History and Genealogy of O'Brien County Iowa
French Settlers In the year 1881 a colony of French people settled in Grant township, with several scattering families in other townships. A few of them came direct from France, but in the main they came from in and around Cliffton, Iroquois county, Illinois, a part of Illinois where many French settled long ago. The very name of that county in Illinois denotes French. Henry C. Colby had settled in Hartley several years prior in the land and banking business, and in fact was one of the most enterprising men in the county in inducing people to come to O'Brien county, and was a very successful man. It was Mr. Colby who induced these people to come to O'Brien and establish this colony, and sold many of them their lands. He was not a Frenchman himself, but his judgment as to the future of the county was accepted by them. The following families are among the number: Theodore Richard, Anton Guyett, Eli Frankers, Frankie Frankers, Samuel DeMars, Napoleon Renville, Calvin Mayhew, Louis Guyett, Edward Morrow, Fred Cota, Pearly Morrow, Albert Mayhew, Oliver Marcotte, Thomas Marcotte, Isaac DeTour and John DeTour and others. A few other families settled in Clay county, just across the line. [Past and Present of O’Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa, Volume 1, 1914] Submitted by Cathy Danielson
BACK Copyright © Genealogy Trails All data on this website is Copyright by Genealogy Trails with full rights reserved for original submitters.