Annals of Iowa

D

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

D'ARMIT, ALBERT M (No. 3283), was appointed [to the United States Military Academy ] from Storm Lake , and graduated June 12, 1889 , No. 2 in his class of 49, afterwards serving in the Engineering Corps. He died at West Point , New York , October 13, 1895 , at the age of 30.

Wakon Decorah

by Eliphalet Price.

The exhuming of the remains of Wakon Decorah a few years since, from their primative resting place upon the Iowa River, near the village that bears his name, and the re-interment of them in the public square of the town of Decorah by its citizens, has awakened some inquiry concerning his personal appearance and those events in his history which live in the remembrance of those who were acquainted with him. And, as we have frequently seen and conversed with him and know something of his history, as it was understood by the traders and Indians during his life-time, we submit this brief reminiscence in preservation of some of the incidents in his life.

The name of this distinguished chief was "Wakon Decorah," - Waukon in the Winnebago language, means a "Snake." Decorah, it would be difficult to translate, "Corah " being an Indian word signifying "Light," and "De" a French honorary prefix, with about the same meaning that the word "Esq." expresses when affixed to the name of John Smith. We have heard his name translated to mean the "White Snake. "To distinguish him from his son when spoken of, he was usually called "the Blind Decorah," having lost his right eye by a knife in the hand of his son, who was engaged in a fight, in which his father had interfered for the purpose of separating the combatants.

Decorah was the most distinguished of the Winnebago Chiefs, being the great Council Chief of the nation. Next to him in rank stood "Whirling Thunder," the commanding War Chief of the Winnebagoes.

It was the calm, prudent and wise counsels of Decorah that prevented the nation from engaging in a war with the United States in 1825, at the time that they were in the occupancy of the country bordering upon the waters of the Wisconsin. The councils of the nation which were held near Fort Winnebago about this time, for the purpose of considering the subject of peace or war, found in Decorah an active and zealous advocate for peace, while the stirring eloquence of the young chief "Dandy," had aroused and awakened throughout the nation a feeling of hostility towards the whites, who, he had induced them to believe, could be easily exterminated or driven from their ancient hunting grounds. Gov. Cass, who was then governor of the Territory of Michigan, and superintendent of the north-western Indians, becoming alarmed at the preparations for war on the part of the Winnebagoes, invited the chiefs to accompany him to the City of Washington. Eleven of them with Wakon Decorah at their head, accepted the invitation. No persuasion on the part of the interpreter sent by Gov. Cass to invite them to accompany him to Washington, could induce Waw-pa-no-dah to accept the invitation. This chief, known as the orator of the nation, seldom left his hunting grounds on the Wisconsin, to go among the whites; when he did, it was not for the purpose of barter, but with a view to a display of his proud and lofty carriage, his person being on such occasions, decorated in a costly and ostentatious manner; from which circumstance he was better known among the whites by the name of the "Dandy." A little incident in the history of this chief was wont to produce some merriment in the military circles of Fort Crawford, and is as follows:

In the spring of 1834, one of his braves was accused by Lieut. Harris with having killed a horse belonging to the garrison of Fort Winnebago, while it was under his command. Harris ordered the Indian to be arrested and taken down to Fort Crawford, where he appeared and accused the Indian of the charge before Col. Taylor, the commandant of the post, (afterwards President Taylor.) Harris, who was a graduate of West Point, and who had never been in a battle, commenced his speech against the Indian, by detailing with great minuteness the grounds of his suspicion, there being no positive proof upon which to convict him, As soon as he had concluded his remarks, the chief Waw-pa-no-dah arose and commenced a defense of his brave, in a calm argumentative manner. After satisfying himself that he had successfully answered and refuted the argument of Harris, he paused for a moment, as his eye swept proudly over the officers gathered around him. The low tremulous sound of the bells upon his person, the flashing of his jewels, the nodding of his plumes, and the dark frown that lowered upon his brow, as he stood forth erect, proud of his savage origin and his native wilds, gave him the appearance of one who felt that he had triumphed. Turning to Col. Taylor and fixing his eye intently upon him, he burst, upon the close of his speech, with a peroration of satire directed against the lieutenant, brilliant with expressions of savage bitterness and Indian sarcasm. Pointing to Harris with an upward curve in the arm and downward distant pointing of the finger, his head thrust forward by a stooping posture, and his eye blazing full upon Col. Taylor, he exclaimed: "The young man who comes here to speak for his dead horse, I am told, has never been upon the war-path. It may be true, and yet he is no coward, for my people have often met him at the midnight hour, brisking along the forest pathway that leads from his fort to the wigwams of the young squaws of my people."

It was during the trip of the Winnebago chiefs to Washington in 1825, that we saw Decorah for the first time. He was sitting by the side of Gov. Cass, at an experimental lecture upon chemistry got up at Peal's Museum in New York for the gratification of the chiefs. What seemed to surprise them the most during the lecture, was their inability to remove the hand from the open top of a glass reservoir after the air had been exhausted from it. Everywhere on their way to Washington great military parades were got up for the purpose of impressing them with the military power of the United States. In the harbor of New York they were taken on board the seventy-four gun ship "Ohio, when two or three broad-sides were fired.

Upon the return of Decorah to his people on the Wisconsin, he was enabled through his representations of the military power of the United States, to successfully subdue the war feeling of the nation, and sooth the hostile feeling towards the whites which had been aroused by the eloquence of Waw-pan-no-dah.

Soon after the removal of the Winnebagoes from the Wisconsin to the neutral ground in Iowa, Decorah and his band took up their residence on the Iowa River near the present site of the town that bears his name, in the County of Winneshiek.

The last time that we saw him was at the payment of the Indian annuities at the agency upon Turkey River, in 1842. His form was much bent by age, and he walked with a feeble and tottering step; from the forehead to the top of his head he was bald, while the sides and back part of it, were concealed beneath a thin covering of long iron-grey locks. He was about five feet in height, and was perhaps the shortest and smallest chief in the nation at that time. It was said that he was 81 years old, and the oldest Indian living, in the Winnebago tribe. For several years he had spoken but seldom in the councils of the nation, and was everywhere regarded by the Winnebagoes as the father of the tribe.

The door-sill of the council chamber at the agency was elevated above the ground about a foot. As the old chief approached it one day for the purpose of entering the chamber, he reached out his hands to grasp the door-frame upon each side, but missing it, he tottered back and was in the act of falling, when two of the younger chiefs sprang forward and caught him under the arms, held him up and assisted him to enter the chamber. This act of kindness immediately attracted the attention of those white persons who were looking on, and who were familiar with the Indian character. They knew that if it had been any other chief they would have permitted him to fall, and then indulged in a hearty laugh. There was something in the stature and in the expression of the countenance of Wakon Decorah, aided perhaps more by his blindness than anything else, that always reminded us of Stephen Girard, the great banker of Philadelphia, whom we had often seen. We believe that a portrait of this chief may be seen in the Indian gallery at Washington; if so, we trust that the public spirited citizens of Decorah will at some future day order a large and well executed copy of it, to be hung up and preserved in the court-house at Decorah.

THE DEFOE FAMILY IN IOWA

by Ona Ellis Smith

The romantic story of the settlement in America of the Defoe family (The Defoe Family in America . Scribner's Monthly, vol. xii, p. 61.), has been retold many times by the eastern press but the fact that direct descendants of the original immigrant, Elizabeth Maxwell, niece of Daniel Defoe, have been residents of Iowa for three score and ten years, will revive interest in the story, and many prove of historical value.

In the year 1705, Daniel Defoe, on account of his persistent writing upon the exciting subjects of that day, was compelled to seek a safe retreat under the roof of his widowed sister, Elizabeth Maxwell, in the city of London . His pamphlet, entitled "Shortest way with Dissentors," for which he suffered the punishment of the pillory, fine and imprisonment, was written three years before he took up his abode in his sister's home.

An interesting personal description of Daniel Defoe, some of the characteristics set forth being noticeable in his Iowa descendants, was given in a proclamation issued by Queen Anne's ministers shortly after the publication of that pamphlet:

"Whereas - Daniel De Foe, alias De Fooe, is charged with writing a scandalous and seditious pamphlet entitled, 'The Shortest way with Dissentors.' He is a middle-sized, spare man, about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and dark-brown colored hair, but wears a wig; a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth; was born in London , and for many years was a hose-factor, in Freeman's yard in Cornhill; and now is the owner of the brick and pantile works near Tilbury Fort in Essex ; whoever shall discover the said Daniel De Foe to one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, or any of Her Majesty's justices of the peace, so he may be apprehended, shall have a reward of £50, which Her Majesty has ordered immediately to be paid upon such discovery."

On his release he was again imprisoned for writing political pamphlets, but through the influence of Lord Oxford he was liberated and in the safe retreat of his sister's home he continued to send forth his barbed arrows.

A small room was fitted up to be used as a study by him, and it was in this seclusion, in the year 1719, that "Robinson Crusoe" was written.

His sister's only child, Elizabeth, was five years of age when her uncle came to live with them, and she received her education in his quiet study under his teaching. It was doubtless her active mind and interest in her studies that aroused his interest in the higher education of women which he especially advocated.

At the age of eighteen the daughter, Elizabeth, engaged herself to marry one to whom her mother was bitterly opposed, and the engagement was very unceremoniously broken off by her. This so angered Elizabeth that she left home secretly and embarked for America on a sailing vessel, bargaining with the captain to be sold on her arrival to reimburse him for her passage.

Upon arriving at Philadelphia she, with a number of other passengers, was offered for sale.

Andrew Job, an inn-keeper and wealthy Quaker citizen of Baltimore , chancing to be in the city, bought this runaway Quaker maiden and took her with him when he returned to the "Blue-ball Inn," to aid his good wife in her many household duties.

Elizabeth Maxwell seems to have been satisfied in her new home, for six years later, in the year 1725, she became the wife of Andrew Job's son, Thomas.

Soon after her marriage she wrote to her mother and uncle, telling them of her new happiness and giving them the first knowledge of her location since her disappearance.

As soon as possible she received a reply from her uncle Daniel, stating that her mother was dead and that considerable property, in addition to her mother's household goods, was left by will to her, in case she was found. An inventory of the goods was sent by him, and especially was she asked to cherish certain articles of furniture, because they had descended to the family from their Flemish ancestors. He also apologized for the condition of two chairs, the wicker seats of which had worn out and been replaced by wooden ones. These two chairs are still in a good state of preservation, one being now owned by a great- great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Maxwell Job, - Miss Hannah A. Griffith of Calvert, Cecil county, Maryland - and the other by the State Historical Society of Delaware (Year Book, Historical Society of Delaware, 1901, p. 17.).

{The following letter from Hannah A. Griffith gives some interesting information relating to the Job family:

"Calvert, Third month, twelfth. (March, 1909.)

"To Ona Ellis Smith:

"Thine of the 8th received yesterday. Rather a surprise to me for a relative to greet me from that distance. Was not aware that my name and the fame of the old chair had traveled that far. I have had several photos of the chair but now have only one which I would not like to part with, but have just written to the artist to know if he has any copies on hand. If he has I will try to get one for thee. That old chair has been the subject for numerous newspaper items. Thee asks if I have any other relics of the Job family. Not any so old as the chair, but I have a very nice sound stand that belonged to my great-aunt, Hannah Job, which is greatly admired; and I have a marriage certificate of my great- grandfather and mother, dated on the 29th of 10th month, 1758. It is written on parchment and is well preserved, except that a mouse has cut it slightly."

"I should have said those great grandparents were Daniel Job, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Job, and Mary Brown, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Brown, of West Nottingham , then considered in the province of Pennsylvania .

"Thee probably has read Mary E. Ireland's article on The Defoe Family in America . It has been very widely published and is more correct than many things that are handed down by tradition. If thee has not read it, I think I can send it to thee. I have always had a strong desire to know more of the descendants of the Job family in the western states. In my mother's life I kept up a correspondence for her with two of the daughters of Archibald Job, who lived in Ohio , but of late I hear nothing of the family.

"The Job family is so nearly extinct in this locality that I have felt curious to know if the name was being increased in any other part of the country. Some of the name emigrated to Virginia a generation ago, and there may be many of the name in some section there. There are but two of the name here now, Haines Job and a very delicate son.

"I fear I am making my letter tiresome and will draw it to a close. Hope thee will excuse my writing as I am in the 80th year of my age, and my hand not very steady, and whilst not as invalid, I am a shut-in in the winter time.

"With kind regards, I will close. Hannah A. Griffith

"Nottingham, Chester Co. P."}

In 1726 a son was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Job. Other children were born later to this couple but this eldest son, Archibald, became the ancestor of the Iowa branch of the Defoe family. In the year 1752 on the 30th day of July, he married Margaret Reese.

During the Revolutionary War Archibald Job and his three grown sons gave much information and valued aid to Washington and Lafayette 's armies as they passed through that part of the country. Archibald and his sons, Thomas and Morris, were also members of a scouting party - of which Archibald was captain - which became so active that they were disowned by the "Society of Friends" - of which they were birthright members - for "encouraging and participating in war-like measures."

Two daughters of Morris Job became the wives of brothers, sons of William Blair - a Revolutionary soldier who is buried at Kossuth , Iowa - Sarah Job wedding David E. Blair and Margaret Job becoming the wife of Thomas Blair. These great -granddaughters of Elizabeth Maxwell job came to Iowa when it was yet a part of the Michigan Territory and their husbands and sons took a prominent part in early day politics.

Thomas Blair, husband of Margaret Job, represented Des Moines county in the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature and also in the second session of that body which assembled at Burlington . He was also a member of the first Iowa Territorial Legislature. David E. Blair was a member of the Fifth Territorial Legislature, and of the First General Assembly of the State of Iowa .

Morris William Blair, son of Sarah Job and David E. Blair, is well known throughout the State. He is the most distinguished representative of the Defoe family now residing in Iowa . Coming here more then seventy years ago, he still resides upon the farm in Des Moines county, which his parents homesteaded in 1837. With means to gratify any reasonable desire, he prefers the simple life, living alone; for he has never married.

In a letter he says: "I am living in the house my father substituted for the claim cabin in 1840, have never been away from it. The wind blows through the boards - but I have four fires; the roof leaks - but I have a dry corner for my gun, another for my books and yet another for my range and cupboard.

"I have three good cousins whose horses and cows I pasture, who fill my basket twice a week with a pie, a loaf, and a jar of milk; the garden, the old hens and I do the rest."

In him are conspicuous the characteristics of the Defoe family from Daniel down to the relatives of the present day; remarkable longevity, a disposition to remain unmarried or to marry late in life, and the indomitable independence of spirit so prominent in the character of Daniel Defoe and his niece, Elizabeth.

In the year 1845, Hannah, daughter of Thomas Job and wife of Job Ellis, came west from Ohio with her husband and family of eleven children, the eldest son, Thomas, having preceded the family two years. They settled upon a farm one mile south of the present village of Cairo in Louisa county, and there reared their large family to honorable manhood and womanhood.

The two younger sons answered the call to arms in 1861, Harvey , the youngest of the eleven, dying from disease contracted in the service. Albert, the tenth child, entered as a private, serving as Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, and Captain of Company C, Fifth Iowa Infantry, and as Captain of Company G, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, being honorably discharged for disability, November 9, 1864 . He was in all the marches and battles of his command during his term of service.

After his return to civil life he took an active interest in local and state politics, representing Louisa county in the Twelfth General Assembly, was sheriff of Louisa county from 1876 to 1882 and in 1890 was appointed Revenue Agent by President Harrison - in recognition of his service to the Republican party.

He was an active figure in Iowa public life for thirty-five years, giving the best years of his life to the State.

In April, 1863, he came home from the front on furlough and married the daughter of one of Louisa county's pioneer citizens, Miss Alice Nichols. Of the seven children born to them only one now resides in the State, two dying in infancy and three daughters and a son residing in other states. Captain Ellis and his wife are now residents of Pueblo , Colorado .

Hannah Job Ellis, as well as her cousins, Sarah and Margaret Job Blair are buried in Iowa . Hannah rests in the Friends' burying ground at Pleasant Plain, Jefferson county, and Margaret and Sarah Blair sleep in the cemetery at Kossuth, Des Moines county.