The first settlement in Nodaway county was effected in the spring of 1839. and the honor (for such it was) belonged to Isaac Hogan, a native of Tennessee. He pitched his tent near the pure waters of what has for many years been styled Brown’s spring, just south of the present sprightly village of Graham, in Hughes township, as that part of Nodaway county is now known. Near that tenting spot, Mr. Hogan built his log cabin, which was the earliest evidence of a white man’s civilization north and east of the Nodaway river in this county. The publishers and writers of a modern-day county historical work realize how fortunate they are in this instance, to be able to here reproduce an article on the early settlement of the county, from the pen of the well known pioneer, Dr. J. W. Morgan, who was numbered among the vanguard of early settlers himself. More than a quarter of a century ago the good doctor wrote as follows: In the spring of 1839, Isaac Hogan, in company with Daniel Hogan, Richard Taylor, a gentleman who had married a sister of the Hogans, and Robert M. Stewart, then a wandering youth, since governor of the state, concluded to seek their fortunes in a better country, and with a two-horse wagon and camp equipage, an ax, a shovel and grubbing hoe, started to explore the Nodaway valley country, recently purchased from the Indians. In March, 1839, they crossed a stream that has since been called Elkhorn, and encamped at what is now known as Laughlin’s brick yard, in Hughes township, one-half mile south of Graham. On the following morning one of the horses was lame and unfit for travel and they concluded to take a hunt, and after an examination of the resources of the country they were not willing to proceed further. They had found a country that they might be glad to call home. They were tired and slept. Next morning a division of the new Canaan had to be entered into. Isaac Hogan, being senior of the company, had the first selection. His choice was the tract of land on which the thriving and enterprising city of Graham is now situated. Daniel, being a brother of the chief, selected the claim now owned by our esteemed Teutonic friend, Philip Maurer. Taylor selected what is known as the Hiram Groves or J. Q. Brink tract of land. R. M. Stewart chose as his claim the fine land now owned by Nicholas Kavanaugh and William Burris. Isaac Hogan remained, broke a few acres near Graham, and planted corn, while the remainder of the party returned to Platte county. After the return of the latter, Isaac Hogan was perhaps the only living white man north of the Nodaway river in the Platte Purchase. He built a log cabin near what is known as Brown’s Spring, which rises in the south side of Graham, and affords an abundance of water for the town. During the month of June following, he joined his family in Platte county, Missouri, where he remained until the following winter. Daniel Hogan, Richard Taylor and R. M. Stewart arrived in Platte county in a reasonable length of time, considering all the obstacles with which they had to contend. There being no wagon roads north of New Market, in Buchanan county, they followed Indian trails as near as was possible; yet it was extremely slow traveling, as they would often have to examine a small stream for several miles before they could find a point at which they could effect a crossing. On reaching home, Hogan and Taylor planted corn and cultivated during the summer. R. M. Stewart hired out by the month to Joel Hedgepath-hoed corn for thirty-seven and a half cents a day, during the crop season. Of rainy days, and at idle times, he read Blackstone and the Statutes of Missouri. He practiced law for a number of years afterward; was captain of a company during the Mexican war, and was finally elected governor of the state. Since then his life has become a part of the history of the state and nation, and is familiar to all. Issac Hogan, above referred to, and who was the first white man to invade and settle in Nodaway county, met a most painful and singular death, while on his way to the Pacific coast with a train of emigrants in I850. He seems to have had a great antipathy to the Indians, and rashly declared that he would shoot the first Indian that he saw. As the party of emigrants advanced, they arrived at length among the Sioux, who up to that date had always been friendly to the whites. It was their boast then that they had never shed the blood of a white man. A squaw coming into the camp one evening, he shot her without provocation and without the knowledge and con-sent of his companions. The Indians missing her, found that she had been murdered, and held a council. The next morning they demanded her murderer. The party of emigrants were powerless to resist an attack from the Indians, and did not seem to have any disposition to shield the perpetrator of such a crime from justice, and so gave him up, not knowing what a terrible fate awaited him. The Indians took him a short distance from the camp, and stripped him and tied him to a tree. They then cut his skin in strips and, making cross sections, tore off the pieces of skin with bullet moulds. They continued this process until he was fairly flayed alive, or died under suffer- ings which passed the point of human endurance. The Sioux did not molest the remainder of the party, but having wreaked vengeance on the perpetrator of the dastardly deed. they peaceably went away. Early in the spring of I840 Hiram Hall settled on a tract of land some eight miles south of Maryville, since known as the Prather place. Hall was a man of considerable will power