Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-12-03
First Time Attempt has Been Made
to Put Genuine History of
the County in Book
Form.
COMPILED BY JESSE W. LEE
A Compendium Of Some of the More
Important Events of Past
Sixty Years.

4 The new history of Hamilton
county, compiled by j. w. Lee of
this city and published by The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Company Of Chi
cago, is now being delivered to sub
scribers. 1t is really the only his
tory of the county that is entitled to
be called history ever published in
book form. 1t comprises two large
volumes, the first of which is devot-
ed to the general history of the
county, the second volume being
more of an autobiography of some
of the prominent people of the coun-
ty.
In the editors preface Mr.. Lee
says:
This volume brings the general
history of Hamilton county down to
the beginning of the twentieth CEN
tury and no attempt has been made
to make systematic record Of
events occurring later than the fore
going date. 1t presents the first SER
ious attempt at compiling and pub
fishing history of Hamilton county
that has ever been made. Chapters
three TO ten are the work of F. @.
Lee, deceased. They were written
in 1890 and 1891 and are presented.
practically, as they were prepared
by him, and in the preparation of
these chapters Mr.. Lee was always
glad to acknowledge valuable assist
ance from Isaiah ,Doane. Chapter
twenty -eight, entitled the mills of
the County" was prepared by Mrs.
Eff1e McKinley-K -Kantor.
Chapter twenty-nine, entitled
"The Kendall Young Library" was
prepared by f. D. Burgess.
Articles on church history have
been contributed by Chas. Biernatz-
XII, Capt. F. E. Landers, DR.. r. w.
Homan, Rev. M. l.. Melick, Fl. A.
Maxon and Prof. F. C. Runkle.
The editor desires to acknowledge
great assistance from the files of the
Freeman, of which an almost COM
plete set is in existence and from
the writings of j. H. Stephenson,
Isaiah Doane, w. L. Clark, S. B.
Rosenkrans and Charles Aldrich
which have appeared in the press of
the county from time to time. He
also desires to express gratitude for
the kindly interest taken in the
work by Capt. F. E. Landers and for
the immense fund of information he
has always so promptly and willing
ly supplied. He is also grateful for
the kindness of E. S. Boudinot in
making certain drawings . illus
trate the work. j. w. Lee.
Volume / contains 452 pages, sew
en- by ten inches, printed upon fine
book paper, bound in cloth and pro-
fusely illustrated. This volume is
devoted entirely to the general his
tory of the county and is work
that will be eagerly read by the old
er settlers who will recall with keen
interest many of the stirring events
therein recorded
Chapter / is devoted to the geol-
ogy of the county. Chapter Q deals
with the title and organization of
the county and its early settlements.
Chapter 8 records the arrival of
Preston Bell in 1S49 and other earl
lest settlers in the years immediate
ly following. Chapter 4 tells of
early political events. Chapter is
devoted to review Of the Spirit
Lake massacre and the expedition
that went to the relief OF the set
tiers. Events occurring just before
the war are recorded in Chapter
and chapter Is devoted largely to
happenings during that great strug-
gle. Chapter s tells OF some of the
things that took place between the
close of the war and the building
of the first railroad into the county
in 1869. Chapter 9 tells of the ar
rival of the Illinois Central railroad
and some of the exciting events oi
that period. The new court house