Book Description

Excerpt from The History of Jefferson County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &C: A Biographical Directory of Citizens, War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Jefferson County, &C Early forty-three years have come and gone since civilization's advance-guard came to occupy and develop the rich agricultural lands and exercise dominion in that part of the Black Hawk country included in Jefferson County. If the pioneers of 1836, or some of those who immediately followed them, had directed their attention to the keeping of a chronological journal or diary of events, to write a history of the county now would be a comparatively easy task; but, pre-occupied with the cares incident to frontier life, no such journals were ever attempted. In the absence of such records, the enterprise is one of no small moment, and the magnitude of the undertaking is still further increased by the removal, by death or otherwise, of nearly all the pioneer fathers and mothers who first came to gladden the prairie and forest wilds with their presence, and scatter the seeds of that better intelligence, which, growing and spreading as year was added to year, has made the country of their choice rank second to none in modern aecom plishments. The seeds they scattered ripened into the fullness of a plentiful harvest, and schoolhouses, churches, cities, towns, telegraphs, railroads and princely dwellings occupy the old camp-grounds of the Sauks, Foxes and other kindred tribes of red men. The struggles, changes and vicissitudes that forty-three years evoke, are as trying to the minds as to the bodies of men. Physical and mental strength waste away together beneath gath ering years, and the memory of names, dates and events become lost in the confusion engendered by time and its restless, unceasing mutations. Circumstances that were fresh in memory ten and twenty years after their occurrence, are almost, if not. Entirely, forgotten when fifty years have gone. If not entirely obliterated and efi'aced from memory's tablet, they are so nearly so that, when recalled by one seeking to preserve them, the recollections come slowly back, more like the memory of a midnight dream than of an actual occurrence, in which they were partial if not actual participants and prominent characters. The footprint of time leaves its impressions and destroying agencies upon everything, and hence it would be unreasonable to suppose that the annals, incidents and happenings of nearly half a century in a community like that whose history we have attempted to write, could be preserved intact and unbroken. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.