History of Cherokee County |
History of Cherokee County |
| ORGANIZATION OF CHEROKEE COUNTY About fifty counties were set off at the Third General Assembly which convened at Iowa City, then the capital of the state. The most of these were in Western and Northwestern Iowa. The most of these wee in Western and Northwestern Iowa. The date was December, 1851. Among this number was Cherokee county, named for the noted southern Indian tribe. Its boundaries were minutely described and defined. An organization was authorized as soon as practicable. In the spring or summer of 1853 this newly formed sub-division of the State of Iowa was attached to Woodbury, then called Wahkaw (Indian) for judicial purposes. At that date the laws of Iowa provided that any organized county might petition the county judge of the nearest organized county, and be attached thereto as a civil township for judicial purposes. Hence Cherokee was attached to what is now known as Woodbury county. In 1857, however, a sufficient population being found as regular residents of what was then styled Cherokee civil township, it was regularly organized into a county by itself. The first election was held sometime during the month of August 1857, at the log house of George W. Lebourveau, who survived until a few years ago and died at Cherokee, where he was counted among the very earliest pioneers. Source: History of Cherokee County, by Thomas McCulla, Volume I, pg. 47 |
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