History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Union
UNION COUNTY lies in the second tier north of Missouri, in the fourth east of the Missouri River and contains four hundred thirty-two square miles. It was created in 1851 and in the original bill providing for its establishment the county was named Mason, for judge Charles Mason. Just before the passage of the bill in the Senate, upon motion of Mr. Morton, the name Mason was stricken out and “Union” inserted. At that time, after years of better conflict over the institution of slavery which threatened a dissolution of the Union, a compromise had been effected which was believed by many would permanently settle the dangerous controversy and insure the perpetuity of the Union. Hence the name given to this new county. Grand River, Twelve Mile and the Platte are the principal streams traversing the county and their banks are covered with timber.
The county was entirely unsettled in 1846 when the Mormon emigration began from Nauvoo westward through Iowa. At this time many of the Musquaka Indians, under their chief, “Johnny Green,” occupied hunting grounds along Grand River. A large body of Mormon refugees moving westward were overtaken by severe winter storms in Decatur and Union counties. Several hundred men, women and children, unable to endure the hardships of winter travel through an unsettled country, stopped in a grove on the Grand River bluff in Union County and dug caves for shelter form the storms. Here they also built log cabins and cared for the sick and feeble until spring. They built a mill run by horse power and many remained several years cultivating land and raising crops. This furnished a refuge for others who could here recruit from the hardships of the journey and replenish their exhausted provisions. The place was named Mount Pisgah by the Mormons.
In 1850 many settlers came into the county and purchased the improvements made by the Mormons. Among them were William L. Lock, J. H. Stark, Joseph and Norman Nun and Benjamin Lamb. Henry Peters bought the Mormon mill and laid out a town which he named Petersville. A store, hotel and several small houses were built and for a few years it was the business center for the people of the county. In 1851 Amos C. Cooper and Isaac P. Lamb settled in the southern part of the county in Pleasant township and the following year William Grosbeck and Lewis Bragg located in the northeast corner.
The county was organized in 1853 by the election of Norman Nun, judge; John Edgecomb, sheriff, and I. P. Lamb, school fund commissioner. The first term of court was held at Petersville in the fall of 1853 at which Judge A. A. Bradford presided. The commissioners located the county-seat near a beautiful grove on Twelve Mile Creek, in February, 1855, and gave it the name of Afton at the suggestion of Mrs. James Baker. The town of Highland, laid out near the center of the county was a competitor for the county-seat and losing it also lost its buildings which were moved to Afton.
In 1869 the town of Creston was laid out on the line of the Burlington Railroad. The principal division of this road in Iowa and the machine shops were established at Creston and it eventually became the county-seat. The first newspaper in the county was established in the summer of 1859 by Morris and Ryan, named the Afton Eagle. It was Democratic in politics but after the election of Lincoln in 1860 it was purchased by L. Raguet and became neutral.