History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Part 68

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 998

USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth County, Wisconsin > Part 68

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EARLY FISCAL AFFAIRS.

The first assessment was ordered by the Board of Commissioners July 1, 1839, and was laid at 5 mills on a dollar on the whole amount of real estate and personal property as taken by Perez Merriek. Assessor of said county. The assessment roll of Mr. Merrick is not on file in the Clerk's office and was not copied. The amount realized from the tax levied was $1,868.82, which, added to $291.54, delinquent tax, gives as the total tax raised in 1839, $2, 160.36. This sum being the result of a tax on the valuation of 5 mills on the dollar, the total valuation of the county at that time is computed at $432.000.

The first Treasurer's report is a model of brevity. if not perspicuity. It was rendered on tho first Monday of January, 1840, and reads as follows:

Amount received. $1,874 64

Amount paid out. 1,786 69

Balance in treasury. 87 95

February 5, 1840, the first detailed statement of the financial affairs of the county was re- corded. It was as follows:

The following is a statement of the receipts and expenses of the county of Walworth for the year 1839:

Amount paid for surveying and locating county roads. 208 00

Amount for Territorial roads.

557 75

Amount for books and stationery.

80 26

Amount for paupers. . 76 76

Amount for furniture for court-room.

47 50

Amount for wolf bounties. 28 50

Amount for the county quarter-section and expenses of surveying and platting. 374 37

Amount for expenses of the District Court .. 225 56

Amount for criminal expenses. 94 36

Amount for pay for county officers 637 84

205 50

Amount for expenses of elections.

Total. $2,536 40

Amount of taxes paid into treasury.

1,868 82

Amount for licenses. 70 00

Total. $1,938 89

Deduct Treasurer's percentage

35 70

Total.

$1,903 12

Balauce against the county.

533 78

Amount of taxes on lands returned, the taxes not being paid. 291 54

Attest: HOLLIS LATHAM, Clerk.

CHRISTOPHER DOUGLASS. \ County Commissioners. WILLIAM BOWMAN,

The total tax levied in 1840 was $4,447.97-county, $3,770.29; school, $1,029.78. The county tax was to be 1 per cent on half the valuation of real estate and I per cent on the full

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

value of personal property. No record of the valuation appears. From the above statement it will be ascertained to be, approximately, say $650,000, real estate.

The Treasurer's report for 1840 showed the county's finances in a healthy condition. It was as follows:

Amount received for tavern license.

40 00

Amount received for county tax.

3,770 29

Amount received for school tax.

1,029 78

Amount received for fines.

15 32

$4,855 39

Amount of orders paid and canceled.

$3,634 52

Amount of jury fees paid.

9 32

Territorial draft (balance of 1839).

26 73

Territorial draft.

8 19

Total.

$3,678 76

Balance in the treasury.

1,176 63

WILLIAM HOLLINSHEAD, Treasurer.

Attest: HOLLIS LATHAM, Clerk.

In 1841, no new valnation is recorded. The complete assessment roll for the year amounted to $3,550.73. The amount raised for schools was $610.79.

In 1842, the first complete equalized valnation list by towns is recorded. It is as follows: Troy (two townships), $112,002; Elkhorn (two townships) $92,202; Geneva (four townships), $168,494; Walworth (two townships), $S6,547; Richmond, $29,984; Whitewater, $31,968; Spring Prairie (two townships), $155,443; Delavan, $54,148; Darien, $52,970; total, $783,75S. The number of acres taxed is given in all towns but Genova, then embracing the four towns in the southeast quarter of the county. In the towns given, the total number of acres taxed was 144,- 344. Estimating Geneva at 40,000 acres, the land subjected to taxation in 1841 amounted to 188,344 acres. The total amount of tax raised was $2,600. In 1843, the valuation was not essentially changed, the total being $789,301. Amount of taxes raised, $2,675. From 1844 to 1881, the valuation of property each year, so far as it appears on the records, will be hereafter presented in tabular form.

EARLY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

Mention of the first schools established appears in the town histories. The county in its corporate capacity made the establishment of schools only secondary to that prime necessity in all new countries-the establishment of roads. In 1840, the first school tax was raised, amount- ing to $1.029.78. The first complete report of the schools on record bears date April 4, 1842, of which a summary is given below. The reports of the Clerks of the several school districts gave the number of scholars as follows:

Turtle Prairie School District. No. 4, comprised the towns of Walworth and Darien -- 48 scholars; Richmond District, No. 2, 21 scholars; Geneva District, No. 5, 11 scholars; Delavan District. No. 1, 53 scholars; Spring Prairie District, No. 2, 25 scholars; Walworth District. No. 3, 30 scholars; Darien District, No. 3. 20 scholars; Geneva District, No. 2, 18 scholars; Geneva District, No. 1, 67 scholars; Spring Prairie District, No. 1. 49 scholars; Spring Prairie District, No. 7, 18 scholars: East Troy District, No. 4, 36 scholars; Darien District, No. 4. on Turtle Prairie, 42 scholars; Elkhorn District, No. 1, 31 scholars; Spring Prairie District, No. 8, 31 scholars; Walworth District, No 2, 24 scholars; Darien District, No. 2, 21 scholars; Darien District, No. 6, 28 scholars; Troy District, No. 9, 21 scholars; Troy District. No. 2. 18 scholars: Whitewater District, No. 5, 15 scholars; Troy District, No. 4, 21 scholars; Troy Dis- trict. No. I, 13 scholars; Big Foot District, No. 1. 24 scholars; Elkhorn District, No. 1, 36 scholars ;* Elkhorn District, No. 1. 19 scholars; Whitewater District, No. 1, 36 scholars; Geneva District, No. 3, 13 scholars: Center District. No. 2. 8 scholars.

The total number of districts reported was 27: number of schools, 29; number of scholars, 797. In addition were three disiricts in which schools were not taught during the preceding year, viz., Delavan District, No 2. Geneva District, No. 4, and Geneva District. No 3.

* Nobody here can explain why three districts were " Elkhorn No. 1." It is a true copy of record .- A. C. BECKWITH.

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HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

The following is the amount of school money apportioned the several districts for the year 1842: Geneva District, No. 1, $46.90; Geneva, No. 2. $12.60; Darien, No. 3, $14; Walworth, No. 3, $21; Spring Prairie, No. 2. $17.50; Delavan, No 1. $37.10; Walworth and Darien, No. 4, $33.60; Union, No. 2, from Walworth County, $5.60; Geneva, No. 5, $7.70; Richmond, No. 2, $14.70; Spring Prairie, No. 7. $10.50; Whitewater. No. 1, $25.20; Sugar Creek. No. 1 (Elk- horn), $25.20; Big Foot, No. I (Walworth), $16.80; Troy. No. 1, $9.10; Troy, No. 4. $14.70; Center, No. 5, (Whitewater and Richmond). $10.50; Troy, No. 2, $12.60; Darien, No. 6, $19.60; Darien. No. 2, $14.70; Elkhorn, No. 1, $21.70: Elkhorn, No. 1. $13.30; Spring Prai- rie, No. 8, $21.70; Turtle Creek. No. 4, $29.40; Troy, No. 4. $25.20; Spring Prairie, No. 1, $34.30; Whitewater, No. 2. $16.80; Delavan, No. 2, $15.60; Geneva, No. 4, $10.50; Geneva, No. 3, $10.50; Walworth, No. 2. $16.80; total amount apportioned, $582.20.

Thus early were schools established in every considerable settlement in the county. They have increased in number with the increase of population, and in excellence with the increase of wealth. Further mention of their progress and present state appears elsewhere.

COUNTY PROPERTY.

The property of the county consists of the park (eleven acres) with buildings thereon and jail lot with buildings, in Elkhorn, and the poor-farm (160 acres), situated on Section 4, in the town of Geneva. In addition, the title of small lots of property in several towns and villages is vested in the county. These have been deeded by old or decrepit persons to secure a home for life, or other benefits from the county, and are not considered as permanent investments, being sold whenever an advantageous sale can be effected. The Elkhorn park was purchased at the land sale of 1839, at the Government price of $1.25 per acre, it being a part of the county quarter-section bought at that time. A more extended sketch appears in the Elkhorn history. The jail lot, on which the present jail and jailer's buildings are built, is located on the north- west corner of Church and Walworth streets. It was purchased in 1877-78, at a cost of $1,000.

The county buildings now standing are: The jail building, on the lot last mentioned, which was finished in 1878 at a cost (including lot) of $10,546; the court house, finished in November, 1875. cost $21,287. with furniture. $2. 167. making a total cost of $23, 755; the fire-proof office building, erected in 1866, at a cost of $4,265. A fuller account and a description of these and the old county buildings appears in the town history of Elkhorn, the county seat.

The poor-farm is situated on Section 4, in the present town of Geneva. It embraces a quarter-section (160 acres). It has been purchased at different times. The first purchase (of eighty acres) was made of Dudley Harriman December 23, 1852, and was described as the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 4, in Town 2. Range 17 east. There was a good-sized farmhouse upon it. The farm, with improvements, cost $1, 500. April 29, 1865, an additional forty acres was purchased of Jesse Rhodes for the sum of $875. November 26, 1872, forty acres more, lying adjacent and in the same section, was purchased of Charles Dunlap and wife for the sum of $1. 800. The total amount paid for the farm (160 acres) is $4.175. The first house was used for the county poor. It was a wooden structure, 18x24 feet.in size and one and one-half stories higli, with a one-story wing of 16x28 feet. To these accommodations were added during the year 1852, another dwelling-house, 24x40 feet in size, costing $850. The same year was built a separate building for insane paupers. 20x24 feet in size, at a cost of $300. Subsequently, a brick building was built for the insane inmates. A barn was also built in 1853. These first buildings have, with the exception of the asylum buildings, all been de- stroyed by fire and rebuilt. The barn burned in the spring was rebuilt in 1868. The dwelling- house was totally destroyed by fire December, 1872. It was rebuilt in 1873. The members of the building committee were N. M. Littlejohn, James Aram, Charles Dunlap. T. W. Hill, Hollis Latham. The contractors were Messrs. Sykes & Hulbert. The total cost of the new building was $9,885.12. It is built of brick and the size and dimensions and description of the building are as follows: The main building is 38x58 feet in size, three stories high; the wings on either side are 30 feet long by 28 feet deep, two stories in height; a cellar extends under the whole structure. The basement is divided into various rooms for laundry purposes, a milk room and the storage of vegetables, provisions and fuel. On the first floor are the living rooms for the overseer and family, three dining-rooms, a sewing-room and a few rooms for inmates. On the

448

HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

second floor are the women's apartments. consisting of a sitting-room, a sick-room and dormi- tories. The stairs leading from the first floor to the third have no connection with the second floor, which is occupied entirely by the female inmates. The third floor is fitted up as sleeping apartments for the male imnates. The old asylum building was enlarged and modernized in ISSI. at an expense of $1.300. The addition is of brick, 24x36 feet in size and two stories in height. The buildings are all fitted up with modern improvements and appliances for the health and comfort of the inmates, as well as for the most convenient and economical working of the farm, which is a model of excellence for the purposes for which it was designed. The total cost of the farm and present buildings was nearly $18,000.

SUPPORT OF PAUPERS.

The poor have been carefully provided for from the first organization. The separate towns, after the town system was adopted, each supported their own poor, except such as had by some means become a charge to the county. but could not justly be charged to the towns. The bills were rendered by the several towns and audited by the County Board, and paid from the poor fund. As the towns increased in population. the bills became more numerous, entail- ing yearly more trouble on the board and not a little local dissatisfaction when the town bills were questioned or cut down by the Auditing County Committee. It was accordingly determined to abolish the whole cumbersome system and adopt that which has been since so successfully car- ried ont. November 23, 1852, the following resolutions were adopted abolishing the town pan- per system :

Resolved, By the Board of Supervisors of Walworth County, that all distinction between Town and County paupers be, and the same is hereby abolished, from and after the first day of April, 1853, and that said determination be filed in the office of the Register of Deeds of said County, as required by law.

(2.) That there be levied a tax of one and one-half mills on the dollar as assessed, for the purpose of purchasing a farm not to exceed 160 aeres, and the necessary stock and implements for the management of the same.

(3.) That there be elected at this session of the board, three Superintendents, who shall decide by lot the length of time that cach shall serve; one for one year, one for two years and one for three years; and at the annual meeting of the board hereafter there shall be elected one Superintendent who shall hold his office for three years and till another is elected to fill his place.

(4.) That the Superintendents be hereby instructed as soon as consistent after the notice of their election, to proceed to purchase a farm and the necessary stock and implements for the same, and that the Clerk and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors be authorized to issue the necessary orders for the amount ordered to be paid for said purchase by said Superintendents, and that said Superintendents be required to give bonds to the Treasurer of said County in double the amount of taxes to be raised, conditioned for the faithful per- formanee of their duty.

(5). That the per diem allowance of said Superintendents be established at $2 per day while necessarily, employed in the discharge of their duties.

In accordance with these resolutions, the first Superintendents of the Poor were elected. They were: N. L. Gaston, for three years; H. B. Clark. for two years; David Williams, for one year. They purchased the farm, as heretofore stated, and. in May, 1853, opened it for in- mates. and inaugurated the present system. From their first annual report, the items below are given as showing the initial success of the new system.

Earl M. Irish was employed as overseer of the farm at a salary of $350 per year. A fe- male assistant was employed at $90 per year. The cost of starting the farm and providing for the inmates, exclusive 'of farm and buildings, was as follows: Stock, $176; tools, $100; seed grain, $30; household furniture, $306; total, $612. They rented, for $56 per year, an adjoin- ing forty acres of land. The crop raised the first year was: Oats, 150 bushels, valued at $30; wheat, 300 bushels, $225; corn. 800 bushels. $280; barley. 350 bushels, $122.50; hay, 30 tons, $120; potatoes, 100 bushels. $20; total. $797.50. There were. during the first six months. for which the above report was made, eighteen paupers cared for. three of whom were insane, at a cost of $400. The report showed the experiment a success.

The Superintendents of the Poor. from the purchase of the farm to 1881, have been, dating from the fall of each year when elected, as follows:

1852 to 1853-N. L. Gaston, H. M Clark and David Williams.

1854 to 1857 Hollis Latham. N. L. Gaston and David Williams.

1858- Hollis Latham. E. M. Rice and David Williams.

449

HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

1859 to 1864-Hollis Latham, Elisha Hulee and Thomas Gage. 1865 to 1879 -- Hollis Latham. Elisha Hulce and Thomas W. Hill. 1879 to 1882-Hollis Latham, Elisha Hulce and Charles Dunlap.

The resident overseers have been: Earl M. Irish, one year; Joseph B. Irish, two years; Charles S. French, one year: Elihu Gray, five years; Thomas Gray, five years; Thomas Hill .(one of the Board of Superintendents), from 1866 till the time of his death, in the spring of 1879: Charles Dunlap (one of the Board of Superintendents), from the fall of 1879 to the present time.

The following sketch of the inmates and management, published in the Wahcorth County Independent, November 17, 1881, was written by Mr. M. T. Park, editor of that paper, who visited the farm with A. O. Wright, Secretary of the State Board of Charities and Reforms, on his annual tour of inspection:

" There are now in the county charge fifty-two persons -- twenty-seven men and twenty-five women, varying in age from twenty years to the oldest. Miss Mary Gilbert, who is seventy-six years of age. She came from the town of Richmond but a few years since, where she had worked for a livelihood until old age came, and she found a home in her present place of abode. Every time Supervisor Hulce, Richmond, comes to the house, she thanks him over and over again for sending her to such a good home. Among the charter members are Mary Hutchin- son, from Lyons, and Betsey Thompson, from Troy, who each count twenty-eight years of life as county charges. The "character" of the institution is Mrs Stearns, sixty-six years of age. She was brought to the home from Whitewater twenty-one years ago. After remaining a short time, she was sent to the hospital for the insane. Madison, but after a few years she was re- turned as incurable, sinee which time she has presided, as she thinks, over the whole institution. She issues her orders with the confidence of a queen that they will be obeyed, and the language and invectives of a pirate. Tirelessly she toils in the laundry, as chamber-maid, mopping the rooms, working on as landlady of a great hotel. Her "boarders " pay her $1,000 a day. In her little room she takes her meals alone, accepting nothing from the common table, only such as comes from the Superintendent's table. Occasionally, the little table is set for two, herself and 'George,' it is supposed a son, but he comes not and her life goes on from day to day, nearing the goal where there is perfeet rest. Mrs. Stearns was, years ago, a successful teacher in Richmond and Whitewater. Her maiden name is unknown. A few years of married life, a son born to her, deserted by her husband, crazed, she is now as she is. The son, it is said, was a cripple, and no one knows what became of him. This is all that can be said of the wreck of a once beautiful, accomplished woman. A victim of man's desertion, a life, may be, uncom- prehended by herself, she will pass away unknown by relatives or friends of early days. One eannot walk through these rooms without feelings of sorrow at the spectacle of human misery, mind and body, crippled, sufferers from loathsome diseases, idiots, the insane, most of whom are in this condition from gratifying their appetites and passions, and now their possessors are wreeks of the worst description. Others there are, who, from siekness and misfortunes, occupy their present places. A lesson to all ean be learned from these poor inmates.

"Hon. Charles Dunlap is Superintendent. In his onerous duties he is ably assisted by Mrs. Dunlap, who has an eye to all the inner management of the various affairs of the house. Mrs. Eaton is matron, and has the charge of certain portions of the work. Any person who will take the pains to visit them and pass through the various apartments, will need no assertions to convince him that those in charge are faithful to their trust, that there is no management of the poor that excels the care and discipline of the unfortunates of Walworth County. Not only are the physical wants fully attended to, but strennous efforts are made to so engage those not ineurably insane as to lead them from the thought of their woes, to dispossess their minds of the mania controlling them. Every person who can has some light task to perform. In this, as well as some other features. the partial insane are better eared for than in ary insane hospital in the land. The managers of the poor-house are indeed faithful public servants. Their po- sitions are no sinecures. The man who so faithfully carries on the work so ably performed by the late T. W. Hill, will not be found in the person of every applicant. Mr. Dunlap ably per- forms his trust. The county cannot afford to do without him. In his efforts to make the insti- tution perfeet in its way, the Superintendent receives the cordial support of the other two mem-

450

HISTORY OF WALWORTH COUNTY.

bers of the board, Hons. Hollis Latham, of Elkhorn, and E. Hulce, of Richmond. Notwith- standing the comparative small expense attending the keeping of these paupers, from $1.25 to $1.50 a week, per capita, they are remarkably well cared for They have good, palatable food, comfortable clothing and good rooms. The whole matter, in a nut shell, was given by Secretary Wright when he said to the writer: 'You are welcome to say for the State Board of Charities and Reform that the Walworth County Poor House is the best in the State.""

The report of the Superintendents of the Poor for the year ISSI shows an annual expenditure for the support of the poor of $1,555. 70, for outside relief, and $118.11 for transient paupers (tramps). The whole number of inmates of the poor-house for the year was seventy-three. The average number was fifty-six. The cost of their maintenance per capita, exclusive of what was raised on the farm, was $64.04 per annum, or $1.23 per week. The products of the farm were: Wheat, 150 bushels; corn, 1,500 bushels; oats, 505 bushels; potatoes, 350 bushels; bar- ley, 26 bushels; onions, 25 bushels; beets, 200 bushels: tobacco, 1,000 pounds: hay, 60 tons; hogs sold, 7,660 pounds: hogs slaughtered, 5,400 pounds; beef slaughtered, 3,000 pounds; 40 turkeys; 70 chickens; 34 pigs: 32 lambs. The inventory of personal property aggregated $6,- 714.05.

ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS FROM 1839 то 1881.

1839-Commissioners, Nathaniel Bell, Benjamin Ball, William Bowman; Clerk, V. A. McCracken; Register of Deeds, LeGrand Rockwell.

1840-Commissioners, Christopher Douglass, Chairman, Nathaniel Bell, William Bowman; Clerk, Hollis Latham; Register of Deeds, LeGrand Rockwell; Treasurer, William Hollinshead. 1841-Commissioners, Christopher Douglass, Nathaniel Bell, Gaylord Graves; Clerk, Hol- lis Latham; Register of Deeds, LeGrand Rockwell; Treasurer, William Hollinshead.

1842 - Commissioners, Gaylord Graves, Chairman; Robert Holley, George W. Armes; Clerk, Milo Kelsey; Register of Deeds, B. B. Davis; Treasurer, William Hollinshead.

1842 -- Supervisors,* John M. Capron, Geneva, Chairman ; Israel Williams, Walworth ; William A. Bartlett, Delavan; Salmon Thomas, Darien; John Teetshorn, Richmond; Jesse C. Mills, Spring Prairie; Harmon Gray, Elkhorn; Gaylord Graves, Troy; James Tripp, White- water; Clerk, John Fish; Register of Deeds, B. B. Davis; Treasurer, Horatio S. Winsor.

1843-Supervisors, Gaylord Graves, Chairman, East Troy; John Bruce, Darien; Hender- son Hunt, Delavan; A. C. Kinne, Elkhorn; Thomas Hovey, Geneva; J. C. Mills, La Fayette; Edwin De Wolf, La Grange; Thomas P. James, Richmond; H. Smith Young, Sharon; B. C. Pierce, Spring Prairie; Jesse Meacham, Troy; George H. Lown, Walworth; Oliver C. Magoon, Whitewater; Clerk, Hollis Latham, Elkhorn; Register of Deeds, John S. Boyd.

1844-Supervisors, Oliver C. Magoon, Whitewater, Chairman; Salmon Thomas, Darien; William Phoenix, Delavan; -- Smith, East Troy; William K. May, Bloomfield: Levi Lee, Elkhorn; Nathaniel Bell, La Fayette; E. J. Hazzard, La Grange; Ira Turner, Linn; John A. Farnum, Geneva: Reuben Rockwell, Hudson; Thomas P. James, Richmond; E. P. Conrick, Shar- on; B. C. Pierce, Spring Prairie; Jesse Meacham, Troy; James A. Maxwell, Walworth; Clerk, Hollis Latham, Elkhorn; Register of Deeds, John S. Boyd; Treasurer, Levi Lee.

1845-Supervisors, Nathaniel Bell, La Fayette, Chairman; John Bruce, Darien; William Phoenix, Delavan; Cyrus Rugg, Bloomfield; Gorham Bunker, East Troy; P. G. Harrington, Elkhorn; Edwin De Wolf, La Grange; John W. Boyd, Linn; John A. Farnum, Geneva; Lewis Brown, Hudson; James Cotter, Richmond; E. P. Conrick, Sharon; L. D. Lewis, Spring Prairie; Elias Hibbard, Troy; P. W. Mink, Walworth; T. K. Le Barron, Whitewater; Clerk, Hollis Latham; Register of Deeds, John S. Boyd; Treasurer, Curtis Bellows.

1846-Supervisors, J. A. Farnum, Geneva, Chairman; Newton McGraw, Darien; Charles H. Sturtevant, Delavan; T. Fellows, Bloomfield; U. D. Meacham, Elkhorn: Austin Carver, East Troy; E. K. Frost, La Fayette; O. G. Ewing, La Grange; John W. Boyd, Linn; J. A. Farnum, Geneva: Z. B. Burk, Hudson; James Cotter, Richmond; Pliny Allen, Sharon; Perry G. Harrington, Sngar Creek; Roderick Merrick, Spring Prairie; Elias Hibbard, Troy; John Reader, Walworth; Prosper Cravath, Whitewater; Clerk, Edwin Hodges; Register of Deeds, Isaac Lyon; Treasurer, Samuel Mallory.

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History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Part 68

Author: Western Historical Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 998

Author: Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 998