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Your ancestors were among many families in the second wave of settlers to come to Benton county. The first family to settle was in 1839 and lived among the Indians until they were moved west. Iowa became a state in 1846 and the business of organizing the county and township governments began at that point. The land could not be legally settled until it was surveyed. Many of these first families had come from Indiana
and the word went back to Indiana that this was great country to raise a family. There was also a period of time in those earliest days referred to in the history books as the dark ages when outlaws hid out in the easterb Iowa woods. The early settlers in several counties got together and devised a plan to make the area safe from these hoodlums. The land in those days was sold for cash or purchased by bounty warrants. Homesteading laws were not passed until much later. The movement in the 50s was a land rush, the settlers came there for the land like others went to California for gold. The soil in Benton co. has been referred to as black gold in its history. That changing beauty in the patchwork of gold and green across Iowa formed by the corn and grains represents years of hard labor of our ancestors. Your ancestors in 1850 were worried about feeding their family. Todays Benton co. farmers feed the world.
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