History of Lee County, Iowa

Excerpts from the "The History of Iowa", by Benjamin F. Gue. Copyright 1903
Transcribed by Sue Soden .

Copyright © 1998 by Sue Soden.

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LEE COUNTY, IOWA
1836 created
COUNTY SEAT: Fort Madison & Keokuk
PARENT COUNTY: Des Moines

Lee County was first established in 1836 but the boundaries were changed in
1838 and in 1839 its present boundaries were fixed by the Legislature. On
the 18th of January, 1838, the county-seat was located at Fort Madison. The
county lies in the extreme southeast corner of the State, the Mississippi
River forming the eastern boundary, while the Des Moines River forms the
the western and part of the southern boundary.

The origin of the name of the county is involved in doubt. It was named in
an act of Legislature of Wisconsin Territory on the 7th of December, 1836.
It has been claimed that it was named Robert E. Lee but when it is
remembered that he was an obscure lieutenant in the regular army when the
original county was named, not having been in or near that region until
1837, from which time he was an engineer in charge of improvements of the
Mississippi until 1841, there is not even a remote probability that he had
ever been heard of at Belmont where Lee County was created and named. There
was a land speculator from New York operating in the "Half Breed Tract," by
the name of Charles Lee, about the time the county was created and it has
been supposed that the county might have been named for him. There is no
evidence to substantiate this supposition. Lieutenant Albert M. Lea had, in
1835, descended the Des Moines River, as engineer, of an exploring party
making a survey of its course and rapids. He surveyed and mapped the shore
of the Mississippi River in Lee County and above the same year. He was an
officer in General Kearny's command at old Fort Des Moines, in Lee County,
for some time. In 1836 he became widely known as the author of a book and
map of the "Iowa District." This publication made his name familiar to the
people of the "Black Hawk Purchase" the year that Lee County was named.
Many of the prominent citizens of pioneer times understood and believed
that the county was named for Albert M. Lea, who gave the name of "Iowa" to
the region which afterward became the State of Iowa. Lee County has an area
of five hundred twelve square miles and an abundant supply of native
woodland.

In 1843 the county-seat was removed to West Point where the first term of
court was held the same year. In the fall of 1845 by a vote of the people
Fort Madison was again made the county-seat. Commissioners appointed in
1840 had selected a site for the county-seat near the geographic center of
the county, where a town was laid out and named Franklin but no buildings
were erected and the business of the county was never transacted there. By
act of the Legislature of 1855 a court with concurrent jurisdiction was
established at Keokuk where a deputy clerk kept records of the court.

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representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent.
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