There’s a story behind the name of each of Iowa’s 99 counties. (Photo: State Historical Society of Iowa)
There aren’t many Iowa counties that are named for women — and even fewer that are named for women who are murderers. Historians don’t know for certain, but many believe that Louisa County in southeastern Iowa was named for a young woman named Louisa Massey, who was only 16 when she used a pistol to avenge the deaths of her father and brother in 1835.
“She found [her target] in a grocery store, stepped up in front of him, and with the words, ‘If you are Smith, defend yourself,’ fired. The ball struck against a bundle of papers in his pocket and his life was temporarily saved. He died as the result of the wound two years later,” according to an account from a Mrs. Reuben Noble, one of the Massey family’s neighbors.
See the story, in all its strange detail, in a short video from the State Historical Society of Iowa narrated by administrator Valerie Van Kooten. It’s the first in a new video series called “Weird and Wonderful Iowa.” So how did the other 98 counties get their names? Read all about it in this ia story from David Elbert.
