Happy Birthday, Buffalo Bill! From your biggest fan, Samuel F.

Posted on February 26, 2008 by SCblogger

As every Buffalo Bill-ophile should know, William F. Cody was born in (or rather, near) LeClaire, Iowa on February 26, 1846.

 So, to celebrate the birth of this illustrious Scott County native son, why not visit the library and read up on Buffalo Bill’s famous exploits? Or this weekend, visit the Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire!

 However, we don’t necessarily recommend going as far as Samuel Franklin Cody, the Davenport native who was born a Cowdry in 1863, but changed his name to emphasize how much he looked like the famous Buffalo Bill.  He actually rode with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show as a substitute for the great man, and in 1889, he left America to establish a Wild West Show in England.

 While he was there, however, Samuel’s interests turned to flying machines.  He became Chief Kite Instructor to the British Army Balloon Factory in 1902 and began working on a winged machine powered by a 50 horsepower engine.  On October 16, 1908, Cody flew his plane a quarter mile in the first powered sustained flight in England, becoming  Britain’s answer to the Wright Brothers, who only beat him to it by 5 years. 

Cody continued to work on his planes, including an enormous biplane, the Flying Cathedral, and became one of the country’s best pilots.  Flying in the early days was a dangerous business, even for an expert like Samuel.  On August 7, 1913, while he was testing his new plane, the Cathedral VI,  it broke up in flight and crashed.  Samuel F. Cody was buried in a London military cemetery and his funeral was attended by 50,000 people–a fitting goodbye for the man considered by many to be the father of British aeronautics.

The Davenport newspapers reported his death, although from a much different perspective: The Daily Times said that Samuel had been a good friend of Buffalo Bill and that his uncanny resemblance to the great man had led him to a career in the Wild West Show.  Of his feats of aviaton, the article simply states that he had also been a flyer and had died in an airplane crash in England.

So, if you already know all about Buffalo Bill, why not learn more about his greatest fan–not to mention England’s famous aviator?  We can supply newspaper articles and books, including Colonel Cody and the Flying Cathedral: the Adventures of the Cowboy who Conquered the Sky (Jenkins, 2001).

And go ahead and have two pieces of cake–one for an American Legend, and one who stepped out of the Legend’s shadow to create a legacy of his own.  Both from Scott County!

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

History’s Mysteries : General Houston (part two)

Posted on February 22, 2008 by SCblogger

When last we blogged, General Houston’s life was taking a tragic turn. The devastating Hill’s Block fire in February 1876 must have been a terrific blow to him both professionally and personally and no doubt created hardship within his marriage. Ah—marriage. His Daily Times obituary revealed that Houston was married three times. Houston married first wife, Lizzie, shortly after the Civil War. They moved from Rockford, Illinois to Davenport sometime following the August 1870 federal census, but Lizzie is thought to have died around 1871 after only four years of marriage.

A second marriage to Malvina Kelley was to change the course of his life. Malvina was only about 18 years old when she and General Houston married at the Muscatine County home of her father, Henry Kelley, in December of 1873. It must have been Malvina’s clothing that was mentioned as completely lost in the Hill’s Block fire. Devastated by their losses, perhaps the young woman felt trapped in the marriage and sought refuge with her parents, perhaps the significant age difference created some difficulties between the couple as suggested in newspaper accounts, or perhaps Malvina was “high spirited” as noted in a West Liberty History. Regardless, the August 3, 1876 issue of the Davenport Democrat newspaper sported the headline “General Houston Murders His Father-in-Law, Henry Kelley, at West Liberty”. The Muscatine Daily Journal of the same date led with “Murder at West Liberty. A Negro Barber Kills his Father-in-Law, Shooting him Three Times”.

“He lived fast, drinking and gambling, and his wife being rather handsome and he not overly attractive, and very jealous withal, it is not at all surprising that serious quarrels marred the peace of the household.” (Muscatine Daily Journal, Thursday August 3, 1876, page 4.)

The newspapers clearly drew fast conclusions and rumors fed upon other rumors regarding what had occurred in West Liberty that night. It was reported that General Houston was an abusive, jealous husband.

The implication was that Malvina was living in her father’s home, Henry Kelley defended his daughter, and General Houston killed him in cold blood. One paper said Houston continued firing until he had emptied the contents of five barrels into the old man’s body. Another claimed we drew a revolver and shot Kelley three times in the back. Elaborate tales of premeditation were printed. As for General Houston, he said he shot Kelly in self-defense.

A Muscatine County District Court Grand Jury returned an indictment for murder against Houston on August 29th. The case of the State vs. “General” Houston was set for Friday, September 1st, but the trial of two men who had robbed a tramp occupied the entire day. Finally, on Monday the trial began.

“The courtroom is crowded with spectators. Mrs. Houston and Mrs. Kelly, her mother, are in attendance. The latter testified this afternoon.” (Muscatine Daily Journal, Monday September 4, 1876, page 4.)

“A sensation occurred in the court room during the trial of the Houston murder case this afternoon. The grand jury came in with a recusant witness who refused to answer the question ….The witness would not say a word…He says he will “rot in jail” before he will answer.” (Muscatine Daily Journal, Tuesday, September 5, 1876, page 4.)

“Judge Brannan made the closing argument in the Houston case today and at 4 o’clock the jury retired, but up to the hour of going to press it had not returned a verdict.”
“P.S. Just as we were closing our forms the report was brought in that the jury in the Houston case returned a verdict of ………(Muscatine Daily Journal Wednesday, September 6, 1876, page 4)

Read More: Part 1  // Part 3 // Part 4

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

New Genealogy and Local History database available!

Posted on February 22, 2008 by SCblogger

Local newspapers are one of the primary sources for many types of historical research. They are treasure troves of information about the events that have shaped our current lives – from floods to earthquakes to wars and space exploration. It’s relatively easy to find information about these events in our newspaper files – you just find the date in a readily available book or timeline and pull out the appropriate roll of microfilm and find the date you need. But newspapers also document our lives at the smallest level. Local papers from even 40 years ago included snippets of gossip about dinner parties and who was visiting family from out of town. They have photos of brownie troops and peewee soccer teams and rolls of honor from local high schools. And they include the records of a community – not just birth, death and marriage, but building permits and business licenses. Finding this information has traditionally involved a LOT of careful reading of rolls and rolls of newspaper microfilm. Now, however, a visit to the Special Center at Davenport Public Library may be able to unlock this information for you.

We recently subscribed to a new newspaper database that offers keyword searching to tens of millions of newspaper pages dating as far back as the late 1700’s. NewspaperArchive.com is the world’s largest archive of online newspapers. It lets you search, view and print full-page newspaper s from around the world.

This database is available for in-house use at any Davenport Public Library locations – just click on the link to Genealogy information and look for the icon that says “newspaper index”. You’ll be surprised at what you can find!

Posted in Genealogy, Local History | Leave a comment

History’s Mysteries : General Houston

Posted on February 20, 2008 by SCblogger

Part One 

On February 22, 1876 one of the first truly disastrous fires in Davenport began when fourteen buildings, including what was known as Hill’s Block, went up in flames. In less than two hours, a half block of Brady Street businesses and nearly that much on Third Street were consumed by fire. According to an article in the Davenport Democrat newspaper of February 24, 1876:

Probably Gen. Houston, the barber, is a more severe sufferer for his means, than any other one party, by the fire. He lost all his furniture, bedding, gloves, carpets, and his wife’s clothing, etc. and a great deal of his shop stock. His loss will be over $800 with no insurance and no money. With what he saved from his shop, he has located in a room on Fifth between Brady and Perry streets, where he would like to see all his old customers again.

A quick check of the Davenport City Directory for 1876 confirmed Houston’s business location and noted that he was a person of color. Since February is Black History Month, it seemed the perfect serendipity for further investigation of General Houston.

Dr. Craig Klein of Scott Community College has researched African-Americans of the area and offered some helpful newspaper citations providing clues to Houston’s life. One of the articles, from November of 1909, included General Houston’s photograph and more snippets of information about the “Brady Street Tonsor”.

General Houston, although now engaged solely in the practice of chiropody, was at one time owner and proprietor of one of the leading tonsorial parlors in the city…. at that time General Houston was known far and near as one of the best masters of the art then engaged in the profession. …. Later he was called out of town and upon returning did not think that a resumption of his former profession would be consistent with the later years of his life. He accordingly adopted the profession of which he is now an adept exponent and which is now his pet hobby and means of sustenance.

Hmmm. First a barber, then a foot doctor. Called out of town? And what about that name – General? Did he serve in the military? Details – we need details. An obituary often has some good ones.

Dr. Klein’s information had listed Houston’s year of death as 1910, and a quick check in Abstracted Names from the Davenport Democrat and Leader revealed an article pertaining to his death. Success! The obit said he had been born a slave, ran away to Illinois, enlisted in the 29th United States Colored infantry and earned his nickname “General” by reason of his bravery there. His slavery name was Houston Smith but after gaining his freedom he dropped the name of his master and retained that of Houston.

Excellent! The name issue has been cleared up. He did serve in the military. Verification of his enlistment and information about his service was easy to obtain by utilizing the library’s subscription database AncestryLibrary. Houston enlisted as a Private on February 13, 1864 and received a disability discharge from the U. S. Colored Troops on March 15, 1865.

There might be interesting information if he filed for an invalid pension from the federal government. Again, using AncestryLibrary the pension file index revealed an application for both an invalid pension and a widow’s pension. It would sure be fun to order copies of those from the National Archives some day!

Sarah Houston had filed for the widow’s pension. Finally – a name for his wife. A second look at his obituary in the Democrat confirmed he was survived by a wife and one granddaughter, but no son or daughter was mentioned. Thinking it might be an accidental omission, a check of the other newspaper seemed appropriate. The Daily Times obituary indicated that more was omitted from the General’s story than just the name of his child!

Houston had married a woman in Illinois shortly after the war. The Times obit went on to say he married a second time and thereafter shot … wait! He did what? Was charged with what? In little West Liberty, Iowa? I’ll say he got called out of town! This really IS a history mystery! Too long for one blog entry…. tune in next week for the rest of the story!!

Read More: Part 2  // Part 3 // Part 4

Davenport Weekly Democrat and Leader 55, no. 13 (January 13, 1910): 7

Posted in Genealogy, Local History | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

St. Valentine’s Day and Marriage — a Shot in the Dark?

Posted on February 12, 2008 by SCblogger

Mrs. W. G. Donald, circa 1910

Valentine’s Day is a time of romance.  We think about flowers, candy, and cards non-stop for weeks in advance (probably thanks to the many commercials and ads we see).  The legacy of Valentine’s Day was already well-known in the United States by the 1870s.  Newspapers counted down the days and local stores placed information in the papers on their Valentine card stock a week or two before the 14th.  By February 15th, the post office released the number of valentine cards processed the day before.  Several thousand valentines passed through the Davenport post office during the 1870s.

Occasionally, the papers of that time also mention the names of those who had taken out marriage licenses around this romantic day.  A quick glance through Marriage Records, 1870 – 1879, Scott County Court House, Davenport, Iowa shows that while many marriage licenses were obtained on or around February 14th, this did not mean those headed for wedded bliss intended to celebrate the day with St. Valentine.  On average from 1870 – 1879, about three out of thirty marriages in February actually occurred on the 14th.  So, while Cupid’s arrow might jump start a man into springing for a license on the most romantic day of the year, weddings were far too serious a matter to leave to the dubious aim of the little winged dickens.

However, most couples didn’t wait too long: February actually was one of the busier months for marriage in Davenport in the 1870s.  And the slowest, you might ask?  That would be July–who wanted to wear heavy wedding clothes during the hottest month of the year, a century or so before air-conditioning?

Jumping ahead fifty years to the roaring twenties, we find newspapers detailing the marriages of those who chose to be married on St. Valentine’s Day  While the numbers actually appear relatively similar to those of the 1870s, the day seems much more connected to the idea of love and romance in the flowery description provided by the papers.

As you peek at other wedding announcements, it becomes obvious that young couples probably felt Cupid’s arrow just as strongly on their chosen day as if they were being married on St. Valentine’s Day.

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Davenporters of Note: Milton Howard

Posted on February 4, 2008 by SCblogger

Mr. Milton Howard, an African-American, was a man with a unique story.

He was born as a free person in Muscatine, Iowa about 1845 (different sources offer different dates). However, as a child, he and his family were kidnapped and taken into the south and sold as slaves.

When the Civil War started, he ran away and joined the Union army. After the War, he came to Davenport to live. In 1866, he got a job at the Rock Island Arsenal where he worked for fifty-two years.

According to an article published in the Davenport Democrat on April 18, 1915, Mr. Howard could speak both French and German. He learned French while he was a slave, and when he came to Davenport he studied German, a language spoken by many who lived here. He was often asked to give guest sermons whenever a pastor in one of the city’s African-American churches was not available, earning him the nickname “Deacon.”

One day while he was out, he came upon General Flagler, the commandant of the Arsenal. The general had been walking on some ice near the dam and had fallen through. Mr. Howard came to his rescue and saved his life.

In 1921, Mr. Howard was sent with three other men who had worked at the Arsenal for half a century to Aberdeen, Maryland, in recognition of their years of service. They received gold medals. He worked at the Arsenal for 2 more years before retiring

On March 18, 1928, as he was entering church, Mr. Howard had a fainting spell. He was taken into the church where he died a short time later.

He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Captain Barney’s War

Posted on January 30, 2008 by SCblogger

dplvm89-000636.jpg

Over 76,237 Iowa men fought in the Union Army during the Civil WarOne of these, Captain Chester Barney, from Davenport, fought with the 20th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After he resigned his commission in November of 1864, he wrote a book about his experiences and paid the job rooms of the Davenport Gazette to print it up. Two copies have found a permanent home in our collections.

recollections.jpg

The title says it all, and then some: Recollections of Field Service with the Twentieth Iowa Infantry Volunteers: or, what I saw in the Army; embracing accounts of marches, battles, sieges, and skirmishes, in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and along the northern border of Mexico.

War is a serious business, and Captain Barney describes the daily life of Union soldiers, the aftermath of battles, and the hardships his company faced, including, at times, a lack of supplies as basic as food and footwear. Throughout the book, however, our Captain shows a wry sense of humor that probably helped him through the worst days and nights.

Here are two of our favorite examples:

“Resuming our march, we reached ‘Slippery Bottom Creek’ and 8 o’clock A. M.—the most appropriately named creek I have ever met with. A temporary bridge had been constructed by boards laid across, the ends joining and resting on large smooth boulder stones; in crossing on these, which many attempted to do, they were found better adapted for the purpose of a ‘plunge bath’ than bridge. Those who waded were no more fortunate, as the bottom of the creek was covered with large smooth stones on which we slipped, and were treated to as good a bath, but with less plunge.” (p. 105)

“One of my men brought me a fine piece of fresh beef, and while I was discussing a nice steak, [I] received instructions to arrest a number of men in Company K, which were charged with killing cattle. This produced a sudden decline in my appetite, as I felt assured that the steak I was then relishing was contraband . . .
“On arriving at Company K, I found a sergeant with a squad of men busily engaged . . . the grounds repesenting the appearance of a division butchering establishment. The first intimation these men received of this proceeding being discountenanced at headquarters was their arrest. I made some arrests from other regiments, but my rich steak at breakfast had been so well relished that I felt little disposed to make very rigid search, as most of the men seemed to think it was no crime to confiscate rebel beef to satisfy the cravings of hunger.
“Some of them seemed now to have frail memories, for they had forgotten not only the names of their regiments and officers, but even their own names. Strange freaks memory will play sometimes.
“[The men] were kept under arrest, but on being told that prisoners were not subject to duty, nor allowed to carry guns, they bore their misfortune with cheerfulness.” (pp.39-40)

Recollections (SC 973.7477) can’t be checked out, but you are welcome to spend the afternoon in a warm, comfortable library and read this account of the Civil War from a man who fought in it.

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

More New Vital Records Have Arrived!

Posted on January 25, 2008 by SCblogger

We are currently finding room in our microfilm cabinets for early vital records from five more Iowa Counties: Jefferson, Clayton, Jones, Wayne and Mahaska.

Please see our online catalog for details!  (hint: type  “County Name vital records” in the search window for the best results – for example, “Louisa County vital records” or “Jackson County vital records.”)

We are moving steadily west in pursuit of these resources, so please check back with us often!

Posted in Genealogy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Davenporters of Note: Popcorn Pete

Posted on January 22, 2008 by SCblogger

Pete Duex made a career out of popcorn. Back in the early 1900s, Duex was a familiar sight on Davenport streets as he moved through the downtown area selling popcorn from a horse and wagon.

Time moved on and he made the transition to a Model “T”, which had a white portable lunch wagon mounted on the rear, where he sold sandwiches, hot tamales – he was also called “Hot Tamale Pete”–and, of course, popcorn. He would often park his stand near the Davenport Municipal Stadium or on the levee.

Eventually he established a lunchroom in the 1000 block of West Fourth Street, just east of the Coliseum Ballroom and later at 916 West 3rd Street. After he sold the restaurant, he established his popcorn business in a former service station at West Third and Myrtle Street. People would drive from all parts of the Quad-City area to buy popcorn from “Popcorn Pete”. He never lost the knack of making it “the tastiest in town”.

His death was reported on the front page of the Morning Democrat  on Thursday, February 25, 1960, as befitted the end of one of Davenport’s most popular businessmen.

Posted in Local History | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

City Cemetery Sexton Records Found

Posted on January 18, 2008 by SCblogger

City Cemetery, 2007

One of the oldest cemeteries in our city is located in an area that is anything but peaceful. Cars and semi-trucks roar by the grounds where some of the poorest citizens of Davenport lay resting in a Potter’s Field and the wealthiest lay under intricately carved tombstones within carefully designed family lots. 

 City Cemetery family plot

The grounds of City Cemetery lie in this industrial area between Rockingham Road and River Drive, amazingly close to the Mississippi River. Tombstones have been displaced due to floodwaters, gophers and vandalism over the years. Efforts are being made by the City of Davenport’s Parks and Recreation Department to return the tombstones to their proper places, but the task has been made more difficult by a lack of documentation with regard to the burials. Enter an especially exciting discovery from the City of Davenport’s Archives!  

City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857

City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857City Cemetery Sexton Record 1857The City Cemetery Sexton presented a monthly report to the City Council, and these were recently discovered, the earliest found being from 1857! These lists provide names and ages of deceased, dates and cause of death, and locations of burials for city residents, many of whom were buried in unmarked graves in the Potter’s Field portion of the City Cemetery. What a boon for genealogists and local historians!  The staff is currently working to make the Davenport City Sexton records and other primary sources accessible to the public on our local history website, www.qcmemory.org and on the Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive, www.umvphotoarchive.org.

Posted in Genealogy, Local History | Tagged , | 5 Comments