Bawden4 on Family Tree Circles
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Category: THE ELDRIDGE SIDE
ASHER: Irad Lewis, son of that scoundrel Lewis Micajah ASHER and wife Agnes NOBLE
Irad was born 28 Dec 1891 in Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Agnes brought Irad to Davenport as an infant and he attended Davenport schools. Irad worked at various labor jobs while living in his mother's home.
On 24 Aug 1918 in St. John's Methodist Church at Davenport, Irad married Flora Martha BLANKENFELD of Geneseo, Henry, Illinois. Flora was the dtr of August and Albertina GLAWE BLANKENFELD, born 4 Feb 1896 on a farm near Geneseo.
At various tmes the family lived in Davenport and Geneseo. In 1946, when the family was living at Davenport, Flora and her daughter moved permanently to Geneseo; Irad remained in Davenport where he helped care for his mother Agnes, who was blind. Flora BLANKENFELD ASHER died 8 Dec 1958 in Geneseo, Illinois; Irad ASHER died 29 Sept 1966 in Geneseo. They are buried on the BLANKENFELD lot in North Cemetery in Geneseo.
They had 2 dtrs:
May Elizabeth born 21 Sept 1919 in Geneseo died when she was a freshman (9th grade) in Geneseo High School of pneumonia on 15 Oct 1934 and is buried in North Cemetery.
Marian Louise born 29 Oct 1929 in Davenport. (see blog page)
ELDRIDGE: Frank Wallace, 4th child of Jacob MULLEN and Mary HIGH WILLIAMS, carpenter, farmer, mail carrier
Frank Wallace ELDRIDGE was born 29 July 1858 in Davenport, Scott, Iowa on the Jersey Ridge Rd. fruit farm. Jacob declared bankruptcy on the failing business and moved the family to Davenport where he built a house on the southwest corner of Farnam and Kirkwood Blvd.
A great-nephew, Bernard G. GLASPELL recalls Frank ran away from home and came west to North Dakota and Nebraska. He and a friend were driving a team of oxen to Colorado when they were caught in a blizzard and almost froze to death. The skin on Frank's arms, legs and face was disfigured.
Frank returned to Davenport and married Louella A. ALLEN on 11 Nov 1878 in Pleasant Valley, Scott, Iowa. She was born 13 Aug 1860 dtr of William and Martha S. ALLEN of Pleasant Valley, where Louella was educated in the old red bruck one-room school.
Frank and Louella purchased land near older sister Kate and husband Samuel LYTER GLASPELL, in Newbury, Stutsman, North Dakota where they farmed for 2 summers before returning to Davenport to stay. Frank worked as a carpenter at the Rock Island Arsenal until 1890, when he became a mail carrier for the Davenport Post Office, a position he maintained until 1912.
After Frank retired, he and Louella moved to California where they lived for some years. They moved to Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska, to live with dtr Maude/Maud. After Maude's death in 1936, they lived with their oldest dtr, Mable in Mason City, Iowa.
Louella ALLEN ELDRIDGE died 19 May 1941 in Davenport, Scott, Iowa while visiting her family. Frank died 2 Mar 1942 of diabetes in Mason City. They were members of Edwards Congregational Church in Davenport and are buried in Davenport's Oakdale Cemetery.
Their 3 children were:
1. Mabel born 1879 (no date) in Newbury, Stutsman, ND, married Ernest L. ADE, son of Joseph and Sophia PHILLIPS ADE, 8 June 1904 by a Baptist minister in her family home at 1225 Perry St. (still exists) in Davenport.
Ernest was born 1878 (no date) in Maquoketa, Cedar Iowa and was employed as a bookkeeper by the G. S. Johnson Flour Co. in Davenport before moving to Mason City, Cerro Gordo, Iowa in 1913. He died there 16 Apr 1942. Mabel died there 6 Aug 1946. They had no children. Both are buried in the ADE lot in Oakdale Cemetery.
2. Maude/Maud born 16 Sept 1882 in Pleasant Velley, Scott, Iowa. She married Charles Alfred BROWN in the family home on 16 Aug 1905 by a minister of the Christian Church. Charles was the son of Samuel MILLS and Rosetta (Rose in 1880 ceusns) NEVIN MORRIS BROWN). [Charles' youngest sibling, Morse/Morris NEVIN BROWN, b 28 Dec 1881 in Richland, Kalamazoo, Michigan married Mae Ella BAWDEN, dtr of Dr. Henry Lightbourne and Bella ANGEL BAWDEN]
Charles was born 19 July 1870 in Richland, Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was a CPA with Anaconda Mining Co. In Anaconda, Deer-Lodge, Montana when they were married. Charles died 1 Aug 1962 probably in Omaha, Nebraska (SSDI says only Nebraska) Maude died 11 Jan 1936 in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska and is buried in Oakdale Memorial Gardens in Davenport. They had no children.
3. Lura born July 1884 (no date in Davenport. She died 6 Dec 1884 of thrush and is buried with her grandparents, Wm and Marths S. ALLEN in Oakdale.
ELDRIDGE: Kate, dtr of Jacob MULLEN and Mary HIGH WILLIAMS, marries Circuit Judge Samuel LYTER GLASPELL of Davenport, Scott, Iowa
Katherine, Katty, Kat, Kate ELDRIDGE was the third of nine children born 9 Mar 1855 in Davenport on the Jersey Ridge fruit farm. Jacob declared bankruptcy from the failing farm and moved his family, Mary and all 9 children into Davenport where it would be easier for the children to get to school. He built a house at the southwest corner of Farnam and Kirkwood Blvd.
Kate graduated form Davenport High School in 1874 (7th and Iowa Sts), and for 2 years she worked for her father in his real estate office. On 2 Aug 1876, Kate married Samuel LYTER GLASPELL in her family home.
Samuel was born in Davenport, 17 Jan 1852 to Isaac STANTHAN and Melisa Elizabeth LYTER GLASPELL. Isaac GLASPELL came to Davenport with his father, James, in 1839 from Cincinnati, Ohio. James and Duncan ELDRIDGE were founders of the Christian Church in Davenport. River town Cincinnati was already a bustling city and Davenport store owners would make supply trips to Cincinnati.
During the Civil War (1860-64), Samuel who was very young, attempted to go off to war as a drummer boy. His father discovered him marching down 2nd St. in a parade of enlistees and abruptly ended his military career.
He practiced law in Davenport after graduating from the University of Iowa Law School in Iowa City in 1874. However, his health was poor and doctors prescribed farm life. Kate, Samuel and baby Eula/Eulie/Eulalia GLASPELL born 12 Jun 1877 in Davenport, moved by train in 1879 to Wheatland, near Casselton, Dakota Territory.
Jamestown newspaper 4 Jan 1946: "They rented land and put in a crop. Later that year, J. M. ELDRIDGE, the father of Mrs. GLASPELL, joined them and coming farther west they bought several sections which they called Davenport Farms. The Northern Pacific official from whom they purchased the land named the station ELDRIDGE after Mrs. GLASPELL's father.
The first summer they lived in tents and boarded the carpenters and farm hands. Buildings were erected and considerable land broken. That winter was spent in Davenport. The following Spring they returned to ELDRIDGE and put in a large acreage of wheat, now owing to grasshoppers, the crop was a failure."
Samuel GLASPELL's health improved and the family moved to Jamestown, Stutsman, North Dakota, where he returned to his law practice. He was a member of the Dakota Territorial Council, the first prosecuting attorney of Stutsman County, and elected Judge of the North Dakota Fifth Judicial District in 1896, which he held for 8 years. He was a member of the Masonic Order.
Kate was a State Regent for the Daughters of the American Revolution (member #146933), she sang in the Presbyterian choir and was a member of the Music Club. She write several books, "The Life of a Woman", Traveling in Europe" and "Incidents in the Life of a Pioneer" where she describes her visit with President Benjamin HARRISON. (see blog page - excerpts from Incidents)
She became a member of the Christian Science Church in Jamestown, as did dtr Eula/Eulie/Eulalia. Mary BAKER EDDY, founder of Christian Science philosophy, frequently visited Eddy relatives in the Jamestown area and was a friend of Kate GLASPELL.
Samuel died 24 May 1909; Kate died 3 Jan 1946, both in Jamestown. Their bodies were brought to Davenport for burial in Oakdale Memorial Gardens.
Their 3 children were:
1. Eula/Eulie/Eulalia born 12 June 1877 in Davenport (see blog page)
2. Donald born 24 Jan 1882 in Jamestown, North Dakota where he attended Jamestown schools. He lived in Los Angeles, California, where he worked as a salesman. He did not marry. On 5 June 1969, he died there and is buried in Valhalla Cemetery.
3. Bernard born 3 Jan 1886 in Jamestown (see blog page)
ELDRIDGE: Kate GLASPELL is represented by 2 exerpts from her "Incidents in the Life of a Pioneer" published journal.
These exerpts come from the appendix of the following vinyl-bound gene study. See blog page for Kate ELDRIDGE and Samuel LYTER GLASPELL.
The Eldridge-Bawden Families: The Ancestry and Descendants of Duncan Campbell Eldridge and Stephen Bawden, Scott County, Iowa; author-compiler Alice Richardson Sloan, C.G. (dec 2011), commissioned by John Duvall Bawden (dec 1992), Bettendorf, Iowa; Anundsen Pub Co., Decorah, Iowa , 1986, p. 261-263, 290 pps, no copyright, no ISBN, in the personal library of this writer. Kate is the older sister of Jennie ELDRIDGE who married George Washington BAWDEN, this writer's legacy.
Incidents in the Life...Chapter XVII, p. 50
A VISIT TO WASHINGTON
One day when Mr. GLASPELL had business in the East, we took our children to Davenport and left them there with his mother [Melissa Elizabeth "Elizabeth" LYTER GLASPELL] and then went to Washington, the most interesting city in the world to good Americans, especially when Congress is in session.
One day, Senator CASEY, an old Jamestown friend, invited me to go out on a sight-seeing tour with him. We reached the President's early thinking he would not be there. But he heard us and invited us to enter. Senator CASEY said I was the wife of one of his constituents in North Dakota, and had come with my husband who was trying some cases in the Supreme Court. The President, General HARRISON, turned to me and said he was a lawyer and would like to know all about the case in question. I walked across the room and sat down beside him, although I don't remember that he invited me to do so. And I gave him a complete synopsis of three cases. I happened to turn my head and was surprised to see Senator CASEY still standing eside the door and with a most agonized expression on his face. It just occurred to me that probably the time of the Prsident of the United States might be valuable, so I arose to go.
I quickly began to thank him for his kindness, but he also arose, extended his hand and said, as any common gentleman would have done, "I am glad to have met you."
My naivete and ignorance of social customs probably afforded him abundant material for an amusing anecdote. Had we known that we were both descendants of that illustrious woman, POCAHONTAS (The Lady Rebecca), I should probably have stayed another hour or two and perhaps my husband and I would have been invited to dine at the White House.
Incidents in the Life of...Chapter V, p. 22
Soon my sister, Minnie ELDRIDGE, came up from Davenport to visit us. She was a young girl with a beautiful voice. I had no piano and there were few in the country. But our foreman had an accordian, so he brought it in and showed her how to use it. She became so expert she could play her own accompaniments at home or when we were invited some place in the country. She sang with the Presbyterian choir in Jamestown and sang a solo at the dedication of that church on July 31st, 1881.
The following day the Jamestown Alert said "and the choir was assisted in the music for the service by Miss Minnie ELDRIDGE of Davenport, Iowa whose sweet boice in the words of the hymn, 'Nearer My God to Thee" sung by her solo, held her listeners silent in reverent worship and made a fitting close for the service.
One evening we were all invited to a large party at the home of Captain McGINNIS in Jamestown, and they kept her singing most of the evening. It was a lovely party, and we stayed longer than we should have, for a storm was threatening. Friends insisted upon our staying in town, but I had left my child and felt I must get home. There were no roads, simply tracks in the grass, difficult to see at night. We had a light spring wagon and two frisky horses, which my husband drove. My sister and I sat on the back seat and leaned over the side to watch for the tracks. When we failed to see them, we were obliged to get out and hunt for them in the next flash of lightning. If you have never seen a storm here, you do not know how terrific they are. The thunder roars, while at the same time lightning flashes and makes everything as bright as day. This keeps on for some time until the rain starts coming. It was a hard trip, but we just reached home as the storm broke, and it was Hades let Loose."
Ed. note - The marriage of Martha BOLLING who was 2g-granddaughter of Pocahontas and Thomas ELDRIDGE has been traced and is NOT in my ELDRIDGE lineage.
ELDRIDGE: Katherine, Kate, Katty or Kat, 3rd child of Jacob MULLEN and Mary HIGH WILLIAMS, a noted journalist
The following stories/notes are from the appendix of:
The Eldridge-Bawden Families: The Ancestry and Descendants of Duncan Campbell Eldridge and Stephen Bawden, Scott County, Iowa; author-compiler Alice Richardson Sloan, C.G. (dec 2011), commissioned by John Duvall Bawden (dec 1992), Bettendorf, Iowa; Anundsen Pub Co., Decorah, Iowa , 1986, pps 260-263, 290 pps, no copyright, no ISBN, in the personal library of this writer.
Kate ELDRIDGE GLASPELL was a member of the Daughters of American Revolution through her mother, Mary HIGH WILLIAMS ELDRIDGE's maternal ancestor Ensign Charles CLARK, who was in Captain CRAIG's Company of New Jersey Troops during the Revolution.
From Harry BAWDEN's family history:
Kate ELDRIDGE. - ...All 3 children of Kate's [Eula, Donald and Bernard] visited in Davenport [from North Dakota]. Ulie showed us, in our parlor, a new dance, 'the Cake Walk'. Don wrote a letter to Sears and Roebuck for me and they sent me 24 big catalogs to give away which I did and they sent me a check for $2.50 for my work. Brother that was big money for an 8-year-old kid.
Bernard on his visit showed us BAWDEN Boys how to climb all over the roof of our two-story house at 511 Kirkwood Blvd.
Aunt Kate was a real gal. She traveled all over Europe and Egypt - visited the Pope and wrote a book about her trips. Also a book about early life in North Dakota.
Kate, for many years would travel into St. Paul to do her Christmas shopping. She would buy presents for the SCHLEGEL girls and the BAWDEN Boys;. Each present would be wrapped with a name on each. Then she would order it to be home where our families were celebrating. That was a thrill when the horse-drawn express wagon stopped with the big box at noon.
Ed. note - family history said the ELDRIDGES were related to POCAHONTAS. Thomas ELDRIDGE of Sussex County, Virginia, did marry ca 1740, Martha Bolling, a 2g-granddaughter of POCAHONTAS. This Thos ELDRIDGE is NOT in our family line.
ELDRIDGE: Charles "Charlie", William V, and Emily M. - Jacob and Mary HIGH WILLIAMS 3 children who died very small
I'm posting this as a record for ELDRIDGE genealogists:
Second child of Jacob and Mary ELDRIDGE:
Charles born 1854 (no date) in Davenport, Scott, Iowa, died 26 Apr 1854 and is buried with his parents, no body location but "Charlie" is on ELDRIDGE family marker
Fifth child of Jacob and Mary ELDRIDGE:
William V. "Willie" born 14 Feb 1860 in Davenport of typhoid, died 19 Mar 1866 and is buried with parents, no body location in cemetery records but "Willie" is on ELDRIDGE family marker.
Ninth child of Jacob and Mary Eldridge:
Emily M. born 23 Jan 1870 in Davenport, died 23 Oct 1876 of diptheria and is buried in Davenport, Scott, Iowa's Oakdale Memorial Gardens with her young siblings.
ELDRIDGE: Dr. Elizabeth, 1st child of Jacob MULLEN and Mary HIGH WILLIAMS, dies of diabetes in Ames, Iowa
Elizabeth ELDRIDGE was born 3 Apr 1852 in Davenport, Scott, Iowa, called "Lizzie" by family.
She graduated from Davenport High School (7th & Iowa - not current campus at 10th and Main)and attended 4 years of college (no name), after which she was known as Dr. ELDRIDGE, a medical doctor. She worked for her father, Jacob, in his real estate office for 2 years. On 4 December 1871, Lizzie married William I. JOY (no BMD) in her family home on Farnam. The 1880 Iowa Federal Census shows Elizabeth JOY as divorced living with her parents.
About 1882 (no date), she married Dr. Reuben F. ELDRIDGE...no relation. He was born March 1858 (no date) in Pennsylvania (no city), son of Joseph G. and Lucinda ARNOLD ELDRIDGE. Reuben graduated from (my source says) State University Medical College in 1881. (prevaling location University of Iowa, Iowa City).
The family moved to Dawson, Dallas, Iowa, a small railroad town west of Des Moines. Reuben practiced medicine, successfully operated a brick manufacturing company and was the leader of the Dawson Cornet Band. He would not allow his wife to practice as a doctor because, according to family tradition, her training did not agree with his medical philosophy.She was a "pill doctor".
Reuben and Elizabeth ELDRIDGE were divorced before 1910 (no date). By 1917, Reuben married Sarah Alma CUMMNGS, a registered nurse. Sarah CUMMINGS was born 18 Aug 1877 and died 15 May 1964 at Britt, Iowa. She and Reuben are buried in Perry, Iowa's Violet Hill Cemetery. Reuben died in an automobile accident north of Adel, Iowa on 3 Jan 1926.
Elizabeth moved with their children, Madge, Joseph M., Waldo E. and Minnie to Ames, Iowa where she lived for 20 years before her death from diabetes on 2 Sept 1923. She was a member of the Christian Science Church.
Lizzie and Wm JOY's children:
Roy/Ray JOY born 1873 (no date in Davenport, d 17 Feb 1875 in Valley City, (no Pleasant Valley), Iowa
Maynard JOY b (my source) July 1874, SSDI says 5 Feb 1880 in Davenport. Maynard was living in New York City at his mother's death. He died Mar 1968 (no date, SSDI) in Bedford, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Buried Shawsheen Cemetery, Bedford.
Lizzie and Dr. Reuben ELDRIDGE's children:
Madge (nickname - not found in SSDI) born 2 July 1887 in Iowa (Davenport or Dawson?), married Leroy "Roy"
Wesley BROADIE who was born (my source) 28 Oct 1882 (SSDI says 8 Apr 1891) No BMD. They lived in Mason City, Cerro Gordo, Iowa where he worked as warehouseman for the Northern Sugar Company until 1931.
Joseph M. born 9 Oct 1889 in Iowa (Davenport or Dawson?). He graduated from Ames High School and from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa with a degree in Chemistry. During WWI, he worked in Madison, Dane, Wisconsin for the Department of War in the Chemical Warfare Service. He died of pneumonia on 4 Dec 1918 in Madison several weeks before he was to marry Miss Laura JONES, an instructor at the university. Joseph was a member of the Christian ?Science Church and is buried in the Ames Municipal Cemetery with his mother and niece, 3-year-old Betty Jean Thomas.
Waldo E. born 21 Aug 1891 in Iowa (Davenport or Dawson). He graduated from college and gave his occupation to the census taker in 1915 as an unemployed button maker (sense of humor?? or true?). At his father's death in 1926, he as living in Amarillo, Randall, Texas. He died 18 Mar 1965. (no burial info). He was a cook in the Army during WWI.
Minnie born Oct 1894 (no date) in Iowa (Davenport or Dawson). She and husband Dr. Elbert B. THOMAS, a veterinarian, lived in Ames, Iowa in 1921, and in Marengo, Iowa, Iowa at her father's death. Elbert was possibly born 14 Mar 1886 (no place) and died in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa Nov 1974 (SSDI). (no date). They had only a daughter, Elizabeth "Betty" - marker says - Jean THOMAS, born 1921 (no date), died 18 Dec 1924 and is buried in the Ames Iowa Municipal Cemetery next to her grandmother, Dr. Elizabeth ELDRIDGE.
ELDRIDGE: Anna H. dtr of John M. and Mary Ann ADAMS ELDRIDGE dies in childbirth
She was born in 1839 (no date) in Gloucester County, New Jersey. She came to Davenport with her parents as an infant.
She married William PARMELE on 26 Dec 1860 in Davenport. He was born on a farm near Davenport, son of Moses William and Laura TREET PARMELE. William served in the Civil War as a musician in the same company, Co. D, 20th Reg., Iowa Infantry that mustered in Davenport, with Charles Asher, husband of Sarah ELDRIDGE, her cousin.
Anna died in childbirth 4 March 1863 at age 24 years. She is buried with her child, Willie, on her father's plot in Davenport's Oakdale Cemetery.(see Find-a-Grave).
ELDRIDGE: Duncan CAMPBELL and friends try to swing sides to Davenport
In 1838, an election was held in order to decide the Scott County seat, which was a political entity before the City of Davenport was actually incorporated in 1839. Both Davenport and Rockingham vied for the honor. Duncan ELDRIDGE, Antoine LeCLAIRE, George DAVENPORT, and other prominent citizens waged a fierce campaign on behalf of Davenport. Both cities imported "legal residents" from surrounding territories.
Duncan and his cronies brought in 6 wagon loads of Dubuque coal miners - Cornish, Welsh, Irish, and German, with the promise of food, whiskey, and a dollar a day.. These were undesirables in character, dress and language. This deal with money and food was more than they were getting.
Each group had it's prejudices against each other and English was not the common language.
On the west side of Rockingham Township were several successful coal mines. The miners often loaded coal in their wagons to sell to Davenporters. [The mines are now filled with successive land owner's garbage]. That part of Scott County was called Jamestown or "Jimtown" and there is still a road with the current county designation and the original Jamestown Road.
Money was still territorial. Blackhawk was anti-white and hated the idea of settlement in his Saukenuk, a well-established village with longhouses, this territory stretching as far north as Wisconsin - this was all part of Wisconsin Territory. Blackhawk was over 6 ft and 240 lbs. Chief Keokuk was pro-white and a highly intelligent individual.
Governor Dodge annulled the elections twice due to "stupendous frauds". The third time . Davenport won.- Rockingham Township was becoming down-in-the-heels. Many people were leaving to make their homes in Davenport because it had become much more enterprising.
By 1860, Davenport's population had grown to 20,000.
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ELDRIDGE: Duncan CAMPBELL, wife Rebecca LIPPINCOTT and 5-yr-old son Charles Henry raft from Cincinnati to Iowa
Duncan ELDRIDGE and Rachel BROWN were married 8 January 1823 in Haddonfield, New Jersey. They moved to Rochester, New York, where 2 more children were born, both dying in infancy. Jacob was 3 years old when Rachel died in 1827. After Rachel's death, Duncan returned to Haddonfield where he left 4-year-old Jacob in the care of Duncan's mother, a widow, and moved to Cincinnati to work at his bricklaying, plastering, and cooper (barrel maker) trade.
Rachel was illiterate. I don't have any history on her family.
In 1828, President John QUINCY ADAMS formally declared that all lands east of the Mississippi were to be sold to settlers gradually moving their way westward. Native American tribes were forced westward. Black Hawk and 2,000 of his followers refused to move and the "Black Hawk War" resulted. (Source: State of Iowa)
In November 1829 in Cincinnati, Duncan married his childhood friend from Haddonfield, Rebecca Lippincott, who was born in 1807.
On September 21, 1832, the Blackhawk War ended after 15 weeks in the Battle of Bad Axe, Wisconsin.
The Blackhawk War Treaty of 1836 gave title to 6 million acres of Native American land - not just Sac and Fox - to the US Government that lay west of the Mississippi River. Davenport was included in this land and was still called the Michigan Territory. Present at the signing, KEOKUK who was chief of the Sac Indians, English immigrant Colonel George DAVENPORT, Pottowattomie-blooded Antoine LeCLAIRE, who was also a French-Canadian fur trader working for the Hudson Bay Co. who was the interpreter for the US Government.
The treaty was signed near what is now College Avenue (Stubb's Eddy] in East Davenport. The treaty stated Native Americans relinquish a large part of what is now Iowa. Black Hawk, who no longer had power after his capture, camped with his remaining warriors at the top of present-day Lindsay Park. During the gathering for the treaty signing, famed Western artist, George CATLIN not only painted and sketched the Indians?including Black Hawk?before they left their native lands, but also signed his name as a witness to the treaty
KEOKUK donated to Marguerite LeCLAIRE, Antoine's wife, a section of land where the treaty was actually signed in what is now the Village of East Davenport. Marguerite was the granddaughter of a Sac Chief and this gift was made with the understanding that the LeClaires would build their home on this site. Black Hawk was not present at the signing for his capture and imprisonment with 1000 of his followers for not allowing settlement west of the Mississippi.
In 1835, LeCLAIRE, DAVENPORT and 6 other men surveyed and laid out the town of Davenport on this land.
Duncan met LeCLAIRE and DAVENPORT in Cincinnati and heard them describe the town and it's beautiful land. He was persuaded to move to what was then called the Michigan Territory. Btw, ?Colonel" was an honorary title.
If you read the uninteresting book account, these page 19 paragraphs should be doused with White-Out.
Duncan built a substantial log raft with a shanty large enough to hold a 4-poster bed, dresser, chair, mirror, clothes, food and a stove.
The ELDRIDGEs (wife Rebecca, and 5-year-old son Charles) packed their belongings and drifted down the Cincinnati River. He thought land travel would be too slow and dangerous, mostly for the Native Americans. After negotiating the Ohio/Mississippi River route, Duncan encountered the captain of a steamship, possibly the Dubuque (book), and asked if he could tie the raft to the back of the boat. This arrangement worked for some distance until it started to get cold and the current slowed. The captain decided the ELDRIDGE raft was slowing him down, so he cut the ropes between the 2 boats and left the ELDRIDGEs to their own.
The Mississippi before the lock and dam system was very shallow, rocky and. therefore, lots of rapids. It could be crossed on foot or horse and buggy in many areas.
They came into the area in October, 1835. The river had frozen over and the ELDRIDGEs became iced-in. They tried calling for help. It was a period of a day or so before anyone heard them. At this point, they were closer to the Stephenson (Rock Island) side. Rescue efforts were hampered because of the ice and the size of the raft. Eventually, several people were able to pull the raft to the Illinois side. Duncan and Rebecca came over to Davenport in early snowy 1836. At the foot of Brady Street near the only other existing house owned by LeClaire, they erected a shanty from the raft logs.
The winds were pretty hefty and the snow had come early. The log cabin was packed with mud between the logs. As an insulator, they glued or shellacked pages of Cincinnati newspaper on the walls to keep the wind out. When the locals found out, they started to come by to read the news. Several people at a time would be standing at the walls, some even on footstools.
Duncan and Rebecca's first child here, Sarah, born May 3, 1837, was the first white girl born in Davenport May 3, 1837. Sons Lewis and Micajah followed.
