Mrs. Zeruiah Post was born in Jefferson County, N.Y., June 9, 1807. She was married on March 6, 1831, to Joel Post, who was born in Vermont in 1805. They were the parents of the following named children-- Joel M., born Jan. 11, 1832; Mary E., Sept. 13, 1833; Lydia Ann, March 17, 1835; Margaret, June 22, 1837; Lucy C., April 18, 1840; John S., Nov. 17, 1841; Harriet E., July 20, 1844, and Melissa, March 17, 1847. Joel Post died, and Mrs. Post was married the second time, to G.S. Hayward, in 1852. He was killed by an accident in California. One child was born of this union-- Frank, born Jan. 8, 1852. Mrs. Post came to Boardman Township, this county, in 1839, and resided here two years. In 1844 she moved to the neutral grounds. This was a strip of land about forty miles long and twenty miles wide, to separate the Sac and Fox Indians, who were then at variance; it is now part of Allamakee County. She kept the Half-Way House between Forts Crawford and Atkinson. The Indians were around her on every side and she says that nearly all the farms entered at that time was with money paid out by the Government to the Indians, and obtained by the whites by fraud and cheating. She relates several incidents of that kind which came under her own personal observation. She built the first hotel in the township, hauling
most of the lumber and material herself, from Elkader, a
distance of twenty miles. She is an energetic, business
woman, and deserves a great deal of credit for the brave
manner in whcih she has tided over difficulties, and
gained for herself a comfortable home and competence. source: History of Clayton County, Iowa, 1882, p.
832-833 |
