January 21, 1839 – The Iowa Territorial Legislative Assembly divides Iowa Territory into three judicial districts with Judge Thomas S. Wilson serving to the north in Dubuque, Judge Charles T. Mason to the south in Burlington, and Judge Joseph Williams in the center in Muscatine (Bloomington).
By the early summer of 1839, near Dubuque, a civic case was brewing and it all exploded in early July, culminating in this new Supreme Court’s very first assignment. The case was entitled: In the matter of Ralph (a colored man), on Habeas Corpus, and it focused on a Missouri farmer named Jordan J. Montgomery and the ownership issue surrounding his slave, Ralph, who was living and working in Dubuque. Come read the amazing story!
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