OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION
Page 2

Written by Pearl Gordon Vestal, Hamilton, Illinois
Compiled for IAGenWeb Lee Co. by Connie Street

LEE COUNTY PIONEERS ARRIVING BEFORE JULY 4,1840 FORM "OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION OF LEE COUNTY IN 1871

Thirty three men will have their names copied for your interest today because they signed a roll early in 1871, founding the "Old Settlers Association of Lee County."

They met first at the Court House in Fort Madison, on Jan. 5 and chose as their first President Hon. Philip Viele, with R. W. Pittman to serve as the secretary. The meeting was adjourned to April 13 to perfect the organization and appoint a committee to draft a constitution and by laws, which were submitted and accepted by the general meeting held on July 4, at the fair grounds in Fort Madison. This latter was the first of a series of annual gatherings for reminiscence, speeches, music, basket dinners and a general good time, with the assembly moving to other parts of the county, such as Keokuk, in later years.

What had these thirty three persons in common? All were men, all had arrived in Lee County before July 4, 1840, and all had the good fortune to live and remain residents of the county until 1871.

By a subsequent amendment, as the "old timers" became fewer, persons coming before December,1846 were admitted to membership. By 1874, the roll had lengthened to about 200 members. Biographical sketches of the members were written down as a memorial to their pioneering labors.

Here are the 33 names, as printed in 1874, that were inscribed in 1871, all with their year of arrival or of birth in Lee County, many giving even the month and day of their entry into Lee. Some had come as men, or their own decision, and some, we know, like James W. Campbell, were children brought in by their parents or other kinsfolk.

The two first officers started the list: Philip Viele, June 2d, 1837, and R. W. Pittman, April 2d, 1835. Their names are followed by Alex Cruikshank, March 1st, 1834; Elias Overton, Aug.16th,1836; James W. Campbell, Oct. 1829; Peter Miller, Sept. 22d,1836; John G. Kennedy, April 12th,1836; E. S. McCulloch, May.1836 and J. A. Casey, July 6th. 1836. 

Continuing, we find the names of James T. Blair, Nov. 16,1839; Elkanah Perdew, June 19,1840; Samuel Paschal. Sept., 1835; Daniel F. Miller, April 15,1839; James Caldwell, May 4,1837; R. McHenry, 1840; James Cruikshank, May 7,1835; George D.Leidy, May,1840; Robert A. Russell, April,1839; Philotus Cowles, May 3,1838; R. McFarland, Nov.,1839; and Silas D. Hustead, June, l835.

Concluding the names,we are led to remember: J.C. Parrott, Sept. 1834; John Vandyke, Jan. 22, 1837; J.E. Marsell, May 1, l839; May 1, 1839; I. Hale, May, 1839; Hazen Wilson, July 1837; Ferdinand Kiel, March 15, 1849; John H. Douglas, June 20,1836; E. G. Wilson, Nov.28, 1837; George L.Coleman, Nov. 29,1887; Cromwell Wilson, Feb. l, 1837; Louis G. Pittman, April 2,1835; and Jacob Abel, Oct.15, 1836.

Apparently the above 33 first signers were not all who were eligible. The "Old Settlers' Memorial" is quoted as listing Mark Aldrich as at "The Point," now Keokuk, as early as l829, perhaps earlier, but he had gone to Warsaw and died in Arizona. The " Memorial" names some other men who were in various parts of Lee County in 1837, though not all of them were still living and still residents of Lee County in 1871. Among these arrivals before 1837 had been: Col.Wm.Patterson, John Box, Joshua Owen, James Brierly, Capt. Jesse Brown, Hawkins Taylor, Dr. Walker, Edwin Guthrie, William Coleman, David and Edward Kilbourne, Stephen Burtis, Judge Johnstone, John Gains and Isaac R. Campbell, Mr. Campbell moved to St. Francisville, Clark County, Missouri about 1837, and his partner, Dr. Samuel Muir, Indian trader at the site of the future site of the city of Keokuk, one of the earliest settlers in Lee, died in the cholera epidemic of the early 1830's.

These men and others not named endured the hardships of pioneering, cut the timber, built cabins, broke the sod and participated in the founding and government of their townships and the cities of Lee County, while some served in the Iowa Territorial Legislature.