Stearns County, Minnesota - Chapter 41: Officers and County Seat Removal, 1915

Proposed County of Franklin - The Vote in Detail - Other Efforts at Division of County - Attempt to Remove County Seat to Albany - County Oflficers of Steams County from 1855 to 1915.

County division and county seat removal. - At the 1872 session of the legislature a bill was passed to establish the county of Franklin, with the county seat at Sauk Centre. The territory to form the proposed new county included twelve townships to be taken from Stearns county, viz : Ashley, Raymond, Getty, Grove, North Fork, Crow Lake, Crow River, Lake Henry, Lake George, Spring Hill, Melrose and Sauk Centre, to which would be added eight townships from the southern part of Todd county. The act provided that the question of the establishing of the county of Franklin should be submitted to the voters of the two counties for their approval or rejection at the next general election. The result in Stearns county was the defeat of the proposition by a majority of 1,663 out of the 2,169 votes cast. The vote by townships was as follows :

The creation of the new county did not appear to excite any special degree of interest, as only a total of 2,169 votes were cast both for and against, while the vote for president totaled 3,053.

In 1913 the people of Albany made a vigorous and determined effort to secure the removal of the county seat of Stearns county from St. Cloud to that village. A systematic canvas was made for signatures to the petition to the board of county commissioners asking that a date be fixed for an election to decide the matter, more than the necessary number of names being secured. The proper legal notices were posted, and November 12 the matter came before the board. W. W. Barron, of Melrose, and Harris Richardson, of St. Paul, appearing for the petitioners and J. D. Sullivan, R. B. Brower and Theodore Bruener, of St. Cloud, for the remonstrators. Mr. Richardson remained and took part in the proceedings the first day only. Mr. Sullivan questioned the jurisdiction of the board on the ground that the notice of the meeting had not been published in all the papers in the county, as required by law, it being held that the daily and weekly editions of the St. Cloud Times and Journal- Press were separate and distinct publications, while the attorney for the petitioners contended that the separate editions constituted but one paper. The objection was not further pressed by the St. Cloud attorneys.

The petition for the removal election contained 4,715 signatures, the required number - sixty per cent, of the vote cast by males at the last preceding general election being 3,995. But at the same time there was filed by the St. Cloud attorneys a list of 1,188 persons who had signed the original petition and who now asked to have their names stricken off. The Albany attorney thereupon filed a list of 421 who had signed the revocation and now asked to have their names reinstated on the original petition. In order to have a correct result and to expedite the work the board of commissioners on the morning of the second day appointed L. C. Dueber, J. J, Spaniol, Raymond Bruning, Joseph Doyle and Joseph Eich as special counting clerks to count and index the names in the revocations and reinstatements, the county auditor's count of 4,715 on the original petition being accepted as correct. The board voted that no more revocations or reinstatements would be accepted, which action was agreed to by both sides. On the fifteenth Mr. Barron asked to be allowed to copy the names on certain remonstrance lists as the legality of the signatures was questioned. This was objected to by Mr. Brower by reason of the agreement which had been entered into that the whole matter be left with the county board, and the board thereupon voted that all papers then on file be left in the custody of the county board, without interference, until the count was completed. When, after further adjournments, the board met on the morning of November 18, report was made that the counting and indexing of names had been completed. Mr. Barron asked to be furnished with a list of the Melrose revocations for the purpose of investigation, believing them to have been obtained fraudulently. Objection was made by Mr. Sullivan. An opinion being asked from County Attorney Ahles this official said that, all previous agreements being considered, the matter rested with the county board. After some further discussion, the board adopted a resolution to the effect that, because of there being an insufficient number of names on the petition - 3,929, while 3,995 were necessary - it be rejected, thus disposing of the matter.

County Officers of Stearns County. From the incompleteness of the records in the earlier days it has been practically impossible in the case of some of the county officers to learn accurately the period of service. The following list, prepared with much care and after careful search and examination, is as complete and correct as it has been possible to make it :

Sheriff. L. B. Hammond, April 9 to June 14, 1855. Henry Witzheimer, June 14, 1855, to January 9, 1856. Joseph Edelbrock, 1856 to 1859. Jacob E. Tenvoorde, 1859 to May 3 (resigned). H. G. Fillmore, May 3, 1859 to January 3, 1860. M. Lauerman, 1860 to 1863. C. Grandelmeyer, 1863 to 1864. P. Beaupre, 1864 to 1866. M. Mickley, 1866 to 1870. T. C. Alden, 1870 to 1872. George Geissel, 1872 to 1878. M. Mickley, 1878 to 1888 (deceased). John P. Hammerel, 1888 to 1889. Andrew W. Kraemer, 1889 to 1891. John P. Hammerel, 1891 to 1895. James E. McKelvy, 1895 to 1899. Fred Schilplin, 1899 to 1903. John P. Bernick, 1903 to 1907. Benjamin J. Moritz, 1907 to 1913. Bernard E. Schoener, 1913 to 1915 (re-elected). The first deputy sheriff of record was Chas. Ketcham at a term of the district court held April 9, 1867, although there were without doubt deputies who served prior to that time, the proceedings of the board of county commissioners as far back as October 30, 1856, show the allowance of a bill of sixty dollars rendered by Albert Evans for services as deputy sheriff. Other deputies following were Mathias Gaspard, M. Lauerman, A. DeGroat, E. Robertson, P. L. Gregory, J. H. Dennis, John Schaefer, M. Mickley, Joseph Myers, Frank D. Hall and Joseph Marthaler, these prior to 1875.

Registrar of Deeds. Charles Ketcham, 1855 to 1860. Joseph Edelbrock, 1860 to 1862. John Zapp, 1862 to 1889. John M. Emmel, 1889 to 1909. Paul J. Beaudreau, 1909 to 1911. John Lang, 1911 to 1915 (re-elected). This is certainly a remarkable showing - only six registers of deeds from the organization of the county in 1855 to 1919, which will be the end of Mr. Lang's present term. This is due largely to the long periods during which John Zapp and John M. Emmel had the office.

County Attorney. Henry C. Waite, 1855 to I860; James M. McKelvy, 1860 to August 12, 1862 (resigned to enter the army) ; W. S. Moore, August 9, 1862, to 1863 ; S. B. Pinney, 1863 to 1864 ; William S. Moore, 1864 to 1865 ; Oscar Taylor, 1865 to 1866; James M. McKelvy, 1866 (resigned August 2, 1866, to accept appointment as judge of the District Court of the new Sixth judicial district) ; William S. Moore, 1866 (elected by the board of county commissioners September 4 to fill the unexpired term of James M. McKelvy, whose resignation was that day accepted); L. W. Collins, 1867 to 1868; Edwin M. Wright, 1868 to 1870; L. W. Collins, 1870 to 1872; Peter Brick,

23, 1903 (deceased); Herman Mueller, January 23, 1903 to 1907; Henry J. Limperich, 1907 to 1915 (re-elected). The first deputy clerk of record was T. C. McClure in 1859, continuing until September, 1861, when he was succeeded by H. C. Waite, who served until April 7, 1862, when L. A. Evans served for one year, or until he was elected clerk of the court. E. M. Wright was deputy at the July 19, 1864, term of court, and no other name appears until that of Nathan F. Barnes, October 1, 1867. George L. Hays was deputy September 25, 1869, and no other name is of record until the term of June 12, 1880, when J. R. Bennett, Sr., became deputy for a period which extended over many years.

County Superintendent of Schools. The first superintendent was Nathan F. Barnes, who was elected by the board of county commissioners May 8, 1867, and served until September 4, 1868, when Henry Krebs was elected, and held the office until April 1, 1872. Dr. M. C. Tolman, his successor from that date, resigned September 6 following. B. Pirz was elected and acted until September, 1874. P. E. Kaiser, his successor by election of the board, served until 1878, when the office became one to be filled by the vote of the people. Mr. Kaiser was elected in that year, serving until December 1, 1879. His successors have been: P. B. Gorman, 1880 to 1885; Henry Krebs, 1885 to 1887 ; L. J. Rocholl, 1887 to 1899 ; Charles M. Weber, 1899 to 1903 ; Paul Ahles, 1903 to 1911; William A. Boerger, 1911 to 1915 (re-elected).

County Assessor. Henry Wiltzheimer, April 9, 1855; Addison Gillmore, January 7, 1856. An act of the legislature passed August 13, 1858, provided for the election by the people of an assessor in each township, thus doing away with the office of county assessor.

County Commissioners. The names of the members of the board of commissioners, with the various changes, to the close of the year 1914, will be found in the report of the proceedings of the board published in another chapter. At the election in November, 1914, P. N. Lahr was elected commissioner from the First district, Peter J. Theisen from the Fourth district and Ben Ellering from the Fifth district, to take their seats at the meeting of the county board January 4, 1915.