The Squire

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

They called him “Squire” Elliott.

 

As “Squire” is a title given not only to men of noble birth or knights but to one who is a justice of the peace or other local dignitary, the moniker fits.

Honorable George W. Elliott was an early pioneer of Wisconsin and Ahnapee.  A native of New York, he came to Green Bay in 1839.

 

Early in life, he was a civil engineer.  He surveyed public roads, including the route from his home in Martinsburg, New York to Albany, and forest lands.

    

In Wisconsin, he surveyed timberland owned by lumbermen like Philetus Sawyer (U.S. Senator from Wisconsin).  James D. Doty (Territorial Governor of Wisconsin) enlisted G. W. Elliott to survey the grounds where the Wisconsin State Capital now stands and other land Doty owned in what is now Kewaunee County.

It was on a surveying trip to Wolf River that George W. Elliott became enamored with the area.  He decided to relocate to Wolf River, later Ahnapee, now Algoma.

George W. Elliott served his adopted community well.  He was elected the first county surveyor.  He represented the county in the Wisconsin State Legislature--the war legislature of 1861. 

He was a justice of the peace for 57 years.  In his day, this magistrate dispensed justice for ordinary transactions of life.  He did not need a law degree or to pass a bar exam.  George W. Elliott was not an attorney.

He didn’t need to be an attorney because he had a tome like Joshua Waterman’s book (revised, corrected, and improved by Thomas W. Waterman, counsellor at law, 1853), “Wisconsin and Iowa Justice, Being a Treatise on theCivil and Criminal Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace, Written Expressly forthe States of Wisconsin and Iowa, Containing Directions and Practical Forms for Every Case Which Can Arrive Before a Justice”.

 

Such a book thoroughly outlined the roles and duties of his justice of the peace position.  But, Squire Elliott possessed the ability to process facts, to arrive at an impartial conclusion, and to communicate well orally and in writing.  These were the skills that made him a fine magistrate.

      

George W. Elliott was elected to the position.  He took an oath of office.  In addition to promising to hand over any fees he collected from fines levied, he promised he would “faithfully and impartially, without fear, favor, fraud, or oppression, discharge all other duties now or hereafter required of his office by law.”

 

As justice of the peace he would hear cases involving misdemeanors and petty crimes, trespass for injuries to persons or property, and perform civil marriage ceremonies.  One published historical account of Wolf River and Ahnapee states that Squire Elliott “married nearly all who mated here in the early days and presided over most of the early litigations while his tireless energies were put forth to running lines for the new settlers”.

     

It was performing marriages that clearly gave Justice of the Peace Elliott the most satisfaction.  He said that he believed he had officiated at more than one thousand weddings.

Like today, in the second half of the 19^th century in Wisconsin, there were a few rules to be considered for a couple wishing to be married:  consanguinity (relation by blood), affinity (relation by marriage), incapacity (idiocy or lunacy), and consent (free will to enter into the marriage contract).

 

One could not be nearer blood kin than first cousins.  (Today, usually first cousins can marry if both are sterilized or the woman is age 55 or older.)  Regarding other relationships, while it was lawful for a man to marry his deceased wife’s sister, it was considered improper and immoral.

Secondly, parties could not have a former wife or husband living unless the former marriage was dissolved.  However, a marriage bond would be considered dissolved if one of the parties was sentenced to life imprisonment in jail, prison, or a house of corrections.

    

Prior to the ceremony, the justice of the peace would ask at least one of the parties, under oath, a version of the following questions:  1) Are you related or connected by blood or marriage with whom you propose to join in wedlock? 2)  Have you ever been married?  3)  Is there any legal impediment to the union?  4)  Any good reason you two should not be joined together in lawful wedlock?  5)  Do you give your free, willing, and unconstrained assent to this proposed marriage contract?

 

In those days, every groom was required to be 18 years of age or older, every bride at least 15 years old to be capable of contracting marriage, if they were otherwise competent.  Parental permission was required for men under age 21 and women under 18.  (Today, parental consent is required for a bride or groom who is at least age 16 or 17.)  Some states allowed marriage with parental consent for females younger than 15 years of age. 

  

If the justice of the peace found everything to be on the up and up, there was no particular form to the ceremony except that the parties solemnly declared, in the presence of the magistrate and at least two attending witnesses besides the justice of the peace, that they take each other as husband and wife.

 

Considering his personality, one could easily envision George W. Elliott performing the marriage ceremony.  He had an old fashioned, elegant “courtly” greeting and was a familiar character in Ahnapee.  He was known as a genial, kind gentleman with a good sense of humor.  He was old school.

The title justice of the peace, too, is old.  The term dates back to 1361 and the time of England’s King Edward III.  The title magistrate is from the 16^th century, and more recently in English government was sometimes termed squirearchy.

Squire George W. Elliott was not born to wealth or privilege, but he was privileged to serve others as justice of the peace for over a half century of his life.