Only a part of these counties were organized at that time. Jackson County was equipped with an Organizing Sheriff in the person of William A. Warren, of Bellevue. He was also, in a limited sense, made the Sheriff of Jones and Linn Counties; and, for matters of court jurisdiction, Bellevue was, during 1838 and a part of 1839, the capital of Jones and Linn Counties. An election precinct was designated in each of these, and the report of votes sent to Bellevue.

The first Territorial Legislature, after the separation of Iowa from Wisconsin, met in Burlington November 12, 1838. During the session, the county of Jones was organized.

The act passed by the Legislature to organize the county of Jones was as follows:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, That the county of Jones be, and the same is hereby, organized from and after the 1st day of June next, and the inhabitants of said county be entitled to all the rights and privileges to which, by law, the inhabitants of other organized counties of this Territory are entitled; and the said county shall be a part of the Third Judicial District, and the District Court shall be held at the seat of justice in said county, or such other place as may be provided until the seat of justice is established.

SEC. 2. That Simeon Gardner, of Clinton County; Israel Mitchell, of Linn County, and William H. Whitesides, of Dubuque County, be, and they are hereby, appointed Commissioners to locate the seat of justice in said county, and shall meet at the house of Thomas Denson on the second Monday of March next, in said county, and shall proceed forthwith to examine and locate a suitable place for the seat of justice of said county, having particular reference to the convenience of the county and healthfulness of the location.

SEC. 3. The Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, within ten days after their meeting at the aforesaid place, make out and certify to the Governor of this Territory, under their hands and seals, a certificate containing a particular description of the location selected for the aforesaid county seat; and, on receipt of such certificate, the Governor shall issue his proclamation affirming and declaring the said location to be the seat of justice of the said county of Jones.

SEC. 6. The Commissioners aforesaid shall receive, upon making out their certificate of the location of the seat of justice of said county, each, $3 per day, and also $3 for every twenty miles going to and returning from their respective homes.

SEC. 7. Upon the presentation of the certificate aforesaid to the Treasurer of Jones County, the Treasurer is hereby authorized and required to pay the respective sums allowed by this act out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

APPROVED January 24, 1839.

It seems that these men failed to carry out the provisions of this act, and we find the county seat not to have been located until the following year, or 1840. In the Legislature of 1839-40, three other Commissioners were appointed, as follows: Thomas M. Isett, of Muscatine County; John G. McDonald, of Jackson County, and Franklin Moffat, of Delaware County. The probability is that only two of these men served the appointment. We find by the County Commissioners' books that at the July meeting, 1840, Isett and McDonald received $51 and $36, respectively, for their services in locating the county seat. Col. Thomas Cox, of Bellevue, was the surveyor.

The first election of county officers took place in the fall of 1839.

Of the County Commissioners elected on this occasion, only two appeared at the recorded meetings of the Board-Thomas Denson and Charles P. Hutton. We have been informed that the third Commissioner was H. G. Seeley. William Hutton was the first Clerk of the Commissioners' Court. Hugh Bowen was the first Sheriff of Jones County. Clark Joslin was the first Recorder.

There were three polling places at the election of 1839, and were said to have been three precincts-Bowen Prairie, Walnut Fork and Farm Creek.

The Clerks

The Judges of the election of 1839 were Orvill Cronkhite, Eli Brown, I. H. Simpson, William Clark, James Hutton and J. C. Raffety. were Thomas S. Denson, George H. Brown and D. G. Morgan.

It will be borne in mind that an election had been held in September, 1838, or one year previous, for the purpose of electing Representatives to the Iowa Legislature. This was in the cabin of Barrett Whittemore. Only eleven votes were cast, and a Representative, R. G. Roberts, was elected from Cedar, Jones, Johnson and Linn.

The first recorded meeting of the Commissioners' Court was held February 3, 1840. Their first act was to appoint Hugh Bowen Assessor in the place of Daniel Chaplin, who refused to serve.

George Mefford presented a petition for a certain county road.

It was ordered that the regular meeting of the Board should be held thereafter at the house of Donald Sutherland and until further ordered.

The Commissioners mentioned above as locating the county seat made their report in favor of the northeast quarter of Section 36, Township 85, Range 3 west, where they laid out a town and named it Edinburg.

An act of Congress provided that, as each new county was organized, the United States Government would grant to the County Commissioners a quartersection on which the county seat should be located. Accordingly, we find from the book of original entries, that on June 20, 1840, Thomas S. Denson and Charles P. Hutton, as Commissioners of Jones County, claimed the quartersection above mentioned, being the northeast quarter of Section 36 in what is now Wayne Township. This was within half a mile of the geographical center of Jones County, and its central location was the argument which secured for it the honor of being the first seat of justice.

The day after Edinburg was laid out, Col. Thomas Cox, at the solicitation of J. D. Walworth, came to the present location of Anamosa and laid out a town which was called Dartmouth. This was never recorded, and of course came to naught.

The first tax levy was made July 6, 1840, being 5 mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county of Jones, and a poll tax of 50 cents upon each voter. We find that Nov. 5, 1840, Clement Russell paid into the county treasury $25, for the privilege of keeping a grocery.

To those who have not been upon the border, it may be a question why grocerymen in a new country should be so heavily taxed. The initiated will understand that a frontier grocery was simply a saloon of the lowest character, where whisky was the only article on sale, and which could be obtained at a reasonable price, in any quantity from a glassful to a barrel. The census of 1838 revealed a population of 241.

had increased to 475.

ELECTION PRECINCTS.

In 1840, this number

At a meeting of the County Commissioners, July 6, 1840, Jones County was divided into four precincts for electoral purposes, as follows:

Walnut Precinct, comprising Townships 83 and 84, in Ranges 1, 2 and 3 west of the Fifth Principal Meridian.

Buffalo Fork Precinct, comprising Townships 83 and 84, Range 4 west. Bowen Prairie Precinct, comprising Congressional Township 86, Ranges 2, 3 and 4, and Township 85, Ranges 3 and 4.

Farm Creek Precinct, comprising Township 85 and 86, Range 1, and Township 85, Range 2.

BUFFALO FORK.

RANGES IV,

The civil partition of Jones County in 1840, might, therefore, be represented as follows:

The Judges of Elections appointed at the time of organizing the precincts

were:

For Bowen Prairie-William Dalton, William Clark and Charles Johnson. Election to be held at the house of Joseph E. Green.

For Walnut-Moses Garrison, Isaac H. Simpson and O. Cronkhite. Election to be held at the house of Norman Seeley.

For Buffalo Fork-John G. Joslin, Clement Russel and G. II. Ford. Election to be held at the house of Clement Russell.

For Farm Creek-Jacob Peet, Hezekiah Winchell and John E. Lovejoy. Election to be held at the house of Abraham Hostetter.

Bowen Prairie Precinct was made Road District No. 1, with Franklin Dalbey, Supervisor; Buffalo, No. 2, with Clark Joslin, Supervisor; Walnut, No. 3, with John Merritt, Supervisor, and Farm Creek, No. 4, with George Mefford as Supervisor.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

At the meeting of the County Commissioners' Court, July 5, 1842, it was rosolved to organize the county into townships, which should have their regu lar township officers and town government. The precincts were accordingly changed into townships, without altering the boundaries.

84

85

86

Rome was organized as a township July 5, 1842, with the same boundaries as Walnut Precinct, given above, the first township election to be held at the residence of N. B. Seeley.

Fairview was organized as a township July 5, 1842, with the same boundaries as Buffalo Fork Precinct, given above.

. Washington was organized as a township July 5, 1842, with the same boundaries as Farm Creek Precinct, given above.

Richland was organized as a township July 5, 1842, with the same boundaries as Bowen Prairie Precinct, given above.

Clay was organized as a township April 3, 1844, including what is now known as Wyoming, that part of the present township of Clay which is south of the Maquoketa River, all of Scotch Grove Township south of the river, and a strip about one mile in width upon the eastern border of Wayne Township, extending north, through Monticello, until it touched the river. The first election was held at the house of John Sutherland.

Monticello was organized as a township June 10, 1847, from Richland Township, and included all of that town south of the Maquoketa River, being most of the territory now occupied by Monticello, Wayne, Cass and Castle Grove.

Greenfield was organized as a township with its present boundaries, being separated from Fairview, and corresponding to Congressional Township 83, Range 4.

The townships now known as Cass and Wayne were separated from Monticello and attached to Fairview April 21, 1848.

Hale was organized as a township in July, 1851, and included the present towns of Hale and Oxford, which were on that date separated from Rome. The first township election was held at the house of Joseph Bumgarner.

Jackson was organized as a township in July, 1851, and included the present towns of Madison and Jackson, which were on that date separated from Rome. The first township election was held at the house of Chas. Beam. Cass was separated from Fairfield and organized as a township, with its present boundaries, March 1, 1852. The first election was at the house of W. J. Beaks.

Wyoming was separated from Clay Township February 8, 1854, and organized, with its present boundaries, under the name of Pierce Township, which was, a couple of years later, changed to Wyoming. The first election was at the house of William Stuart.

Castle Grove was separated from Monticello and organized, with its present boundaries, January 1, 1855.

At the same date, Monticello Township was extended across the river to the northern boundary of the county, corresponding to its present boundary, and including what had formerly belonged to Richland Township.

Madison Township was organized, with its present boundaries, Jan. 1, 1855. Scotch Grove was separated from Clay and organized as a township, with its present boundaries, in February, 1855. The first election was held at a schoolhouse.

Oxford was separated from Hale Township and organized, with its present boundaries, in March, 1855. The first election was at the house of John Bryan.

Wayne was set off from Fairview Township and organized, with its present boundaries, March 5, 1856. The first election was held at the house of O. G. Scrivens.

It will be observed that the last township was not formed until some sixteen years after the organization of the county, and that certain districts belonged, at different periods, to quite a number of different towns. Wayne Township, for instance, had belonged to Richland, Monticello and Fairview previous to its organization as an independent town. Each township now corresponds to the Congressional numbering, rendering the political geography of the county as simple as a, chessboard.

THE FIRST COURT.

The first court held in Jones County was presided over by Judge Thomas S. Wilson, and was in session at Edinburg, the first county seat, March 22, 1841.

The grand jurors on that occasion were as follows: Moses Collins, Thomas Dickson, Charles Johnson, B. Beardsley, William Clark, Jackson Peak, Isaac H. Simpson, T. Crook, L. A. Simpson, Orvill Cronkhite, Joseph H. Merritt, S. I. Dunham, H. Winchell, I. Tate, M. Lupton, J. C. Raffety, David Killham, A. Hostetter, John G. Joslin, G. H. Ford, Henry Booth, C. C. Reed, Ambrose Parsons.

The petit jurors were F. Dalbey, Joshua Johnson, G. B. Laughlin, Barrett Whittemore, J. E. Greene, Daniel Vance, Richard Cleveland, I. Merritt, Moses Garrison, Alexander Staney, Jacob Cornwall, Benjamin Chaplin, J. E. Lovejoy, P. H. Turner, W. H. Jones, Alvin Winchell, Harry Hargodem, O. Delong, C. Russell, James Spencer, George H. Brown, Clark Joslin, Eli Brown, George H. Walworth.

The only indictment found by the grand jury is recorded as follows:

UNITED STATES

VS.

ROBERT SNOWDEN.

Indictment for assault to commit great bodily injury. A true bill.

Two cases came up for hearing, both being by appeal from Justices' Courts. One was dismissed, and the other continued until the next session of court. The first court continued two days. The petit jury was not called.

The next court was held in September, 1841.

We find no record of a term of court from September, 1845, till May, 1847. During this time, the county seat was at Newport. In May, 1847, Judge Wilson presided at Edinburg, and in September, 1847, at Lexington.

COMMISSIONERS' ACTS.

In April, 1841, we find $6 appropriated to Donald Sutherland for rent of rooms in which the County Board had held its meetings.

Henry Hopkins was the first Prosecuting Attorney, and was allowed $34 for his services, at the meeting of the Board in March, 1842.

October 3, 1842, was approved the Territorial road from Dubuque to Marion, on that portion of it which was included in Jones County. James Butler and P. Scott were the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to view the same.

The first licensed ferry of which we have acker, across the Wapsipinicon at Newport. eration of $2, continued for one year from vehicle was charged 25 cents; one-horse, 12

record was granted Adam OverThis license was for the considApril 13, 1847. A two-horse cents; footman, 64 cents, etc.