Jefferson County Online 1848 Presidental Election Voters Index

The information provided on this page was researched by Orville and Mary Prill and Verda Baird and has been transcribed by Joey Stark. The primary source of information is transcribed from "Vol. 2, Jefferson Co., IA Records" pages 50 - 61. While compiling the Voters with over 1,400 names listed we thought it best to add an INDEX of the names. We are grateful to Joey Stark for transcribing this information.
We have tried to keep this information as accurate as possible. However, all information should be checked against the original documents.

From "History of Jefferson County, Iowa," Vol. 1, Chap. XXXI, by Charles J. Fulton, Pub. 1914, Chicago, by the S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, we quote:

"In 1848 took place the first presidential election in which the electors of the State of Iowa could participate. The Whig candidates were Gen. Zachary Taylor for president and Millard Fillmore for vice president. The whig electors were Fitz Henry Warren, William H. Wallace, Jesse Bowes and Stephen B. Shelleday. The democratic candidates were Lewis Cass for president and William O. Butler for vice president. The democratic electors were A. C. Dodge, Joseph Williams, Lincoln Clark and J. J. Selman. The free soil candidates were Martin Van Buren for president and Charles Francis Adams for vice president. The free soil electors were William Penn Clark, J. H. Dayton, J. M. Robertson and William Miller."

"There was a vigorous campaign. The important national questions discussed were the acquisition of foreign territory, the extension of slavery, free trade, and the free grant of reasonable portions of the public lands to actual settlers. So equal in numbers were the democrats and whigs of the state that a local situation seemed likely to determine the issue between them. Many Mormons had settled on the Missouri slope in unorganized territory. In the August elections their votes were cast almost as a unit for the whig candidates but were rejected. Had they been counted, they would have elected Daniel F. Miller, the whig candidate, to Congress, in the First District. It was believed, therefore, that if these voters could take part in the November election Taylor and Fillmore would carry the state. To enable them generally to vote it was necessary to complete the organization of Pottawattamie County which had been authorized and of which the preliminary steps had been taken. The organization of the county was dependent upon a sheriff who was required to file a bond and an oath of office with the clerk of the District Court of Polk County. To keep the sheriff from qualifying, the clerk resigned his office. In consequence, when the returns were finally made up, the vote of Pottawattamie was thrown out. This action did not affect the result. Cass and Butler, the democratic nominees, received the electoral vote of Iowa."

"Jefferson County went democratic. The democrats cast 739 votes, the whigs 637 votes, the free soilers but 21 votes. The election was held on Tuesday, the 7th of November. The original lists of the voters of the county made on that day at its eleven polling places as they exercised their right of franchise in this election fortunately have been preserved. For the purposes of a record a more desireable date could not well be selected. A dozen years earlier marked the coming of the first settlers. A dozen years later came the election of Lincoln and the opening of the Civil war. In the first half of this period occurred the erection of the Territory of Iowa, the organization of the county, the adoption of a state constitution and the admission of the territory as a State of the Union; in the second half came an exodus to California and Oregon and a ten years’ struggle to secure a railroad. These lists contain the names of many pioneers, of many who were active in the later development of the county, of many who migrated in the ‘50s to the Pacific Coast, and of many who volunteered, or whose sons volunteered, in the armies of the Union. On account of these things, they have an exceptional interest and value."
 

Township 72, Range 9 West, was set off from Fairfield and Lockridge Townships in 1856, and organized as an independent township, and called Buchanan. (Pg. 404, "1879 History of Jefferson County.") There is, therefore, no voting list for Buchanan Township. Residents of that part of Jefferson County voted either in Fairfield Township or Lockridge Township.

On 5 Jan., 1841 -
-Township 73, Range 10 West and Township 73, Range 11 West, shall be known as Black Hawk Township.

-Township 71, Range 9 West, to be known as Cedar Township.

-Township 71, Range 11 West, to be known as Des Moines Township.

(It was not noted in the pages being transcribed what Townships and Ranges comprised the remaining Jefferson County Townships.)