County Mayo

“ In Ireland he was known as an indefatigable sportsman and a most joyous country neighbour, whose time and purse were always at the service of his friends. His famine-work had made a name for him in County Kildare, and his genuine kindliness of heart, with a happy Irish way of adapting himself to his company, steadily increased his popularity as he went on in life. No sketch of Lord Mayo would be complete which overlooked this side of his character. It was the aspect in which he was best known to a large proportion of his friends ”

“ And be it known that the report now reaches here that the atrocity did not cease with the firing on of the sheriff's posse, but that a sharp fight afterward took place between negroes and white men near by; and we are now informed that a strong force of negroes, at the instance of one Mayo, is now gathering in the southwestern part of the county, preparatory to a march upon this, the seat of the county of Cranceford. Therefore, it behooves all good citizens to meet in the before mentioned town for the defense of life and property, as it is here that the blow is to fall. ”

“ Ballina, the most prosperous town in Mayo, is a stronghold of the anti-landlord party; and the Ballinrobe, Claremorris, and Cong country, full of good land and comparatively large farmers, is the district which has isolated Mr. Boycott, whose turnips and potatoes will probably cost the country and the county at least a guinea a piece. In no part of Mayo or Galway is the Land League more perfectly organised than in Clare, yet the farmers in that county are confessedly well off. ”

“ The area is 1,380,390 acres, or about 2157 sq. m., the county being the largest in Ireland after Cork and Galway. About two-thirds of the boundary of Mayo is formed by sea, and the coast is very much indented, and abounds in picturesque scenery. The principal inlets are Killary Harbour between Mayo and Galway; Clew Bay, in which are the harbours of Westport and Newport; Blacksod Bay and Broad Haven, which form the peninsula of the Mullet; and Killala Bay between Mayo and Sligo. The islands are very numerous, the principal being Inishturk, near Killary Harbour ”

“ People swearing falsely on the Bible have been known to escape visible consequences. Our car driver, a not very old man at all, told us he was present himself when a numerous household were brought together to be sworn on the Mias Tighernain for the discovery of a large sum of money which had been stolen. The thief was discovered but money was not.
It is very pleasant to drive along through the fair but tenantless lands that surround Ballina. The county of Mayo is beautifully diversified by mountain and valley, wood and water, glen and stream. ”

“ In 1841 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but did not reside; and, after the usual course of study with a tutor, took an uneventful degree. During this time he lived much with his grand-uncle, the Earl of Mayo, at Palmerstown, in County Kildare. Hayes and County Meath begin to fade into the distance. But in 1842 the death of a dearly-loved brother, from the after-effects of a Roman fever, called forth a burst of home feeling, and is recorded in a little poem, which retains the pathos of the moment. Next year, 1843, Richard Southwell Bourke came of age. ”

“ It may be that the act in imposing upon the county of Mobile the entire burden of improving the river, bay, and harbor of Mobile is harsh and oppressive, and that it would have been more just to the people of the county if the legislature had apportioned the expenses of the improvement, which was to benefit the whole State, among all its counties. ”

“ SOME time after the opening it was announced from Washington that the Land Office, which was located in one of the larger towns of the state, about one hundred and fifty miles from the Little Crow, would be moved to one of the towns in the new territory. The Land Office is something like a County Seat in bringing business to a town, and immediately every town in Megory County began a contest for the office. However, it was soon seen that it was the intention of the Interior Department to locate it in either Megory or Calias. ”

“ An act to attach the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi River and north of the State of Missouri, to the Territory of Michigan, and to which the Indian title had been extinguished, which is north of a line to be drawn due west from the lower end of the Rock Island to the Missouri River, shall constitute a county and be called Dubuque; said county shall constitute a township which shall be called Julien, and the seat of justice shall be at the village of Dubuque. ”

“ No organized county shall ever be reduced by the organization of new counties to less than sixteen townships as surveyed by the United States, unless in pursuance of law, a majority of electors residing in each county to be affected thereby shall so decide. The legislature may organize any city into a separate county, when it has attained a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, without reference to geographical extent, when a majority of the electors of a county in which such city may be situated, voting thereon shall be in favor of a separate organization. ”

“ Michigan is working bravely amid discouragements. Illinois has given us the most promising phase of our juvenile work, and leads off in reform clubs. Our best organized States are Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa. By reason of their multiplied conventions of State, district and county, their numerous auxiliaries, their petitions and their juvenile work, Ohio and Indiana bear off the palm, and stand as the banner States of our Union up to this time, each of them having as many as two hundred and fifty auxiliaries. ”

“ Mayhew is a stanch Republican in his political affiliations and has taken an active and influential part in the affairs of his party since coming to Atchison county. In November, 1914, he was the candidate of his party for the high office of State representative from this district and was elected, subsequently serving in the 1915 session of the Kansas legislature with such marked ability as a legislator that his course and activities conferred distinction upon himself and his constituents. ”

“ The men who came here in the early days knew nothing of luxuries, for it is said that there were not over twenty buggies in the county and not to exceed two pianos. The gold excitement took many of the bright young men away, most of whom never returned. The census of 1850 shows that there were 5,444 people in the county, further demonstrating that the land seekers were still coming despite the fact that many residents must have left for the gold fields of California. By 1860 fully 19,000 residents claimed the county as their home. At the first election in the county 39 votes were cast. ”

“ The inherent qualities possessed by an able man will develop and become pronounced in decided results if he be given the proper opportunity. Albert E. Mayhew, legislative representative from the Atchison county district, and a successful merchant, belongs to that type of men who by force of intellect and sheer ability to do things have placed themselves in the forefront of affairs and taken their proper places as leaders in their respective communities. Forty-five years of his life have been spent in Kansas, and he can properly be classed as one of the pioneers of the State. ”

“ The Constitution of 1857 gave a measure of stability to the boundaries of the counties as they then existed and all attempts to create new counties, divide or change the limits since the adoption of that Constitution have failed. The act expressly prohibits the creation of a county having less than four hundred and thirty-two square miles. The counties of Mitchell, Worth, Winnebago, Emmet, Dickinson and Osceola were each found to lack sixteen square miles but, by the terms of the Constitution, their boundaries were not interfered with. ”

“ There are several large lumber-mills in the county, and the exports are chiefly lumber, wool, and live stock, although marble, limestone, and granite are abundant, and fruit is marketed to some extent.
Baker City, on the O. R. and N. line, and having connection with the Northern Pacific, is the county-seat and chief town. It is, in fact, rapidly developing into a city of considerable importance, having a population of four thousand five hundred. ”

“ It has grown rapidly and now has not only a central building but a number of sub-stations. The county is said, as a result of this beginning, to have experienced a general awakening which has been evidenced in good county pikes, county parks and a hundred other tangible ways.
Following the example of Ohio, county library laws were passed in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Maryland, Oregon, Nebraska and New York. California has twenty-seven county libraries. ”

“ Before the middle of the nineteenth century counties had been established in New Mexico, Utah and Oregon; ten years later in Nebraska and Washington; by 1870 in Colorado, Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona.
And so, the institution of the county has been driven westward in obedience to precedent and through the instinct for imitation. Of thoughtful foresight, of definite planning for a serviceable career, about the same measure was applied as in the case of Topsy, who “jest growed.” ”

“ Each county biennially elects a sheriff, clerk, treasurer, register of deeds, and a prosecuting attorney, the sheriff not being eligible to office more than four years in any period of six years. The board of supervisors, composed of one representative from each organized township, has charge of bridges, etc., and may raise by tax $1000 per year, or a greater amount, if the electors consent. ”

“ Thus the New York Times, when the New York Constitutional Convention was in session in 1915, delivered not a few strokes for a proposition to abolish existing boundaries of the sixty-one counties and substitute therefor eight administrative districts. Cleveland, Ohio, reformers would like to have that city divorce itself from the rural part of Cuyahoga County. In Rochester, a recent survey has suggested a similar course with reference to Monroe County. Studies have also been made recently (1916) by the City Club of Milwaukee. ”

“ It lies in the fifth tier east of the Missouri River; is twenty-four miles wide and forty and one-third long, containing nine hundred seventy-seven square miles, making it the largest county in the State. The east fork of the Des Moines River flows through the county to the south and the Blue Earth River flows to the northwest. ”

“ It is doubtless a repetition of the history of many other townships, but we, its citizens, have a local pride in its beauty, its bounty, its prosperity, its boundless hospitality. No finer cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, and poultry can be found on the face of the earth than are raised in Maine township. The physical, moral, social, intellectual, and financial condition of the people is on a high plane, and shows a steady growth and development through all the years since the first settlement. ”

“ But for the present at least, organizations like the Anti-Saloon League [Pg 150] realize that counties are very handy and convenient units of public sentiment and have been instrumental in securing county option laws in many states, including Idaho, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, Texas. Incidentally, the county option plan makes the public policy district in liquor matters coincide with districts for enforcement, thus minimizing the danger of nullification. ”

“ Administration apart from fiscal supervision in other departments, such as charities, prisons and public health, has advanced much more slowly than reform in the fields which have been mentioned. But every indication for the future is toward greater control through accounting and supervision. The county acts locally in the enforcement of state obligations. The real trouble comes when one undertakes, arbitrarily, to place any given county activity in the local or state category. ”

“ Where the pure town system prevails the county plays but little part in local administration, and in some States like Rhode Island there are, strictly speaking, no county officers, the county being merely a judicial district without corporate personality. ”

“ It is apparent that the city people have much more control over the county government than the election of the Commissioners Court would indicate. Many of the county functions which most concern the city, for example, tax assessment and collection, are under the jurisdiction of officials elected by the county at large. ”

“ He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church, of Effingham, and is fraternally associated with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. It is probable that no citizen is more widely or more favorably known throughout Atchison county than A. E. Mayhew, and his course as a successful merchant and public official has been such as to favorably commend him to the masses of the people, who are always found appreciative of honesty and square dealing on the part of men 375in public life, whom they honor with their political preference. ”

“ Section 5 declares that "all persons who have resided within the limits of the County for Two months, shall be recognized and considered as citizens of the County." Another section stipulates that "members of the association who are not citizens of the County shall be required in making claims to expend in improvements on each claim he or they may have made or may make the amount of fifty Dollars within six months of the date of making such claim or claims and fifty Dollars every six months there after until such person or persons becomes citizens of the county or forfeit the same." ”