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Pioneers of Marion County H Charles Harp was a native of Tennessee, from whence he immigrated to Illinois, and from thence to Iowa in 1844, and settled on section 21, in this township. He was the head of a numerous family, the most of whom are still residents of the township. He died in the winter of 1847, and his widow survived him, and occupied the homestead, till in the winter of 1870, when she died. Mr. Garret G. Harsin, who is still a resident of this township, and now quite advanced in years, was born in Kentucky, in 1790. He first moved to Illinois at an early day, from thence to Henry county, Iowa, in 1839, and to his present place of residence, in the spring of 1844. On leaving the settlement the family carefully laid in provisions enough to last them till the middle of the summer. But, on reaching their destination, they were so beset by other immigrants, who were not so provident, and who were compelled to borrow or suffer, that their supply soon ran short. Indeed it was twice exhausted, and the family lived for some time on wheat boiled in milk. At this time Mr. H. was improving his claim, and once, when making rails, his noonday lunch consisted of only one green cucumber, without salt. On such diet he toiled on day after day, with failing strength, till he was finally able to make only sixteen rails per day. This was during the absence of his team, and one or two of his sons for another supply of provisions. Of Mr. Harsin's five sons, Geo W. lives in Clay, James and Martin V. in Union township, John the oldest, near Sioux City, and Garret in Oregon. Henry Harstman was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, December 17, 1818, and left that country for America, in 1847, first settled in Ohio, from whence he came to Indiana, and from thence to his present residence of section 8, in September, 1850. Here he purchased a claim of 160 acres, of Henry Wagoner, for thirty dollars. This claim had no improvements on it, and Mr. Hartsman proceeded at once to erect a cabin 18 by 20, near the creek. Here he lived for some time, during which he occasionally suffered severely with the ague, and was at one time, for nine consecutive days, without any other food than potatoes. This, however, was not for the want of grain, plenty of which Mr. H. had stored away, but for the want of ability to get it carried to a mill and ground. He is now the owner of a well-improved farm of 490 acres. Nicholas Helms was from Ohio, and he, with his sons, took claims in what is now the southwest part of the township. During his residence here he was a useful citizen to the extent of his means. By the erection of temporary hand-mill, worked by a crank, he supplied many of the early settlers with meal when it was impossible to obtain it from the great distance people then had to go for breadstuffs. Particularly during the winter of '48 and '49 did this little corn-cracker prove to be of inestimable value; for, as has already been shown, it was impossible to get any distance from home on account of the great depth of snow. During this period, every family within reach of this mill, who had a peck of corn to convert into meal, came to it; and the faithful little make-shift was kept at work day and night, grinding a peck, or even a mess or two, for one and then another, as their turns would come, each customer taking his own turn at the crank. In the family of Mr. Helms occurred the first marriage in the township, that of his son Jesse and Miss Sarena Wind, whose parents resided within the limits of Lucas county. The wedding took place in Dallas, December 25, 1847. And to this couple was born the first child born in the township, Henry Helms, Aug. 2, '48. George Henry, who now lives near Knoxville, was originally from Pennsylvania. First moved from that State to Ohio, from Ohio to Missouri, and from thence to Lake Prairie, in the fall of 1842. Here, in company with Jas. Carnilius and another whose name is not remembered, they took claims and erected three cabins. But not being permitted to make permanent settlement, they returned to Missouri and remained till the spring following. Finding that the cabins had been destroyed by dragoons, Mr. Henry took a claim in what is now the northwest corner of Indian township. This was near Wm. Carlisle's, whose family cleared a small patch of land in the timber; on which they planted some corn and potatoes. But towards fall provisions ran short, and Mr. Henry started to mill in September, leaving but little for his family to subsist on during his absence, expecting to return in a week. Having no money to purchase grain or provisions with, he hoped to obtain some due him on the way to Keosauqua, where he intended to get his milling done. But being disappointed in getting the money, he tried to get some grain on credit, and after traveling three or four miles from Keosauqua for this purpose, was again disappointed. There was now no other shift but to look for work, and if he could get it to do, earn the means to buy his breadstuff. Luckily he obtained a job of making rails, and his employer kindly furnished him a house to live in and food till he should finish the job. The contract was made on Saturday evening, and will any one censure Mr. Henry for going to work next morning? With thoughts of his family at home in almost destitute condition, and really in danger of suffering ere he should be able to return to them with food, could he have spent the day more religiously than he did? So Mr. H. went to work on Sunday morning, and by Tuesday evening made six hundred rails, for which he received seventy-five cents per hundred, in an order to the mill, and this secured a little flour and few bushels of meal at fifty cents per bushel. Having secured these articles, Mr. Henry set out for home with all possible haste. After going six miles, he was overtaken by a violent storm of wind and rain. He was near a house when the storm came upon him; so he concluded to go no farther, but unhitched his horses, put them into an enclosure near at hand, and took shelter in his wagon. In this frail shelter he passed the dark tempestuous night alone. Next morning, on going to look for his team he found the dead timber thickly strewn over the pasture, prostrated by the storm, and his horses luckily, and we might add miraculously, uninjured. Mr. Henry now proceeded on his way, and being too eager to reach home to carefully regard the strength of his horses, they failed within twenty miles of their journey's end. He then went to a house near by to get some feed for them and for himself, and obtained some shelled corn; but the house could afford nothing in the way of human food but milk. He, however, made an arrangement with the family by furnishing a sufficient quantity of meal for mush, and they all supped jointly and heartily on a mess of mush and milk. By next morning the horses were refreshed for a renewal of the journey, and our hero reached home in safety, to find his family reduced to nothing but potatoes for a diet. Just before Christmas, '43, Mr. Henry and a son of Noah Whitlatch, took two loads of flour barrels to Keosauqua. The weather was cold and stormy when they started, and a deep snow had fallen the day before. When they reached the Des Moines river, a little below Talley's ford, they found it frozen over strong enough, they supposed, to bear them and their teams, and drove on. It proved to be a dangerous venture. The ice bent under the weight of their wagons so much that the water gushed up in jets. But once started it would be as dangerous to return as to go on, and the safest plan was to make all possible speed, and they succeeded in reaching the opposite shore. On their return they found the ice gone, and had to ferry their wagons over on a canoe, and swim their teams. Asa Hughs first moved from Indiana to Iowa in '36, and settled in Marion county, on Lake Prairie, in '44, from whence he moved to Perry in '45, and made a claim on Walnut creek, in what is now section 12. Here he lived, surrounded by a numerous family till the date of his death, Feb. 13, 1863. Daniel Hunt was
a native of New Jersey, from whence he first moved to Ohio, from thence
to Iowa in '40, and to Swan in the autumn of '47, and made a claim where
Asher Kise now lives. He sowed the first timothy in the township, in
the spring following, one-half acre in all, and sold nine bushels of
the yield in seed to James Thornburgh. Mr. Hunt is now a successful
stock raiser. |