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Linn County's Namesake
How Linn County Got Its Name
| Lewis Field Linn |
Linn
County was named for Lewis Fields Linn, senator from the state of
Missouri, who was born November 5, 1795, near the present city of
Louisville, Kentucky. He was the grandson of Col. William Linn of the
Revolutionary war. Both his grandparents fell victims to the scalping
knives of Indians. His father was once taken captive by Indians, but
freed himself and his companion after tomahawking several of the
Indians as they lay sleeping at night.
Dr. Linn was appointed in
the autumn of 1833 by the governor of Missouri as senator to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Alexander Buckner. Senator Benton was
his colleague. At that time there were only twenty-four states in the
Federal Union. He served his appointed term and was afterwards twice
elected. Early in his career he became the champion of the western
states and territories and every measure looking to their measures were
originated by himself. He died in 1843.
On September 20, 1832,
General Winfield Scott and Governor Reynolds of Illinois, negotiated a
treaty with the Sacs and Foxes and Winnebago Indians, by which there
was acquired from these tribes, 6,000,000 acres of land on the west
side of the Mississippi, known as the Blackhawk Purchase. The tract
extended from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the
upper Iowa river, at what is now New Albion and had an average width of
fifty miles west of the Mississippi river. It did not include the whole
of what is now Linn county; but five years later the United states
bought 1,250,000 more acres from the Indians immediately west of the
first tract. This strip was twenty-five miles wide and its western
boundary was practically the same as the western boundary of Linn
county.
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(Source: The Marion Sentinel, Linn County Centennial Edition, (Marion, IA), Aug 26, 1937)
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