In 1836, then Wisconsin Governor Henry Dodge, following the wishes of the House of Representatives of what was then the Territory of Wisconsin, provided for the creation of Green County.
Green County was the fifth county added to the Territory of Wisconsin and its formation was being organized at the same time as Grant County. Already existing counties in the territory were Brown, Iowa, Crawford and Milwaukee.
Territorial maps and borders absolutely did not represent what would eventually be adopted when a state was created. For example, both Milwaukee and Brown Counties at one time or another encompassed so much territory that the counties themselves encompassed much of what would eventually become the state of Wisconsin.
For example, Green County was carved out of what had once been a much larger Iowa County. At the time, there was quite a bit of wrangling over what land Iowa County was going to be able to keep within its borders. Just as a nation looks at its natural resources, tax base, centers of population and other positive attributes, the formation of counties across Wisconsin — and the nation itself — considered these matters. Of course, these issues were magnified further as territories were formed into states.
The book “1884 History of Green County” includes the story of how Monroe became the gathering place for making important decisions. When elections for Iowa County were held, the area that became Green County was portioned as an election precinct with one representative.
The election of this representative was discussed at the blacksmith shop of one of Green County’s pioneer residents “Buckskin Brown,” whose blacksmith shop was located at the area where Monroe now exists. That first election led to William Boyls of Cadiz being named this area’s first elected representative.
Boyls attended the first session of the Wisconsin Legislature, which was held in Belmont, and promptly presented a petition for the formation of Green County. Oddly enough, that petition asked that Green County be named “Richland County.”
The petition for a new county was approved, but the name was not, so on the spot, Boyls had to come up with another name for the county. He chose “Green” because it reflected the lush nature of the area. A suggestion to change it to “Greene” county, in honor of a Revolutionary war general was refused by Boyls.
Some stories are lost to history and there is another account that Boyls agreed to have it named “Greene,” but the final “e” was omitted by a typographical mistake. In the early days of Green County, it was often referred to in printed material as both “Green” and “Greene.”
The legislation that created Green County included the notation that “the seat of justice is hereby established at the town of New Mexico, in said county.” The first election of Green County officers was held at the house of Jacob LyBrand in the town of New Mexico. The county officers did not have to maintain the town of New Mexico as a county seat and Monroe eventually became the county seat.
Although Green County had been created, initially Iowa County continued to claim jurisdiction over the Green County. Iowa County chose the first two justices of the peace for Green County, who were Daniel S. Sutherland and William Bowen. Sutherland had been the person who penned the petition to create a separate “Green County.”
To those pioneers who lived in this area at the time, what did all of this mean? Well, other than having more local representative justices, not a great deal.
Many of these pioneers had not only lived in Wisconsin Territory, but also had previously been citizens of Michigan Territory. When they had been citizens of Michigan Territory, decisions about local governance were made in Detroit. What an amazing distance one had to go during those early days to have access to their “local” government.
We must remember that the population of settlers was miniscule to what it would become in the years leading up to statehood.
— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
