County History

[SplitIdentity]

So, I'll admit, I'm kind of a history junkie. I love it. I recently started searching for the history of my hometown (Indianola), and came across this book: The history of Warren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics ... &c

which must have been written in the early 1900s, but is still a very interesting read. There's even a section devoted to major storms and floods that hit the area during that time, and detailed how the "settlers" handled it. Really kinda cool. I was just kind of curious, has anybody else searched and found any interesting stuff from where they grew up?

[whirlybirds]

Yeah. We had one in my Elementary library that I Sat down and read. It even went into obituaries of everyone buried in my hometown's only cemetery at the time.

[Cyvilian]

Looks like it was published in 1879. I'm guessing Congress passed a law regarding this kind of effort, based on the language on the publishing page. I found a similar book also published in 1879 about Preble County Ohio, where my ancestors settled a couple hundred years ago. Pretty interesting.

[Cyclonepride]

Cool! I love history too, and I'm living in Indianola, so you did my research for me. Thanks!

[dtlantz]

Here's one for my home county:

History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people : Mueller, Herman A., 1866- ed : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Might have to put it on the Kindle. Thanks for the idea!

[cigaretteman]

Looks like it was published in 1879. I'm guessing Congress passed a law regarding this kind of effort, based on the language on the publishing page. I found a similar book also published in 1879 about Preble County Ohio, where my ancestors settled a couple hundred years ago. Pretty interesting.

There were a number of companies that produced those county histories at that time. Perhaps in reaction to the U.S. Centennial in 1876. Many of them were financed by subscription sales, with the subscribers getting written up in the biography sections of the books.

[motorCYcle]

I haven't ever looked for a book, but I just looked on wikipedia to confirm, the Allamakee county seat had a pretty cool history. I'll let you read it (short).

Allamakee County Courthouse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[iowa_wildcat]

Boone County’s Towns and Cities

Madrid, located in present day Douglas Township, is the oldest town in Boone County. The first resident of Boone County, Charles W. Gaston of Pennsylvania, settled in the Madrid area in 1846 where he married his second wife, Anna C. Dalander.. The Dalanders, Swedish natives, had immigrated to the area in 1846 and were the recipients of Boone County’s first land deed in 1849. Swede Point, now part of Madrid, was first surveyed in May of 1851 and officially filed for record in February of 1852. Other plats for the town were filed in 1853, 1855 and 1857. Gaston later was responsible for giving Madrid its Spanish name. According to the 1914 History of Boone County, Gaston was named the executor of his mother-in-law’s estate. He argued with some of the family, and “out of resentment to them he changed the name [of Swede Point] to Madrid. About the time of this change Mr. Gaston had in his employ a Spaniard, who often spoke of Madrid, the capital of his native country. He [Gaston] held the Spaniard, his country and capital, all in contempt; so to get even with his Swedish brothers, he took from the town its Swedish name and substituted for it the Spanish name.”

Charlie was a charming gentleman. He moved to Boone County because he could not get along with his family up by Waterloo.