course of people. Thomas Simons, who so generously gave of his means, that the names and heroic deeds of his comrades should be perpetuated, is still living at his beautiful cottage home in Delhi. He came from Dubuque to Delaware County in 1859 and located on an eighty-acre farm in section 23, Delhi Township, which he had purchased the preceding year. He retired from the farm to Delhi in 1883. Mr. Simons was a veteran of the Civil war and served his country faithfully and well as a member of Company K, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry.

Delhi Lodge, No. 46, I. O. O. F., was organized April 6, 1853. The charter members were John S. Dimmitt, A. D. Anders, Pratt, K. Skinner, Hook and Floyd H.

Sylvester J. Dunham, W. F. Tanner, William Rice, J. P. Williams. The last four mentioned were the first officers. The official list was further made up by the addition of H. T. Crozier, Daniel Baker, Peter Case and Norman Haight.

In 1877 the lodge finished a two-story building for its purposes and also as a business place, which cost its members about three thousand dollars.

Silver Lake Lodge, No. 214, Daughters of Rebekah, was organized October 19, 1893, by Ward White, Mrs. E. M. Griffin, J. J. King, E. B. King, E. R. Stone, J. B. Smith, Christina Smith, Mrs. M. A. Simons, A. Jamison, L. M. Jamison, A. J. and Lydia I. Lett, E. B. and Cora N. Porter, L. S. and Alzina Stone, R. D. Barker, C. M. White, Thomas Simons, Louise White, Mrs. Eliza Burton and Mrs. James B. Clark.

The organization of Delhi Camp, No. 7709, Modern Woodmen of America, took place February 26, 1901. The names of the charter members follow: Elmer N. Akers, Charles T. Armstrong, Asyonis Bensley, Fred Brownell, Alfred E. Bing, John G. Daker, Francis J. Gertel, John W. Hartman, Henry B. Hersey, Will L. Boardman, Perry Haight, Elmer E. Holdridge, F. M. Clifton, Oscar A. Holdridge, Charles A. Howard, George W. Keith, Hugh L. Keith, William Kleespies, Henry E. Lewis, Jay L. Lillibridge, W. Z. Phillips, Robert M. Wilson, Charles Lutes, Martin Lutes, Burdett Miller, Edward McMullen, Albert E. Peterson, James Smith, Frank E. Stimson, Hiram N. Willcox, Charles R. Sutton and John M. Root.

The lodge building was destroyed by fire about 1889, when another building, a two-story frame, was built by the lodge. This is the third structure for lodge purposes erected by the local body of Odd Fellows.

Delhi Lodge, No. 94, Modern Brotherhood of America, was organized October 13, 1897, by Edwin H. King, Elmer H. Blanchard, John W. Swinburne, Peter Y. Michaels, Rinehart Erisman, Fred Brownell, Byron A. Stone, William F. Neal, Charles T. Armstrong, Ira Curtis Miller, Albert Meister, George M. Himmel, Linas W. Jamison, Oren Jamison, Mertello J. Mast, Melville 0: Dolley.

Delhi now has about four hundred inhabitants. Since the destructive fire of a quarter century ago, brick buildings have taken the place of small frame affairs in the business center, and as a trading point the place is more than holding its own. The plot of ground in the heart of the town, in the center of which is the old courthouse, is beautifully shaded by trees planted in the days of the county's infancy, and around its four long sides a substantial cement walk is laid, the work being done at the instance and expense of Mrs. H. C.

Doolittle, widow of Judge F. B. Doolittle, that pioneer farmer, horticulturist, county and town builder and public official. On a neat tablet of granite, standing at the main entrance to Memorial Park (courthouse yard) and erected by Mrs. Doolittle, in 1913, is this inscription: "Walk around park built by Mrs. H. C. Doolittle, as a memorial to her husband, Judge F. B. Doolittle, a resident of Delhi 62 years."

HARTWICK

This is one of the forgotten villages of Delaware County, that in its day cut some figure in the vicinity of its location. Hartwick was laid out on section 30, by John W. Clark, in December, 1858. He had built a sawmill in 1849, with the timbers of an unfinished mill started by Leverett Rexford, in 1847, on Spring Branch. In 1853, Mr. Clark put up and operated a flouring mill on the Maquoketa, and furnished the settlers for many miles around with breadstuffs and lumber. Previous to laying out the town he had opened a general store and also kept tavern.

A blacksmith shop was started in Hartwick by John Whitman, in 1855, who located in that year, and a couple of years later a shoe cobbler opened a little shop; his name is lost to local history.

Samuel Stansbury started a brickyard about 1857 and Jacob Williams had a paint shop about this time, all of which indicates Hartwick as being a busy point and of some importance. By the year 1858, however, Hartwick had reached the zenith of its career. The founder, John W. Clark, met business reverses and left the county. Whitman also packed his belongings and forsook the place for one of a more promising future. Others soon followed. The Clark farm, now having another owner, was leased to the county in 1861 for a "poor farm." Williams enlisted in the Civil war, deserted, was arrested by A. S. Blair, deputy provost marshal, and was punished. The Clark mill, like all his property, went into the hands of others and Hartwick, losing prestige, became extinct.

CHAPTER XVIII

NORTH FORK TOWNSHIP

This township was organized March 24, 1847, and the Commissioners' Court "Ordered, That the clerks of commissioners be required to issue election notices for elections to be held on the first Monday in April, and that the necessary township officers required by law now in force be elected." And it is presumed the mandate was followed, but no record exists, giving the results.

North Fork Township is bounded on the east by Dubuque County, on the north by Bremen, west by Delhi and south by South Fork townships. This is a good farming community. The land is rolling, and it is well watered on the east by the north branch of the Maquoketa and on the west by Plum Creek. Grain and grasses find the soil congenial and generous and the German farmer, who predominates here, is prosperous. Modern residences, large barns, wellfenced fields dotted with live stock tell their own story of thrift and abundance. Lucius Kibbee found Delaware County appealing to his desire for a new location and as early as 1837, he settled on section 24, on the north bank of the Maquoketa, where Rockwell was afterward located. Mr. Kibbee improved his claim and lived there several years, after which he removed to Dubuque.

Gilbert D. Dillon's name appears several times in this history, as he was active in bringing order out of chaos in the early stages of the county's existence. Mr. Dillon settled near Kibbee's in the spring of 1839 and, it is said, he built the first frame house in the county. The presumption favors the belief that he was the first justice of the peace in Delaware County and one of the first bankers in the state, having been cashier, in 1837, of the Miner's Bank, of Dubuque, which had been established that year.

Jacob Schwartz was a pioneer of the county, coming in the early spring of 1839. He settled on the banks of Plum Creek, on or near section 20, and was early identified as one of the leading men of his section of the community. The first election precinct in the county was established at his house and named Schwartz precinct, and he was appointed by the commissioners of Dubuque County one of the judges of election.

Roland Aubrey, a Kentuckian by birth, came to Delaware County from Wisconsin in August, 1839, chose a tract of land near the center of the township and built a cabin thereon. He also put up some hay and then returned to Wisconsin, from whence he brought his family in the fall and established a home in North Fork Township. Mr. Aubrey was a man of splendid physique, well fitted for the hardships incident to pioneering. He also had a cheerful, jovial disposition, which gave him a warm place in the hearts of his neighbors and acquaintances.

Either in 1839 or 1840 Seth and Jefferson Lowe came to the township and located in the Kibbee neighborhood.