USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 10
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At the time of the first election, after the organization of the county, held in August, 1849, the population numbered about four hundred. One year later, in 1850, the population had increased to 756, and in 1851, at the time of the location of the county seat, the population was 890. This was in that day looked upon as a rapid increase in population. The settlers were now prouder of their new homes than they ever were before.
On the day of the location of the county seat the board of county commissioners met and passed the following orders :
"Ordered: That the Commissioners' clerk issue unto David Sweem forty dollars, and unto S. K. Scovell fifteen dollars as Com- missioners to locate the seat of justice of Boone County, to be paid out of the lot fund of said county, for services rendered."
"Ordered : That the Commissioners' clerk notify Thomas Sparks, County Surveyor, to take to his assistance the necessary hands on the 3Ist inst, and lay off two hundred lots near the stake driven by the locating Commissioners of the County Seat, on the northwest quar- ter of section 29, township 84, and range, 26, and continue from day to day until said number be laid off."
"Ordered: That the County Commissioners meet at the desig- nated place for the county seat of Boone County, on the 31st day of July, and lay off the public square, in the town of Boonesboro, the designated place of the Seat of justice of Boone County."
"Ordered: That the Commissioners have a called session the 26th of July, at the designated County Seat, called Boonesboro.
It seems that Mr. Sparks did not wait until the 31st of July to begin the survey of the county seat, for when the called session of the board met, on the 26th of July, the two orders passed by them related to the sale of town lots, giving the numbers of them. The orders passed are as follows :
"Ordered: That lots nos. 3 and 4, in block 12, in Boonesboro, Boone County, Iowa, be granted to Wesley C. Hull, lot 4, valued at $35, and lot 3, at $45, one fifth in hand, one fifth in six months, one fifth in twelve months one fifth in eighteen months, and the balance Vol. 1-7
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in two years with ten per cent on each payment after due until paid, and said Hull is to furnish a suitable room in said Boonesboro to hold court at the October term, free of charge."
"Ordered : That the Commissioners' Clerk cause to be published a sale of lots in the town of Boonesboro, Boone County, lowa, on the first Monday in October next, and on Tuesday and Wednesday following, the same to be published in each of the Fort Des Moines papers, and in the paper published at Oskaloosa; the payment; one fifth in hand, one fifth in six months, one fifth in twelve months, one fifth in eighteen months, and the balance in two years. If the last payment when due, with all former payments and interest thereon, at ten per cent, after due, is not made, then the same will fall back to the county."
This called meeting on July 26, 1851, was the last one held by this board of county commissioners. The meeting called for July 31, 1851, to lay out the public square, was never held. The reason most certainly was that the laying out of the public square was the business of the county surveyor, and not of the county commissioners.
A law passed the Legislature at the session of 1850-1, abolishing the commissioner system and substituted for it the office of county judge. At the election on the first Monday in August, 1851, Samuel B. McCall was elected county judge and entered immediately upon the discharge of the duties of that office. This brought to a close the labors of the pioneer board of county commissioners.
The first session of this board was held on the first Monday in October, 1849, and the last one was on the 26th of July, 1851. It was in official existence two years. It held nine meetings during that time and passed upon twenty-one orders. Not one of these meetings was held in a public office, or a public place of meeting. Every one of its twenty-one orders were passed upon either in a private house, or in the little schoolhouse on Honey Creek, in Sec- tion 33. Township 84, Range 26. It is very doubtful if a more faith- ful discharge of duties, in any two years of official work, can be found in any other county of the state. As elected in 1849, the board consisted of Jesse Hull, John Boyles and Jonathan Boles. At the end of one year the official term of Jonathan Boles expired and at the election on the first Monday in August, 1850, James Corbin was chosen his successor. These commissioners, and the faithful com- missioners' clerk, Reuben S. Clark, have left a good record behind them. It is a record of good and faithful work for which they
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received slight compensation. Although all of them have passed and gone, their memories still live in the official records they have left behind.
Jesse Hull never missed a session of the board. He settled at Belle Point, five miles north of Madrid, in 1847. The first post- office in the county was kept in his house. From 1854 to 1864 he kept a station of the Western Stage Company. He passed away at his Belle Point home in 1874.
John Boyles settled in what is now the north part of Worth Town- ship in 1848. Shortly after the close of his official term as county commissioner, he moved to the Pacific Coast, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Jonathan Boles settled at Elk Rapids in 1848, where he and his brother, Adam Boles, built a mill on the Des Moines River, which was the first mill built in the county. Later he exchanged his inter- est in the mill for land in Marcy Township, where he spent the remainder of his life.
James Corbin lived in what is now Yell Township, near the site of the Village of Centerville, when he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners. He was a man of more than ordi- nary intelligence and he possessed considerable local influence. Along in the '7os he moved to Kansas, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Reuben S. Clark came from Indiana and settled in Boone County in 1847. He was a man of good ability and had acquired a good education. He began his official career in Boone County in 1849, when he was elected commissioners' clerk. His two years' term in that office came to a close with the outgoing of the commis- sioner system. On the first Monday in August, 1851, he was elected treasurer and recorder of Boone County, to succeed John M. Crooks. So he passed from one office into another. At the close of this term of office he rested one year, but at the election of 1854 he was elected clerk of the District Court, and re-elected in 1856 and 1858, finishing his official career January 1, 1861, making in all ten years of official life in Boone County. In 1868 he sold his farm and moved to Ray County, Missouri, where he became the owner of a fine farm and there departed this life some years ago.
John M. Wane, who was elected clerk of the District Court in 1849 and the pioneer in that office, came to Boone County in 1848 and settled two miles south of where is now the City of Boone, where he made a beautiful farm. Before coming here he had been a printer
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
in the office of the New York Tribune, and was well acquainted with Ilorace Greeley, whom he held in high esteem. Mr. Wane was well qualified to fill the office to which he was elected, but there was little business to transact during his official term. There was but one ses- sion of the District Court while he was in office and that was the first term of that court held in this county. Not being an office secker, Mr. Wane never held another county office. He preferred to remain upon his farm and follow his chosen occupation. Here his life came to a close but a few years ago. He was held in high esteem by all his neighbors.
John M. Crooks came from Indiana in April, 1846, and located a mile south of where the City of Boone now stands, on what has since been known as the Michael Myers farm. At the first election in 1849, he was chosen treasurer and recorder, which proves that he was held in high esteem by the voters of the county. Some time after the close of his official term he moved to the Pacific coast, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Samuel H. Bowers moved to Boone County in 1848 and settled less than a mile due south of the site of the present hospital. in Boone. He was a man who had sufficiently impressed himself upon his fel- low citizens to induce them at the first election, in 1849, to select him for sheriff of the county. It does not appear that there was much business to transact in this office in that early time, but it does appear that Mr. Bowers had some other things in mind which he wished to bring to a successful termination. During his term of office he succeeded in getting a postoffice established at his house. This office was named Booneville. By this action he expected to secure the location of the county seat at Booneville, but when the time came for such location to be made he had the influence of the McCalls, Reuben S. Clark, Col. John Rose and others with which to contend, and in the shuffle of conflicting interests his hopes were defeated. Shortly after this Mr. Bowers was taken sick and died. He was the first of the original nine county officers to pass away.
Thomas Sparks, who was elected county surveyor, at the organiz- ing election in 1849, was a native of the State of Pennsylvania and came to Boone County in 1846. After carefully looking the country over he located in what is now Worth Township. Mr. Sparks was a man of more than ordinary attainments. He was a practical book- keeper and he was often called upon by the other county officers for assistance in their official work. He understood the art of survey- ing, and when the time came to select one to fill the place Mr. Sparks
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was chosen county surveyor. He filled the office with marked ability, but he declined another term of office, preferring to use his time in improving his farm. Mr. Sparks was also a good educator and taught many terms of school in various parts of the county. He assisted numbers of the youths of the county in their private studies, which was of much benefit to them. When Mr. Sparks could no longer attend to the duties of the farm, he moved to Boone, where he died only a few years ago. He was the last of the pioneer officers of the county to pass away.
Wesley C. Hull, who was elected prosecuting attorney at the organizing election, August 6, 1849, settled in Boone County in 1848. He was a man of considerable ability and he was an active worker in the beginning of the county organization. Mr. Hull built the house in which the first two terms of the District Court were held in this county. The first term was held in October, 1851, and at this term Wesley C. Hull was admitted to the bar. P. M. Casady and Barlow Granger, of Fort Des Moines, examined him as to his legal ability and made a favorable report to William McKay, the presid- ing judge, and it was then, "Ordered; That Wesley C. Hull be admitted as an attorney at law and solicitor in chancery in this court." Whereupon he appeared in court and took the oath required by law. Mr. Hull practiced but little, if any, in the county. About a year after his admission to the bar, he moved to Oregon and died there years ago.
Of the two commissioners who located the county seat we can say but little. We can only say that David Sweem was a citizen of Marion County and of sufficient ability to be appointed a commis- sioner to locate the county seat of Boone County. That he came at the time appointed and discharged his duty faithfully and well. Of Mr. Scovell, we know at the time he was appointed locating com- missioner he was clerk of the District Court of Dallas County. He did not appear at the appointed time to discharge his duties, but had to be sent for. He came with the messenger and discharged his duty well. After his term of office in Dallas County expired, Mr. Scovell moved to the Pacific coast and permanently located there.
Around the old county seat, located by these commissioners, and where the final work of the first officers of Boone County centered, there has gathered a sincere respect and a halo of sacredness, which commands the affections of the people of the county.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
Having given most of the official acts of the first board of county commissioners, it seemed appropriate to give a brief sketch of each member of the board, and the other county officers elected in 1849, as these men did the first work in shaping the business and laying the foundation upon which the government of the county has been built. It is but fitting that a sketch of their lives be given on the pages of the new history of Boone County. [Many of these men were known to the editor as well as to many others now living in the county.]
CHAPTER VII
COUNTY ORGANIZATION-(CONTINUED)
We now come to that part of the organization of the county which was done under the direction of the county judges. Among the first official acts of Judge McCall were those relating to the settlement of the bills for surveying the county seat.
September 1, 1851, Thomas Sparks presented a bill against the County of Boone for the services of himself and assistants in laying off the Town of Boonesboro. The said bill being duly considered, the court allowed and ordered that each of the following named per- sons, as set forth by said bill, receive a warrant on the funds of said county, calling for the amount set opposite to their respective names, to wit:
Thomas Sparks, for 5 days surveying $16.50
William Ball, 214 days carrying a flag. 2.25
William Thomas, 314 days driving stakes 3.25
Solomon Webster, 314 days carrying stakes 3.25
James Corbin, 214 days carrying chain . 2.25
David Hamilton, 214 days carrying chain 2.25
George W. Lacy, 1 day carrying a flag.
1.00
Total .$30.75
The following statement will show that with even the small expense of the county at that early day, the receipts in taxes were not sufficient to pay them: "July 5, 1851, after examination it is found that the receipts and expenditures of the respective years since the organization of the county have been as follows, to wit :
Amount of available tax for the year ending June 30, 1850. . . $ 64.00 Amount of expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1850. . 77.92
Indebtedness of county 13.92
Amount of available tax for the year ending June 30, 1851. . 170.33 Amount of expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1851 . . . 340.01
Indebtedness of county 169.68
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Amount of tax for the year ending June 30, 1852. 421.82 Amount of expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1852. 391.84 Amount due county officers 169.68 Indebtedness of 1850 13.32
Indebtedness of 1851 169.68
Total indebtedness 744.52
Tax deducted 421.82
Net indebtedness 322.70
S. B. MCCALL, County Judge."
Up to July, 1853, there were two separate and distinct county funds, one arising from taxation, the other from the sale of lots. Certain obligations were payable out of the lot fund and such fund could be used only for such purposes. These funds were up to this time kept strictly separate, but by an order of the court, issued at this time, it became possible to use the two funds alike for all county purposes. The order was as follows:
"Ordered : That the Lot Fund shall be used as part of the county fund proper, in common with the fund arising from taxation, for county purposes and that it be accounted available to defray the ordinary expenses of the county."
The following report shows the financial condition of the county July 4, 1854, which is a very interesting report :
"Expenditures of Boone County for the year ending July 31, 1854 $1456.71
Indebtedness July 1, 1853 634.89 Total 2091.60
Receipts for years 1853 and 1854 1758.49
Net indebtedness 333.11
LOT FUND
Value of lots sold to July 1, 1854 $3365.20
Notes on hand July 1, 1854. 1494.73
Cash. 1 870.47
Paid into county fund $ 968.52
Expense in 1853. 515.12
Expense in 1854. 341.57
Balance due Lot Fund 45.26
Totals 1870.47 Notes on hand 1494.79"
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
The foregoing statement shows that the expenses of the county up to July 1, 1854, exceeded the amount of cash on hand by $287.85. Yet at the same time the county had on hand good notes to the amount of $1,494.73. This would leave the county out of debt, with avail- able means on hand of $1,206.88. This was a good financial showing of county management. The population of the county at that date, July 1, 1854, was 1,678. In 1849 the population was only 419. In 1850 it was 739. In 1851 it was 890. In 1852 it was 1,024, while in 1854 it had increased, as stated, to 1,678. In 1856 it was 3,518, in 1859 it was 4,018, and in 1860 it was 4,232.
One of the prominent things in the history of the organization of the county was the holding of the first session of the District Court in this county. It convened October 6, 1851. As has already been stated the board of county commissioners in July, 1851, entered into a contract with W. C. Hull, by which the latter was to provide a suitable room in which the sessions of the District Court were to be held. Although the people were peaceable, good natured and indus- trious, yet they seemed to want the court to hold its sessions at their county seat the same as in the other counties of the state.
Honorable William McKay, judge of the Fifth Judicial District of the state at that time, was the presiding judge. W. C. Hull had erected a double log house and in the south room of this house the court convened.
At the August election, held on the first Monday of that month, James Lacy was elected sheriff, to succeed Samuel H. Bowers. The following record is very interesting: "Now comes James W. Lacy, sheriff of Boone County, and returned unto the court the service heretofore issued for grand jurors, and the following named persons being called, came, to wit: Jefferson Hoffman, James M. Carson, William Dickerson, Solomon Smith, James Hull, Amos Rose, S. Z. Tomlinson, and William Enfield. It appearing that the legal number of grand jurors summoned have not appeared, the following named persons were selected from the bystanders: D. F. Hamilton, David Noah, William Ball, William Thomas, W. D. Parker, G. W. Payne, and S. Godfrey. The court having appointed S. Z. Tomlinson fore- man, they were duly impaneled, sworn, and, after receiving instruc- tions from the court, retired in charge of James Corbin, a sworn bailiff, to inquire of such things as might come to their knowledge. It appearing to the court that no legal prosecuting attorney had been elected, the court appointed Madison Young to act as such during this term."
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
The above named fifteen grand jurors constituted the first grand jury impaneled and sworn in Boone County. This makes it the most historic one of the county and entitles its members to prominent mention on the pages of the history of the county.
It appears there were thirteen cases came up for trial at this first term of court. Three of these were suits for debt, one entry and detainer, four recognizances, and one appeal.
During this term the grand jury returned two indictments. One was against Lewis Jewett, for murder, and the other against Hiram Mitchell, for passing counterfeit money. It seems that Mitchell was unable to give bail and was ordered committed. There being at that time no jail in Boone County, he was sent to Polk County for safe keeping.
The finding of the grand jury in the Jewett case is as follows: "Now comes the grand jury, presents an indictment against Lewis Jewett for murder." This was the first indictment for murder ever placed upon the records in Boone County. The murdered man was Jacob Pea, a son of John Pea, one of the noted pioneers of Boone County.
It is stated that they were both suitors for the affections of the same woman and from this a quarrel arose, which brought on an encounter between them, in which Jewett stabbed Pea, inflicting a wound from which he died. This murder took place about a year before the indictment by the grand jury. Jewett had been arrested and placed under bond, his sureties being David Jewett, an uncle, and Addison Michall.
The title of this case and the orders of the court are as follows : STATE OF IOWA
VS.
RECOGNIZANCE
LEWIS JEWETT
"Now comes Madison Young, who prosecutes for the state, and Lewis Jewett, having been three times solemnly called, comes not, but makes default. It is therefore ordered that a scire facias issue against one David L. Jewett and Addison Michall, his sureties, returnable at the next term of court to show cause why the recog- nizance herein be not forfeited and judgment entered thereon against them."
At the next term of court, in 1853, the bail bond was declared forfeited and judgment rendered against the suretics for $500. D. O. Finch, the attorney for the sureties, filed a motion to set aside the judgment. The court sustained the motion and the case was con-
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
tinued until next term of court. In 1854 the case came up again, and the defendants, by their attorney, D. O. Finch, filed a demurrer to the scire facias. The demurrer was sustained and this ended the case.
Jewett, on giving bond, fled for parts unknown, and was never seen in this county again. The woman over whom the trouble originated married another man and died but a few years ago in this county.
The appeal case, which came up at this first term of court ever held in Boone County, had been tried before John Rose, who was justice of the peace for Boone Township. It was, in fact, a very historic case for several reasons. It was the first case ever tried in the county before a justice of the peace. It was also heard and passed upon by a jury of six men, which was the first trial jury in the history of the county. The title of this case and the names of those six jurors should not, and must not, be passed over. The title was, David Noah vs. Lewis Kinney.
The suit was brought for the payment of a promissory note for fifteen dollars. The names of the jurors were : Montgomery McCall, foreman; Michael Myers, John Pea, William Thomas, J. B. Hamil- ton, and John Houser. The jury found for the plaintiff, and their finding was confirmed in the District Court.
At this first term of court John Dalander and A. P. Anderson were declared citizens of the United States. The court transacted all of the business before it in two days, and adjourned. It would seem that this court spent little time on preliminaries.
The first person to apply to the county for support was an aged widow named Catharine Rule. This application was made before S. B. McCall, county judge. The 9th day of February, 1854, was the day set for hearing this application. At this hearing it developed that the applicant had a son who was amply able to support his mother, but who had neglected to do so. The court "ordered that the son shall himself give her such relief as shall prevent her from becoming a public charge." This was a very good and correct order. and it reflected much honor upon the sense of the court.
The court room prepared by W. C. Hull proved to be inadequate for a court room. It does not appear that more than one term of court was ever held in this room, and that was the first term. A schoolhouse had been built in the southwest part of Boonesboro, and for about three years the sessions of the court were held in this school- house. The house built by W. C. Hull, in which the first term of
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
court was held, stood directly across the street east from where the present courthouse stands.
THE FIRST COURTHOUSE
The year 1851 brought forcibly before the people of the county, and particularly before the county officers, the question of the build- ing of a courthouse by the county. So pressing did the necessity seem to be that the lot on the corner of Third and Fremont Streets, in Boonesboro, was set apart as a site for the building.
In the spring of 1856 a contract was entered into by and between County Judge J. B. Montgomery, Jeremiah E. Black and Thomas Benton Beazell for building the courthouse, the first one erected in Boone County. The contractors named commenced work early in the summer of 1856. The building was to be a two-story frame structure, about thirty by sixty feet in size. The lower story was to be finished off as a court room and the upper story was to be divided into rooms for county offices. The building was completed and ready for use about September 1, 1857. It stood on the corner where the Mallary drug store is now situated. The following orders will show what this courthouse cost the county.
August 8, 1856. "Ordered : That the county treasurer of Boone County pay to Jeremiah E. Black and Thomas Benton Beazell the sum of $800 out of the county funds as the first payment toward the building of a county courthouse, and rooms for the county officers."
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