USA > Minnesota > Waseca County > Child's history of Waseca County, Minnesota : from its first settlement in 1854 to the close of the year 1904, a record of fifty years : the story of the pioneers > Part 7
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commissioners to establish election precincts, appoint judges of election, and name such other officers as were provided for by law, viz: John C. Ide, John M. Bliven and Henry W. Peck. The governor also appointed Nathaniel Garland, sheriff, and Tarrant Putnam, register of deeds. These were the first officers of the county and they promptly qualified. They were to hold these positions until their successors should be elected and qualified. And thus was the county brought forth. The first meeting of the county commissioners was held at Wilton, on the 16th of March, 1857. Col. John C. Ide was chosen chairman and the board proceeded to business, the register of deeds being ex-officio clerk of the board.
The bond of the register of deeds and also of the sheriff were presented, approved and filed. A temporary seal, consisting of a round piece of yellow paper, with the name of the county printed thereon, was adopted. W. S. Baker of Otisco, who died in Waseca several years ago, was appointed treasurer of the county, and entered upon the duties of his office. The labor of the office was not burdensome at that time, as there was not a cent in the treasury. At this meeting, the commissioners formed election precincts and appointed the necessary clerks and judges of clection.
The first precinct was called Swavesey and contained all of the town of Blooming Grove and the north half of the town of Woodville. The election was to be held at the house of Ole Knut- sen, and Lewis McKune, Patrick Healy, and Ole Kuntsen were appointed judges to conduct the same. W. H. Young and Lewis McKune were appointed justices, and Clark Wood and S. F. Wyman, constables of that precinct.
The next precinct was called Empire, and embraced what is now Iosco and Janesville and the north half of St. Mary. The election was to be held at the house of John H. Wheeler, in Em- pire, and N. E. Strong, C. R. Miller and James Hanes were ap- pointed to serve as judges of election. M. S. Green was appointed justice of the peace and George L. Leonard constable for the Empire precinct.
The Wilton precinct was composed of the southern halves of St. Mary and Woodville and the north two-thirds of both Otiseo and Wilton. The election was to be held at the hotel of A. J. Wood-
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bury in Wilton, with Jesse I. Stewart, W. H. Chamberlain, and E. A. Rice as judges of election. Geo. W. Tremper was appointed constable for the Wilton precinct.
The fourth precinct was called Otisco and consisted of Vivian, Byron, New Richland and the south one-third of the towns of Otisco and Wilton. The election was appointed to be held at the house of Silas Grover, near the southeast corner of the town- ship of Wilton, and E. B. Stearns, Calvin Chapman and Daniel Grover were chosen to act as judges.
At the same meeting the following officers were appointed : for coroner, James Hanes; surveyor, H. W. Peck; assessors, N. N. Norcutt, James E. Child, and E. B. Stearns. Mr. Peck resigned as county commissioner to accept the surveyorship and David Smith, of Empire, was appointed to fill the vacancy.
A second meeting of the county commissioners was held April 6th, 1857, at which John Bradish, Esq., of Empire, was appointed county attorney, and Henry Thwing, of Empire, and John G. Greening of (Otisco) Wilton precinct, constables. Ben. G. North- up and Silas Grover were chosen judges of election in Otisco, in place of Dan Grover and Calvin Chapman, who declined to serve.
A third meeting of the county board was held on the 4th of May, 1857, at which a fifth precinct was carved out of Empire and called Elysian. It embraced all the territory in the township of Janesville west of Lake Elysian. J. C. York, C. M. Barnard and Abram Jaqua were appointed judges of the election which was to be held at the house of E. H. Loomis in said precinct. J. M. Stoddard was appointed justice of the peace and Abram Jaqua constable for the new precinct.
The commissioners at this meeting also made the following ap- pointments for the precinct of Swavesey: Asa Conner, justice of the peace, and S. F. Wyman, constable.
These meetings and proceedings were held preparatory to the then great coming struggle for the permanent location of the county seat.
Wilton, St. Mary, Empire-these three-entered the political arena and each strove with all its strength for the ascendency, Although county officers were to be elected, the all-absorbing question was, "How do you stand on the county seat ?"
Had the fate of the nation depended upon the result of the
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eleetion, there could not have been more intense feeling or excite- ment than was manifested in these embryo "cities." At first, the St. Mary men attempted to work the "boys of '55" against Wilton on account of the claim-jumping troubles, but the "boys of '55" were not disposed to ent off their noses to spite some one else, and voted to suit themselves. The contest waxed hot and fieree. Strange faces in large numbers mysteriously appeared a few days before eleetion. Men from Faribault, Owatonna, and other parts of the Territory suddenly beeame permanent residents of the county. Empire, St. Mary, and Wilton grew to large pro- portions some ten days before the election. Their streets with- out sidewalks literally swarmed with black coats, satin vests and plug hats. Promises on the part of town-site speculators were as plentiful as house flies in the month of August. There was hurrying to and fro among the speeulators in paper cities and corner lots. Gray haired usurers and loafing young men played enehre on the prairie green, or lazily lounged upon the corners of imaginary business blocks in these would-be cities. Every artifice of the political party demagogue was resorted to by those interested in the several towns to seenre population and win votes.
It is said that man soweth, but God giveth the increase. In this ease there was a very sudden deerease in population imme- diately after the election. The whole number of votes cast was 665. It might have been larger: but was not that a fair-sized election for a farming connty of only two years' settlement ? At any rate, in 1860, at the presidential election, when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the county only cast 525 votes-a falling off of over 200 votes in a growing country in three and a half years.
Swavesey cast 51 votes for Wilton, 33 for St. Mary, and 23 for Empire. Elysian cast 29 ballots-23 for Wilton, 4 for St. Mary and 2 for Empire. Empire east 11 for Wilton, 49 for St. Mary and 100 for Empire. Wilton east 119 for St. Mary, 189 for Wilton, and one for Empire. The oldest settler has never yet found out who that one lone Empire fellow was. He must have had the courage of Ethan Allen. Otiseo east 58 votes for Wilton and 2 for St. Mary. Wilton therefore received 332 votes, St. Mary 207, and Empire 126, making Wilton the county seat.
This election, intensely exciting as it was, and presenting as it
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did the worst phases of our popular form of government, simply showed how deeply rooted in the American mind was the essential and all-important doctrine that the majority must rule and the minority must acquiesce. Within three months after that heated contest, the opposing forees met in party convention, and a stranger would not have mistrusted that the men of St. Mary, of Empire and of Wilton had ever disagreed on any subject.
At that special election E. B. Stearns of Otisco, L. C. Wood of Swavesey (now Woodville), and David Smith of Empire (now Iosco), were elected county commissioners. They held their first session July 6th, 1857. As near as I have been able to learn, the following were the other newly-eleeted offieers to hold until the next general election : J. W. Crawford of Elysian, register of deeds; Nathaniel Garland, of Wilton, sheriff; H. W. Peck, of Empire, county surveyor; W. S. Baker, of Otiseo, treasurer; and M. S. Green, of Empire, county attorney. At this meeting of the commissioners, which was the fifth session, David Smith
was elected chairman. The bonds of the officers- elect were filed and approved by the board. Road petitions were presented by Charles L. Lowell, Alonzo Heath, J. A. Canfield, and John S. McKune. The petitions were signed by other eitizens and were acted upon by the board. * * *
Notwithstanding our Territorial condition, the great anti-slav- ery agitation of the day divided the people into distinct political parties. Every man was expected to stand to and vote his prin- ciples regardless of consequences. There was a conscientious courage in those days regarding public questions which amounted to heroism. And thus it was that, in the fall of 1857, local jeal- ousies were put to rest, and national politics divided the voters. Even at the very time of our county-seat election, the Republicans of the legislative district elected Hon. Amos Coggswell, of Steele county, Captain Lewis McKune, of this county, and E. Page Davis, of Nicollet county, members of the constitutional conven- tion that framed our present constitution, which was adopted October 13th, 1857.
The contest for county officials that fall was based almost en- tirely upon national politics, for the voters of the county, at that time, were largely strangers to each other. Hon. Lewis MeKune, for state senator, headed the local tieket and was elected. Of the
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county ticket, the Republicans elected E. B. Stearns, L. C. Wood, and John Bailey, county commissioners; N. Garland, sheriff; A. E. Smith, surveyor; J. I. Stewart, treasurer; James E. Child, county attorney; Job A. Canfield, probate judge; and W. S. Baker, assessor. The Democrats elected E. A. Rice, register of deeds, and H. P. Norton, clerk of the court. The vote between the two parties in this county, at that time, was nearly equal, and the personal popularity of the two successful Democrats carried them in.
CHAPTER XXII, 1858.
THE FIRST MURDER.
This first general election, October 13, 1857, was the oceasion of the first, as well as of the most unprovoked, murder ever commit- ted in this county. Jacob Hagadorn and family and Peter Farrell and family lived neighbors to one another in the town of Iosco, near the village of Empire, where the fall election was held. So far as known, at least, these men were not only neighbors, but friendly toward each other. They both attended the election at Empire, and the testimony showed that Hagadorn did not drink mueh, but that Far- rell was erazy drunk. The testimony taken before the grand jury the next day or two after the murder showed that there were two rival hotels, or public houses, in the village, and that each kept a bar well stocked with whisky. Whisky was cheap in those good old days, 25 cents a gallon-too cheap to be drugged-and yet men got drunk in those days the same as they do nowadays, and stabbed each other to the heart without any other cause than that they were intoxicated. It was at the time charged that one of the hotel men had plied Farrell and one or two others with liquor, during the afternoon, with the intention of getting up a drunken affray in the evening in which the other hotel man was to have been killed by aceident. Whether there was any foundation for that theory or not, the faet was that a quarrel took place, and during the row Farrell killed Hagadorn with a large knife.
Hon. Charles E. Flandreau, then associate justice of the Terri- torial supreme court, was then holding the first term of the district court for this county, and the grand jury, then in session,
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found indietments against Peter Farrell, as principal, and John H. Wheeler and Richard Toner, as accessories. Farrell was ar- rested and taken to Stillwater to be held for trial, but soon after made his escape and has never been brought to trial. It is said by some that he and his family are residents of Chicago, living under an assumed name.
After the excitement was over and the facts and cireum- stances were more coolly considered, it was generally admitted that there was no evidence upon which to conviet Wheeler or Toner, and after some two years they were discharged.
There can be no doubt that that sad and bloody tragedy was the unpremeditated result of insane drunkenness on the part of Farrell and others that were equally drunk.
Farrell, with great frankness, apparent sineerity, and unaffected sorrow declared that he had no cause for killing Hagadorn, that he never intended to injure him, and that he had not the faintest recollection of committing the crime with which he was charged and which he did actually commit in the presence of many eve- witnesses.
This murder was a sad lesson for Waseca county in more ways than one. It kept the district court in session several days, piled up large bills for witnesses, jurors, and officers at a time when our people were poor and out of money and when there was not a cent in the county treasury. These bills had to be met with borrowed money bearing interest at a rate of from sixty to sev- enty-two per cent per annum. It was a long time before the tax- payers had paid off the last of the expenses of that drunk.
CHAPTER XXIII.
FIRST DISTRICT COURT.
As hereinbefore intimated, the first term of the district court for this county was held at Wilton, commencing October 12, 1857. On the day that court opened, Hon. Charles E. Flandreau, then a young lawyer of St. Peter, not long since deceased, presided. The grand jury was impaneled, sworn, and charged in the after- noon, and the court then adjourned until Wednesday morning, the 14th, to give the jurors the privilege of voting on the 13th. When the court convened on the morning of the 14th, the sad news of the murder of Hagadorn at Empire on the 13th, had reached Wilton, and the grand jury at once commenced an in- vestigation of the matter which lasted several days. There was little or no other business to be transacted in court, and the judge adjourned from day to day until the grand jury finished its work. At this term of court, John Bradish, Esq., was duly ad- mitted to practice law in the courts of the Territory, he being the first resident lawyer of the county admitted to the bar. He is, at the present writing, a resident of Janesville, engaged in the real estate and insurance business.
COUNTY FINANCES.
The financial crash of 1857 had paralyzed the whole country. The state banking system (another name for robbery) had col- lapsed everywhere throughout the land, and the only persons that were in luek were those who had gold or silver coin. Such persons were very few in number. Not only were the masses of the people destitute of money, but all departments of government were with- out funds to pay ordinary expenses. Waseca county was especial-
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ly unfortunate at that time. It had not only no money but no credit worth mentioning, as was shown by the records made at that time; and yet it had on hand an expensive murder case grow- ing out of the liquor traffic. This case had to be carried forward at public expense. Hence we find the following entry in the records of the ninth meeting of the board of county commission- ers, which was held immediately after the adjournment of the first term of the district court :
"At a special meeting, held October 20th, 1857, the board bor- rowed of Byron Clark the sum of $100 for which a joint note, signed by E. B. Stearns and L. C. Wood, was given, payable one year from date thereof, with interest at the rate of six per cent. per month."
But that was only a drop in the bucket. The debts of the county already aggregated more than $1,200, and men were clamorous for their pay. When money was bringing from sixty to seventy- two per cent per annum, every man wanted his money to use; and so another special meeting of the county board was held November 11th, 1857, to devise ways and means to meet the pressing demands of creditors. At this meeting George Snyder, living near our county line, in Freeborn county, condescended to loan $200 of his good, hard gold to the county upon a promis- sory note duly executed and signed by E. B. Stearns and L. C. Wood, who were county commissioners at the time. This note bore interest at the rate of five per cent per month-sixty per centum per annum-and was due and payable fifteen months after date. The record also shows the following peculiar transaction: "The treasurer, being absent, the funds in the hands of the commis- sioners were appropriated by them to pay the most urgent bills against the county." The bills paid were as follows: L. C. Low- ell, $5; E. A. Rice, $51.85; N. Garland, $120.70; J. W. Craw- ford, $29.
From the financial statement made at the close of the year 1857. by Messrs. E. B. Stearns, L. C. Wood and John Bailey, county commissioners, we learn that the outstanding indebtedness of the county was $1,258.52, while the assets, if there were any, received no mention.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SEVERE HARDSHIPS-DESTRUCTIVE FLOODS-TOWNSHIPS OR- GANIZED-ADOPTION OF SUPERVISOR SYSTEM INSTEAD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS-COUNTY BONDS ISSUED-BRIDGE APPROPRIATIONS-JURY LISTS-OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS.
The few that had opened farms so as to plant seeds in the spring of 1857 received bountiful crops in return, with the exception of oats, which lodged, owing to heavy growth of straw. Very little wheat was cultivated then, and most of that was of the "club" variety, which never succeeded well here. The year 1858 opened with a heavy cloud in the financial sky, and with a general feeling of depression everywhere.
The new board of county commissioners, Messrs. E. B. Stearns, L. C. Wood, and John Bailey, met for the first time January 4th, 1858, and organized by the election of Mr. E. B. Stearns as chair- man. It was indeed fortunate for the county that at that critical period in our history we had three so honest and capable men at the head of affairs. No one was allowed to rob the public, for every bill presented to the board was closely scrutinized and inves- tigated.
At the meeting of the county commissioners April 5, 1858, the first separate township organizations were instituted. What is now Janesville was then named Okaman and given two polling places; one at the house of A. Tuttle, near the north end of Lake Elysian, and the other near the south end of the lake, at the house of Caesar De Regan. Alex Johnston, W. N. Buckout, and C. H. Bishop, all since deceased, were appointed judges of election.
Iosco then received its name as an organized township, and H.
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W. Peck, Geo. L. Leonard, and David Smith were appointed judges of the election, which was to be held at the house of Daniel Tripp.
Township 108, range 22, was set off and named Blooming Grove, with James Isaae, Patrick Healy, and J. M. Bliven as judges of the next election, which was appointed at the residenee of Pat- riek Healy.
Woodville was the name given to township 107. range 22, and Eri G. Wood, J. K. Meyers, and William M. Green were chosen judges of the first election, which was to be held at the house of E. G. Wood.
St. Mary was the name applied to township 107, range 23, the tavern of J. W. Clark was designated as polling plaee, and B. M. Morrill, Warren Smith, and H. W. Chamberlain were named to serve as judges of election.
Township 106, range 23, retained the name of Wilton, the elec- tion was appointed at the tavern of A. J. Woodbury, and I. C. Price, L. Curtis, and J. C. Ide were appointed as judges.
Township 106, range 22, was designated as Otisco, election at the house of Owen Salisbury, and H. G. Mosher, S. S. Griggs, and Owen Salisbury were chosen to serve as judges.
Township 105, range 24, was named Vivian, and that township, together with the west half of what is now Byron, was made an election preeinet. The first election was appointed at the resi- dence of J. B. Hill, and that gentleman, with S. L. Daggett and E. Woodruff, constituted the board of election judges.
At the next meeting of the county board, May 17th, on pre- sentation of a petition therefor, the name of township 108. range 24 was changed from Okaman to Janesville; and now the name of that once busy and beautiful little hamlet of Okaman, at the head of Lake Elysian, remains only in history.
The first state legislature after the adoption of our present constitution, substituted the supervisor system of county govern- ment for the commissioner system, and the first meeting of the new board was held at Wilton. September 14th, 1858. The mem- bers of the new board were E. B. Stearns, Col. W. W. Robinson, N. E. Strong, C. W. Johnston, J. W. Davis, Philo Woodruff, Obadiah. Powell, and J. B. IIill. At this meeting E. B. Stearns was chosen to preside as chairman of the board for the ensuing
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year, and E. A. Rice was chosen as clerk of the board. At this session, the matter of ways and means agitated the minds of the local statesmen of the county in no small degree. The last legis- lature having authorized the borrowing of money by the county, it was ordered after much deliberation, "that the county issue its bonds for $3,000, to be made payable March 1, 1862, and to draw interest at the rate of fifteen per cent per annum, payable an- nually." The bonds were to be issued in denominations of $50 and $100, with a proviso that they should not be sold for less than ninety cents on the dollar.
The bonds were to be printed and to be signed by the chairman of the board, and countersigned by the clerk of the board, with the seal of the county attached. W. W. Robinson, afterwards colonel, and E. A. Rice, afterwards major, were appointed a com- mittee to get the bonds printed and also to negotiate them. Af- terwards, at the same meeting, the amount of bonds was increased to $3,500. Messrs. Robinson and Rice were required to give a bond of $5,000 each for the proper performance of their duties in the negotiation of the bonds.
At a meeting of the county board, December 20th, 1858, the order passed at the September meeting of the board, regarding the bonds, was so modified that they should be issued in five, ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred dollar denominations-that two thousand dollars be issued in $50 and $100 denominations, and that the remainder of said amount, $1,500, be issued in equal amounts of five, ten, and twenty dollar denominations. These bonds were made payable in 1862, with interest at 15 per cent per annum, payable annually.
At the meeting of the board of supervisors, November 1st, 1858, township number 105, range 22, was organized into a town and named Norway. The name was shortly after changed to New Richland. Township number 105, range 23, was at this meeting organized and named Byron. There is some difference among old settlers as to how this township came by its name. J. B. Hill, Esq., one of the first settlers in Vivian, and at the time of that meeting a member of the county board, claims that the town was named in honer of Byron F. Clark, then a resident of Wilton; while it is elaimed by Roscoe Philbrook that the town was named for his brother Byron, who now lives in California. It is of no
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great importance at best, for even if it were named after Lord Byron or Lady Byron it would be just as poetical as it is now. It is getting to be a very beautiful township, and its name is ail right, even if Byron F. Clark did loan money at that time at six per cent a month-and to Waseea county at that.
At the same meeting of the board there was considerable dis- cussion in regard to building a county jail. E. B. Stearns, W. W. Robinson, and Philo Woodruff were appointed to select a site for it and also to let the contract for its construction, provided the board conld issue bonds to pay for the building. E. A. Riee, clerk of the board, was instructed to get the opinion of the attor- ney general as to whether the board could issue bonds to build a jail without first submitting the proposition to the people. It appears subsequently that there was no legal objeetion to issuing the bonds and building the jail, as will more fully appear here- after.
Among the important official acts of this year were the following appropriations for bridges, namely :
For the upper Wilton bridge, over the Le Sueur river, on the Owatonna road, $400.00; for the construction of a bridge over the Le Sueur river, at the village of Otisco, $200.00; for materials and mechanical labor in constructing a bridge over the outlet to Lake Elysian, in the town of Janesville, on the Medford and Man- kato road, $200.00; for the construction of three bridges in the town of Vivian, on the St. Mary and Vivian road. $100.00; for the construction of a bridge over the inlet to Lake Elysian, town of Iosco, on the Medford and Mankato road, $100.00. These ap- propriations were made upon condition that the towns in which these bridges were to be built should see that the bridges were completed on or before January 1st, 1859. At the same time one hundred dollars was appropriated toward the construction of a bridge over the Le Sneur river on the Wilton and St. Mary town line road, to be paid in county bonds. The county paid all its debts in bonds or orders in those days, for which the needy holder could get seventy-five cents on the dollar in store pay.
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