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Naming of Iowa
| Per Wikipedia: "Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American nations whose territory comprised the future state at the time of European colonization."  Per the 1894 book Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa, pages 437-438: "The great-grandmother of Judge Oliver W. Crary was a Brewster and one of her family came west and settled in Pennsjdvania in an early day. In 1832 a descendant of the Brewster family went to Connecticut to see the old ancestral home. He told many wonderful Indian stories to our subject, then a mere lad, and often amused “grown up” people as well as the children. This Mr. Brewster had been reared by a Shawnee Indian squaw and was familiar with the Indian language. "One of the stories related by Mr. Brewster described the naming of the state of Iowa. The story was told him by an old Indian squaw, who claimed to be a descendant of a French priest and a beautiful Indian maiden. She told of the early hunting expeditions of the Spanish, who were accompanied by a French priest and the Indians. The former were looking for gold and the Indians conducted them through the woods. While passing along, the whites would frequently cast their eyes on the ground and their guides would say to each other: 'See them eye the way.' Afterwards that name was given to the Iowa River, and it was called 'Eye the Way' for a long time, but it was finally shortened to Iowa. "They went up into Wisconsin and some of the party stopped at the mouth of the Wisconsin River and the remainder went forward to explore. They were to build fires to indicate the position of the party, and when the signal indicated that the party was returning, a number of canoes loaded with old men, women and children went to meet them. When they returned they told how great numbers of northern Indians had come down upon them, but upon the approach of the exploring party with their guns the Indians became frightened and fled after some were slain. The creek on which the battle occurred was filled with blood and has since been known as 'Bloody Run.' The priest, one servant and the beautiful young squaw were all that were saved; the others were all drowned in ascending the rapids of the river. The French priest made his permanent home among the Indians and married the pretty squaw. Mr. Brewster escaped from the Indians and went to Kaskaskia, III." |
Uploaded August 12, 2021 by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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