HIRAM HURST =========== "History of Madison County, Iowa" by Herman A. Mueller, published 1915 Pages 281-291: Previous to 1846 the soil of Madison county had been trodden only by the red man, and an occasional adventurous trapper. The hour had come, however, when a new civilization was to advance its flag here, and make the wild lands blossom as a rose. By peaceful negotiation, as we have said and not through conquest, the Indians were to make way for the advancing whites. It is pleasant to reflect that the soil of Madison county was not won by bloodshed, but id the Indians had not peaceably ceded it there can be no doubt that it would have been wrested from their domination by force. In the order of things the time had come when they "must go." So that it is but little more than thirty years since all this fair region was unknown land to civilization. Here, "wild in woods, the noble savage ran," with all that there could be of nobility in his untaught, or rather ill-taught, or treacherous nature. Suddenly the face of the white man was seen in the forest, surveying its unimproved wealth, and preparing the way for a greater people. The taciturn grunting savage heard the sound of laughter in regions where that melody might not have been heard since the long forgotten days of the mound builders, and he prepared to move further afield away from his aggressive and more powerful neighbor. The sound of the axe and the crash of falling timber spoke of new life and animation. For the new-comer in all this wild region there was a every bubbling spring of music sweet and the voices of children. The ripple of the lonely river, flashing against its sides, gave prophecy of towns to spring up amid the sterner sounds of daily toil for a rich reward, in which all natural forces must become tributary to man's well being. In the spring of 1846, several months after the appointed time of the departure of the Indians, Hiram Hurst, the first white settler of Madison county, appeared here and staked out his claim. We shall speak of him more fully here after. It is a matter of regret that his name could not have been permanently connected with the county and it would not perhaps have been too much to have at least named one of the townships in honor of this adventurous pioneer who first tilled the soil of Madison county and thus let the good and not the evil he did live after him. But it was not to be so, and we place his name on this page that future generations may not forget the first farmer and the first settler of Madison county. EARLY SETTLERS There is one singular fact always noticed in the colonization of a new country. The idea of colonization seems to occur to a number of persons at the same instant in different places and without any plan or mutual understanding they take up their beds and walk with as little delay a possible until they meet at the same place and thereafter unite in the building of a commonwealth. There must be some law of human action governing this matter, but it is useless to speculate upon theories since the simple fact is all that immediately concerns us just now. As already stated the primeval solitude of Madison county was first broken for settlement by Hiram Hurst about the 15th of April 1846, when he settled on what is now know as the old Cason Farm, in Crawford township. He came from Andrew county, Missouri, and was accompanied only by his team and dog. From all that can be gathered it seems very clearly established that he was the first white settler in Madison county,"Falsehood lingers about the birth of nations'"says the great French historian, and one who attempts to explore the early history of a county eventually will fully appreciate the pithy saying. But all things considered there is no reasonable doubt about the one fact that Hurst was the first settler of the county, and that he came here is 1846. It is entirely possible that a few adventurous land-viewers and claim-seekers may possibly have been here before him, looking at the country and hunting the best localities in order that they might be better prepared to make an intelligent and satisfactory selection before settling permanently on the claim. But these persons of there were such, left without making any effort at settlement and pushed on to inspect other places. ********************************************************* The following information was copied almost verbatim from the " History of Andrew and Dekalb Counties, Missouri" published in 1885 by Goodspeed, which gives an excellent account of the early settlers of Andrew County. The mentioning of the other early settlers is prudent since Hiram Hurst, Joseph's son, married Elizabeth Todd, and we are trying to give a well rounded history of the Hursts occupation in Andrew County Missouri. ***Jeptha and Zephaniah Todd, two brothers, settled in the southwest corner of Jefferson Twp., in 1837, moving from Clay Co., which county furnished many of the early settlers of the Platte Purchase. ***1839- Others who settled in "Hackberry"in an early day were~~~~~~~Abrah Hurst, Stephen Hurst, Morgan Hurst, Elijah Hurst, and ect. ***Henry Todd moved to Andrew County from Indiana in 1837, locating about 3 miles mortheast of Savannah, in Nodawas Twp. He sold his claim within a short time, and after making a living in various parts of the country moved to Gentry Co., Missouri, where he died in 1870. His three sons, Moses, Issac, and John H., grew to manhood in Andrew County, the last named, a prominent business man of Savannah, being one of the oldest residents of the county now living. (1885)Barnabas Adkins and John Evans, sons-in-law of Todd, came the same year and settled in the same locality. ***Joseph Hurst located a few miles northeast of Savannah as early as 1837. Mr Hurst was a conspicuous figure among the early settlers, having been a very large man, tipping the scales at a fraction over 300 pounds. During a revival meeting held by a pioneer minister if the Baptist church he identified himself with the church, and is said to have been the first person babtized in the One-Hundred-And-Two HIRAM HURST Hiram Hurst was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, March l, 1821, and removed with his parents to Andrew County, Missouri, where he lived a number of years. He probably married his wife, Elizabeth Hurst, in Missouri. She was a native of Kentucky. In 1845 he removed with his family to Iowa and ten years later he came to Nebraska He settled on a claim in Wyoming Precinct and late in 1856 he went to a Kansas land office and filed September l, 1856 on 160 acres in the northern part of Wyoming Precinct. Soon after the land office opened at Nebraska City in the spring of 1857 he filed again on 120 acres of this land, It would seem that the log cabin he put up was one of the better ones in the neighborhood, for it was used as the polling place in Wyoming Precinct in 1855 Mr. Hurst was named in the census of October 1855 with his wife, five sons and one daughter. By August 1856 a second daughter had been born but she died before June 1860. In the federal census of 1860, seven children were listed: John and James, aged 15 and 17, born in Missouri; William, Sarah, Thomas and Isaac, aged thirteen nine, seven, and six, born in Iowa; and the eleven month old Isabella, born in Nebraska. In 1865 there was an additional daughter Martha three years old at that time. In 1860 he owned 131 acres of land valued at $3,000.00, of which 75 acres were under cultivation. His farm imple- ments were worth $100.00. His livestock valued at $450.00 consisted of 4 horses, 3 milch cows, 6 other cattle and 10 hogs. In 1859 he had raised 150 bushels of wheat, 10 bushels of rye, 400 bushels of corn, 100 bushels of oats, 15 bushels of potatoes and had put up 10 tons of hay. The family had sold 300 pounds of butter. .Hiram Hurst voted at Wyoming, November 6, 1855. In August 1856 he was elected justice of the peace and thereafter he was elected to the position a good many times. The justice of the peace was a man of considerable importance 100 years ago and Mr. Hurst, who was a portly man, was able to carry himself with the dignity demanded by his position. As one of the leading men in his little community he was often called upon to express the desires of his community. People said he looked like Brigham Young. From the time the Democratic party began to maintain an organization in the Territory, Hiram Hurst was a zealous member of the party. He was usually a delegate to the county convention in the early days, was some- times a delegate to the territorial convention and was sometimes a member of the county central committee. He was a Democratic candidate for the Legislature in 1860 and again in 1863, but was defeated both times. In neither case was it a good year for Democrats. Mr.Hurst played his part in the community in many other ways: he often served on the election board. He was one of the judges at the county fair in the fall of 1857; he was elected school director in Wyoming in March 1859; he took part in the organization of the Union League at Wyoming in January 1862 and administered the oath of allegiance to the members; he was one of the three commissioners designated by law to locate the territorial road from Wyoming to the town of Lancaster; and in September 1867 he was appointed by the county commissioners to report on the poor in his precinct and their needs during the subsequent winter. During the campaign to adopt the constitution in 1866, he was quite outspoken in his opposition to statehood. Mr. Hurst and his family are found in the 1870 census but the information is not very reliable as far as where the children were born. Those at home were William, Sarah, Thomas, Isaac and Belle. He owned 132 acres of land valued at $5,OOO.OO of which 90 acres were under cultivation. His farm implements were worth $100.00. His live stock valued at $600.00 consisted of four horses, seven milch cows and twenty hogs. In 1869 he had raised 200 bushels of wheat and 500 bushels of corn. Mr. Hurst was a zealous member of the Baptist Church and took a leading part in its activities. Several years after he settled in Otoe County he was ordained a regular minister. He always operated a farm, but he never neglected his ministerial duties. In 1878 he removed to the Delta neighborhood about five miles south of Dunbar. It was through his efforts that a Baptist Church was organized there and a building put up. Mr. Hurst and his family were listed in McWilliams Precinct in the 1880 census. He was 59 years of age and Elizabeth, his(3rd) wife was 36. He was a native of Tennessee, his parents having been born in Virginia. Elizabeth Hurst was born in Ohio of Irish parents. All the older children were gone from home, but they had an infant son, George, who was born in September l879. Five Wood children ranging in age from seventeen to six lived in the family. He died at his home near Delta, September 18, 1889. He was married four times.. He was also survived by eleven children and ten step-children ######################### Extracted from: A Portrait & Biographical Album of Oteo and Cass Counties, Nebraska. pub. 1889 Hiram HURST. After a long and active life of ministerial labor, this gentleman has since 1884 lived retired, although no less interested than formerly, before he attained the honor of the veteran in Gospel soldiery. He now resides on section 1 of McWilliams Precinct, in the vicinity of Delta, where he has made his home since l878, and of Nebraska since 1855. He has always operated a farm in connection with bis preaching engagements, but gave the preference to the latter. His home was in Wyoming Precinct from 1855 to 1878, wben he took up his residence as at present. Our subject was ordained minister of the Regular Baptist Church some years after coming to the State, and has carried on that department of his life work with energy, spirit and effectiveness. He has been associated with the Baptist Church of this and Mills County, Iowa, and has built up several new churches, strengthening and reviving weak and semi-defunct organizations. The church at Delta in its organization and efficiency, and also the house of worship, are the result of his work, but only one of many instances that might be cited. The only reason for his leaving the pulpit and pastoral workwas the failure of his health, which demanded that it be transferred to younger and stouter, even though less able and experienced men. Mr. Hurst entered land upon coming to the State in 1855. He settled on and entered the same in Wyoming Precinct, and was one of the first in the county to do so. There he made his home, and brought up and educated a large family. He is a native of East Tennessee, and was born in Claiborne County on the lst of March, 1821. His parents were West Virginians, and in that State his father, Joseph Hurst, was reared, married, and for several years carried on farming. The maiden name of his wife, the mother of our subject, was Rhoda McNew. After the birth of several children Joseph Hurst and his wife moved to Claiborne County, Tenn., and there made a home for their little ones, but when their family had grown up, came to this State, where the father died aged seventy-eight years, and the mother about forty-eight years. They were for many years members of the Baptist Church, and were among the first to be baptized in Andrew County, Missouri, whither they had gone from Tennessee, and for a number of years had lived upon a farm. Our subject has been three times married. First in Andrew County, to Elizabeth Todd, who, although born in Indiana, had accompanied her parents to Missouri in her childhood. They were neighbors to the family of Mr. Hurst, and fellow members of the church. For some years after his marriage our subject continued farming in Missouri, moving later to Iowa, where be took a claim in Madison County in 1845, being perhaps the first to enter a claim in that county. After ten years spent in that district he removed as above mentioned in the year 1855 to Nebraska, where the old pioneer life was lived over again. Mrs. Hurst died in Wyoming Precinct, this county, when about fifty years of age, leaving eight children, viz: John M., who is now the husband of Hester Webb, and one of the successful farmers of the county; James H., who married Mollie Gray, and is one of the well-to- do farmers of Norton County, Kan.; William. H., residing in the same county ; Sarah, the wife of John Whetstone; Thomas Jefferson, at Edgar, and married to Josie Smith, of Cass County, Neb.; Isaac N., who was married to Mollie Webb; Isabelle, the wife of John Hughes, of this county, and Martha M., who is married to Steve Bales, of Talmage. The second marriage of our subject was celebrated at Wyoming, the lady being Elizabeth Lewis, who was born in Indiana, but Mr. Hurst was not long to enjoy her companionship, as she died about one year after her marriage. Upon another occasion also our subject stood before the nuptial altar, and was united in marriage with Mrs. Ellen E. Wood, relict of Fred W. Wood. That gentleman was born in France. When but a little lad he accompanied his parents to the United States, but subsequently was taken to England, where he was educated, and where be remained until he was of age. He then came to this country, and before long to Nebraska, locating in the western part of the State, where he met and married Miss E. E. Knox, now Mrs. Hurst. Miss Knox was born in Belmont County, Ohio, Nov. 25, 1844. and is the daughter of John and Agnes (Douglas) Knox. After the death of her mother she came with her father in the year 1856 to Nebraska City, after tarrying in the State of Iowa for about four years. Soon after coming to this State Mr. Knox pre-empted land in West Otoe County, later in Thayer County, where he operates his farm. Mrs. Hurst made her home with her father until her marriage with Mr. Wood, and has all her life been associated with agricultural life. She owns 160 acres of land, well improved and stocked, which her late husband obtained when a young man. He was by trade a mechanic in the line of carpenter. He died at his home in this county on the 8th of February, 1846, at the age of forty-seven years. He was the father of seven children; two daughters, Katie A. and Katie E. areboth deceased. The surviving children are named as follows : Charles W., May B., Kate A., Lizzie G.and Sylvester H. By her second marriage there are four children, one, George H., being deceased. The remaining children are named as follows: Mary C., Edwin K. and Frederick H. Mr. Hurst still retains his membership in the Baptist Church, and is pleased to have his wife, two daughters and sons with him in that relation. Upon two occasions Mr. Hurst has been nominated for Representative of the county, but was defeated. For twenty years he held the office of Justice of the Peace. Two sons of our subject were in the Rebellion, and represented the family in its patriotic devotion. One was wounded at Nashville, and the other honorably discharged, owing to physical disability. Politically, our subject is a Democrat, and a stanch adherent of the party.