Building a New Community: lessons from family

Hezikiah Henderson and his daughter Nancy (my great, great-grandmother)

Nancy Henderson was the eldest of several motherless children raised by the dashing, soldier-turned-frontiersman, Hezekiah Henderson. Tragically, Nancy’s mother died giving birth to her on the shores of the Wabash River in 1861, the same year the Civil War began. Hezekiah, a decorated Black Hawk War veteran, likely left baby Nancy with relatives to serve in the war. When the war ended, he retrieved his young daughter and journeyed westward in search of new opportunities.

By the time they reached Algona, Iowa, Nancy had traveled for weeks—either jostled on a wagon or walking alongside it.

Hezekiah, then 42, decided to settle in the growing community. He built a large log cabin, which doubled as Algona’s first hotel, providing lodging for other westward travelers. Nine-year-old Nancy quickly adapted to frontier life, eager to pitch in and meet the town’s early settlers, including the Call brothers.

The two brothers, Asa and Ambrose Call

Several years earlier, in 1854, Ambrose and Asa Call established the town of Algona on a shaded curve of the Des Moines River. Asa, the elder brother, was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a rifle slung at his side and gold bars sewn into the lining of his jacket—the spoils of a successful stint in California’s Gold Rush. His younger brother, Ambrose, was just 17 when they ventured into Indian territory to stake their claim.

The brothers’ vision of a thriving community included a sawmill, which could be converted into a grain mill, and a shared community building that served as schoolhouse, meeting house, theater, and dance hall. They were religiously tolerant and envisioned different religious services held in the community building on various days of the week.

Their log cabin

With a team of oxen and through heroic effort, a giant printing press was purchased and dragged across the prairie. Algona’s first newspaper, with rotating monthly editors, was established! Each month, a different family would take turns producing content for a community newsletter—a literary record filled with gifted poetry and a full calendar of events, reflecting the vibrancy of the close-knit community.

The brothers schemed and cajoled congressmen for a postal route and even diagramed a north-south rail line in anticipation of the railroad. They became prominent bankers and state legislators. They built or sponsored schools, hospitals, savings and loan institutions, and a bottling company.

These efforts not only addressed practical needs but also fostered a shared sense of purpose and interconnectedness within the growing settlement.

Nancy, despite her youth, made a strong impression on Ambrose. She was determined from their first meeting that she would one day marry him, though it took another seven years for Ambrose to agree. When Nancy turned 16, they wed and went on to have a lasting partnership and conceive eleven children. Their eldest daughter, Florence, chronicled their lives and the history of Algona in her writings. Her book, Early Algona, was first published by the Des Moines Register Tribune in 1929. One of her poems, “Eda’s Cradle,” published as a stand alone book, celebrated a family heirloom that survived a fire and cradled generations of children.

After a doctor (or veterinarian!) pulled all her teeth out because of a toothache, Nancy was fitted with wooden dentures and rarely smiled.

As the town grew, Nancy and Ambrose moved from a one-room log cabin to a larger home. Eventually, they upgraded to a Victorian house ordered from the Sears catalog and delivered by rail—a testament to the progress they witnessed and contributed to in Algona.

The Call Mansion in Algona. Torn down in 1973

Decades later, when I visited Algona with my mother, I was struck by the legacy left by Ambrose, Asa, and their families. The town is now the seat of Kossuth County. Downtown features a wide central road still bearing signs of its history. A coffee shop, a Five-and-Dime, a pie cafe, and a visitor center offered a glimpse into the enduring spirit of the community they built. Larger-than-life mural portraits of the Call brothers adorning buildings around the main parking lot, reminded me of how their dreams shaped this CITY with a population of over 5342 today.

Mural photo taken summer of 2021