Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 1 - Jerome A. Watrous - Страница 8

ACT CREATING THE COUNTY — ACT ORGANIZING THE COUNTY — MODE OF HOLDING ELECTIONS FIRST SET OF OFFICIALS — PERSONAL MENTION NARRATIVE OF ALBERT FOWLER — EARLY ELECTIONS — CENSUS OF 1836.

We will now return and take up events incidental to the formation, organization and development of Milwaukee county. During the early part of the year 1834, and through the summer following, the question of a new county was canvassed, and although there were but few residents in the district in question, at a special session of the Michigan territorial legislature, on Sept. 6, 1834, an act was passed entitled "An Act to establish the boundaries of the counties of Brown and Iowa, and to lay off the county of Milwaukee." The act provided as follows:

"Section 1. That all that district of country bounded north by the county of Michilimacinac, west by the Wisconsin river, south by the line between townships eleven and twelve north in the Green Bay land district, and east by a line drawn due north, through the middle of Lake Michigan, until it strikes the southern boundary of the county of Michilimacinac, shall constitute the county of Brown.

"Sec. 2. All that district of country bounded north by the middle of the Wisconsin river, west by the Mississippi, south by the north boundary of Illinois, and east by the principal meridian dividing the Green Bay and Wisconsin land districts [this was the range line between ranges eight and nine east] shall constitute the county of Iowa.

"Sec. 3. All that district of country bounded north by the county of Brown, east by the eastern boundary of Illinois extended, south by the state of Illinois and west by the county of Iowa, shall constitute the county of Milwaukee.

"Sec. 4. The county of Milwaukee is hereby attached to the county of Brown for judicial purposes."

Milwaukee remained under the jurisdiction of Brown county until Aug. 25, 1835, when it was organized and took its place among the separate and distinct political divisions of the state of Wisconsin.

As there has been no event of greater importance to the county or its people than that which gave it an organized existence, it is deemed proper that the essential portions of the enactment which created the county government should be given. The act was approved on Aug. 25, 1835, and was entitled "An Act to organize the counties of Allegan and Milwaukee." The first eight sections of the act pertain to the organization of Allegan county, Michigan, and hence has no place in this connection, but the ninth section reads as follows:

"Sec. 9. That the county of Milwaukee shall be, and the same is hereby declared to be organized, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to the same rights and privileges, in all respects whatever, with the inhabitants of other organized counties within the said territory.

"Sec. 10. There shall be a county court established in the said county, which court shall hold one term on the first Monday of May, and one term on the first Monday of October, in each and every year, at the village of Milwaukee, which is hereby declared to be the county seat of said county.

"Sec. 11. The county clerks of said counties of Allegan and Milwaukee, shall be ex-officio register of deeds in and for said counties until a register shall be elected according to law."

The mode of holding elections in the county was provided as follows: A majority of the judges of the county court were authorized to designate as many places in the county, in addition to those provided by law, as they deemed expedient, where the electors of said county might meet for the purpose of voting for delegate to Congress and members of the legislative council, and it was made the duty of the sheriff of the county to publish a notification thereof. On the day and at either of the places so designated, a majority of the electors present were instructed to choose a moderator, viva voce, who, together with any two justices of the peace of the county, should be inspectors of said election, and being first sworn, should proceed to open the polls, receive and canvass votes, and make returns thereof, and do all other acts or things in the same manner that inspectors of elections are authorized and required to do. The clerk of the county was required to receive the statement of votes, which were to be transmitted to him by such inspectors, and the votes polled at any such election were to be calculated and ascertained by the board of canvassers for the county, and included in the general estimate of votes given in the county.

During this same session of the Michigan legislature, and in fact on the same day upon which the act organizing Milwaukee county was approved, Gov. Stevens T. Mason, "the boy governor" of the territory of Michigan, appointed and commissioned the following gentlemen as the first set of officials for the county: Chief Justice, William Clark; associates, Joel Sage and James Griffin; county clerk, Albert Fowler; sheriff, Benoni W. Finch; judge of probate, Gilbert Knapp. Upon the same date the governor also commissioned the following named gentlemen to serve as justices of the peace: Benjamin Felch, John Bullen, Jr., William See, Joel Sage, Symmes Butler, Henry Sanderson, and William Clark. Of the last-named gentleman, who served in the dual judicial capacity of justice of the peace and chief justice of the county court, but little is known. His name seems to have been lost to the memory of the other early settlers in the years immediately following, during which history of the village and county was so rapidly made. But Dr. Enoch Chase, in one of his reminiscences, is authority for the statement that Dr. William Clark was the first Angle-Saxon to die in Milwaukee, and that he died in the spring of 1836. Mr. Clark also served as inspector of common schools for the township of Milwaukee, being chosen at the organization of the township. There is no further record to be found of him, but he was probably the same man who served as chief justice, and if so it will be seen that his term of office was short. In fact this so-called "county court" had but a brief existence, as in the act of Congress organizing the territory of Wisconsin it was provided that "the judicial power of the said territory shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and in justices of the peace," thus abolishing the county court over which Mr. Clark had been chosen to preside, and which existed only in name, as no causes were ever known to have come before it for adjudication.

Albert Fowler, who was appointed as the first county clerk, and who also was commissioned as the first justice of the peace in Milwaukee county, was born at Tyngham, Mass., Sept. 7, 1802. From there he came to Chicago, at which place he remained a short time, and then removed to Milwaukee, arriving on Nov. 18, 1833, and entered the employ of Solomon Juneau as a clerk. In fact he was the first white man, of Angle-Saxon blood, to settle in Milwaukee, and as has been stated, he was the first law officer appointed to hold court in Milwaukee county, his jurisdiction at the time of his appointment as justice of the peace extending over nearly half of what is now the state of Wisconsin. In accordance with legislative enactment, when he received the appointment as county clerk, he also became, ex-officio, the first register of deeds of the county, and he held many town and county offices during pioneer days, being one of the most honored citizens of the county. He was a member of the second convention, in 1847, for framing the state constitution, the one that was adopted by the people, and six years later, in 1853, he removed to Rockford, Ill., where he resided until his death, that event occurring on April 12, 1883. He was three times elected to the mayoralty of Rockford. We have taken the liberty to quote somewhat extensively from a "narrative" of Mr. Fowler, which was published in James S. Buck's "Pioneer History of Milwaukee," as it gives some interesting facts concerning affairs incident to the time of which we now write:

"Having acquired a few hundred dollars by speculating in corner lots, and trading with the Indians at Chicago during the summer and autumn of 1833, I left during the early part of November, of that year, in company with R. J. Currier, Andrew J. Lansing, and Quartus G. Carley, for Milwaukee. The journey passed without further incident than the difficulty experienced in getting through a country with a team, where neither roads nor bridges existed, until the evening of the 12th of November, 1833, when we were encamped on the banks of Root river, and on which occasion the great meteoric display occurred which so alarmed the Indians, and has become a matter of historical remark to this day.

"We pursued our journey the day following, I being compelled to swim Root river no less than three times in getting over our baggage and team, although the weather was so cold as to freeze our water-soaked clothing. At Skunk Grove we found Col. Geo. H. Walker, who had a small store of Indian goods, and was trading there. We reached Milwaukee on the 18th of November, 1833.

* * *

"After our arrival in Milwaukee, my three companions and myself took possession of an old log cabin, where we lived during the winter of 1833-4, doing our own cooking; amusing ourselves as best we could, there being no other white men in the place during that winter, excepting Solomon Juneau.

* * *

"In the spring of 1834, my companions went up the river to the school section and made a claim, upon which they afterwards built a mill; and I went into Mr. Juneau's employ, kept his books and accompanied him in his trading expeditions among the Indians. I soon learned to speak the Pottawattomie and Menomonee languages with considerable fluency; dressed in Indian fashion, and was known among them as Mis-kee-o-quoneu, which signified Red Cap, a name given me because I wore a red cap when I first came among them. I remained in Mr. Juneau's employ until 1836. After he was appointed postmaster, I assisted him in the post-office, and prepared the first quarterly report ever made out at that office.

"During the latter part of the summer of 1835, James Duane Doty and Morgan L. Martin went as delegates from the territory of Wisconsin to a session of the council, which was held at Detroit. They brought me, upon their return, a commission as justice of the peace, also as clerk of the court, but of what court was not very clearly defined, there being none organized at Milwaukee at this time. The commission I still have in my possession; it is signed by Stevens T. Mason, Governor of the territory of Michigan.

"My commission as justice of the peace is the oldest in Wisconsin, outside of Brown and Crawford counties. Its jurisdiction extended over nearly one-half the state — that part lying east of Rock river."

Benoni W. Finch, who served as the first sheriff of Milwaukee county, in the territorial era, was a dealer in general merchandise in the pioneer days of Milwaukee, and was a man of much prominence among the early settlers. At the first election held in the newly organized county, Sept. 19, 1835, was chosen commissioner of roads, director of the poor, and fence reviewer — all of these he performed in addition to his duties as sheriff. The latter, however, were not very onerous. On Oct. 7, 1835, Mr. Finch appeared before Albert Fowler, county clerk» and took the oath of office, but it seems that he did not serve very long, at least not until his "successor was elected and qualified," for in the first issue of the Milwaukee Advertiser, July 14, 1836, the following notice is given:

"A meeting of the citizens of Milwaukee will be held, on Saturday evening, at the Belle Vieu Hotel, for the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning the governor to appoint two or more justices of the peace, a judge of probate and a sheriff for the township and county of Milwaukee."

Mr. Finch filled a number of other minor offices, and in 1836 started the well-known brick yard in the fourth ward of Milwaukee at the foot of Fourteenth street. In the summer of the same year he also built the second brick dwelling in the embryo city, the same being located on the south side of Clybourn street, at the foot of Fourteenth street.

At the same session of the legislative council of Michigan that witnessed the passing of the act providing for the organization of Milwaukee county, an act was also passed, on Aug. 22, fixing the first Monday of October as the time for holding the election of delegate to Congress and members of the Legislative Council. But in the meantime peninsular Michigan had adopted a state constitution and formed a state government; and although it was not admitted into the Union until January, 1837, in consequence of its boundary troubles with Ohio, yet it chose to abandon its territorial form of government and assume the powers of a sovereign state, as it clearly had a right to do under the Ordinance of 1787. But that portion of Michigan territory not within the limits of the new state of Michigan still remained vested with all the governmental powers of the Territory of Michigan, and as the "contingent remainder" of the ancient territory consisted of the counties of Brown, Milwaukee, Iowa, Crawford, Dubuque, and Des Moines, everything was now in readiness for the inhabitants of these counties to elect from among themselves a delegate to Congress, members of the Legislative Council, and to assume to themselves the legislative powers of the government of the territory of Michigan. In the legislative apportionment the counties of Brown and Milwaukee were placed together in one district and were given five members of the council. In accordance with the legislative enactment organizing the county, an election was ordered held at the following places: Milwaukee, at the house of Solomon Juneau; Root River Rapids, at the house of WilHam See; Mouth of Root river (Racine), at the store of Capt. Gilbert Knapp; and at the Forks of Pike or Pickerel river (Kenosha), at the house of James Griffin. At that election there were the five official positions mentioned above (not including that of delegate to Congress), the aspirants for which were required to run the gauntlet of popular approval and have their merits passed upon at the ballot box. The election was held "on the first Monday in October," 1835, as ordered, and the balloting resulted in the choice of the following gentlemen, who were the first to don the official garments at the behest of vox populi in Milwaukee county: John Lawe and William B. Slaughter, who resided in Brown county; and George H. Walker. Gilbert Knapp, and Benjamin H. Edgerton, who claimed their abode in what was then the large domain of Milwaukee county.

After the election the newly appointed secretary of the territory of Michigan, John S. Horner, who succeeded Governor Mason, when the latter was chosen governor of the new state of Michigan, thought it proper to issue a proclamation as secretary and acting governor, which was a cause of great confusion and misunderstanding and resulted in an abortive session of the legislative council, at Green Bay. The proclamation, "for divers good causes and considerations," changed the time of the meeting of the council from the first day of January, 1836, to the first day of December, 1835. The proclamation was dated on Nov. 9, and owing to the nature of the country, the season of the year, etc., it was impossible for the members to reach Green Bay on the day set. None of the members elect went to Green Bay on the first of December, neither did Secretary Horner appear, but on Friday, Jan. 1, 1836, a quorum of the legislators convened ready for the transaction of business. The members of the legislative council remained in Green Bay, holding sessions almost daily, from Jan. 1 until Jan. 15, but Secretary Horner was conspicuous by his absence during the entire period. A number of matters were considered and acted upon, none of which, however, pertained to the local history of Milwaukee county, and a select committee was appointed by resolution to prepare a memorial to Congress praying that a separate territorial government in the country west of Lake Michigan, commonly called Wisconsin Territory, might be established. And the seventh and last session of the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory, on Friday, the 15th day of January, 1836, adjourned sine die.

On April 4, 1836, the first election was held for the purpose of choosing county officials, and the record of the election, which is still in existence, shows that "Pursuant to public notice the meeting was called to order at S. Juneau's." On motion it later adjourned to Child's Tavern, and "all the votes having been received and canvassed, it was ascertained that the following persons were elected," who proceeded to qualify for their respective official positions: Register of Deeds, Albert Fowler; Treasurer, George D. Dousman; Coroner, Enoch G. Darling; and a large number of other positions were filled which come more properly under the head of township offices.

George D. Dousman, who was thus called upon as the first man to handle the finances of Milwaukee county, came in 1835 from Mackinac, and was from the time of his arrival recognized as one of the prominent men of Milwaukee. He built the second warehouse in the city, and after Horace Chase was the first warehouseman, which business he followed for many years. He was much in public office, as county treasurer, town trustee, and other places of honor and trust, and it can truthfully be said of him that all moneys which came into his hands, as a public officer, were honestly and fully accounted for. Soon after coming to Milwaukee, in 1835, he built a two-story frame dwelling upon the lot now occupied by the Custom House, and a warehouse at the foot of Detroit street on the west side of East Water street. This was a famous warehouse in its day, it having the honor to receive and ship the first cargo of wheat that ever left the city, in 1841. Upon the erection of the Custom House in 1856 the dwelling was removed to 484 Astor street, where it remained until 1883, and was then removed to the northeast corner of Lyon and Jefferson streets. Some years after its erection the warehouse was removed to Milwaukee street, south of Huron, where it was used as a furniture factory. Upon the organization of the East Side and the institution of a village government there, in February, 1837, Mr. Dousman was elected a member of the first board of trustees. At the election for county officers, held on April 3, 1837, he was a candidate for re-election as county treasurer, but was beaten in the race by Henry Miller. One year later, however, on March 6, 1838, he was again elected to the position, being re-elected on Sept. 10 of the same year, and again in 1840. Mr. Dousman's last years were spent upon his farm in the town of Wauwatosa, having retired from business, and from there he came into the city almost daily to get the news and see his old friends, whose name was legion. He died upon his Wauwatosa farm, March 15, 1879, and was buried in Forest Home cemetery.

Enoch G. Darling, as a result of the above mentioned election was the first man who served as coroner of Milwaukee county. In February, 1837, he was elected as the first marshal of the town of Milwaukee, but soon thereafter he resigned and removed to Jefferson.

The Act of Congress providing for the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin was passed on April 20, 1836, and went into effect on July 4 of the same year; and Henry Doge, of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, was appointed by President Jackson as the first governor of the new territory. On July 4 the governor took the prescribed oath of office, which event contributed a novel and interesting element to a grand celebration of the national jubilee. It will be recalled, as mentioned on a previous page, that the offices of probate judge and sheriff of Milwaukee county had become vacant, either through the abdication of the gentlemen whom Governor Mason had appointed to such incumbency or from some other cause, and it became one of the earliest duties of Governor Dodge to fill these vacancies. Accordingly, at a mass-meeting called at the suggestion of the governor to nominate persons for the offices required to be filled by him, Nathaniel F. Hyer was named as probate judge and Henry M. Hubbard as sheriff. Those gentlemen were commissioned on Aug. 2, 1836, and about the same time Governor Dodge appointed the following additional officers: Justices of the Peace, D. Wells, Jr., John A. Messenger, S. W. Dunbar, Barzillai Douglass, and Elisha Smith; Auctioneers, William Fusky and C. D. Fitch; Notaries, William N. Gardner, Cyrus Hawley, and George Reed; District Surveyor, Joshua Hathaway.

The last-named gentleman came to Milwaukee from Rome, N. Y., in 1835, and at once assumed a high rank in the young city. He was by profession a civil engineer and as such surveyed a part of the territory now comprised within the limits of Wisconsin, more particularly the southern portion, during 1833 and 1834, making his headquarters at Chicago. On his arrival at Milwaukee he at once pitched his tent upon the lot so long occupied as his homestead, at the southeast corner of Broadway and Mason streets, and in the spring of 1836 he built a commodious dwelling, in which he commenced his wedded life and where his earthly career was ended. His fellow citizens were not slow to appreciate his sterling business qualities, as is evidenced by the fact stated above, upon the organization of the territorial government he was honored with the appointment as district surveyor, a position of great responsibility in the embryo state. His commission was dated July 8, 1836. He also held the office of public administrator for Milwaukee county in 1838, a post of great responsibility, being the same as judge of probate under the present system, and he also filled this position with honor to himself and satisfaction to the public. He entered at once largely into speculation, both in Milwaukee and other lake towns, particularly Kewaunee, and few are the names that appear in the early records with more frequency than Joshua Hathaway 's. In 1854 he was elected Commissioner of Surveys for the first ward of the city of Milwaukee. Mr. Hathaway died July 4, 1863.

The first important thing to be done to complete the organization of the territorial government was the convening of the Legislative Assembly. Preliminary to this a census was to be taken by the sheriffs, and an apportionment of members of the two branches made by the governor among the several counties. The population of Milwaukee county in August, 1836, as exhibited by the census, was 2,893. On Sept. 9, Governor Dodge issued a proclamation to the effect that he had apportioned the members of the Council and House of Representatives amongst the several counties of the territory, and that Milwaukee county was entitled to two members of the Council and three of the House of Representatives. The proclamation further ordered and directed that the first election should be held on the second Monday of October. The notice for this election was issued on Sept. 15, 1836, and upon the same date a meeting of the Democratic electors of the town of Milwaukee was held for the purpose of making arrangements for a county convention, at which candidates should be selected to "run" for the several legislative positions. The convention was held at Godfrey's, on Fox river, Oct. 1, and the ticket there selected was successful, viz: Council — Alanson Sweet and Gilbert Knapp; Representatives— William B. Sheldon, Madison W. Cornwall, and Charles Durkee.

Alanson Sweet came from Owasco, N. Y., in 1835, settled upon a claim and became a farmer and speculator generally. He was by trade a stone mason and worked at his trade in Chicago during the infantile years of that city, but never followed the occupation after locating m Milwaukee. He built largely in the "Cream City," dwellings, stores and vessels, and the first steam elevator was built by him. He also constructed many of the light-houses for the government on the lakes and the custom house at Mobile, Alabama. He became involved in law suits in the latter years of his residence in Milwaukee and lost his property, after, which he removed to Evanston, Illinois. The course pursued by Mr. Sweet in the session of the legislative assembly which convened at Belmont, in relation to the location of the capitol at Madison, the charter of the Bank of Milwaukee, and the division of the county at that session, caused great excitement in Milwaukee, and a very bitter newspaper war was the result. In the Advertiser of Feb. 18, 1837, is the report of a meeting called on the nth, at which some severe resolutions were passed in regard to Mr. Sweet's public acts at Belmont, and a call was made upon him in strong language to resign the office he had disgraced by betraying the liberties of the people into the hands of a heartless bank monopoly, and other heinous sins. But he didn't resign. He became one of the directors of the Bank of Milwaukee, and as indicated above, was in possession of considerable property at one time. He was very prominent in politics and an acknowledged leader of the Democratic party in Milwaukee county during the territorial days. In 1845 he was running a warehouse at the foot of Washington street, and two years later was a member of the pool formed by the storage and commission men of the South Pier.

As a matter of interest it may be stated here that of Milwaukee county's representatives to this, the first legislative assembly to convene in the new territory of Wisconsin, Gilbert Knapp was a native of Barnstable county, Massachusetts; Alanson Sweet, of Genesee county, New York; William B. Sheldon, of Providence, Rhode Island; Madison W. Cornwall, of Monroe county, Virginia, and Charles Durkee, of Royalton, Windsor county, Vermont.

Both houses convened at Belmont on the day appointed by the governor (Oct. 25, 1836), and a quorum being present in each house they were duly organized, the oath having been administered by the governor. The first act of this session was one which privileged the members from arrest and conferred upon them authority to punish for contempt. The next act divided the territory into three judicial districts, and made an assignment of one of the three judges to each district. Milwaukee and Brown counties were made to constitute the Third district, to which Judge William C. Frazier was assigned, and the act further provided that two terms of the district courts should be held annually in each of the counties, the dates in Milwaukee county being the second Monday in June and the first Monday in November.

During this session of the legislative council at Belmont, with the approval of the council, the following appointments were made for Milwaukee county by Governor Dodge, and this division of the territory was then considered fully equipped for local government: James Clyman was appointed colonel of militia; Isaac Butler, lieutenant colonel; Alfred Orrendolf, major; justices of the peace for three years, Isaac H. Alexander, A. A, Bird, Sylvester W. Dunbar, Barzillai Douglass, and John Manderville; for sheriff, three years, Owen Aldrich; district attorney, William N. Gardner, three years; supreme court commissioner, John P. Hilton, three years; master in chancery and judge of probate, William Campbell, three years; district surveyor, George S. West, three years; auctioneers, George S. Wright and William Flusky, two years; inspector of provisions, A. Peters, two years.