Iowa

Biographical Sketch of W. A. Robinson

W.A. Robinson, postmaster and hardware merchant, was born in Vt. in 1815. He moved to Stockbridge, Mass., when quite young; in 1856 moved to Mercer county, m., and engaged in farming until 1869; then moved to Sac County, purchased land in Viola township, which he improved and still owns. He moved to Fletcher in Jan., 1882, and filled the office of postmaster, to which he was appointed in Dec., 1881. He erected building on Main Street, which is occupied by post office and hardware stock. Mr. Robinson has filled many minor offices, was the first justice of the peace in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of C. P. Hicks

C.P. Hicks, of the firm of W.H. Ball & Co., was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in Oct., 1848. He graduated at the Bryant & Straton College and was for several years in the employ of a commission house in Philadelphia, as bookkeeper and entry clerk. He moved to Cedar County, Ia., in 1874; thence to Sac County in Mar.; 1881, purchased land near Fletcher and engaged in present business. From Aug., 1881, to Feb., 1882, they shipped sixty cars of grain.

Biographical Sketch of Albert Davis

Albert Davis, station agent and proprietor of Lake House, came to Sac County in March 1877, from Clinton County, Ia. He purchased land in Wall Lake township. At the time of the tornado of April 21 of the same year, he was living in a portion of his barn, which was entirely destroyed together with his household goods, his family happily escaping unhurt. He afterwards built a house 20×30 feet in dimensions and had just got settled in it when it was entirely destroyed by the tornado of Oct. 15th, of the same year. In Dec. 1881, he moved to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. C. Fletcher

J.C. Fletcher, founder of the town of Fletcher, was born in Franklin, Ind., in 1849; the same year moved with parents to Oskaloosa, Ia. He enlisted in 1864 in the 47th Ia. Inft., and served until the close of the war. He returned to Oskaloosa and in 1873 moved to Sheffield where he engaged in the mercantile business. In Oct. 1880 he purchased the town site of Fletcher which he laid out in tow lots and placed on the market, not it is a lively growing town and is situated near a beautiful lake. Mr. Fletcher formed a partnership in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Rev. William N. McKendrick

Rev. William N. McKendrick, undertaker and dealer in furniture was born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1832; came to America with parents and located in N.Y. In 1847 he moved to Western N.Y. He attended the Baptist College, of Montreal, Canada, for three years, and entered the University in 1859. He was ordained in Michigan, Sept. 20th, 1875. He located at Mapleton, Ia., in 1879, and was pastor of the Baptist church there for two years. He resigned in Sept., 1881; came to Fletcher, purchased property and engaged in present business. He is pastor here and preaches every Sabbath at the … Read more

Biography of George W. Dailey

Few men can recite the story of Kansas since statehood from their own recollection. One of these men is George W. Dailey, now a resident of Topeka. Mr. Dailey is a true pioneer of Kansas. He arrived when this and all the country west of the Missouri River was a wilderness. He bore the hardships and difficult circumstances of the frontier settler. He helped defend the country when there was danger, and a public spirit and willingness to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others had been one of the distinguishing traits of his character. In March, 1860, he arrived … Read more

Biography of Ebenezer F. Porter, Hon.

For nearly a quarter of a century the Hon. Ebenezer F. Porter, State Senator from the Ninth Senatorial District, had been one of the powers and potential forces in business and in politics, in material progress and in educational affairs in that seetion of the state. He had, from an early age, borne a large share of his father’s as well as his own responsibilities in business affairs and had been forced to deal with matters of far more than ordinary importance. Notwithstanding the extent and seape of his activities, it may be said without fear of contradiction that he … Read more

Biography of Owin E. Edgerton, M. D.

Owin E. Edgerton, M. D., had found the reward which goes with a long and active service in the profession for the benefit of humanity. For fully thirty years he had practiced in Riley County. He had been content to serve to the best of his ability a growing circle of families, many of whom he had known since childhood, and over the year had brought him increasing success, not so much, perhaps, in the material rewards of professional endeavor as in that fine esteem which is bestowed upon the unselfish doctor. He is almost a native of Riley County. … Read more

Biography of Alfred Clark Pierce

At the age of eighty-one, bearing the impress of a life of remarkable experience, a pioneer builder of Kansas, for many years identified with its public and business life, this venerable citizen is now living in comfortable retirement at Junction City. A small party of free state men arrived in Kansas in 1856. It comprised eight or ten men. One of them was Preston B. Plumb, whose name is a household word in Kansas. Alfred Clark Pierce was also in that little party. At Iowa City, Iowa, he had first met Mr. Plumb, and they were ever afterwards intimate friends. … Read more

Biography of Thomas Ryan

Thomas Ryan, of Topeka, lawyer, soldier, congressman and diplomat. was born at Oxford, New York. November 25, 1837, but while he was an infant his parents moved to Bradford County; Pennsvlvania, where he was reared upon a farm and attended the country school. He had been admitted to the bar when the Civil war broke out, but enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, was chosen captain of his company, and served until 1864. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. In 1865, accompanied by his wife and son, he came to Kansas and located … Read more

Biography of John Conover, Col.

Of the individuals whose lives have influenced, developed, stabilised and broadened the civic and commercial resources of the State of Kansas, one of the most conspicuous was that of the late Col. John Conover. Coming to Kansas in 1857 and locating in Leavenworth, he was one of the pioneer merchants of that city. Going from Kansas at the outbreak of the war into the service of the Union army, he made a brilliant record as a soldier and officer, and that record is one of the many reasons why Kansas people should have a grateful memory of his life. Following … Read more

Biography of James Madison Harvey

James Madison Harvey, fifth governor of the State of Kansas, was born in Monroe County, Virginia, September 21, 1833, and was the second child and oldest son of Thomas Jefferson and Margaret (Walker) Harvey. His ancestors for several generations were Virginians. His paternal ancestor in America was Henry Harvey, who came from England about 1725, settling in Orange County. Henry Harvey’s son John was the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketeh. Other ancestors of the colonial period were Michael Woods of Albermarle County, who was a deseendant of a Yorkshire trooper of Cromwell’s army; Capt. Henry Walker, who … Read more

Biography of George Mitchell

George Mitchell was the son of Rev. John Mitchell and his first wife, Catherine Margaret Teter. John Mitchell was born at Dawston, Lancashire, England, May 1, 1763, and came to America in 1774. He lived in Hampshire, Rockingham, and Harrison (later Lewis) counties, Virginia. He died April 29, 1840, and his tombstone is still standing in the old Harmony churchyard near Jane Lew, Lewis County, West Virginia, where he had “preached the Gospel forty years.” This John Mitchell, Mrs. Guernsey’s greatgrandfather, according to the records in the War Department and Pension Office, served as a private in the Virginia militia … Read more

The Story of Iowa

The Story of Iowa is a history of the state of Iowa up through the 1920s, written especially for children.

Iowa Counties named for Indian Chiefs

Many Iowa counties bear names which stand as monuments to Indian chiefs, both good and bad: Black Hawk County recalls the memory of the great warrior leader of the Sacs and Foxes. While he opposed the sale of lands to the whites, and was the chief spirit in the struggle known as the Black Hawk War, he was honest in his motives, and may be considered a good Indian. “He never drank liquor, and tried to prevent the whites from supplying it to other Indians. He had only one wife, and dearly loved his family. He was not cruel, and … Read more

French Missionary

America had been discovered almost two hundred years before a white man set foot in Iowa. In June, 1673, Father Marquette, a French Missionary, and a Canadian trader by the name of Joliet, with five companions whose names are not now known, sailed down the “Great Father of Waters, ” as the Indians called the Mississippi. On the right bank of the stream, not far from the mouth of the Des Moines River, they saw many human footprints leading out to a well-beaten path, which led away across the prairie. Charmed with the beautiful region thereabout, Marquette and Joliet went … Read more

Iowa As A State

Iowa became a state December 28, 1846. She was the twenty-ninth state to enter the Union, and the fourth state carved from the Louisiana Purchase. Ansel Briggs was the first governor. The capitol building was then located at Iowa City, but in obedience to the feeling that the seat of government should be nearer the center of the state, it was changed to Des Moines in 1857. Iowa came into the Union as a free state. But slavery was a burning issue for years before the Civil War. Many of the settlers came from the South. A few of these … Read more

Iowa Pioneers

When the tide of immigration finally set in toward Iowa, the state was peopled as if by magic. The papers of 1854 were filled with long accounts of the vast crowds which filed in from the east and south. “The roads were thronged with teams, and the groves and woodlands and prairies were alive with figures, and white with tents and canvas-topped wagons. Ferries over the Mississippi were busy day and night conveying the pioneers from Illinois to Iowa. Oskaloosa reports that at least a thousand persons pass through every week, bound westward. Three hundred buildings go up in a … Read more

Indian Troubles in Iowa

Perhaps you know something about the great tract of land which the United States bought from France, in 1803, at the cost of a little less than two and one-half cents per acre. It was called the Louisiana Purchase, and was larger in area than the whole of the United States had been before. If you will draw a heavy line down the Rocky Mountains, on any United States map, till you come to the northern boundary of Texas, follow it across to the Mississippi, thence up the river to the Canadian border and back across to the mountains, you … Read more

Other Early Settlers

Shortly after Dubuque built his cabin, a friend by the name of Basil Gaillard, whom he had met at Prairie du Chien, came to be his neighbor. He obtained a tract* of 5,760 acres in what is now Clayton County, in and around the prosperous city of McGregor, and here he lived for many years among the wild scenes of this practically unknown country. He traded with the Indians and made frequent trips to St. Louis, much the same as did his friend Dubuque. No doubt the two men often exchanged visits, and had many interesting adventures together. But no … Read more