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The following interesting items are found in Church history concerning Keokuk:
"When the Saints were driven from Missouri in 1839 and were looking for a place to settle, attention was drawn to Hancock County, Illinois, and Lee County, Iowa. Among the places visited by the Church Committee was Keokuk, in the later part of 1839. In 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith sent his uncle, John Smith, and Daniel C. Davis to help build up the city of Keokuk, since he planned to establish a branch printing office in that city. It was, however, decided later not to establish the printing office there. The peace of the Saints living there was disturbed by the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1844, and some of them prepared to move west. In 1846 some of the Saints took their departure but were replaced by others who had left Nauvoo."
By the time the William H. Folsom family arrived in Keokuk in the spring of 1847, they found a shifting, changing population in a city but a few years old. For some time it seemed impossible to find any proof that this particular Folsom family ever lived here. According to a recent historian, Ray E. Garrison, no copies of early newspapers or early birth records have been preserved. Although Keokuk received its charter as a city in 1841, no registration of inhabitants was made until 1856, when Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and his brother Orian Clemens compiled the first city directory. The Folsom Family had moved to Council Bluffs before this survey was made and published.
But Grandma Eliza had her own way of keeping records in the family Bible. She recorded Keokuk, Iowa, as the birthplace of two of their children: Hinman Day, born February 14, 1849, and Frances Emily, born September 20, 1853.
In 1964 when the Lee County, Iowa, census for 1850 was searched, it verified the fact that William Harrison Folsom, his wife Eliza and their chi1dr2n Amelia, Hyrum, William Burdette and Hinman were, indeed, residents of Keokuk. Frances Emily, born in 1853, would not be included in this census.
From Church records we learn of the ordination of William H. Folsom to the office of a Seventy by Joseph Young. The clerk who recorded the ordination gave no date, but stated that the recipient resided at Keokuk, Iowa.
In Journal History concerning Keokuk at this time we find:
"Elder Horace Eldredge was in charge of a branch of the Church at St. Louis, at this time. He and Elder Mace organized a Branch at Keokuk. The Saints held meetings at the home of Wandel Mace and Thomas Howell. They administered the Sacrament, bore testimonies, did some baptizing, babies were born, people died and were buried."
Although records and vital statistics of the Branch cannot be found, the ordination previously mentioned would seem to prove that William H. Folsom was active in the Keokuk Branch.
The city fathers of Keokuk had seemed content with the status of the city for a long time, and then a corps of officers was elected, who were civic minded enough to see the need of improvement to increase the commercial rating of the city. They decided to improve streets, sanitation, etc. There had been no plan for laying out the original town.