Histories: Trempealeau Co. Historical Accounts:
"History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917":
Chapter 23: More Historical Papers
Early Burnside Records
-As transcribed from pages 898 - 900
At a meeting of the town of
Burnside, held at the house of Giles Cripps, April 5, 1864, pursuant to
an order issued by the County Board of Supervisors, the following were
elected officers of the meeting: George E. Parsons, H. W. Rumsey
and T. Moore, inspectors; G. H. Markham and Giles Cripps, clerks.
The following named persons were duly elected town officers for the
year 1864: G. E. Parsons, chairman, 9 votes; T. Moore and A. C.
Baker, supervisors, 9 votes; George H. Markham, clerk, 9 votes; Giles
Cripps, treasurer, 9 votes; H. D. Rumsey, assessor, 9 votes; justices
of the peace, Charles Lyne, 1 year, 9 votes; G. Parsons, 2 years, 5
votes; H. W. Rumsey, 2 years, 9 votes; Giles Cripps, 1 year, 9 votes;
constables, H. D. Rumsey, 9 votes, and L. Bautch, 9 votes. The
inspectors of elections were G. E. Parsons, Talcott Moore and H. W.
Rumsey. The poll list consisted of A. C. Baker, sworn; Charles
Lyne, Peter Sura, Lawrence Bautch, Talcott Moore, Giles Cripps, George
H. Markham, H. P. Rumsey, George E. Parsons; total, 9. Cripps was
uanimously elected overseer of highways, district No. 3 of the town of
Burnside. The following acts were passed: 1. Hogs not
to be allowed free commons under a penalty of one-quarter of a dollar
for each head. 2. Five dollars ($5) raised for the purpose of
buying a burial ground. 3. Motion made, seconded and
carried that the board of supervisors be appointed a committee to
confer with Giles Cripps and W. H. Whitmore for the purchase of a
burial ground. 4. Moved, seconded and carried that we hold the
next town meeting at the schoolhouse. 5. Moved, seconded and
carried that this meeting be adjourned at 4 o'clock, Nov. 5, 1864.
At a meeting of the board of supervisors held at the house of George H.
Markham, April 9, 1864, it was determined that the town of Burnside
should compose one road district to be known as road district No.
3. Dated April 9, 1864. G. E. Parsons and Talcott Moore,
supervisors. At a special town meeting held at the schoolhouse,
district No. 1 of the town of Burnside, on June 20, 1864, a tax of $100
was raised for the purpose of opening a road to Beef River; also a tax
of $50 for the contingent expenses of said town. G. E. Parsons,
chairman; T. Moore and A. C. Baker, inspectors.
A special meeting held June 20, 1864, at which it was determined that
road district No. 3 should hereafter be known and described as road
district No. 1 of the town of Burnside. By an order of the town
board dated July 6, 1864, a new school district was established as
district No. 2. Nov. 8 school district No. 3 was
established. By an order of the town board dated Dec. 10, 1864,
these two districts were consolidated as school district No. 2.
By an order of the town board dated January 23, 1865, two new road
districts were formed as districts No. 1 and No. 2.
At a special town meeting held Jan. 23, 1865, held at the schoolhouse
in district No. 1 of the town of Burnside for the purpose of raising
$660 to procure volunteers, the proposition was carried
unanimously. The proposition of raising a tax of $264.69 to pay
the indebtedness of the town on the back call, was carried by one vote,
votes standing 7 for, 6 against. In the poll list of this meeting
were the names of Michael White, James Reid, J. L. Hutchins, T. Bennett
and Nephi Nichols for the first time recorded; total votes, 13.
The financial statement of the town for 1864 and 1865 is: County
and State tax, $225.17; town tax, $155; school tax, $270; total,
$650.17. Amount of orders drawn, $426.65; amount of orders paid,
$339.40; deficit of $87.25. Delinquent tax list, $455.31; due on
orders, $87.25; leaving on hand, $360.06. Beef River road and
county, $270; leaving on hand a surplus of $98.06. There was also
paid out on what the record calls the Arcadia War Fund $76.43.
There is a record, June 29, of $168.67 paid the town of Arcadia in full
on this fund at the town meeting April 4, 1865. There were 20
votes cast. It was voted that $100 be raised for the contingent
fund; that no money be raised for town school purposes; and that no
highway tax be raised for road purposes.
At the town meeting April 3, 1866, the following resolution was
adopted: "Resolved, That the public money raised for bounty
purposes by the county of Trempealeau shall be paid only to the
soldiers who have been honorably discharged fromt he service of the
United States and to the heirs of the soldiers who have died before
receiving the county bounty of $50. Resolved, that in order that
the public money raised for bounty purposes may not be paid to other
than the soldiers or their heirs, the county board of supervisors
should take no cognzance of any transfer or assignment of bounty, but
should adhere to the rule heretofore adopted to allow the bounty only
on the applicaiton of the soldier, accompanied by his certificat of
honorable discharge from the United States service, and on the
application of the heirs of deceased soldier upon satisfactory proof of
the service and death of the soldier and the heirship of the
applicants. Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be presented
to each of the county supervisors."
The following territory was taken from the town of Burnside and added
to the town of Lincoln, to take effect April 1, 1867: The
southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter,
section 25; the east half of the southwest quarter of the southeast
quarter, and the southeast quarter of the northeast half, section 35
and 36; town 22, range 9 west.
At the election held April 7, 1868, the question of removing the county
seat from the village of Galesville to the village of Trempealeau, 44
votes were cast, 10 for removal and 34 against.
May 3, 1873, a special election was held for the purpose of voting on
the proposition to grant bonds to the amount of $20,000 to aid the
Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railroad (now the G. B. & W). The
vote stood 9 for and 93 against, with one deficient.
In 1879 the inhabitants of that part of the town that now comprises the
town of Chimney Rock (township 23) agitated the splitting of the
town. The question was voted on at the spring election of 1880
with the following result; In town 22, for, 38; against, 157; in
town 23, for, 110; against, 5. The proposition not receiving a
majority in both parts of the town, it was lost. It was again
voted on in the spring of 1881 and carried.
- by James N. Hunter.