powers and duties of the 
county judge in relation to unorganized counties attached to organized 
counties. And Section 330 of the revision of 1860 also so declares. 
 
Under these provisions the County of Osceola remained attached to 
Woodbury County until its organization in January 1872.
ORGANIZING OSCEOLA COUNTY. 
WOODBURY COUNTY RECORDS.
State of Iowa, } 
Woodbury County.} 
I, George W. Wakefield, Auditor of Woodbury County, Iowa, do hereby 
certify that at the June session, A. D. 1871, of the Board of Supervisors 
of Woodbury County, to-wit: 
On the 6th day of June, A.D. 1871, the following proceeding were had to-
wit: 
 
Resolved, that the County of Osceola in the State of Iowa, is organized 
at the general election of 1871. 
 
Resolved, that three townships be formed out of the County of Osceola 
in the State of Iowa, to-wit: All of Township No. Ninety-eight, of Range 
Thirty-nine, Forty, Forty-One and Forty-Two, shall compose one 
township to be known and called Goewey Township. All of Township No. 
Ninety-Nine, Range Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One and Forty-Two, shall 
compose one township to be known and called Holman Township. And 
all of Township No. One Hundred, of Range Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-
One and Forty-Two shall compose one township to be known and called 
Horton Township. 
 
Resolved, that an election be held for the election of Township and 
County officers at the general election for 1871, to be held as follows, to-
wit: In Goewey Township, at the house of E. Huff; in Holman Township, 
at the house of A. Culver; in Horton Township, at the house of H. R. 
Fenton. 
 
Resolved, that the question of whether the Provisions of Chapter I44 of 
the Laws of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, shall be 
enforced in Osceola County, Iowa, shall be submitted to the legal voters 
of said County, at the general election of 1871, as provided in said 
chapter. 
 
Resolved, that the proper officers are hereby authorized and instructed 
to do and take all necessary steps to have these resolutions carried into 
effect. 
 
Resolved, that the Auditor be instructed to assess the lands in Osceola 
County at two dollars an acre. 
 
I also certify that at the September Session, A.D.1871 to-wit: On the 4th 
day of September, A.D. 1871, the following proceedings were had, to-wit: 
 
Resolved, that the following taxes shall be and are hereby levied for the 
year A.D. 1871, upon the assessed value of the taxable property in 
Osceola County, Iowa, for the year A.D. 1871, in accordance with law, 
to-wit: 
 
For State revenue, two mills, on the dollar. 
 
For ordinary County revenue, four mills on the dollar and a poll tax of fifty 
cents. 
 
For the support of schools, two mills on the dollar. 
 
For making and repairing bridges, three mills on the dollar. 
 
For road purposes, five mills on the dollar. 
 
For schoolhouse fund, ten mills on the dollar. 
 
For teachers fund, ten mills on the dollar. 
 
For contingent fund, four mills on the dollar. 
 
I also certify that at the October session, A.D. 1871, to-wit:  
On the 16th day of October, A.D. 1871, the following proceedings were 
had to-wit: 
 
On motion the Board proceeded officially to canvass the votes cast at the 
general October election, A.D. 1871, in and for Osceola County, Iowa, 
which was reduced to writing and placed on file, and the abstract of 
votes cast was recorded in the election book, and signed by the said 
Board and attested by the County Auditor, and it appearing by proofs on 
file that due proclamation has been made of the several offices to be 
filled, and to the question submitted to the vote of the County:  
 
It was on motion ordered and declared that the following persons were 
duly elected to the offices set opposite their respective names, to-wit: 
 
A.M. Culver, County Treasurer. 
 
D.L. McCausland, County Recorder. 
 
C.M. Brooks, Clerk of the District Court. 
 
Delily Stiles, County Superintendent of Public Schools. 
 
J.D. Hall, Coroner. 
 
John Beaumont, Drainage Commissioner. 
 
M.J. Campbell, County Surveyor. 
 
George Spaulding.  
H.R. Fenton. Commissioners. 
J.H. Winspear.  
 
Also the following question submitted to a vote of the people of the 
County was declared to have been carried in the 
affirmative: 
 
"Shall the provisions of Chapter 144 of the Laws of the Twelfth General 
Assembly of the State of Iowa, be enforced in Osceola County, Iowa."  
 
The supervisors elect, in and for Osceola County, Iowa, were classed 
and divided by lot as by law provided, whereby it was found that George 
Spaulding was entitled to hold the office of member of the Board of 
Supervisors of said County for the term of three years, and H.R. Fenton 
was entitled to hold said office for the term of two years, and J.H. 
Winspear was entitled to hold said office for the term of one year. 
 
On motion it is now ordered that the auditor be instructed to notify Wm. 
A. McDonald and F.M. Robinson to appear at his office and determine by 
lot which of them shall be declared elected Auditor of Osceola County, 
Iowa, also to notify S.D. Couch and T.J. Cutshall to appear at his office 
and determine by lot which of them shall be declared elected Sheriff of 
Osceola County, Iowa, also to give notice of the adoption of the several 
questions submitted to the people as by law provided. 
 
I also certify that the following proceedings were held before the County 
Auditor of Woodbury County, Iowa, and to-to-wit: 
 
R.M. Robinson,  
(Ex Parte) 
Wm. A. McDonald,  
 
Now on this 27th day of October, 1871, comes Frank M. Robinson for 
himself and John Cleghorn, Jr., for Wm. A. McDonald, and lots having 
been duly prepared and drawn, it was ascertained that Frank M. 
Robinson should be declared elected Auditor of Osceola County, Iowa, 
and pursuant to the order of the Board of Supervisors, made October 16, 
1871, the said Frank M. Robinson is hereby declared elected Auditor of 
Osceola County, Iowa. 
 
I also certify that at the adjourned October session, 1871, to-wit: On the 
19th day of October, A.D. 1871, the following proceedings were had, to-
wit: 
 
On motion it is now ordered the Auditor be empowered and instructed to 
approve the bond of the Auditor of Osceola County, Iowa. 
 
I also certify that the following proceedings were had before the County 
Auditor of Woodbury County, Iowa, on the 19th day of December, A.D. 
1871: 
 
F.M. Robinson, Auditor,  
(OFFICIAL BOND) 
OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA 
 
The official bond of F.M. Robinson, Auditor of Osceola County, Iowa, in 
the sum of Five Thousand Dollars with J.H. Winspear, H.R. Fenton and 
D.D. Doc as sureties is this day filed with the Auditor, and by him 
approved. 
 
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed 
the seal of the Board of Supervisors of Woodbury County, this 22nd day 
of March, A.D. 1872.  
GEO. W. WAKEFIELD, Auditor of Woodbury County, Iowa. 
(SEAL) 
 
CHAPTER I
History is always interesting, and there is something peculiarly 
fascinating in the record of past events. We look forward with feelings of 
hope, of admiration and of ambition, but we look backward over the 
seemingly forgotten past in the spirit of meditation, and with our hearts 
concentrated upon the scenes and incidents of other days, and we 
ponder them with absorbing interest. The statements of history are 
sometimes doubted, and controversies arise which can end only in 
controversy, never settled, because the actors then in the drama of life, 
are mouldering in forgotten and neglected graves. And even when the 
actors are still living, there often arises a dispute which history cannot 
fully settle, as demonstrated by the conflicting reports and statements of 
many a battle by participants themselves in our Civil War. Our history is 
one of comparative recent events, whose pages turn back only two 
decades, and which our earliest settles are familiar with, and which will 
be of much interest to the people of Northwest Iowa generally, and 
indeed to the people of all parts of the State. The intention of the writer in 
the history of Osceola County is not only to make record of such facts as 
pertain to its organization, its growth and progress, but also to weave in 
reminiscences and events connected with the early settlers, and make 
mention of every circumstance that will be of interest to the general 
reader. 
 
In the spring and summer of 1870, the fair and fertile prairie land of 
Osceola County was without a settler. The older parts of Iowa, with that 
instinctive feeling that an old settled country has for a new, regarded 
Northwest Iowa then as a barren and bleak part of the state, and as unfit 
for man's habitation; but before the close of that year Mr. E. Huff came 
and filed on a claim November 3, which was the southwest quarter of 
Section 32, Township 98, Range 42, in what is now Gilman Township, so 
that this gentleman, now a non-resident, was the first settler. 
 
After Mr. Huff had made settlement as the law required, he returned to 
Beloit, in Lyon County, and remained there during the following winter. In 
the spring of 1871, while at Sioux City, he came across C.M. Brooks, 
who was pushing west under the advice of the lamented and 
distinguished Horace, but who had started for Nebraska. Mr. Huff 
explained to him the wonders of Osceola, and the graphic description he 
gave of this Garden of Eden resulted in Mr. Brooks coming to Osceola 
County. Mr. Brooks left behind him others, who were to follow when word 
was received where to go, and when he reached this County and looked 
upon its fair and fertile prairie land, he determined at once upon 
settlement here, and wrote to his friends to lose no time in hastening to 
this new and wonderful country. 
 
This correspondence brought W. W. Web, D.L. McCausland and M.J. 
Campbell, who, with C.M. Brooks, too, Section 8, in Township 99, Range 
41, now West Holman, each taking of it a quarter-section. Mr. 
McCausland and Mr. Webb came through with oxen, and Brooks and 
Campbell through to LeMars by rail. About this time, and we believe on 
the first day of May 1871, H.G. Doolittle, with James Richardson, from 
Floyd County, arrived at the house of E.-------Huff and remained 
overnight. The next day they struck for ----claims; Doolittle settled on the 
southwest quarter of Section 24, Township 99, Range 41, and 
Richardson on the same section. They built sod houses, and had some 
lumber with them. Mr. Richardson after being here a short time returned. 
 
Houston A. Doolittle, a brother of H.G., came in June 1871 and filed on 
Section 30, Township 99, Range 40. He left here in 1889, and now lives 
in Hancock County. H.G. Doolittle established a land business that year 
near Shaw's store, elsewhere referred to, and did business in a tent. He 
was engaged in locating incoming settlers, and did considerable 
business. 
 
Returning again to Messrs. Webb and McCausland, they, with the 
others, Brooks and Campbell, came from Fayette County. At the starting 
of Mr. Webb and McCausland with the oxen, Mr. McCausland was ill, 
indeed, low with consumption, but the ideas of still going to a new 
country seemed to infuse new life in him, and his entire recovery 
afterwards was indeed miraculous. 
 
When Webb and McCausland got to Osceola County and came to the 
Ocheydan, MrCausland, still weak, undertook to jump across the narrow 
stream and landed nearly to his neck in the middle. This was severe for a 
consumptive man near to death's door, but after a change of clothing he 
was all right again. This was in April 1871, and the weather disagreeable 
with rain and sleet. There is something wonderful in the mixture of 
ambition, of romance and love for a pioneer life that will turn a seemingly 
disagreeable hardship into pleasure and enjoyment. The forces of nature 
seem to hold a man with peculiar devotion to a venturesome life in a new 
country; he can scale a cliff, cross troublesome streams, lay down 
content on the damp ground, and stand all kinds of weather as long as 
the El Dorado is ahead of him, and indeed, after it is reached. Webb and 
McCausland that night remained at the bank of the Ocheyedan, and 
crawled supperless into their wagon and slept soundly until morning. 
When morning came they drove on west and soon spied a sodded 
shack, which they reached, and, building a fire had a good square meal. 
The shack evidently had been put up by a trapper, as some deer meat 
was hanging inside, but was alive with living evidences of decay. After 
breakfast they pushed on to the residence of our first settler, Mr. E. Huff. 
Huff's house was one story, 12 by 16. No windows had been put in and 
no door, but a blanket hung over the place of entrance. They remained 
over night, and besides them, within this limited habitation to slumber 
through, were Amos Buchman, with wife and five children, Huff and his 
family, James Richardson and H.G. Doolittle, and how they packed 
themselves around none of them seems to remember. Buchman had 
been there about one week, and had drove through with his family from 
Buchanan County. 
 
That sort of hotel accommodations might strike an eastern dude as 
somewhat inconvenient, but to those early settlers it was no doubt 
delightful and enjoyable in the highest degree. After a night at the "Huff" 
house, Webb and McCausland started back with Buchman to locate him 
where the trappers shack was, and not knowing the exact spot or even 
the right direction, their going was somewhat devious, but they finally 
found it, and this claim Mr. Buchman at once settled upon and lived there 
until 1882 when he moved into Sibley. Mr. Buchman sold the claim this 
year *1892) and its description is the northeast quarter of Section 22, in 
Ocheyedan Township. If any new settler ever had a hard time to get 
along, it was Amos Buchman and family the summer and fall of 1871. 
They lived on anything they could get;' ground corn in a coffee mill, 
caught hawks, badgers, skunks and any other animal they could get hold 
of. Some friend living in Dickinsons County sent his team before winter 
set in and removed the Buchman family to Milford, where they remained 
until Spring of 1872, when they returned again to their claim. Mr. 
Buchman now resides at Sibley, one of its most respected citizens, and 
is able now to enjoy the comforts of life. 
 
In June 1871, Elder John Webb, then living in Fayette County, came to 
Osceola, and along with the rest filed on a government claim, which was 
the southeast quarter Section 6, Township 99, Range 41. When the 
Elder first drove up to where his son, W. W. Webb, was, it was Sunday, 
and coming across D. L. McCausland with a new gun on his shoulder, 
said to him, "Young man you are breaking the Sabbath." Mc retorted and 
inquired, "Why are you not preaching?" 
 
In connection with the coming of these people from Fayette County, the 
writer wrote to Rev. John Webb, now living in Des Moines, for some 
contributions in regard to himself or his living here, which he thought 
might be of interest. Mr. Webb replied and contributed as follows: 
 
"In June 1872, in company with Mr. James Block, I left Fayette County, 
this state, to visit my son and others who left Fayette to locate in Osceola 
County on government claims. I was directed from Lakeville to go to 
Ocheyedan Mound, and was told that when on the mound I could in all 
probability see the tents in which McCausland, Brooks and W. W. Webb 
were living. I went to the mound and on top of it, but could not see any 
signs of life in any direction. Mr. Block and myself then went down to the 
banks of the Ocheyedan and camped for the night. The next morning we 
started in search of the boys, and about noon found them one mile east 
of where Sibley now is. We spent a few days with them, and our horses 
were picketed out by the foreleg. While the horses were thus secured 
something gave them a fright, when they ran the full length of the rope 
and brought up so suddenly both turned somersaults and one of them 
was killed. I liked the country, and that fall took charge of the Spirit Lake 
Circuit, and the next year took charge of Sibley Circuit, and formed the 
first class ever formed in Osceola County at the house of A.M. Culver. I 
cannot remember all the members of the class, but Mrs. Culver, Annie 
Webb, Robert Stamm and wife, Mrs. Rodgers, Mrs. McCausland and Mr. 
Morrison and wife were among them. I built the first Methodist Episcopal 
Church, or enclosed it, and Rev. Brasheers finished it. 
 
"While I was living at Sibley at that early day there was a young lawyer 
came to town, not very scrupulous, and persuaded the board of 
supervisors to pay him $20,000 and he would recover certain moneys 
due from Woodbury County to Osceola. I heard of it and went to the 
courthouse where the board was in session, requested them to hear me 
and they consented. I told them they would regret the day that they 
issued the warrant, and gave the general reasons why such an official 
act should not be done, and even as an outsider I made a motion, to the 
board and to the crowd, that Blackmer be allowed $500 retainer, and a 
percent, afterwards, and I added to the motion that the hiring include all 
the lawyers, or the remainder will be coming in for a share. J.T. Barcley, 
Esq., who was standing close by me, moved an amendment that the 
preachers also be added, but they were not. This was the last ever heard 
of the suit against Woodbury County. 
 
"I continued to live in Osceola County, and in 1876 my first wife was 
taken from me by death, and I was afterwards married again to Mrs. A. 
D. Bellord, a sister of Captain Chase. I saw the County and town grow 
from a small beginning to a county well settled and a thriving town. I went 
from Sibley to Vermilion, South Dakota, where I remained not quite a 
year; then went to Kansas, where I was three years, and from there to 
Des Moines. I then went to California and remained there a year, when I 
longed for Iowa again and returned to it, where I shall spend the 
remainder of my days, for, take it as a whole, Iowa is ahead of all the rest 
of the universe, and here let me abide and pass the remnant of this 
mortal career. 
 
"On my return from Osceola that early time, and after I had got to 
Independence, the hotel keeper, Mr. Naylor, asked me what the Osceola 
County people used for fuel. I told him principally hay. I think I could have 
heard him laugh twenty miles away. 'Hay for fuel,' said the astonished 
listener, 'why the last armful would be consumed before they could get 
from the house to the stack and back again.' Notwithstanding, under the 
circumstances, hay was a pretty good fuel. 
 
"When our Methodist Church at Sibley was ready for dedication, we met 
Sabbath morning, and, just before time to commence public worship, and 
while some of us were standing on the steps of the church, it was 
discovered that something was coming from the Northwest, which looked 
like a cloud, but still it could be seen that it was not a cloud, and upon its 
nearer approach we could then see that it was a swarm of grasshoppers. 
This so disconcerted and discouraged the people that it was impossible 
to hold them for the purposes of dedication that day, and it was deferred. 
The ravages of these pests which followed are known to old settlers." 

CHAPTER II
The intention of the writer is to confine these events to the separate 
years as far as possible, and also to speak of townships separately, but 
after all they will be more or less blended. Having drifted into Ocheyedan 
Township by the location of Mr. Buchman, it is perhaps best to finish this 
township for the year 1871. Ocheyedan had no prospective railroad to 
cross it, which, perhaps, may be the reason that this township was not 
sooner settled, or its land filed upon as early as Holman. Buchman's 
place, meagre as it was, and not tempting to a traveler for hotel 
accommodations, was nevertheless, a sort of headquarters between 
Western Osceola, Eastern Lyon and Milford and Spencer, and the boys 
had many a rollicking time at the Buchman habitation. About the first of 
May 1871, Will Dunham and Fred Frick settled on Section 8 in 
Ocheyedan Township. Frick lived there about four years, and Dunham 
went to California in 1882. On Section 18, we think the southwest 
quarter, Ole Peterson settled. 
 
This same summer of 1871 also came A.B. Elmore, L. G. Ireland and E. 
N. Moore; these came from Clayton County, also Elder Dean. Mr. Elmore 
first filed on a part of Section 34, in Horton Township, but afterwards 
settled on Section 2 in Ocheyedan, where he still resides and is highly 
respected. E.N. Moore settled on Section 4, in Ocheyedan as did also 
Elder B.D. Dean. Mr. Moore still owns the same quarter-section, but 
resides now in the Town of Ocheyedan is postmaster, and considered 
one of its best citizens. Elder Dean is now in Exeter, New Hampshire, 
and left Osceola County in 1878. L.G. Ireland, who was a very honorable 
and concientious man, left in 1879 with his family and moved to Florida. 
They have since all died. 
 
On the northwest quarter of Section 20 lived Fred Nagg. These comprise 
the settlements made in Ocheyedan in 1871. Nothing was raised that 
season by these settlers, and the summer was uneventful, except a 
severe hail storm which swept this part of the County and was unusually 
severe. Mr. Buchman lost a cow and a calf in this storm; they probably 
went with it, as cattle will; at any rate he never saw them afterward. 
 
The winter of 1871 and 1872 was a disagreeable one, but most of the 
Ocheydan settlers wintered elsewhere. Those that remained on their 
claims were Dunham and Frick, Ole Peterson and Fred Nagg. The Nagg 
family had a hard time of it. They lived in a sodded house, small and 
cold, and kept a yoke of oxen in the same room, ground corn to live 
upon, and cut weeds and fed to the oxen to keep them alive. Their lot 
seemed to be a hard one, and indeed it was. Had they been there by 
order of some despotic ruler, as a convict goes to Siberia, it would have 
been unbearable, but thoughts of the coming spring time, and of the 
green grass and wild flowers of the beautiful prairie which would return in 
the summer before them, kindled the joyous feeling of promise and of 
hope, and gave them a heart of sunshine, even amid the snows of 
winter. But, alas, before the hoped for spring time had come to this 
poverty stricken family that grim reaper Death, which stalks unbidden 
alike into the palaces of the rich and the hovels of the poor, sought out 
upon the bleak prairies of Ocheyedan during that hard winter of 1871 
and 1872 the head of the household Fred Nagg himself, and this terrible 
affliction just then laid a burden of sorrow upon the family which in 
addition to their abject condition of poverty seemed greater than they 
could bear. Nagg had started on foot for Roger's store during the latter 
part of that winter, the only store then where Sibley now is, obtained a 
few needed and indispensable articles, and left the store to return to his 
family, but he never reached them. He had a hand sled and was 
overtaken with a blizzard and sudden cold weather. He was not 
sufficiently clad even for weather less severe, and, becoming numbed 
and senseless by the cold and storm, lay down and died. This blizzard, 
on February 12, 1872, lasted three days, and at its commencement there 
were about sixteen men at Roger's store in from their claims. They all 
started home. Some reached there and others stopped with some 
settlers on the way. After the storm was over word had been received 
that Nagg had not reached home, and J.F. Glover, M.J. Campbell, C.M. 
Brooks, Al Halstead, F.F. and Eugene White started out and followed 
Nagg's sled trail. About seven miles out southwest from Sibley they 
found the sled and sack; wolves had clawed into the sack and eaten a 
part of the contents. The party were unable to find Nagg's body, but went 
to the house and consoled his wife as best they could, holding out a 
hope that he might still be alive. His body was found afterwards in the 
latter part of March 1872, by W. H. Lean, and it was partially eaten by the 
wolves. Nagg was buried on his claim, and, there being no clergyman to 
conduct the usual funeral exercises, Frick read the burial service from an 
Episcopal prayer book. The few that remained in Ocheyedan Township 
during that winter of 1871 and 1872 had nothing to break the monotony 
of pioneer life, so far as mingling in society was concerned, but going to 
Sibley occasionally, and trapping some, was all the diversion within 
reach of these few settlers. 
 
In the fall of 1871 Frick came near having serious trouble with an 
adventurous immigrant pushing out into the wild and wooly west. He had 
some cattle with him and one of them had strayed away at night, and 
when Frick got up one morning he saw not far off what he supposed was 
an elk feeding quietly on the prairie. Frick was a hunter, and the sight of 
this supposed elk, thrilled every inch of his stature, and he moved about 
with the stealth of an Indian for fear that the slightest noise would frighten 
this valuable game and send it fleet-footed out of rifle reach. Frick got 
good and ready, pointed his rifle out of the shanty window, took a good 
rest and deliberate aim and fired. The object of his mark fell under the 
aim of the skillful hunter and he rushed out to the bleeding body of his 
victim, but instead of an elk Frick's surprised eyes and astonished 
senses gazed upon only a cow. It was meat, however, if not venison, and 
Frick hauled the carcass to his house and proceeded to do the usual 
carving into roasts and steaks, when a stranger appeared upon the 
scene, who was no other than the owner of the cow which had strayed 
away. Circumstantial evidence, as the lawyers call it, was strong against 
Frick, pointing to theft malicious and intended, and the moving immigrant 
was about to paralyze everything in reach of him. Frick explained, 
however, apologized, and scraped together what loose change he had 
and gave it to the owner of the cow, who went on his way again satisfied 
and contented. 
 
A.M. Culver came to the County in the spring of 1871. He settled and 
filed on the southeast quarter of Section 24, Township 99, Range 42. 
 
The previous year, in 1870, he had left the State of Wisconsin and gone 
to Mills County, in Iowa, and from Mills County he drove through to 
Osceola, bringing with him three horses, a wagon and buggy, also two 
cows. His family came with him, consisting of his wife, one son and a 
daughter. Mr. Culver and family did the best they could with the shelter of 
a wagon cover, while his son, Andrew, went to LeMars and got 
cottonwood lumber enough to build a house, which they soon did, 12 by 
14 in size. Mr. Culver broke nine acres that year and put them into wheat 
and six acres into oats, and raised an average crop on the sod. When 
Mr. Culver came first without the family he landed at Huff's house, the 
first settler and heretofore described, and there being quite a number 
there that night, he was among the usual number laid out in rows on the 
floor. Huff and Brooks located Culver on his quarter-section. On the 
same section there was also located and settled that year Andrew 
Culver, Geo. W. Bean and R. O. Manson.  
 
John F. Glover landed in Sibley in the latter part of August 1871, and 
settled on the southwest quarter of Section 4, Township 99, Range 41. 
Mr. Glover's coming was by meeting Stiles and F.M. Robinson at Sioux 
City. Glover put up the usual settler's shack, and obtained his lumber 
from  
Windom, Minnesota, going for it with a yoke of oxen and wagon.  
 
After these incoming settlers had established a home, the next thing was 
to find out who their neighbors were, and is this year of 1871 they were 
few and far between. 
 
Some other things to think about, and among these something to eat. 
Glover made frequent trips hunting, but seemed to be unsuccessful. 
While in McCausland's neighborhood Mc returned from a trip to Spirit 
Lake and reported that Rush Lake, near Ocheyedan, was alive with 
ducks, and Glover became so excited over the pictured description of 
vast lakes and ponds covered with game, that he organized a hunting 
party, consisting of himself, McCausland and Luther Webb who started 
the next day with oxen and a wagon, with which conveyance the ducks 
and geese were to be carted home. They arrived safely at Rush Lake, 
and sure enough McCausland had not overdrawn the amount of game. 
They had no boat, and anyone who knows Rush Lake, knows the 
difficulty of getting game there without a float of some kind. Before the 
boys had hardly appeared at the edge of the water on one side, the 
entire army of ducks had moved to the other side out of reach, and by 
running around from one side to the other, the boys became about 
exhausted. Finally Glover gathered pieces of the wagon, some brush, 
and a decent sized tree or two and formed a raft sufficient, as he 
believed to float himself out on the lake, and on it started. When out 
about twenty feet the frail craft, like many an air castle, fell to pieces, and 
its only passenger went reluctantly into the water. He soon got out, 
however, and this dampened all the ardor of hunting on his part, and the 
other two were tired and discouraged. Webb then started with his oxen to 
Milford and left McCausland and Glover to tramp twelve miles home, 
which they did. Just as they were starting McCausland brought down a 
brandt, and, this being the only game they got, with it they started home, 
and it was near night. They had brought with them some cooked beans 
in an iron pot, and a loaf of bread; when the brandt was secured it was 
decided that bread and beans were nowhere in comparison with a 
roasted fowl, so that, hungry as they were, their appetite was reserved 
until they could get home. At last they reached McCausland's house, and 
Mc sent Glover to Roger's store, three miles, for some necessary articles 
for the square meal, and to a settler's shack for something else. Glover 
returned with the articles and Mc had the brandt stuffed and in the oven 
roasting, but himself was laid out on the bed. The oily odor from the fowl 
on an empty stomach had sickened him, and Glover was left alone until 
C.M. Brooks happened to arrive, when he and Glover got the table set, 
the roast on, and two of them sat down to a rich feast for homesteaders. 
But alas for the dreams of fancy, the vision of bliss and the tempting 
measures of delight, in which we too often indulge, that are at last turned 
into the bitterness of gall in the round up of indulgence. Glover and 
Brooks were soon laid out groaning in the agony of too much brandt, and 
the oily condition of the fowl made them too sick to hope ever to make 
final proof on a government claim, the taking of which had been the 
leading ambition of their lives. Their extreme sickness revived Mc and he 
ate the beans and the bread, and towards morning Glover and Brooks 
got around all right again, but like a victim of seasickness not a thing was 
left in them, and as Mc had ate all the grub in the house, the three of 
them started out for something to eat, and before they got through they 
had nearly eaten the whole neighborhood out of house and home, and 
that day there was a tramping to Roger's store for a fresh supply. This 
sickened Glover for a while on wild fowl; his hunting excursions after that 
were few and far between, but it seems that another ducking was still in 
store for him. he concluded that housekeeping was not well done without 
vegetables, and nothing seemed to be in sight but potatoes, and the 
nearest these could be had was thirteen miles, but Glover had been a 
soldier and could walk like a professional. He started with a sack and 
went southeast until he came to the Ocheyedan, and when he got to that 
the water was well up and the difficulty of crossing was before him. 
There was a small skiff there owned by Ole Peterson, and soon Peterson 
himself appeared, and, after reciting his experiences as a sailor and his 
capabilities as a boatman, induced Glover to get aboard, and taking a 
wagon bow for a paddle started out with the frail craft to ferry the now 
Mayor of Sibley across the troublesome stream. Men are apt to make too 
little margin for what might happen, often miscalculate in more serious 
adventures than this, and often start out in the buoyancy of expectation, 
but fall into difficult with sudden and unexpected precipitation. When in 
the middle of the stream, Peterson, who was standing up in the boat, fell 
one side of it, and himself and Glover went suddenly into the water, and, 
having no further use for the boat in the interests of navigation, they 
struck out, Glover for one side of the river and Peterson for the other, 
and when landed they stood dripping with the waters of the Ocheyedan 
on opposite banks, gazing at each other, Peterson filling the air with 
profanity, and Glover wondering if Peterson hadn't overdrawn his 
experiences as a follower of the seas.
 
CHAPTER III
The people then living in Osceola County in 1871, did not often get 
together, only as a neighborhood would gather for social purposes. 
There were not many in the county in 1871. The county was sparsely 
settled. It was 
"The first low wash of waves, where soon  
Would roil a human sea." 
 
The first meeting of the people was held at Abraham Miller's place, near 
Sibley. It was called for the purpose of establishing mail facilities, and to 
provide for bringing the mail from Le Mars to Shaw's store, then near 
Ashton. This was the ostensible purpose, and mail arrangements were 
provided for, but back of it all there were a few political schemes, and 
several ambitious aspirants for office at the coming election who wanted 
to look the crowd over, get acquainted, and try to make the usual 
favorable impression in order to succeed in making a harvest of votes. If 
a Yankee should be cast away on a desolate island, the first thing he 
would no doubt do would be to divide the territory into election precincts, 
and the next thing to call a caucus. The people of Osceola then were 
strangers to each other, and while other things may have been left 
behind them at the old home, the great feeling of sovereignty, realization 
of the fact that each was an individual citizen and could vote and hold 
office, were a part of their nature, and in this respect they were alike 
without even a formal introduction. Abraham Miller was chairman of the 
meeting, and Cyrus M. Brooks, secretary. 
 
The next meeting of the people was held at the 4th day of July 1871. It 
will be noticed that the first organization of Osceola was brought about 
by act of Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. Osceola was then a 
part of Woodbury for judicial purposes, and, under the law, for all other---
---also, so that Woodbury's act constituted a division of territory. In other 
words, Woodbury set Osceola up in business for itself. As provision had 
been made in the Woodbury County proceedings for the election of 
Osceola County officers at the general elections in 1871, it became the 
duty of Osceola County people to fix upon somebody to fill each of the 
offices, and to prepare candidates for them who should be in the field for 
election. The order for the election of officers was made in June 1871 
and as July 4th was approaching, it was thought best by the people of 
Osceola County to meet on that day, and celebrate with the usual 
exercises and at the same time nominate candidates for County offices. 
 
The outside world was full of glory and enthusiasm, the air was filled with 
noise and pyrotechnics, and the voices of American orators were 
sounding the distinguished valor and heroism of our canonized 
ancestors. The little band of Osceola County settlers met together with a 
Quaker quietness, comparatively speaking. They had their lunch baskets 
and were socially agreeable, but the cannon, the fire cracker and fire 
works were conspicuously absent. The meeting was held on A.M. 
Culver's claim on Section 24, Township 99, Range 41, and was called 
and intended, as before stated, not only to observe and recognize the 
great American holiday, but also to place in nomination candidates to fill 
the county offices at the first election to be held in October 1871. At that 
time none knew each other's qualifications, except where men had come 
from the same neighborhood in other parts of the country. The men to be 
nominated and elected were to have the trial of service, were to be 
weighed in for balance, and given the opportunity to prove their fitness, 
or to be found unworthy of the trust that was imposed in them. H. G. 
Doolittle was chosen chairman of the meeting and _________secretary. 
A few patriotic remarks were made and the meeting proceeded to make 
its nominations. The following named persons were put in nomination: 
Treasurer, E. Huff. 
Recorder, D. L. McCausland. 
Sheriff, Jeff Cutshall. 
Superintendent of Schools, Delily Stiles. 
Clerk of Courts, Cyrus M. Brooks. 
Auditor, __________McDonald. 
Supervisors: 
J. H. Winspear. 
H. R. Fenton. 
George Spaulding. 
Holman Township Trustees, 
Robert Stamm. 
W.W. Webb. 
Frank Stiles. 
H.R. Hayes. 
There was present at this meeting, including all, about one hundred. The 
business and visiting were ended the latter part of the afternoon and the 
people dispersed. 
 
It might be well to follow these nominations to the election, which 
followed in October. At this election there were no contentions of political 
parties. The contest involved no controversy, except individual success, 
and there was no regular opposition ticket. There were independent 
candidates, however, and the nominated ticket was not wholly 
successful. A.M. Culver was elected Treasurer as an independent 
candidate over E. Huff, the regular nominee. F.M Robinson was an 
independent candidate for Auditor, and himself and the nominee, 
McDonald, were a tie on the election. This tie had to be decided by 
drawing lots, and the drawing resulted in favor of Robinson, so that 
Robinson became Auditor. John Beaumont was the independent 
candidate against McCausland, but McCausland was elected. When the 
time to qualify came, McCausland was away teaching school, and the 
board in January 1872 felt inclined to declare the office vacant, and 
appointed John Beaumont, Recorder. Afterwards McCausland sent his 
bond, and upon his return, had some little trouble to get possession of 
the office, but finally obtained it. Cutshall and his independent opponent 
both tied, and when the drawing was taken place neither were present, 
so the board on January 3, 1872, appointed Frank Stiles. 
 
There was at this time under the organization only three townships in the 
county, and this October election was held in Goewey Township at the 
house of E. Huff; in Holman Township at A.M. Culver's house, and in 
Horton Township at the house of H.R. Fenton. 
 
The final outcome resulted in the following named persons filling the 
places: 
Treasurer, A.M. Culver. 
Recorder, D.L. McCausland. 
Auditor, F.M. Robinson. 
Clerk of Courts, Cyrus M. Brooks. 
Surveyor, M.J. Campbell. 
Coroner, J.D. Hall. 
Superintendent of Schools, Delily Stiles. 
Drainage Commissioner, John Beaumont. 
Supervisors: 
J.H. Winspear. 
George Spaulding. 
H.R. Fenton. 
 
There were cast at this election in all at the three polling places, 
_____votes. 
 
The County was now fully organized, and the Board of Supervisors had 
their meeting January 1, 1872. 
 
The proceedings of the board during the first year of its administration 
are told in another part of this book and we need not here recite them 
again. The record and the unwritten history of this first year, and a part of 
the second year, shows that a few unprincipled men came to Osceola 
County for the sole and only purpose of plunder. These few gathered 
some friends around them---really had a party---many of whom had no 
share in the spoils, but were made to believe that the leaders were only 
doing what the good of the County demanded, and that the opposition 
were indignant because they were out of office and not in. 
 
There is a certain stubbornness in all our natures, which we often assert, 
sometimes in the wrong direction, just because some trivial thing was 
thrown us with this side or that, and occasionally conviction itself will be 
suppressed by a stand first taken and stubbornly kept. These two parties 
each had their friends, and were about equally divided, the reform party, 
however, being mostly in the country outside of the town. Once allied 
with one side or the other it seemed difficult to change, as it is now 
difficult to go from one political party to the other when we have once 
identified ourselves with that of our choice. Some of the people in 1872 
and 1873 who joined themselves with the boodlers were not---we will be 
charitable enough to admit---boodlers with them. There were honorable 
exceptions, strange as it may seem. George Spaulding, who was one of 
the County Supervisors first elected, and served with Fenton and 
Winspear, lives in Osceola still, and is a man highly respected. He has 
held office in Goewey Township, the place of his residence, several 
different times and is now on the School Board. Mr. Spaulding is looked 
upon as a man of integrity and a good citizen. He was made to believe 
that his co-members of the board, though inclined to extravagance, were 
working for the best interests of the County, and it is conceded that Mr. 
Spaulding acted conscientiously in his official acts, and though now he 
may see some things upon which he would vote differently, he felt at the 
time that his action was right. He would now be voted for with the full 
confidence of his fellow citizens.
 
CHAPTER IV
John H. Douglass came to Osceola County in October 1871, driving 
through by wagon from Wisconsin. He had with him his wife and 
daughter, now Mrs. Henry Newell, and son. Mr. Douglass filed on the 
southwest quarter of Section 14, Township 110, Range 42, and made 
the usual settlement and improvements required of a settler, and in 
November of that year went to Alamakee County, Iowa for the winter. In 
the spring of 1872 Mr. Douglass and family returned to their claim, and 
got here toward the latter part of March. He started before the frost was 
out of the ground and while the roads might be fit for travel, but when he 
reached Osceola County, it was breaking up, and the Spring weather 
had thawed the snow away and the rivers and creeks were running with 
water. Mr. Douglass came to the Ocheyedan, that treacherous stream 
with which every incoming settler seems to have had an adventure, and 
the prospect of getting over was unfavorable, for the appearance of the 
stream to cross it was neither promising nor inviting. Doglass arrived at 
the bank of the Ocheyedan at the Buchman place on the evening of 
March 7, 1872. The river was narrow at this point but was yet filled with 
snow, but soft and watery on the surface. He first assisted his family 
across, and after this was done together with the transportation of a few 
articles, he was making arrangements to get the horses and wagon over, 
when the water began to pour down the river over the snow, which 
startled Douglass with surprise, and confronted him with a difficulty 
entirely unexpected. He unhitched the horses, tied them to the wagon 
and then started across, wading in the water on the snow, treading 
lightly; knowing the danger of being completely submerged. But it seems 
that he was not to escape so easily, for when about midway down, in he 
went, and when the bottom was reached his head was just above water. 
There happened to be at the Buchman shack, H. G. Doolittle and his 
brother. These, with the Douglass family, rescued the venturesome 
settler and brought him out on the bank, but in a deplorable condition of 
wet and cold. The next morning the river was still worse, but the 
Douglass effects were divided and something had to be done. The 
horses and the wagon with the household goods, including a barrel of 
pork and two pigs in a box strapped on behind, were on the other side, 
and they must be brought over, let the sacrifice be what it may. 
Douglass, with a board or two, a rope and such other devices as the 
ingenuity of man will bring into requisition under such circumstances, 
was enabled to get over to his effects, and, finding them all right, the 
troublesome question again arose as to how to get them over. Douglass 
on one side and his friends and family on the other, discussed the 
difficulty in all its bearings, and the task seemed to be hopeless, and the 
question without any probability of a solution. Finally Douglass was 
seized with an idea. He had tied to the wagon a red cedar bedstead, 
which had come down as an heirloom in his wife's family from the old 
Knickerbocker days in New York State, and which had been prized from 
generation to generation. It was of the old-fashioned kind, about enough 
material in it to have absorbed a lumberyard, and with posts of enormous 
length and size. Douglass got this out, and by a system of mechanical 
contrivance formed a raft that seemed capable of greater navigation than 
that for which it was intended. Mrs. Douglass protested, but had to look 
on while this sacred relic from her ancestors was fast being transformed 
from its original construction, into nothing but a float for the purpose of 
ferrying. John succeeded, however, with the help of the others, in taking 
over the barrel of pork and the other household goods, until all was over 
except the horses and wagon. He tied a rope to one horse and this to the 
other and they were led single file, and by swimming and clambering 
they were soon on the other bank. Then came the wagon. With this, they 
tied a rope in the end of the tongue and hitching the rope to the horses 
started with the wagon across. When the hind end of the wagon went 
down the bank, the box with the pigs in struck the bank and broke off, 
letting the pigs loose, and they went squealing away, glad to escape. 
The tongue stuck into the opposite bank, but this was soon pulled loose 
and the wagon drawn out. The pigs with the aid of the family dog were 
soon caught and got over, and Douglass heaved a sign of relief. It took 
all day, however, to do the crossing, and the next day he started on 
northwest to his claim, and came near having the same experiences in 
crossing the Otter that he had at the Ocheyedan, but he finally landed at 
his shack and soon was set up in the usual style of homesteader 
housekeeping. 
 
William Anderson came with Douglass in 1871. He also settled on a 
claim and lived here, we think, until 1877, when he returned to 
Wisconsin, and now lives at Sparta. 
 
The spring of 1872 was a troublesome one in Osceola County for 
traveling. Then the streams had no bridges, and the treacherous snow 
underlying the surface water was no inviting to venture in. After a limited 
thaw in the forepart of March there was part of a brief winter again, and it 
seemed to the people then that an actual spring was never coming. 
 
Quite a number of the early settlers came from Grant County, Wisconsin, 
so that even if they didn't know each other there, when acquaintance 
was made between these Wisconsin people it established a mutual 
feeling of interest in each other, for there is always an attachment arises 
between people of the same nativity, where the same sights and scenes 
were familiar to them all. 
 
D.D. McCallum also came from Grant County, Wisconsin. he started 
from there the forepart of May and drove to Clayton County, and soon 
after on to Osceola County, where he arrived about the middle of June, 
and on the 25th day of June 1872 filed on northwest quarter of Section 
14, Township 99, Range 40, what is now West Ocheyedan. McCallum 
drove in with three horses and a linch-pin wagon; had with him his wife 
and one child (now Mary McCallum); had a few household goods, pork 
enough to last several years and $105 in money. He first struck the 
Ocheyedan River at what was called the Lone Tree ford, drove northwest 
until he came to Mandeville Homestead, on Section 26, Township 99, 
Range 41, and there he camped for the night. The next day he went to 
Buchman's, riding one horse and leading another. Buchman mounted the 
other horse and the two men rode over the country looking for a claim 
upon which McCallum could settle. He finally selected the one before 
described, went to Sibley the next day, borrowed a saddle from Ward-
leaving his revolver as security-and started for Sioux City, where he 
arrived safely and did his filing. McCallum's first habitation after 
settlement was his wagon cover, and once installed in this he went to 
work breaking, and planted some potatoes. He soon after put up a sod 
house; lived on the claim until 1878, when he moved into Sibley. 
McCallum, like a great many others in those early days, had a hard time 
of it. Soon his money was gone, no income was in sight, and only those 
of the McCallum pluck were able to see it through. His house, lumber 
and furniture, and all its belongings, cost about $20; so that in those days 
of settlement, our ex-Judge was not in shape to entertain any of the kid 
glove or swallow-tail-coat members of fashionable society. 
 
In the winter of 1872 and 1873 McCallum was in Sioux City chopping 
wood, and remaining there until the memorable blizzard in the spring of 
1873, when feeling alarmed about his family, he returned home. Soon 
after this in the summer season Elder Dean, while burning the prairie 
grass around his property, carelessly let the fire get away from him, and 
it swept, as a prairie fire will when turned loose, all over the country. This 
fire swept away all McCallum's hay and all other loose property, except 
the house. 
 
The Elder, in spite of all his religious graces, his Godly ways and good 
intentions, was very much blamed for his carelessness, and had he been 
a layman it is hard to tell what might have occurred as a penalty. As it 
was, McCallum had the Elder arrested, brought before a Justice, who 
found the accused guilty and fined him $5 and costs, which he paid. The 
Board of Supervisors had offered a reward of $50 for the apprehension 
and conviction of a party who was the cause of a prairie fire. McCallum in 
this case was entitled to it and got it. This affair did not cause any hard 
feelings between the Elder and McCallum; indeed, the Elder had not the 
slightest animosity, for he was a man of broad views, kind and charitable, 
as well as a sincere Christian. McCallum rode home with the Elder and 
staid all night at the Elder's house, and out of the $50 McCallum 
magnanimously reimbursed him for all the outlay and trouble he had 
been put to through brought about by his own carelessness. In other 
words, McCallum whacked up with the Elder. 
 
Prairie fires then in this sparsely settled country were very much to be 
feared. Whenever they occurred but few were prepared for them. They 
were not set maliciously, and with any intention to do harm, but were 
always the result of carelessness or inability to hold them against sudden 
puffs of wind unexpected, when the burning around was done without 
still atmosphere. 
 
Chapter V
Most people who settled in Osceola County in 1871 did not, in starting 
out, make directly for the county, but started for government land in 
Northwest Iowa. In the spring of 1871 Frank R. Coe left Clayton County, 
Iowa as sort of an advance guard for several of his neighbors who had 
the western fever. He arrived in Osceola County and filed that same 
spring on the northwest quarter of Section 22, Township 99, Range 41, 
now East Holman, and then returned to his friends, for whom also he had 
picked out claims. Among these was J.S. Reynolds, present County 
Auditor. Coe and Reynolds came up in September 1871 and Reynolds 
filed on the northeast quarter of Section 22, the same section with Coe. 
They made the usual improvements required for a government settler, 
and returned again to Clayton County where they wintered. In the spring 
of 1872 they returned to their claims. Reynolds drove through with two 
yoke of oxen, and had with him his son Samuel, then about twelve years 
old. Coe had a span of horses and a wagon heavily loaded with the 
requirements of a settler. They got to Milford between the first and the 
middle of March, and after they had reached Milford there was a heavy 
fall of snow, and to push through this and run the risk of blizzards was a 
task they hesitated to undertake. The last shack for them to pass after 
leaving Milford was about ten miles out, and they would pass no other 
between that and the Ocheyedan. They started from Milford, Reynolds 
going ahead with his oxen to break the road, and Coe following behind. 
After they had passed the last shack about a mile, its occupant came 
after them and insisted upon their return, as it would be dangerous with 
threatening weather to go on. They did return and remained with this 
settler several days. They started out again when a change in the 
weather came on, and again they returned and tarried several days 
more, when they started again. That time they reached the Buchman 
dugout, but everything seemed to be covered with snow. This was about 
March 18th, and they reached this stopping place in the evening. They 
went to work and about two hours had the snow cleare away from the 
stable so they could get their teams in, which they did and also 
themselves stayed there all night. In the morning they shoveled the snow 
from the dugout so they could get into that, and there they remained 
about two weeks with bad weather and occasional blizzards. They had 
heard of the death of Fred Nagg, lost in a blizzard, and knew the danger 
of being caught in one of them on the open prairie, and they were wise in 
their apprehensions. At the end of about two weeks the weather and 
travel became such that they pushed on and soon after got to their 
claims. When once there they commenced improvements. Their stable 
was made out of a few boards they borrowed from some other settler, 
and with these and the wagon covers they constructed a shelter for the 
stock and built it across the line between the claims so that both owned 
the stable jointly. They then drove to Worthington and bought lumber for 
shacks, and bought it of Levi Shell, who was then in the lumber business 
at that point. Reynolds put up the usual 8x8 shack, and Coe one that 
was 8x12. Coe's family soon followed, but Reynold's family did not come 
until in September following. This left Reynolds to wrestle with the pots 
and kettles, and no doubt his batching was like all the rest, with the 
washing of dishes repeatedly deferred, and most meals consisting of a 
chunk of bread and a slice of fresh pork, and perhaps an occasional 
luxury of black molasses. His family met with a misfortune after his 
leaving by the burning of the house in which they lived with all its 
contents. They arrived safely in September in Osceola, and the family 
was again united and are still here with the grown up children having 
families of their own. Coe left here several years ago. 
 
In the summer of 1871 Will Thomas, present Clerk of Court, left 
Wisconsin with a covered wagon, containing himself and three sisters. 
There was also with him in another covered wagon James G. Miller and 
his wife, who was also a sister to Mr. Thomas. They started for 
Nebraska, but came across some parties bound for Northwestern Iowa, 
upon which Thomas and Miller also concluded to go in the same 
direction, which they did, and landed in Osceola County in June of that 
year. They were about one month on the road, and finally located on 
Section 22, in what is now Wilson Township. Thomas took the northeast 
quarter, Miller the northwest and the girls claims adjoining. When about a 
mile from the section where the claims were taken they camped for the 
night, using the wagon with it's covering for a sleeping place and a 
shelter. During the night a storm came up which was very severe, and 
the wind, hail and rain with frequent flashes of lightning were terrible. Will 
Thomas and his companions got out of the wagon, and soon a gust of 
wind tipped the wagon over, the horses got loose and run away, but 
returned after being gone about three hours. W.M. Bull was camping 
near by, with his wagon cover for a tent, and the bows stuck into the 
ground. W.P. Underwood also was near with his wagon box and its cover 
set off on the ground. There was considerable stirring around among 
these campers, for the night was fearful and frightening. The Miss 
Thomas' sought shelter in the Underwood camp, and they all managed 
to worry through until morning. Of the three young ladies who 
experienced this midnight adventure, one of them is now the wife of Dr. 
Lawrence, another the wife of John P. Hawxshurst, and the other at 
home with her mother and Will Thomas, who constitute the family. Mr. 
Miller still lives in the County at Sibley.
 
CHAPTER VI

Referring again to the incoming of Messrs. Brooks, McCausland, Webb 
and Campbell who settled on Section 8 in the spring of 1871; they went 
to work and made continued improvements on their claims. While they 
were visiting with each other one day during the summer, they saw a 
covered wagon approaching and heard the sound of a voice singing 
"One Day's Journey Nearer Home." When the wagon had got up and 
stopped, it was found to contain John Cronk, _________ Coy and James 
Hankins, this last mentioned being a Methodist preacher, and it was he 
who was singing a Methodist hymn. The following day Hankins preached 
in Brook's house, to an audience of about twelve, and these were the 
first religious exercises held in the County, according to Webb's account 
of it. During the preaching Mrs. Brooks kept on with her bread making, 
for they couldn't live on faith alone, and this is told in the following article, 
written by John F. Glover, on the death of Mrs. Brooks which occurred at 
Denver in 1884:
DEATH OF PIONEER WOMAN.
In the summer and fall of 1871, the wives of C.M. Brooks, M.J. Campbell, 
W. W. Webb and D.L. McCausland entered on pioneer life with their 
husbands, all four families having claims on Section 8, Range 99, 
Township 41, the section on which are now the farms of Deacon Herbert 
and Mr. Deitz. The settlements were made on Section 8 before there 
was a single soul on Section 13, Range 99, Township 42, where is now 
the flourishing town of Sibley. Mr. Brooks was in the land locating 
business, and his house was a home that summer for several of the 
women. Mrs. Brooks was the daughter of Rev. John Webb, a Methodist 
minister of Fayette, Iowa, later a pioneer settler and minister in Osceola 
County, still later a pioneer Presiding Elder in Dakota Territory, and now 
residing in Des Moines. She was very attractive in person, possessed of 
a good mind, and had a sensible way of doing the best that 
circumstances would permit, for the comfort of her household, and doing 
the best she could to be content. The following anecdote will illustrate 
her faithful performance of household duties: The greater than usual 
number of new comers at Mr. Brooks' made it necessary to bake bread 
on the Lord's Day, and while the baking was going on, the little pioneer 
congregation gathered in the room to listen to a preacher-one of the new 
comers. In the same room were the baker and the preacher, and as the 
minister went forward with his discourse, so did "Mel," as Melvina Brooks 
was called by her relatives and near friends, go on with her baking. She 
realized that on her depended the feeding of hungry men, with appetites 
such as only pioneering brings to the table Mrs. Brooks was the Martha 
of this little company. While others had nothing to do but listen, she had 
work to do for the listeners. She could both hear and work, and right 
down before the minister she baked the bread of earth while he spoke 
the bread of Heaven, and she did her work as well and as honestly as 
the preacher did his. It was thus she went forward doing the things most 
necessary to be done, and though possessed of a not very bad robust 
constitution did her full measure of work-having less in mind her own 
strength than the comfort of those around her.
 
CHAPTER VII 
The western part of the County was settled first, owing to the prospective 
incoming railroad. Goewey Township and Gilman were as early settled 
as any, and, indeed, the very first settler took his claim in Gilman. 
 
In 1871 there was living in O'Brien County, where Primghar now is, Mr. 
Charles F. Allbright. His home was a small one, we should judge 14x20, 
one story, with small addition. This house was the general stopping 
place, not only for people from the north part of O'Brien County, but also 
Southern Osceola. It will be understood that at this time there was no 
railroad, and freight was hauled mostly from Cherokee, and the Allbright 
house was about the only one on the road in O'Brien County in making 
trips to and from Cherokee. 
 
Mr. A.H. Lyman made the first track across the County from Allbright's to 
Goewey Township, and Mr. Lyman came into Osceola County in March 
1871. He came from Grant County, Wisconsin, and first settled upon and 
done his filing on the northeast quarter of Section 26, Township 98, 
Range 41, now Goewey Township. He put up a residence with a 
shingled roof, but the walls of which were built of sod. He broke about 
thirty acres that season; put in beans, potatoes, turnips and melons, and 
of these had quite a crop. His family came in October 1871. Mr. Lyman's 
house then became the stopping place for that part of the country, and it 
was often crowded with people, sometimes the whole floor covered with 
lodgers, and, if not cold, some outside. 
 
On this same section, in 1871, Douglas E. Ball and B.F. Mundorf took 
claims, and Adam Batie took his claim on the same section in the spring 
of 1872. Mr. Lyman still lives in Goewey Township. His reputation is that 
of an honest and hard working man, but Lyman is considered quite a 
talker. He is a man of ideas and likes to express them. Several were at 
Lymans' one day and a fellow by the name of Patch bet $1 with Lyman 
that he couldn't keep from speaking for one hour. The money was 
deposited with the stakeholder, and the hour of silence commenced. In 
the course of half an hour some fellow came to the house to make some 
inquiries, and the rest of them kept in the house to see Lyman wrestle 
with the stranger. His motions were the most awkward, for he couldn't 
answer the questions as his dollar was at stake, and finally the stranger 
left with the idea that Lyman had gone crazy. 
 
The fore part of the summer of 1871 was a very dry one. There was not 
a drop of rain from the middle of March until the 16th day of June, and 
during that time of dryness several got out of the County, as they have 
got out of Dakota, for the reason, as they said, the County was too dry 
ever to raise crops. 
 
In April 1872 Walter Fisher and Reed Patch started west from Spencer to 
Lyman's place. They knew the quarter that Lyman was on, so took the 
bearings and navigated as the sailors do, by compass. They made it all 
right and reached the Lyman place safely. These three then went to 
Sibley with a sleigh. The ground was soft, however, and the creeks had 
some water in. While crossing the Otter the horses suddenly went down 
in the soft, watery snow, and went so suddenly it pitched Lyman out, who 
went in up to his neck. Lyman was got out and over the river, and Fisher, 
by careful work, got himself across, and the horses were unhitched and 
they safely landed. Patch determined to stick to the sleigh and not get 
wet, the other fellows he thought could look out for themselves. After the 
horses were got over, the boys hitched a rope to the end of the tongue of 
the sleigh to pull that out, and Patch was sort of crowing over his safe 
and dry-shod transportation. The horses started and the first jerk of the 
sleigh landed Patch into the creek and up to his neck. The boys got him 
out, but he was not only a sorry looking object, but had the appearance 
of a man disgustingly disappointed. Lyman thought honors were easy, 
and they soon got where their condition was made dry and comfortable. 
 
In June 1871 J. B. Lent, who was Treasurer of Osceola County, 
preceding Mr. Townsend, arrived at the Lyman place. Mr. Lent also 
came from Grant County, Wisconsin and had started with some others 
for Nebraska. The others who started with him with teams kept on to 
Cherokee, while Lent diverted his course to go to Lyman's for the 
purpose of leaving some stock there for Lyman, they having lived in the 
same neighborhood in their Wisconsin home. The reason that the 16th of 
June arrival is so well remembered is that on that day the dry spell was 
broken, and Lyman and Lent gazed upon the falling water with supreme 
satisfaction and delight. Lent, after leaving the stock at Lyman's, went to 
Cherokee and told the rest of his party he was so delighted with Osceola 
County that he would settle there and go no further; they went on, except 
Louis Folsom and Lent, and these returned to Lyman's place. The first 
night they slept out under the wagon cover set on the ground and during 
the night the wind blowed that over, when they went into the house. Lent 
and Folsom soon did their settlement and filing, Lent on southwest 
quarter of Section 24, Township 98, Range 41, and Folsom on south half 
of southeast quarter of Section 24, Township 98, Range 41. 
 
The great thing to be feared then on an open prairie was a blizzard. The 
early settlers encountered several of them. In December 1871, Dr. Hall, 
then living in Goewey Township, and his son, Arthur, a boy, started to 
the creek for some willows for fuel. While they were gone a terrible 
blizzard came up and they were caught in it. They made their way toward 
home the best they could, but the blinding snow and extreme cold made 
it slow progress, and the oxen, too, were hard to get along. Soon the boy 
discovered that the father was missing and could not be found anywhere. 
Of course no search could be made, for the boy was struggling to take 
care of himself, but all at once Mr. Hall himself had disappeared, either 
strayed away from the boy or fallen in sheer exhaustion unable to go 
further. The boy went west for awhile, then turned and went east again, 
and after traveling a few miles the oxen gave out; the boy then hollered 
as loud as he could, and as luck would have it he was near enough to 
the house of F.O. Messenger so that Messenger heard him and went in 
the direction from where the sound came until he reached the boy. The 
boy's hands and feet were frozen, but Messenger got him to the house 
and after a while the boy got around all right again. The oxen were also 
rescued. Dr. Hall himself perished in that December blizzard, and was 
not found until the spring of 1872, and was then found by Mr. 
Messenger's dog bringing to the house the bone from a human body, 
which was noticed, and Mrs. Messenger then directed the dog back and 
followed him to Dr. Hall's remains, which were but his bones. The boy, 
Arthur Hall, grown to manhood, now lives in Washington State. The 
blizzard in February 1872, the same in which Nagg perished, was also a 
fearful one. The first day of that blizzard, Lyman, with others, went to 
Sibley to buy goods at Rogers' store. The blizzard commenced while 
they were in town, and they hurried up their purchases in order to return, 
and were soon on their way back again. It was a foolish start, but still 
they got through and no lives were lost. There were Lyman, B.F. 
Mundorf, Lon Sanfrisco, Eve Adler and A. Carpenter. When they got to 
the house of A. Romey, Mundorf and Lyman had about eight miles 
further to go, and Mundorf insisted on going and was bound to go. All the 
others objected to any such thing, and Mr. Romey declared that not one 
of them should leave his house. Mundorf, however, had made up his 
mind to go and go he would, and as there was no other alternative, 
Lyman, knowing that Mundorf would surely get lost, started with him. 
Nothing saved them but the team of horses Mr. Lyman was driving. They 
who are accustomed to the road know the great difference between 
horses in knowing the direction to go, and Mr. Lyman's team was of that 
kind which could find their way home in the darkest night or in any storm 
in which they could travel. This was the reason Lyman went with 
Mundorf, and Lyman made no attempt to guide his team, but let them 
take their own way, and they landed these storm-driven settlers safely 
home. 
 
At this time there was considerable of an attempt, and some of it 
successful, to hold claims in fictitious names and cover them up, so 
called. It was done by filing applications in the land office at Sioux City, 
and the filer signing some name which would make it appear of record 
that the claim was taken. It took an incoming stranger a little time, using 
a western expression, "to catch on to the racket," but he soon did, and 
there was no much after all made in that kind of speculation. Soon after 
Lent and Folsom got here, and they, with Lyman and some others, were 
taking it easy sitting on the prairie grass at Lent's claim, a stranger, who 
gave his name as Freman, drove up and informed these gentlemen that 
they were trespassers on other people's claims; that he had done the 
filing for them, and they were now on the road to settle. Lent cross-
questioned the fellow a little, Lyman gathered himself together for a 
controversy, and when the stranger had told all he knew about it and the 
boys had sized the thing up so that a conclusion was reached, Mr. 
Freman was told in a most emphatic manner, and in language that was 
not doubtful of construction, that if he was seen in that part of the country 
in just sixty minutes after that interview, they would hang him; and Lyman 
went to hunting a rope and to get the well ready to drop him in, when he 
started, to use Lyman's expression, as though the devil was after him, 
and was never seen afterwards. 
 
Mr. A. Romey, who is now a merchant in Sibley, came to Osceola 
County in April 1871. He drove through from Fayette County, Iowa, and 
William Barkhuff started and drove through with him; also, Mr. A. 
Carpenter. On the road, Mr. J.F. Jones, Joshua Stevens and Waldo 
joined them; also W.H. Lean. Mr. Stephens and Mr. Waldo have since 
died. Mr. Jones and Mr. Carpenter are still residents of the county. Mr. 
Romey filed on the northwest quarter of Section 4, Goewey Township. 
He put up a sod house, with shingled roof, and hauled his lumber from 
Sioux City. He broke about fifteen acres in 1871, but put in no crop.
  
CHAPTER VIII
In September, 1881, Henry C. Allen landed in Goewey Township. There 
came with him, August Thomson, C. Thompson and Francis Allen, these 
four forming the party. H. C. Allen settled on the northeast quarter of 
Section 8, in Township 98, Range 41, where he still resides, and the 
others filed upon and settled on claims near him, and are now non-
residents. This party commenced housekeeping by putting up a house 
partly on three quarter-sections, making their home together until later 
on, when separate houses were to be built. In the latter part of 1871, 
H.C. Allen and Frances Allen drove their teams to Minnesota for work, 
and they remained there during the winter, Frances Allen stopping at 
Eagle Lake and H.C. going on further to Waterford. H.C. Allen took his 
family along with him, consisting of his wife and three children, and with 
them returned early in the spring of 1872. He drove to Minnesota with a 
wagon and started back with a wagon, but on his way was overtaken 
with a blizzad and a large fall of snow, so that he had runners put under 
his wagon bed. He was traveling alongside the railroad track, and a few 
miles beyond Heron Lake came to a deep ravine which was filled with 
snow and there seemed to be no way of getting across it, and, as Allen 
was anxious to get home before the time run out to get on his claim, he 
drove across the railroad bridge, it being a high and reasonably long one 
made in trestle work. It seemed a hazardous undertaking, but Mr. Allen 
got over all right, and in watching the horses ahead, but actually 
forgotten that he had one tied behind, but when fairly landed on the other 
side everything was all right and got over safely. Mr. Allen finally reached 
his claim, but before getting there went down into a slough which 
required the aid of his neighbor, Dagel, to pull him out. Someone had 
been in the house and left it open, so that everything was in confusion 
and covered with snow. 
 
To one who drove over these prairies twenty years ago, the scenery now 
in comparison is beautiful and magnificent. Where stood the sod house 
and the usual 8 by 10 shack; there are now commodious and tasty 
residences, and groves, whose trees, dressed in their green and 
luxuriant foliage, add to the beauties of nature, and mark the landscape 
with a fascinating and dignified splendor. Going back in remembrance to 
1871 we could see a shack on Section 8, Goewey Township, which 
straddled the line of three quarter-sections, holding down claims for H.C. 
Allen, Frances Allen and one of the Thomson boys, not a tree in sight 
anywhere, and, in fact, not a house. We could see the boys figuring on 
how to get through the winter, and wondering what the country would 
amount to anyhow. But forgetting the past and looking at the living 
present, we saw that same quarter-section on 8, which Henry Allen 
settled upon in 1871, now under thorough cultivation, with a large barn 
and nice residence almost hidden in a grove of large trees, and 
everything about the place showing that its occupant is in comfortable 
circumstances and in the enjoyment of life. 
 
W.H. Lean came from Wisconsin and in 1871 settled on the southwest 
quarter of Section 6, Baker Township. Mr. Lean came with some others, 
previously mentioned, and returned to Wisconsin in 1871, and came 
back to his claim in the spring of 1872. Mr. Lean still resides on the same 
land, which now has a beautiful grove and fine residence, with other 
improvements. He is also the Goewey Postmaster. Mr. Lean found 
Nagg's body, the party mentioned elsewhere as lost in the February 
blizzard, 1872. 
 
A beautiful residence greets the eye on the southeast quarter of Section 
2, in Goewey Township. The elegant dwelling house and large barn are 
surrounded with large stately forest trees, and everything betokens thrift 
and comfort. The owner is O.B. Harding, who settled on the east half of 
southeast quarter of Section 2 in 1873, and has lived there since. Mr. 
Harding has since bought other land around him. 
 
In 1871, W.M. and J.H. Dagel, brothers, came from Clayton County, 
Iowa, driving through with teams, and between them took the north half 
of Section 6, in Goewey Township. By work and economy they now own 
over 2,000 acres of land, and still live on their original claims. 
 
In June, 1871, Mr. Thomas Jackson filed a pre-emption on the northeast 
quarter of Section 30, in West Holman Township. Mr. Jackson came 
from Wisconsin and after filing returned there, and came to Osceola 
County again in the fall of same year and again returned. In the spring of 
1872 he drove through with a team, bringing his family with him. On this 
same section at that time there were settled William Jackson, William 
Anderson, Joseph Anderson, Mr. Aldrich and Charles Kent. Mr. Thomas 
Jackson broke about thirty acres in 1872, put up his shack in the fall of 
1871, hauling his lumber from Heron Lake, Minnesota. Mr. Jackson, after 
living there about twelve years, moved to Fairview Township, where he 
still resides, and is a successful farmer and a substantial citizen. The 
perils of troubles of emigration, in traveling some distance from the old 
home to the new one, are often many. 
 
Early in the seventies there could be seen the emigrant wagons, 
reaching out for Northwest Iowa. They were called "prairie schooners," 
and a prairie schooner was, after all a peculiar institution. They 
navigated, sometimes single and alone, at other times in numbers like a 
fleet of vessels at sea. A Yankee boy, fresh from Massachusetts, when 
he saw one for the first time, said, "See that butcher cart, pa," for, sure 
enough, the meat carts in the cities of New England go about with a 
white covering. It is astonishing to see sometimes the amount of "truck" 
they carried and the number of inmates. We saw one in 1873, heaving 
into Osceola County, that had three trunks, two setts of harness, a sheet-
iron stove, several bushels of potatoes, two dozen hens, and its inmates 
were man and wife and eight children; they also had cooking utensils, 
bedding, and feed for the team. This mode of traveling, too, when the 
roads are good and the party united and contented, is very enjoyable, 
and certainly very healthy. These emigrant wagons are now seldom 
seen, and when they are bound for Dakota. 
 
In June, 1872, N. W. Emery drove through from Floyd County with a 
team and wagon, bringing his wife and one child ( now Forrest Emery, 
grown to manhood.) Mr. Emery settled on the southwest quarter of 
Section 34, in Horton Township, where he still resides, in easy 
circumstances and with the respect of the people. The first summer he 
lived in his wagon; that is, this was his only habitation. In the fall he put 
up a house, 12 X 14. Owing to grasshoppers later on, Mr. Emery 
returned to Floyd County and remained during the winter, where he 
could find something to do. The following spring he returned, driving two 
yoke of oxen, and he certainly had a time of it, for the roads were bad, 
and until he reached Spencer it was nothing but mud and water. Five 
other teams were with him, of parties going to Dakota, and they stuck 
together, for they were useful to each other when one or the other got 
fastened in the mud when it took strength to pull the wagon out. Emery's 
oxen pulled each of the others out several times, and once Emery's 
wagon was so deep in the mud and water that it took the five teams 
combined with Emery's two yoke of oven to pull him out. So bad were the 
roads, that one day they traveled only nine miles, and Emery was 
delighted when he got back to his claim. The first season Emery did 
some breaking away from home for several weeks, which left his wife 
and the infant (Forrest) to keep house alone. 
 
In all the hardships incident to pioneer life it is not only the men who 
endure them, but the women also, whose burden is as great, if not 
greater, to bear. Their work may not be as hard, but it is constant, and, 
with the care of the family and motherly anxiety, the world does not 
know, and never will, the mental anguish of a great many of the wives of 
pioneers who were making a home on these fertile, but then 
uncultivated, prairies. 
 
John P. Hawxshurst came in March, 1872, from Wisconsin. He settled 
upon the southwest quarter of Section 22, Township 100, Range 42, and 
is still a resident of the county. Mr. Hawxshurst helped start the Sibley 
Gazette---laid the type from the "original packages" into the case, and 
was with the paper until 1885. At one time he was sole proprietor, and 
during the grasshopper raid had a hard time of it indeed. At one time, for 
about a month, he did not take in any money, nor pay any out, nor did he 
have any in his pockets. His cash account was not hard to keep, and no 
doubt there was many a country printer then wondering half the time 
where his next meal was coming from. 
 
In September, 1871, Mr. John L. Robinson landed in Osceola County 
from Allamakee County. His son, F.M. Robinson, afterwards County 
Auditor, had preceded him, and Frank met his father and mother and one 
sister at Algona, and all drove over from there. They took their claims on 
a different part of Section 28, on what is now West Holman, put up 
buildings and commenced living. Mr. J.L. Robinson is still living in the 
county, at Sibley, and F.M. Robinson is at Atlanta, Georgia. As will be 
seen by referring to the Sibley records, F.M. Robinson put up the first 
building on the Sibley townsite. Afterwards his father moved into the 
building, and lived there during the winter of 1871 and 1872. While he 
was living there, in the fall of 1871, the portly form of Elder Webb 
darkened the doorway, and went into the room while Robinson was 
putting slough hay and broken weeds into the stove. This was the first 
time the Elder had seen that kind of fuel, and he was surprised that it 
could be utilized as a warmth producer. Mr. Robinson was the first 
Justice of the Peace in the county, and the office came to him by 
appointment. There being some irregularity in the appointment, Mr. 
Robinson afterwards stepped down and out, but while he was in, some 
cases came to his court. The first one brought, and, indeed, the first suit 
in the county, was between Everett and Freeman, over a yoke of oxen; 
and, like sensible fellows, they afterwards settled it. This was before 
there were any lawyers here to back up the respective sides of a 
controversy. Mr. Robinson's daughter, Ellen, who came with him, was 
afterwards married to Charles M. Brooks, now a lawyer at Sibley. The 
lumber with which F.M. Robinson put up his first building was hauled 
from Windom, Minn., and afterwards they did hauling from Cherokee.
 
CHAPTER IX
There is much of individual heroism in common life that is lost to history, 
and which is not blazoned among the distinguished deeds which make 
some men famous and their names immortal. Some Military chieftain in 
the nick of time, and by natural genius and adroitness as well as 
personal courage, drives the enemy into a general slaughter, and his 
government, with fulsome praise, sends his name down the ages, and all 
time has a hero fearless and undaunted. Sometimes the greatest of all 
heroic acts are manifested by one in the humblest walks of life, which 
find no recognition in the record of history, for it is only in the exalted 
stations of life that the names of men glitter on the scroll of fame, and 
much that is the most heroic of all heroism dies with the hero. We have 
an old newspaper which recites the conviction and execution of a Negro 
slave, in which case Henry Clay was the public prosecutor. The Negro 
was a faithful servant, and had not been accustomed to the degradation 
of corporal chastisement. During a temporary absence of his master, he 
was placed under the charge of a young and passionate overseer, who, 
for some slight or imaginary offense, lashed him cruelly with a 
horsewhip, and brought wicked blows about the head that were 
unmercifully given. The spirit of the slave was aroused, and seizing a 
weapon that was near him, he laid his overseer dead upon the spot. 
Soon after, he was borne to the place of execution, and the pride of 
character he there displayed was worthy of a Roman patriot. Being 
asked whether he was anxious that his life be spared, and, answering 
under a feeling of the injustice that had been done him and under the 
fact that he was in bondage, he replied proudly and sternly: "No! I would 
not live a day longer unless in the enjoyment of liberty. The pages of 
history might be searched from the beginning to the present, and nothing 
in the notoriety of preserved evidence would exceed this personal 
proudness and bravery of an obscure slave, whose words are lost in the 
din of pyrotechnic words over names which were prominent with the 
people. 
 
Carrying the thought still further, one does not need to go to a battlefield, 
or to find tragedies in blood, for the world's greatest heroes. Many 
unknown in life, bearing its burdens under difficulties and under 
depressing circumstances, and under the crushing conditions of poverty 
and misfortune are heroes, and the women who toil with them are 
heroines. The writer in the early seventies knew several families in 
Northwest Iowa who were without money, without friends-for the world is 
cold and uncharitable to the borrower-whose crops were an utter failure, 
and where existence was continued by living on anything that was 
accessible, and whose diet principally was corn ground in a coffee mill. 
We who are living in the present progress and prosperity of Osceola 
County cannot realize the crushed and despondent heart of many a 
mother whose little ones, in the early days of the county's history, were 
crying for bread, and where but inch boards protected them from the 
severity of winter, huddled around a fire made by twisted hay, and whose 
one hope was in a change, which the future, dark and doubtful, would 
bring to them. These early settlers who were thus battling against the 
misfortunes of the county then were heroes. 
 
The early days of Osceola County, from 1871 on, were hard and trying to 
settlers who were endeavoring to make a home here and establish a 
farm on the prairie. Most of them came without means, and depended on 
their grit and muscle to pull through. Those that brought money with 
them, and were reasonably well fixed to start on, seemed to be the most 
unfortunate after all, especially when the grasshoppers came, for the 
reason that they did not hesitate to use their means in building good 
houses and surrounding themselves with comforts and conveniences, 
expecting an early return for their investments. But when the pocket-
book became empty, and no crops as expected and no value to land, 
they were not only discouraged but disgusted, and soon got out, while 
the fellows who started with nothing were more inclined to stay it 
through, still hoping to realize and get return for their labor. 
 
We can easily see how much grit and determination it took to stay here 
several years, one after the other, without a crop at harvest time, and still 
stay another winter and burn hay and take chances on enough to eat. 
Money could not be obtained only on gilt-edged security at a rate of 
interest from three to eight percent a month, and sometimes at ten. Many 
a farm and much live stock and farm machinery of these early settles 
passed into the hands of these money lenders; we cannot say unjustly 
so, but as a matter of business, because the money was due, the debtor 
unable to pay, and that insatiate and inexorable Shylock, the chattel 
mortgage, must have what its description calls for, and without delay. 
Some were crushed under the burden of debt, and ran away from it, glad 
to escape the annoyance of creditors, and into an atmosphere of peace. 
 
Others still kept working on, toiling in the hope of better days, and under 
a feeling that no matter how black and hideous were the clouds of 
adversity, there was still a silver lining, and that in time the sunshine of 
prosperity would change the condition of things and gladden their hearts. 
 
The days of Osceola County hardships are over. It has passed the 
period of settlement, of hard times, debt and adversity, and is today one 
of the most thrifty Counties in the State. In 1870 its beautiful but 
unbroken prairie land was waiting in mute silence for coming events; 
today its well cultivated farms, extensive and magnificent forest trees, 
with beautiful and comfortable residences show the wonderful progress 
and prosperity that can come to a country by the industry and thrift of a 
people, who under a government like ours know the value of a home. 
The county is still advancing, its population increases each year, its 
unbroken prairie is diminishing rapidly, and before another decade not a 
foot of wild land capable of cultivation can be found in the county. Its 
people are full of energy, have the best of social qualities, are intelligent 
and loyal. School districts and municipal township governments are the 
County administration, are all in the hands of men who are honest, 
capable and economical, and the future of the county is brilliant in 
everything that can lead a people up to the highest conditions of 
contentment, happiness and success. The older settlers, who have 
borne the "burden and heat of the day" and are here yet, have a feeling 
of pride in what the years accomplished, and the later incoming settlers 
realize that there is no fairer or more fertile agricultural country that the 
sun shines upon or was ever watered with the dews of heaven. However 
much of adversity or hardship our early settlers had to contend with, the 
clouds have now rolled by, and other people in the experience of a like 
misfortune cannot only have our sympathy, but would find us charitable 
enough and sufficiently able to pour into their lap the surplus treasures of 
our own productive soil.