COMPENDIUM
OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
OF CASS COUNTY IOWA

PIONEER HISTORY AND FORMATION OF PRESENT
COUNTY SYSTEM -- PATRIOTIC WAR RECORD -- DETAILED TOWNSHIP HISTORY, WITH
SKETCHES OF TOWNS, CITIES, AND
PROMINENT CITIZENS AND INSTITUTIONS.

BIOGRAPHIES OF OLD SETTLERS, SOLDIERS, FARMERS
BUSINESS MEN, MANUFACTURERS, BANKERS, EDITORS,
CLERGYMEN, LAWYERS, PHYSICIANS, AND OTHERS
WHO HAVE MADE CASS COUNTY WHAT IT IS.

Chicago: Henry Taylor & Company, 1906

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Table of Contents has been transcribed exactly as printed. Some "Bank" selections were actually printed within the Biographies section, but in the Table of Contents were listed within the relevent Township Chapter.

PREFACE

SPECIAL INDEX PERSONS, TOWNS, INSTITUTIONS, ETC.

CHAPTER I
CASS COUNTY IN GENERAL.
Naming of the County -- Extent and Location -- Streams -- Soil -- Natural Products -- Geology -- Civil Features -- Railroads -- Increase in Population

CHAPTER II
EARLY HISTORY OF THE STATE.
Permanent Settlement at Dubuque -- Fort Madison Founded -- Burlington -- Capital of Wisconsin Territory -- First Settlers of Davenport -- Original Pioneers of Iowa -- Indian Romance -- First White Child Born in Iowa -- Indian Occupancy of Cass County -- Cass County Pottawattamies -- Death of the Famous Mahaskah -- Gradual Creation of Cass County

CHAPTER III
SETTLERS PRIOR TO COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
The Mormans of Cass County -- The First Gentile Settler -- Jeremiah Bradshaw -- Cass County's First Democrat -- First Birth of Gentile Child -- First Deaths -- Pioneer School and Scholars -- First Towns and Manufactory -- Earliest Settlers Outside the Towns -- Unreliable Settlers of Grove Township -- Reliable Pioneers - Only His Seventy-fifth Log Cabin -- The Byrd Family -- Pioneer of Benton Township -- How Edna Township was Named -- First Things and Events -- "The Early Settlement of Cass County," by R. D. McGeehon -- Obtains a Cook for Fifty-four Years -- A Mail Route of '52 -- First Winter at Turkey Grove -- Getting Food in Pioneer Times -- Character of First Settlers -- A Typical Pioneer's House -- Winter of 1856-7 -- Fremont Voters of Turkey Grove -- War Prices of '63 -- A Pioneer's Retrospect

CHAPTER IV
COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATORS.
County Seat Fixed at Lewis -- The First County Officers -- First County Records -- Opening of County Seat contest -- Judge Lorah and His Town -- First Supervisors' Meeting -- Popular Sheriff Keyes -- Franklin H. Whitney -- Thomas Meredith -- Isaac Dickerson -- First County Auditor -- Atlantic's Fight for the County Seat -- The County Reorganized

CHAPTER V
ANTE-WAR AND WAR PERIODS.
The Underground Railway in Cass County -- Loyalty During the Civil War -- Fourth Iowa Infantry -- The Fourth at Pea Ridge -- Leads Brigade at Chickasaw Bayou -- Bravery Before Vicksburg -- Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge -- Reception of the Fourth at Des Moines -- Resacca, Kenesaw Mountain, Etc. -- Investment of Atlanta -- Both a Marching and Fighting Regiment -- Company I, Twenty-third Infantry -- Death of Capt. John C. Brown -- Capt. John J. Van Houten -- Bloody Battle on Anderson's Hill -- Immortal Honors at Black River Bridge -- Soldiers in Scattered Commands

CHAPTER VI
CASS TOWNSHIP.
How It Assumed Its Present Form -- Abundantly Watered -- Timber and Soil -- First Election in the Township -- Deserted Villages of the Township -- Iranistan -- The First Horticulturist of the County -- Indiantown -- William W Haworth and Samuel Upson -- Lewis -- The First Buildings -- First Merchants -- First Physicians -- First Hotel -- First Public Sale of Lots -- First Churches of Lewis -- Settlers of 1856 and 1857 -- First Addition and Present Town Area -- Settlers of 1858-60 -- School History of Lewis -- Baptists Organize a Church -- Birth of the County Press -- "Cass County Gazette" -- Early Fraternal Lodges -- Incorporation of Town -- Pioneers of the Vicinity -- Lewis As It is -- The Bank of Lewis -- Reminiscences of Harriet L. Howard -- Settlers of the Early Fifties -- Beginnings of Lewis -- Preacher, and Agent of Underground Railway -- Another Record of a Pioneer Teacher

CHAPTER VII
PYMOSA TOWNSHIP.
Last of Pymosa, the Pottawattamie Chief -- Pioneers of Pymosa -- The Township Organized -- General Description -- Old Pymosa Postoffice -- First Religious Meeting -- First School in the Township -- First Court Case -- First Burial and Cemetery -- History of District Schools -- Other Township Pioneers

CHAPTER VIII
EDNA TOWNSHIP.
The Township Named Edna -- First School Teacher -- First Marriage -- Other Settlers of '55 -- Natural Features, and Water Courses -- Reno -- Educational

CHAPTER IX
BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP.
A Compromise Name -- Natural and Acquired Features -- Thomas Meredith's Reminiscences -- A Land-Grabber -- First Regular Horse-Trader -- Settlers During the Civil War -- Later Settlers of Prominence -- Educational -- Town of Marne

CHAPTER X
UNION TOWNSHIP.
Changed from Breckenridge to Union -- Formation of the Present Township -- First Settlers in the Township -- School Districts -- The Town of Cumberland -- History of Cumberland, by A. W. Stryker -- Cumberland Incorporated -- Waterworks and Telephone System -- Pioneers of the Town -- The Cumberland Savings Bank

CHAPTER XI
BENTON TOWNSHIP.
Well Watered and Beautiful -- Political Organization -- Pioneer Settlers of Township -- The First Stable Pioneer -- The First Flour Mill -- The McDermotts -- Lewis Beason -- The Crooked Creek Cowboys and Their End -- Religious and Educational

CHAPTER XII
GRANT TOWNSHIP.
The Last of Lura Township -- Grant Township Organized -- Location and Natural Features -- Pioneer of Northeastern Cass County -- Settlers at and Near Anita -- City of Anita -- The Naming of the Town -- Incorporation of the City -- Pioneer Establishments -- City Schools -- The Postoffice -- The First Sermon and Lodges -- The Anita of Today -- "The Anita Republican" -- Township Education

CHAPTER XIII
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.
General Description -- District Schools and Teachers -- Lincoln Center Cemetery -- Early Settlers and First Things

CHAPTER XIV
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Physical Features -- The Township Pioneer -- Settlers of '54 and '55 -- The Jameson Cemetery -- The Many Settlers of 1856 -- Later Comers -- Oliver Coomes -- Educational -- The Town of Wiota -- The First Buildings Erected -- First Merchants -- Postoffice Established -- Incorporation -- Wiota Savings Banks

CHAPTER XV
PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.
Water Courses and Pleasant Features -- Pioneers of Pleasant Township -- Township Education -- Religious -- The Town of Griswold -- Bank of Griswold -- First Flour Mill -- Early Churches and Societies of Griswold -- Griswold As It Now Appears -- History and Description of Griswold, by D. H. Scott -- How the Railroads Compromised -- Present Status and Needs -- As a Shipping Center -- Public Institutions

CHAPTER XVI
MASSENA TOWNSHIP.
Location and Physical Features -- Early Settlement of the Township -- How the Township was Named -- Whitneyville Postoffice -- Town of Massena -- Historical and Descriptive Article, by G. A. Hill -- Municipal and Corporate Affairs -- Business and Professional Men -- Churches of Massena -- Secret and Benevolent Societies -- Schools of the Town -- Newspapers of Massena -- Other Enterprises -- Disasters, Chiefly Fires -- Massena Savings Bank -- Township Education -- Township Cemetery

CHAPTER XVII
VICTORIA TOWNSHIP
Location and Physical Features -- First Settlement of the Township -- Schools and Churches

CHAPTER XVIII
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
Location and Drainage -- Good Roads and Markets -- George Reeves, the Pioneer -- A Good Old Democrat -- Other Early Settlers

CHAPTER XIX
BEAR GROVE TOWNSHIP
Natural Features -- The Pioneer of Bear Grove Township -- Another Pioneer of the Pioneers -- Early Settlers and Officials -- Settlers of the Sixties

CHAPTER XX
NOBLE TOWNSHIP
Physical Description -- Settlement Before County Organization -- Settlers Of the Sixties -- Formal Organization of Noble Township -- Educational Organization and School Districts -- Edna and Newlon's Grove Postoffices -- Religious History

CHAPTER XXI
GROVE TOWNSHIP
Natural Features -- Early Settlement -- Little Incidents of '55 and '56 -- Grove City -- Early Items -- Organization of Atlantic and Grove Townships -- The Founding of Atlantic -- Almost Called "Avoca" -- First Business Houses -- A History-Making Year -- Incorporation of the Town -- County Court House -- General Development -- Building of the Waterworks -- Atlantic As It Is -- Banks of Atlantic -- Public Schools of Atlantic -- Atlantic Churches -- The Press of Atlantic -- The Atlantic Gas and Fuel Company

CASS COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES

Transcribed February, 2012