Fountain County IN Archives History - Books .....Probate Court, Common Pleas Court, And Prosecuting Attorneys 1881 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 23, 2006, 11:05 pm Book Title: History Of Fountain County PROBATE COURT. The probate court was established in the county in 1829, and the probate judges, in the order of their terms of service, were: Jonathan Birch, 1829 to 1833. Mitchell C. Black, 1833 to 1840. Jonathan Birch, 1840 to 1841. Joseph Coats, 1841 to 1846. David Rawles, 1846 to 1852. COMMON PLEAS COURT. In 1852 the probate court was abolished, and the common pleas court took its place. The judges of this court were: David Rawles, 1852 to 1856. Charles Tyler, 1856 to 1860. Isaac Naylor, 1860 to 1868. Joseph Ristine, 1868 to 1872. Albert D. Thomas, 1872 to 1873. The court was abolished in 1873. Biographical sketches of many, if not all, of these gentlemen will probably appear in another portion of this work, and nothing further will be said of them here, except that no one ever charged either with unfaithfulness in office. PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. CIRCUIT COURT. John Law, 1826 to 1830. Edward A. Hannegan, 1830 to 1832. Andrew Ingram, 1832 to 1834. William P. Bryant, 1834 to 1838. Joseph A. Wright, 1838 to 1840. Samuel C. Willson, 1840 to 1843. Joseph E. McDonald, 1843 to 1847. Davis Newell, March to October, 1847. Avery D. Babcock, 1847 to 1850. David Newell, 1850 to 1851. Lewis Wallace, 1851 to 1853. Daniel W. Voorhees, 1853 to 1854. Isaac Naylor, 1854 to 1855. James M. Allen, 1855 to 1856. Henry Shannon, 1856 to 1857. Thomas N. Rice, 1857 to 1859. R. W. Harrison, 1858 to 1862. Samuel F. Wood, 1862 to 1868. R. B. F. Peirce, 1868 to 1873. Robert Sears, 1873 to 1874. Thomas L. Stillwell, 1874 to 1878. Aaron P. Harrell, 1878 to 1880. Robert B. Jones, 1880 to ----. COMMON PLEAS COURT. John J. Taylor, 1854 to 1856. James M. Carpenter, 1856 to 1858. William McFall, 1858 to 1860. Hiram H. Stillwell, 1860 to 1864. Wm. Eggleston, 1864 to 1866. Wm. T. Brush, 1866 to 1868. George D. Hurley, 1868 to 1870. Thomas L. Stillwell, 1870 to 1873. In the list of the earlier prosecuting attorneys are found names which have since become of national reputation. There are the names of judges and governors, of senators and congressmen, of men who-have won honor on the bench and in the forum, in the legislative hall and at the courts of foreign capitals; who have served their country in the offices of civil life and on the field of battle. Some are dead, two are representing their states to-day in the senate of the United States, and another is the governor of one of the great territories. Truly it is enough to make an ordinary man feel small to be in a line with such a head. It would not be the truth to say that all these men had the ability required to discharge the duties of the office, but it is the truth to say that most of them had, while many of them were men of a high order of talent. There is food for thought in the foregoing roll of names, and it is hoped that they will be studied with profit. The office deserves and requires the best talent of the bar, and it ought to be put upon a footing to command it. It will be proper, in this connection, to speak of the bar of Fountain county. The names of some of those who were its earliest members have already been mentioned. It is not possible to give a complete list of all who have been admitted to practice law in the county, and no attempt to do so will be made. Suffice it to say that the list would embrace the names of men of the highest talent and greatest worth. As a rule, the bar of this county have endeavored to comport themselves as men should "who have the varied and important duties to perform which devolve upon" lawyers, and "whose assistance may be required by the greatest as well as the meanest individual in the most critical juncture of his life; who are the depositaries of the confidence, and the defenders of the lives and liberties, the reputation and fortunes, of their fellow citizens." The opinion, often half seriously expressed, that lawyers, as a class, are not honest, is unjust in the highest degree. If this were true, no man would be safe in his property or his liberty. No court could administer justice if the majority of its bar were unworthy of confidence. The oath of a lawyer requires fealty to the law of the land and respect to the courts. It imposes on him the obligation to counsel that only which appears to be legal and just; to employ such means only as are consistent with truth, and to never seek to mislead court or jury by intentional artifice or trick; to maintain inviolate the confidence of his client at all hazards; to abstain from all offensive personality; to encourage neither the commencement or the continuance of an action from any motive of passion or interest, and never to reject, from any personal consideration, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. And it is rarely the case that one who has made the study of the law a matter of conscientious labor is anything else than a man of integrity. While it may be true, and doubtless is, that a rascally client can always find a rascally lawyer, and generally does, and that there are some of more pretension than learning, more impudence than skill, more cunning than honesty ,'and more capacity to practice tricks than to practice law; it may be justly said that, taken as a whole, the lawyers who have practiced and who are now practicing in the courts of this county are equal in professional attainments, bearing and conduct with their brethren of any other county in the state. The true lawyer is a hard working man, and always endeavors to return an equivalent for his fee; he is willing to let his work speak for him, and is not disposed to attract business by falsely pretending to be what he is not. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY, TOGETHER WITH HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY, GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES. BY H. W. BECKWITH, OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS. 1881. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/fountain/history/1881/historyo/probatec58nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/ File size: 6.8 Kb