FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF SMITH COUNTY, Smith County, TX *********************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Peggy Brannon - peggybrannon@hotmail.com 28 May 2001 ********************************************************************** REMINISENCES OF THE PAST "Some Biographies of Old Settlers." Historical, Personal and Reminiscent. Volume I By Sid S. Johnson, 1900: Sid S. Johnson, Publisher, Tyler, Texas Chapter III - Pages 14-16 First District Court of Smith County Chapter III The first district court held in Smith county was opened on the third Monday in December, 1846, in a log court house on the north side of the public square. It was of rustic structure and furnished strictly on the primitive style, with mother earth as the floor. Everything was rugged and honest, on the level with square judicial opinions on the rights and wrongs of a public or a private nature. The early jurisprudence in Texas was marked with intellectual vigor and legal ability. The early Texas courts gave out opinions that have been quoted as national authority, sound in principle, justice, force and legal exactness. The Hon. Wm. B. Ochiltree was the presiding judge; C. C. Alexander, district clerk; Wm. Wooten, sheriff, and W. C. Pierce, acting as deputy. I have no record of a petit jury for this term of the court, as no cases were tried. The district attorney failed to put in appearance and I failed to get his name. It is presumed that his presence was not needed. The grand jury was empaneled, organized and given a charge by the court, but adjourned the next morning without finding a bill. There were two cases on the civil docket -- one, a divorce suit, the other tresspass to try title. So you see, the first case filed in the district court was a divorce suit that has grown with civilization to be alarming to the thoughtful along the lines of this heavenly ordained marital relation. The charges preferred in the petition were very severe and strong and looked bad, but the facts might have developed another side to this case. The following early settlers comprised the first grand jury that ever assembled in the county of Smith: Jno. Kirkpatrick, foreman; Geo. Walters, Elijah Meadow, J. L. McKinley, Hiram Lorance, Thomas Stein, John Wolf, Jas. R. Rowe, Smith M. Gammon, J. I. McAdams, H. E. Hudnall, Thos. J. Gardner, Joel Casey, Jas. L. Croslin. John L. Chancey was appointed bailiff for the grand jury. So far as the writer knows and believes, the abovenamed, after the performance of life's duties, have crossed over the river, beyond the ken of man. Their parts were well played in life's drama, with an eye to the single good of those who were to follow after them. These were a part of the patriotic men who laid the foundation for our present highly cultured citizenship. The writer knew later in life, many of them. The impressions made on the boy of the men and times, are lasting as the hand of time points to the grains of sand falling in the hour glass. These men were proud of their work for Smith county and Texas, that culminated in a grand and high order of education, refinement, and a cultivated, prosperous people. I will have more to say of them. Judge Wm. B. Ochiltree was an historic character and personage in Texas. He was a splendid lawyer, a fluent speaker of peculiar and striking eloquence and force. He was a man of a compact build, of good frame, the most remarkable and noticeable feature was his large head--apparently disproportioned, but a kind and classical face that always attracted the stranger. Sam Houston, the father of Texas, spitefully called him "Buffalo Head," the name that followed Judge Ochiltree in after life. He was known throughout Texas for his ability as a lawyer, his force and power as a brilliant speaker, full of wit and repartee. Judge Ochiltree was an old line whig, with the convictions of his party creed as the bed-rock of good government, that gave him political disadvantage in this new democratic commonwealth. But he was a born political fighter along these lines, and accepted the guage of battle, whenever offered, and with forensic force hurled political epithets on his political adversary. His guns were of large calibre, and no makeshift fellow could stand very long before him. He was an attractive man in conversation and manner. He wore well--the more you knew of him the better you liked him. Social and genial in his make-up, a boon companion for the crowd he ran with, made him personally popular. The Judge was a Southern man of strong convictions, and a native of North Carolina. When the old whig party dissolved, he joined the democratic party and fought the know-nothing party. He favored secession, was a delegate to the seceding convention, and a member of the Confederate congress during the life time of that body of great men. Judge Ochiltree was a grand figure in the early history of Texas. He died at Marshall, Texas, a few years after the war, to the regret of the people of Texas.