RECOLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE

AND EVENTS OF

DUBUQUE, IOWA

1846-1890

By Josiah Conzett

1841-1913

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For Patricia and all other "lost" Conzetts,

may they come to recognize and cherish

the heritage which is uniquely theirs

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Table Of Contents

Foreword by Dr. Donald C. Conzett, M. D. 4

Editor's Foreword 5

Main Street, West Side From 6th To 17th 9

Eagle Point and The Riverfront 18

White and Jackson Streets 22

Clay Street 26

Iowa Street 35

Main Street, East Side 44

Main Street, West Side From 1st to 6th 51

Locust Street 55

Bluff Street 61

Street Info Out Of Order 65

People Of the Time 68

INDEX 75

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Foreword

This book was written by my paternal grandfather sometime around 1905 following his retirement. His education was minimal, probably less than that of today's high school graduate. He began work early in a menial capacity in the dry goods business, interrupted by his enlistment at the outbreak of the Civil War. Apparently he had a good service record, functioning as Quartermaster of E Company, 5th Iowa Cavalry. At the end of the war, in 1865, he had earned a commission as 2nd Lt., but being required to go to Washington, D. C. to accept this rank, he felt the expense would be too great and therefore accepted a discharge. Later he regretted this action for it would have given a much greater pension allowance.

The original book is written in a beautiful legible script and the German influence of his early education is manifest in the capitalization of nouns. This has been maintained in this publication as well as the frequent errors in spelling and punctuation.

Joe was never a great success in business. His highest position in Dubuque was that of ribbon and lace clerk in the old Levi Department Store on the southeast corner of 7th and Main Streets. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in the 1890's to become Manager of the linen department of Field Schlick and Company, a position he held until retirement.

In the preparation of this book, I am indebted to Dr. Clifford Fox, now deceased; the late President of Findley College, Findley, Ohio but formerly Professor of History at the University of Dubuque. Dr. Fox used the original copy as source material for his doctorate thesis. To this end he deciphered and typed the manuscript, a painstaking task. Further thanks is given to my friend, Allan E. Sigman, President of the Union - Hoermann Press, who has made the publication possible.

20 October 1971 Donald C. Conzett, M. D.

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Editor's Foreword

The words of Josiah are alive with the obvious passion he felt for life. They affect and enlighten with an almost childlike wonder of all that surrounded him.

It was, perhaps, that very awe of life that prevented him from grasping the Brass Ring. His life was not an easy one, but one filled with love, hope and disappointment. Many of his difficulties stemmed from his own shortcomings, and softened by the compassion of those who surrounded him.

This book is, foremost, a story about a man. Every life has highs and lows, and Josiah's was no exception. His was far from idyllic, sprinkled with war, death, birth, love and calamity. His words allow us to stand beside him and truly experience his time and place.

By project's end, I have come to know and love Josiah as a dear friend. Were he alive today, he would be the favorite uncle. The one you could always count on for a chuckle at family gatherings, an infectious charmer with the ability to make you feel at ease in spite of yourself.

How lucky each of us are and honored each of us should be who can claim the right to call Josiah their ancestor. In our hearts, you are with us still.

Lawrence A. Conzett

December 10, 1993

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Technical Aspects Of This Publication

There are two types of people who may wish to read Recollections, those who are interested in the times and history of the city and it's people and those who are researching specific events or people. I have endeavored to satisfy the needs of each.

To that end, one finds the text on the left facing page to be the corrected version of that text found on the right facing page, the original version. This makes for easier reading, but retention of the original text is preserved. The text on the right page is an exact image of that found in the original book.

The manuscript itself appears to have been written by Josiah over a period of time, chiefly between 1904 and 1909. As of this date, I have not seen, nor do I know the location of, any of Josiah's papers or the original manuscript, if they still survive. The numbers in parenthesis (#) denote the original page numbers of the manuscript handwritten by Josiah. They were found throughout the text of each typewritten page.

The original manuscript was then translated by Dr. Clifford Fox in 1941. Dr. Donald Conzett then hand typed each page in 1971. The typed pages were then copied and spiral bound in a very limited edition. One such copy is held by The University Of Dubuque, the source of the photocopy used in the preparation of this book. Special thanks and recognition is given to Mr. Joel Samuels, Archivist at the Library of The University of Dubuque for his eager enthusiasm and help in research. The numbers in brackets [#] denote the page numbers of the 1971 publication. They were found at the top of each typed page.

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This book was "found" by me in August 1993 in the Archives of The University Of Dubuque during a genealogy research trip. My wife, Carol Hoyle Conzett, and I entered the text into a computer based word processing program. After thorough proofreading to ensure correctness, the file was saved as a true image of the original, and printed on the right facing pages.

That file was then used as the basis for the corrected version, printed on the left facing pages. The text has been corrected for grammar and spelling only, and every effort was made to ensure the original flavor was not altered. Where research has proven surname or place name spellings to be inaccurate, they were corrected on the left page only.

At no time has any alteration of the original text on the right facing pages been made. This was done so that the casual reader interested in the story of Josiah could easily read the left pages, while the serious researcher could refer to the original text on the right and make their own judgment or interpretation of the writing.

Where information in the 1971 publication was entered in a non-standard fashion, it is noted by three stars (***), followed by the information, followed by three stars. The text within the stars is followed by a description of how the text was found to be written.

This publication was produced in a very short time on a spare time basis and was very much a learning experience. As such, there are bound to be errors and the like. I humbly ask for the reader's indulgence in this respect.

Finally, in no way should the events, dates, people or descriptions be accepted as absolute or without flaw. Josiah himself writes that these are but recollections written to inform the future generations. The memories should serve to entertain, inform and incite the study of events and people of his time. To honor Josiah would be to simply enjoy his words.

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RECOLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE

AND EVENTS OF

DUBUQUE, IOWA

1846-1890

By

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[185] (133)

My Recollections of Dubuque IA. From 1846 to 1890

With my parents & brothers, I arrived at Dunleith, Ill., now known as East Dubuque, late in the afternoon of March 1846. I still remember, although only 5 years old, how cold it was as my feet were badly frosted. We rode over from Galena, Ill. in open wagons. There was but one house in Dunleith at that time. It was a large, comfortable log house owned and occupied by a French Canadian by the name of Buschie. He was a large, dark, powerful man, a typical pioneer, trapper and Indian fighter. He was the owner of a horse ferry that plied between Dubuque and Dunleith, named the Tigress. There was one more ferry of the same kind, named the Ocean Wave. It ran between Dubuque and boat yard hollow, to connect with the Potosi Wagon Road. This was owned by Timothy Fanning who lived in Dubuque on Iowa St., between 4th & 5th St., where now the H. B. Glover & Co. warehouse stands. Both him and his wife were large, portly people, and were among the Bon Ton of the town. Their daughter, Dora, was one of the belles of the place and their son developed into a silly coxcomb. He became a Chiropodist. He had been gone from the town a year or two, then came back and hung out a sign claiming to be Chiropodist to Queen Victoria. He was the laughing stock of the town. Well, we lived on Main St. near 6th, west side, in a frame house owned by Michael Schunk (father of present Mayor 1908-1909). On the corner of 6th St., there then was a one-story double log house. The part nearest to the corner was occupied by a little Irishman, J. J. E. Norman. He had a [186] Catholic bookstore with a few notions &c. Even if he was small in size, he was great in politics. For a number of years he was the head of the Public School Board and, by the Irish, was regarded as the boss of the 1st & 2nd Ward. He was a hustler. The other part of the building was occupied by two Jewish boys named Maurice and Joe Rosenbaum. They had a sort of a peanut and pop store with candy cigars, bread, cakes &c. Like all their race, they were smart, shrewd chaps. Maurice finally went to work for a Mr. Henderson, who was a wholesale grocer. He is the man that built that 4 story brick block on

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the levee. About 1855, he (Maurice) occupied the south part. He and his family (Henderson) were regarded as among the wealthy nabobs, until the Panic of 1857 busted the bubble and his wealth was found to be largely wind. But Maurice married the oldest daughter before the crash. After that, he shared their fate & fortune, but they left Dubuque. (134) What became of Joe Rosenbaum, I never heard or knew. That whole block between 6th & 7th St. above the places here mentioned had only 3 or 4 other buildings. Next, north of where we lived then, was a two story brick building, now a 3 story. The lower story was a general store, the upper part a dwelling. In this, sometime between 1849 to 1850, was where John Bantley (now Rev. Prof.) lived first. Next to him, a Mr. Willging had a frame building and yard for his lumber. He was a furniture manufacturer and dealer. He also lived there with his family. On the corner of 7th was a two story brick building occupied by J. P. O'Halloran as a general store. Here I bought my first pair of boots: Red Gilt Tops. They were 3 or 4 inches [187] too long for me and turned up at the toes like sleigh runners. Mother tried to have me take a better fitting pair, but as there were no other with Red Tops, it was no use. I was bound to have Red Top Boots so, as I had earned the money picking mineral, she let me have my way. The block above, on the same side, was owned by the Catholic Church. Bishop Loras was then about to build a great Cathedral occupying nearly the whole block, all but two lots, which for some reason he could not buy. I well remember the great time and ceremony there was when the cornerstone was laid, for the foundation was completed, and it was immense. It was a great day for the Catholics and they were there in great crowds from all over the country for miles & miles. Bishops, Priests, Sisters, Monks & thousands of laymen & women came. I saw it all, for we were then living right across the street. No more work was ever done on it and it stood for a number of years that way. Finally, it became an eyesore & nuisance. I think it was the Bishop's death that stopped it from going up. What I have here said is from 1847 to 1849, and I go back in speaking of events & conditions to 1846. The blocks above between 8th & 9th, on the south corner, were occupied by Gen. Booth, in a fine 2 story brick building. The family consisted of the General, his wife, one son Edward and daughter Anna. They were fine old people, refined and wealthy. At that time the Gen. was Dubuque's 2nd Mayor. He and his wife lived to a good old age. Even several years after the war, they died loved

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& respected by all that knew them. Their son Ed never succeeded in anything he undertook, and he tried lots of ways to [188] keep up. His father left him (135) considerable money, including a flourmill at the foot of 3rd St. He married a young lady of considerable wealth but, in a few years, it went with the rest. Poor Ed, I knew him well. He died and his widow (with 2 children) a few years afterwards married old Dr. Horr. Here I must go back to the north corner of 7th & Main. For there, in a two story frame house, lived Dr. Horr and his family. They had 2 children: Edward and daughter (whose name I forgot). The doctor was the best physician of his day, a large, portly, handsome man. He lived to a great old age and, in his old age, married Ed Booth's widow. His son Edward never amounted to much. He went to Kentucky shortly after the war and married down there. Let us hope he is happy. The daughter married a Chicago man and went there to live. The south part of the same house was occupied by a family by the name of Milton. They had 3 children: one son, Frank; and 2 girls, Jennie & (other's name forgotten). Mr. Milton was a wholesale grocer up to 1857. The last few years he occupied the north end of the Shine 4-story brick block on Main St. between 4th & 5th St. They were nice people of the upper ten class. Misfortune overtook them in the Crash & Panic of 1857, when Mr. Milton failed and evidently lost all he had. Mrs. Milton was a handsome woman and Jennie was one of the prettiest girls of the town. Frank was the only son and was spoiled and bad. He enlisted in our Cavalry Co. in 1864. He was so worthless that I gladly detailed him as a clerk at Gen. Miller's Headquarters at Nashville. The only redeeming trait he had was that he was a very fine penman. [189] His writing so attracted the notice of the War Dept. that he was soon detailed to go there. From there, he went as a private secretary to President Johnson. He remained there to near the close of the war, when he was discharged for drunkenness &c. He came home a wreck. His folks, now poor themselves, tried every way to reclaim & help him, but he was too far gone. He finally persuaded a poor girl, a huckster's daughter, to marry him. She supported him for a few years, then he died. Alas, poor Frank. What might you not have been!

Next to the Gen. Booth residence was the Congregational Church, a large (imposing for that day & time) brick building. The Pastor was Rev. Mr. Holbrook, a good preacher and a fine man. He, sometime in the fifties,

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went to California and became quite famous. (136) Above the church, and up to the corner of 9th St. (this all refers to the west side of Main St.), the ground was owned by Tom Levins. An old timer and a successful miner, he found three rich lead mines and spent nearly all in White's Gambling Saloon and for liquor. He was one of the worst stutterers, but could swear a long string & time without a hitch in his speech. His wife finally managed to get enough of his last lead to build the fine home on the corner of 9th St., which they occupied up into the eighties, besides enough to live well on. Tom, at one time, bought the fine Steamer St. Paul and, for one summer, he ran her from St. Paul to St. Louis. But his folks finally got the upper hand, sold the boat and laid poor Tom up at home. He was, for years after, a familiar sight reeling up & [190] down the street. He finally died on one of his sprees. Poor Tom. His son, Abe, grew to be a large, portly man. He went into the wholesale liquor business with one Tim Dillon. He died a few years ago in the prime of life (in the nineties). His wife and daughter are yet (1909) living. The block between 9th & 10th St. had but three houses on it. The south corner Dick Cox lived on and owned, his home was a two-story frame house. The family consisted of 3 sons and 3 daughters, John, Walter and Frank, and the girls' names I have forgotten. The oldest one died before the Civil War, the others are married. John, the oldest and best of the lot, married a daughter of Wm. Meyers, sister of Dick Meyers. He took to farming and died a few years (1900) ago. Walter is in business, one of the firm of Meyers, Cox & Co. He is anything but a good man. His wife is a sister of Mrs. John Cox. Frank, the youngest, was utterly worthless, a gambler and drunkard and so died very young. The old man Cox was very wealthy. He was a very early settler and was successful as a miner, but more so as a gambler. He it was that got most of poor Tom Levin's 3 lead mines and fortunes. People that know say it is a fact. The old man (Cox) was shrewd enough to invest his money in real estate in an early day. He, at one time, owned nearly all the land in Blake's Hollow east of Mineral St. (now west Locust St.) and two thirds of the hollow and on the hill (now west 17th & Clark St.). He died in the eighties, an old, wealthy & wicked man, and his wealth will be dissipated and do more harm than good to humanity. (137) Next to Cox lived the widow Wells with two (2) sons and (2) two daughters [191] in a two story brick house (about center of

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the block). The oldest daughter still lives. The younger one was known all over the town as Becky Wells, one of Dubuque's belles. Really very good looking, lively, but a good young lady. She was married to M. M. Ham, printer & proprietor of the Dubuque Herald. She died in childbirth a few years after. The corner of 10th St. was occupied and owned by Dr. Lewis, also a two-story frame house. The Dr. and his wife were quite old people at that time. He was an old fashioned doctor, but both he and his wife were good, pious people. They lived to a good old age and died, regretted by all. They had 2 sons, Theodore and John. Theodore enlisted in 1861 in Co. E, 5th Iowa Cavalry and rose to be assistant surgeon of the Regiment. He married Lon Moreing, a sister of my Capt. Levi Moreing. They now live in Omaha, Neb. John enlisted in our Regiment (5th IA. Cavalry) in 1861. He joined Co. F and rose to be Capt. of the Co. He died early in the nineties. Rev. J. and Miss Conkey (afterwards Mrs. Dr. Watson) were brother and sister to Mrs. Dr. Lewis. Miss Conkey was my wife's schoolteacher. There were few houses on either side of Main St. above 10th, on the west still. Near the corner lived a good old couple by the name of Rogers in a double frame house. They died before the Civil War. One only child, a son, survives them: Warren Rogers. He is a great hunter and fisherman and devotes a large part of his time to that sport. He is one of my early playmates and friend, a good fellow. Long may he live. The place now occupied by the 3-story building and stores was then only occupied by a 2-story frame building, in which lived a Mr. Hawthorne. He [192] was the City Street Sprinkler. A very simple and primitive affair it was, a large barrel on two wheels. He had to go to the river and fill up about every hour or so, but at that time the river was nearer then it now is. They had one son Charlie, a regular Yankee, sharp as a needle, great on the swap or trade. It was a saying with us that he would start out in the morning with a jack knife and plug of tobacco, and come home in the evening with a horse and buggy. He met with an accident that ever afterwards so affected his brain that he nearly lost his mind, and was then called Simple Charlie. They moved to Potosi, Wis. several years before the war. The accident here spoken of is as follows. He and a lot more of us boys were down at the (138) levee at the foot of 4th St. where all the steamboats and ferries landed. That was a great resort for us boys in those days, of which I will speak later on. When the ferry Ocean Wave landed, Charlie went aboard. In some way or

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another, he got too near one of the horse's heels and the horse kicked him square in the face, breaking his nose and lacerating his face fearfully. Of course, he fell senseless on the floor and, had it not been for old man Guiren who happened to be there, he would have died. The old man knelt down and sucked the clotted blood from his nostrils and, thereby, saved his life. But he was never right after that. The 2 story brick house right south of that was built some years after, about 1847 or 58. The corner of 13th was vacant until 1852 or 53, when the Bissells built a 4 story brick building. For many years, it was the Bissell Moser Grocery Co. Between 11th & [193] 12th St. there was nothing but weeds and brush until 1858, except the 3 story building on the corner of 11th. St. Luke's Church was built about the same time. From there, on up to 1858, Main St. had not been cut through the rising ground, all then on the level of what is now the grounds of St. Joseph's Female School on the corner of 13th. That building was built by Judge Dyer about 1852 or 53 as a residence and occupied by him and his family: his wife and one daughter (now Mrs. Crane). Mr. Dyer was one of the F F V-s of Virginia, one of Iowa's early Judges and Dubuque's settlers. He sold this property several years before the Civil War to Mr. Willington, who in turn sold it to the Sisters. It stands now just as it was built, not considering the few additions and improvements. The Judge went south, and no doubt shared in the fate of the Confederacy. The block between 13th and 14th St. from Main to Locust St. was entirely barren of any buildings and covered with hazel brush and small trees as late as the spring of 1857. I used to cut across there in order to get a shorter route home. We then lived on Mineral St. Above that and up to what is now 17th St. was deep mud holes and frog ponds with one exception. Between 16th & 17th there was one two story brick house owned by a Mr. Dorgan, who also owned and lived in a two story 3 tenement brick building on the alley just behind. Mrs. Uttey's home now is where that building on Main St. stood. From there on up to Mineral St., on the corner of Clark, not a building was to be seen. On the corner of Clark, a two-story building was built by Mr. (blank). From there up to Mr. Blake's, up to 1855, there were no houses to be seen. Mr. Blake had a brickyard there. He was a very early settler, (139) a fine [194] man himself, and a man of considerable means. After his death late in the fifties, his fortune was spent and dissipated by his two sons, leaving his widow and her daughters nothing but the home, and that almost a ruin.

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In 1855 or 56 Capt. Yates, for years and years Captain of the steam ferry and brother in law to Dick Cox, built a home on Mineral St. Our Uncle Wm. Rudolph built a house (2 story frame) next to him about 1856. We lived on the 2nd floor up to July 1857. Between that and back near Seminary Hill & 17th St., Mr. W. H. Hethrington had a brickyard. This part of town was a veritable mud hole in the fall and spring, and a trying place to get through the snowdrifts in the winter. When it rained, the whole hollow was overflowed, as the ditches could not carry out the water. We often saw chicken coops, outhouses &c come floating down in those floods. There were no sidewalks from 13th St. up. That about describes that part of the town from 1846 to 1855, and the same condition existed in the other parts of the town that will be set down in this writings. Any later periods and times herein narrated or spoken of, the dates will be given so as to prevent any confusion or puzzles to the readers, whoever they may be.

The business part of the town was around and below 6th and Main St. There were one or two stores on and near 6th, but above that there was, on either side of Main St. from 7th to 17th, only dwellings and then few and primitives. As said, there were no streets cut through from 12th to 17th until about 1851 or 52 when 13th & 14th Sts. were opened and the 14th Street sewer built (but left uncovered up to 1860). The Female Seminary [195] at the head of Iowa St. was built in 185?-53, by and through the help of Harriet Beecher Stowe. They occupied it as a Female Seminary for 4 or 5 Years, but it was a failure and was empty and going to ruin. My brother Jacob succeeded Rev. A. Van Vliet as Pastor of the then called Blue Church. It had been built on its present site about 1857 among brush and trees and on the then just opened Iowa St. to 17th. And a muddy street it was. He was also the head of the Theological School, at that time in its infancy, with a few country boys as students. The Episcopal Church had charge of the Female Seminary Building, and they offered it to my brother for $10,000. He bought it at once, and in a short time he raised the money by public subscription and paid for it. The school occupied it and flourished and bloomed into what it now is, until 1907, when they sold it and built a larger, finer and every way better one. (140) Up to 1855, neither Iowa, Main nor the cross streets had been opened. The ground from the Seminary down to 15th St. was as high as where that building now stands. East of Iowa St.

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down to the foot of nearly Clay St. was all so thick with young trees (& under brush) that us boys used to climb up on them near 17th St. (now) and by bending them over from one to the other go clear down to 15th St. I remember one day young Gobel (now a dentist) fell from the tree and broke his wrist. The City Cemetery occupied the ground from 15th to within one lot of 17th. All the bodies had been removed in 1852 to way out (then) in the country to what is now beautiful Linwood. My father (John Conzett) helped dig up the bodies. I often sat and watched them. Main St. was [196] opened in 1855, but was not graded or any sidewalks laid for several years. It was an almost impassable mud hole from 14th to 17th. On Iowa St., between 14th & 15th from St. to alley, a Mr. Richard Plum lived. His house was frame, cottage style, and quite pretty. The ground was laid out as an orchard. They had two sons. His brother lived with him and committed suicide there some time early in the fifties. That kept us boys out of his orchard, for we feared his spook. On the north corner of his property, about the corner of 15th, lived an Irish family by the name of Foy. It was an old log house. Their son Tom was my chum. On the corner of 14th & Iowa (west side), the first St. Patrick's Catholic Church was built in 1852 or 53. It was a large frame structure. Above the church on 14th St. (north side) Pat Norton's row of frame shacks were built, 7 or 8 of them reaching up to Main St. My friends the Fullers lived in one of the best. Above 14th St. to White St., up to 1855, there were very few buildings. I can remember only a very few. One, a one story frame where now the Chris Junck Store stands, the Tinkham boys, Bill, Joe and John, kept Bachelors Hall in. As Joe was my circus tutor, I spent lots of time there. The other was a log house on a little knoll on the corner of 18th & Clay. The widow Guilford with her 2 boys, William & Thomas, lived there. Tom died long ago, quite young. William still lives (July 1909). He is known as Bill Guilford, Squire of Center Grove. Three or four blocks above that, on the east side of what was then called the Plank Road, from 18th St. about 1½ mile out, a Mr. John Steiner (father of Mrs. L. Zust & Mrs. Geo. Rath Sr.) (141) had located about the same time we arrived in [197] Dubuque in 1846. He bought several acres of ground (land there was very cheap, being then low and swampy). He built two houses, one a frame, and next to it a two story brick, which he intended to use as a beer brewery. But before he got it equipped and ready, he died of the cholera. I will here speak of that terrible disease which visited Dubuque

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every summer from 1849 To 1857. It became so bad that people were afraid to go to bed nights. Hundreds died every summer from it. My father took it one night in 1852 or 53. He is one of the very few that ever recovered from it. The doctors did not understand and know how to handle it. And sanitary conditions were very bad. We had neither sewerage nor water works, only wells. The citizens were fearful for months every summer. Above Steiner's, on that side 3 or 4 blocks up, a Mr. Rose (father of Henry Rose) kept a tavern and, of course, a grocery with it. Beyond that on that side, I can't remember a single building for miles out. And on the east side to Lake Peosta it was swamp land and corn fields. The Steiners, after the old man died, planted their ground with a small garden. Every morning they pushed their truck of 2 wheels, full of tomatoes, cabbage and such stuff, to the market, always barefoot, every day, early & and late, in spring and fall through mud, snow & slush. John was yet too young, so the 4 girls did it until the Boom of 1854 & 55 struck the town. They then surveyed the place into 50 foot lots and sold them for a fortune. That is the basis of the Steiner-Rath fortunes. On the west side, above 18th, there were few houses. A. M. Hartman built a stone house as a cabinet shop near 19th. Above that was a 2-story frame [198] dwelling. The fine brick dwelling of the late John Linehan was built some years after by Charley Mix. Above that was Hub's Brewing, a small affair up to 1860. On the northwest corner of what is now Eagle Point Ave., there was a noted resort on 2 or 3 acres of ground. Full of shade trees, beer tables and beer summer houses, with bowling alleys, swings and all sorts of devices to get money, it was called the Tevoli Garden, open every day & Sunday and all night. Thousands spent their Sundays and weeks' wages there until it was finally closed about 1860. People were building homes around there and it became too great a nuisance. John Krayor, some years after, tried to run a beer garden near there, but it failed. As it shows, (142) I have forgotten one house and family that for years cut quite a figure in Dubuque Liquor Society, and so, of course, politics on the Democratic side. I refer to Adam Yager Sr. and his family. They were early settlers and were located on the Plank Road, corner of (now) 19th St. They built a brick building of 3 stores as boarding house & saloon, and for years made money hand over fist. They had 2 sons, Adam and Frank. Adam married a Miss Schaeffeur, a saloon keeper's daughter. He was a loud mouthed, profane fellow, but the

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Democrats elected him as Alderman of the 5th Ward, and he actually was Mayor of the city for one term. He, like his father, died of whiskey. Of course it was not called that. Frank is a decent sort of a chap. He is, has been, and always will be a liquor dealer, but only wholesale. The two daughters are married. Paul Trant, the banker, married the daughter of Adam Jr. She died a few years ago (1909). What is now that fine [199] part of the city known as Eagle Point, from Coulee Creek out to the farthest point, was up to 1857 a sand desert. Only two houses were anywhere near. One was the log house of M. M. Ham right under the bluff. He is the father of the 2 misses Ham: Dubuque's famous, or rather infamous, prostitutes. He owned, at that time, nearly all of that land, but died a very poor man. The other house was near the bank of Lake Peosta and on the road from the ferry to town. It was a frame house then occupied by Thomas McCraney, one of Dubuque's earliest settlers. He operated, or ran, a horse ferry from Eagle Point across the river to Sinapec, Wis. Besides these two buildings, there were no others until a mile nearer town, and near where now are the Milwaukee C & St. P RR shops. There on the road to town was a 2 story, old landmark. Sam Elmer, our one time city Marshal, brother in law to Fred Weigel, lived and kept a boarding house there for some years late in the fifties up to the time of his death in the sixties. Next & below it the Buchler family lived. That was all there was anywhere nearer than Conler Ave., except here and there a fisherman's hut or a huckster's shanty up to the Plank Road. Now Conler Ave. All below what is now Jackson St. up to Conler Creek and towards Lake Peosta was barren land and what was named Coulee Bottoms down as far as where 15th St. now ends. Ham's Island was then covered with trees and brush and was a fine place for hunting and fishing. There were walnut, butternut and crab apple trees (143) and also red hawse and hickory nut trees. It was at that time, and up to 1857, connected with the mainland at its upper end, in fact it was a peninsula. The lake [200] at that time was a beautiful sheet of water a little over a mile long and ½ to 3/4 mile wide. Its outlet was at or near 15th St. into the Main Slough. It was then from 10 to 15 feet in depth. In winter time it was the city's great skating rink, and Sundays it was literally swarming with people on skates. The canal at its upper end was cut through about the latter part of 1857. The idea was to make a short cut from the Mississippi through the canal and down the lake to the wharf

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at the foot of 4th St. for steamboats, but it utterly ruined the lake by filling it and the canal with sand, and no steamboat ever used it. The lake was made into a mud hole and a frog pond as it is today in 1909. Of course, that ruined the island as well as the lake, which was its chief attraction. And then, and several years before even, men went over and cut down all the trees for fuel. As it was public land, nothing was done to stop it, so it soon was denuded and shorn of its beauty and became, as it now, a barren unsightly island. Oh the pity of it. It could have been made into one of the finest parks and summer resorts in all the land, had the people of Dubuque had any sense, foresight or enterprise. Now it is a shame and an eyesore to all the people. I remember one day in the summer of either 1848 or 1849, Martin Conzett, a very distant relation of ours, took me along with him on a hunting trip to the island. It was a long trip for me. The day was very warm, I was barefooted and my feet were full of sand burrs and very sore. So when we got to about the center of the island, he told me to rest. He went on and I fell asleep at the foot of a large [201] butternut tree and did not wake up until late in the afternoon. There was no Martin around in sight or hearing. I called, yelled and cried for sometime, but got no answer so I knew he had left me. I started to make my way back through the woods and brush and finally reached the mainland and the road to town. Eagle Point was then a sand desert and covered with burrs. I was barefoot, and of course it was painful walking. I finally came to ferry man McCraney's house. Mrs. McCraney saw me coming along limping and crying about as hard as I could. She called me in, asked me about my trouble &c she then picked the burrs from my feet. She gave me a large slice of bread and molasses and showed me the best way home, where the sand burrs were not so thick, and bid me good-by. I remembered her gratefully for years. (144) At this time, up to 1856 & 57, there were what was then called First and Second Island and First and Second Slough. Second Slough extended for about 2 miles, from what is now the Ice Harbor, up to and a little beyond Ham's Island. The Mississippi emptied into it here, making a deep and rapid river. There steamboats came into it, and down to the outlet of 1st Slough (Ice Harbor), and then up to the wharf at 4th St. Then steamboat owners, thinking to shorten trips and economize time, cut through 1st Island to the 2nd Slough a 200 foot canal for boats to come through. This canal was almost directly opposite the wharf on

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4th St. This route was then used up to the time when the Harbor Improvement Companies began filling up the sloughs and making roads out to the Mississippi in the Boom times from 1856 to 1858. The First Slough was nearly a [202] lake quite ¾ mile wide and extended (from 8th to 1st Street) to its outlet at the harbor. Boats coming up river came in and up this way. There was very little current in this river, or slough as we called it. It was fed by a narrow, small canal from Lake Peosta. It was perhaps 1/2 mile long. It's site or bed was a little not more then one hundred feet from where the C & G W RR depot now is. This slough, from my earliest recollection, was our swimming place. We had no bathing suits in those days, and but one policeman: Joe Swab, about 5 foot tall and broad as he was long. I wonder how many people remember him? Well, he never tried to interfere with us and the people on the boats did not care, but seemed to like to watch us. In fact, one day (in a I dare you) I ran up on the deck and up to the wheel house of the Steamer Lamertine and dove down into the water. They tried to stop me. The ladies came up to me, naked as I was, and begged me not to do it, but I eluded them and jumped off. After that it was a common thing for the more venturesome to do. In the winter it was also a great and popular skating place. I remember one funny incident. My brother Jacob was then working in a grocery store on Main St. (east side) between 5th & 6th St. (but near 6th). One evening when he closed up, he, by some oversight, left a barrel of tar out on the sidewalk. Bill Davis (one of the worst young men of the town) saw it on his way down to the slough to skate. The ice was fine, the weather good, but the night was dark. So, when he got to the boys on the ice, he told them of it and proposed they go up and get it and have a fine bonfire to skate by. [203] No sooner said than done. A crowd of them went up and took it, rolled it down and set it on fire. And it made a (145) glorious light to skate by, bright enough to be seen all over town. Geo. Starr (proprietor of the store) saw it and came down to see it. By this time Jacob had missed the barrel and, seeing the light, surmised at once the cause of it. So, meeting Mr. Starr on his way down, they got the city Marshal and Constable (all the officers there were in those days) and a few citizens to help. They were soon among the boys and succeeded in getting about a dozen of them, the rest escaping over into the 2nd Slough and up to Lake Peosta. The others were

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marched up to the jail: a two story log building that had to be propped up to keep it from tumbling down. The lower floor was used for criminals of the worst kinds: murderers, horse thieves &c; the 2nd floor for the lesser kind. Well, they were locked up on the 2nd floor. The next day they were tried, and the three or four ring leaders fined pretty heavy. Amongst the crowd were Bill and Jack Davis, Tom McNear, Sam Upton and one or two of the Mobley boys. These, with 5 or 6 others, were the toughs and the rowdies of the town for years. Well, I for once was not in this scrape. Just why, I can't remember. But not to be in it was to be out of my element, and I remember feeling bad over it. The islands are here noted, 1st and 2nd. First Island extended as far as what is now 15th St. There it ended by the small creek, the outlet from Lake Peosta that divided it from Ham's Island and flowed into the Main Slough. It was also cut off from the mainland by the narrow canal that flowed into Main [204] Slough. This island was entirely barren of trees or brush as far back as I can remember. The 2nd Island was much longer. It extended from the harbor as far as Ham's Island, and there steamboats entered and came down the 2nd Slough. This island was thinly covered from end to end, with timber and brush and furnishing fuel for the poor for many years. It was also a paradise for hunters. Wild geese and turkeys, ducks, rabbits &c abounded. Now it is hard to believe that it was so, and can hardly be recognized even by those that saw these streams and islands from 1846 to 1856. And the pity of it! But the Boom of 1854 to 1858 and the wild excitement of those years ruined what might have been made into a river park, wharves, boat store & manufactories for three miles along the banks of the Mississippi, Ham's Island and Lake Peosta into a beautiful park and resort, and the two streams converted into unrivaled courses for boating and bathing places. But the 3 Harbor Companies then organized, the Lower, Central and the Upper, filled up those streams and built roads out to the (146) Mississippi to reclaim the land. But all they did was to utterly ruin the streams and islands, and so be the nuisance and eyesore they now are. The fine rivers, mud ponds gone, the land of little use or value. The roads to the river now there are the only thing of any use of all that could, and should, have been a beauty spot for the city forever. The Harbor Companies here noted failed miserably when the Panic of 1857 to 1860 set in. They all issued paper money and so flooded the town with it, that it drove all other kind of money out. But

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when the Crash came it was not worth they paper it was [205] printed on. The Central Company was the one the merchants suffered mostly from. It was a local concern and speculation. Nearly all the merchants were stockholders and had endorsed their names and firm's names on the back of all the bills. They had to redeem them at par as long as any were outstanding, even after they were not worth 10¢ on the dollar. It caused the failure of many of the stock holders, merchants, brokers and even the poor laborer. I was with Sheffield & Scott in all those years and it very nearly caused their failure. It would have done so, had not the Civil War broken out in April, 1861 and so doubled, tripled, yes, even more, the value of their stock of goods. The other 2 companies were largely eastern speculations and their failure was not felt so much in Dubuque.

Jackson St. was then not laid out or graded, and in all that part of town there were few houses. From 14th St. north there was nothing but swamp and bogs to Peosta. Below that, and facing east, was the residence of an old settler named Uolte. He owned nearly all that block from 10th to 11th St. His house was a good 2 story building set in an orchard. Opposite was a 3 story brick just about completed, and opposite that, north on 11th & Jackson, was a row of small frame building owned by a Mr. Wienecke. Below that to 8th & Jackson it was all bare land. Where now the Iowa Iron Works are was, from 1846 to 1850, a tannery. Here, a white man murdered an Indian in 1837. He was hanged for it on what was then, and up to 1854, an Indian Mound where now the Jefferson House stands. Below that, at the foot of 7th [206] St., was a saw mill and lumber yard owned by Gen. Booth. It fronted on the 1st Slough, upper end. In back of this was the hay press. This part of the town was a favorite play ground for us boys. And above that, up to the Coulee, we speared frogs for bait & legs to eat. (147) On White St., at the foot of 4th and up to Clay, there were brick and stone buildings used as boat stores &c. Where Page's Hotel now is located on 4th St., there was a 2 story brick used as a hotel by Mr. Farnsworth. I think it was his oldest son that was killed at Gettysburg in a cavalry charge. White St. to 8th had very few buildings. On the east side, up to 8th, there were only lumber yards. On the west side, from 5th to 9th, were 2 or 3 bldgs. One between 5th & 6th, a brick, that is still there. And right next to it a 2 story brick in which lived a very old German by the name of Merz, with his

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wife, one son, Ed, and 2 daughters. For years, Ed and I were chums. We both still live, but some way got estranged. The oldest daughter married Ernest Young, who, some time in the seventies, became County Sheriff and died in office. The youngest married Peter Marugg. He was my sister Mary's Godfather. On the same side of the street between 6th & 7th there was a double 2 story brick (it now sits high up and in ruin). Above that, from 7th to 8th, was all vacant land except for a small frame house on the corner of 8th, & is still there. On the east side of White, from 4th to 8th, there were only 2 houses. One was on the corner of 7th: a 2 story, 2 tenement (or store rooms) and is still there. It is a ruin and an eyesore now. Right in back of it, on 7th St., was a 2 story frame, also still there. On the block now occupied by the large plant of Farley Loetcher & Co., there was nothing but vacant land down even to the river, [207] except on the corner of 8th. There stood a 2 story double brick house owned by an old settler: Mr. Schields, his wife, 2 sons and one daughter. The oldest son, Tom, was a scapegrace and passed from sight and hearing years ago. The younger was known to us boys as Bud. He is a lawyer, still living in Dubuque. He is a good lawyer, and would be better still if he left liquor alone. In part of that house, north end, lived the Rev. Peter Flury, a missionary here. He was a Swiss by birth, but sent out by some London society. His wife was an Englishwoman and she spoke no German. My folks knew him well in the old country, and he took us into his house for the first day or two after our arrival in Dubuque. He it was that organized the congregation now known as 1st German Presbyterian, and built the one & 1/2 story brick church on the southwest corner of the alley on 9th St. between Main & Iowa. Our folks were of the first few members. This was the latter part of 1848. Among the members then were Peter Kinney and his wife, V. Herancourt & his wife, and several other prominent German families. These all left when Mr. Flury left us in 1849 or 1850. They did not like our other Ministers, especially Rev. A. Van Vliet, who came to us late in 1850. But under him the church flourished and built up fast. (148) On the northeast corner of White St., the German Catholics built a church of stone, now, and for some years, used as a mattress factory. On the same side, up to the corner of 10th St., there were only one or two small buildings. On the corner there was, and still stood in 1890, a 2 story brick owned by Mr. Nolte. It was for years occupied as a residence and office of Dr. Ristatch, an old German doctor, now dead. On

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the west side of White St., from 8th to 10th, there were then only one [208] or two buildings. One was a 2 story brick residence, and one or two frame shacks. From 10th to 11th on the west side I can only remember 2 buildings of this date (1848 to 1855): a 2 story brick near the corner of 11th (still standing), and a frame house setting farther back off the street (the stone building on corner 11th was built some time in the sixties). On the east side of the same street (White St.), on the corner of 10th, was a lumber yard. Next was a small frame house, in later years owned by and the residence of A. Gehrig (the tailor). He was the father of D. A. Gehrig, one time County Treasurer and Deputy Sheriff, now a banker in Dyersville, Iowa. Next was a double frame residence, next to that a double brick owned by a zealous German Methodist by name of Grim. On the west side, from 11th to 12th, there were no buildings. The ground now occupied as a high school (built for a Turner Hall), was then an open playground. Between 12th & 13th were two frame buildings. One was occupied by a harness maker, whose daughter Jennie spelled me down in a spelling contest in the little one story 3rd Ward Public School one day in 1854. The corner frame building was the residence of the Simplot family in the very early days up to 1850. Later it was the home of a French widow and two daughters, one of whom became a noted artist (painter of portraits &c). She, or they, still live, as also does Alex and Charles Simplot. On the opposite side (east), there were very few houses from 11th to 13th. On the corner of 11th was a frame building, the home for a few years of a German Catholic family to whom I carried milk every morning. We then lived on Iowa St. between 13th & 14th, and father kept one or two cows. On 11th St. between White and Jackson, there were a few frame houses, and on the corner of 11th & Jackson was [209] a 2 story brick used as a boarding house by a Mr. Frieburg. On the corner (White St. still), the German Lutherans built a frame church; a two story brick next to it was the parsonage and school for the students. This was the beginning of the now flourishing Wartburg Seminary now located in or near the city. (149) Mathias Conzett, a very distant relative (and brother of Martin that ran away and left me on Ham's Island) and about my age, went to school there. He became a student, but died very young of blood poisoning, a disease unknown at that time and a mystery to the doctors of that day. From 13th to 14th St. on the west side there were just 3 buildings. On the corner of 13th was then (1850) the residence of Geo. L. Nightingale: a noted lawyer

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of that time and one of the early mayors of the city. They had 3 sons and one daughter: Henry, James and a younger one (name forgotten). The youngest was one of the best telegraph operators, but a great drunkard. He was alive as of a few years ago in 1890. Henry enlisted in the Navy during the Civil War. The last I remember of him was where he asked me if I had any whisky. This was one morning in July, 1865, on the ICRR between Galena and Dubuque, while on my way home on furlough. He had been discharged and on his way home. He became an outcast and now fills a drunkard's grave. James, the next one, was a fine young man. He was for many years the private secretary of Senator W. B. Allison. He died some time in the eighties, leaving a widow and one or two children. The daughter (married) is the only surviving member of the family. The wife and mother died at a great age (over 90 years) only a few months ago (in 1908). The house north of the Nightingale's was [210] an old log house, home of an old Irish widow and one grown up son. Both passed away long ago. The corner of 14th St. was owned by Judge Wilts, an old time lawyer. He built the (then) fine brick residence there in the early fifties and lived there the rest of his life, dying a year or so after the war. His widow survived him many years. Their only child, a son James, I think still lives. The east side of the street was nearly all vacant land. Near the corner of 13th was a small brick house, in the basement of which the Beuttell family lived for several years. The east side of White St. was all owned, from 14th to 16th St., by Edward Langworthy. He and his two brothers, Lucius and Solomon Langworthy, were of the earliest settlers of Dubuque. Some time from 1820 to 1830, Dubuque was then in U.S. Territory only a few years, and only an Indian village. The lead mines were very rich, but all mining was forbidden. A small detachment of U.S. Soldiers under Lieut. Jeff Davis was here to guard against intruders. Gen. Zach Taylor at Fort Prairie Du Chien, a frontier military post, was in command of the territory. Here it was that Lieut. Davis eloped with Gen. Taylor's daughter. He, however, served under his father in law in the Mexican War, and was President of the Southern Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. (150) As stated, Edward Langworthy owned all the land from 14th to 16th St. on the east side of White St. On the corner of 14th, he built his home, a two story red brick. The rest, up to 16th St., was a fine orchard in which apples, cherries, watermelons and other small fruits and berries were raised. In spite of the 8 foot fence

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all around the place, us boys used to get in and get away with our pockets filled. On several occasions, some of the boys came to [211] grief. They were treed, or caught in the trees, and held there by 2 savage bull dogs until the hired men came up; and they were soundly punished. I was always too spry to be caught. Mr. Langworthy and his wife were fine people and, at that time, good members of the Congregational Church and one of the church's main support. They had only two children. A son, Reeder, about my age was a very fine, quiet young man. He died in 1909 leaving a widow and, I think, two children. The daughter, Fanny, was a handsome and ladylike woman. She was never married and died some year in the seventies, I think. On the west side, from 14th to 16th, there were a few frame buildings, homes of the poorer class of people. From there up to what now is 17th was not then yet graded, and there was vacant land at the end of White St. On the east side of the street, corner of 16th and up to 17th, was owned by Judge T. S. Wilson, one of Dubuque's very early settlers and a Territorial Judge and lawyer. He was, at that time, quite wealthy and noted as a good lawyer. In later years liquor got the upper hand. He lost all his money and degenerated into a shyster lawyer. He died a very old man late in the eighties. His only child, a daughter, died a few years before him of a broken heart. She felt her father's disgrace keenly. She was a fine young lady, respected, but pitied, by all that ever knew her. St. Mary's German Catholic Church and School now stands on the northeast end of his one time fine property. His home, a fine brick residence, stood (and I think in 1890 still stands) on the corner of 16th St. As before stated in these pages, before and to where Eagle Point Ave. now is, there was only low swamp land and one or two cornfields [212] down to Coulee Creek and Lake Peosta. This was our hunting ground for snipe.

Now taking in Clay St. from its beginning, on 3rd St., to its end, (then as now) on 18th St. Starting at the foot where now the M C & St. P depot is, we find, at its very beginning on the flat, the 2 story brick home of an old and garrulous Frenchman by the name of Guiren. He preempted the few lots at an early day, and lived there up to the time of the Civil War. He had one son and one daughter. They are probably yet living. He it was that saved Chas. Hawthorne's life by sucking the clotted blood from nose and throat on the ferry Ocean Wave, where a horse kicked him in the face. Now, taking the west side of the street from there up to 6th, there were on the corner of

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4th, north side, a two story brick house occupied as a boarding house and saloon by a German, Mr. Birkle. The old house is still there (1890) and still a saloon in part. His son John was a member of my company in the 5th Iowa. Right next to it was a two story frame where lived a Negro family by name of Aron. The man was very large, almost a giant, with the strength of an ox. He was a drayman, his wife was a coal black Negress. They had one son, Bob. He was one of our playmates. We made no distinction of color in those days. For many years he was a barber and had a good run of business. I don't know what since became of him. Up to 5th St. from there, where the Strobel Packing House was built late in the fifties, the ground was vacant. But right in back of it, on the alley, lived an old German family by name of Schlagel. They had one son about 40 years old only about half-witted, and [213] one young woman, a niece, about as bad. The son wanted to marry the woman, and the old folks wanted it too, but the girl balked, and in a year or so after much fuss, wrangling and tears she finally married Mr. Strobel. He was the founder of the Strobel and Rath Packing Co. It is yet in existence as the Strobel Packing Co., operated by his sons. The old folks have now passed away. On the corner, and up to the alley on 5th St., were several frame buildings. In one of them lived a German by the name of Dickerman. He clerked with Barney Scott & Co. for a year or so. He joined the Blue Church and wanted to be a Deacon, but liquor got the best of him, so he was discharged. Above 5th, on the same side, were only two buildings. The corner was vacant. The first was a 3 tenement, 2 story building, quite fine for the time. The south part was a private boarding place kept by two genteel old maids named Eggelsten. My friend J. C. Anderson, bookkeeper for Sheffield & Scott (but since 1859 a resident of Denver, Colorado), for some time boarded here, and I took a number of meals with him. The corner 16th St. was used as a German School by a Swiss (Mr. Zanuck), a very learned old man. I attended the school for several months until he died sometime in the fifties. (152) On the east of Clay St. between 5th and 6th there were 5 or 6 houses. Near the corner of 5th, an old German (Weimrel) and his family, consisting of his wife, 2 or 3 girls and one boy, Christian, lived in a brick house. Chris and me were playmates from early boyhood. He, in his later years, had a saloon on the levee. He died sometime in the eighties. The entire family has passed away. Right in back of them on 5th St., a German family lived in a brick [214]

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house. They were related to the Weimrel family above noted. Next, the Jefferson House No. 2 was built in the early fifties. One or two frame residences were next, and on the corner of 6th was a two story brick house, still there in 1890. Now the block between 6th & 7th St. was fairly well built up. On the corner of 6th was a two story brick. It was always used as a store and saloon and, up to 1890, is still the same. The next was a frame, long since gone, where now the 2 story brick saloon and boarding house now is. For years it was the home and saloon &c of a Mr. Stolz, and was then the tailor shop and residence of tailor Appli. On the corner of 7th was a large two story frame building. Mr. Pfotzer, one of the earliest settlers, lived here. He used it as a saloon and boarding house and, for years, up to or near 1858, it was rather a disreputable place. They had 2 sons, Henry and Edward. Henry was one of my Company E, 5th Iowa Cavalry, but was discharged in 1862 (fully described in my Memoirs). Edward joined the company in 1864 and served to the end of the war. He was a poor soldier and a drunkard, and was the same up to 1890, and will be so to the end. He is the only survivor of the family. On 6th St., right in back of the corner, there was, and still is, a two story brick residence (on the alley). Here then (1851 to 1855) in one part lived the Blocklinger family. They had 3 or 4 boys, the oldest is now an Admiral in the U.S. Navy. He always wanted to play, but we did not like him. We called him "Snotty Nose Block". But he has gotten ahead of us all. The next son is now Major Blocklinger (a military Major) and cashier of a bank. The youngest is a doctor (Albert). The old man died some years ago. The rest [215] are still living, even the old lady (this in 1909). On the east side, corner of 6th, lived a Swiss family named Ploeckly: father, mother, a brother (Peter) and a son, in a small neat frame house. The father and brother were well known all over town as wood sawyers and, in later years, as milk men. They carried their milk in large cans strapped on their backs in the winter and summer, in rain or shine, snow and storm. They served their customers every morning, and always had a pipe in their mouth. (153) Their son Matt I got into the store (Sheffield & Scott) in 1858 to take my place as errand boy, I being now promoted to a full clerkship. When we were home on vet furlough in 1864, he was wild to enlist and go back with us. But, as he was an only child of his now old parents, I talked him out of it. In the call for 100 day men in the fall of 1864, he enlisted in the 46th Iowa. They were stationed at

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Memphis, Tennessee. One evening, coming back from a foraging trip, the picket guard, failing to hear him give the counter sign and not recognizing him, shot him in the upper part of the leg. He was taken to the hospital and, through brutal neglect of doctors and nurses, they amputated his leg twice. He died under the second operation. His grief stricken parents went nearly crazy. His poor old mother, bedridden for some years, died shortly after. His father took it so hard he about lost his mind. He got under the influence of a saloon keeper nearby and, in a short time, his money and property was gone. The poor old man died almost a pauper 2 or 3 years after the close of the war. Next, above them, an old and lame Swiss man by the name of Vonashen lived and kept a boarding house. The family [216] consisted of himself, wife, two daughters and one 30 year old idiotic son. The poor fellow was the sport of the bad boys of the town and outlived his parents some years. The daughters both married. The youngest, Anna, though was older, always claimed me as her sweet heart. When we attended the same school, she always took my part in any trouble. Her husband committed suicide. I think they have all passed away. Next to them, and then on quite high ground not yet graded to street level (it looked like a house on stilts), lived the Government Surveyor and Land Commissioner, by name of Corriell. They were southern people of the F F V kind. They removed from town before the war came on. Next to that was the brick building known as the Harmony Hall Hotel, kept then by Peter Kinney, Sr. They are so well known to people of the present day that further talk or comment is unnecessary. Right in back of that, on the alley & facing 7th St., was, and still is (in now 1890), a two story brick built, owned and the residence of Mr. Mangold: an early settler, and wealthy German politician long since passed away. The next block above, on the east side, was from very early days the site of the old red brick Court House, so long years a familiar nuisance. And the old two story log jail, then in 1855 a ruin, but still in use up to 1856, when the present jail was built. On the alley opposite, facing 7th, was the two story brick residence of Mr. Mihl: father of Chas. and Mrs. Beltz. The old folks passed away sometime in the eighties. (154) On the opposite side of Clay St., the south corner, was a long one story frame saloon of a Mr. Luck, a notorious place even up to 1853. He, his wife [217] and two sons, John and George, resided in a two story brick right next to it. The old man died before the Civil

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War. John was a doctor in the Navy. I think he still lives, but as a doctor, he doesn't amount to mud. George enlisted as a soldier in the 16th Iowa, serving honorably throughout the war. He was a boss plasterer and a good fellow. He died some time in the nineties, leaving a widow (nee Miss Harris) and one son. Their place, since 1856-57, is now (1890) the John Pier Store, saloon and residence. The brick house and store next was built about same time as the Pier's by Mr. Mangold. It was the saloon and residence of Mr. Berg. Here Chas. Schreiber was a bartender up to 1856, when he went to John McClay, then on Main St. He, a few years after, married one of the Xavier girls who was then quite wealthy. Her money enabled him to buy an interest in the business. In a few years after, some way (hard to think straight even if legal), he had the whole business. He and the bookkeeper, a Mr. Conihar. But the old saying "the mills of God grind slowly, but exceedingly fine" has in some measure, after longs years, come true in this case.

Well, above that was a large frame house bought by a then poor Swiss family by the name of Moser. There were three sons: John, Fred and George; and four daughters: Catherine, Elisabeth, Mary and Amelia. The last two were half sisters. The boys first went out on the hills picking mineral. They did well and were very saving. John soon got a situation with F. V. Goodrich & Co., a general store in the, then, new Globe Building at Main and 5th. He was a good clerk and soon became popular with the [218] German trade. In 1856, he left the store and opened a small grocery store in the home on Clay St. To make the story short, by thrift and economy he accumulated quite a fortune. He married Caroline Moser in 1857. He still lives and saves his money (1890). Fred at an early day got a position with the Bissell Bros. on the corner of Main & 11th. By faithful attendance to business he became a partner, and then sole proprietor of the business and building. But through mining and speculation he has lost the most of it. He married a niece of Judge Burt in 1859 or 60. They and several children still live at the corner of 11th & Main. George was a mineral picker and wood sawyer with his father for several years. He finally got in the same store that his brother John was as an errand boy. I took his place in Sept., 1855. We both worked there until we enlisted: I in 1861, he in 1862. (155) He rose to be a 2nd Lieut. of his company. After the war he married Sophia Weigel. She died in child birth two or three

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years after that. He married again and died in 19??. The oldest daughter, Catherine, was married to my brother Otto in May, 1861. The next one, Elisabeth, married John Rath in the fall of 1865. Mary married Geo. W. Healey in 1866. Amelia married a gambler, a known rogue.

On the corner of 8th (sw) was the two story brick residence of Mr. Kriechbaum, a well to do German and old settler. He adopted Christina, the youngest daughter of old man Zanuck after his death in the early fifties. She married a disreputable quack and abortion doctor. After his death, she married one of the Ferris boys. The block between 8th & 9th west side was all vacant up [219] to about 1857. The Baptist Church, a frame building, was here before then. About the center of the block (now Buettell Bros. Building), was, in 1852 to 53, the Austin Adams Academy. I attended this school for a term or two. John W. Heathrington was one of my school mates. Mr. Adams was, in later years, a lawyer, and the last years of his life Judge of the Supreme Court of Iowa. No other buildings were then in this block, lumber yards filled up the empty spaces. The block opposite, on the corner of 8th, was an old frame and one or two other small buildings. That was all up to 1857. The block above, between 9th & 10th west, there was, on the corner of 9th, one two story building. In the center of the block was a double two story brick, nothing else. On 9th St,. to the east between White & Clay, was the two story frame building and home of Mr. Zollicoffer. He was one of the oldest settlers and their son Jacob still lives there. They had been farmers in Peru, and Zollicoffer Lake is named after them. The block opposite (west), had then one building on it. A double two story brick was on the corner of 10th St. (and in 1890 still there). Here lived a Mr. Sargent, in his day popular & well to do. They had one son, Epp. Later on Dr. Minyer?, Sr. lived there. On the block, west side between 10th and 11th, at the corner of 10th was a frame building. The Milton family, after their misfortune, lived here for some time. Next to it was also an old frame building, Rev. Chas. Skemp lived here in 1869. The two story, 3 tenement brick above was built about 1856 or 57. On the corner was the 1 1/2 frame residence of Mr. Koch: a watchmaker by profession, highly educated, an agnostic and bitter enemy of all religion. His wife was a midwife. They had two sons [220] and two daughters. Adam, the oldest, became quite a politician. Frank was a druggist. He committed suicide at Cedar Falls in the seventies. (156) The oldest daughter married Peter Steckline in 1858. He

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was then a clerk in Sheffield & Scotts. He was discharged for stealing goods. I detected him in it. They at that time lived in the frame building on the southeast corner of 7th & Clay St. The block opposite, between 10th & 11th, had only two or three houses. Sometime in 1857 or 58, on the corner on 10th, was built the two story frame (still there in 1890). All was a boarding house. Its first occupant and landlord was, I think, the late Mike Schunk (father of Mayor Schunk). Above it was a frame house, once, about 1853, the home of Wm. Rudolph. Next, back in the yard, was a frame house, in the front yard of which was a fine flower garden. The corner was vacant. On the same side of the street (east), the block above, had but one house: a two story brick, 2 tenements. It was the property of, and home to, Franklin Hines, hardware merchant (Westphal & Hines). They had two daughters and one adopted son, who has disappeared. Their youngest daughter, Emma, was then the handsomest girl in the old 3rd Ward School and a school mate of mine. She married a young man, a lawyer, but a failure. They are now living in St. Paul. He is a traveling man and now doing well. The buildings south in this block were built after the war, sometime in the sixties. One of them by Mr. Luke of Wood Luke & Co., and one by a Col. West. The ground clear up to 13th St. on the east side was, up to 1857, all empty space on this east side of the street and used as a play ground. The circus tents were here always put up. The [221] west side up to 12th St. had but two buildings on it at that time. The first from 11th St. was a double two story frame (still there 1890). The next was the old 3rd Ward Public School. In early days, and up to 1853 or 54, it was a one story, double brick building. This was the first public school I attended. This gave way to the present building in 1857. Here Professor Kretchmer first became a public school teacher, and in this building I went to school a term or two in 1855. This building was erected by architect Rague as well as all the rest of these schools. The building opposite, now used as a high school, was built in the late sixties by the Turners. Now the block on west side, from 12th to 13th St., had only two buildings on it. On the corner of 12th was a two story brick house, in one side of which lived the Brown family. Charley, the son, was my chum. In the other part lived an old German couple with one son & daughter. Their name was Eidemuller. Next to it above was the one story brick residence of P. W. Crawford. His wife was the daughter of Geo. Connell. Crawford is one of the oldest of Dubuque's lawyers now, and a

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statesman & soldier. (157) The block just described is now built up, since the late seventies, by the Rath Packing Plant and brick stores. The land above, and up to 13th St., was, up to 1857, a sort of public square and play ground for us boys. From Clay to Iowa, in about the center, was a public well, and it was fine water. Many a bucketful did I draw from it in the six years that we lived near there on Iowa St., between 13th & 14th. This is now, since 1857, the site of the City Hall and the Farmers and Hucksters Market ground. [222]

All the buildings now on Clay St. up to 13th have been built since the early sixties and up to the early seventies. The block above and east, on Clay between 13th & 14th, was all owned by Mr. Mathews and family: his wife, one son and two daughters. They lived in a neat cottage about in the center. This property extended from Clay St. to the alley, and from 13th to 14th St. It was almost all an orchard of apples, plums, cherries & small fruit. Mr. M., as I remember him, was a fine looking, large, portly man. He was a master plasterer and contractor. He died in the early fifties. His widow survived him up into the seventies. The son Albert was one of my intimate friends and comrade in Co. E, 5th Iowa Cavalry. He never did any work. He contracted the consumption in the war, and died of it in 1868. The oldest daughter married Mr. Oliver, the marble cutter. The youngest married Chas. Markle. They all now live in Chicago. The fine block now on that site was built since the Civil War. The block on the west side, from 13th to 14th, was, up to 1850, entirely bare of any buildings. The exception was the Connell residence: a two story brick near the corner of 13th. They owned the entire block. Mr. Connell was by trade a carpenter. He was so badly afflicted with the palsy that he was unable to work and died a year or two before the Civil War. His family consisted of his wife (a garrulous, miserly old woman), four sons: John, George, Drayton and Taylor and three daughters: the oldest, the wife of P. W. Crawford and the other died in early womanhood. John was one of the worst boys of the town, and the rest were little better. George worked on the Steamboat Doctor Franklin No. 2, fell [223] overboard and was drowned in early sixties. Drayton died shortly after the war, and Taylor committed suicide in a restaurant in Dubuque. The youngest daughter, Mrs. and John are the only survivors. The entire block above his house he (Mr. Connell) leased to a Mr. Chas. Lueck? sometime in 1851 or 1852. This man was a mystery to all. Where he came from or what

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he was or did before he came here no one ever knew. He would never talk about himself. He was a wicked old fellow. We found he had been in Africa for some time, he seemed to have plenty money, and he was not miserly with it. (158) He married the oldest daughter of old man Zanuck (now Mrs. Thompson). In 1851 or 52 he built a two story log & frame building. The upper floor was his residence and the rest a grocery and liquor store. Here, for several years, he kept and supported old Mrs. Zanuck and several of her children. Lutz, the son, clerked for him in the store and robbed him shamefully. He treated the boys with cigars and spent money on them Sundays without stint. John Connell was his ruin. He kept him in money &c, and even bought a watch for him. Well, the old fellow died, and that ended that spree. But before he died, he built a row of 8 or 9 small one story frame shacks of only 2 rooms. Even these miserable hovels were readily rented. They were built on the ground now occupied by that fine 3 story (Bell Block) on 13th St. up to Iowa. Sometime in 1855 to 1857, the Connells built the frame buildings up to the alley. Mr. Mack, a gunsmith, built the two story brick row of stores. One he, for several years, occupied himself; the rest were rented to other parties. The one near the [224] corner of Iowa St. was the grocery store of Sadler and Corrance up to the seventies. Here Mae, the wife of our son John, was born. On 14th St., on either side, was but one small brick building on the alley south side. On the north side of the street, all the buildings now there have been built since 1856 to 1860. This part was, up to 1852, the home and orchard of Richard Plum & family. The block on the west side, from 14th to 15th (still Clay St.), was not well built up until after the war. Up to 1857 there were only three buildings there. They were all brick, two story buildings and fine residences. In one of them lived lawyer Hand, whose daughter Nellie (a very handsome girl), was the sweetheart of all the boys. The block opposite, from 14th to 15th, had, as I now can recollect, only one or two buildings on it from 1850 to 1857. About the center was a frame residence where Mr. Kretchmer had a private German school. While living here, he married a Miss Fengler: daughter of an eccentric and skeptical old German said to have been a priest or preacher in Europe. He and his family were very early settlers of Eagle Point. On or very near the corner of 15th was a 1 1/2 story brick house. On 14th or 15th St., up to 1853 or 54, there were no buildings from Clay to White St. The block on the east side, between 15th and 16th,

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was only occupied, at that time, by two buildings: near the corner of 15th by a frame dwelling; and all the rest up to (now 16th St., then not open or graded) was the frame dwelling of Mr. Carter. They had one son and daughter. They sold out early in (159) the sixties and went west to Montana. The son Tom was U.S. Senator for one term from there. The block from 16th to 17th on the east side was entirely bare, not a building on it [225] up to 1858. The block on the west side, from 15th to 16th, was bare. The weeds & brush from (the now Iowa St.) hill side covered the ground nearly up to the street. On the west side, between 16th & 17th, were only one or two small frame houses or shacks, one of which was once the upper deck of a steamboat in which lived the three Tinkham boys. On Clay, between 17th & 18th, was only the German Methodist Church. Behind that, facing the Seminary, was a 2 tenement brick house in which lived the Byron family as far back as 1852/53. The daughter, Laura, is the wife of Mr. Chamberlin, the cigar dealer, late of Dubuque. This is very near as far as that part of Dubuque went and looked like from Lake Peosta, the Mississippi River to Iowa St., from there down to 16th St., and from that to 1st St., embracing Conler Ave. to Eagle Point Ave., and the (then) flats up to Iowa St., and down to its foot. But not including Iowa St.

I have in these pages described Iowa St., the cemetery, the Seminary and its surrounding buildings, so I will only say that the three buildings west of the Seminary were built after 17th St. had been graded sometime in the early sixties. The one at the head of Main St. (now the Stampfer home), owned by Mr. Root the photographer, was the first one. Mr. Oliver, the marble cutter, resided in one of the others, and a Mr. Woodward & family in the other one. The cemetery extended down to and over 15th St., and the main entrance to it was about where St. Patrick's now stands. It remained in its original state, with its fine grove of large trees, up to the early sixties. Only the bodies or corpses had been removed in 1852 or 53 to the new cemetery [226] (Linwood). It was then leveled and made into a park (Jackson), as it is now in 1890. It would have been more attractive and beautiful had it been left in the original condition: a mound full of large, stately trees and improved with drives, walks, fountains, flower beds &c &c.

Now starting at 14th and Iowa on the west side. On the corner was a frame house, and all that space, where (since 1867) the two story Thedinga brick

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block now stands, was a nasty mud bog: a veritable hog wallow of knee deep mud and filth. In the house lived a bachelor and his maiden sister by name of Simon. They were fit people for the place, about as filthy as the place they lived on. They had few friends or visitors. On the 1/2 lot below, Andrew Hoerner and family lived in a frame house (160) since 1849. Later on he built a two frame in front of it & to the street. His son Geo. A. (called Andy the letter carrier) conducted a grocery store on the first floor for several years in the seventies. Mrs. Hoerner was a Mary Conzet, our distant relative. They were married in 1848 at our house on Main St. Her family had been living with us, and the mother died there about that time. In back of his house on the alley was a frame house. The Rev. John Bantley and family lived there for a year or so. The next 1/2 lot was where stood the humble one story frame house of my parents. We had only 3 rooms for the family of seven: father, mother, four boys and one then baby girl. But as the 3 older boys were now working, and two of them slept where they were employed, we got along quite comfortably. It was home sweet home to us from 1849 to late 1855 when, in 1855, father [227] sold the place to Bissell Bros. for $2800 (he bought it in 1849 for $1600). He received $1800 in cash and groceries. In 1857/58 the boom collapsed and, rather than pay the balance due and the interest on it, they deeded the property back to father. This money enabled father to buy the lot and build the house on Almond St. (at that time called the Cox Addition), where the family lived from July, 1857, to mother's death in March, 1888. This house was then one of the three that were then there from the Blake house to (now) Clark St. The lots south of us to 13th St., & from Iowa to the alley, was, below the alley to Iowa St., almost always a frog pond. It could all have all been bought in 1850 for $600. My brothers wanted to buy it, but father vetoed it. On the east side between 14th & 13th St. there were, then and up to the sixties, only two houses. One, near the center, was a two story brick in which, for a time, lived Tom Gilliam. On the corner of 14th was a two story brick. Widow Haskell and her son lived here a few years; the son and me were playmates and chums. Mr. Mack, the gunsmith, lived here up to his death. It now (1890) is part of the block fronting 13th St. The land below, on the same side of the street (between 13th & 12th) and about half the block, was up to 1857 a sort of public square as described in the Clay St. article. The other part had only one two story frame house

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on it, in later years Klauers Tin & Stove Store. This was the home, the first one in America, of Wm. Rudolph. Here was born, in the early fifties, our cousin Mary. On the west side, between 12 & 13, there were then (1849 to 1855), 4 or 5 nice houses, all brick. The two story on the corner was the property of [228] Mr. Corrance. Next was the house of W. H. Heathrington, now the property of Mr. Lathing?, who died in 1908. The next (161) was the house and home of the Merritt family. Then on the corner of 12th was the home of Mr. Norris. This was one of Dubuque's first families. They had only one child: a lovely young lady to whom I carried many billett-doux from Mr. Greathead, bookkeeper for Barney Scott & Co. She, however, married Mr. W. E. Robinson and the youngest son, Dr. E. G. Robinson, married our oldest daughter Mary Adelia in Dubuque, Iowa in June, 1889. Mr. Norris was a large, fine looking man; an ordained elder of the M E Church and, in the early fifties, associated with J. P. Farley in the wholesale dry goods business on Main St. between 3rd and 4th Sts. He was Lincoln's Indian and Land Commissioner during the Civil War. He died shortly after the war in 1868, leaving behind him an unblemished record as a Christian gentleman. His widow survived him many years, dying in 1891, being loved and lamented by grand and great-grandchildren and a host of sorrowing friends. The block below, on the same side, had, up to 1851 or 1852, only 2 buildings on it. Then, at that time a Mr. Gillespie, the druggist, built a fine brick house on the corner of 12th St. His lot extended about 100 feet on Iowa St. He, with his family, resided there up to 1859 or 60, when Mr. F. W. H. Sheffield bought it. He enlarged and improved it greatly, and lived there up to the summer of 1875. That is when ruin and disaster overtook him by the rascality of Babcock, the cashier of the Merchants National Bank, of which he was President, one of the founders and its largest stockholders. He lost all his fortune and sacrificed his fine [229] home for the benefit of the bank's creditors. He went east that same summer, and he told me, tears falling down his cheeks, that he was leaving Dubuque with less then $500. He still lives, and has recuperated his fortune and standing. The next house was a two story brick; it was quite an old house. On the corner was the then fine residence of M. Huff, brother in law to H. L. Stout, a financier and speculator. He died sometime in the early sixties, and is buried in a

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vault in the old part of Linwood, facing the city. His widow survived him many years. The block opposite, between 12th and 11th St., had, up to 1850, only 2 brick buildings on it. On the corner of 12th was the fine mansion and home of one of the Langworthy Bros., either Lucius or Solomon; I don't remember which. His property extended about one hundred feet on Iowa St., and was enclosed by a stone wall 3 feet high on Iowa & 12th St. The alley part, for its whole length, was of brick and used as stables and out houses. It was then considered to be one of the best and finest residence in the town. He lived there until in the fifties, when he sold it to the Presbyterians, who converted (162) it into a theological college. My brother Jacob attended this school to study for the ministry. It was known then as The Alexander College. It was afterwards, in the late fifties, the house of Dr. Scott, the father of Mrs. H. O. Jones, and of the late, well known druggist James Hervey. It was finally torn down in 1875 by Mr. Rowan who built the fine brick block that is there now. The next was a double two story brick, always used as it is now, for private dwellings. A fine brick residence on the corner of 12th was built in the very early [230] fifties by Judge Lincoln Clark, a fine old southern gentleman. He and his family returned south before the Civil War broke out. This was, for several years afterwards, the home of a Mr. Johnson, the uncle of my scrofulous friend Sam Patch. After him, Judge Shioas lived there until the death of his first wife in the seventies. It is now, since 1890, a fine business block. The block to the south on the same side had, at this time (1850 to 55), but 2 buildings on it. The corner was then the residence of Mr. W. H. Rebman: a two story brick. On the corner of 11th was a frame that was built in the early fifties by Mrs. Miller, the proprietor of the Washington Hotel at the northeast corner of 5th & Locust St. It was, in 1858/59, the home of P. W. Skemp; his first wife died here in childbirth. He was then my fellow clerk with Sheffield & Scott. The block on the west side, in the same years (up to 1856 or 1857), had but three buildings on it. On the corner of 11th was the fine residence and garden of lawyer Griffith, a prominent man and noted lawyer. He was the man under whom W. J. Knight first studied law and later became his partner. To this man, and his fine, handsome wife, the Episcopal Church is largely indebted for its present fine building and financial prosperity. Next, to the south of it, was for years the double brick home of Judge Burt. He was, in the early days, a prominent lawyer and also mayor of the city in the sixties before the war. He was the

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father of my friend Jack and of Mrs. C. S. Keller. He was always a good man, but the disgrace of his son Jack and the suicide of Keller, they say, broke his heart. He died in 1883 or 1884. The brick house, next on the corner, was the home of a very early settler, Col. McHenry. [231] He was a fine old gentleman, an enthusiastic Republican, and admirer of Lincoln. His son Ham enlisted in the Gov. Grays (First Iowa Infantry), and at the Battle of Springfield Mo. in August, 1861, he was killed. The old gent had a shoe store on Main St., about where the A. M. Express office now is. He was the father of Mrs. Henion, the dentist. (163) The block on the east side had, up to 1855, no buildings on it. All that are now there have been built since 1857 to 1860 and later on. The block on the west side, corner of 10th was for years (up 1861 or 62), the residence and home of Gen. Warner Lewis. They were fine old people, he and his wife, but intensely southern in their feelings. Those feelings were also shared by his two sons: Warner and Thomas; and two daughters: Sally and Jennie. The Gen. at one time was well to do, but the Panic of 1857 was hard on him. The stand he and his family took during the war ruined him entirely. For years after the war he was County Recorder which, out of sympathy for him as a man & his misfortune, he was allowed to retain up to his death. His two sons went south and joined the rebel army. Warner lived through it and came home for a few weeks in 1870 or 1871, but returned to Nashville, Tennessee. He fell down the stairway of a hotel and broke his neck shortly after. The oldest daughter, Sally, in spite of her very red hair, was a popular belle of the city in her younger days. She still lives now (in 1890) as Mrs. Van Pelt. Jennie had for years been her father's assistant and deputy, and after his death the office was conferred on her. I forgot to say that Tom was a member of Gen. Forrest's command. He died in 1862 or 1863 while crossing the Cumberland Mountains pursued [232] by our forces. The daughters are the only members of the family living. On the corner of 9th St., H. L. Stout built his (then) fine mansion about 1850. It is now part of the YMCA Institute, a gift from Mr. Stout to the society some year in the nineties. Our son, John, was its president for years before and after. On the corner of 9th, west side, from about 1855 up to 1857, was the parsonage of the ministers of the German Presbyterian Church. The first occupant was Rev. Madoulet. He gave the place to Rev. A. Van Vliet in 1851, who lived there up to the fall of 1857, when the church was moved to 17th & Iowa St. On the alley in back

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of this house, the First Presbyterian Church was built in 1848 or 1849. It was 1 1/2 story and of brick, and stood there for years after the church people left it. The Tremont House Hotel, a large 3 story frame building extending from Iowa St. to the alley, was built sometime in the fifties (I think 1856 or 1857). Its first landlord was Richard Plum. The next, and last, was Mr. Dickinson (father of the dentist) and Horton, my comrade of Co. E, 5th Iowa Cavalry. It was looked upon as a first class family hotel. My employers, at one time, made it their home; and I boarded here from 1857 to 1861. That was all there was in that block up to 1857. On the corner (east side) of 9th St. was the residence (a frame building), from an early day, of one of Iowa's first printers and newspapermen: Andrew Kiessecker. His son, about my age, still lives and works at his father's trade in Dubuque. The (164) next house was a frame cottage, the property of a Mrs. Seymour. She was an elderly woman as far back as I can remember, and she had an evil reputation up to her death. On the corner near it (on 8th St.) was [233] a 1 1/2 story brick, the home of Peter Kinney, Sr. and his family. They lived there from the time they left the Hotel Harmony Hall, on Clay St., up to the end, or near the end, of the Civil War. They lived here when Peter, Jr., ran away and enlisted in the 16th Iowa Infantry in 1862. On the east corner of 8th was the fine home of Geo. L. Nightingale, which he built and removed to sometime between 1855 and 1857. Here he died, and the family lost the fine home very soon after his death. I have given their history in the Clay St. pages. The rest of the block, from the Nightingale home down to 7th St., and from Iowa St. to the alley, was the home and property of an old German miser by name of Tuegel. His house was a frame and about in the center. The whole place was fruit trees and a vegetable garden. He died either during the war or soon after. His property all went to the Catholic Church (Sisters of St. Francis, I think). The block on the west side, beginning at the corner of 8th St., starts with the parsonage of the Congregational Church. Rev. Holbrook was its first tenant and the building (a brick) is still there in 1890. Next was a fine, two story, four tenement brick block: the residence (south part) and property of Mr. Shomo. He was a blacksmith by trade. They had two sons: Harry and Harvey. They are all dead. I followed Harvey to his grave, late one cold day in the fall, barefooted. I shall always remember that! Next was a blacksmith shop. On 7th St., near the corner of the alley, was a frame house where a Swiss family

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Continued in section 2......

Index of Parts 1 and 2

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me at
larry@conzett.org. Thank you.