History of Hamilton County, Iowa Excerpts from the "The History of Iowa", by Benjamin F. Gue. Copyright 1903 Transcribed by Sue Soden . Copyright © 1998 by Sue Soden. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ HAMILTON COUNTY, IOWA 1851 created as Risley 1853 renamed Webster 1857 renamed Hamilton 1857 organized COUNTY SEAT: Webster City PARENT COUNTY: Risley Hamilton County lies in the fourth tier south of Minnesota and in the sixth east of the Missouri River. When first created in 1851 the county was named Risley. The Fourth General Assembly changed the name to Webster. At the same session Webster County was enlarged by consolidating it with Yell County which joined it on the west. In 1857 Hamilton County was created by taking from Webster the territory on the east formerly embraced in Risley. It was named for W.W. Hamilton, then president of the State Senate. The new county of Hamilton contained sixteen congressional townships making an area of five hundred seventy-six square miles. Webster City was made the county-seat. Wilson Brewer and Nathan and William Stanley were the first settlers within the limits of the county; they made claims on the Boone River in November, 1850, where Brewer and William Frake laid out a town which they named Newcastle. In 1851 Peter Lyon, Isaac Hook, S. Bell and Jacob Crooks settled along the Boone river. The first school was taught by John Hancock in a log cabin three miles north of Newcastle in the winter of 1854. The first store in the county was opened by Isaac Hook in 1852 near the Des Moines River, at a place called Hook's Point. The first physician was Dr. H. Corbin who located at Homer which was the county-seat of Webster when it embraced the present counties of Hamilton, Webster and a part of Humboldt and was at that time one of the best and most promising towns in northern Iowa. The division of the county, however, ruined its prospects. The county-seat was lost and for many years it was a deserted village fast going to decay. In 1856 Brewer and Frake sold their interest in Newcastle to Walter C. and Sumler Wilson who changed the name to Webster City. In 1857 the county was organized by the election of the following officers: John D. Maxwell, judge; Cyrus Smith, treasurer; Charles Leonard, sheriff. The first newspaper was established in June, 1857, by Charles Aldrich and named the Hamilton Freeman. The Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad was built through the county from east to west on the line of Webster City. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************