USA > Iowa > Polk County > The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 53
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" During the period ending with the constitution of 1847, a large portion of the State had become filled up with a population of New England birth or character, daily growing more and more compact and dissatisfied with the comparatively arbitrary and inefficient county system. It was main- tained by the people that the heavy populated districts would always con- trol the election of the commissioners to the disadvantage of the more thinly populated sections-in short, that under that system 'equal and exact jus- tice' to all parts of the county could not be secured.
"The township system had its origin in Massachusetts, and dates back to 1635.
"The first legal enactment concerning this system provided that, whereas, 4 particular townships have many things which concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own town,' therefore, ' the freeman of every township, or a majority part of them shall only have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurtenances of said town, 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.'
"They might also (says Mr. Haines) impose fines of not more than twenty shillings, and 'choose their own particular officers, as constables, surveyors for the highways and the like.'
" Evidently this enactment relieved the general court of a mass of mu- nicipal details, without any danger to the power of that body in controlling general measures of public policy.
." Probably also a demand from the freeman of the towns was felt for the
1 control of their own home concerns.
" The New England colonies were first governed by a 'general court,' or
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
legislature, composed of a governor and a small council, which court con- sisted of the most influential inhabitants, and possessed and exercised both legislative and judicial powers, which were limited only by the wisdom of the holders.
" They made laws, ordered their execution by officers, tried and decided civil and criminal causes, enacted all manner of municipal regulations and, in fact, did all the public business of the colony.
" Similar provisions for the incorporation of towns were made in the first constitution of Connecticut, adopted in 1639; and the plan of township or- ganization, as experience proved its remarkable economy, efficiency and adaptation to the requirements of a free and intelligent people, became uni- versal throughout New England, and went westward with the emigrants from New England into New York, Ohio and other Western States."
Thus we find that the valuable system of county, township and town or- ganization had been thoroughly tried and proven long before there was need of adopting it in Iowa, or any of the broad region west of the Mississippi river. But as the new country soon began to be opened, and as eastern people continued to move westward across the mighty river, and form thick settlements along its western shore, the Territory, and State, and county, and township and town organizations soon followed in quick succession, and those different systems became more or less modified and improved, accord- ingly as deemed necessary by the experience and judgment and demands of the people, until they have arrived at the present stage of advancement and efficiency.
In the settlement of the Territory of Iowa the Legislature began by or- ganizing counties on the Mississippi river. As each new county was formed it was made to include, under legal jurisdiction, all the country bordering west of it, and required to grant to the occidental settlers electoral privi- leges and an equal share in the county government with those who properly lived in the geographical limits of the county.
The counties first organized along the eastern border of this State were given, for a short time, jurisdiction over the lands and settlements adjoin- ing each on the west, until these different localities became sufficiently set- tled to support organizations of their own; and finally, at the first session of the Legislature, after the Indians sold out, the newly acquired territory, including all northwestern lowa, was laid off into counties, provisions were made for their respective organizations when the proper time should arrive, and these were severally named. ..
In the case of Polk county it was different. As remarked at another place, Polk county at the time of its first settlement was not contiguous to any older-settled and organized county on the east; to the east and south, as well as to the west and north, was a wide stretch of wild and unsettled territory. It was then, without undergoing a period of probation, that Polk county at once sprang into being, and became the nucleus around which gathered all the partially settled and unorganized counties of Central Iowa.
At the same time Polk county was organized, and in the same bill pro- viding for its organization, were provisions for the organization of Jasper county.
As before remarked, the question of county organization was agitated during the fall of 1845, and during the following winter was passed the act
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
authorizing the organization of these counties. The act, as passed, reads as follows:
"AN ACT for the organization of the counties of Jasper and Polk, approved January 17, 1846.
"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa: That the counties of Jasper and Polk be, and the same are, hereby organized, from and after the first day of March next, and the inhabitants of said counties shall be entitled to all the rights and privi- leges to which, by law, the inhabitants of other organized counties of this Territory are entitled; and the said counties shall constitute part of the Second Judicial District of this Territory.
. "SEC. 2. That there shall be held a special election on the first Monday in April, at which time the county officers for each of said counties shall be elected; and also such number of justices of the peace and constables for each of said counties as may be ordered by the clerks of the District Court, for their respective counties.
"SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the several clerks of the District Court in and for said counties, to give at least ten days' notice of the time and place of holding such special election, in each of said counties, grant certificates of election and in all respects discharge the duties required by law, to be performed by Clerks of Boards of County Com- missioners, in relation to elections, until a Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners for their respective counties may be elected and qualified.
"SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the District Court in each of said counties to discharge all the duties required by law, to be per- formed by Sheriffs in relation to elections, until a Sheriff for their respective counties may be elected and qualified.
"SEC. 5. That the county officers, justices of the peace, and constables, elected under the provisions of this act, shall hold their offices until the first Monday in the month of August, 1846, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
"SEC. 6. That the Clerks of the District Court in and for said counties of Jasper and Polk may be appointed and qualified at any time after the pas- sage of this act.
"SEC. 7. That all actions at law or equity, in the District for the county of Mahaska, commenced prior to the organization of the said counties of Jasper and Polk, where the parties or either of them reside, in either of the aforesaid counties of Jasper and Polk, shall be prosecuted to final judg- ment, order or decree, as fully and effectually as if this act had not been passed.
"SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of all justices of the peace residing within the said counties of Jasper and Polk, to return all books and papers in their hands pertaining to said office to the next nearest justice of the peace who may be elected and qualified for their respective counties, under the provisions of this act; and all suits of law, or other official business, which may be in the hands of such justice of the peace, and unfinished, shall be prosecuted or completed by the justice of the peace to whom such business or paper may have been returned as aforesaid.
"SEC. 9. That the judicial authorities of Mahaska county shall have cog- nizance of all crimes or violations of the criminal laws of this Territory, committed within the limits of said counties of Jasper and Polk prior to
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
the first day of March next; provided, prosecutions be commenced under the judicial authorities of said Mahaska county, prior to the first day of March next.
"SEC. 10. That the said counties of Jasper and Polk shall have cogni- zance and jurisdiction of all crimes or violations of the criminal laws of this territory, committed prior to the first day of March next, in cases where prosecutions shall not have been commenced under the judicial authorities of Mahaska county.
"SEC. 11. That the county of Marshall be, and the same is attached to the county of Jasper, for elections, revenue and judicial purposes.
"SEC. 12. That the counties of Story, Boone, and Dallas, and the terri- tory of country north and west of said counties, be, and the same is hereby attached to the county of Polk for elections, revenues, and judicial pur- poses.
"SEC. 13. That the several Clerks of the District Court in and for the said counties of Jasper and Polk may keep their respective offices at any place within their respective counties until the county seats thereof may be located.
"SEC. 14. That Richard Fisher, of the county of Wapello, E. M. Kirk- ham, of the county of Davis, and Thomas Henderson, of the county of Keokuk, be, and they are hereby appointed, Commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice of the county of Jasper.
· "SEC. 15. That Thomas Hughes, of Johnson, M. T. Williams, of the county of Mahaska, and Giles M. Pinner, of the county of Scott, be, and they are hereby appointed, Commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice of the county of Polk.
"SEC. 16. That said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at the office of the Clerk of the District Court, and for the county for which seat of justice they have been appointed, to locate, on the first Monday in the month of May next, or at such other time, not exceeding thirty days thereafter, as a majority of said Commissioners may agree.
"SEC. 17. Said Commissioners shall take and subscribe the following oath, to-wit: 'We do solemnly swear (or affirm) that we have no interest, directly or indirectly, in the location of the seat of justice of the county, and that we will faithfully and impartially locate the same according to the best interests of the same, taking into consideration the future as well as the present population of the county,' which oath shall be administered by the Clerk of the District Court, or any other officer authorized by law to administer oaths within the county, for which seat of justice said Commis- sioners are appointed to locate, and the officer administering said oath shall certify and file the same in the office of the clerk of the District Court of such county, whose duty it shall be to record the same.
"SEC. 18. Said Commissioners, when met and qualified under the pro- visions of this act, shall proceed to locate the seat of justice of the respective counties for which they have been appointed, and as soon as they shall have come to a determination the same shall be committed to writing, signed by the said Commissioners, and filed with the Clerk of the District Court of the county in which said seat of justice is located, whose duty it shall be to record the same, and forever keep it on file in his office; and the place thus designated shall be the seat of justice of the county.
' ."SEC. 19. Such commissioners shall be entitled to receive the sum of two dollars per day while necessarily employed, and the sum of two dollars for
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
every twenty miles travel in the discharge of the duties enjoined upon them by this act, which shall be paid by the county for which such location shall be made, out of the first funds arising out of the sale of town lots in such seat of justice.
"SEC. 20 .. That the District Court for the county of Jasper shall be held at the house of Nathan D. Springer, in said county, or at such other place as may be designated by the Board of County Commissioners of said county, until the seat of justice of said county may be located.
"SEC. 21. That the District Court for Polk county shall be held at Fort Des Moines, until the seat of justice of said county may be located.
"SEC. 22. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Four days prior to the passage of the foregoing act a general act had been passed, from which we copy section four, or so much as relates to the organ- ization of Polk county.
"AN ACT to establish new coun ties and define their boundaries, approved Jan. 13, 1846, Wayne, Lucas, Warren, Polk, Marshall, Jasper, Story, Boone, Dallas, Madison, Clarke, Decatur.
"SEC. 4. That the following shall be the boundary of a new county, to be called Polk, to-wit: Beginning at the northwest corner of Jasper county, thence west to the northwest corner of township 81 north, of range 24 west thence south, to the southwest corner of township 78 north, of range 34, west; thence east, to the southwest corner of Jasper county; thence north to the place of beginning."
It will be seen that the steps taken for the organization of Polk county were somewhat different from the steps taken in the organization of counties át later times; in the former case the Legislature performed the details, such as designating the place and time of holding the first election, which in more recent times as in the case of the organization of Boone and Greene counties, were left to the Judge of the District Court.
The act specified that the Clerk of the District Court might be appointed at any time after the passage of the bill and it was made the duty of such officer to carry into effect that part of the legislation which referred to the preliminary steps of organization. The Clerk was appointed by the Judge of the Judicial District. Joseph Williams was District Judge and he ap- pointed Perry L. Crossman Clerk. Mr. Crossman immediately entered up- on the duties of his office after subscribing to the prescribed oath and giv- ing bond for the faithful discharge of his duties. He posted up notices at various places in the county, informing the people that the first organizing election would be held on the first Monday in April, 1846, designated the voting places and appointed the judges and clerks of election.
When the vote had been taken according to the provisions of the law, the District Court Clerk canvassed the votes and declared the result; the persons elected were notified by this same officer of their election, and by him were qualified and inducted into office; then was the county organized, the exe- cution of the law having been performed entirely by the Clerk of the Dis- trict Court, who received for those services the sum of fifty dollars.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
At the organizing election there were one hundred and seventy-five votes cast, and the vote resulted in the election of the following officers:
Probate Judge-John Saylor.
Sheriff-Thomas Mitchell.
Coroner-James Phillips.
Surveyor-A. D. Jones.
Recorder -- Thomas McMullen.
Treasurer-Wm. F. Ayers.
Assessor-G. B. Clark.
Collector-Addison Michael.
:
Commissioners-Benjamin Saylor, William H. Meacham and E. W. Fouts.
These officers being elected at a special election, only held their offices till after the regular county election in the following August, when their successors were chosen and qualified.
At this first election there were three precincts established by the Clerk of the District Court, as follows:
Camp Creek precinct, election held at the house of Thomas Mitchell.
Allen's Mill precinct, election held at the house of J. D. Parmelee.
Fort Des Moines precinct, election held at one of the old government buildings composing the fort.
The following were the election officers of the Fort Des Moines precinct: Judges-G. B. Clark, W. H. Meacham and T. K. Brooks. Clerks-J. T. Meldrum and Lewis Whitten.
The votes polled were one hundred and seventy-five in number and were distributed among the three precincts as follows:
Fort Des Moines 70
Camp Creek. 42
Allen's Mill 63
Total 175
In those days the office of County Surveyor was one of the most impor- tant and lucrative offices in the county, and consequently the best men were always candidates for this office, and the contest was probably more spirited than any other. At this first election A. D. Jones who had just come to the county but a few days previous, and a man by the name of Woodward, were nominated candidates for the desirable office. Mr. Jones says that he went to Camp Creek precinct on the day of the election for the purpose of electioneering for his ticket in general and himself in par- ticular. Although he remained near the polls all day and worked hard he did not receive a vote. The chief point of difference between the ticket upon which Jones name appeared and the Woodward ticket, was the question of the county seat location. The Woodward party was in favor of Brooklyn, about two miles northeast of the present site of the State-house, and the Jones party were in favor of Fort Des Moines. The latter had quite a ma- jority in Des Moines precinct, but Woodward received every vote in Camp creek and enough in Allen's Mill precinct to elect him; however the re- turning board was favorable to Jones and Woodward was counted out.
The following is a copy of the official notification of Thomas Mitchell ot his election to the office of Sheriff of Polk county at the first election:
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
"TERRITORY OF IOWA, 1
"POLK COUNTY.
"Be it remembered that Perry L. Crossman, Clerk of the District Court and ex-officio clerk of the board of County Commissioners of the county of Polk in said Territory do hereby certify that Thomas Mitchell of said county has been duly, on the first Monday of. April 1846, elected Sheriff in and for said county. until the first Monday in August next, and until his successor is elected and qualified.
" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the tem- porary seal of said court at Fort Des Moines in said county this seventh day of April, A. D. 1846 ..
" PERRY L. CROSSMAN, Clerk."
The following oath of office was made and subscribed to by Mr. Mitchell upon entering on the duties of his office:
"TERRITORY OF IOWA, " POLK COUNTY.
"I, Thomas Mitchell, of said county, do solemnly swear that I will sup- port the Constitution of the United States, and that I will faithfully exe- cute the office of Sheriff in and for the county of Polk, in said Territory. " THOMAS MITCHELL." :
The first session of the board of County Commissioners was held on Saturday and Monday following the election. The following is an abstract of the proceedings:
The Board of Commissioners in and for the county of Polk and in the Territory of Iowa met at Fort Des Moines on Monday the 12th day of April, 1846.
There were present according to a record of the proceedings two of the Commissioners, viz: Benjamin Saylor and William H. Meacham.
The eagle side of a half dollar was adopted as the temporary seal of the Commissioners.
This was all the business transacted at the first session. On the follow- ing day the Board met again and the number of Commissioners was further increased by the presence of E. W. Fouts the third member of the Board. W. H. Meacham was appointed chairman.
The first bill allowed was for two dollars and twenty cents in favor of Thomas McMullen for services as clerk of elections. Fourteen other bills aggregating the amount of fifteen dollars were allowed; they were all for services as clerk or judge of election at the first election held in April, 1846.
At the same session of the Board the first license was granted. The order was as follows:
"On the application of W. W. Clapp he is allowed a license to keep a grocery in Polk county for a term of three months from this seventh day of April, 1846, upon his producing the treasurer's receipt for the sum of six dollars and twenty-five cents and entering into bond according to law."
Addison Michael was also licensed to keep a grocery at the same session of the Board.
An order was also made appropriating the sum of five dollars and twen- ty-five cents for the purchase of blank books and stationery for the use of the county.
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. HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
After ordering the payment of the following additional bills the Com- missioners adjourned till May 25, 1846.
The bills were:
W. H. Meacham services as County Commissioner $5.00
Benj. Saylor, same. 5.00
E. W. Fouts, same. 2.50
Wm. Mckay for services as clerk of the board 4.00
The Commissioners did not hold another session till the 25th of May, the time set for the location of the seat of justice. In the meantime and to use the official language of Clerk Mckay, this last named official issued the following order:
"TERRITORY OF IOWA, " POLK COUNTY.
" To the Sheriff of said County :
" The following is a statement of the proportion of jurors to which each precinct or each place of voting is entitled to in said county, to-wit: The number of jurors apportioned to the precinct or place of voting at the house of Thomas Mitchell on Camp Creek in said county is thirty-six. The number of jurors apportioned to the precinct or place of voting at the house of John D. Parmelee in the neighborhood of the Three Rivers, in said county, is fifty-six; and the number of jurors appor- tioned to the precinct or place of voting at Fort Des Moines in said county fifty-eight.
" Done at Fort Des Moines, this fifteenth day of April, A. D. 1846. " WILLIAM MCKAY,
" Clerk of the Board of Commissioners."
It has already been stated that the second session of the County Com- missioners began May 25, 1846. The meeting at that special time was owing to a great event in the history of the county which occurred then. Reference is made to the selection of Fort Des Moines as the seat of justice. In common with all other counties of the State Polk county has had its period of turmoil, excitement and terrible tribulation over the all absorb- ing question; the question of all questions which in its paramount im- portance overshadowed all other questions; a question whose discussion created the most unaccountable friendships and alliances and at the same time was the source of enmities most bitter and feuds which outlasted the generation; a question which ministers discussed on their way to church and which children wrangled over on their way to school; the question was that of the location of the county seat.
The agitation of this question began, properly, with the first settlement of the county, and, in order to trace out the history of the contest and its bearing on the politics and legislation, we must return to the fall of 1845, when the county was first thrown open to settlers. In the early settlement of Iowa and in the new settlements of Kansas and Nebraska at present, so great is the interest in the decision of the county seat question that it would seem that the great object and end of human existence is the establishment of a seat of justice, while all other manifestations of activity are purely inci- dental and accidental; the farmer plants his crop that he may live, and he
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
lives that he may bring to bear upon one side or the other of the county seat question his influence and his vote.
.In many cases the early settler followed this principle to its logical con- clusion, and when the county seat became finally located he either died or removed to some other newly-organized county where the issue was still a living one. In many other instances, and this was doubtless the rule and the former cases the exceptions, people accepted the situation, and when the county seat was located they settled down to the work of improving their claims and hastening the development of the material resources of the coun- try. In most cases, however, it is true that there was little improvement and but little permanent prosperity until this vexed question was settled.
Emigrants who came to Polk county during the fall of 1845 found two settlements already begun-one, Fort Des Moines, on the west banks of the Des Moines river and Raccoon fork, where the soldiers had been quartered, and another east of the river and some distance north, where Brooklyn had been laid out. These two settlements were both aspirants for the county seat, and every new arrival was expected to champion the claims of one or the other of these rivals and cast his vote and influence in its favor. Some- times it was the case that the mind of the newcomer was prejudiced and pre-occupied, and he was an enthusiastic advocate of the claims of one of the places before he crossed the Mississippi river; in many other instances the emigrant knew nothing about the controversy until he arrived on the ground. In all such cases a day's residence was sufficient to make of him a violent partizan.
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