Retrospective View from Pottawattamie County, Iowa
The principal early settlers of the township were Joseph Holman, Ezekiel Downs, Asa Downs, William Cox, William Hendrix, Johnson Lane and William Yocum. They all arrived and settled in Norwalk Township, from 1845 to 1850. A few of these early settlers of Norwalk Township were Mormons, but in the emigration of that people to Utah, many followed their leaders. But one lonely cabin is left as a memento of that historic people. It was originally standing on the claim purchased by Asa Downs, in 1851, and was used by him as a dwelling for a time. It has since been moved, and is now standing near and to the east of Down's bridge.
William Yocum, one of these early settlers, had been among the Mormons before he came to the county, but a sad wreck physically. He had been a resident of Missouri, and while there he joined a mob at Horn's [Haun's] Mill against the Mormons, During the fight, he received seven bullets in his body, from the effects of which he never recovered, but remained a cripple until his death, which occurred in Pottawattamie County. He lived for a number of years on a part of Mr. G. T. Ward's farm. A Mrs. Kelly, of Downsville, is the daughter of Mr. Yocum, and the only one left of that family in Norwalk Township, so far as could be ascertained. [History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa: Illustrated (Chicago, IL: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1883), 295].
[Editors note: Yocum was actually a Mormon resident of the Haun's Mill area and was among the Mormons wounded during the attack of the settlement. He became crippled not as a result of Mormon defensive fire, but as one of those fired upon by the Livingnston County Regulators who besieged the hamlet].
Haun's Mill Settlement