FANNING, Timothy

FANNING, Timothy. ( -- ). In December, 1838, an act of the Iowa territorial legislature authorized Timothy Fanning to operate a ferry at Dubuque for twenty years. He was required to land at any required part of the river front of the town; to keep ample boats and facilities, and two years later was to put on a steam ferryboat and a sufficient number of flatboats. (1)

The same year, he purchased land and started a tavern called Tim Fanning’s Log Tavern. By 1840 Fanning and Arthur Conway were officially recorded as owners. The hotel portion on Lot No. 1 was known as the Jefferson House; however, most people simply referred to the location as “Tim Fanning’s Log Tavern.” (2)

So popular was the hospitality of the tavern that the state’s first St. Patrick’s Day celebration was held there. As described in My Old Dubuque: (3)

                The first celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the State 
                of Iowa was held in the city of Dubuque on March 17, 1838
                . . . . Sixty gentlemen sat down to a festive dinner . . . 
                at the Fanning Hotel. . . . Thirteen toasts were raised 
                to the occasion.

According to an early edition of the Missouri Times, people came from far and near to invoke the "higher powers" of the “Wishing Willow” in Fanning’s Log Tavern. Fanning felled a huge tree to provide docking room for his ferry boat, which ran across the MISSISSIPPI RIVER between Dubuque and Dunleith (now East Dubuque). Intrigued by the willow’s gnarled stump, Fanning brought it into his tavern where it became a table, a platform for dancing and a place for imbibing customers to “make a wish.” (4)

The first meeting to consider organizing a Masonic Lodge in Dubuque was held on July 18, 1842. Those in attendance were James Smith, a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire; Timothy Fanning; Narcissus Nadeau, George W. Cummings' George W. Cummings; Timothy MASON; Samuel Biggen; Benjamin F. Davis; and Elisha Deville. These men prepared and signed a petition to organize a Masonic Lodge and forwarded the document to Most Worshipful J.H. McBride, Grand Master of Freemasons in Missouri.

On October 10, 1842 the request for the first Masonic Lodge in Dubuque was granted by the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Timothy Fanning was named the first Worshipful Master.

In 1853 he was involved in FANNING V. GREGOIRE AND BOGG,one of the earliest important legal cases in the history of Iowa. (5)

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Source:

1. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-23-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml

2. Lot One. Online: http://lotonedbq.com/reservation/

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. 57 U.S. 524 - Timothy Fanning v. Charles Gregoire and Charles Bogg. Online: http://openjurist.org/57/us/524/timothy-fanning-v-charles-gregoire-and-charles-bogg