Histories: Trempealeau Co. Historical Accounts:
"History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917":
Chapter 9:
First County Board
-As transcribed from page 106
Trempealeau
County was created by the legislature January 24, 1854, and a provision
included in the act constituting the board of supervisors of
Montoville, the board of supervisors of Trempealeau County until other
towns should be created and town officers duly elected therein.1
Consequently, on March 11, 1854, the town board of Montoville, sitting
as a board of supervisors of Trempealeau County, convened at
Trempealeau, with Horace F. Owen as chairman and Isaac Noyes and
William Nicholls as the other supervisors, and with Charles Cameron as
clerk.2 At this meeting the town of
Gale was set off, with practically all of the present area of Gale and
northward to the county line. The first town election was ordered
held at the home of Benjamin F. Heuston, on April 4, following.
All of the county not included in Gale remained in Montoville, which
thus constituted the present towns of Caledonia and Trempealeau and the
west part of the county, north to the county line.
On
September 12, 1854, B. F. Heuston was elected county judge, receiving
26 votes in Montoville and 8 in Gale. George Batchelder received
11 in Montoville and 12 in Gale. In November the following county
officers were elected: Charles Utter, district attorney; Ira E.
Moore, sheriff; George H. Smith, clerk of the court; Charles Utter,
clerk of the board; A. W. Armstrong, registrar; Hollister Wright,
treasurer; George J. Turton, surveyor, and William Adams,
coroner. There were 44 votes cast, 36 in Montoville and 8 in
Gale. George H. Smith appointed William M. Young deputy clerk and
Hollister Wright made John Nicholls his clerk as deputy county
treasurer.3
Resources for the above information:
1 - General Laws of 1854, Chapter 2.
2
- All the proceedings of the successive boards mentioned in this
chapter are found in the Minutes, which are in the custody of the
County Clerk. The list of officers which appears in this chapter
is secured from the election returns, from the oaths of office filed,
and from the Minutes.
3
- This list appears on p. 1035 in the History of Western Wisconsin
(Chicago, 1881), and is supposedly from the pen of B. F. Heuston.
The election of the clerk of court, clerk of the board, register and
treasurer are confirmed by the records. The name of Ira E. Moore
appears nowhere in the records, and A. M. Brandenburg apparently served
as sheriff in 1855-56. The records show that George J. Turton was
appointed surveyor June 26, 1855. No other mention of Charles
Utter as district attorney can be found. He was not a
lawyer. Hollister Wright filed his bond as treasurer Jan. 19,
1855, but on March 9, 1856, George Batchelder was paid for services as
treasurer. No confirmation appears of the election of William
Adams as coroner.