Excerpt from History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, Vol. 1 The mission of the historian is to chronicle things and events as he finds them, and preserve them according to the fact, rather than to give to history the coloring he thinks it ought to have. The recording of the organization, progress and condition of the county, commercially, socially, religiously, educationally and politically, past and present, is not a matter of interest and value for the present generation alone; future generations will peruse these pages to learn of the past, and from force of circumstances, will be compelled to accept the facts herein presented, as matters of undisputed historic reference. To gather and transcribe the data of this volume in the short space of six months, has been a large undertaking, and what has been accomplished in that period of time, will be disclosed in the pages of this history. The History of Jones County, published in 1879, has been of valuable assist ance in compiling this volume, and its pages have been freely used in this history so far as applicable. The cheerful assistance rendered the editor by those solicited for information and contributions, forms one of the most delightful memories of this task. To meet these people in their homes, in their places of business, and on the street and highway, and secure their hearty cooperation in making this work a success, has been one of the most enjoyable features of the labors we were called upon to perform. The friendships formed, the coopera tion manifest, the appreciation expressed, and the satisfaction experienced in securing a history of our home county, have been encouraging features in the role as historian. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.