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"Past 2 Present"

Wayne County, Iowa

Books

1. Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa. / Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co., 1886, 748 pgs. (Surname list)

• Most counties are included in the Iowa statewide books

• Click here for a brief history of Wayne County

Periodicals

• Winter 1979
  • A Brief History of Wayne County, Iowa
  • Stagecoach and Tavern Days in Wayne County
  • Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices
  • Cemeteries of Wayne County
  • Bibliography of Publlished Source Material
  • Westward From Wayne County by Wagon Train
  • Earliest Marriages
  • Tombstone Inscriptions
  • Old Settlers Listing
• Other 1979 issues
  • Old Settlers Listing (Spring 1979)
  • Death Records (Summer 1979)
  • Death Records (Part 1) (Fall 1979)
• 1980 issues
  • Death Records (Winter 1980)
  • Death Records (Conclusion) (Spring 1980)

Wills and Estate Papers Index (Winter-Spring 1983)

Lore, Fact, Fancy and Fiction about Burials (Fall 1984)

• 1985 issues
  • Grand Army of the Republic - David Harding Post No. 28, Allerton, Wayne County, Iow, 1883-1889 (Spring 1985)
  • Death Records Index 1880-1900 (Autumn 1985)
• 1854 Special Census (Autumn 1988)
• 1854 Census and Notes (Winter 1994)
• From Putnam County, Indiana to Van Buren and Wayne Counties (Winter 1995)

Palimpsest:

• The House on the Hill (July/August 1985)
• Five Generations (July/August 1985)

WAYNE COUNTY was created on the 13th of January, 1846, and lies on the Missouri line about midway between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, containing five hundred twenty-three square miles. It was named for General Anthony Wayne of the Revolutionary War. Branches of the Chariton and Grand rivers flow through the county in a southerly direction cutting channels to a depth of from one hundred to one hundred fifty feet. These streams are usually bordered by timber and numerous groves are scattered over the county.
     In 1840 D. S. Duncan, H. P. Sullivan and H. B. Duncan of Kentucky took claims on Grand River close to the State line near the present town of Lineville. Other settlers soon came, locating in the timber lands along the streams. Among them were Henderson Walker, Benjamin Barker, Hiram Mason, I. W. McCarthy, Joseph Rains, George Garman, Seth Anderson and Isaac Wilson. In November, 1850, Dr. I. W. McCarthy was appointed sheriff to organize the county. The following officers were elected in August, 1851: Seth Anderson, judge; Thomas McPherson, clerk; D. Payton, recorder and treasurer, and I. W. McCarthy, sheriff. Thirty votes were cast at this election and the amount of revenue the first year was $64.30.
     The commissioners chosen to locate the county-seat in the spring of 1851 selected the site where Corydon stands and gave it the name of Springfield but as there was already a town of that name in the State, upon the suggestion of Judge Anderson, it was changed to Corydon for a town of that name in Indiana. The ground was purchased by the county, a town platted by Benjamin Barker and J. F. Statton, the lots appraised and offered for sale. George Garman purchased the first lot for thirty-eight dollars upon which he built a house in which he opened a store. The first sermon was preached by Rev. Morgan Parr, a Christian minister. In the spring of 1852 a term of court was held by Judge McKay in an unfinished log house. The first newspaper in the county was the South Tier Democrat established in 1858 by Cutler and Binkley at Corydon. Lineville, which lies near the State line, in the southwest corner of the county was the first town laid out, in 1848. Allerton is a thriving town four miles southwest of Corydon. The Chicago and Southwestern Railroad was the first built into the county. The Chariton River was named for a French trader who was the first to establish a post near its mouth in Missouri. His name was also given to a county in Missouri where his old trading post stood and later to the county-seat of Lucas County in Iowa.

Source: History of Iowa: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century by Benjamin F. Gue. New York: The Century History Co. 1903 #