Jerauld County, SD History .....Chap 1,2; Part Two ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 28, 2005, 11:10 pm PART TWO. Chapter 1. Many years ago when Dakota Territory began to take political shape the part now known as Jeranld county was in the western part of Buffalo county, which embraced the country west of Minnehaha and north of Yankton counties. In 1873 the legislature created the county of Wetmore, including in it the west half of what is now Miner county, all of Sanborn, all of Jerauld, except the three west townships in range sixty-seven, and the north tier of townships in Aurora county. Wetmore county was never organized and in 1879 it was cut up into smaller political subdivisions, the present boundaries of Jerauld county being attached to Crogin county to form Aurora. The creation of the county of Jerauld was an incident of the capital light that for several years was waged with great bitterness and much of political intrigue between Yankton and Bismarck in the old territorial days. In the course of the contest many towns became ambitious of capital honors, and many local jealousies were involved. The men who controlled the contending forces were masters of all the arts of politics. A history of that contest is outside the purpose of this volume, except in so far as it effects the subject in hand. One of the methods to secure votes in the territorial legislature of 1879. i88r and 1883 upon the questions involved in the relocation of the capital, was the creation of new counties and naming them in reward for political service rendered by the persons whose names were bestowed upon the various political subdivisions. In some instances the opposite course was taken and a county would be threatened with annihilation (as in the case of Davison county) in the hope of whipping an obstinate member into line. By an act approved February 22, 1879, the boundaries of the county of Hanson were extended to include the county of Davison, the latter county was abolished and the county of Aurora was created. By this act Aurora county extended from Douglas county on the south to Beadle and Hand counties on the north and included all of townships 101, 102, 103, 104, 105. 106, 107 and 108, and ranges 63, 64, 65 and 66. This act placed in Aurora county all of what is now Jerauld county, except the townships in range 67. Commissioners for Aurora county were appointed by Gov. Ordway in the summer of 1881. One of the commissioners appointed was A. B. Smart of township 107—65, now of Wessington Springs, Jerauld county. In the organization of Aurora county, Mr. Alden Brown, now in the Soldiers' Home at Quincy, Ill., but then a resident of the northwest quarter of section 6— 107—64. was appointed superintendent of schools. Mr. Brown served but a few months and resigned. At the instance of Mr. Smart the board then appointed C. W. McDonald, of section 13— 107—65, to fill the vacancy. Another act approved March 1st, 1881, made Hanson county extend only to the James river, on the west, while the east line of Aurora county was made the new west line of Hanson county, but leaving the balance of Aurora county the same as designated by the act of 1879. This act, however, provided for a vote of the people of Davison county on the matter of annexation. By an act approved March 9th, 1883, the last day of the session, a new county was created by dividing Aurora county on the line between townships 105 and 106. The new county was made to include townships 106, 107 and 108 from south to north, and ranges 63, 64, 65, 66 and 67, from east to west. The new county was named Jerauld, the name of a member of the territorial council from Lincoln county. The townships 108—67, 107—67 and 106—67 had formerly been a part of Buffalo county. The act made provision for an election on the question of division to be held in that part of Jerauld county taken from Aurora, which election was appointed by the law for the I7th day of April, 1883. The act also provided that the commissioners of Aurora county should appoint judges of such election and establish precincts therefor. Provision was also made for publication of notices of said election in paper to be designated by the Aurora county commissioners. After the creation of Brule county in 1879, Buffalo county was attached to it for judicial purposes. At the next session of the territorial legislature, 1881, an act was passed authorizing the filing and recording of deeds and mortgages, taken in unorganized counties in the county to which they were attached for judicial purposes. As Buffalo county was then attached to Brule for judicial purposes, the deeds and mortgages and other conveyances of Buffalo county lands were placed on the record books of Brule county at Chamberlain. This included townships 106—67, 107—67 and 108—67, which were a part of Buffalo county until April 17th, 1883. Chapter 2. In accordance with the act of March 9th, 1883, the commissioners of Aurora county caused notice of the election for April I7th to the published in the Wessington Springs Herald and also in the Aurora County Standard. Precincts in the proposed new county were established and judges appointed as follows: No. 1—Townships 107 and 108, range 63 and the two east tiers of sections in township 107 and 108, range 64. Polling place, house of I. P. Ray. Judges, J. W. Whiffin, Hiram Fisher and I. P. Ray. No. 2—Townships 106, range 63, 64 and 65. Polling place, the house of Chas. Walters. Judges, L. G. Wilson, T. K. Ford and John Steiner. No. 3—Township 108, range 65 and 66 and township 107, range 65, with the four west tiers of sections in townships 107 and 108, range 64. Polling place, Elmer P. O. Judges, C. W. Hill, Chas. W. McDonald and A. B. Smart. No. 4—Townships 106 and 107, range 66. Polling place, the house of Albert Allyn. Judges, H. F. Brasch, Albert Allyn and Phillip H. Best. Polls to remain open from 8 a. m. until 5 p. m. The election was a victory for the new county. The vote was for division, 149; against division 25. In Wessington Springs precinct division lacked but one vote of being unanimous. The result of the election was certified to the territorial secretary at Yankton and on the 3Oth day of September, 1883, the governor appointed Hiram D. Fisher, of 107—64, Almona B. Smart, of 107—65 and Samuel H. Melcher, of 106—66, commissioners to organize Jerauld county. The commissions were sent by mail to Mr. Melcher, at Crow Lake, who forwarded the commissions for Smart and Fisher to them at Wessington Springs by T. H. Null. In the division of the county of Aurora the old organization retained all the property and assumed all the debts. Jerauld county started without debt and without money. There is no record showing when the commissioners of the new county took the oath of office, or that they ever qualified in the legal sense of the word as officials. But, be that as it may, they met at the residence of A. B. Smart near Wessington Springs and organized on the 9th day of November, 1883, by electing Mr. Smart chairman of the board. Mr. Smart was made chairman because of his experience as a member of the board that organized Aurora county. The first motion made and carried after organization was to the effect that at the close of this first session, the board adjourn until the first Monday in January, 1884, which would come on the 7th of that month. Some time prior to the organization of the board, Mr. Charles W. McDonald had been appointed by Judge A. J. Egerton to be clerk of the district court for Jerauld county. Mr. McDonald now appeared before the board and filed his bond, upon which appeared the names of Peter R. Barrett and Robert S. Bateman as sureties. The bond was approved November 9th, 1883. Mr. McDonald continued to hold this position until the admission of South Dakota as a state in 1889. On this 9th day of November, 1883, at the evening session, R. Y. Hazard, of 106—66, was appointed to be the first school superintendent of Jerauld county. This appointment was made at the instance of Com. Melcher. A candidate in opposition to Mr. Hazard was a man named J. T. Johnston, of township 108—66, who was elected to succeed Mr. Hazard at the first regular election for county officers held in November, 1884. A number of private or subscription schools, had been held in various parts of the county in the two previous years, but upon Mr. Hazard devolved the responsibility of organizing the public school system for the county. It is to be regretted that full records were not kept and preserved. Aside from organizing and approving Mr. McDonald's bond as clerk of the district court, but little was done during the first day, of an official character, the members of the board putting in most of the time in talking over the work before them in a commendable desire to get a full understanding of their duties. Now that we have reached the point, after which these three commissioners must always hold an important place in the history of the county, it is proper that they, individually, be given a more extended notice than it is our intention "to give to persons, in the preparation of this chronicle. We shall hereafter write of persons only in connection with events. Samuel Henry Melcher was born at Gilmantown, New Hampshire, October 30th, 1828. He was a student in the medical department of Bowdoin College, Maine; and also in the Vermont Medical College. He graduated M. D. at Dartmouth College, November 6th, 1850, and began practice of his profession as house surgeon of the City Hospital in South Boston, remaining there during the winter of 1850—51. May 7th, 1861, he was made assistant surgeon of the Fifth Missouri Volunteers and served with that regiment at the battles of Carthage, Mo., Dug Springs and Wilson Creek. Surgeon Melcher remained on the battlefield of Wilson Creek until all the other Federal officers had left, and obtained from the Confederate General Price the body of General Lyon, commander of the Union forces in that engagement, who was killed there, and brought it to Springfield, Mo., accompanied by a Confederate escort, furnished by the rebel General Rains. The term of service of the regiment, which had enlisted for three months, had now expired and Mr. Melcher volunteered to remain in Springfield as a prisoner to care for the wounded Union soldiers, numbering over 500, who had been brought there from the Wilson Creek battlefield. The people of Springfield generously furnished provisions and supplies to the wounded of both armies until Surgeon Melcher obtained the things needed from the headquarters of the Union forces at Rolla. He was at his post in the hospital on the 25th of October, 1861, when Fremont's bodyguard, under the gallant Major Zagonyi. made its memorable charge into the city of Springfield and drove out the confederate forces. The wounded survivors of that battle were gathered at the court house, made as a hospital, and on the morning after the fight Mr. Melcher, assisted by a soldier from the 1st Iowa V. I. and another from 1st Missouri V. I., raised the stars and stripes over the old court house, which still stands in the center of the square. In November, 1861, Surgeon Melcher removed all the Wilson Creek wounded to St. Louis and on Dec. 4th, 1861, he was made brigade surgeon of the First Brigade Mo. S. M. Vol. He was now assigned to hospital duty in St. Louis on the staff of Gen. Schofield, and in the spring of 1862 he at one time had charge of the three most important hospitals in the city. For his efficient services in the supervision of these hospitals he was made the recipient of a testimonial from the Western Sanitary Commission and honorable mention by the Surgeon General of the United States. He was then made a member of the commission to examine candidates for appointment as surgeon of state troops. Mr. Melcher was commissioned Colonel and organized and equipped the 32nd E. M. M. In October, 1862, he was stationed at Springfield and organized the medical department there. On the night of January 7, 1863, Col. Melcher organized a force of the convalescents under his care, chained three old iron cannon on wagon wheels and during the 8th rendered great assistance to Gen. Brown in driving back the rebels under Marmaduke. Vol. 2, part 2 of the Medical History of the War of the Rebellion contains an account of an operation performed by Surgeon Melcher upon Gen. Brown, who was wounded in the defense of Springfield, January 8th, 1863. He was made lieutenant colonel of the 6th cavalry Mo. S. M. Vols. in 1863, and in 1864 he was aide de camp on the staff of Gen. Pleasanton during the Price raid in Missouri. His last service in the army was as post commander at Jefferson City, Mo. He was compelled to resign because of injury to his sight caused by a bursting shell at the battle of Springfield, Jan. 8th, 1863, and which has since resulted in total blindness. Mr. Melcher has been a member of the I. O. O. F. since February 10, 1892, and now has a fifty-year veteran jewel of the order. He is a member of the G. A. R., of the Society of the Army of the Frontier and a Companion of the Military Order Loyal Legion of the United States. Hiram D. Fisher was born in Hermon, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1847. Later in life he became a resident of Rockford, Iowa, and in 1883 moved to Jerauld county. D. T. His education was obtained in the common schools. Sept. 12, 1885, he married Mrs. Wilma Pinkman. Mr. Fisher moved back to Rockford, Iowa, in 1889, where he resided until his death, June 26. 1906. Almona B. Smart, chairman of the board, was a Methodist minister, who had graduated from Boston University. He had been a sailor before the mast and as such visited many parts of the world. From education and observation he had become a bitter opponent of the liquor traffic in all its forms as well as of all other kinds of vice. As a member of the board of commissioners of Aurora county he had kept that county free from saloons and been at all times a tireless and vehement worker in the cause of temperance. In his work as a minister he seemed to feel no fatigue, but filled appointments at Plankinton, Mitchell, Huron, Miller and intermediate points, as well as at numerous dwelling houses in his home county. These were the men upon whom was placed the burden of creating a county out of the raw material at hand. They represented three utterly distinct types of men. Smart was a man of much learning, possessed of great tenacity of opinion and a disregard of public clamor that has at times made him unpopular with the people. Yet, probably no other man has done so much for the general welfare of the county, intellectually and morally, as he. Melcher was a man of pleasing manners, wide experience, cultured and possessed of great creative and executive ability. He, more than any other member of the board, shaped the policy that has been pursued by the county as an organization ever since. Fisher was a man who typified the spirit of the masses. Looking back at their work, across the vista of twenty-five years, though it shows crudeness in places, yet, in view of the many perplexing and annoying occurrences that beset them, the political edifice they reared —temperate, moral, out of debt and never bonded—looks well beside its fellows. Additional Comments: From "A History of Jerauld County; From the Earliest Settlement to January 15, 1909" by N. J. Dunham File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/jerauld/history/other/gms90chap12pa.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/sdfiles/ File size: 16.1 Kb