and recorder; Andrew Sample, sheriff; and N. D. Babcock, prosecuting attorney. In 1854 the county-seat was located at Bradford, a new town near the southwest corner of the county. The first term of court was held there in June, 1854, by Judge T. S. Wilson of Dubuque. New Hampton was laid out near the geographical center of the county and soon became a competitor for the county-seat. The first attempt at removal was defeated but in 1858 New Hampton was successful.
The first newspaper in the county was established at Jacksonville in 1857 by Isaac Watson and was called the Chickasaw County Republican but after three years it was suspended. In 1860 W. E. Beach started the Courier at New Hampton. Nashua is the second town of importance and is located on the Cedar River in the southwestern corner of the county. The first railroad to enter the county was the Milwaukee and St. Paul which runs through New Hampton.
CLARKE COUNTY lies in the second tier north of the Missouri line, in the seventh west of the Mississippi River and contains twelve congressional townships embracing an area of four hundred thirty-two square miles. It was originally a part of Demoine County but in January, 1846, the new county was established and named for James Clarke who was then Governor of Iowa Territory. The boundaries formerly included the east half of Union County but did not then embrace the eastern tier of townships. In 1849 the boundaries were changed and the county assumed its present form. In 1846, when the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo took place, John and James Longley and John Conger, with their families, became separated from one of the trains and camped six miles south of where Osceola stands. Not being able to find the train they decided to remain where they were, open farms and make homes. The place was long known as “Lost Camp” and became the first settlement in Clarke county.
