USA > Iowa > Marion County > The History of Marion County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, & C. > Part 20
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
by years of suffering, privation and toil, from being unjustly wrested from their hands. Shall they be disappointed? Will Congress refuse to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect a large class of our citizens from systemized plunder and rapine? The members comprising this convention, representing a very large class of people, who delegated them to speak in their stead, do most confidently express an opinion that your honorable bodies will at your present session, pass some law removing us from danger, and relieving us from fear on this subject. The members of this conven- tion, for themselves, and for the people whose interests they are sent here to represent, do most respectfully solicit that your honorable bodies will, as speedily as possible, pass a pre-emption law, giving to every actual settler on the public domain, who has made improvements sufficient to evince that it is bona fide his design to cultivate and occupy the land, the right to enter at the minimum government price, one-half section for that purpose, before it shall be offered at public sale.
MEMORIAL ON THE SUBJECT OF THE MISSOURI BOUNDARY LINE.
To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
The Memorial of a Convention of Delegates from the several counties in the Territory of Wisconsin, west of the Mississippi river, convened at Bur- lington, in said Territory, November 6, 1837, respectfully represent:
That your memorialists are desirous of asking the attention of Congress to the adjustment of the boundary line between the State of Missouri and the Territory of Western Wisconsin. Much excitement already prevails among the inhabitants situated in the border counties of the State and Ter- ritory, and it is much to be feared that, unless the speedy action of Congress should be had upon the subject, difficulties of a serious nature will arise, militating against the peace and harmony which would otherwise exist among them. At the last session of the legislature of Missouri, commis- sioners were appointed to run the northern boundary line of the State. They have recently been engaged in the work, and, according to the line run by them, there is included within the limits of the State of Missouri a consid- erable tract of country hitherto supposed to belong to the Territory of Wis- consin, and which is still believed of right to belong to it. The northern boundary line of Missouri was run several years ago by commissioners ap- pointed by the State of Missouri, and will cross the Des Moines river at a point about twenty-five miles from its mouth. This line, if continued on due east, would strike the Mississippi river near the town of Fort Madison, about ten miles above the rapids in said river, long since known as the Des Moines rapids; and this line, so run by the commissioners, has always been considered as the boundary line between the State and Territory. The pres- ent commissioners, appointed by the State of Missouri, giving a different construction to the act defining the boundary line of the State, passed up the Des Moines river in search of rapids, and have seen proper to find them some twelve or fourteen miles further up the river than the other commis- sioners of Missouri formerly did, and, selecting a point which they call the rapids in the Des Moines river, have from thence marked out a line which is now claimed as the northern boundary line of the State. Were this line extended due east, it would strike the Mississippi river at the town of Burlington, some thirty miles above the rapids known, as stated above, the Des Moines Rapids.
151
HISTORY OF. IOWA.
Missouri was created into an independent State, and her boundary line defined, in June, 1820. At that time the country bordering on the Des Moines river was a wilderness, and little was known, except from the Indi- ans who lived on its banks, of its geographical situation. There was at that time no point on the river known as the Des Moines rapids, and at the present time between the mouth of the river and the Raccoon forks, a dis- tance of two hundred miles, fifty places can with as much propriety be desig- nated as the one selected by the commissioners of the State of Missouri.
Your memorialists conceive that no action of the State of Missouri can, or ought to, affect the integrity of the Territory of Wisconsin; and standing in the attitude they do, they must look to the general government to protect their rights and redress their wrongs, which, for so long a period of time, existed between the Territory of Michigan and the State of Ohio relative to their boundaries, will, it is hoped, prompt the speedy action of Congress on this existing subject. Confidently relying upon the wisdom of the general government, and its willingness to take such means as will settle this ques- tion, the people of Wisconsin will peaceably submit to an extension of the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri, if so be that Congress shall ordain it; but until such action, they will resist to the utmost extrem- ity any attempt made by the State of Missouri to extend her jurisdiction over any disputed territory.
We, therefore, pray that Congress will appoint commissioners, whose duty it shall be to run the line between the State of Missouri and the Territory of Wisconsin according to the spirit and intention of the act defining the boundary lines of the State of Missouri, and to adopt such other measures as in their wisdom they shall deem fit and proper.
MEMORIAL PRAYING FOR A DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY.
To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
The memorial of a general convention of delegates, from the respective counties in the Territory of Wisconsin, west of the Mississippi river, con- vened at the capitol at Burlington, in said Territory, November 6, 1837, respectfully represents:
That the citizens of that part of the Territory west of the Mississippi river, taking into consideration their remote and isolated position, and the vast extent of country included within the limits of the present Territory, and the utter impracticability of the same being governed as an entire whole, by the wisest and best administration of our municipal affairs, in such manner as to fully secure individual right and the right of property, as well as to maintain domestic tranquility, and the good order of society, have by their respective representatives, convened in general convention as aforesaid, for availing themselves of their right of petition as free citizens, by representing their situation and wishes to your honorable body, and asking for the organ- ization of a separate Territorial government over that part of the Territory west of the Mississippi river.
Without in the least designing to question the official conduct of those in whose hands the fate of our infant Territory has been confided, and in whose patriotism and wisdom we have the utmost confidence, your memorialists cannot refrain from the frank expression of their belief that, taking into consideration the geographical extent of her country, in connection with the probable population of Western Wisconsin, perhaps no Territory of the
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
United States has been so much neglected by the parent government, so illy protected in the political and individual rights of her citizens.
Western Wisconsin came into the possession of our government in June, 1833. Settlements were made, and crops grown, during the same sesson; and even then, at that early day, was the impulse given to the mighty throng of emigration that has subsequently filled our lovely and desirable country with people, intelligence, wealth and enterprise. From that period until the present, being a little over four years, what has been the Territory of West- ern Wisconsin? Literally and practically a large portion of the time with- out a government. With a population of thousands, she has remained ungoverned, and has been quietly left by the parent government to take care of herself, without the privilege on the one hand to provide a government of her own, and without any existing authority on the other to govern her.
From June, 1833, until June, 1834, a period of one year, there was not even the shadow of government or law in all Western Wisconsin. In June, 1334, Congress attached her to the then existing Territory of Michigan, of which Territory she nominally continued a part, until July, 1836, a period of little more than two years. During the whole of this time, the whole country west, sufficient of itself for a respectable State, was included in two connties, Dubuque and Des Moines. In each of these two counties there were holden, during the said term of two years, two terms of a county court (a court of inferior jurisdiction), as the only sources of judicial relief up to the passage of the act of Congress creating the Territory of Wisconsin. That act took effect on the third day of July, 1836, and the first judicial relief afforded under that act, was at the April term following, 1837, a period of nine months after its passage; subsequently to which time there has been a court holden in one solitary county in Western Wisconsin only .. This, your memorialists are aware, has recently been owing to the unfortunate disposi- tion of the esteemed and meritorious judge of our district; but they are equally aware of the fact, that had Western Wisconsin existed under a sep- arate organization, we should have found relief in the services of other mom- bers of the judiciary, who are at present, in consequence of the great extent of our Territory, and the small number of judges dispersed at two great s distance, and too constantly engaged in the discharge of the duties of their own district, to be enabled to afford relief to other portions of the Territory. Thus, with a population of not less than twenty-five thousand now, and of near half that number at the organization of the Territory, it will appear that we have existed as a portion of an organized Territory, for sixteen months, with but one term of courts only.
Your memorialists look upon those evils as growing exclusively out of the immense extent of country included within the present boundaries of the Territory, and express their conviction and belief, that nothing would so effectually remedy the evil as the organization of Western Wisconsin into a separate territorial government. To this your memorialists conceive them- selves entitled by principles of moral right-by the same obligation that rests upon their present government, to protect them in the free enjoyment of their rights, until such time as they shall be permitted to provide protec- tion for themselves; as well as from the uniform practice and policy of the government in relation to other Territories.
The Territory of Indiana, including the present States of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and also much of the eastern portion of the present Territory of Wisconsin, was placed under one separate territorial government in the year
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
800, at a time that the population amounted to only five thousand six hun- red and forty, or thereabouts.
The Territory of Arkansas was erected into a distinct Territory, in 1820, ith a population of about fourteen thousand. The Territory of Illinois was stablished in 1809, being formed by dividing the Indiana Territory. The cect population of Illinois Territory, at the time of her separation from In- iana, is not known to your memorialists, but her population in 1812, one car subsequent to that event, amounted to but eleven thousand five hun- red and one whites, and a few blacks-in all, to less than twelve thousand habitants.
The Territory of Michigan was formed in 1805, by again dividing the ndiana Territory, of which, until then, she composed a part. The popula- ion of Michigan, at the time of her separation from Indiana, your memo- ialists have been unable to ascertain, but in 1810, a period of five years sub- quent to her separate organization, her population amounted to but about our thousand seven hundred and sixty; and in the year 1820, to less than ine thousand-so that Michigan existed some fifteen years, as a distinct territory, with a population of less than half of Western Wisconsin at pres- nt; and each of the above named Territories, now composing so many roud and flourishing States, were created into separate territorial govern- ients, with a much less population than that of Western Wisconsin, and hat too at a time when the parent government was burdened with a ational debt of millions. Your memorialists therefore pray for the organ- ation of a separate territorial government over that part of the Territory of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi river.
TERRITORY OF IOWA.
exritorial Organization-Members of First Legislative Assembly-Ita Presiding Officers- Important Acts-The Great Seal of the Territory-Provision for Locating Seat of Gov- ernment-Some Prominent Members-The Boundary Dispute-Its Settement-Delegate to Congress-Territorial Governors-Death of Wm. B. Conway-Various Incorporations.
CONGRESS considered the prayer of the memorial favorably, and " An Act › divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and to establish the Territorial govern- ient of Iowa," was approved June 12, 1838, to take effect and be in force n and after July 3, 1838. The new Territory embraced " all that part of ne present Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi River, nd west of a line drawn due north from the head water or sources of the [ississippi to the territorial line." The organic act provided for a Governor 'hose term of office should be three years, and for a Secretary, Chief Jus- ce, two Associate Justices, and Attorney and Marshal, who should serve ur years, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and >sent of the Senate. The act also provided for the election, by the white tale inhabitants, citizens of the United States, oven twenty-one years of ge, of a House of Representatives, consisting of twenty-six members, and Council, to consist of thirteen members. It also appropriated $5,000 for a ublic library, and 820,000 for the erection of public buildings. President Van Buren appointed Ex-Governor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, to be the first lovernor of the new Territory. William B. Conway, of Pittsburg, was ppointed Secretary of the Territory; Charles Mason, of Burlington, Chief ustice; and Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Williams, of Pennsylvania, Associate Judges of the Supreme and District Courts; Mr. Van Allen, of New York, Attorney; Francis Gehon, of Dubuque, Marshal;
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
Augustus C. Dodge, Register of the Land Office at Burlington, and Thom- as Mcknight, Receiver of the Land Office at Dubuque. Mr. Van Al. len, the District Attorney, died at Rockingham, soon after his appointment, and Col. Charles Weston was appointed to fill his vacancy. Mr. Conway, the Secretary, also died at Burlington, during the second session of the Legislature, and James Clarke, editor of the Gazette, was appointed to suc- ceed him. Immediately after his arrival, Governor Lucas issued a procla- mation for the election of members of the first Territorial Legislature, to be held on the 10th of September, dividing the Territory into election districts for that purpose, and appointing the 12th day of November for the meeting of the Legislature to be elected, at Burlington.
The following were the names, county of residence, nativity, age, and occupation, of the members of that first Territorial Legislature:
COUNCIL.
NAME.
COUNTY.
NATIVITY.
AGE.
OCCUPATION.
E. A. M. Swarzy.
Van Buren.|Vermont.
28|Farmer.
J. Kieth ..
Virginia.
52 Gunsmith.
A. Ingram.
Des Moines. Penn.
60 Farmer.
Robert Ralston
Ohio.
31 Merchant.
C. Whittlesey ..
Cedar.
New York.
81 Merchant.
George Hepner.
Des Moines. Kentucky.
33 Farmer.
Jesse B. Browne
Lee.
Kentucky.
40 Formerly in U.S.A
Jesse D. Payne.
Henry.
Tennessee.
35 Physician.
L. B. Hughes
Virginia. Vermont.
34 Merchant.
J. W. Parker ..
Scott.
28 Lawyer.
Stephen Hempstead
Dubuque.
Conn.
26 Lawyer.
Warner Lewis.
Virginia.
32
J. M. Clark.
Louisa.
New York.
25|Farmer.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
NAME.
COUNTY.
NATIVITY.
AGE.
OCCUPATION.
Wm. H. Wallace
Henry. .6
Ohio.
27|Farmer.
Wm. G. Coop.
Virginia.
33 Farmer.
A. B. Porter. .
Kentucky.
30 Farmer.
Laurel Summers
Scott. 60
Kentucky.
24 Farmer
Jabez Burchard
Penn.
34 Farmer
James Brierly.
Lee.
Ohio.
29 Farmer.
Wm. Patterson
Virginia.
37 Farmer.
H. Taylor ...
Kentucky.
27 Farmer.
Harden Nowlin
Dubuque.
Illinois.
94 Farmer,
Andrew Bankston
N. C.
51 Farmer.
Thomas Cox ..
Kentucky.
51 Farmer.
C. Swan ..
New York. N. C.
37 Farmer.
J. W. Grimes
Des Moines.
N. H.
22 Lawyer.
George H. Beeler.
.6
Virginia.
99 Merchant.
V. B. Delashmutt
Virginia.
97 Farmer.
Thomas Blair.
Kentucky.
49 Farmer.
James Hall
Van Buren. Maryland.
27
Samuel Parker
Virginia.
34 Farmer.
G. S. Bailey.
Kentucky.
27 Physician.
Levi Thornton.
Louisa.
Penn.
42 Farmer.
Wm. L. Toole.
Virginia.
35!Farmer.
Robert G. Robert
Cedar.
Penn.
42 |Farmer.
John Frierson
Muscatine.
Ohio.
34 Surveyor.
8. C. Hasting
New York.
25|Lawyer.
C. J. Price.
Lee
34 Farmer.
George Temple.
N. H
99 Miner.
155
-
HISTORY OF IOWA.
Jesse B. Browne, of Lee county, was elected president of the council. He id been an officer in the regular army, was a gentleman of dignified ppearance and commanding stature, being six feet and seven inches in right. William H. Wallace, of Henry county, was elected speaker of the louse. Some years after he held the position of receiver at the United tates land office located at Fairfield. He subsequently removed to Wash stun Territory, and at one time served as a delegate in Congress from bit Territory.
Among the acts passed were those for organizing the counties of Linn, jefferson and Jones; for changing the name of Slaughter county to Wash- ington; providing for the election in each county of a board of commission- ma, to consist of three persons, to attend to all county business, and acts providing for the location of the capital and the penitentiary. The Terri- fory was divided into three judicial districts, in each county of which court was to be held twice a year. The counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry and Des Moines constituted the first district, to which Charles Mason, of Bur. lington, was assigned as judge. The counties of Louisa, Washington, John- we, Cedar and Muscatine constituted the second district, with Joseph Williams, of Muscatine, as judge. The counties of Jackson, Dubuque, Scott and Clayton constituted the third district, with Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, as judge.
Among the proceedings was the passage of a resolution by the council, instructing Wm. B. Conway, the secretary of the Territory, to procure real. In compliance with this instruction, on the 23d of November, Ir. Conway submitted to the inspection of the council what became the "great seal of the Territory of Iowa." The design was that of an eagle bearing in its beak an Indian arrow, and clutching in its talons an unstrung low. The seal was one inch and five-eighths in diameter, and was engraved by William Wagner, of York, Pennsylvania. The council passed a resolu- son adopting the seal submitted by the secretary, but it does not appear that it was adopted by the other branch of the legislature. In his communi- cation to the council presenting the seal, Mr. Conway calls it the " great seal of the Territory of Iowa," but the word "great" did not appear upon it This old territorial seal appears to have been lost in the removal from Iowa City to Des Moines.
Under the act passed for the location of the capital, Chauncey Swan, of Dubuque county, John Ronalds, of Louisa county, and Robert Ralston, of Des Moines county, were appointed commissioners, and were required to meet at the town of Napoleon, in Johnson county, on the first Monday of May, 1839, and proceed to locate the seat of government at the most suit- able point in that county. They proceeded at that time to discharge the duties of their trust, and procured the title to six hundred and forty acres. They lad it surveyed into lots, and agreed upon a plan for a capitol, selecting one d their number, Chauncey Swan, to superintend the work of erecting the building. The site selected was about two miles northwest of what was then the town of Napoleon, a place which now is not known as a town. The new town was named Iowa City, and the first sale of lots took place August 16, 1839. In November, 1839, the second Territorial Legislature membled in Burlington, and passed an act requiring the commissioners to dopt a plan for a building, not to exceed in cost $51,000. On the 4th day "July, 1840, the corner stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies, Sam-
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
uel C. Trowbridge acting as marshal of the day, and Governor Robert Lucas as orator.
This first legislative body which enacted laws for the government of the new Territory of Iowa held its sessions in the then unfinished . Methodist church in Burlington, the lower story or basement being built of stone, and the upper story of brick. It was known in later years as "Old Zion."' Of the members of that legislature several afterward held prominent official positions in the State. Two of them, Stephen Hempstead, of Dubuque, and James W. Grimes, of Burlington, held the office of Governor. The latter also became prominent in the United States Senate, and in the National Cabinet.
William G. Coop continued to be returned as a member of one or the other branch of almost every General Assembly, up to the change of parties in the election of James W. Grimes, as Governor. ITis later legislative career was as a member of the State Senate from Jefferson county. He was the Democratic candidate in that county against James F. Wilson in 1856, for member of the constitutional convention, but was defeated by the latter. He was a man of strong party attachments, being a Democrat in the strictest sense, but was faithful to his constituents, and honest in his discharge of duty. We recognize other names that were familiar in the subsequent history of the Territory or State, and among them, the following: Asbury B. Porter, who became the first colonel of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry during the Rebellion; Hawkins Taylor, of Lee county, who, during later years, has resided most of the time in Washington City; Warner Lewis, of Dubuque, who afterward held the position of Surveyor General for Iowa and Wisconsin; William L. Toole, of Louisa county, after whom the town of Toolesboro in that county was named; Laurel Summers, of Scott county, and others. In the organi- zation of this first Territorial Legislature party ties do not seem to have been very strictly drawn, for General Browne, who was chosen president of the council without opposition, and Colonel Wallace, who was elected speaker of the house, with but little opposition, were both Whigs, while both branches of the legislature were largely Democratic. Party lines were not tightly drawn until the campaign of 1840, when the young Territory caught the enthusiasm which characterized that contest throughout the country.
THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
One of the exciting questions with which the Territory of Iowa had to deal was that in relation to the southern boundary. The constitution of Missouri in defining the boundaries of that State had defined her northern boundary to be the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the Des Moines river. In the Mississippi river, a little above the mouth of the Des Moines river, are the rapids, which had been known as the Des Moines Rapids, or the Rapids of the Des Moines river. Just below the town of Keosaugna, in Van Buren county, there are rapids (though very slight and inconsiderable) also in the Des Moines river. The Missouri authorities claimed that the latter rapids were referred to in the definition of her boundary, and insisted on ex- ercising jurisdiction over a strip of territory some eight miles in width which Iowa claimed as being a part of her territory. At the first court held in Far- mington, Van Buren county, in April, 1837, by David Irwin, Judge of the Second Judicial District of Wisconsin, an indictment was found against one David Doose for exercising the office of constable in Van Buren county
157
HISTORY OF IOWA.
under authority of the State of Missouri. This, and other similar acts by Missouri officials, were the origin of the despute which resulted in demon- strations of hostilities, and very nearly precipitated a border war. Governor Boggs, of Missouri, called out the militia of that State to enforce its claims, and Governor Lucas, of Iowa, called out the militia of the Territory to main- tain its rights. About 1200 men were enlisted and armed. There was no difficulty in raising volunteers, for the war spirit ran high. At this stage, however, it was considered best to send peace commissioners to Missouri with a view of adjusting the difficulties. Gen. A. C. Dodge, of Burlington; Gen. Churchman, of Dubnque, and Dr. Clark, of Fort Madison, were ap- pointed and proceeded to discharge the duties of their mission. When they arrived they found that the county commissioners of Clarke county, Mis- souri, had rescinded their order for the collection of taxes in Iowa, and the Governor of Missouri had sent messengers to Governor Lucas with a propo- sition to submit an agreed case to the Supreme Court of the United States. This proposition was declined, but afterward both Iowa and Missouri petitioned Congress to authorize a suit to settle the question. This was done, and the decision was adverse to the claims of Missouri. Under an order of the Supreme Court of the United States, William G. Miner, of Missouri, and Henry B. Hendershott, of Iowa, acted as commissioners to sur- vey and establish the boundary line. They discharged the duties assigned them, and peace was restored.
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