This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Sketches of Early Iona History by N Littler
Mrs Buck of Sigourney recalls a 1838 spring Indian dog feast near Jonah Smart’s trading house. Indians traded with and often sheltered white settlers, while a white trader married a local squaw and educated his mixed sons in St Louis. An 1839 fugitive slave recapture near Grimsley is described as the county’s first such case. Indians and whites generally traded and visited, with chiefs like Wapello and Parma ho forming ties and aiding settlers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Iona
N. Littler
Washington County Gazette
Mrs. Buck
Sigourney
Jonah Smart
Wapello
Sandy Hook
Smart's
Smart
Des Moines
St. Louis
Sory
Buck
Holcomb's Mill
Indiana
Adam Ritchev
United States
Mississippi
Ilinois
Parmaho
Illinois
Henry Clay
Black Hawk
Turner
Lexington
van Buren
Iowa
Lajsens
Burlington
Historical Society
State House
S& A. James
Skunk River
Crooked Creek