This township was named by Henry Waughtel, in 1850, in honor of Gen. Lewis Cass, of the War of 1812, Governor of Michigan, U. S. senator, Secretary of War under Jackson, and Secretary of State under Buchanan. William Totten was the first to locate in the township. He came in 1823 and settled upon the southwest quarter of Section 27, upon what was afterwards known as "Totten’s Prairie". About the same time Roswell Tyrrell and John Totten located upon the same section. The former was a soldier of the War of 1812, came to this county in 1832, and February 22 of the same year he was married to Miss Mary Ann Sidwell, near Lewistown. This lady died in May, 1828, as we find stated in a biographical sketch of Mr. Tyrrell published in the history of McDonough County, to which county he removed in 1830. Yet we are told that Mrs. Tyrrell died in 1826, and hers was the first death to occur in the township. History states that the first sermon in the township was preached by Rev. Mr. Lee, a M. E. preacher, at the house of Thomas Camron; but Henry Waughtel tells us that he knows the first sermon was preached by Rev. William Batson, the Christian (New-Light) minister who preached the funeral of Mrs. Tyrrell in May of that year, 1825. There is evidently some discrepancy between the statements, as they fail to harmonize. In 1854 Thomas Camron came into the township and settled upon Section 28. Others who came were Henry Baughman, sr., Henry Waughtel, sr., Benjamin Camron, Matthew Park, William Batson, Zenas Harrington, Levi Dunnewain, T. J. Walters, Fred and Henry Waughtel, jr., John Henry, Jr., David S., Daniel and Abram Baughman, jr., Abram Baughman, sr., and others. Among those living who came here in a very early day, are Henry Waughtel, jr., William Camron, James C. Watson, James Murphy and Aunt Katie Totten. The first marriage ceremony was performed on the 16th of February, 1826, and was at the wedding of Salomon Sherwood to Miss Jane Camron, sister of Wm. Camron, of Smithfield. The first birth was that of Margaret, a daughter of William and Katharine Totten, May 14, 1825. The first school was taught by D. S. Baughman in 1829. The first Justice of the Peace was John Totten, in 1825. The first church building was erected by the Methodists on the farm of Jesse Tate, near Smithfield, in 1849. Henry Waughtel was the first Supervisor from Cass. The present incumbent is A. S. Watson. There are ten school districts and six Church organizations in the township.

The pioneers of Cass had hardships to suffer as well as those in other parts of the county. During the big snow of 1830 great suffering was occasioned. During the drought of 1840 and the wet season of 1844 for several weeks the people were compelled to eat boiled wheat, or meal made in the hominy-block. A hominy-block consisted of a stump in which a hollow place had been burned. In this they put their corn and pounded it with an iron wedge. Wild hogs and deer were plentiful in an early day throughout this section. Wm. Camron, in company with Henry Waughtel, Mr. McKinney, and two other gentlemen, killed 30 head of hogs and pigs on one excursion. Nathan Henderson, father of Isaac Henderson, of this township, said he killed a deer in an early day which weighed 192 pounds net. The timber of this township is filled with a thick undergrowth, but in an early day contained only a sparse growth of oak timber with abundance of tall grass all over the land, from which the settlers made their hay. They actually made hay in the woods.

Henry Waughtel is the only man now living in the township who fought in the Black Hawk war. Some who reside here remember having seen the great chief. Joseph Lundry, now eighty-eight years of age, and who lives with Isaac Henderson, saw Black Hawk in Canada. Wm. Totten and others built a fort on Totten's prairie during the Winnebago troubles. Black Hawk was very friendly to the Tottens and would not allow his braves to disturb them, even during the war. He often visited Totten’s and shot at a target with Mr. Totten as a pastime. The first saw-mill in Cass was built by Mr. Laswell.

In May, 1850, this township was visited by a very disastrous hailstorm. It stripped the trees of their foliage, ruin the growing crops, killed a great deal of stock and fatally injured some persons.

On the 20th of March, 1877, little Jimmy Couch, a boy of eight summers, while on his way home from school stopped by the wayside with other children to gather some early spring flowers. By some means he got out of sight and hearing of his companions, and they went home without him. The alarm of the "lost boy" was raised, the neighbors turned out and search was made, but no trace of him was discovered until the next morning. He was traced by spots of blood that his little scratched and torn feet had left upon the ground. He waded the lakes and ponds in Pleasant Valley, on Spoon River, in water up to his arm-pits. His steps during the last half-mile of this fatal march were only six inches in length. The little hero was found that morning lying dead upon the river bank just above Buckeye ferry in this township. One hand was thrown over his head; in the other he held his little cap.