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         The vicinity of Downey was the first place in Springdale Township to be settled. The settlers were principally from Ohio, being a branch of the settlement which had been made in the northwest part of Muscatine County.

         Enos Nyce, a native of Ross Co., Ohio, and family, consisting of wife and two children, settled in the county, on the southeast corner of Rochester Township, May 20, 1836, where he built and occupied the first cabin in Cedar County. This he sold to Luke Billups, in the Fall of 1836, and moved to the southwest quarter of Section 34, Township 79, Range 4 west, where he lived until his death in 1839. Mrs. Nyce now lives in West Liberty, Muscatine County.

         William Sutton settled near Mr. Nyce, in October, 1836.

         E. K. Morse, then a young and single man, in 1838, entered a tract of land on the Muscatine County line, one and one-half miles east of Johnson County line, where he built a cabin, one-half of which was covered with clapboards, and the other half with prairie grass. In 1840, he sold this claim to Andrew and Wm. Brisbine—two brothers who still own and live upon the land.

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         Mr. Morse went northwest and settled on a piece of land in Johnson County which has since become the site of Morseville.

         These, with A. G. Smith, George Barnes and Chester Coleman, formed the first settlement in this township. Mr. Smith came in 1841, and died in 1854. His wife, Mrs. Anna Smith, still resides on the farm. Mr. Barnes died in 1842, on his farm. Mr. Coleman returned to Ohio, in 1844, where he died, and the farm belonging to the two latter was purchased by its present owner, Simeon Barnes, in 1847.

         In that year, also, came John Larue, who is still a resident there. He settled on the farm owned in succession by Sutton, Seevers and Proctor.

         In 1849, came A. B. Cornwall, Reuben Elliott, Hanson Gregg and John Wright. Some of these had been in Iowa, one and two years previous to this time, but not in Cedar County, except Mr. Cornwall, who had settled on the “Bond” farm in 1847, afterward moved to Muscatine county, then to his present location.

         The Indians were very numerous until 1840, and presumed to own this country as their hunting ground and did not regard the encroachments of the pale-face with favor; they would tear down the fences of the settlers whenever they crossed a trail, and drive the herds of ponies through the growing crops.

         The murder of Atwood will be referred to more specifically in another chapter of this work.

         In 1850, when the history of the settling of Springdale Township began in earnest, an exciting incident occurred in this settlement. A small child of Wm. Henderson, 2 years old, its mother having gone to one of the neighbors some distance north, was left at home with an older sister. The little girl—Lizzie—slipped off and attempted to follow her mother. The older daughter thinking her mother had little Lizzie with her, did not look for her, and when the mother came home they neither of them knew where she was. The alarm was given, and search began; this was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, in September. The tracks could be found for some distance in the direction which her mother had gone, but all traces were lost and by dark, about thirty men from far and near, with women and children were out searching in every direction; the night was cold, so cold that those on horseback suffered, while the howls of fierce wolves brought terror to every heart. The search was continued all through the weary night, when just as the sun was rising in the east, the little Lizzie was found in a patch of weeds about one and a quarter miles from the house, where she was fast asleep; and when the first man found the child and gave the news to his companions, there was one grand re-echoing along the line: “Lizzie is found, alive and well.”

         Among the early settlers who still reside near Downey, are Jonathan and Thomas Crozier, who came in 1852; Henry Waters, in 1853; Hanson Gregg, in 1850; E. T. S. Schenck, in Muscatine County, in 1839, and Cedar County in 1832; Alvin, son of John Larue, in 1847, and John Nyce, son of Enos Nyce, in 1836.

         September 27, 1852, James B. Berryhill entered the southeast quarter of Section 30. This was sold to Hugh D. Downey, one-half, January 18, and the remainder, September 21, 1853. The Spring after the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, or Mississippi & Missouri Railroad, as it was then called, was completed, Mr. Downey laid out the village which received his name. June 29, 1869, the eighty acres of which the village was laid off was purchased by A. B. Cornwall, who had it re-surveyed by Martin G. Miller September 10, 1869. At that time, the following persons owned lots there: A. B. Cornwall, James . . . ...

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... . . . Crozier, who kept a general store; J. C. Evans, who bought grain and stock; V. R. Cornwall, who kept store and was railway agent; D. Kinkaid, blacksmith; L. E. Elliott, stock dealer; E. W. Luster, stock dealer; William M. Wilcox, laborer; James R. Singleton, Constable; Edward Riley, section boss; Thomas Fern, hotel keeper; Dennis Cunningham, laborer; William Brisbine, farmer; Jonas Hinchliffe, shoemaker, and Wat. Sanders, laborer.

         The first building was a carpenter shop, erected in 1856, by Edward Fowler, Isaac and John Heald; the former being the owner. It was located on the site of the school house, and was afterward moved away. In the Fall of that year, the depot was built. In 1857, A. B. Cornwall purchased the general store which had been started a short time before by Mr. Wallace. Four houses were built in 1857 by Mr. Downey; one on Lot 2, Block 10, was opened as a hotel by Beech Downes, followed by E. W. Luster, and then Thomas Fern, as proprietors, after which it was used as a private residence and is now the grocery store of Harvey Watson. The other houses were one on Lot 7, Block 10, now occupied by V. R. Cornwall, one on Lot 10, now the residence of James Crozier, and one on Lot 7, Block 12, now occupied by James R. Singleton. In the same year, John Loy built a house on Lot 4, Block 11, now owned by Edward Riley.