History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Van Buren
VAN BUREN COUNTY was created in December, 1836, and named for Martin Van Buren who had been elected President of the United States. It then included a portion of the present county of Davis. In 1838 enough territory was taken from Henry and the original county of Demoine to make the boundaries of Van Buren as they now are, after detaching a part of its territory which was added to Davis. The present county contains four hundred eighty-four square miles and lies in the second tier west of the Mississippi River with the southern boundary the Missouri State line. The Des Moines River flows through it in a southeasterly direction for a distance of forty-five miles, having numerous tributaries and borders of excellent timber, dividing the county about equally between woodland and prairie. Coal and building stone are abundant as well as water power. The first settler in the county was Abel Galland who took a claim near where Farmington stands, in 1832.
The first white man who built a cabin where Keosauqua now stands was John Silvers who took a claim in 1835. During the same year Isaac W. McCarthy, John Tolman, E. Pardom and others settled in the same vicinity. In the fall Silvers sold his claim to Mr. Seigler whose wife was the first woman in the county. In 1837 a company composed of James and Edwin Manning, James Hall, John J. Fairman and others purchased the Seigler land and laid out a town which was named Keosauqua, the Indian name for the Des Moines River.
Farmington had been previously laid out and was the first county-seat where Judge David Irwin held the first court in April, 1837. Many towns were platted in the early days and the rivalry for the county-seat was very sharp. An act of the Legislature of 1839 located it at Rochester but the Governor vetoed the act. Commissioners chosen the same year by the Legislature located the county-seat at Keosauqua.
Another town was laid out in 1839 by R. King just below Keosauqua which was named Des Moines City. A dam was built across the river at this place and a flouring-mill erected. In the fall of that year a small steamer, the S. B. Science, ascended the Des Moines River to this dam. It was loaded with Indian goods, provisions and whisky and was under the command of Captain Clark. In the summer of 1843 a weekly newspaper was established at Keosauqua named the Iowa Democrat; its proprietors were Jesse M. Shepherd and John T. Mitchell. One of the first railroads built in the State was the old Des Moines Valley which was projected by citizens of Keokuk to follow up the valley of the Des Moines River from that city to the Minnesota line. This was the first railroad in Van Buren County.