Humans have been living on Iowa County soil since the 1800’s and there have been many changes of the land owners. Indians were the very first settlers of the Iowa County land,  as they have over one hundred years of farming and evolving on Iowa soil.

Chiefs and other ceremonial leaders have been controlling the land for a long time before the first settlers of America and the fourteen colonies. At the time every Chief was from a given family and the tribe he led was named after him. The tribe name Keokuk was feared and respected among the tribes, as they were a very large and powerful tribe. Even the White men respected the Indians, Says Pauline. Though powerful and large the Keokuks were very peaceful, they were known to trade, buy and greet but never steal. So when objects ended up missing they placed it on the Indians but that it could not possibly be the Keokuks. 

The Keokuks owned a large section of land that was south of the Iowa river in 1859, for a very long time before the English settlers came barging in, taking over the land and making purchase treaties with the tribal member executives. The englishman were building out quickly and they needed resources and space, since the Natives had thousands of rich farming land and forests for wood, the Englishmen bought it off of them for about five dollars per 1000 square feet. For reference it is about two hundred dollars today. The Natives were quickly losing the land that their ancestors had been growing, farming, and living on for the last hundreds of years. The Keokuks owned about 7 million acres of land. With rich resources and space to grow. But as the Engleshmen began to get bigger and stronger on their newly founded land, they began to take rather than buy or trade with the natives. This would quickly lead to conflict between the Indians and the new settlers causing them to live together. Instead of separate villages the Indians were forced to live with the settlers in very small sections of the town.

 As the settlers continued to settle land and expand, building buildings they also started to get violent. Some of the English started to disagree with the presence of the liberated land and they started to commit violent acts. One recorded incident a settler killed a Keokuk Indian by driving a rail into his skull because he was in the wrong part of the town. This led to not only the Keokuks, but also the Sioux and other neighboring tribes being angered. The tribes then vowed to Kill the white man   Though chief Keokuk was very large and powerful he did not like to engage in conflict so he signed a treaty to move his tribe to Kansas where they would grow and settle on their own without white settlers taking over their land. At The same time they were fighting with the English to keep their own land, so was the Souix tribe. While at war with the Sioux Chief keokuk died in October nineteen o three. Where his young son would take over, the new chief keokuk was a vicious and successful leader and warrior. According to Pauline Chief Moses Keokuk got his first kill against the Souix in war at a very young age. He was one of the reasons the Keokuks were feared, and respected. Now that the Keokuks were at war with another tribe and the white settlers were constantly talking and signing treaties to take their land. They decided to put themselves in the middle of another war with the Blackhawk tribe, Pauline wrote.Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak Was the leader of the Blackhawk tribe and was quickly overwhelmed by the keokuk and were taken over by the keokuk during their war.  What was left of the Black hawk tribe was then relocated to the upper half of the Des Moines river. The Black Hawks chief says “I was once a great warrior, now I am poor and their current situation is because of the Keokuk.” The Blackhawks chief later died on October 3rd, 1838. Where he was traditionally buried and grave robbed shortly after. A lot of Indians at the time were moving or being pushed out of Iowa, in 1842 Indians had consensually given away all of their land in Iowa to the white man and moved into kansas. Then in 1858 The Fox tribe who had been pushed out of their land returned to Iowa, living in Tama Because the Iowa river was there. The Fox were small, but large enough to start a new settlement of four hundred and forty one. Tama is now a neighboring town to Toledo Iowa, Toledo has more of the white population compared to Tama which is a majority of natives. Today the natives live in Tama County on the misquake reservation, and you can still find artifacts from over 100 years ago. 

Powerful leaders concerning land getting forced to another state they never gave up. Regaining their presence in Iowa in the Tama County, Masquake native reservation. Even to this day people are still looking for more clues about the Keokuk indians.

Works Cited

  Caswell, G L., and Henry G. Morse. "Indian Richest Of Americans." North English Record, 12 Apr. 1923, 19 ed., p. 7+, iacounty.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=amana%20indians&i=f&d=01011857-12312021&m=between&ord=k1&fn=north_english_record_usa_iowa_marengo_19230412_english_7&df=1&dt=10. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.

Lillie, Pauline . Marengo The County Seat Marengo The Town. 1 ed., vol. 1, Walsworth Printing CO, 1845 , pp. 22-29, 1 vols, onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=1C18CF82785FE223!32556&authkey=!AARyqHz-EDvjTbg. Accessed 19 Apr. 2023.

1961, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Spanish American vest. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Chief Keokuk. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Tools. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Indians visited. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Indian hills location. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.

Map Of Iowa County. 1898, photograph, Iowa County Historical Museum, Marengo.