Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 1: Civil History, 1900

Chapter 1: Civil History

Under Territorial Government - Under State Government - Town Organization - County Officers - Legislative Districts and Officers - Efforts to Divide the County.

Under Territorial Government

The Territory of Wisconsin was organized under the act of Con¬ gress approved July 4, 1836. Its eastern boundary was the same as that of the present State, but it extended westward to White Earth River and the Missouri, including all the present States of Iowa and Minnesota and part of North Dakota and South Dakota. Henry Dodge of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, was appointed Governor, and Charles Dunn, of Illinois, Chief Justice.

The first session of the legislature convened October 25, 1836, at Belmont, a small mining town eight miles east of Platteville. The memtfers from that part of the Territory which afterwards became Grant County were James R. Vineyard, of Platteville, in the Council, and James P. Cox and Thomas Shanley in the lower house. The prin¬ cipal question debated was the location of the capital. There were many candidates for the favor, among them Cassville, which, as the Territory was then constituted, was a fairly central point of the in¬ habited portion. But James D. Doty, afterward Governor of the Ter¬ ritory, had laid out a town called Madison and distributed town lots freely among the members of the legislature, and these formed more eloquent arguments than all the glowing descriptions of the advocates of other points.

Belmont was abandoned by the legislature after the first session, and in 1 849 it was described as having only three houses : a small hotel and the dwellings of Mr. Gentry and Judge Dunn. The accom¬ panying engraving shows the building in which the first legislature assembled. It is now used as a barn, and the roof which once echoed to the eloquence of the legislators and town-site promotors, now re¬ sounds to the neigh of horses and the voice of the groom.

The most important act of the legislature for the purpose of this history was that organizing Grant County with its present bound¬ aries. Joseph H. D. Street was appointed Sheriff and John H. Rountree

Judge of Probate. The beginning of the legal existence of the county was fixed at March 4, 1837. Henry W. Hodges, James Gilmore, E. E. Brock, Orris McCartney, and Frank C. Kirkpatrick were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat, which they proceeded to do, as narrated on page 38.

The legislature of the Territory consisted of an upper house, the Council, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. Members of the Council were at first elected for four years and members of the House for two years. This was afterward changed to two years for the Council and one year for the House. The roster of Grant County legislators under territorial government is as follows :

Councilmen. - 1838-42, James R. Vineyard and John H. Rountree, both of Platteville; 1842-46 (two terms) J. H. Rountree, of Platteville and Nelson Dewey, of Lancaster; 1846 - 48, Orris McCartney, of Cassville.

The first Delegate from Wisconsin to Congress was a Grant County man, George W. Jones, of Sinsinawa, who represented the Territory from 1836 to 1838.

At the second session of the legislature in 1837 an act was passed to legalize the acts of the Supervisors of Grant County in selling cer¬ tain lotsof thecountyseat and in making a contract fora court-house.

In 1839, under a general law, Nelson Dewey was appointed county agent to take charge of and sell all lands belonging to the county, and transact all business connected with such lands. He continued to act as such agent until the formation of the State government.

The first election for county officers was held in the spring of 1837. The Sheriff and County Judge had been appointed by the Governor and the District Attorney by Judge Dunn. Justices of the peace were also appointed by the Governor. A list of county officers during the territorial times will be found on a subsequent page. About three hundred votes were cast at the first election.

Under State Government

In 1846 the first convention met in Madison to form a constitu¬ tion for the proposed State of Wisconsin. The members from Grant County were J. Allen Barber, Lorenzo Bevans, Thomas P. Burnett, Daniel R. Burt, Thomas Cruson, James Gilmore, Neely Gray, Franklin Z. Hicks, and James R. Vineyard. The convention contained many of the ablest men in the State, but the constitution it formed was very unpopular, especially in the mining region. It contained too many "experiments" in legislation. The articles allowing married women to own separate property, to exempt certain property from execution, and especially the article on banking, prohibiting all banks of issue and making it illegal to circulate bank notes under ten dollars after 1847, or under twenty dollars after 1849, were among the unpopular provisions. The constitution was rejected by a vote of the people.

A second convention met at Madison December 15, 1847. The members from Grant County were, Orsamus Cole, George W. Lakin, Alexander D. Ramsay, William Richardson, and John H. Rountree. This convention was much smaller than the first.

One of the most exciting topics of discussion was the question of the boundaries of the new State. The action of Congress in fixing the boundaries of Illinois and Michigan had greatly displeased the people of Wisconsin Territory, because it robbed them of territory which, by the Ordinance of 1787, rightfully belonged to Wisconsin. That act, creating the Northwest Territory, provided that out of this Territory not less than three nor more than five States should be created ; that if more than three States were created the southern boundary of the other State or States should be " a line drawn east and west through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." This language was rendered somewhat vague by the introduction of the superfluous words "bend or," but it could mean nothing else than an east and went line touching the southern extremity of the lake. This ordinance was violated by making the northern boundary of Ohio and Indiana a little north of such a line, and again by making the northern bound¬ ary of Illinois more than sixty miles north of this line. Again, the ordinance provided that the boundary between the States north of this line should be a line drawn through the middle of Lake Michigan. This provision was violated by giving the northern peninsula to Mich¬ igan, instead of Wisconsin. The people of Wisconsin were intensely interested in tins matter. If the provisions of the ordinance had been complied with, Galena, long the metropolis of the Lead Region, and Chicago would have been in Wisconsin.

Town Organization

During territorial times two distinct systems of local government prevailed in Wisconsin : the county and the town system. The former originated in Virginia when there were no towns in the State, and when the counties were very small, and prevailed in all the States to which Virginians or their descendants emigrated in great numbers, be¬ ing retained by sheer force of prejudice when the circumstances under which it originated no longer prevailed. The town system of govern¬ ment originated in New England and was soon adopted in New York and was spread westward by emigrants from those States. In the early settlement of Wisconsin immigrants from the South predomi¬ nated in the western part of the Territory while in the eastern part those of New England or New York stock were in a large majority. As a compromise between the views of the people of the different sec¬ tions on local government, it was provided, during territorial times, that each county should adopt whichever system it chose, as is now done, or was done recently, in Illinois. Grant County adopted the county system, and the county was divided into precincts mainly for voting purposes. The boundaries of these precincts at two different periods are shown on maps on preceding pages. But by the time the State constitution was adopted the advocates of the town system were in a large majority in Wisconsin, and the constitution provided that the legislature should provide but one system of town and county government, which should be as nearly uniform as possible, and the legislature provided for the adoption of the New England town sys¬ tem, the most perfect system of " home rule" ever adopted.

Accordingly, the Board of Supervisors of Grant County, at a special session in January, 1849, divided the county into sixteen towns, providing places for holding the first town meeting in each town, as follows: Hazel Green, first town meeting at the Empire House in Hazel Green village; Jamestown, town meeting at the house of Alfred Woods; Smelser, first town meeting at the house of Jonas Smelser; Paris, first town meeting at~the house of William Richard¬ son; Platteville, first town meeting at the house of B. Atwood ; Lima, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of F. Johnson ; Wingville, first town meeting at W. Bruner's hotel in Wingville village; Fennimore, first town meeting at the school-house near P. Dempsey's; Harrison, first town meeting at the house of C. Travis; Highland, first town meeting at the house of Col. James McKenzie; Potosi, first town meeting at the Wisconsin House; Waterloo, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of D. R. Burt; Lancaster, first town meet¬ ing at the court-house ; Beetown, first town meeting at the Beetown House; Cassville, first town meeting at the house of W. Pollock; Patch Grove, first town meeting at the school-house near the house of J. M. Dickinson. The towns in the southern part of the county were then organized as they are to-day, while those in the northern and western part have been much subdivided, showing the sparse population of those parts of the county at that time. The boundaries of these towns will be found on the map on the opposite page.

It will be observed that the County Board constituted these towns on the basis of the ''congressional towns." This system of land divi¬ sion (probably familiar to most of our readers) is this: the line be¬ tween Wisconsin and Illinois is taken as a base line ; the meridian forming the eastern boundary of the county, called the Fourth Princi¬ pal Meridian, forms a guide for the north and south lines. From this meridian lines six miles apart are run north and south, and parallel with the base line other lines six miles apart are run east and west. The blocks of land six miles square defined by these lines crossing each other are called " towns." The first tier of towns west of the Principal Meridian constitute "Range 1, west," and so on; the first row of towns north of the base line are all called " Town 1," the second row "Town 2," and so on. Thus Hazel Green is Town 1, north, of Range 1 west; Smelser is Town 2 north, of Range 1 west; Jamestown is Town 1 north, of Range 2 west, etc. Owing to the sparse population of some parts of the county in 1849, two or more congressional towns were included in one town for purposes of town government.

The town of Clifton was created by the County Board in 1850; in the same year two tiers of sections on the west side of Town 4, Range 5, were taken off* from Cassville and added to Beetown, and sections 6 and 7 of Town 5, R. 4, were taken from Beetown and added to Patch Grove. In 1851 the towns of Muscoda and Ellenboro were organized; in 1852, Liberty; in 1853, Millville, taking most of what is now Wyalusing, a large portion of Patch Grove, and all of the pres¬ ent town of Millville. In 1854 Wyalusing and Marion were created; in 1856, Little Grant, Blue River, Hickory Grove, and Watterstown; in 1859, the towns of Boscobel, Glen Haven, and Lander (soon changed to Tafton). The county as it was then divided, and the boundaries of the new towns, may be seen on the map on page 141. The town of Woodman was created in 1864, Mount Hope in 1865, and Mount Ida in 1877. The location and boundaries of these towns are shown on the map opposite the title page.

County Officers

Under territorial government the County Board consisted of three commissioners; under the State government the Board consisted of one supervisor from each town until the legislature of 1861 provided that the Board should consist of one supervisor from each assembly district. This provision was repealed in 1870, and the Board made to consist of one supervisor from each town and one from each incorpor¬ ated village.

-Appointed to fill vacancy by reason of E. P. Wood having left the county. (Appointed to fill vacancy occasioned by the death of S. F. Clise.

officers were elected in the spring of 1848, under the township system, introduced under the State Constitution. The County Commissioners for 1849 had been elected under the Territorial law and held office until the new board was elected and its members qualified.

The Board in 1895 created the office of Register of Probate with a salary of $500 a year. T. A. Burr held the office until January 1, 1898, when he was succeeded by James McBrien, the present incumbent.

Legislative Districts And Officers

Upon the admission of the State, Grant County was made the Six¬ teenth Senatorial District and remained such until the apportionment of 1887, when Crawford County was included in the district In the infamous gerrymander of 1891 Grant County was dismembered and the First Assembly District (which see) was, together with Craw¬ ford and Richland, made the Sixteenth Senatorial District, and the Second Assembly District, with parts of Iowa and Lafayette Counties, made the Twenty-eighth Senatorial District. In the apportionment of 1897 Grant and Iowa counties were placed in the Sixteenth Senatorial District.

First District - precincts of Hazel Green, Smelser, Jamestown, and Fairplay. Second District - precincts of Platteville, Head of Platte, Muscoda, Centerville, and Fennimore. Third District - precincts of Potosi, Pleasant Valley, Hurricane, Waterloo, New Lisbon. Fourth District - Lancaster, Beetown, Patch Grove, Cassville, Milton, and Millville.

In 1849 the county was divided into four assembly districts as fol¬ lows: First District - Hazel Green, Jamestown, Smelser, and Paris. Second District - Platteville, Lima, Wingville, and Fennimore. Third District - Potosi, Harrison, Waterloo, and Highland. Fourth District - Lancaster, Patch Grove, Cassville, and Beetown.

The apportionment or 1852 gave Grant five assembly districts, as follows: First District - The towns of Hazel Green, Jamestown, and Smelser. Second District - Potosi, Paris, and Harrison. Third District - Platteville, Clifton, Lima, Muscoda, and Wingville. Fourth District - Fennimore, Highland, and Lancaster. Filth bistrict - Waterloo, Beetown, Patch Grove, and Cassville.

The apportionment of 1856 made no change in the First, Second, and Third Districts, but the new towns in the county were placed as follows. Fourth District - Fennimore, Marion, Ellenboro, Liberty, Lancaster. Fifth District - Waterloo, Beetown, Patch Grove Wyalusing, Little Grant, and Cassville.

The apportionment of 1866 was the same as that of 1861, except that the new towns of Woodman and Mt. Hope were placed in the Fourth District.

In the apportionment of 1871, the number of districts in the county was reduced to four, as follows : First District - Harrison, Hazel Green, Jamestown, Paris, Platteville, Smelser. Second District - Clif¬ ton, Ellenboro, Lancaster, Liberty, Lima, Potosi. Third District - Blue River, Boscobel, Fennimore, Hickory Grove, Marion, Mt. Hope, Muscoda, Watterstown, Wingville, Woodman. Fourth District - Bee¬ town, Bloomington, Cassville, Glen Haven, Little Grant, Millville, Patch Grove, Watterstown, Wyalusing.

The apportionment of 1876 again reduced the number of the Dis¬ tricts to three, as follows: First District - Clifton, Ellenboro, Harri¬ son, Hazel Green, Jamestown, Lima, Paris, Platteville, Smelser. Sec¬ ond District - Beetown, Bloomington, Cassville, Glen Haven, Lancas¬ ter, Liberty, Little Grant, Potosi, Waterloo. Third District - Blue River, Boscobel, Fennimore, Hickory Grove, Marion, Millville, Mt. Hope, Muscoda, Patch Grove, Watterstown, Wingville, Woodman, Wyalusing.

The apportionment of 1891 gave Grant County only two districts and formed them in this astonishing manner : First District - Bloom¬ ington, Boscobel, Clifton, Ellenboro, Fennimore, Glen Haven, Harriu son, Hickory Grove, Lima, Little Grant, Marion, Millville, Mt. Hope, Mt. Ida, Patch Grove, Platteville, Watterstown, Wingville, Castle Rock, Muscoda, Woodman, Wyalusing. Second District - Lancaster, Liberty, Beetown, Cassville, Waterloo, Potosi, Paris, Sraelser, James¬ town, Hazel Green. Other apportionments had been bad, but this one was so outrageous, both in the shape and the population of the districts, all over the State as well as in Grant County, that the Su¬ preme Court of the State decided that it violated the provision of the constitution providing that districts should be "according to popula¬ tion," and "as compact as practicable."

A special session of the legislature in June, 1892, made another gerrymander, which was also decided to be unconstitutional. The State officers, to aid their fellow rascals in the legislature, rushed out the election notices under the second apportionment, long before the usual time, in order if possible to have the election take place under the infamous gerrymander. It was a strong illustration of the la¬ mentable fact that men tolerably honest in business become unscrup¬ ulous rascals when they go to work for their party.

A second special session was held in October, 1892, which made the following apportionment: First District - Cassville, Clifton, Ellenboro, Glen Haven, Harrison, Hazel Green, Jamestown, Liberty, Lima, Paris. Platteville, Potosi, Smelser, Waterloo Second District - Beetown, Bloomington, Boscobel, Castle Rock, Fennimore, Hickory Grove, Lancaster, Little Grant, Marion, Muscoda, Mt. Hope, Mt. Ida, Millville, Patch Grove, Waterstown, Wingville, Woodman, Wyalusing,

Grant County has had the following Representatives in Congress : Orsamus Cole, XXIst Congress; Ben C. Eastman, XXIId and XXIIId Congresses; J. Allen Barber, XLIId and XLIIId Congresses; George C. Hazelton, XLVth, XLVIth, and XLVIIth Congresses; Allen R. Bushnell, Llld Congress.

Not many years elapsed after the foundation of Grant County before efforts began to be made and were vigorously continued for a division of the county. The first and strongest efforts were for the cutting off of the two eastern tiers of towns for a county, with the county seat at Platteville. The Grant County , Herald in its first number in 1843, said: "The eastern side of the county is about applying for a divorce from the western side. If this is not a ticklish subject for a poor devil of an editor just starting a county paper to touch upon, we don't know what is. Petitions in favor of and against division have been circulated, and there are just nine hundred signers for division and just nine hundred against it." When Goodhue be¬ came editor of the Herald he was not so cautious, and ridiculed the divisionists, whose main argument was that division would bring the farther parts of the county nearer the county seat, by asking: "How much nearer do you bring the ends of a log together bj' splitting it?" The point was that the proposed eastern county would be forty-eight miles long and twelve miles wide, and Muscoda thirty miles in an air line from the proposed county seat.

A division by an east and west line drawn through the middle of Towns Four was also advocated, mainly by the people of Potosi and Fennimore. A meeting on this subject at Fennimore was called by Goodhue "two or three peas rattling in a brass kettle."

Finally the legislature, by an act approved March 11, 1848, pro¬ vided that the question, both of a north and south and an east and west division, should be submitted to a vote of the people at the county election in the spring of 1848. The vote on this question, and also on State and county officers, is given in the table on the next page, as an interesting piece of old political history. The extent and location of the election precincts at the time of this election may be seen on the map on page 135.

The project defeated by this election was renewed at various times* Platteville people and papers were always the leaders in the matter, while Lancaster and its paper fought strenuously against division. All this was quite according to human nature.

In 1856 there was a vigorous movement to cut off the towns of Millville, Patch Grove, and Wyalusing from Grant and attach them to Crawford County. The ground was that the County Board neglected these towns in the matter of roads and bridges. The three towns were too weak to accomplish anything toward secession, but perhaps their efforts gained them some roads and bridges.

In 1859 another determined effort was made and defeated. Since then the question has not been very strongly agitated, and with the county seat now accessible by railroad, and connected with every vil¬ lage and hamlet (and many farm houses) by telephone and telegraph, the old grievances have little force. An attempt which created some little excitement at first, but amusement later, was a bill prepared for introduction into the legislature of 1891, for the formation of "Platte County." It was fathered by some ambitious young lawyers at Platteville, but was "nipped in the bud." In 1895 a bill was intro¬ duced into the legislature to cut off Castle Rock and a row of towns along the Wisconsin and annex them to Crawford County. The bill was framed with a view of having the county seat at Boscobel, but it did not get out of the committee room.