Measures had been taken to organize the county, and Gov. David Butler
issued a proclamation, February 14, 1871,
calling an election of county
officers, to be held the 3d day of the following March.
At the election of March 3, 1871, the following officers were elected
to fill the duties of their respective offices for
the short term, to
expire the 1st of the following January:
Clerk, Matthew Lynch
Judge, C.
J. Van Laningham
Sheriff and Surveyor, Ernest Arnold
Coroner, James
Newsham;
Treasurer, John E. Simmons
Superintendent of Schools, Richard
Walther
Commissioners, W. B. Powell, James Knight and Charles Vining
Of
these officers elected, all qualified and attended to the duties of the
respective offices except W. B. Powell and
Richard Walther.
Powell lived
just outside the limits of the county, in Webster, and of course, could
not legally serve, therefore,
Barnett Ashburne was appointed to fill the
vacancy.
After the location had been selected for the proposed town of Franklin
City, David Van Etten, the surveyor of the
colony, was sent to the
Government Land Office, at Beatrice, to file it on the records as a town
site, but, being
desirous of owning the town site himself, he entered it
as a homestead in his own name. He did not hold it long,
however, before
C. J. Van Laningham filed it as a town site, but the location of the town
having changed, James
Knight finally entered the land as a homestead.
In May, 1871, quarrels and dissensions having broken out among the
projectors of Franklin City, the Plattsmouth
Town Company laid out a town
one mile east of Franklin City and called it Waterloo. J. A. Perry, the
Postmaster,
was interested in the new town and removed the post office
here. The post office being called Franklin, the new town
was always known
by the latter name, though it always appeared in the books of the company
as Waterloo. Neither
of these towns were ever platted or filed on the
county records.
Another colony from Omaha, composed entirely of colored people, was
located late in the spring of 1871, on a fine
creek, about midway between
the locations of the Thompson and Knight Colonies. They were about eight
or ten
in number, and taking up their locations here, called the stream on
which they settled Lovely Creek, a name which
it still bears. Like many of
their fellow-pioneers, they built up great plans for the future of their
settlement, that were
only to be overthrown in the end. They had laid out
a town on the southeast quarter of Section 35, Town 2, Range
14, and
called it the city of Grant, expecting this to form the nucleus of a large
and prosperous town at no very
distant day. Ash poles, to which were tied
strips of hides, marked the different locations. They went to work to
establish a brick yard, and a court house was in anticipation. They were
all young men and active, but were poor,
and had but one team in the
entire party. Their money was soon gone, and, though each had taken a
homestead claim,
they abandoned the country some time during the summer,
never to return. Thomas Shoemaker, on August 9, 1872,
settled on their
proposed town site, where he now has a beautiful farm.
June 21, 1871, was the date of the first meeting of the County
Commissioners. They met at the residence of Judge
C. J. Van Laningham. the
bonds of the county officials were then filed, and Richard Walthers
resigning his
office of Superintendent of Schools, J. F. Pugsley was
appointed in his place.
During the summer of 1871, a company of soldiers were stationed about
two miles above the mouth of Turkey Creek,
to guard against any
depredations of the Indians. The early settlers, however, never
experienced any troubles from the
red men, though there were some fears
for a long time, owing to their hostility for the year or two
previous.
September 19, 1871, an election was called to vote on the adoption of a
new State constitution. This election was
held at the house of James
Knight.
The regular election of county officers took place October 10, 1871, at
the residence of Daniel Giger, at Franklin.
At this time, the county
consisted of but one voting precinct, and thirty votes were polled.
The
following officers were elected:
Commissioners, J. F. Pugsley, John
Hutchinson and B. Ashburne
Sheriff G. L. Cooper
Clerk, J. A. Peery
Judge, C. J. Van Laningham
During the fall of 1871, a great many settlers came to the county, and
settlements were made on several tributaries
of the Republican, on Crow
Creek, by Jacob Stanslow, on Rebecca Creek and on Turkey Creek and on
other
streams. O. B. Starkey also settled about two miles from Macon.
Soon after the election in the fall of 1871, the county was divided
into three precincts, each extending the entire
length of the county,
north and south. The eastern precinct was called Grant, the central,
Franklin, and the western
Sheridan.
In the fall of this year, many of the settlers left the country to
spend the winter farther east, where they could secure employment.
The winter of 1871-1872 was an exceptionally severe one, and some hard
times were experienced by these pioneer
settlers, who remained during the
winter. The fall of the year had been warm, and the settlers, busy with
their other
duties, had not prepared for the winter.
Early in the spring of 1872, the settlers who left the county the
previous year, after their breaking was done and
houses built, returned
and began putting in crops with a will. The land that was broken the
previous year was soon
all planted. During the spring, many fresh
emigrants also came. For a time, there was almost a steady stream of
settlers, and the county was fast being settled up.
Up to the spring of 1872, Waterloo, or Franklin, as it was called, had
acquired but little importance. About this time,
George Buck, one of the
members of the Plattsmouth Town Company, came out and built a store.
In
April, the county seat, which had not been established at any given place,
was located here, and the upper story
of a building belonging to E. A.
Kirkpatrick was leased for a court house, and the county records removed
here.
In the fall of 1872, the population had so increased that aside from
those who had settled within the past six months,
and, therefore, were not
entitled to vote, the number of votes cast at the October election was
about 200.
In 1872, a town company was organized in Brownville, Neb., for the
purpose of locating a town in some desirable
locality in Franklin County.
The site of the present town of Bloomington was selected. A town was
surveyed and
platted, and, in June, the first settlers arrived.
Improvements at once began and Bloomington soon became a village.
The
Bloomington Town Company numbered among its members some of the leading
men of Brownville and well
known throughout the State. And every effort
was made to call attention to the new town and to induce immigration
to
its vicinity. As a result of this during the fall, the village improved
quite rapidly and the adjoining country was rapidly
being settled up with
a thrifty class of farmers.
At the election in October, the following officers were elected:
At this election more
than 400 votes were cast.
To the present time, the county has continued to progress steadily and surely, with few events of interest. The crops
have generally been good, and compare favorably with the other portions of the State.
All parts of the county are now well settled, and, as a general thing, its citizens are prosperous. Many of the farmers,
not satisfied with farming alone, connect stock-raising with it, and such have been very successful. Sheep thrive on the
prairies of Franklin County, and there are many flocks raised here.
Early in the history of the county, bridges were built across the Republican and other streams, and other improvements
have kept pace with the progress of the county.
Soon after Bloomington secured the county seat, the town of Franklin, which was never a large place, was moved
away, and only the ruins of an old log building marks the town site of what was once the capital of Franklin County.
A new town of Franklin has, however, been laid out near the old site, and it is already quite an important village and
bids fair to rank, within a few years, with the older towns of the county in importance.
The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was completed, and trains began running as far as Bloomington early in
1879.
Previous to this time, grain and produce had to be hauled to Lowell to Kearney to market. The latter place, nearly
fifty miles from Bloomington, was the principal market.