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Archiver > IAPALOAL > 2000-07 > 0963194414


From: "don Whitmer" <>
Subject: Re: [IAPALOAL] Curlew Iowa History.
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 21:00:14 -0500


----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Abdo" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2000 3:24 AM
Subject: [IAPALOAL] Easton family/Curlew Iowa


> Posted on: PaloAlto County Queries
> Board URL:
http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ia/PaloAlto?read=123
>
> Surname: Easton, Wiley
> -------------------------
>
> Looking for family from palo alto county, Iowa.
> Great Great grandparents came by way of New York from Ontario Canada they
> were Samual A Easton b. 3/29/1853 in Brockville, Ontario d. 1/7/1902 -m-
> Ellen (Helen?) Caddin b. 6/26/1856 d. 1922.
> The Wileys are Henry and Lucretia Wiley they sold a mercantile business
> in Curlew about 1907 & left for Eastern montana with 3 grown sons Clay,
> Ewen & Edmond along with Edmonds 3 young daughters from his marriage to
> Mable Easton.
> Mable Easton had passed away in 1905 at the age of 27.
>
>
> ==============================
> Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again.
> http://pml.rootsweb.com/
> Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.
This is the first couple of pages of the book. Some people have expressed
some interest. If you are not among them, I will never know that you deleted
these passages without reading them. The rest of you, enjoy. I'll try to
slip in the answers to your requests as I send out these passages. Tonight
we start on the Easton family and will continue with them next.

*From "Our Centenniel -- 1884-1984 -- Curlew, Iowa"
P 11 shows a map of Rush Lake Twp where Curlew is located. There are also
several letters certifying the plat and the founding of the town.

Pp16-17
Originally was populated by Indians, and it is to these Indians that we
owe the name of our state "Iowa Beautiful Land."
The early settlers were a hardy group of people. These settlers
uncovered some of the richest farmland in the United States. When Iowa
became a state in 1846 there were settlements along the Missippippi River
and along the Missouri River with a fort or two in between. But most of the
land was open prairie as far as the eye could see.
The first settlement in Palo Alto County was in 1855. This was along the
east bank of the Des Moines River, near where West Bend now stands.
The first mail service to Palo Alto County was in 1858. First trip from
Algona to Spirit Lake started July 1, 1858. First post office was at Jack
Nolan's and Mr. Nolan was postmaster. The mail would be put in a big milk
pan and the settlers would come and go through it picking out their own.
The winters were hard, cold and then the blizzards that were not fit for
man nor beast. Prairie fires were menace in these days, they could travel
faster than a horse could run and would jump the river where it was from 70
to 100 feet wide. If that wasn't enough the grasshoppers were a fearful pest
in 1873 and later years. They tell that the hoppers were a foot thick on the
water and more coming over the banks like a waterfall.
The settlers in the county, very early, began to inaugurate needed
improvements as early as 1861 thoughts of schooling for the children. The
first school in the county was taught by a Mr. White in a log cabin in the
Walnut Township. School books could be purchased in Fort Dodge, Iowa. There
was no trouble picking what books they should have; reading, writing, and
arithmetic, with some geography was all they needed.
The county was gradually being settled. Rush Lake Township was one of
the earlier ones. In 1862 the homestead law was approved by President
Lincoln. By the law the land was given to early settlers for a fair price
for settlement and cultivation. This enabled them to get a start owning
their own land. They built their home of sod, thatched hay for a roof,
covered again with sod. They planted trees for shelter from the sun.
in 1869 we read that a great number came to Rush Lake Township. To name
some; D. G. Grier, Philo Sanford, Ed and H. Sanders, Mike Schuler, with the
nest spring more arrived, S. W. Tressler and A. V. Lacey were familiar
names. In 1871, J. P. Stebbins, D. C. Gross and D. M. Wilcox located near
the others.
As the county was gradually being settled the building of railroads was
a great thing for the settlers. The town of Curlew was on of the many
stations established, it came into being in 1882. It was named Curlew by
President Whitehead of the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railway because of the
numerous Curlew Birds in the countryside. Shortly after the raiload had been
established a man by the name of S. A. Easton built a hotel near the railrod
right-of-way. This hotel drew trade from the county as it was convenient for
the traveling man.


>
*There is no copyright information in this book, so I'm assuming it is in
the public domain and sharing it is legal.

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