USA > Missouri > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information > Part 23
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Whether the court had the right to decide the question or not, they were manly words and were boldly avowed, and for this exhibition of their man- hood and their bold declaration of right they will be honored for all time. Their names were S. P. Phillips, Joseph C. Moore, and James A. Maddox.
Matters began to assume, however, a warlike shape. Linn county, like all others, suffered her share and had her trials and tribulations. Armed men began to gather within her bounds, and the army of the North and of the South found gallant recruits within her borders who rallied to the call of arms and joined the standard of one side or the other as they believed in the righteousness of the cause. The county moved along and its bus :- ness generally attend to, but, of course, more or less disorder was to be ex- pected. Taxes were levied as usual and partially paid. The collector
217
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
found hard work to meet the demand of the county expenses and the State dues, and the delinquent list began to swell into the thousands. The county delinquent list for 1860 was $1,166.59. In 1861 it was $2,173.51. For the year 1862 the State delinquent was $2,550.25 and the county $1,912.25, being a total for 1862 of $4,462.50, more than double that of 1861. The total revenue for 1862 was $9,622.82, and but little over half was collected. This revenue was levied as follows:
State tax
$ 4,193.92
County tax
4,193.92 .
Military tax
898.26
Road tax
187.70
Asylum tax.
149.72
$ 9,622.82
The collection was so difficult that the legislature passed a relief bill giving the collector until the fifteenth of May to make his returns. Thomas M. Rucker was the sheriff and collector that year. The relief act was ap- proved February 11, 1862. The assessor that year charged $492.25 for his services.
September 1, 1862, the voting precinct of Yellow Creek township was changed from Wyandotte to St. Catharine. An act of the General Assem- bly, approved March 20, 1861, vacated the town of Thayer, in Linn county. It was situated on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and was at first a division point. The railroad afterward moved its business to Brookfield and that finished the town of Thayer, and it was fenced in by the above act of the legislature.
In 1863 the delinquent list again swelled to huge proportions. The amount of tax was $10,220.68. The State revenue or tax did not make much headway; the county tax paid was $2,729.75, and delinquent on county, $2,952.81, less than half being collected. Not only was the tax col- lection a failure, but citations were issued against no less than 143 persons for failure to pay interest on the school money borrowed, and that of the road and canal fund. The times began to press heavily upon the people, and they were tired of war and the evils it engendered.
ITEMS.
The military delinquent list had become heavy, and the sum of from $30 to $40 was the amount against each delinquent. This tax, by an act of the legislature, was remitted under certain circumstances. There were 180 of these delinquents the County Court released in April, May, and June, of 1864.
Brookfield was declared a voting precinct in Jefferson township, February
218
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
6, 1865; was incorparated as a town October 10, 1866, and the township of Brookfield was organized July 2, 1866.
Bottsville, in Parson Creek township, was made a voting place May 1, 1865.
There was collected in 1865 of the delinquent taxlists, from 1856 to 1862 inclusive, the sum of $4,448.46.
Linn county was authorized to borrow school funds of the county by act of the General Assembly, approved February 17, 1865. It was also allowed to issue bonds for road and bridge purposes, not to exceed $20,000 in any one year, to draw six per cent, and time not to exceed twenty years. This act was approved February 16, 1865.
February 20, 1865, the General Assembly passed an act making United States notes, or greenbacks, receivable for all dues to the State, making them a legal tender.
The State road from Brookfield to Brunswick, intersecting the State road from Laclede to Brunswick, was laid out and opened in 1865.
In the year 1865 the first bridge tax was levied, being twenty cents on the one hundred dollars of valuation. The cost of bridges in the county up to and including the year here written, had only amounted, in round num- bers, to $18,000, outside of the money paid to commissioners for superin- tending construction. Up to this time the county had managed, with the road and canal fund, to get along without levying a tax, but the increase of population, and more roads being demanded, and nearly all crossing some stream, bridges were demanded.
Repairs on the court-house cost, in February, 1867, $400. Suit was com- menced against Edward Hoyle, ex treasurer, and his securities, for a failure to pay over county funds. Judgment was rendered against him in the sum of $1,598.15. He paid the amount of judgment August 12, 1869.
The receipts and expenditures of the county were next published in the newspapers, in the year 1865, a proceeding on the part of the County Court which was heartily approved of by the people. Taxation had been beavy for a number of years, and it was no more than right that the people who paid the taxes should know what was done with the money. The cost of the publication was two hundred and eighty dollars ($280), and was paid to G. S. Nichols, June 17, 1867.
COURT-HOUSE AND CUPOLA.
The next move was to enlarge and otherwise improve the court-house. Four hundred dollars had been paid in 1866 to repair it, but it did not meet the demand. A cupola was to be erected and not only was there more room needed to do the business of the county, but they proposed to put on some style, and a $1,000 cupola, as mentioned above would be just the thing. The contract was let and work was commenced on the addition to
219
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
court-house in the spring of 1867, and by August 3, 1867, it was an- nounced as completed. There was, however, some guttering done October 2, 1867, to the amount of $71, and some interest paid for money loaned of $37.50 on November 5th, of the same year. This made the total cost of the addition repaired and improvements, including the cupola aforesaid, foot up $8,456.20; something over twice what the original court-house cost.
As a fine court-house had been erected, it was necessary that the dignity of the officials of the county should be in keeping with the improved place of business. Up to May, 1868, the county judges had been receiving $3 per day for each day's service, and previous to the November term, 1866, they had received $2 per day, but they got that price in the shabby old court-house. Therefore to meet the improved style and properly grace the surroundings, including the cupola, the county judges allowed themselves at the May term of the court, $4.663, or $56 for twelve days' service, but as that fell a trifle short, at the August term, 1868, five dollars was declared to be the proper remuneration for the services of a county judge one day in the new court-house, with a cupola attachment, and this remained the pay until the new township organization law went into force in 1872.
The first bonds ever issued by Linn county was in the year 1868. That is lithographed bonds, a batch of sixty having been ordered and $16 paid for them.
Eighteen hundred and sixty-eight was another bad year for delinquent taxes. The collector seemed to be unable to gather in the shekels. Slow pay was the rule and not the exception, and the result was a delinquent list of huge proportions. Quite a large portion of it was afterwards collected, and the amount returned covered every department which was subject to taxation.
DELINQUENT 1868.
The tax reported delinquent December 21, 1868, was returned as follows:
LAND DEPARTMENT.
State revenue
$ 2,483.76
County revenue.
4,967.52
State interest tax 2,483.76
School tax 4,890.03
Road tax 2,980.44
993.48
County interest tax
County bounty tax 496.74
$19,295.73
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
PERSONAL DELINQUENT.
State revenue tax.
$ 1,068.91
State interest tax.
590.82
County revenue tax 2,137.64
County road tax
2,201.10
County interest tax
234.75
County bounty tax
117.37
$ 6,350.59
Land delinquent tax
19,295.73
Total
$25,646.32.
CLAY TOWNSHIP.
Another new township was decided upon by the people of the west side. Parson Creek and Jackson townships covered all the territory west of Locust Creek, and there was enough of it to make a third township and give all a sufficiency of metes and bounds. The petition of Joseph A. Peery and others for the new township was favorably acted upon by the County Court January 5, 1869, and the new township was described as follows:
" It is therefore ordered by the court that said new township be bounded as follows: Commencing at the southwest corner of section fifteen and the northwest corner of section twenty-two, of township fifty-nine, of range twenty-two, at the Livingston county line, running east with said line be- tween fifteen and twenty-two to the center of the channel of Locust Creek; thence south meandering the channel of said stream to where it crosses the section line between twenty-two and twenty-seven, in township fifty-eight, of range twenty-one; thence west following said section line to the Livings- ton county line at the southwest corner of section twenty-two, in township fifty-eight, range twenty-two; thence north with the county line to the place of beginning. It is further ordered that the said new township shall be called Clay, and that the clerk certify a copy of this order to the Secretary of State as the law requires."
The first justice of the peace for the township was William Parr, who was appointed March 3, 1869, to hold until the next general election. An elec- tion was ordered held in Clay township April 2, 1869, to decide the ques- tion of voting stock to the North Missouri Central Railroad if it should be built over a certain line, but as it was not, of course nothing came of it. The first voting precinct in Clay township was at the Strawberry school- house, so designated, and the judges of election were John Branson, James A. Neal and William Parr, who were appointed to serve in the railroad election spoken of above, which occurred April 27, 1869, it being the first election held in the township.
221
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
BUCKLIN DISTRICT.
A rest of three years and again was the County Court called upon to di- vide and make new, and this time it was the patriotic design of the people of East Yellow Creek to have that township shorn of half its territory, the eastern half, to be called Bucklin. The little town of Bucklin, on the Hanni- bal & St. Joseph Railroad had visions of unbounded growth which nothing short of a separate municipality, an independent organization, would de- velop, hence a petition was duly drawn up and signed by about all in the township who were approached, was brought over to the ".central city " and the County Court duly presented with the important document. The wherefore of this move was not distinctly stated, but the Wy(att) was there in all its strength, or in other words, Sampson Wyatt led the host of peti- tioners for this new district. The court not having the strength of Samp- son, saying nothing about his backing, gracefully submitted to the inevita- ble, and made the following order of record, which gave to those ambitious citizens their hearts' desire. The order reads:
" It is ordered by the court here that the petition of Sampson Wyatt and others of Yellow Creek township, praying for a division of the municipal township, as aforesaid, by a subdivision line running north and south through said township, to be called 'Bucklin,' and that the prayers of said petitioners be received and granted."
This order is dated September 7, 1863.
The court meeting again October 5, 1863, placed the following order among the county proceedings of that date, locating the election precinct:
" It is ordered here that there be an election precinct in the town of Buck- lin, in Yellow Creek township, Linn county, Missouri, to be designated and known as Bucklin precinct, and that Jesse Austin, David Brownlee, and Paul Shreckise, be and are hereby appointed judges of elections for the same precinct, and that the sheriff notify them of their appointment as the law re- quires."
This was done and the first election held under the new order of things was in the general election held in November of 1863. Not long after the incorporation of Bucklin the County Court defining the boundary of Yellow Creek and Bucklin, or in the words of the Code, St. Catharine District and Bucklin District, of Yellow Creek township. The order defining the bound- ary reads as follows :
"It is ordered by the court that Yellow Creek township be divided as fol- lows: Commencing on the county line of Chariton at the section corner of thirty-two and thirty-three on said line; running north with said section line to where the said line strikes the township line dividing township fifty-eight and fifty-nine, and all that portion lying east of said line to be called and styled the Bucklin District, and all west of said subdivision line to be called and styled the St. Catharine District, both in Yellow Creek township."
222
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
These districts remained in this shape until the October term of the County Court in 1870, when the township of Bucklin was really organized, the order reading as follows:
ORGANIZING BUCKLIN TOWNSHIP.
"Ordered by the court that a new municipal township be created, erected, and established in this county to be bounded as follows: Commencing in the northwest corner of section thirty two, in township fifty-seven, of range eighteen, running east on the county line between Chariton and Linn coun- ties to the southeast corner of section thirty-six, township fifty-seven, of range eighteen; thence north on the county line to the northwest corner of section one, in township fifty-eight, of range eighteen; thence west to the northwest corner of section five, township fifty-eight, of range eighteen; thence south to the place of beginning, and that the town of Bucklin be the voting precinct of said township."
MUNICIPAL TOWNSHIPS COMPLETED.
In 1870 the township of Grantsville was organized, February 20, and the voting precinct established at Grantsville village, located on section eleven, township fifty-nine of range twenty. The present boundary of Grantsville is somewhat changed from the original organization, West Yellow Creek be- ing then its eastern boundary, which is now on a section line, for three miles thence east one half a mile; thence north until it strikes the creek, then con- tinuing up Yellow Creek to the north boundary line. Two miles of its west boundary, commencing at the north end, has been moved east one mile. With the exception of these two changes the township of Grantsville remains as originally formed.
At the same time Enterprise township was enlarged by taking in the two sections on her eastern border, which belonged to Baker, and run like an arm to the Sullivan county line, between the townships of Enterprise and North Salem. This gave Enterprise the size of a congressional township, less the dropping of the township line between sixty and sixty-one.
With the organization of Grantsville the present municipal township or- ganization of Linn county was completed, and since only few changes in the township lines occurred.
ITEMS. .
The census taken by the county in 1868 cost $437.47.
Bottsville was changed to Meadville April 2, 1869, changed back again May 3d, and remained Bottsville until October 6, 1869, when it was finally changed to Meadville, and still retains the latter name without any pros- pects of further change.
223
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The tax levy of 1869 was for all county purposes one dollar on the one hundred dollars of assessed valuation. The State tax was fifty cents on the one hundred dollars. The county levy was divided as follows: County, fifty cents; road tax, fifteen cents; bridge, fifteen cents; jail, ten cents; interest fund, five cents; and pauper, five cents.
The total receipts from all sources was $21,567.28, and expenditures by the county, all purposes, $20,437.40. Excess of receipts over expenditures, $1,129.88.
The county was indebted to the school fund, January 1, 1871, $2,924.35, and bonds issued.
Two one thousand dollar county bridge bonds, drawing ten per cent in- terest, were sold for nine hundred dollars each, February, 1871.
The new court-house was repaired to the amount of $182.10 in February, 1871.
A petition to subscribe $150,000 to the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad by Linn county was rejected July 18, 1871.
Brookfield's subscription of $100,000 was carried, and subscription made October 17, 1871, to the Brookfield & Northern Railroad.
Baker and North Saline townships voted $25,000 each to the same roads October 19, 1871.
October 17, 1871, Brookfield was enlarged so as to take in all that re- mained of sections five, seven, and eight.
The vote for the new township organization law was all one way, the peo- ple of Linn favoring it by a vote in favor of one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven to only twenty-two votes against it. One board of supervisors only was elected under its provisions, holding until a change was made dividing the county into four judicial districts in 1874.
The board of supervisors received two dollars per day for services act- nally rendered, and the new County Court of five judges three dollars per day.
NEW COUNTY JAIL.
The old jail failing to hold the most " accomplished unfortunates," it was decided by the county Solons to erect a structure that would defy the in- genuity of rognes to escape from. With this object in view, R. F. North- cott was, on April 6th, 1869, appointed commissioner to estimate the cost of a new structure, and was given authority to sell the old jail and the ground connecting therewith, and to purchase a desirable lot or lots for the new building more convenient to the court-house.
The choice fell upon lots one, two, and three, block one, of Smith's addi- tion to the town of Linneus, and they were purchased in October, 1869, at fifty dollars per lot, or one hundred and fifty dollars for the three. A tax was levied for jail purposes, and then, with the exception of collecting the tax, the matter remained stationary until the next fall.
224
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
On November 25th, 1870, the matter again assumed shape in the follow- ing order of the County Court:
"Ordered by the court that a new jail be built in this county, and that ten thousand dollars be appropriated out of the fund, raised and to be raised, of this county for that purpose. And it is further ordered by this court that Charles A. Fore, be and he is hereby appointed superintendent to superintend the erection of said jail, and it is further ordered that lots number one, two, and three, in block one, in Smith's addition to the town of Linneus, in this county, be and the same is designated as the place whereon to build said jail. Or if said ground is not considered suitable by said commissioner whereon to erect said jail, he is hereby authorized to select a proper piece of ground at the seat of justice of said county whereon to erect said jail."
PLAN AND LOCATION.
The commissioner at once went to work and drew the plan of a jail, and submitted it to the court for examination, and it was approved and ordered filed. The superintendent of this building, appointed by the County Court, was the commissioner of the town of Linneus, and had been since February 12, 1842. In all those years that he had held the position, so far as the town of Linneus was concerned, his steady attention to the best interests of the town had made him a landmark of its growth and development. The new superintendent was not satisfied with the ground selected, and he at once acted upon the authority vested in him by the County Court, and made another selection and purchased the same. The County Court promptly con- firmed the sale by the following order of record, in minute book "B," folio 270; to-wit,
" It is orderded by the court that the selection of lot No. 5, in block No. 22, in the town of Linneus, by the jail superintendent, for the purpose of building a new jail, be and is hereby approved. And it is further ordered, that the treasurer of Linn county pay the purchase-money for the same to A. W. Mullins, the grantor. Said purchase-money amounting to two hun- dred and fifty dollars."
The proposition to build the jail was advertised in several papers in the State, at a total expense of $57.50, and the bills for the same paid Decem- ber 20, 1870.
Commissioner Fore, as the agent of the town of Linneus, sold lot No. 6, in block No. 22, for $325, and this sale was confirmed by the court, thus netting seventy-five dollars more for the adjoining lot than the one pur- chased for jail purposes. The sale was made December 31, 1870.
At the same date the treasurer of Linn county was ordered to pay over to Charles A. Fore all the money in his hands, and all that might thereafter be received by him, belonging to the county jail fund, as fast as he received
225
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
the same. The court also made further provisions for funds by anticipating the tax-levy for jail purposes, by issuing the following order and placing the same upon record; to-wit,
" Ordered, by the court, that the clerk of this court issue ten Linn county bonds, for five hundred dollars each, payable to bearer. Four of said bonds payable in one year from date, and six bonds two years from date, all bear- ing even date herewith, bearing ten per cent per annum interest, and signed by the president and countersigned by the clerk of this court. That the clerk of this court deliver said bonds, when so signed, to Charles A. Fore, the superintendent of the county jail building of this county."
The commissioner was allowed $100 for his services to January 1, 1871.
With the disposal of the bonds, part being taken by the contractor, work progressed actively during the following spring and summer months, and by early fall the house for the reception of violators of the law was announced completed. The commissioner made his report, and the county court received and approved the same, and ordered it filed. This on Sep- tember 18, 1871.
The total cost of the jail, itemized, is appended:
Contract for brick and wood work $4,800.90
Contract for iron work .. 2,800.00
Extra work on main building
536.04
Painting, fence, lumber, etc.
294.22
Cost of ground .
250.00
Total
$8,680.26
This was the cost outside of the salary of the commissioner in charge, Mr. Charles A. Fore, which probably ran the cost close up to, if not quite, nine thousand dollars.
INCORPORATION AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL SOCIETY OF LINN COUNTY. FEBRUARY 8, 1870.
" Upon petition of more than fifty-five householders of this State and county, setting forth that they desire to organize and be incorporated for the purpose of promoting improvements in agriculture, manufactures, and the raising of stock, it is ordered by the court that the said petitioners be declared, and the court does hereby declare, said petitioners incorporated for the purpose above specified.".
August 1, 1870, the County Court appropriated $150 to the society to assist in holding a county fair, and the Society was allowed further sum of $150 by the County Court, to be paid to the society August 1, 1871.
On the 17th day of September, 1872, the third installment of $150 was given to the society.
1
226
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
This seemed to have been the end of the society, which can hardly be called a compliment to the intelligence and go-ahead spirits of the farmers of Linn county.
The assessed valuation of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad property within Linn county, was placed at $709,102 from 1861 to 1871, inclusive. This was the work of the State Board of Equalization.
Brookfield, getting a release of all but $10,000 of the $100,000 voted to Brookfield & Salem Branch Railroad, again voted $63,000 to the same road under a new name, $13,000 of which was to be expended in surveys and the recovery of the previous $10,000 which had been used. This $13,000 is yet unpaid and a subject of dispute. There is not much doubt but that the branch road officials of that day were, to use a pat term, "on the inake." This last subscription was made. March 28, 1873.
The four judicial districts of the county were divided as follows:
Number one, Enterprise, North Salem, Benton, and Grantville.
Number two, Locust Creek, Jackson, Clay, and Parson Creek.
Number three, Brookfield and Jefferson. -
Number four, Yellow Creek, Bucklin, and Baker, with one county judge elected at large for four years, and to be presiding officer of the court.
DEFALCATION.
In November, 1870, H. C. Clarkson was elected treasurer of Linn county, and on May 6th, 1873, the County Court ordered the attorney for the county to commence suit against him and his sureties, the settlement of his account proving him a defaulter.
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