Horatio's Life until Lucina's death

We know that Horatio and Lucina Malcom move to Michigan between 1835 and 1838 because their first son Joseph is born in New York State on April 12, 1835 and their second son is born in Michigan on July 1, 1838. They settle in Hanover Township in Jackson County. He seems to be shrewd land owner and trader as he buys land at a low prices and sells at goodly profits. The 1850 census shows Horatio, Lucina and their 3 sons, Joseph (age 15), William (age 12) and Duncan (age 1) living in Moscow Township in Hillsdale County, Michigan. This county is located directly south of Jackson County where Horatio's parents and brothers settle. They have lost a third son, Charles, (unknown causes) before this 1850 census who was born in 1843.

Then in 1854 (perhaps even earlier), the family pulls up stakes and emigrates toward Tama County, Iowa. Some descendents have said that there were a few family members who were persecuting Lucina because of her Indian heritage. This may have some truth but I am guessing that Horatio is a man with "itchy feet", likes his independence and yearns for the adventure of greener pastures. We now know that Horatio buys 160 acres of land located in Iowa as a resident of Buffalo County, Illinois in 1855. When Horatio arrives in Tama County, and settles in Indian Village Township, the area is on the verge of major economic changes and opportunities for the energetic and resourceful. Later, after Lucina dies, he seems to like being on the move and I have been surprised learning how easily Horatio pops up here and there around Iowa and Nebraska visiting his family. Equally surprising is the fact that Horatio was then at an age when most men would be consigned to the rocking chair. Plus, he did all this traveling when most individual travel was done on horseback and over "non-roads".

Horatio continues to buy land in Iowa. The land records I have uncovered show that these parcels of land vary in size and in land terrain quality. He buys land mostly in Indian Village Township which was very near the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation. This reservation, now known as the Meskwaki Indian Settlement, still exists there today and the tribes operate a large Casino. He buys a town lot in Butlerville, a now-defunct town which was located a few miles north of modern day Montour, Iowa. He and his family are listed as living in Indian Village Township in the 1856 census. Joseph Malcom, age 21 and their eldest son, is living with them when this census is taken.

See here photos of Horatio's lands in Tama County, Iowa.

See here maps of the now defunct town of Butlerville, Iowa.

See here a timetable and life skill list for Malcoms In Tama Co., Iowa

Horatio, age 45 in 1856, is listed as a "farmer". My guess is that he is more of a "rancher", a term not in common use at this time in American history. A family, whether they raised crops or raised livestock or both, were all considered to be "farmers". When vast western territories opened up large tracts of land for settlement owned by individuals, "ranchers" used their land largely for "free" grazing of livestock, mainly sheep and cattle. In the south before the Civil War, large parcels of land were owned but mostly for cash crops such as cotton; their profit aided by cheap labor. The lands Horatio owns in Tama County are too far apart to be conveniently "farmed" for crops by one family. I am suggesting the lands that Horatio owned were perhaps used for pasturing or "running livestock" and that portions of those lands were used to raise "feed crops" for those animals and for their own family use. It was certainly easier to drive a herd of cattle or a wagon load of pigs to immigrant trails, small settlements or to railheads than it would have been to constantly transport farm machinery such as plows across poor roads and Indian trails. I imagine the "supply side economy" was a much more lucrative occupation, as well. Note: Horatio's son, Joseph and his grandson, George William "Billy" Malcom continued to profit in this same "supply side economy" well into the 20th century.

Horatio's lands in Tama County are conveniently located to be able to service major westbound wagon train routes running close by their home and soon by burgeoning railroads located very near by. When he first moves to Tama County in 1854, there are no railroads. An 1855 antique map on the left below ▼shows where the major wagon train routes were approximately located in relationship to where Horatio's lands are located in Indian Village Township (colored pink) on the south central western boundary of Tama County. The major middle trail runs approximately 5-7 miles north of Horatio's home near Indian Town. The northern wagon route, passing through Cedar Falls in Blackhawk Co., is about 40 miles to the northeast. The southern wagon route, about 25 miles to the south passed just north of Montezuma in Poweshiek Co.. Notice that there are very few established towns, villages or settlements at this time in Iowa and those shown on the map, I have highlighted in red. This map is only a portion of a Iowa State map drawn by E. Mendenhall out of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1855.

The map on the right below ▼is from an 1854 map of Iowa drawn by Samuel Augustus Mitchell and published in Philadelphia in 1854. I have taken the liberty to show where Horatio's home in Indian Village Township (highlighted in a darker green with a yellow dot) was located. In the township just south of this home is Highland Township and two of his parcels of land are shown with pink dots. This maps shows two proposed railroad routes indicated by dotted lines and highlighted in red. At this time there is an established "road" crossing Poweshiek County going west to Newton, Iowa in Jasper Co. I have placed a red dot (on that road) where the future town of Malcom, Iowa, will be later incorporated but not until in 1872. None of the antique maps that I found on the internet were entirely accurate as compared to today's maps. For instance, on this 1854 map, the Iowa River in reality is located more accurately where "Old Mans Creek" is shown. Notice on both maps that none of the townships within the counties were named at that time in history. In 1854 essentially all east-west railroad lines stopped east of the Mississippi River.

Note: It was fun to research the history of the Railroad progress in Iowa in the 1800s'. I found antique maps of the area on two great sites. You can click on either of the yellow highlighted areas below and be directly linked to maps by the zillions.

Map Collections Library of Congress

at http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/index.html

There is tons of History on the Internet concerning Railroad History and in particular Iowa Railroad History. None of these narratives agree 100%. Surprisingly, found the most helpful and well-researched information at this site:

Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska

Scroll down to "Contents" and click on "Railroads"; click on "Go to Chapter" button;

click on "Union Pacific Part I", see page 6.

I worked hard to reconcile the information I read with the information that was pictured on the actual historical maps of the area. Railroad lines and Railroad names changed so fast due to the mad scramble to be first RR to connect the East and West coasts, it was difficult to keep up. I did my best but perhaps a more competent or devoted researcher will find a difference with mine. Please contact me with any comment, corrections or additions at :

miller.malcom.ft@gmail.com

This map ►also shows the new route for the Chicago Northwestern RR. (bold black line) You can see that the tracks have changed location somewhat and now join existing towns to other towns. The new rail line connects Clinton, Iowa on the Mississippi with Marshalltown, Iowa and will continue to other other points west. Rail service is now provided close to Tama and Toledo, Iowa.

I have underlined The town of "Oxford". ►► On this map "Oxford" is the name but on an 1873 map, it is "Orford". In a book called the History of Tama County the name is Orford and before 1881 the town name was changed to "Montour".

The map ▼shows the proposed Iowa Central Airline RR (black line with red dots) which was never completed because the company was entirely put out of business by the Great Panic of 1857. This line was supposed to cross Tama County just north of the area where Horatio and family lived. You can evens see that his railroad was planned to cross Tama Co. on the 1854 map.►►►►►►►

The Mississippi and Missouri RR seen on the 1857 map ▼is the first RR to actually lay tracks and traverse the area. Proposed rail lines for the M&MRR (dashed red lines) show on maps as early as 1854. This RR was planned to cross the state from Davenport on the Mississippi R. to Council Bluffs on the Missouri R. tracking through Poweshiek County. The Mississippi & Missouri RR, by late 1862 or early 1863, becomes the Rock Island and Pacific RR. Indian Town later becomes a part of Butlerville. Today, both towns are defunct, as are many of the towns or settlements shown on the map. This 1857 map was published by J.H. Colton & Co. out of New York for the Iowa Central Airline RR.

The other town I have underlined is "Brooklyn" in Poweshiek County. This town is 6 miles to the east of the future town of Malcom, Iowa. Malcom still does not appear on this 1862 map nor is Malcom Township yet named. Our family oral history has long since said that the town of Malcom is named after our ancestors who lived near there. In 1862 the Mississippi and Missouri Rail-road (small curvy black line) continues to operate rail line which connects Davenport, on the Mississippi River, with DesMoines, Iowa (on some 1862 maps) in the middle of the state. On some maps this same rail is already owned in 1862 by the Rock Island and Pacific RR. The western terminus of this rail route was early established to be at Council Bluffs on the Missouri River across from Omaha. This rail track probably passed through or close by the settlement which formed the beginnings of Malcom Iowa. This railroad, by 1866, becomes the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. (More about the town history of Brooklyn, Iowa on a separate page (CLICK HERE) where I will attempt to expose a theory which I believe is very plausible concerning Horatio, Lucina, Joseph, their other two sons and how they lived in Tama County, Iowa.) The other interesting detail on this map is that the rail mileage between towns on the Chicago Northwestern RR tracks is marked and the rail tracks are laid almost exactly where the Union Pacific RR operates today.