USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa: a record of settlement., Volume 1 > Part 8
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The board of supervisors for 1863 was again called upon to pass upon the matter of removal by a petition to relocate the county seat at Shell Rock. As before, this petition was followed by a remonstrance. The whole question was deferred by the board until the September session, when it was taken up and the petition refused. Thereafter, there were a number of abortive attempts to secure the resubmission of the county seat question, but Butler Center remained in possession of the county seat of justice for about twenty years.
In the meantime two railroads had penetrated the county,- the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern, passing through the towns of Shell Rock, Clarksville and Greene along the Shell Rock valley, and the Dubuque & Sioux City, through the southern tier of townships. The distance of Butler Center from a railway
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came therefore to be a new and persistent cause of dissatisfaction in its retention of the county capital. Late in the '70s a new railroad was surveyed through the center of the county from east to west, called at first the Iowa & Pacific. For reasons which will be noted elsewhere Butler Center failed to take advantage of the opportunity to secure this railroad. In the end it was surveyed west from Clarksville, leaving Butler Center four or five miles from its nearest point. A new town on this line of railroad was platted as near to the geographical center of the county as Butler Center and the people of the county realized that very soon the county seat question would come up again for decision.
ALLISON
In anticipation of this movement and with the hope of pre- venting it, the people of Bristow, in the summer of 1880, pub- lished a notice and circulated a petition for the removal of the county seat to that place. The new town of Allison, however, also came into the field with a petition and a fight was on. The campaign was a hot one. Newspaper articles, stump speeches and mass meetings in the schoolhouses were characterized by extreme bitterness of feeling. In the end, however, the Allison petition secured a majority of the signers. The board of super- visors acted favorably upon this petition and at the November election in 1880 the question of the removal of the county seat to Allison was carried by a majority of 265 votes, Allison receiving 1,529 and Butler Center, 1,264.
In connection with the submission of this question to the peo- ple of the county, the Allison Town Company, represented by John R. Waller, of Dubuque, filed a bond in the sum of $25,000 with the county auditor, guaranteeing in consideration of the removal of the county seat from Butler Center to Allison, the building of the courthouse adequate in size to accommodate the business of the county and furnished in an appropriate manner. With this there was also to be made a cession of ten acres of land to belong to the county so long as it should continue to be used for county purposes.
REMOVAL TO ALLISON
When in January, 1881, the board of supervisors ordered the county records removed to Allison, there was no building ready Vol. I-6
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for their accommodation. The county clerk, recorder and sheriff found quarters in the upper story of a building owned by A. M. McLeod. The auditor and treasurer were accommodated tempo- rarily in the drug store then owned by Dr. Riggs, and later occu- pied by S. W. Burroughs, on the east side of Main street. As soon as possible a small office building, which had been occupied by the county officers at Butler Center was moved over and these officers took up their quarters in this.
THE COURTHOUSE
The Allison Town Company, which was largely financed by H. L. Stout, owner of the Iowa Central Stock Farm, a Dubuque lumberman and capitalist, was ready to fulfill to the letter its agreement with the people of the county regarding the erection of the courthouse but it became evident that public opinion favored the expenditure of a larger sum than had been agreed upon in the preliminary negotiations. In the end a compromise was effected between the supervisors and the Allison Town Com- pany, by which the latter agreed to deposit to the credit of the county the sum of $7,000 in cash to be used in the erection of the courthouse, the county agreeing to furnish a sum one-third as great in addition thereto.
In the spring of 1881 the contract for the construction of the courthouse was let to L. D. Harvey, of Clarksville, for the sum of $10,680. The building was completed and ready for occupancy by October, 1881. For the time, the building was distinctly a creditable one. It was built with wooden frame, with brick veneer, 50x55 feet in dimensions, two stories in height.
In 1903 an addition to the courthouse equal in height to the main building and 20x51 feet in dimensions was constructed on the north, the contract price being $5,000. This addition furnishes space for the heating plant, fuel rooms and jail in the basement. The first floor contains vaults for the clerk's office and the audi- tor's office and toilet rooms. On the second floor in the addition are located the grand and petit jury rooms and a retiring room for the district judge. For lack of other quarters, the petit jury room has in recent years been given over to the office of the county superintendent of schools. This location is an inconvenient one for many reasons and eventually doubtless it will be found neces- sary for other arrangements to be made.
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The county jail in the basement of the courthouse has been condemned by a number of grand juries and is unfit for use as the habitation even of suspected criminals. In the election of 1912 the proposition to build a separate jail and sheriff's resi- dence was defeated at the polls by a small majority. Such a building, however, is a crying necessity and the people of the county will sooner or later come to see it.
The present courthouse stands at the head of Main street on the crest of a rise of land which is said to be the highest point in Butler county. This situation gives it an imposing appear- ance as the land slopes gently away from it in every direction. It is surrounded by ample grounds, beautifully parked and planted to a variety of well chosen shade and ornamental trees. On either side of the main entrance stand two cannon, a gift to the county from the United States Government through the cour- tesy of Col. D. B. Henderson at the request of his friend, I. M. Fisher. Visitors to Allison frequently comment upon the court- house square as constituting the finest county property in the state.
Since the location of the county seat at Allison no serious attempt has been made to resubmit the question of removal. It is not probable that it will ever again be raised. For some years Allison had to struggle against a certain amount of jealousy and hard feeling which had been engendered by its choice as the county capital. Gradually, however, this feeing has been allayed and today the people of Butler county are coming increasingly to take pride in their county seat and to desire to assist it in main- taining a position of equality with the county seats of surround- ing counties.
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CHAPTER IX REPRESENTATION STATE AND NATIONAL
CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION
At the time of its organization, Butler county was a part of the Second Congressional District and was represented in Con- gress by John B. Cook, of Davenport. Mr. Cook served one term in the Thirty-third Congress, from 1853-55. He was elected to Congress as a whig but before he took his seat the whig party had practically disappeared. Thereafter he affiliated with the democratic party. In the Thirty-first Congress, 1855-57, the Second District was represented by James P. Thorington, of Dav- enport, a republican. The Representative in the Thirty-fifth Congress was Timothy Davis, of Dubuque, elected by the Amer- ican party. William R. Vandever, of Dubuque, represented the district in the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, from 1859 to 1863. While serving his second term the Civil war broke out. Representative Vandever abandoned his seat, returned to the state, and raised a regiment of infantry, of which he was made colonel. He was later promoted to brigadier-general and at the close of the war brevetted major-general.
In accordance with the new apportionment for the sessions of 1860, Iowa was assigned six representatives in Congress. The state was accordingly redistricted, Butler county becoming a part of the Sixth District. The first representative of this new district was Asahel W. Hubbard, of Sioux City. Mr. Hubbard served through the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, from 1863 to 1869. Charles Pomeroy, of Fort Dodge, was elected to the Forty-first Congress from the Sixth District. Pomeroy was the first farmer to hold this office, his predecessors, all of them, having been members of the legal profession. The repre- sentative in the Forty-second Congress was Jackson Orr, of Mon- tana, Iowa.
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The apportionment following the census of 1870 increased the Iowa representation to nine. Butler county thereafter became 2 part of the Fourth Congressional District, being represented in the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses by Henry O. Pratt, of Charles City. His successor was Nathaniel C. Deering, of Osage, who served for three terms, from 1877 to 1883.
In 1882 the state was again redistricted and Butler county be- came one of the counties forming the famous Third, or "Monkey Wrench" District. Hon. David B. Henderson, of Dubuque, was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress from this district and served it continuously in this capacity in all the sessions of Congress from the Forty-eighth to the Fifty-seventh, inclusive. Colonel Hender- son, or "Dave," as he was better known to most of his constitu- ents, counted a multitude of personal friends in Butler county. He was a frequent visitor to the county, usually making his head- quarters on the Iowa Central Stock Farm. Colonel Henderson possessed that rare quality of being able to remember faces and names. He never forgot a friend and rarely failed to be able to call by name any man whom he had met. This quality, together with his whole souled, genial nature, made him a personal friend of his constituents. They all rejoiced with him in the honor that came to him when he was chosen speaker of the National House of Representatives. His voluntary retirement from the office in 1903, at the conclusion of his ninth term, was deeply regretted by his loyal Butler county friends. Colonel Henderson was succeeded in the Fifty-eighth Congress by Benjamin P. Birdsall, of Clarion, who served three terms, until 1909, when Charles E. Pickett, of Water- loo, succeeded him. Mr. Pickett served through the Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses but was defeated for re-election in the campaign of 1912, by Morris Connolly, of Dubuque. Mr. Con- nolly is the first democrat to represent Butler county in Congress since the days of John P. Cook, in 1855.
Of the United States Senators who have represented Iowa in Congress since its admission as a state, Butler county always had a particularly warm place in its heart for Senator William B. Allison. Mr. Allison was a personal friend of H. L. Stout and the other gentlemen who formed the Allison Town Site Company, and the Butler county seat was named in his honor. He was a frequent visitor at the farm owned by his friend, Mr. Stout, and on a num- ber of occasions appeared in public addresses before the people
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of the county, the last of these being on the occasion of the dedica- tion of the new Butler county fair grounds at Allison in 1887.
Senators Gear, Dolliver, Cummins and Kenyon have all at vari- ous times made public addresses in the county but for none of them have the people of the county had the personal feeling that they had for Senator Allison. It is gratifying to note that Butler county loyally supported the aged Senator in his last campaign for the nomination to the senatorship in 1908.
STATE OFFICERS FROM BUTLER COUNTY
Butler county takes pride in the fact of having furnished one Governor to the State of Iowa. The Hon. Frank D. Jackson, four- teenth Governor of Iowa, was born at Arcade, Wyoming county, New York, January 26, 1854. In 1867 he came with his parents to Jesup, in Buchanan county, Iowa, where he attended the public schools. He also attended the State Agricultural College, after- ward entering the law department of the State University, where he graduated in 1874. He removed to Butler county in 1880, set- tling at Greene, where he engaged in the practice of law. He was chosen secretary of the State Senate in the winter of 1882 and was reelected in 1884. At the Republican State Convention of 1884 he was nominated for Secretary of State and elected, serving by successive elections for three terms. In 1893 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Governor. For four years the democratic party had secured the chief executive in the elec- tion of Governor Boies. The campaign was conducted with great vigor on both sides and resulted in the election of Frank D. Jack- son by a plurality of more than thirty-two thousand. Governor Jackson served but one term, declining to be a candidate for reelec- tion.
Captain W. V. Lucas, auditor of the State of Iowa from 1881 to 1883, was for a number of years a resident of Butler county and at one time editor of the Shell Rock News. His deputy, Rufus L. Chase, was a citizen of Butler county, having served several terms as county auditor.
John F. Wade, of Butler county, was a member of the State Board of Control from 1909 to the date of his death in 1913. He is noticed more fully elsewhere.
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REPRESENTATION IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Butler county was first represented in the Fifth General As- sembly of Iowa, which convened at Iowa City on December 4, 1854. As a state senatorial district, it was associated with Dubuque, Delaware, Buchanan, Blackhawk, Grundy, Bremer, Clayton, Fayette, Allamakee, Winneshiek, Howard, Mitchell, Floyd and Chickasaw counties and was represented in the Senate by William W. Hamilton, Maturin L. Fisher and John J. Shields. Senator Fisher was chosen president of the Senate during this session. In the House of Representatives, Butler county was represented by Jacob W. Rogers, of West Union, whose district included Fay- ette, Chickasaw, Butler, Bremer, Blackhawk, Grundy, Franklin, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Worth counties, forming the Third Representative District.
In the Sixth and Seventh Assemblies Butler county was dis- tricted in the Thirty-third Senatorial District, with Fayette, Bremer, Franklin, Grundy, Hardin, Wright, Webster, Boone, Story, Greene and Humboldt counties. This district was repre- sented in the Senate by Aaron Brown, of Fayette county. The Forty-eighth Representative District, comprising Bremer, Chick- asaw, Butler, Floyd, Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Kossuth and Grundy counties, sent E. R. Gillett as their representative. His postoffice address and home county are both unknown.
With a number of other counties, Butler was represented in the Third Constitutional Convention of 1857 by Sheldon G. Win- chester.
The first citizen of Butler county to be honored with election to the House of Representatives was Matthew M. Trumbull, who in the Seventh Assembly represented the Twelfth District, com- prising Mitchell, Floyd and Butler counties. He was elected by the narrow majority of six over his democratic opponent, J. C. Bishop, the vote standing 172 to 166.
Alfred L. Brown, of Cedar Falls, represented Butler county in the Senate during the eighth and ninth sessions of the General Assembly, his district consisting of the counties of Grundy, Black- hawk, Butler and Franklin for the first two years, and the same counties with the exception of Grundy in the last two. Chauncey Gillett, of Franklin county, was a member of the House of Repre- sentatives in the Eighth Assembly, being elected by the voters of Franklin, Wright, Butler and Grundy counties.
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Alonzo Converse, who has already been mentioned in connec- tion with the office of county judge, was elected to the House of Representatives for the Ninth Assembly from the Fifty-fifth Dis- trict, including Butler, Grundy and Franklin counties. Mr. Con- verse served only one term in the House of Representatives, being succeeded by W. A. Lathrop, who is largely identified with the early county history and receives detailed mention elsewhere. In the Senate of this session, the county was represented by C. F. Clarkson, of Grundy Center, Hardin, Franklin and Blackhawk counties being associated with Butler in the Thirty-ninth Sena- torial District.
James B. Powers of Cedar Falls, represented Blackhawk and Butler counties in the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly and Lorenzo D. Tracy, of New Hartford, Butler and Grundy counties in the House.
Marcus Tuttle, of Cerro Gordo county, was elected to the Sen- ate for Franklin, Butler, Grundy and Cerro Gordo counties in 1868, serving through the session of the Twelfth Assembly. James A. Guthrie, of New Hartford, was State Representative from But- ler and Grundy counties in this session.
Of the Thirteenth Assembly, R. B. Clark is said to have been elected Senator, although the records of the state as to the mem- bers of the General Assembly do not include his name. His death occurred some time after the election and it is probable that he never qualified for the office. Emmons Johnson, of Bremer county, was elected to fill the vacancy. S. B. Dumont, of Pittsford town- ship, was elected Representative for this session of the assembly and served two terms in the office, in one of which he represented both Butler and Grundy counties. Beginning with the sessions of the Fourteenth General Assembly in 1872 Butler county con- stituted a separate representative district.
Alonzo Converse, of New Hartford, was chosen Senator from the Forty-third District, including the counties of Floyd, Butler and Mitchell at this time and served until 1876. The list of mem- bers of the Senate and House of Representatives from this date to the present time is given below:
Senators :- Arad Hitchcock, 1876-78; W. W. Blackman, 1878- 80; W. P. Gaylord, 1880-82; Alvin M. Whaley, 1882-88; L. S. Hanchett. 1888-92: R. S. Smith, 1892-94; George M. Craig, 1894- 1904; John F. Wade, 1904-08; Charles Gates, 1908-12; F. P. Hage- mann, 1912-
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All these since 1882, with the exception of L. S. Hanchett and F. P. Hagemann, have been residents of Butler county and have represented the Senatorial district comprised of Butler and Bremer counties. They are mentioned more at length in connec- tion with the history of their particular localities in the county.
From 1874 to date the members of the House of Representa- tives from Butler county have been as follows:
Charles A. L. Roszell, 1870-76; John Palmer, 1876-78; A. M. Whaley, 1878-82; H. C. Brown, 1882-86; Elwood Wilson, 1886-90; S. W. Soesbe, 1890-92; C. T. Coonley, 1892-96; W. G. Ladd, 1896- 1900; M. F. Edwards, 1900-02; Stanley Conn, 1902-08; John A. Cousins, 1908-12; W. I. Atkinson, 1912-
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CHAPTER X THE JUDICIARY AND THE BAR
THE DISTRICT COURT
Several years after the organization of Butler county, the Thirteenth Judicial District, consisting of the counties of Butler, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Marshall, Story and Wright, was created in March, 1857. Judge James D. Thompson of Hardin county was elected district judge of this district in April, 1857, and held the first term of district court in Butler county, in October of the same year, at the Grout schoolhouse in Clarksville. Previous to this the only court that had held ses- sions in the county was the old county court. The district court at this time had approximately the same jurisdiction and organ- ization as at present. James E. Walker was clerk of the courts and W. H. Bishop sheriff in the first session. The first grand jury consisted of John T. Newhard, foreman, J. M. Vincent, bailiff, William Hoisington, John Braden, James Wood, L. D. Owen, G. T. Root, John Palmer, James Bywater, James McKin- ney, John Boggs, L. A. Orvis, Judd Bradley, Peter Riley, M. B. Wamsley and A. J. Lewellen. This grand jury met on a little knoll later occupied by the residence of S. M. Townsend in Clarks- ville, and organized in the open air. Their later sessions, how- ever, were held in a room which was furnished them. The first petit jury consisted of A. Van Dorn, foreman; G. W. Stoner, bailiff; Felix Landis, Christian Forney, John M. Hart, Charles Ensign, Aaron Hardman, George Harlan, Samuel McCrery, John Lash, James Blake, J. H. Smith, William Burress, Charles Lusted, A. Glenn and Jacob Shaffer. Enough men could not be obtained for this jury, so the grand jury was ordered to be in attendance on this term of court. At this session, on motion of M. M. Trumbull, James R. Fletcher, C. J. Bannon, W. R. Jami- son, John Palmer, Orson Rice and George A. Richmond were admitted to practice as attorneys.
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The first case to come before the court was that of the State of Iowa vs. William Casterline, in which the defendant was ac- cused of threatening to kill some one. He had been previously tried in the county court and had been bound over to the district court. Before the matter was submitted to the jury the charge was withdrawn and the case was dismissed.
The second district judge to hold court in Butler county was Samuel Murdock, a judge of the Tenth Judicial District, who pre- sided over the June term in 1858.
The next district judge whose name appears in the records is Elias H. Williams. As Judge Williams was a resident of Clay- ton county and is given in the register of the judiciary of the state as judge of the Tenth District, it would appear that Butler county had been made a part of this district. Judge Williams presided over the district for two full terms, from 1859 to 1866. The name of James W. Davis appears as clerk of the courts for the first term under Judge Williams.
William B. Fairfield, of Charles City, in Floyd county, was the next district judge to hold court in Butler county, his term extending from 1865 to 1870, when he resigned. During his term of office, Butler county was a part of the Twelfth Judicial District. He was succeeded on the district bench by George W. Ruddick, of Waverly, Bremer county, who held his first term of court in the county in 1871. Judge Ruddick remained upon the district bench for more than twenty years, his term of service ending in 1892.
Among the amusing incidents connected with the records of the district court is found one relating to the prosecution of Joseph and William J. Good, which came in May, 1878, before Judge Ruddick. This case had been postponed and deferred again and again until the costs to the county had amounted to rather an alarming figure and exhausted the patience of both attorneys and court. Finally, the defendants managed to escape and left the county. When this was made known, Judge Ruddick ordered the case dismissed, with the following order which appears on the record: "Satisfactory evidence appearing that the defendants have left the county, it is ordered on motion of the district attorney that this case be dismissed for fear they may be brought back or may voluntarily return."
After 1887, an additional judge was assigned to the Twelfth District. John B. Cleland, of Mitchell county, served one year.
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1887-8, as Judge Ruddick's associate. Mr. Cleland was succeeded in 1888 by Judge John C. Sherwin, of Cerro Gordo county, who remained upon the district bench for eleven years. At the con- clusion of this period he was elected to the supreme court of Iowa, where he remained until 1913.
Judge Ruddick was succeeded by Porter W. Burr, of Floyd county, 1893-6. At the conclusion of this period Jefferson F. Clyde, of Mitchell county, succeeded him, whose term of service covering fifteen years, ending in 1912, is exceeded in length only by that of Judge Ruddick. Judge Sherwin, on his elevation to the supreme bench, was succeeded by Clifford P. Smith, of Cerro Gordo county, who resigned in 1908, to accept a position of importance in the Christian Science church at Boston. His suc- cessor was Joseph J. Clark, of Cerro Gordo county, who is still on the district bench.
In 1898, a third judge was added to this district and Charles H. Kelly, of Floyd county, was elected to the position. Judge Kelly is still on the bench. In 1912 Butler county was honored by the election of one of its foremost citizens, Millard F. Edwards, of Parkersburg, to the judicial position previously occupied by Judge Clyde. Judge Edwards is the first citizen of Butler county to occupy a position on the bench of this district. A detailed sketch of his life is given in the second volume of this work.
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