Raasch and Henry Barnes, county commissioners; Frederick Wagner, probate judge; Samuel Thatch, clerk; Frederick Heckendorf, treasurer; August Lentz, surveyor; Horace J. Severance, coroner; Fielding Bradshaw, sheriff; Fred Boche, county assessor; John Allison and William Bickley, justices of the peace; Thomas Hickley and Fred Haase, constables.
(Note: Samuel Thatch, County Clerk, later served as land right of way acquisition agent for the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railway. Later, he, George Hurford, Herman Claus and others believed that Battle Creek would eventually become the county seat because of its central location in the county, sold his land south of Norfolk and acquired land north of Battle Creek not far from the site of the meeting of the Pawnee Indians and General Thayer and his troops with which Mr. Thatch served).
The first meeting of the County Commissioners was held April 6, 1868 at the home of Clerk Samuel Thatch, south of Norfolk.
The first general election was held October 11, 1868, at which time forty-seven votes were cast in Madison County. Interest in starting schools was noted in this section.
A levy of 6 mills was voted by the County Commissioners on the assessed valuation of $28,000.00 which raised $168.00 for the county treasury.
In the summer of 1869 the Board of Commissioners divided the county into two precincts. The north half was named Norfolk Precinct and the south half was named Union Precinct.
Relocation of the county seat eventually became an issue as many believed it should be located nearer to the center of the county. Travel by walking, ox drawn wagon or, at best, on horse back was slow.
On March 24th, 1875, Battle Creek people published a notice in the Madison County Review (the county's only news media) to-wit:
"The 'proprietors' of the town of Battle Creek have signed an article before me as notary public, donating to Madison County twenty acres in the townsite and a block of the surveyed portion of the same, conditioned that the county seat be located here, otherwise to be null and void — signed, John D. Hoover."
On March 31, 1875, the same paper published the following notice:
"The citizens of Madison will pledge themselves to erect suitable buildings for county seat purposes, providing voters of the county will locate the county seat at this place."
The coming election set for April 8, 1875, caused little concern from Norfolk citizens as no offer of donation to the cause, either in land as did the "proprietors" of the village of Battle
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