USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > Historical and biographical record of Black Hawk County, Iowa > Part 55
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50S
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
would be safe, and wandered around all night in the sloughs and wet grass in her night clothes. The dark objects that had so suddenly and terribly frightened Mr. Glidden, turned out to be a number of colts that had followed the flying team. Glidden continued his journey until he reached the river, and finding he could not ford it in safety in the dark, was compelled to remain there until morning, when the nature of the " scare" was ascertained, and afterward afforded many a hearty laugh.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES.
The first entries of land in each town- ship in the county, made at the United States Land Office, are as follows:
Township 90, range II (Lester)-Joseph Potterf entered a part of section 36 July 21, 1851 ; Caspar Rowse entered a part of section 14, July 23, 1851 ; David S. Wilson, H. W. Sanford, Frederick E. Bissell, George Counts, John Somers, Alvin S. McDowell and John Stobie entered land in this township in 1852.
Township 90, range 12 (Bennington)- Allen C. Fuller entered a part of section 36, July 20, 1854. Nearly all the land in this township was entered in 1855.
Township 90, range 13 (Mt. Vernon)- William Bergin entered a part of section 3, July 21, 1852; Thomas Gordon entered a part of section 3 ; William Joshua, Barney and William Kern entered in 1852.
Township 90, range 14 (Washington and Union)-James W. True entered July 18, 1850 ; Benjamin Knapp entered a part of section 27, November 1, 1850; James New- ell entered January 18, 1851 ; John Fair- brother, C. H. Wilson, Valorious Thomas, E. G. Young, C. F. Jaquith, Wm. Kern, John C. Higginson, James L. Cumons, Margaret Roberts, Simon Wyatt, Jr., James Sween, Alfred Goss, Solomon S. Knapp, James Carlisle, S. M. Knapp, Jesse Morgan and others entered in 1851.
Township 89, range II (Barclay)-Jo- seph Potterf entered a part of section 13, and Edward Moiney entered a part of sec- tion 12, June 16, 1851.
Township 89, range 12 (partly in Poyner and partly in East Waterloo)-John Crum- rine entered a part of sections 31 and 32, December 5, 1850; Caleb H. Booth, John L. Kirkpatrick and Joseph M. Pennell en- tered in 1852.
Township 89, range 13 (Waterloo and East Waterloo)-Alvin R. Dunton entered parts of sections 22 and 23, July 24, 1847 ; George W. Hanna entered a part of sec- tion 17 and the northeast fractional half of section 26, July 26, 1847 ; John Hersley en- tered a part of section 21, September 13, 1849; James Waddell entered a part of sec- tion 6; Wm. M. Dean, John M. McDonald, H. S. Crumrine, Lyman Downing, entered in 1850, and Andrew Mullarky, John Adams, Norman W. Tottinghan, Richard Goodwin, Oscar Virden, S. B. Philpot, James Wilson, America Mullan, William Virden, Cephas Clearwater, Peter Powers and Jacob Witten entered in 1852.
Township 89, range 14 (Cedar Falls)- William Sturgis entered a part of section 12, October 9, 1847 ; Jackson Taylor entered in 1849; George Philpot entered in 1850.
Township 88, range II (Fox)-Frederick E. Bissell entered September 29, 1852; John A. Dunham entered a part of section 19, November 10, 1852.
Township 88, range 12 (Poyner and Ce- dar)-H. W. Sanford entered February I, 1850; Samuel Owens entered a part of sec- tion 6, June 6, 1850.
Township 88, range 13 (Orange)-Sam- uel Owens entered January 6, 1850.
Township 88, range 14 (Black Hawk)- Robert A. Jones entered December 17, 1851.
Township 87, range II (Spring Creek)- Moses Bates entered parts of sections 11, 12 and 14, September 11, 1849.
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY.
Township 87, range 12 (Cedar and Big Creek)-David Baker entered a part of section 3, and Samuel D. Warner entered a part of section 15, January 2, 1852; Otto F. Hayden entered a part of section 2, July IO, 1852.
Township 87, range 13 (Eagle)-Joseph H. Mead and Cicero Close entered section 13, January 3, 1854.
Township 87, range 14 (Lincoln)-Madi- son E. Hollister and Watson V. Coe en- tered July 5, 1854.
LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
Section 1 of "An Act to locate the seat of justice of Black Hawk County," approved January 22, 1853, provided, "That A. J. · Lowe, of Delaware County, S. S. McClure and Edward Brewer, of the county of Bu- chanan, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice of Black Hawk County. Said commissioners, or any two of them, shall meet at the house of E. D. Adams, in Black Hawk County, on the first Monday of May next, or within two months thereafter, as a majority of them may agree, in pursuance of their duties," etc. By the same act, the counties of Bremer, Grundy and Butler were attached to Black Hawk for judicial, election and revenue purposes.
On the 9th day of June, 1853, the com- missioners met at the house of E. D. Adams, in the village of Cedar Falls, and performed their duties under the law, se- lecting Cedar Falls.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
When Black Hawk County was created, in 1843, it was attached to Delaware County; but in 1845 it was attached to Benton County; and in 1846, states Geo. W. Hanna, Esq., under Benton jurisdiction, an election was held at the house of E. D. Adams, near the Falls. At this election Geo. W. Hanna, E. D. Adams and John Melrose were the
judges, and William Sturgis and a man from Benton County, whose name is for- gotten, were the clerks. George W. Hanna, E. D. Adams and John Melrose were elect- ed justices of the peace at this election, who held their offices for five years, as Mr. Hanna states that after that first election, in 1846, there was none held until 1851.
The first action of the county commis- sioners of Buchanan County, relating to Black Hawk, was recorded April 14, 1851, when the following entry was made :
" Application of Black Hawk County and Bremer County to be set off into sep- arate election precincts allowed. Black Hawk to be one, and Bremer to be one, and election ordered on the 28th day of April inst., at -, in Black Hawk County, and at J. H. Messinger's, in Bre- mer."
Under this order, the second election in Black Hawk County was held at the house of John T. Barrick. There are no records of the meeting, but it is remembered that 'Squire Hanna was re-elected justice of the peace, and Edwin Brown was elected jus- tice of the peace, and John Melrose and Norman Williams, constables.
The first assessment rolls of Buchanan County on which the names of Black Hawk settlers appear were made in 1851, when the following citizens of Black Hawk were assessed, viz .: E. D. Adams, F. Davenport, D. S. Pratt, D. S. Pratt & Co., William Vir- den, Overman & Co., - Brown, D. C. Overman, E. Brown, J. Morgan, Mahlon Lupton, F. Hohiner, A. Mullarky, George Philpot, David Davis, G. W. Hanna, J. Melrose, John Virden, R. Jones, L. Down- ing, William Sturgis, Henry S. Crumrine, James Wadell, C. Mullan, Geo. Ellis, Hi- ram Hampton, James Virden, G. B. White, John Crumrine, J. L. Kirkpatrick, J. H. Pennell, Chas. McCaffree, Thomas Pinner, A. Nims, Moses Bates, O. H. Hadon (Hay- den), - Layseur, J. H. McRoberts, John
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
Clark, Isaac Virden, C. H. Wilson, S. Wick, Perrin Lathrop, J. R. Pratt, Thomas New- ell, S. S. Knapp, M. L. Knapp, C. F. Ja- quith, Benj. Knapp, Elbridge (G.) Young, A. C. Finney, John Fairbrother, W. W. Payne, J. T. Barrick, S. T. Vail.
The county seat having been authorita- tively located, the people of the county began to think about organization, and justly considered themselves capable of running county machinery of their own. The following entry on the records of Bu- chanan County, made January 30, 1853, indicates that a petition was circulated for an organizing election very soon after the location of the county scat.
"A majority of the legal voters of Black Hawk County having petitioned for the calling of an election in said county, for the clection of county officers, it is thereupon ordered that an election be held in said county on the first Monday in August next, for the election of county officers in and for said county, to wit: A county judge, sheriff, clerk of District Court, re- corder and county surveyor, for the term of two years from that date, as the law provides ; also, a prosecuting attorney, for the term of one year; and a school fund commissioner, and a drainage commis- sioner, to hold their respective offices until the first Monday in April, 1853 [4?]."
The first election was unquestionably held as ordered above, but the poll books and tally lists are not to be found. They were returned to the county judge of Bu- chanan County, and by him turned over, with other documents, to the county au- thorities of Black Hawk after the election, as appears of record, but they are not accessible. It would be interesting to know the names of the persons who or- ganized this county a quarter of a century ago.
At that first election, however, held on the first Monday in August, 1853, the fol-
lowing officers were elected, viz .: County Judge, Jonathan R. Pratt ; Treasurer and Recorder, Aaron Dow ; Clerk of the Dis- trict Court, John H. Brooks; Prosecuting Attorney, William L. Christie; Sheriff, John Virden ; School Fund Commissioner, H. H. Fowler; Drainage Commissioner, Norman Jackson ; Coroner, Edmund But- terfield ; County Surveyor, Charles Mullan.
RELOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
Like most other counties in the West, Black Hawk has had its "county-seat fight," but it came early, and was finally settled.
As previously stated, the seat of justice was located at Cedar Falls by commis- sioners appointed by the Legislature in 1853; - but this action, however, was not entirely satisfactory, partly, perhaps, because it was too far removed from the geograph- ical center, and partly because Waterloo, which was near the center, was ambitious to bear the honor of being the shire town.
It is in traditon that an attempt of some kind to change the location of the county seat was made in 1854, but the exact nature cannot be ascertained. It is said that cer- tain citizens of Waterloo went up to Cedar Falls for that purpose, and that a general melee was the result. In an account of the affair published in the Iowa State Reporter, May 26, 1875, the local historian remarks: "Something stronger than Cedar River water was used, and after steam was up, the citizens of that town procured some eggs and opened fire on the invaders. O. E. Hardy sported a plug hat that afforded a prominent mark for the egg men, and the hat was badly damaged, and the Waterloo force was driven from the field." This was a " Waterloo defeat;" but the Waterloo force did not propose to give it up, and when the General Assembly convened the following winter the matter was presented with so much success that they secured the
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY.
passage of " An act to authorize the quali- fied electors of the county of Black Hawk to vote on the removal of the county seat of said county," approved January 19, 1855. Section I of this act provided :
" That there shall be a poll opened at the usual place of voting in the several organ- ized townships in Black Hawk County, on the first Monday in April next, for the pur- pose of allowing the qualified electors of said county to vote for or against the re- moval of the county seat of said county.
"Section 2 provided that the ballots of the electors should have written or printed thereon the word 'Cedar Falls' or ' Water- loo,' and that place having the greater number of votes should be the county seat.
" Provided, That if Waterloo should re- ceive the greater number, the county seat should remain at Cedar Falls until July 4, 1855, and thereafter at Waterloo. In the event of removal, the county judge was instructed to refund the purchase money to such persons as had purchased lots in Cedar Falls, with interest thereon from date of purchase."
On the 5th of March, 1855, Moses W. Chapman presented a petition to the County Court, asking that a town plat called " Flor- ence City," located in the southeast part of the county, be approved and recorded ; but owing to a deficiency in the proof the petition was denied.
On the same day, H. H. Meredith and others presented a petition to the County Court, asking that the question of the re- moval of the county seat to Florence City might be submitted to the people at the ensuing April election. Mr. Meredith and others of the petitioners were residents of Cedar Falls, and this petition was designed to create a division, through which it was hoped that the county seat might be retained at that place. The consideration of this petition was postponed by the court to the 19th of March, when the judge de-
nied the prayer of the petitioners for reasons, Ist, that it was in conflict with the act of January 19, and, 2d, that Florence City was a place unknown to the court.
"Ordered to show cause. At the second term of the District Court, held at Cedar Falls, March 26, T. S. Wilson, J. pre- siding, on petition of H. H. Meredith and others, it was ordered that 'the county judge of Black Hawk County show cause before me at chambers, ten days after the date hereof, why the prayer of said peti- tioners should not be granted, and such other order made and entered as may seem fit and proper in the premises.'"
Before the day appointed, however, the people of the county had made answer at the polls, and nothing further of this mat- ter appears of record.
At the election held April 2, 1855, the question of removal was submitted as pro- vided by the act of January 19, and resulted as follows: Whole number of ballots cast, 648; Waterloo received 388 ; Cedar Falls, 260.
April II the County Court entered of record the following :
"WHEREAS, The election on the removal of the county seat of Black Hawk County, held April 2, 1855, resulted in a majority of 128 for Waterloo over Cedar Falls ;
" Ordered, By the court, that proclama- tion be this day made, that on the 4th day of July, A. D. 1855, the county seat of Black Hawk County shall cease at Cedar Falls and that the several county offices required to be kept at the county seat shall thereafter be held at Waterloo."
There are those who aver to this day that the vote as cast'was not free from the taint of fraud. It was asserted after election, that the advocates and managers for Waterloo imported votes from Benton County, who made the counter-assertion that Cedar Falls generously accorded the numerous strang- ers then stopping at that place with the in
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
tention of buying lands further west, the freedom of the town as citizens of Black Hawk County.
In May following this action County Judge Pratt was taken sick and only a few days before he died he issued an order lo- cating the county scat on the Public Square on the east side ; and it is said that when he came to affix the seal of his office to the or- der he was so weak that he was at first un- able to make the impression. He refused assistance, however, being fearful that some question might be raised as to the legality of the proceeding, and finally, by putting almost his whole strength on the seal, suc- ceeded in affixing it to the order. On the Ist of June following he died, and John Randall, then prosecuting attorney, hav- ing been appointed to fill a vacancy March 20, became ex-officio county judge.
But the opponents of removal were deter- mined to fight it to the bitter end. On the 21st day of June, 1855, they applied to Hon. William G. Woodward, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and obtained a writ of injunction restraining the removal, which was served very early on the 4th of July. On the 16th of July an appropriation of $50 was made by the County Court to aid in defraying the expenses attending the ef- forts to have the injunction dissolved, the order giving as a reason for the appropria- tion "that the injunction was obtained in violation of law, and injurious to the inter- ests of the county."
The injunction was soon afterward dis- solved by Judge Woodward, and an order issued for the removal of all the books, pa- pers and documents to Waterloo, which was done on the 27th day of July. The county officers established themselves in the second story of Hubbard's brick store, on Commercial street, between Fifth and Sixth.
The general election of August, 1855, was now close at hand, and Mr. Randall,
acting judge, was a candidate for the office of county judge. There was a strong feel- ing in Waterloo between the people on the cast and the west sides of the river in rela- tion to the location of the court-house. The citizens of the west side were active in their efforts to secure the county building on their side of the river. Acting Judge Ran- dall, in order to advance his interests in the pending canvass, rescinded the order of his predecessor locating the county seat on the east side, and agreed that if he should be elected he would submit the question of location to a vote of the people of the whole county. This was evidently satis- factory, for Randall was elected and after- ward issued a proclamation for a special election to be held on the 10th day of De- cember, 1855, to decide upon which side of the river in Waterloo the prospective court- house should be erected. At this election 731 ballots were cast, of which 467 were for the east side and 264 for the side that would pay the most money for the location and erection of the county buildings, the proposition being submitted in that form. This decided the matter in favor of the east side of the town; but the definite location was a matter that was yet within the sole control of the county judge. His choice has since proved to be an unfortunate one, as the growth of Waterloo has been entire- ly north of the court-house, which is now left almost on the edge of the county.
On the Ioth day of December, 1855, the court-house was ordered to be built, when erected, on the east side of the river; but no further steps were taken and the first recorded action of the County Court after that time was on the 3d day of March, 1856, as follows:
" WHEREAS, The said county of Black Hawk has no court-house or other building or room in which to transact the general business of the county, consequently hav- ing to rent all rooms now used for such
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY.
purposes, and there being a surplus of funds now on hand in the treasury of said county not appropriated, and the county being in need of a court-house;
" It is hereby Ordered, That the surplus money now in the treasury of said county, or which may hereafter be collected into said treasury for the year 1855, be appro- priated for the erection of a court-house in the village of Waterloo, in said county. And that said county further incur the re- sponsibility of an additional expense, which, in connection with the surplus money in the treasury, or which may be as aforesaid, will amount to $13,000. And, in case such surplus, as above, does not amount to the said $13,000, the balance above what said surplus may be shall be paid from the first surplus money in the treasury of the said county not otherwise required or appropri- ated. And until there be such surplus in said county treasury, the bonds or warrants of said county be given to the amount of said deficiency.
" And it is further Ordered, That a con- tract or provision be made by said county of Black Hawk, for the erection of such court-house in the said village of Waterloo, during the present year of 1856.
" J. RANDALL, County Fudge."
March 7, 1856, a contract was made with Giles M. Tinker, for the erection of a court- house. The contract price was $12,747.61; but as to the nature of the building to be erected the records of the County Court are silent.
Having entered into a contract for build- ing a court-house, it became necessary for Judge Randall to determine where, on the east side, it should be located. This was under his control, although under the pledges made prior to his election the peo- ple thought they might have some voice in the matter. But the event proved that the county judge was abundantly able to locate the building without advice or assistance 53
from anyone, however public confidence might be betrayed and abused. He took the responsibility, it appears, for the follow- ing entry of record, May 24, 1856:
" WHEREAS, It being necessary to make a location of the county building or court- house, the erection of which has been pro- vided by contract with Giles M. Tinker, in the village of Waterloo ;
"It is hereby Ordered, That the location of a court-house for Black Hawk County, in the State of Iowa, be this day made, and that it be upon block 20, in the village of Waterloo, county of Black Hawk, State of Iowa, and that the court-house be erected thereon, now contracted for with Giles M. Tinker, and the said location was this day made as above.
"J. RANDALL, County Fudge."
The official record, however, does not show the general indignation of the people over this one-sided location; but there was no remedy. The county judge was an au- tocrat, when he elected to exercise to its full extent the power invested in him. It is now generally understood that certain town lots in which Mr. Randall had an in- terest influenced Judge Randall in making this selection, dim visions perhaps of a bridge across the Red Cedar at that point, and consequently an entire change of loca- tion of the business of the town. Specula- tion was rampant, and it is said that river lots on the west side, opposite Randall's location of the court-house, sold for $500 in gold. But the location of the bridge on Fourth street punctured the glittering bauble and permanently fixed the business part of the city several blocks up the river.
Many changes and alterations were made in the original plans, before the building was completed, and, by the time the expen- sive job was completed, the contractor had received more than double the contract price, or about $27,000, for his work. It is probable that in a few years a new and
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HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY.
more commodious structure will be erected in a more central location, as the present building is very much crowded.
Black Hawk County contains sixteen congressional townships, viz .: Townships Nos. 87, 88, 89 and 90 north, of ranges 11, 12, 13 and 14 west. These are divided into eighteen civil townships, as follows: Spring Creek, all of township 87, range 11, lying north of the Cedar River; Fox, township 88, range 11; Barclay, township 89, range 11; Lester, township 90, range 11 ; Ben- nington, township 90, range 12; Poyner, a strip two and one-half sections wide on east of township 89, range 12, all of town- ship 88, range 12, on east side of Cedar River, except west half of section 4, and sections 5 and 6, and that part of township 87, range 12, lying east of the river (a town- ship about fifteen miles long and two and a half miles wide) ; Cedar, that part of town- ship 88, range 12, west of Cedar River, and
that part of the north half of township 87, range 12, that lies west of the river; Big Creek, south half of township 87, range 12, and that part of township 87, range II, which lies south of the Cedar River ; Eagle, township 87, range 13; Orange, township 88, range 13: Waterloo, that part of town- ship 89, range 13, and township 89, range 12, south of the Red Cedar ; East Waterloo, that part of township 89, range 13, north and east of the Red Cedar, except sections 6 and 7, that part of township 89, range 12, not included in Poyner east of the river, and sections 6, 5 and west half of section 4, township 88, range 12; Mount Vernon, township 90, range 13; Washington, east half of township 90, range 14; Union, west half of township 90, range 14 ; Cedar Falls, township 89, range 14, and sections 6 and 7, township 89, range 13; Black Hawk, township 88, range 14; Lincoln, township 87, range 14.
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
6℃
POLITICAL HISTORY.
ARTY government is the present, and pos- sibly the future, though not the ideal, feature of our so- called republic; and men have in America been divided into political parties for 120 years. Upon the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, parties for the first time began to take definite shape and manifest open antagonisms, and the words Whig and Tory then had a plainer meaning in America than in England. The Stamp Act was denounced by the Whigs as direct taxation, and so gen- eral were the protests that for a time it seemed that only those who owed their livings to the Crown, or expected aid and comfort from it, remained with the Tories. The Whigs were the patriots.
After independence was achieved, of course all Americans were Whigs. In the first years of the United States as a federal union, under President Washington, there came about a division into " Particularist" and "Strong Government" Whigs, these soon adopting the more euphonious desig- nations of Anti-Federals and Federals. The
former, under Jefferson's lead, afterward became known as Republicans, which name was in the early part of 1806 dropped for that of Democrats. Hence Jefferson is often referred to as the founder of the Democratic party. If, however, this dis- tinction can be claimed for any one man, the friends of Andrew Jackson have per- haps a stronger case.
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