USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 68
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 68
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In the meantime Ezra and John H. Abbott had become in- terested in the county, and in connection with A. B. Cornell and William F. Pettit were laying the foundation for the future city of Owatonna. In the summer (1855) the plans for county organization were matured very quietly and in secret by the town proprietors of Owatonna. and the parties went to St. Paul to see the territorial governor, Willis A. Gorman. A. B. Cornell was the prime mover in the matter. No petition was eireulated, nor were the settlers generally cognizant of the proposed at- tempt at organization, for had such been the case, they would undoubtedly have insisted upon having a hand in the matter, and having something to say as to who would be the county officers. Cornell, together with a few others, pursuaded 'Squire Pierce to accompany them. When in the presence of the gov- ernor, Mr. Cornell asked that the county be organized and pre- sented a list of names of those whom he desired for officers. The governor, a frank, whole-souled fellow, thought that Mr. Cornell was speaking for all the settlers of the county and acceded. 'Squire Pierce then had no knowledge of the scheme, but he would not desert Cornell, at that time, so he held his peace. and the governor took it for granted that he was one of those in- terested in the movement. Afterward, some of the citizens of the county, meeting Gorman at Faribault. took him to task for his actions, and the governor was very wrathy, but it was too late, Steele county was organized and he could not disor- ganize it.
The result of the visit by Mr. Cornell and others to the gov- ernor, was the appointment of S. B. Smith. F. Ingram and F. W. Fisk as commissioners to organize Steele county. Several of the county offices were filled by appointment at the same time. although it has been impossible to find records that give the full list. The old settlers nearly all agree, however, that Charles Ellison was appointed register of deeds: Simcon Case, prose- cuting attorney : Smith Johnson, judge of probate: J. H. Catlin. clerk of the court ; and William F. Pettit, sheriff. This all took place in the summer of 1855.
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The same fall, October 9, 1855, a general election was held for state officers, only one county officer being elected-Wil- liam F. Pettit, sheriff. At this election everyone voted-whether they had been here one month or six-and there were about 117 votes polled in the county. It is impossible at this time to learn why only one county officer (sheriff) should have been elected, and some of the oldest and best-posted of the old set- tlers claim that it was a mistake; others that it was merely a joke, yet as the records show it, this was the first election ever held in the county. The polling place at Owatonna was in the old log school house, or rather a temporary structure of logs and brush, which stood near where the second ward school building was afterward located. Dr. E. M. Morehouse was one of the judges. At that time there was a good deal of rivalry between Owatonna and Medford, as each wanted to make as good a showing as possible. At this election Smith Johnson, Dr. Finch and Isaac Sanborn came to Owatonna to watch the polls and prevent fraud, and they soon began chal- lenging votes. At this, Cornell and Pettit got them aside and while they were arguing, the word went out to the boys to file in and vote. One party, who attended, claims that there were fifty-three illegal votes polled inside of thirty minutes. The difficulty between the two localities was not particularly relating to the county-seat but more of a local jealousy or rivalry to get the start in a business sense. It cited that when the Owatonna people were endeavoring to get a postoffice it was blocked by the Medford postmaster, Smith Johnson, Sr., refus- ing to sign the petition. The law in those days required that a petition for a postoffice must be signed by the nearest post- master. Medford had secured the establishment of a postoffice first, and for a long time Mr. Johnson refused to sign the Owa- tonna petition.
Whether all of the country officers appointed by the governor in the summer of 1855 qualified or not, is impossible to say, yet it is known that many of them did. In July, 1856, the following is a list of the county officers who were serving, although how some of them came to hold the offices cannot be told. The list is taken from a copy of the Watchman and Register, dated July 29, 1856.
County commissioners, Samuel B. Smith, William Allen and Melmer P. Ide ; register of deeds, Charles Ellison ; sheriff, Wil- liam F. Pettit ; treasurer, David Sanborn ; surveyor, John W. Park ; clerk of court, F. Wilbur Fisk ; district attorney, John M. Blivin ; judge of probate, Franklin B. Davis; assessors, David Lindersmith, Charles Thompson and Luke Osgood; supervisor
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of roads, David Lindersmith and Seymour Howe for Owatonna precinct, Sylvester McNitt for Franklin, Smith Johnson, Sr., for Medford, Simeon Smith for Swavesey, and Curtis Hatch and J. A. Bassett for Empire.
Official matters moved along smoothly during this year, 1855-56. It appears that all deeds and official instruments were still being recorded in Rice county for some reason, and Steele county books were not opened for the reception of these instru- ments until in the autumn of 1856.
Late in the summer of 1856 a convention was held at Owa- tonna for the nomination of officers, and a heated campaign fol- lowed, in which all hands throughout what is now Steele and Waseca counties took an active part. The county-seat question was not the leading issue, as has been stated in several pre- viously published histories, but it was more particularly over the question as to who should be leaders; as one old settler puts it, it was "Cornell" or "anti-Cornell." Cornell was cer- tainly quite an apt hand to stir up animosities and strife. He was active and energetic, unsparing to a foe, and was for "Cornell, first, last and all the time." This convention was called a "People's Convention," and was not particularly par- tisan, or in favor of any exclusive political party. In fact, creeds were hard to distinguish in those days. Cornell was nominated for the legislature, and was defeated at the polls by Rev. O. A. Thomas. James Cornell was nominated for register of deeds, but Charles Ellison came out as an independent candidate and got Cornell to withdraw. Park defeated Ellison at the polls. David Lindersmith was nominated for sheriff; David Sanborn, for treasurer ; J. Bradish, of the present Waseca county, for at- torney; H. W. Peck, one of the proprietors of the town of Empire in what is now in Waseca county, for surveyor ; J. M. Blivin, of Swavesey township, for coroner; and Ezra Abbott, for superintendent of schools. No convention was held to put an anti-Cornell ticket in the field, but the leading "anties" got together, and opposing candidates were announced for all the offices, and in some cases half a dozen for each. G. W. Green led the opposition in what is now Steele county, while Lewis McCune and James E. Child, in what is now Waseca county, took an active part in opposing Cornell in the west end. Child was an able man, and directed his work chiefly against Cornell for representative and Ellison for register of deeds. The latter was something of a chameleon as to his political faith and a little inclined to change with whomever he was talking with. Mr. Child wrote a poem relating to this, in which was the fol- lowing verse :
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Mr. Ellison, Esquire, You ought to look higher Than to think of registering deeds. The people up here Feel desperately quecr To know your political creed.
The vote was badly split up. A. B. Cornell and J. H. Abbott, in the meantime, in July, 1856, had established a paper at Owa- tonna, under the name of the Watchman and Register, and this took an active part in the campaign.
On October 14, 1856, the election came off. It was the first election of county officers. The offices were all filled as follows : Register of deeds, Jolin W. Park; sheriff, David Lindersmith ; treasurer, David Sanborn; judge of probate, Bazil Meek; dis- trict attorney, Geo. W. Green; surveyor, H. D. Peck; coroner, Thomas Kenyon; auditor, Z. B. Moore; superintendent of schools, Ezra Abbott; for assessors, Geo. O. Child, L. B. Town and John A. Headley all received votes ; county commissioners, David Smith, N. Winship and William Allen.
On August 1, 1855, the board of commissioners met for the first time and the organization of Steele county was perfected, the county-seat being located at Owatonna. Since that time the official history of the county has been uneventful. The various offices have almost without a single exception always been filled by capable and honest men, and the thread of history runs smoothly down to the present day.
CHILD'S NARRATIVE.
James C. Child, in his History of Waseca county, has treated of these same events from the standpoint of the Waseca county citizens. His narrative is as follows:
By act of February 20, 1855, the counties of Olmsted, Dodge, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, and Steele were created and the boundary lines of the old counties changed. By that act, Steele county then contained ranges 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24, and town- ships 105, 106, 107, 108-a territory twenty-four miles north and south and thirty miles east and west. The geographical center of the county, as then bounded, was near the western line of the township of Meriden. The county-seat of Steele county was not designated, nor the county fully organized by statute until February 29, 1856, although county officers had been elected in the fall of 1855.
In the month of December, 1855. I made a trip to Auburn, Iowa, for supplies. In January, 1856, shortly after my return,
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the settlers in the western part of what was then Steele county learned that Messrs. Cornell, Pettit, Abbott & Co., of Owatonna, were endeavoring to get the territorial legislature, then in ses- sion, to divide Steele and Dodge counties so as to make three counties of the two-the same as we now have them. The county was then very sparsely settled. Probably there were not 1,000 families or voters in all the territory of the three counties. The people of Waseca county were nearly all young farmers, just commencing life, and poor in goods and wares. They did not feel able to support a county government while there were so few to pay taxes.
A meeting of the settlers was held and I was selected to visit the people in all parts of the then county to secure signatures to a remonstrance, and forward the same to Hon. George A. McLeod, then of Sibley county, our representative in the house. and the Hon. Chas. E. Flandreau, then of St. Peter, our member in the council. We made duplicate remonstrances for the set- tlers along the Le Sueur and had them signed at our meeting. The next day I started for Owatonna and the Straight river set- tlement. It was a pretty cold day, as I learned when I reached Owatonna, the thermometer registering twenty-two degrees be- low zero, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The next day was in- tensely cold-so cold that the ordinary thermometer failed in its efforts to keep a correct record and I remained in Owatonna all day. I soon learned that the people in Owatonna, with only two exceptions, were in favor of the division of the county. This I learned without divulging my mission, and the next day I started down Straight river, calling upon each settler as I pro- ceeded and explaining our opposition to the division. Almost without exception, each farmer signed the remonstrance. At Clinton Falls and Medford I found active co-operation. and ob- tained the signatures of all I could see. In one day's canvass I had good strong lists which I forwarded to Messrs. MeLeod and Flandreau, accompanied by a private letter from myself and one from Dr. Finch, of Clinton Falls, explaining to them the sit- nation of affairs and the general condition of the people. I left with the postmaster at Medford a copy of the remonstrance to be signed by those whom I had not seen and to be afterwards forwarded to Mr. Flandreau. I then struck across the country on foot, without road or track of any kind, in search of the Remund and Ide Settlement, in what is now Blooming Grove. I had no guide except the government section posts, many of which were covered with snow drifts. It was twelve miles from Clinton Falls to Blooming Grove, then called the Bliven settle- ment. The trip was a good deal more of a job than I had an- ticipated. Much of the way I encountered small groves and
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brush land where the snow was very deep and the crust not strong enough to bear my weight. After a hard day's work, I reached the house of a pioneer German, named Reineke, about 4 in the afternoon. Like most of his nationality he did not fall in love with me at first sight, and to my salutation: "It is a wintry day," he replied: "Ich verstehen sie nicht." This was one of the occasions in my experience where the few words of German I could speak served me well, for neither he nor any of his family could. at that time, converse in English. As soon as he found that I could speak some German he shook hands with me and became very friendly. He invited me to remain over night, a proposition that I was only too glad to accept. He entertained me a portion of the evening with stories of the Fatherland, and then drifted into the difficulties he experienced in not understanding English. He seemed much pleased when I offered to write out the names of familiar objects about the house and farm in English, opposite the German names. After a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast, having obtained his name to the remonstrance, I bade him "Lebewohl" and proceeded to visit the settlers in Blooming Grove, Mr. Reineke's farm being in what is now Deerfield, in Steele county. I proceeded eastward until I struck the settlement known as Swavesey. The first residence I found was that of M. P. Ide, on what after- wards became known as the Patrick Healy farm. Mel, as he was called, turned out to be a Cornell man and could not be persuaded to sign the remonstrance. I put in the whole day going from house to house, and secured the signatures of all the other men in the settlement that I could find. It was a laborious job to travel about in the deep snow, and night found me at the hospitable cabin of Wm. M. Gray, on Section 33, in what is now Blooming Grove. There was a greeting, a charm, a hospitality, a feeling of fraternity among the pioneer settlers of Wisconsin and Minnesota-especially in the latter territory- entirely unknown at the present day. The stranger was always welcome to such accommodations and fare as the settlers pos- sessed. All gathered around the same table and each served the other. Each told to the other their history, almost without reserve, and in one evening they generally knew more of each other and of each other's affairs than men born and reared in the same town know of each other these days. Not only did they become acquaintances but they took a friendly interest in each other's welfare. There was a sympathy among them which later additions to the population seem not to possess. I spent the night very comfortably and agreeably with Mr. Gray, and his family, and the next morning called upon his neighbors, Simeon Smith, Alfred C. Smith and E. K. Carlton, obtained
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their signatures to the remonstrance, and proceeded homewards, arriving at the McDouball cabin just as darkness covered the prairie and grove. My only compensation for the laborious tramp was the general satisfaction we all felt in the defeat, for the time being, of the proposition to divide the county. Alas! how little man knows of the future.
In 1856 the animosity growing out of claim jumping, which was instigated by Mr. Cornell and other Wilton town-site pro- prietors, and the evident intention of what was then known as the Cornell ring to divide Steele county and make two small counties, together with other rivalries, brought into existence what was known as the Cornell and anti-Cornell parties. It was well understood that Mr. Cornell and his adherents wanted to elect a legislative ticket favorable of three counties, giving to cach of the three twelve townships, as at present, and making Mantorville, Owatonna and Wilton county seats of their respective counties.
In order to forestall the opposition of the farming popula- tion, Mr. Cornell and friends called a people's convention in early autumn, at Owatonna, thereby giving the Cornell party a powerful local advantage. However, a large proportion of the then settlers of Waseca county went to the convention to find themselves out-voted by traveling immigrants who had been hired by the Cornell men, so some of them said, to camp in the vicinity for a few days and vote on that special occasion. To say that some of the old settlers were hot that day, expresses the condition of the public mind at that time in very feeble phrase.
The fraud was so outrageous and so self-evident that it was not seriously denied, even by the Cornell men. The anti-Cornell men withdrew in a body from the others and held a convention of their own, calling it a Republican convention, which it really was. Judge Geo. W. Green, Dr. Finch, Elder Towne and others, of Steele county, eloquently denounced the other convention for following the tactics of the Missouri border ruffians in Kansas. The Republicans nominated a county ticket of their own, and elected four delegates to attend the Republican legislative con- vention to be held at Traverse des Sioux, now St. Peter, to nom- inate candidates for the territorial council and house. These delegates were Dr. W. W. Finch, and Judge Geo. W. Green, of what is now Steele county, and Simeon I. Ford and James E. Child, of what is now Waseca county. The Cornell party elected as delegates to the same legislative convention, H. M. Sheetz, A. B. Cornell. and a man from Steele county, whose name is forgotten by the writer, and M. S. Green, then of Empire, in Waseca county. The legislative district then comprised all of
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that portion of Minnesota west and south of Stecle and Nicollet counties and included these two counties.
Each of these two sets of delegates claimed to represent the Simon-pure Republican party of the county. Judge Green, a very able man, was principal spokesman on one side, and H. M. Sheetz, a brilliant young editor, on the other. Both were cool, deliberate and able, and soon convinced the convention that our county possessed men of ability, at least, and that the con- tention was no trifling affair. The contest was referred to the committee, on credentials, and two reports were made by the committee, one in favor of each. This brought the contest before the whole convention and the battle raged fiercely during the whole night. Finally, about daylight in the morning, it was agreed to nominate a candidate for councillor and two for rep- resentatives, leaving one candidate for representative to be thereafter agreed upon by Steele county men.
As soon as this understanding had been reached, both fac- tions were admitted to participate in the convention. It was one of the hardest fought political battles in the history of our local politics, and the Cornell faction was defeated. Both parties returned home with blood in their eyes, as the saying is, resolved to fight it out until the polls closed and the ballots were counted on election night.
Immediately after the return of the delegates from St. Peter, Mr. Cornell was announced as a candidate for the legislature, and those opposed to Cornell and a division of the county very soon afterwards nominated Rev. O. A. Thomas, of Medford, Steele county, as the opposition candidate. Capt. Lewis Mc- Kune, Chris. Remund and others, in the north part of what is now Waseca county, and Messrs. Lincoln, Waters, Chamber- lain, Ford, John Jenkins, and others in the south part, took an active part in favor of Mr. Thomas. In what is now Steele county, Dr. Finch, Judge Green, Elder Towne, and others were energetic in their efforts to defeat Mr. Cornell. Nearly the whole fight turned upon the candidates for the legislature and for register of deeds.
The canvass was very thorough throughout this section, every man having been talked with regarding the matter. It was the old story of private interests against the public wel- fare. Mr. Cornell represented the townsite proprietors or spec- ulators, who desired to make three counties out of two with three county seats. On the other hand, the farming settlers, few in number, desired larger counties under the belief that a large county would have no more expense than a smaller one, and that the larger the number of taxpayers the less tax cach would have
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to pay. The campaign was very exciting, considering how few in number were the voters at that time.
Election day fell on October 14, 1856, and a majority of twenty-five votes elected Mr. Thomas and protested against a division of the county. The majority was not large, apparently, but it was, in reality, much larger than it appeared to be, for it was well known that number of transient men cast illegal votes for Mr. Cornell at Owatonna.
The people that opposed Mr. Cornell and his division scheme supposed they had won the victory, and that, for another year. at least, their interest would be safe in the hands of Mr. Thomas, whom they elected, but they afterwards found out to their sorrow-
"How vain are all things here below. How false and yet how fair."
No sooner was Mr. Cornell defeated at the polls than he took an entirely new tack and sailed in an unexpected direction. He sent his emissaries to those settlers in the Le Sueur (Wilton) settlement, whom he had been trying for a year to plunder, and managed in one way and another, to compromise and settle with them on liberal terms to himself. He became so very kind ( ?) and good that he threw nearly all his old opponents off their guard. He succeeded in securing the co-operation of Col. J. C. Hle, then of Rice county, a very agreeable, obliging and quite an able man, who came to Wilton that fall and built a sawmill, the first erected in the county. This mill was of great value to all the people of the settlement, and furnished lumber for much needed buildings and improvements. So successful were Mr. Cornell and his associates that they secured a division of the county by the legislature. The act organizing Waseca county became a law February 27, 1857. At that time there was not a postoffice in Waseca county and the most rapid method of communication was by means of a saddle horse. The fact that Steele county had been divided and Waseca county organ- ized did not become generally known in the latter county until two or three weeks after the legislative enactment.
Of the officers of Steele county appointed by the governor in 1856, the following resided in what is now Waseca county : John M. Bliven, district attorney ; Mehmer P. Ide, county com- missioner ; Luke B. Osgood, assessor; John Jenkins, of the Le Sueur precinct (Wilton), Simeon Smith and Curtis Hatch, of Swavesey ( Blooming Grove), and J. A. Bassett and M. S. Green of Empire (losco) justices of the peace.
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DODGE COUNTY.
From February 2, 1855, until February, 1856, Merton, Havana, Aurora and Blooming Prairie townships were a part of Dodge county, and the history of that county for that period is here given :
The census having been taken, and disclosing a little more than fifty voters, Peter Mantor journeyed to St. Paul and laid the matter before Governor Gorman, who appointed county officers, as shown by the following entry in the county records : "Mantorville, Minn., August 4, 1855. It appearing by a census taken in the year 1855 and returned to the office of the secretary of Minnesota territory, that the county of Dodge has more than fifty legal voters, the governor hath appointed the following officers thereof: Notary public, Peter Mantor ; county commis- sioners, James M. Sumner, William Downard and George W. Slocum; sheriff, J. B. Hubbard ; register of deers, J. H. Shober ; treasurer, J. R. Dartt ; district attorney, Samuel Burwell ; county surveyor, William Chadwell; assessor, J. E. Bancroft ; justices, G. P. Bancroft, Alonzo Way, R. Herzog ; constables, S. G. Irish, E, Watrous, O. B. Kidder." August 4 the newly appointed board of county commissioners met at Mantor Bros. store in Mantor- ville and elected James M. Sumner chairman. In their proceed- ings Dodge county was made one election district, and the place of election was fixed at Mantorville. The county was also desig- nated as one assessment precinct, and William Fowler was ap- pointed assessor in place of J. E. Bancroft, resigned. August 18 the county commissioners fixed the date of election to be the second Tuesday of the following October. On that date the first election was held, and resulted as follows: County commis- sioners, William Downard, for one year, James M. Sumner, for two years, W. T. Collum, for three years; representative, J. H. Hubbell ; sheriff, C. H. Moses; treasurer, Enos Bunker ; register of deeds, J. H. Shober ; surveyor, William E. Chadwell ; assessor, Enos Grems; justices of the peace, William Bowen and E. P. Waterman; constables, William Cunningham, David Howard and Joel Watkins; district attorney, D. Rounds; coroner, A. N. Smith. January 7, 1856, the commissioners met and appointed J. M. Sumner chairman. In February, Merton, Havana, Bloom- ing Prairie and Aurora became a part of Steele county.
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