Lucas County succumbs to temptation: Fowler's land

Find a Grave photo by David McInturff

Find a Grave photo by David McInturff

The inscription on this impressive tombstone, located in the high-end neighborhood of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., gives no hint of the relevance to Lucas County, Iowa, of the gentleman whose grave it marks. It reads:

"To the memory of Joseph Fowler, native of Maryland, born October 9, 1789, and died at sea August 23, 1850, aged 61 years. The deceased was a resident of New Orleans, La., for the past 36 years. At the time of his death he was on his passage via New York to visit his relations who in honor of his memory erect this monument as a testimony of their high respects and regards for him."

Joseph was aboard the U.S. Mail Steamship Ohio just off New York City when he died of an unknown malady that had plagued him for some time --- having sailed from New Orleans on Aug. 19 with a stop at Havana en route. So he was buried first in New York City and two years later, his kinfolk arranged to have the remains brought to Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, then only a few years old and near the homes of two of his sisters.

At the time of his death, Joseph was Lucas County's largest landowner, perhaps the largest landowner in Monroe and Marion counties, too. These acres --- 12,000 in Lucas County alone --- were among the reasons his three surviving sisters and multiple nieces and nephews developed such high respect and regard for a brother and uncle most could not have known that well. His estate, once inventoried, surprised everyone by having a total value of some $1.5 million --- roughly $50 million in today's dollars --- and they were the beneficiaries.

His death also plunged his holdings in the south of Iowa into a legal limbo that would require many years to sort out and inspire some of Lucas County's most distinguished pioneers to enter, briefly for the most part, into lives of crime and turn neighbor against neighbor.

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Joseph was one of eight siblings, three boys and five girls, born in Calvert County, Maryland, between 1770 and 1792. When he was about 25, ca. 1814, he moved to New Orleans and went to work as a cotton factor and general commission merchant. He never married, he lived very frugally and as the years passed accumulating wealth became his principal pleasure and pastime.

The New Orleans Weekly Delta of Nov. 10, 1851, reporting upon progress made in settling his estate, had this to say about Mr. Fowler: "Mr. Joseph Fowler was a gentleman of great sagacity and intelligence, and during his life, was known to do not a few kind and liberal acts to those he fancied, but parsimony was his dominant fashion. He believed that wealth could be more rapidly accumulated by economy than by successful speculation. One of the witnesses in the administration of his succession, Dr. Rushton, illustrates this peculiarity of his character by saying that while Mr. Fowler would not go a hundred yards to make $100,000, he would walk a mile to save a dime. Here is developed the true secret of money getting: to cut down on one's expenses, and save every penny, rather than embark in doubtful ventures"

Another of Joseph's pleasures was to mask the scale of his wealth. In the case of his southern Iowa holdings, he did this in the form of a trust agreement with a nephew, Samuel Fowler, then operating as a general merchant in Cole Camp, Benton County, Missouri, near Sedalia. It was Samuel in whose name hundreds of military land warrants were purchased with Joseph's money at discount from military veterans of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, then taken to the land office at Fairfield, Iowa, during 1847 and 1848 and traded in for thousands of acres in Lucas, Monroe and Marion counties.

It seems unlikely that Joseph expected to die --- he never got around to making a will. He was a meticulous keeper of records, however, and his administrators had no trouble tracking down his assets after his death --- and they were shocked by the total. As part of that process, nephew Samuel deeded all of the Iowa holdings to his uncle's estate and its administrators and a variety of attorneys did very well for themselves while figuring out how to allocate the proceeds of these and other assets of the estate to more than a dozen heirs as determined by the laws governing intestacy.

In Lucas County and elsewhere in Iowa, however, that complicated life for early settlers. No sales could be made while settlement of the estate was in process. The Lucas County land incorporated much of the best timber in Cedar and Pleasant townships --- and timber at that time was more highly valued than prairie. Final resolution continued until some years after the Civil War.

Unable to purchase the valuable timber, quite a number of Lucas County's pioneers simply began to help themselves --- for many years without any danger of prosecution since ownership was in limbo and the principals lived nowhere near Iowa. Some interesting situations resulted.

Dan Baker, in his 1881 history of Lucas County, reported the following --- an account of how disagreement over the morality of appropriating Fowler timber led to the dissolution of the Methodist Episcopal congregation at LaGrange, now a ghost town but then Cedar Township's principal village. Here's Dan's account:

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"The Methodist Episcopal Church organized a society (at LaGrange) over 30 years ago, which continued for more than 20 years, having a membership, at one time, numbering over one hundred. Dissentions crept in. One of the principal causes of which was somewhat unusual. In a very early time, one Fowler entered a very large amount of land in this county, including the finest timber in Cedar and Pleasant townships. A controversy arose among the members of the church as to whether it was right for a church member to take Fowler's timber. The church was divided on the question. The controversy waxed warm. One side insisted that Fowler, being a non-resident, had no rights there. One brother even went so far as to say that he was in the habit of taking his team and going out into Fowler's timber, and when he came to a suitable tree he would kneel down by it and pray for guidance, and when he rose from his knees he usually brought away with him as much of the tree as his team could conveniently pull. The other side claimed that there was no difference between the taking of timber from a resident and non-resident, and certain residents who owned timber claimed there was actually no difference in fact, as they took the timber from both alike, only depending on which was most conveniently accessible. It finally became a question of giving up the church or giving up Fowler. The society no longer exists. Comment is unnecessary."

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There are other stories to tell, involving Fowler land and Lucas Countyans --- and I'll share more in a future post.