the second tier of counties west of Missouri and about 50 miles north of the state line. In extent it is 21 miles from north to south and 24 miles from east to west, containing 504 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Anderson, east by Bourbon, south by Neosho and west by Woodson county. The county was organized at the time of its creation, Charles Passmore being appointed probate judge; B. W. Cowden and Barnett Owen county commissioners, and William Godfrey sheriff. These officers were to hold their offices until the general election in 1857, and were empowered to appoint the county clerk and treasurer to complete the county organization.
The first white inhabitants located in the county during the early part of the year 1855. Duncan & Scott's History of Allen County (p. 9), says: “There is some dispute as to who made the first permanent settlement, but the weight of the testimony seems to award that honorable distinction to D. H. Parsons, who, with a companion, B. W. Cowden, arrived on the Neosho river near the mouth of Elm creek in March, 1855.”
During the spring and summer settlement progressed rapidly. The greater number of settlers located along the Neosho river, among them being W. C. Keith, Henry Bennett, Elias Copelin, James Barber, Barnett Owen, A. W. G. Brown, Thomas Day and Giles Starr. Along the banks of Morton creek the early settlers were Hiram Smith, Michael Kisner, Augustus Todd, A. C. Smith, Dr. Stockton, George Hall, Anderson Wray, Jesse Morris and Thomas Norris. Although many of the early settlers were pro-slavery men, but few slaves were brought into the county. The free-state men showed such open antagonism toward slaveholders, that the slaves were soon given their freedom or taken from the county by their masters. A party of pro-slavery men from Fort Scott founded a town company and laid out a town in Allen county, south of the mouth of Elm creek and on the east bank of the Neosho river, about a mile and a half southwest of the present site of Iola. The company was incorporated by the bogus legislature as the Cofachique Town Association, with Daniel Woodson, Charles Passmore, James S. Barbee, William Baker, Samuel A. Williams and Joseph C. Anderson as incorporators. The first postoffice was established at Cofachique in the spring of 1855 with Aaron Case as postmaster, but no regular mail service was opened until July 1, 1857, the mail up to that time being brought in from Fort Scott by private carrier paid by the citizens.
In Feb., 1856, M. W. Post and Joseph Ludley, who were engaged in the survey of the standard parallels, finished with the fifth parallel through Allen county and concluded to locate near Cofachique. The next summer Mr. Ludley brought a sawmill from Westport, Mo., and set up in the timber near the town. This mill was run by horse power and was the first manufacturing concern of any kind in the county.
In the second territorial legislature, elected in Oct., 1856, Allen county was represented in the council by Blake Little and in the house by B. Brantley and W. W. Spratt.
