Iantha, Missouri

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Iantha is an unincorporated community in Barton County, Missouri. It is located six miles west of Lamar. The community was founded in 1881. The name Iantha is of classic origin, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. In modern times she appears in Sir William Davenant's "The Siege of Rhodes" and in Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Queen Mab". Lord Byron dedicates "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" to Iantha (his name for Lady Charlotte Harley, daughter of the Earl of Oxford). This little town was very likely named for some lady who had been named for Iantha.

Iantha used to have a grocery and a post office but due to modernization and the rapid growth of Lamar, Missouri they closed.

Among the early residents were several members of the Veale family. The Veales, headed by Jacob Veale and Lydia Rogers Patterson Veale of nearby Milford, both the children of early Missouri pioneers, had moved to the area from St. Louis County and Jacob Veale had purchased several hundred acres of prime farmland to divide among his sons. One of these sons, William Patterson Veale, settled in Iantha with his wife Ruth Grigg Barnes Veale (great-great granddaughter of Daniel Boone) and their children, building a two-story house to the east of the business block. Iantha cemetery includes a large number of Veale burials.

Notable residents

• Earle D. Baker (1888-1987), Los Angeles City Council member, born in Iantha