The Territory

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"A lighthearted but serious work of fiction in the form of a memoir by one of a pair of generally serious, sometimes comical pioneer settlers in preterritorial and territorial Iowa. Its inspiration is a number of now little-known local and regional events described by prominent longtime resident Benjamin F. Gue in his 1903 History of Iowa, and the setting and details of events and conditions are thoroughly researched and portrayed accurately from scores of books and journal articles, as well as Internet articles. The readership would be anyone interested in a reliable and informative chronicle of Iowa's pioneer past and foundations of the present state and the many issues, large and small, present at that time, and also anyone who likes a rip-roaring story with frequent passages of more and sometimes less subtle humor. Though the work is not lengthy, it portrays virtually every event of relevance for early pre--Civil War Iowa, as well as recounting the progress and tribulations of its two fictional pioneers and their families, who become involved in just about everything. Highlighted in particular are the opening and development of the land, early towns, the march of the frontier across the territory and new state, and the tenor of the newborn society and its grist of daily conversation. The Territory will provide interesting and reliable context for genealogists, general readers, and students, regardless of age." -- Amazon.com