CHAPTER XXIX HAZEL GREEN TOWNSHIP On the second day of March, 1857, township 87, range 5, was established and called Hazel Green. The territory within its limits was separated from Union Township. The County Court appointed as commissioners to call an election, C. L. Flint, Edmund Barnes and Eri Richardson; they were also named as judges of said election. Hazel Green Township is bounded on the north by Milo, on the east by Union, and on the west by Adams townships; its southern line is on Linn County. Its land is covered with a heavy bed of drift, upon which a soil unexcelled in the Mississippi Valley has been developed during the ages of the world's changes. Buck Creek and its branches drain the undulating prairie, and near the center of the township the creek's channel is well defined, but it is a mere shallow ditch in the prairie. Under the conditions as stated, Hazel Green has developed into a community of fine, highly productive farms, splendidly improved and good to look upon. The citizens are progressive here and have modern farm buildings, good fences, roads, bridges and schoolhouses. James H. Squires and S. S. Squires left the State of New York in 1852 and settled in this community. The same year Thomas J. Squires arrived here but returned to Jones County in 1853. The year 1867 found him back in the township on section 23, where the other Squires settled. Preston Midkiff was here as early as 1853 coming from what is now West Virginia. Christopher L. Flint, a native of the State of New York, moved to Hazel Green in the spring of 1853 and was in charge of Hazel Green postoffice. The office has long since been discontinued. It was established June 18, 1856, and mail was brought from Marion. John P. and William P. Dickey were successors to Flint. Mr. Flint also served as justice of the peace. He was one of Delaware County's ablest men. He was a man of large business capacity and at one time owned over thirteen hundred acres of land. His son, Charles L. Flint, was born here June 1, 1854. Mrs. Flint was matron of the Iowa Building at the World's Fair-Philadelphia-in 1876. Other early settlers were Bradley Crozier and James Sheppard, who located on section 1, in 1853, and a man by the name of Shellhammer settled on a tract of land not far from Flint's, on the north. James Wilson arrived in Hazel Green Township in 1854. Gustavus Merriam was a settler of 1855, coming from Massachusetts with his family in that year. He long resided on section 26. Jacob Mangold, a worthy pioneer of this township, was born in Switzerland and came to the county in 1855. He entered land on section 33 and resided there many years, a respected citizen of the community. Vol. I-21 R. W. Morse settled here in 1856. He was a local minister of the United Brethren Church. John Chrystal was born in Scotland, immigrated to the United States in 1856 and settled in Delhi Township on section 35. He removed from Delhi to Hazel Green Township in 1864 and located on a fine tract of 320 acres on section 8. His brother, David, who came soon after, was an ardent republican until his death, September 4, 1910. Another early settler was Thomas Guthrie, who arrived in the county in 1856. A son, William S., served in the First Cavalry during the Civil war, and Albert A. in the Fourth. Thomas L. was a member of Company K, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry. Joseph A. Thomas was one of the largest landowners of Hazel Green Township. He was born in Connecticut and came to Delaware County in 1862 and bought 160 acres of land on section 16, Hazel Green Township. Previously he had driven a flock of 950 sheep from Michigan to Iowa, the largest flock except one in Iowa at that time. He kept this flock for seven years. He accumulated large tracts of land both in Hazel Green and Adams townships, being able to buy a farm almost yearly from the sheep industry, general farming and dairying. Some years ago he erected the Thomas creamery on land which eventually became part of the townsite of Ryan. He was also postmaster at that enterprising little village and a stockholder in the bank. Newton Green was one of the early settlers of Delaware County, coming from Maryland in 1846 with his family, a member of which was Newton Green, Jr. They settled in Union Township on a farm and there the elder Green died. in 1883. The younger man in 1868 purchased land in section 24, Hazel Green Township, on which he moved in that year. He enlisted in Company K, Twentyfirst Iowa Infantry, and was a good soldier. The birth of Sarah Shellhammer, in the spring of 1853, was the first in the community; that of Matthew Sheppard, October 15, 1853, was the second. The first school taught in Hazel Green Township was opened by Mrs. Edward Pierce, at her home, in the winter of 1858-59. A schoolhouse was built in District No. 1 the following summer. A. R. Dickey started a small general store at the hamlet of Hazel Green in 1878 and soon thereafter had a creamery in operation in a small way. The Presbyterian Church was organized in Milo Township about 1863 and was immediately transferred to Hazel Green Township. Services were first held in the Guthrie schoolhouse, where the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered in the summer of 1864. The first members were Thomas and Mrs. Elizabeth Guthrie, Alexander and Jean Wilson, John McCullom and Jean McCullom and John Wilson. The organization dissolved May 1, 1870, and from it sprang the Congregational Society, organized that year by Rev. Alvah Day. In 1874, a church edifice was built and dedicated in 1875. CHAPTER XXX PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP Prairie Township was created March 3, 1858, on petition of John S. Barry and others. It is composed of congressional township 88, range 6, and at the first election held in October twenty votes were polled. Prairie is the last township to be brought into the group as a separate organization and lies on the border of Buchanan County. On its north is Coffin's Grove Township, on the south, Adams, and on the east, Milo. The greater part of the surface of Prairie Township does not reveal a single well defined water course. Robinson Creek and branches on the west and an affluent of the Maquoketa on the east, afford but little water during the year. However, the soil is excellent here and the cereals grow to perfection. The raising of live stock is also profitable. As in other parts of this notable county, the farm buildings are unexcelled by other farming communities in this section of Iowa, and the people are, as the saying is, "living on easy street." Johnson Robinson was born in Ireland, immigrated to this country when twenty years old and in the fall of 1854, with his family settled in Prairie Township. He was the third settler here. In 1865 he located on section 20. Alfred Durey settled here in the spring of 1856. A son, William A., who was born in the township, cast his first vote here and thereby gained distinction, being the first person to exercise the right of franchise as a native born son of the community. Thomas Hillier was a native of England. He immigrated to the United States in 1852, spent four years in Illinois, and in 1856 located on section 2 in this township. In the following year he built a residence, which became a very popular place for religious meetings and Sunday school. Patrick Healey located in this township in 1857. At the time Prairie Township was organized in 1859, there were twenty votes polled. Among those resident here were John S. Barry, James Robinson, J. F. McKay, Thomas Hillier, John Nethercutt, T. A. Farrington, R. M. Matsell, the McClouds and Alfred Durey. James Robinson entered land in this township in 1854 and John S. Barry and J. F. McKay in 1855. Barry came here in the spring of the year mentioned and cultivated his land, prospered and at one time was the owner of upwards of eight hundred acres of tillable soil. When the Barry postoffice was established he was appointed postmaster in 1857 and held the position a great many years. Prairie was one of the last townships to be created and organized, and unfortunately for the historian, sources of information relating to its early schools. and its churches, are not obtainable. The settlers, however, like their neigh bors, as soon as a few of them had erected modest homes and gotten a start in farming, took the first opportunity to secure for their children schools and instructors. This was also the case in relation to religious matters. A church was established and a building erected for the purpose, on section 11. There are seven schools, having average yearly sessions of about eight months. There is not a village or railroad in the township. CHAPTER XXXI HONEY CREEK TOWNSHIP On petition of George W. Stewart and O. S. Boggs, township 90, range 5, was created September 16, 1858, by merging Coldwater, erected in 1849, and York, erected in 1852, and naming it Honey Creek. The election to complete the organization was ordered to be held at the house of Caspar Dunham. Honey Creek Township lies in the northern tier and is bounded on the west by Richland Township, on the south by Delaware Township, on the east by Elk and on the north by Clayton County. Honey Creek, with its tributary, Lindsay Creek, drains the larger part of its territory. In the west half of section 35, Honey Creek wanders in a broad valley bounded by rocky cliffs twenty-five feet high. The township is generously supplied with gravel, particularly along the valleys of the creeks. This is a good farming community and as far as the eye can reach, fine modern homes make a vista which is indicative of the wealth and progress of their owners. William Bennett was not only the first settler in this township, but also the first person to take up a habitation and assume the customs of the white man in Delaware County. Bennett was a hunter and trapper and, in the winter of 1834-35 built a cabin in section 35, on the banks of Honey Creek. In the following summer he and his family occupied their new home and took up the course of life that comes to the pioneer. His wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of William Eads, and the abortive site for the county's capital was named Elizabeth, in honor of Mrs. Bennett, having been the first white woman to settle in Delaware County. However, the Bennett family left the county in the spring of 1838, and for that reason futile efforts were made to wrest from Bennett the distinction of being the first settler. He certainly was in the community. long enough to become acclimated at least and to acquire a residence for political purposes. Bennett with his family returned to Eads Grove in the fall of 1840, but only remained until the summer of 1841, when his restless spirit prompted him to seek other scenes of activity. He thereupon went over into Buchanan County, built a cabin on the "Wapsie" and was the first white settler, so it is said, in that county. On April 16, 1842, he laid out a town, employing Joel Bailey as the surveyor. This town he called Democracy. The name was afterward changed to Quasqueton, and here Bennett built a mill in 1843; that same year he again moved, this time to Dubuque. The pioneer, Bennett, had not long been gone, in the early part of 1838, when William Eads and family took up their residence in the cabin left vacant by the son-in-law. This cabin was in the timber, a beautiful tract of woodland, which afterwards became known as Eads' Grove. It was here that another son-in-law of Eads, John Hinkle, located with his family about this time. Hinkle later settled further north, near the site of York, in what after |