USA > Iowa > Iowa County > The history of Iowa County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 47
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" The Reporter containing the aforementioned act did not reach this office from the auditor of State until after the February session of the county court or the appointment would have been made at this time.".
The following was the order for the tax levy of 1853:
Ordered, That there be and hereby is levied the following taxes on the dollar on the whole amount of the county assessment for the year 1853: For county revenue, six mills; State revenue, one and half mills; school revenue, three-fourths of a mill; roads and bridges, one mill; poll-tax of fifty cents on every person assessed with a poll, for county revenue; road poll-tax of two dollars on every person under fifty years, liable to pay a county poll-tax.
The following record of a case in which a stage driver was arrested for some misdemeanor will doubtless remind some of our readers, who resided in the county then, of old stage coach times.
" COUNTY COURT, December 12, 1856.
" This day came John McT. Gibson and filed his affidavit to procure a State warrant for a stage-driver whom he accused of commiting a misde- meanor. Warrant issued to Washington L. Crenshaw, special constable, who made following return; to-wit.,
" Served the within warrant by arresting the within named stage-driver, and bringing him into court.
" And now on the 12th day of December, came the parties and the de- fendant filed a petition for a change of venue which was overruled. After hearing the evidence on behalf of the State a motion was made by defend- ant's attorneys to discharge the prisoner on the grounds that the evidence was not sufficient to bind the prisoner to court, which was overruled. Then there was evidence introduced on part of the defendant. Hearing all the evidence on both sides and duly considering the same that there is suffi- cient cause to believe the said defendant guilty. It is ordered that he be
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
held to answer in the penal sum of five hundred dollars, and he be com- mitted to the Johnson county jail until such bail be given."
On the 15th day of December, 1856, the judge made the following order in which there seems to be a queer mingling of the cheerful and melan- choly, where figure county officials, a pauper, a coffin, chairs, an undertaker and upholsterer:
Ordered, That G. Scholtt be allowed fourteen dollars and fifty cents for a coffin furnished a dead pauper, and bottoming chairs for the county offices.
The last administrative act of the county judge was performed January 5, 1861, and on the following Monday, January 7, the executive affairs of the county were handed over to the board of supervisors.
THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM.
The county judge system for the management of county finances expired January 1, 1861, and was succeeded by a board of supervisors consisting of sixteen members, one from each township. The first session was held Jan- nuary 7, 1861.
In the election of this first board the law provided that each township should elect one supervisor and that half of the number of supervisors should hold the office for one year and the rest for two years. The question as to who should hold for one year and who for two years was to be decided by lot. The board at its first session also elected from their own number a chairman, who should serve for one year. The following is a list of the per- sons composing the first board :
TOWNSHIP.
NAME.
TERM.
Amana
John Beyer 2 years.
Iowa
S. Sherman . 2 years.
Hilton
Warren Lincoln 1 year.
Marengo H. M. Martin
2 years.
Honey Creek E. P. Miller
.1 year.
Cono.
James Kenedy
Lenox.
Wm. Spurrier.
. 1 year.
James B. Long
2 years.
Sumner
Michael Shaul .
2 years.
Lincoln John Longstreth 1 year.
Dayton John Morrison 2 years.
English
W. G. Springer 1 year.
Fillmore
Wm. Popham
1 year.
Greene
Robt. Grimes 2 years.
York
Orson Harrington. 2 years.
J. F. Tufts 1 year. Troy
1 year. Hartford
Warren Lincoln was elected chairman for one year. Committees were then appointed by the chairman, styled as follows: Committee on finance; committee on claims; committee on roads; committee on county buildings and committee on poor.
This minature legislature had charge of county affairs during the most critical period of the county's history, and while the management was in the main satisfactory, the body proved to be too cumbersome, and while, theoretically, the various sections of the county were represented in the
371
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
board, practically, it was usually the case that one man of more than the average intelligence and force of character controlled the entire board; and if he-chose to engage in some little job he had the less hesitancy in so doing from the fact that there were twelve others with whom he could share the responsibility. After an experiment of ten years the township system was legislated out of existence and in its stead was introduced the present sys- tem of three supervisors, which is virtually the same as the first board of county commissioners. Thus after experimenting for years, first with a board of one, then with a board of sixteen, we have got back to the orig- inal plan. Who will not say that legislation does not repeat itself and that political minds at least move in circles. The plan of a board of three is doubtless the best which could be devised. While it does not leave the management of affairs in the hands of a single individual, it still leaves the matter with a board which can transact business with expedition, and this body is of sufficient dignity and standing to secure as members men of intelligence and ability. It has come to be generally admitted that the best men in the county ought to be selected for this office.
BOARD OF THREE SUPERVISORS.
The first session of this board as now constituted began on the second day of January, 1871.
The members first elected were N. B. Holbrook, Orson Harrington and J. M. Westbrook.
Mr. Holbrook was elected chairman, and the county auditor became ex officio clerk of the board. During the time that the administration of county affairs has been in charge of this board the affairs of the county have, in the main, been economically and intelligently administered. Dur- ing this period many bridges, some of which are of great value, have been erected, and the population, and consequently the business, of the county has grown immensely. More business is now transacted at each quarterly meeting of the board than was originally transacted by the county judge during his entire term.
ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
We have already shown that in 1847 the county was subdivided into four civil townships; viz., Marengo, Iowa, Greene and English. With the exception of Fillmore, these continued to be the only townships of the county till May, 1854, when Hartford township was formed by order of Judge Wallace. The following was the order:
May 2, 1854.
This day came C. C. Slocum and presented a petition for the organiza- tion of a new township, out of what is now Marengo township, with the following described boundaries.
Commencing at the northeast corner of section four, township 80, range 11; thence west to the western boundary of Iowa county; thence south six miles; thence east nine miles; thence north six miles to the place of be- ginning. It is, therefore,
Ordered, That the territory contained within said boundaries shall be known and desig- nated as Hartford township; and that the same be and hereby is established a civil township
372
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
of said county; and that the first election therein be held at the residence of Levi Shedenhel- son, on the first Monday of April, 1854.
There seems to be an anomaly in that the order was made May 2, 1854, and the election ordered for the first Monday in April, same year. This probably resulted from the fact that the record was not made up for some time after the order was made.
Fillmore township was organized by order of the old board of county com- missioners. The following was the order:
Ordered. That the following shall constitute the boundaries of a township, to be called Fillmore. The lines of congressional township 78, range 10, and the first election shall be held at the house of Chauncy Clothier on the first Monday of April, 1852.
The next townships organized were Honey Creek, Troy and Cono, all near the same time. The following were the official orders:
February 18, 1856.
This day came John M. Richardson and presented a petition for the or- ganization of a new township, out of what is now Marengo township, with the following boundaries; to-wit., commencing at the north line of Hart- ford township, one mile and a half east of the congressional township line dividing ranges 11 and 12 of township 81; thence due north to Benton county ; thence west to the northwest line of Iowa county; thence south along the line of Iowa and Poweshiek counties to Hartford township; thence east to the place of beginning. It is, therefore,
Ordered, That the territory enclosed by aforesaid boundaries shall be known and designated as Honey Creek township, and that the same be and hereby is established as a civil town- ship of said county, and that the first election therein be held at the town of Koszta on the first Monday in April, 1856.
February 26, 1856.
This day came Henry Cook and presented a petition for the organiza- tion of a new township, out of a part of Greene township, to consist of township 79, range 10, and the north half of township 79, range 9. It is, therefore,
Ordered, That the territory contained within said boundaries shall be known and desig- nated as Troy township, and that the same be and hereby is established as a civil township of said county, and that the first election therein be held at the school-house near William Evans, on the first Monday in April, 1856.
March 3, 1856.
This day came Samuel T. Coate and presented a petition for the organi- zation of a new township, out of a part of Honey Creek township, bounded as follows: commencing at the junction of the Iowa River, and the Benton county line on the north side of the river; thence east with the meandering of Iowa River until it intersects the line dividing sections 15 and 16 at the north bank of the Iowa River in township 81, range 11; thence north to the Benton county line; thence west to the place of beginning; said town- ship to be called Cono. It is, therefore,
Ordered, That the territory contained within the said boundaries shall be known and de" ignated as Cono township, and that the same be and hereby is established as a civil township, and that the first election therein be held at the brick school-house, on the first Monday in April, 1856.
373
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
Lenox township was organized in 1855, and Dayton in 1857. The fol- lowing are the official orders:
March 12, 1855.
This day came A. H. Fox and presented a petition asking that a new towhship be formed out of the territory belonging to Iowa township, with the following boundaries; to-wit., township 81, range 9. It is, therefore,
Ordered, That a new township be formed in accordance with said petition and named Lenox, and that the first election in said township be held at the house of A. H. Fox on the first Monday in April, 1855.
: March 2, 1857.
This day came A. T. Cross and presented a petition for the organization of a new township out of a part of English township, with the following boundaries; to-wit., congressional townships 78 and 79 of range 12 and shall be known and designated as Dayton township, and that the same be and hereby is established as a civil township of said county, and that the first election be held therein at the school-house 'near the residence of A. T. Cross on the first Monday in April, 1857.
Amana Township was organized in 1858. The following was the official order:
September 20, 1858.
This day came William Marshall and filed a petition asking for the formation of a new township to be called Amana with the following boun- daries; to-wit., commencing at the southeast corner of township 81, range 9, thence to the southwest corner of said township, thence south to the southeast corner of section 1, township 80, range 10, thence west to the southwest corner of section 2, township 80, range 10, thence north to the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of section 14, township 81, range 10, thence east to the northeast corner of section 13, township 81, range 9, thence south to place of beginning.
Ordered, That the said township be established and the first election shall be held at the school-house in the village of Amana.
Sumner township was organized in the fall of 1858. Order as follows:
September 22, 1858.
This day came Peter D. Smith and filed a petition asking for the form- ation of a new township to be called Sumner, with the following bounda- ries; to-wit., the north half of township 79, range 11, and all of town- ship 80, range 11, except sections 1, 2 and 3, 10, 11 and 12, and thereupon a remonstrance was filed. Upon consideration of the premises it is
Ordered, That said township with boundaries aforesaid be and the same is established and that the first election be held therein at the house of Peter D. Smith in the village of Genoa Bluffs, October 12, 1858.
Hilton township was organized in the fall of 1858. The following was the order:
September 22, 1858.
This day came Samuel Thornton and presented a petition asking for the formation of a new township to be called Hilton, with the following de-
374
HISTORY OF IOWA) COUNTY.
scribed boundaries; to-wit., all of township 80, range 10, except sections 1, 2 and 6, and the north half of section 7, the northwest quarter of section 8, and the west half of section 5, whereby it is considered and hereby
Ordered, That said township with said boundaries be established and the first election shall be held at the house of Asahel Ward on the 12th of October, 1858.
Lincoln township was organized in the fall of 1860. The following or- der to that effect was issued by Judge Wallace on October 1st, 1860.
Ordered, That congressional township 79, range 12, be and is hereby constituted and or- ganized as a civil township of Iowa county, Iowa, to be known as Lincoln township, and it is hereby directed that the first election in said township be held in the only school-house in said township on the 6th day of November, 1860.
York township was organized in the fall of 1860. The order to that effect was issued by the county judge as follows:
October 8, 1860.
Ordered, That congressional township 79, range 9, be, and the same is hereby constituted and established a civil township to be known as York township, and it is hereby directed that the first election shall be held at the East Ridge school-house in said township on the 6th day of November, 1860.
In 1861 Washington township was organized. At the June session of the supervisors a petition was presented asking that the township might be organized. The board voted to postpone action on the petition till the October session. At the beginning of the October session the petition was referred to the committe on miscellany, which, on the 15th of October reported as follows:
"The committee on miscellany report and reccommend the formation of a new township, to be bounded as follows: commencing at the northeast corner of Cono township, thence along the Benton county line to the north- east corner of section 3, township 81, range 10, thence south along the line of Lenox and Amana townships to section corner on the south side of section 19, township 81, range 10, thence north to the center of said sec- tion 19, thence west to the lowa River, thence up said river to the line of Cono township, thence north along said township line to the place of be- ginning. And we further reccomend that it be named Washington."
The report was adopted and the township was accordingly organized at the following general election.
The last township organized was Pilot, organized in 1862. The follow- ing is the official record:
June 3, 1862.
The special committee on the organization of a new township report that a new township be organized, to be composed of congressional town- ship 79, range 11, and that the place of holding the first election be at the house of Snowden Myers, and that the name of said township be Pilot."
The report of the committee was adopted and the township was organ- ized at the regular election in October following.
It is very interesting to note the gradual growth of township organiza- tions from the original four to the present number of eighteen. The brief outline already given, of itself affords a good idea of the growth of the
375
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
county in population and the development of its material resources. The four original townships still retain their names and organizations, but they have been whittled down from time to time, till some of them have less than one fourth the territory of which they were originally composed. Marengo township has been peculiarly unfortunate in this particular ;- like an apple it has been pared off from all sides until there is but the core left, unlike an apple core however, the part left has always been the most val- uable part.
MOVEMENT TO CHANGE THE COUNTY SEAT.
There were objections to the name Marengo when the county was first organized. . The facts attending the movement intended to bring about a change of name have already been narrated. But there were also objec- tions to the location. It was urged that the county seat ought to be in the center of the county, and Marengo is located some eight miles north of the geographical center. Then again, there were objections to the location in early times which do not obtain at the present day. In early times there were great floods, and the waters from the Iowa River and Bear Creek sometimes overflowed the land where Marengo is situated. It is said that at one time during a session of the District Court, the water was two feet deep all around the court-house, and the members of the grand jury from Greene and English townships threw out hooks and lines from the steps of the court-house, and upon being interrogated by the citizens of Marengo, replied that they were " bobbing for eels." They did this to aggravate the people of Marengo and at the same time make an argument in favor of a change of the county seat. Various other available locations were sug- gested, and the matter of a proposed change was actually and frequently agitated.
It does not appear, however, that any decisive measures were taken until March, 1857, when the opponents of Marengo united their forces and made a combined movement to change the county seat to Genoa Bluffs, a town laid out some time previous, in the south part of Sumner township. Genoa Bluffs was almost as far west of the center of the county as Marengo was north.
We herewith reproduce the records made by the county judge with ref- erence to the proposed change of the county seat from Marengo to Genoa Bluffs.
March 2, 1857.
This day came George W. Watson and filed a petition, signed by five hundred and seventeen persons, asking the question of the removal of the county seat of Iowa county from Marengo to Genoa Bluffs, to be submitted to the voters of said county at the April election, A. D. 1857, and the nec- essary oath of the legality of said signers was made by said George W. Watson.
March 13, 1858.
This day the affidavits of J. L. Gardner, John M. Sullenbarger and Matthew M. Blair were filed, showing that D. L. Sullenbarger, A. Rugles and F. G. Barnett, who signed the petition for the removal of the county seat to Genoa Bluffs, were not at the time of signing, legal voters of Iowa county. Also, at the same time came Christopher Smith, T. S. Pensall,
376
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
Thomas Boyle, Elisha Ricord and A. D. Riley, whose names appeared on said petition, and filed their affidavit that they never signed nor authorized any person to sign the same. Also, at the same time, came H. Chapman, Henry Gibson, William Broaker, David Maul, William H. Maul and Wil- liam Graham, whose names appear on said petition, and filed their affida- vit that they signed said petition, but were, at the time of signing it, not legal voters of Iowa county. Now, therefore, after deducting the illegal signers from said petition, the said petition does not contain the requisite number of signers to order an election.
This put a stop to the proceedings and, although the matter was fre- quently agitated afterward, Marengo still remains the county seat, and is likely to continue to be, unless, by the building of new railroads, or other enterprises of a similar character new conditions should be created making a change more generally desirable than at present. These county seat con- tests engender strife and arouse enmities which are transmited by father to son through successive generations, and the people of Iowa county may well congratulate themselves that the settlement of the county seat question lead to as little crimination as it did.
In 1864 there was a petition presented to the board of supervisors asking that the vote of the county might be ordered on the question of removing the county seat from Marengo to Williamsburg. There being the requisite number of names on the petition, the supervisors submitted the question at the election in November, 1864. Marengo was again victorious, the vote standing as follows:
Marengo 968
Williamsburg 500
This being considered a fair trial of strength, and the majority being so decisive, it was taken as final and no organized movement for a change has since been made.
FERRIES, BRIDGES AND LICENSE.
In early times, before there were any bridges in the county, it was nec- essary to cross the Iowa River by means of ferries. The establishment and equipment of a ferry necessitated quite an expense, and in order that an in- dividual might be justified in making this outlay, it was customary for the county authorities to grant him exclusive ferry privileges for a certain dis- tance up and down the river from a given point. The county also derived some revenue from these ferries as a license fee was required. The public was also protected by this county supervision, for in granting the franchise the county prescribed the rates to be charged for ferriage.
It appears that the first ferry across the Iowa River in Iowa county was established at Marengo by Robert McKee in 1848 or 1849. He did not receive the exclusive franchise however till May 8, 1850, probably because that prior to that time there was no effort to establish a competing line. In that year there was an immense travel to California, and Mr. McKee seeing that he was liable to have competion applied to the commissioners for a license. The board granted the petition in the following order:
Ordered, That Robert McKee be, and hereby is, authorized to keep a rope ferry across the Iowa River, where the State road from Cedar Rapids to Marengo crosses said river with ex- clusive privilege for two miles above and below the ferry, for the term of five years, on the
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
following conditions; to-wit., the said McKee shall keep constantly on hand and at said point a good boat, and sufficient number of hands for ferrying purposes; and McKee shall pay into the county treasury two dollars the first year, three dollars the second year four dollars the third year, five dollars the fourth year and six dollars the fifth year. And the said McKee may charge the following rates for ferriage: one wagon and pair of horses or cattle, twenty- five cents; man and horse, ten cents; for man on foot, five cents; for each head of loose cat- tle or horses, five cents. In case of high water or the river is obstructed with ice, then double the foregoing rates may be charged.
This ferry was at the junction of the second street east of the public square with the river, and the house occupied by the ferryman, Mr. McKee, still stands near where used to be the south landing of the ferry boat.
In 1852 a man named Stewart started a ferry boat some distance west of Marengo, and in inaking the second trip, with a team belonging to a Cal- ifornia emigrant, the boat sunk drowning the ferryman, his assistant and the emigrant. This circumstance has been more fully narrated elsewhere.
After Mr. McKee had operated his ferry for five years, he, in connection with other parties undertook to erect a bridge across the river, and applied to the county judge for a franchise; of course the bridge was to be a toll bridge. The franchise was granted and the bridge erected. The following is a copy of the official order:
April 3, 1855.
This day came Robert McKee and Benjamin F. Crenshaw and presented a petition asking the grant of a license for the erection of a toll bridge across the Iowa River, at or near the present site of the Marengo ferry. And also asking that the license for the erection of said toll bridge may be made exclusive for the distance of two miles from said bridge. It is, there- fore,
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