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 Poweshiek
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Early Poweshiek County
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Sheridan Madison Malcom Bear Creek Warren Washington Pleasant Scott Sugar Creek Union Jackson
Bear Creek Township
Bear Creek Township was originally organized as a precinct rather than a township. It was composed of nine townships: Jefferson, Madison, Sheridan, Chester, Grinnell, Malcom, Bear Creek, Warren and Lincoln. Henry Snook was the first settler in the precinct, in an area which is now Warren Township.
The first permanent settlers in Bear Creek Township were Mr. and Mrs. John Talbott and their thirteen children. Mr. Henry Snook had moved on west shortly after they arrived. Mr. Talbott was the first to officially enter land in the township, and was also the first death, dying February 20, 1849. The second settler was Robert Manatt, who came from Ohio in 1849. William Manatt came from Pennsylvania later in the same year. His homestead is in what is now the heart of the town of Brooklyn. Mr. John Manatt, another branch of the family settled in Warren Township.
The first post office was established in 1849 in the home of Mrs. Mary Talbott, widow of John. Her son Joshua was the first postmaster. The first school was a subscription school and taught in 1854 by Robert Shimer, who had thirty-five students and was paid $14 per month. The first free public schools were started in 1858.
Early churches were organized in homes: the Baptists in 1859; the Episcopal in 1871; the Presbyterian in 1855; and the Methodists in 1853, although a Methodist mission was started in 1844. The first Catholic Church was built in 1863. The Brethren Church was built in a rural setting in 1880, and the Church of Christ in 1902.
In the 1870s, Brooklyn was the first location in which barbed wire was made, invented by Christian Frederick Schone. Brooklyn was originally known as Greenville.
