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| Early Palmer Pioneers | Old Settlers | Pocahontas County in the Civil War |
| The Railroads | A Short History | The Orphan Trains |
| Fear of Indians | 1884-1886
Cook Book *New Oct 2019 |
Pocahontas County is located in the northwestern portion of the State of Iowa. It was formed in 1851 from Humboldt and Greene Counties. According to sources, the Clerk of District Court holds birth and death records dating from 1880, marriage records from 1881, court records from 1860, and probate records from 1872. The County Recorder holds the land records. The County seat is in the town of Pocahontas and the zip code is 50574.
Pocahontas County gets its name from the Virginia Indian Princess of the same name. She saved the life of Captain John Smith and married John Rolfe, both early settlers in America.
Soon after the county's formal organization in March, 1859, there was a petition for the location of a county seat. Three commissioners were appointed, but only two of them visited the newly-formed county. Those two commissioners selected 200 acres near the West Fork of the Des Moines River. The original name of the town was Highland, or Highland City. Over the years it underwent several name changes; from Highland to Milton to (Old) Rolfe and finally to Parvin.
The first courthouse was built in Rolfe, as it was then called. Swamp land funds paid for a two-story, 36-foot x 50-foot Classic Revival courthouse. It was constructed of bricks that were fired on the site and timber from nearby woods. Lumber was sawed at the sawmill in Rolfe. The second floor of the courthouse was used as a school; at this time the entire county was organized into one school district.
The first school in Pocahontas County was held in the Hiatt log cabin home. Later a brick schoolhouse was built west of the wooden courthouse. The brick for this structure was formed and fired on the site.
In 1882 two railroads came to the county. Unfortunately they did not come to Rolfe (now called Parvin.) With the decline of Parvin, there was a call to relocate the county seat. In 1875 the citizens of Pocahontas County voted 356 to 57 in favor of moving the county seat to Pocahontas Center, later called Pocahontas. The first wooden courthouse with attached brick wings was completed in 1876 at a cost of $2,600. The records were soon moved from Parvin, and the old courthouse was sold for $200.
On April 6, 1920 an election was held that authorized the construction of a new courthouse. In the fall of that same year, a contract was let to architects Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, and to the contractor A.H. Neumann and Co. The building was officially dedicated on September 3, 1923, Labor Day. The total cost of the 121-foot x 86-foot NeoClassical stone structure was $42 1,062.
The appearance of this courthouse -- the third in the county -- has been proudly maintained and has kept pace with the needs of the citizens through progressive times. It has recently been made handicapped-accessible.
Taken from History of County Governments in Iowa, published in 1992 by Iowa State Association of Counties, Des Moines, Iowa
Submitted by Cathy Joint Labath, transcribed from The Pioneer HIstory of Pocahontas County, Iowa...by Robert E Flickinger
One of the terrors that harrassed the early western pioneer was the constant fear of a savage incursion by the Indians. These pioneers on the Lizard served their time as "sentinels" on the commonwealth or "pickets on duty," guarding the frontier of civilization. They endanfered their lives in preparing the way for succeeding generations.
The pioneer, armed with the plowshare and the implements of peace, led the van of progress and civilization on these western wilds with personal peril, as certainly as the soldier who offers his life for the perpetuation of the government, and is armed with the weapons of war.
On one occasion when Wm. Walsh was in Fort Dodge there came to him the word that a band of Indians had camped on his farm after his departure, and had taken some of his shoats. The next morning, accompanied by the sheriff of Webster county and a lot of armed men from Fort Dodge on wagons, he started home expecting to have a pitched battle with the indians.
When they had traveled about ten miles the Indians were seen coming over a little hill a short distance before them, all mounted on ponies. Ordering a halt, the sheriff and Mr Walsh advanced to them and meeting the old chief he showed them his passport written on large sheet of paper. As a result of the parley the Indians were allowed to continue their journey and the armed wagon train soon afterward returned to Fort Dodge.
This was the Johnnie Green tribe of the Pottawattamies and they had indeed stopped at the home of Wm. Walsh, very much to the annoyance of his wife. The squaws looking through the open window of the log cabin and seeing a little baby began to shout "Pap-oose! pap-oose!" thereby awakening fears that they were going to take it with them. Happily a couple of neighboring women arrived and reparting the words, "White men coming! white men coming!" the Indians were induced to leave the premises.
On another occasion two braves that had been trapping around Lizard Lake came to the home of John Calligan at a time when he and his wife were in the field, and Ellen Broderic (Mrs Philip Russell) and Mrs Dennis Connors were in the cabin. Edward, the oldest of the children, was sent to the field for Mr. Calligan and when he arrived they signified by various gestures that they wanted something to eat. Corn bread and meat was very freely served them on chairs outside the cabin.
Then they went to the home of Henry Brockshink where they frightened the women folks, shot the dog, and stole a blanket and several other articles. When Brockshink returned and learned what the Indians had done, he hastened to Fort Dodge and, returning with a posse of armed horsemen, he suprised the settlers considerably but found no other traces of the Indians.
Just after harvest in 1858 a travler spread the word that a band of Sioux warriors, armed with guns and wearing red shawls, had been engaging in a "wild grass dance" and were approaching from the west. This was soon after the Spirit Lake massacre and the news so alarmed the settlers that they were afraid to sleep in their cabins and sought resting places at night under shocks of grain. When word reached Fort Dodge another party of mounted citizens set out to meet the menacing foe.
Hastening through the Lizard settlement they found no trace of any Indians, and an investigation disclosed the fact that the spectral foe was merely a flock of sandhill cranes that had been seen at a distance enjoying a "wild grass dance" the frolicksome flapping of their wings creating the impression that they were waving red colored shawls.
A number of Indian families continued their trapping excursions for several successive autumns, locating their camp in the most sheltered and comfortable places along the north Lizard, which in those days abounded with small fur bearing animals such as muskrats, mink and beaver.
The early settler frequently visited their camp, having an eager curiousity to see the quaint appearance and habits of life of this strange, nomadic race that occupied this land long before the children of the pale face had ever heard of the New World.
On these occaions, the reflection often forced itself, that at the springs along the streams the swarthy maiden filled the family water pail with sparkling water, on these praries the ruddy Indian youth chased the deer and buffalo, and beneath the smoky rafters of the wigwam the old chief talked at night about the brave deeds of his tribe and the Great Spirit.
The first settlers came soon after the close of the Civil War and homesteaded in the Palmer area. The first settlers in the township were William Bell and Niels Hansen in March of 1869. Bell and Hansen built the first cabin in Bellville township. Lumber was hauled from Fort Dodge in a wagon pulled by two yoke of oxen. They shared the cabin. The township was named Bellville in honor of William Bell.
In the Fall of 1870, Nils Hansen settled on the land in section 10 of which Palmer is a part. He built a sod house on his homestead. He brought his bride, Lena Loding, from Fort Dodge. Here Mr and Mrs Hansen resided, until the founding of the town of Hansen, which later became Palmer. A family of six children were born to them; Hans, Hannah, Martin, Minnie, Niels Jr and Edward.
Family names of other homesteaders and pioneer settlers were Lampe, Quinn, Behrens, Harrold, Dean, Anderson, Peterson, Johnson, Beneke, Elsen, O'Brien and Ljungren. These families were nieghbors in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
It is written, that in 1878, William Bell went to the Black Hills region. He joined in partnership with a friend. They engaged in mining gold. He was 56 years old and unmarried when he left the county.
All of the early settlers suffered great hardships. They lived for years in sold houses, ate corn bread and burned hay for fuel. They went from year to year without things that are now considered absolute necessities. They farmed what they could, but many of them had but little money when the came. What grain they raised could not be marketed profitably because of the hauling distance.
For a number of years , the trapping of muskrats was among the most profitable. The pelts were always a ready sale at a fair price. A man, during those early years, was able to supply his family with many needful things, because he was able to catch and skin a muskrat.
The period of hardship contined. In a short time after the settlement, grasshoppers came to this part of Iowa. In the years 1871, 1872 and 1873, grasshoppers destroyed the crops. The insects ate up everything the farmers planted or sowed. In places the grasshoppers lay in pilies like drifted snow. Many left the country, never to return. The properitiy of those who remained was delayed until about the beginning fo the 1880's. Since that time, the county has steadily prospered.
The first public road established in Bellville Township was the road extending east and west, north of section 10, known as the Bell & Hansen road. It was extablished in 1870's. Lone Rock originally about 25 feet high, on the NW corner of Section 33, was a very prominent landmark in the early days. (see photo's, below)
The death of Roswell Drown noted last week, removes on of the oldest men in the county from us and sets us to thinking how fast the tide of time is rolling on. The writer will soon be a resident of this county twenty-eight years and in a mentalenumeration of the old settlers many avacant place. Then there were two settlements, one on the Des Moines, one on the Lizard. As we recall the heads of families of the Lizard settlement, we see many vacant seats, many removed from this life. Here and there some have survived. Of those who came in prior to 1860 we find Michael Collins and family, John Calligan and family, Walter Ford, Mrs McCabe, John Quinlan, Roger Collins, Mrs Forey, Mrs P. Russell, Mrs Kelley, The roll call of voter of 1860 in Lizard Township would find Michael Walsh and John Calligan, all who are left at present in the town and we are not certain whether Mr. Calligan is or not. On the Des Moines a few more have survived, but here only W. Hait, Henry Jarvis and Lot Fisher ofthe electors of 1860 have a residence in Des Moines township but with Robt Struthers, Wm. Struthers, Wm. Jarvis, A.H. Malvom and Perry Nowlan.
But Robt Struthers, Wm. Struthers, Wm. Jarvis, A.H. Malcolm and Perry Nowian reside in Clinton Township. We would suggest that some of the survivors of those who settled between 1850 and 1860 make a list of those who now survive and that an old settler's association be formed of the survivors of those who settled prior to 1870. The object of this associationto be the preservation of the history of the early settlements. If any one who settled in the county prior to 1870 ans are now residents of the county will take a large postal card and write on it name age date of settlement, and postoffice address and send to J. J. Bruce Rolfe Iowa, he will preserve the same, publish the list and mail free copies of paper to all such. a sample of what we need-take heads of families such a J.J.Bruce, aged 50, summer of 1866, address Rofe Revelle
Transcribed by Shirley Vinsand
In 1861 to 65 it may be justly supposed that Pocahontas was sparsely settled. There was a thinly settled district along the Des Moines River mostley near Old Rolfe. From these few homes the county sent its full quota of soldiers, few in number to be sure, but as many in proportion as any other section of the country.
The county sent to the front A. H Mallcom,Oscar Slosson, Henry Cooper, Henry Tilley, C. W. Jarvis, Hiram Evan, W.S. Fegles, John Gaylor, Andrew Mills, Dennis Quigley and James Hood. Malcom, Cooper,Evans, Gaylor,Mills ans Slosson enlisted in the fall of 61 an mustered at Dubuque Sept 21, and afterward became members of the 11th Pa. Cavalry and served through the war in the army of the Potomac. Tilley, Jarvis and Fegles enlisted in December 1863 and at Davenport mustered as members of the 4th Iowa Cavalry and served during the balance of the war in the west. Quigley and Hood enlisted yet later. Mills was the only man who died in the service, and he was starved at Andersonville and died just as he was about to be exchanged at Willmington N.C.. The boys at Rolfe did the proper thing in naming their post Pocahontas County solider who died in the service.
Those from this county especially those of the first and second enlistment, know what service in the army is for their commands were in some of the hottest campaigns of the war, and the only wonder is that so many excaped a grave in southeran soil. These boys who enlisted from Pocahontas county should and will always be held in kindly remembrance by the people of th county. Their names should ever be kept prominently before the people of the county as its defenders.It has been the good fortune of the writer to meet most of those who enllisted from this county, and they have borne themselves as bravely in civil life as during the dark days of strife. Those who yet remain with us are exemplary citizens and are held in high esteem by their neighbors. May their last years with us be years of comfort and peace.
Transcribed by: Shirley Vinsand
The large immigration to Northwest Iowa in the last quarter of the 19th century gave a new impetus to railroad construction and during the 1870's and 1880's, Pocahontas County became a paradise for railroad surveyors. The surveys for five new railways were made across the county .
In 1868 John L. Blair, contractor and builder for the Iowa Falls & Sioux City RR Co., began the extension of the road to Sioux City, a distance of 183 miles.
This railroad was completed to Webster City on December 31, to Ft Dodge in May and to Pomeroy by December 25th, 1869. This railroad reached Cedar Creek in the southwest corner of the county, (where Fonda was later established) about May 1st., 1870 and was completed at Storm Lake on July 4th.
William Bott was the director of the laying of track onthis first railroad from Iowa Falls to Storm Lake. George Fairburn was the first ticket and freight agent and has been identified with public and business interest of the new city founded first as "Marvin", now named Fonda.
When the railroad was completed to Sioux City, the company had daily service, starting about August 1, 1870. In 1880, the surveyors of Toledo & Northwestern RR, a branch of the Chicago and Northwestern System, passed through this county entering section 1, Clinton Twp., passing through Center, Powhaten and Washington and leaving the county in section 19 of Swan Lake Twp.
ByJanuary 5, 1882, the grading was completed to Rolfe Junction and by January 16th, the track was laid to Havelock. By the end of March it was extended through Swan Lake Twp.on its way to Sioux Rapids. That year saw Marshall Twp. organized and a new town christened "Laurens", joined Reubens and Havelock on that line.
Pocahontas County, in 1883, entered the era of growth and developement. We had sixteen townships, and had six thriving railroad towns that clustered around Pocahontas Center, the new county seat. Four railroads had crossed the borders of the county on the south, north and east and they offered splendid railroad facilities in every direction.
In 1899 another year of railroad construction brought two more railroads to the county and the establishment of two new towns...Varina and "Hanson"."Hanson" became the town of Palmer and will celebrate its Centennial in 2000.
Source: Flickinger's Pioneer History of Pocahontas County..pp248,298-299,303, 356.
Some transcribed documents concerning the Orphan Trains.
Some of the children put on Orphan Trains were true orphans; they had no living relatives to care for them. But some had one or more parents who were forced to give them up because they could no longer give them the care needed.
"New York July 1, 1850
I_________do hereby give up to the AFG my four children__age 13,__aged 10,__aged 8 and ____aged 6. Their mother also giving consent.
Signed_________, Withrop Probanco, Z.P. Weed"
