Order #1 Organization of Jefferson Co. Militia Oct. 14, 1861

ALEXANDER, KIRKWOOD, MORGAN

Posted By: Richard K. Thompson (email)
Date: 9/26/2010 at 21:21:28

Order No. 1
Fairfield Jefferson County Iowa
October 14th 1861

To

Sir

By reference to the foregoing order, you will see that I am authorized and required to make and organize into companys and Regiments the Militia of Jefferson County as provided for by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Iowa passed at the extra session 1861.

In pursuance of Said order you are hereby suthorized to enroll all White Male Citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty five years within the boundaries of (sic. space left blank intentionally in original document) Township in Said County and report their Names to Me within fifteen days from this date

By order of the Governor
William K Alexander
County Judge

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*Transcribed as closely verbatim to the original as possible given that the order was written in cursive handwriting and some of the capitalizations could be interpreted slightly differently. I am not related to the person(s) mentioned.

This document found in a journal of entries by William K Alexander and Thomas Morgan, who both served as county judges in Jefferson County, Iowa. Alexander served in the calendar year of 1861. Morgan served from Feb. 1866 into 1874. This journal was originally begun as a registry of marriages by Alexander, followed by a section of orders and listings relating to the organization of a Militia upon the direct order from Governor Kirkwood to William K Alexander, who was county judge at that time. The balance of the journal consists of entries maintained by Thomas Morgan during his service as county judge.

The original journal was sent to the Jefferson County Genealogy Society by Lettie M Lee of Pensacola, Fla. on Sept. 16, 2010. Her late husband, Malcolm McLean Lee, was a great grandson of Thomas Morgan and had received the journal passed down through generations of family.