Marshall County, Indiana - Chapter 8, 1881

Chapter 8

OURTS of law and equity are a public necessity in every wellregulated community. A brief sketch of the courts of Marshall County will therefore be of interest.

At the October term of the Marshall Cirenit Court, for the year 1836, there were present the Hon. Samuel C. Sample, President Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of the State of Indiana, who produced in open court his commission as such by His Excellency, Noah Noble, Governor of the State of Indiana; also, Peter Schroeder, one of the Associate Judges of the county of Marshall; also Jeremiah Muncy, Clerk of said court, and Abner Caldwell, Sheriff of said county; and also Joseph L. Jernegan, the attorney prosecuting the pleas of the State of Indiana for the HKighth Judicial Cireuit, and court was opened in due form of law.

The Sheriff returned into court the venire heretofore issued, with the following panel of Grand Jurors, to serve during the present term, to wit: John Houghton, who was sworn as foreman; Grove O. Pomeroy, Samuel B. Patterson, John Benson, John Moore, William Johnson, Jacob Crisman, Abel C. Hickman, George Owens, William Bishop, Enos Ward, William Blakeley, Milborn Coe, John Kilgore, John Johnson - in all, fifteen in number, who retired to discharge their duty, under the charge of Joseph Griffith, a sworn Bailiff of the court.

The first term of the Marshall Cireuit Court was held October 25, 1836, with Samuel C. Sample, Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, presiding. Gustavus A. Everts, William O. Ross, John H. Bradley, Joseph L. Jernegan and Jonathan A. Liston were the first attorneys admitted to practice law in the court. Mr. Sample served as Judge until October 19, 1843, He was an excellent marble. At the October term, 1843, there were present the Hon. John B. Niles, of La Porte, President Judge of the Ninth Judicial Cirenit, and David Steel and Samuel D. Tabor, of Marshall County, Associate Judges. At the April term, 1844, Ebenezer M. Chamberlain, of Goshen, appeared as President Judge. Mr. Tabor was succeeded by Elias Jacoby in 1850. At the November term, 1851, the Associate Judges seem to have stepped down and out, as their names do not appear after that time. Mr. Chamber-

_ lain closed his official career during the May term, 1852, and at the same term Thomas 8. Stanfield took his seat as Judge of the court. Mr. Stanfield continued to preside as Judge until February 8, 1858, when he was succeeded by Andrew L. Osborne, of La Porte, who served as Judge until the close of the February term, 1871. Thomas S. Stanfield was elected, and again became Judge and served as such until the beginning of the April term, 1873, when the act re-districting the State for judicial purposes took effect, and Elisha V. Long was appointed Judge of the new district, composed of the counties of Marshall, Kosciusko and Fulton. Judge Long served from April 28, 1873, until January, i875, when, the district having been divided and a new district having been created, composed of the counties of Marshall and Fulton, Horace Corbin was appointed, and served until the election in 1876, when he was succeeded by Hon. Sidney Keith, of Rochester, the present Judge.

No person was sent from Marshall County to the penitentiary until 1840. In September of that year, Noah H. Simmons was tried and convicted for passing counterfeit money, and sent to Jeffersonville for the term of five years.

Probate Court

In the early history of the State, Indiana had a probate system of transacting the business pertaining to estates and guardianships. Grove Pomeroy was the first Judge who presided in that capacity in Marshall County. The first term at which Mr. Pomeroy was present and presented his commission from Gov. Noble, with his oath of office attached, was held November 14, 1836. After adopting a seal for the use of the court, an adjournment was taken until February 13, 1837, when the court was again opened, as the record states, "in due form of law, by the Sheriff, at the house formerly oceupied by Grove Pomeroy, in Plymouth." No business was transacted, and court adjourned until court in course, to meet at the court house in Plymouth. Court assembled again in May, in the "new court house," then completed, but, there being no business, court adjourned until court in course. No business was transacted at the August term. At the November term, 1837, a seal was adopted by the court, as follows: "A circular scrawl, which may be seen standing on the left margin, with the words, 'Indiana, Marshall County Probate Court,' written within the said scrawl." The scrawl is an artistic specimen of goose-quill penmanship, and may be seen by reference to Order Book A, Page 4, in the Clerk's office. Thomas B. Ward was the first admitted as an attorney. Thomas Robb was the first guardian appointed by the court, and Nancy Robb the first ward. The first administrator was Adam Vinnedge, to whom letters were issued on the personal estate of Daniel Pattingale. Samuel D. Tabor and Charles Ousterhaut were accepted as bondsmen. At the same term of court, Daniel Roberts was appointed special guardian of Nancy M. Catney, a minor and foreigner, who was charged with the protection of her person and property. Grove Pomeroy served as Judge until November, 1843, when Austin Fuller was elected and qualified. On the 13th day of the November term, 1843, the following entry appears:

"The court now devise and adopt a seal for this court, a description of which is as follows, to wit: 'In the center of the seal is engraved a syuare and compasses' (in the center of which is the letter G). The words in the margin of the seal are: 'Marshall County Probate Court,' an impression of which seal is made on the margin of this record (Probate Order Book A, Page 158), opposite this order."

How this Masonic symbol came to be adopted is a mystery which cannot be solved. There was no Masonic lodge in the north part of the State at that time, and none of the officers of the court, so far as can be learned, were members of the fraternity. This seal continued to be used until the termination of the Probate Court. Austin Fuller served as Judge until November, 1850, when James A. Corse was elected, and served until October 6, 1852, when the Probate Court was abolished and the Court of Common Pleas established. Elisha Egbert was elected Judge of the district composed of the counties of St. Joseph, Marshall and Stark, and held the first term of that court in October, 1852, and held the position uninterruptedly until about the 4th of November, IS70), the date of his death. Edward J. Wood was then appointed, and served until the election in October, 1872, when he was defeated for re-election by Daniel Noyes, of La Porte, who served untN the act abolishing the Common Pleas Court was passed, March 6, 1873, and the business transferred to the Cireuit Court.

The Commissioners' Court was the first court organized in the county. This occurred in May, 1836. Robert Blair, the first Commissioner, was one of the original proprietors of Plymouth. He served but one year. He and Abraham Johnson and Charles Ousterhaut, who composed the first board, are all dead. A full list of all the officers who have served the people of Marshall County may be found in Chapter 20,

Samuel C. Sample, the first Circuit Judge, was a resident of South Bend, having settled there in 1833. He became President Judge of his cirenit, which embraced Logansport and Fort Wayne, and all the territory in the State north, in 1835, and continued on the bench until 1843, when he was elected to Congress. He was a very exemplary man, and in all his business transactions, whether in public or private capacity, he ever exhibited the most sterling integrity, totally uninfluenced by the least unworthy or selfish motive. He deceased December 2, 1855.

Ebenezer M. Chamberlain was a resident of Goshen, and came to Indiana from Maine in 1832. He was a man possessed of an abundance of good common sense and sterling integrity, firm and decided character. In personal appearance he was tall and slim, with a very solomn cast of countenance. On the bench, he was quite dignified, and rendered his decisions very deliberately. After his retirement from the bench, he was elected to Congress one term, and died in 185%.

John B. Niles resided in La Porte, and was, until his death, in 1879, considered one of the ablest lawyers in the State. He was born in Vermont in 1808, and settled in La Porte in 1832, He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, and was later a member of the State Senate. He was quite slender in person, and had been in feeble health for a number of years prior to his death. He was very precise in his speech, always clothing his language in the most elegant terms; for instance, in speaking of a dirty little building, he would say: "It is an exceedingly untidy little edifice." He was a bad penman, and there wero few who could readily read his hieroglyphies. In fact, his penmanship looked like the Greek alphabet turned upside down more than anything else. Notwithstanding this defect, he was an excellent business man, and left a reputation that any one might envy.

Thomas 8. Stanfield is perhaps better and more favorably known to the people of Marshall County than any of the other Judges who have presided in our courts. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, in 1814, and settled in South Bend in 1831, where he still resides. He served several terms in the Legislature, and was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor on the Whig ticket in 1849, but failed of an election. He has a Websterian appearance, made an excellent Judge, and is a gentleman against whom the breath of scandal has never been blown.

Andrew L. Osborn was born in Connecticut in 1814, and settled in Michigan City in 1836, and read law with J. Young Scammon, of Chicago. He is a diligent student, a man of remarkable memory, quick in his perceptions, and was an excellent Judge. He served a term as one of the Supreme Judges of the State, and is at present principal attorney of the Lake Shore Railroad Company.

Elisha V. Long is a resident of Warsaw, and was the youngest of those who preceded him. He stands deservedly high in the estimation of those who know him, and gave excellent satisfaction during the time he oceupied tho bench.

Horace Corbin, the only resident of Marshall County who | ever occupied the bench here, was born in Tioga County, New York, in 1827. He read law and was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1851, he located in Plymouth and began the practice of law. In 1852, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney, and State Senator in 1862. He was the first Mayor of the city of Plymouth, and appointed Judge in | 1874.

Sidney Keith, the present incumbent, is a resident of Roches- | ter, Fulton County. He is a gentleman with all that the word implies. He is a literary student, and is perhaps as well in- | formed on general topics as any man in his circuit. He is industrious, kind, courteous and obliging; has a pleasant word for | every one, and will retire with the respect of all who have had business to transact with him.

Elisha Egbert was our Judge of the Common Pleas Court for a period of about twenty years. He was born in New Jersey in 1806, and died in South Bend November 4, 1870. He discharged all his duties as an impartial and upright Judge. He was succeeded by Edward J. Wood, who resided in Goshon. He had no special fitness for the position, never having made the legal profession a specialty. Hewasa bright, genial, convivial gentleman. He was troubled with dipsomania, and shot himself with a pistol ball somewhere in Michigan in 1872, Daniel Noyes succeeded Judge Wood, but served but one term of court, ab the end of | which fime the court was abolished. He resides in La Porte, and is the present Judge of the Cirenit Court of that district. | He is considered the mosf prompt and efficient Judge in tho | State. He is never a minute late, and requires the same promptness on the part of all others with whom he is associated in businless.