Jerauld County, SD History .....Chap 5, 6; 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, 11:12 pm Chapter 5. Among the candidates .who appeared before the board that day were several who subsequently became prominent in the affairs of the county and state. For the position of register of deeds were J. F. Ford, now of Los Angeles, California; T. L. Blank, now a civil engineer of Des Moines, Iowa; O. V. Harris, B. F. Swatman, J. R. Francis, afterward justice of the peace, and for many years district attorney and probate judge; T. H. Null, for some time attorney for the state board of railroad commissioners, and now practicing attorney at Huron, and A. N. Louder, now a merchant at Presho, S. D. For probate judge the candidates were R. M. Magee, M. C. Ayers, afterward state's attorney for the county, and H. M. Rice. For assessor the candidates were L. G. Wilson, afterward county commissioner, Geo. Whealen, and M. D. Crow. For treasurer the candidates were E. V. Miles, elected state senator in the statehood movement in 1885, P. R. Barrett, postmaster at Wessington Springs and W. J. Williams. The candidates for county surveyor were H. J. Wallace, afterward county surveyor, county treasurer and state surveyor, and J. M. Corbin, for many years a popular instructor among the Indians at Pine Ridge and Rosebud agencies. This performance was for some time referred to as "the county's literary entertainment." At its close the board adjourned without announcing any appointments. The next morning, Jan. 16th, the board announced the appoinment of R. M. Magee, of the firm of Drake & Magee, attorney for Jerauld county without salary. The only compensation Mr. Magee ever received from this appointment was $6.00 on February 6th and $10 on May 2, 1884, as fees for consultations. On the same day a petition signed by 26 electors of townships 108—66 and 107— 66 was presented to the board by I. N. Rich, asking that those two townships be made into one school organization. Another petition was presented that day by Mr. Dean of 107—66, asking that that township be made a school township by itself. This petition was signed by 42 electors. The petitions were filed and action on them deferred. E. S. Waterbury and C. V. Martin of Crow township, appeared before the board on the 17th and protested against the plan adopted by the commissioners in fixing the boundaries of the school townships. They asked that for the west side of the county, at least, the school and congressional townships should embrace the same territory. The board then took up the subject of school elections and commencing with 108—67 the northwest corner township, they changed the school township lines. The following is the substance of the order made January 17th. The election was called for Feb. 23, the names of the judges and the polling places being stated in the order. No. 1 (108—67)—Judges, J. M. Corbin, J. J. Groub and John Calvert, at the residence of J. J. Groub. No. 2 (107—67)—Judges, E. A. Herman, W. M. Cross and M. E. Merwin; at the store of Rice & Herring in the town of Waterbury. No. 3 (106—67)—Judges, W. S. Combs, Wm. Niemeyer and Z. P. De Forest, at Wm. Niemeyer's residence. No. 4 (108—66)—Judges, Chas. Smith, Moses Rich and Daniel Mitchell, at the residence of Moses Rich. No. 5 (107—66)—Judges, G. W. Stetson, S. Sourwine and J. W. Todd, the house of S. Sourwine. No. 6 (106—66)—Judges, David Moulton, Frank Spinler and E. H. Crossman, at residence of Joseph O'Brien. No. 7 (108—65 and 4 1/2 tiers of sections on the west side of 108— 64)— Judges, E. V. Miles, Wm. Hawthorne and Jorgen Hansen. Polling place the office of Ford & Rich in Wessington Springs. No. 9 (106—65 and 4 1/2 tiers of sections off the west side of 106— 64)— Judges, Chas. Walters, A. D. Cady, and Wm. Dixon, at house of S. S. Moore. No. 10 (108—63 and 1 1/2 tiers of sections off the east side of 108— 64— Judges, Chas. Eastman, Jos. Moore and Wm. Arne, at the office of L. N. Loomis in the town of Alpena. No. 11 (107—63 and 1 1/2 tiers of sections off the east side of 107— 64)— Judges, Owen Williams, W. P. Pierce and Henry Kineriem, at residence of Wm. Houmes. No. 12 (106-—63 and 1 1/2 tiers of sections off the east side of 106— 64)— Judges, Henry Walters, Thos. Biggar and Jos. Steichen. The commissioners also named the election clerks for each township, but their names were not entered in the book containing the records of the commissioners' proceedings. The clerks named by the board were as follows: No. 1-—O. G. Emery, James Talbert. No. 2—W. A. Rex, H. W. Austin. No. 3—Jacob Norin, Amos Gotwals. No. 4—Wm. Bremner, Jeff Sickler. No. 5—S. F. Huntley, Mark Williams. No. 6—E. L. Sawyer, Joseph O'Brien. No. 7—M. A. Schaefer, A. T. Kerkman. No. 8—M. C. Avers, M. D. Crow. No. 9—Fred Burrows, Wm. Paganhart. No. 10—Wesley Davis, Joel Harding. No. 11—K. S. Starkey, Andrew Olsen. No. 12—Henry Koonse, Wm. Daniels. The affairs of the county now reached a condition where it was necessary that the various county offices should be filled and on the 18th of January the following appointments were announced: Surveyor—J. A. McFarlane. Treasurer—W. J. Williams. Assessor—L. G. Wilson. Probate Judge—H. M. Rice. Register of Deeds—T. L. Blank. For surveyor the appointee, Mr. McFarlane, was not a candidate and declined to qualify. At this meeting a bill for $6.25, express charges on the supplies received from Perkins Bros., ordered Nov. 10, 1883, was presented by C. W. McDonald and allowed. For this bill warrant No. 1 was issued. It was cashed by Mr. Melcher at par and was paid and cancelled a few weeks later and is now in the possession of Mr. McDonald. The county seat propositions by the various parties was combined and presented to the board as follows, under date of January 18, 1884: The commissioners' record was published in the Wessington Springs Herald is as follows. "On motion the combined proposition of Mrs. R. J. Smart and A. B. Smart and D. A. Scott on the part of the townsite proprietors and Hiram Blowers and George Bateman was accepted," but the acceptance does not appear of record. On motion the county attorney was instructed to draw the necessary paper in reference to the combined proposition. COMBINED PROPOSITION. Hiram Blowers offers to give two lots to the county to be selected by the commissioners and another to be selected by himself. George Bateman offers to give one acre on one of the two corners nearest the town-site, or anywhere along the west line of the NW quarter NE quarter section 18, township 107, range 64, to be selected by the commissioners. Proposition of Smart and Scott—The blocks and lots to be given are to be platted and numbered so as to make block A as the court house block located north of black 2, SW of equal size with it the south part and block 4 and block 5 in the townsite of Wessington Springs to be given by the townsite proprietors and the north part of block C together with block 1 and three on the SE quarter SE quarter section 12, township 107, range 65 as designated by the plats shown in connection with the proposition offered, the stone with which to build the buildings, granite, limestone, sandstone, to be given by A. B. Smart and Mrs. R. J. Smart, all this property used only for the purpose of providing the county with a proper set of county buildings. These buildings to be built as soon as practicable in the judgment of the commissioners. Provided, that if any part of the above specified gifts are ever used for the purpose of buying, selling, manufacturing or using intoxicants as a beverage or in any way helping the same. then, in that case, such part shall revert to the original donor. January 26th the board estimated that the cost of running the county one year would be between $500 and $1000, and instructed the chairman and clerk to see what arrangements could be made to get banks or individuals to cash warrants for current expenses. Though no arrangement was perfected, it is probable that the effort kept the county warrants at a reasonable discount. The board now began to look about for a building to be used by the register of deeds for an office, and for general county purposes. The chairman was authorized to receive sealed bids for the construction of a building 12x20 feet in size, with 8 foot ceiling. On Feb. 4th the first petition for civil township organization was presented by a number of the voters of township 108—65. The petition was filed and never heard of again. An order made by the commissioners on the 5th day of February established the road districts of the county to correspond in size and number with the school townships and appointed road overseers for the different districts as follows: No. 1—J. M. Corbin. No. 2—E. S. Waterbury. No. 3—Wm. Niemeyer. No 4—Jeff Sickler. No. 5—Mark Williams. No. 6—Elliott L. Sawyer. No 7—C. W. Hill. No. 8—H. Blowers. No. 9—T. K. Ford. No. 10—Isaac Pearce. No. 11—Sever Starkey. No. 12—Nicholas Steichen. As the time for the school township election approached the matter of providing for it occupied the attention of the board. Twelve ballot boxes were ordered made and distributed to the various precincts. Ballots also were ordered printed and paid for by the county. No one seemed to think but that the county having ordered the election and furnished the boxes, was logically bound to provide the ballots. So McDonald & Bateman were paid five dollars to print 1000 ballots 3x4 inches in size containing the following printed form: For Name ___________ For Director _______ For Clerk __________ For Treasurer ______ They had no thought that they were applying the fundamental principle of a system that in a few years would be in use throughout the nation. The cattle industry of the county had by this time become so important that the stockgrowers desired the appointment of a branding committee. The board named R. S. Vessey, Joseph O'Brien and the register of deeds, who entered upon their duties at once. During this day's session, Feb. 5th, the first negative vote by a member of the board was cast by the chairman on the proposition to instruct the deputy register of deeds to transcribe records of the commissioners' proceedings into the book procured by the county for that purpose. The motion carried by the vote of the other members of the board. At this time there was located on the ground now occupied by the Oliver hotel, a small building, about 14x20 feet in size, built by private subscription in the summer of 1883 for school purposes. This building was offered to the county at cost by the builders on the 5th day of February, 1884. On the 6th the commisioners closed a deal for the structure and the school which was then in progress was moved to the residence of Hiram Blowers, a short distance northeast of town. This was the first building owned by Jerauld county and since then no rent has been paid for court room, or offices for public officials. On the same day a resolution introduced by Mr. Melcher was adopted unanimously that no saloon license should be issued during the existence of that board. The same policy was pursued by each succeeding board until 1887, and has been the general policy of the county ever since. The prevailing sentiment of this people has been that any community that depends for its prosperity upon the establishment of resorts of vice and crime, has something inately wrong in its make-up. Chapter 6. The register of deeds moved into the school hhouse immediately after its purshace by the commissioners and on the 19th day af February, 1884, the board held its first meeting there. This meeting was a special one called by the county clerk for the purpose of appointing a surveyor, Mr. McFarlane having declined the position. The next day, the 2Oth, on the motion of Mr. Melcher, H. J. Wallace was given the appointment. The next meeting of the board was on March 5th for the purpose of canvassing the returns of the elections held in the various townships on the 23rd of February. The following is the result in the various townships: No. 1.—Director, W. S. Scofield; clerk, J. M. Corbin; treasurer, Ambrose Baker. All the officers were elected without opposition. Name, Marlar, 13; Rock, 8. The township was named in honor of Wm. Marlar, one of the first settlers in the township. No. 2.—(The board made the following minutes) : The election was declared void on account of returns, showing that Henry E. Merwin had served both as judge and clerk of election; also the returns show that there is a tie in the choice of name for the township and by affidavits received at this office the clerk elect in township No. 2 was not eligible. Therefore the board desires that the people settle these questions. No. 3.—J. A. Riegal and D. B. Paddock each received five votes, but Paddock declined and Riegal qualified as director; clerk, H. A. Frick; treasurer, J. Long. Name, Lake, 5; May, 2; Alexander, 2; Banner, 1; Freemont, 1. No. 4.—Director, O. O. England; clerk, Wm. Murphy; treasurer, C. G. Smith. Name, Harmony, 12; Richland, 5; Clyde, 1. The name was proposed by J. H. Shepard, who at that time had a pre-emption residence on the northwest quarter of section ten of that township (108— 66). Quite a little friction had developed among the settlers of that precinct in which lived a good many Quakers. The name "Harmony" appealed to their love of peace and good will and most of them cast their votes accordingly. It was afterward learned that Mr. Shepard had proposed the name in honor of his home postoffice in Chautauqua county. New York. No. 5.—Director, I. Byam; clerk, B. R. Shimp; treasurer. Samuel Marlenee. Name, Pleasant Valley, 15; Maud, 10; Minnie Todd, 3: Todd, 1; Minnie, 1; Columbia, 1; Excelsior, 1. The township was named "Pleasant Valley" because of the fact that it lies across one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys in the whole territory. The territorial auditor, when the name was certified to him, rejected it as too long, and the board struck off the word "Valley" and christened the township "Pleasant," by which name it has since been officially known. No. 6.—Director, Joseph O'Brien; clerk, B. F. Jones; treasurer. Z. S. Moulton. Name, Custer, 23; Crow Lake, 15. No. 7.—Director, W. T. Hay; clerk, G. W. Bartow: treasurer. E. W. Chapman. Name, Dale, 29; Chery, 14. The name was suggested by Andrew Mercer, who with several other settlers had met at the residence of H. J. Wallace on the morning of the election to talk matters over. During the talk a little boy in knee pants was playing about the house. Mercer inquired the name of the boy. Being informed that it was "Dale" he remarked, "Boys, that's a good name for our township," and the name was adopted. The boy was Dale C. Wallace, afterward treasurer and still a resident of Jerauld county. No. 8.-—Director, J. N. Cross; clerk, Geo. R. Bateman; treasurer. Wm. Hawthorne. Name, Wessington Springs, 39; Springs, 1. The name was derived from, the famous springs that flow from the foot of the hills. Who named the springs is not known. Wessington was a trapper who visited the hills and was killed in 1862 by the Indians in the grove by the big spring. Mr. Cross, after qualifying resigned and on the 24th of April Mr. Hazard appointed K. S. Starkey in his place. No. 9.—Director, Samuel Moore; clerk, Wm. R. Day; treasurer, Chas. Walters. Name, Viola, 22; Butler, 19; Sabrina, 1. The name adopted was in honor of Mrs. Viola Moss, a sister of Rev. J. N. Smith. No. 10.—Director, Walt Suerth; clerk, Rueben J. Eastman; treasurer, L. N. Loomis. Name, Alpena, 51; Newside, 3; Newark, 1. The township was named from the village located there. No. 11.—Director, Joseph Doctor; clerk, David M. Black; treasurer, W. P. Pierce. Name, Franklin, 27. The name is in honor of Mr. L. E. Franklin, one of the early settlers. No. 12.—Director, A. I. Churchill; clerk, O. A. Knudtson; treasurer, Joseph Steichen. Name, Lincoln, 51; Washington, 2; Black, 1. After completing the canvass of the returns the board of commissioners ordered a new election for district No. 2, to be held on the i8th of March, 1884, but made no appointment of officers of election. Polling place again designated as Herring & Rice's store in the town of Waterbury. Another special session of the board was held on the 27th day of March for the purpose of settling with C. J. Anderson, register of Aurora county, who had been employed by the board to transcribe the records of Jerauld county property from the books of Aurora county into the Jerauld county books. The work was accepted and Mr. Anderson was given a warrant for $440.85. By April 8th five separate petitions had been received by the register of deeds, from people in the eastern part of the county, asking for reorganization of their school townships on the lines of congressional townships. It was apparent that the plan adopted by the board was not at all satisfactory and so the petitions were granted and the following order was made: "The nine school townships east of the line between ranges 65 and 66 be made into nine school townships, according to congressional lines, except 8 and 14, and numbered as follows: No. 13 shall be township 108—65. No. 14 shall be 107—65 less the part given to 8. No. 15 shall be 106—65. The other six townships east will retain their names and numbers and the superintendent will fill the vacancies according to law, as they may occur. No. 8 shall also include the east half of sections 1, 12 and 13 of 107-65." A special school township election was ordered for No. 13, 14 and 15, to be held April 26th, 1884, to elect officers and select names. The following judges were appointed for these special elections: No. 13—C. W. Hill P. B. Davis and H. J. Wallace. Polling place, residence of W. N. Hill. No. 14.—Conway Thompson, B. G. Cummings, and Charles Hanson. Polling place, residence of Charles Beach. No. 15.—O. F. Kellogg, N. E. Williams and Gordon McDonald. Polling place, residence of Don C. Needham. On the same day, April 8th, it being found necessary to fix the salary of the county superintendent, an order was made giving that officer a salary of $200 per year and paying him for work that he should do besides. The returns from the second special election in school township No. 2. held on March i8th, having been received, the board counted the votes and declared the following result: Director. Henry Herring: clerk, Wm. Austin: treasurer. W. F. Ponsford. Name, Crow, 21; Buffalo, 4: Waterbuy, 3: Spring Vale, 1 : Pleasant Yale, 1. The name was derived from the creek that flows across the township. Probably because of some possible error in the election, all of the above named officers were appointed to their positions by the county superintendent, May 27/th, 1884. 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/gms92chap56pa.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/sdfiles/ File size: 19.8 Kb