Excerpt from An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Kathryn Kelly ========================================================================= The following excerpt comes from An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota by Arthur P. Rose Northern History Publishing Company, Jackson, Minnesota, 1910 pp. 314-316 AN EARLY MARRIAGE (By Major H. S. Bailey) I want to relate one little incident to show how prompt our officers were in performing their official duties. At the first town meeting held in Des Moines, April 22, 1866, there was one Simon, whose surname was Olson, who was elected a justice of the peace. Upon the same evening of the election he took the oath of office and filed his official bond, and, being furnished with a copy of the statutes of Minnesota, he went home a full-fledged squire. Whether he slept any that night to study law we are not informed; but the next Monday he ate his breakfast as usual, donned his best suit of store clothes, and, after looking in the glass to make sure that he was the right man, took the statute under his arm and started to find a job. He had not far to go before he found a woman who seemed perfectly willing to sacrifice herself upon the hymeneal altar, providing a suitable man could be secured. After some difficulty, he found a man that, to all appearances, was eligible to fill the responsible position of husband, and, after using some very persuasive arguments, the man came to the conclusion that it was not best for a man to live alone, and, accordingly, accompanied the squire to the residence of the lady aforesaid. Whether the squire read the constitution of the United States or the declaration of independence, or what the ceremony was, we are not informed, but it concluded by his pronouncing them husband and wife according to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the state of Minnesota. This was the first marriage celebrated after the organization of the county, on the ninth day of April, 1866. TROUBLES OF JUSTICE Many ludicrous, as well as distressing, events occurred soon after the county was organized. When the first town meeting was held, in April, 1866, two justices of the peace were elected, one living in Petersburg township proper, the other living near Loon lake in what is now Minneota township. As everybody was peaceably inclined, there was not much for a justice to do that year. But about Christmas time the Loon lake justice was overwhelmed with work. Six people came to him desiring to be made into three, and such a wholesale order was not to be cast aside. He proceeded to perform the marriage ceremonies in his best style, and the newly married went away happy. Three or four weeks later some one informed the justice that the had made himself criminally liable for marrying people who had not first secured a license. He became alarmed and sought advise as to the best way out of the scrape. Someone advised him that the best way would be for the parties to procure licenses and be married over and thus legalize the affair. This struck the justice as the proper way out of the dilema, and he proceeded to notify the parties accordingly. The first couple thought so, too, and wanted the job done up strong. The second couple were satisfied and said they would risk the former marriage. The third couple lived just over the line in Iowa, and when the justice broke the situation to them, the man said: "Good; I am glad of it; I've had enough of married life; I'll quit and don't want to be married again." The woman chimed in: "All right; if you're sick of it, I am, and if you want to leave, leave, so now." And they separated. This is the only instance on record where a justice of the peace granted a divorce. [Page 191 lists the first justices of the peace, elected in April, 1886, as H. S. Bailey, Martin D. Metcalf, and Simon Olson. P. 120 lists Martin D. Metcalf as having recieved title to land in Minneota township in 1869. This may indicate that he was the justice that got himself in trouble.] EARLY JUSTICE COURTS. The duties of early day justices of the peace were not entirely taken up with performing marriage ceremonies, and sometimes the courts were attended with ludicrous scenes and results. George C. Chamberlin, in the Jackson Republic of January 27, 1888, tells of his recollections of some of these events: "I recall the first justice court held in Jackson, or on the original townsite. It was early in the spring of 1867, and was held in T. A. White's store. A Mr. Blackmer was [building] a mill up the river and refused to pay the farmers in the vicinity who had labored in the construction of the mill and dam, and naturally they commenced an action to recover. Mr. Blackmer brought M. E. L. Shanks from Fairmont to attend his interests, and the boys here secured one of our citizens to prosecute the case, there not being at that time a lawyer in the county. Major Bailey was the justice, and he and the unlearned and unlicensed home attorney beat Blackmer and Shanks, but Blackmer beat on execution. "That little building on the corner of Second and Ashley streets is replete with scenes and incidents of early days in Jackson. It was the first building lathed and plastered in the county. Commissioners held sessions there; Rev. Peter Baker held services there, and during the winter of 1867-68 school was taught in the building. Major Bailey was holding court there on one occasion when Evan Herbrandson led up a smiling damsel, and, looking square in at the door, announced matrimonial intentions; whereupon the Major suspended proceedings, and right then and there made two hearts beat as on inside of five minutes, and then went on with his court. "There were occasionally assault and battery cases in those days that never came to trial. I recall one case where the doctor who was called to attend one of the parties to a scrimmage reported hardly a strong enough case to warrant an arrest. A slight wound was inflicted by one of the assaulters and a physician was called to address it. The doctor was reputed to be not particularly skillful in surgery, but he had stowed away in his memory a few medical and anatomical phrases, to be used as occasion might arise. He returned from the scene of the fracas, and of course there was a rush to the buggy to learn the result. He made the affair out not a serious matter and remarked that there were 'but a few scratches by a knife about the diaphram and the epiglottis.' A bystander turned to go, and answered further inquiries by stating that the doctor said there was no trouble, only that the 'diafrown was up and the epaminondous was down' The diagnosis was accepted, and that was the last of the case." A WIFE AS JAILOR. The Primitive condition of Jackson county under its first organization led to many a queer official proceeding , viewed in the light of present conditions. The story is told that in 1861 Joseph Muck, who with his large family had come to Jackson county and settled near the present site of Jackson in 1858, had a row with a traveling minister and struck him with a club. Muck was promptly arrested and brought before Judge Simon Olson, then a justice of the peace, who fined the prisoner ten dollars or ten days in jail. Muck chose the latter. It is stated that at the time the nearest jail was at St. Paul, and that Israel F. Eddy, who was the county sheriff, was too busy catching muskrats to think of making such a trip; so he appointed Mrs. Muck deputy sheriff and made her her husband's jailor. Mrs. Muck, so the story runs, worked her prisoner in the garden ten days and then put in a bill for ten days' board, which was allowed by the county commissioners. A partial verification of this story is found among the few county records of the first organization which have been preserved. In a little book containing a record of county warrants issued, I find that warrants numbered 58 to 62, inclusive, were drawn in favor of Joseph Muck, all under date of October 4, 1861. These were for a total of $14 - the first four for three dollars each, the last one for two dollars. The form of the entries is as follows: No. 58. Oct. 4, 1861. Joseph Muck, for wife's services as jailor and prisoner's board, $3.00. Muck had had the satisfaction of beating the minister, had settled his ten dollar fine, had received fourteen dollars from the county and had got his garden hoed; and the court was ready for the next case.