George Wallace Jones

Front matter

IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH c;i:or(;e Wallace joxes pi

^^1

Author's Preface

The history of beginnings in the Commonwealths of the Upper Mississippi Valley would be incomplete without the story of George Wallace Jones who as Delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan secured the creation of the Territory of Wisconsin, who as Delegate from that Territory in turn brought about the establishment of the Territory of Iowa, and who, together with Augustus Caesar Dodge, first represented the State of Iowa in the United States Senate.

It is the purpose of this volume to portray the life of George Wallace Jones primarily by means of his own Autobiography and Personal Recollections — which are here published for the first time — and secondarily by a brief Biographical Sketch which it is hoped will serve to fill in details left untold by Jones and to furnish a consecutive outline of the incidents of his career, among which the autobiographer rambled at times somewhat confusedly.

The autobiographical materials were found by the writer at Dubuque, Iowa, while on a search on behalf of The State Historical Society of Iowa for data concerning early men and

X AUTHOR'S PREFACE

events of that vicinity. The autobiographical manuscript was in the possession of Mrs. Linn Jones Deuss, a daughter of George Wallace Jones, and through her kindness it was loaned to The State Historical Society of Iowa to be copied for publication. The manuscript consisted of several hundred pages of typewritten matter, written evidently upon the dictation of Jones at different periods of time during the last ten years of his life. Copies of a variety of letters, petitions, and other miscellaneous papers were also included in the manuscript.

The nature of the materials made it necessary to take some editorial liberties with the original manuscript. The various sections and chapters, written at different times, were arranged primarily in an order that was without system or logical sequence. The order of the original manuscript was accordingly discarded and the sections placed as nearly as possible in their chronological sequence. As will be seen the materials have been arbitrarily divided into (I) the Autobiography and (II) Personal Recollections. The miscellaneous letters and papers have been omitted from this publication.

One chapter of the Autobiography — that on Legislative Matters — is the result of a combination of two portions of the original and is the only part of the manuscript in which the arrangement of paragraphs within sections has

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi

been changed. The headings are not in all cases the same as given in the original manuscript.

It was evident from an examination of the original manuscript that Jones made little or no revision of the document after it had been typewritten from his dictation. It would not therefore be just to Jones to preserve in the edited work all the mechanical defects which may have been due to the copyist. Some changes have therefore been made in punctuation and capitalization; abbreviated words have usually been spelled out ; and in a few cases the wording has been slightly modified in order to make the meaning clear. At the request of Mrs. Deuss the manuscript before being copied was examined by her lawyer, Judge D. J. Lenehan, of Dubuque, Iowa, who indicated several passages to be omitted. Where such omissions occur marks indicating the fact have been inserted.

The memory of Jones was variable. Allowance should be made for the fact that the account of his experiences was dictated by him almost entirely from memory after he had reached the age of four score years, and more than a quarter of a century after the years of his public life were over. In many instances his memory is vivid and accurate ; but often it slips into error. The writer has endeavored to guard the reader against inaccuracies, partly by means of the Biographical Sketch and partly by the xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE

Notes and References correcting and illuminating specific points. It is essential, therefore, that wherever notes are indicated, they should be consulted before the accuracy of the text is accepted. There are, doubtless, other inaccuracies which it has been impossible to check up and correct in the Notes and References.

It is proper to state that the publication of the Autobiography and Personal Recollections has been made possible through the kindness of Mrs. Linn Jones Deuss and Judge D. J. Lenehan of Dubuque, Iowa, to whom grateful acknowledgment is hereby made. Through the courtesy of Mr. Edgar R. Harlan, Curator of the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa, access was had to the collection of volumes embodying the Correspondence of George W. J ones, which were of great value in the preparation of the Biographical Sketch. Acknowledgments are also gladly given to the editor of the Iowa Biographical Series, Dr. Benj. F. Shambaugh, for aid and advice in editing the Autohiography and Personal Recollections as well as for valuable assistance of a more general nature.

John Cakl Paeish

MoNTCLAiR, Colorado

Contents

PABT I

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

I. Formative Period 3

II Teekitokial Office

When the first session of tlie Twenty-fourth Congress convened early in December, 1835, George W. Jones was on hand and took his seat as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan without question or contest.^ ^ He found quarters at the boarding house of Mrs. Pittman on Third Street, where he came into close relations with Lucius Lyon, United States Senator from the organized, but not yet formally recognized, State of Michigan.^2

In the meantime the Territory of Michigan had been having vexatious times trying to conduct its affairs at home. When the State government was organized and Stevens T. Mason chosen as Governor, the President appointed John S. Horner Secretary of the Territory of Michigan and ex officio Acting Governor. The peculiar situation of affairs demanded a man of tact, good judgment, and initiative. Horner was woefully lacking in all these essentials; while good intentions and a vacillating mind only prepared him to play the role of a political blunderer.

By proclamation of Acting Governor Mason the next legislature of the Territory had been scheduled to meet at Green Bay on January 1, 1836. The Acting Governor, however, by a proclamation issued November 9th, changed the date of convening to December 1, 1835. With the methods of communication then in vogue the members very naturally failed to receive notice in time to attend. Not a member appeared upon the day appointed; nor was Secretary Horner himself there. A communication, dated at Detroit, December 14tli, and seeming to be authorized by Horner, appeared in a Green Bay newspaper. It explained that no returns from west of the lake had as yet been received at Detroit and that upon a vote of 730 in the Peninsula, as the country east of the lake was called, William Woodbridge had claimed a certificate of election as Delegate. This Horner had refused and was awaiting the unaccountably delayed returns which he knew would give Jones the election. It was therefore necessary for him to remain at Detroit to insure the certification of Jones at the earliest possible moment, deeming the representation in Congress of far greater importance than a session of the Territorial legislature.-^ A letter from Lucius Lyon to Horner discloses the fact that the latter had written to Lyon in dire distress to know what he should do — go to Green Bay where the legislature was to meet or stay at Detroit where the laws of Congress required him to make his residence. He was fearful because friends had written him that the President would expect him to remain in Detroit. Lyon consulted the President and told Horner of Jackson's reply that ''Whoever wrote so wrote a falsehood" and that Horner was to use his own discretion.^^ Considering Horner's utter deficiency in the quality of discretion, this injunction was of little value. Late in December he received returns which warranted issuing a certificate of election to Jones and on December 31, 1835, Henry H. Brown wrote to Jones, enclosing the certificate and stating that Horner had been sick for several days and unable to attend to his duties.^^

On the next day, New Year's Day, over at Green Bay the Territorial legislature of Michigan actually met. Horner, being sick, was of course not there. The members were furious. Unable to take action without him, further than to adopt resolutions and memorials, the Council sat for two weeks and then adjourned. Among their resolutions was one including an arraignment of Horner and a request that President Jackson remove the offending Secretary from office.^^ Four days after this resolution was passed, Horner wrote from Detroit to Jones: *'I am very lonesome & news hungry and should be obliged to you if you would inform me of what is going on. Will Michigan be admitted this winter? Is it necessary in your opinion for me to convene the Council at Green Bay this winter or spring? "^"^ Jackson did not remove Horner, who floated about inconsequentially among political offices for some years.

Another resolution was adopted by the Council in January, 1836, which was of real import. It was one urging upon Congress the passage of a law establishing the Territory of Wisconsin and expressing the wish that Cassville on the bank of the Mississippi be made the seat of government.^^ The passage of a bill establishing the Territory of Wisconsin was an accomplishment toward which Jones was bending every effort ; and in accordance with the expressed wish of his constituents he agreed to have inserted in the bill a clause fixing the seat of government at Cassville.^^ But this place proved to be an unpopular choice, and so Jones was the recipient of letters and remonstrances from all over the proposed Territory. Indeed, so strong a case was made against Cassville that Jones — mindful, as well, of his election pledge that the people should have a voice in the location as far as he could aid them — decided not to move an amendment to the bill but to leave the location to the will of the people or their representatives after organization had been effected.^^

The resolution of the Council looking toward the establishment of a new Territory was presented in Congress by Jones on the 7th of January,^ ^ and two weeks later John M. Clayton of Delaware introduced a bill in the Senate providing for the establishment of the Territory of Wisconsin.^2 Although Michigan had not yet been admitted as a State, a cle facto State government was in operation, and consequently Congress was not disposed to resist the creation of a government adequate to the needs of the people west of the lake. On March 29, 1836, the bill passed the Senate. In the House of Representatives it appears that Jones set himself to the task of bringing about early action. He commented on the long neglect of the frontier country and urged the immediate necessity of bringing it within the pale of judicial tribunals and of placing it under the charge of a Governor who could organize the militia and protect the inhabitants from the horrors of Indian warfare.^^ Several minor amendments were made and agreed to by the Senate. Finally, on April 20, 1836, three weeks after the bill had been introduced in the House, it received the approval of the President and became a law.

In those days the Delegate from a Territory was half Congressman and half lobbyist. He had the privilege of presenting legislation and of debating questions, but he had no vote. Much had to be accomplished by personal influence. Jones was resourceful and persistent, pleasing and persuasive in his personality, and able in his presentation of the needs of his constituents. The resolutions, petitions, and memorials presented to the House by Jones show clearly what these needs were. Post roads and military roads must be opened up, rivers and harbors needed improvement, Indian treaties were necessary for the protection of the citizens, and lands must be surveyed and sold. In the furthering of all these objects Jones was very active.

Altogether the service of George W. Jones as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan was as efficacious as it was satisfactory to his constituents. He had represented them faithfully and had secured for them the one thing most desired — an adequate form of Territorial government. The Territory of Wisconsin came into political being on July 4, 1836, and while Jones was still at Washington the new officers were named. He had the pleasure of influencing Jackson to appoint Henry Dodge as Grovernor, much to the satisfaction of the citizens of Wisconsin. He gives an entertaining account, in his autobiography, of the part he played in Dodge's appointment and in the nomination of other officers for the Territory.^^

With the change in government it was incumbent upon the people of the new Territory to choose a Delegate to represent them in Congress, despite the fact that Jones had served but one of his two years as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan. In September, 1836, a meeting at Belmont in Iowa County expressed approval of the record of Jones and placed him in nomination for the new office of Delegate. But at this time there were two towns in Iowa County which were fighting for supremacy — Belmont and Mineral Point. Each town aspired to be named as the seat of government of the Territory of "Wisconsin, and the feeling between the towns was intensified by the f oreshadowings of a division of the county and the ensuing location of county seats. And so, a short time after the meeting at Belmont, a rival meeting was held at Mineral Point. The adherents of this town, charging Jones with being interested in the selection of Belmont as the Territorial capital, proceeded to announce as their candidate for Delegate, Moses Meeker, an early settler in the lead mining regions. It appears also that at these two meetings separate sets of nominations were made for the ^eats in the first Legislative Assembly.^^ Tlie outcome of the election of Delegate was a sweeping victory for Jones by a vote of 3,522 to 696, although in his own county. Meeker defeated him by a vote of 617 to 612. Thus, outside of Iowa County the election of Jones was nearly unanimous.

Late in October the first Territorial legislature met at Belmont. Exciting times followed in the struggle to locate the seat of government of the Territory, which was largely a matter of speculation and a contest between private interests. Nearly a score of places were discussed, many of them being simply tracts of unimproved prairie laid out in town plats and endowed with great possibilities by their hopeful and enthusiastic owners.

Among these towns without houses or inhabitants was Madison; and it appears that James Duane Doty, the defeated candidate for Delegate in 1835, was the man most largely interested in this town between the lakes. As early as June, 1836, he wrote to Delegate Jones that he and Governor Stevens T. Mason had secured the title to the land, ''for the object which I mentioned to you";^*^ and he outlined the plan upon which he intended to proceed. It was to vest the title in trustees for the benefit of the stockholders of a company. He had in mind a select list of men to whom stock would be sold — among them being George W. Jones, Henry Dodge or his son Augustus C. Dodge, William S. Hamilton, Thomas P. Burnett, and Morgan L. Martin. He wished Jones to be one of the trustees, and commented: "I think it is obvious we can make something handsome out of this ".3"

It seems probable that Jones did not accept the trusteeship although he did agree to become one of the proprietors. On the day before Christmas, 1836, after the legislature had chosen Madison as the seat of government, Doty wrote again to Jones: '* Agreeably to your request I subscribed your name to the Articles of Association of the Proprietors of that town [Madison] for one share which is l-24th and I rec'd thro' Mr. A. C. Dodge (who is also a proprietor) the amt. due to wit $100."^^

Doty was very busy at Belmont when the legislature was in session, and his efforts were successful. But the choice of Madison was not altogether popular in the Territory, and there were many accusations to the effect that lots in the new town and other considerations had been freely distributed in order to accomplish the result desired. How much the joint proprietors knew of the tactics employed by the manager of the speculation is conjectural. Their part in the proceeds, however, can be judged by a letter from Doty in February, 1837, telling Jones that 'Hhe dividend on the 1st of Jany on amt. of sales to that time was $170 per share. "^'^

There was excellent opportunity to make money in land speculations in this pioneer country, and it is evident that Jones was fully alive to the situation. He had been a resident of the frontier all his life and he knew western land conditions intimately. In 1836 he and Daniel Webster together began a series of land negotiations that extended through several years. Jones made the selections of property and invested Webster's as well as his own funds. Their deals were for the most part profitable, and as a consequence Jones at one time acquired a considerable amount of property.

At the opening of the session of 1836-1837 Jones took his seat in Congress as Delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin. It was a short session and was not a momentous one for Delegate Jones. But the long session of the winter following was one he never forgot. Two events of this session brought him prestige and great popularity among his constituents. A third event made him a national figure but sent him back to private life at the next Territorial election. He had been enthused by John Plumbe, Jr., in the project of a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River and beyond, and he achieved a genuine triumph when he secured, in 1838, an appropriation of $2,000 for the survey of a route for a railroad from Milwaukee to the Mississippi River at Dubuque.^° Far more widespread, however, was the appreciation of his success in bringing about the division of Wisconsin Territory and the establishment of the Territory of Iowa.

The Territory of Wisconsin contained, in 1838, approximately fifty thousand souls. Over half of this number were on the far side of the

Mississippi Eiver. These Trans-Mississippi inhabitants, moreover, made it very clear to Jones that they were in favor of the establishment of a new Territory; and Jones energetically set about bringing this result to pass. He was not an orator, and throughout his entire Congressional career he relied very little upon speeches to further his legislation. He depended upon personal influence in securing attention to his bills, and upon unflagging zeal and tactical skill in pushing them through the intermediary stages to a final favorable vote.

The bill providing for the establishment of the Territory of Iowa encountered strong opposition. One member wished to wait until Wisconsin became a State ;^^ another attacked the character of the ^ * squatters upon public domain"; while still others complained that it would drain the older States of population, that it would encourage speculation, and that it would jeopardize the balance between free and slave States.^^ Despite these objections the bill came to a favorable vote in both houses, and was signed by the President on June 12, 1838.

Meanwhile, on an afternoon in February, out near the boundary line of the District of Columbia, four members of the lower house of Congress were engaging in a function which was far from legislative. As a result of a challenge for the satisfaction of honor, Mr. Graves of Kentucky and Mr. Cilley of Maine, stood some eighty yards apart and fired upon each other with rifles. The third exchange of shots was fatal to Cilley who died in the arms of his second, George W. Jones. Henry A. Wise of Virginia was the second of Mr. Graves. Jones had been drawn into the affair against his better judgment and with more or less of a realization of the evils, political and otherwise, which it would bring down upon him. His main objection seems to have been that it would definitely ally him with the Democratic party; whereas he preferred to steer a neutral course, thinking he could in that way procure more legislation for his constituents.^'^ It is not probable that Jones had any very strong principles at this time against the practice of duelling. He had spent his entire life in regions where the resort to personal encounter was of frequent occurrence, and by one writer he is credited with having been himself a party to seven affairs of honor .^*

The death of Cilley created a profound sensation in the country. Petitions poured into the House asking for the expulsion of Mr. Graves and of the two seconds. Wise and Jones. The House appointed an investigating committee which brought in a report recommending the expulsion of Graves and the censure of the other participants in the affair.^ ^ After much discussion the session closed without definite action being taken upon the report. In the Senate a bill was passed prohibiting the giving or accepting, within the District of Columbia, of a challenge to a duel; but this bill did not pass the House.

In anticipation of the passage of the law establishing the new Territory of Iowa, speculation became rife as to the appointment of Governor. As early as April 20, 1838, a meeting of citizens of Dubuque formally recommended George W. Jones for the position. Numerous petitions to the same effect were sent to Washington from west of the river, and at the national seat of government a petition signed by members of the United States Senate and one by the colleagues of Jones in the lower house prayed for his appointment. Lewis F. Linn, James Buchanan, and others also wrote to President Van Buren for the same purpose."*^ Jones, however, definitely announced himself as a candidate for reelection to the Delegacy of the Territory of Wisconsin; and early in July Eobert Lucas was appointed to the Governorship of the new Territory of Iowa.

Congress having adjourned in July, Jones returned to Wisconsin and began a vigorous campaign. The opposing candidates for Delegate were James D. Doty (who had written

Jones six months before that he was off the political stage and meant to stay off)^^ and Thomas P. Burnett. In the eastern part of the Territory of Wisconsin, which was peopled largely by settlers from New England and the eastern States, the connection of Jones with the duel lost him many votes. These votes went largely to Doty. In the western part of the Territory, the presence of Burnett as a candidate cut down the Jones vote sufficiently to elect Doty. Burnett received less than one thousand votes in all, but they were votes which would probably otherwise have been cast for Jones rather than for Doty.^^ Thus at the polls in September, 1838, James D. Doty was elected to succeed Jones.

It must have been no small disappointment to George W. Jones to have thus slipped through between the two offices. Two months later Congress convened. Practically all of his colleagues in the House were there, for it was the last session of the Congress. And much to the discomfiture of James D. Doty, Jones went down to Washington and took his seat once more as Delegate from Wisconsin. He had, to be sure, served for two regular sessions since his election in 1836 as Delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin. But he based his reappearance at this session on the contention that he had been elected for a Congress rather than for two sessions. Furthermore, he had been elected in 1835 for a term of two years as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan. This term of office naturally extended over the Twenty-fourth Congress (1835-1837). The Territory of Wisconsin having been established at the end of one year, a new election was necessary, in which Jones was chosen Delegate for the new Territory. He now claimed that the incumbency under this last election did not begin until March 4, 1837, and that his occupancy of a seat in the session of 1836-1837 was in accordance with his election of 1835 as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan and in fulfillment of the second year of service under such election. The fact that the Territory of "Wisconsin had been established did not, he claimed, foreclose the existence of the Territory of Michigan, which survived until the State of Michigan was admitted by Congress.

Jones secured the opinion of attorneys upon the case along the lines thus indicated.^^ In their opinion, however, the admission of the State of Michigan in January, 1837, did put an end to the existence of the Territory of Michigan and likewise put an end to the career of Jones as Delegate from that Territory. Moreover, since, under their construction of the case, the Delegateship of the Territory of Wisconsin did not begin until March 4, 1837, Jones ceased to be a Delegate from any Territory for a period of several weeks between January and March. His term as Delegate from Wisconsin beginning, under this hypothesis, on March 4, 1837, would not close until the end of the Twenty-fifth Congress, or on March 4, 1839; and he was therefore entitled to his seat for the second regular session, while his successor, Doty, elected in 1838, would begin service March 4, 1839, as did the Eepresentatives from all the States, and serve through the 26th Congress.

It was an ingenious argument and having as its basis a law of Congress providing that Delegates from all Territories should serve for "the same term of two years for which members of the house of representatives of the United States are elected", the claim had sufficient basis for a lawyer's discussion.^*^

There were, however, inherent weaknesses in the case. In the first place, following his course of reasoning, the Territory of Wisconsin, though established and in full operation under the laws of the United States, would yet be deprived of a Delegate in the session of Congress ending March 4, 1837. Furthermore, if Jones accepted the position of his own lawyers he must admit himself to have held an office illegally between January 26, 1837, and March 4, 1837, and logically should refund pay for that time.

And lastly, the force of his contention was sadly weakened by the fact that in December, 1836, he presented the certificate of election given him by Governor Dodge of the Territory of Wisconsin, took Ms seat as Delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin and acted as such throughout the session with no pretence whatever of serving the vague and anomalous remnant east of the lake laying claim to the title of Territory of Michigan.

Scarcely had the members of the House settled down after the opening roll call when Isaac Crary of Michigan announced that Mr. Doty was in attendance and moved that he be qualified. Whereupon Jones protested against Doty's being given a seat in violation of his own right as sitting member, no vacancy having occurred and he having never resigned. Mr. Doty's certificate was read and the consideration of the question then postponed. The matter went to the Committee on Elections, from which James Buchanan reported on December 21st in favor of Doty's claim to the seat.^^ On January 3, 1839, the House passed, by a vote of 165 to 25, the resolutions proposed by the committee in favor of Doty's right to the seat.

Meanwhile Jones had been performing the duties of the Delegate, presenting petitions and resolutions and furthering legislation of benefit to the Territory of Wisconsin. And on the 20th of December he received a check for his mileage and pay up to that date. After the vote of the house in favor of Doty, Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio served notice upon Jones by letter that a resolution would be presented denying him the right to this payment. Thereupon Jones returned uncashed to the Speaker of the House the original check, pending the decision upon his right to receive it. On January 5th, a resolution was introduced declaring Jones not entitled to receive mileage and pay. After provoking a long debate, in which Jones was ably defended, the resolution was negatived by a vote of 89 to 96.^^ gQ j^g ^^s granted his compensation and gave up his seat, after a month of service, to Delegate Doty.

Jones now returned to Sinsinawa Mound and busied himself with private interests. He owned at this time considerable land directly opposite Dubuque, and also a ferry plying between this land and Dubuque with ferry privileges only on the east side.^* In the session of 1839-1840 he was granted by the Legislative Assemblj'^ of the Territory of Iowa the right to establish a ferry on the Dubuque side also.^*

In January, 1840, Jones was appointed Surveyor General for the land district of Iowa and Wisconsin. His term of office was for four years, beginning April 1, 1840.^^ On March 16tli he leased the ferry for a year to Thomas McCraney and took up his new duties.^^ His long acquaintance with the western frontier and with land conditions in this region fitted him admirably for this work. But his tenure of office was short. William Henry Harrison became President in March, 1841, and Jones as a Democrat was removed. The office of Surveyor General was located at Dubuque and it is probable that during this short time Jones lived in that city, though he may not have moved his home and family across the river from Sinsinawa Mound. At all events he became more closely than ever in touch with the people of Dubuque, with whom for nearly half a century he was to live.