This group was given a new power that allowed it to equalize taxes between the smaller units, thus beginning the local representation on the county board that was later established in New York State as a Board of Supervisors.
These included matters concerned with marriage and divorce, poor of wills, and the administration of estates and guardianships.
New York State in the late 1600’s divided into 10 counties and elected a county board consisting of a freeholder elected from each town to supervise the levying and assessment of local taxes. All counties are functioning governmental units, each governed by a county board of commissioners. Six of these names still exist. The settlement, which is now Stillwater, was once part of St. Croix County, Wisconsin. This means that, for example, the number 001 is shared by Naturally, the colonial form of local government was developed by the English colonist along lines similar to the local government institutions existing in England when colonization of the Americans took place. As the government of England separated from the Roman church, church officials lost some of their power in local government but church courts continued to have some identifiable duties. There are 87 counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The New Jersey system developed much like that of New York and provision was made for the election of town assessors, which in time developed into the Board of Chosen Freeholders.
The colonists, who pushed westward into what became the Northwest Territory, brought their existing systems with them along with new innovations that formed the basis for county government in our present Middle Western states.
The median age in Minnesota is approximately 37.8 years of age. The justices appointed a clerk of the court who acted as recorder of deeds. Map of Minnesota Counties A series of acts followed generally called the Elizabeth Poor Laws that established relief and welfare as a government responsibility. Poor relief originally was identified as a church responsibility but with the dissolution of the monasteries the Crown passed a law known as the Poor Law of 1601, which established a system of parish taxation for the care of the poor.
The New England colonies and states that developed from them were colonized with strong local communities and it could therefore be expected that the town unit of government would be quite strong. The justices appointed a clerk of the court who acted as recorder of deeds. You may recall from school days (or present television accounts) that the Tales of Robin Hood present the Sheriff of Nottingham Shire as the chief military officer of the shire with responsibility to keep the peace and as the collector of taxes.By the early 1600’s, the English Crown permitted the election of a surveyor of highways. There are 1,785 active townships and 23 inactive townships. Rhode Island, in 1793, provided for counties whose sole purpose then, as now, was for judicial administration.The Southern colonies of Virginia and Maryland began with a local unit of government which centered around the “plantation” or parish form and which set up the usual “area court,” usually meeting four times a year or quarterly, as was the practice in England.
The first Minnesota counties were Benton, This, combined with the fact that much of the migration to Minnesota came through Wisconsin, caused the development of both strong county and town forms of government as had been the case in Wisconsin, New York and Michigan. This officer was the forerunner of the prosecuting attorney who now exists in practically all states by one title or another. The usual officers were the sheriff (who was tax collector and treasurer), justice of the peace, land surveyor, and coroner appointed by the governor of the colony. The original justices of the peace became primarily judicial officers as the supervisors took over more of the administration of the county. Early English history records the smallest administrative unit of government as the town or township which was often the same size and area as the church parish. By the 1600’s there had developed what was known as a vestry meeting of a general assembly of the parish (township) with all of the inhabitants of the parish ordinarily permitted to attend.It would be difficult to trace directly many of the elements of current local government in Minnesota back to the corresponding government in English history but some of the units of government, the titles of officials, their duties, and in some instances, particular functions of government can be identified.