USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County, Wisconsin > Part 27
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Specifications of jail-building settled, and advertisement for bids to be published, the bids to be opened February 3d, 1868. Supervisor Kessinger was to act as the agent of the board in this matter.
Wolf bounty ordinance of 1857 repealed.
There was a rather animated discussion in regard to the pub- lication of delinquent taxlist and proceedings of the county board
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in the German language as had been customary, which resulted in a resolution of continuing the custom.
Special meeting held
February 3d, 1868.
The board consisted of the same supervisors. L. Kessinger was elected chairman for the year.
An admonition was given to the County Superintendent to be diligent in visiting schools.
Resolved to publish a new advertisement with regard to the building of the Jail.
County Roads selected in Gilmanton and Naples.
The NE } of SE 4 of Section 33, Township 20, Range 11, was detached from the town of Buffalo and annexed to that of Cross.
At the special meeting
March 16th, 1868,
the proposals for the building of the jail were opened and accepted, and the work contracted with Messrs. Oenning and 'Giesen, and Henry Roettiger of Fountain City.
Some further corrections were made relative to the distribu- tion of the territory of the former town of Eagle Mills.
It may be as well to say something here about the causes which led to the discontinuance of the political organization of this town, which now has so often been mentioned in these pages. There was at the time some dissatisfaction in regard to it, and even political reasons were asserted to have caused the action of the county board, but I think the following reasons were the leading ones in the action of the board:
I. The town was a small one, containing a. considerable amount of land that was not very productive in the way of taxes actually paid, hence whenever any improvements had become necessary of roads or bridges the inability of the town to effect them was the ever ready plea, for doing little or nothing in the matter. Especially the Milldam road, was a continual source of «complaints and of appeals to the county for help.
2. The transportation of the towns of Waumandee and Mon- tana to their customary market at Fountain City had of necessity to pass through this town, making it imperative that something should be done for the improvements of roads, the town of Wau- mandee being willing to do the work, if it could get the control
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over the roads, which could only be done by annexing some terri- tory from Eagle Mills.
3. The town of Buffalo, of which Fountain City was then a part, was also largely interested in the serviceable condition of the roads in Eagle Mills, and willing to take care of those in the ad- joining parts, but could do nothing to the purpose unless these parts came under its control.
4. A division of the town was legally impossible, would not have been ratified by the inhabitants, and would only have enfee- bled the town so much more. There was, then, nothing else left but what was done. The subsequent establishment of the Town of Milton out of part of the former Town of Eagle Mills by the legislature in the act of incorporating the Village of Fountain City does not prove anything against the reasons alleged above, especi- ally as most of the parts assigned to the Town of Waumandee were left in, and still constitute part of, that town, relieving the Town of Milton of the care of the most expensive roads.
Annual meeting
November 10th, 1868.
There was only the routine business before the board, but an adjournment had to be taken in order to give County Treasurer Beely time to make up a new report, the first one having been found very deficient.
Adjourned annual meeting
November 23d, 1868.
At this meeting the settlement with the County Treasurer was finally concluded.
A special meeting was held
January 11th, 1869,
in which the new board, consisting of:
1st District-George Cowie of Glencoe.
2d -J. B. Oenning of Buffalo.
3d -J. L. Hallock of Nelson;
organized by electing Mr. Cowie its chairman for the ensuing year.
A resolution was passed to request, that the County Superin- tendent should discontinue to publish school reports at public expense.
It was further resolved that the Member of the Assembly from
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this district be requested to oppose any changes in the boundary of towns and supervisor districts by the legislature.
Another special meeting was held
April 2d, 1869,
and a rule established that in future any contemplated change in the boundary line of towns had to be duly published in the papers, at least six weeks previous to acting upon them in the county board.
The Beef River bridge above Alma having been carried out by the ice in spring, a ferry had become necessary in the place of it, and a charter for the purpose was granted to Thomas Lawrence.
The meeting was adjourned to
May 25th, 1869,
in which it was resolved to transfer the land on the west and north side of Beef River in Township 22 Range 13, which had hitherto belonged to the Town of Alma, to the Town of Nelson, as being contiguous to, and having the same interests, as the town to which it was annexed.
A set of abstracts of title, which had been begun by Moser and Hunner, was purchased of the firm for $1,100.00, to be car- ried up to time by them, and then continued by the Register of Deeds in future.
A special meeting was convened
July 12th, 1869,
in which the principal business was to divide the county into five supervisor districts, according to a law passed by the last legisla- ture.
The partition was made as follows:
1st District -- Town of Alma, Village of Alma with the towns of Modena and Nelson.
2d District-Towns of Gilmanton, Glencoe and Montana.
3d of Cross and Buffalo incl. Fountain City.
4th of Waumandee and Belvidere and City of Buffalo.
5th Naples, Canton and Maxville.
Annual meeting
November 9th, 1869.
A petition had been presented from the city of Buffalo to be granted a tax-deed for all the lots on which taxes had not been
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paid for a number of years, so as to keep them out of further as- sessment, and to insure the payment of taxes from the remaining lots, the county board ordered L. Kessinger to examine the certi- ficates involved in the proposition, and to report on the matter at the next meeting.
It was also agreed that L. Kessinger should make the entries of transfers, and of newly entered land and homesteads into the plat books from time to time.
The settlement with county-treasurer Beely, which was to be final, as he went out of office, was found to be a very complicated affair and took considerable time, but was finally concluded, and everything straightened out, to turn over to his successor.
A special meeting was called on
January 8th, 1870,
in which the following members appeared :
1st District: James L. Hallock of the town of Nelson.
2d J. G. Senty of the town of Montana.
3d
J. B. Oenning of the town of Buffalo.
4th John Ochsner of the town of Waumandee.
5th J. H. Aiken of the the town of Maxville.
A petition, to annex part of the town of Nelson to that of Alma was laid over in order to publish it.
At the next special meeting
March 14th, 1870,
no proceedings were had, as some lawyers insisted that according to a decision of the Supreme Court the board was not legally or- ganized. The board adjourned pending an inquiry into the mat- ter, but assembled again
March 22d, 1870. '
The petition to return the northern mile-strip of the Town of Nelson to Maxville, was refused.
The town of Buffalo was organized according to a provision in the charter of the Village of Fountain City, to consist of all the parts of Township 18, Ranges 10 and 11 situated within this county, and of Sections 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 and 36 of Town- ship 19, Range 11, and all the part of Township 19, Range 10, situ- ated in this county.
Another meeting was held
. March 30th, 1870,
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in which the Town of Milton was organized, pursuant to a provi- sion of the charter of the Village of Fountain City, to consist of the West Half of Section 3, and the North Half of Sections 4 and 5, of Township 19, Range 11, the South Half of Sections 16, 17 and 18, and all the sections from 19 to 33 of Township 20, Range 11; also all of the sections from 20 to 36 of Township 20, Range 12.
There seems to have been something in the rumor of a deci- sion of the Supreme Court, adverse to the existence of the County Commissioner or District Supervisor System, for in the special meeting
May 23d, 1870,
the board met according to the old custom, each town represented by its chairman, Peter Polin representing the Village of Alma. Mr. Geo. Cowie of Glencoe was elected chairman. In this session Section 23 of Township 22 Range 13 was annexed to the town of Belvidere as in some former session Sections 24 and 25 of the same Township and Range had been annexed to the same town, which however, must be a blunder in the number of the township, mean- ing 21 instead of 22, the respective sections of 21 lying contiguous to Belvidere below the corporate limits of the village, now city of Alma.
The special meeting of
June 20th, 1870,
was mainly devoted to the equalization of assessments.
The annual meeting
November 15th, 1870,
adjourned to the following day, in token of respect to Mr. Peter Polin, a member of the county board, who had suddenly died on the 6th day of November. R. R. Kempter had been chosen in his place, Resolutions of condolence were passed.
The Town of Dover was established consisting of the entire Township 23 of Range 10, the town to organize at the ensuing townmeeting, to be held at the house of W. H. H. Amidon in Bennett Valley.
The salaries of the county officers were fixed as follows: County Clerk $1000, Treasurer $800, County Superientendent $4.00 per diem, limited to 200 days, but only $500 appropriated to the purpose.
At a special meeting
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May 30th, 1871,
an appropriation was made to the Village of Alma, of $2,000, con- ditioned on $3,500 being expended by said village and the town of Nelson, to aid in the construction of a road and several bridges, across Beef River and the adjoining swamps toward the peninsula between the swamp and Beef Slough. Mr. Harvey Brown, chairman of the town of Naples, and the chair- man of the town. of Nelson, together with some person appointed from the village of Alma to be a committee for the supervision of the expenditure.
Annual meeting
November 14th, 1871.
Chapter 67, General Laws of 1871, required a dog-license to be levied. The county board determined on $1.00 cach for male, $2.00 for female dogs. Mr. Lees was opposed to it, and Mr. Schaettle wanted $2 and $3 respectively.
Bond of Clerk fixed at $5,000, that of Treasurer at $32,000.
The town of Lincoln was laid out in parts still belonging to Waumandee in Little Waumandee Valley, parts belonging to Bel- videre and others to Montana. In this delineation the convenience of settlers as to roads and schools"was the great motive considera- tion.
At the annual Meeting in
November -1872,
an appropriation was made to the Buffalo County Agricultural Society of $300 to enable it to make preparations for an exhibi- tion the year following.
The South Half of Section 14, Township 20, Range 12, was detached from the town of Belvidere and annexed to that of Milton.
The County Treasurer was appointed agent for the purchase and distribution of stationery for the county officers entitled to such by law.
At the annual meeting in
November 1873,
Section 9, Township 19, Range 10, was detached from the town of Buffalo and annexed to that of Cross.
The bond of the County Treasurer was fixed at $40,000.
The lot adjoining the court house lot on the northside was purchased for the county from Mr. Moser for $150.00.
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A memorial was adopted to pray the legislature to abolish the charter of the City of Buffalo.
Also a vote of thanks to J. W. DeGroff whose official career as County Clerk would close after New Year's.
Mr. De Groff had held the office of clerk of the county- board for a considerable period, and had distinguished himself in it by ability, courtesy and a spirit of accommodation very com- mendable.
At the annual meeting in
November 1874,
the East Half of the Northeast Quarter and of the Southeast Quarter of Section 27 Township 22 Range 11 was detached from the town of Lincoln and annexed to that of Montana.
At the annual meeting in
November 1875,
the boundaries of the village of Alma were extended across Beef River to include parts of Section 25 all of sections 26, 27 and 28 of Township 22 Range 13 which were detached from the town of Nelson. This was done to give the village the taxes of the sec- tions in which it had made so expensive improvements which had to be maintained at considerable expense.
At the annual meeting in
November 1876,
Mr. Orlando Brown moved a memorial to the legislature to unite the towns of Naples, Canton and Maxville again with Assembly District consisting of Buffalo County in part.
The SE & of SE & of Section 4 Township 21 Range 11 was transferred from the town of Lincoln to that of Waumandee.
$175 was appropriated to C. Moser, Jr., for work in the county judge's office which had accumulated during the last illness of Judge Fetter deceased.
At the annual meeting
November 1877,
District Attorney Finkelnburg informed the board that, by a decision of the Supreme Court, tax certificates on which a govern- ment stamp had been affixed according to the laws of the United States (now repealed) were illegal, and that tax-deeds issued upon such certificates, and also stamped in the same manner, were void. This was the post festum rumination upon a subject, for which
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there had been superabundant cause for about 12 years, but which had been allowed to go on without serious opposition until the mischief was done. Or was, perhaps, the decision itself the mis- chief ? I could not yet make up my mind upon the matter.
Another tax had been decided to be unconstitutional, by the same authority, that upon dogs. If anybody wants to learn the reason " why," let him ask a lawyer, if he is not one himself. But whether he will be much wiser by the answer, I could not say, probably, if he is not, it is his own fault.
The annual meeting in
November 1878,
brought nothing before the board that might not be strictly con- sidered as " routine business."
The annual meeting in
November 1879,
witnessed some of those changes of town boundaries, to which I have alluded at the introduction to the proceedings of the county board, as being the result of a denser settlement of the country, by which the inconvenience of belonging to a certain town, and not to the one next adjacent, is clearly demonstrated. The SW & of SW & of Section 7 Township 19 Range 10, and the South Half of SE & and SE } of SW } of Section 12 Township 19 Range 11 were detached from the town of Cross, and annexed to that of Buffalo. The NE & of Section 16 and the South Half of SE & of Section 9 Township 20 Range 11 was detached from the town of Waumandee and annexed to that of Cross. Also the West Half of SE & of Section 4 Township 19 Range 11 from the town of Cross to that of Milton.
The proceedings of the annual meeting in
November 1880,
show nothing but routine work.
At the annual meeting in November 1881, :
the name of the town of Naples was changed to Mondovi, prepara- tory to a division of the same, so that its western half, Township 24, Range 11, should be organized into a new town with the same name, while the eastern half, Township 24 Range 10 should at the ensuing town meeting become organized as a new or separate town by the old name of Naples. Mr. S. D. Hubbard was the chair-
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man of the yet united town in this meeting and carried these changes.
At the annual meeting in
November 1882,
the East Half of Section 34 and West Hall of Section 35 were re- united with the town of Maxville, much to the gratification of the old settlers of that town.
A petition was brought for a road to be laid out from Misha Mokwa to North Pepin, and commissioners appointed for the pur- pose.
The land of Henry Lorenz situated in the town of Alma was transferred to the town of Lincoln, and the land of A. J. Beisel situated in the town of Waumandee was also transferred to Lincoln.
Annual meeting in
November 1883,
some land lying in the town of Lincoln was exchanged for some other land of the same extent, belonging to the town of Montana, the chairman of each of the two towns requesting the alteration. At the same meeting the so-called mile-strip which is described in some other place in these proceedings, was re-annexed to the town of Maxville from which it had been detached some fifteen or more years ago.
In the annual meeting in
November 1884,
nothing but the routine work has been done.
At the annual meeting in
November 1885,
there was considerable excitement on account of a road proposed to be laid out from the middle part of the Little Waumandee Valley towards the Beef River Valley. As far as the Town of Alma was concerned, the road was already laid out to the boundary line of the town of Lincoln, but the latter town by its chairman, and by a petition of numerous of its citizens protested against extending it to the main road in the valley, while other citizens of the town had made an application for its extension. The county board con- sidered the road useful and necessary and requested the town board of Lincoln to lay it out, and determined to lay it out by a committee, if the supervisors would refuse or neglect to act in the
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matter. After some delay the order of the county board was exe- cuted. .
At the annual meeting in
November 1886,
there was no other work but the usual routine.
General Review.
In the above I have given an abstract of such work of the ad- ministration and legislature of the county that was not of common occurrence in every meeting. Much of that even may only be in- teresting to a few readers, or only a few items may be worth look- ing at by one person, and some others by other persons.
It will be observed that from the beginning there were many special meetings, and towards the end there were none. The rea- son seems to be that it required much deliberation at first to set things right, to organize new towns and to change their limits ac- cording to circumstances, which were developed by experience. The time had to come when important changes would no longer be necessary, and when out of the unavoidable conflict of interests some harmony would result, which though not entirely perfect, would be satisfactory to most of the citizens, and would, at least be given a fair trial.
In every well regulated community there must be persons empowered and commissioned to execute the laws. Such persons we call officers, and we have state officers, county officers and town officers, etc.
The following is a table of the incumbents of the different county offices, with the time when each person was elected for the first time, or as the case may be, for the only time:
SHERIFFS.
NAMES. YEAR OF ELECTION
John Buehler 1853.
Jesse Truman 1855.
J. R. Hurlburt 1857.
John Buehler 1859.
Andrew Hemrich 1861.
W. H. Gates 1863.
John Beely. 1865.
Wm. R. Turnbull 1867.
Nic. Philippi.
1869.
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ORGANIZATION.
Harlow P. Farrington 1871.
Nic. Philippi 1873.
John Buehler 1875.
J. M. Leonhardy
1877.
M. W. McDonnell
1879.
Joseph Thoeny. 1881.
Jason M. Pratt 1884.
John Leonhardy 1886.
CLERKS OF COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
NAMES. YEAR OF ELECTION.
Chas. Bipes 1853.
Thomas G. Hake. 1855.
John D. Lewis 1857.
C. Moser, jr.
1862.
John W. De Groff 1866.
John Moser 1873.
W. W. Wyman 1875.
John Burgess
1877
Edward H. Waelty 1886.
Henry Teckenburg served under appointment by the county board instead of Chas. Bipes, and Mr. Finkelnburg after the resig- nation of Thomas G. Hake. C. Moser, jr., was for more than a year the deputy of J. D. Lewis.
The regular term of this office is two years, but on account of changes in the time of election, there were two terms of three years each, which makes the years of service of some of the incumbents of odd numbers.
This remark applies also to the other offices, and need not be repeated.
TREASURERS.
NAMES.
YEAR OF ELECTION.
L. F. Binder 1853.
Christian Bohri, jr 1855.
L. F. Binder
1861.
Jacob Wirth 1863.
J. J. Senn 1865.
John Beely 1867.
J. J. Senn
1869.
Auren Rockwell
1871.
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ORGANIZATION.
G. M. Reinhardt 1875.
Samuel Davis. 1877.
Erik Alme .. 1879.
Halvor A. Lee 1884.
REGISTER OF DEEDS.
NAMES.
YEAR OF ELECTION.
James M. Pierce 1853.
W. H. Gates 1857.
Frederick Binder 1859.
Otis F. Warren 1861.
Jacob Wirth 1865.
Otis F. Warren 1867.
J. P. Schnug .1869.
Nic. Philippi 1871.
Henry Bechmann 1873.
J. M. Leonhardy 1879.
Lutze Tscharner 1881.
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.
NAMES.
YEAR OF ELECTION.
J. Adam Raetz, 1853.
Wesley Pierce, . 1855.
L. Seals, . 1857.
Edward Lees, 1859.
John W. McKay, 1867.
Augustus Finkelnburg, I869.
Edw. Lees, 1871.
A. Finkelnburg, 1875.
J. W. McKay,. 1877.
Theodore Buehler,.
1881.
Schuyler G. Gilman,. 1884.
CLERKS OF CIRCUIT COURT.
NAMES.
YEAR OF ELECTION.
J. B. Aldermatt,, 1853.
Thos. G. Hake, 1855.
Ferdinand Fetter,.
1857.
Ferdinand Hellmann,
1861.
Richard R. Kempter, .
1863.
Fred Hohmann,
1865.
Math. Fetzer,.
1873.
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ORGANIZATION.
J. W. DeGroff,
1875.
Nic. Philippi, 1877.
J. W. DeGroff, 1879.
Fred Hohmann,.
1886.
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS.
NAMES:
YEAR OF ELECTION:
Augustus Finkelnburg. 1861.
C. F. Kingsland.
1863.
Robert Lees (to fill vacancy) 1864.
James Imrie
1865.
Robert Lees 1869.
Lawrence Kessinger.
1871.
John C. Rathbun
1877.
L. Kessinger
1871.
Geo. Schmidt. 1876.
COUNTY SURVEYORS.
NAMES:
YEAR OF ELECTION:
Henry Goerke 1855.
Robert Strohmann 1857.
Hiram B. Merchant, 1859.
Robert Strohmann.
1861.
Emil Haeusser, 1863.
L. Kessinger, 1865.
A. W. Miller,.
1869.
John Buesch,
1871.
Wm. Finkelnburg,
1879.
John F. Schlossstein, 1884.
CORONERS.
NAMES.
YEAR OF ELECTION.
Geo. Zimmermann 1853.
Edmund Bishop 1855.
Dr. Wm. Spuehr 1857.
Jacob Iberg
1863.
Dr. A. Bodenstab
1866.
Barney McDonough 1871.
Dr. J. Ehing 1877.
Dr. Newton McVey
1879.
Jas. L. Hallock
1881.
Barney McDonough
1884.
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ORGANIZATION.
Jas. L. Hallock -1886.
COUNTY JUDGES.
NAME. YEAR OF ELECTION.
Marvin Pierce 1853.
Ferdinand Fetter 1861.
Augustus Finkelnburg 1865.
Ferdinand Fetter 1869.
Conrad Moser, jr
1877.
Robert Lees 1881.
Judge Fetter died Oct 16, 1876, and C. Moses, jr., was ap- pointed by the governor to fill the vacancy.
The following persons represent at present the county of Buf- falo in an official capacity for the time annexed to each name:
Robert Lees, County Judge, to January 1890.
John Leonhardy, Sheriff, to January 1889.
Edw. H. Waelty, County Clerk, to January 1889.
Halvor A. Lee, Treasurer, to January 1889.
Lutze Tscharner, Register of Deeds, to January 1889.
Schuler G. Gilman, District Attorney, to January 1889. ----
Fred. Hohman, Clerk of Circuit Court, to January 1889. Geo. Schmidt, Superintendent of Schools, to January 1889.
J. F. Schlossstein, Surveyor, to January 1889.
Jas. L. Hallock, Coroner, to January 1889.
Jas. V. Jones, Member of Assembly, to January 1889.
J. W. De Groff, Senator for Buffalo and Trempealeau County, to January 1891.
A closer examination of the above tables will disclose the fact, that a considerable number of our county officers have been re- elected for the next term, or several consecutive terms. or, as in the case of sheriff, where a consecutive term is prohibited by law, after an interval of one or two terms. This shows that the men thus honored must have given satisfaction in the discharge of their official duty. It also shows, that the people appreciate a faithful servant and mean to express their sptisfaction. The county has been especially fortunate in never, during the 33 years of its ad- ministrative existence, having been compelled to go into litigation with any of its officers for any reason whatever. There are some doubts in my mind whether the number of votes in the earlier. elections might not be more properly discussed under the head of
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ORGANIZATION.
" Population," but the few notes I have taken on the subject may also stand here.
In the election 1853 there were 18 votes, most of the candi- dates receiving all of them. The same number of votes was cast FOR prohibitory liquor law, a vote taken under Chapter 101 of the General Laws of 1853. This was not intended to be an amend- ment to the constitution of the state.
At the next election 120 votes, probably all, or nearly all of them, were polled for Coles Bashford as Governor. Two years later the vote amounted to 526, and in 1859, 690 votes, 790 in 1861, and 790 besides the votes of the soldiers in the different camps in 1863. In 1864 Moser received 803 votes, but I think there were more between Robert Lees and myself.
After that I did not find it very interesting to note all the combinations of votes cast at the different elections. There is al- ways a greater number of votes at a spring, than at a fall election, which, among other instances, may account for the majority of about 960 Robert Lees carried off in his first contest for the county judgeship.
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