The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 57

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246

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HISTORY OF MOWER COUNTY

of typhoid fever) ; Private Christen (Christian) Paulsen, sick at Third Division Hospital, Camp Hamilton, August 28 to 30 (died August 30, 1898, of typhoid fever) ; Private Salva Torgenson, died at Camp Mueller, New Ulm, October 25, 1898. It will be seen that four men who went out full of health and hope answered the grim call, victims of disease.

The Twelfth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry went into camp at Camp Ramsey (State Fair Grounds), April 29, 1898, was mus- tered into United States service May 6, 1898. Remained in Camp Ramsey until May 16. Arrived at Rossville, Tennessee, May 19. Went into camp at Camp George H. Thomas, near Lytle, Georgia, May 20, 1898, being a part of the First Brigade, Third Division, First Army Corps. Removed to a new camp, August 14, 1898. Removed to Camp Hamilton, near Lexington, Kentucky, August 22-24, 1898. Left Lexington on return to Minnesota, September 15, and went into camp at Camp Mueller, near New Ulm, Septem- ber 17, 1898. September 22 furloughed for thirty days. Mus- tered out November 5, 1898. During this period the regiment was under the command of Col. Joseph Bobleter, of New Ulm, a thorough soldier, beloved by officers and men alike. The First Battalion was under the command of Major George W. Mead. The Second Battalion was under the command of Major Arthur W. Wright. The Third Battalion was under command of Major George S. Whitney.

Officers and men longed for active service and regretted the inactivity of camp life. The regiment, Company G, and all the component parts, were exceedingly well prepared, drilled and equipped, and no better body of soldiers ever answered a call to arms; that they remained inactive was no fault of theirs; the war was too short, too quickly over, to require them at the front.

CHAPTER XLIX.

EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY.

Story of Early Political Parties and Contests Told by Jacob N. Nicholsen - East and West Side Fights - Nominees and Results of Elections in Antebellum Days-War Time Politics -Exciting Days for Mower County.

The early political history of Mower county is interwoven with her general history. It is exceedingly difficult to winnow out those facts which relate solely to the politics of the com- munity without taking with them a mass of related information.

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HISTORY OF MOWER COUNTY

1855-There had been no election in the county prior to the year 1855, so it may with reason be said that the history of county politics begins with that date. The Sixth Territorial Legislature in February of that year had established the bound- aries of the county. On July 25, both the Republican and Demo- cratic state conventions were held at St Paul. In the Repub- lican convention Mower and Freeborn counties were entitled to sixteen delegates but only one was present and voted. It was not a question of Republican and Democrat that agitated the voters of the county in that day, for the Republican party had only just been born. In fact, it was not a question of politics anyway that interested the voters, but rather the question of East and West; whether the east side of the county or the west side should control the county. The east side put forward as their candidate for the territorial legislature one W. B. Covell, a Democrat. The west side pinned their faith to A. B. Vaughan, a Republican. Under a tree at High Forest the polls were spread and when the ninety-seven were counted it was found that A. B. Vaughan had received a majority of the votes. Mr. Covell, how- ever, made the return to the register of deeds at Houston, and from him received a certificate of election and thereupon quali- fied, was sworn in and took upon himself the duties of the office.

1856-In 1856 Governor Gorman appointed the first board of county commissioners and they met at Frankford on April 7. George White and Phillip Howell were present. William Russell was absent. It was their duty to locate the county seat. Whether they performed that duty or not is perhaps a question-it is dis- cussed elsewhere in this volume. The proceedings of the county commissioners and the actions of the county seat removers failed to take the county seat question wholly out of politics for some time thereafter. Even after the seat of the county government had been permanently located at Austin, an attempt was made to have it removed to Ramsey. Two tickets were before the people at the general election, which was held on October 14. The "People's Tieket" was put up by the westsiders and a "Union ticket" by the eastsiders. The candidates on these ticket were as follows: People's ticket: Representative, J. M. Berry; register of deeds, R. L. Kimball; sheriff, J. B. Yates; treasurer, S. P. Bacon; surveyor, N. P. Todd; commissioners, W. B. Spencer, G. H. Bemis, H. C. Blodgett; judge of probate, A. B. Vaughan ; coroner, O. Allen. Union ticket : Representative, T. H. Armstrong; register of deeds, W. B. Covell; sheriff, J. S. Pierson; treasurer, G. P. Covell; surveyor. M. K. Armstrong ; commissioners, William Spencer, C. F. Hardy, N. Goodsell; judge of probate, C. J. Felch; coroner, J. Pierce. There were about 375 ballots cast. The People's ticket was successful throughout

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HISTORY OF MOWER COUNTY

except for the office of county surveyor - Armstrong being elected to that office by a majority of 74. The other Union candidates were defeated by about forty to fifty votes. The east side had heretofore been more favored in the distribution of offices, but now it passed to the west side, where the majority in number has remained ever since. All but two of the officers elected at the election of 1857 were from the west side, whereas previous thereto the east side had all but two or three. The list of the candidates at this election discloses many names which were of considerable importance in the subsequent political his- tory of the county. J. M. Berry, the successful candidate for representative, was not a Mower county man. His home at the time of his election was at Lanesboro in Fillmore county. He subsequently removed to Faribault, in Rice county, which he represented in the state legislature of 1863. He was raised to the Supreme bench in 1864, and held that position until the time of his death in 1889.

1857-The legislature had authorized a special election to determine the location of the county seat. That was held on June 1, and Austin was the place designated. The east side electors east their votes for Brownsdale. M. Berry had put through the territorial legislature a bill to cut off the twelve north sections of ranges 14 and 15, thus eliminating the voters of High Forest from the county seat contest, which occurred nine days after the enactment of the bill into law. On July 6, pursu- ant to the vote of the electorate, the county commissioners, by resolution spread on its records, located the county seat definitely and permanently at Austin, where it has ever since remained. A constitutional convention was called in 1857. Each repre- sentative district was entitled to two delegates. This was held to mean two delegates for each representative and two delegates for each member of the council. The constituional convention was particularly important at this time on account of the slavery and anti-slavery agitation. Mower county, with Houston and Fillmore, constituted the Eighth distriet, and it was entitled to fourteen delegates. The two conventions, holding sessions in either wing of the capitol and finally adopting the instrument of identical wording as the constitution of this commonwealth, be- longs to the general rather than the political history of the county. The representatives from this distriet seated in the Re- publiean wing were as follows: Alanson B. Vaughan, Clark W. Thompson, John A. Anderson, Charles A. Coe, N. P. Colburn, Joseph A. McCann, H. A. Billings, Charles Hanson, H. W. Holley, John Cleghorn, A. H. Butler, Robert Lyle and Boyd Phelps. The Democrats contested Lyle's seat, claiming that at least thirty-nine voters of Freeborn county had crossed the imaginary line that

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marked its eastern boundary and that by their votes Lyle was elected fraudulently over Thomas Armstrong. Armstrong was seated in the Democratic wing on August 11, but was not on the original role of that body. James C. Day was the fourteenth delegate. He was the only uncontested Democrat from this district, and with his brethren of the same political faith he occupied a seat in the Democratic convention. In the general election of 1857 the following named persons were elected to county offices: Clerk of court, J. E. Willard; treasurer, A. S. Everest. Everest had arrived in the county in March of that year. These men were all from the west side. On the state ticket the county divided into Republican and Democratic camps but the county ticket was a geographical one.

1858-The Republicans put in nomination for the various offices the following men : Senator, II. C. Rogers ; representative, S. Bostwick; register, D. Blakely; sheriff, G. W. Bishop; sur- veyor, C. E. Carter; auditor, D. B. Johnson ; coroner, O. Allen ; probate judge, no candidate. The Democrats also had a ticket in the field, as follows: Senator, W. B. Covell; representative, O. B. Morse ; register, E. W. Ford ; sheriff, J. B. Yates ; surveyor, J. P. Jones; auditor, Isaac Smith ; coroner, Joseph Richards; probate judge, G. M. Cameron. The Democratic candidate for probate judge had no opposition and was elected. Otherwise the whole Republican ticket was successful, with a majority of about 125 out of 670 votes.

1859-1860-The sources of information shed no light upon the political situation in these two years except barely to register the names of the newly elected officers. In 1859 T. J. Lake was elected treasurer; Ormanzo Allen, anditor, and C. J. Short was appointed county attorney. In 1860 Solomon Snow was elected register of deeds; E. D. Fenton, sheriff; R. A. Sherwood, clerk of court, and Robert Lyle, judge of probate. The census of the county taken in 1860 disclosed 3,216 inhabitants. In December of that year "The Minnesota Courier" put forth its initial num- ber and was for some time thereafter of considerable importance in the politics of the county. The Mower County "Mirror" had been first published in 1858. The Courier was a Republican jour- nal through and through and during the time of the Civil war was an ardent supporter of the administration.

1861-Between the election of 1860 and January, 1861, there appear to have been two claimants for the position of clerk of court. The books were in the actual possession of the Democratic claimant until shortly after New Years in 1861, when Lyman Sherwood, the Republican claimant, obtained possession of the books and thereafter held the office. On August 29, the Repub- lican convention was held at Frankford. There was practically

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no opposition to any name proposed other than that of L. A. Sherwood for clerk. He received twenty-one votes, and B. F. Jones, editor of the Courier, received twenty. Jones in his next newspaper issue claimed that he had not been a candidate. The nominees of the convention were as follows: Representative, S. W. Bostwick; representative, H. C. Rogers; judge of probate, Robert Lyle; treasurer, Sylvester Smith; clerk of court, Lyman A. Sherwood ; county attorney, Calvin Short; coroner, O. Allen. The "Union" party had a state ticket in the field, but it was withdrawn by the state central committee in September, leaving only the Republican and Democratic tickets in the state contest. On September 25 a call was issued for a Union mass meeting to be held at Brownsdale on the 28th. It bore over a hundred and fifty signatures. This convention put the following persons in nomination : Representative, H. H. Shook; representative, P. C. Sheffield; treasurer, T. J. Lake; clerk of court, B. F. Jones; court commissioner, J. T. Sargeant ; county attorney, G. M. Cam- eron; county commissioners, Adam St. John, J. W. Gregg, and G. T. Angel. The vital portion of the platform of this conven- tion was contained in this plank: "Resolved, That we, the people of Mower county, in mass convention assembled, do hereby abandon every party line and all party differences and rally upon the one common platform, to urge an unflinching prosecution of the war, to save every inch of our country's soil, to save every letter of her constitution and every principle of her sacred lib- erty." Jones, the nominee of this convention for clerk of court, declined to run; Lake, its candidate for treasurer had previously announced himself as an independent candidate, after having been defeated for renomination in the Republican convention. Hints of bad business methods and a "reasonable doubt" as to correctness of fees collected by the treasurer were used against Lake. The whole Republican ticket was elected.

1862-March 1, Mr. Smith, the treasurer, obtained possession of the books from Mr. Lake. Lake had threatened to hold them until compelled to turn them over by process of law. It was claimed that he was some $6,000 short in his accounts. Mr. Lake had on hand Illinois and Wisconsin bank bills, state script, town orders, etc., in the revenue funds, and these were not passing at par. The county commissioners offered to stand one-half of the loss on these items and Lake to stand the other half, but that he declined to do. The commissioners ordered suit brought against Lake, but before the papers were served the difficulty was ad- justed by Lake accepting the terms offered by the commission- ers. On August 7 a Republican county convention was held at Brownsdale. Austin, Lansing, Udolpho, Red Rock, Frankford and Adams were represented. Messrs. Bostwick, Rogers and

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Snow were elected as delegates to the Republican convention, which was held at Owatonna, and which nominated William Windom, of Winona county, for representative in congress. The regular Republican party now styled itself the Union Repub- lican party. A Union Republican county convention was held at Austin September 26; the nominees were as follows: Represen- tative, B. D. Sprague; representative, S. P. Bacon; register of deeds, Soloman Snow; county auditor, Ormanzo Allen; probate judge, Robert Lyle; court commissioner, D. B. Johnson, Jr .; county surveyor, J. T. Jones ; sheriff, E. D. Fenton. The Demo- cratie convention was held at the same village the day follow-' ing; its nominees were as follows: Representative, William Buck; representative, Thomas Gibson; register of deeds, II. H. Vale; county auditor, J. M. Wyckoff; sheriff, A. D. Brown; court commissioner, Alonzo Patchin; judge of probate, Robert Reed. A Union county convention irrespective of political parties was held at Brownsdale October 11. Its call was signed "by request of many citizens." It put this ticket in the field : Representative, A. B. Vaughan; representative, J. M. Wyckoff; register of deeds, Sachett Seers; county auditor, G. M. Cameron ; sheriff, James T. Sargent; probate judge, H. I. Parker; court commissioner, B. F. Jones ; surveyor, J. P. Jones. A public let- ter from L. N. Griffith to G. M. Cameron and a reply from the. latter, stating that he would perform the services of county auditor for a salary of $250 per annum, instead of the $500 which had been paid, brought on an interesting and entertain- ing newspaper correspondence mainly between Mr. Cameron and C. J. Short. At times it was considerably more pointed and per- sonal than polite. The election resulted in a general Republican victory.

1863-August 19. the state convention was held. The call covered "the Republican and all other unconstitutional Union men who are earnest and honest supporters of the administra- tion." Mower county had two votes out of 129. The Republican county convention was held at Frankford August 12. It put in nomination the following candidates: Senator, B. D. Sprague ; representative, Royal Crane; representative, Augustus Barlow (both from Dodge county) ; treasurer, Sylvester Smith ; county attorney, II. R. Davidson ; county commissioner, J. E. Robinson. Le Roy sent two delegations. The convention seated one-half of each delegation and allowed each to select its own delegate. The Democrats called their county convention for August 15, at Aus- tin, to elect delegates to attend the state convention at St. Paul. Their nominees for county officers were as follows: Senator, V. P. Lewis ; representative, John Fulton ; representative, James M. Rider; treasurer, John M. Wyckoff; attorney, O. B. Morse :

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court commissioner, E. Beldin. The Republican ticket carried the election by about five to one. There was no People's ticket in the field. In Lyle and Nevada there wasn't a Democratic vote cast.

1864-The Republican county convention was held at Browns- dale September 1, with ten precincts represented. The party was now designated as "Union," "Union Republican" and "Re- publican Union" as well as "Republican." It placed the fol- lowing named men in nomination: Representative, Royal Crane ; representative, C. D. Tuthill; register of deeds, E. A. Hudson; anditor, Ormanzo Allen ; sheriff, W. F. Grummon; attorney, C. J. Short; probate judge, Robert Lyle; court commissioner, E. B. Crane; surveyor, A. B. Vaughan. On the first formal ballot for register of deeds Hudson and Soloman Snow tied. The Demo- cratic county convention was held at the same place two days latter. Its nominees were the following: Register of deeds, L. R. Hathaway ; auditor, O. B. Morse; sheriff, J. F. Smith ; pro- bate judge, Benjamin Carll ; attorney, G. M. Cameron; court com- missioner, HI. Stewart. Soloman Snow came out as an inde- pendent candidate for register of deeds and was successful. Otherwise the election was solidly Republican. The Republicans were usually known as "Union" and the Democrats were styled "Copperhead" by their Republican opponents.

1865-The Union county convention was held at Austin Sep- tember 1. The nominees were: Representative, C. J. Felch ; representative, D. B. Johnson, Jr .; treasurer, Sylvester Smith ; clerk of court, L. A. Sherwood. The Democratic convention was held at the same time and place and put in nomination: J. M. Wyckoff for representative; Armando Sprague for representa- tive; Martin Litchfield for treasurer; James B. Clark for clerk of court. Henry C. Rogers, of Mower county, was the Union nominee for secretary of state. The Union candidates were clected.

1866-In March, Judge Lyle resigned from the office of pro- bate judge. The county commissioners approved Ormanzo Allen to fill the vacancy. Lyle resided on a farm south of Austin eight or ten miles and the traveling necessary to carry him to his post of duty was tiresome to him. He had been a good officer so far as a layman could fill a judicial office. On February 7, an anti- monopoly convention was held at St. Paul. It was presided over by T. II. Armstrong, of High Forest. The main object of the convention was to obtain lower freight rates on the river boats and to hurry the construction of railroads in and into this state. On September 5, Sherman Page entered into the office holding position of the state by being appointed to the office of superin- tendent of schools at a salary of $400 per year. He assumed

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office in October. Practically his first move was to enter into a newspaper controversy with Joseph B. Tallman, his predecessor, in reference to the October teacher's institute. At Le Roy, on September 15, the Republican party held its county convention. There were contests for half the places, but it apparently en- gendered no ill feeling. The convention nominees were as fol- lows: Representative (west side), D. B. Johnson, Jr .; repre- sentative (east side), C. J. Felch ; register, S. Snow; auditor, H. M. Allen ; sheriff, D. J. Tubbs ; attorney, E. O. Wheeler ; probate judge, Ormanzo Allen; surveyor, J. P. Jones; eourt eommis- sioner, Ormanzo Allen ; eoroner, D. O. Allen. The party designa- tion was now Republican only- the word Union having been dropped, but it was still used in the newspapers as part of the party name. The word Union was not eliminated from the poli- ties of the day, for the Democrats promptly adopted it as their own, and ealled their convention under the name of "Conserva- tive Union Party." It met at Austin September 22 and placed in nomination the following candidates: Representative, An- drew D. Brown; representative, Wallace Brownson; register, Simon P. Stewart ; auditor, O. B. Morse ; attorney, A. A. Wright; probate judge, J. M. Vandegrift; court commissioner, Ormando Sprague. Both representatives were from the west side. Reso- lutions approving the case of President Johnson were adopted. The election on November 6 was preceded by political apathy and resulted in a clear Republican victory in the county of about. four to one.

1867. The fall eleetions resulted in sending D. A. Shaw and E. K. Proper to the legislature and Sylvester Smith was elected county treasurer.

1868. The new county court house entered into the politics of the year. D. J. Tubbs, of Austin, was the contractor and $6,450 the contraet price. Considerable feeling manifested itself in reference to the contract and its performance. The court house and the Austin school house were the cause of many rancorous debates-on the streets and in the press-and assisted materially in dividing the voters of Austin into the two camps which for some years after waged continual warfare on each other. A wide breach opened between Mr. Page, the school superintendent, and the school board, and the controversy waxed warm indeed-to the detriment of the school and its work. The Mower County Transcript entered the field at Lansing in April and plunged boldly into the political arena. April 25 a Republican elub was formed at the county seat, not for the purpose of fostering the interests of the party in general but rather for the purpose of controlling the coming charter eleetion at Austin. Following the one came another. Attempts were made to harmonize the two

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organizations, but the attempts proved futile. The result was that the Democrats made a clean sweep in the charter election, excepting only the minor office of civil justice.

June 24 the Republicans held their county convention at LeRoy for the purpose of electing delegates to attend the district convention at Owatonna. The county was divided between Dun- nell men and Wilkinson men. These differences had become pronounced prior to the town caucuses and much ill feeling was engendered. Frankford had gone so far as to send two delega- tions to LeRoy. The convention was apparently in the hands of the Wilkinson men and the temporary organization was per- fected by them. The Dunnell men outvoted them on the question of election of a permanent chairman, but the temporary organi- zation refused to give way to the majority. Inflammatory speeches with taunts and threats soon broke up the body, so that it was unable to work. The Dunnell men withdrew from the school house convention and called their own meeting to order in the depot. Each elected its own set of delegates to the Owatonna convention, and at Owatonna the fight was renewed. The credentials committee declined to pass on the merits of the claims of the two contending factions. After six hours of ran- corous debate on the floor of the convention, after the "lie" had been passed and even blows exchanged, the Dunnell delegates elected in the rump convention were seated. M. S. Wilkinson, however, was on the thirty-seventh ballot nominated. for repre- sentative. In the depot convention at LeRoy caustic resolutions were passed; among them was one pledging work and votes against Sylvester Smith, the county treasurer.

In the Democratic county convention, held at Austin July 28, for the purpose of electing delegates to the district convention, there were but four precincts represented. The factional fight at LeRoy was carried into the regular fall Republican convention, which was held at Lansing September 16. One faction met in the school house and the other in the church. The school house con- tingent contained the same faction which had held the LeRoy convention in the school house and the church organization was the LeRoy depot faction. The nominees of each faction were as follows: School house-Auditor, HI. M. Allen; register, J. T. Williams; attorney, C. J. Shortt; judge of probate, C. F. Hardy ; surveyor, HI. S. Burke; coroner, Orlenzer Allen; sheriff, Allan Mollison. Church-Auditor, W. G. Telfer; register, George W. Robinson ; attorney, J. E. Robinson ; probate judge, J. P. Jones; surveyor, L. M. Gaskell; coroner, T. H. Sherman ; sheriff, J. M. McKee. The Democratic county convention met at Austin October 2, with every precinct represented. Its nominees were as follows: Auditor, J. M. Wyckoff; register, L. R. Hathaway ;

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The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 57

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. Number of Pages: 1246

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246