USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 23
USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 23
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EARLY RESOLUTIONS
It was at the June session of the board, in 1861, soon after the beginning of the war, and before many of the soldiers from Chickasaw County had put on their country's armor, when the first action of the board in the interest of the
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soldiers is recorded. At that meeting the following resolution was introduced and was adopted by a practically unanimous vote :
"Whereas, There is an extensive conspiracy existing in our nation, set on foot for the purpose of subverting the Constitution and destroying the Govern- ment ; and several states being in open rebellion against the Government, and now making war upon the same; and whereas, the President of the United States has issued his proclamation, calling upon all loyal citizens to rally around the 'old flag,' and aid in the suppression of the rebellion ; in response to which call, the people of the loyal states are freely offering their lives and money in support of the best government on earth ; and whereas, many of the citizens of Chickasaw County have enrolled themselves as members of a volunteer com- pany, holding themselves in readiness to leave their homes in defense of their country, therefore,
"Resolved. That an appreciation be made to each volunteer resident of their county who may enlist from this county, either in the state or national service, the sum of $10, as an outfit, and the sum of $3 per month, and the further sum of $4 per month, each, to the wives of such as have families, and the parents of those who depend upon said volunteers for support; and the sum of $I per month for each child of said volunteers, under the age of six years. Said amounts to be paid for the time and during the absence of the volunteers from their homes, in the service. The said money to be paid to the order of the volunteers, or their wives, from the county treasury, out of the county funds not otherwise appropriated. on the warrant of the clerk of the board of supervisors of this county. And in furtherance of this object, it is hereby made the duty of the supervisors of each township to furnish the clerk with a certified list of the names of the volunteers who go from his township, together with the names of the parents, wives and children of said volunteers, who may be entitled to money by this appropriation. And the clerk is instructed to keep on file in his office said list, and when any person shall present a valid claim for money under this appropriation, whose name shall appear on either of said lists, said claim, on being duly sworn to, the clerk is authorized to draw his warrant for said amount."
The age of children to be aided by this appropriation was afterwards changed from six to twelve years.
In consideration of the fact that Chickasaw County at this time was sparsely settled, the entire population of the county being only about five thousand, with a small amount of taxable property, it can be readily seen that the provisions of this resolution would make a heavy drain on the county's ordinary revenue. It is easy to conceive that this generous action of the board would entail a very heavy expense and would become a burden upon the taxpayers of the county. But, however unwise their action may have seemed then, or may have appeared after mature reflection, it detracts nothing from the patriotic motives that prompted the action. In their desire to testify to the county's loyalty to the Union, and to the soldiers enlisted in the cause, and in their eagerness to aid the dependents at home, it is clearly manifest that their heart was in the right place. It is doubtful if the governing authorities of any other county in the United States manifested so generous a disposition in behalf of dependents of their soldiers as did the board of supervisors of Chickasaw County.
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After due consideration of the matter, it was deemed necessary to make some changes in the provisions of this appropriation, with the view of making the burden of expense lighter, while at the same time preserving the general intent to render needed assistance to the volunteers and their families. At the January meeting of the board, in 1862, a committee was appointed to devise a plan to accomplish this purpose. This committee was composed of M. L. Palmer, M. L. Choate and William B. Grant. The committee presented a majority and a minority report. The majority report was, in substance, that there were 105 volunteers at that time who were entitled to the benefits of the appropriation, and that the monthly amount to which they were entitled was $483, or an annual amount of $5.796, without reference to future enlistments. It was evident to the committee that the county could not meet the liabilities thus incurred as they would accrue, and the county warrants must necessarily depreciate to a merely nominal sum, thus defeating the very object of the appropriation. To remedy this condition of affairs, it was proposed to adopt the following as an amendment :
"First. That commissioned officers who are receiving the benefits of the appropriation, in view of the ample pay they are receiving from the Government, be requested to release the county absolutely from further payments to them- selves or their families.
"Second. That all single men, volunteers from this county, not having parents or friends dependent on them for support, be requested to sign an obligation deferring further claims to the close of the war.
"Third. That those having families be also requested to sign an obligation, or agreement, deferring one-third of their accruing claims until the close of the war.
"Fourth. That a promise shall be inserted in said agreement, in relation to the deferred claims, that they shall not be assignable, and that they shall only inure to the benefit of the claimants and their families ; and that $3.000 only of the deferred claims shall be paid in any one year."
It was proposed. also, that the clerk embody the above agreement in proper form and forward them at the earliest practical moment to Captains Gardner, Powers and Crawford, with a request that action be taken thereon by those intended, at the earliest practical moment. The majority report closed with the following proposed resolution :
"Resolved, That all bounties and payments to persons who may enlist in the service of this state or of the United States, hereafter, from this county, shall cease from this date."
This report was laid on the table, by a vote of nine to three. The minority report recited the inability of the county to bear the burden of expense of the appropriation as adopted by the board, and proposed the following resolution as a substitute :
"Resolved, That said appropriation, as it applies to those who have volunteered that do not need assistance-those that have volunteered in the service of the state, or of the United States, and are residents of this county-be discontinued from and after this date ; and that families of volunteers who are in need of assist- ance have such appropriation from the county as the supervisors or trustees of their respective townships shall deem necessary. And be it further resolved :
"That the volunteers from this county, who shall, or have returned sick, or
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in any way disabled in the service. have such appropriation as may be deemed necessary by the county board of supervisors. And further, that the wives and children or those dependent upon the volunteers who have been killed in battle, or have died in the service of this state, or of the United States, shall be liberally provided for by the county board of supervisors."
A motion to table the minority report was lost by a vote of three to nine, but at a subsequent meeting the motion to table prevailed.
The spirit of both the majority and minority reports was very different from that of the original resolution adopted by the board of supervisors. In effect, the amendment proposed in these committee reports regards the soldier and the soldier dependents as objects of charity, while the original resolution recognizes then as just claimants of a compensation for services rendered and sacrifices made. In this there is no element of charity or gratuity. It is a proposal to pay a specific stipend as a partial remuneration for services rendered and injuries sustained in the performance of a duty that rests upon all citizens alike.
It may be noted here that the idea involved in the action of the board of supervisors is an anticipation of the recent act of Congress, in a bill providing for the payment of a fixed amount to the soldiers and their dependents enlisted in the present war with Germany. Under the provisions of this bill, every soldier knows how much his dependents will receive in case he is killed, knows how much he will receive if disabled, and knows what his dependents will receive during his absence.
But, as stated, both the majority and minority reports were tabled, and there seemed to be no probability of an acceptable revision of the original resolution. Under the circumstances, it would appear that the only way out of the dilemma was to do what was done, when D. A. Jackson offered the following resolution, which was adopted by a vote of nine to three :
"Resolved, That the appropriation made by the board of supervisors of this county, at the June meeting, 1861, for the benefit of volunteers and their families, be, and the same is hereby, repealed from and after the 6th day of January, 1862."
ANOTHER RESOLUTION ADOPTED
D. A. Jackson, D. R. Kirby and J. H. Vantassell were appointed a committee to draft another resolution as to the manner of providing for the destitute families of Chickasaw County volunteers. The resolution was immediately prepared, received and the committee discharged. At the evening session of the board the resolution was duly considered and put upon passage, and was unanimously. adopted, as follows :
"Whereas, A number of our fellow citizens have volunteered and entered the military service of the government, leaving families in destitute circumstances, therefore be it
"Resolved, That all those who have volunteered from this county and are in actual service in this state, or the United States, who may have families residents of this county ; that all those families of such volunteers who are only receiving pay as private soldiers, are by this board considered to be entitled to an appro- priation authorized by law to be made by the county board of supervisors for the benefit of those families who are in destitute circumstances. And it is hereby
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"Resolved by this board, That an appropriation of $4 per month be made to the wives of said volunteers and $I per month to each child under twelve years of age, and $4 per month to the parents of such volunteers for support; to be paid from the county treasury, as hereinafter provided. And be it further
"Resolved. That although the families of said volunteers may remove from the county, for temporary stay, during the absence of the aforesaid volunteers, they still are considered by the board as residents of this county. And be it further
"Resolved, That non-commissioned officers shall be deemed as privates, so far as relates to this appropriation."
A pension of $4 per month to widows, and $1 per month to each child of deceased volunteers, was unanimously granted.
Teamsters from the county, in the service of the government, were declared not entitled to the benefit of the county appropriation.
On examination of the books in relation to the appropriation for volunteers, the board found the amount in warrants issued as bounty to volunteers to be $1,100.21 ; amount in warrants issued as monthly appropriations, $1,279 : amount now due as monthly appropriations to January 6, 1862, $637.48; total, $3.016.69.
In looking over the records one is led to the conclusion that this last resolu- tion, adopted by the board at their January meeting, 1862, is even more generous in its provision for the soldier and his dependents than is the one of June, 1861, which, it was feared, would bankrupt the county.
ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEER LEGISLATION
At almost every meeting of the board of supervisors from this time until the close of the war, some legislation pertaining to the volunteers or their families appears on the record as a part of the business attended to. At the September meeting, 1862, it was resolved to ask the General Assembly of the state to authorize the board of supervisors of Chickasaw County to levy an additional tax of three mills to meet the deficiency in the county funds, on account of the appropriations to the families of volunteers.
At the October meeting following it was resolved to levy a tax of four mills for the benefit of the families of volunteers, to be called the volunteer fund.
At an adjourned meeting of the November term, 1862. the appropriation was reduced to $2 per month for the wife and $ for each child of the volunteer. But again this was changed at the January meeting. 1864, making the appropria- tion $4 per month for grown persons and $1 per month for children under the age of twelve years, "in consideration of the high price of necessaries, and the hard- ness of the winter," the increase to continue until the June term.
RECOGNITION OF A PATRIOT FATHER
Among other proceedings found in the record of the January meeting of the board, 1864, appears the following :
"Whereas, G. R. Rowley, of Chickasaw County. Iowa, is entitled to the banner by having more sons in the United States service than any other man in Vol. 1-14
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the county, he being poor and dependent entirely on the efforts of one son, only, for his and his wife's support, therefore, be it
"Resolved, That the sum of $5 per month be allowed him from the county until further action by this board."
ADDITIONAL FOR 1861 ENLISTMENTS
In Chickasaw County, as in other counties, the volunteers were largely com- posed of young men who readily offered themselves for service without regard for the compensation they would receive. In fact, many of those who responded to the President's first call for volunteers at the beginning of the war had little knowledge and less concern as to what their compensation would be. At that time the Government was not offering a bounty, and the counties, generally, were not offering such inducements to secure enlistments. The large bounties from the Government, and from the counties, came later, as an inducement for volun- teers in additional calls. In some instances these bounty offers were not retro- active ; they did not apply to those who had enlisted at the beginning of the war, or from the time they entered the service. If Chickasaw County, in the generous provision made for her volunteers, overlooked the claims of those who had enlisted prior to the time this provision was made, the oversight was corrected by the following action, recorded in the minutes of the board of supervisors at their September meeting, 1864:
"The friends of the volunteers now in the field, who enlisted in 1861, are re- quested to notify them that they will be entitled to $3.00 per month from the time of their enlistment up to the time they may be honorably discharged from the service."
BONUS FOR DRAFTED MEN WHO HIRE SUBSTITUTES
But it does seem that the generosity of the board had gone beyond all reason- able requirements, when, at their November meeting in 1864, they made this order :
"That it is the sense of the board, that when a drafted man of this county's families, pays a substitute to take his place, that the drafted man's family is to receive the appropriation from the county the same as if the drafted man was in the service, personally."
This is probably the only instance on record where a drafted man who escaped the service by hiring a substitute was placed on the pension list. Ordinarily, one would think that a man who was financially able to hire a substitute, and thus avoid personal service in the army, would not be in such destitute circumstances as to require assistance from the county.
SOME MORE ORDERS ADOPTED
In the records of the January meeting of the board, in 1865, the following order appears :
"Resolved, That the clerk be authorized to issue county warrants for full pay for the families of volunteers from this date, to-wit: The sum of $4 per month to the wives and parents of the volunteers and $I per month
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for each child under twelve years of age, dependent on the volunteer for support. Provided, That this apply only to such as volunteered and entered the service prior to November, 1862, and also that the clerk draw warrants for the sum of $2 per month to the wife and parents of volunteers, and 50 cents per month for each child under twelve years of age, dependent upon the volunteers for support, this to apply to all who entered the service since November, 1862."
At the regular session of the board of supervisors, in September, 1865, a resolution was passed, allowing the widows of all deceased soldiers to draw the allowance from the county for six months after the death of the husband.
At the meeting of the board, in October, 1865, the following resolution appears on the record :
"Resolved, That all who have enlisted and served as privates in the United States Army, from Chicksaw County, during the late war, be placed on the same footing, and paid the same monthly wages, as by resolution of this board is al- lowed to volunteers who have enlisted since January 1, 1862. excepting such regu- lars from the benefit of this resolution as may have received $300 and upwards, as bounty from the United States."
THE FINAL SETTLEMENT
At the January meeting of the board, 1866, it appears that a final settlement with the volunteers was made by giving to each volunteer a note for the amount due. This would indicate that the county finances were well-nigh exhausted at that time. At this meeting the following was entered on record :
"The following accounts of volunteers of 1862 were audited and notes to be given bearing date January 3. 1866; one-fourth payable one year after date, one-fourth payable two years after date, one-fourth payable three years after date, and one-fourth payable four years after date, with interest at 10 per cent per annum; interest payable annually at the office of the county treasurer on presentation of note."
Then follows a list of names of volunteers to whom notes are to be given, and the amount due to each. There are 129 names in the list, and the amounts range from ten to one hundred and thirty dollars-most of them from ninety to one hundred dollars. The total amount of notes given under this order was $11.432.56.
This does not cover all the expenditure for soldiers and their families in Chickasaw County during the Civil war. The items of provision. clothing, fuel. etc., which appear on the record of the board of supervisors during those years would probably double the above amount. While the liberal appropriations of the board of supervisors for the benefit of soldiers and their families must have been a strain on the finances of the county, with the small amount of taxable property at that time, it shows a patriotic spirit and is a record of which the county may well be proud.
CHICKASAW COUNTY PIONEERS
Top row-Charles Parker, Charles Taylor, Henry Waite, W. A. McMillan, John Bird, D. McMurray Third row-Alba Young, James McCarty, Wm. Carter, L. H. Weller, Nathan Thompson, S. S. Sample, E. V. R. ITall Second row-John Felcher, Edward Hall. A. D. Young. Sanford Ripley, D. J. Horton, John B. Coffman First row-Titus Holmes, D. Hall, S. H. Noble, M. L. Woodbridge.
CHAPTER IX
TOWNSHIP HISTORY-BRADFORD TOWNSHIP
ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM-BRADFORD FIRST IN CHICKASAW COUNTY-OTHER DIVISIONS MADE-INCIDENTS OF BRADFORD'S EARLY HISTORY-INDIAN TRADING POST-UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO CIVILIZE THE INDIANS-GOVERNMENT RESER- VATION A FAILURE-EARLY WHITE SETTLERS-HISTORY OF OLD BRADFORD ACAD- EMY-"THE LITTLE BROWN CHURCH"; ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE SONG- PIONEER ENTERPRISES-PRESENT OFFICERS-POPULATION-FINANCIAL STATE- MENT.
The subordinate civic division known as the township had its origin, accord- ing to a reputable authority, in the old Teutonic "mark," though it was trans- planted to this country from England. John Fiske, a noted American historian, says : "King Alfred, about 871 A. D., instituted a small territorial subdivision, nearest in character to, and probably containing the germ of the American town- ship." This "small territorial subdivision" of King Alfred was called "tunscipe." It was the political unit of popular expression, which took the form of a mass convention, or assembly, called the "tun moot." The chief executive of the tuns- cipe was the "tun reeve," who, with the parish priest and four lay delegates, represented the tunscipe in the shire meeting.
In the settlement of New England, the colonies were first governed by a general court, which also had legislative powers. The court was composed of the governor and a small council. generally made up of the most influential citizens. In March, 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts passed the fol- lowing ordinance relating to local government in certain districts :
"Whereas, Particular towns have many things that concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own town, therefore, the freemen of every town, or a majority of them, shall have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, and all appurtenances of said towns ; to grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the General Court.
"Said freemen, or a majority of them, shall have power to choose their own particular officers, such as constables, petty magistrates, surveyors of the high-
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ways, and may impose fines for violation of rules established by the freemen of the town-provided that such fines shall in no single case exceed 20 shillings."
This was the beginning of the township system in the United States. Con- necticut followed Massachusetts `with a similar provision regarding local self- government, and from New England the system was carried to the new states of the Middle West. In the southern colonies the county was made the principal political unit for the government of local affairs. Eight counties were organized in Virginia in 1634, and the system spread to other colonies, except in South Carolina the units corresponding to counties were called districts, and in Louisiana they were known as parishes.
The first provision for the establishment of civil townships northwest of the Ohio River was made by Governor St. Clair and the judges of the Northwest Territory, in 1790. The term civil township is here used to distinguish it from the congressional township of the official government survey. The congressional township is six miles square, except in certain cases of fractional townships, and is the established unit of the United States Survey. The civil township is often uniform with the congressional township, as to lines and area, but usually the civil township varies in size and shape and is organized for convenience and pur- poses of local government. In New England the township is of more importance in the settlement of local questions of a political character, or in the administra- tion of local affairs, than is the county. The town meetings are still held regu- larly, and through them most of the business of the local government is transacted. Every proposition to expend a considerable sum of money, for any public pur- pose whatever, is first submitted to the people at a town meeting. In the South the township is little more than a name, all the local business being transacted by the county authorities. Throughout the great Middle West there is a well balanced combination of the two systems, the schools and roads being usually in charge of the township officials, while business that affects more than one civil township is controlled by the county. In nearly every state in the Mississippi Valley it is the custom to submit to the people at a general or special election the question of issuing bonds for township purposes, and this custom is a relic of the old town meeting system.
Township government was first established in Iowa while the state was a part of Michigan Territory. The Legislature of that territory, in September, 1834, created the Township of Julien, which included the entire County of Dubuque-that is, all that part of Iowa lying north of a line drawn due west from the foot of Rock Island. Chickasaw and Howard counties were, therefore. a part of Julien Township, Dubuque County, in that early period of their history. All the territory south of that line was Flint Hill Township, which included all of Des Moines County.
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