Fremont County

Austen

Location

Austen was established by A.H. Argyle at the site of his store and post office. This post office was located “Four miles northeast of Hamburg on west bank of Nishnabotna River (perhaps at or near NE Sec. 11, Washington Twp. 67N, R42W). Established August 23, 1847, A. H. Argyle; renamed HAMBURGH February 11, 1860.” This second name was bestowed on the town by Augustus Borchers and in 1894 the name was shortened to Hamburg (see the following article on this settlement for more information on its later history).(1)

Another source adds that Austen was located “about seven and a half miles south of the town of Sidney [the current county seat] (2) and comprised the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 10, township 67, range 42 . . . Austin consisted of but one or two houses, the principal one of which was the store and residence of A. H. Argyle.” (3)

It was located in Franklin Township. (4) 

Austen sat “on west bank of Nishnabotna River (perhaps at or near NE Sec. 11, Washington Twp. 67N, R42W).” (5)

History

[This] community [was] not founded by the Latter-day Saint pioneers, but LDS members did reside there. (6)

The early residents of what became Fremont County objected to the LDS presence in the region. “With increase of population the balance of power began to change and opinions adverse to Mormon government and Mormon doctrines began to find expression in overt action. In October, 1848, a public meeting for political purposes was called and held at the Wahbonsie Indian Agency's Cabin, some four or five miles northwest of the present site of Tabor, near the residence of John Lambert, son of Ezekiel Lambert. There were perhaps forty or fifty persons present, and among them were I. D. Blanchard, L. W. Platt, G. B. Gaston, D. P. Matthews, Charles W. Tolles, J. B. Hall, and the Rev. John Todd. During the progress of the meeting a paper was drawn up and signed, petitioning the legislature to organize a county in southwestern Iowa , with the belief that it could be successfully controlled by the Gentiles. J. E. Hall and John Todd, who were then in the county in search of an eligible site for a new town contemplated by a body of men in Oberlin, Ohio, were about to set out across the state on their return home. To them the petition was entrusted, with instructions to place it in the hands of the first member of the Iowa legislature that they might find. They soon after set out for Ohio on horseback, but found no member of the legislature until they reached Fairfield . Here they were directed to a Mr. Baker, a blacksmith, whom they found in his shop at work. On informing him that they had a little business which they wished through him to present to the legislature, he seated himself on his anvil and gave them audience. They at once presented him the petition entrusted to them, and volunteered cogent arguments of their own, in their endeavor to further the cause of the residents of the Missouri bottom, and requested him to submit the same to the next General Assembly of the state. That petition was never heard of until many years after. It was then learned from Mr. Baker himself, who afterwards removed to Council Bluffs , that he judged it all a Mormon project, and that he had never presented the petition to the legislature at all. Mr. Baker's hasty judgment hardly does the General Assembly, as a body, justice, but it is possible men were more justifiable in those early days than now in entertaining opinions of a suspicious character.

“Whether this petition had any influence upon Mr. Baker when he voted is a thing from its very nature not to be determined. In the year in which he was to present it (1849) the county was, nevertheless organized, but whether by reason of a petition is not known. Previous to that year, the county was attached to Polk county for political and judicial purposes. It began an independent existence when David M. English, the appointed organizing sheriff, and the people, by the selection of officers, declared themselves an official part of the great state of Iowa .

“The first election, pursuant to the proclamation of the organizing sheriff, was held in April 1849, at which David Jones, William K. McKissick, and Isaac Hunsaker were elected county commissioners; Milton Richards, clerk of district court; A. H. Argyle, clerk of county court, and David M. English, sheriff; T. L. Buckham, treasurer and collector; S. T. Cromwell, inspector of weights and measures.” (7)  

Describing multiple communities where the Latter-day Saints lived, including Austen (or Austin), one turn-of-the-century historian wrote, “Strictly, they were not villages or even hamlets, merely the collection within easy distance of a handful of farm houses in a grove on a creek, with a school or church and perhaps a mill or trader's stock. They resembled rather the ideal farm communities or settlements of some modern sociologists.” (8)

“At the time of the organization of the county, the county seat . . . was at Austin in what is now Franklin township . . . [In the store/home of A. H. Argyle], the county commissioners met, and here the first term of the district court was ‘begun and holden.' The proceedings of both of these tribunals, while of great future importance, were void of all pomp and circumstance and almost free from dignity. The county court was held in the store room of Mr. Argyle, the gentleman who is clerk. The commissioners when in session occupied seats upon nail kegs or boxes, or upon the counter. Everything was done decently and in good order, and there were few, if any, mistakes made either in legislation or in the execution of law.

“But the glory of Austin has departed and the place that knew it once knows it no more forever. The re-location of the county seat was the weight that pulled it down—the wound that dilled it. It was once known far and near as the capital of Fremont county, the old United States Gazetteer for 1849 so mentions it. There was a good road, at least a plain one, running through the place from east to west and one from north to south, and Mr. Argyle operated a ferry across the Nishnabotany, in those days the only one for miles on either side of the river.” (9)

“A description of [Mr. Argyle's store] may prove both interesting and valuable, and, to insure accuracy, will be given to the reader in the very language and form of the articles of contract under which it was built:

This article, made and entered into between Thomas R. King, of the first part, and Thomas E. Tootle, of the second part, both of the county of Atchinson and state of Missouri .

Witnesseth, that I, the said King, agree to furnish all the materials and built a hewed-log store-house 20 by 26 feet large, one story high, with shingle roof, a good jointed floor, two doors, two windows with shutters; counter on one side, and end shelving on two sides and one end, at the direction of the said Tootle six drawers under the base shelf of one side; to be ceiled overhead with good seasoned plank, or will be lathed and plastered, the house to be white-painted out and inside with lime and sand, the corners to be sawed down, the logs for the above building to face, when hewed, not less than 12 inches. Said building is to be finished complete for use, of good materials, and to be done in a good and workmanlike manner, by the tenth day of April next. For which the said Tootle is to pay said King one hundred and five dollars.

Given under our hand this 8th March, 1848.

Thomas R. King.

Thomas E. Tootle.

“This building subsequently passed into the hands of A. H. Argyle, and to further history, as a court-house.” (10)

Although little is known about the Austen cemetery, the Frontier Guardian recorded on February 6, 1850 that eighteen-month-old Julia Van Vliet English, daughter of "W.R. English, Esq.," died in "Austin, Fremont, IA" just a few weeks before on January 17, 1850. This makes a strong case for their having been early residents of Austen. (11)

Austin is a “Locale in Fremont County , Iowa , USA .
Latitude: 40.63667 : Longitude: -95.64778” (12)

Map of Austin Cemetery in Fremont County . This may have been an LDS cemetery.

 

Map of Beehive Cemetery , also in Fremont County . This is likely an LDS cemetery.

 

Notes:

1. Guy Reed Ramsey, Postmarked Iowa : A List of Discontinued and Renamed Post Offices (Crete, Nebraska: J-B Publishing Company, 1976), 167.
2. Iowa Historical Company, History of Fremont County, Iowa, Containing A History of the County, its Cities, Towns, Etc.: a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the northwest, map of Fremont county, constitution of the state of Iowa, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc. (Des Moines: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 376.
3. Ibid.
4. Iowa Historical Company, History of Fremont County , Iowa , 376.
5. Ramsey, Postmarked Iowa : A List of Discontinued and Renamed Post Offices, 167.
6. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/twp/Abandoned_towns/Austin_History.htm.
7. Iowa Historical Company, History of Fremont County , Iowa , 372-373.
8. Clyde B. Aitchison, The Mormon Settlements in the Missouri Valley . A Paper Presented by Clyde B. Aitchison, of Council Bluffs , Iowa , before the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January 11, 1899 (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1907), 23.
9. Iowa Historical Company, History of Fremont County , Iowa , 376.
10. Iowa Historical Company, History of Fremont County , Iowa , 377.
11. Frontier Guardian, 6 February 1850.
12. http://www.placenames.com/us/p466337/.

List of community residents forthcoming

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Bartlett

(Osage)

Map from the 1875 Atlas of Fremont County, Iowa, courtesy Iowa GenWeb

While it is not certain that the town of Osage was in the same location as the present-day town of Bartlett, the latter is at least in the same general area. Osage was the name of a post office from 1851 to 1859 and was located "in the northwestern part of Scott Township." (1)

Pioneer James Holt recorded in 1847, "The next spring, Brigham sent word for us to come back to the Bluffs. We were now without provisions and Emmett took a horse and started on ahead to obtain means to get provisions; he agreed to meet us at a certain place, but did not until we got to Mousquite Creek, near our journey's end and we suffered greatly for want of food, but by hunting wild animals and fowls, we were kept from starving. At the Bluffs our company was broken up. Emmett and a few of us went down on the Waupensee Creek and took up farms, in Fremont County , Iowa, we sowed buckwheat, planted potatoes and raised a crop.

“My first child by my wife Parthenia died on the 10 th of August 1847. We remained here for several years and began to accumulate means. There was all manner of wild fruit, grape, raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, strawberry and nuts of all kinds that would grow in cold climate, a great amount of wild game, deer, elk, coon, turkeys and other fouls, fish, honey bees, all kinds of timber." (2)

The "Waupensee Creek" James Holt wrote about was actually Wabonsie Creek. Wabonsie Lake can be seen in the above map of Scott Township. Holt and his wife, Parthenia Overton, gave birth to a son, James Overton Holt, on 8 October 1848. The baby's birth record lists him as being born in Bartlett, Fremont, Iowa.(3) Thus, it is assumed that the family lived in Barlett.

Click here to see a record of the travels of the Holt family

 

Notes:

 

1. "Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices of Iowa," reprinted from The Annals of Iowa, vols. 17 and 18, 1930-1932 by D. C. Mott.
2. Maurine Winsor Farnsworth Thompson, James and Mary Pain (Payne) Holt, James and Parthenia Overton Holt: Ancestors and Descendants (published by compiler, 1995), 46.
3. Family Data Collection, http://iagenweb.org/fremont/births/all_births_year_order.htm.

List of community residents forthcoming

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Dawsonburg

Location

Dawsonburg is located within Green Township (1).

History

Jacob Dawson appears to have been a prominent resident and likely the one for whom the community of Dawsonburg was named. He owned the newspaper, The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel, which was printed in Kanesville (2). He also acted as a “Claim and General Land Agent” for Fremont and Mills counties (3). He operated out of Kanesville in this occupation, also (4). At the time he bought The Frontier Guardian and began editing the same under its new name (i.e. - The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel) in February 1852, he claimed to have had some editing or newspaper management experience previously (5). In fact, he had worked for the Pittsburgh Gazette. The Frontier Guardian spoke very highly of Dawson, saying that he was “not a Mormon, but apparently one of those liberal minded, unassuming men, whose well known qualifications for the business cannot fail to render him an acceptable citizen” (6). Dawson was also a lawyer who worked out of the newspaper office and “practice[d] in the 6 th Judicial District, of Iowa” (7). He later moved his law office to Sidney, Iowa (8). He eventually sold his interest in the paper to A. C. Ford, who apparently was his business partner at one point. Ford eventually had to quit printing the paper because he was losing money on it (9).

Dawsonburg had a post office from February 14, 1851 to January 14, 1858. It was run by Jacob Dawson (10).

Cemeteries

There is a Dawsonburg-Gaylord Cemetery in Green Township of Fremont County. Apparently no stones or records indicate the burial of any of the Dawson family in the cemetery (11).

 

Notes:

 

1. Guy Reed Ramsey, Postmarked Iowa; A List of Discontinued and Renamed Post Offices (Crete, Nebraska: J-B Publishing Company, 1976), 166-67; http://iagenweb.org/fremont/maps/abandonedtowns.htm (accessed 10-04-2006); Richard Kearnes, “Dawsonburg or Gaylord Cemetery,” http://www.angelfire.com/ia/footprintsintime/footprintscemetery.html.
2. Myrtle Stevens Hyde, comp., Kanesville Advertisements (Ogden, UT: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1993), 205.
3. Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements, 242-243.
4. Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements, 179.
5. Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements, 144.
6. Myrtle Stevens Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, UT: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1997), 97.
7. Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements, 147, 191.
8. Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements, 213, 233.
9. Hyde, Kanesville Conditions, 110, 122.
10. Ramsey, Postmarked Iowa; A List of Discontinued and Renamed Post Offices, 166-67; D. C. Mott, “Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices of Iowa,” The Annals of Iowa, vols. XVII-XVIII, 1930-1932, contributed to the website by Gail Harper as “Abandoned Towns of Fremont County,” http://iagenweb.org/fremont/maps/abandonedtowns.htm (accessed 10-04-2006); “, Richard Kearnes, “Dawsonburg or Gaylord Cemetery,” http://www.angelfire.com/ia/footprintsintime/footprintscemetery.html.
11. “ Dawsonburg-Gaylord Cemetery, Green Twp., Fremont County, Iowa,” http://iagenweb.org/fremont/cemetery/dawsonburggaylordcem.htm; Richard Kearnes, “Dawsonburg or Gaylord Cemetery,” http://www.angelfire.com/ia/footprintsintime/footprintscemetery.html.

List of community residents forthcoming

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Hamburg

 

Painting: Hamburg by Moonlight, courtesy IAGenWeb 2004

 

 

Link to Fremont County pictures: http://iagenweb.org/fremont/gallery/historical-view.htm

 

Hamburg, Iowa is located in Franlkin Township, described in History of Fremont County, Iowa as "one of the wealthiest and best in the county." (1)

From History of Fremont County, Iowa:

"THE TOWN OF HAMBURG.

"The metropolis of Fremont county is the town of Hamburg. Its location is peculiar, being almost exactly in the southwestern corner of the state, on sections 21, 22, 27, 28. in township 67, north of range No. 42, west of the 5th principal meridian. In that vague and undefined period known as 'long ago,' there was a steamboat landing on the Missouri river a little below the site of the present town. This landing was called 'the narrows,' 'Lewis' landing,' and perhaps by other names. Very many of the settlers now living in the county remember that where the town now stands once grew rosin weeds and 'cat-tails' thick and rank and tall as a man. Up the valley in which the town is situated and along where Main street now runs, the weeds were so large and thickly sown as to render passage almost impossible--equal to a cane-brake.

"To this uninviting locality first came Augustus Borchers in 1847. Mr. Borchers was fresh from Germany, and had come to the new world 'to seek the fortune,' as the phrase goes. Here, at the foot of 'the bluff,' near where the fine public school building now stands, he opened a store for the purpose of trade with the Indians and the pioneers. At last Mr. Borchers 'builded a city.' Late in the year 1858, the town was surveyed and laid off by Col. Wm. Dewey and A. F. Harvey. The original proprietors of the town were Aug. Borchers, Job Matthews, A. Travis, Henry Brumbick, and Harvey & Rector. The town was christened Hambuerg, by Mr. Borchers, in honor of his birth-place, the famed free city of the Fatherland. The first residence was that of Mr. Borchers, where he now lives. The first business house in the place was a two-story log building erected and occupied by Jacob McKissick in 1858.

"The new town gradually increased in importance. The landing known as 'the narrows,' was now called Hamburg landing. To this point goods were shipped from the eastern markets destined for Frankfort, Clarinda, Bedford, Quincy, and other points in southwestern Iowa, and hauled to their destinations in wagons. The town became quite a trading point, and was known far and wide. April 1, 1867, the town was incorporated, and in December of the same year, the first railroad, the K. C., St. J. & C. B., was built to the place. February 9, 1876, it was declared to be a city of the second class.

"The town is divided into four wards. The first ward comprises all the territory within the city limits west of the center of Main street and north of Willow creek. The second ward comprises all that portion of the city east of the center of Main street, north of Willow creek and south of 'G' street. The third ward is included in the territory within the city limits south of Willow creek. The fourth ward consists of the territory east of the center of Main street and north of 'G' street. There have been added to the town since it was originally laid out the following additions: Nuckolls', Phelps' Railroad, and East Hamburg. Phelps addition was added November 11, 1874. The dates of the annexation of the others are not accessible." (2)

"Owing to the failure of very many of the citizens of the place to contribute information and otherwise aid in the preparation of this history, no very full and accurate description of the town of Hamburg and its history can be given. The people have seemed too much engrossed with personal matters and concerns to co-operate with the publishers in setting forth the character of their town as it should be, and have withheld certain information obtainable from no one but themselves." (3)

"POSITION AND DESCRIPTION.

"The town is situated immediately on the west side of the Nishnabotany river about three and a half miles above where that stream empties into the Missouri, and about three miles east of the eastern bank of the 'Big Muddy.' The streets run north northeast and south southwest, and nearly east and west. Protecting the northern portion of the town like a huge parapet or Chinese wall, rises on the west a bluff, from the top of which a clear view of portions of the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, may be seen on almost any day. Few, indeed, are those who visit Hamburg and do not ascend this huge promontory and 'view the landscape o'er.' Peru and Nebraska City, Nebraska, Watson, Missouri, Riverton and Eastport, Iowa, are all plainly visible from the eminence. The town itself is about a mile and a half in length by half a mile in width. Its business streets are well built with fine, substantial buildings. The pominent buildings are those of Frank Gilman, the Hamburg House, Booton's Opera House block, the Post-office block, etc." (4)

 

Notes:

 

1. History of Fremont County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc.: A Biographical Directory of Many of Its Leading Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of Iowa and the Northwest, Map of Fremont County, Constitution of the State of Iowa, Reminiscences, Miscellaneous Matters, etc. Illustrated (Des Moines: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 548.
2. History of Fremont County, Iowa, 548-549.
3. History of Fremont County, Iowa, 549.
4. History of Fremont County, Iowa, 549-550.

List of community residents forthcoming

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Maggard's Settlement

Location

Maggard’s Settlement was located in the very northwest corner of Scott Township in the neighborhood of present-day Bartlett in Fremont County, Iowa.

In the advertisement section of Orson Hyde’s Frontier Guardian, it mentions a plot of land for sale in the northern part of Fremont County, north of Mr. Maggard’s place. The newspaper describes the settlement: “plenty of good timber, and directly in the neighborhood of the rushes (1).”

In addition to the Frontier Guardian, the Weekly Tribune located in Liberty, Missouri, in 1846 referred to Mr. Maggard and others residing in the “Indian-country” above the Missouri state line (2).

History

On September 26 and 27, 1830, the Indian Removal Act exiled bands of Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawattamies to a territory on the east side of the Mississippi River, namely Kansas (3, 4). From these bands a group of about 150 were sent to the Council Bluffs area in 1837 and 1838. By treaty the people held the right to stay for a number of years, but were expected to be removed again in December of 1848.

Some years after the Pottawattamies had settled, the Latter-day Saints made their exodus from Nauvoo to Iowa and presently began establishing their communities, buying land from the full- and mixed-blood Indians (5). These “Half breeds” built their society around agriculture; peas, corn, potatoes, and other garden vegetables grew abundantly in the fertile soil. Additionally, they adopted many of the white settlers’ ways and continued marrying interracially. In 1846 Sub-agent Richard S. Elliot, in supervision over the Pottawattamie Indians, observed the influx of LDS members:

"There is at this time, and has been for several months, a large number of Mormons (supposed to be 4,000 to 8,000) in the Indian country. They have passed into the Potawatomie Country at the Council Bluffs... The sub-agent at that place reports that they are conducting themselves well, and do not seem disposed to interfere at all with the Indians... (6)”

Not much is known about Mr. Maggard; he moved with his wife Lucy Ann Davis from the Benton’s Port Branch in Van Buren County and settled in Fremont around 1844 (7). In October of that year in the Liberty Weekly Tribune, his home is considered one of the “many very excellent houses of accommodation” en route to Council Bluffs: “Many of the Mormons have purchased out the ‘Half breed’ claims and are tolerably comfortably fixed. A good Dinner, Breakfast, or Supper can be attained at Mr. Maggard, who lives at the Allcolt place (8).”

The author of the article continues to describe the Mormons: very hypocritical in nature, claiming to be a member of the only true church while participating in activities like gambling, drinking, and swearing. He concludes that Mormon doctrine would result in corruption if it were spread worldwide (9).

The Frontier Guardian listed a range of settlements and camps spread throughout Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, and Fremont County where subscribers’ newspapers could be obtained. “David Maggard” was among the names provided. The article continues, as follows:

“All such as are interested in these various places should agree together and designate some man to be your neighborhood Postmaster to receive the papers for you. There are complaints made by some that they do not get their papers, and we have been [illegible] up the [illegible] possible for us to remember all these little particulars, and we have therefore recommended the above course. Hereafter, when you call for papers, tell us where you wish them sent, as we are makings new Mail Book, and we will try to accommodate you (10).”

Maggard resided near the Mills County line from between four to ten years, staying as late as September of 1849 and leaving before the 1850 US Federal Census.

Besides David Maggard, the only other reference to the settlement is the marriage of Thomas Avery and Lydia Harrington. This couple, the Harrington family, and Charles Edward Avery, who married Mary Miranda Harrington, lived in the Bartlett area in 1850 according to the US Federal Census. Thomas and Lydia moved to the Platteville Township in Mills County sometime before 1856 with their daughter Viola (11), and later left with the Arba L. Lambson Company in 1861 (12).

Daniel and Harriet Harrington, siblings of Lydia, left the church to become members of the Reorganized LDS church. In 1860, Daniel became the first president of the RLDS “Nephi Branch” in Egypt of Mills County (13), located about two miles north of Bartlett (14).

Marriages

One marriage, conducted by Calvin C. Pendleton, occurred at Maggard’s Settlement on the 29th of April in 1849: Thomas Avery, 20 years of age, and Lydia Harrington, age 22 (15).

 

Notes:

 

1. Hyde, Orson. “Advertisements.” Frontier Guardian, Vol.1, No. 15, Aug. 22, 1849.
2. Williams, John R. and Robert H. Miller. “Correspondence of the Tribune: Council Bluffs, October 16, 1846.” The Weekly Tribune, Vol. 1, No. 32, November 7, 1846.
3.  Babbit, Charles Henry. “Early Days at Council Bluffs.” (Washington, D.C. : Press of B. S. Adams, 1916) 25.
4.  Holmes, Gail. “Untitled Account on Pottawattamie/Ottowa/Chippewa or Algonkian Indians.”
5.  Williams, John R. and Robert H. Miller. “Correspondence of the Tribune: Council Bluffs, October 16, 1846.” The Weekly Tribune, Vol. 1, No. 32, November 7, 1846.
6.  Babbit, 42.
7.  Bentonsport Branch Records, Van Buren, Iowa, 1842-1844.
8. Williams, John R. and Robert H. Miller. “Correspondence of the Tribune: At Home, November 2, 1846.” The Weekly Tribune, Vol. 1, No. 32, November 7, 1846.
9.  Williams, John R. and Robert H. Miller. “Correspondence of the Tribune: At Home, November 2, 1846.” The Weekly Tribune, Vol. 1, No. 32, November 7, 1846.
10.  Hyde, Orson. “Home Regulations.” Frontier Guardian, Vol. 1, No. 10, June 13, 1849.
11.  Iowa State Census Collection, 1836-1925: 1856.
12.  Pioneer Overland Travel.http://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/pioneerDetail?lang=eng&pioneerId=44670
13.  Ellis, Corrinne. “Harrington, Daniel B.” Iowa GenWeb. May 6, 2003. http://iagenweb.org/boards/mills/obituaries/index.cgi?read=29466
14.  Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Died.” True L. D. Saint’s Herald, Vol. 21. (Plano, Kendall Co. Illinois, 1874) 571.
15. Pottawattamie County Marriage Records.

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Manti

(Fisher’s Grove)

Fisher’s Grove is located in southwestern Iowa and is three to five miles southwest of the town of Shenandoah and approximately 50 miles southeast of Council Bluffs.  During the initial stages of settling Fisher’s Grove walnut trees covered the area and rivers and creeks like Fisher Creek, Walnut Creek, and the Nishnabotna River bordered the area, providing adequate water resources for the settlers.  The earliest white settlers in the area came around 1846 and made small, temporary settlements.  With the arrival of Edmund Fisher in 1852, permanent settlements formed by acquiring lands from “a pioneer named Haddon (1).”  Thereafter the town derived its name from Edmund Fisher and settlers began to migrate from Mills County to develop the area.  The new settlement's distance from the LDS headquarters in Iowa provided the majority of the population, disaffected “Mormons,” adequate space to adhere to their beliefs with the “True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” under their leader Alpheus Cutler.  Within a few years of Fisher’s arrival, the settlement grew to “thirty or forty families (2)” and the settlement’s name changed to Manti after “a city and province found in the Book of Mormon (3).”  According to Lew Weigand “at one time there was probably five-hundred Cutlerites (members of the True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)” in the area.**

Reasons for Edmund Fisher settling in the area of the Shenandoah Valley are unexplained but Alpheus Cutler and the Cutlerites relocated to the area in hopes of further disassociating themselves from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and its President, Brigham Young.  Alpheus Cutler and his band of believers separated from Brigham Young and the majority of the Church due to polygamy while still adhering to all other LDS practices.  Another possible dividing factor, according to Lew Weigand, is that Alpheus Cutler had a “different vision of what the Church ought to be doing.” “His idea was to go south and send missionaries to the Indians living in Kansas.  Cutler also believed he would eventually “drive the Missourians out of Independence and take over.”**  Those who believed in this vision began to file into the area from 1853-1856 and included “Alpheus Cutler, Sr., Thaddeus Cutler, Chauncey Almond, Amos Cox, Edmond Whiting, Caleb Baldwin, Nicholas Taylor, E. C. Whiting, Calvin and Edward Fletcher and their father, Luman H. Calkins, Squire Eggleston, William Steele, Clark Stillman and Frank Pratt (4).”  

Other settlers gradually came into the area and helped to develop the area into a town with the necessary amenities of life like a mill, church, school, blacksmith shop, farms, mail lines, and even a hotel.  In 1853 “the first schoolhouse…was erected and used until 1869” and was later used as a blacksmith shop.  Just “southeast of the schoolhouse” the town formed the Manti Cemetery, which is marked with some type of stone/bronze tablet.  Later, Alpheus Cutler assisted in the building of a church in 1854 and there the practices of the Cutlerites began which initiated their formal separation from the “Brighamites (5)”.  The Travelers Inn Hotel also began operation in   1856 and even held a “place to keep stage route horses” and carriages under the direction of William C. Matthews.  Various stores and shops eventually serviced the town and provided the it with the various odds-and-ends needed for everyday life in the frontier. 

Under the direction of Alpheus Cutler, several settlers served missions to the American Indians in Grasshopper, Kansas and “endeavored to set up a settlement among the Indians.”  The missionaries enjoyed meager success and eventually abandoned the mission to return to Manti (6).  Reasons for the fervent missionary work amongst the American Indians relates to the call Alpheus believes he received from Joseph Smith Jr. prior to his June 1844 martyrdom.  Alpheus felt he “had a mandate from Joseph Smith to preach the gospel to the Indians (7).”  Due to this undeterred belief, Alpheus refused to come west to Salt Lake City at the request of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  For this, he was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on April 20, 1851.  After this, many of the Silver Creek Branch members, the LDS branch Cutler presided over at the time, “became followers of Cutler” forming the True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and helped to settle Manti (8). 

Cutler and his followers refused to follow the practice of polygamy and trek west, thus, the Cutlerite religion formed.  The refusal to adhere to polygamy became problematic for Alpheus and his family since he was a polygamist and had seven wives himself.  As a member of the Council of Fifty and with the permission of his first wife, Lois Cutler (maiden name: Lois Huntington Lathrop) he engaged in the practice of polygamy.  On January 14, 1846 he was sealed to Lois and “Luana Hart Beebe on the same day.  On 3 February 1846 he was sealed to five more wives in temple ceremonies: Margaret Carr, and her sister, Abigail, Sally Cox, Daisey Caroline McCall, and Henrietta Clarinda Miller (9).”  Since the Cutlerites refused the practice of polygamy and Mills County, Alpheus Cutler’s home in 1851, outlawed the practice, Alpheus “renounced his plural marriages (10).” 

The history regarding these individuals after they separated from Alpheus is unknown excepting Luana Hart Beebe and Sally Cox.  Luana “remained with the Cutlerites” for a time before leaving “to Utah” where she died “in 1897.”  “Luana had three children while married to Alpheus, Jacob Lorenzo (1846), Olive Luana (1850), and Lydia Ann (unknown).  The paternity of these children was kept secret and other surnames were used for the children (11).” 

Sally Cox also traveled to Utah and trekked with the “Ezra Taft Benson Company.”  Records also indicate that she “died in Salt Lake City in 1863 (12).” 

Concerning Alpheus Cutler’s own children, two of them “went west with the main body of the church.”  William Lathrop Cutler and Louisa Elizabetha Cutler Rappleye lived and died in Utah with their respective families.  Two of his other children, Clarissa and Emily, married Heber Chase Kimball, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but upon his trek westward to Utah they remained with their father and “married Cutlerite men (13).”  Before these two separated from their husband Heber they each had a son, Abraham and Isaac Kimball.  Early on they both lived in the home of Alpheus but “reunited with their father in Utah during their early teens (14).”

Manti flourished up to the mid-1860s but upon the death of Alpheus Cutler, the future of the town became compromised.  “Father Cutler (15),” as followers named him, died June 10, 1864 but prior to his passing he told his followers “of a land far to the north between two beautiful lakes, where they were to take a colony and preach to the Indians.”  Within a year’s time the Cutlerites discovered the prophesied land and “the whole colony removed there and founded the village of Clitherall, Minnesota (16).”  With this dramatic drop in population and the railroad bypassing the town, Manti soon diminished to cornfields by 1877 (17).

Shenandoah, a town founded in 1870 just five miles from Manti received the railroad and rose to prominence while Manti diminished.  Today Shenandoah remains a town while Manti has a small park monument southeast of the town dedicated to the early settlers of the area.

* A special thanks to Terry Latey for the photographs and the citizens of Shenandoah and other surrounding towns for their support in the research of the settlement of Manti.

**Quotes from Lew Weigand were gathered on June 25, 2009 at the Manti Cemetery in Manti, Iowa.

 

Bibliography:

 

1. Kershaw, W. L. History of Page County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Publishing Co., 1909), 379.
2. Kershaw, W. L. History of Page County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Publishing Co., 1909), 379.
3. Wilcox, Pearl. Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, Missouri: P. G. Wilcox, 1989), 210.
4. Kershaw, W. L. History of Page County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Publishing Co., 1909), 380.
5. Kershaw, W. L. History of Page County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Publishing Co., 1909), 380-381; and Wilcox, Pearl. Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, Missouri: P. G. Wilcox, 1989), 211.
6. Wilcox, Pearl. Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, Missouri: P. G. Wilcox, 1989), 212.
7. Johnson, G. Vaughn. Alpheus Cutler: Temple Builder, Founder of Cutler’s Park, Schismatic, 3.
8. ibid.
9. Johnson, G. Vaughn. Alpheus Cutler: Temple Builder, Founder of Cutler’s Park, Schismatic, 3; also found in Jorgenson, Danny L.“The Old Fox: Alpheus Cutler”, Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History. Roger D. Launius and Linda Thatcher, eds., (Urbana: University of Illinois Press), 162.
10. ibid.
11. ibid.
12. Johnson, G. Vaughn, 3.
13. ibid, 2.
14. ibid; also found in Jorgenson, Danny L.“The Old Fox: Alpheus Cutler”, 162.
15. Wilcox, Pearl. Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, Missouri: P. G. Wilcox, 1989), 212.
16. Davis, Inez Smith. The Story of the Church (http://centerplace.org/history/misc/soc/index.htm); also found in Johnson, G. Vaughn. Alpheus Cutler: Temple Builder, Founder of Cutler’s Park, Schismatic, 3.
17. Wilcox, Pearl. Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, Missouri: P. G. Wilcox, 1989), 216-217.

View list of community residents

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McKissick Grove

 

Mount Olive Cemetery, Madison Township

 

Location

McKissick’s Grove is located in southwest Madison Township, Fremont County, Iowa “three miles east of Hamburg [1]”.

History

McKissick Grove, also known as McKissick’s Grove, is described as “an LDS encampment,” [2] although the settlement was not founded by Latter-day Saints. Long before there was a Mormon presence in the region, Cornelius Washington McKissick and his wife, Hannah, left Clay County Missouri to start a new life in the wilderness. He built his house and farm in what would become McKissick Grove in 1840 and planted the first orchard in Fremont County. [3] By the end of that year his two brothers, Jacob and John, had joined them, along with David M. English and his family.

In 1841, more McKissick siblings came to the Grove. Daniel and William Kent McKissick, and their sister Jane Ann Fletcher and her husband Moses Fletcher moved to McKissick Grove. James Cornelius and Thomas Farmer also arrived this year at the Grove. [4]

When the Mormons came to the Middle Missouri Valley in 1846, some settled in the already established McKissick Grove. James L Thompson and Clark and Dexter Stillman, who marched with the Mormon Battalion, were some of those that settled there. James L Thompson left for the Salt Lake Valley in the Isaac Bullock Company in 1852, and the Stillman brothers ended up joining the Cutlerites. [5]

In 1844 a stage coach route was added from St. Joseph, Missouri to Council bluffs, Iowa, which passed just south of Cornelius’ property. Thomas Farmer built a stage station there, and the post office was added to that building. His son-in-law, JT Davis, built on to the station and added a store. [6]

“The first term of the District Court was held in 1850 by Judge William McKay in a log cabin at McKissick’s Grove.” [7]

Jacob McKissick ran a lumber mill and a meat packing plant there in the Grove for some time. The meat packing plant failed because the heat of the summer months would make the meat go bad too quickly. He was also the Post Master. The post office in McKissick Grove lasted from 1851-1869. [8]

In 1851 there was a man by the name of Benjamin Rector from Fremont County who declared that the citizens of that county would not uphold a Mormon judge, if one were to be elected. In response to this, many citizens of Fremont County who did not agree with this statement wrote a letter to the citizens of Pottawattamie County, explaining that Mr. Rector was not authorized to make that claim on behalf on the whole county, and that they would, in fact, uphold the appointment of a Mormon judge, if one were to be elected. Many prominent men from McKissick Grove signed this letter, including Jacob, Cornelius, and Daniel McKissick, as well as Thomas Farmer and David M English. [9]

In 1851, a directory containing “the name, post office, county and state of every lawyer in the United States” lists two men under the McKissick Grove Post Office, Christopher P. Brown and Emanuel S. Jones. [10]. Mr. Brown is also mentioned as a candidate for the judgeship of the Sixth Judicial District in Iowa. [11]

 In 1861, William McKissick led a wagon company through Salt Lake City to California. According to the LDS website, “most were non-Mormons,” indicating that some were, in fact, Mormons. However, the train did not depart from McKissick Grove; therefore we cannot know for sure whether or not those in the train were from McKissick Grove, as William McKissick was, or from a neighboring settlement. For a complete list of those who traveled in this train, see footnote [12].

The Mount Olive Cemetery is the closest local cemetery. Many of those who lived in McKissick Grove, including many original settlers, are buried there. It was originally called McKissick’s Cemetery, then Farmer’s Cemetery (Thomas Farmer owned the land it was on), and finally Mt. Olive Cemetery. [13] The cemetery still stands today, and a list of names of those buried there can be found on its website. [14] Alva Calkins and his family are burried in this cemetery. Alva served in the Mormon Battalion and afterwards came back to Iowa. However, it appears by all accounts that they resided in Hamburg, not McKissick Grove, despite the location of his resting place.

Known Residents [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

The following list shows the residents and also the date when they (or if unborn, their parents) came to dwell in McKissick Grove, if it is known. It is in alphabetical order by last name, not chronological. Parents are listed first followed by children (if any). Not all are LDS.

ALLEN, James, built his cabin on the farm of Jacob McKissick

BARBER, William, east of McKissick Grove

BETHERDS, Mary—Rebecca, James, Mary, Francis Marion, Sampson

BROWN, Christopher P and Frances, at least by 1851

BRUNO, Anthony and Lydia Elizabeth, LDS, 1845—Anthony Jr., Isaac, Clara, Josetta, George H., Willie, John, Isadore, Fred, Robert D., Warren

CALAWAY, George

CANSLER, Willam and Stacy—Missouri, Susan, Ongel, Serrel

CHANEY MCKISSICK, Mary

COOPER, John

CORNELIUS, James, 1841

COWLES, Chauncey and Maria, 1843—Sarah, Delia, Henry, Charles, Harvey

COWLES, Giles

COWLES, Charles

COWLES, Uriel B and Mary Jane—Emeline

COWLES, Mary Jane

COWLES, Harvey

EBERMAN, Margaret—Nancy, Elizaneth, Eliza Ann

ENGLISH, H W

ENGLISH, David M and Eliza, 1840—Joseph, John

DAVIS, James “J. T.” and Elizabeth-son in law and daughter of Thomas Farmer—Rosa, William, Sarah, Mary, Martha, Delilah

FARMER, Thomas and Mary, 1841—William, John, Nancy, Margaret, George, Ann, Cynthia, James, Caroline

FLETCHER, Moses and Jane Ann, 1841—Jonathon L, Jacob M

FREEMAN, Mrs. M., died 1845

FUGITT, Townsend and Eliza A, Henry

FUGITT, Cline and Elizabeth

JONES, Emanuel S, at least by 1851

LAMBERT, George

LIVERMORE, Peter and Julia—Peter, Henry

MCKISSICK, Cornelius and Hanna, founded McKissick Grove in 1840—Martha, Alexander, John

MCKISSICK, Jacob, 1840—Nancy, Mahalia

MCKISSICK, John “Pink” Pinckeny, 1840

MCKISSICK, Daniel and Melissa, 1841—John, Hannah, Lavisa

MCKISSICK, William Kent and Martha Ann, LDS, 1841

MCWILLIAMS, David

MCWILLIAMS, Simon H

PERMAN, Nancy—Ellen, Mary Ann, Lucinda, Giles, James

POOL, George and Kate—Felix, John, Thomas, William, Cancy, Maria

RICHARDS, Milton and Jane—Elizabeth, Frances, Julian, Mary, Edward, Augustus

REEL, Moses and Cynthia, 1845

SCOTT, Windfield and Elizabeth

SKIDMORE, M K and Elizabeth, LDS—Sarah

STILLMAN, Clark -LDS; Marched with the Mormon Battalion; applied for a duplicate land warrant at McKissick Grove, Iowa; joined the Cutlerites.

STILLMAN, Dexter -LDS; High priest; endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on 22 December 1845; of McKissick Grove, Iowa; applied for a duplicate land warrant; marched with the Mormon Battalion; joined the Cutlerites.

THOMPSON, James L -LDS; Seventy; endowed in Nauvoo Temple on 9 January 1846; of McKissick Grove, Iowa; applied for a land warrant; marched with the Mormon Battalion; journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley in the Isaac Bullock Company in 1852.

TUCKER, William and Nancy—Rebecca, James, William, John, Pleasant

WATTS, Nancy G—Louraney, Nancy, Mary, John, Allen

WILLIAMS, Thaddeus and Rebecca—Elizabeth

 

Notes

 

1. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IAFREMON/2001-07/0996518269
2. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009)
3. John Gregg, Standard Historical Atlas of Mills & Fremont County, Anderson Publishing Company.
4. Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: The Century History Co., 1903), 348
5. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian, (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009)
6. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/history/Madison_twp_1910_atlas.html
7. Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: The Century History Co., 1903), 349
8. http://www.iowaghosttowns.com/page68.html
9. “To the Citizens of Pottawatamie County,” The Frontier Guardian, April 3, 1851
10. John Livingston, Livingston’s Law Register: The Name, Post Office, County and State of Every Lawyer in the United States (New York: office of the Monthly Law Magazine, 1851), 59
11. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian, (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009)
12. https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/companyDetail?lang=eng&companyId=463
13. http://www.familyorigins.com/users/g/i/f/Charlotte-K-Gifford/FAMO3-0001/d1740.htm
14. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/cemetery/mtolivecem.htm
15. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian, (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009)
16. http://pintura.byu.edu/ldsatlas/midmissouri/settlements.pdf
17. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/census/1850/1850_District_22.htm
18. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IAFREMON/2002-08/1029268844
19. http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/e/e/Arthur-F-Reel-Oregon/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0148.html
20. http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/IAFREMON/2002-06/1024016415
21. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IAFREMON/2011-02/1296844203
22. http://www.familyorigins.com/users/g/i/f/Charlotte-K-Gifford/FAMO1-0001/d644.htm
23. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/cemetery/wpa-co.htm
24. http://iagenweb.org/fremont/history/Madison_twp_1910_atlas.html
25. http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/IAFREMON/2006-07/1153166100
26. John Livingston, Livingston’s Law Register: The Name, Post Office, County and State of Every Lawyer in the United States (New York: Office of the Monthly Law Magazine, 1851), 59

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Plum Hollow / Studyville / Dutch Hollow / Green Hollow

 

Scott and Ross Townships, Fremont County, Iowa, from the 1875 Andreas Atlas of Fremont County
(The land of L. Study is located in Section 18 of Ross Township)

 

INTRODUCTION

It is a little-known fact that the Mormon exodus occurred in two parts, namely the journey from Nauvoo to the Missouri River and the subsequent journey to the Salt Lake Valley. These two journeys comprise the entirety of the Mormon Trail. However, a common emphasis on just the journey’s completion with historiography engulfs the realities of the early exodus. The destined blossoming of the desert Salt Lake Valley has grown to dominate the trek story throughout the years, while the early trials and struggles of Iowa are forgotten. Yet the early Iowa trek contains a powerful reminder of the challenges that LDS migrants faced, challenges that perhaps later enabled the blossoming of the Salt Lake desert. Moreover, it reveals that while many of these challenges faced were physical, perhaps the most difficult to overcome was the constant irregularity of family security and safety.

The first groups of LDS Church members to leave Nauvoo, including Brigham Young’s Camp of Israel, began arriving at the Missouri River on June 14 (1), much later than anticipated and wholly unprepared for the second wave that left Nauvoo after them. This second group of almost 10,000 people began their journey in the spring months of April, May and June, and they followed a different route from the Camp of Israel. As a result, many of them arrived at the Missouri River at the same time as Young (2). As migrants poured into western Iowa, it became evident that a larger site would be needed for winter. Parties were dispatched to seek large campsites, and several were considered between July and September (3). In many ways adding to the confusion, the famous Mormon Battalion was mustered on July 13, 1846, with 559 LDS men joining the longest infantry march in United States military history (4). In September, the Winter Quarters site was finally announced, a stretch of low, wet land along the banks of the Missouri River (5).

Upon reaching the Missouri River, many Church members realized they could not currently finish the journey to the Salt Lake Valley. For some it was impossible to buy the necessary supplies and equipment (6). Mob violence in both Missouri and Nauvoo had shorn them of their means, and they would have to earn money in order to continue their trek west. Coupled with this was the murky difficulty of reconciling the doctrine of plural marriage (7). These two factors, along with many others personal to each situation, drove many members to create their own family-based settlements separate from Winter Quarters, spurring a haphazard opening of Western Iowa. Many of these small and far-flung settlements became the first of future Iowa Counties. Surviving records of these settlements are meager, but they do establish that the first non-native settlements in Fremont County, Iowa were established in the mid-1840s (8). Driven by family ties and commitment, Plum Hollow and several other communities in the Plum Hollow area were settled by migrant LDS church members in and around the year 1846. The story of these settlements is a reminder of the value Western-American migrants placed on family security and prosperity.

The following was taken from an email received by David Forney, family historian and direct descendant of John Forney and Mary M Benner, correcting and adding details to the history of these families. It serves as a wonderful addition to this website:

"In an attempt to identify the first member of these families to become members of the LDS church, I believe you will find the first member was Elias Benner. Elias was the third child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman. He was the younger brother of Mary M. Benner who apparently married David C Study after the death of her first husband John Forney. Mary M. Benner was the first child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman. The third child of Daniel Benner and Catherine Ettleman was Barbara Benner who married John Study.

"Elias Benner was born June 05, 1795 most likely in Maryland on land that was in dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Elias joined the march of Zion's Camp 11 May 1834 at the age of 39.

"Source: “Sunday 11.—Elder Sylvester Smith preached, and the company received the Sacrament of bread and wine. Here we were increased in number by eight brethren, in company of Elder Elias Benner, from Richland and Stark counties, most of whom were Germans”
Volume 2, Chapter 5, Page 66, History of the Church (BYU Studies).

"You will note he is by that date described as an “Elder” although my information indicates he received his license at Kirtland March 31, 1836.

"According to the 1820 Federal Census for Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio Elias Benner lived next door to John Forney who was then married to Mary M. Benner, Elias’s older sister. Elias was also married at this time to Mary Clapper daughter of Mathias Clapper and Mary King.
The Study family was not located with the family group above in fact they lived in Richland County, Ohio. The Study Family was in the company of the Forney, Benner Ettleman and Clapper’s in Maryland and Bedford County, Pennsylvania prior to moving to Ohio.

"In the company of Elias Benner on the march of Zion's Camp 11 May 1834 was Frederick Forney age 21, Philip Ettleman age 43, and Henry Benner age 34. Frederick Forney was almost certainly the first member of the Forney family to become a member of the LDS Church. George Forney of whom you reference at the time was only 14 years of age when his older brother Frederic departed on the march of Zion's Camp.

"Elias Benner’s wife Mary Clapper died June 15, 1830 in the same year he married Christina Cramer. Elias died October 30, 1838, killed by mob at Haun's Mill.

"David C Study married first Betsy Griffin on August 24, 1820, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. She was the daughter of George Griffin. They were married by the Presbyterian Minister - James Morrison.

"David C Study was the son of Mathias Christian Study and Margaret Long. Mathias went by the names of Mathias, Christian and MC Study. Mathias Christian Study was a minister of a German Reformed and Lutheran Church located at Rural Route 3, Little Cove, in Warren Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania known as the “Study Stone Church”. This Church is still standing and Mathias Christian Study is buried there.

"David C Study no doubt received land from his father, as Mathias Christian Study and David C Study are listed in the Pennsylvania, Septennial Census in 1821. Mathias Christian Study and John Study are listed in the 1814 Pennsylvania, Septennial Census. John Study is listed in the 1820 Federal census for Jefferson, Richland County, Ohio, married with two male children living in the home under the age of 10. John Study was of course married to Barbara Benner sister of Elias Benner. Elias Benner is also listed in the 1820 census however living in Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, in the same location as his older sister Mary M Benner and her husband John Forney.

"There is no doubt that David C Study knew Mary M Benner and his then sister in law Barbara Benner when he returned to in Warren Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania from Virginia from his participation in the War of 1812. I would also concur that although he may have supported the Benner family with regard to their association with the LDS Church he was probably not a member.

"By the time they reached Fremont County Mary M Benner (Forney/Study) was the matriarch of the Benner and Forney families and her connection to the LDS Church would have constituted her as being the most influential and the foundational center of the group of five families in Fremont County.
It is still unclear if John Forney, the first husband of Mary M Benner was in fact instrumental in the family association with the LDS Church however it is quite possible. He followed the Mormon migration to Ray County Missouri where he purchased land. From there he moved to Hancock County, Illinois, not far from Nauvoo, he died there on September 10, 1841. His death may well be a result of the violence aimed at the Mormons in that area. In his Will he named his wife as sole executrix, certainly a testament to her strength and will. The Mormon community was a close knit group and the two witnesses to his Will dated July 15, 1841 were known members of the LDS Church, Philip Ballard(1) and George Benner son of Elias Benner

"(1) Page 115; Author: Church of Jesus Christ; Title: Claims presented against the state of Missouri for losses of property, 1839; Page 120; Author: Church of Jesus Christ; Title: History of the Church, 6 volumes. 3:253; Page 166; Author: Platt, Lyman D. ; Title: Nauvoo, 1839-1846. 1:146; 2:(176, Page 198; Author: Hancock County; Title: 1842 Tax List of Hancock County. ); Page 179; Author: U. S. Government; Title: Pottawattamie County, Iowa 1850 Census, 35

"I can assure you that although some members of the five families continued on to Salt Lake, the issue of plural marriage divided the family. Some returned to Fremont County as they could not abide plural marriage. Most that returned became what I understand were called RLDS.

"I am a direct descendent of John Forney and Mary M Benner through their son Jacob Forney, his son Aaron Henry Forney, his son Jacob William Forney, his son Clifford Leroy Forney.

"David Forney
dforney1949@gmail.com
Tucson, Arizona

Mr. Forney has kindly permitted us to post this message, as well as his email address for those that may have further questions that this history does not answer.

LOCATION

At the time of its settlement, Plum Hollow was located at the point where Plum Creek flowed through bluffs running between Scott Township and Ross Township (9, 10). One of the earliest LDS settlements in the Middle Missouri valley, Plum Hollow grew slowly, eventually being incorporated as a village 33 years after its initial settlement (11). It is also possible that the original Plum Hollow settlement and several family settlements in Dutch Hollow to the north were made by the same families. The general area was originally settled by the Benner, Study, Forney, Clapper and Ettleman families. Family historian Charles Forney describes them as “so closely connected by both ties of blood and marriage, as to be almost as one family” (12). Unfortunately, the dates of General Land Office land patents belonging to members of these families are not sufficient to show when either place was first settled, and family accounts do not give adequate information to determine this question (13). Abraham Fletcher is often incorrectly credited as the man who created Plum Hollow in 1856, building his residence, opening probably the first store, and serving as the first postmaster. Yet Fletcher had lived in Plum Hollow since 1851, so he could not have been the original founder. It is more likely that Fletcher revitalized the settlement as it was slowly being abandoned by its original inhabitants. He changed the name to Fremont City, seeking to begin anew (14). Eventually, though, even Fletcher would be forgotten, and the village would become known as Thurman (15, 16). Over time, the original settlers of Plum Hollow came to be associated only with the settlements of Dutch Hollow, obscuring the common history of both settlements. For the sake of clarity Plum Hollow will first be examined, followed by a brief discussion of the Dutch Hollow family settlements and finally ending with Abraham Fletcher and Fremont City.

PLUM HOLLOW

John Study married Barbara Benner sometime prior to 1821, when their first child, Catherine Study, was born in Ohio. Their fourth child, Leonard Study, recounts in his personal history that the family moved to Missouri sometime in 1834-1835. Though they barely mention it, the Studys endured difficult circumstances in Missouri. Whether members of the family had already been baptized into the LDS church is not known, but their time in Missouri is definitely associated with Church persecution. Harsh treatment by Mormon-intolerant mobs drove the family from their new home in 1835. John later signed an affidavit in appeal to Congress for losses of $1500 (17). Fortunately the Studys were able to escape to the town of Quincy in Adams County, Illinois, and after a year they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois (18). Having reached Nauvoo and safety at last, the Study family settled into their new home. The two oldest daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, were married during this time, Catherine to George Forney in 1840 and Elizabeth to John Martin Ewell in 1842. John and his brother were both baptized for their deceased father Christian in 1841, and John was baptized further for twelve more deceased relatives (19). Yet the family’s greatest trials began on March 1, 1843, when John Study passed away (20). The murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith little more than a year later plunged the Studys, and all of Nauvoo, back into the flickering torch-light of mob scrutiny. The future of the family was once again tenuous.

Christopher Study’s second son, David C. Study, now came to the aid of his brother’s family, taking Barbara and her children into his home (21). Barbara had an older sister, Mary Benner, who herself shared in their grief, having lost her own husband just two years earlier (22). Taking care of his brother’s family, David naturally came into contact with Mary, and the two were eventually married.

Forney writes that many in the Study family were members of LDS Church (23), and their movements across the Midwest certainly support this claim. Yet the degree of activity for each family member is still questionable. David C. Study in particular lived with his family and first wife in Ripley, Illinois, at least 50 miles from Nauvoo (24). David’s only surviving associations with the LDS Church are an unrecorded marriage to his second wife, Mary Benner Study, and a proxy baptism for his deceased father in 1841. While the baptism shows that David was a member, the unrecorded marriage questions the extent to which he participated in the Mormon religion. To further cast doubt on David’s activity, there is no record of him in Susan E. Black’s Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848. Mary Benner is recorded in Black’s compilation (25), is also mentioned in Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, Nauvoo, 1840-1845 (26), was granted an 1843 land patent in Sonora Township, Hancock County (27), under her married name, Mary Forney (28), and was endowed in the Nauvoo temple on January 31, 1846 (29). Clearly, David C. Study’s second wife was an active member of her faith. And while Mary’s 1843 land patent is a fair distance from Nauvoo, it is unlikely, in the event that she and David were married by 1843, that Mary’s name would be used instead of David’s, especially as Mary chose to use her deceased first husband’s surname (30). The evidence of Mary Benner’s membership in the Church strongly contrasts with the lack of records concerning David C. Study, again questioning the extent of his participation in the LDS Church.

Given his reduced involvement in the Church, it does not seem likely that David was the one who decided the family should follow the Mormons west. Forney’s Five relates that George Forney, David C. Study’s step-son and son-in-law, “was a man of deep religious beliefs . . . [and] helped in the building of the Nauvoo Temple” (31). Now leaving behind that shining monument to his faith, George was willing to continue that sacrifice by following the church to a place of greater safety. George’s biography in Forney’s Five relates that when he left Nauvoo, he and his family “crossed the Mississippi River on the ice” (32), beginning their journey in the late winter month of February. The only group to cross a frozen Mississippi in 1846 was Brigham Young’s advance company, the Camp of Israel (33). Catherine and her husband were definitely members of this group. The second wave of Nauvoo emigrants left Nauvoo during the summer months of April, May and June, when the mighty Mississippi was certainly not frozen (34). Whether the rest of Study family went with George and Catherine is unknown, but given David’s apparent reluctance to be recorded among the Mormons, probably not. In keeping with his family’s safety and wishes to remain together, however, David C. Study eventually followed George. He and those he cared for most likely left Nauvoo in the spring months, perhaps arriving about the same time as George and Catherine (35).

After his arrival at the Missouri River, George, tracking some stray stock in July, encountered country that, “well pleased” him (36). It is not clear when exactly George moved to his new home. Possibly he waited to confer with the entire family to see if they were in agreement. This hesitancy is especially convincing if David C. Study was reluctant to travel west in the first place. Under his familial obligations, George took his proposal slowly, not wanting to seem like he was cutting the elder Study’s family role out from under him, wanting instead to support his step-father/father-in-law. Given the mechanics of the Study family at this time, this idea is certainly plausible. There is, however, one other aspect that supports George’s forbearance, and may be a reason that the families felt to stay together in one place, rather than continue on in their dispersed trek west. Barbara Study’s son-in-law John Martin Ewell, his brother William Fletcher Ewell, future Study son-in-law Simon Dyke, and David Study (son of John and Barbara and nephew of David C. Study), all joined the Mormon Battalion in July of 1846 (37). The sudden dispersal of these family members may have acted to push the remaining family members closer. In reaction to her son’s and son-in-law’s enlistment, Barbara Benner Study and her other son Leonard set out for their old home in Missouri. On their way they stopped at George Forney’s reported land. Leonard, in an effort to make a decision once and for all said, “‘Mother, we will stop here’” (38). For David C. Study, there really wasn’t much choice in where he would anchor the family, whether with the Mormons or not. With the Ewell brothers, David Study and Simon Dyke mustered to Company E of the Mormon Battalion on July 13, 1846 (39), and Barbara leaving to make a point about where her family loyalties lay, David C. Study was forced to follow after her, and accept her and George Forney’s inclinations to settle in Fremont County.

Exactly when in 1846 the rest of the family moved to what is now Plum Hollow is not known, but the original settlers are listed in an 1881 History of Fremont County, “among them D. C. Study, Barbara Study, George Forney, Mrs. John M. Ewell and Mary Ann Dike” (40). On October 19, 1846, a son, George Washington Forney, was born to Catherine and George Forney (41), and the first marriage in Fremont County took place a year later, on October 10, 1847, between Samuel Ettleman and Susan Forney (42). The settlement was strong enough to support these and other events, and soon other family members and friends began arriving in Plum Hollow.

The land claims of the Studys and many of their relatives were solidified and formalized on April 11, 1847, when Congress passed the first of four acts “granting over sixty million acres of public lands to more than a half-million veterans, widows, and heirs” (43), an act which encompassed the budding settlement in Fremont County. Probably the family members that participated in the Mormon Battalion did not specify the location of their land claims until they returned to Iowa, thereafter claiming land near Plum Hollow. But John Study, a son of David C. Study and his first wife, had been a private in Captain Moses’ company ‘D’ of the first regiment of Illinois volunteers (44). He evidently lost his life before reuniting with this family, and in lieu of his son’s death, Mr. Study was given a land warrant which claimed a small piece of land in section 30 of Ross Township. As David C. Study was the head of the family, his plot of land in section 30 can be considered the center of the settlement.

STUDYVILLE

As new and familiar faces alike began settling in Plum Hollow, the core family value of solidarity again began to materialize. This time, however, family connectedness served to push the settling families into isolation, rather than exhibit the previous spirit of consolidation by settlement.

Privates Ewell, Study and Dyke were discharged July 16, 1847, and they immediately began their trek home. Travelling together in a loosely-bound company (45), they walked home by way of Fort Sutter, leaving on August 25 or 26 and arriving in Iowa in October (46), perhaps just in time for the wedding of Samuel Ettleman and Susan Forney. A great friendship had already existed between David Study and the Ettlemans, and he and lifelong friend Mary Ann Ettleman were themselves married on June 28, 1849. Forney’s Five relates that David built his home in Dutch Hollow shortly after his marriage, eventually including an orchard with apple and peach trees (47). It is significant that David built his new home specifically in Dutch Hollow, rather than Plum Hollow. It appears that by this time the founding families of Plum Hollow had distanced themselves from establishing a viable settlement, instead being content to live in vague family-named settlements. David built his home near his family instead of in Plum Hollow perhaps because he agreed with them. He and the other Study family members began to call their home Studyville.

By 1856 a clear distinction existed between Plum Hollow and Studyville. But before this time came, other family settlements began to spring up. The Clappers built their own Clapperville on land very close to the Studys, while Simon Dyke and his family intermittently inhabited the Dyke Settlement. These other family settlements serve to confuse the history of Plum Hollow and Studyville, though they specifically belong in the Dutch Hollow group of settlements with Studyville, their ties being to David C. Study and Barbara Study.

CLAPPERVILLE

On the fringe of the Study clan was the Clapper family. Christian Clapper, his brother Jacob, and sister Christena all lived at one point in Dutch Hollow, specifically in Clapperville. What Charles William Forney claims to be the first half of Christian Clapper’s self-written personal history is included in Forney’s Five. This account is very helpful in tracking his movements, giving dates for his various marriages and telling about his move to the Salt Lake Valley in 1853. Additionally it sheds light on his sibling’s movements. Christian, Jacob and Christena all had ties to the Studyville settlers, though these ties were mostly by marriage and not through direct blood relation. Jacob Clapper married the step-daughter of David C. Study (48), and Christena married Margaret Ettleman’s step-son, Henry Ettleman (49), both of whom lived in Plum Hollow. Christian as well married someone with ties to the Studys, and also eventually ended up in Plum Hollow with his siblings. However, Christian’s account in Forney’s Five reveals a long and winding road to his settlement in Iowa, once again emphasizing the importance of strong families to frontier pioneers.

Christian Clapper’s first wife died in Mills County, Iowa in 1848. A year later, Christian first encountered Plum Hollow, where he was married to Margaret Ettleman. Forney’s Five refers to this marriage as one of convenience, as both Christian and Margaret had recently been widowed. They lived on Christian’s land in Mills County until 1853, when they travelled to Salt Lake with his sister Christena and her family in the Henry Ettleman Company (50). They eventually settled in Boxelder, and shortly afterwards both Christian and Margaret received their endowments. Susan Ettleman, Margaret’s daughter from her first marriage, was also sealed to Christian at this time (51). The fact that they were sealed indicates that their union was indeed sanctioned by Church leaders. But strangely, Christian left Utah with his family sometime between the birth of Susan’s second child in 1859 and 1860, as Christian and his family are found in Plum Hollow in the 1860 U. S. Census (52). One obvious conclusion for this move is that polygamy became something Christian and his family could not live with, so they simply left. But this conclusion trivializes the difficulty and expense of moving across the plains. Christian had been forced off land in Missouri, had sold his land in Iowa for “a mere trifle,” had already crossed the plains with his family 7 years earlier, and had only been stable in Boxelder for four years (53). Given his situation, there must have been a better reason for Christian to move all the way back to Iowa.

Christian’s siblings, Jacob and Christena, help to solidify Christian Clapper’s motivations to leave Utah. After marrying Barbara Forney in 1832 (54), Jacob apparently began farming on two plots just South of George Forney’s property. Jacob’s land was probably part of Studyville, he having become one of David C. Study’s many sons-in-law. This stronger tie to the Study family also helps to explain why he stayed in Iowa rather than follow his siblings to Utah in 1853. Eventually, however, word of their younger brother’s success in Iowa reached Christian and Christena, and their desires for stronger family and financial safety were found in the idea of Clapperville. Christian and Christena and their families moved back to Iowa together (55), settling probably near Jacob’s land and finally founding Clapperville in Dutch Hollow.

DYKE SETTLEMENT

Not all of the family members were willing to consolidate themselves for the duration of their lives. Simon Dyke, George Forney’s brother-in-law, returned from the Mormon Battalion along with David Study and John Martin Ewell in 1847. Simon’s wife, Mary Ann Forney Dyke, had been one of the original settlers of Plum Hollow in 1846 (56), and when Simon returned, they became the only known inhabitants of Dyke Settlement. But their stay in Dyke Settlement was short. Two children were born to them in 1849 and 1851, both near Plum Hollow. In 1856, however, Joseph James Dyke was born in Troy, on Beaver Island in Michigan (57), far from the established Dyke home and relatives. Simon and his family apparently lived for a time among James J. Strang’s Strangite Mormon sect, which had shifted their gathering from Voree, Wisconsin to Beaver Island, Michigan in 1850 (58). Simon and his family abandoned their home in Iowa and followed Strang to Michigan.

Strangite missionary activity in the Missouri River area was extant almost immediately after the Camp of Israel arrived. Their claim that James Strang was the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith restricted their missionary efforts mostly to converting baptized LDS members (59), and relative to their numbers, their presence in the Iowa area was strong. Strangite missionaries Uriah C. Nickerson, John Shippy, and Benjamin Wright all served in Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, and Fremont Counties for several years. Evidently convinced by these missionaries, Simon Dyke moved with his family to Michigan sometime after 1851, though strangely without other family members to support him in his beliefs. He returned to Iowa probably following the assassination of James Strang in 1856 (60). In 1859 a daughter, Mary Jane, was born northeast of Thurman (61), and following another child’s birth northeast of Thurman in 1862, the Dyke family again moved, living in various places throughout Fremont County (62). The Dyke settlement seems after this time to have been absorbed into Studyville and the general Dutch Hollow area.

Dyke Settlement is difficult to pinpoint, but according to the 1850 Census and existing GLO records, Simon Dyke’s early property was located in section 19 of modern-day Ross Township (63). This area is scarcely separate from Studyville, and is probably only distinguished from the Study settlement because of Dyke’s ties to Strangism.

PLUM HOLLOW/FREMONT CITY

The first settlers closest to what would someday become Plum Hollow central were John Martin Ewell and his wife, Elizabeth Study Ewell. John returned from his service in the Mormon Battalion in the autumn of 1847, and purchased land first in Section 6 of Sidney Township, then bought more land closer to Plum Hollow, in Section 36 of Scott Township, bringing his land possessions to about 200 acres. Little is known about Plum Hollow’s early administration, but John Ewell’s respectable land holdings, military service, and family connections certainly made him an important figure in the emerging community. Several of the marriages in Forney’s Five were solemnized by “John Martin Ewell, senior, justice of the peace” (64). In 1852, John and Elizabeth lost their nine-day old daughter, Barbara. She was buried on a portion of John’s property. Ewell Cemetery, as the little grave came to be known, was actually the beginnings of today’s Thurman Cemetery and the Ewell addition. Other families who marked out their own private plots in the cemetery were the Forneys, Schooleys, Greenwoods, Baylors and Leekas (65). Before John died in 1893, he asked to be buried on the same plot, and to this day Ewell Cemetery is revered family ground (66).

More important and influential in Plum Hollow than the Ewells, however, was Abraham Fletcher, as he distinguished the settlement from the Study family. Fletcher arrived in Plum Hollow in 1851 (67). He is sometimes credited with founding the settlement, but the Studys had obviously arrived much earlier. Fletcher re-vitalized Plum Hollow, owing to the Study’s lack of interest in concentrating their settlements. Fletcher created the first town center, building “the first residence, [opening] the first store, and [becoming] the first postmaster” (68). Fletcher also re-named the community Fremont City, an attempt to exhibit the community as Fremont County’s best and greatest. It was later discovered that a Fremont City already existed, so the name was changed to Thurman (69).

But why did Fletcher decide to found Plum Hollow anew? Perhaps his reasons were similar to the Studys—that he had created Fremont City/Thurman in 1856 as a place of family security and safety. Two years later, however, Abraham’s wife Rebecca died (70). Having lost a large part of his vision, Fletcher despaired, explaining why the town was not incorporated until 1879 (71). Fletcher would eventually marry again, though this second marriage, like that of Christian Clapper and Margaret Ettleman, was seen as one of convenience. In 1860 Abraham married Sarah Ann Farley, and during their years together they had one son, Grant. The 1880 Census shows Sarah Fletcher was a patient at the Iowa Hospital for the Insane, probably the Mental Health Institute in Mount Pleasant, Henry County. She remained in the hospital for an indeterminate amount of time, during which Abraham lived with Sarah’s daughter, Almira (72). Nevertheless, Fletcher had achieved his goal. Though Fremont City would struggle as its most prominent and enterprising citizen waded through personal difficulty, graves in Thurman Cemetery indicate that most if not all of his immediate family eventually found their way to his side. Abraham was successful in the primary goal of re-founding Plum Hollow. He was able to establish the town as a solid rock by which his larger family could be anchored, just as the Studys had done before. Fletcher died in Thurman in 1891, and is buried in Thurman Cemetery alongside 12 of his family members (73).

CONCLUSION

The settlement histories of Plum Hollow and Dutch Hollow encourage a greater perspective in viewing LDS migrants. Though religious devotion certainly drove many in their separate journeys, motivations of family security were also tied into their actions. The Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys, and Studys essentially transformed Fremont County because of their desires to keep their families safe and in one place.

 

Notes:

 

1. Richard E. Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 1846-1852 “And Should We Die…” (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 45.
2. William G. Hartley, “Spring Exodus from Nauvoo: Act Two in the 1846 Mormon Evacuation Drama,” in The Iowa Mormon Trail, ed. Susan Easton Black and William G. Hartley (Orem, UT: Helix Publishing, 1997), 61.
3. Bennett, 68.
4. Lloyd, R. Scott, “Monument Honoring Mormon Battalion to Regain its Luster,” Church News: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 6, 1992.
5. Bennett, 73. Jedediah M. Grant, Samuel Russell and Lorenzo Young opted for higher ground, and half the high council voted for the same, but were overruled by Young, Heber Kimball and Orson Pratt 73-74.
6. Elizabeth Hills to Brigham Young, January 3, 1847, Brigham Young Papers. Mrs. Hills’s letter, though an extreme example, offers a glimpse into the various conditions many of the poor from Nauvoo found themselves in even before arriving at Winter Quarters.
7. Julie Dunfey, “‘Living the Principle’ of Plural Marriage: Mormon Women, Utopia, and Female Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century,” Feminist Studies 10, no. 3 (Autumn 1984): 525-527. Even a cursory treatment of this subject would be too large to fit within the specifics of this settlement history. The opening pages of Dunfey’s article provide several examples of the conflict between faith and tradition that were inherent in early Church-sanctioned propositions of plural marriage.
8. History of Fremont County, Iowa (Des Moines. IA: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 611.
9. Charles William Forney, Forney’s Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 145.
10. History of Fremont County, 611.
11. Ibid.
12. Forney, ix.
13. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/ (searched “Fremont County, Iowa” with last names “Study,” “Ettleman,” “Clapper,” and “Forney” November 11, 2010).
14. History of Fremont County, 611.
15. Pearl G. Wilcox, Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa (Independence, MO: The Author, 1989), 227-231.
16. Forney, 146.
17. Clark V. Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions: Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992), 360. A David Study is also listed as a petitioner in The Appeal en Masse, page 596.
18. Ibid., 336, 338.
19. Susan Easton Black and Harvey Bischoff Black, Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, 1840-1845: Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois (Provo, UT: Center for Family History and Genealogy, 2002), 6: 3544-3546.
20. Forney, 328.
21. “Barker Family Tree: John Study Obituary,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/3558888/person/-1714407743/media/1?pg=32810 (accessed November 11, 2010).
22. Forney, 131.
23. Ibid., 325.
24. “Joan McConnell Family Tree,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/14283075/person/521662492?ssrc= (accessed November 11, 2010). David C. Study married Betsy Griffin in Virginia in 1820. Betsy’s last and second-to-last children were born in Brown County, Illinois in 1841 and 1844, and she died sometime shortly after, possibly due to complications in childbirth.
25. Susan Easton Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1830-1848 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1984-1988), 5: 694-696.
26. Black and Black, Baptisms for the Dead, 2: 1297.
27. Susan Easton Black and Harvey Bischoff Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois and Surrounding Communities (1839-1859) (Wilmington, DE: World Vital Records, Inc., 2006), 2: 1346-1347.
28. Forney, 131.
29. Black and Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, 2: 1297.
30. Forney, 131. Johann or John Karl Forney died September 10, 1841 in Hancock County, Illinois.
31. Ibid., 146.
32. Ibid.
33. Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (Salt Lake City, UT: s. n., 1975.), 308-309; BX 8670.07, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. Eliza R. Snow records that Nauvoo had previously had, “very freezing weather, which bridged the Mississippi sufficiently for crossing heavily loaded wagons on the ice.”
34. Hartley, 61.
35. Ibid.
36. Forney, 146.
37. Carl V. Larson, A Data Base of the Mormon Battalion (Providence, UT: Kieth Watkins and Sons Printing Co., 1987), 1, 65, 69, 168.
38. Ibid., 338.
39. Larson, 1, 65, 69, 168.
40. History of Fremont County, 611. The Standard Historical Atlas of Mills and Fremont Counties, Iowa verifies the claim of the 1881 History of Fremont County.
41. Forney, 144-145.
42. History of Fremont County, 611.
43. James W. Oberly, Sixty Million Acres: American Veterans and the Public Lands Before the Civil War (Kent, OH: The Kent State Press, 1990), 3.
44. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Record, David C. Study,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/results/default.aspx?searchCriteria=type=patent|st=IA|cty=071|ln=study|fn=david|sp=true|sw=true|sadv=false (accessed November 11, 2010).
45. Forney, 330.
46. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868, “Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847),” https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/companyDetail?lang=eng&companyId=400 (accessed April 3, 2015).
47. Forney, 333.
48. Ibid., 132, 138.
49. Forney, 75.
50. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868, “Henry Ettleman Company (1853),” https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/companyDetail?lang=eng&companyId=113 (accessed April 3, 2015).
51. Forney, 26-29.
52. www.ancestry.com, 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line] (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009) images reproduced by FamilySearch; Census place: Scott, Fremont, Iowa; roll M653_321, p. 28, image 68.
53. Forney, 29.
54. Ibid., 139. Records indicate that Jacob and Christena were married in Nauvoo in 1832, but the city of Nauvoo was not platted and built until the late 1830s, and would have even then been referred to as Commerce, or Venus, Illinois. Charles William Forney believes the date is correct on the grounds of their children’s birthdates, so the place of their marriage was probably somewhere other than Nauvoo.
55. Forney, 76.
56. History of Fremont County, 611.
57. Forney, 147.
58. Robin Scott Jensen, “Gleaning the Harvest: Strangite Missionary Work, 1846-1850” (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 2005), 136.
59. Ibid., 43-44.
60. Ibid., 136.
61. Forney, 147.
62. Ibid., 148.
63. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search,” http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/ (searched “Fremont County, Iowa” with last name “Dikes” and first name “Simon,” November 17, 2010).
64. Forney, 39.
65. Fremont County Historical Society, Fremont County, Iowa, Cemetery Records (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 159.
66. Forney, 330-331.
67. Fremont County Historical Society, 159.
68. History of Fremont County, 611.
69. Fremont County Historical Society, 159.
70. Ibid., 171,
71. History of Fremont County, 611.
72. “Avenson Family Tree,” Ancestry.com http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/34070/person/-1123818130 (accessed November 17, 2010).
73. Fremont County Historical Society, 169, 171.

List of community residents forthcoming

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