Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 287
SILAS WHITEHEAD CONDIT

Silas Whitehead CONDIT, deceased, a native of New Jersey, came to Harrison County among the earliest pioneers, arriving as he did in 1848. He was the son of Jeptha and Charlotte CONDIT, who were natives of New Jersey. Mr CONDIT was a shoemaker by trade and emigrated to Ohio, about 1838, where he worked at shoemaking.

He and his brother Amos joined the Mormon Church, and came west to Nauvoo, Ill, where they were to establish that city, and when the Mormons started West they went with them, and stopped to winter at Trader's Point, near Council Bluffs. While the Mormons were platting and surveying for town sites, at old Trader's Point, his brother Amos, while a party were surveying, was murdered in cold blood, by one of the Mormons, who thought the streets they were surveying encroached on his land. They pursued the murderer to Oskaloosa, where he was captured and brought back to Trader's Point and placed in a log jail, but being aided by outsiders, he managed to make his escape and was never re-captured. Mr. CONDIT thought the Elders of the church had something to do with the escape of the man, and he at once left the church and removed with his family to what is now known as Harrison County, and settled on the Little Siuox River, and subsequently laid out the town of Little Sioux, on his own land.

For years, his nearest neighbor was Daniel BROWN, of Calhoun, who was seventeen miles away. He built his first cabin of logs, and its roof was made of bark.

Mr. CONDIT was the first Postmaster of Little Sioux village, and established the first ferry-boat on the Little Sioux River. He was thrice married. Parker L., a son by his first wife, lives in Omaha; Sarah, Adaline, John, Henry, Leonard and Dana S., by his second wife, live at Malta, Idaho. Mrs. Cordeila CONDIT, his widow, with three children, Lottie, Bertha and Frank, live near Albion, Idaho.

Return to 1891 Biographical C Surnames Index

Back to 1891 Biographies Index