USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > History of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska : with brief historical sketches of the state and of Lancaster County > Part 3
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Mark W. Izard was appointed Governor in February, 1855, and William A. Richardson in April, 1857, who resigned in 1858. J. Sterling Morton was then Secretary, and became the acting Governor until the appointment of Samuel Black, in 1859. He closed the line of Democratic Governors for Nebraska, and was succeeded by Alvin Saunders, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln, in 1861. Governor Saunders was succeeded by David But- ler, in 1867, when Nebraska became a State.
The question of organizing a State government was voted on in March, 1860, and the people rejected the proposition to erect a State, by a vote of 1,987 to 1,877. Congress passed the enabling act in 1864 for the admission of Nebraska. The Territorial Legislature framed a constitution in 1866, which was ratified at an election held on June 21st of the same year. Congress passed an admission act July 28th, which was vetoed by Andrew Johnson, who vetoed a similar bill in January, 1867; but it was passed over his veto on February 8th and 9th. There was one condition to this act : Nebraska must assent to " no denial of the elective franchise, or any other right, to any person by reason of race or color." The Legislature promptly ratified this con- dition, on February 20th, and President Johnson proclaimed this com- pliance on March 1, 1867.
As soon as the State was admitted, the Legislature decided to remove the capital from Omaha, which was accomplished by commissioners, in October, 1867. A small hamlet named Lancaster, in Lancaster county, was chosen by the commissioners and approved by the Legislature. The new capital was named Lincoln, after Abraham Lincoln.
NEBRASKA AS A STATE.
David Butler had been elected Governor of the proposed new State in 1866, and now entered upon his duties as the first Governor of the State. He was reëlected October 8, 1868, and October 13, 1870, but was impeached and removed from office on June, 2, 1871, and Secre-
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
rotary William H. Jamo- acted as Governor until after the regular elec- tion of 1872. Robert W. Furnas was then elected Governor, and installed on January 13, 1873. He was succeeded in 1875 by Silas Garber, who was re-elected, and served until January 9, 1879, when Albinus Nance was indueted into the office, and held it until January 1. 1889. James W. Dawes was the State's Chief Executive thence until sneceeded by John M. Thayer, January 6, 1887, who is now serv- ing hi- second term. Gov. Thaver is one of Nebraska's citizens most distinguished for long and honorable service. He was born in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and is the son of Elias and Ruth (Staples) Thayer. He graduated from Brown University, in 1847, having studied law. He removed to Nebraska in 1854, and settled at Omaha, near where he farmed for several years. He entered politics in 1855, becoming a candidate for Congress, but was beaten by Fenner Fer- guson, perhaps the most successful politician of Territorial times in Nebraska. He was defeated for the same office in 1860 by Samuel G. Daily, but was elected to the Territorial Legislature in 1860, and served during the term of 1860-1.
In 1855 he was elected Brigadier-General of the Territorial militia by the Legislature, and that year led a company of 150 men against the troublesome Pawnee Indians, and again in 1859 led 194 men, with a piece of artillery, against the same Indians, capturing an entire camp. He was also employed in peace negotiations with the Indians. This gave him quite a military experience.
In 1861 he was instrumental in raising and organizing the First Regimen of Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, of which he was con- missioned Colonel. After seeing some service in Missouri, he was sent with a brigade to help Gen. Grant at Fort Donelson, command- ing the Second Brigade of Wallace's Division in that battle, and also at the battle of Shiloh. For able and gallant conduct in these two memorable actions he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. At the time Sherman stormed Chickasaw bayou, in his attempt to approach Vicksburg from the north, General Thaver led one of the most important of the storming cohnuns, having a horse shot under him. He participated in the Vicksburg Campaign, helped Sherman to capture Jackson, and then assisted to reduce Pemberton at Vieks- burg. Here he was appointed Major-General of Volunteers for gal- lant conduct. Subsequently he was engaged in a campaign with
GOV. JOHN M. THAYER.
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
General Steele in Arkansas, and near the close of the war he was placed in command of the Army of the Frontier, to subdue the In- dians, who had been terrorizing the West with their barbarities.
He was elected United States Senator for Nebraska by the Legisla- ture of 1866, when it was thought the Territory would be at once ad- mitted as a State; but it not being admitted until the following year, he did not take his seat until March, 1867. He drew the four-year term, and Thomas W. Tipton the six-year term. In 1875 he was appointed Territorial Governor of Wyoming, and served one term.
In 1886 he was elected Governor of Nebraska by about 25,000 majority, and was reelected in 1888, making about thirty-four years since he began to distinguish himself in the public service of the Territory of Nebraska. He is the most distinguished military man of this State, and is Nebraska's oldest living United States Senator. His military service alone has given him a national reputation.
He was married to Miss Mary T. Allen, a lady of ability and re- finement, who was the daughter of the Rev. John Allen, a minister of the Baptist church in Massachusetts. Mr. John M. Thayer jr. is the Governor's private secretary.
The growth of Nebraska has been steady and rapid, as the develop- ment of population will indicate. In 1855 the census returns gave the Territory a population of 4,494. In 1856 the inhabitants were set down at 10,716. In 1860 the number liad grown to 28,841. By 1870 there were 122,993. In 1875 the population had advanced to 246,280, and by the census of 1880, Nebraska had 452,542 people. In 1885 the enumeration showed an aggregate of 740,645, and the election returns of 1888 indicated a population of about 1,200,000. In other words, the increase from 1870 to 1880 was nearly 300 per centum, and that from 1880 to 1890 will approximate close to 200 per centum. By the year 1900, Nebraska will doubtless have quite 2,000,000 population, and her wealth will have increased accordingly.
In fact, the development of the resources of the State has fully kept pace with the growth of population, and in some features has outrun the rate of settlement.
In 1871 a constitutional convention assembled at the capitol, on June 5th, and adjourned August 19th. The people refused to adopt the constitution framed, on the 19th of the following September. In
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IHISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
the summer of 1875, a second convention framed another constitution, which was adopted by the people at the October election following. This constitution provided that there should be eighty-four Represen- tatives and thirty Senators, until 1880, when the number should be regulated by law ; but the Senate should not exceed thirty-three and the House should not exceed one hundred. The first Legislature under this constitution assembled on the first Monday in January, 1877. John M. Thayer and Thomas W. Tipton were chosen United States Senators in 1867, the former to serve until 1871, and the latter until 1875. The roster of United States Senators elected since the State was admitted is as follows:
UNITED STATES SENATORS.
John M. Thayer, 1867-71.
Thomas W. Tipton, 1867-75.
Phineas W. Hitchcock, 1-71-77.
Algernon S. Paddock, 1875-81.
Alvin Saunders, 1877-83.
1
C. H. Van Wyck, 1881-87. Charles F. Manderson, 1883-89. Algernon S. Paddock, 1887-93. Charles F. Manderson, 1889-95.
TERRITORIAL DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.
Napoleon B. Gidding, December 12, 1854. Bird B. Chapman, November 6, 1855. Fenner Ferguson, August 3, 1857.
Experience Estabrook, October 11, 1859. Samuel G. Dailey, October 9, 1860. Phineas W. Hitchcock, October 11, 1864.
NEBRASKA STATE REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
T. M. Marquett, 1865-67; the 39th Con- gress.
John Taffe, 1867-69; the 10th Congress. John Taffe, 1869-71; the 41st Congress. John Taffe, 1871-73; the 42d Congress. Lorenzo Cronnse, 1573-75; the 43rd Congress.
Lorenzo Cronnse, 1875-77; the 14th Congress.
Frank Welch, 1877. Died in office. Thomas J. Majors, 1878-9. To fill va- caney.
E. K. Valentine, 1879-81; the 16th Congress.
E. K. Valentine, 1881-83; the 17th Congress.
For the -1-th Congres, 1883-85, there were elected :
A. J. Weaver, for the First District. E. K. Valentine, for the Third District. James Laird, for the Second District."
For the 19th Congress, 1885-87, there were elected :
A. J. Weaver, for the First District. James Laird, for the Second District.
George W. E. Dorsey, for the Third Dis- trict.
For the 50th Congress, 1887 -- 9, there were elected :
John A. McShane, for the first District. James Laird, for the Second District.
George W. E. Dorsey, for the Third Dis- triet.
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
For the 51st Congress, 1889-91, there were elected :
W. J. Conuell, for the First District. George W. E. Dorsey, for the Third Dis- James Laird, for the Second District. trict
Nebraska is in the eighth United States Court Circuit, composed of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Colorado. The court officers for both the United States District and Circuit Courts are as subjoined :
David J. Brewer, Circuit Judge. Brad D. Slaughter, Marshal. Elmer D. Frank, Clerk Circuit Court.
Elmer S. Dundy, District Judge. George E. Pritchell, District Attorney. Elmer S. Dundy jr., Clerk Dist. Court.
Hon. Brad D. Slaughter, who is now the United States Marshal for the District of Nebraska, was commissioned on the 19th of March, 1889. He is one of the best known public men of this State, and his administrative ability in a position of this kind is hardly excelled by any man in the State.
His father was the Rev. W. B. Slaughter, D. D., and his mother was a daughter of Rev. E. Buck, both ministers being members of the Geneseo Conference of the M. E. Church of New York.
Brad D. Slaughter was born in Wayne county, New York, on No- vember 12, 1844. His father removed to Chicago, where Master Brad was educated in the city public schools, and where he learned the printers' trade and graduated as a newspaper correspondent. For this reason he is always most accommodating to correspondents, as any newspaper man knows who has reported the House during recent Legislative sessions.
He enlisted in the Union army with his father, who was captain of Company G, 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which rendezvoused at Chicago. Afterward he enlisted in Company K, of the 67th Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, and gave faithful service to the cause of the Union throughout the war.
At the close of the great conflict he removed to Nebraska City, where he married in 1866. He made his residence in Omaha for a time, and later removed to Lincoln, where he lived until 1879. At the close of the Legislative session of that year he took up his resi- dence in Fullerton, Nance county, which county he had been instru- mental in bringing into existence.
He was first elected Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the Nebraska Legislature in 1877, and he has held this position at
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
every succeeding term except that of 1885. In this office he distin- gni-hed himself for the exceedingly able and thorough management he gave to its intricate affairs. He was also recognized as a very skill- ful parliamentarian, and many a time he has rescued the House and Speaker from a complication in the proceedings, the run of which he never seemed to lose. The House of the Twenty-first Legislature presented him with a beautiful silver tea service, as a token of the esteem of the members for his careful work as recording officer and the general esteem that body entertained for him personally. He is not a man of many words, and accepted the gift in a brief and perti- nent speech, in which he used a sentence substantially like the follow- ing : " In all duties I have been called upon to attend to, I have made it a rule to do the work just exactly as near right as I knew how." This sentence contains the explanation of his success and that of all men who sustain themselves in responsible positions.
In 1880 he was appointed Supervisor of the United States census, his district including the entire South Platte section of Nebraska. It fell to his province to appoint, supply, instruct, and obtain reports from 363 enumerators, but his management of this responsible and difficult office was as prudent and efficient as could be possible under the circumstances. Few supervisors performed better service, and of the sixty-one United States Marshals in the United States it may safely be doubted whether one will prove more faithful, able and suc- cessful than Marshal Brad D. Slaughter, of Nebraska.
Nebraska as a Territory and a State has had eleven Governors and four acting Governors. The Territorial Governors were as follows : Francis Burt,1 October 16, 1854. Samuel W. Black, May 2, 1858. Alvin Saunders, May 15, 1861. Mark W. Izard, February 20, 1855. W. A. Richardson,? January 12, 1858.
The State Governors have been six in number, as follows :
David Butler,3 February 21. 1867. Albinus Nance. January, 9. 1879. James W. Dawes, January 4, 1853. John M. Thayer, January 6. 1887.
Robert W. Furnas, January 13, 1873. Silas Garber, January 11, 1875.
1 Died in office, October 18, 1851; office tilled by Secretary Thomas B. Cuming until ap- pointment of Governor Izard.
" Resigned, the office being filled by Secretary J. Sterling Morton until arrival of Gover- nor Black.
Eleeted in 1866, but did not become Governor until February 21, 1867, owing to the delay in admitting Nebraska into the Union. Secretary W. H. James acted as Governor from June 2, 1VI, until installation of Governor Furnas, January 13, 1873.
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1204334
NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
Nebraska has had but five Lieutenant-Governors since she became a State, as follows :
Othman A. Abbott, 1877-79. H. H. Shedd, 1885-89.
Edmund C. Carns, 1879-83.
Geo. D. Meiklejohn, 1889-91. A. W. Agee, 1883-85.
The Territorial Secretaries were four in number, three of whom, Cuming, Morton, and Paddock, became acting Governors. They were :
Thomas B. Cuming,1 August 13, 1854. J. Sterling Morton,3 July 12, 1858.
John B. Motley,2 March 23, 1858. Alg. S. Paddock,4 May 6, 1861.
The Secretaries, since Nebraska became a State, have been as noted in the subjoined list :
Thomas P. Kennard, February 21, 1867. S. J. Alexander, January 9, 1879. Wm. H. James,5 January 10, 1871. Edward P. Roggen, January 4, 1883. Gilbert L. Laws, January 6, 1887.
John J. Gosper, January 13, 1873.
Bruno Tzschuek, January 11, 1875.
Gilbert L. Laws, now Secretary of State for Nebraska, was the sixth of a family of eleven children, and was born on a farm in Richland county, Illinois, March 11, 1838.
His father, James Laws, was born near Wilmington, North Caro- lina, in 1801, of Scotch-Irish parentage, his father being a Scotch- man and his mother an Irish woman. He removed with his parents to Southern Illinois, and in time, by industry and economy, became a large farmer and stock raiser, supplying in part the Indian Agency at Chicago with beef cattle. The corn from his own and neighbor- ing farms was by him shipped in flat-boats down the Wabash and so on to New Orleans for a market. Opening farms and planting or- chards, building houses and bridges, constructing roads and operating mills, taxed not only his own energies, but kept at work a number of men settled about him, who were constantly in his employ.
In religious faith he was a Campbellite, uniting with that church in early manhood.
Politically, he was an ardent Whig, and a great admirer of Henry Clay, becoming in later years a radical Republican, and so intolerant
I Was Acting Governor from October 18, 1854, to February 20, 1855, and from October 25, 1875, to January 12, 1858. Died March 12, 1858.
2 Acting Secretary until the arrival of J. Sterling Morton.
3 Acting Governor from December 5, 1858, to May 2, 1859, and from February 24, 1860, to 1861.
+ Acting Governor from May, 1861, and so continued during most of the term of Gov. Saunders, or until 1867.
5 Was Acting Governor from June 2, 1871, to January 13, 1873.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
in his views during the war that he regarded every Democrat as a pub- lie enemy, and would not exchange the common courtesies of neigh- bors with any member of that party.
The mother of G. L. Laws was Lucinda Calhoun, a second cousin to the statesman of that name. She was born in Abbeyville, South Carolina, in 1806. She, too, was a Campbellite, and her whole life was sacredly dedicated to the discharge of motherly cares and Chris- tian duties.
G. L. Laws spent the first seven years of his life on his father's farm in Richland county, attending school a few weeks in winter when old enough, dropping corn and helping "shear sheep" in the spring, carrying water and other drinks to "the hands" in summer, and "shucking the down row" in the fall. In school he became somewhat noted as a speller, and was a fair reader, these being the only branches taught boys under ten years of age in those days in that country.
In 1845 the family removed to Iowa county, Wisconsin, bought a tract of land, and opened a farm. Here were no schools, and over five years elapsed before an opportunity offered to attend school again. In 1847 he worked a lead mine on the balves. In 1850 his father traded his farm for a tract of land on the Wisconsin river, where he opened a ferry, now known as " Laws's Ferry," and where he kept a lumber yard, the subject of this tale being obliged to make himself useful as ferryman and salesman in the yard.
In the winter of 1851 and 1852 he chopped cord wood and split rails. Here, in the summer of 1853, he crossed the river and walked three miles morning and evening to attend a district school. In the winter of 1854 he "did chores for his board " and attended the same school. In June, 1855, he left home without consulting the family, for the sole purpose of making it possible to attend better schools for a longer term each year. During JJune and July he put in a number of weeks of very hard work for a good deacon of a church, for which he received no pay, and this fact may have affected his whole religious life.
During the years 1856 and 1857 he worked a short time on a farm, rafted railroad ties, helped build the Illinois Central with barrow and spade, "rolled sugar" on a steam-boat, cooked for a crew of men in a logging camp, chopped saw-logs, drove saw-logs, and run a saw-
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
mill, rafted and run lumber, landing in St. Louis in August of 1857, with a large " fleet" of lumber, which he could not sell, and was obliged to start a lumber yard in that city, which he did on Ninth street and Cass avenue. His experience as a ferryman, with some- thing of an aptitude for such work, made him an expert riverman, and brought him from $3.00 to $10.00 per day during spring and summer months, rafting lumber down the Wisconsin river to Missis- sippi towns. After the first winter, during which he was a cook, studying meantime, and receiving much valuable assistance from the " boss," who was a graduate of Yale, he attended school winters and such parts of fall and spring terms as he could until twenty years old, when, after paying yearly some small debts for those in a meas- ure dependent upon him, he found himself the possessor of $300.00 in cash. This fund enabled him to quit the more lucrative but less desirable lines of labor, and turn his attention to teaching school, re- versing the order of former years, now working winters and attend- ing school summers. He enjoyed, for longer and shorter terms, the advantages afforded by Hascall University, at Mazo Manie ; at Silsby Academy, at Richland City ; and at Milton College, all in Wisconsin ; but, except the latter, all very poor and without libraries or appara- tus. At one of the academies he finished a course in trigonometry and surveying where the only instrument for use was an old survey- or's compass with a broken needle. The teachers were all educated gentlemen, and some of them able men, earnest, honest, and patriotic in their efforts to establish "seats of learning" in the West.
The winter of 1860-61 he was employed as principal of the schools at Richland Center, where he was accredited a very successful teacher.
This was at the opening of the Civil War. "Men and steel" were wanted for national defense. In March, 1861, Mr. Laws signed his name to a paper, pledging his services provided the company was called into service before he became located in the University at Madison, Wisconsin, where he had arranged to complete his educa- tion. His school closed on Friday, the 2d of May, and the next morning a dispatch was received calling the company into service.
On such little threads of time and circumstance hang the destinies of men !
Mr. Laws went to the front with his company as its Fourth Ser- geant, and with a military life comprising the usual routine, he
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF LINCOLN.
drifted into the Army of the Potomac, and his regiment was assigned to General Hancock's corps, and with MeClellan's great army entered upon the Peninsular Campaign. Almost on the anniversary of his call to the front, May 15, 1862, Mr. Laws was in the field, engaged in the Battle of Williamsburg. He was twice wounded in that action, once in the left arm and again in the left ankle. With 1,200 other wounded men, of both armies and several nationalities, Mr. Laws was taken on board the steamer "Vanderbilt," which was moored above Yorktown, and all were conveyed to Baltimore, Maryland, for hospital care and surgical treatment. On the voyage those twelve hundred men had no aid or care except that given by four Sisters of Charity, who labored for the comfort of the suffering soldiers with an impartial fidelity that was the perfection of heroic Christian for- titude. No man was neglected; all were treated precisely alike. Those faithful women stayed at their posts as long as they could stand up, and the men almost forgot the agonies of their own wounds in grateful admiration of those most noble attendants. Mr. Laws to this day regards their grand devotion to duty as one of the most gen- nine and splendid exhibitions of human excellence that he has ever known. For eight days Mr. Laws's wounds went without surgical attention. The bones of his ankle being shattered to pieces, the flesh had begun to decompose when treatment was at last begun, and his leg above the ankle had to be amputated. Even with this severe remedy the battle for life was a terrible one, and his friends hardly expected to see him rise from his bed again. He lay on his back in the hot hospital until the processes of his spine protruded, and his flesh wasted away until he weighed but little over seventy pounds.
The ladies of Baltimore carried on the most perfect hospital service organized anywhere in the Nation. Fifteen thousand of them were banded together, and every day they visited every sick and wounded soklier, administering comforts and delicacies until they, in matters of diet, actually killed some of the men with kindness. This they did without regard to which army the soldier fought in. But amongst themselves they enjoyed a partisan hate that was not excelled any- where in the United States. Under their gracious care Mr. Laws continued from the 13th day of May until the 29th of July, part of the time hovering in the very shadow of the Dark Valley; but his strong constitution enabled him to pass the crisis safely.
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NEBRASKA FROM TERRITORIAL TIMES.
On the 29th of July his brother came from Wisconsin and easily took him in his arms to the train which conveyed them back to his home county. In September he was able to get out on crutches, for the first time in over four months. On that day he went to the county seat to attend the Republican county convention, at the earnest solicitation of the loyal people. The moment the convention was organized a resolution was passed, unanimously and amid much en- thusiasm, providing that G. L. Laws could take his choice of the county offices, and his selection would be ratified by the people.
Mr. Laws agreed to accept the office of County Clerk, and the nom- ination was given him by the unanimous voice of the convention. He was elected on November 4, 1862, by a majority of 843, when the average Republican majority of the county was about 300. He was reelected in 1864, and again in 1866, and served six years in that office. At the expiration of his term he was appointed postmaster of Richland Center, which position he filled with ability until April, 1876, when he resigned for the purpose of removing to Nebraska.
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