Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/265



of a separate territorial government in that part of Wisconsin lying west of the Mississippi River.

The convention assembled at the appointed time, and consisted of the following delegates, chosen by the counties represented:

Dubuque County—P. H. Engle, J. T. Fales, G. W. Harris, W. A. Warren, W. B. Watts, A. F. Russell, W. H. Patton, J. W. Parker, J. D. Bell and J. H. Rose. It will be remembered that Dubuque County at this time embraced all of the country north of the latitude of the south end of Rock Island, while the original county of Des Moines had been divided into Lee, Louisa, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine and Des Moines counties. These counties sent the following delegates:

Des Moines County—David Rorer, Robert Ralston and Cyrus S. Jacobs; Van Buren County, Van Caldwell, J. G. Kenner and James Hall; Henry County, W. H. Wallace, J. D. Payne and J. L. Myers; Muscatine County, J. R. Struthers, M. Couch, Eli Reynolds, S. C. Hastings, James Davis, S. Jenner, A. Smith and E. K. Fay; Louisa County, J. M. Clark, William L. Toole and J. J. Rinearson; Lee County, Henry Eno, John Claypool and Hawkins Taylor.

The officers selected by the convention were: president, Cyrus S. Jacobs; vice-presidents, J. M. Clark and Wm. H. Wallace; secretaries, J. W. Parker and J. R. Struthers.

The following committees were appointed: to draft a memorial on the right of preëmptions, Engle, Kenner, Payne, Struthers, Patton, Rorer and Smith; to draft a memorial on the subject of the disputed boundary, Eno, Claypool, Kenner, Ralston, Davis, Watts and Toole; to prepare a memorial for a separate territorial organization, Rorer, Hastings, Caldwell, Myers, Claypool, Rinearson and Harris.

The session of the convention continued three days and on the last day the committees made reports, all of which were unanimously adopted. The report on preëmptions called attention to the facts that