Histories: Trempealeau Co. Historical Accounts:
"History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917":
Chapter 9:
Commissioners and Their Doings
-As transcribed from pages 109 - 111
With
this board the pre-bellum period came to a close. From one
township, in 1854, the county had increased to eight. Settlements
were springing up here and there, and farmhouses were dotting the
landscape in every direction. Without exception, the members of
the board had been men of ability. All had been men from the
eastern states, with good district school educations, who had brought
with them all the traditions of the New England town meeting, and who
fully realized their responsibility as the founders of a future
important county. The knowledge that they were laying a
foundation for future years is everywhere apparent, and in many of the
resolutions is actually expressed. John Nicholls, who was county
clerk during this period, was a man of orderly mind, an excellent
penman and possessed of considerable legal knowledge, so that the
affairs of the county were well conducted and the records kept in an
adequate manner. The successive boards had met with many
problems. Taxes had to be laid on a people struggling with
poverty in a new country, bills had to be paid out of a slender
treasury, and every account was pared to its utmost limit, roads had to
be laid out along routes which would reach the greatest number of the
scattered settlements, bridges had to be constructed to accommodate the
travels of the inhabitants of the county, and also to facilitate
immigration. Towns had to be created, and the nature of the
ridges and valleys made it necessary that frequent changes be made in
townships already created, in order that the people who were
geographically related might be placed also in convenient political
units. Even at this early date there were poor who must be cared
for, and the successive boards had been divided in their opinions as to
whether this should be done with a township or a county system.
Strangers were constantly passing through the county, and many of these
travelers were of an unsavory character. Unidentified bodies of
murdered men were frequently found along the highways, and corpses were
often washed up at Trempealeau, a mute testimony to the grim sternness
of life on the Mississippi in those early days. The expense of
disposing of these bodies had to be met by the appropriations of the
county board.
Struggling as they were, with pioneer conditions, many of the settlers
were unable to pay their taxes, claims were frequently deserted by
restless pioneers who found it more convenient to seek their fortunes
further than to meet their obligations here, and the problem of
disposing of unredeemed tax titles was constantly before the
board. The question of drainage was also an important one and was
frequently considered.
But these farmers met all these situations with clear brains and good
common sense, and the affairs of the county were in a satisfactory
condition at the close of this period in its history.
The new system of county government in Wisconsin went into effect
January 1, 1862, and it was under this system that Trempealeau County
underwent the great stress of the Civil War. The new board
convened January 13, 1862, George Batchelder of Trempealeau
representing the First District, A. R. Wyman of Galesville the Second
and Henry Lake of Preston the Third. Batchelder had served on the
first county board in 1854. Wyman had served in 1857 and
1858. Lake was a pioneer who had settled at the mouth of Lake
Cooley in Preston Township and had already become prominent in township
affairs. This board had to defend the existence of Trempealeau
County as a county. At its first meeting William A. Cram, the
sheriff, reported to the board that he had been summoned before the
Superior Court of Wisconsin to show cause why he had illegally
performed the duties of sheriff in certain townships, George F.
Haswell, representing Buffalo County, alleging that Trempealeau County
had been illegally created, and that a larger part of its townships
were therefore still a part of Buffalo County. The board placed
the matter in the hands of George Gale, through whose efforts the
county was created, and in due time the organization of the county was
confirmed by the Supreme Court.4
The Civil War occupied the attention of the board for the next few
years. Fortunately, during these years a considerable sum was
realized from the sale of tax titles, and in spite of the numerous
bounties paid to war volunteers, the financial standing of the county
was not impaired. November 12, 1862, the county board voted to
raise $3,000 as a part of the general tax fund, for a Soldiers' Bounty
Fund, for soldiers from this county, and their families. December
16, 1862, it was decided to pay $4 a month for seven months to the
wives and families of all non-commissioned officers, musicians and
privates enlisting from this county. At the December meeting the
first bounties were voted. With this beginning, the board
continued to grant $4 a month to families of volunteers throughout the
war.
An ambrotype of the company of volunteers raised in Trempealeau County
having been taken, the board on December 20, 1862, voted to present the
picture to Galesville University.
Ettrick was created on December 16, 1862, and the first town meeting
called for April 7, 1863, at the home of John Cance, in Section 36,
Township 20, Range 8. This made nine townships in the county.
The board for 1863 was the same as the previous year. War-time
problems increased. The bounty of $4 a month to families of
volunteers was continued. November 10, 1863, it was voted to pay
a bounty to each volunteer (or heirs) who had enlisted in the military
service of the United States from this county during the Rebellion, and
who should die in service or be honorably discharged. Later it
was determined that in case the monthly bounty had been paid, that the
amount of the monthly bounty should be deducted from the enlistment
bounty. The first to receive this enlistment bounty was F. J.
Miller, honorably discharged from the First Wisconsin Battery.
The unemotional records, with their lists of bounties paid to the
relatives of those who died in battle, give to present generations a
glimpse of the stress and tragedy of those days.
While the young men were fighting for the preservation of the Union at
the front, those at home were gradually increasing the agricultural
acreage of the county. The board, realizing the importance of
raising sufficient food, and appreciating the vital part played in the
war by the farms, voted on December 23, 1863, to contribute $50 to the
work of the Trempealeau County Agricultural Society.
Burnside was created as a township December 29, 1863. It consisted of
Townships 22 and 23, Range 9, the west half of Township 23, Range 8,
and Sections 4, 5, 6 in Township 22, Range 8. This embraced all
of what is now Burnside, except the little strip in Township 22, Range
8, all of Chimney Rock, all that is now Hale west of the line that
equally divides Range 8, and a small tract that is now the southwest
corner of Lincoln. The first meeting was to be held in April,
1864, at the home of Giles Cripps.
The board for 1864 consisted of E. Wilcox from the First District, Alex
McGilvray from the Second District, and W. H. Thomas from the Third
District. February 3 this board created Hale Township, embracing
practically the entire present township of that name, with the
exception of some slight variations along the northwestern line of
Pigeon Township. The first town meeting was to be held in April,
1865, at the home of D. S. Watson, Section 24, Township 23, Range
8. The bounty question continued to be a problem. At the
time of the recruiting of Company C, Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer
Infantry, it had been generally understood throughout the county that
every volunteer was to receive a bounty of $50. At the first
meeting in 1864 the board therefore determined that the finances of the
county were such as to justify a payment on account of $25 to all who
had not already received that amount, either in person or through their
families. The families that had received money in monthly payments
amounting in all to less than $25 could receive the balance in cash, or
request to have their $4 a month continued. later in the year it
was decided that widows of certain deceased volunteers should receive a
monthly bounty of $4, just the same as though their husbands were still
alive and serving at the front. November 15, 1865, 115 bounty
claims were adjusted. It was during the administration of this
board that the organization of the township of Chase was vacated, and
the territory added to Sumner. The same board served in 1865, A.
R. Wyman succeeding John Nicholls as clerk.
George Dewey from the First District, George H. Smith from the Second,
and Edward F. Wade from the Third, constituted the board for
1866. This board attempted to construct a jail. Crime was
increasing with the growth in population and the augmentation of
travel, and the cost of removing prisoners to the jail at La Crosse was
a serious drain on the county's resources. November 15, 1866, it
was therefore voted to raise $1,500 for the erection of a jail at
Galesville.
The next board, J. M. Barrett of the First District, George H. Smith of
the Second District, and Charles C. Crane of the Third District, took
office January 8, 1857, and on that date authorized Charles C. Crane to
draw plans for the jail. B. F. Heuston succeeded A. R. Wyman as
clerk. In the summer time this board ordered a tract index
prepared for use in the office of the register of deeds. November
14, a final readjustment was made of the bounty matter. Many who
declared themselves to have claims had assigned these claims to other
persons for small sums, and the holders were pressing the county for
payment. The board found that in most instances these claims were
of men who had not enlisted from this county, or else of men whose
families had already received in monthly payments more than the
volunteer was entitled to receive. As an incentive toward good
roads, the county decided to construct a pile driver to be loaned to
the various towns.
James M. Barrett from the First District, Robert Cance from the Second,
and C. C. Crane from the Third, made up the board for 1868. Steps
were taken toward erecting an almshouse. The distribution of the
care of the poor between the county and townships had not proven
satisfactory. Therefore it was determined that the proceeds of
all lands that had been sold for taxes and bid in for five successive
years by the county and appraised and sold before the annual meeting of
1869, should be turned in to the poor fund, and an unimproved farm
bought for not more than $1,000, or an improved farm for not more than
$3,000, and that the county assume sole charge of the poor after
January 1, 1870.
In 1869 the board consisted of Noah D. Comstock from the First
District, Robert Cance from the Second District, and N. P. Bruce from
the Third District. This board decided to abandon the plans for
building a jail, and to accept the offer of the village of Trempealeau
for the free use of the jail in that village.
The last board under this regime convened February 15, 1870, and
consisted of Noah D. Comstock from the First District, A. R. Wyman from
the Second District, and N. P. Bruce from the Third District.
Resources for the above information:
4 - The State ex rel. Geo. F. Haswell vs. William A. Cram, 16 Wis. 343-344.