Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 21, 1905

Commissioners Gave Personal Notes

FIRST COUNTY OFITCBRS - VOTING PRECINCTS ORGANIZEDCOUNTY SEAT CONTEST - WILTON, ST. MARY AND EMPIRE STRIVE FOR THE COUNTY SEAT - FIRST DISTRICT COURT SESSION - MURDER OF HAGADORN AT EMPIRE - THE FIRST JURORS OF THE COUNTY - THREE INDICTMENTS FOUND - COUNTY FINANCES - INTEREST PAID BY COUNTY 72 PER CENT - COUNTY COMMISSIONERS GAVE PERSONAL NOTES.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY - COUNTY SEAT, ETC. To the inhabitants of Waseea county in 1857, if not to the present generation, the public developments of the year were very exciting. The reader must remember that, up to the beginning of 1857, there was not even a post office in Waseca county, and that the most rapid means of communication was the saddle horse. The fact of the organization of the county by legislative enactment was not generally known until two or three weeks after the act had passed and become a law. The bill creating the county of Waseca was passed by the territorial legislature, in 1857, and was certified to by John W. Furber, speaker of the house ; John B. Brisbin, president of the senate, and signed and approved by Willis A. Gorman, governor, February 27, 1857. That act provided that on the first Monday of June following, the legal voters of said county should hold an especial election in their (to be) established precincts, for the purpose of locating a county seat, and for the proper election of coimty officers. Until that time, and for the purposes of carrying into effect the provisions of the law and setting in motion the machinery of county government. Governor Gorman appointed the following temporary county commissioners to establish election precincts, appoint judges of election, and name such other officers as were provided for by law, viz: John C. Ide, John M. Bliven and Henry W. Peck. The governor also appointed Nathaniel Garland, sheriff, and Tarrant Putnam, register of deeds. These were the first officers of the county and they promptly qualified. They were to hold these positions until their successors should be elected and qualified. And thus was the county brought forth. The first meeting of the county commissioners was held at Wilton, on the 16th of ilarch, 1857. Col. John C. Ide was chosen chairman and the board proceeded to business, the register of deeds being ex-officio clerk of the board.

The bond of the register of deeds and also of the sheriff were presented, approved and filed. A temporary seal, consisting of a round piece of yellow paper, with the name of the county printed thereon, was adopted. W. S. Baker of Otisco, who died in "Waseca several years ago, was appointed treasurer of the county, and entered upon the duties of his office. The labor of the office was not burdensome at that time, as there was not a cent in the treasury. At this meeting, the commissioners formed election precincts and appointed the necessary clerks and judges of election.

The first precinct was called Swavesey and contained all of the town of Blooming Grove and the north half of the town of AYoodville. The election was to be held at the house of Ole Knutsen, and Lewis McKune, Patrick Healy, and Ole Kuntsen were appointed judges to conduct the same. AY. H. Young and Lewis :\lcKune were appointed justices, and Clark AVood and S. P. AYyman, constables of that precinct.

The next precinct was called Empire, and embraced what is now Iosco and Janesville and the north half of St. Alary. The election was to be held at the house of John H. AAHieeler, in Empire, and N. E. Strong, C. R. Aliller and James Ilanes M-ere appointed to serve as judges of election. ::\L S. Green was appointed justice of tlie peace and Geoi'ge L. Leonard constable for the Empire precinct.

The AVilton precinct was composed of the southern halves of St. Alary and AVoodville and the north two-thirds of both Oti.seo and AVilton. The election was to be held at the hotel of A. J. AVood- bury in AYilton, with Jesse I. Stewart, W. H. Chamberlain, and E. A. Rice as judges of election. Geo. W. Tremper was appointed constable for the Wilton precinct.

The fourth precinct was called Otisco and consisted of Vivian, Byron, New Richland and the south one-third of the towns of Otisco and Wilton. The election was appointed to be held at the house of Silas Grover, near the southeast corner of the township of AVilton, and E. B. Stearns, Calvin Chapman and Daniel Grover were chosen to act as judges.

At the same meeting the following officers were appointed : for coroner, James Hanes; surveyor, H. W. Peck; assessors, N. N. Xorcutt, James E. Child, and E. B. Stearns. Mr. Peck resigned as county commissioner to accept the surveyorship and David Smith, of Empire, was appointed to fill the vacancy.

A second meeting of the county commissioners was held April 6th, 1857, at which John Bradish, Esq., of Empire, was appointed county attorney, and Henry Thwing, of Empire, and John G. Greening of (Otisco) Wilton precinct, constables. Ben. G. Northup and Silas Grover were chosen judges of election in Otisco, in place of Dan Grover and Calvin Chapman, who declined to serve.

A third meeting of the county board was held on the 4th of May, 1857, at which a fifth precinct was carved, out of Empire and called Elysian. It embraced all the territory in the township of Janesville west of Lake Elysian. J. C. York, C. M. Barnard and Abram Jaqua were appointed judges of the election which was to be held at the house of E. H. Loomis in said precinct. J. M. Stoddard was appointed justice of the peace and Abram Jaqua constable for the new precinct.

The commissioners at this meeting also made the following appointments for the precinct of Swavesey: Asa Conner, justice of the peace, and S. P. Wyman, constable.

Wilton, St. Mary, Empire - these three - entered the political arena and each strove with all its strength for the ascendency, Although county officers were to be elected, the all-absorbing question was, "How do you stand on the county seat?"

election, there could not have been more intense feeling or excitement than was manifested in these embryo "cities." At first, the 8t. Mary men attempted to work the "boys of '55'" against AVilton on account of the claim- jumping troubles, but the "boys of '55 ' ' were not disposed to cut off their noses to spite some one else, and voted to suit themselves. The contest waxed hot and fierce. Strange faces in large niimbers mysteriously appeared a few days before election. ]Men from Faribault, Owatomia. and other parts of the Territory suddenly became permanent residents of the county. Empire, .St. ilary, and Wilton urew to large proportions some ten days before the election. Their streets without sidewalks literally swarmed with black coats, satin vests and plug hats. Promises on the part of town-site speculati>i-s were as plentiful as house tlies in the month of August. There was hurrying to and fro among the speculators in paper cities and coi'iier lots. Oray haii'od usurers and loafing young men played euchre on the prairie green, or lazily lounged upon the corners of imaginary business blocks in these would-be cities. Every artifice of the political party demagogue was resorted to by those interested in the several towns to secure population and win votes.

It is said that man soAvetli, but (Jod giveth the increase. In this case there was a veiy sudden decrease in population immediately after the election. The Avhole number of votes cast was 6G5. It might have l)een larger: but was not that a fair-si/.ed election for a farming county of only tAvo years' settlement? At any rate, in 18(i(), at the presidential election, when :\lr. Lhicoln was elected, the coinily only cast 5l25 votes - a falling off of over 200 votes in a growing country in three and a half yearS.

Swav(>sey cast 51 votes for AVilton, o3 for St. Alary, and 23 for Empire. Elysian ca.st 20 l)allots - 2:! for Wilton, 4 for St. ]\Iai\v and 2 for Empire. Empire cast 11 for Wilton, 49 tor St. Alary and 100 for Empire. AVilton cast 119 for St. Alary, 1S9 for AA^ilton, and one for Empire. The oldest settler has never yet found out who tliat oni^ lone Empire fellow was. He must have had the courage of Ethan Allen. (Atisco cast 58 vote's for Wilton and 2 For St. Mary. AVilton theref<.i-c rrceived 332 votes. St. Alary 207, and Empire 120, making Wilton thi> comity seat.

did the woi-st phases of our popular form of government, simply showed hoAv deeply rooted in the American mind was the essential and all-important doctrine that the majority must rule and the minority must acquiesce. Within three months after that heated contest, the opposing' forces met in party convention, and a stranfjer would not have mistrusted that the men of >St. ]\lary, of Empire and of Wilton had ever disagreed on any subject.

At that special election E. B. Stearns of Otiseo, L. C. Wood of Swavesey (now Woodville), and David Smith of Empire (now Iosco), Avere elected county commissioners. They held their first session July 6th, ISfyT. As near as I have been able to learn, the following were the other newly-elected officers to hold until the next general election: J. W. Crawford of Elysian, register of deeds; Nathaniel Garland, of Wilton, sheriff; H. W. Peck, of Empire, county surveyor; W. S. Baker, of Otiseo, treasurer; and ^\. S. Green, of Empire, county attorney. At this meeting of the commissioners, which was the fifth session, David Smith was elected chairman. The bonds of the officerselect were filed and approved by the board. Road petitions were presented by Charles L. Lowell, Alonzo Heath, J. A. Canfield, and John S. ^McKune. The petitions wei'C signed by other citizens and were acted upon by the board. * * *

Notwithstanding our Territorial condition, the great anti-slavei'y agitation of the day divided the people into distinct political parties. Every man was expected to stand to and vote his principles regardless of consequences. There was a conscientious courage in those days regarding public questions which amounted to heroism. And thus it was that, in the fall of 1857, local jealousies were put to rest, and national politics divided the voters. Even at the very time of our county-seat election, the Republicans of the legislative district elected Hon. Amos Coggswell, of Steele county, Captain Lewis McKune, of this county, and B. Page Davis, of Nicollet county, members of the constitutional convention that framed our present constitution, which was adopted October 13th, 1857.

The contest for county officials that fall was based almost entirely upon national politics, for the voters of the county, at that time, were largely strangers to each other. Hon. Lewis JMcKune, for state senator, headed the local ticket and was elected. Of the county ticket, the Republicans elected E. B. .Stearns, L. C. Wood, and John Bailey, county commissioners ; N. Garland, sheriff ; A. E. Smith, surveyor; J. I. Stewart, treasurer; James E. Child, county attorney; Job A. Canfield, probate judge; and W. S. Baker, assessor. The Democrats elected E. A. Rice, register of deeds, and H. P. Norton, clerk of the court. The vote between the two parties' in this county, at that time, was nearly equal, and the personal popularity of the two successful Democrats carried them in.