IAGenWeb - Marion County |
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The township system in the United States dates back to 1635, when the Massachusetts General Courts enacted that, "Whereas, particular townships have many things which concern only themselves, and the ordeering of their own affairs and disposing of business in their own town, the freemen of every township, or a majority part of them, shall only have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurtenances of said town, to grant lots, and to make such order as may concern the well-ordering of their own towns not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the General Court."
Four years later the system was introduced in the Connecticut colony, and as civilization extended westward the township was made a component part of each new state. On January 10, 1840, while Iowa was still a territory, Governor Lucas approved an act of the Territorial Legislature providing for the division of the several organized counties of Iowa into civil townships. Marion County was not organized until five years after the passage of this act, but it was under its provisions that the first civil townships were established in the county.
In March, 1846, as narrated in Chapter IV, the county was divided into voting precincts, but these subdivisions did not take the name of townships. The first townships were erected by the board of county commissioners on January 6, 1847, when the county was divided into ten civil townships, to wit: Cincinnati, Clay, Indiana, |pg. 97| Jefferson, Knoxville, Lake, Liberty, Pleasant Grove, Red Rock and Washington. The name of Cincinnati Township was subsequently changed to Perry, and other townships have been created until there are now fifteen, viz: Clay, Dallas, Franklin, Indiana, Knoxville, Lake Prairie, Liberty, Perry, Pleasant Grove, Polk, Red Rock, Summit, Swan, Union and Washington.