History

Links about the history of Marion County

A Brief History of Marion County.

This one-page summary was contributed by Winona Davis with population totals from the State Historical Library resources personnel.

A History quiz about Lake Red Rock.

This quiz has one question (plus the answer) that appeared in the October 13, 2021 Newsletter called The Windmill Weekly.

Rural History Buffs of Marion County Iowa.

A fun look at parts of the history of Marion County. Included: explanation of historic (brown) signs around the county; looking at the lost towns of Lake Red Rock; information about the Buffs.

History of Marion County Iowa and Its People, Volume I - Wright and Young, 1915.

This book is an extensive history of Marion County with chapters on the following: physical features; aboriginal inhabitants; period of preparation; settlement and organization; public buildings; township history; Knoxville; Pella and nearby region; towns; Civil War;, Spanish-American War; internal improvements; finance and industry; education; church history; bench and bar; medical domain; societies and fraternities; miscellaneous; statistics.

Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875.

This book, by A.T. Andreas, has three main chapters: Residents, part 1; Residents, part 2; Businesses. Instead of being a narrative, this consists of tables of data. The first two chapters is organized by the townships within Marion County. For each township, the residents are listed and includes: name; section within township; occupation/business; nativity; year came to Iowa; post office. Some townships have larger representation than others. The last chapter on businesses is organized by towns/villages and list the business activity and proprietor.

Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa 1847-1922. Surname Index.

This is an alphabetical index to this extensive book that was compiled and published by THE BOOSTER PRESS, G.A. Stout, Publisher, Pella, Iowa. It is a large name of surnames with the page(s) within the book listed for each name. At the top are links to the initial letters so that you can more quickly find the name of interest.

Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa 1847-1922 -- actual book.

Here you can find the content of the extensive book that was compiled and published by THE BOOSTER PRESS, G.A. Stout, Publisher, Pella, Iowa. This is available in several fashions. First, there is a complete pdf version of the book housed at hathitrust.org. Otherwise, the content is organized by pages, with some pages having html versions that are meant to have the appearance of the book (and some with local pdf versions as well). Other pages only have links to the online version of hathitrust, while other pages have an online link to hathitrust as well as the text as raw text. The first 77 pages have been fully proof-checked. There are 31 chapters that focus on many aspects of life and people in Pella.

Historical Sketches of Iowa Baptists by S. H. Mitchell, 1886.

This is Chapter XX (pp. 165-178) of the book Counties of Polk, Jasper, Marion, Boone, Tama, Madison, Story, and Warren. This gives the history of the Baptists in this part of Iowa from 1850s to 1884.

Groeten uit Amerika (Dutch) and Greetings from America (English).

This book, in Dutch and English, tells the story of Dutch immigrants coming to America (and some to Marion county). It focuses the stories of 12 individuals, couples, or groups (and their families): Pieter Oebeles Viersen; Dirk Gerkes Postma; Heerke Ypes Viersen; Ijebbe Meinderts Beintema; Jacob Jans Slot en Wopke Hoekes de Haan; Hendrik Pieters Scholte; Sjoerd Aukes Sipma Gerrit Gerbens van der Weit + Abraham Paulus Buwalda; Epke Alberts Roorda; de groep of club van Scholte; Ritske Aukes Sipma + Sipke Aukes Sipma; Minke Thomas Bouma. NOTE: this is primarily listed in Community/Immigration but also here.

Early Residents of Lake Prairie Township

This is a table giving an alphabetical list of residents of this township that contains Pella. This is derived from the book Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa, pp. 18-19, that is given above in another item.

Pella to Sioux County, 1870.

This is a table giving an alphabetical list of 64 residents of Pella area who moved to Sioux County in about 1870. This is derived from the book Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa, p. 218, that is given above in another item.

Pioneers of Marion County.

This title is a book written by Wm. M. Donnel in 1872. This page (primarily hosted at this Marion site at People/Pioneers) has the table of contents in two sections, and within each, there is a link to the actual text. There is also an index to the book containing names and pages (many of which have links to the pages of the book). Finally, there are two online versions of the book if you want to view it holistically.

More general Iowa links

While the U.S. Fought Germans in Europe, Iowa Fought Their Language at Home (WWI).

This is an interesting blog about how Iowans fought the German language during the WWI time period. It is a relatively short and informative read.