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History of Iowa

Volume III

COUNTIES

(Continued)

IDA COUNTY lies in the second tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth south of the Minnesota line.  It was created in 1851, containing twelve townships, making an area of four hundred thirty-three square miles.  The name was suggested by Eliphalet Price.  The Maple River flows through the county from northeast to southwest affording water power.

In 1854 Robert Townsley, Edward Smith and Samuel King took claims in the county, opened farms and built log cabins.  In 1856 J. H. Morehead and E. Comstock and families settled at Ida Grove on the Maple River.  For many years this was an important station on the stage line between Fort Dodge and Sioux City, remote from other settlements.  On one of the high ridges near the station in early days there was an Indian village the remains of which were visible for many years after the first white settlements.

In 1858 the county was organized and the following officers were chosen:  J. H. Morehead, judge; J. S. Loveland, recorder and treasurer; and Bushrod Warren, clerk.  The county-seat was located at Ida Grove where a town was laid out by S. H. Hobbs in 1871.  The first school was taught at Ida Grove by Miss Atwood and the first term of court was held there by Judge A. W. Hubbard in 1857.  W. P. Evans established the first newspaper in the county at Ida Grove in March, 1872, which was named the Ida County Pioneer.  J. H. Morehead was the first postmaster in the county serving from 1860 to 1872 at Ida Grove.  The old town of Ida Grove was on the north side of the river near the junction of the Odebolt and the Maple.  When the Northwestern Railroad was built in 1877, a new town was laid out on the south side of the Odebolt which also took the name of Ida Grove and became the county-seat.  In 1877 the Blair Company laid out the town of Battle Creek on the Maple Valley branch of the Northwestern road.

IOWA COUNTY was created in February, 1847, from territory belonging to Keokuk.  It lies in the fourth tier west of the Mississippi River, also in the fourth from the south line of the State and is twenty-four miles square containing an area of five hundred eighty-four square miles.  It was named for the Iowa River which flows through the northern part of the county.

The first settler within its limits was Edward Ricord in 1837.  Linaeas Niles, John Burget and Mr. Cleveland in 1844 made claims near where Homestead now stands.  Soon after Robert Mckee, R. F. Mason, Amos Crocker, Charles Kitchen, Williams Downward and Absalom Washington  with their families settled along the Iowa River near where Marengo now stands.  Edward Ricard built the first house in the county in 1844 in a grove on Old Man's Creek in the south part of the county.

In 1843 representatives of a German community selected a large tract of land in Iowa County for the purpose of planting a colony called the Amana Society.  The members hold peculiar religious views in some respects  similar to the Quakers.  They own most of the land in Amana township, which is held in common and the business is conducted by persons chosen for that purpose at annual elections.  They are divided into seven settlements  where they have stores, shops, mills and factories.  Many of their dwellings are large and each occupied by several families.  The county was organized in 1847 and the following officers were chosen:  Lewis Lansing, treasurer; G. W. Kitchen, recorder;  A. D. Stephens, probate judge; A. P. Kitchen, sheriff.

Commissioners selected a site for the county-seat on the banks of the Iowa River and caused a town to be platted which was named Marengo.  William Downward built the first house in the new town and, in company with H. H. Hull, opened the first store.  Robert Mckee was appointed postmaster and Mr. Kirkpatrick opened a public house.  The Methodists organized the first church in 1848.  In 1859 the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad was built to Marengo which was the terminus for several years.  The town of Victor is on this railroad in the western part of the county.  In 1856 Clinton Edwards established a newspaper  at the county-seat named Marengo Visitor.  The first court was held by Judge J. P. Carlton at the house of H. H. Hill In May, 1847.

JACKSON COUNTY lies immediately south of Dubuque on the west shore of the Mississippi River.  It was created in 1837 from the territory originally embraced in Dubuque County named for General Andrew Jackson.  The county contains an area of six hundred thirty-eight  square miles and large tracts of native woodland lie well distributed over the county.  The Maquoketa River runs from west to east with several large tributaries.  The first settlers came in as soon as the Indian title was extinguished and took claims along the Maquoketa River.

Among the earliest pioneers were William Jones, James Armstrong, Alexander Reed, Thomas Nicholson, David Dias and his sons.  They built cabins in the forests and cleared  the timber for farms near the Mississippi in the vicinity of Bellevue.  James McCabe, Nicholas Carroll, Arthur Mullen and Anson Newbury made claims near Sabula.  At the time the county was created it had a population of two hundred forty fur.  J. E. Goddenow, in the spring of 1838, took a claim, built a cabin and the next year laid out a town which he named Springfield and a few houses were built.  But in the winter of 1856 Mr. Goddenow in company with A. Spaulding and Z. Livermore platted a large tract of land owned by them embracing that upon which Springfield had been laid out and gave the new town the name Maquoketa.  John Shaw purchased a claim now in the limits of Maquoketa, in 1837, and removed to it in 1841.  The first store was opened by S. M. Marr in 1844.  In 1837 John Kindly took a claim and built a cabin at Andrew.  The county was organized April 2d, 1838, by the election of the following officer's:  commissioners, William Jones, J. Leonard and William Morden; treasurer, John Sublett; probate judge, J. K. Moses; clerk, J. H. Rose; recorder, John Howe.

A movement was made to secure the county-seat to the new town of Andrew laid out on Hindley's farm.  Commissioners were appointed to relocate the county-seat and they selected Andrew in 1841.  In 1845 a weekly newspaper was started there by m. H. Clark and Andrew Keesecker, with Ansel Briggs editor.  In the county seat was again removed to Bellevue, and in 1861 it was again transferred to Andrew.  In 1873 it was moved to Maquoketa where it has since remained.  In the fall of 1835 John D. Bell made a claim, built a cabin, laid out a town and gave it the name of Bullevue.  It was a beautiful site  on the bank of the Mississippi River and protected on the north and west by a semi-circle of wooded bluffs.  A hotel was built the following year by Peter Dutell.  In 1837 Bellevue was made the county-seat.

In early days desperadoes settled in the Big Woods along the Maquoketa.  They had confederates in Illinois and Missouri at points along the Mississippi River and for a time Bullevue appeared to be their headquarters.  Horse stealing and passing counterfeit money were their chief crimes though they did not hesitate to commit murder when attempts to arrest them were made.  In the spring of 1840, after a series of desperate conflicts between the criminals and the sheriff's posse under the direction of Captain W. Warren, known as the "Bullevue war," the gang was broken up and twelve of the number captured.

The county was organized April 2d, 1838, by the election of the following officers:  county commissioners, William Jones, J. Leonard and William Morden; John Howe, recorder; J. K. Morse, probate judge;  John Bublett, treasurer; and J. H. Rose, clerk.

Sabula is a thriving town on the Mississippi River in the southeast corner of the county.  The Milwaukee Railroad follows the valley of the Mississippi through the eastern part of the county.

JASPER COUNTY lies in the sixth tier west of the Mississippi River and in the fourth north of the Missouri line.  It contains twenty townships, embracing an area of seven hundred thirty square miles and was created in January, 1840, from territory formerly included in the original county of Keokuk.  It was named for Sergeant William Jasper of the Revolutionary War.  Poweshiek, a noted Fox chief, had his principal village in this county on Indian Creek and a smaller one a mile west of Newton.

A portion of the county was opened to settlement in May, 1843, and the remainder in October, 1845.  William Highland and family were the first white settlers who, in May, 1843, took a claim in a grove near Monroe.  A few months later Adam M. Tolle, John Frost and John Vance located in the same vicinity which became known as Tool's point.  In 1845 settlements were made on Clear Creek by Mr. Knitz at Hixon's Grove by Jacob Bennett and on the site of Newton by Ballinger Adeloytte.

In April, 1846, a county government was organized by the election of the following officers:  J. R. Sparks, Manly Gifford and Jacob Bennett, commissioners; J. H. Franklin, clerk; J. W. Swann, treasurer; David Edmundson, sheriff; Seth Hammer, recorder; and W. Fleener, probate judge.  The county-seat was located by commissioners in July,1846, at a central place where a town was laid out and named Newton City.  A rude log building was erected for a court-house in which Judge Joseph Williams of Muscatine held the first term of court.  The first store in the county was opened at Tool's Point by Daniel Hiskey in 1851.  The first school was taught by William E. Smith at Elk Creek settlement in the winter of 1848.

In 1850 commissioners chosen by the General Assembly to select a site for the permanent Capital of the State decided on the tract of prairie four miles northwest of Toole's Point.  A sale of lots was held but the state refused to make it the Capital and the plat was eventually vacated and used for farms.  Monroe was laid out at Toole's Point by David Hiskey in 1856 and has grown into a flourishing town.  Prairie City was platted in 1856 by James Elliott and was first named Elliott.  Kellogg, which was first called Jasper City, was laid out in September, 1865, by Enos Blair and A. W. Adair.  Colfax, on the Skunk River, was named for  Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of the United States, and has long been famous for its mineral springs.  The Newton Free Press was a weekly newspaper established in the 1859 by the Campbell brothers.  The main line of the Rock Island Railroad runs from east to west, while the Keokuk division runs through the western part of the county.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, originally a part of Demoine, was established in January, 1839.  It is the third county west of the Mississippi River in the second tier north of the Missouri State line and contains twelve townships, embracing an area of four hundred thirty-two square miles.  It was named for Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence.  The county-seat was located in March, 1839, where a town was laid out and named Fairfield.  The county was organized by the election of the following officers: J. J. Smith, Daniel Seares and B. F. Chatlin, county commissioners; John A. Pizer, clerk; J. W. Sullivan, treasurer; James Sanders, recorder.

The first settlement had been made in the spring of 1836 by James Lanman, Amos Lemon, George Stout, Alfred Wright and others who took claims in the eastern part of the county.  The first term of court was held by Judge Joseph Williams in August, 1839.  A court-house was built in the fall of the same year and a jail was built in 1841.  The first house in the town was erected by Henry B. Notson in the spring of 1839.  The United States land office was removed from Burlington to Fairfield in 1842.  The first store was opened by William Hutson immediately after the town was platted and a tavern was kept in a log cabin with but one room and a loft, by Thomas Dickey.  Miss Clarisa Sawyer taught the first school in a log cabin in the spring of 1839.  On the 12th of June, 1847, the first number of a weekly newspaper was issued by A. R. Sparks, called the Iowa Sentinel.

The state Agricultural Society was organized at Fairfield on the 28th of December, 1853. Parsons College was located at Fairfield in December, 1874, in consideration of $30,000 donated to the institution by the citizens.  The Burlington Railroad traverses the county from east to west.

JOHNSON COUNTY was created in December, 1837, and named for Richard M. Johnson, Vice President of the United States.  It lies in the third tier west of the Mississippi River and in the fourth from the south line of the State, containing an area of six hundred eighteen square miles.  The Iowa River flows through it in the south-easterly direction, bordered by fine woodlands and furnishing water power.

As early as 1836 John Gilbert, an Indian trader, established a post on the Iowa River where for several years he carried on traffic with the Indians.  Soon after Phillip Clarke and John Meyers settled near him and opened farms.  In 1838 Gilbert and Clarks laid out a town which they named Napoleon and which became the first county-seat.  Settlers came rapidly and in the fall of 1838 S. C. Trowbridge received a commission from Governor Lucas to organize the county.  He called an election at Gilbert's trading house on the 10th of September at which Henry Felkner, Abner Wolcott and Samuel Strugis were chosen county commissioners.  The first term of court was held at Napoleon in 1839 at which Judge Joseph Williams presided.  The county-seat remained at Napoleon until the Capital of the State was located at Iowa City when it was moved to that place and the town of Napoleon soon reverted to a farm.  The first school was opened by Jesse Berry at Iowa City in 1840.  On the 10th of June, 1841, the first number of a weekly newspaper was issued by William Crum and called the Iowa Standard which was a supporter of the Whig party.  In December of the same year the Iowa Capital Reporter, a Democratic journal, was established by Van Antewerp and Hughes.  The first frame house was built in Iowa City by Wesley Jones in 1839 in which he opened a store.  Walter Butler the same year built and kept a hotel.  Jacob De Forest was the first mayor of the capital city in 1853.

JONES COUNTY was established in December, 1837, from territory belonging to the original county of Dubuque.  It lies in the second tier  west of the Mississippi River and the fourth south of the Minnesota line.  It is twenty-four miles square and contains an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles.  The county was named for General George W. Jones who, as delegate in congress, secured the creation of the Territory of Iowa, and who was one of the first United States Senator when it became a state.  The Wapsipinicon and Maquoketa rivers flow through the county in a southeasterly direction and their stores are lined with woodland.

In 1836 Hugh Brown, Moses Collons, John Flynn and Alfred Weatherford made a settlement at Brown's Prairie in the northeast part of the county.  During the same year Daniel Varvel and William Clarke made claims and built cabins near Montecello.  In 1837 a colony from the Red River of the north emigrated southward and made a settlement at Scotch Grove.  Among them were Alexander Sutherland, James Brimmer, David McCoy and their families numbering in all about thirty persons.  In 1839 thirty-three of their neighbors joined the settlement.  In 1837-8 a settlement consisting of about thirty  persons was made along Farm Creek.  Among them were Abraham Hostatter, John Rafferty, Charles P. and James Middleton.  The first settlers at Buffalo Forks of the Wapsipinicon River were George Russ and Sherebrick Dakin who came from Maine in 1838.  Gideon H. Ford came in the fall and bought their claims which included the site of Anamosa.  He sold a portion of the tract to Timothy Davis and George H. Walworth which who laid out a town which was named Walworth.  Three years later a town was laid out west of Walworth which was named Lexington.  In 1842 David Wood and Edmund Booth built a frame house where Anamosa stands.

The county was organized in August, 1838.  In 1840 a commission was chosen by the Legislature located the county-seat near the geographical center of the county and laid out a town which was named Edenburgh.  The first term of court was held there the following year by Judge Thomas S. Wilson.  In 1845, by a vote of the people, the county-seat was removed from Edenburgh to Newport where the only house was a small log cabin.  In 1847 the people voted to move the county-seat and it was located at Lexington.  The name  of this town was soon after changed to Anamosa in honor of a beautiful Indian girl who once lived there and whose father was a chief named Nas-i-nus.  The name of the daughter signifies "White Fawn."  The first newspaper in the county was the Anamosa News, published by William Haddock and first issued in February, 1852.

Montecello was laid out in September, 1853, by G. H Walworth and D. Varvel.  Branches of the Milwaukee Railroad run through the county.  One of the large penitentiary of the State was located at Anamosa where there are extensive stone quarries.

KEOKUK COUNTY as first created in December, 1837, comprised all of townships seventy-seven to eighty-one from the west line of Johnson County to the Missouri River.  This immense county was afterwards divided into a number of smaller ones.  On the 17th of February, 1843, the present county of Keokuk was created.  It lies in the third tier west o the Mississippi River and in the third north of Missouri, is twenty-four miles square and has an area of fine hundred seventy-six square miles.  This county was named for the Sac chief whose name signifies "Watchful Fox."  The northern tier of townships was contained in the old county of the same name, while its entire territory was once embraced in the original county of Demone.

The first white settlers came before the Indian title became extinct but no record of their names has been preserved,  Aaron Miller settled in Richland township in the spring of 1838 and was soon followed by William Searcy, John Wasson, Cyrus Jordon and Jacob Wisner.  Mr. Griffith took a claim on Clear Creek in 1837, Dr. W. Neeley settled near him in 1838 and in 1839 Harvey Stevens and William Grimsley joined the settlement.  Farther up the river at Stillman's Grove Jacob Shaver, Robert Linder, John and William Shaver located in 1843-4.

The county was organized in March, 1844, and the following officers chosen:  Enos Darnell, J. Hollingsworth and J. H. Smith, commissioners; J. M. Waters, judge of probate; Edom Shugarth, clerk; W. H. Briwn, treasurer; and George W. Hayes, sheriff.  In 1844 the commissioners appointed for that purpose located the county-seat near the geographical center of the county and gave it the name of Sigourney for the well-known author, Lydia H. Sigourney.  previous to this time the county business had been transacted at a place called Newton, consisting of a log cabin and school-house.  Edom Shugarth built the first house in Sigourney in 1844 and in it Judge Williams held his first court in July of that year.  A town was soon laid out and a public sale of lots held in October at which but one lot was purchased and that by Joel L. Landreth for twelve dollars.  A court-house square was laid off upon which in 1845 a hewed log house twenty by twenty-four feet was built for the use of county officers and courts, at a cost of two hundred eighteen dollars.  The first newspaper was the Western Friend established in June, 1854, by J. N. and J. L. Paschal.

The oldest town in the county is Richland which was laid out by Pryor C. Woodward in 1840.  Extensive coal mines have been opened in various parts of the county and the town of What Cheer is in the midst of these coal beds.  Numerous railroads furnish excellent shipping facilities.

KISHKEKOSH COUNTY was created in February, 1843, and named for a famous Fox Indian chief.  It was organized in July, 1845, when E. S. Rand, Israel Kister and J. A. Galligher were appointed commissioners to locate the county-seat.  They chose a site where Albia now stands, and a town was laid out named Princeton.

In May, 1843, John B. Gray went from Burlington into the northeasterly part of the new county, made a claim and built a cabin.  James Hilton, James and Josiah Boggs, John and W. G. Clark and James Myers settled in the county a few months later.  During the next two years many families arrived and in the summer of 1845 the preliminary steps were taken to organize the county government.  In 1844 an election had been held at Clark's Point, two miles northwest of where Albia stands, at which W. G. Clark was chosen justice of the peace.  During the same year Mr. Clark laid out a town at Clark's Point named Clarksville.  The first election for county officers was held here in August, 1845, at which the following were chosen:  W. G. Clark, probate judge; James Hilton, clerk; T. Templeton, treasurer; John Clark, sheriff, and J. M. McMullen, M. H. Clark and J. S. Bradley, county commissioners.  The election was held at John Clark's log cabin where the first term of the District Court was also held in 1845.  On the 19th of January, 1846, an election was held to decide upon a permanent county-seat which resulted in favor of Princeton.

On the 1st of August, 1846, the name of the county was changed to Monroe and the county  of Kishkekosh ceased to  exist.

KOSSUTH COUNTY was established in 1851 and named for the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth.  When first created it was twenty-four miles square and its northern boundary was on the north line of township ninety-seven, lying immediately south of Bancroft.  In January, 1855, by act of the General Assembly, Bancroft County ceased to exist, its territory having been added to Kossuth as was also the north half of Humboldt.  In February, 1857, the townships taken from Humboldt were restored to it and Kossuth was left with territory reaching from Humboldt to the Minnesota line.  It lies in the fifth tier east of the Missouri River; is twenty-four miles wide and forty and one-third long, containing nine hundred seventy-seven square miles, making it the largest county in the State.  The east fork of the Des Moines River flows through the county to the south and the Blue Earth River flows to the northwest.

The first settlers in the county were Ambrose A. and Asa C. Call who, in July, 1854, took claims along the Des Moines River near where Algona stands.  The place was long know as "Call's Grove."  Later in the year Malachi Clark, Levi Maxwell, William Hill and Soloman Hand, with their families, took claims on the west side of the Des Moines River about four miles below Call's Grove.  In January, 1855, W. H. Ingham and Andrew L. Seeley took claims near the river four miles above Call's Grove.  In the summer of the same year Jacob Wright, Thomas and John Robinson, W. G. Clark and others settled near where Irvington stands.

In August, 1855, the county was organized by the election of the following officers:  Asa C. Call, judge; Robert Cogley, clerk; J. W. Moore, recorder and treasurer; H. F. Watson, sheriff, and Lewis H. Smith, surveyor.  The county-seat was located on the claim of A. C. Call and named by his wife Algona.  Mrs. Call was the first woman to settle in the county.  The town of Algona was platted by A. C. Call, A. A. Call and J. W. Moore in April, 1856.  The first newspaper was issued in September, 1861, by Ambrose A. Call and was named the Algona Pioneer Press.  A flouring-mill was erected on the Des Moines River in 1867 by J. E. Stacy.  Lewis H. Smith was the first lawyer in Algona.  The first bank was established by W. H. Ingham in 1867.

In the fall of 1870 the Milwaukee Railroad was completed to Algona giving a direct line to the Mississippi River and Chicago.  Algona College was established in 1872 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal denomination.

LEE COUNTY was first established in 1836 but the boundaries were changed in 1838 and in 1839 its present boundaries were fixed by the Territorial Legislature.  On the 18th of January, 1838, the county-seat was located at Fort Madison.  The county lies in the extreme southeast corner of the State, the Mississippi River forming the eastern boundary, while the Des Moines River forms the western and part of the southern boundary.

The origin of the name of the county is involved in doubt.  It was named in an act of the Legislature of Wisconsin Territory on the 7th of December, 1836.  It has been claimed that it was named for Robert E. Lee but when it is remembered that he was an obscure lieutenant in the regular army when the county was named, not having been in or near that region until 1837, from which time he was an engineer in charge of improvements of the Mississippi until 1841, there is not even a remote probability that he had ever been heard of at Belmont where Lee County was created and named.  There was a land speculator from New York operating in the "Half Breed Tract," by the name of Charles Lee, about the time the county was created and it has been supposed that the county might have been named for him.  There is no evidence to substantiate this supposition.  Lieutenant Albert M. Lea had, in 1835, descended the Des Moines River in charge, as engineer, of an exploring party making a survey of its course and rapids.  He surveyed and mapped the shore of the Mississippi River in Lee County and above the same year.  He was an officer in General Kearny's command at old Fort Des Moines, in Lee County, for some time.  In 1836 he became widely known as the author of a book and map of the "Iowa District."  This publication made his name familiar to the people of the "Black Hawk Purchase"  the year that Lee County was named.  Many of the prominent citizens of pioneer times understood and believed that the county was named for Albert M. Lea, who gave the name of "Iowa" to the region which afterwards became the State of Iowa.  Lee County has an area of five hundred twelve square miles and an abundant supply of native woodland.

In 1843 the county-seat was removed to West Point where the first term of court was held the same year.  In the fall of 1845 by a vote of the people Fort Madison was again made the county-seat.  Commissioners appointed in 1840 had selected a site for the county-seat near the geographical center of the county, where a town was laid out and named Franklin but no buildings were erected and the business of the country was never transacted there.  By act of the Legislature of 1855 a court with concurrent jurisdiction was established at Keokuk where a deputy clerk kept records of the court.  A history of early settlements at Fort Madison and Keokuk will be found elsewhere.

LINN COUNTY was created in December, 1837, and named for Lewis F. Linn, United States Senator from Missouri.  It lies in the third tier west of the Mississippi River and in the fourth south of the Minnesota line.  The county is twenty-four miles wide by thirty long containing and area of seven hundred twenty square miles.  The Cedar and Wapsipinicon rivers flow through it in a southeasterly direction having fine belts of woodland along their banks.

In February, 1838, John Mann of Pennsylvania, settled at Linn Grove on Upper Big Creek, where he built a mill and log cabin for his family.  In 1851 his mill was carried away by a flood and he was drowned.  John Crow of North Carolina took a claim on the Wapsipinicon in April, 1838.  Soon after Robert Dean, John Gibson, Peter McRoberts and others settled in Franklin township; Judge Mitchell, Jacob Leabo and Mr. Henry in Bertram township and several families made homes in Linn township, in Marion and other localities.  In July, 1838, Israel Mitchell laid out the first town and named it Westport.  In September of the same year William Stone staked out a town plat where Cedar Rapids stands and called it Columbus.  The first store in the county was opened at Westport in the fall of 1838 and William H. Merritt opened one at Ivanhoe in the spring of 1839.  The first election was held at Westport in October, 1838, for members of the Legislative Assembly, at which thirty-two votes were cast.

The county was organized in June, 1839, by the election of the following officers:  Samuel C. Stewart, Peter McRoberts and Luman M. Strong, county commissioners; John C. Berry, clerk; W. H. Gray, sheriff; Thomas W. Campbell, treasurer; Ross McCloud, surveyor.  The commissioners chosen to locate the county-seat selected the site of Marion where a town was laid out in 1839.  The first store was opened the same year by Woodbridge and Thompson and Luman M. Strong built a hotel.  A mill was built by Bales and Thompson and several shops were opened.  A court-house was built in 1840; and a Methodist church organized the same year with Rev. Mr. Hodges as pastor.  A school was opened the following year.  In 1852 a weekly newspaper was established by A. Hoyt called the Prairie Star which in later years became the Marion Register.  The first cabin on the site of Cedar Rapids was built by an outlaw by the name of Shepard, in the year 1838.  It was for a long time the rendezvous of horse thieves which infested that region in early days.  They secreted stolen property among the islands of the Cedar River.  The gang was not broken up until 1851.  The first permanent settlement of that place was made in 1839 by T. Gaines and D. W. King who took claims on the west side of the river.

In 1841 the town of Cedar Rapids was laid out by N. B. Brown and others; the following year a dam was built across the Cedar River and a sawmill erected.  In 1844 N. B. Brown built a flouring-mill at a cost of $3,000; and in 1849 a woolen factory was built at a cost of $10,000.  In 1850 D. O. Finch established a newspaper named the Progressive Era.

In 1847 the town of Mt. Vernon was laid out by A. J. Willits and others, where Cornell College, one of the leading educational institutions in the State, is located.  The main line of the Northwestern Railroad runs through Linn County from east to west and was the first built to Cedar Rapids which has become one of the important railroad centers of the State.

LOUISA COUNTY was created in 1836 from territory originally included in Demoine.  When first established it included parts of Washington, Henry and Des Moines.  On the 12th of January, 1839, the boundaries of Louisa were fixed as they are now embracing an area of four hundred seven square miles.  The county lies in the third tier north of Missouri and its eastern boundary is the Mississippi River.  It was named for Louisa Massey, a young woman in Dubuque, who had recently shot a ruffian who had helped to murder one of her brothers and was attempting to kill another when she put an end to his career.

The Iowa River flows through the county in a southeasterly direction emptying into the Mississippi within its limits.  This county was at one time the home of the famous Indian chiefs Black Hawk, Wapello, Keokuk and Poweshiek.

The first white settler in the county was Christopher Shuck who made a claim near Toolsboro previous to 1834.  In 1835 William L. Toole, P. Harrison, W. Crayton, S. Smith and L. Thornton settled near the mouth of the Iowa River.  Francis Springer, Colonel Garner, N. W. Letts, David Hurley and Rev. Josiah Vetrees were among the early settlers who came before 1840.

The county was organized in 1837 and the following officers chosen:  William L. Toole, Levi Thornton and Robert Williams, county commissioners; John Gilliland, recorder and treasurer; Z. C. Ingham, clerk and C. M. McDaniel, sheriff.  The county-seat was located at Wapello where a town was platted by order of the commissioners in 1838.  The first court was held by Judge David Irwin who presided over a number of the earliest courts held within the limits of Iowa.  The first citizens who settled in Wapello were John Drake, Jacob Minton, John Gilliland, C. McDaniels and William Thomas.  Francis Springer was one of the first attorneys.  In 1841 Clark and Noffinger established the first newspaper, the Wapello Intelligencer.  The first school in the county was taught by John Ferguson.

The county-seat was located on the banks of the Iowa River about eighteen miles from its mouth on the site of an Indian village where the chief Wapello lived many years and is named in his memory.  Columbus is a thriving town in the northern part of the county at the junction of Burlington and Cedar Rapids, and the Chicago and Southwestern Railroads.

LUCAS COUNTY was created in January, 1846, and at that time embraced a portion of Clarke County but in 1849 was reduced to its present limits.  It lies in the second tier north of Missouri and midway between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and contains twelve townships embracing an area of four hundred thirty-two square miles.  The county was named for Robert Lucas the first Governor of the Territory of Iowa.  In 1846-7, the year of the Mormon exodus through Iowa, several families stopped at Chariton Point near the river of that name in Lucas County, where they built cabins and remained several years.  They were the first white settlers in the county.  In September, 1847, William McDermott and family made a claim ten miles east of the Chariton River.  In March, 1848, Elijah Baldwin and family settled west of McDermott's and in June, James Rolland located south of them.  Before the close of the year there were eight families in the neighborhood.  During the following year many families made homes in various parts of the county.

In August, 1849, an election was held and the following officers chosen:  William T. May, Jacob Phillips and J. G. Robinson, county commissioners, who proceeded to organize the county.  In September, 1849, the commissioners chosen to locate the county-seat reported a site on the Chariton River which they named Polk.  The citizens of the county at a public meeting held in November changed the name to Chariton and a town was platted and a public sale of lots ordered in December.  In April, 1850, a contract was let for the building of a log courthouse in which the first term of court was held in May, 1851, over which Judge McKay presided.  A mill was built by Isaac C. Cain and Pleasant Williams on Whitebreast creek.  In the winter of 1852-3 Crawford Sellers taught the first school in the court-house.

The first newspaper in the county was the Little Giant; established in 1856 by George M. Binckley.  The Chariton Patriot was a weekly journal started by John Edwards in 1857.  The Burlington Railroad runs through the county from east to west passing through the towns of Russell, Chariton and Lucas.

LYON COUNTY lies in the extreme northwest corner of the State and when first created in 1851 was named Buncombe.  By act of the legislature of September 11, 1862, the name was changed to Lyon in honor of General Nathaniel Lyon who was killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek while in command of the Union army in 1861.  The county is about thirty-five miles in length east and west and about seventeen miles wide, containing five hundred eighty-seven square miles.

The first white man who built a cabin within its limits was Daniel McLaren a hunter and trapper who lived several years near the Big Sioux River at the mouth of a creek which bears his name.  In the summer of 1862 Roy McGregor, George Clark and Thomas Lockhart, three adventurous young men from Massachusetts settled on the Iowa side of the Big Sioux River and built a cabin.  McGregor was killed by the Sioux Indians, Clark was drowned in March, 1863, and Lockhart, after many narrow escapes from the hostile Indians, returned to the settlements.  In July, 1866, Lewis P. Hyde of Minnesota took a homestead on the Big Sioux River two miles below where Beloit stands.  In 1868 Ole Nelson and his brother Halver of Clayton County, with a colony, settled near the Big Sioux River where they built a mill.  During the same year Dr. H. D. Rice and wife, Emerick Irwin and H. W. Reeves settled on the Rock River near the present town of Doon.  D. C. Whitehead and several others settled at Rock Rapids in 1869 and at the close of that year the population of the county was about one hundred.

The first school was taught at  Rock Rapids during the winter of 1870-71 by Mrs. D. C. Whitehead and the first minister in the county was Rev. Ellef Oleson of Beloit.  On the 25th of July, 1871, a weekly newspaper was established at Rock Rapids by C. E. Bristol which was named the Rock Rapids Journal.  The county was organized in October of the same year by  the election of the following officers:  Charles E. Goetz, auditor; James H. Wagner, treasurer; D. C. Whitehead, clerk; T. W. Johnson, sheriff, and Thomas Thorson, recorder. Rock Rapids on the Rock River was made the county-seat.  The Big Sioux River forms the western boundary of the county and State in this section.  The Milwaukee and other railroads furnish transportation facilities

 

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