USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 52
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Clermont, 1851-C. Sawyer, C. D. Carlton, E. Stedman, F. S. Palmer, G. W. S. Lane, F. S. Palmer, C. W. D. Lathrop, F. S. Palmer, E. Stedman, M. B. Stedman, Alex. Mckinley, John Crowe, Alex. Mckinley, John Crowe.
Elgin, 1852-B. Dimond, George Gay, B. Dimond, E. B. Gipton, L. Armstrong, L. B. Baldwin, F. Wohlheter, F. M. Garrison, G. A. Stoehr, F. Wohlheter, L. M. Blakesley, D. W. Redfield, O. P. Miller, P. Dowse, Sr., Mrs. M. A. Bauder-Johnson, C. L. Freiburghaus, E. G. Stoehr, Hans Keiser.
Arlington, 1856 (originally Brush Creek)-C. N. Moe, C. D. Sham- baugh, N. Huckins, C. C. Kelley, W. H. Hoover, C. Hughson, O. H. Osborn, M. Shumway, O. H. Osborn, G. A. Doerfler, O. Z. Wellman.
Fayette, 1861 (formerly Westfield, 1854)-J. N. Axtell, H. N. Sutton, H. B. Burley, W. H. Derby, H. W. Waterbury, Z. D. Scobey, Allen Holmes, F. N. Holmes, G. E. Comstock, W. B. Lakin, G. E. Comstock, C. H. Hoyt.
Lima, 1854 (formerly Westfield, 1851)-S. H. Ludlow, H. W. Light, C. Newcomb, J. P. Oelberg, A. Wheatley, G. W. Ward, A. J. Hensley, P. H.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
Durfey, N. J. Henry, R. E. Matsel, J. J. Oelberg, P. H. Hastings, J. J. Oel- berg, Simon Nefzgar, A. R. Oelberg, John L. Wallace, Etta M. Wallace, A. R. Oelberg.
Douglass, 1850-D. McDuffie, Z. McJunkins, J. Boale, P. Dowse, E. R. Carpenter, C. D. Crane, E. P. Bemis, A. Irving, A. R. Southerland, L. Irving, G. H. Clawson, L. Irving, Jennie A. McCleery, D. M. Vermilya.
Waucoma, 1855-M. B. Goodall, J. Sutherland, E. W. Huson, A. Suth- erland, J. P. Webster, O. B. Dodd, L. J. Smith, J. M. Burnside, J. J. Kieron, J. M. Burnside, A. F. Gressler, J. W. Reed.
Brainard, 1874-B. S. Brainard, R. W. Helm.
Donnan, 1874-A. Odekirk, O. H. Waldron, T. W. Watson, D. S. Thompson.
Randalia, 1874-A. F. Randall, Jennie Duggan, L. A .. Bratt, Thomas McFadden, Jennie Smith, A. J. Ramsey.
Saint Lucas, 1854 ( formerly Old Mission)-F. J. Huber, H. H. Kunnen, Theo. Perry, George Grossman, F. M. Gerlemann, Theo. Perry.
Oran, 1858-R. O'Neil, Alex. J. Prebble, D. W. Weeks, E. E. Shippy.
Alpha, 1866 (formerly Bethel)-E. M. Aiken, N. Ives, T. S. Dickens, P. Davis, G. W. Bowers, R. S. Brayton, Mrs. M. A. Brayton-Johnson, E. E. Gager.
Wadena, 1863-Z. G. Hurd, J. B. Mitchell, R. E. Matsel, J. N. Hageman, George G. Scott, C. Herrling, William Jones, L. E. Bigler, A. G. Herrling.
Hawkeye, 1869-D. D. T. Hull, T. Cumming, J. W. Stam, V. S. Webb, Margaret Burrows, A. B. Peters, J. E. Palmer, A. H. Brooks.
Maynard, 1873-C. B. Rich, E. B. Snedigar, E. L. Payne, E. B. Snedi- gar, Ellen L. Snedigar, Frank Cummings.
Eldorado, 1851-E. Elrod, L. Curtis, B. Iliff, O. P. Lacy, E. Hurlbut, C. B. Ropes, B. H. Ropes, Theo. Hesselmyer, Paul Buehrer, William Poet- ting. C. Peterson.
Westgate, 1858 (formerly Mill)-J. Chichester, N. W. Spears, W. E. Linstrum, G. M. Murray, J. W. Dwyer, G. M. Murray, N. H. Spears.
STATISTICAL INFORMATION.
During the year ending December 31, 1909, there were fines collected by the mayors and justices of the peace, aggregating $1,159.55. The prosecu- tions were mostly on minor offenses, punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. Some were imposed for selling liquor.
For the same period the county treasury was enriched to the extent of $5,053.45 from liquor taxes, collected mostly from the city of Oelwein.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
The court expenses of Fayette county for the year 1909 were $15, 180.50, which included $2,747.38, expenses of the Oelwein superior court. The items cover expenses of the offices of clerk of the district court, county sheriff, county attorney, inquests, justices of the peace, grand jury, district court and superior court.
The bonded indebtedness of Fayette county, on January 1, 1910, was $64,000, bearing interest at four and a half per cent., payable semi-annually. The last bond of $4,000 matures on the Ist day of November, 1920, and others of $3,000 to $4,000 mature at intermediate stages, the interest-paying dates being May I and November I of each year.
The total expenses of conducting the county business in 1909 was $51,- 708.45, as shown by warrants issued for the various purposes, including all items of public expense except the insane, bridges, the soldiers' relief fund, and possibly a few other minor expenditures. This sum is appreciably less than the preceding year, when the expenditures reached $63,041.35. There was expended from the bridge fund during the year 1909 the sum of $30,792, of which $19,667.06 was on contract work in constructing new bridges, the balance being paid for material and labor on repair work and minor structures.
The sum of $6,435.52 was paid from the insane fund during the year 1909, on account of the insane and inebriates of the county. But the greater part of this sum was paid to the state institution for the insane, and to the state hospital for inebriates. There were twenty-four patients from this county in the state hospital for insane, at Independence, and one in the kindred institution at Mt. Pleasant. Our own Fayette County Home Asylum pro- vided for twenty-nine. Seven inebriates from this county were treated at the inebriate hospital at Knoxville during the year 1909.
Fayette county's contribution to the Feeble Minded Institute during 1909 was $76.89 ; to the Orphans' Home, $72, and to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, $16.52, total to the three, $165.41.
During the year 1909 the beneficiaries of the Soldiers' Relief Fund re- ceived a total sum of $1,713, divided among thirty-nine persons. Twenty- four of these were widows or dependent mothers. The average annual dis- tribution of this fund in Fayette county since it was provided for by law, has been $1,650.
Few people in the county fully realize the amount of monetary assistance which our local school system derives from the permanent school fund of the state. The sources from which this large fund was derived, and the methods
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employed to maintain it intact, are explained in the chapter on State History. It is here sufficient to say that the only part of it which can ever be used is the interest on the five million dollars invested on real estate security at six per cent. This interest is payable semi-annually, hence the school fund money derived from that source is called the "semi-annual apportionment." All persons in the county between the ages of five and twenty-one years are entitled to school privileges. Of these, many are not yet enrolled in school, while most of those who are approaching their twenty-first year are per- manently out of school. But these facts make no difference in the distribution of the interest on the permanent school funds belonging to the state. All share alike, and in Fayette county the two semi-annual apportionments for the year 1909 amounted to $1.04 per capita. The receipts for the year for nine thousand and thirteen pupils in the county, were $9,373.52. When we realize that this annual income is continuous, and varies but little in per capita rating, it is apparent that the schools whose enumeration is large and expenses small, are almost entirely supported by the semi-annual apportionment.
Sixty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine dollars of the Per- manent School Fund are loaned out on mortgage notes in Fayette county, with six thousand four hundred dollars on hand January 1, 1910.
THE "TAX FERRET" COLLECTIONS.
This system of collecting delinquent taxes and correcting evaded assess- ments was provided for under the laws enacted by the twenty-eighth General Assembly, and has been operative in Fayette county at irregular intervals since. In principle it reminds one of the days when the country was deluged with "bad debt collecting agencies," whose success (if they had any) lay in harassing the debtor until the doubtful method exhausted its resources. Some of the promoters of these schemes were as bad as the delinquents they sought to torture. But the state came to the rescue and declared it an offense against the public peace to adopt such methods, and they were ruled out.
One can easily recognize the justice in compelling men to list their prop- erty for taxation, for in most cases the evasions come in the item of "moneys and credits," that kind of property being the more easily concealed from the assessors. But when it comes to distraining the widow's last cow, as the law provides may be done, and the over-zealous collector is willing to do ( for a fee), the system savors greatly of the puritanical system of imprisonment for debt!
During the year 1909 collections were made by tax ferrets in twenty-four
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
corporations in Fayette county, from which were received $15,840.72 in taxes and penalties. Of this sum the collectors received fifteen per cent., or $2,376.10. No doubt a large proportion of this money should have been collected; but would it not have been less of a reflection upon the ability of the local officers had they discharged their whole duty in the premises, and thus placed the parties in line as willing contributors to the public revenue ? The idea that foreigners must be brought in to collect our taxes is repulsive in the extreme !
RAILROAD MILEAGE AND VALUATION IN THE COUNTY.
There are 133. 161 miles of railroad track in Fayette county, which, with its equipment, is valued at $652,023. (See township histories for the dis- tribution. )
EXPRESS COMPANIES AND TELEGRAPH LINES.
The United States Express Company operates over the Chicago, Milwau- kee & St. Paul railroad lines and the Rock Island system and has 97.82 miles in the county. The Wells-Fargo Express Company confines its business to the Chicago & Great Western and its branches, and has 35.341 miles in the county. The two lines have an assessed valuation in the county of $4,661. The Western Union and Postal Telegraph companies have the same mileage as the railroads, and are assessed in the county at $10, 124.
TELEPHONE COMPANIES.
There are fourteen companies, large and small, doing business in Fayette county. One of these has but one mile of line in the county, two others have but three miles each, and another has less than five miles. The total mileage of all is 853.75 miles, assessed for taxation purposes at $32,677.
The three railroads operating in the county contributed in taxes paid by them during the year 1909, a total of $24,278.52. Of this sum, the Chicago Great Western paid $9.489.15. Jefferson and Oran townships and the city of Oelwein (in Jefferson township) were the beneficiaries to the extent of $6,375.08.
The total taxable valuation of Fayette county, for the year 1909, was $7,790,436. It is estimated that the assessment rate, as equalized by the board of equalization, is less than half of the actual cash value of the property
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
listed, while the exemptions would materially reduce this proportion. The tax levy for the year for general revenue was 18.7 mills. Special levies were made in the towns for miscellaneous purposes, such as board of health, electric light, water, cemeteries, sewers, corporation roads, etc. The total revenue for the year, as apportioned among the different townships and towns, was $328,131.40.
The total valuation of personal property in the county for the year 1909, as returned by the assessors, was $5,807,276. The exemptions were $5.396, leaving a net personal valuation of $5,801,880, and the taxable valuation placed upon this amount was $1,450,470.
Poll taxes paid by persons under forty-five years of age were 4,029, and of those over forty-five, 2,802.
CROP STATISTICS OF FAYETTE COUNTY FOR 1908.
No. of Acres.
Winter Wheat
203
Spring Wheat
71I
Corn
84,154
Oats
63,623
Barley
13,255
Rye
468
Flax
649
Potatoes
2,04I
Timothy
50,407
Clover
7,189
Prairie Hay
16,360
Pasturage
I37,200
376,260
GROVES AND PRAIRIES.
Peculiar designations of locality in early days, and in use to some extent at present :
"Knob Prairie," the name applied to the high spot where the town of West Union stands.
Patch Prairie, named by William Wells, commenced about three miles southeast of Knob Prairie, and extended in a southeasterly direction to the county line.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
North Prairie, north of Knob Prairie, in townships 94 and 95, range 8.
"Wilson's Grove," in section 18, 19 and 30, township 93, range 10 (Banks), and extending into Bremer county.
"Round Grove," south and east of Knob Prairie, or West Union, named by William Wells.
"Turkey Timber," the timber skirting the Turkey river.
"Volga Timber," the timber skirting the Volga river.
"Lost Grove," a small grove that stood alone on the prairie about two miles west of Knob Prairie.
"Hickory Grove," in township 95, range 10 (Eden).
"Long Grove," near the center of township 92, range 9 ( Harlan), where Maynard now stands.
"Corbly's Grove," in township 92, range 10 (Fremont).
"Bear Grove," in township 92, range 7, and township 92, range 8.
"Gamble's Grove," near the geographical center of the county, in town- ship 93, range 9 (Center).
"Dunham's Grove," changed from Gamble's Grove in 1852.
"Crab Apple Grove," in township 91, range 10 (Oran).
"Sac Bottom," east side of the Turkey river, in township 94, range 7 (Pleasant Valley), between Elgin and Clermont. On the "Sac Bottom" was the old Indian burial ground.
EARLY FARMING.
In the fall of 1845, Andrew Hensley, who had sown winter wheat on the land he had broken the previous fall, raised a bountiful crop. This was the first wheat known to be grown in Fayette county. In the autumn, as soon as he could get some of it threshed and dry enough to grind, he sent his two boys, Andrew J. and Jacob G., with twelve bushels loaded on an ox wagon, to Cascade, Dubuque county, to mill. It was not an easy task "to go to mill" in those days, and the boys were gone eight days. They had reached Hewett's, on their way home with the first flour made from Fayette county wheat, but during the night their oxen strayed away, and the next morning, not finding their team, they started for home. They were barefooted, and were in con- stant dread of rattlesnakes, as well as Indians. Arriving in sight of home, the boys were terrified, as they could discover no signs of life about the premises, and feared that the rest of the family had been captured and carried away by the Indians. They approached their home very cautiously, with heavy hearts, but were much relieved and rejoiced when they found their father
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
and mother, at the other side of the cabin, digging potatoes. Mr. Hensley went to Hewett's, found the stray cattle, and brought the flour home in safety. The boys dreaded the Indians, and the family appears to have had good cause for hating their uncomfortable and insolent neighbors.
Isaac Webster had a claim on the Volga bottom, a short distance east of Beatty's, lived with Beatty, and during the season of 1844, raised a crop of oats on part of the ground now covered by the village of Fayette. The crop was stacked on the hill where the Upper Iowa University now stands, and was "tramped out" by oxen during the following winter. During the winter of 1845, Lorenzo Mulliken lived with Beatty, and A. J. Hensley was there a part of the winter helping Webster thresh his oats, which were hauled to Fort Atkinson and sold. Beatty appears to have been a roving character, dis- liking to remain very long in a place, a characteristic of the earliest pioneers, who led the way for others to follow. About 1848, it is said that Beatty went to Minnesota, where he afterward became a member of the Legislature.
In the spring or summer of 1845, Webster sold his claim on the Volga to Lorenzo Mulliken, and returned to Dubuque. Mulliken immediately com- menced the construction of a stone fence at the edge of the bluff surrounding the south part of his claim. Andrew J. Hensley worked with him, and Hor- ace Bemis, who bought the Orrear improvements the next year, aided him in completing it. Mulliken died in 1847. He as one of the first settlers at Yankee Settlement, Delaware county, and his father, Samuel Mulliken, was one of the county commissioners of Delaware county in 1847-8.
PIONEER PREACHERS AND EARLY MARRIAGES.
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The territory south of the Winnebago reserve, being open to settlement at a much earlier period than any portion of the reservation, is clearly en- titled to credit for the first efforts at civilization. The settlements were scat- tered over a considerable area, and for the most part, seemed to be lacking in some features of organization which usually accompany the first settlements in a new country.
With the opening of the reservation to settlement in 1848, the tide of immigration seemed to be attracted to the northern and north central por- tions of the county, and so continued until nearly all desirable locations (from the view-point of the settler ) were taken. This accounts for the "center of population" being fixed north of the center of the county for a great many
(35)
.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
years, and probably would be there still but for the populous city of Oelwein in the southern tier of townships.
But many of the "first events," looking to permanency and internal de- velopment, clearly belong to the southeastern part of the county, as shown in this chapter.
PIONEER PREACHERS.
The first religious services in Fayette county, or the first of which any knowledge remains, were said to have been held by Rev. John Brown, at the house of Chauncey Brooks in 1848, possibly in 1847. Mr. Brown belonged to the United Brethren, and lived in Colesburg, or Yankee settlement. In 1846, he built a hotel at Rockville, Delaware county, but his wife died soon after, and his children managed the hotel, while he spent a portion of his time in ministering to the spiritual necessities of the pioneers in Delaware, Fay- ette, and other neighboring counties, and, it is said, married a Miss Harrow, about 1847 or 1848.
One of the first sermons preached by Rev. Mr. Brown was at the Orrear cabin, one evening in the summer of 1848. His audience was composed of three or four white men, two white women, two Indian men, and an educated squaw. As Brown warmed with his discourse, he began to pound the puncheon table in his gesticulations. One of the Indians leaned toward his companion and asked him what that meant. He answered that his opinion was that Brown wanted to fight. Again the preacher's sunburnt and ponderous fist made the table jump an inch, and the dishes rattle over the fireplace. The Indians arose as if impelled by the same force, clutched their blankets with their left hands, cleared the cabin door at one bound, and ran into the grove for safety, not caring to engage in a theological inquiry with a man so. sinewy and handy with his fists as Brother Brown, who, they feared, might pound religion into their heads, as he was then attempting to pound it into the table.
Simeon Clark, the pioneer Methodist preacher of Delaware, visited this county at an early date, as he was the officiating clergyman at the wedding of George Culver and Miss Castall, in February, 1847, and Clark always preached whenever two or three would gather together. Mr. Clark went to the mission in 1840-41, and after the settlements began to be made on the Black Hawk purchase, he did some preaching in the wilderness. Mr. Clark was a bee- . hunter in 1839, and traversed the woods of Delaware, Buchanan and Fayette every summer for years after that time, preaching in the humble cabins of the pioneers on the Sabbath, while he searched for wild honey during the
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
week, and it is very probable that he may have preached the first sermon in Fayette, as he did in Delaware. It seems almost certain that Clark held religious services at the Wilcox settlement, as early as 1843 or 1844.
Elder Clark, Methodist, and Elder Brown, of the United Brethren, were the pioneer preachers of Fayette county.
Rev. James Davis, a United Brethren preacher, with his family came to the county in August, 1849, and settled in Dover township, but in the spring of 1850 removed to Lightville (now Lima), having rented Harvy Light's place, his son William cutting out the road from West Union to Lightville. During the summer, Mr. Davis built a log cabin about a mile below Light's mill, on the south side of the Volga, on section 19, township 93, range 7 (Illyria township). The only other house in the vicinity was that of Andrew Hensley, built the previous year. Mr. Davis died April II, 1854, and in 1856 his widow mar- ried Rev. John Brown, the pioneer preacher of this region, well known as a United Brethren preacher in Delaware, Clayton and Fayette counties. Mrs. Davis was his third wife. Mr. Davis was among the earliest ministers to settle in Fayette county, and is said to have preached the first sermon in Dover and West Union townships.
In the fall of 1850, after Mr. Davis had moved into his new cabin, his sons, William and Ambrose D., the former about seventeen, and the latter six or seven years old, started to go to the river, about a quarter of a mile dis- tant, fishing. Ambrose, the little shaver, was carrying the bait and was sev- eral rods behind his brother, when he came to a very large basswood tree that had blown down. William had passed around it, but Ambrose clambered over it. While standing on it, he noticed a peculiar depression in the bark toward the top of the tree, and running along until he came to the place, he broke through and fell into the tree, which was hollow, and the wood had de- cayed and fallen away from the bark. In falling, the boy's feet struck some- thing inside that frightened him. The tree was so large that he couldn't get out alone, and he yelled. William came running back, fearing that a snake had attacked his little brother, and lifted him out of the trap into which he had fallen. Upon further examination, the boys found a two-gallon jug about half full of whisky, a nice Indian tomahawk, three fishing spear heads-made of iron and about twelve inches long-a large stone pipe, cut out of some kind of red stone and nicely polished, and the fragments of a blue blanket. The boys carried the articles to the house, and Ambrose says his father thought that they had been deposited by Indians who had got drunk, wandered off and forgot where they had left them. From appearances, they had been hidden
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
in the old tree several years before, and the more probable explanation is that the redskin who left them there took a dose of lead, laid down suddenly and died, leaving his estate to be settled by the Davis boys.
GRAND CELEBRATION AT AUBURN.
Among the prominent events in the early history of Fayette county was a grand celebration of the birthday of the nation at Auburn. The citizens commenced to make arrangements on Saturday evening, May 20, 1854, when a public meeting was held "for the purpose of taking measures to celebrate the coming anniversary of American independence." Samuel Hull was chair- man, and A. L. Dunn, secretary. At this meeting, John A. Griffith, James Boale, A. L. Dunn, James Moore and Morris B. Earll were appointed a com- mittee of arrangements.
The officers of the day were Samuel Hull, president; Rev. S. D. Helms, chaplain; John A. Griffiths, W. A. Chase and C. L. Smith, marshals; A. L. Dunn, toast master ; George Brown, M. Woodruff and J. C. Gregory, commit- tee on fire-works.
A tall liberty pole was raised for the occasion, from the top of which gracefully and proudly floated the Stars and Stripes. The oration proper was delivered by Jacob W. Rogers, Esq., of West Union, followed by William McClintock, Esq., and C. A. Newcomb, Esq., in short speeches. The dinner, prepared for the occasion by Griffith & Pooler, was more elaborate than had been seen or eaten in Fayette county up to that time.
The Hoaglands, Henry Hull and other enterprising citizens of Auburn had organized a military brass band, which is said to have been one of the best in the state at that time. A military company, called the "Fayette Guards," properly uniformed and under command of Capt. George W. Neff, with the band, added very materially to the interest of the occasion.
Among the toasts on that memorable occasion were: "The Day we Cele- brate-May it never be desecrated by acts of tyranny and oppression"; "Amer- ica-The land of the free and the home of the brave"; "Our National Honor- May it ever remain unsullied."
THE FIRST REPUBLICAN MEETING.
Until about 1854, the people of the United States were divided into two great political parties, the Democratic and Whig; but there had been another element in the political atmosphere that had been quietly at work, preparing the
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
way for a revolution in political organizations, that had been considered as insignificant by the leaders of both political parties, and the vote of the Anti- slavery party since 1844 had been so light as to excite ridicule and derision. For several years this element had been organized distinctively as a third political party, first as the Liberty or Abolition, and then as the Free-Soil party ; it had been gradually increasing in strength, and the people had been gradually discovering the encroachments of what was called the slave power, until 1854, when there was a general breaking up of existing political organi- zations. The Whig and the Free Soil parties disappeared, and a new party sprang into existence, opposed to the extension of the institution of human slavery upon free territory. It was not the Abolition party, because it did not propose to interfere with slavery in the states where it then existed as a creature of local or municipal law, but it said that the institution must not seek to extend its area, and must not exist outside of those states where it already existed. Upon this question, the Free Soil party was a unit, small, it may be, but appreciable in the body politic. The Whig party dissolved, a small portion of it seeking affiliation in the Democratic party. That party was also broken up and dismembered, but retained the name, while it practically became a new party, which represented the wishes and interests of the slave power. Many of its old members left its ranks and joined the opposition to the extension of slavery; so many in fact that the old Democratic party, which had had control of the government, with few exceptions, since the gov- ernment was organized, went into a hopeless minority.
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