The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-11-02
"REMINISCENCES OF HIGH POINT
By G. W. HoadIey, In Garden Grove Express.

settlement. Portraits of prominent
men who have been strong charac-
tiers of those early times will appear
from time to time.
1t is little known that citizen Of
Decatur county rose to the rank of
| Brigadier General and was consul
general at the court of St. Peters,
burg, Russia. His portrait in full
dress uniform will appear, as fine a
specimen of manly beauty and INTEL
ligence as you ever saw. And later
on an account of where the first trad
ing post for the Indians in the coun-
ty was. The first postoffice and the
first postmaster and the name of the
office. Also it is little known that
there were two thriving trading
points between Garden Grove and
Leon before the railroad came
through. We also expect to write up
the old Williams & Cruikshank mill
on Jonathan creek. Memories of
war times, etc.
First we will take up High Point
township and town and l must ac-
knowledge my Indebtedness to Mrs.
Davis Macy, as she was known to the
pioneers. She afterward married
|
and respected pioneer of this section
of the county
The first item of history concern
ing High Point is that it was called
Paris at first in the name of the man,
James Paris, who settled there in
1854 and built a building that was
known all over the country as four
stories and all on the ground. Here
Mr.. Paris kept the first postoffice and
the first store and used part of the
building as a dwelling. This build
ing many a reader can see in his
minds eye. Years afterward James
Warren lived here and kept sort of a
public house and many weary, hun
cry traveller was glad to get taste
of Aunt Rosanns cooking. She was
a good cook and a house keeper.
When Warren occupied it it became
known as rat row" and stood near
where the present fine Methodist
church now stands. The reason that
the name was changed from Paris to
High Point was from the fact that
when the government surveyors were
at work there they found that this
was the highest point of land be-
tween the Missouri and Mississippi
rivers and therefore they called it
High Point. The following names
are among the early settlers: Davis
Macy, 1853; Elijah Mendenhall.
1853; Zeno Warrington, 1858; James
Paris, 1854; Ben Woolley, 1853;
Thos. Chemberlin, 1854; James
Paris, 1854. Others, the date of ar
rival of whom we were not able to
learn, were Isaac Miller and Capt.
Alexander and their excellent wives
Thos. Williams, Jason Bennett, the
Kings, Kendalls, Holland, Lewis
Clark, Sylvanus Smith, the Hankens,
they were probably the first settlers
as Ben Woolley camped near their
house when he came in 1853. They
lived on the place the most of the
people at present know as the M. v.
McCleary farm. Later came Nc
Clearys, Hitchcocks, Mr.. Since, an
early settler and Isaac Miller bought
him out. A Mr.. Sabold was the first
blacksmith. Enos Fox, VIM. and
James Carr, Mr.. Casey, the Pryors
and Mudgetts, Reynolds, Trullinger,
Silvers, Perry Wolverton, Hon. S. P.
Mcneil, OF Brant, Wiley, DR.. Ammer-
man, DR.. Bowman, who lived on the
!
this county far and near, being,
think, the first resident doctor, a
man of singular character. DR.. Am
norman practiced in this section
years ago. Then there was James
Milton, who was among the earliest
settlers. He served his time in the
army also but the roster of the COM
pany gives his name as Melton. He
was known all over the country as
Jim Milton and when there was
dance on hands Jim could sit and
fiddle and call off all night. He used
to say when it was time to begin,
"Well Deacon Chase, Buck Stearns,
Enos Davis, let's get done with this
job, and then the old fiddle would
start and couples would take the
| floor and it was balance all.
Later there came Kemp Bartlett,
the Aliens, Bryson Bruce, and part of
good old uncle Hugh Browns land
was in High Point township, but we
claim him for Garden Grove. Later
that grand old man, Deacon Chase,
! but we claim him also for Garden
| Grove, for he was our post master at
Garden Grove during the war time,
some incidents of which you will hear
later. Chas., James and Oscar Beav-
ers live in High Point township and
belong to family of pioneers, but
the dam of the Beavers is in Wood
land township. David Clark, an old
timer, used to bind every year for
Mcneil on the old Marsh harvester.
He together with Fred Swan of
Woodland were among the few men
that could stand the racket. Then
there were the Brileys, Sam Slack,
! where the boys used to have dances.
And old Jonathan, the Tharps, Meal
lister, Ike Mccullough, good old uncle
Joe Slack, Tymon Young, (Look a
leetle OUT
The Rosengrants, Etna and his
! wife, are alive and live in Garden
Grove. He is quite feeble, but in his
day he could pick a SQUIRRELS
eye out or drop deer with the best
| of them. His wife is hale and hearty.
says she is just as good as new at the
| age of II. Then there is uncle, Bill
Adams and wife who live in Garden
Grove, he being in Door health I'm