THE WEYAUWEGA CHRONICLE

Saturday, May 14, 1881

 

 

                                                            COUNTY SEAT

 

     In 1851 the county seat of Waupaca by act of the Legislature was located at Mukwa, with a provision in the law that the people of the county should vote at the annual election in two years thereafter for its permanent location.

     In the spring of 1853, (not in the fall as the law provided,) at the town meeting in Little Wolf and Waupaca a vote was taken to move the county seat to Waupaca.  This was illegal on the start as the statute provides it shall be voted on at the annual election.  No other towns in the county voted on the question of location.  The county board met at Waupaca, and on comparing votes it was found there was a majority of one in favor of locating the county seat at Weyauwega.  This of course did not suit Waupaca.  The supervisors in favor of Waupaca found one of the number favoring Weyauwega - like the editor of the Post - who had his price, and the majority in favor of Waupaca was soon all right.

     The fraud was so bare faced, the vote being taken at the town meeting, which was illegal, and only two towns voting, that the people of the county denounced the proceeding in strong terms.  Then Waupaca parties had writs issued calling on the county officers at Mukwa to deliver up the books and sent an officer to execute their orders.  Those having the books refused to give them up, when two of those holding the books were put in jail.  Finding that the county officers could not be bulldozed into giving up their books, they were released after a few days of confinement, and it is believed they never got possession of the books.  Our information on the above points has been obtained from those who have lived in the county both before and since its organization, and will the Post take notice that they are facts which can be substantiated today.  That is the way Waupaca obtained the county seat, and is it not enough to prove that the county seat never has been legally moved from Mukwa?

     During the winter of 1855 a law was passed by the Legislature authorizing the people of this county to vote at the annual election “for the removal of the county seat to Weyauwega,” nothing being said in the law about Waupaca.  The issue was voted on in the fall, and that was the only time the people of the whole county ever had a chance to vote on the question of removal.  That there was some tall voting by both Weyauwega and Waupaca no one will deny, but leaving out these two towns there was a majority of votes in the rest of the county for locating the county seat at Weyauwega.

     After the vote the people of the county recognized Weyauwega as the county seat.  The board of supervisors held its sessions here and money was appropriated for building a jail at this place, and the jail was built, too.  It is standing here today and was the only jail in the county until 1867.  A register and county clerk’s office was kept here, and deeds and other papers were recorded.  Some of the county officers held their offices in Waupaca.  This went on for some three years until all the county officers moved to Waupaca.

     Please bear in mind, Gordon, that a vote to move the county seat from one place to another in the county, has to be polled at annual election, not at a town meeting.  Another point - the vote spoken of above was for the removal of the county seat to Weyauwega.  The idea of locating it at Waupaca did not enter into the canvass, there being no law authorizing a vote to move it there.  You may say the vote failed to locate it at Weyauwega, but that failure did not locate it at Waupaca.  We contend, with sound reasoning, too, that if the vote did not settle the question as to location it still remains at Mukwa, as there never has been a vote by the people of the whole county, at an annual election, for locating it at Waupaca.  Will Mr. Gordon please remember this?

     According to the article in the Post this county seat question has been voted on four times, when those who have lived in the county before and since 1851, and voted at every election, say there has been but one vote at an annual election.  We don’t know how many times Waupaca has voted on the question, but Weyauwega has voted on it only once.

     Gordon states that in the spring of 1850 a vote was taken by the people of Waupaca county assembled at Mukwa, and it was decided to locate the county seat at Waupaca.  At that time there was no Waupaca county; what is known as this county now being then all included in Winnebago county.  This county was not organized until 1851, and how could a vote be taken to move the county seat to Waupaca, when there was no Waupaca county?  It looks a little as though there was some “lying” here.  Perhaps it’s only a mistake.  Oh no!  Gordon wouldn’t lie about so small a matter as the location of the county seat.

     The question of location was never taken to the Supreme Court for decision.  Gordon, that is a scarecrow of your own hatching, and on a par with many of your other statements.