Continuing the series of locating Iowa’s hidden genealogical treasures:
Recently the Iowa Genealogical Society (IGS) posted an item on Face Book about a book in their library “Farmers of Iowa: A List of Farmers of Each County With Postoffice[sic]”, 1892. It was touted as a census substitute, and we are all always looking for a way to find our relatives who should have been enumerated in 1890.
When I arrived at the library the next afternoon, I couldn’t find the book on the shelf; a friend of mine was already looking at it.
The book lists every Iowa county, then every post office within the county. Names of farmers receiving mail at that post office are then listed alphabetically. What about farmers living near county lines? If they live in the county, but receive mail at a post office in an adjoining county, they are found at the end of the county listing, with the name of the post office where they receive mail.
The book appears to be a photocopy of pages 1495 through 2033 from an unknown source and these pages have been placed in hard cover. I could not find publisher information, except “State Historical Library, Des Moines, Iowa” was stamped on the title page where publisher name/city/state information is usually listed.
While at the IGS library I photocopied the Warren County pages, but I have twelve more counties to do.
This resource does not provide any further information regarding the household and it should not be assumed that the people listed are landowners. Nevertheless, if I found someone listed, I would start looking for land records and plat maps.
Later at home I checked around online for this helpful resource. It is in the State Historical Library of Iowa (SHSI) in the Reference section catalogued as LOC F619 .F3 and Dewey 917.77 Io9. It is not listed on Ancestry, except for Jasper County’s portion. Not digitally on Family Search, though the Family History Library does have it on microfilm (#1024846, item 4) so the film can be ordered. Not on Genealogy Bank. A few county webmasters have placed the pages for their county on USGenWeb. On OCLC/World Cat I only found the book at the Davenport Public Library; its OCLC number is 10812679. Not at Archive.org. Not on Fold3.com. I also checked card catalogs for a few Iowa colleges and universities–nothing (I should have caught them with OCLC/World Cat, but thought I’d try the other angle, also.)
Apparently this IS a rare book!
REFERENCE:
[no author]. Farmers of Iowa: A List of Farmers of Each County With Postoffice[sic]. [Des Moines, Iowa: State Historical Library.] 538 pages.
Very creative and valuable record of farm life in Iowa.