Comments on: The Freaks and Follies of Frontier Life http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/2007/12/13/the-freaks-and-follies-of-frontier-life/ Myths and Mysteries, Hysterical Histories, and Tree-Kickin' Genealogy Tue, 14 May 2013 16:12:20 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: swesson http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/2007/12/13/the-freaks-and-follies-of-frontier-life/comment-page-1/#comment-3 swesson Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:32:33 +0000 http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/?p=19#comment-3 Dear Mr. Brudtkuhl–
Thank you for posting the first comment on our new blog!

According to Abandoned Towns, Villages, and Post Offices of Iowa (Mott, 1973), Geneva was “A pioneer town of pretensions laid out in 1837 near the southwest corner of Sweetland Township on the bank of the Mississippi, about three miles northeast of Muscatine. It came near to being the first county seat. Post Office, 1838-1841.” (p.96)

The 1879 History of Muscatine County states that Dr. Reynold’s managed to get a bill passed in the Legislature to name Geneva the county seat of Muscatine, “but when the news reached Bloomington, special parties were sent out in all directions, with protests; and so formidable were the expressions of disapproval from the people, that Gov. Dodge vetoed the bill. Geneva is known only in history at the present time.” (p.401)

There is a Geneva, Iowa (population 171) in present day Franklin County, by the way, which can cause some confusion to those interested in Muscatine County’s Geneva!

SJW (Special Collections Staff)

]]> By: chuck brudtkuhl http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/2007/12/13/the-freaks-and-follies-of-frontier-life/comment-page-1/#comment-2 chuck brudtkuhl Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:38:11 +0000 http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com/sc/?p=19#comment-2 I’d be interested in learning more about this Geneva. I (as did my father) “graduated” from Geneva School. The building still exists, but now as a residence, across the highway from HON. I know when I went to school there, there were still foundations and cisterns in the hillside behind the school.

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