HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY. 
 
tuted a new county retaining the old name. By 
the same act the county seat was established at 
the town of Mineral Point. 
By a treaty, concluded at Prairie du Chien, 
Aug. 1, 1829, the Winnebagoes ceded to the 
general government a tract of territory lying 
south of the Lower Wisconsin. This included 
the present county of Iowa, and opened the way 
to permanent settlements. Previous to this 
time a few had located here, being led hither 
by the reports of the lead diggings. The first 
actual settlement was made in the spring of 
1828, by John Hood, who, with his wife and son, 
three years of age, came from Missouri, and 
settled at Mineral Point, camping at first in-a 
cabin made of poles covered with bark, until 
a sod house could be built, in which to live more 
securely. This sod house was ten by twelve 
feet on the ground, and in it was born their 
second son, on the 29th day of November, 1829, 
being*-the first white child born in the county. 
This child was named John Theophilus Lawson 
Hood. Mr. Hood at first engaged in labor for 
others who soon opened mines there, and at 
times prospected for himself, until, finally, he 
struck a rich "lead," which he worked until his 
death, in 18441. Mrs Hood is still living at Min- 
eral Point, on the ground they first occupied. 
Hood's family were here during the Black Ha wk 
War.   Hood   was a lieutenant under Gen. 
Dodge. His wife, who was a dead shot, carried 
a rifle on her shoulder every time she stepped 
out of doors during the entire war. By taking 
the log houses, a log fort, called Fort Jackson, 
was built at Mineral Point; a cannon (six 
pounder) was procured, and forty-two women, 
with very few men to protect them, remained 
in this fort three months. No battles were 
fought in this locality, and all escaped injury by 
the Indians. At the same time a fort called 
Fort Union, was built at Dodgeville, into which 
during the hostilities, the women and children 
of that region were collected for safety and de- 
fiense, 
 
In the spring of 1828, almost immediately 
after the family of Hood had settled in their 
bark house, Nat. Morris came to this point, and 
soon struck a rich vein of mineral, the first dis- 
covery at this place, owing to which circum- 
stance, the locality was called MinerAl Point, 
which name it has retained to the present time. 
By the month of August of that year, J. W. 
Blackstone had associated himself with Mr. 
Morris, and, as they employed two men to dig 
in their mine, it made seven persons at the 
Point at that time. During the summer and 
fall of 1828, Messrs. Gayond & Wright opened 
a store in a small log house. They were the 
first merchants in the county. A Baptist min- 
ister by the name of Roberts settled here with 
his family in 1828, and was the first preacher in 
the county; he failed, after years of effort, to 
organize a church society. D. M. Parkison 
built a log house of good size, in the fall of 
1828, which was kept as a hotel by John T. 
Sublet, and was the first hotel in the county. 
At this house the fifty-third anniversary of our 
national independence was celebrated in 1829. 
John B. Terry settled here in 1828 for the pur- 
pose of mining, and afterwards built a smelting 
furnace, the first operated in the county. In 
1830 Mr. Tei'ry farmed a little, two or three 
miles west of the Point. Dr. Manegan, from 
Missouri, settled here in 1828, and was the first 
physician in the county. The second physician 
was Dr. Jestine, who came in 1829. A Mr. 
Miller settled here in 1828, and afterwards built 
a mill a mile or two south of where the rail- 
road depot now stands. This was the first mill 
in the county. Miller ground grain into feed 
for animals, made corn meal, but no bolted flour. 
The grain ground at that time was hauled from 
Galena, as was flour and provisions. Before 
the winter of 1829, the settlement-had swelled 
to considerable proportions, all, or nearly all, 
eager to plunge into the earth and bring up the 
wealth there buried. 
In 1829, Frank Kilpatrick, Judge Monden and 
Daniel Moxore settled in the southwestern part 
 
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