Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. It was established in 1836 and named for a family prominent in the New York Land Company, owners of extensive interests in the Half-Breed Tract in the 1830s. Lee has two county seats — Fort Madison and Keokuk. The latter was established in 1847 when disagreements led to a second court jurisdiction.
Fort Madison dates to the war of 1812. Lee County was the location of the "Half-Breed Tract", established by treaty in 1824. Allocations of land were made to American Indian descendants of European fathers and Indian mothers at this tract. Originally the land was to be held in common. Some who had an allocation lived in cities where they hoped to make better livings.
Large-scale European-American settlement in the area began in 1839, after Congress allowed owners to sell land individually. Members of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) fled persecutions in Missouri to settle in Illinois and Iowa. Although Nauvoo, across the border in Hancock County, Illinois, became the main center of Latter-day Saints settlement, there was also a stake organized in Lee County under the direction of John Smith, the uncle of Joseph Smith.
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