ELECTIONS
 The first elections in Morgan county were held at Willis Brown’s in Moreau township; at Joshua
McPherson’s in (Willow) Mill Creek township; at Elias Boecker’s in Osage township; at C. Scott’s in
Buffalo township; at Mansfield Hatfield’s in Richland township; at Littleton Johnson’s in Haw Creek
township.
 The judges of the elections in each township were as follows: Phillip Barger, James Enloe, Buford
Allee, for Mill Creek; for Osage, William Poore, William Rhea, Warner Houser; for Buffalo, John R. Huff,
William C. Scott, William James; for Haw Creek, Hugh Morrison, Samuel Kelsay, Woodson Scoggins; for
Richland, Mansfield Hatfield, Joseph B. Steele, James McCutccheon.
 Buford Allee was commissioned the first justice of peace in the county.  Other justices appointed at
the organization of the county were: Wm. Kirkpatrick, and Benjamin Gist.  Robert Wilson was appointed
the first county treasurer in August 1883.
 COUNTY OFFICIALS -- The following record include the list of county officials from the earliest
date with the time of election to office:
 Circuit Judges -- David Todd, 1833; Charles H. Allen, 1836; William Scott; James W. Morrow,
George W. Miller, 1851; Theron M. Rice elected in 1869; George W. Miller, 1875; Edward L. Edwards, served two years and defeated James Hazel who was a candidate for re-election.
 Representatives -- Morgan county has been represented in the state legislature by the following
representatives: Wiliam Monore 1838; John B. Fisher 1834; Lot Howard 1836; Hugh Miller 1838; William
Cole 1840; John Kelsay 1842; William Baughman 1850; S.S. Abney 1852; William Bradford 1854; Peter R.
Burns 1856; S.S. Abney 1858; William Baughman 1860; B.F. Wilson 1864; Elisha Taylor 1866; Moses S.
Courtright 1868; John Williams 1870; William Baughman 1872; A.B. Brock 1874; Anderson W. Anthony Jones from 1892 to 1894; C. Temme from 1894 to 1896; Dr. Cord Bohling from 1896 to 1898; Dr. W.B.
Hunter from 1898 to 1900; W.L. Windler from 1900 to 1904; R.A. Norfleet from 1904 to 1908.
 Judges of the County Court -- Zacheus German 1833; Seth Howard 1834; John B. Fisher 1833;
Philip Barger 1834; J.M. Bernard 1834; William S. Barnett 1834; John B. Fisher 1836; Zacheus
 


German 1836; John Chism 1838; Philip Barger 1838; Frances L. Ross 1840; Charles M. Brookig 1842; John
Porter 1842; Buford Allee 1842; Ezekiel J. Salmon 1845; John M. Reed 1845; Willia K. Brown 1846; B.F.
Willson 1848; Coleman L. Bridges 1849; Martin H. Parks 1850; William K. Brown 1853; John porter 1855;
John Sims 1855; James W. McCoy 1856; Hugh Kelsay 1856; Perry Ross 1864; Samuel M. Willson 1865; I
Luckenbill 1865; W.V. Banks 1866; Peter Haas 1866; John H. Papen 1868; George H. Stover 1870; John
Bohling1870; E.D. Bailey1870; Samuel H. Legg 1872;Joseph N. Martin 1878; Thomas B. Clark 1874; J.M.
Salmon 1876; H.P. Bond 1876;D.M. Inglish 1876; B.G. Bowling 1878; Henry Gehrs 1880; John H. Webster Sanford 1888; J.P. Daugherty 1890; B.G. Bowling 1892; Jacob Cline 1892; Chris Witte 1894; P.H. Kidwell W.T. Bowen 1900; J.A. Willson 1902; W.T. Bowen 1902; John N. Shenkel 1902; T.F. O’neal 1904; S.W.
Spears 1904; John Kidwell 1906; T.F. O’neal 1906; S.W. Spears 1906.  The last three named are the judges
of the court for the years 1907-08.
 Probate Judges. -- James P. Ross 1847; Ezekiel J. Salmon 1849; John A.S. Tutt 1853; Wm. C.
Seveir 1858; Andrew Masters 1862; Wm C. Reed 1865; John C. McCoy 1867; James V. Allee 1872; John
C. Todd 1875; James S. Thruston 1881; I. Barber 1890; W.H. Lutman 1894; Samuel Daniels 1898; H.E.
Neville 1902; served his first term of four years which expired January 1, 1907 and was re-elected in the fall
of 1906 for another four years, which makes his second term end in 1911.
 Circuit and County Clerks -- Thomas G. Davis 1833; Thomas Monroe 1842; Calvin H. Huff 1854;
W.W. Salmon (appointed) 1861; Peter R. Burns (appointed( 1862; W.A. Mills 1868; W.H.H. McCartey  The circuit clerk’s office was severed from the county clerk’s office in 1874.  James McNair was
elected in 1874 to the circuit clerk’s office and held the place four terms or till 1890 when John R. Gunn was
elected and served four years, or till 1894. J. Loan Enloe was then elected and served four years or till 1898
when J.
 


B. Sprulock was elected and served till 1902 when W.C. Thomas was elected, served four years, or till 1906
and was re-elected.  Mr. Thomas is now serving the first year of his second term which expires in 1910.
 County Treasurers -- Robert Wilson 1833; Levi Blackwell 1836; Hugh Galbrath 1838; Wm Boggs William P. Cooksey 1860; Wm. C. Reed 1863; B.R. Williams 1866; James A. Spurlock 1870; Peter G.
Woods 1872; J.S. Thruston 1882; Peter G. Woods 1886.
 W.L. Stephens was elected treasurer in the fall of 1890 and resigned July 1, 1891, and went to
California where he remained a few years and returned to Versailles.  Governor D.R. Frances appointed J.S.
Thruston to fill the vacancy thus made.  Mr. Thruston served till 1892 when J.W. Knoop took charge of the
office and filled it till 1896.  P.H. Antweiler was then elected and served four years or till 1900.  G.M.
Hargett was then elected and served two terms, or till 1904.  J.W. Johnson was then elected and served two
years and was re-elected in the fall of 1906 for a term which expires in 1909.
 Sheriffs and Collectors -- Joseph M. Bernard (refused to act) 1833; William B. Anthony 1833;
Alfred McCulchan 1834; Robert Wilson 1836; Archibald Woods 1837; Waid Howard 1839; Green L.
Donehit 1840; William J. Tutt 1843; William J. Davis 1849; Peter R. Burns 1852;
William H. Goddard 1856; James C. Puckett 1860; W.A. Mills 1862; B.S. Walker 1862; George W. Painter Howard 1879; W.H. Kavanaugh 1884; Robert E. Dornan 188.
 The sheriff and collector’s office was divided during Mr. Dornan’s last term, which ended in 1892.
The sheriffs from there on were: John Williams from 1892 to 1894, Louis Lumpee from ;94 to ‘96, John F.
Gibbs from ‘96 to 1900, S.H. Drysdale from 1900 to 1904, C.E. Willson from 1904 to 1909.
 The collectors from 1892 were D.C. Hardy two terms or to 1896, J.W. Kauffman to 1898, A.Y.
Cooper to 1900, A.W. Burns to 1902, E.S. Cline was elected in 1902 and served one term and was
re-elected and lacked three months of serving out his second term when he died Nov.6, 1906.  Governor
Folk appointed D.C. Hardy to fill out the unexpired term.  At the fall election of 1906 John A. Hannay was
elected under the new law which makes the
 


collector’s office a four year office.  Mr. Hannay’s office will therefore expire in 1911.
 County Attorneys -- James P. Ross 1849; John A.S. Tutt 1849; John Stover 1867; Anderson W.
Anthony 1870; Daniel E. Wray 1874; B.F. Walker, 1876; A.L. Ross from ‘85 to Jan 1, 1891; J.A. Blevins
served to ‘94; B.R. Richardson served to ‘96; D.E. Wray served to ‘98; Henry Washburn served to 1900;
A.A. Knoop served till 1904; W.T.S. Agee served till 1908, he being the present prosecuting attorney and
this being June 1907.
 ASSESSORS -- Joseph McPherson 1833; Joseph B. Steele 1834; James M. Scoggins 1835; John
Taylor 1836; George Campbell 1837; John D. Campbell 1841; George Campbell 1842; Geo. W. Martin James C. Puckett 1857; W.W. Crook, Jackson Monhollon 1858;  John Grills, John Sims, Peter Taylor,
James Dornan 1859; James Dornan 1860; W.A. Mills 1863; James S. Campbell 1864; H.W. Argenbright Carpenter 1880; James F. Yancey 1882;  James A. Hughes 1884; G.B. Snodgrass was elected in the fall of Jan 1, 1897.  W.R. Evans then served till 1899.  George A. Logan was then elected and served six years,
two terms.  the assessor’s term was changed from a two year office to a four year term during Mr. Logan’s
incumbency.  r. Logan served till Jan. 1, 1905 when Fred Monsess the present assessor took charge.
 SURVEYORS --Howard Chism 1833; Hugh Brown 1833; William Boggs 1839; D.W. German David W. Eaton from 1888 to 1904; C.C. Crews was elected in 1904 but refused to accept the place and the
Governor appointed George P. Clark who served till 1907 when the place was filled by the present surveyor,
W.R. Stevenson.
 CORONERS -- W.J. Tutt 1856; John Hendrson 1860; Reuben Cline 1863; Samuel Tillett 1866;
Daniel Burns 1868; O.A. Williams 1876; W.L. Hatler 1884; G.M. Gunn 1886; T.R. Bridges 1886; Dr. G.M.
Gunn to 1900 and Dr. William Well to 1906.  Dr. J.A. Braden is the present  coroner (1907).
 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS -- John Simms 1880; Wm Wendleton 1884; Turner D. O’Brien  COMMISSIONERS OF SCHOOL -- Wm C. Sevier 1858; Samuel R. Woods 1860; Thomas
Turnbull 1864; Samuel R. Lutman 1870; T.B. Reese 1872; Wm D. Morris 1874; H.A. Blake 1876; J.F.
Morris 1878; A.L. Ross 1883; J.A. Blevins 1885; Samuel Daniels 1886; Geo. W. Hannum 1887; Daniel
Kauffman 1889; Wm Silvey served till 1892; Miss Cassie Parks served till 1896; Miss Grace Litsinger served
till 1900; J.F. Johnson served till 1904 and resigned and the Governor (Folk) appointed the present
commissioner, Wray Witten.
 ELECTORAL VOTE --It is not our intention to give a full report here of the election returns of
Morgan county from the beginning but we submit a few returns to show the political complexion of the
county at certain times.  It is enough to say, however, that with the exception of war times the Democratic
party was in the ascendancy most of the time with a small majority up to 1896.The electoral vote in this
county in 1876 was, Democratic 1038 votes, Republican 748.  In 1880 Democratic 950, Republican 798,
Greenbacks 57.  1884 Democratic 1104, Republicans 1014, Greenbacks 2.  1888 Democrats 1362,
Republicans 1260, Prohibitions 8, Labor Union 2.  In 1894 the county went Republican and has held the
majority of the county offices since that time.  All of the county offices are now filled by Republicans except
that of collector and T.F. O’neal, district judge.
 The present county officers are W.H. Martin, circuit judge, John Kidwell, presiding judge of the
county court, S.W. Spears, county judge from the western district and T.F. O’neal county judge of the
eastern district.  H.E. Neville, probate judge; E.K. Buck, county clerk’ W.C. Thomas, circuit clerk’ Charles
E. Willson, sheriff; J.W. Johnson, treasurer; collector, John A. Hannay; surveyor, W.R. Stevenson; coroner,
J.A. Braden; prosecuting attorney, W.T.S. Agee; school commissioner, Wray Witten; public administrator,
J.S. Boyce
 

Section 10

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