On the beautiful autumn afternoon of Oct. 15, members of the Child family — a surname cemented in Nevada’s history — visited our community to see the log cabin built by their descendants and thought to be the town’s third official dwelling.
George and Lavina Child, who built their cabin in 1854 (the year following Nevada’s founding), would likely be pleased to see how their great-great-grandson, Frank Child, and members of his family were paying tribute to the past.
Frank, 100 years young, and most of his family, including son, Tom, and daughter, Sarah Heltman, and their own children and grandchildren, made the trip to Nevada, Iowa, on Oct. 15. Sarah said one of her children, daughter Emily, lives in Texas and was back in Iowa visiting, which prompted the family outing.
“It’s close to 30 years, 1997, since I’ve been back here to visit the cabin,” Frank said, noting that during that visit, the cabin was in a different location. Nevada Historical Society members Kris Corbin, Jenny Helland, and Dorian Myhre were on hand to share history and answer questions. They shared with Frank and the others that the cabin was, at that time, on property near the fairgrounds, but was moved to its current location at Evergreen Lane when the Nevada Historical Society was gifted the large piece of property in the center of town.
Dorian said it probably wouldn’t have been moved, but for the fact that it had been moved several times over the course of history, after being first built on the west side of town at the corner of 4th Street and J Avenue.
Dorian shared that the cabin was originally a home, later used as a storage building, and then as part of a more modern home that was built around it. “When that home caught fire in 1976, they discovered the cabin was within its shell, and the Nevada Rotary Club took on [restoring it] as a bi-centennial project. It was known as the Rotary Log Cabin for a long time,” she said.
The Nevada Historical Society was established due to interest spurred by the bicentennial, and it became an entity to which Rotary could gift the completed log cabin for maintenance as part of Nevada’s history.
The Child family learned about all of this, as well as other information the Historical Society has compiled on the community’s earliest Child settlers.
George Child was born in Bath, NH, in December 1832. He met Lavina Hall in Galena. The two came to Nevada, Iowa, in 1854, where they had 11 children, with only seven of them living long enough to outlive their father.
George served as the Sheriff of Story County for seven years and resigned to join the Union forces in the Civil War in 1862. He was chosen First Lieutenant of the 32nd Iowa Infantry. He served under another well-known Nevada man, Col. John Scott. He was honorably discharged in 1865, and he became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Nevada Lodge No. 99 of Masons.
George had several endeavors. He owned a dry goods business but was chiefly a drayman, someone who used horses to deliver goods, even things like water to fires, Dorian explained.
Dorian also shared, “George would brag that he had the best and fastest horses in town. JC Lovell took him on, and said, ‘No,’ that he did. So, they put up a parcel of land on a bet and raced the horses. Well, George lost, and lost the plot of land.”
That ending brought some sad sighs from the Child family as they listened.
But Dorian wasn’t quite finished. “Then George ended up buying Lovell’s horse, and then he had the fastest horse in town,” she said. That got some smiles and even a few chuckles. Frank’s great-grandson, Oliver, one of several great-grandchildren who came to Nevada to see the cabin, shared how impressed he was that George finally got the fastest horse in town.
Frank’s great-grandchildren also noted how small the inside of the cabin was and found the mechanics of the bed to be interesting. They were also intrigued by the idea that the log cabin had been a “house within a house,” as was discovered after the fire.
Frank’s son, Tom, shared that his grandfather, Frank Child Sr., completed his education in the eighth grade while living with his uncle, Bert, in Nevada. Frank Sr. moved to Des Moines and purchased the Des Moines Rubber Stamp Works in 1919, a company founded in 1880 and listed as the 20th oldest in Des Moines. It is now owned by Tom’s son, Mark, the fourth-generation owner in the family.
Frank Sr., Tom shared, had many wonderful memories of Nevada, Iowa, many of them shared in an autobiography he wrote for his family, “Memories of a Happy Life.”
The family didn’t stop at the cemetery on this year’s trip, but has visited George’s gravesite there on previous trips. “I have his journal he wrote while fighting in the Civil War,” Tom said, and “my dad has his sword.”
Tom was thankful for the photos and story being written for Our Nevada. “Your attention to our story,” he said, “reminds me of how remarkable Nevada, Iowa is.”
—Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
Be Prepared for Snow Emergencies
10/27/2025
Snow could fall at any time as we move deeper into the fall/winter season. Therefore, we want to remind residents