A Short History of the Kaboli Clark Richardson Barker

A Short History
of the
Kaboli Clark Richardson Barker Farm
David Barker
June, 2003
Our farm is a mix of cropland and pasture nestled between a paha and a patch of forest below
a bend of the Cedar River. It is isolated and out-of-the-way, and always has been. Nothing of
great historical significance has happened on the farm, but it has not been isolated completely
from historical events. This short article is an attempt to show how our farm fits into natural
and human history, and how historical events have shaped it.
Geological History
The earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago. For 2 billion years, the surface cooled, wrinkled,
and broke into plates that continue to float about on the molten interior. One billion years ago
an ocean surrounded a single large continent, which split apart around 750 million years ago.
Our farm was part of a new continent that drifted toward the South Pole. As the original
continent broke apart, new shallow seas were formed that were perfect for the growth of
plankton. Massive amounts of photosynthesis created a reverse-greenhouse effect by
reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing the greatest ice age in
earth’s history. The ice age lasted 10 million years – glaciers and frozen oceans covered most
of the earth’s surface. Our farm, near the South Pole, was covered with miles of ice.
Volcanoes eventually replenished the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and, although climate
fluctuated dramatically for a long time, the earth warmed.
North America then drifted to the north. 600 million years ago our farm was near the equator.
It was sometimes under the ocean, sometimes beachfront property, and sometimes inland, but
it was warm, alternating between an arid and a tropical climate. It remained near the equator
until it began moving north again around 200 million years ago. Hadrosaurs, large duckbilled dinosaurs, roamed our farm amid lush sub-tropical vegetation. The bedrock under our
farm is from around 430 million years ago, somewha t older than the Devonian bedrock in
most of Johnson County, but it also probably contains marine fossils.
“Dinosaur Society Hadrosaur,”, Karen Carr
By 60 million years ago the dinosaurs were gone, the continents resembled their current
shapes, and our farm was high and dry for good. The weather was still warm, but it became
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cooler and cooler until cycles of glaciation began around 2 million years ago. These cycles
were not nearly as severe as the ice age of 750 million years ago, but our farm was repeatedly
covered with a sheet of ice that extended into central Missouri. Each time the thick ice came
it dramatically changed the landscape and then retreated. Before the ice ages, the terrain was
rugged, but melting glaciers filled the valleys with debris.
Our farm has been free of glacial ice for at least 500,000 years. The ice sheets that covered
Illinois 100,000 years ago and north central Iowa 10,000 years ago missed eastern Iowa.
Although our climate became close to arctic from time to time, our farm was free of yearround ice. The last glacier left the area high and flat, with many boulders of igneous and
metamorphic rocks scraped from Canada and Minnesota and dragged to Iowa by the glaciers.
Our farm contains an unusually undisturbed area strewn with these “glacial erratics.”
Glacial Eratics
Since the land has been ice- free for so long, streams, rivers, and wind have had a chance to
erode and shape the surface. To our north, in an region known as the “Iowan Surface” tundra
conditions were so extreme that the hills carved by streams and rivers were blown away as
sand and dust created by freezing and thawing. Our paha is probably partially a dune
composed of this blowing sand. The farm is very close to the boundary between the Iowan
Surface and the Southern Iowa Drift Plain, and so our paha is one of the southernmost in the
state.
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The Paha
From 10,000 years ago until European settlement, prairie fires kept most of our farm free of
trees, except for a small strip along Mill Creek. The farm was part of a 3 mile wide strip of
prairie between the forests along the Cedar and Iowa Rivers. The pattern of forest and clear
land on the farm and north to the Cedar River is mostly unchanged since surveyors first
charted the area in 1850, and much of the pasture appears to have never been ploughed, so our
farm is remarkable for how little it has changed in recent times.
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Native American History
Our farm was out-of-the-way even in Native American times. Not a single Native American
artifact has been found within two miles of our location. A few have been found two miles to
the north on the far side of the Cedar River. Three miles to the west, closer to the Iowa River,
Native American sites are common. Our farm was undoubtedly hunting ground for Native
Americans, but it was never their home. Mammoths, mastodons, bison, caribou, and deer
were hunted in the area by Native Americans for more than 12,000 years. The oldest Native
American site that has been excavated in Iowa was found near the Cedar River, less than 20
miles from our farm.
A succession of Native American peoples lived in Eastern Iowa over these thousands of years.
The last to appear were the Meskwakis, who were driven by the French from Wisconsin into
Iowa in the early 1700s, when they established settlements along the Iowa River.
European Conquest
Although the land was inhabited by Native Americans, European powers began to claim it in
the late 1600s. Louis Joliet and Father Marquette discovered the upper Mississippi region in
1673, and the entire Mississippi valley was claimed for France by Robert La Salle in 1682 and
was named Louisiana. A few French fur traders may have traveled nearby, but their impact
on Eastern Iowa west of the Mississippi was minimal.
When the British defeated France in the French and Indian War in 1763, they took all French
possessions they thought were valuable, but did not bother with the wilderness west of the
Mississippi River. France did not want Louisiana either. Spain had been France’s ally
against the British, and when the British took Florida away from Spain, France gave
Louisiana to Spain to partially compensate Spain for its loss.
Spain was never very interested in Louisiana, but Napoleon, the next ruler of France, was
interested. In 1800, Napoleon traded the Italian Kingdom of Eturia to Spain in return for
Louisiana. (Napoleon reneged on the deal, and ended up with both Eturia and Louisiana)
Various difficulties led Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States in 1803 for 2.9 cents
per acre.
Iowa was then part of the United States, but it was still “Indian Country.” It was first a part of
the Louisiana Territory, then the Indiana Territory and then was transferred to the Missouri
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Territory, but since whites were forbidden to settle west of the Mississippi, the interior of
Iowa was largely unaffected by political developments, although there was some illegal
settlement.
The Black Hawk War of 1832 forced the Sauk people from Illinois into Iowa. In addition,
since the United States considered the Sauk and Meskwaki to be a single tribe, a large tract of
the lands of the Meskwaki in Eastern Iowa were taken as compensation for the cost of the
Black Hawk War, and white settlement was allowed. The boundary of this tract was very
close to our farm, but our farm remained the property of the Indians. Rapid settlement of
eastern Iowa and pressure from white politicians convinced Indian leaders that they could not
resist, and should sell their land while they could. The “Second Black Hawk Purchase” of
1837 was a long, narrow boomerang-shaped piece of land stretching from the Missouri border
to north of Waterloo of 1.25 million acres, and included our farm.
The price was $100,000 in cash, which was to be used by the Indians to pay debt, $200,000 to
be held in trust by the United States at 5% interest, $2,000 in cash each year for five years,
and $72,500 worth of agricultural aid and other goods, for a total of $0.302 per acre.
Meskwakis returned to the Iowa and Cedar River valleys to hunt during the 1830s and 1840s,
but were themselves hunted and gradually driven out of the area by the Dragoons from Fort
Des Moines. By 1852, they were gone completely. Some purchased land near Tama; others
were pushed west into Kansas and Nebraska where many of them died.
After briefly being part of Wisconsin Territory, the Territory of Iowa was organized in 1838,
and Iowa City was made the capital in 1839. Cedar Township was organized on January 7,
1846
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Settlement
Our farm remained the property of the United States Government until 40 acres of the farm,
the middle pasture, was purchased by Benjamin Ellyson from the government on October 8,
1852 for $1.25 per acre. Already there were sawmills, flourmills, schools and blacksmiths
nearby. Mill Creek, which runs through our farm, was apparently named for one of the
sawmills. (Another Mill Creek is located in eastern Cedar Township and is now the source of
the upper arm of Lake MacBride.) The earliest settlers would have traveled to Davenport for
supplies until Iowa City became the trading center for the area. Nearby land had been
purchased from the government in 40 acre parcels since late 1847 and these sales continued
through 1858, all for $1.25 per acre. Zadock Ellyson purchased another 80 acres on October
30, 1852, the east pasture and the paha. The next purchase was by Franklin Stiles on April
21, 1853. He bought 80 acres, the west cornfield and a 40 acre parcel to the north that is no
longer part of the farm. Benjamin Ellyson followed on July 13, 1853 with his purchase of the
west pasture and the cornfield west of the road. The southwest cornfield was purchased by
William Corrgil on July 30, 1853, and the last portion of our farm, the 2.5 acres to the north of
the middle pasture, was purchased on July 1, 1854 by John Culbertson as part of a 40 acre
parcel. Culbertson was often a partner with Morgan Reno, who was Iowa State Treasurer
from 1846-1850.
The land would have been ideal in some ways for early settlers. The prairie land was very
fertile, and it was near sources of timber for building fences and buildings and firewood. Mill
creek provided water, and the land was well drained.
The deed for the sale of the farm by Darius Baldwin to Robert S. Lucas
These early purchasers, however, did not appear to live on the farm and did not own it for
long. Economic and political uncertainty grew and peaked with the panic of 1857. During
that year, Darius Baldwin, who lived north of Youngstown, Ohio, assembled all of the land of
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our farm from the original purchasers, at prices averaging $5.60 per acre. The panic ended
quickly, and war worries pushed commodity and land prices up. Baldwin sold some corner
parcels, which gave our farm its present shape, and then on March 31, 1860, sold the farm to
Robert Sumner Lucas for $13 per acre.
Baldwin more than doubled his money in only 3 years. His profit on the farm, around $2,800,
is equivalent to $60,000 in today’s prices. However, relative to unskilled wages then and
now, this profit is equivalent to $400,000 today, and relative to per capita GDP then and now,
it is equivalent to $700,000.
Robert Sumner Lucas was the son of Governor Robert Lucas, the first governor of the
Territory of Iowa. He was named after two older brothers, Robert and Sumner, who had died
before he was born. Governor Lucas was originally a land surveyor, and he and his sons were
lifelong land speculators. Lucas rose to the rank of brigadier general in the War of 1812 and
served in the unsuccessful invasion of Canada. A strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, he
was elected to the Ohio state legislature after the war, and at the same time was a successful
merchant. He allegedly prospered by helping to route state financed canals near land that he
owned. He was later elected governor of Ohio. During his second term, Ohio and Michigan
nearly fought a war over a northern strip of Ohio including Toledo. Lucas called out the
militia, but Congress settled the issue in Ohio’s favor and avoided hostilities. Michigan
received the Upper Peninsula. Defeated for the U.S. Senate, Lucas was appointed Governor
of the Iowa Territory. Lucas then nearly fought a war with Missouri over a 13 mile wide strip
of land along the border. Again the state militia was called out, and a Missouri sheriff was
arrested for attempting to collect taxes for Missouri in the disputed area. Again Congress
settled the issue, mostly in Iowa’s favor. Lucas was replaced as governor when William
Henry Harrison, a Whig, was elected President, although Lucas later switched to the Whig
party in opposition to the Democratic Party’s support of slavery.
Governor Robert Lucas
Robert Sumner Lucas, who moved to Iowa at the age of 8, was an active land speculator,
buying and selling farms and city lots. He eventually moved to Pierce County Nebraska,
where he served as a judge and state legislator. In a set of complex transactions ending on
January 20, 1862, the farm was sold to Wilberforce W. Woods, who then sold it on October 7,
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1869 to James Peters for a price of $13.89 per acre. Lucas appears to have lost a substantial
amount of money on the farm, and in addition he borrowed $1, 000 from Darius Baldwin,
probably paying 10% interest, the first debt recorded against the farm. Corn prices in Chicago
fell by 50% during the two years Lucas owned the farm, but tripled during the time that
Woods owned it.
The Peters family was the first to truly settle on the farm. Peters Road is named after the
family. James and Mary Peters immigrated to the U.S. from Tipperary County Ireland in
1852, landing in New York. They lived in Ohio for 18 months, and then moved to Iowa. It is
possible that the Peters rented the farm for a time before purchasing it. James and Mary lived
on the farm with their seven children and James’s widowed sister. A brother owned a farm
nearby. According to a county history written in the 1880s they were founding members of
the local Catholic Church in 1863, Democrats, and owned one of the largest farms in the
township. They would have paid two mills in tax based on a value close to $9.55 per acre for
roads, and additional tax to one of the 9 independent school districts in the township. In
addition to our farm, the Peters owned land to the southeast, along what is now 210th Street.
They mostly stayed out of debt, although they borrowed a small amount from 1874 to 1877.
In 1884 2.5 acres were added to the central pasture.
Dan J. Peters in the 1890s
James Peters died in 1889 at the age of 55, and the fourth of their children, Dan J. Peters,
purchased the farm in 1897, borrowing money from his mother, Mary Peters. Mary Peters
died in 1919, and the Iowa City Press Citizen reported that she was a “woman of deep
religious convictions.” The same year that Mary Peters died, Dan J. Peters and his wife Alice
moved from the farm into Iowa City. Peters had been elected a township officer in the 1890s,
and in 1924 he was elected to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors for a term that began
in 1926. In 1928 he was elected chairman by a vote of 4 to 1. After one year, he stepped
down as chairman, but remained on the board. In 1932 he again became chairman on a vote
of 4 to 1 and remained as chairman for 4 years. He was reelected for two years on 3-2 votes,
but was reelected unanimously in 1935. In 1936, Peters nominated another board member as
chairman, who was elected unanimously. For the next four years, the position of chairman
appeared to be uncontested, with different members taking turns for the office. Peters again
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served as chairman in 1938. Peters usually had no opposition in the Democratic primaries,
although he faced a close race in 1934, winning by a margin of 1381 to 1333. His margin of
victory in the general elections declined over time. In 1928 and 1930 he won with 54% and
53% respectively, but in 1934 he barely won with 50.3%. He won in another close election in
1936, but was defeated by a Republican in 1938. He remained on the board until January
1940.
The issues before the Board of Supervisors appear to have been mostly non-controversial.
Bond issues recommended by the board won in general elections by large majorities, and
most board votes were unanimous. The only issue which appears to have caused significant
differences of opinion was the issuance of permits to sell beer. A new Republican member of
the board in 1939 voted against a permit in Morse, while Peters and other Democrats voted in
favor. Before the election of a Republican member, the board had voted unanimously for a
beer selling permit in Sutliff. The victory of the Republicans, very unusual in Johnson
County politics, might have been due to the declining popularity of Franklin Roosevelt
following the recession and the court packing controversy of 1937. Democrats won again for
supervisor in 1940, but Peters did not run. He died in 1941 at the age of 67 of pyemia.
Dan J. Peters in the 1930s
After Peters’ death the farm was sold for $20,662, which amounted to $57 per acre. Peters
had borrowed $12,000 against the farm in 1927, probably at 6-7% interest. The rate dropped
to 4% by 1937, but the debt remained unpaid until the sale was final on February 27, 1943.
The farm was purchased by John and Louis Sybil. John Sybil was born in nearby Oasis. The
Sybils never mortgaged the farm, and they received a few hundred dollars for allowing power
lines to be constructed on the east boundary of the farm. They divorced in 1969. John Sybil
retired and moved to Iowa City in 1982 after a life of farming. When he died in 1998, the
farm was sold to Lawrence and Judith Jedlicka for $1,556 per acre. They began farming
organically, and the farm is now certified as organic. In 2003, less than two tenths of one
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percent of Iowa farmland was certified organic. The Jedlickas divorced and sold most of the
farm to us in 2003 for $2,400 per acre.
Historical Economics of the Farm
The table below compares the price per acre of land received at different times when the farm
was sold in four different ways. Prices are converted to 2003 dollars using consumer prices,
corn prices, unskilled wages, and GDP per capita. Corn prices used in these calculations are
from Philadelphia markets before 1860, and are from Chicago markets from 1860 on.
Compared to per capita GDP, the per-acre price of the farm peaked in 1860, declined until
1943, and has been increasing since then, although it has not reached the level of 1860.
Year
1803
1837
1853
1857
1860
1869
1943
1999
2003
Price Per Acre Adjusted to 2003 Equivalents
Actual Price CPI
Corn
Wages
GDP/Capita
$0.029
$0.46
$0.22
$7.46
$12.60
$0.302
$5.65
$1.30
$48.00
$98.90
$1.25
$28.90
$8.17
$214.00
$426.00
$5.60
$114.00
$25.93
$830.00
$1,350.00
$13.00
$279.00
$74.29
$1,900.00
$3,400.00
$13.89
$182.00
$49.76
$1,390.00
$2,430.00
$57.00
$592.00
$127.85
$1,100.00
$1,460.00
$1,556.00
$1,680.00
$1,905.31
$1,740.00
$1,700.00
$2,400.00
$2,400.00
$2,400.00
$2,400.00
$2,400.00
Including the Louisiana Purchase in this table is a bit misleading, since in 1803 the United
States did not purchase title to the lands of what was then called Louisiana, but only the right
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to govern and tax the area. Title was held by Indians. After the purchase of 1837, however,
the United States had both the right to govern the area and title to the land. The prices of
1803 and 1837 should therefore be added together for the complete cost of the land to the
United States government. The interest rate paid by the federal government from 1803 to
1853 averaged approximately 6%, so the complete cost per acre of the land to the federal
government at the time it finally sold the land in 1853, assuming no administrative costs, was
1.0650 x 0.029 + 1.0616 x 0.302, which is equal to $1.30 per acre. Administrative costs for the
area were very low for the federal government before 1853, and the cost of the goods given to
the Indians was probably somewhat less than was promised, so the price of $1.25 per acre that
was charged to settlers in 1853 was probably very close to the actual cost of acquisition of the
land by the federal government. Since the federal government retained the right to tax the
earnings and activities of future inhabitants of the land, and federal expenditures in Cedar
Township over the next 150 years were minimal, it is clear that the federal government’s
acquisition of this land was a bargain.
In fact, every owner of the land, with the exception of Robert Sumner Lucas, appears to have
done well. The Indians cannot be said to have gotten a good deal, but they did receive better
compensation in the Second Blackhawk Purchase than was usually the case. The original
purchasers made a quick profit, in spite of the fact that they sold during a financial panic. The
speculators Darius Baldwin and Wilberforce Woods also did well. The Peters family received
a reasonable return on their investment of capital and labor, although other investments would
have been much more profitable. However, they did successfully raise a large family on the
farm, with one child becoming a doctor and another a County Supervisor. The Sybils and
Jedlickas earned very good rates of return. The same might not be true for us, but we are the
first purchasers who are not primarily interested in the farm as a financial investment.
Transportation
Ten years before Benjamin and Zadock Ellyson’s first purchase, the sound of a mechanical
device could have been heard for the first time on the farm. It was a steamboat traveling up
the Cedar River to Cedar Rapids. A road, called Dickinson Road after a nearby property
owner, was built on the current site of Vincent Avenue, probably in the early 1850s, which
meant that travel to Iowa City and other towns was possible.
A train first reached Iowa City on January 1, 1856 on the Rock Island line from Davenport.
The panic of 1857 prevented construction further west for several years, but the Chicago Iowa
& Nebraska Railroad began laying track in Clinton in 1856 and reached Cedar Rapids in
1859. This is the line that can still be heard on our farm, although it runs on the other side of
the Cedar River, nine miles away. The track was later leased to the Chicago and North
Western Rail Road in 1869, which was purchased by the Union Pacific in 1995, and the
segment near our farm is part of the main freight route between Chicago and Omaha and then
to San Francisco.
Perhaps the first prominent group of people to ride the train past our farm was 300 of the total
of 500 delegates to the Republican National Convention held in Chicago in May 1860. The
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Chicago Iowa & Nebraska Railroad took these delegates on a free trip to Cedar Rapids, where
they were wined and dined by the railroad and other businesses.
The Chicago Iowa & Nebraska Railroad was engaged in a frantic race with the Rock Island
and Burlington railroads to build track across Iowa. The Chicago Iowa & Nebraska, financed
by wealthy men from upstate New York, Massachusetts, and Maine, won the race in spite of
its late start, gaining an important advantage over rivals for cross country traffic when the
transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. However, the three rivals quickly realized
that collusion was more profitable than competition, and joined in an unwritten agreement to
pool their revenues from traffic across Iowa, known as the “Iowa Pool.” The pool was the
most successful agreement of its kind in the U.S.
The Union Pacific, controlled at that time by Jay Gould, received traffic coming across Iowa
at Council Bluffs and carried it to the west coast. Most of the revenue of the Iowa Pool came
from through traffic, not traffic originating in Iowa. The pool had a monopoly on shipments
across Iowa, and was able to keep a significant portion of the revenue from through traffic.
Gould did everything he could to break up the pool, and it was dissolved in 1884.
The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad became the preeminent railroad across Iowa. The
first transcontinental train used these tracks in 1869. It was a Northwestern train that Kate
Shelley saved in 1881. The “Overland Limited,” a luxurious cross country train featuring
Pullman Hotel Cars, passed over these tracks from 1887 to 1955, carrying presidents, nobility,
immigrants, businesspeople, and tourists. President Harding’s funeral train passed by in
1920, and the Warner Brothers Special came through in 1940, carrying movie stars and others
to the opening of Virginia City. The fastest mail trains in the country sped by at 90 miles an
hour.
1902 advertisement from
Cosmopolitan Magazine
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The last passenger trains passed by in 1960, but the line continues to be an important freight
line. As the shrill steam whistles were replaced by lower-pitched diesel horns, a new sound
was heard; when the wind is right, airplanes make their approach to the Cedar Rapids airport
just to the south of the farm.
While Cedar Rapids had an east-west rail connection in 1859, a north-south route took longer.
Businesses in Cedar Rapids needed a better connection to St. Paul to the north, and Burlington
and St. Louis to the south. In 1868 the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Minnesota Railway was
formed, with Judge George Greene of Cedar Rapids as president. Greene was a prominent
citizen and mayor of Cedar Rapids, and a person of many interests and hobbies. The
Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Minnesota, later renamed the Burlington, Cedar Rapids &
Northern, was the most important railroad run by Iowans and with headquarters in Iowa. It
built tracks past our farm in 1870, and the town of Morse was founded by members of the
Morse family in 1871. The line went bank rupt in the panic of 1873, although it reorganized
and was still considered one of the best- managed railroads in Iowa. In the early 1880s a line
between Elmira (just south of Morse) and Tipton was added. With this line, the farm was
surrounded by rail lines between Cedar Rapids, Elmira, Tipton, and Stanwood. The furthest
point on this rectangle was only 15 miles away from the farm. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids
& Northern was sold to the Rock Island in 1903. The line from Elmira to Tipton was
abandoned during the 1940s, and the line through Morse was abandoned in 1983 following
the bankruptcy of the Rock Island Railroad. Parts of this line have been converted to a
recreational trail. A good place to see the old rail line is near the site of Elmira, at the
intersection of Rapid Creek Road and Elmira Road. The rail line is visible to the north of
Elmira road, and a stone bridge in good condition is less than a quarter of a mile from the
intersection.
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Politics
The Democratic Party is stronger in Johnson County than in any other county in Iowa, and
Cedar Township was for many years one of the most Democratic townships in Johnson
County. For example, in 1928, when Iowa native Herbert Hoover won a landslide victory
nationally, carrying Iowa with 62% of the vote and winning a majority in Johnson County, his
opponent, Al Smith won 85% of the votes of Cedar Township. Throughout the twentieth
century, margins of 4 to 1 for Democrats were common in Cedar Township and other
northern townships, while southern Johnson County often voted Republican.
The difference between Republicans and Democrats in the second half of the 19th century was
summarized by Samuel Burchard in 1884 when he said that the Democrats were the party of
“rum, Romanism, and rebellion.” Republicans were more sympathetic than Democrats to the
movement to prohibit alcoholic beverages; Catholics tended to vote for Democrats, and the
Republican Party was closely identified with the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Catholics immigrants to Johnson County were mostly concentrated in the northern townships
and were different politically than the transplanted New Englanders in other parts of the
county and state. Of the four Catholic churches outside of Iowa City, three were in the
northern half of the county, and the only Catholic church outside of a town was the church in
Cedar Township. Before Catholic immigrants arrived in Cedar Township, it supported
prohibition. In a statewide referendum in 1855, Cedar Township voted 32 to 7 in favor of
prohibition, and northern townships supported prohibition by larger margins than southern
townships. In an 1882 referendum, excluding Iowa City, prohibition was rejected by 60% of
voters in the northern half of the county, but only 52% in the southern half. In the
northernmost tier of townships, 70% of the voters rejected prohibition. When national
prohibition was repealed in 1933, the first rural beer selling permits were issued in the
northern townships.
Two stories from Morse illustrate the mixed feelings that citizens of northern Johnson County
had about the Civil War and Reconstruction. In 1857 a man with abolitionist sympathies was
tricked into helping another man who was disguised as a runaway slave as a joke. Toward the
end of the Civil War, a meeting chaired by E.K. Morse, a founder of the town of Morse, and
attended by the Justice of the Peace of Cedar Township, was held in a school for the purpose
of preventing the “importation of the African race into this part of Johnson County.” The
group declared “that we mean to have one spot in Johnson County, Iowa untarnished by the
black race, or we will leave a stain that will cry for revenge when our sons and neighbors
return from the land of Dixie…we will enforce the law in cases when it will apply, and use
moral suasion to keep the Negroes out of this part of Johnson County; and if that fails we will
put them out.” A meeting of other citizens of the area was held to denounce the first meeting
and to demand the resignation of the Justice of the Peace. No blacks lived in Cedar Township
until well into the 20th century, and in the year 2000 the population was less than 1% black.
Iowa continued to vote Republican until 1932, but Johnson County began giving majorities to
Democrats in 1876, and Cedar Township gave majorities to Democrats as early as 1868.
Scandals in the Grant administration decreased support for Republicans, and accusations that
15
Republicans had stolen the 1876 election further increased support for Democrats. Economic
conditions for farmers deteriorated, and support grew for populist candidates. The
Democratic Party was most effective in incorporating populist themes into its platform, and
its support in northern Johnson County soared.
The decline in farm income became particularly severe during the Great Depression. Farm
prices were low, property taxes were high, and levels of debt were high. Political activity
grew among farmers, and the first violent incident occurred in nearby Cedar County. In 1932
the federal government began testing cattle for tuberculosis. Farmers protested that
compensation for destroyed animals was inadequate, and resistance in Cedar County grew
violent. The governor declared martial law in Cedar County, and the National Guard was
called in to control the situation and camped near Tipton. This incident led to the creation of
the Farmers Holiday Association, led by Milo Reno, which coordinated protests. The
association called for withholding products from the market, but it was only able to picket and
occasionally dump milk. In 1933, as farm foreclosures increased, the Farmers Holiday
Association acted to intimidate bidders at auctions, and at one point a group mobbed and beat
a judge. Throughout this period, support for Democrats in Johnson County and Cedar
Township remained very high.
From 1952 to 1960 Iowa and Johnson County gave majorities to Republicans, while Cedar
Township continued to give huge majorities to Democrats. Since 1960 Iowa has gone back
and forth between the parties, but Johnson County has voted Democrat in every presidential
election. Cedar Township gave a larger majority to Democrats than the county in every
election until 2000. In 2000 Al Gore won Cedar Township with 58% of the vote, but he won
Johnson County with 64%. This was the first time since 1880 that Cedar Township was less
Democratic than Johnson County.
Growth and Decline in Cedar Township
In 1856 the population of Cedar Township was 526 people. Most were born in the U.S.,
but17% were from Bohemia, 4% were from Germany, 3% were from England, 2% were from
Ireland, and 1% were from France. By 1885 the population had increased to 793, and the
Irish population had increased to 6% of the total. Only 2 people were listed as divorced, and
only 7 people over the age of 10 were unable to read. 14 families apparently shared their
house with another family. Ten years later there were only 4 people over the age of ten
unable to read, and no families shared houses, but the population of the township had declined
to 771. The population decline was slow at first, but picked up speed shortly after the turn of
the century. In 1905 the population was 768, in 1915 it was 654, and in 1925 it was 536.
Since then the population has been stable, and it was 556 in the year 2000.
The decline in population that began near the turn of the century was not unique to Cedar
Township. The state as a whole lost population from 1900 to 1910, and has grown very
slowly ever since. As agricultural productivity has improved, there have been fewer
opportunities for new farmers, and the population of rural areas has dropped. The increase in
the population of cities and towns has offset this decline. This trend is evident in the history
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of our farm, as the most of the children of farmers and retired farmers have tended to move to
Iowa City and other towns.
Conclusion
The history of our farm is a reflection of the history of the United States. Native Americans
were pushed aside as settlers poured in. Tensions grew between native-born and recent
immigrants and over issues such as slavery, race relations, prohibition, and economic policies.
Economic life was dominated by the railroad, but the railroads eventually declined and went
bankrupt. Farmers, once 95% of the population of the United States, prospered at first, but
later saw their incomes drop, and eventually began moving to cities and towns, which are now
growing and taking over the countryside.
Our farm, and millions of others like it were once the foundation of the country. Most of the
children raised on these farms moved to cities over the years and the character of the country
changed. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787:
I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries, as long as they are
chiefly agricultural; and this is as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of
America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will
become corrupt as in Europe
This view of virtuous agrarian democracy is probably naïve and mistaken, and in the 21st
century it is unclear whether a “virtuous” society is possible or even desirable. However,
Jeffersonian ideas are still powerful, and farms like ours, while no longer the vital economic
resource that they once were, are considered by many to be links to a better past. Tax money
subsidizes the farms that remain, and they are increasingly purchased by city people like us
for emotional instead of economic reasons.
The growth of Iowa City and Cedar Rapids is starting to be felt in northern Johnson County as
suburban development expands and “new pioneers” move from cities to rural areas. Conflicts
over tax assessments, noise and odor regulations, organic vs. nonorganic farming methods and
the preservation of scenic views are likely to grow. Cultural differences over religion and
other issues might grow. Again, these conflicts are a reflection of national politics. The 2000
election was largely a contest between urban and rural America, as can be seen from a countyby-county map of election results. The movement of Cedar Township away from huge
Democratic majorities and increasing Democratic majorities in Iowa City reflect national
trends.
Understanding the history of our farm is a step in the understanding of the history of the
United States. Watching it in the future might help to understand the future of the country.
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