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Wellington Nossaman - page 141 and 142
Wellington Nossaman was born in Monroe county, Va., in 1817. At the age of two years was taken by his parents to Pike county, Ky.; in '32 moved to Marion county, Ind.; in '42 came to Jefferson county, Iowa; was married on the 17th of March; came to this county in April, '43, and made a claim in the south part of the township.
Here Mr. N. lived in a pole shanty, roofed with bark, that had been hastily put up for a temporary shelter, till a better building could be provided on his claim and a patch of corn planted. During this time Mrs. W. and Levi Nossaman were the only women in the settlement.
In the fall of '43, John B. Hamilton built the first house proper, a round log cabin, intended for something more than temporary use, and Mr. Nossaman built the next one immediately afterwards.
At this early date the difficulty of obtaining breadstuffs induced Mr. N., in connection with Wm. Welch, to put up what they called a stump mill, to grind corn. It was constructed to run by horse power, and when in motion the entire mill turned on a pivot under the burrs. It was capable of grinding about one bushel of corn per hour, and supplied quite a demand in the settlement. During the same year ('46) and at the same place they also established a horse-power saw-mill, and manufactured the first lumber in the county north of the river. In addition to these temporary, though valuable enterprises, they erected a pottery there, and manufactured some pretty good ware. The remains of the pottery are still visible four miles south of Pella. In after years Mr. Nossaman, in connection with Joseph Porter, built the first steam saw-mill in Pella, which was also the first machinery in the county run by steam. His lime kiln, four miles south of Pella, was, perhaps, the first permanent establishment of the kind in the county.
He also kept a store there, on his farm, known in the neighborhood as "the one-horse store." During the flood of '51 he erected a temporary grist mill, that was run by a band from an armed upright shaft, and ground eight bushels of corn per day. This mill was run day and night for six weeks, to supply the demand till the flood abated. In '53 Mr. N. purchased the Franklin House, in Pella, and kept hotel and a mercantile establishment in it at the same time, for about two years.
Previous to the organization of the county, Mr. Nossaman attended court at Oskaloosa, where he assisted to build the first court house of Mahaska county, and was one of the first grand jurors of that county court. In '45 he was elected to the office of coroner of this county, and, by virtue of that office, acted as high sheriff during the absence of the sheriff elect. In '46 or '47 he was appointed deputy assessor, and was the first person that assessed the Holland colony.
The first justice elected in Lake Prairie was William Bainbridge, and Wellington Nossaman was the first constable. The first election came off on Lake Prairie, at the house of Mr. Bainbridge, about half a mile above the crossing now known as Durham's ford or ferry, near the locality of an Indian village called Keokuk's town, consisting of forty or fifty huts.