USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 5
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LAND SALES.
A land sale of one hundred townships in southeastern Wisconsin was advertised by the land office at Milwaukee, to begin November 19, 1838. The settlers. mostly unprepared to pay, asked and gained a delay until February 18. 1839. Sales began with townships i to 10, ranges from lake shore west- ward, and amounted to four or five townships daily. The lands of this county were sold between February 25th and March 5th, and the settlers held their own claims. Sales were made to highest bidder on each tract, starting at the government's minimum price, one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Men of Walworth would have shown themselves degenerate descendants of their eastern ancestors had they not found some useful device by- which to prevent competitive bidding. The several home associations were represented by agents empowered to buy for their non-attending neighbors, and these agents were numerous enough to constitute an effective physical force if, in their judgment, fair play should need such help. If the minimum price was raised an agent would follow until his bid became highest-as high, if necessary, as twenty dollars. If payment was not made that day the bidding was void, and the same land was started next day at the lowest rate, and was usually sold at that price without further annoyance from previous competitors. If, how- ever, a speculator was disposed to renew his bidding. the affair became the concern of all the agents. Such presumption was soon beaten out of the man
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
who dared to oppose superior numbers, or was washed away in the otherwise undefiled water of Menominee river. Christopher Payne and Major Meacham were not the only ready-witted, stout-willed, rude-handed men then in Wal- worth.
CHAPTER VI.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.
Wisconsin, having passed from French to English and thence to AAmeri- can possession, was included in the old Northwest Territory until 1800, when it became part of Indiana Territory. In 1809 it was joined to Illinois Terri- tory, and in 1818 to Michigan Territory. the latter organized in 1805 In 1836 the territory of Wisconsin (less the northern peninsula given to Michi- gan to placate her for the loss of the Ohio strip) was organized, and in 1838 Iowa was detached from its imperial domain. On admission as the thirtieth American state. in 1848. it suffered the loss of the region between St. Croix river and the upper Mississippi.
With territorial government came need of new counties. Iowa, Craw- ford and Milwaukee were at once set off from Brown (with Des Moines and Dubuque across the river). In 1838 Milwaukee county, though much the smallest of these. was most sub-divided, and one of the new counties was named for the then chancellor of the state of New York. Reuben Hyde Wal- worth. of Saratoga, the last of a short, illustrious line of judges (beginning in 1777 and ending with 1847). But not as chancellor was he thus honored in Wisconsin. He was also president of the New York State Temperance Society, and his name, with that of Edward C. Delavan, of Albany, were thought peculiarly fit for a new county and one of its towns,-since the town was already founded on a moral idea, and pions men of Delavan, Spring Prairie and Geneva were trying to build the county on the same foundation. Judge Walworth was born in 1788 and died in 1867. In 1848 he was the defeated Democratic candidate for governor, his name on the Cass and Butler ticket of the divided party. He lived to compile a valuable genealogy of his mother's family, descendants of John Hyde, of Norwich, Connecticut.
Walworth county lies along the northern line of Illinois, its castern side about twenty-seven miles from the slightly irregular shore of Lake Michigan. It is twenty-four miles square, its center in latitude 42" 41' north, and longi- tude 88° 32' west. The bordering counties are Rock on the west. Jefferson and Waukesha north, Racine and Kenosha east. Boone and McHenry sonth. Its sixteen townships were in 1838 included in five towns, of which Delavan
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
was the southwestern quarter of the county, Elkhorn the northwestern quar- ter, Geneva the southeastern quarter, while the northeastern quarter was just- ly divided between Spring Prairie and Troy. In 1842 a census was taken for reapportionment of legislative representation. Sheriff Mallory and Under Sheriff Oatman performed this work, and Mr. Davis recorded their returns in Vol. 1, pp. 422-446, of Mortgages. It is evident from the face of this record that the returns were clerically well made. Mr. Davis was a shrewd and competent business man, but his spelling and writing were rather old- fashioned, even for seventy years ago. He followed his copy with faithful intent, and the list of eight hundred and seventy-five names has as few errors as most of such records. Only the heads of households are shown by name, with number of males and females set against each name. It is plain that many unmarried men thus missed entry by name; for several households numbered from twelve to twenty-five. The sum of this enumeration, if the register's crabbed figures are rightly read and added, was four thousand six hundred and eighteen. The five towns had become nine, and a tenth was fore- shown by returning two sheets for Troy. Richmond and Whitewater had been taken from Elkhorn; Darien and Walworth (the latter including Sharon) from Delavan; while Geneva and Spring Prairie were unchanged. In a year or more afterward each land-office division had been named and organized for home rule. The village of Elkhorn, laid out in 1837, spread itself loosely into four sections, lying in as many towns. This was soon found inconvenient for various county purposes, and in 1846 section I of Delavan, section 6 of Geneva, section 31 of Lafayette, and section 36 of the town of Elkhorn were set off as a new town and village of Elkhorn, and the larger remnant of the old town was renamed Sugar Creek. Thus, the list of towns became complete : Bloomfield, Darien, Delavan, East Troy, Elkhorn, Geneva, Hudson, Lafayette, Lagrange, Linn, Richmond, Sharon, Spring Prairie, Sugar Creek, Troy, Walworth, Whitewater. In 1865 Hudson was newly named Lyons. (In the newer county of St. Croix the names of Hudson, Richmond, Springfield and Troy are repeated.)
CONGRESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS.
At the four sessions of the second Territorial Assembly, 1838-40, one member sat in the Council and two in the House of Representatives for the joint district of Rock and Walworth counties. At both sessions of the third Assembly ( December, 1840, and December, 1841). four members appeared in the lower House. At the fourth Assembly two councilmen sat for the dis-
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
trict. At the fifth (and last) Assembly, 1847-48, these counties were separ- ately represented in both Houses.
When Wisconsin put on statehood, in 1848, the counties of Jefferson, Green, Milwaukee, Racine (including Kenosha), Rock and Walworth con- stituted the first of her two congressional districts. In 1852 Jefferson, Green and Rock were made part of a new district, the other counties remaining the first of three districts. In 1862 the first district was left unchanged, though the state had gained three members of Congress. In 1872 Milwaukee was dropped and Rock added. In 1882 Waukesha was exchanged for Jefferson. From 1892 to 1912 the counties of the first district have been Green, Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Walworth.
For the state Senate thirty-three members were chosen biennially-for odd-numbered districts in even-numbered years, for even-numbered districts in odd-numbered years-until 1882, when the sessions became biennial and the terms quadrennial. Walworth was a senate district from 1848 to 1870,- at first numbered fourteenth. In 1853 it was numbered twelfth. In 1872 it was joined to Kenosha and numbered eighth. In 1892 it was joined with several towns of Rock to make the twenty-fourth. This apportionment was found unconstitutional, because not composed of entire assembly districts, and in 1896 the two assembly districts of Walworth, with one of Jefferson, made up the twenty-third senate district. Since 1902 the whole of these two coun- ties compose the twenty-third.
From 1848 to 1851 the county chose five assemblymen. The towns of the first district were East Troy, Spring Prairie, Troy. Those of the second district were Lagrange, Richmond, Whitewater; third district, Darien, Linn, Sharon, Walworth; fourth district, Bloomfield, Geneva, Hudson ; fifth district, Delavan, Elkhorn, Lafayette, Sugar Creck.
From 1852 to 1855 there were six districts: First, Elkhorn, Geneva, Hudson; second, Lafayette, Sugar Creek, Troy; third, East Troy, Spring Prairie; fourth, Lagrange, Richmond, Whitewater: fifth, Darien, Delavan, Sharon ; sixth, Bloomfield, Linn, Walworth.
From 1856 to 1865 the county was divided quarterly : the Geneva dis- trict numbered one, the Delavan district two. the Whitewater district three, the East Troy district ( with Elkhorn ) four.
From 1866 to 1883. three districts: First, Darien, Delavan, Richmond, Sharon, Walworth; second, Bloomfield, Elkhorn, Geneva, Lafayette, Linn, Lyons, Spring Prairie; third, East Troy, Lagrange, Sugar Creek, Troy, Whitewater.
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
From 1884 to 1890 (with biennial terms ) the western half of the county, less the town of Walworth, was the first district. The rest of the county, including Elkhorn, was the second district.
From 1892 to 1900 the northern half, with Elkhorn, became the first district, the eight southern towns the second district. One more reduction, in 1902, lias made the whole county one assembly district.
This steady loss of representation is due to the small increase of popu- lation here since the monetary panic of 1857, while Milwaukee and the north- ern counties have multiplied mightily. The several Federal enumerations have shown but one decrease-between 1860 and 1870:
1840
2,61I
1880 26,249
1850
17.832
1 890
27,860
1860
26.496
1900
29.259
1870
25,972
1910
29,614
The legislative membership is constitutionally fixed at thirty-three sena- tors and one hundred assemblymen, and thus Walworth's loss is gain else- where in the state. But the county has yet some noticeable influence in legis- lation, and she is yet of some appreciable political value.
JUDICIAL CIRCUITS.
In 1837 citizens of the present county of Walworth went to Milwaukee as plaintiffs or defendants in cases at law. In 1838 the county was attached temporarily, for judicial purposes, to the new county of Racine. In April, 1839, a federal judge held a term of court at Elkhorn. The federal judicial district of eastern Wisconsin includes Walworth. One citizen of this county, the late George Nelson Wiswell, was President Harrison's federal marshal for this district.
From the beginning of state government this county has been of the first judicial circuit,-until 1869, with Green, Kenosha, Racine and Rock ; since that year, with Kenosha and Racine only. Circuit judges are chosen at April elections, their term of six years beginning in the following Janu- ary. The current term of office began on the first Monday of January, 1908.
Judges of probate were chosen in the period between 1840 and 1849. A line of county judges began in January. 1850. Their functions were sub- stantially those of the probate judges, with slight additions to their jurisdic- tion in later years, until 1907. "AAn act to confer civil and criminal jurisdic- tion on the county court of Walworth county" was published June 20th of
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
that year. By this act the county court has concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court in all actions of law and equity in which the sum at issue does not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars; in actions of foreclosure of mort- gages and mechanic's liens : in actions for divorces and annulment of mar- riage contract ; of title to real estate: of partition of real estate; and in all criminal cases except murder, manslaughter and homicide. Issues of fact may be tried with or without jury. Since 1901 special terms of county court may be held at Whitewater. Of course. all the county judges have been lawyers of good personal and professional repute: though, in 1885, a some- what vigorous effort was made to open the way to the county bench for men not bred to the "insipid clamor of the bar." The act of 1907 seems not likely to encourage another such movement.
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICAL REPRESENTATION.
At the first session of the second Territorial Assembly (which was the first session held at Madison), beginning November 26, 1838, Col. James Maxwell, of the town of Walworth, appeared in Council for the counties of Rock and Walworth, and held his seat through that and the next As- sembly, which latter body adjourned February 19, 1842. To the fourth Assembly came Charles Minton Baker, of Geneva, serving from December 5, 1842, to February 3, 1846. His colleague for the joint district, which now had two members, was Edward Vernon Whiton, afterward the first chief justice of the Wisconsin supreme court. A high estimate has been placed upon the personal character and judicial fitness of Judge Whiton. They who best knew Judge Baker rated his ability little if any lower and his character quite as highly. At the fifth (and last) Territorial Assembly, Dr. Henry Clark, of Walworth, served in Council from January 4, 1847, to March 13. 1848.
Othni Beardsley, of Troy, sat in the second Assembly as representative of this part of the joint district. At the next Assembly the district represen- tation was doubled, and Dr. Jesse Carr Mills, of Spring Prairie, with Hugh Long, of Darien, were chosen: but Mr. Long resigned after one session and Dr. James Tripp, of Whitewater, served for the second session. Dr. Tripp, with John M. Capron, of Geneva. were chosen to the fourth As- sembly, serving at the first session. At the second session William Ayres Bartlett, of Delavan, took Dr. Tripp's seat. At the third session Salmon Thomas, of Darien, and Dr. Mills replaced Messrs. Bartlett and Capron. At the fourth session this unstable membership was composed, for Wal- worth, now detached from Rock, of Warner Earl, of Whitewater, and Gaylord Graves, of East Troy. The last Assembly held two regular sessions. with a special session between. At the first of these appeared in Council. Dr. Henry Clark, and as representatives Palmer Gardner, of Spring Prairie, and Charles A. Bronson, of Lagrange. To the other sessions went Eleazar Wakeley, of Whitewater, and George Walworth, of Spring Prairie, as rep- resentatives.
Second District
First District
Third District
Fifth District
Fourth District
First District
Second District
Third District
-
1848 = 1851
1866-1881
Fourth District
Third
Second District
Dist .
First District
Second District
Fifth District
First District
Sixth District
1852. 1855
1882,1890
Third
Fourth
First District
District
District
Second District
First District
Second District
1856 > 1865
1892.1900
ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS AT SIX APPORTIONMENTS
.
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Among the earliest attentions at the capitol to the affairs of this county, and previous to 1838, was the appointment of justices of the peace by Gov- ernor Dodge and the consenting Council. There were William Bell for Walworth, William Bowman for Sugar Creek, Gaylord Graves for East Troy, Truman Hibbard for Troy, Thomas McKaig for Geneva, Col. Perez Merrick for Lafayette, Benjamin Carpenter Pearce for Spring Prairie, Jedu- thun Spooner for Sugar Creek, Salmon Thomas for Darien and Delavan. and Israel Williams, Jr., for Linn.
The county having been set off by legislative act early in 1838, there was yet time within the same year to nominate and elect county officers. The chosen were for sheriff, Sheldon Walling, of Geneva (near Elkhorn) : for register of deeds, LeGrand Rockwell, of Elkhorn village; for treasurer, Will- iam Hollinshead, of Delavan; for surveyor, Edward Norris, of Delavan; for coroner, Hollis Latham, of Elkhorn; for county commissioners: For one year, Benjamin Ball, of Linn; for two years, William Bowman, of Sugar Creek; for three years, Nathaniel Bell. of Lafayette. In that year the vote of the county, confirmed by the Legislature, made Elkhorn village the county seat. The other competitor villages were Delavan, Geneva and Spring Prairie.
The county commissioners met and organized, and the county officers began their terms of office and their duties January 7, 1839, and that day may be regarded as one of the birthdays of Walworth county. The records remain to show how the commissioners and the register of deeds discharged their respective functions. The treasurer and coroner lived to be called old men, and yet died before they had become no longer useful to their fellow citizens, whom they had served in many ways. Their ability was equal to the needs of any service their modesty would permit them to undertake, their official integrity unquestioned, and their lives blameless. Neither of them was ever known to evade a plain duty or to perform it carelessly or in other ways badly. Less is now known of the surveyor, and nothing to his personal or official discredit. The sheriff had been, as he led his neighbors to think, suppose, or concede, a brigadier-general of New York militia : though, at his death in 1875. his widow could not find his commission among his half-dozen best-kept papers, nor remember which Governor had signed it. The adjutant-general's office at Albany may contain the records of such an appointment. He was competent to instruct in the rudiments, at least, of Scott's drill of the company, and he had some skill with drum-sticks. His duties as sheriff seem to have been performed fairly, and in the condition of the county roads for at least half of the year such duty as that of sum-
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN .-
moning jurors must have tried the resoluteness of even a brigadier-general. He was an unconvertible Democrat, and hence was seldom afterward called into public service.
The following is a transcript from the journal of the first meeting of the county commissioners :
"At a meeting of the com. of Walworth County held at the house of Daniel E. Bradley on Monday the 7 day of Jany 1839 Present Benjamin Ball Nathaniel Bell and William Bowman and proceeded to appoint V A McCraken Clerk of the board of Com. License was granted to R. W. Warren to keep a Tavern in the village of Geneva untill the first day of January 1840. for the sum of five dollars
"The meeting adjourned to meet again on the 18th day of March, 1839 at the house of Daniel E. Bradley
"Attest V. A. McCraken "Clerk"
Thus the record runs, word, letter and point. At the third session, April Ist, store licenses were given to Andrew Ferguson, at Geneva, and to Henry & Samuel F. Phoenix, at Delavan; and the fee imposed with each license was ten dollars. To Othni Beardsley, at Troy, Ansel A. Hemenway, at Spring Prairie. Greenleaf Stevens Warren, at Geneva, and Israel Williams, at Walworth, tavern licenses were granted at five dollars each. The fiscal statement made at the end of 1839 is thus shown :
Received Paid out
$1,874.64 1.786.69
Balance in treasury $ 87.95
The chairmanship of this first board of commissioners was given to Major Bell, though Mr. MeCraken did not record this interesting fact until a later date. In 1840 Christopher Douglass, of Walworth, appeared in place of Mr. Ball, whose term had expired, and served two years of his term as chairman, Major Bell having resigned that post. In 1841 Gaylord Graves, of East Troy, followed Mr. Bowman, and was chairman in 1842. George W. Arms, of Spring Prairie, succeeded Major Bell as member for 1842, and Robert Holley, of Hudson, followed Mr. Douglass, who had re- signed in that year. The clerks of the board were Volney Anderson Mc- Craken, of Lagrange, for one year; Hollis Latham for two years: and Milo Kelsey, of Delavan (if not then of Darien). for part of 1842.
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WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
The greater part of the board's business was to license taverns and stores, to lay out roads and road districts, to establish school districts and appoint inspectors, to make juror lists, and to name election judges and designate polling places. At the session of March 18, 1839, jurors were selected for service at the April term of court: Grand jurors, Asa Blood, John Bruce, George Clark, Nicholas S. Comstock, Christopher Douglass, Solomon A. Dwinnell, Charles Dyer, Palmer Gardner, Joseph Griffin. Morris F. Hawes, Elias Jennings. Zeral Mead, Roderick Merrick, Marshall New- ell, Henry Phoenix, Jeduthun Spooner, Adolphus Spoor, Salmon Thomas, James Tripp, Robert W. Warren, William Weed, Daniel Whitmore, Israel Williams. Petit jurors, Charles M. Baker, Joseph Barker, William A. Bart- lett, Othni Beardsley, Milo E. Bradley, Gorham Bunker, Jared B. Cornish, Gaylord Graves, Solomon Harvey, William Hibbard, Elias Hicks, William Hollinshead, Willard B. Johnson, George W. Kendall, John Lippitt, Allen McBride, James Maxwell. William K. May, Austin L. Merrick. Benjamin C. Pearce, Allen Perkins, Edwin Perry, William Stork, Elijalı Worthington. The board was petitioned to lay out a road from Elkhorn village to Mr. Barker's (in Sugar Creek) and thence to the north line of the county.
At the session of April Ist a special election, for choice of township officers, was ordered, to take place Thursday, May 9th. Polling places were designated and election judges appointed : For Delavan, at Milo Kelsey's, with Henry Phoenix, William Hollinshead and John Bruce as judges; for Elkhorn, at Elijah Worthington's ( in Lagrange), with George W. Kendall, Jared B. Cornish and Zerah Mead as judges; for Geneva, at Robert W. Warren's, with Charles M. Goodsell, William K. May and Thomas McKaig as judges: for Spring Prairie, at Ansel A. Hemenway's, with Thomas Miller, Roderick Merrick and Solomon A. Dwinnell as judges; for Wal- worth, at James A. Maxwell's, with Christopher Douglass, William Bell and Amos Bailey as judges.
A few extracts from records may show some of the more important work of the board between 1839 and 1842:
May 6. 1839-William Stork, Morris Ross and Thomas MeKaig ap- pointed road viewers and directed to lay out a road from Geneva village by nearest and best route to Lamphear's house (in Bloomfield) and thence to state line near E. W. Brigham's. Palmer Gardner, Richard Chenery and Daniel Salisbury directed to view road from northeast corner of section 25 ( Spring Prairie ), west one and a half miles, thence south one mile. * * * James Harkness, Sylvester G. Smith and David S. Elting to lay a road from a point on east line of section 23 ( Lafayette), westward
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WALWORTHI COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
on or as near half section line as the ground will permit, to section 26, thence to a road to Sugar Creek Prairie or to a road from Elkhorn (village) to said Prairie. * Salmon Thomas, William Hollinshead and Sani- uel F. Phoenix to lay road from Geneva and Beloit territorial road at suit- able place on northwest quarter of section 5 (Linn) to run northwest to Charles S. Bailey's house (town of Delavan), thence to southwest corner of Mr. Phoenix's field, by the grist mill, to Racine and Janesville road on Rock Prairie (in Darien). Jacob G. Sanders, John Boorman and William Bell to lay out road from quarter section stake, east line of section 17 (Walworth), west through middle of section to west side of Bigfoot Prairie, thence by nearest and best road to intersect Beloit and Southport road at or near west line of section II (Sharon) or to west line of county. Elijah Worthington, George Esterly and Edward Nor- ris to view road from point where the road to Orendorf's ferry through Eagle Prairie (Waukesha county) meets north line of county, thence south- westerly to or near quarter stake on north line of section 28 (Lagrange). Also, to view road beginning at or near the point where the Milwaukee and Janesville territorial road crosses north line of section 27. following section line west as far as land will admit good road, thence southwest to meet line of county, in the direction of Janesville. At this session fourteen bills against the county were allowed. No. I was that of Andrew Ferguson, two dollars and seventy cents. The sum of this first batch of county orders was one hundred and twelve dollars and twenty cents, but no items of these bills are recorded.
July 1, 1839-Board ordered a highway tax of five mills on all real and personal property. Edwin Brainard was allowed twenty-seven dollars for committing a prisoner to the jail at Milwaukee. * Ten county orders allowed, amounting to sixty-two dollars. Col. Perez Merrick mentioned as county assessor.
September 9-12, 1839-County divided into three assessment districts : District I, the southern tier of towns with Darien and the west half of Delavan: district 2, Hudson, Geneva, cast half of Delavan, Elkhorn, Sugar Creek, Lafayette, and Spring Prairie: district 3, the northern tier, with Richmond. * Plat and minutes of village of Elkhorn received and recorded. LeGrand Rockwell appointed to sell lots in that vil- lage. ( This refers to the county's quarter of section 36, town 3 north, range 16 east, in which are the county buildings.) * Wolf bounty fixed at one dollar and fifty cents per scalp.
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