250 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 



APPENDIX C. 



DIVISIOXS OF JO DAVIESS COUNTY. 



Jo Daviess Countj, before the year 1853, was divided, for ad- 

 ministrative purposes, into a number of precincts. These pre- 

 cincts varied from time to time in extent, and the name was fre- 

 quently changed. The precincts also varied in number. These 

 facts are all that remain today concerning the old county sub- 

 divisions. There is no record available, and the memory of the 

 oldest inhabitants does not serve to recall the facts concerning 

 them. The boundaries of the precincts seem to have been little 

 understood even by the people of that time, for the census enu- 

 merator in 1850 says the indefiniteness of the boundaries greatly 

 delayed the completion of his work.^ 



The new system of township organization was adopted Feb- 

 ruary 15, 1853.^ The divisions and names, as selected at that 

 time, are shown on Map 1, Plate XXII. The divisions of this 

 map, as well as of Maps 2 and 3, are laid off exactly as described 

 in the proceedings of die county board of supervisors. 



Map 1 shows comparatively few differences from the map of 

 the present day. Menominee included Dunleith, and was 

 bounded on the east by the Sinsinnewa River. Vinegar Hill 

 was called Mann. Scales included the present townships of 

 Council Hill and Scales Mound. West Galena included Raw- 

 lins, East Galena included Rice, Thompson included Apple 

 River, and Pleasant Valley, Berreman. Courtland was the 

 name given at first to Warren township, and it preserved this 

 name until 1865. 



The boundaries, as established in 1853, were not entirely sat- 

 isfactory, and the county board made some changes in the period 

 between 1854 and 1865, as shown in Map 2. The township of 

 Scales was divided into the two townships of Council Hill and 

 Scales Mound in June, 1854. 



1 Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser, Dec. 21, 1850. 



2 History of Jo Daviess County, p. 350. 



