Wow! What a veritable storm of replies! My earlier reply was from a quick check of map software, now thanks to reading some of your replies (and a push from Marion - Thanks Marion Whitney Martin), I did some more online research. This is the Iowa list of unknowns as originally presented by Tim Doyle. Brush Creek, Elkhorn, Emmettsburg, Jessup, Lingrove, Marshaltown, Rolf, Rosabach, Shellsborough, Syracuse, Whitneyville Some of these have survived into the present day, but some required more research. Here is a sample of what I found on the internet about those that did not survive. Brush Creek, Fayette, Iowa http://www.rootsweb.com/~iafayett/fairfieldhistory.htm History of Fairfield Township - Including The Towns of Taylorsvilee & Brush Creek >From the 1878 History of Fayette County, Iowa Pages 544 - 551 Brush Creek - Fairfield Township This flourishing town is located on the east half of Section 28, Township 92, Range 7 (Fairfield). It was laid out in the Spring of 1856, by B. F. Little, Surveyor, the land being owned by C. D. and T. E. Shambaugh, although a small portion of the plat extended over on the land owned by D. J. Finney, F. R. Hynes, Nelson Huckins and Isaac Walrath. The first settler on the town plat was Charles Moe, and, for some time after he sold, the location was called Moetown. Moe sold to the Shambaughs Dec. 20, 1856, agreeing to give possession March 1st, but on the 22d of February the house was burned down. When the Shambaughs arrived with their families, they were compelled to build a shanty as a temporary shelter. They hauled 5,000 of green lumber from a saw-mill at Fayette, and built with it a structure containing five rooms. Here the two families resided, opened up a stock of goods, and kept hotel. The stream of emigration was at its highest tide, and from the 1st of April forward the house was packed nightly with Western home-seekers, one morning's receipts being $28. Early in April, C. D. Shambaugh fell sick, and was confined to the house for a month. Early settlers will remember that the snow did not disappear until about April 10th, and that the nights were frosty. Several mornings in succession, before the fire was built, says Mr. Shambaugh, the frost would be a quarter of an inch thick on his chamber walls. When it rained, his wife put pans and plates on his bed to keep the clothes as dry as possible. And from <http://www.rootsweb.com/~iafayett/fairfield.htm> http://www.rootsweb.com/~iafayett/fairfield.htm From: Fayette County Union Newspaper, West Union, Iowa; Thursday 18 April 1895 - page 4: "Brush Creek News: The opinion has prevailed for some time that the name of our town has worked against our commercial interests. It has been determined by a number of our prominent citizens to change the name, and a special election has been called by the Mayor for the 30th of this month to vote on a new name. 'Arlington' is the name that was selected at a mass meeting of the citizens last week and 'yes' or 'no' on that word will determine whether we will have a change or not on election day. There is but little question but what the change will be made." Rosabach - Here I was stymied. I could find nothing on the internet relating to this name. Shellsborough - Same again although there is a Shellsburg, Benton, Iowa and on several maps an "h" has been appended on the end thus Shellsburgh. This may or may not be the location that Tim is looking for. We need more context to link it conclusively. Syracuse, Bremer County, Iowa >From http://www.co.bremer.ia.us/new/Bremer%20150th.doc Plainfield & Syracuse Two miles north of Plainfield, in Section 18 of Polk Township, was the village of Syracuse. Platted in the 1850's it predated Plainfield but for its first several years it was nothing more then a post office operating out of the house of W.N. Gaines (Grawe 1914:203). Syracuse was entirely extinct by 1875, and does not appear on any known map. When the Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad came through the area in 1868, the surveyors had decided that Syracuse had too steep a grade to construct a depot (Smith 1969:9). Once it was known that the most likely spot for a railroad depot was on the level ground two miles south of Syracuse, the settlers platted the town of Plainfield on October 16, 1866. Named for Plainfield, Illinois, from where many of its early inhabitants had come, by 1875 Plainfield had a population of 300, two hotels, two dry goods and grocery stores, drug, hardware and tinware stores, three grain elevators, a lumber yard, two wagon manufactories, a saw and grist mill, and a railroad depot (Hoover and Reeves 1975:49, Andreas 1970:443). By 1900 the population of Plainfield had hardly changed at all. A 1914 county history writes of the town: Plainfield is quite a busy little town but it shows no indication of growth. As a matter of fact, in 1900, it had a population of 320. However, quite a good deal of trading is done here by the surrounding county. It has good railroad facilities and the shipment of live stock, grain and dairy products are considerable each year. (Grawe 1914:204). In the intervening years the population of Plainfield has grown to 469 as of 1990 (Iowa DOT 1996) and the railroad depot deals less with livestock, which is now shipped out by truck, and more with grain, the primary cash product of Polk Township. Whitneyville - This one is almost certainly carried into our time as Wiota <http://www.rootsweb.com/~iacass/history/per-cass-1884.htm> http://www.rootsweb.com/~iacass/history/per-cass-1884.htm History of Cass County from a reproduction "History of Cass County" By the Continental Historical Company December, 1884 THE TOWN OF WIOTA In the midst of a beautiful rolling prairie, rised the flourishing and growing town of Wiota. Fifteen years ago, this was a clear expanse of prairie, except here and there a lonely farm, but the virgin soil whereon the town now stands was then unbroken. In 1868, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, passed this point but a station was not located here until 1872. The town was started in that year; the land upon which it was laid out being the property for the most part, of Franklin H. WHITNEY. It was not platted or filed for record, for some time the date upon the records being November 13, 1877, and the owners being set forth as Hoyt SHERMAN, assignee of B.F. ALLEN, in bankruptcy, and F.H. WHJITNEY. On the 20th of August, 1878, Mr. WHITNEY filed for record an addition to the town which is known by his name. So, while my ancestry is Iowan, none of these are yet in my direct ancestor locations, they have been fun to research and in the research have opened up new lines of research for me. Tim (and all), for what you do, THANK YOU!