Kewaunee County and the First Elections

At  the creation of Kewaunee County in the spring of 1852, the entire county was made up of one town, the Town of Kewaunee. Hugh Ritter, John Volk and Abraham Hall got the county underway when they called for and signed for an election to be held on May 22, 1852. Ritter was later to be associated with Carlton and Hall with Ahnapee, though all three men were connected with the lumbering along the Kewaunee River, overseen at the time by Volk.

George Rosier, Edwin Shaw and John Volk were judges of the election and with that responsibility came signing affidavits saying they would support Wisconsin's constitution and would endeavor to prevent abuse and deceit. John Lee signed a similar document as he was clerk. Lee appears to have been an itinerant – possibly a fisherman – as he does not appear in county records beyond the beginning.

On Election Day polls were open from 10 – 12 AM and again from 2 – 4 PM. Voters included Rosier, Shaw, Lee, two Volks – John and John L. – Orrin Warner, John Hughes, Rufus Andrews, John McNally, Francis Trewdell, Nathanial Wickham, Charles Nutt, Levick F. Meirick, Charles Nelson, John Kelly and William P. Dutton. Abraham Hall was selected as Superintendent of Schools, but it was several years before the county had a public school. Hall and Lee were elected as clerks.  John Volk served as treasurer, supervisor and inspector. Two other inspector positions were held by Shaw and Rosier. Early town minutes do not clarify the work of an inspector but later minutes indicate that such a position was connected to road building. Hughes, Ritter and Shaw were voted in as justices of the peace while Lee, Wickham and Hiram Ritter served as constables. Hiram Ritter, however, did not appear on the list of registered voters. Hugh Ritter was elected assessor. There were barely enough electors to fill the required offices and some men held more than one office.*

Set off from Door County, Kewaunee County was judicially attached to Manitowoc, and on May 31, 1852 in the Town of Two Rivers in the County of Manitowoc, Hugh Ritter was sworn in as Justice of the Peace before Charles Kuehn. On June 2, in the presence of Orrin Warner, Ritter, Volk and Hall were paid for assessing expenses. Though Kewaunee County was a wilderness, the men also swore to do the best of their ability while upholding the U.S. Constitution, that of the State of Wisconsin, and more.

On June 5, the witnesses to the election of May 22 levied a county tax of $400. Fifty dollars went toward common schools  and another 50 to Manitowoc County “for the privilege of being attached to that great county for judicial purposes.” The balance went to surveying and building roads.

Voters were notified on October 2 that polls would be open for the Presidential Election on the first Monday of November at the home of G.W. Rosier in T25, R25, the coordinates for what would become the Town of Ahnapee. Rosier lived in the area that is now approximately the southwest corner of Lake and Jefferson Streets. Rosier, Hughes and Warner were all residents of the area then being called Wolf River.

Electors voted for President, Vice-president, a representative for the 3^rd Congressional District and a member of the Wisconsin Assembly. Franklin Pierce carried Kewaunee County with 23 votes to opponent Winfield Scott's 5. Included in the election were the offices of county treasurer and register of deeds. Voters also had to decide if the assessor could be scheduled for 10 more days of work. The names of the electorate follow this article.

A week following the election, bills were paid. Volk received $6, McNally’s $8 was for 3 days and included travel expenses, Warner was paid $6 for 2 days, and Hughes was paid $3 for sitting as a judge. Abraham Hall got $25 for serving as  clerk of the Town of Kewaunee for a year, a position including traveling. 

Although he was paid to be a supervisor, John Volk resigned on February 12, 1853. Still, Volk shows up numerous times in succeeding records. Supervisors continued to pay Manitowoc Co., and also to survey from the county line to “Woolf River.” Naham Pancels (or Powels) did the work.

Abraham Hall notified the electorate on March 21, 1853 that the county annual meeting would be held on April 5. A list of electors included J.C.S. Mathan, Benjamin Burleigh, Andrew Scott, S.E. Tiler, Nathanial Emery, Aaron Cory, W.T. Jones, John Zebo and A.E. York. It also included Edwin Tweedale, who arrived in Wolf River on June 28, 1851. Where was Tweedale during the first election? He was one of the county's three first permanent settlers. Surprising too is that Bradford White was elected constable: he does not appear on the poll list.

As the county gained residents, there was more business to transact and much more to deal with. There were questions of land sales for taxes that were delinquent for a year and about providing each district $50 for roads. Most meetings began with paying for road surveying and chaining.

The year 1853 culminated on December 12 when the county was divided into three towns along the lake shore road. Town 22 and north for 7 miles in Town 23 was called Sandy Bay District. From that line in Town 23 to 2 miles north in Town 24 was named the Kewaunee District.  Two miles north of the south line of Town 24 to the mouth of Woolf River was Woolf River District, but then what had been known  as Woolf/Wolf River District was renamed named Wolf Town, with River being crossed off in the minutes. Land north of the river was not mentioned in the original records, however it became a part of Wolf Town and is now the northern part of the Town of Ahnapee.

On November 2, 1852 Kewaunee County registered these voters: Mr. Anderson, Francis Brisso, Samuel Burbeck, Aaron Cory, Nathan Emerer, George Finch, Abraham Hall, Gunder Hanson, Francis Kelly,  Francis Luchor, E.J. Merick, Levey Merrick, John H. Nathan, Ethel Penny, Peter Rando, Joseph Secver, John Smenroe,  John Snider, John Tebo (Zebo), S. Tiler,  Francis Trudell, Ed Tweedale, John Volk,  A.E. York, John C. Volk and Thanuel Wickham.

Several of these men went on to make a significant impact on Kewaunee County while the others faded from history.

*It was about 70 years later before women got the right to vote. Women in elected positions came later.

Note: Spellings of proper names were taken from minutes at the Area Research Center at UW-Green Bay and are not always the commonly accepted spelling of 2013.