WILLIAM S. TOWNSEND
William S. Townsend, made a settlement and built a cabin on the "Botna" near Indiantown in 1850. He lived here until 1852 when he removed to what is now Edna township. He was a regular pioneer, and was familiarly known as "Buck" Townsend. On taking up his claim in Edna, he selected a small grove part of which he like many others brought up in a wooded country, grubbed out to make a farm, when thousands of acres of beautiful prairie lay all around him. His case, however, is not a singular one, for people who are, at the present day clearing up the heavy forest lands of Wisconsin, cannot understand why so many prefer the prairie land to their woods, contending that where trees will not grow the soil must be poor. Edna township took its name from the wife of Mr. Townsend. In 1858, this old pioneer, pulled up stakes and emigrated to Missouri, and his present whereabouts are unknown.
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, pp. 244-245.
William S. Townsend was the next to make a settlement, locating in a cabin, which he built on the banks of the Nishnabotna river, between the sites of the towns of Lewis and Indiantown. This was in the fall of 1850. In 1852, he removed from here, to what is now Edna township, being the first settler in that section of the county. He was a native of Kentucky. He remained in the south part of the county until 1855, when he removed to Pottawattamie county, and later to Nebraska.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani 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. 504.
