CHAPTER XVI.
MASSENA TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).
EARLY SETTLEMENT AND TOWNSHIP.
The first settlement made in Massena township was that of Frank H. Whitney, who in the latter part of July, 1858, settled at his town of Whitneyville, which he had but just platted, and on section 8 erected a small board shanty. The land upon which it stood, for many years afterward, formed part of the estate of Samuel T. McCormick. Eseck Whitney, a cousin of Frank H., settled on section 8, in the fall of 1858 and was the second to permanently locate in the twownship.
They were both natives of Oswego county, N. Y., and, although Eseck was seventeen years the elder, he possessed the same family energy and intellectual restlessness which were such marked traits of Frank H. The elder cousin went to Colorado, after remaining three years on section 8, but returned in 1864 on account of Indian troubles, and died here in 1876. His son, William S. Whitney, served as postmaster of Whitneyville from 1866 to 1879.
As to Franklin H. Whitney, the younger of the cousins, one of the great Town Builders of the West, this history is full of his name, and a special biography of him will be found in the skethc of Atlantic, with whose development he was so closely identified up ot the time of his death.
In the spring of 1860 Milon Frary, an Illinois farmer, resided on section 8 for about a year, and then returned to Illinois. His brother, Mark Frary, was a later comer and well known in the county.
Samuel M. Holaday, who served for years on the school board and the board of trustees, and as treasurer and assessor of Massena township, came to Cass county from California, although he had previouly [sic previously] been engaged in farming in Iowa for nearly twenty years. In 1867 he bought the town plat of Whitneyville, where he remained eight years. He then purchased a farm of 200 acres on section 9, carefully improved the land and the entire property and made the tract one of the most desirable estates in the county.
HOW THE TOWNSHIP WAS NAMED.
The honor of naming the township is accorded to Luma W. Stone, one of the trustees mentioned above, whose native town was Massena, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. He served in a Massachusetts regiment during the greater portion of the Civil War, although he was obliged to withdraw for a time on account of lung disease. Notwithstanding his frail health, he was a brave, enterprising, useful citizen, and when he came to Cass county, in 1870, and bought a farm of 120 acres on section 2, he was at once received as a valuable addition to the home community; so much so, that upon the organization of the new township, a few months later, he became a part of its organized government, and his suggestion as to its naming was promptly adopted.
Samuel Taylor McCormick was also one of the founders of the township, and for years before his death in 1883 was actively concerned in its development, both agriculturally and civilly. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and born in Morgan county, Ill., on the old family homestead near the city of Jacksonville. He was the oldest of the children, and, upon the death of his father in 1864, when he was twenty-four years old, he and the family, of which he was the virtual head, removed to Mason county, that State. In 1869, while in search of a better location, he found land which suited him near Whitneyville, and in the spring of the following year, in company with his brothers, James and John, opened a farm on section 8. With twelve others Mr. McCormick organized the township of Massena, being elected one of its first trustees and constables, and for the remaining years of his life continued to be one of the most influential men in its affairs.
John Q. A. McCormick, the brother of Samuel T., also became quite prominent, his homestead being on the north half of section 8.
WHITNEYVILLE POSTOFFICE.
The Whitneyville postoffice, which was the first in the township, was established on section 8, not long after the founding of the place by Frank H. Whitney in 1858. It was afterward discontinued, but in 1866 was re-established, with W. S. Whitney as postmaster, who continued in the office for about thirteen years. Mr. Whitney received for his thirteen years' of labor as postmaster the sum of $197.36, eight years of which period he was obliged to get up every night to make up mail for the stage line. In July, 1879, the office was removed to the residence of V. C. Whip, and shortly afterward to the dwelling of F. B. Nichols, thence to the residence of Hiram Blake, section 16, and finally discontinued.
TOWN OF MASSENA.
This is the only town within the township by that name, and is situated mainly on the north half of section 33, on the north side of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad tracks.
The town of Massena was platted in 1883, and Charles Baker built the first store in the place during the winter of 1883-4. The railroad reached the place in the summer of 1884, and it was incorporated as a town in 1886. Van McCurdy was elected the first mayor of Massena. The Methodists were the first to organize a church in the town. The place is nicely situated, draws from a rich agricultural territory, and has enjoyed a steady growth from the first. Massena has now a population of about 600.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 186-188.Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.
