USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 8
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58
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
The first charitable institution in Wisconsin, incorporated by the State, was the "Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Blind." A school for that unfortunate class had been opened in Janesville, in the latter part of 1859, receiving its support from the citizens of that place and vicinity. By an act of the legislature, approved February 9, 1850, this school was taken under the care of the Institute, to continue and maintain it, at Janesville, and to qualify, as far as might be, the blind of the State for the enjoyment of the blessings of a free government; for obtaining the means of subsistence; and for the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolving upon American citizens. It has since been supported from the treasury of the State. On the seventh of October, 1850, it was opened for the reception of pupils, under the direction of a board of trustees, appointed by the governor. The Institute, at the present time, has three departments: in one is given instruction such as is usually taught in common schools; in another, musical training is imparted; in a third, broom-making is taught to the boys,-sewing, knitting and various kinds of fancy work to the girls, and seating cane-bottomed chairs to both boys and girls. On the thirteenth of April, 1874, the building of the Institute was destroyed by fire. A new building has since been erected.
The taking of the census by the United States, this year, showed a population for Wisconsin of over three hundred and five thousand-the astonishing increase in two years of nearly ninety- five thousand ! In 1840, the population of Wisconsin Territory was only thirty thousand. This addition, in ten years, of two hundred and seventy-five thousand transcended all previous experience in the settlement of any portion of the New World, of the same extent of territory. It was the result of a steady and persistent flow of men and their families, seeking permanent homes in the young and rising State. Many were German, Scandinavian and Irish; but the larger proportion were, of course, from the Eastern and Middle States of the Union. The principal attractions of Wisconsin were the excellency and cheapness of its lands, its valuable mines of lead, its extensive forests of pine, and the unlimited water-power of its numerous streams.
By the Revised Statutes of 1849, Wisconsin was divided into three congressional districts- the second congressional apportionment-each of which was entitled to elect one representative in the congress of the United States. The counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Walworth and Racine constituted the first district; the counties of Rock, Green, La Fayette, Grant, Iowa, Dane, Sauk, Adams, Portage, Richland, Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix and La Pointe, the second district ; the counties of Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Brown, Winnebago, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Columbia, Dodge and Jefferson, the third district. At the general election in the Autumn of this year, Charles Durkee, of the first district; Benjamin C. Eastman, of the second ; and John B. Macy, of the third district, were elected to represent the State in the thirty-second congress of the United States. Durkee, it will be remembered, represented the same district in the previous congress : he ran the second time as an independent candidate. Eastman and Macy were elected upon democratic tickets. The General Government this year donated to the State all the swamp and overflowed lands within its boundaries.
The year 1850 to the agriculturist of Wisconsin was not one of unbounded prosperity, owing to the partial failure of the wheat crop. In the other branches of agriculture there were fair returns. The State was visited during the year by cholera ; not, however, to a very alarming extent.
The fourth session of the legislature of the State commenced on the 8th of January, 1851. Frederick W. Horn was elected speaker of the assembly. The majority in the legisla- ture was democratic. Governor Dewey, in his message, referred to the death of the president of the United States, Zachary Taylor; said that the treasury and finances of the State were in a
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WISCONSIN AS A STATE.
sound condition ; and then adverted to many topics of interest and importance to the people of Wisconsin. It was an able document. One of the important measures of the session was the election of an United States senator, in the place of Henry Dodge, whose term of office would expire on the 4th of March, next ensuing. In joint convention of the legislature held on the 20th of January, Dodge was re-elected for a full term of six years. On the 22d, the governor approved a joint resolution of the legislature, rescinding not only so much of the joint resolu- tion of the legislative assembly of Wisconsin, passed March 31, 1849, as censured Isaac J. Walker, but also the instructions in those resolutions relative to his resigning his seat in the senate of the United States.
Among the important bills passed at this session of the legislature was one providing for the location and erection of a State prison. Another one-the apportionment bill-was vetoed by the governor, and having been passed on the last day of the session, failed to become a law, The legislature adjourned on the eighteenth of March, 1851, after a session of seventy days.
On the Ist day of January, 1851, Timothy O. Howe took his seat as one of the associate judges of the supreme court, he having been elected judge of the fourth circuit in place of Alex- ander W. Stow. The office of chief justice of the supreme court, which had been filled by Judge Stow, therefore became vacant, and so remained until the commencement of the next term-June 18, 1851-when Levi Hubbell, judge of the second circuit, was, by the judges present, pursuant to the statute, elected to that office.
By an act of the legislature approved March 14, 1851, the location and erection of a State prison for Wisconsin was provided for-the point afterward determined upon as a suitable place for its establishment being Waupun, Dodge county. By a subsequent act, the prison was declared to be the general penitentiary and prison of the State for the reformation as well as for the punishment of offenders, in which were to be confined, employed at hard labor, and governed as provided for by the legislature, all offenders who might be committed and sentenced accord- ing to law, to the punishment of solitary imprisonment, or imprisonment therein at hard labor. The organization and management of this the first reformatory and penal State institution in Wisconsin, commenced and has been continued in accordance with the demands of an advanced civilization and an enlightened humanity.
On the 29th of September, 1851, Judge Hubbell was re-elected for the full term of six years as judge of the second judicial circuit, to commence January 1, 1852.
At the general election in November, 1851, Leonard J. Farwell was chosen governor ; Timothy Burns, lieutenant governor; Charles D. Robinson, secretary of State ; E. H. Janssen, State treasurer; E. Estabrook, attorney general; and Azel P. Ladd, superintendent of public instruction. All these officers were elected as democrats except Farwell, who ran as a whig ; his majority over D. A. J. Upham, democrat, was a little rising of five hundred.
THIRD ADMINISTRATION .- L. J. FARWELL, GOVERNOR-1852-1853.
Governor Farwell's administration commenced on the fifth day of January, 1852. Previous to this-on the third day of the month-Edward V. Whiton was chosen by the judges of the supreme court, chief justice, to succeed Judge Hubbell. On the fourteenth of that month, the legislature assembled at Madison. This was the beginning of the fifth annual session. James McM. Shafter was elected speaker of the assembly. In the senate, the democrats had a majority ; in the assembly, the whigs. The governor, in his message, recommended the memorial- izing of congress to cause the agricultural lands within the State to be surveyed and brought into market; to cause, also, the mineral lands to be surveyed and geologically examined, and offered for sale; and to make liberal appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors. The question of " bank or no bank " having been submitted to the people in November previous,
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
and decided in favor of banks, under the constitution, the power was thereby given to the legis- lature then in session to grant bank charters, or to pass a general banking law. Farwell recom- mended that necessary measures be taken to carry into effect this constitutional provision. A larger number of laws was passed at this session than at any previous one. By a provision of the constitution, the legislature was given power to provide by law, if they should think it expe- dient and necessary, for the organization of a separate supreme court, to consist of one chief justice and two associate justices, to be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at such time and in such manner as the legislature might provide. Under this authority, an act was passed at this session providing for the election of a chief justice and two associates, on the last Monday of the September following, to form a supreme court of the State, to supplant the old one, provision for the change being inserted in the constitution. There was also an act passed to apportion and district anew the members of the senate and assembly, by which the number was increased from eighty-five to one hundred and seven: twenty-five for the senate; eighty- two for the assembly. An act authorizing the business of banking passed the legislature and was approved by the governor, on the 19th of April. By this law, the office of bank-comptroller was created-the officer to be first appointed by the governor, and to hold his office until the first Monday in January, 1854. At the general election in the Fall of 1853, and every two years thereafter, the office was to be filled by vote of the people. Governor Farwell afterward, on the 20th of November, appointed James S. Baker to that office. The legislature adjourned on the nineteenth of April, 1852.
The second charitable institution incorporated by the State was the "Wisconsin Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." It was originally a private school for deaf mutes, near, and subsequently in, the village of Delavan, Walworth county. By an act of the legislature approved April 19, 1852, it was made the object and duty of the corporation to establish, con- tinue and maintain this school for the education of the deaf and dumb, "at or near the village of Delavan, to qualify, as near as might be, that unfortunate class of persons for the enjoyment of the blessings of a free government, obtaining the means of subsistence, and the discharge of those duties, social and political, devolving upon American citizens." It has since been sup- ported by annual appropriations made by the legislature. A complete organization of the school was effected in June, 1852, under the direction of a board of trustees appointed by the governor of the State. The institute has for its design the education of such children of the State as, on account of deafness, can not be instructed in common schools. Instruction is given by signs, by the manual alphabet, by written language, and to one class by articulation. Two trades are taught: cabinet-making and shoe-making.
During this year, considerable interest was manifested in the projecting of railroads. At the September election, E. V. Whiton was elected chief justice of the new supreme court and Samuel Crawford and Abram D. Smith associate justices. Under the law, the chief justice was to serve a term of four years from the first day of June next ensuing; while the two associates were to cast lots-one to serve for six years, the other for two years, from June 1, 1853. Craw- ford drew the short term-Smith the long term. At the subsequent general election for mem- bers to the thirty-third congress, Daniel Wells, Jr., was chosen from the first district, B. C. Eastman from the second; and J. B. Macy from the third district. All were democrats. A democratic electoral ticket was chosen at the same time. The electors cast their votes for Pierce and Butler.
During 1852, the citizens of Wisconsin enjoyed unusual prosperity in the ample products and remuneration of their industry and enterprise. Abundant harvests and high markets; ar increase in moneyed circulation, and the downward tendency of the rates of interest: a prevail- ing confidence among business men and in business enterprises; a continual accession to the
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WISCONSIN AS A STATE.
population of the State by immigration; the energetic prosecution of internal improvements under the skillful management of companies; the extension of permanent agricultural improve- ments; and the rapid growth of the various cities and villages; were among the encouraging prospects of the year.
The sixth session of the Wisconsin legislature commenced on the twelfth of January, 1853. On the twenty-sixth of the same month, William K. Wilson, of Milwaukee, preferred charges in the assembly against Levi Hubbell, judge of the second judicial circuit of the State, of divers acts of corruption and malfeasance in the discharge of the duties of his office. A resolu- tion followed appointing a committee to report articles of impeachment, directing the members thereof to go to the senate and impeach Hubbell. Upon the trial of the judge before the senate, he was acquitted. An act was passed to provide for the election of a State prison commis- sioner by the legislature at that session-to hold his office until the first day of the ensuing January. The office was then to be filled by popular vote at the general election in November, 1853-and afterwards biennially-the term of office to be two years from the first day of Jan- uary next succeeding the election by the people. On the 28th of March, the legislature, in joint convention, elected John Taylor to that office. The legislature adjourned on the fourth day of April until the sixth of the following June, when it again met, and adjourned sine die on the thirteenth of July, both sessions aggregating one hundred and thirty-one days.
By an act of the legislature approved February 9, 1853, the " Wisconsin State Agricultural Society," which had been organized in March, 1851, was incorporated, its object being to promote and improve the condition of agriculture, horticulture, and the mechanical, manufacturing and household arts. It was soon after taken under the fostering care of the State by an appropria- tion made by the legislature, to be expended by the society in such manner as it might deem best calculated to promote the objects of its incorporation; State aid was continued down to the commencement of the rebellion. No help was extended during the war nor until 1873; since which time there has been realized annually from the State a sum commensurate with its most pressing needs. The society has printed seventeen volumes of transactions and has held annually a State fair, except during the civil war. Besides these fairs, its most important work is the holding annually, at the capital of the State, a convention for the promotion of agriculture gen- erally. The meetings are largely participated in by men representing the educational and industrial interests of Wisconsin.
By an act of the legislature approved March 4, 1853, the "State Historical Society of Wisconsin " was incorporated-having been previously organized-the object being to collect, embody, arrange and preserve in authentic form, a library of books, pamphlets, maps, charts, manuscripts, papers, paintings, statuary and other materials illustrative of the history of the State; to rescue from oblivion the memory of its early pioneers; and to obtain and preserve narratives of their exploits, perils, and hardy adventures; to exhibit faithfully the antiquities, and the past and present condition, and resources of Wisconsin. The society was also author- ized to take proper steps to promote the study of history by lectures, and to diffuse and publish information relating to the description and history of the State. The legislature soon after took the society under its fostering care by voting a respectable sum for its benefit. Liberal State aid has been continued to the present time. The society, besides collecting a library of historical books and pamphlets the largest in the West, has published eight volumes of collections and a catalogue of four volumes. Its rooms are in the capitol at Madison, and none of its property can be alienated without the consent of the State. It has a valuable collection of painted por- traits and bound newspaper files; and in its cabinet are to be found many prehistoric relics.
On the first day of June, 1853, the justices of the new supreme court went into office : Associate
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Justice Crawford, for two years; Chief Justice Whiton, for four years, Associate Justice Smith for six years as previously mentioned. The first (June) term was held at Madison. La Fayette Kellogg was appointed and qualified as clerk. On the 21st of September, Timothy Burns, lieu- tenant governor of Wisconsin, died at La Crosse. As a testimonial of respect for the deceased the several State departments, in accordance with a proclamation of the governor, were closed for one day-October 3, 1853. In the Fall of this year, democrats, whigs and free-soilers, each called a convention to nominate candidates for the various State offices to be supported by them at the ensuing election in November. The successful ticket was, for governor, William A. Bars- tow ; for lieutenant governor, James T. Lewis, for secretary of State, Alexander T. Gray, for State treasurer, Edward H. Janssen; for attorney general, George B. Smith ; for superintendent of public instruction, Hiram A. Wright; for State prison commissioner, A. W. Starks; and for bank comptroller, William M. Dennis. They were all democrats.
The year 1853 was, to the agriculturists of the State, one of prosperity. Every branch of industry prospered. The increase of commerce and manufactures more than realized the expec- tations of the most sanguine.
FOURTH ADMINISTRATION .- WILLIAM A. BARSTOW, GOVERNOR-1854-1855.
On Monday, the second of January, 1854, William A. Barstow took the oath of office as governor of Wisconsin.
The legislature commenced its seventh regular session on the eleventh of January. Fred- erick W. Horn was elected speaker of the assembly. Both houses were democratic. The legislature adjourned on the 3d of April following, after a session of eighty-three days.
In the early part of March, a fugitive slave case greatly excited the people of Wisconsin. A slave named Joshua Glover, belonging to B. S. Garland of Missouri, had escaped from his master and made his way to the vicinity of Racine. Garland, learning the whereabouts of his personal chattel, came to the State, obtained, on the 9th of March, 1854, from the judges of the district court of the United States for the district of Wisconsin, a warrant for the apprehension of Glover, which was put into the hands of the deputy marshal of the United States. Glover . was secured and lodged in jail in Milwaukee. A number of persons afterward assembled and rescued the fugitive. Among those who took an active part in this proceeding was Sherman M. Booth, who was arrested therefor and committed by a United States commissioner, but was released from custody by Abram D. Smith, one of the associate justices of the supreme court of Wisconsin, upon a writ of habeas corpus. The record of the proceedings was thereupon taken to that court in full bench by a writ of certiorari to correct any error that might have been committed before the associate justice. At the June term, 1854, the justices held that Booth was entitled to be discharged, because the commitment set forth no cause for detention.
Booth was afterward indicted in the United States district court and a warrant issued for his arrest. He was again imprisoned; and again he applied to the supreme court-then, in term time-for a writ of habeas corpus. This was in July, 1854. In his petition to the supreme court, Booth set forth that he was in confinement upon a warrant issued by the district court of the United States and that the object of the imprisonment was to compel him to answer an indictment then pending against him therein. The supreme court of the State held that these facts showed that the district court of the United States had obtained jurisdiction of the case and that it was apparent that the indictment was for an offense of which the federal courts had exclusive jurisdiction. They could not therefore interfere; and his application for a discharge was denied.
Upon the indictment, Booth was tried and convicted, fined and imprisoned, for a violation of the fugitive slave law. Again the prisoner applied to the supreme court of Wisconsin,-his
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WISCONSIN AS A STATE.
last application bearing date January 26, 1855. He claimed discharge on the ground of the unconstitutionality of the law under which he had been indicted. The supreme court held that the indictment upon which he had been tried and convicted contained three counts, the first of which was to be considered as properly charging an offense within the act of congress of Septem- ber 18, 1850, known as the " fugitive slave law," while the second and third counts did not set forth or charge an offense punishable by any statute of the United States; and as, upon these last- mentioned counts he was found guilty and not upon the first, he must be discharged.
The action of the supreme court of Wisconsin in a second time discharging Booth, was afterward reversed by the supreme court of the United States ; and, its decision being respected by the State court, Booth was re-arrested in 1860, and the sentence of the district court of the United States executed in part upon him, when he was pardoned by the president.
By an act of the legislature, approved March 30, 1854, a "State Lunatic Asylum " was directed to be built at or in the vicinity of Madison, the capital of the State, upon land to be donated or purchased for that purpose. By a subsequent act, the name of the asylum was changed to the " Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane." This was the third charitable institution established by the State. The hospital was opened for patients in July, 1860, under the direction of a board of trustees appointed by the governor. All insane persons, residents of Wisconsin, who, under the law providing for admission of patients into the hospital for treatment, become resi- dents therein, are maintained at the expense of the State, provided the county in which such patient resided before being brought to the hospital pays the sum of one dollar and fifty cents a week for his or her support. Any patient can be supported by relatives, friends or guardians, if the latter desire to relieve the county and State from the burden, and can have special care and be provided with a special attendant, if the expense of the same be borne by parties interested. The hospital is beautifully located on the north shore of Lake Mendota, in Dane county, about four miles from Madison.
At the general election in the Fall of 1854, for members from Wisconsin to the thirty-fourth congress, Daniel Wells, Jr. was chosen from the first district ;, C. C. Washburn, from the second, and Charles Billinghurst from the third district. Billinghurst and Washburn were elected as republicans-that party having been organized in the Summer previous. Wells was a democrat.
The year 1854 was one of prosperity for¿Wisconsin, to all its industrial occupations. Abund- ant crops and increased prices were generally realized by the agriculturist. It was a year also of general health. It was ascertained that the amount of exports during the year, including lumber and mineral, exceeded thirteen millions of dollars.
The eighth regular session of the State legislature commenced on the roth of January, 1855. C. C. Sholes was elected speaker of the assembly. The senate was democratic; the assembly, republican. On joint ballot, the republicans had but one majority. On the Ist of February, Charles Durkee, a republican, was elected United States senator for a full term of six years from the 4th of March next ensuing, to fill the place of Isaac P. Walker whose term would expire on that day. Among the bills passed of a general nature, was one relative to the rights of married women, providing that any married woman, whose husband, either from drunkenness or profligacy, should neglect or refuse to provide for her support, should have the right, in her own name, to transact business, receive and collect her own earnings, and apply the same for her own support, and education of her children, free from the control and interference of her husband. The legislature adjourned sine die on the second of April, after a session of eighty-three days. Orsamus Cole having been elected in this month an associate justice of the supreme court in place of Judge Samuel Crawford, whose term of office would expire on the thirty-first of May of that year, went into office on the first day of June following, for a term of six years. His office would therefore end on the thirty-first of May, 1861.
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