Keokuk County
Wikipedia
Notes
Poet Lydia Sigourney, from Connecticut, lived from 1791 to 1865. B.J. Palmer, developer of chiropractic, was born in What Cheer in 1882.
Sigourney is locally pronounced SIG-ur-nee, but, for the poem, it is pronounced sig-UR-nee.
Keokuk is pronounced KEE-uh-kuk.
What Cheer is pronounced WUH-cheer.
The only county named Keokuk.
The only What Cheer.
The only Sigourney.
The only Lake Belva Deer.
It's three counties away from
Keokuk the city.
But the town square in Sigourney is
undeniably pretty.
Named for a poet
Whose first name was Lydia.
Once she was famous.
Now she's an answer in Trivia.
What Cheer, pop. 600,
Has its own Opera House.
And a famed Mister Palmer
Was born hereabouts.