Just before closing the County Court on the 6th day of May, 1845, the judges had the following order placed upon record; to-wit,

It is ordered by the court that Linn county be divided into seven (7) municipal townships, and it is further ordered that Hiram E. Hurlbut, Joseph W. McCormack, Thompson K. Neal, Stephen McCollum, and Samuel Baker, be, and are hereby appointed as commissioners to lay off said county into seven municipal townships, and that the said commissioners shall meet at the court-house in the town of Linneus, on the second Monday of July next in order to make said townships, and that said commissioners designate the townships' boundaries by water-courses, range lines, township lines and sectional lines. Referred to acts of 26th of January, 1845, and that they make reports to this court at the next regular term thereof, and that the sheriff notify them of their appointment.

The Commissioners failed to report in July, but on the 5th day of November, 1845, they brought in the following report of the boundary lines of
the seven townships designated below. These townships were all in Linn county, proper, the county of Sullivan having been organized February 16, 1845, out of the territory of Linn county, called Highland county previous to its organization, and the name of Sullivan given to it. The report was approved by the court.

It is ordered by the court here that there be seven municipal townships laid off in Linn county; to-wit,

Yellow Creek Township - Commencing at the southeast corner of township fifty-seven, of range eighteen west, thence west with said line to the
section line dividing thirty-four and thirty-five, township fifty-seven, of range nineteen; thence north with said line to the line dividing sections fifteen
and twenty-two, in township fifty-eight, of range nineteen; thence west with said line to the line dividing sections twenty-one and twenty, township
fifty-eight, of range nineteen; thence north to the township line dividing townships fifty-eight and fifty-nine; thence east on said line to the county
line between Linn and Macon counties; thence south along said line to the beginning.

Baker Township - Commencing at the southeast corner of township fifty-nine, of range eighteen; thence west to the section line dividing thirty-two
and thirty-three, in township fifty-nine, of range nineteen; thence north, to the county line between Linn and Sullivan counties; thence east to the county
line between Linn and Macon counties; thence south along said line to the beginning.

Benton Township - Commencing at the southeast corner of section eight, in township fifty-nine, of range nineteen; thence west along said line
to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up said creek to the mouth of the west fork of said creek; thence up the said west fork in
the middle of said channel thereof north to the county line between Linn and Sullivan counties; thence east along said line to the section line dividing
sections eight and nine, township sixty, range nineteen; thence south along said line to the beginning.

Jackson Township - Commencing in the middle of the channel of main Locust Creek where the township line divides townships fifty-eight and fifty-nine,
of range twenty-one; thence west along said line to the county line between Linn and Livingston counties; thence north to the county line dividing Linn and
Sullivan counties; thence east along said line to the middle of the channel of the west fork of Locust Creek; thence down the same to the main Locust Creek
to the beginning.

Parson Creek Township - Commencing in the middle of the channel of main Locust Creek on the county line between Linn and Chariton counties;
thence west to the southwest corner of Linn county; thence north along the county line between Linn and Livingston counties to the township line
dividing townships fifty-eight and fifty-nine; thence east along said line to the middle of the channel of main Locust Creek; thence down the
same to the place of beginning.

Jefferson Township - Commencing at the southeast corner of section thirty-four, of township fifty-seven, of range nineteen; thence west along
the county line to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up the middle of the channel of said creek to the section line dividing
sections fourteen and twenty-three, in township fifty-eight, of range twenty-one; thence east along said line to the section line between sections
twenty two and twenty-three, in township fifty-eight, of range nineteen; thence south along said line to the place of beginning.

Locust Creek Township - Commencing at the southeast corner of section seventeen, in township fifty-eight, of range nineteen; thence west
along said line to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up the same in the middle of the channel to the section line dividing
sections eleven and fourteen, in township fifty-nine, of range twenty- one; thence east along said line to the northeast corner of section seventeen,
of township fifty-nine, of range nineteen; thence south to the place of beginning.

The voting precincts of these seven townships were located as follows:

Yellow Creek, at the house of Sampson Wyatt.

Baker, at the house of Samuel Boyles.

Benton, at the house of William Gibson.

Jackson, at the house of John S. Reed.

Parson Creek, at the house of Seth Botts, Jr.

Jefferson, at the house of Matthias Lockridge.

Locust Creek, at the court-house in the town of Linneus.

A NEW TOWNSHIP - North Salem Township

From 1845 until 1858 the people of Linn county had been content to Lave their county remain divided into seven municipal townships.
The patriotic fever which asserts itself by a desire to serve the people in an official way, with a good salary attached, hail not existed in Linn county in a
virulent form, and there had been no great desire for municipal changes.  On May 3d, 1858, however, a petition was presented to the County Court to cut Baker township into two, calling the new township North Salem. Baker township at that time was something over three congressional townships in size, containing all of townships fifty-nine, range eighteen, sixty, range eighteen, and two-thirds of range nineteen, in both of the same congressional townships. It was twelve miles north and south, except on its western borders, and ten miles east and west, and was the northeast township of the county. The court granted the petition, as follows: 
It is ordered by the court here, that the petition of J. J. Putman and others, praying for a new municipal township to be cut off of Baker township, be received and filed, that the prayer of said petition be granted, that said new township be called North Salem, and that it be bounded as follows; to-wit,
commencing at the northeast corner of Linn county, thence west on the county line to the northwest corner of section three, in township sixty, of range nineteen; thence south along the section line to the south-west corner of section thirty-four, in said township and range; thence east along the township line between townships fifty-nine and sixty, to the county line between Linn and Macon counties; thence north along said county line to the place of beginning. And it is further ordered that precinct elections be held at North Salem, in said township. The first election was held in the following August, and the Judges were T. G. Childress, William Putman, and John B. Baker.

The report of the sale of swamp lands by the sheriff, was filed May 6, 1856. How much was sold and how many acres were left is undoubtedly stated in the report, and the amount of the sale, but it is not otherwise of record. The sheriff was ordered to dispose of the remainder at private sale at not less than $1.25 per acre.

There had been a belief that it would be cheaper and result in greater accuracy, and that the property of the county could be better brought out if more assessors were given the work. This matter culminated in an act of the legislature requiring the County Courts to divide the counties into four assessors' districts, and the trial was made in the years 1858 and 1859. The cost of assessing the county in 1857, the year previous, was $272.90. The year 1858, under the four assessors' act, the cost was $327.51, and in 1859, $330.57. This, taking the natural gain in wealth, and probably a much closer assessment, shows no greater expense than by single assessors, while it is evident that a greater aggregate of wealth came under the new order of things for taxation.

Originally, Linn county included all the territory south of the township line between fifty-six and fifty-seven of ranges twenty-one and twenty-two, to Grand River, in the forks made by Locust Creek, the channel of Grand River from the mouth of Locust Creek being the Linn and Livingston county line to the middle of range line twenty-two dividing range twenty-two equally, and where the same line crosses Grand River. This was changed by an act of the legislature approved January 10, 1855, which made the south line of Linn to follow the township line dividing fifty-six and fifty-seven instead of following Locust Creek to its month and then northwest, keeping in the channel of Grand River. This act, however, re-northwest, keeping in the channel of Grand River. This act, however, re-served to Linn county the swamp land within this territory, the strip being added to Livingston county, with the right to sell the same and retain the money. This change gives five miles of Linn county's southern line bounded by Livingston county.