The first estate ministered upon in Linn county was that of James Travis, who died in December, 1839. James Doty was appointed administrator February 15, 1840. His bond was for $200. His bondsmen were Jacob Leabo and John Stambaugh. Israel Mitchell, who had been appointed by Governor Lucas, in 1839, was the judge of probate. It was this same Judge Mitchell who located the first town in Linn county, viz: that of Westport, near the present site of Bertram, and who was the orator of the day at the first Fourth of July celebration in Linn county, held at Westport in 1839.
The second estate appearing of record was that of William Marion, who died July 4, 1840, and of which William Abbe was appointed administrator in 1841.
The third was the estate of Martin Martindale, who died in February of 1841, and of whose estate William Garrison was appointed administrator.
The following is the record of the first coffin made in Linn county: "Be it remembered that on the 21st day of June, A. D. 1841, James E. Bromwell filed his account in the Court of Probate against the estate of Martin Martindale, deceased, in the words and figures, to wit:
"To J. E. Bromwell, Dr.
"To one white walnut coffin, $12.00"
Marion was the home for years of three Mexican war veterans, who were also veterans of the Civil war, viz: Thomas J. McKean, G. A. Gray, both deceased, and Samuel B. Thompson, now past ninety years of age and living with his daughter, Mrs. Nellie Schimmerhorn, of Kansas City.
Marion was incorporated in 1865. Its first mayor was General Thomas J. McKean. The other officers were: recorder, G. A. Gray; trustees, D. H. McDanel, who died in Chicago and whose widow is now living in Cedar Rapids; S. W. Rathbun, still living in Marion and editor and proprietor of the Marion Register, which was established as the Prairie Star in 1852 by A. Hoyt; G. F. Woods, who died in Marion some years ago; O. C. Wyman, now a merchant prince of Minneapolis; and Dr. N. W. Owen, who died in 1880.
The Marion fire department was organized in 1874 and consisted of the Phoenix engine company and the J. C. Davis hook and ladder company. D. P. Thurber was elected the first foreman of the Phoenix company, and A. J. Keyes of the hook and ladder company. The first engine house was the old Baptist church which stood on the site of the present C., M. & St. P. depot. Such was the beginning of the later noted Marion Volunteer Fire Department, with its matchless Mentzer Hose Company, which as a drill corps, under the captaincy of James E. Bromwell, for twenty years, in the state of Iowa and elsewhere, challenged all military and civic companies, and met all challengers in competitive contests, winning over fifty first prizes, cups, and purses, acting as special escort to Governor Cummins at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and winning over all contestants at the National Firemen's Tournament of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, held at Omaha in 1898, and retiring without a single defeat as a drill corps after its first three years, although as a fire company it is still active and efficient and the possessor of a beautiful home of its own on Seventh avenue in Marion, the lower story being used as a hose house and armory, and the upper story for reception and club rooms.
In 1864 the Dubuque and Southwestern Railroad, running from Farley to Cedar Rapids, was built into Marion, and in 1872 the Sabula, Ackley & Dakota Railroad—now the C., M. &. St. P.—connected Marion with Chicago. Here it terminated until it was extended west to Council Bluffs in 1880, and south to Kansas City in 1882.