Introduction

The history of a commonwealth like Mahaska county is the history of the upward struggles and achievements of individual life and the study of human life is always interesting. We have inherited the soil which in some measure has been made sacred by the privations and toils of a generation which in a few years will have no living representatives among men. The pioneers received these lands witll rejoicing from the hand of nature, and have patiently subdued and nurtured the soil into its present richness and beauty. These heroic spirits now only modestly ask a resting place from their toils in the bosom of mother earth. These chapters have grown out of a desire to perpetuate their memory aild the valor of their achievements. Two things have been kept constantly in the mind of the author. viz. : To see that each page should breathe a spirit of appreciation for the work of the pioneers of Mahaska county and to make all the facts stated clear and interesting to the reader.
The almost exclusive source of information for the pioneer period has been the men and women themselves who were early on the frontier and know whereof they have spoken. To them most of all we are indebted for the facts and incidents herein related. As it would not be possible to give sketches or to make personal mention of any large number of persons, we have confined ourselves to the briefest outlines in the lives of only a few of the leading spirits who were put forward in the organization and settlement of the county. The biographical department can be relied upon for extended personal sketches. It is not an easy task to write such a history, but the hours of thought in arranging and presenting these facts so as to make them interesting and readable have been lightened by the pleasure in the labor which prompted the undertaking. If the readers of this volume shall take as much pleasure in the perusal of its chapters as the author has in gathering and arranging the facts the compensation will have been mutual.