USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 5
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Under the Ordinance of 1787 Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor of the Northwest Territory. After July 4. 1800, all that portion of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river. lying to the westward of a line beginning upon that stream opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river and running thence to what is now Fort Recovery, in Mercer county, Ohio, thence north until it intersected the territorial line between the United States and Canada, was, for the purpose of temporary government, con- stituted a separate territory, called Indiana. Within its boundaries were included not only nearly all of what is now the state of In- diana. but the whole of the present state of Illinois, more than half of what is now Michigan, a considerable portion of the pres- ent state of Minnesota, and the whole of Wisconsin.
On Nov. 3. 1804. a treaty was held at St. Louis between the Sacs and Foxes and the United States. These tribes then ceded
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PRE-TERRITORIAL ERA.
to the general government a large tract of land on both sides of the Mississippi, extending on the east from the mouth of the Illi- nois to the head of that river, thence to the Wisconsin. This grant embraces, in what is now Wisconsin, the whole of the present counties of Grant and LaFayette, and a large portion of those of Iowa and Green. In consideration of the cession of these lands, the general government agreed to protect the two tribes in the quiet enjoyment of the residue of their possessions against its own citizens and all others who should intrude on them, carrying out the stipulations to that effect embodied in the Greenville treaty of 1795. Thus began the settlement of the Indian title to the eminent domain of Wisconsin by the United States, which was carried for- ward until the whole territory (except certain reservations to a few tribes) had been fairly purchased of the original proprietors.
On Feb. 3, 1809, an act of Congress, entitled "An act for di- viding the Indiana territory into two separate governments," was approved by the President and became a law. It provided that from and after March 1, of that year, all that part of the Indiana territory lying west of the Wabash river and a direct line drawn from that stream and "Post Vincennes" due north to the terri- torial line between the United States and Canada, should, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory and be called Illinois, with the seat of government at Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi river, until it should be otherwise ordered. By this law, all of what is now Wisconsin was transferred from In- diana territory to that of Illinois, except that portion lying east of the meridian line drawn through Vincennes.
Upon the admission of Illinois into the Union, in 1818, all "the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio," lying west of Michigan territory and north of the states of Indiana and Illinois, was attached to and made a part of Michigan territory, by which act the whole of the present state of Wisconsin came under the jurisdiction of the latter. The territory within what are now the limits of Milwaukee county thus became a part of the territory of Michigan. It was incumbent, therefore, upon the governor of Michigan, Lewis Cass, to at once form new counties out of the area thus added to his territory, and to provide for their organiza- tion. This he proceeded to do by issuing proclamations, in one of which the county of Brown was formed, as follows: To include the arca east of a line drawn due north and south through the middle of the portage between the Fox river of Green bay and the Wisconsin, bounded on the north by the county of Michillimack-
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
inac, on the east by Lake Michigan, on the south by the state of Illinois, and on the west by the line above described. The seat of justice of Brown county was established at the village of Green Bay.
In order to understand what extent of country was, by this proclamation, formed into a separate county, to be called the county of Brown, it is necessary to know that the southern limits of the county of Michillimackinac, as established by the governor on the same date, ran across from Lake Michigan to the Missis- sippi. east and west, near the northern limits of the present county of Barron. It will be seen that the territory now comprised in Mil- waukee county was a part of this tract, and it remained a part of Brown county until 1834, when Milwaukee county was created, comprising all that district of country bounded north by the line between townships eleven and twelve north (the line being just north of West Bend), east by Lake Michigan, south by the state of Illinois, and west by the line which now separates Green and Rock counties, extending north until it intercepted the northern boundary between townships eleven and twelve. Milwaukee county remained attached to Brown county for judicial purposes until Aug. 25, 1835, when an act was passed by the territorial legis- lature giving it an independent organization. The territorial legis- lature. at the session which convened on Oct. 25, 1836, subdivided all the terrotiry south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers into counties, the boundaries of which were mainly like those of the existing counties, with a few exceptions, among which is that Milwaukee county as then formed was co-extensive with the pres- ent boundaries of Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. In 1846 Waukesha county was created by taking from Milwaukee all of the territory west of range 21. This reduced Milwaukee county in size and left it with limits exactly the same as they are today.
The prospective admission of the state of Michigan into the Union, to include all that part of the territory lying east of Lake Michigan, caused the territorial council to adopt a memorial, ask- ing Congress for the formation of a new territory, to include all of Michigan territory not to be admitted as a state. In compliance with this request the territory of Wisconsin was created by act of Congress of April 20, 1836, to take effect from and after July 3, following, and then began the territorial government, with a legis- lative body, governor, etc.
A special session of the territorial legislature, to take action concerning the admission of Wisconsin into the Union, began Oct.
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18, 1847, and a law was passed for the holding of a second conven- tion to frame a constitution. At a previous session a constitutional convention had been ordered, but the product of its deliberations had not met with the approval of the people of the territory and had been defeated at an election. The result of the labors of the second constitutional convention was the formation of a constitu- tion, which, being submitted to the people on the second Monday of March, 1848, was duly ratified, and on May 29, of the same year, by act of Congress, Wisconsin became a state.
The public domain of the new state was classified as "Congress Lands," so called because they are sold to purchasers by the im- mediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are or may be. from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the expense of the national govern- ment. The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. In addition to these divisions, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast quarter section, southeast quarter section, etc. And again these quarter sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter section and west half quarter section, containing eighty acres each. It was not until about the time that Wisconsin was formed into a separate territory that surveys were ordered in this section of the state. For this tract a base line was run, corresponding with the northern boundary line of the state of Illinois, on or near the parallel of 42 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude. The ranges were numbered east and west from the fourth meridian, which now forms the eastern boundary of Grant county, and the townships were num- bered north from the base.
With the exception of some private land claims at and near Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, which had been confirmed by the general government, none of the public lands within the limits of Wisconsin had been disposed of previous to 1834. By an act of Congress approved June 26, 1834, it was enacted that "all that tract north of the state of Illinois, west of Lake Michigan, south and southeast of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, included in the pres- ent Territory of Michigan, shall be divided by a north and south line drawn from the northern boundary of Illinois along the range of township line next west of Fort Winnebago, to the Wisconsin river, and be called. the one on the west side the Wisconsin, and
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
that on the east side the Green Bay land districts." Two years later the Green Bay district was "divided by a line commencing on the western boundary of said district, and running thence east, be- tween townships ten and eleven, to the line between ranges seven- ten and eighteen east; thence north to the line between townships twelve and thirteen ; thence east to Lake Michigan," and the coun- try south of this line was called the Milwaukee land district. Some of the public domain had been surveyed previous to 1834 and the surveys were afterwards rapidly prosecuted, and the permanent ownership of the country speedily passed from the government to individuals, and settlements extended in every direction. It might be added that the land within the limits of Milwaukee county was sold by the Federal government at the statutory price of $1.25 per acre. Fractional townships seven, eight, nine and ten, of range 22, in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties, embracing almost the entire city of Milwaukee, were offered for sale at Green Bay, Aug. 31, 1835.
Early provisions were made for the support of free schools, and Congress reserved one-thirty-sixth part of all lands lying north- west of the Ohio river for their maintenance. Passing through the varied experiences of speculation, as the territorial era and the early years of statehood passed, the question of school lands was finally systematized, and the lands became the nucleus of the pres- ent magnificent school fund of the state.
K
MILWAUKEE COUNTY COURT HOUSE
CHAPTER IV.
ORGANIZATION.
ACT CREATING THE COUNTY-ACT ORGANIZING THE COUNTY-MODE OF IIOLDING ELECTIONS-FIRST SET OF OFFICIALS-PERSONAL MENTION- NARRATIVE OF ALBERT FOWLER-EARLY ELECTIONS-CENSUS OF 1836.
We will now return and take up events incidental to the formation, organization and development of Milwaukee county. During the early part of the year 1834, and through the summer following, the question of a new county was canvassed, and although there were but few residents in the district in question, at a special session of the Michigan territorial legislature, on Sept. 6, 1834, an act was passed entitled "An Act to establish the boundaries of the counties of Brown and Iowa, and to lay off the county of Milwaukee." The act provided as follows :
"Section I. That all that district of country bounded north by the county of Michilimacinac, west by the Wisconsin river, south by the line between townships eleven and twelve north in the Green Bay land district, and east by a line drawn due north, through the middle of Lake Michigan, until it strikes the southern boundary of the county of Mich- ilimacinac, shall constitute the county of Brown.
"Sec. 2. All that district of country bounded north by the mid- dle of the Wisconsin river, west by the Mississippi, south by the north boundary of Illinois, and east by the principal meridian dividing the Green Bay and Wisconsin land districts [this was the range line between ranges eight and nine east] shall constitute the county of Iowa.
"Sec. 3. All that district of country bounded north by the county of Brown, east by the eastern boundary of Illinois extended, south by the state of Illinois and west by the county of Iowa, shall con- stitute the county of Milwaukee.
"Sec. 4. The county of Milwaukee is hereby attached to the county of Brown for judicial purposes."
4
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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY.
Milwaukee remained under the jurisdiction of Brown county until Aug. 25. 1835, when it was organized and took its place among the separate and distinct political divisions of the state of Wisconsin.
As there has been no event of greater importance to the county or its people than that which gave it an organized existence, it is deemed proper that the essential portions of the enactment which created the county government should be given. The act was approved on Aug. 25, 1835, and was entitled "An Act to organize the counties of Allegan and Milwaukee." The first eight sections of the act pertain to the organi- zation of Allegan county, Michigan, and hence has no place in this con- nection, but the ninth section reads as follows :
"Sec. 9. That the county of Milwaukee shall be, and the same is hereby declared to be organized, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to the same rights and privileges, in all respects whatever, with the inhabi- tants of other organized counties within the said territory.
"Sec. 10. There shall be a county court established in the said county, which court shall hold one term on the first Monday of May, and one term on the first Monday of October, in each and every year, at the village of Milwaukee, which is hereby declared to be the county seat of said county.
"Sec. II. The county clerks of said counties of Allegan and Milwaukee, shall be ex-officio register of deeds in and for said counties until a register shall be elected according to law."
The mode of holding elections in the county was provided as fol- lows : A majority of the judges of the county court were authorized to designate as many places in the county, in addition to those provided by law, as they deemed expedient, where the electors of said county might meet for the purpose of voting for delegate to Congress and members of the legislative council, and it was made the duty of the sheriff of the county to publish a notification thereof. On the day and at either of the places so designated, a majority of the electors present were in- structed to choose a moderator, viva voce, who, together with any two justices of the peace of the county, should be inspectors of said election, and being first sworn, should proceed to open the polls, receive and can- vass votes, and make returns thereof, and do all other acts or things in the same manner that inspectors of elections are authorized and re- quired to do. The clerk of the county was required to receive the state- ment of votes, which were to be transmitted to him by such inspectors, and the votes polled at any such election were to be calculated and ascer- tained by the board of canvassers for the county, and included in the general estimate of votes given in the county.
During this same session of the Michigan legislature, and in fact on
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the same day upon which the act organizing Milwaukee county was approved, Gov. Stevens T. Mason, "the boy governor" of the territory of Michigan, appointed and commissioned the following gentlemen as the first set of officials for the county: Chief Justice, William Clark ; asso- ciates, Joel Sage and James Griffin ; county clerk, Albert Fowler ; sheriff, Benoni W. Finch : judge of probate, Gilbert Knapp. Upon the same date the governor also commissioned the following named gentlemen to serve as justices of the peace : Benjamin Felch, John Bullen, Jr., William See, Joel Sage, Symmes Butler, Henry Sanderson, and William Clark. Of the last-named gentleman, who served in the dual judicial capacity of justice of the peace and chief justice of the county court, but little is known. His name seems to have been lost to the memory of the other early settlers in the years immediately following, during which history of the village and county was so rapidly made. But Dr. Enoch Chase, in one of his reminiscences, is authority for the statement that Dr. Wil- liam Clark was the first Angle-Saxon to die in Milwaukee, and that he died in the spring of 1836. Mr. Clark also served as inspector of com- mon schools for the township of Milwaukee, being chosen at the organi- zation of the township. There is no further record to be found of him, but he was probably the same man who served as chief justice, and if só it will be seen that his term of office was short. In fact this so-called "county court" had but a brief existence, as in the act of Congress organ- izing the territory of Wisconsin it was provided that "the judicial power of the said territory shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and in justices of the peace," thus abolishing the county court over which Mr. Clark had been chosen to preside, and which existed only in name, as no catises were ever known to have come before it for adjudication.
Albert Fowler, who was appointed as the first county clerk, and who also was commissioned as the first justice of the peace in Mil- waukee county, was born at Tyngham, Mass., Sept. 7. 1802. From there he came to Chicago, at which place he remained a short time, and then removed to Milwaukee, arriving on Nov. 18, 1833, and entered the em- ploy of Solomon Juneau as a clerk. In fact he was the first white man, of Angle-Saxon blood, to settle in Milwaukee, and as has been stated, he was the first law officer appointed to hold court in Milwaukee county, his jurisdiction at the time of his appointment as justice of the peace extending over nearly half of what is now the state of Wisconsin. In accordance with legislative enactment, when he received the appointment as county clerk, he also became, ex-officio, the first register of deeds of the county, and he held many town and county offices during pioneer days, being one of the most honored citizens of the county. He was a
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member of the second convention, in 1847, for framing the state con- stitution, the one that was adopted by the people, and six years later, in 1853, he removed to Rockford, Ill., where he resided until his death, that event occurring on April 12, 1883. He was three times elected to the mayoralty of Rockford. We have taken the liberty to quote somewhat extensively from a "narrative" of Mr. Fowler, which was published in James S. Buck's "Pioneer History of Milwaukee," as it gives some in- teresting facts concerning affairs incident to the time of which we now write :
"Having acquired a few hundred dollars by speculating in corner lots, and trading with the Indians at Chicago during the summer and autumn of 1833, I left during the early part of November, of that year, in company with R. J. Currier, Andrew J. Lansing, and Quartus G. Car- ley, for Milwaukee. The journey passed without further incident than the difficulty experienced in getting through a country with a team, where neither roads nor bridges existed, until the evening of the 12th of November, 1833, when we were encamped on the banks of Root river, and on which occasion the great meteoric display occurred which so alarmed the Indians, and has become a matter of historical remark to this day.
"We pursued our journey the day following, I being compelled to swim Root river no less than three times in getting over our baggage and team, although the weather was so cold as to freeze our water- soaked clothing. At Skunk Grove we found Col. Geo. H. Walker, who had a small store of Indian goods, and was trading there. We reached Milwaukee on the 18th of November, 1833.
*
"After our arrival in Milwaukee, my three companions and myself took possession of an old log cabin, where we lived during the winter of 1833-4, doing our own cooking ; amusing ourselves as best we could, there being no other white men in the place during that winter, except- ing Solomon Juneau.
"In the spring of 1834, my companions went up the river to the school section and made a claim, upon which they afterwards built a mill ; and I went into Mr. Juneau's employ, kept his books and accompa- nied him in his trading expeditions among the Indians. I soon learned to speak the Pottawattomie and Menomonee languages with considera- ble fluency ; dressed in Indian fashion, and was known among them as Mis-kee-o-quoneu, which signified Red Cap, a name given me because I wore a red cap when I first came among them. I remained in Mr. Juneau's employ until 1836. After he was appointed postmaster, I
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ORGANIZATION
assisted him in the post-office, and prepared the first quarterly report ever made out at that office.
"During the latter part of the summer of 1835, James Duane Doty and Morgan L. Martin went as delegates from the territory of Wisconsin to a session of the council, which was held at Detroit. They brought me, upon their return, a commission as justice of the peace, also as clerk of the court, but of what court was not very clearly de- fined, there being none organized at Milwaukee at this time. The com- mission I still have in my possession ; it is signed by Stevens T. Mason, Governor of the territory of Michigan.
"My commission as justice of the peace is the oldest in Wisconsin, outside of Brown and Crawford counties. Its jurisdiction extended over nearly one-half the state-that part lying east of Rock river."
Benoni W. Finch, who served as the first sheriff of Milwaukee county, in the territorial era, was a dealer in general merchandise in the pioneer days of Milwaukee, and was a man of much prominence among the early settlers. At the first election held in the newly organized county, Sept. 19, 1835, he was chosen commissioner of roads, director of the poor, and fence reviewer-all of these he performed in addition to his duties as sheriff. The latter, however, were not very onerous. On Oct. 7, 1835, Mr. Finch appeared before Albert Fowler, county clerk, and took the oath of office, but it seems that he did not serve very long, at least not until his "successor was elected and qualified," for in the first issue of the Milwaukee Advertiser, July 14, 1836, the following notice is given :
"A meeting of the citizens of Milwaukee will be held, on Saturday evening, at the Belle Vieu Hotel, for the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning the governor to appoint two or more justices of the peace, a judge of probate and a sheriff for the township and county of Milwaukee."
Mr. Finch filled a number of other minor offices, and in 1836 started the well known brick yard in the fourth ward of Milwaukee at the foot of Fourteenth street. In the summer of the same year he also built the second brick dwelling in the embryo city, the same being lo- cated on the south side of Clybourn street, at the foot of Fourteenth street.
At the same session of the legislative council of Michigan that wit- nessed the passing of the act providing for the organization of Milwau- kee county, an act was also passed, on Aug. 22, fixing the first Monday of October as the time for holding the election of delegate to Congress and members of the Legislative Council. But in the meantime penin- sular Michigan had adopted a state constitution and formed a state
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government ; and although it was not admitted into the Union until Jan- uary, 1837, in consequence of its boundary troubles with Ohio, yet it chose to abandon its territorial form of government and assume the powers of a sovereign state, as it clearly had a right to do under the Or- dinance of 1787. But that portion of Michigan territory not within the limits of the new state of Michigan still remained vested with all the governmental powers of the Territory of Michigan, and as the "contin- gent remainder" of the ancient territory consisted of the counties of Brown, Milwaukee, Iowa, Crawford, Dubuque, and Des Moines, every- thing was now in readiness for the inhabitants of these counties to elect from among themselves a delegate to Congress, members of the Legisla- tive Council, and to assume to themselves the legislative powers of the government of the territory of Michigan. In the legislative apportion- ment the counties of Brown and Milwaukee were placed together in one district and were given five members of the council. In accordance with the legislative enactment organizing the county, an election was ordered held at the following places: Milwaukee, at the house of Solomon Juneau : Root River Rapids, at the house of William See; Mouth of Root river (Racine), at the store of Capt. Gilbert Knapp; and at the Forks of Pike or Pickerel river (Kenosha), at the house of James Griffin. At that election there were the five official positions mentioned above (not including that of delegate to Congress), the aspirants for which were required to run the gauntlet of popular approval and have their merits passed upon at the ballot box. The election was held "on the first Monday in October," 1835, as ordered, and the balloting resulted in the choice of the following gentlemen, who were the first to don the official garments at the behest of vox populi in Milwaukee county : John Lawe and William B. Slaughter, who resided in Brown county ; and George H. Walker. Gilbert Knapp, and Benjamin H. Edgerton, who claimed their abode in what was then the large domain of Milwaukee county.
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