USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 12
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The form of government provided for the Territory of Wis- consin was practically that of the second grade. The legislative power was vested in a governor and a legislative assembly, con- sisting of a council of thirteen members and a house of repre- sentatives of twenty-six members.
Michigan was admitted as a state by an act of congress, ap- proved January 26, 1837.
At the time that the territory, now the state of Wisconsin, became a portion of the Territory of Michigan, Lewis Cass was governor of that territory, having been appointed to that office by President Madison, October 29, 1813. He continued to hold the office of governor until 1831, when he was appointed secretary of war by President Jackson. He was the son of Jonathan and Mary Gilman Cass and the grandson of Joseph Cass, of Exeter, N. H. When the war of the Revolution began, Jonathan Cass entered the colonial army and was engaged in the battles of Bun- ker Hill, Princeton, Trenton and Monmouth, and was promoted to a captaincy and afterwards commissioned as major.
Lewis Cass was born at Exeter, N. H., October 9, 1782. He received an academic education and spent a few months teaching in an academy at Wilmington, Del., and then removed to Mar- ietta, in the territory northwest of the Ohio. Here he pursued the study of law and was admitted to practice in 1802, receiving the first certificate issued under the new constitution of the state of Ohio. He was elected prosecuting attorney in Muskingum county in 1804 and to the legislature in 1806. When the war of 1812 with Great Britain began, Ohio raised 1,200 volunteers, who were divided into three regiments. Cass was commissioned col- onel of the third regiment. He was ordered to Detroit and
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HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
reached there with his regiment on July 5, 1812. General Wil- liam Hull was then in command at that post.
On the 16th of August, General IIull surrendered his army and the fort at Detroit to General Broek, the commander of the British forces in Canada. The surrender included Cass and his regiment. So indignant and exasperated was Cass at the cow- ardly surrender by General Hull that he broke his sword rather than ingloriously surrender it to the enemy.
He was promoted and commissioned as major general. On being paroled he again entered into active service under General Harrison, and served as his aid-de-camp in the battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed.
In June, 1836, he was appointed minister to France. He was elected a United States senator February 4, 1845, and was nomi- nated by the democratic party for president of the United States at the convention of that party in May, 1848, and was defeated by General Zachary Taylor. He was appointed secretary of state by President Buchanan. March 4, 1857, but resigned in December, 1860, and died June 17, 1866, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was governor of Michigan territory seventeen years and eight months.
After the passage of the act of congress ereating the Territory of Wisconsin, and on April 30, 1836, President Jackson appointed General Henry Dodge, of Dodgeville, Wis., governor of the new territory ; John S. Horner, of Virginia, secretary; Charles Dunn, of Illinois, chief justice; David Irwin, of Virginia, and William C. Frazer, of Pennsylvania, associate judges.
On July 4, 1836, at Mineral Point in the new territory, the governor, secretary and judges took the oath of office and en- tered upon the discharge of their duties.
Prior to September 9, 1836, Governor Dodge had caused a census of the territory to be taken. By this census it appeared that the population of that portion of the territory east of the Mississippi river was as follows in
Brown county 2,706
Crawford county
850
Iowa county 5,234
Milwaukee county
2,893
Making a total population of. 11,683
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
On September 9, Governor Dodge issued a proclamation ap- portioning the members of the council and house of representa- tives among the counties that had been organized in the territory, directing that an election of members of the council and house of representatives be held in the different counties on the second Monday of October, 1836, and requiring the members elected to convene at Belmont in the county of Iowa on October 25, next ensuing, for the purpose of organizing the first session of the . legislative assembly of the territory.
The territory now embraced in Rock county was then a por- tion of Milwaukee county, and the proclamation of Governor Dodge apportioned to Milwaukee county two members of the council and three members of the house of representatives. The members of the council elected were Gilbert Knapp and Alanson Sweet. The members of the house of representatives were Wil- liam B. Sheldon, Madison W. Cornwall and Charles Durkee.
On October 25, 1836, Governor Dodge, by proclamations, de- clared duly elected members of the council and of the house of representatives, the persons for whom a majority of votes had been cast at such election, and on the same day the first legisla- tive assembly of Wisconsin convened at Belmont, in what was then the county of Iowa, but now the county of LaFayette, and organized by the election of Henry S. Baird as president of the council, and Peter H. Engle as speaker of the house of represen- tatives.
By act No. 2 of this session, approved November 15, 1836, the territory was divided into three judicial districts. The counties of Crawford and Iowa constituted the first district, the counties west of the Mississippi. the second district, and the counties of Brown and Milwaukee the third district. Chief Justice Charles Dunn was assigned to the first district, Associate Judge David Irwin to the second district, and Associate Judge William C. Frazer to the third district.
By act No. 11, approved December 3, 1836, the seat of govern- ment of the territory was located "at the town of Madison, be- tween the third and fourth of the four lakes, on the corner of sections 13, 14, 23 and 24 in township 7 north, or range 9 east."
By act No. 28, approved December 7, 1836. townships 1, 2, 3 and 4 north, of ranges 11, 12, 13 and 14 east, were constituted a
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HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
separate county by the name of Rock, "and attached to Racine county for judicial purposes."
By act No. 39, approved December 8, 1836, the existing laws of Michigan, with slight changes, were declared to be in force in the new Territory of Wisconsin.
The second session of the legislative assembly convened at Burlington, now in the state of Iowa, on November 6, 1837, and remained in session until January 20, 1838, and then adjourned to meet at the same place on the second Monday of June, 1838.
Act No. 7 of this session provided for the election in each county of a board of commissioners for the transaction of the business of the county, consisting of three qualified electors who should be a body corporate and politie by the name of the board of commissioners of the county in which they were elected and who, as such board of commissioners, were authorized to transact the business of the county.
Act No. 9 of this session authorized the location of a territorial road from Milwaukee to Janesville and appointed three com- missioners to survey and locate it.
By act No. 12, approved December 7, 1837, the seat of justice of Rock county was "established on the fraction of land, on the east side of Rock river, it being a part of the northwest quarter of section 36, in town 3 north, of range 12 east."
By section 25 of act No. 18, approved January 2, 1838, it was declared "That the country included within the boundary lines of Rock county be and the same is hereby set off into a separate town by the name of Rock and that the polls of election shall be opened at the house of Henry F. Janes, in Janesville."
Act No. 27, approved January 8, 1838, established a terri- torial road from Racine to Janesville.
Act No. 37, approved January 12, 1838, abolished imprison- ment for debt, and repealed all laws against the body.
Act No. 42, approved January 15, 1838, authorized H. F. Janes, his heirs and assigns, to establish and keep a ferry across Rock river at Janesville, in Rock county, on section 36, of town 3 north, of range 12 cast, for ten years from and after the passage of the act, provided, however, that the proprietor of such ferry should at all times cross free all grand and petit jurors going to and returning from court.
A special session of the legislative assembly of the territory
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
convened at Burlington, in what is now the state of Iowa, on June 11, 1838, and continued in session until June 25, 1838.
By act No. 5 of this session, approved June 21, 1838, town- ships 1, 2, 3 and 4 north, of range 10 east, were added to and made a part of Rock county. The boundaries of Rock county have not been changed since the passage of the above act.
By an act of congress, approved June 12, 1838, it was de- clared that from and after the third day of July, 1838, all that part of the Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Missis- sippi river and west of a line drawn due north from the head waters or sources of the Mississippi to the territorial line, should. for the purposes of temporary government, be and constitute a separate territorial government by the name of Iowa, and that from the said third day of July, the territorial government of Wisconsin should extend only to that part of the territory of Wisconsin which lies east of the Mississippi river. The Territory of Wisconsin as bounded by the above act embraced all of that portion of the present state of Minnesota lying east of the Mis- sissippi, being the section of country between the Mississippi on the west and the St. Croix river and Lake Superior on the east, including the city of St. Paul and a portion of Minneapolis.
Congress by an act approved May 2, 1824, granted to the several counties in the states and territories of the United States, a quarter section of land for the establishment of seats of justice thereon.
Section 1 of act No. 22 of the territorial legislature of Wis- consin for 1839, entitled "An Act to Organize Rock County and for Other Purposes Relating to the same," approved Febru- ary 13, 1839, provided that, from and after the passage of that act, "the county of Rock shall be and remain, to all intents and purposes, an organized county of this territory, and shall have all the rights and privileges which organized counties in the same, of right have."
By the second section of this act an election of county officers was authorized to be held on the first Monday of March, 1839.
By the third section of the act the county commissioners of Rock county were authorized to preempt, under the act of con- gress above mentioned, a quarter section of land in that county and procure the title thereof for the county.
At an election of county officers held on said first Monday of
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HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
March, 1839, William S. Murray, William Spaulding and E. J. Hazzard were elected county commissioners for Rock county.
On September 6, 1839, W. S. Murray, William Spaulding and E. J. Hazzard, as such commissioners, in pursuance of the pro- visions of said aet No. 22, entered, for Roek county, the east half of the northeast quarter and fractional lots numbered 5 and 6, in section 36. in town No. 3 north, of range No. 12 east. On May 14, 1840, the commissioners who entered said land caused a por- tion thereof, lying along the easterly bank of Rock river, to be platted into blocks and lots and the plat to be recorded in the office of the register of deeds for Roek county. This plat is known as the "original plat of the village of Janesville." In 1842 a court house was erected on the land designated as a park on such plat.
The territorial legislature, at its session in 1843, passed an act, approved April 1, authorizing William H. H. Bailey, A. Hyatt Smith and Charles Stevens, their associates and assigns, to erect and maintain a dam across Rock river within the present city of Janesville.
The dam was erected in pursuance of this act and is what is known as the upper dam in the city of Janesville. This aet was amended by an act of the legislature of 1846 by repealing section 2, and substituting a new section providing for a head of four feet and a loek to be completed as soon as Rock river should be improved and rendered navigable from the southerly line of the territory to the village of Janesville.
The act of April 1, 1843, authorizing the construction of a dam across Rock river at Janesville, also authorized Ira Hersey, A. L. Field and their associates, successors and assigns, to build and maintain a dam across Rock river at Beloit, and gave them the same powers and privileges as were given to the proprietors of the dam at Janesville. This dam was construeted in 1844 and creates the water-power now in use at Beloit.
At the same session of the legislature, by an aet approved April 7, Clouden Stoughton and Luke Stoughton were authorized to build and maintain a dam across Rock river on section 21, in the town of Fulton. This dam is now known as the Indian Ford dam.
The act last above mentioned also authorized Anson W. Pope, and Virgil Pope to construet and maintain a dam aeross Roek
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
river on seetions 14 and 15 in the town of Janesville. This dam was constructed and maintained for several years until the dam in Janesville was raised and set the water back upon it and de- stroyed its value, when it was abandoned. The dam was known as the Dolsen dam.
By the same act, Anson W. Pope, David Hume and Virgil Pope and their associates were incorporated by the name of the Rock River Bridge Company with power to build a bridge aeross Rock river at Hume's ferry in Rock county and charge the same toll as the Beloit Bridge Company.
By section 2 of an act of the territorial legislature, approved April 10, 1843, all of township No. 3, north of range 12 east, lying west of Rock river, was annexed to and made a part of the town of Janesville.
By another aet of the territorial legislature, approved April 12, 1843, commissioners were appointed to alter the road from Beloit to Madison; to lay out a road from Janesville to Ellis's Mill in Walworth county, and a road from Janesville to Mineral Point.
Prior to February 24, 1845, the counties of Rock and Wal- worth constituted one election district. The territorial legisla- ture of 1845 passed an act dividing the election district and con- stituting Rock county an election district with authority to elect one member of the eouneil and three members of the house of representatives.
By an act of the territorial legislature, approved February 21, 1848, A. Hyatt Smith and Ira Miltimore and their associates were authorized to erect and maintain a dam across Rock river in sections 1 and 2, in town No. 2 north, of range No. 12 east. This act was amended by chapter 214 of the laws of the state of Wis- consin. The dam was constructed and is now known as the lower or Monterey dam in the city of Janesville.
By an act of the territorial legislature, approved March 8, 1848, all that part of the town of Center in Rock county, em- braced in township No. 2 north, of range No. 11 east, was organ- ized into a separate town by the name of Plymouth.
By an act approved March 11, 1848, the north half of town- ship No. 2 north, of range No. 13 east, and all of township No. 3, in said range No. 13 east, was organized into a town by the name of Harmony.
JOHN HACKETT.
HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY 123
On January 14, 1846, Morgan L. Martin, the delegate of the territory of Wisconsin in congress, introduced in the house of representatives a bill, authorizing the people of the Territory of Wisconsin to adopt a constitution and form a state govern- ment. The boundaries of the new state as fixed by this bill were the same as those of the territory of Wisconsin. The bill was referred to the committee on territories, of which Stephen A. Douglas was chairman. That committee reported the bill with amendments, changing the northwestern boundary of the terri- tory as fixed by the territorial act of 1836 to its present location, thus excluding from the new state so much of the Territory of Wisconsin as lies west of the St. Croix river and a line from it to the St. Louis river and west and northwest of Lake Superior. The delegate to congress strenuously objected to the amendment of the bill changing the boundaries, but the bill as reported by the committee was passed and became a law on August 6, 1846. For the third time congress disregarded the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, and deprived this state of a valuable portion of its domain.
The fifth legislative assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin met at Madison on the fifth day of January, 1846. The first act passed at that session was entitled "An aet in relation to the formation of a state government in Wisconsin." It was approved January 31, 1846. The act authorized the taking of a census and the election of delegates to a constitutional convention. The census was taken and delegates were elected in pursuance of the act.
The constitutional convention met at Madison October 5, 1846. The delegates from Rock county were David Noggle, A. Hyatt Smith, S. P. Hammond, James Chamberlain, Joseph S. Pierce, George B. Hall and David L. Mills. The convention adopted a constitution which was submitted to the eleetors of the territory and rejected by them.
On September 27, 1847, the governor issued a proclamation, calling a special session of the legislative assembly, to be held at Madison, October 18, 1847, to take action in relation to adopt- ing a constitution and forming a state, and as to its admission into the Union. The members of the legislature met, in pursuance of the proclamation and, on October 27, passed an act providing for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention to be
..
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
held on November 29, 1847, and apportioning the delegates to the different counties. The election was held. the delegates were elected and met in convention on December 15. The members from Rock county were A. M. Carter, Joseph Colley, Paul Cran- dall. Ezra A. Foot, Louis P. Harvey and E. V. Whiton. The con- vention at once proceeded to prepare a constitution. It completed its work on February 1, 1848. This constitution was submitted to the electors of the territory on March 13, and was approved. Section 1 of an act of congress, approved May 29, 1848, declared, "That the state of Wisconsin be and is hereby admitted to be one of the United States of America and is hereby admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all re- spects whatever." This act went into effect on its approval by the president, and terminated the territorial period of Wisconsin.
Upon the approval of this act the constitution adopted by the convention of 1848 and ratified by the electors became operative. An election of state officers had been held on May 8, and on June 7 the officers and members of the legislature chosen at such election took their oaths of office and the new state government went into effect.
Colonel Henry Dodge was the first and also the last territorial governor of Wisconsin. He was one of the most distinguished of the territorial governors. He held the office of governor from July 4, 1836, to October 8, 1841, and from May 13, 1845, to June 7, 1848, when he was superseded by the governor elected pursuant to the constitution of the new state. He was the son of Israel Dodge of Connecticut, who was an officer of the colonial army, in the war of the Revolution. Governor Dodge was born in 1782 at Vincennes in that portion of the Northwest territory now em- braced in the state of Indiana. Early in life he removed to Mis- souri territory and in 1808 was elected to the office of sheriff of Cape Girardeau county. In 1812 he was chosen captain of a mounted rifle company. In September of the same year he was appointed a major of militia. In 1814 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and in the same year he removed to what is now Wisconsin and settled near Dodgeville. He was appointed major of the United States rangers in June, 1832, and was in active service in the Black Hawk War. On March 4, 1833, he was appointed colonel of the First dragoons. When the Terri- tory of Wisconsin was formed. he was appointed by President
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HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF ROCK COUNTY
Jackson its first governor. He held that office until September 30, 1841, when he was elected a delegate to congress from the new territory. He was reelected as delegate in 1843. On April 8, 1845, he was again appointed governor of Wisconsin territory and held that office until the admission of Wisconsin into the Union as a state. When the new state was organized, he was elected one of the senators to represent Wisconsin in the senate of the United States. He was reelected senator in 1851 and held the office until his term expired in 1867. He died at the residence of his son, Hon. Augustus C. Dodge, in Burlington, Iowa, June 19, 1867.
The several towns in Rock county were created by acts of the territorial legislature as follows :
Avon, February 11, 1847.
Beloit, February 17, 1842.
Bradford, February 2, 1846.
Center. February 17, 1842.
Clinton, February 17, 1842.
Fulton, March 21, 1843. Harmony, March 11, 1848.
Janesville, March 14, 1843.
Johnstown, March 21, 1843.
LaPrairie, March 26, 1849.
Lima, February 24, 1845. Magnolia, February 2, 1846.
Milton, February 17, 1842.
Newark, February 2, 1846.
Plymouth, March 8, 1848.
Porter, February 2, 1847.
Rock, March 8, 1838
Spring Valley, February 2, 1846.
Turtle, February 2, 1846.
Union, February 17, 1842.
By chapter 93, of the private and local laws of 1853, approved March 19, 1853, the city of Janesville was incorporated and in- cluded in its limits sections 1 and 2, in township 2, and sections 25, 26. 35 and 36, in township 3 north, of range 12 east.
By chapter 452, of the private and local laws of 1856, ap- proved March 31, 1856, the city of Beloit was incorporated, and
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
includes in its limits sections 25, 26, 35, 36, and the east half of sections 27 and 34 in township 1 north, of range 12 east.
By chapter 86, of the laws of 1883, the city of Edgerton was incorporated.
The city of Evansville first became incorporated as a village by an act of the legislature, approved February 28, 1867, and afterwards, on January 15, 1896, became incorporated as a city under the general statutes of the state.
The village of Clinton in the town of Clinton became incor- porated on January 21, 1882, under the general statutes.
The village of Orfordville in the town of Spring Valley be- came incorporated on June 30, 1900, under the general statutes.
The village of Milton in the town of Milton also became in- corporated on September 17, under the general statutes.
But little more than seven decades have passed since the first hearth stone was laid in Rock county. Within that comparative- ly brief period it has become one of the most prosperous and highly developed counties of the state, with a population of nearly 60,000. The valuation of its taxable property for the pres- ent year, as fixed by the tax commission of the state, is $73,657,- 802. This valuation indicates an actual value of about $100,- 000,000. It ranks as the third county in the state in the value of its assessable property, being exceeded only by the counties of Milwaukee and Dane. Within the county of Milwaukee is the metropolis of the state, a beautiful city with a population of about 400,000. In comparing Rock county with the county of Dane it should be remembered that within that county is the city of Madison, the capital of the state, a city "beautiful for situa- tion," with a population of nearly 30,000, and that the county contains thirty-five townships, while Rock county has but twenty. The average valuation of the property per township in Rock county is higher than the average valuation of property per town- ship in Dane county. Rock county has within its borders four thriving cities and several prosperous villages. The residents of the county have reason to be highly gratified with its growth and development and its high standing in the state.
VI. HISTORY OF BELOIT.
Before 1833 Rock River valley was the home of the red man; his lodges were on its bluffs or by the clear waters of the wind- ing stream, an unfailing source of food when he felt too indolent for the chase, and he looked upon and dreamed of this region, clad in the simple richness of its pristine beauty, as his perma- nent hunting ground. But there came a change; soon after the close of the Black Hawk War of 1832 the Indian occupants of the valley were transferred to distant reservations, and so far as man is concerned this whole region was for several years a solitude.
In connection with the first settlement of our Rock River valley, except the war which advertised it, there was little of adventure. But that there was no lack of all the heroic and homely virtues on the part of those first settlers is seen in the good work which they and their descendants have wrought. Our prosperity today is the result and outgrowth of the energy, in- dustry, frugality, patience, endurance and abiding faith of those who in past years planted here the seeds of our civilization. To them we of the present owe a debt of gratitude that we shall never be able fully to repay, but we show our gratitude by these records of remembrance.
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