History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Marshall
MARSHALL COUNTY was created in January, 1846, by a division of the original county of Benton. It lies in the sixth tier west of the Mississippi River, in the fifth south of the Minnesota line and was named for Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. The Iowa River flows through it in a southeasterly direction which, with numerous tributaries, waters a large portion of the county. It contains sixteen congressional townships making an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles. Excellent building stone is abundant and the county contains more than 30,000 acres of native forest.
Joseph and William Davison were the first white settlers in the county. In 1847 they took claims in what is now Le Grand township. The following year Joseph M. Ferguson, Josiah Cooper and others settled near Timber Creek and a large number of families made homes in other parts.
In 1849 the county government was organized by the election of the following officers: David E. Cooper, clerk; J. M. Ferguson, sheriff; J. Hobbs, probate judge; Zeno B. Freeman, treasurer; Jesse Amos, Joseph Cooper and James Miller, county commissioners. The first court was held by Judge William McKay in the fall of 1851 in a log cabin belonging to John Ralls which stood in the grove north of where Marshalltown was built. It 1851 the county-seat was located at Marietta where a town was laid out. William Dishon was the first postmaster, keeping the office in his store. Doctors Whealen and Nixon were the first physicians in the town and county.
In the summer of 1853 Henry Anson and John Childs laid out a town on a claim made by Anson two years before, where he had built a log cabin. It was named Marshall for a town of that name in Michigan. But upon learning of one in Henry County bearing the same name, the proprietors changed it to Marshalltown. A fierce contest at once began to secure the removal of the county-seat from Marietta to Marshalltown which continued for several years until in December, 1859, a decision of the Supreme court settled the contest in favor of Marshalltown. The first newspaper in the county was established by T. J. Wilson in 1855 at La Fayette, now Albion, named the Iowa Central Journal. The paper was moved to Marshalltown in 1857 by E. N. Chapin and R. N. Barnhard who changed the name to the Marshall County Times. Wells Rice was the first postmaster when the office was established at Marshalltown in 1854. G. M. Woodbury was for many years one of the most enterprising citizens in securing railroads and promoting manufacturing in the growing city. In 1863 the Iowa and Nebraska Railroad was built through the county from east to west, passing through Marshalltown.