Iowa Heritage Illustrated

Silag, Bill

to attend the Democratic Convention to nominate a 
member of the Legislature. I run my horse about 2 
miles to get out of the way of the stage which tries to 
run by me but cannot do it. This would be a very hot 
day but the wind blows very hard.
June 28th We meet in Convention at Boonsboro. The 
population of these new counties are so sparse that it 
takes at least two Boone, Story, Greene Webster, Hum- 
bolt, Wright Franklin & Hardin to make one Legislative 
District. W.C. Willson is my man & I succeed in getting 
him nominated by acclimation We get through our 
business & Mr Sargent & 1 drive through the rain to 
Homer. Got wet though.
June 29th 1856 Stay all night at Mr Smiths Homer. As 
1 am wet I take a little drink of liquor which makes 
my head reel a little I ought to be ashamed Mr Leffler 
is nominated in this District for Congress. Warm 
pleasant day
June 30 Cool morning. I give in James B. Williams 
testimony in the case of his claims
July 1st, 1856 Rather cool day. Spend my time in 
entering land as the land office is open again for lands 
in Township No. 93.
July 2d 1856. Warm pleasant day
July 3 Pleasant day.
July 4th I go over to Webster City to make a speach.
D. Okeson is with me I have a very hot time. I make a 
speach. I had a written oration but 1 never had any thing 
in my way so constantly so that I got there to late. I 
speak not from my written oration but from my own 
thoughts Pres Pierce is toasted by some one & the Black 
Republicans groan. Grimes Gov, is toasted & though I 
hate his politics I respond by giving him all the praise 
I can give him. A large Ball: about 80 couple present
5th I go with Okeson to Boonsboro
6 Sunday Go to Nevada by way of New Philadelphia. 
Jack, — A.J. Detrick, is the best Working Democrat in New 
Philadelphia. Geo. A. Kellogg & J.S. Frazier in Nevada.
We are greatly bothered by Okeson's baulky nagg. 
We are compelled to whip him badly. Not a very 
pleasant trip
7 Go through the corner of Story & Marshall Cos and
into Hardin. Stay at Providence 8 miles from Eldora 
Hardin County.
8 Go to Eldora to Senatorial Convention & nominate 
Geo A Kellogg of Story County for Senator.
9th Go to Point Pleasant before last night where we 
stayed with Mr Nutt. Started from here early in the 
morning & went to Webster City. Our old horse is sick 
& nearly fagged out
10. Stayed all night at Webster City.
11. Came to Fort Dodge. Old horse nearly gone.
B la c k  R e p u b lic a n s
The term "Black Republicans” was used in the 1850s to re­
fer to the new party’s antislavery elements, which were gain­
ing legislative and electoral support in their call to halt the 
westward extension of slavery. When a Democrat like John 
Duncombe condemned Congress’s Black Republicans, he was 
voicing Democratic Party opposition to politicians and poli­
cies that threatened the interests of the southern Demo­
crats who were becoming the party’s dominant faction.
Democratic candidates of the era played at will with vot­
ers’ ambivalence regarding race relations in all parts of the 
country. For example, historian James M. McPherson notes in 
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era that campaigning Demo­
crats "rapidly perfected the technique of tarring ‘Black Re­
publicans’ with the brush of Negro equality,” warning voters 
that "the Republican policy of limiting the expansion of sla­
very would inevitably become a program of emancipation, 
which would let loose ‘three to five millions of uncivilized, 
degraded, and savage men ... to roam the country’ and take 
bread from the mouths of white laboring men.”
John Duncombe’s journal does not indicate the extent 
to which he himself subscribed to such anti-black racism. 
But his unquestioning support of the Democratic Party in 
the 1850s suggests tacit approval of party leaders’ racist 
pronouncements— like the one quoted by McPherson, ut­
tered during Ohio’s 1855 gubernatorial campaign. Within 
the Republican Party, in Iowa as in Ohio and emerging Re­
publican strongholds elsewhere, other constituent elements 
of the new party— temperance advocates and nativists, to 
name two— mitigated the Black Republicans’ influence in 
the party,at least until the I860 election. Even then, the Lin­
coln administration can hardly be said to have had “a pro­
gram of emancipation” until the exigencies of war made one 
advisable for military reasons.Thus, as with many campaign 
statements, the Democrats’ characterization of the Black 
Republican "threat” in all parts of the country in the 1850s 
was exaggerated, to say the least. —  by Bill Silag
74 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
[Use?] up the whip & make myself almost sick trying 
to get him along.
12. Have County Convention & nominate Mr Beech-j
er for Clerk & Mr. Berkley for Prosecuting Attorney.
Tried a law suit, was for Albee on defense Got 
judgment [vs us $9+]
13 Have a bad cold. I am sick all day by a very severe 
cold in the head. One side of my head feels as if it would 
nearly split open. I dont know what it is best to do 
but I think I will try to wear it out. Lie abed nearly
all day
14 I am a little better but still have a bad cold. Stay in 
my office. Politics are getting pretty high. "Kansas" is 
the humbug of opposition to the Democratic Party as 
tariff was in forty four & Coon Skin & hard cider in 40 
& U.S. Bank in 36, & 32.
15 We who subscribe to give White the editor of the 
soon to be Ft Dodge Sentinal meet & Mr W.H. Merritt 
& myself are appointed Political Editors of this paper
This will be the first paper published in the North 
West quarter of this Land of Iowa & I have the honor 
of being out of pocket about $300 for its good.
16 Very hot day. I dont feel well but I must try & go 
to Homer if I can so as to meet my engagements. At 
least as soon as tomorrow
17 Warm pleasant day. Had a fine shower last night 
I go to Homer. Stay at old Smiths. He abuses me 
about the nomination of W C Willson
18 I go over into Story Co At [J?] Richard Have long 
talk on Politics, at Fairview Stay at the House of John 
Keigleys.
19 I make a speach with Judge McFarlands at Mr. 
Keigleys. Go to Story Co seat Nevada. Make a speach 
at Nevada. Stay at the house of John McClane, a good 
Democrat
20 Sabbath. I go down to the river and take a bath.
21 I go with McFarland to Iowa Center & make a 
speach then return to Nevada & cat haul Mr. Thomas 
an opponent in debate until after midnight.
22 Go up to sale at [J?] & make a speach. Return to 
Nevada & make another speach.
23 Go to New Philadelphia & make a speach. Here 
they raise a Hickory pole & flag. Stayed at Dr Halls
24 Made a speach at Boonsboro to night
25 Made a speach at Sweeds point.
26 Made a speach at a convention at Boonsboro
27 Sabbath Started for fort Dodge. Got there before 
noon Heard Mr Peet & Bishop Lee preach a very 
good sermon Subscribed $20 to build a Pres. Church 
& 20 to build Episcopalian Church. Saw Mr. Vincent 
on his return from Pennsylvania.
28 In my office, fix up my business, get a Democratic 
Club organized, in Fort Dodge.
29 Cool morning. I am in the office a spell — then go 
up to Millers at the forks of the river, return in the 
evening.
30st Warm pleasant day. Spend my time in my office. 
Politics begins to run high. In afternoon go down to 
Thos Landreths by way of Tolmans Get my dinner at 
the house of P Bush.
Stayed all night with Landreths.
31st Go down to Bells. Go without my dinner. Stop 
out on the prairie, lie down & go to sleep. Unharness 
my horse & let her eat a little grass Get back to Fort 
Dodge & make my first political speach there. A good 
audience. One this day the first paper printed in the 
North Western quarter of the State of Iowa was 
published. I gave three Hundred Dollars to start it 
which is more than twice as much as I was worth a 
year ago, all told, but I got my grit up & it must go.
About one hundred Dollars was made up to me 
by others
This paper is called the Fort Dodge Sentinel & 
although A.S. White is the real Editor of the said 
paper W H Merritt & myself are the Political Editors 
to govern its political character.
The old Democratic party now stands on its old 
political principles. The old Whig party has become 
merged into the Republican party & Know Nothing 
party, & the sound National Whigs unite with the 
Democratic Party
The Republican party have nominated J C Free- 
mont who is 43 years old & has had only 21. days 
legislation experience, which was in the United States 
Senate from Sept. 10,1850.
Summer &  Fall 2002 75
I came home from Homer 
in 125 minutes with my 
mare after dark, distance 
18 miles in a straight 
line — about 20 by the 
road. Good travelling
The Democratic Party have nominated James 
Buchanan who has been in public life for 43 years, a 
sound national man, who served in the U.S. house of 
Representatives from 1820 to 1830 Who under Gen 
Jackson was appointed Minister to Russia in 1831, & 
continued until 1835, when he became a U.S. Senator 
& held his seat until 1845, when Mr Polk made him 
Secretary of State, for 4 years. Then in 1852 Mr Pierce 
sent him Minister to Russia. And now he has been 
nominated by a convention held at Cincinnati, in 
June & representing every Congressional District in 
the Whole Union for President of the United States & 
if I do not very greatly mistake the signs of the times 
he will be the next president.
But the nomination of J.C. Freemont was made by 
a convention of 500 delegates from the northern states 
& only two states of the South Maryland & Virginia 
Kentucky represented & that by only Eight delegates.
Thus showing that they are a sectional party only 
and the men who now stand at the head of that party 
will at some future day be called traitors to their Coun­
try, as black as Benedict Arnold. Horace Greely the 
Editor of the New York Tribune is the man who gave 
name to the party when it was born last year. This 
party appeals to the sectional prejudice of all men & 
harps about the Extention of slavery & calls in its 
platform every man who supports the Administration 
of Franklin Pierce Murders, Robbers & guilty of Arson.
All this shows me that the only men who care for 
the continuance of the Great American Union are the 
true national Democrats of this day & that these 
Republicans, who are generally called Know nothing 
Black Republicans are not in the least worthy of the 
confidence of the American people & for one I will in 
candor & honesty do all I can against them
Aug 1st 1856 Warm pleasant day. Spend this day in 
my office & in Town
Aug 2. Warm pleasant day. I go to Homer with Mr 
White, the Editor Ft Dodge Sentinel, & we have a great 
time Democrats & Black Republicans meet. I speak 
to them for Democrats. Spoke 2'/i hours C C Carpen­
ter speaks for Black Rs. V/i hours. I think B.Rs. are not 
very well satisfied. 1 came home from Homer in 125 
minutes with my mare after dark, distance 18 miles 
in a straight line — about 20 by the road. Good travelling
3d Sabbath I sleep & stay in my office as much as I can.
Aug 4, 1856 Election day. Democrats have 107 votes 
& opposition 57 a fine start at least. Some excitement 
but all good nature. This in Ft Dodge
Aug 5. Pleasant day. Spend my forenoon in the office 
In the afternoon attend to the settlement of a suit 
which I was to try for Julius Conradst.
Afternoon went to Homer Stayed all night with E 
H West. Went to buy Courrier farm for E W Lucas
6th Finished sale for E W Lucas of Courrier. Took 
dinner at I Hooks Went home to Fort Dodge
Aug. Seventh 1856 Stayed in my office until late, at 
about 4 oclock went up to Humbolt. Stayed all night 
at W.R. Millers.
8 Surveyed around the Town of Humbolt & mean­
dered the river around it. Stayed at Millers
9 Started for Fort Dodge after breakfast All passed 
off pleasantly. The R R man Mr Hackly is after the 
right of way.
10 X Sunday. I am not very well this morning. I am 
quite bilious. I took a portion of pills this morning
I have been absent since the 24th of June 26 days and 
several parts of days over
11th Messrs Henn Williams & Gillaspy come into 
town. They have a quit claim deed of the river com­
pany. This settles the long tedious Strife about title 
that has made so much trouble about here.
12th Pleasant day In my office I commence plating 
the Town of Humbolt.
13th Pleasant day. in my office Henn, Williams & Co 
settling up their business
14th Pleasant day. in my off
76 Iowa Heritage Illustrated


English

Black Republicans

9 Beautiful day. I spend my time in the office. I am 
reading law, polotics & the history of Rusia. To day 
bought a good deal of land at tax sales. The first 
investment of that kind I have ever made.
June 10th 1856 Beautiful day. Spend my time in my office.
11th Beautiful day — in my office — in the afternoon 
go over to Webster City with Willson & Salsbury.
12th Start horse back to Eldora Hardin Co 50 miles to 
see if I cant get Willson nominated for the legislature 
Get to Eldora. Stay at the house of Elsworth. In the evening 
see J.D. Thompson who is the leading Democrat there.
June 13, 1856 See Smith, Thompson & J L Hough 
They talk all right. They are Democrats. Get on our 
way for Webster City about x/i past 3 oclock P.M. Go 
50 miles to that place by one oclock A.M. I have a talk 
with Willson — the first man I have mentioned it to in 
relation to acting as District Judge in the new district 
that we hope to form This is a profound secret with 
him & with me. See whether ever this ambition will 
be satisfied!
14 Stay at Webster City. They today raised the frame 
for a hotel 60 by 30 feet. They are driving things to a 
great rate. Bot my first horse for $130 cash. A gray 
mare. Good little beast
Sunday 15 Start for Otis Grove in Franklin Co. All 
right. Craigh shot a plover on the wing riding in a 
lumber wagon at good gate. Stayed all night at Reys 
on East side of the Iowa where Willson & Craig is 
laying of a town to be called "Canterbery".
16 Start with Willson for County seat of Franklin Co. 
Get things all fixed. Run our horses about 6]/ 2 miles 
in '/2  hour through the rain. Stay with Dr. Mitchel at 
Mains Grove.
17 Start for Otis Grove — Thence to Franklin Grove. 
Find few good democrats. Stay all night with W.E. 
Rogers on Sec 36 T. 93, R 24.
18 Go to Liberty in Wright Co thence to Newcastle or 
Webster City here meet Provost the Engineer who is 
running the R Road out to Dubuque
June 19, 1856 Bring Provost to Fort Dodge
Maj Williams is away to Ft Des Moines. I show 
Provost the crossings of the Des Moines river at the Fort.
20 In my office — All quiet Hot weather.
21st Hot day. I am in my office most of the day. 1 go 
down to Tolmans to show my land to a German. Hot 
ride. Kansas War Civil War has commenced to rage. 
What the result will be God only knows. Mr Buchanan
B le e d in g  K ansas
John Duncombe’s faith in the Democratic Party was surely 
tested during the l850s.That he remained a Democrat at all 
through these years of sectional political strife —  to be fol­
lowed by the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Republican hege­
mony of the late 19th century —  indicates the depth of his 
commitment to partisan tradition and party leadership. In the 
prewar period covered by his diary, no issue aroused the ire 
of this party loyalist more than what he saw as the lawless 
tactics of antislavery forces in frontier Kansas.
In the early 1850s Congress was beginning to feel pres­
sure from railroad promoters, land speculators, and western 
politicians to officially organize the territories of Kansas and 
Nebraska. In response, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas in­
troduced legislation that evolved into the Kansas-Nebraska 
Act of 1854, which provided for the organization of the two 
new western territories. Addressing the key political issue of 
the era head-on, Douglas’s bill specified that “ all questions 
pertaining to slavery in the Territories ... are to be left to the 
people residing therein.”
Antislavery forces, Free Soilers, and other elements of
the just-forming Republican Party were livid. The Kansas-Ne­
braska Act would allow voters in these territories, if they so 
chose,to establish slavery on Louisiana Purchase land lying north 
of latitude 36 30' —  which runs along the northern border of 
Arkansas —  thereby negating the Missouri Compromise of 1820. 
By the terms of the 1820 agreement, states formed north of the 
36 30' line were to enter the Union as free states; states to the 
south were to be slave states. (Missouri had been an exception 
to this rule, entering the Union as a slave state in 1821.) In the 
view of Civil War historian James M. McPherson, by its whole­
sale affront to northern sensibilities, the Kansas-Nebraska Act 
“ may have been the most important single event pushing the 
nation toward civil war.”
Once the bill was passed in 1854, the political drama moved 
from Washington to Kansas, where proslavery and antislavery 
forces engaged in electioneering techniques that ranged from 
level-headed speechmaking to armed violence —  thus “ Bleed­
ing Kansas.” Iowa historian Leland Sage cautioned against exag­
gerating the extent of the violence, attributing to sensationalist 
reporting much of the hysteria coming out of Kansas in 1854
72 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
is the Democratic nominee for President. I have no 
doubt he will succeed in getting the vote, but it is hard 
j  to tell
Sunday, June 22d 1856 Hot day I feel very lazy. 1 have 
spent the forenoon in my office reading the News 
papers. I go to Webster City. Very hot.
i June 23. I go out to see Mr Knickerbocker who is running
the Rail Road Survey across Boon River. I stay with him 
! all day. He runs the line across Boon river about 20 
j. links north of the correction line. I suffer from heat to day.
24 Start with Mr Knickerbocker to go to Fort Dodge. 
We look out the route.
Kansas affairs are in a very critical state. The 
President is doing his best to keep all quiet by the aid 
of the United States troops
A fine shower of rain today.
June 25, 1856 Hot day. A little shower of rain Stay in 
I my office nearly all day Go to see big saw mill saw 
for the first time. Karr comes in to prove up his 
! preemption on Maj Williams claim. The time for the 
decision is fixed on the 25th day of August, 1856, at 9 
I oclock A.M. Smith & Busy come in to prove up their 
| preemption They are two birds that were feathered 
out for jumping claims.
I The Black Republicans begin to get sick of Kansas
and 1855. Most Kansans, said Sage, were just interested in find­
ing land and building homes; few had time to  engage in political 
struggles in an ongoing way.
Still, the nation watched Kansas with growing discomfort. 
“ Border ruffians” were brought in from Missouri to stuff ballot 
boxes and perform other mischief for proslavery forces. New
S
 England philanthropists underwrote the clandestine activities of 
free-state zealots.Terrorists from both sides rode into Kansas 
by night to wreak havoc on selected opposition targets, then 
retreated to safe havens in Missouri (proslavery) or Iowa (anti­
slavery). From the start, Kansas politics were hopelessly con­
tentious and conducted with unusual passion, and so they re­
mained until Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861.
John Duncombe’s observations about the “ civil war” in Kan­
sas reveal a young man trying to find a moral basis for his party’s 
position on the issues. Occasionally his defense of the party left 
him tied up in rhetorical knots, as in his diary on March 26, 
1856, when a meditation on the authenticity of his own reli­
gious faith set Duncombe off on a rambling diatribe in which he 
denounced the clergy, called for a restoration of the “ old estab-
& begin to talk about “ten cent Buck" & “not one drop 
of Democratic blood &c"
The latest news from Kansas shows that the U.S. 
troops are doing their best to disarm the fighting men 
of all sides in Kansas. Several small battles have been 
fought & in fact we are in the midst of civil war. The 
notorious Lane is encamped near Iowa City with about 
400 men en route to Kansas. Treason stalks abroad. 
What the result will be no one can tell.
June 26th 1856. Warm day. A fine rain which cools the 
air and makes it very comfortable I spend my time in 
my office. I have been trying to attend to the claims of 
Maj Williams. I bought me a buggy & harness for 
which I am to pay the Sum of $125 on — or before the 
. 10th day of September next. Now I own horse saddle 
bridle buggy & harness. Each the first I ever owned. 1 
am chosen to make the 4th July oration of this County 
at Webster City I think I have a very short time to do 
the work I fear I shall make a very poor effort as I 
have business for almost every day to that time
I have been reading the Democratic Review. It is a 
very good work now My health is good. And I have a 
very comfortable living except my board at Dr Olneys 
is most shamefully bad and has been for the last three 
months.
It is a great disgrace that we curse 
June 27, 1856 Thos Sargent & self start for Boonsboro
lished rules,” and lamented his neighbors’ obsession with ma­
terial wealth. Somehow in his mind Duncombe connected all 
this with the dispute over the Kansas-Nebraska Act.Though 
he wrote very little about slavery itself, he had strong opin­
ions about the tactics of the antislavery forces, as he noted on 
June 3, 1856: “ Unless the Strong arm of the Laws quells this 
state of thugs, in a few years perhaps less,‘our glorious coun­
try ’ and o u r ‘model republic’ will be a sordid mass of ungov­
ernable Elements, pregnant with Strife and civil wars.”
Duncombe remained a loyal Democrat all his life, which 
in Iowa came to mean that his political opportunities were 
limited. Yet perhaps because of his reputation for integrity 
and hard work, he survived Iowa’s great antebellum political 
transformation, when the Democratic heritage of early Iowa 
was eclipsed by the new ideology of Republicanism. Despite 
these changes in the context of Iowa politics,John Duncombe 
would remain a prominent public figure in Fort Dodge and in 
Iowa long after the Democratic Party of George Wallace Jones 
and Bernhart Henn faded from view.
—  by Bill Silag
Summer &  Fall 2002 73


Bleeding Kansas

Claim Clubs: Protecting Settlers or Speculators?

George Wallace Jones

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.83 no.2-3, Summer & Fall 2002

Breaux, Richard M

Facing Hostility, 
Finding Housing
A fric a n  A m e ric a n  S tu d en ts
a t th e  U n iv e rs ity  o f Io w a, 1 9 2 0 s -1 9 5 0 s
by R ich ard  M. B reau x
I
n 1921, an African American law student in Iowa 
City wrote to James Weldon Johnson at the 
National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People: "The conditions in this city are at 
present almost unlivable for a colored student. The 
attitude of hostility is felt most keenly in the matter of 
housing. No one will rent to colored fraternities and 
no one will sell in a livable locality/'
The University of Iowa law student, William 
Edwin Taylor, related how a local property owner had 
broken a contract with Taylor's fraternity, Kappa 
Alpha Psi, when members of the local Ku Klux Klan 
organized to outbid the black students. "I have been 
in this city long enough to note the crystallization of 
sentiment against us," Taylor concluded. "There is an 
organization of the Ku Klux Klan here, and I have not 
the least doubt but that they are financing the scheme 
to effect our ruin."
Some African American women students in Iowa 
City earned their room and board by working as live- 
in domestics in faculty homes. As the Iowa Bystander 
described it, these students "ran to school in the 
morning without a chance to glance in the glass, 
hurrying back at noon to help with the mid-day meal, 
then another run to school. When the evening work 
was done, they were [too] tired to study."
Being an African American college student in the 
1920s was challenging enough. Race-based housing 
restrictions made it even more so. An unwritten 
University of Iowa policy, for instance, prohibited 
African American men and women from living in the 
two campus dormitories. Fed up with having their 
housing rest on the whim of property owners' racial 
views, several women students from the university 
traveled to Marshalltown in 1919 to request help at 
the annual meeting of the Iowa Federation of Colored
Women's Clubs. The result was the Federation Home 
in Iowa City—one of the very few women's dormito­
ries in the nation owned and operated by a formal group 
of African American women. (See previous article.)
Like other African American women's clubs, the 
Iowa Federation engaged in what historian Anne 
Meis Knufer calls "other mothering." This is to say 
that club members probably filled the role of surro­
gate mother for the students in the Federation Home. 
Clubwomen expressed interest in students' study 
habits and working conditions, and the extent to 
which they represented African American woman­
hood. Federation leader Gertrude Rush articulated 
that ideal: "Strong prideful morality, strong in point 
of conduct prompted by sense of self-respect and 
honor. Future mothers can't be flappers and retain the 
respect of their girls."
For the students, appropriate behavior meant 
facing up to academic and social challenges on 
campus, addressing racism and discrimination, and 
maintaining high scholastic standards—with some 
partying on the side. Residents knew that their 
performance could determine the future of the Fed­
eration Home. Their achievements added weight to 
arguments for maintaining the Federation Home and 
helped African Americans across the state feel as if 
their financial donations had benefited the race.
The various women who lived in the Federation 
Home in the early years blazed many trails. Marie A. 
Brown and Gwendolyn Wilson were among the first 
African American women to enroll in the College of 
Pharmacy (Wilson became one of the earliest licensed 
African American women pharmacists in Iowa).
Helen Lemme lived in the Federation Home in 1927- 
1928; she later became a community activist in politics 
and women's issues. In 1924, Beulah Wheeler, of
14 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Marshalltown, became the first African American 
woman to graduate from the College of Law. As a 
student, Wheeler won the Women's Extemporaneous 
Speech Contest, speaking on "Uniform Marriage and 
Divorce Law." She had supplemented the cost of her 
education by selling handmade art, and she was a 
leading scorer on the senior basketball team and won 
honors in volleyball. (Some African American women 
used athletics as an arena to undermine popular 
ideals about the feebleness of women in general, and 
used open competition against white women to 
combat beliefs about the inherent inferiority of African 
Americans.)
B
lack students at the university also relied on 
other housing. Some found rooms in the homes 
of local black families like Estelle "Ma" 
Ferguson, Bettye and Junious Tate, and Helen and 
Allyn Lemme. Student Juanita Kidd, who became a 
Pennsylvania supreme court judge, walked "up and 
down the streets looking for a place to live" in Iowa 
City, until she "noticed a black baby in diapers on the 
front porch," according to a reporter's account. "So 
she went up to the door and asked if she could stay." 
Kidd took a room at the home of Helen Lemme.
Students faced difficulties finding places to eat 
and socialize. "They had persons standing at the 
doors of restaurants in Iowa City, and while I was 
never refused admission, the person at the door 
would simply tell the Negro students that they simply 
didn't serve Negroes," one student recalled. Other 
times, only light-skinned customers were served. In 
1937 Vivian Trent (who had lived in the Federation 
Home while a student) decided enough was enough. 
She opened a restaurant called Vivian's Chicken Shack.
Elizabeth Catlett (later a recognized printmaker 
and sculptor) waited tables in exchange for meals at 
the Chicken Shack. Catlett lived in the Federation 
Home for a year, and for a short time, she lived with 
African American author Margaret Walker, who 
would later write the popular Civil War novel Jubilee. 
A graduate of Howard University, Catlett was on 
scholarship at Iowa; in 1940 she was among Iowa's 
first three graduates to receive the nation's first 
master of fine arts degrees.
By the time Catlett had arrived in Iowa City, 
African American students and alumni had collec­
tively developed a referral service and a student 
welcoming system, which met newcomers at the train 
station and drove them around town in search of
housing. The University of Iowa had no official ruling 
on excluding African American students from the 
dormitories but reasoned that white students would 
object to black hall mates. Finally, in 1946, five African 
American students—Esther Walls, Virginia Harper, 
Nancy Henry, Gwen Davis, and Leanna Howard— 
desegregated Currier Hall, the women's dormitory. 
According to Harper, however, the first African Ameri­
can women to live in the dorms went unacknowledged 
because they were "light-skinned." Harper recalled 
that "African American women were reported if the 
proctor found them socializing with a white student." 
The university also operated several boardinghouses 
that later fed students into the dorms. Betty Jean 
Furgerson had to switch homes because one student's 
parents objected to desegregated living quarters. 
Furgerson remembered that "it did not seem as if the 
proctors wanted us [African American women] in the 
dorm." Martha Scales-Zachary recalls that university 
officials sent notices to white women's parents asking 
if they would allow their daughters to live in the 
same dorm as black women.
Even after Currier Hall opened to Iowa's black 
women students in 1946, the Federation Home 
continued to shelter students who appreciated the 
affordable rent, or black women from other states. By 
1949, university regulations permitted all African 
American women to live in dorms regardless of their 
state of residency—and with this came the fall of the 
Federation Home. The degree to which African 
Americans mourned the loss of the home remains 
unclear. Club minutes offer no elaborate explanation 
of its closing. The Iowa Bystander and the university's 
Daily Iowan are void of any stories. Although the 
closing marked the end of gross spatial segregation, 
the university continued to segregate African Ameri­
can women by dorm room well into the 1950s.
Nevertheless, for many of the African American 
women studying at the University of Iowa earlier in 
the century, their personal pride, professional goals, 
and desire to "uplift the race" helped them to trans­
late their experiences into lifelong lessons of survival. 
Much of this would have been impossible without the 
Federation Home. ❖
Richard M. Breaux is a doctoral candidate in educational policy 
and leadership studies at the University of Iowa and the author 
of‘“Maintaining a Home for Girls': The Iowa Federation of Col­
ored Women's Clubs at the University of Iowa, 1919-1950," in 
the Spring 2002 issue of The Journal of African American 
History,/row which this article was excerpted.
Spring 2002 15
i


Facing Hostility, Finding Housing: African American Students at the University of Iowa, 1920s-1950s

H e n n ,W i l l ia m s  &  C o .
John Duncombe’s journal never defined with any precision his 
relationship with the real estate firm of Henn,Williams & Co., 
but the relationship was central to  his rising political and eco­
nomic standing in the 1850s. In his journal on April 13, 1856, 
Duncombe reported proudly,“ I am in the employ ofWilliams 
Henn & Co.,” and on August 16 the same year he announced 
his agreement “ to  go into partnership with Williams Henn & 
Co. fo r five years from  the firs t day o f O ctober next.” 
Duncombe was the company’s man on the scene in Fort Dodge, 
keeping an eye on things, and for most of the period covered 
by his journal Henn, Williams & Co. kept him plenty busy.
Bernhart Henn and Jesse Williams were among the lead­
ing land speculators in the trans-Mississippi West before the 
Civil War.Their company dealt in huge tracts of Iowa land with 
an eye to encouraging agricultural settlement. Based in Fairfield,
Henn and Williams also plat-
SHS1 (O E S  M O IN ES)
B e rn h a r t  H e n n
ted towns and provided a 
modicum of expertise in deal­
ing with the state and federal 
bureaucracies involved in land 
sales. Both men knew the sys­
tem well, each having spent a 
good part of his career in gov­
ernment service of one kind 
or another.
Henn had been register 
of the U.S. Land Office in 
Fairfield and later ran suc­
cessfully for the U.S. House 
o f Representatives. W hen 
Duncombe went to Washing­
ton, D.C., in December 1856, 
he was visited in his hotel 
room by Congressman Henn 
along with Senator George W. Jones, Democrat of Iowa. On 
subsequent visits to the Capital, Henn would also introduce 
Duncombe to presidents Pierce and Buchanan.
Jesse Williams was as well known in Democratic Party 
circles as his business partner, having come to Iowa in 1838 as 
Democratic territoria l governor Robert Lucas’s personal as­
sistant. Governor Lucas had put Williams to work choosing 
quarters for territorial offices, organizing government depart­
ments, and traveling throughout the te rrito ry  on official busi­
ness. Williams had been employed by the U.S. Surveyor Gen­
eral before he met Governor Lucas, and riding across Iowa in 
1838 and 1839 he looked at the te rrito ry ’s landforms and wa­
terways with a surveyor’s eye.
In 1840 Williams published a 180-page book titled A De­
scription of the United States Lands in Iowa, which included a map 
drawn by the author and gave “ a minute description of every 
section and quarter section, quality of soil, groves of timber,
k EM0TOK1
f t  BERNHART HEN IS 
'$> JESSE WILLIAMS 
GEO. D. TEMPLE 
EDWARD A. TEMPLE
B E R N nA R T  HENN $  
.JESSE 'WILLIAMS <8 
GEO. I). T E M P L E  ä
DEALERS IN LAND,LAND WARRANTS &
EXCHANGE ,
f F Ä D ® [ F f l [ E I I ® 5® G i l i i ® a ¥ ® K l 0» i ^  g O T H f
Special attention ^iven to LOCATION of LAND the sale Sc loan, of 
Warrants and to the collecting1 &remiltin£of sight and time hills
D e ta il  f r o m  an 1855 Io w a  m a p  sh o w s  th e  re a c h  o f  H e n n , 
W i l l ia m s  &  C o . (w h o  a lso  p u b lis h e d  th e  m a p ; see page  50 ).
prairies, ledges of rock, coal banks, iron and lead ores, water­
falls, mill-seats, etc.” The author assured potential buyers that 
the “ book and the map will furnish the possessor with more 
information concerning Iowa than can be obtained from any 
other source.” Land speculators on the Iowa frontier rarely 
knew as much about the property they bought and sold as 
Jesse Williams did. By 1850 —  having held several government 
jobs, edited a newspaper, and directed a Des Moines River 
improvement project — Williams was on his way to Fairfield 
from Iowa City to join Bernhart Henn’s real estate company, 
and ready to make his fortune.
Henn,Williams & Co. was never a small company. Its deal­
ings in land were to be large-scale, and to facilitate its land 
deals Henn and Williams —  along with George D.Temple and 
Edward A.Temple —  organized Fairfield’s first bank. (Twenty- 
year-old Edward Temple, then an employee of Henn, Williams, 
was just beginning a career in finance that would eventually 
lead to his founding of the Bankers Life insurance company in 
Des Moines in 1879.) W ith  the combination of Williams’s tal­
ents in the field and the bank’s help in facilitating land trans­
fers, the firm was able to take full advantage of the surge of 
settlement that occurred in Iowa in the 1850s.
In 1854 the Fort Dodge Company, in which Henn, W ill­
iams & Co. held a majority interest, bought the site of the 
abandoned garrison as part of a broader plan to lay out towns 
and sell lots along announced railroad routes, profiting from 
rising land values once the railroads arrived. A t times the in­
terests of the Fort Dodge Company needed daily attention. 
This was the work John Duncombe did —  platting sub-divi­
sions and staking and entering claims. Henn and Williams them­
selves occasionally visited Fort Dodge, but even when present 
they relied on him to know whom to see and what to do to 
meet the company’s local objectives. Still in his twenties, John 
Duncombe worked hard, made money for the company, and 
got a good start on his own fortune. —  by Bill Silag
Summer &  Fall 2002 77
15th Pleasant day, assisting H. W & Co in their business
16th. 1 agree to go into partnership with Williams 
Henn & Co for five years from the first day of October 
next, with the time fixed at 5 years We are to build a 
banking house in the spring that will cost about 
$3000. dollars.
17th Sunday. I go with Ruggels to Webster City & find 
out about the Election. The probability is that the Black 
Republicans have whipped us badly. Rains on us
18th I get up a petition for a loan of $200,000 of the 
credit of the County of Webster to the Dubuque & 
Pacific Rail Road Company I doubt the principle & 
the pol[?], but I think it will do well enough. Go to 
Homer Butterworth signs the petition
19th Go from Homer to Fort Dodge this morning. All 
passes off very pleasantly. 1 get about 150 to 200 
signers to my petition & get the proclamation issued
20th Pleasant day. little rain. Time spent in my office
21st Cool cloudy morning.
22nd Cool nights, in my office quite busy.
23d Cool nights. In my office in the forenoon. In the 
afternoon go over to Webster City.
24th Sabbath — I stayed all night at Mr Willsons. Mr 
Willson my candidate to the legislature is beaten in 
this district by 14 votes by rejecting 36 legal votes that 
were written in the Poll Book Walter Willson instead 
of Walter C. Got deed for 4 lots in Webster City
25th. Spend my time in my office. Maj Williams suit is 
put off to the 25th Oct. 1856. Bring suit Bell vs Parker 
in Replevin. Dont think 1 have the legal right but 
I'll try.
26th Garaghty & myself go to Webster City & bring suit 
against Kellogg, in favor of W C Willson Stay all night 
at Willsons. 1 killed 3 prairie chickens. 1st I ever killed
27th The papers are served on Kellogg by H.B. Martin 
Kill one chicken only Get home to Fort Dodge early 
in the day, before evening
28th Stay in my office. No news. Seems rather dui 
times just now
29th W C Willson & Rosenkrans come over from 
Webster City. They tire out their horse about 8 miles 
from here & walk in. The Black Republicans held a 
meeting here a night or two since in which they 
passed resolutions against Rosenkrans appointing 
Beecher Democrat, Deputy, dis clerk and sent word to
Shoot a prairie Henn 
with my revolver.
Mr Rosenkrans that he must oust him So he comes 
over and "ousts" him and appoints Little "Cape Cod" 
his deputy. Now look out for fish. — If this is not 
proscription I dont understand the term.
A beautiful party, & a beautiful man that would 
obey the dictates of such a party, beautiful indeed!
I took horse & buggy & took Mr Willson & 
Rosenkrans out and got home to Fort Dodge about 10 
or 11 oclock. I acted like a good Samaritan, Mr 
Rosenkrans observed to me Yes said I for you have 
"fallen among thieves and Robbers" and I will pour 
on the oil & dress your wounds.
Aug 30th 1856 I go out with Mr A S White to hunt 
prairie chickens. It is very hot and we dont find any of 
any account. The first chicken he shot was a ground 
squirrel & the last, a blak bird & the fatest one of all a 
good armful of Messrs Smith & Prindles green corn.
I shot one on the wing the first I ever shot on the 
wing, & killed several blackbirds and one wood Pecker.
Shame on such "nimrods"
I dont know as there is anything of importance in 
this weeks newspaper, uniess it be that Lane has 
succeeded in landing his Black Republican allies and I 
hear that there has been quite a battle in which 
several of them have been killed and a good many 
more out to be and will be if they succeed in making 
civil war general
Sunday Aug. 31st 1856 Warm, pleasant, agreeable day.
Sept. 1st 1856 Monday. Go to Kossuth County Meet 
Judge Call above Lots Creek. Shoot a prairie Henn 
with my revolver. Go down to Millers at the forks of 
the river. Stay there all night I have driven about 55 
or 60 miles to day.
McKnight has about four buildings in his town 
called Dacota City.
78 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Richards has lain out a town just this side of Lots 
Creek.
2 Stay in my office, & fool away the day
3 ditto.
»
Sept 4, 1856 In my office. Very strange weather, cool 
days and cool nights. The nights have been extraordi­
nary cold the last three weeks. Corn and potatoes & 
all crop are very fine
5th In my office until about noon. It rains hard. Every 
thing looks Gloomy. Start [?] the rails for Border Plains 
Go to Dawes & Bushes to electioneer on the 
subject of a rail Road subscription of 200,000$ to the 
Capital stock of the Dubuque and Pacific Rail Road 
Company. Make RR speach at schoolhouse.
6th Stay all night at John Tolmans. I never experienced 
a more soaking rain, Harder thunder and more severe 
lightning. Go to Hooks Point.
Sept 7th 56 Sunday. Go with W.C. Willson to 
Boonsboro, to the canvass for Representative. Get 
some splendid melons to eat at the house of Ross.
Have a real spat about the Rail Road subscription. 
He — Ross gets good natured and I do to. So we part, 
after showing our teeth.
Monday, 8th Attend the canvass at Boonsboro. Judge 
Ripa from Greene Co there. Also Judge Montgomery
Hurrah for the Rail 
Road! Was never 
so busy in my life
from Boone Co. and Squirt [?] Richards Hon 
Prosecuting Attorney allias, Persecutor, of Webster Co.
An awful time at this canvass and no mistake 
Willson & I dug into them for a canvass, as he had the 
majority but they adjourned and would not canvass 
the votes. A funny, funny time. Hurrah for our side!
Tuesday Sept. 9th 1856 Went to Webster City. Stayed 
with Devote all night at Willsons. One of the most 
laughable times I ever heard debating the question
whether vegetable diet was not far better for the 
Human system than when meat was used. [Sumler?] 
Willson & D Benedict on the affirmative and Salsbury 
and myself on the negative.
Finally we meat eaters after citing the instance in 
which vegetables injured the intellect in the case of 
Nebechudnezor in which it made him like an ox. We 
got to trying our strength and we meat eaters gained 
the argument
10th Went to Homer, then to Border Plains then to Fort 
Dodge Electioneering on [?] Rail Road subscription.
Thursday the 11th Sept 1856 Warm pleasant day. I 
spend my time in my office writing letters and fixing 
up my business
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, & even 22. Spend 
all the time night & day Electioneering for Webster 
County to take $200,000 of the Stock of the Dubuque 
and Pacific Rail Road Company I have an awfully 
exciting time but my friends stand right up to me and 
we whip our enemies, by 125, Majority with a vote 
less than 800 in the county. I bet 20$ win it & give it 
back to my opponent Mr Bagg.
Great personalities. Sharp & bitter retorts. I stump 
the County and finally succeed.
Hurrah for the Rail Road! Was never so busy in 
my life
Tuesday Sept. 23 1856 Mr Wood & I go over to Webster 
City and have a good old time rejoicing
The weather has been extremely cold for some 
time past. Hard frost for at least 3 nights in succession 
The corn foder is killed and all the late corn, a very 
extraordinary season all through. Not a real hot day 
all summer & the coldest spring and winter on record
24 Go from Webster City to Fort Dodge. Spend the 
balance of the day in my office.
Thursday Sept 25, 1856 Cool but very pleasant day. 
Quite smoky. I spend my time in my office bringing 
up my much neglected business.
I am going to give my time in the future more 
emphatically in business
26th Spent my time in my office in the forenoon — in 
the afternoon I went down the river to see & sue old 
John Speer. I sued him for 500$ Agreed to give him 
all the time I could
I shot with a gun that I bought of Frank Reno,
Summer &  Fall 2002 79
i
4 prairie chickens, gave them to Dr. Olney.
27 th Spend my time in my office. Garaghty & I buy a 
qr sec school land together It rains a little in the 
afternoon Quite cool today
Sunday Sept 28th 1856 Spend my time in my office 
reading the News Papers nearly all day
Sept 29th Go with Mr. M.S. Wood to Webster City.
No, I go with C.C. Carpenter for Mr. MS Wood. I am 
figuring with the Willsons to buy A.J. Brewers place. 1 
think it will be a very fine Speculation.
Sept 30th We manage all day until late in the after­
noon and finally succeed in getting Mr Brewers place.
I think in the final result, out of my one fourth interest 
I will clear at least 3000 or 4000 Dollars, if I am not 
very greatly mistaken
Oct 1st 1856 Wednesday I stayed last night with 
Willsons and today I go over to Fort Dodge on the 
stage. This morning a few flakes of snow fell. The first 
of the season. The snow is a little earlier than we had 
last year at this time.
Oct 2d I spend my time in my office, looking up my 
causes in court. I have about 8 or nine.
Rather a poor show if the land was my entire 
business.
Oct 3 Warm pleasant weather in my office.
4 Warm pleasant day. Shot 11 prairie chickens 
coming up from Nettletons
Sunday Oct. 5th 1856 Took a ride out with Mr N B 
Morrison out to his place over the river. This is one of 
the most lovely days I have ever seen.
Took dinner at Mr Morrisons
6th Maj Williams left for the river, to take Mary to 
school.
Court commences this week. Judge McFarland 
with a beard at least ten inches long. Powerful build 
— a voice like a bull dog.
"Old Timber" Croker Berkley Ellwood, Garghty 
myself, J.B. Hall et al the lawyers
E H West Sheriff C B Richards Pros Atty
Tuesday Oct 7th 1856 Court convenes in Hodges 
Stable on Williams Street. The weather is warm and
pleasant. We dont need any fire yet and I hope we 
shall not for some time to come. There are 45 cases on 
the Docket this year and the judge gets them all off of 
the Docket in two days. He is one of the fastest judges 
to wind up business that I ever saw He can't be beat 
for this. A good deal of fun takes place this evening in 
the courtroom
8 Warm pleasant day. Court continues. One of the 
worst sprees 1 ever saw I was in my office locked in 
and three or four men came down and forced me 
away. And took me to the hotel where there was an 
awful spree going on. Chairs were broken and 1 got a 
black eye before I got out of the Scrape
9th '56 An indictment found against me by the Grand 
Jury, with W O Ruggles, E E Colburn & Maj Williams 
for taring & feathering Myron Smith & John H. Busey 
& pulling down Buseys house. The venue is changed 
to Hardin County on application of the State and by 
my consent
10th Court continues and the county officers, viz. 
Woolsey Gregory, & Messervey are all indicted for 
official misconduct.
Court adjourns today. Go to Webster City with 
Wood & Morrison
11th Warm pleasant day. Start for home. The air be­
comes dark and damp Spend the evening at 
Morrisons. Great sport
Sunday 12th 1856 Pleasant day. I spend my time in 
my office writing letters. Get quite tired. Wrote a great 
many letters
13th Warm pleasant day
14th Pleasant day. I never saw a more beautiful fall. 
15th Pleasant day. In my office.
16 Pleasant day In my office
17 Pleasant day In my office
18th Went up to Lumpkins to trade horses, could not 
come it.
Sunday 19th 1856 Warm pleasant day. I spend my 
time in my office reading the news and writing 
letters
80 Iowa Heritage Illustrated


Not a member yet

Black Republicans

Bleeding Kansas

Claim Clubs: Protecting Settlers or Speculators?

George Wallace Jones

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.83 no.2-3, Summer & Fall 2002

Facing Hostility, Finding Housing: African American Students at the University of Iowa, 1920s-1950s

Henn, Williams & Co.

Sowing Seeds of Kindness--and Change: A History of the Iowa Association of Colored Women's Clubs

The Dubuque & Pacific Railroad

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.83 no.4, Winter 2002

0

0