Honey Creek Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Iowa County,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is named after the Honey Creek, a tributary of the

Iowa River The Iowa River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the state of Iowa in the United States. It is about longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 and i ...

, which flows through it in a northwesterly direction.

History

Honey Creek Township was established on 18 February 1856 out of a part of old Marengo Township. The first township meeting was held in the pioneer town of Koszta, which with the Koszta Cemetery are located in Section 14 of the township. Early pioneer settlements were along watercourses because of the groves of trees which provided timber for farmers. One of the first settlements in the county was Hoosier Grove, later called The Hench Settlement, near where surveyors later platted Koszta. Samuel Huston, who was a winning plaintiff in the first civil lawsuit held in Iowa County in May 1847, founded the pioneer town of Koszta in Honey Creek Township in 1856.Dinwiddie, J.C. (1915) History of Iowa County, Iowa and its people. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Martin Koszta was formerly a citizen of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

whom fled Hungary for Turkey, began the process of citizenship in the American consulate at

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, then began his immigration to the United States. After spending over a year in the United States, he returned to Constantinople on business. He departed for the United States on an American vessel, but was waylaid while on shore at the port of

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

. While held in chains on board an Austrian naval vessel awaiting a packet ship that would send him back to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

and likely death, the United States intervened on his behalf. The incident, known as the

Koszta Affair The Koszta Affair (1853) was the name applied to a diplomatic episode between the United States and the Austrian Empire involving the rights in foreign countries of new Americans who were not yet fully naturalized. Background Martin Koszta, a ma ...

, set a precedent for protections afforded US residents not yet fully naturalized.Defending Residents Abroad: The Almost Abduction of Martin Koszta in Smyrna
By Niels Eichhorn, 7 April 2020. Accessed 10 November 2020. The Koszta Post Office was established in 1857. Samuel Huston was responsible for building the first bridge in the township. It provided access to the town which he platted. The Koszta Cemetery was founded and initially laid out by Mart Coates. The first sawmill in Honey Creek township was built at Koszta in 1855. The first township school was built five years later, also in Koszta. A general store and hotel also once occupied the small town. The first congregation, of Methodist Epsicopal denomination, was organized in 1845 and in 1860 they built their own church.

References

Townships in Iowa County, Iowa 1856 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1856 Townships in Iowa {{IowaCountyIA-geo-stub