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Keokuk was named after Chief Keokuk, leader of the Sac and Fox Indians. Chief Keokuk refused to support the British during the War of 1812, remaining neutral. The United States Government recognized him as a supporter. Keokuk died in Kansas in 1848. In 1883 his remains were moved to Keokuk’s Rand Park where his grave is marked with a monument.
Dr. Samuel Muir built the first permanent log cabin in Keokuk. Muir was a surgeon in the army living on the east side of the Mississippi River. A military directive in 1820 ordered soldiers to leave their Indian wives. Muir refused to obey the order, resigned his commission, and moved across the river to Keokuk. Muir was unable to support his family on the few patients he saw and was forced to move from Keokuk.
Samuel Freeman Miller was born April 15, 1816, in Kentucky. He was raised and educated there, studying to become a physician and a lawyer. In 1849 he freed his slaves in Kentucky and moved to Keokuk, Iowa. He practiced law and during the 1850's helped to organize the Republican Party in Iowa. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln appointed him to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Miller was a Supreme Court Justice until his death on October 13, 1890.
Annie Wittenmyer was born on August 26, 1827, in Sandy
Springs, Ohio. Her parents provided her with a good education. Realizing
the opportunities out west, she and her husband moved to Keokuk. Iowa,
a newly formed state, did not have a public school system. The only children
receiving an education were from wealthy families who could afford private
education. On April 4, 1853, Wittenmyer opened a free school for poor
children. This was the first of many causes that Wittenmyer supported.
She spent the majority of her life as a relief worker and social reformer.
She helped supply medical and dietary assistance during the Civil War,
she was an influential organizer in the temperance movement, and she helped
to successfully create several community service organizations. Wittenmyer
died February 2, 1900.
William Worth Belknap was born in Newburg, New York,
on September 22, 1829. He attended the College of New Jersey and studied
law. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., before moving to Keokuk in
the 1850's. In 1857 he was elected and served one term in the Iowa Legislature.
He served in the Civil War and rose to the rank of General, becoming friends
with Ulysses Grant. After the war in 1869, President Grant appointed Belknap
to be Secretary of War. Belknap resigned his position after being impeached
for accepting bribes. He went on to practice law in Washington, D.C.,
until his death on October 13, 1890.
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