Something of the Old Settlers. — Francis Apperson, aged thirty-three, was born in Abingdon County, Va., came here in 1826. Now lives in Lebanon, Mo., where he went about eight years ago. He married Sally Duff in Virginia, a relative of D. D. and N. H. Duff, the latter now living in Clay City. Apperson's oldest son, Albert, died in the army, next was Elizabeth, who married Isaac Martin, Jr., she died some years ago, and Martin married again. John Apperson was a long time Circuit Clerk, Master in Chancery, and in fact held many offices in the county. His accounts eventually were short and he went to New Mexico, where he now lives. Then there was Stephen, now in Lebanon, Mo., with his father. Charles married Dr. Wining's daughter, and died. Ellen, who married Simeon Bishop, is now in Utah. John L. Scutchfield married Ellen Colclasure in an early day, some time in the thirties. She was at that time living with William Lewis, her uncle. He is still living and is seventy-four years old.
The Songers were Abraham, John and Jacob, who were very early settlers. John married Dr. Daveuport's daughter. Abraham Songer is now living below Xenia. Jesse Blair died in 1883, he was from Orange County, Ind., and was seventy-three years old when he died; he married Ann Shirley, daughter of Charles Shirley. His son George now lives north of Louisville about three miles. His daughter married a man named Cox. Joseph Bishop, son of John Bishop, a brother of Ben's; old John Bishop's wife was the Widow Whiteley; Joseph's wife was Sarah Whiteley. John Sceif and his brother Enoch were sons of old Jesse Sceif; John was a carpenter, and for years a prominent man in the county; they were from Tennessee. Basil Davis was Mat H. Davis's father; he was from Gallatin County, Tenn.; of this family were Allen and John; the two latter died; Allen died in Centralia. A. P. Cox, now seventy-five years old, was born near Lebanon, Ill.: Jacob B. Cox, was a Mexican soldier; he is said to be the second child born in Illinois; he was buried in Blair Township at the Union Chapel Cemetery. Alfred J. Moore, from Wilson County, Tenn., married, first wife, daughter of William Erwin, named Jane; had large family by her; William, Crawford and Till were his sons; William is in Arkansas; the others are in the county. Felix Cockerell (see his biography in another department); Robert N. Smith's father, Robert, came here very early; they were Tennesseans; Robert, Sr., died some time in the sixties. John Craig came among the pioneers; married a Bishop, had sons John and Wesley; Wesley is the only survivor now living in county. Samuel Dillman came from Kentucky. John Jordan, the father of William Jordan, was from South Carolina; he was here early enough to serve on the first grand jury; his son was William Jordan. George Faris married John McCawley's sister; he died of cholera in 1834. Levi Daniel married a Whiteley; had a large family, and died on Crooked Creek. John Jeffries lived in Fox Prairie; a cabinet workman; married an Evans; had three children. Ephraim Haines lived with Thomas Elliott, and his family kept house for Elliott when he was a widower; he died in that part of the county many years ago. The Selfs and Bishops lived neighbors; Levi Self died many years ago at a great age. Francis Harman was from Tennessee; a son named Francis died, and his daughter, Polly married a man named Saunders; Harman built a horse mill. There were Basil, Seth, Andrew and Daniel Evans; were brothers; they are all dead. Walter Gill married Seth Evans' daughter, and a man named Devore married the other daughter. Rev. John M. Griffith came in 1830, from Henry County, Ky.; married in Kentucky, Margaret Sutton, a sister of John Sutton, who settled Sutton's Point. There were two other sisters; one married Scott Smith and the other Levi Rollins. These settled in Sutton's Point. John M. Griffith had eight children, six girls and two boys; one is now Joe McGrews wife, and lives in the county; Hamilton McGrew's wife is now in Wayne County. Mrs. Griffin, now of Louisville, is the only other daughter living. Elijah Griffith lives in Mt. Erie, Wayne County; Thomas died in Wayne County in August, 1864, leaving three daughters and two sons and widow. Rev. John M. Griffith was licensed to preach in the .Methodist Episcopal Church, just before he came to this country. A man named Claybaugh, who drove the stage at a very early day, was a McCawley man, and one day, just as he had the mail coach ready to take out, there was a big row going on. Claybaugh got off his stage box, took a clapboard and attacked Ephraim Haines, and came very near killing him. He would have been severely handled by the Lewis crowd, but he jumped back on his seat and told them he was now on the United States Mail and they dared not molest him.
In the early forties, the Regulators were organized. This organization extended all over the county. The claim for its existence was the great prevalence of horse-thieves, who could not be convicted; and the people, composed of all classes and ages, by common consent, banded together to punish these men when caught. The crowd that was in these Regulators were some of the best men in the county, and others again were of the rougher kind. The majority of the people were for sustaining the law. Their movements (the Regulators) were very secret, and so were their meetings.
Among others they "regulated" was a man named Daniel Pugh, who had a cabin in the north part of the county, and in whose possession they found counterfeiting materials. They took his son Tom out and strung him up until he confessed all he knew, and then some were for pulling him up and leaving him in the air. But better counsel prevailed, and he was let off with his life. The old man was caught and sent to the penitentiary. Among the last, and perhaps the very worst of all the acts of the Regulators, was with a young Frenchman named, it is thought, Baptiste. Old man Baptiste lived south of Georgetown, and was a man of marked intelligence and a fine mechanic. The son was a rollicking, good-looking young fellow, and was quite popular with the girls. He was taken out, and without any possible show of defense, was whipped to death. The only crime alleged against him by his merciless executioners was seduction. Allec Trinkle, near Xenia, was taken out and hung on the supposition of being a horse-thief. Robert Colclasure was taken out and shot.
A great many others were savagely whipped, and, as the few now left who can remember those days, will tell you with a shudder at the recollection of the terror that one Grimes and his company of regulators, were at all hours of the day and night the rough riders of the county. This company were said to follow the mere dictation of Grimes, and if he wanted bloody revenge upon any one he simply rode with his crowd in the dead hour of night to the house of his victim and in his night clothes pulled him out, and if he got back to his family alive he was in big luck. It is reported that one of the victims of these riders was left dead in the byway and the hogs had nearly devoured his body when it was found. It is now supposed that in this organization there were from 100 to 150 men.
Away back in the history of the county there were divisions here, and, sometimes, over the matter of ownership of half-wild hogs in the woods, hot and fierce contention. And at one time, running probably down to 1830, if not later, it was a fact that every new comer in the county was literally compelled to take one side or the other in this fierce and relentless hog war. The first division was headed by McCawley and his friends on one side, and the Lewises and their friends on the other, and it is a tradition that for years all new-comers had to take sides; neutrality or indifference was not allowed, and on muster days, elections, and sometimes at house-raisings, when the day's work was over, it was in order to range themselves on sides and fight it out. John McCawley was one of those strong, commanding men, and he marshaled his clans and held them to their work where and when it was no child's play to defend your person and your life from enraged assailants. On the other hand, the Lewises were fighters from the word go. They never hesitated to open the battle or attack the opposite bullies; and in the matter of rough-and-tumble-knock-down-and-drag-out, they were holy terrors from long-taw. Both sides generally fought for glory and fresh pork, or at least the title to the hogs as they ranged through the woods on foot.
When James J. Sprigg came to the county in 1829, there was a man living on Buck Creek, on the old Shelbyville road, named Fredrick Tartar, who then seemed to be an old citizen. His was the only settlement from Maysville to what is now Iola. The next nearest neighbor was Thomas Elliott's, just west of Flora.
John McDaniel was a very early settler in the southeast part of the county, on the river. At one time he kept a ferry. This was long known as the McDaniel settlement. His sons, Hugh, John and Robert, all died in that neighborhood years ago. They were plain people, hunted and worked, and Hugh McDaniel eventually became an influential and prominent citizen.
John Devore lived near McDaniel's. He was a Kentuckian. He died near McCawley's. His son Jerry married Seth Evans' daughter. George White, Jacob Rister and Henry Rister, Levi Bostwick (son-in-law of McCawley's), George Faris, Isaac Walton, Jefferson and Gladden Creek all lived in this part of the county.
The next nearest settlement in Clay County was at Sailor Springs. A man named Hack Sams settled there and built the first cabin. He finally went crazy. The place was afterward owned by Thomas Rogers. He resided here seven or eight years. Then Stansberry settled there. Among the settlers here were David and Henry Simcoe, James McKinney, John Warmack, Henry Cooper and John Ditter, all from Wilson County, Tenn., came and settled here. They came in a colony, and were a valuable acquisition to the population of the county.
East of this (Sailor Springs) was the James Leavitt settlement. This was a very early settlement. His brother Noah lived there. .lames Leavitt had sons, John and Obadiah. John died there, and Obadiah went West. Solomon Curbow, the hunter, lived there. Old man Maples, a great hunter, also lived there.
There was a settlement in Pixley. An old man named Woods settled there, and started a horse mill, and finally a little carding machine. The Ingrahams, strong Campbellites, and very popular, settled here, and soon called around them a settlement. The first post office was Ingraham.
The Lewis settlement (now Bible Grove) was then the next settlement. Here Ben and Lock Stallings lived. Ben went to Effingham County, where his descendants now reside; Lock went to the Black Hawk war and was killed, or died of sickness.
The Bishop settlement (now Larkinsburg) was the oldest, settlement in that part of the county. Benjamin Bishop's sons (Jesse, Washington, Nathan and Jones) all grew to be men and good citizens. All died in the county.
Sutton's Point was another very early settlement. Levi Rollins, Levi Daniels, John Craig, Robert Smith, Sr., Henry Cox and Thomas Dunham and S. B. Walker and Sol Heflin, and the Sceifs, the old man Jesse, his sons John, Enoch and Jesse, and Francis Harman.
S. B. Walker became Sheriff of Clay Countv. His widow now lives in Mason.
J. W. Sullivan came in 1826, from Pendleton District, S. C.; born July 28, 1809; youngest of a family of nine, four boys — Eliphas, Paul, Benjamin and J. W.; girls — Jane, Lucy, Mary and Elizabeth. Of these, Lucy, Elizabeth and Mary came to this county after the coming of J. W. and Paul. The last-named left the county, and died in Pittsburgh in 1849. Two of the sisters died in the county. Lucy married Elijah Spriggs. Elizabeth married Wesley Robinson. J. W. was married twice. His first wife was Margaret Green, and he had five children. Of these, three are now living — John, of Louisville; Ann E. Hobbs, of Mason; and F. L., now in Terre Haute. His second wife was Harriet Brown, with whom he had five children, only two living — Thomas and Rosa Belle. These children are now keeping house for their father in Louisville.
Marriages. — The first marriage in Clay County was on the 4th of March, 1825; John Binion and Sarah Baron, all of Clay County. They were married by Levi Jordan, Justice of the Peace. On the 30th of same month, John H. Lacy, a Justice, married James J. Pierce and Ruthy Oily.
The next coupling occurred July 26 of this year, Levi Jordan officiating; this was Abraham Wilson to Anna Binion. Then Enoch Wilcox comes to the front as a Justice, and married, June 30, 1825, Seth Evans and Rittony Congo. On December 10, same year, Wilcox married Levi Jordan and Anna Conger.
On the 9th of June, 1825, Squire Samuel G. Weatherspoon officiated at the marriage of Jeremiah Daniel and Susan Self. The same year, November 4, Willis C. Osborne was married to Rohesa D. Lacy, by Squire Enoch Wilcox. This was perhaps a sequel to the first divorce suit in the county, and as soon as Osborne got his divorce he married again.
George Smith and Elizabeth Nelson were married, July 16, 1826, by Levi Jordan. June 15. same year, Gray B. Fancher and Sarah Daniel were married by Squire William Lewis. August 24, of this year, the same Esquire married Jesse Bishop and Hannah Trash. On the 28th December, same year, Benjamin Sanford and Elizabeth Sanders were married by Squire Jordan.
This seems to have been the sum total of weddings for the year 1826, in the county. And in the year 1827, they waited the early spring, like the birds, and then mating commenced on the 26th of April, when Squire Lewis married, or at least said he did, "the within named parties." Whoever they may be, we give it up. As there are no names given, except the "within named," and as the whole thing happened long before the writer was born, he is compelled to confess to a slight obfuscation. Squire William Lewis might have known that in the course of sixty years it would be some question of doubt as to who were the "within named," with no hint of a name given. Perhaps the old Squire thought that would do to start the year with.
On June 27 of this year, James Gallant and Mahala Brumley were married by Squire Lewis. On the 6th of August, 1827, the joiner's trade seems to have absolutely stopped with the marriage of A. A. O'Neal and Persis Shaw.
From this time until 1831 — four years — the market is barren, and not a wedding seems to have occurred. What was the matter? The fighting went on — the discussion "with fists" over wild hogs continued as hot and furious as ever. The rough riders, called regulators, at all hours of the night aroused the terror of the wakened sleepers; there are no records that the "sparking" abated one jot or tittle, but as for marrying, that was not. The institution seems to have got off its "calico-boose" and for four long years sterility and indictments for "adultery " threatened to take the country. Finally, on April 23, 1831, Sylvester Dunbar was married to Rachel Walker. But we ought to have explained that an example had been set them in January, by the marriage of Leonard Price and Sally Thomas. And on the 20th, same month, Joseph Bishop and Sally Davis were married by John Craig. But in looking further along in the record, we find there was a wedding in 1828, May 29, of Washington Bishop and Elizabeth Trash. This seems to have been the first time the ceremony was performed by a preacher - John Miller. On February 17, 1831, the same minister married David McMillin and Sally P. Anno (we print it just as it is written.) John Craig, Esq., married, December 13, 1830, William Aldridge and Din Davis; November 26, 1827, Squire Michael Thornton married Andrew Lylba to Irena McCoy; January 3, 1828, Squire John Jeffard married Matthew Weaver to Matilda Crabtree; December 7, 1830, J. R. Taylor married Willis Stallings to Lucinda White; February 26, 1831, Preacher John Miller married Washington Hughes to Miriam Clark; January 17, 1829, by John Jeffard, Eli Barbree to Anna Wilson; December 11, 1828, Preacher Miller joined in wedlock John McDaniel and Catharine Hughes (Hews). By the same party, January 14, 1829, Ichabod C. Hensley to Nancy Webb; by Squire John Craig. April 10, 1831, James Tompkins to Mahala Brooks; and the 17th, by the same, James Lee to Malinda Goble; March 11, 1829, Reuben Binion and Frances Johnson. And the record says: "Sunday, 21, 1830, Christopher Uppermon to Mary Pierce'' by the same preacher, John Miller; August 12, 1829, Thomas Elliott to Lavina Riley, by Squire John Craig; Robert McDaniel to Lucinda Parish, January 14, 1830, by Squire John R. Taylor; December 1, 1829, James Gallant to Nancy Cinco, by Squire J. R. Taylor; February 27, 1830, William Webb to Nancy Hill, by Squire William H. Sams; November 16, 1829, Thomas Whiteley to Keziah Bishop, by Rev. John Miller; February 14, 1831, John Martin to Milly Hews, by Squire J. R. Taylor; March 11, 1830, Jesse Scief to Sophia Bishop, by Squire John Craig; December 25, 1830, Samuel Hoosley to Sarah Bonsley, by Squire J. R. Taylor; July 17, 1830, John Hughes to Amanda Morris, by Squire J. R. Taylor; July 20, 1830, by the same, John Melton to Oney C. Taylor; September 2, 1830, John Ferril to Nancy Miller, by the same Justice of the Peace; March 4, 1830, George Francher to Nancy Whiteley, by Thomas Whiteley, Justice of the Peace; August 23, 1830, by the same, Martin Whiteley to Nancy Bishop; December 13, 1830, William Aldridge to Dice Davis, by Squire John Craig; February 23, 1831, Ashabel Atherton to Polly Mathews, by Squire J. R. Taylor; March 19, 1831, Alfred McDaniel to Nancy Westen, by Squire J. R. Taylor; July 7, 1831, by the same, Isaac Creek to Nancy Hoddy; May 10, 1832, by Squire David D. Duff, William Snead to Mary Ano; May (without day), 1832, Fredrick Teal to Betsy Barton, by Squire J. L. Wickersham; August 13, 1832, by Squire David D. Duff, Alexander Dolton to Margaret Brady; May 31, 1832, by the same, John Ridgeway to Rebecca Ridgeway; May (without day), 1832, by Walcot Lewis, Jacob Brooks to Selena Hampton; September 25, 1832, Nathaniel H. Duff to Margaret Apperson, by Squire David D. Duff; December 15, 1832, Abner Coats to Elizabeth Richardson, by Benjamin Coats; November 29, 1832, Presley Funkhowser to Nancy Bishop, by Thomas Whiteley, Justice of the Peace; August 26, 1832, by Squire John Mathews, Madison Willhite to Susan Sloo; March 10, 1833, Allen Walston to Malinda Greenwood, by Squire J. L. Wickersham: April 11, 1833, Bennett W. Moreley to Elizabeth Creek, by Squire S. B. Curbow; June 27, 1833, by Squire David D. Duff, William Hilliard to Martha Ann Barnet; August 3, 1833, Thomas Leavitt to Parmelia Stallings, by Squire S. B. Curbow; July 11, 1833, John Mathews to Susan Clark, by Squire J. L. Wickersham; October 8, 1833, William George to Elizabeth Songer, by Rev. Zadock Casey.
Courts, Judges and Lawyers. — The first Circuit Court of Clay County, Hon. James Hall, Presiding Judge, assembled at the house of John McCawley, on Monday, 11th day of April, 1825.
Willis C. Osborne produced his commission and was sworn in as Clerk. This was the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Osborne's commission bore date January 27, 1825, and the records he has left bear testimony to his qualifications to fill the office. We have seen no better record anywhere in the new counties.
Thomas McCrackin was the Sheriff, and he gave bond in the sum of $10,000, with Daniel May, Enoch Wilcox, William Lewis and Willis C. Osborne, as sureties. Henry Eddy produced a commission signed by Gov. Coles, as Circuit Attorney.
The first case ever docketed was James Bird vs. John McCawley, in case. This was continued for service.
The first grand jury returned the first indictment into open court, entitled the People vs. David Elliott and Fanny Rutherford, adultery. The second case was the same vs. Daniel Brumley, hog stealing. The third indictment, and this constituted all the bills of this term of court, was the same vs. the same, Daniel Brumley, rape. It would seem that Daniel was rather a rough citizen generally.
At the October term, 1825, James O. Wattles was the Presiding Judge. At this term of the court appears the first divorce suit ever recorded in the county. It was Willis C. Osborne vs. Rachel Osborne. It seems from the papers Mrs. Osborne was not a resident, and hence Willis got a divorce by default. At this term of the court the grand jury returned indictment against Willis Boon and John Chapman for "forcible and stolen marriage," and another indictment against same "for carrying away Rose Wallace against the will of her father." William Lewis was indicted for "setting fire to the prairie," and Robert M. Gordon, "assault and battery," and Daniel Mays, ditto. Robert M. Gordon attended as a Constable on this term of the court. It appears in justice to David Elliott, that at the April term, 1826, of the court, as per Clerk's entry, that he had married the Rutherford girl, and the case was dismissed.
The April court, 1826. Judge James Hall presided. Willis C. Osborne, the Clerk, was indicted for sending a challenge to fight a duel. John Robinson was indicted for perjury. The ease of Enoch Wilcox vs. B. and J. Robinson was arbitrated, and the court appointed Alexander Rodgers and John McCawley, referees.
October term, 1826, Judge James Hall, presiding. The second divorce suit of William Webb vs. Peggy Webb. Hon. John M. Robinson was attorney for plaintiff Webb got his divorce by Peggy's default. The indictments in the Boon case, noticed above, were reported lost or missing, and the State's Attorney had leave to file new ones. A nol pros was entered in the case of William Lewis for firing the prairie.
May term, 1828, William Wilson was the Presiding Judge. John R. Wilson was appointed by Judge Wilson. Circuit Clerk vice Willis C. Osborne, who it seems, had gone into Wayne County. Taylor's appointment was dated March 29, 1827. His bondsmen were Levi Self and Francis Harman. At this term, four indictments, viz., against W. W. Boon, Robert Gordon, Willis C. Osborne and John Robinson were stricken from the docket. At this term, a case of Cornelius Dunham vs. Enos Johnson. The attorneys were John M. Robinson and W. L. D. Ewing. In a case of John Mathew vs. James Cook, Benjamin Mills appears as one of the attorneys. The grand jury at this term returned four bills as follows: Daniel Robinson, adultery; Sarah Pew, fornication; John Mathews, assault; John Evans, assault. George Riley was the Sheriff, and was required to give bonds of $10,000. His sureties were William Nash, William Webb, George Faris, Seth Evans and William H. Sams. This term of the court lasted just one day. At the October term, same year, Wilson again presiding, James L. Wickersham appeared and gave bond as Sheriff, with Joseph Andrews, George M. Hanson, William Lewis, Crawford Lewis and John Miller as sureties. Joseph Andrews was Coroner.
August term, 1831, Robert Toler appeared and filed his bond as Sheriff. His sureties were John R. Taylor, Seth Evans, Hiram Keach, Peter Green, William Duff, John Mathews and David D. Duff. Henry Taylor was Coroner. March 26, 1833, Caleb Ridgeway filed his bond as Clerk of the Circuit Court. Robert Toler was again commissioned Sheriff in 1834. March term, 1835, Justin Harlan was the Presiding Judge.
September term, 1835, Alexander Grant was Judge presiding. March term, 1836, Justin Harlan again held court. At the April term, 1839, Judge Harlan appointed James M. Hogue Clerk of the Circuit Court for Clay County.
After Willis C. Osborne's indictment for trying to fight a duel, the matter seems to have rested until 1839, when John Golden was indicted and tried for this offense. A jury was impaneled as follows: Francis Apperson, foreman, Alexander Bruce, Arthur McCawley, John Grooms, Josiah Blair, Washington Bishop, Robert Bennyfield, David Sweezy, Edmund Jones, Thomas S. Parvin, Hugh McDaniel and George Green were the jury called upon to consider the case. They found Gordon guilty as charged. Whereupon he was fined $5 and cost.
April 3, 1839, James M. Hogue filed his bond as Clerk of the Circuit Court, with Francis Apperson and Peter Green as sureties. Judge Harlan approved the bond, and Hogue entered upon the duties of the office.
At the October term, 1839, G. B. Shelledy's name appears on the record as an attorney. At this term of the court, John Service was tried for assault with intent to commit murder, and sentenced to one year. The order sentencing him says: "There being no Sheriff of the county at this time, the Coroner be allowed to take with him as guard to convey the defendant to the penitentiary two persons," etc. The jury in this case were Robert Scoggs, Richard G. Sorrells, George Baity, John Colclasure, John Bullard, Daniel Evans, James Riley, John L. Apperson, James Leavitt, William Sneed, James Ano and William L. Lankston.
In 1841, Judge William Wilson again was Presiding Judge at the March term. At this term Francis Apperson presented his bond as Circuit Clerk, Nathaniel H. Duff and Daniel McCawley, sureties. Judge William Wilson approved the bond. Apperson had been appointed by Judge Wilson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The grand jury at this term presented five indictments: three of which were for larceny and were against Benjamin Goble, James Lee, and William Mangum respectively. And against Matthew Lippet, selling whisky, and Fredrick P. Parker, malicious mischief. At the August term, 1842, the grand jury returned seven indictments; one was for attempt to murder, and the other six were for "adultry." For the last-mentioned there were indicted, David West, Samuel Freeman, Mary Egan, Mary Pate, William E. Henry and Martha Perkins. The case for attempted murder was bound over in $50 and the others $30 each.
At the second term of the court, in 1825, Isaac Romine and William Smith appeared in open court and purged themselves of contempt for a failure to appear as jurors at the preceding court. At the same time John M. Robinson, attorney, on motion discharged William Webb and George Faris, sureties for Robert M. Gordon.
In 1843, Edmund Jones, was elected Sheriff. He gave bond with James Rusk, Isaac Martin. John Maxwell, Henry Kenley, Charles A. Moon, Joseph Maxwell and William Lewis as sureties. Judge William Wilson approved the bond. Francis Apperson was Clerk of the Circuit Court.
At the May term, 1845, Judge William Wilson, the following grand jury was called: Jacob Stipp, foreman, James McKinney, Aaron O. Finch, John S. Ridgeway, Benjamin T. Randall, John H. Hill, Gideon Higginbotham, John Ditter, Stephen Hardin, John Weaver, Jarrett Erwin, Washington Lewis, Alexander Cockrell, James Henderson, Charles Lockhart, Jacob Colclasure, William Sutherland, Lewis Allgood, Alexander Vickrey, M. C. Minnis and Wesley Wood.
The traverse jury were William T. Duff, Abraham Stanford, John R. Randall, Isaac Stanford, John Sutton, William Martin, Hugh Young, Gideon Bailey, James J. Spriggs, John Ingraham, Crawford Erwin and Benjamin A. Vernatter.
At the May term, 1845, Robert Toler filed his bond as Sheriff, and John A. McCawley filed his as Coroner.
To the September term, 1848, William Wilson, Chief Justice of Illinois, continued to hold all the courts. He was then legislated out of office, and the great man retired to private life and seclusion from the public, at his home in Mt. Carmel, where he resided until he died. Here was an instance of a great Judge being outraged, and all the people thereby wronged by a contemptible league of little demagogues and politicians. When they turned Wilson out of office, they probably thought they did a very smart thing, when the truth is they were only making their own record and staining all their tribe of little demagogues. At the next term of the court in 1849, Justin Harlin presided as Judge.
At the May term, 1849. Strother B. Walker was the Sheriff.
At the March term, 1851, Stephen Hardin was the Sheriff.
In 1854, Henry Neff was Sheriff; in 1856, Henry Phelps; 1858, B. F. Reynolds; 1860, Henry Phelps; 1862, Henry Hortenstein; 1863, James Gammon; 1865, Walton Finch; 1868, Tom Monical; 1870, John R. Tanner.
The following, though incomplete, is a record of the county officers, commencing in 1858 and continuing down to date.
1858 — Wyatt Cook, Treasurer; Luther S. Hopkins, County Judge; John P. Hungate, County Clerk; Thomas J. Smith, School Commissioner; William Gammon and Wesley Wood, Associate Judges.
1865 — C. D. Kendall, County Clerk; L. S. Hopkins, Judge; James A. W. Walker, Treasurer; John Russell, School Commissioner; E. Nixon, County Surveyor.
1869 — John L. Moore, County Clerk; C. H. Murry, School Superintendent; John A. Apperson, Treasurer; Harry S. Watson, County Treasurer; Ethelred Nixon, Surveyor; L. S. Hopkins, Judge.
1872 — John R. Tanner, Circuit Clerk; Samuel R. Rea, County Clerk; Robert Gray, Sheriff; David L. Chase, Coroner.
1873 — Richard J. Burns, County Clerk; Henry S. Watson, Treasurer; Jacob H. Songer, County Superintendent; Rolla B. Henry, County Judge.
1874 — Looker Nixon, Sheriff; Robert H. Jones, Coroner; G. A. Hoff, State's Attorney; George W. Smith, County Superintendent.
1876 — James A. Finch, State's Attorney; Silas Hallowell, Sheriff; Robert E. Duff, ex officio Recorder.
1877 — Gershom A. Hoff, County Judge; Richard J. Burns, County Clerk; Samuel Enyart, Circuit Clerk; David M. Laswell, County Treasurer; George W. Smith, County Superintendent: James H. Jenkins, Coroner.
1878— Elias D. Vickrey, Sheriff.
1879 — Edward Hawkins, County Treasurer; A. H. Moore, County Surveyor; James R. Cravens, Coroner.
1880 — D. C. Hagle, State's Attorney; Samuel Enyart, Clerk of the Circuit Court; Elias D. Vickrey, Sheriff; Henry G. Louchner, Coroner; S. Enyart, Circuit Clerk.
1882 — G. A. Hoff, County Judge; William J. Clifton, County Clerk; John R. Block, County Treasurer; Robert McCullom, Sheriff; Cleveland W. Mills, County Superintendent; James W. Suggett, Coroner.
Of the Circuit Clerks from 1852, where we traced them to, on the records above, we find at that time J. P. Hungate was Clerk. 1860, R. Taliaferro; 1864, Henry Hortenstein; 1868, Hortenstein re-elected; 1872, John R. Tanner; 1876, R. E. Duff, and as stated above; 1877, Sam Enyart was elected, and still is in office (1884).
In 1856, John T. Whitman was appointed Treasurer to fill a vacancy, and then (1857) was elected for a full term. He resigned in 1858, and was succeeded by Wyatt Cook, who was re-elected in 1859. William Bishop in 1861, and re-elected; then J. A. Walker, two terms; 1867, James B. Smith; 1869, John A. Apperson, 1872, two terms; H. S. Watson, 1875; P. P. Brown, 1877; D. Melton Laswell, who died in the winter of 1877, and E. H. Hawkins was then until the fall of 1882, when the present incumbent J. L. Block was elected.
Of the County Clerks, in addition to the incumbents named in a former chapter we learn that in 1861 J. P. Hungate was County Clerk; 1855, C. D. Kendal; 1869, John J. S. Moore, who died in office and S. S. Ray, was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1871, S. R. Apperson, and in 1873, R. J. Burns, who served until 1882.
Extracted 25 Aug 2018 by Norma Hass from 1884 The History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois, pages 328-339.
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