Township 89, range 5, attained its political status Jan. 6, 1851, and was named Delaware.  It was ordered by the Commissioners' Court at the time that the place of holding elections in the township "Shall be at Delaware Center (near where Quaker Mill now stands)."

     This township lies in the second tier and is bounded on the north by Honey Creek south by Milo, east by Oneida, and west by Coffin's grove.  The Maquoketa river enters its borders on the northwest, and flows through the county's capital city.  Here Prairie Creek joins the Maquoketa after traversing a small territory in the western part of the township.  Honey Creek, with its principal tributary, Lindsay Creek, drains the northern part and joins the Maquoketa above Manchester.  So it is plain to be seen that this region is well watered and drained, making for good pasture and fertile land.  there is considerable sand, but the broad swales or low lands are generally free from sand and are covered with a rich black loam.

     Delaware Township, of course, had her first settlers, but they did not appear as early as in some other localities in the county.  be that as it may, land was entered and improved here while Iowa stood in the Union only as a territory and the county had not been as yet organized.

     The late Judge Joel Bailey declared upon occasion it was his opinion that Robert B. Hutson, who settled near Ead's Grove in 1840, was located on section 2.  His son, Matthew D., was born here in 1845, and growing to manhood, became a veteran of the Civil war.

     William R., Adin, John and Leverett Paddleford, with their mother and three sisters, settled near the mouth of Honey creek, about two miles northwest of Manchester, in Delaware Township, in 1840.  Delotia, one of the girls married John Nagle, an early settler.  Leverett Paddleford, and sister, Sarah died many years ago and lie buried near Jones' woolen mills.

     Joel Pike stood up land in the township, near Hutsons' in 1840.

     Among the first settlers of Delaware Township and Delaware County was Albert Raymond and Matilda, his wife, who came to the township in June, 1849.  They took up farming and became highly respected citizens of their community.

     On June 7, 1850, George, Henry and John Acers, with their families, arrived in Delaware County and made their first stop at Eads' Grove, in Honey Creek Township.  Before the expiration of June, George made a selection of a farm, which happened to be the site of Delaware County's future seat of government.  Here the family resided until the fall of 1852, when, desiring to get nearer the timber, George, removed with his possessions to section 17, Delaware Township.  Upon this place he erected a primitive dwelling house and at once

[pg. 330]
began falling the timber and by "grubbing," burning brush and breaking the stump land, in a few months had his "eighty" in the initial stages of a cultivated farm.  By industry and good judgment this worthy pioneer thrived and became one of the stanch pillars of the community.  His helpmate, who bravely stood by him in his strubbles for supremacy over many difficulties, was the daughter of Jesse D. and Hannah Scott, both early venturers into this new country, coming here in 1853.  John Acers settled on land which became the townsite of Acersville, or Delaware Center.  His removed to Texas a number of years ago.  Henry spent a long and active life in Manchester before going to his final reward.

     D. S. Potter married Laura A. Brayton in New York, his native state, and in the fall of 1851 settled in this township on section 25.

     Albert Thompson was one of the pioneers of Delaware Township.  He was born in New York in 1822 and moved to Michigan with his parents in 1837, where he married Margaret Darah.  In the spring of 1852 they came to this county and settled on section 8.  Mr. Thompson had a large family of girls, two of whom, Mrs. Fred Manson and Mrs. will Jones, now reside at Manchester.

     John Kaltenbach immigrated to the United States from Germany with his wife in 1834.  They removed to Wisconsin from Iowa in 1852, and in the spring of that year settled in this township on section 3, where Mr. Kaltenbach built a sawmill.  This he reconstructed in 1864 as a grist mill.  A son-in-law, John Welterlin, born in France, joined him in 1854 and became a member of the family.

     Thomas Hetherington settled here in 1853.  Amos and Asher, twin sons, were born in 1856.

     Henry L. Edmonds settled on section 26, in this township, in August, 1853.  Stephen J. Edmonds immigrated to this county in 1854 and settled on section 22.

     Rufus Dickinson was one of the pioneers of Delaware County, locating in this township on section 12, in May, 1853.  He began the improvement of his farm in 1854.

     Theophilus Crosby, a native of Massachusetts, immigrated from Ohio to Iowa in 1853 and in October that year settled in this township at Eads' Grove.  In 1869 Mr. Crosby located on section 32, where he planted a nursery on what he called Pleasant Hill Farm.

     James H. Covey was an early settler, coming from New York in 1854.  He settled on a farm and improved it.

     Hassel Munson left his native State of New York in the spring of 1854 and settled in this township.  In 1859 he married Carrie Eaton, adn in 1865 settled on section 8.

     John H. Taber, a native of Pennsylvania, visited this township in 1854 and  settled here on December 10th of that year.  In the summer of 1857 he located on section 16.

     Watson Childs, born in LeRoy, Jefferson county, New York, came to Iowa in 1854.  In 1859 he married Prusilla Sheldon.  In 1863 they located in Delaware Township.  Mr. Childs was a man of good judgment as shown in his selection of a farm considered one of the best in the township.  He was a member of Jones Mill Grange, a successful farmer, always attended farmers' con-

[pg. 331]
ventions, farmers' institutes, and was interested in and identified with everything that tended to the betterment of farming conditions.

     John Hempstead was a New Yorker and came from Wisconsin to this county in October, 1854.  He settled on section 16 and in 1859 married Lucinda Wilcox.  He moved on a farm on section 11 in 1868.

     A. R. Loomis settled in Delaware Township in 1854 at Acersville (Delaware Center), where he opened the first store in Delaware Township.  In 1855 he removed to Manchester and several years afterward engaged in business, being associated with various persons at different times.  In 1863 he retired from the mercantile business and in 1868 engaged in banking, having as his associate David LeRoy, the firm name being Loomis & LeRoy.  Mr. Loomis was the first mayor of Manchester after it was incorporated.

     John Welterlin was a native of Alsace Lorraine.  At the age of twenty-two he sailed for America and in 1854 located at Millheim, Delaware Township, where he built a shop and began work at his trade of blacksmithing.  Here he continued until 1871, when he closed his shop and moved on to a farm and became one of the largest husbandmen in the township.  His land was located in sections 2, 11 and 12, Delaware Township.

     David W. Jones was born in South Wales in 1821.  He was brought up to his father's trade, that of machinist and manufacturer of woolen goods.  In the spring of 1843 he came to America with his young wife, landing in New York with only seventy-three dollars in his pocket.  He found employment on a farm in Pennsylvania and in 1844 started for the farther West.  He settled on a small tract of land in Ohio and began work at his trade in the woolen mills at Newton Falls.  He remained there ten years and in 1854 came to Iowa and settled in Delaware Township, on section 16, where he entered a tract of Government land.  He later returned to Ohio and resumed work in the woolen mills at Newton Falls, but in the fall of 1857 brought his family and settled on the place two miles north of Manchester, where he engaged in the tilling of the soil for the following seven or eight years.  In the meantime he purchased a tract of 200 acres of land near his farm, lying on Honey Creek, whereon, in the spring of 1865, he began the erection of what was afterwards known as the Manchester Woolen Mills.  This grew to be one of the chief industries of Delaware County and the only enterprise of its kind ever attempted here.  The building is located on Honey Creek, two miles north of Manchester and as originally erected was 30x40 feet in size and three stories high.  It had one set of cards, one set of custom cards and a spinning jack.  Mr. Jones added thirty feet to the building in 1867.  This more than doubled the capacity of the plant by adding a large set of cards.  From year to year he continued to add new machinery and increase the capacity.  Mr. Jones built another mill about a half mile below his first one in 1876, the dimensions of which were 46x80 feet and three stories high, not including a basement.  Here nothing but spinning and weaving was done, the dyeing, fulling and teasling being effected at the upper factory.  In these two establishments were manufactured all kinds of fancy cassimeres of various grades, beaver for over coats, tricots, doeskins, jeans, and various grades of blankets and yarns.  There were from forty to fifty hands employed.  The larger share of the goods was sold from wagons and occasionally from samples by traveling salesmen.  The people for

[pg. 332]
fifty miles around would also come to the mill with their wool "clips," which they exchanged for fabrics, yarn, etc., made here.  Opposite the mill was a store building, stocked with the products of this industry, which really were "all wool and a yard wide," to use a common expression.  Mr. Jones kept from six to seven wagons on the road and traveling salesmen were sent out at certain seasons of the year to look after the merchants' trade.  Mr. Jones had assistants in his two sons, William B. and Josiah S.  The original mill is still standing but the machinery was silenced a number of years ago.

     William McIntosh was one of the early settlers of Delaware County, coming here after arriving from Scotland in 1854.  He shortly thereafter married Jane Love, daughter of one of the pioneers of the county, and settled down to farming, which he followed two years.  He was a stone cutter and returned to his trade, which he followed until 1862 and then engaged in contracting and building.  In the fall of 1876 he bought the marble works of Reuben Durrin and the establishment is continued today by his son, William.

     I. R. Williams made his first stop in Earlville in 1853, where he decided to locate and accordingly bought 207 acres of land in that vicinity, which he began to improve, but after two years' time he sold it and came to Delaware Township, where he purchased a tract of 164 acres in section 6.

     William H. Hollister, a native of New York, settled in this township on section 9, in the spring of 1855.

     William Schelling, a Pennsylvanian, came with his family to Delaware County in 1855, and that spring settled on section 27, in this township, where he resided many years and raised a large family of children.

     Ferdinand W. Dunham was born in 1814, in the State of New York.  He came from Indiana in 1855 and settled on section 26.  He moved to Manchester in 1869 and served on the board of supervisors.

     Silas S. Underhood was born in Massachusetts and married Catherine Love, of New York, in 1838.  They immigrated to Iowa and to this county in June, 1855, where they settled on section 2 of this township.

     Abner Dunham was a settler here in 1855, coming from Indiana.  He located on section 26.  He was a veteran of the Civil war - first lieutenant in the Twelfth Iowa.  In 1869 he married Sophronia Boynton, who is still a resident of Manchester.  He served as sheriff of the county two terms.  He was a son of Ferdinand W. Dunham.  Obadiah A. Dunham was another son of Ferdinand W. Dunham, who came with his father in 1855.  He is now one of Manchester's respected citizens.

     David P. Ferris was born in the State of Ohio, immigrated to Iowa from Indiana and in July, 1856, settled on section 15, Delaware Township.

     John W. May was married in Boone County, Iowa, in the fall of 1855, and in January, 1856, arrived in this county and settled on section 5, Delaware Township.

     Amos F. Coon was an early settler of this township, coming from New York with his family in 1857.  He was one of the largest landowners in the county.  E. Spaulding Coon a son, was but a lad at the time his parents settled here.  He married Ettie Coleson for his second wife.  She was born in this county in 1857.

OLD QUAKER MILL, NOW MANCHESTER FLOUR MILLS, TWO AND ONE'HALF
MILES NORTHWEST OF MANCHESTER

JONES MILL, KNOWN AS THE MANCHESTER WOOLEN MILL.

[pg 333]
     Ward C. Cooley immigrated from New Hampshire to Iowa on the 2d day of December, 1859, settling on a farm in Delaware Township, where he died in 1865.

DELAWARE CENTER

     This is one of the towns lost in the ruck.  It was laid out by Dr. John Acers in November, 1854, on the south half of the northeast quarter of section 19, and was first called Acersville.  The township had been created the year before and Delaware Center was nominated as the polling place.  Dr. John Acers entered land here in 1851 and located thereon that year.  In the following year he and his brother, Henry, built a mill on the Maquoketa, which was leased to Henry Ryan.

     Edson Merrill was the first blacksmith, opening a shop in 1853.  In 1855 Merrill moved to Manchester.

     The building of a schoolhouse began in 1853 and was completed in 1854.  Mrs. Riley was the teacher.  Rev. B. M. Amsden held religious meetings in the crude structure before the opening of school, and his audiences sat on planks, obtained at the mill close by.  Elder John Martindale, of Elk township, also contributed spiritual admonitions and comfort to the settlers who gathered in the little cabin to hear him.

     A. R. Loomis, who became a leading factor in business circles of Manchester started a dry-goods store at Delaware Center in 1854.  He only remained about a year and then began his business career in Manchester.

     Dr. John Acers, founder of the village, earnest in his desire to build a town, erected a flouring mill in 1854.  Through inability, or disinclination, this worthy pioneer failed to accept a proposition of Judge Dyer's and Manchester was founded.  This was a body blow to "The Center" and after a few gasps the village died out and is known no more as such.

MILLHEIM

     On the 21st day of July, 1858, John Kaltenbach laid out the Town of Millheim, on section 3, giving it the name of his birthplace in Germany.  Mr. Kaltenbach built a sawmill at this place in 1853, on Honey Clerk, and a flouring mill in 1864, which passed into various hands.  The first house was built by one Sherman, in 1858, and in 1868 a long school was erected near by, a community affair, in which school was kept and religious meetings were also held there.  Among the ministers who held forth in the old building were Reverends Jenkins, Long and Whiting.  In 1872 Chester Burgess started a tannery and glove factory, but after a three years' trial gave up the venture.  As a trading point Millheim, or "Dutch Township," as it came to be known, is now a thing of the past.

< CLICK HERE to GO to TABLE of CONTENTS >