PRESTON, Sylvester Bills

The following entry was written and submitted on March 13, 2024 by Gerda Preston Hartman from a family history she entitled "The Early Settler."

PRESTON, Sylvester Bills (Connecticut, May 5, 1834--Massey, IA, Feb. 6, 1834) In 1834/35 Sylvester Bills Preston, Esq. was living in Mineral Point, Wisconsin as he was in charge of a copper smelter there. He had come there from Harford County, Maryland. Copper ore had been found in large quantities in that area of the state. Mr. Preston had been commissioned to come out west in pursuit of finding a good site near the Platte River to build a furnace. Being educated in a Baltimore school, his profession was that of chemist, metallurgist, and assayer.

Dubuque at this same time was governed by the Michigan Territory. It was not until 1836 that this area would become Wisconsin Territory. Mining claims on the western bank of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER were being issued to adults over the age of 18. This was the beginning of settlement in this particular region known as the Julien Dubuque Mines. Each claim cost .50 cents per person and had to be registered with the territorial governor, who at the time was George Wallace JONES. Jones was later a dear friend of Mr. Preston. Preston's land claim of 640 acres was along the river south of modern Dubuque and a little south of CATFISH CREEK. This large stream, Riprow, and Cat East Hollow were all sites listed on the old territorial map before Dubuque (city) existed as a town. The year of Preston's involvement in his Iowa property was 1835 as noted in the History of Dubuque County, Iowa (Oldt, 1880).

                                              Smelters / Furnaces

In a short time, he Mineral Point smelter was up and melting and extracting the impurities from the ore, Just as Preston had contracted to do. After finding suitable living for his family, his wife and children came on to join him.

By 1837, Preston again took on the task of building a furnace, this time a LEAD smelter at the Vinegar Hill Mine at Galena, Illinois. The pay was very good and the contract afforded nice living quarters for his family.

The mining claims in Dubuque, Mosalem Township were not neglected. It was customary to lease these lands to others to mine in hopes they would strike-it-rich and the profits shared with the owner. Surveys and contracts were written up for each of these plots no matter how large or small the parcels. Surveys were in big demand.

                                              Cottage Hill

"Cottage Hill" became the name of the family homestead in 1839," S. B. Preston II recalled. "The prairie grass was so tall that one could not see well over it riding on horseback. Food was in abundance." (Copied from 1906 Atlas of Dubuque County) It was not until 1847 that this land could be purchased from the government due to a year long delay over this being a government lead region. For $1.25 per acre, Preston secured a section of land, 640 acres. The parchment land grant carried the signature of President James K. Polk. A few years later, their land holdings grew to 747 acres.

A 40 acre farm parcel was usually the most that settlers cleared under the plow. Crops were wheat, corn and potatoes for their home use. An oxen team of six was needed to turn the soil. In time under went the tall blue stem and hundreds of other native prairie plants. It was also important to clear away the grasses from the homestead due to prairie fires.

Land had to be cleared for roads to the river and elsewhere. Almost every ravine in this area had a dirt path down to the river's edge. The river afforded the early settler with water, fish, clam shells and ice to name a few. These roads were used to haul the lead ore out, to drag logs to the river to be rafted to a nearby saw mill, and when the river froze it was a way to travel on the ice. In Preston's case, it was the route to town along the bank of the river. Miners and wood choppers walked these paths to work and back.

                                               Proving Residence

Proving their residence in 1839 was easy. A tax was paid and the receipt read: Received June 10th, 1840, of S. B. Preston for part tax of 1839--one dollar and fifty cents. J. F. Thompson, Dep. Sheriff. A similar receipt in 1840 read tax--$1.95 to Sheriff Cummins.

Another document stated S. B. Preston was an election official for Mosalem Township. I might add that his descendants have never broken that chain and to this day a Preston continues to hold that position. Elections in 1839 were held at someone's home and in this case it was at Thomas R. Brasher's home with S. B. Preston, James Smith, and Jacob Driebelbis as judges.

Also in 1839 S. B. Preston served on the Grand Jury for the September term of the District Court of the state. Others serving were James Moirvane, Sam Ferguson, Peter LORIMIER, Arnold Douton, John Palmer, John Wyatt, John Kimball, D. Boiur, and Sam Snodgrass.

On June 23, 1845, S. B. Preston Esq. paid $2.50 for making a plat of Mosalem Township. for the use of the Board of Trustees.

                                                The Mother

Anna West Preston, Sylvester's wife, also came to this untamed open prairie land well educated in both business and teaching. Her 1826 journal proves her skills. Their family consisted to two daughters and three sons. Anna at once took in miners/ children to home school along with her younger children. You see, no other one-room schools around here were built for another fifteen years. It was important that their children get a higher education so the Prestons enrolled them whenever possible. Anna's oldest daughter, Mary Elmira, wrote a letter showing he was at Charberbourough Institute back in the east in December, 1843. In 1847, her son, Sylvester II, was attending a 1/2 year of school in Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, under the direction of Father Samuel MAZZUCHELLI. His schooling, board and "minding" amounted to $53.00. In the winter of 1848 when the Prestons went on a trip back east on business, Matilda was boarded for three months under Sister Mary Francis CLARKE at St. Joseph's on the Prairie in Table Mound Township. Her bill was a mere $14.54 1/2 cents. The three-story brick building was hardly heated and many died, but she learned the arts of music and sewing through it all.

The Prestons were Quakers, but nevertheless these Catholic schools offered their children a little extra education. Signatures of Sr. Mary Francis Clarke and Father Mazzuchelli are in the Preston collection along with those of such outstanding Dubuque people as Dr. John FINLEY, George W. Jones, Judge David S. WILSON, and George J. NIGHTENGALE.

                                                 Problem on the Homestead

Even with all this advancement at his newly formed homestead, things changed. Not all the Native Americans left The region and the mining claims were still only that, nobody really owned this land in the early 1840s. At this time, the Native Americans felt they had a reason to cause a problem. Owing to the fact that the government had not secured the land from the Indians, some of these rural settlers decided to leave their land temporarily. Since Preston still had a partnership in his copper furnace business at Mineral Point, he moved his family back there. The copper business was doing quite well there and his claims ceased here.

                                                 Cave Range

In the mining days, locations were given special range names. Big lead districts around Dubuque were the Timber Range near Durango, Pikes Peak Range along the North Cascade Road in Table Mound Township, and Julien Dubuque Mines which included 31 miles along the Mississippi River and nine miles inland. Cave Range, named by S. B. Preston for the caves on his land, was part of Dubuque's mines. Lead was found on the surface, usually about 18 to 20 feet down, and in deep veins that were found at a depth of 50 feet. Veins of lead ore seemed to "drift" from east to west. There were roughly 550 visible mine shafts that resembled the craters on the moon. Due to the Preston's later pasturing their livestock, it was necessary to back fill all the shafts for safety. In the olden days, this range was shown on maps as "mineral ground."

                                                  Population Grows

The first native peoples who roamed this area would have found small amounts of lead right on the surface. Eventually Native American women, with the use of bone tools, started to carve out the lead from crevices. During the birth of our city, Europeans started to settle here, hearing that lead was to be found in abundance. The miners came with better tools and knowledge and "drifts" were followed and the "diggins" became a wealth to many. The population in the 1840s and 1850s grew by the thousands due to the lead mines.

                                                   Away From Home Again

Sylvester continued to leave home pursuing his profession. In May, 1847, he wrote home,"...arrived at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on steamboat "Samuel Ward." In a few hours I will start to the Upper Lake." He was to travel to Copper Harbor, but for some reason he came back home soon after. A contract was never made, obviously.

Upon arriving home, letters again begin to tell of him leaving for Merimac Copper Works in Missouri in 1848. Merimac was south of St. Louis. There he built a large furnace and it took almost a year to complete. He made a couple of trips back and forth. It was a delight for the family when he had a piano sent home from St. Louis. Quakers were not to have music of any kind, but their father wanted to surprise them with this gift. The cost of the piano was $203.25.

Letters from family and friends were usually sent to Rockdale, Dubuque and one really old letter was addressed to John King Post Office in Mosalem Township. Large parcels of money were always sent on to an outsider in Dubuque and had to be picked up. It was unbelievable to think that all the family mail came from coast to coast at a time when horse and boats carried each frail note. Seems each letter was saved through the life of S.B. and Anna Preston. There is no indication of ever a lost letter, only reminders in each note that families were asking for photos be sent with their next letter.

                                                   Death of Mr. Preston

It was on February 23, 1852 that S. B. Preston died at the still young age of 47 years. As to what caused his death we will never know. AGUE, a form of flu, could take one's life in a matter of a few days. Anna had many a struggle in keeping the land after his death. Mining claims with others were not productive for her. The taxes left her in a bind and Sylvester's will was not settled until 1886 causing the children to be unable to receive their rightful inheritance.

                                                    Children

A journal kept by son Sylvester II from 1869-1888 is a history lesson and tells how it was, a true story of what happened daily on this land in the next generation regarding the mining and farming. Sly and his wife, Anna Baron Preston, remained on the original homestead. They took care of his mother, Anna, until she passed away on Christmas Day, 1882. He was mining each winter by going back into the Cave Range and blasting to a greater depth. He found but few pieces of lead and as the years dwindled down he virtually found nothing. It was so sad to learn he headed off to the "diggings" only to come home empty handed. His wish was to find enough lead to make a trip to the Black Hills. I've often wondered why there? His walking plow broke the last of the virgin soil on his acreage. He and his wife had a very large orchard. They also raised cows, horses, and pigs.

Daughter, Matilda, married her cousin, Dr. Jesse West, from back east. He was the first teacher in the one-room school near the homestead here. As a surgeon, he served in the CIVIL WAR for four years leaving her a widow while doctoring the soldiers in Little Rock, Arkansas. She later married Eli Littlefield, from Maine, who was the superintendent of the saw mill at the mouth of CATFISH CREEK. Her children were called "war orphans" so they received a free education. Most of them moved out west.

Daughter, Mary Elmira, left in 1854 to join her husband in the California GOLD fields. Her husband, Guy Morrison, was from the famous Morrison family who were friends of Chief Blackhawk and also the biggest shippers of mercantile goods on the rivers. They also took furs and ore down to St. Louis. The Morrisons founded the town of St. Charles, Missouri. Guy wrote that he would not return a poor man from the west. Mary Elmira took their daughter, Anna, and traveled back to Maryland and by boat they went down the Atlantic, cross the Isthmus of Panama, and up the Pacific to California. The voyage took three months. She left here leaving four of their babies in the family cemetery on the farm.

She arrived in Dixon Ravine and settled in Oregon City, California. She built a rock fence, like back her at home, to enclose their five acres. When the rains came, she sluiced for gold in the nearby streams. Their daughter, Anna Morrison Reed, later became a poet and lecturer in the mining camps. She was known throughout northern California. From her maternal grandmother, Anna West Preston, she had in her possession the necklace that once belonged to Potosi, the wife of our city's founder, Julien DUBUQUE. It was made of agates and gold. Two of her descendants own it today. Also given to the Morrisons was a talisman given by Chief Blackhawk for their safety.

Son David Hollingworth Preston, signed up to serve in the Union Army. His many letters traced his nine month route to the battlefield in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Receiving a mild musket wound, he was sent up to a Memphis hospital to recover. But like many wounded soldiers his lift was taken weeks later by typhoid. Mrs. Preston took a boat down river in the grueling heat in the summer of 1863 to bring his body back. Lt. Andrew Young MCDONALD had just two week earlier taken two jars of raspberries to David's bedside.

That leaves my great grandfather, Gustavus Preston. Gus married an Upper Canadian girl by the name of Malissa Ireland. They married on June 12, 1864 and that day there was frost on the ground. His new wife was only 14 years of age. Gus also signed up to fight in the Civil War, but his mother somehow got him back as she told the officer he was too young. Gus asked his father if he could acquire 7 acres to clear and farm. This he did and his little farmstead was one of the first dairy farms in Mosalem Township. He preferred farming over mining, but there were times he helped his brother in the mines, sometimes under contract with others as well. Today there are two idle mines on the farm still with two open shafts. Gustavus and Melissa eventually owned 120 acres of the Preston land through inheritance. The other living children plus their mother, Anna, also received 120 acres. This farm, Iowa's second oldest farm owned in direct family ownership, will have its 200th anniversary in 2035.

                                        Lineage of Later Preston Owners

The Preston farm has been owned by other sons in line. From Gustavus it was handed down to David O. Preston who willed it down to son Donald G. Preston (my father). He and my mother willed it down to son, Donald R. Preston. It is now being purchased by son, Brian Preston who is generation #6. As for myself, I own 7 acres and plan to will it down to the Preston who owns the homestead to make it 120 acres once again. I've always respected this land all my life and protected it all I could. My husband, Walter Hartman and I, farmed on shares (partnership) with my folks for years until we decided it was best to put it in CRP, a government program to stop erosion. This land is also sacred to me and it was in the Native American culture. Through public programs and articles, I write, I never fail to mention their existence.

                                          Remaining Original Land Sold

We Prestons are proud that most of the remaining land of our original ownership is now an Iowa State Park called the MINES OF SPAIN STATE RECREATION AREA. This land is listed on the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES. It was the heart and eyes of Sylvester Bills Preston, Esq. to pick this particular property when only tall grasses and rocky outcrops were seen from the river below. But, was that all he saw?

                                           Park Changes Gerda's Life

Because of the park purchase, I became so involved with all that took place there. Here are a few of my accomplishments because of my time and efforts in shaping a new park creation. As a result of my 1983 archaeology digs and research, I have become an Iowa Certified Volunteer Archaeologist in two fields of this education. I've worked with the DNR with surveying caves and mines in the park. As a park researcher, I helped with getting the park on the National Register of Historic Places. It was when I submitted all the Preston history that we were finally accepted which made me a ranger with uniform shirt and programs. I was soon a receiver of the Iowa Governor's Volunteer Award. My personal homesite property holds the Preston Heritage Museum where I hold open houses and showcase the Prestons' "old things" of the past. Another project was when Walter and I held another exhibit at the E.B. Lyon's Nature Center with a large display of Preston life on the farm where all can see.

                                           Written Material Depositories

I've written seven books Preston's, Thy Affectionate Family With Love I, II, II, Century Farms of Dubuque County, Swedish Annie, An Immigrant on the Iowa Prairie, Diary by Silvester Bills Preston, II (1869-1888), a journal with section maps of all the landowners, renters, and neighbors who farmed on the Mines of Spain. Right now I'm gathering information on Finley's Landing in far away Jefferson Township, Dubuque County. Maybe too, this will be another book? Today I am a tour guide for Travel Dubuque. I am 83 years old, I'm so glad to share all I have learned over the years. You can locate most of my written material at the CENTER FOR DUBUQUE HISTORY or the CARNEGIE-STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY listed as Preston Collection.

                                                   Retracing Steps

For eight to ten thousand years our land was home to generations of Native Americans who lived and roamed free upon this terrain. Voyagers may have stopped to get wood or "shop around" or hunt for game. Julien Dubuque certainly tromped with French Canadians under our same footsteps a few years before. I can only write about its past and share a little of its history. God designed this driftless and lead region as he saw fit and many saw the beauty of the range and the mystery that laid below it. I am lucky. I am one of them.

                                                                       Gerda Preston Hartman