Taylor County, Iowa 1881 History: pp400

TAYLOR COUNTY JUDGES

(Page 400)

JOHN LOWE

Judge John Lowe was a native of Kentucky, where, also he was educated. He is remembered as a warm, frank, open-hearted man; certain it is that he enjoyed the confidence of the early settlers to the fullest extent, and was supposed by them to be almost the sole man in the county qualified to transact public business. This reputation - whether deserved or not it is without our province to decide - accounts for his long tenure of this office. The records would seem to demonstrate that his education had been very limited, at least in some directions that are nowadays deemed important. But they also evidence a desire to faithfully discharge the duties of his office. One peculiarity of nearly all the public documents issued from his office is that they invariably closed with the phrase "gave from under my hand this___day of ___" etc. He resided west of the county seat, some three or four miles, in a log cabin, and at the organization of the county, when its first assessment roll was made out, it was deemed worth about forty-eight dollars and paid a tax of twenty-nine cents.

(Page 402)

JAMES SLOAN

In….1851, Sloan was elected to the office of judge of the District Court, a position for which he was, in many respects, totally unqualified. His first term of court was held at Sidney, Fremont county, in May, 1851. >From that county he held court in Page, and then to this county in the fall of the same year. It is related of the judge, that, at a session of his court held in Coonville, near Glenwood, Mills county, just at the close of his session here, a very modest member of the bar politely attempted to enlighten his understanding upon some statutory provision by opening the Code and offering to read therefrom, when, to his chagrin and mortification, he was met by the stern rebuke of his honor - "Sit down, sir! down! to h--l with your Code! the court has the law in his head!" The second time that the judge went to Coonville to hold court he was unable to proceed on account of the animosity being generated between the mass of the people and the Mormon population of that section, to which latter the judge belonged. He resigned in 1852, and removed his residence to Salt Lake, from which period he has been lost to sight.

(Page 404)

ALLEN A. BRADFORD

Judge Bradford was a worthy man, and merited the confidence reposed in him by the legal fraternity and court officials generally. He was a native of Maine and retained many of the peculiarities of his native State. In court he was stately and dignified, permitted no gross violence of court decorum, was prompt in his decisions, and taken altogether, was a worthy occupancy of the bench of the district judgeship.

"Judge Bradford has some peculiarities - some eccentricities. His dress, though it might be made of the costliest broadcloth, hardly ever fit his person; his coat, pants and vest, were nearly all the time either too large, too small, too long, or too short, and sometimes one garment might be too large or too short, when at the same time as to the fit of the others it was vice versa. He hardly ever combed his hair, and would frequently let his beard grow two or three weeks without shaving; and it frequently happened that when he had about half shaven himself he would suddenly stop, pick up a newspaper and read it; and then neglect to complete his toilet. And, when thus half shaven, one foot slipshod; and otherwise slatternly attired, he would go to church, to court, or around among his friends. But with all his eccentricities he had many warm friends, for he was ever a true friend in the virtuous, the industrious, and the necessitous; no poor man ever went from his house hungry." Honorable L. Lingenfelter (Sidney, Fremont County) b. near Lexington, Kentucky, in August, 1822

Judge Bradford did not complete the term for which he was elected. In some difficulty with a man near Nebraska City, he received a severe wound on the head by a club in the hands of the same, which necessitated his resignation of the judgeship. The difficulty seems to have been occasioned by the boundary lines of the respective claims of Judge Bradford and his assailant. It was during the judicial career of Judge Bradford that the first rules adopted by any District Court in Fremont county were spread upon the proceedings and made a part of its record. They comprise eleven distinct specifications, and cover nearly all the ordinary business of a session of court. With the November term of 1854 the connection of Judge Bradford with the judicial history of the county ceases.

(Page 405)

E. H. SEARS

Judge Sears was born at Ballston Springs, Saratoga county, New York, May 3, 1815. He was admitted to the bar in 1847. In the fall of 1853 he became a resident of Fremont county, Iowa. He was appointed to the district judgeship to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. A. A. Bradford, January 9, 1855. He died at his home in Sidney, January 20, 1880….(page 406) Judge Sears gave such general satisfaction and proved so admirably his fitness for the judgeship that to his election the second time was presented no obstacle, which was accordingly done. He was a careful man and a wise judge - taking the greatest pains to insure justice to all parties to a suit - civil or criminal.

Judge Sears always appeared to be dignified and equal to any emergency that might arise. He felt that the suffrage of his constituency called him to execute justice upon the guilty and to protect the rights and liberty of others.

JAMES G. DAY

(Page 409)

The successor to Judge Sears was James G. Day. He graduated from the law school of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857, and came to western Iowa in the same year. He served as judge of the District Court with distinguished ability for two terms, and afterward became one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State.

SAMUEL FORRY

The successor to Judge Day was the honorable Samuel Forry, who served two terms, elected October 11, 1870, and re-elected October 13, 1874. He filled the office with entire satisfaction, and was considered an excellent jurist.

R. C. HENRY

Judge R. C. Henry, of Mt. Ayr, Ringgold county, is the present incumbent of the district judgeship. He was born in Harrison county, Ohio, December 14, 1841, and in 1844 came with his father's family to Iowa, of which State he has since been a continuous resident. His legal education was received in the law school of the State University at Iowa City, from which he graduated in 1869. By his graduation he was admitted to the bar and immediately began the practice of his profession. Actively engaged in politics, he received the nomination for the district judgeship in 1879, and was duly elected in the fall of that year. He is a careful judge, weighs his opinions with great care, and commands the fullest respect of the barristers who practice before his bar. His term expires in 1883.