Chapter 4, pages 22-26

Over in Nauvoo, Illinois, there occurred on June 27, 1844, an event which would have an important effect on the history of Mills County. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day (i. e. present-day) Saints had been imprisoned under what their church called “false charges” in the county jail at Carthage, Illinois and on the above date a mob broke into the jail and shot and killed both men.

Called Mormons because they believed that the prophet Mormon had written the sacred records of an Israelitic tribe that in ancient times had migrated to South America, abridging them into the larger records of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, the Latter-Day Saints had started after Joseph Smith discovered the writings of Mormon near his home in Ontario County, New York. He translated them and believed that he was chosen to establish a new faith based on these writings.

He soon gained a strong following. But the new church also had strong opposition. This was a time of religious intolerance, Joseph Smith observed, and antagonism was stirred up against the Latter Day Saints. He and his followers moved from New York to Kirkland, Ohio, where they built a beautiful temple and undertook missionary work. One of the missions opened from Kirtland was at Independence, Mo., and to this place the body of the Church later moved. When antagonism developed there, The Church and members, leaving behind their homes, well-cultivated farms and places of worship, moved to a large tract of swampy land on the banks of the Mississippi river in Illinois and built what became at that time the largest city in that state – Nauvoo, which meant. "the beautiful”.

But in that area, too, antagonism developed and in due time Joseph and Hyrum were charged and imprisoned. After their deaths Brigham Young succeeded to the leadership of the Church and decided that his group must seek a distant place where they would be free from the opposition which had developed heretofore. He directed his followers to start a long and most difficult trek to the Rocky Mountains, which ended in time near great Salt Lake where they established Salt Lake City.

Opposition to the Mormons was so intense in Illinois that they were forced to begin their migration before adequate preparation could be made. They left in mid-winter, crossing the Mississippi on the ice for the most part, some going in wagons drawn by oxen or horses, some riding horses, a great many on foot carrying their few possessions in push carts. As they traveled it was seen that some pauses would have to be made to plant and harvest crops for food and build up supplies and equipment. There were several places across southern Iowa where such pauses were made. Some of the Mormons on the trek reached Council Bluffs and others followed a trail across northern, Missouri. In August 1946 [sic 1846], two years after the start of this great migration, some thirty of the Mormons made a settlement on the banks of Keg Creek, establishing the town of Rushville. This was about four miles north of what later became the Fremont-Mills county line.

At first they pitched their tents in this wilderness, later building a number of log cabins. Here occurred the first birth of a white child in the county, Andrew J. Stewart, in the fall of 1846. And Caroline L. Britain was born there January 12, 1847, the first-born of parents who became permanent residents of the county. There also occurred the first death of a white person and for many years a rough slab of limestone marked the grave, which carried the inscription, "J. Eastman, died April 10, 1847, aged 60 years."

In due course most of the group, after raising a crop and acquiring sufficient food, continued their migration. But several stayed on, most of them moving three or four miles north to the present site of Glenwood. Among them were Dr. Libeus T. Coons (who gave his name to the new community, for Glenwood was first known as Coonville), William Britain, Silas and Ira Hillman, G.N. Clark, J. Everett and others. When Mills County became a political entity in 1951 [sic 1851], some of these were influential in the development of the area.

The migrant Mormons also established a village at Silver Creek Grove, about halfway between the present towns of Malvern and Silver City, in the fall of 1847, which was known as Cutler’s Camp after their leader, Alpheus Cutler, on land later owned by Daniel Lewis. A mill was built to utilize the power furnished by the waters of Silver Creek and the Mormons stayed for several years, planting crops and preparing for the continuation of their migration toward their “promised land.”

In 1849 the Mormon exodus had started again and by 1952 [sic 1852] there was little left of the villages of Rushville and Cutler’s Camp.

As the Mormons moved out other settlers came to the area. The Mills County land originally was a part of Pottawattamie County. In early August, 1851, the separate Mills County government came into being after an election held to organize it and to name necessary officials, took place on the first Monday of that month. Glenwood was designated as the county seat. On August 18, 1851, required bonds were filed, the newly-elected officers were sworn in and Mills County became “an independent political entity,” reported the 1881 History of Mills County.

The name of Coonville was changed to Glenwood. The name stems from the timbered glens which abound in the bluffs along the Missouri River flood plain. Certainly many early-day descriptions stressed the beauty of the area and this is attested today by the many fine oak and other trees in the Mills County seat.