History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Ringgold
RINGGOLD COUNTY was created in 1851 and named for Major Samuel Ringgold who was mortally wounded in the Battle of Palo Alto in the Mexican War. It lies on the Missouri State line in the fourth tier east of the Missouri River and contains five hundred forty-two square miles. The Platte and several branches of the Grand River flow through the county in a southerly direction. Belts of native woods are found along the water courses but a large part of the county is rolling prairie through which the larger streams cut the drift to a depth of from one to two hundred feet.
The first settler was Charles H. Schooler who, in 1844, located with his family in the southeast corner of the county, they were for two years the only white people. In 1846 James M. Tithrow and family settled near them. In the spring of 1848 several families took claims in various portions of the county. In 1851 commissioners chosen by the Legislature located the county-seat four miles south of the center of the county where a town was laid out and named Urbana.
In October, 1852, while Ringgold was attached to Taylor County, Judge Taylor ordered an election district to be made of Ringgold to be called Schooler township and a voting place to be at the house of Lot Hobbs where the citizens might vote at the presidential election in November. In January, 1855, commissioners were again chosen to relocate the county-seat. The place selected was on a farm belonging to Edward A. Temple, who sold it to the county. Here a town was laid out and named Mount Ayr. Soon after an election was held at which the following officers were chosen: J. C. Hagans, judge; M. R. Brown, clerk; J. W. Cofer, recorder and treasurer, and Hiram Imus, sheriff. A log court-house was erected in the spring of 1856 where the first court was held by Judge J. S. Townsend in May, 1857. The first settlers in Mount Ayr were David Edwards, Oran, Give, Chester Stancliff, B. B. Dunning and A. G. Beal who located there in 1855. Dr. E. Keith was the first physician and Henry Crabb the first merchant.
In 1852 L. P. Allen came to Ringgold County from North Carolina, bringing with him two slaves, a boy fourteen and a girl sixteen years of age. Finding that he could not legally hold slaves in Iowa, he sold them to a man in St. Josephs, Missouri, for a thousand dollars.
The Mount Ayr Republican was the first newspaper in the county and was established in the spring of 1861 by P. O. James with George Burton as editor. The Burlington was the first railroad in the county.