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.

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McKissick Grove Settlement, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

McKissick Grove is located in southwest Madison Township, Fremont County, Iowa, three miles east of Hamburg.

The 1875 map of Fremont County shows the location.

History

McKissick Grove, also known as McKissick's Grove, is described as "an LDS encampment," although the settlement was not founded by Latter-day Saints (1). 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 (2). 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 during this year (3).

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 (4).

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

The first term of the District Court was held in 1850 by Judge William McKay in a log cabin at McKissick Grove (5).

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 Postmaster. The post office in McKissick Grove lasted from 1851-1869.

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 (6).

In 1851, a directory containing the name, post office, county and state of every lawyer in the United States listed two men under the McKissick Grove Post Office, Christopher P. Brown and Emanuel S. Jones (7). Mr. Brown is also mentioned as a candidate for the judgeship of the Sixth Judicial District in Iowa (8).

In 1861, William McKissick led a wagon company through Salt Lake City to California. Most of the Company were non-Mormons but 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.

Cemetery

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. Alva Calkins and his family are buried 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.

Possible Burials

Name	Birth Date	Death Date
Sampson Bethard		27 Jan 1846
Moses Reel	1802	1847
James Reel	1832	3 Feb 1847
James Parman	30 Apr 1815	25 Sep 1847
Henry Watts	14 Nov 1814	Jun 1849
Amanda McKissick	9 Jun 1849	20 Oct 1849
Sampson Bethard	1846	Mar 1850
Caleb English	31 Aug 1851	7 Oct 1851
David Moore English	4 Mar 1819	8 Jan 1852
Robert Davis	1853	1853
Lucinda Davis	1854	1854
Marinda Davis	1854	1854
Male McKissick	1860	25 May 1860
Cynthia U. Farmer Imhoff	1842	18 Sep 1860
John W. Allen	14 Jul 1819	11 Oct 1862
Lucinda A. Parman	24 Apr 1837	14 Nov 1862
Henry C. Fugitt	1 Apr 1850	23 Jun 1866
Hiram Fugitt	9 Apr 1794	2 Feb 1873
Sarah Farmer Booton	22 Dec 1853	26 Mar 1877
Caroline Kimes Farmer	24 Jul 1846	13 Feb 1886
Townsend Fugate Fugitt	1 Feb 1824	21 Mar 1888
Nancy Comstock Parman	30 Apr 1819	May 1890
Nancy A. Fugitt	1848	25 Oct 1891
Cornelius Washington McKissick	19 Aug 1816	27 Mar 1893

Bibliography

1. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009).
2. John Gregg, Standard Historical Atlas of Mills & Fremont County, Anderson Publishing Company.
3. 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.
4. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian, (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009).
5. Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: The Century History Co., 1903), 3
6. "To the Citizens of Pottawattamie County," The Frontier Guardian, April 3, 1851.
7. 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.
8. Susan Easton Black, accompanying CD to The Best of the Frontier Guardian, (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2009).

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Green Hollow/Dutch Hollow, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

A hollow is a valley on the west face of high loess bluff system. The valley provided residents protection from weather and a refuge. It offered timber of all kinds of wood and a place where wild fruit and bluegrass grew.

Green Hollow is located 3 miles north of Thurman on Plum Creek and Osage Road. It was named by the granddaughter of the first white female child born in Scott township. Mary Elizabeth Forney when she announced to her family that the lost family cow was over in the pretty green hollow. Those families known to inhabited that area were George Washington and Emma Forney, William and Maggie Pierce, and John Oliver Keran They lived at the mouth of the hollow. Others in the hollow were Ezra Study and Ira and Bertha Clapper.




Dutch Hollow is located to the east of Green Hollow. This is the site of the Dutch Hollow school.




Students of the Dutch Hollow school.

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Plum Hollow, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

At the time of its settlement, Plum Hollow was located ten miles northwest of Sidney in the present-day Scott Township at the foot of the Missouri Rive bluff on Plum Creek (1). The map illustrates its approximate location (2).

History

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 (3). 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 Study, Forney, Clapper and Ettleman families.

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 (4). Eventually, though, even Fletcher would be forgotten, and the village would become known as Thurman (5). 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.

The most influential people in the early days of the Plum Hollow settlement area were without question the Study family. The Studys represented a foundational center for the early settlers, many of whom had married into the family or were related by previous marriages. These were mostly concentrated around two brothers, John and David C. Study. John Study never actually lived in Iowa. His wife and children, however, would have a lasting impact on Plum Hollow and Dutch Hollow, while David C. Study took his brother's place at least as the symbolic head of the family.

John 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. 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 (6). 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 (7). 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. The family's greatest trials began on March 1, 1843, when John Study passed away. 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, came to the aid of his brother's family, taking Barbara and her children into his home. Barbara had an older sister, Mary Benner, who herself shared in their grief, having lost her own husband just two years earlier (8). Taking care of his brother's family, David naturally came into contact with Mary, and the two were eventually married.

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" (9). On October 19, 1846, a son, George Washington Forney, was born to Catherine and George Forney, and the first marriage in Fremont County took place a year later, on October 10, 1847, between Samuel Ettleman and Susan Forney. 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" (10), 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 during the Civil War (11). 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.

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.

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 (12). He is sometimes credited with founding the settlement, but the Studys had obviously arrived much earlier. Fletcher revitalized 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" (13). Fletcher also renamed the community Fremont City, an attempt to exhibit the community as Fremont County's best and greatest. It was later discovered that Fremont City already existed, so the name was changed to Thurman (14).

Two years after Fletcher's attempt to revitalize Plum Hollow, his wife. Rebecca, died. Having lost a large part of his vision, Fletcher despaired, explaining why the town was not incorporated until 1879 (15). 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. Fletcher died in Thurman in 1891 and is buried in Thurman Cemetery alongside twelve of his family members.

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.

Cemeteries

A later map shows the Scott township and the position of the Ewell Cemetery and the Thurman Cemetery (16).



Ewell Cemetery

The Ewell Cemetery is a small family cemetery near the Thurman Cemetery but is a separate graveyard. John Ewell requested that he be buried on a certain spot on his farm, north and west of his home on the brow of a hill, overlooking his farm and home. Elizabeth Ewell was laid to rest by the side of her husband (17).


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 beginning 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 (18). Before John died in 1893, he asked to be buried on the same plot, and to this day Ewell Cemetery is revered family ground.

Thurman Cemetery

The Thurman Cemetery is located high on a bluff east of the Plum Hollow settlement which is now known as Thurman. In the beginning it was located on the Ewell farm. As other people gave land to the cemetery, each became known by the donor's name. Other areas were added by the Forney, Schooley, Greenwood, Baylor and Leeka.

Possible Deaths

Name	Birth Date	Death Date
Barbara Ann Ewell	1 Feb 1852	10 Feb 1852
David W. Fletcher	23 Aug 1832	21 Jan 1856
Rebecca Crouch Fletcher	27 Jul 1801	19 Jan 1858

Bibliography

1. Wilcox, Pearl, Roots of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Southern Iowa. Pearl Wilcox, Independence, Missouri, 1989, 112.
2. Plewe, Brandon, Mormon Places: https://mormonplaces.byu.edu/map.html?id=481327 (accessed September 7, 2025)
3. History of Fremont County, Iowa (Des Moines, IA: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 611.
4. Ibid.
5. Charles William Forney, Forney's Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 146.
6. 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.
7. Ibid. , 336. 338.
8. Charles William Forney, Forney's Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA:: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 131.
9. History of Fremont County, Iowa (Des Moines, IA: Iowa Historical Company, 1881), 611.
10. James W. Oberly, Sixty Million Acres: American Veterans and the Public Lands Before the Civil War (Kent, OH: The Kent State Press, 1990), 3.
11. 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 September 11, 2025).
12. Fremont County Historical Society, Fremont County, Iowa, Cemetery Records (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 159.
13. Ibid. , 159.
14. Ibid. , 159.
15. Ibid., 611.
16. The Fremont County Historical Society, Fremont County, Iowa, Cemetery Records (Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 156.
17. The Fremont County Historical Society, 157.
18. Ibid., 159.

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History of Studyville, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

Cemeteries

Ewell Cemetery

Possible Burials

Name	Birth Date	Death Date
John Martin Ewell	5 Aug 1823	1 Oct 1893
Thomas Maxey Ewell	6 May 1819	10 Jan 1900
Elizabeth Study Ewell	18 Jan 1824	29 May 1906
John Martin Ewell, Jr.	27 Aug 1845	22 Oct 1933

Plum Hollow/Thurman Cemetery

Bibliography

1. Plewe, Brandon, Mormon Places: https://mormonplaces.byu.edu/data/entities/481251 (accessed August 20, 2025)
2. Charles William Forney, Forney's Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 330.
3. Forney, 333.
4. Pottawattamie High Priests Quorum. Pottawattamie High Priests Quorum minutes , https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/166b5a84-3e69-40f5-9774-1049977096a9/0?view=browse&lang=eng (accessed: August 31, 2025)
5. Forney, 334.
6. The Fremont County Historical Society, Fremont County, Iowa, Cemetery Records (Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), 156.
7. The Fremont County Historical Society, 157.

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History of the Settlement of Clapperville, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

History

Bibliography

1. Charles William Forney, Forney’s Five Family Records of Genealogy of Benners, Clappers, Ettlemans, Forneys and Studys (Boone, IA: Standard Printing Company, 1931), 25.

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Dike Settlement, Fremont County, Iowa

Location

Dike Settlement is difficult to pinpoint, but according to the 1850 Census and existing GLO records, Simon Dike’s early property was located in section 19 of modern-day Ross Township (1). This area is scarcely separate from Studyville and is probably only distinguished from the Study settlement because of Dike’s ties to Strangism.

History

Simon Dike enlisted in the Mormon Battalion in 1846. He served as a Private in Company E. He returned to Iowa with Frederick Forney, John Huston, John Martin Ewell, and David Study in 1847.

Simon had married Mary Ann Forney while living in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois in 1842. Mary Ann was the daughter of Johann Karl Forney and Mary Margaret Benner. Simon and Mary Ann were the only known inhabitants of the Dike Settlement. Their stay in the settlement was short. Two children were born to them in 1849 and 1851 there. In 1856, however, Joseph James Dike was born in Troy, on Beaver Island in Michigan far from the established Dike home and relatives. Simon and his family apparently lived for a time among James J. Strang’s Strangite sect, which had shifted their gathering from Voree, Wisconsin to Beaver Island, Michigan in 1850. Simon and his family returned to Iowa probably following the assassination of James Strang in 1856 (2).

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, and relatives 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.

In 1859, a daughter, Mary Jane, was born northeast of Thurman, possibly in the Dike Settlement. Another child was born northeast of Thurman in 1862. The Dike family again moved, living in various places throughout Fremont County. The Dike settlement seems after this time to have been absorbed into Studyville and the general Dutch Hollow area.

Cemetery

Plum Hollow/Thurman Cemetery

The Plum Hollow/Thurman Cemetery is located high on a bluff east of the Plum Hollow settlement which is now known as Thurman. In the beginning it was located on the Ewell farm. As other people gave land to the cemetery, each became known by the donor’s name. Other areas were added by the Forney, Schooley, Greenwood, Baylor and Leeka.

Possible Deaths

Name	Birth Date	Death Date
Mary Jane Dike	31 Jan 1859	4 Oct 1862

Mary Jane’s death was caused by slipping and falling into a kettle of boiling cane juice.

Bibliography

1. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search.”
2. Robin Scott Jensen, “Gleaning the Harvest: Strangite Missionary Work, 1846-1850” (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 2005), 136.

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