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Cass county, in the year 1851, (before the county's separate organization) was in the Sixth Judicial District with twenty-seven other counties in the western part of the State, extending from the Minnesota line to the Missouri border. James Sloan was the first Judge (1851); Allen A. Bradford, of Fremont, was appointed May 4, 1852, Sloan having resigned. Judge Bradford was elected to the place, April 4, 1853, but resigned in 1855, and the Governor appointed E. H. Sears, of Fremont county, to fill the vacancy.

December 6th, 1856, by the legislature, Cass county was detached from the Sixth Judicial District and made a part of the Seventh District, which was then constituted of the following counties: Harrison, Pottawattamie, Shelby, Audubon and Cass. Samuel H. Riddle, of Council Bluffs, was the presiding Judge when Cass was thrown into the district.

In 1858 Cass was made a part of the Third District in, which were the following other counties: Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Fremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, and Union.

E. H. Sears of Fremont was the Judge from 1858 to 1862, when he was succeeded by James G. Day, of the same county. R. B. Parrott, of Clarke county, was the district attorney, (the office having been created by the constitution of 1857) from 1858 to 1862, whenhe was succeeded by Chas. E. Millard, of Mills county, who held the position eight years.

January 27, 1864, Cass was by act of the Legislature, thrown into the Fifth District along with Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, Madison, Warren and Polk counties. John H. Gray of Polk county, was the presiding Judge at that time. Judge Gray died October 14, 1865. Charles C. Nourse, of the same county, was appointed to succeed him, and served about a year when he resigned and was succeeded by H. W. Maxwell, of Warren county. The District Attorneys were: In 1864, B. F. Murray, of Madison county; 1865-6, H. W. Maxwell, of Warren county; 1867, Samuel D. Nichols, of Guthrie county.

By act of the Fourteenth General Assembly (1872) Cass county was associated in the new Thirteenth District, with the counties of Fremont, Mills, Audubon, Pottawattamie, Crawford, Shelby, Carroll, and Greene. In that year J. R. Reed, of Pottawattamie county, was chosen District Judge, and H. K. McJunkin, of Mills county, was elected District Attorney. They occupy those positions to-day.

In 1868, the General Assembly created the Circuit Court, and placed Cass along with Madison, Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Greene and Guthrie, in the second circuit of the Fifth Judicial District . In that year, Frederick Mott, of Madison county, was elected to the Circuit Judgeship, and held the position four years. In 1872 the law of 1868, creating the Circuit Court, was modified, constituting the circuits the same as the districts. Under the new law T. R. Stockton, of Fremont county, was chosen Circuit Judge of the Thirteenth District, which position he now holds.

From the History of Cass County, Iowa Together With Brief Mention of Old Settlers by Lafe Young, Atlantic, Iowa: Telegraph Steam Printing House, 1877, pp. 47-48. Transcribed for Cass County by Cheryl Siebrass, April, 2014.