DR. GERSHOM S. MORRISON
Dr. Gershom S. Morrison settled at a place one and-a-half miles west of the point where the point of Anita now is, in August 1853, being the first settler in that part of the county. He entered a large tract of land and built what was then called a large house. He kept the stage station for many years and in that early day Morrison's Station or Morrison's Grove was known for many miles around. The Doctor was a great hunter, and duridg [sic during] one winter killed one hundred and fifty deer. During the first year or two he hauled his supplies from Adel, Dallas county, and went there for his milling. He had been a practicing physician in Illinois, and after removing to the place named sometimes prescribed for his neighbors. The Doctor died in 1863. Mrs. Lura Morrison, the Doctor's wife, and for whom Lura township was named, died in 1867.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 249.
The pioneer settler of Grant township was Dr. Gershom S. Morrison, who located about a mile southwest of where Anita now stands, in August, 1853, at what is known as Morrison's Grove. Here he entered a large tract of land, and erected a double log cabin, which was considered as a large house, in those days. He came here from Bureau county, Illinois. The doctor kept the stage station, which was called Morrison's Station, or Grove, for many years, and was known from one side of the State to the other. He was a great hunter, and during the winter of 1855-6, killed in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty deer. He was a regularly educated physician, and had practiced medicine in Illinois, previous to his location here, and would sometimes prescribe for his neighbors in this county, although he did not follow it as a profession, or means of livelihood. During the winter oi 1854-5, Doctor Morrison, Peter Kanawyer, R. D. McGeehon and J. R. Kirk spent about two months in staking out a road, bridging the streams, etc., from Dalmanutha, Guthrie county, to the Nishnabotna river, about two mile from Indiantown, a distance of about forty miles. All the road work and bridge building was done by the settlers, without pay, up to 1856, through this part of the country, as there were no regularly laid out roads, and the taxes were not sufficient to do it, or even keep them in repair. The Western stage company, put a line of four-horse coaches on to this road, in May, 1855, from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, and the first station west of Dalmanutha, a distance of eighteen miles lying between with a house. Doctor Morrison died while a resident of the township in 1863. His wife, whose name was Lura, and after whom the extinct township of Lura was named, died in 1867.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 683-684.
