Walworth County, Wisconsin - Chapter 10: Official K<» | | K, 1912

Chapter 10: Official K<» | | K

Since the admission of Wisconsin to statehood citizens of this county have shared but moderately in the honors of high place in federal or in slate government. John Fox Potter, of East Troy, was a member of the national House of Representatives from 1857 to 1863, six years of a memorably exciting period of American politics. He stood manfully, in his first and second term, for freedom of debate, and in his third term was of that group of western members who enjoyed the close personal as well as political friendship and confidence of President Lincoln. Defeated in 1862 by unfriendly influences in Milwaukee and Waukesha, as he thought, he was offered and he refused the Danish mission. But he accepted the consul-generalship at Montreal, after the death of Joshua R. Giddings at that post, and resigned it hefore the end of the Johnson administration. His latest successor in Congress. Henry Allen Cooper, of Racine, was born at Spring Prairie (a son of Dr. Joel H. Cooper), and has served continuously from 1893. Experience Estabrook, of Geneva, went to Nebraska, and in 1859- claimed a seat in Congress as territorial delegate, but was not seated.

Eleazar Wakeley, of Whitewater, went to Omaha, and became a Federal judge. Alanson H. Barnes, of Delavan, by General Grant's appointment, was for four years a judge of the territorial court of Dakota. Alfred D. Thomas, his son-in-law, was appointed in 1890 as judge of the federal district court of North Dakota. Arthur Loomis Sanborn, now federal judge for the western district of Wisconsin, was appointed in [905. I lis boyhood and youth were passed at Lake Geneva, lie came in 1869 to Elkhorn as assistant to Register Noyes, whom he succeeded in office. Having in his leisure hours grounded himself thoroughly in the principles of ancient and modem law, he was admitted to practice nearly at the close of his four years as a county officer. At the end of his term he went to Madison, where he formed mosl advantageous professional connection- and passed readily into the higher practice of his profession.

George Gale was a pioneer lawyer at Elkhorn, and about [855 again a pioneer of Trempealeau county, where he founded the villagi ol Galesville.

His new home was in the sixth judicial circuit and he soon became its judge. Both at Elkhorn and at Galesville he was a pioneer editor and publisher. Like Chancellor Walworth, he compiled a genealogy of his family. William Penn Lyon came in his boyhood to Hudson, served his town as justice of the peace, removed to Racine, became successively district attorney, judge for the circuit, associate justice, and chief justice of the supreme court. Alphonso G. Kellam studied law at Elkhorn, practiced at Delavan, served in the Civil war as captain and as major, went to South Dakota, and became the first chief justice of the supreme court of that state.

George Wilbur Peck, governor of Wisconsin, 1891-95, was for some years a printer at Delavan and at Whitewater. Butler G. Noble, of Whitewater, was elected lieutenant-governor over Dr. Alexander S. Palmer, of Geneva, in 1859. Wyman Spooner was twice speaker of the Assembly, having been sent in 1862 to the state Senate, he became its president, and the death of Governor Harvey made him acting lieutenant-governor, to which post he was twice elected by the people. The first man who served Wisconsin as its secretary of state was Thomas M. McHugh, of Delavan. son of Rev. Stephen McHugh of the Episcopal clergy, who was also a resident of the county. Secretary McHugh had served the last territorial Assembly as chief clerk of the Council. He was educated and able, but neither at the bar nor elsewhere ever quite fulfilled the hope of his friends. Samuel D. Hastings had moved from Geneva to Trempealeau county a short time before his election as state treasurer in 1857, which place he held for four terms. He afterward served the Prohibitionist party as one of its candidates for some high place, for him not in that wav attainable. Experience Estabrook, while yet of Geneva, served from 1852 to 1854 as attorney-general. Stephen S. Barlow, of Delavan, went to Sauk county and thence to the same office, 1870-1874. Capt. Almerin Gillette, of Hudson, and of the Twentieth Wisconsin Infantry, went to Kansas, where he became railway commissioner. Orville T. Bright, as boy and young man, lived in that part of the town of Geneva which lies nearest Elkhorn. After a term as county superintendent of schools he went to Chicago where he was for many years city superintendent. Since 1903 Charles P. Carv has been in continuous service as state superintendent of public instruction, lie was elected from Delavan, where he was then chief officer nf the state's school i"v the deaf.

The first constitutional convention of Wisconsin met October 5. 1846. and adjourned December io. 1846. Its work was rejected at the election held journed February i, [848. At the election, March 13, [848, its work was adopted by 10.000 majority. The county's vmr was: For, [,323; against, 574. Walworth's representatives in these conventions were as follows:

First Convention Second Convention

It has been told that the first constitution was rejected for causes too complex for easily explaining. This may be true, but there was and is a general impression that the principal cause lay in article X, section 1, the whole text of which was: "There shall be no bank of issue within this state." The six other sections were more specific in terms, but were of like import. Article XI, sections 4 and 5, of the constitution adopted, in effect, referred the qu tion of bank to popular vote. In November, 1N51. this county voted with the rest of the state to permit banks of issue by 2,054 yeas to 229 na) -

Walworth count\ has been represented bv her own citizens on the bench of the first judicial circuit, first by Wyman Spooner of Elkhorn, whom I \o ernor Farwell appointed in [853, Judge Whiton having become chief just of the supreme court, and he held the fall term of court in each count)' of the circuit. At the November election James R. Doolittle, of Racine, defi at d Judge Spooner as a candidate for the rest of the unexpired term. On fudge Lyon's transference from the circuit bench to that of the higher court, Robert Harkness, of Elkhorn, succeeded, and his own resignation, in March. 1875, opened the way to John Theodore Wentworth, of Geneva, who was elected in April and held the June term of court for thai year. I le removed to Racine and was rechosen in [877 and served until January, [884, having been defeated by John Bradley Winslow, now chief justice of the supreme court

Probate Judges County Judges

Judge Allen having resigned, Governor Barstow appointed Mr. Cowdery. Mr. Potter was elected in April for the rest of Allen's term; hut his own election in November to Congress made another soon-following change. Judge Colder had served nearly twenty-nine years, when his loss of hearing compelled his retirement. Judge Wheeler resigned and went to his old home at or near Rutland, Vermont, and Governor Schofield's appointment, with three elections for full terms, have prolonged Judge Lyon's tenure of this now more than ever before important office to January, 1914.

Court Commissioners

Court commissioners have been appointed by the several circuit judges, but the record of these officers is not found for the period previous to [867. A few names are mentioned incidentally in other records, and these are included without exact date of the terms: William C. Allen, i8(k;; Charles M. Baker, Alanson 11. Barnes, [861; Dwight Bennett Barnes, [893; Pitt Noble Cravath, [891; Prosper Cravath, between [862 and [875; Christopher Douglass, 1842; George Gale, 1S42; Peter Golder, [856; Charles E. Griffin, [866; Henrj Heady, between 1N75 and [892; Robert Holley, [841; loseph F. Lyon, between [884 and [893; Silas W. Menzie, between [870 and [885; Henrj O. Montague, 1 86 1 ; James Simmons, between 1N71 and [893;

State Senators

The constitutional amendment of [882, making legislative sessions biennial and elections for state and comity offices fall in even-numbered years. added a year to terms of all such officers as were chosen in the previous yg There was no legislative session for [884. Two apportionments between 1890 and [900 changed the number of this senate district from even to odd and thus Mr. Solliday sat in but one session for the joint district. Drs. I'.. ' » and J. C. Reynolds are respectively father and son. Names marked' * are of soldiers of the Civil war. who are s, , denoted in all the following official lists.

Members Of Assembly

The names of physicians in this list and the next one show that the pro fession, as practiced here, did not regard politics and medicine as incompatible, the one with the other; and the Civil war found ;un >tlier field for their activity. George and Dwight S. Allen were father and son, as were Hugh and Chester D. Long. Samuel and Orris Pratt and Solmous and Eleazar Wakeley, the latter of the State Senate. A. E. and J. A. Smith were brothers. .Mr. Tilton was a Methodist clergyman.

Messrs. Bell, Gale, Winsor, Cotton, Rockwell and Treat were Democrats. Messrs. Mills. Cotton, Conrick, Lucius Allen, Lyon and Williams had been or were afterward citizens of other towns than those here named.

The order of county officers as prescribed by statute for printing official ballots is: County clerk (for many years named "clerk of the board of supervisors"), county treasurer, sheriff, coroner, clerk of circuit and county court, district attorney, register of deeds, county surveyor. The older arrangement had been in the order of their desirability for candidates. This placed sheriff, register of deeds and treasurer at and next to the head of the tickets and the coroner at the foot. Since 1883 their biennial terms have begun on the first Monday of January, in odd-numbered years. Since 1905 the superintendents of schools have been chosen the first Tuesday of April and begun their terms on the first Monday of July.

County Clerks

Myron E. Dewing died March 26, 1 S 7 | . and his brother served till the end of the year. The Cowderys were father and son. The latter died May 10. 1900. The records of this office have suffered little from fading and discoloration, and are generally easily legible. Mr. Thompson's records art' pleasant to look upon for their neat handwriting and their clerical form. At two years old, Myron E. Dewing lost the ringers of both hands by burning in the embers of a rubbish fire. He learned to write a bold, business-like hand. and early reached a surprising degree of expertness in many things that usually require unmaimed fingers. His aptitude for the duties of his place made him almost indispensable to the county board. His two successors bet tered his excellent example, and, since 1903, the board's proceedings have been neatly and accurately typewritten.

County Treasurers

Since 1893 the treasurer has been limited by statute to two terms of continuous service. Mr. Foot died at Elkhorn, June I, 1908, and his son completed the term of office.

Sheriff Flanders died suddenly at tea-table, December [6, [909, and ox- Sheriff Harrington was appointed by Governor Davidson to serve until mh 1. Mr. Goff is the oldest living ex-sheriff. Babcock and Wiswell arc dead. At the end of Wiswell's term he was appointed United States marshal for eastern Wisconsin. He had held the post of sergeant-at-arms of the Republican national convention of 1900, at Philadelphia.

The rather shadowy line of coroners began in [839 with Hollis Latham. A single function, that of serving papers on the sheriff, if occasion requires, is about all that is left belonging to these statutory but unsalaried and practically unfee'd officers, for justices of the peace may and usually do held inquests. A statute of 1875 seemed a little more favorable I" coroners, but still left their pay to the judgment or liberality of county boards of supei visors. William H. Bell, then of Elkhorn, had been elected in 1874, but, according to usage, had not "qualified." He now hastened to take the oath of office, and to ask the board at its November session to make the place

His memorial, petition, or "sifnication" was received as soberly as possi hie. and the sum of fifteen dollars was the salary fixed. Since [848 the coroners elected were, in that year, Horace Noble Hay, and thereafter David Williams. Samuel Pratt, William 11. 1'ettit. John B. Hutchiris, Dr. Daniel C. Roundy, G. C. Gardner. Julius A. Treat, Henry Adkins, G. C. Gardner (again), Wellington Hendnx. Abram G. I. Hand. Charles D. Root, William H. Bell, Charles Lysander Lyon. Mr. Bell was cho.cn at four successive elections (the last one 111 [880), and Mr. Lyon has been elected biennially from 1882 to 1910, and has given his official bond and taken his oath of office for fifteen terms. From [848 to 1906, in which latter year primarv elections put aside the old machinery of nominations. Republii county conventions, whose work was always ratified at the November polls. struggled titanically to determine majorities lor their nominees until n the lower end of the ticket. Then, weaned of their almost deadly earn ness, they ended their work in the smoke of cigars (passed aboul by success ful candidates), with an acclamation for some worthy citizen who least looked for such honor. The nomination for coroner was thus a tired con fortune was at first his part of the joke, and it afterward became his ha As turnkev and deputy under several sheriffs he was dear headed and r< lute. Though now more than "eighty years young," he is yet the Yorick ol county officers. The late Joseph F. Lyon was his brother.

Clerks Of The Circuit Court

Mr. Morgan died September 28, 1905, and Mr. Kellogg filled out the term by appointment. Mr. Wentworth became circuit judge in June. 1875. ami he appointed Mr. Lyon to serve till the next election.

District Attorneys

Wallace and John P. Ingalls are brothers, the former now of Racine; the latter was a soldier of the war with Spain. Messrs. Wentworth, llarkness, Thomas and Wheeler became judges of various courts.

Registers Of Deeds

Mr. Davis had lost both legs by freezing, lit' was a pioneer at Hudson, but after his term of office had ended he remained a citizen of Elkhorn till death in 1880. Mr. Noyes, his father's namesake, was a nephew of the pio neer Warrens of Geneva village and a son-in-law of Benjamin B. Humph He was a soldier of the Eighth Wisconsin Infantry, and a wound d at

Farmington, Tennessee, crippled him for life. Mr. Morrison became director of fanners' institutes, and dud al Madison in [893. Mr. Webster 1- a of the composer, Joseph Philbrick Webster.

County Surveyors

James and William Child were father and son. The elder Mr. Child once said, in the latter half of his long tenure of this office, that while he had done much professional work within that period, he had been employed but three times because of his official position. As long as original cornerstakes of towns and sections left their traces Mr. Tubbs was accounted the one man in the county surest to find them.

Superintendents Of Schools

Mr. Montague was killed in December, [872 (by sleigh-ride accident), and Mr. Ballard was appointed to serve till [874, and elected for another term. The Taylors were father and son. in like order of service. Miss Webster is mm Mrs. Charles P. Greene, of Elkhorn. This superintendency, at first something mure than nominal, by slowly, surely, forward steps has reached a high order of efficiency. Every district in the county, one hundred and four (besides the graded schools and high schools), is visited yearly and as much oftener as found necessary.

Superintendents Of Poor And Insane

Mr. Salisbury did not serve and Mr. Gage resumed his place until his resignation in November, 1864. Air. Hill died May 26, [879, Mr. Latham February 26, [886, Mr. Hulce September 14. [893, and Mr. Cushing August 31, 1901. The resident managers at the county farm, rather confusingly called superintendents, have been : war to administer it. The fund has been found more than sufficient purposes prescribed. The sum used in [910 was one thousand eight hundred dollars. The members have been:

Under a then recent statute, creating a state civil service commission, John Gustavus Voss and Albert Clayton Beckwith were appointed, in 1905, local examiners for the county, to hold their places at the pleasure of the commission.