Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

later be bounded by Main, First, Booth and Ford streets.
She purchased the land from J .H. Fisher for $90.
She immediately made arrangements with John
Handy, a local carpenter to build a house for S 150. The
home was located where the theater building is now.
A short time later, Edmund's brother, Henry
purchased the adjoining five acres to the east of Mary
Ann and Edmund's land and built a house for his
mother and sister. The Citizen's Bank is now located on
the site.
Thomas later wrote of his boyhood home on Main
Street, then called the Military Road. Thomas‘
granddaughter, Mrs. Helen Heckenlaible. of Lodi. Calif.,
graciously offered the use of his written remembrances
to this writer.
Thomas E. Booth wrote, "We moved into our new
house in the fall of 1851. I had always had a boy's
responsibilty before that, but at nine years of age this
The Indian maiden “Anamosa“ was indeed quite
fortunate that she stopped here and made such an
impression. Otherwise, this town might have been
properly titled "Boothville", in memory of T. E. Booth
and his illustrious pioneerfather, Edmund Booth. The
younger Booth was one of the finest writers of his
period. He is pictured above as he appeared in hislate
seventies. (Anamosa Journal, A ugust 18. 1938)
arrived at Dubuque. He soon discovered that Mary Ann
was 40 miles further into the interior of the state.
Upon looking around the small settlement of
Dubuque, he was befriended by Dubuque attorney.
Timothy Davis, who loaned him a horse to complete the
trip to find his sweetheart.
The Booths were married the following summer. after
his arrival at ‘The Forks‘. as the future site of Anamosa
was then called.
It is fortunate for Anamosa that the Booths did not
move on, as was the wont of many of the early
vagabond frontiersmen.
However, Edmund Booth did leave the area for over
four years. being smitten with the gold rush fever. The
Booths lived in Fairview and the caravans of covered
wagons, which passed through daily, drew upon his
adventurous spirit.
He left Mary Ann and their two children. Thomas and
Harriet, in the hands of his brother, Henry. and their
mother.
Edmund left for the California gold fields to gain a
financial advantage for his family. and indeed some of
the gold dust that he sent back to her, purchased the
five acres of land, which in later years stood them in
good stead.
The young and independent Mary Ann did not always
agree with her in-laws, which is the case in many
instances of married life, and she moved into the small
settlement of Anamosa. After living with several
families in that community for a while, she very badly
wanted a home of her own. Being the good wife that she
was, she first consulted with her husband, 2.000 miles
away in the gold fields.
He agreed to her request, although advising her to
build on the higher elevation of the settlement away
from the lower wet lands of west Anamosa.
In 1851 she selected five acres of land which would
fi
Residence of T. E. Booth in 1868 on First Street.
(Photo submitted by Helen Heckenlaible)
was doubled and quadrupled as time passed. The wood
had to be cut with an axe. Probably there was not a
wood saw or a saw buck in town. The nearest well was
at Pratt Skinner's, on the hill. away beyond Uncle
Henry's, and the next nearest was at Dr. Sales‘, at the
corner tuming from Main stret toward Fisherville, a
half mile distant.
“In the winter time I had to haul ice on my wagon
from Fawn Creek. a half mile east — often bitter cold
and the road snowy, — lumpy, from alternate thawing
and freezing. No overcoats or overshoes then for boys.
My first overcoat mother brought to me at the printing
office down town in the fall of 1858 or 59. It cost $5 . . .
of which I was proud.
“No sooner had mother attended to the building of a
rail fence around the five acres. than she began to plan
for a garden. That meant the cutting of a big patch of
hazel brush and the digging up of numerous scrub oaks
of all sizes. Finally L.N. Perkins. who was deaf. was
hired for the latter job. But an axe for the hazel brush
cutting was a dismal failure, and not a scythe to be had.
Mother came out to encourage me.
“After a time, I persuaded her to let me try setting fire
to the brush and grass. Well, that was a success all
right. and you can guess I was a terrified boy when the
flames swept southeasterly over the premises and the
hills and valleys south of the Military and the Wyoming
Road. all day long clear down to the river bank and
eastward for at least a mile, and farther.
“Uncle George Walworth, previously and perhaps
then, owned what must have been a tract of several
hundred acres, some of it extending from or near Main
street to the river. I am not certain about his holdings.
but it was all burned over. Four or five years later, I
hauled many loads of blackened rails from Shaw's hill