PAULDING COUNTY

JUDGES

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The Indians hawin5 ceded their lan& to the

*hites, the le5islature ol the state, b9 an act o{
Febr,rarg 12, 1820 pr""eeded to divide the
newlg acguired territorg into counties.

Williams *as or6anized

Februarg 2 1624 and Paol&ng Co,lntg was
attached to it lor;udicial purposes until its own
organization in 1659.
The Countg o{

The {irst term ol Coort was held in the sprin6l o{

1840 at Ne* Rochester, the {irst Countg seat,
r,yith Honorable

F-erg

D. Potter as presiding

J.rd5. It was held in a room over General

Lloratio N. Curtis's store since there was no
courthouse. There*ere nola*g.rr residing in
the countg at that time, so Edwin Phelps o{
De{iance *'as appointed Prosecutin6 Attornerl.
We ha.r. t o -eans ol 61ivin61a sgnopsis o{ the
proceedin5s o{ the court, as records have not

b..r, pr"ser,r.dIn those dags it was customarg {or lawr;ers to

travel rarith;ud6i.. {ro- countg to countg
throqlhout the entire circuit in which courts
*ere held; and lawgers {rom as {ar east as
Marr"{ield attended the courts held in

P.oldirr5,
Theg traveled on hor"ebaclc
"orrntg.
and carried their volumes o{ legal lore in
saddleba5s.

170 yeats ago

Then (183e)
30 - 40 familyhomes;3 Hotels,3 General
Stores;2 Blaclsmith Shops; 2Tatlor Shops.
on the dailystagecoach line from Ft.
V'ayne to Toledo.
'Was

communication with the civilized world" The

its uncleared
streets; sguirrels chattered lrom its woodg
housetops andwolves ho*led in its thicketcovered allegr. M.og ol the corrntg o{licers
lived in lo5 cabins and the lirst jail was o{
he*ed lo5r. For nearlg 50 gears the town
made brrt littl. adrao.=-ent,lor in 1660 itt

wild deer and bear roa-.d

populationwasbri 465.

The second coorthorrse o{ Pauldin6 Countg

was erected on the sguare i" 1651. It *a".r,
un6ainl9, ill-proportioned allair, and {rom the
dag o{ its completion had a sort o{ riclcetg,
tomble-down .pp..r.rce. The buil&n61 was
consomed b9 {lames on the evenin5, o{ Jarrratg
(ewtearq il ang,
? 1868,
'nereshed
""dbut
over its ashes. Marrg ralrrabledocuments
however perished in the {lames.

Now(2009)
Abandoned roadside rest along U.S. 24

The {irst Co,rrt held in Pauldin5 was in a log

vzhich is also soon to be abandoned with the

opening of the newU.S. 24 Fort to Port
Corridor. No trace of the hamlet remains

J."Lso, Streets. The associate

gcJn{9r{e_cryJes. _____.
From

Ne-

seat {or a

Rochester, hawin6l been the countg

Iittle more than a L;ear, the Court and

countg business was trans{erred to Charloe in

1E41, that villa6le havin6l been made the
cotrntg seat. John H. P.l*.r, S. Bri6lgs and
Patrtck G. Good were the Common Pleas
.1,'dges at

Ch.rlo.. Th. {irst Countg

(lourthouse was erected at this location and

was a two storg brick buildin5. Charloe was
pleasantlg located on a commandin6i blr{l ol
thc Au6laize Rirer and *as near the Miami
I]rte Canal malcin5, it a transportation center in
the 5lorq ol the canal dag".
Ita,rlchng, the third and present countg seat
was laid out b9 three Van Wert Countg
lrrrrlness men who believed the eountg seat
rh,r,,lcl be located in the geo5raphical center
.,1 the countg. 89 a special act o{ le6islature in
165l th..o.,t tg business was remo.red {rom
( lharloe and Paoldin6.,nas named as the

rrruntq seat.

At ltrst, Pa.Jdin6 *ss in the verg mi&t ol

lrc'ovr, {orest, without roadg save a {ewrnrindin6l
wdll(nr traclcs, and almost without

cabin

*hich stood at the corner ol Water and

jud6les were

men chosen {or their sterlin6,wortL, honestg

and moral integritg, rather than {or their
knowledle o{ the la*, {or b..t {ew o{ them
possessed ang le5al abilitg. Re5ardin5 this
{act, an amosir,61 incident is told as lollo*s
talcen {rom the Pailding Countq lTistorical

Atl"""l16A2'
Robeil McCrcanS, a wagTJish soil o/ a 6lenius
wAo rcsided in ParJding,

attended the

courfuoom one morninlJ in tAe eailq 1650s and

looking up to whete tlze presiding,iud6e and
the tAree assxiates sat, he shrt6Sed Ais
sLorlders and smiling said "A.h, a thousand
jud6es on tAe bencA this moning!"
'Wq, Low is tLat Bob?" someone said.
"Wq, oruuod tkeciphers,desn t that

makea tAousand?"
TAe point was quicHq sen ard

gurural littu,

ran throu5S.h the courtroom as the result o{his

witticism.

89 an act ol le6islature in 1655 the o{lice o{

Probat.Jod5.was created and that ol
Associate Jud61e *as abolished- Alexander S.
Lattg was the lirst Common Pleas Judle to sit
on the bencL in the countg alter the

abandonment o{ the Associate Jud4les; bein6;

elected in 1656 arrd
{or 20 g.ar. (4
"orrtinuin6l
consecutive terms).

Construction of the present

Jud6es under the Constitution o{ 1651 {or the

iodicial districts which incloded Paoldin.q,

CountrJ:

S.l*gt O-.ot

t6T7-tEf.1

(J..dg" O*e"s was re-elected to a ?a term, but

resi6lned, havin6lwon the 1662 election to the
Ohio S..pr.-e Court. Jrrd5. O*ens served as
Chie{ Justice ol the S..preme Court {or 5 grs.)
Charles A Bowersox
Silas F. S,rtphen

WihooH.S""oL
William H.tl"bbard
ES.Matthias

1664-1665
1685-1892

t8u2-tEw
1897-1905
1905-1914

Restdent Jtrd6es under the Constitutional

Amendment o{ 1912'
John

S.

t9t4-t917

SnooL

EmmetL.Sava5e

1017-101E

W.F.Corbett
SamuelW.Ennis

1916-1950
1950-1951

John

S.

1951-195E

Snook

SamuelW.Ennis
MerrrinDag

Ed*ardKons

Har'egEHgmao
J.GarethHit&cock
J.DavidWebb

Jan.-April

1959
1959-1950
1951-1950

ls)7-lWz
1905-19E0
19E7-present

Intereotin6 not" oo Jod5,e Wilson H. Snook Jr. and

Jod5,eJoh" S.S"ooL'

I"

1E76,

Wilson tI. SoooL *as selected to serve o,' a

state committee lor the US.

C"ntennial

Celebratiou, the {irst ollicial World's Fair, held in

Philadelphia. Prewiouslg, he a"d John S. S"ooL had
p.rrchased sheep lor their Pa.rldin6 Countg {arm
(ro- a Nova Scotian cheep bre.d"r, Ale"arder
Gr"ha- B.ll. At th" e*hibit, little attention was

bei"5 paid to B.ll's ap;:aratus until Wilson aud

Johu call"d it to the attention o{ Do- P"dto,
F-peror ol Brazil, who was the selected Jod6" o{
The emp.ror
scieutilic coutributiou at the
"*hibit.
was extremelg strucL with this iunovation aud
throu5h his inll,r"oc" Bell was a*ard"d $10,000 i"
5old. l.ateaWilso, ardJoho SnooL testi{i"d i,
B"lli b.h"ll d'rin5 the lo4! corrt battles
concernin5, his patents. BelL as a courtesg, put the
Suooks in Paolding Countg into the telephone
business in the ,"i& 1E6& *heu he luruished
equipment to wire lot telephone communication
the Paoldin5 Co.ratg CourtLoos. aod ad5oioio6,
o{licial ollices.

Compiled and written by:

Kim

I(

Sutton

tqF

PAULDING COUNTY COURT

iffany Reightet-B eckman, I.tdg.

2018. Caroline St., Suite 2
Paulding, OH 45879

PH: (419) 399-2792

www. p auldingcountycourt.

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