Richardson County, Nebraska - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 6 of those read), 1917

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 6 of those read)

The records disclose that the first officers of Richardson county could not have been rightly accused of having been attracted to public service for any reason on account of the emoluments attached thereto, as the first officers were appointive, and tlierefore temporary, and carried with them but very little, if anything, in the \\a\' of salary. Yet, as the years went by, tliere arose the keenest rivalry between candidates, a condition that exists to this da}".

Ijut, as a review of the lists of those elected will show - some of the ver\ ablest men of the county have from time to time served its neople in puljlic capacity, rendering most efficient service and the history of county government in Richardson county has been singularly free on the whole from scandal of any kind by those entrusted with public duty.

The first definite record in the court house shows that the county began its official career with the is.suance of commissions by Acting Governor Cuming at Omaha on January i, 1855.

County Clerk

At that time (January i, 1855). Xeal J. Sharp became the lirst county clerk, which office was combined in this count\- with that of regi.ster of deeds, b\- appointment. The salar)- in this instance was provided for by fees and for the first year: so little was done, it could not have amounted to more than one hundred dollars. Sharp held the office until the spring of 1856, when he was succeeded by J. C. Lincoln, of Salem. Lincoln served only until the fall of that same year, when it appears that ¥. L. Goldsbery assumed charge. In the fall of 1857, William H. Mann was elected to the office and held the same until 1861, when George \^andeventer, from near Stella, was the successful candidate at an election held and occupied the office until 1864.

.\t the election in 1864 James Cameron and William Mann were the candidates. The election was indecisive and James ^^'ard was api)ointed to act as clerk until the contest might he settled. On March ir. 1865, a deci- sioii was had giving the office to Mann, ahhough the election boards had favored Cameron. Mann served continuously until 1870, when August Falsken was chosen as his successor. Falsken was impeached on July 21, 1 87 1, and Frank Rathen named to succeed him, for the unexpired time.

I'^alsken, however, came back and was re-elected by the people of the county and served during the term of 1872-73. At the end of this lime L. A. Ryan was elected and served a term of two years. He was succeeded as follows : Ruel Nims, two years, W. H. Hay, four years ; George Pearson, two years; M. W. Musselman, four years: George Marsh, four years: E. O. Lewis, four years, ending in 1896.

In the year 1886, owing to result of last state census taken in 1885. the office of county clerk and that of register of deeds, which had always been together, were now separated and in the fall of that year Charles Loree was elected as the first to serve as register of deeds. The office remained in the same room with that of the clerk, however, and the register occupied the north part of the room next to the vault while the clerk and the commissioners occupied the south and east portion. Charles Loree served as register for six \ears, when the population of the county, as ascertained by the census of 1890, sliovved a falling off (the population required at that time under the statute for the separate office of register of deeds was 18,003), and. the office of register of deeds was again merged with that of county clerk and Mr. Loree, foreseeing the change that was to come, w'isely ran for county clerk that year and was elected. He served as such until January l. 1S98. when he was succeeded by George E. Schneider, who served four \ears or until 1902 and Loree was retained as deputy county clerk.

Following Schneider, J. C. Tanner was elected and served four years. On January i, 1906, John H. Hutchings, of Falls City, who had been elected in November, 1905, became county clerk and served four years. He was followed by George A\'. Morris, who served four years, and he by Ora Marsh, the present incumbent.

First Probate Judgk

The man having the honor to be first probate judge was Christian Bol)st, the father of Samuel Bobst, who is still a resident of Humboldt. The elder Bobst was the leader of a party of the first settlers in this part of the West. He was a native of Baltimore, ^Maryland, and was born in that city on September 2, 1802. He and his party came into the country in 1854. in the month of April, and he located his cabin on the south fork of the Xemaha on the iKjrthwest quarter of section 25, township i, north of range 12, on April 4tli. His house was the first erected in what w as later to Ije a part of Pawnee county; however, at that time, a part of Richardson county.

Christian Bobst receixed the appointment of probate judge from the first governor of the .Territoi-y of Nebraska, Hon. Francis Burt, in the fall of 1854. with the designation that he was to act for Richardson county, at that time one of the eight original counties of the state. His jurisdiction extended over the county as then bounded: comprising territory now included in the counties of Pawnee, Johnson, Nemaha and Richardson; the south line being the Kansas-Nebraska boundary to a distance of sixty miles west from the Missouri river, and the north line being the Little Nemaha river, in what is now Nemaha county, with the Missouri river as the east line, and on the west by what was then Tones county. This appointment was made through recommendations of Col. Neal J. Sharp, of this county, who was a memlser of the first territorial Legislature. Mr. Bobst and the Frey family, also early settlers in that neighborhood, started the town of Cincinnati, long ago dead with all its founders. When Pawnee county came into being, old Cincinnati was included in the newer county.

Mr. Bobst was an able and fearless man and made himself conspicuous in much of the work incident to the formative period in those days of the pioneers. He and his party came into the state from the south, coming up through Kansas from Leavenworth, and entering the state near where they settled and were there when the first settlers entered this more easterly part of the count) at St. Stephens. For many years all of the residents of the county got their mail at the home of Judge Bobst.

A little later, however, when the size of the county was materially reduced in area. J. O. Miller, of Archer, and the father of Mrs. William M. Maddox, now a resident of Falls City, was appointed probate judge and is generally recognized as having the best claims for having been the first judge of Richardson county; however, the officer was at that time from (1855 to 1875). known as probate judge. The duties of this office under the early territorial laws were vastly different than now. covering, as the\- did, a much larger field of importance in man\- ways. Many of the duties of this oftice have since been distributed to other offices. |. O. Miller held the office niUil 1856.

Register Of Deeds

An act was passed and the same appro\ed by the Territorial Legislature on February 21. 1855, establishing the office of register of deeds, or recorder of deeds, as sometimes known, the purpose of which was an office where deeds conveying real estate are officially made a matter of record for publication. The office was at first established in the eight counties first to be organized in the territory and under the law was called the register's office. The office was established as a fee office, viz., the incumbent depending upon the fees earned for his salary, and it has so remained. The first persons to hold the office were appointed

Xeil J. Sharp was the first to serve in this iiuportant office and held it by appointment from the governor of the territory, Mr. Gumming. He served from 1855 until 1861, when he was succeeded by William H. Mann.

I'or and in consideration of the sum uf Two Hundred Dollars paid in hand, 1 hereby sell and con\-ey, quit-claim, unto Ambrose Shelley all my right, title and interest to certain of the public lands upon which I now reside situate upon the Muddy Creek, Richardson County, Territory of Nebraska and jjounded north l>y the claim sold by John Purket to Joseph Minter - being one mile east and west and one mile north and south, the creek running through the claim. The tiiuber on the northwest corner. To have and to hold the' same with all the improvements thereon.

I liereb\ certif}- that on the 12th day of .\pril, 1855, personally appeared before me iM-ancis M. Purket known to me to be the identical person whose name appears on the foregoing deed as grantor and acknowledged the same to be her \oluntary act and deed for the purposes therein set forth.

In testimony whereof I liave hereunto set my name and affixed prixate seal. No pul^lic seal having )et Iieen provided at Archer, day and date alxive written. N. J. Sharp,

The record does not show an\- other to hold the office as register of deeds until the election of Charles Loree in the fall of 1885. The office in the meantime having been administered in conjunction with that of county clerk.

The national census was taken in 1900 and it was ascertained that the county had gained sufficient population for the office (18,003) and in igo2 William H. Rieger was elected register of deeds for a term of four years. He was followed by L. C. Edwards, of Humboldt, who was elected in November, 1905, and served from January 4, 1906, until January 7, 1915 - nine years. He was succeeded by Norman B. Judd, of Falls City, the present incumbent, who was elected for a term of four years.

In the register of deeds office as it is conducted in Richardson county ami throughout the .state, for that matter, is kept a record of all real estate land conveyances. The earliest records to be found there are dated in 1856 and 1857. Deeds, mortgages, releases, assignments, mechanics liens, wills and all papers affecting the titles to real estate, are brought to this office and there copies of same are made in large books arranged especially for that purpose. In the early days all this work was done with pen and ink in what is called "long hand" and the work was quite arduous. Exact copies of such instruments as are offered for record are made and the same properly indexed that they ma}- be easily found by parties desiring to see the same. The first books used were small and with but few pages and the indexing was done in the fore part of same. Later, large books were provided, containing some se\en hundred pages and books of equal and larger size for indexes. The method pursued was still to write the copied instrument with pen and ink ; yet, at a later date a system in vogue in older states, was adopted, of having a portion of the instruments printed on the pages of the records, leaving the recorder to supply the portion necessary for each individual instrument coming into his hands. Looking back from the present time, it is amusing to recall that some of the able members of the legal profession of the county objected to the latter method of using the printed forms, and the officer in charge in those days went so far in answer to the objectors as to make diligent inquiries from some twenty-five or thirty counties of the state to learn the custom emploxed. It was found that the counties over the state were adopting the printed tonus very generally, and this seems to have silenced those who would have re(|uired the recorder to continue the antiquated method of reducing his entire record by the old method of writing the same in long hand. A later method, and one which has proved a great saving in the matter of space used and time saved, besides making a much neater record, was the adoption of the "loose-leaf" system in the office by the writer, while in charge of the office. The deed mortgage and index records were all changed to the loose-leaf system and the same is Ijeing adopted in other offices at the court house, although the same first found favor in the office of the clerk of the district court. With a loose-leaf system, a wide-carriage typewriter is used and displaces almost entirely the old long-hand method.

Clerk Of District Court

For several years after the organization of Richardson county, the duties of clerk of the district court were performed by the county clerk, and it was not until the entry of Nebraska in the sisterhood of states and the adoption of the new Nebraska state Constitution in 1875, that the new office of clerk of the district court was formed and the duties of its incumbent separated finally from that of the county clerk.

The first to hold the office of clerk of the district court in Richardson county was W. S. Stretch, who was appointed in 1875 ^"d '^^Id office until 1879. He was succeeded as follows: T. C. Cunningham, from 1879 to 188.^; Charles Loree. 1883 to 1887 - (Loree this year being elected register of deeds.) Thomas Brannin, 1887 to 1889 (resigned); John L. Cleaver, appointed to fill vacancy, or until December 10, when he was succeeded bv C. L. Metz, who served out the remainder of Brannin's term until 1891, when he was re-elected for four years, or until January i, 1896. Charles L. Metz, 1896 to igoo: G. J. Crook, 1900 to 1904; Charles Loree, 1904 to 1917; re-elected 1916,- for term of four years.

County Tre.'Xsurer

The county treasurer's office, which has always been considered as one of the most important offices in the county was first entrusted to the hands of Isaac Crook, a brother of Jesse Crook, and one of the very first settlers of the county. Mr. Crook, coming first, had no precedents to guide him and the duties at that time were very similar to a practice yet maintained in some states, where the treasurer is more properly designated as "ta.x collector." The latter term more fully describes the duties of the first treasurer, as it was rec|uired of him that he go about the county and per-

Richardson Coixtv. Nebraska Cocxtv, Nebraska

J. A. Waggoner J. A. Waggoner J. A. Waggoner J. A. Waggoner Dr. M. L. Wilson Dr. M. L. Wilson W. R. Waggoner W. R. Waggoner W. R. Waggoner George W. Reneker George W. Reneker George W. Reneker George W. Reneker George W. Reneker

( 2 ) J. .1. I.eho resigned and Michael McManus was appointed to fill out the term. (12) A. Miller, wlio was regularly elected, did not qualify. Alex Kerr was appointed.

Tlie act creating this office was passed hy the Territorial Legislature and approved February 21, 1855. and Xeal J. Sharp was appointed as the first register of deeds of the countw The cjffice was later comliined with that of county clerk and so remained until 1885, when the population had increased tn such an extent that the Inisiness was changed to a separate and distinct office as it liad lieen originally.

The board of superxisors organized according to law and elected W. \\'. Abbey, of Falls City, as permanent chairman, the board of county commissioners having surrendered their offices as previously stated.

The first work of the new organization was to make inquiry iiitu the matter of delinquent taxes, which state of affairs at that time in the count)- was a pressing ciuestion, and the adoption of a new set of rules.

"Whereas: $300.00 a year has heretofore been paid for the services of the court house janitor. Resolved, This Board of Supervisors will not allow any bills for sweeping, attending fires (stoves then being used for heating purpose in each of the county offices), or furnishing water for any cif the county offices."

Be it said for the good sense of a Richardson county board of supervisors that the above resolution did not carry, the vote (if the meniljers present standing, three for, and nine against.

Supervisor Districts Reduced To Seven

W^e, the undersigned members of the Board of Supervisors, in and for Richardson county, Nebraska, request you to notify each member of the said board and publish notice in some newspaper in said county that a meeting of said board will be had at the court house in Falls City in said countv and that on the 13th day of .\ugust, 1895, at 10 o'clock P. I\[. for the transaction of the following business: "To divide the said county into seven districts, such districts to be known as supervisor districts, the same to be numbered from one to seven, to assign one member to each district. To organize the board, elect a chairman and appoint the different committees."

Richardson Cointy, Nebraska

1916: The following members were elected but were not allowed to take their office on account of change to county commissioner system: X. C. Campljell, H. Wyatt, J. .\. Weaver, A. Eouchs. E. J. Duryea, Ciiris. Madowse, Morris Shellenberger. No organization.

Commissioner System Adopted

During the fall of 1916 a petition having the requisite number of signatories (resident voters of the county), as required by statute, a proposition was submitted to the voters at the general election held in the montli of November, giving opportunity to affirm or negative a change in the form of county government.

The sujjervisor system, witl: seven districts, had been in vogue since August 13, 1895, and it was proposed to return to the original commissioner system of three meml^ers, as had obtained in the Aery early days of the county.

No proposition ever submitted to the \-oters of the cnuntv had been so little agitated, nor one where there seemed so little sentiment expressed one way or the other, among the voters of the county.

Under the law the county judge, count\ clerk and treasurer are constituted a lx)ard to appoint members (;f the board of county commissioners, the latter to serve initil the next regular election, \\hen their successors will be chosen by the voters of the county.

"Whereas, at the general election iield in Richardson county, Nebraska, on the 7th day of November, 1916, the (|uestion of continuance of township organization form of county government was lawfully submitted to the voters of the county and a canvass of the votes cast at said election, it was found and declared that a majority of the votes cast on said (|uestion were against the coniinuance of tow!ishi]i organization in said county.

"On January 6, 1917. O. O. Alarsh, amnty clerk: George W. Murris, county treasurer; and John W'iltse, county judge, met in the county clerk's office at Falls City, Neliraska, pursuant to law for the purpose of appointing three commissioners for Richardson county, Nebraska.

"The availability of tlie various candidates for said appointment in the \arious districts was considered and discussed by the appointive Ijoard, and tlie following were appointed :'"