Decatur County, Indiana - Chapter 4: County Officers, 1915

Chapter 4: County Officers

Four distinct boards of county commissioners and two boards of justices have had charge of the atYairs of Decatur county since its organization. The first board of commissioners held office from 1822 to 1824. It was then succeeded by a board of justices, composed of two justices of the peace from each township. This board held its last meeting on July 4, 1831. A board of three county commissioners then had charge of affairs until 1835, in which year a board of eighteen justices was created. The latter board held sway until June 7, 1847, in spite of the fact that the Legislature, in 1842, had dissolved such boards in Indiana. The Decatur county board was dissolved by a special act of Legislature, January 14, 1847. A board of three commissioners then took office and when the new constitution was adopted, in 1852 this arrangement was continued. The three commissioners held full sway until 1899, in which year the legislati\ e act creating county councils restricted their powers to a limited extent.

The first board of county commissioners met on May 14, 1822, at the home of Thomas Hendricks, in Greensburg, and were sworn in by H. H. Talbott, clerk of the county, through appointment by Governor Jennings. This board was composed of Williams Harbord, William Parks and Seth Lowe. The first action of this board was to divide the county into three township, Fugit, Washington and Adams. The first day of June was then fixed for holding township elections. Superintendents of the school sections were then named as follow : Thomas Thorp, James McLain, Thomas Hendricks, Nathaniel Robins and Paul Brown. Enoch McCarty was appointed tax lister and John Hopkins, treasurer.

When the three original townships were laid oft', Fugit township had the same boundaries as at present; save that a strip one and one-half miles wide and four miles long has since been stricken off and attached to Clinton. Adams township contained all its present territory, and, in addition, a strip two miles wide and four miles long, that has since been added to Clay, and all of Clinton except the Fugit strip, above mentioned. The remainder of the county lay in Washington township.

Even in that early day, the high cost of living was sufficiently assertive to demand attention. The board accordingly fixed the following prices that might be charged by ta\-ern keepers: Rum and wine, fifty cents a half pint; whisky, twenty-five cents a pint; French brandy, fifty cents a half pint; meals, twenty-five cents, and a night's lodging, twenty-five cents.

The Board Of Justices

The first board of justices met on September 6, 1824. There were eight members of this board, there then being four townships in the county. The board was composed of the following justices of the peace: Robert Church, George W. Hopkins, James Caldwell, Zachariah Carton, Griffe Griffiths, Dillard Drake, Edward Turner and James Donnell. Other members of this board, before it passed out of existence in 1831, were Milton N. Williams, John McCarty, Samuel Bryan, Dan Bell, Robert Church, Wesley White, J. S. Forsythe, Davis Jewitt, Thomas Hamilton. G. W. Hopkins, W. E. Crawford, William Fowler, James Saunders, Alex M. Elliott, William Switzer, J. K. Rankin, Benjamin Jones, Ebenezer Douglas, T. C. Pemberton and Thomas Horton.

This board was followed by a second group of county commissioners composed of Seth Lowe, a member of the first board, George W. Hopkins and Edward Tanner. Thomas E. Pemberton later filled a vacancy on this board. The most important matter to receive the attention of these early county officials was the location of highways, and many pages are given in the records of their early meetings to such business. This board held its last meeting on January 5, 1835, and was followed by a board of eighteen justices, there then being nine townships in the county.

The second board of justices met on March 2, 1835, it being composed of the following: Zachariah Carton, Ezra Lathrop, James Howard, R. M. Jamison, Thomas Powers, John Hazelrigg, Theophilus Lee, Samuel Williams, James Johnston, David Jewitt, Nathaniel Robins, W. E. Crawford, J. G. Kindall, John Scriptor, John Plymate, Enoch James, Dan Barker and James Lewis. The only new members upon this board in the next tweh'e years were Henrv Critzer, Robert Kennedy, Dan Barker and Ebenezer Douglas.

1847, the following commissioners were elected: Henry S. Burk, Tom Powers and Seth Lowe, the latter of whom had twice previously been a member of this body. New members elected in 1850, were Smith Reill}' and Barton H. Harney. This board passed out of existence in 1853, following the adoption of the new constitution. Commissioners were then elected as follows: Caleb Stark, Andrew ]\IcCoy and William Alagress. Since that time the board of commissioners has managed the business affairs of Decatur county. The present count}' commissioners are Charles W. Worland, \\'illiam H. Logan and John W. Tremain.

The office of sheriff' has been an elective one from the beginning of the state and was so provided for by the constitution of 1816. The first sheriff, William Ross, was appointed by the governor when the county was formed, to take charge of the first election. He served only from March until August, 1822. Doddridge Alley was the first elected sheriff. He was followed by John Parks, who was elected in 1826 and again in 1828. When Parks had collected the taxes for the latter year, he bought a large drove of horses and started with them for Ljmchburg, Virginia. He was never heard of afterward. Abraham Hendricks was appointed to serve out his unexpired term.

Treasurer

General Foley, the first holder of the office, had two opponents at the election, James Johnson, an independent ^^'hig, and John Thompson, the regular nominee. Although Foley won the first election in a walk, he was defeated, when he asked for re-election, by Captain James Saunders. Saunders served one term and declined a renomination. One of the songs of his campaign was :

Recorder, Clerk And Auditor

The recorder's office was filled by the county clerk for several 3fears, the clerk also acting as county auditor. Henry H. Talbott performed the triple duties of clerk, auditor and recorder until 1841, in which year the office of auditor was created by the Legislature, after which he continued to act as clerk and recorder until 1859.

Putnam Ewing followed Talbott as recorder in 1859 and since that time the office has been filled by the officers whose names follow: James R. Cox, 1863; William B. Harvey, 1867; Edward Kessing, 1875; James E. Mendenhall, 1879; Rufus P. Hamilton, 1885; Aaron Parker, 1895; Marsh Thomas, 1903; Newton Paramore, 191 1 (died in office), and James A. Meek, 1912.

Andrew Dyer, the first county auditor, was re-elected three times and held the office for a period of fourteen years and three months. The records do not disclose the reason of this seeming irregularity. Dyer was defeated for a fifth term by Remusdaffer. Of the first eight men who held the office of county auditor, none was a native of Decatur county. Dyer came from Tennessee, Remusdaffer and Weadon from Virginia, Spillman and Dobyns from Kentucky, Reed from Franklin county, Kennedy from Union county and Puttman from Ripley county.

State Senators

Decatur county has been represented in the state Senate since 1825, on which year it was served by James Gregory, who represented sexen other counties. It had no senator of its own until 1836, by which time it had so increased in population that it was given separate representation in the upper house of the Legislature. This continued until 1869, when, in order to maintain an equitable representation in the Senate, the county was again thrown into a joint-senatorial district. Decatur county has had the following representation in the state Senate :

State Representatives

Being organized by the Session Laws of 1821, Decatur county first secured representation in the House of Representatives of the state Legislature in its eighth session, 1823. It has since been served by representatives, by joint representatives and by botli. The representation of the county in the lower house has been as follows :

*ti88i - James B. Robinson, representative, Decatur county. 1883 - Oscar L. Pulse, representative, Decatur county. *ti885 - Erastus L. Floyd, representative, Decatur county. 1887 - William R. Pleak, representative, Decatur county. 1889 - James B. Robinson, representative, Decatur county. 1 89 1 - Jacob L. Doll, representative, Decatur county. 1893-5 - Marshal Newhouse, representative, Decatur county. 1897 - William H. Goddard, representative, Decatur county. 1899 - John W. Holcomb, representative, Decatur county. 1 90 1 - Noah T. Rogers, representative, Decatur county. 1903 - Henry B. Sherman, representative, Decatur county. 1905-7 - Webb Woodfill, representative, Decatur county. 1909 - Jethro C. Meek, representative, Decatur county. 191 1 - S. B. Eward, representative, Decatur county. 1913-15 - W. J. Kincaid, representative, Decatur county.