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By an act of the general assembly, passed and approved April 3, 1868, circuit courts were established in this State, and each judicial district was divided into two circuits, in each of which, at the general election in November, 1868, and every four years thereafter, a circuit judge should be elected. Four terms of court were provided per year in each county in the circuits. By this act the office of county judge was abolished, and all business of a legal nature pertaining to that office was transferred to the circuit court, which was also to have concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in all civil actions at law, and exclusive jurisdiction of all appeals and writs of error from justices' courts, mayor's courts and all other inferior tribunals, either in civil or criminal cases.

Cass county, together with Madison, Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Greene and Guthrie counties, constituted 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. The first term of the circuit court in Cass county was opened on the first Monday in March, 1869, when there were present: Frederick Mott, judge; J. K. Powers, clerk; V. M. Bradshaw, sheriff. The first case to come before this court was Southworth, Siauson and Company vs. John F. Chapman, which involved a question of law. The first criminal case was that of the State against William Perkins, for larceny. The first jury empannelled [sic empanelled] in this court was on this case, and consisted of the following named: Perry Disbrow, Benjamin Albee, D. C. Johnson, J. H. Leslie, James Duncan, H. A. Baker, D. C. Kennedy, L.D. Marsh, Pierce Maher, W. N. Haworth and William Hopley.

After the consolidation of the district, T. R. Stockton was chosen circuit judge, and occupied the position until the 1st of January, 1877, when he was succeeded by Judge C. F. Loofbourow, now the judge of the district court: Judge Loofbourow was re-elected in 1880, but resigned it in 1884, to take his place on the bench in the district court as mentioned before.

On the elevation of Judge Loofbourow to the higher court, Joseph Lyman, of Council Bluffs, was appointed to the vacant judgeship of the circuit court, and still occupies that exalted position.

In 1851, by an act of the General Assembly, county courts were established and the office of county judge created. By the same act, the office of probate judge was abolished, as were the offices of county commissioners; the duties of the commissioners and probate judges devolving upon the county judge. The county of Cass, not being organized until 1853, had no probate judges or county commissioners. The first county judge was Jeremiah Bradshaw, one of the earliest settlers. Upon him devolved the duty of perfecting the organization of the county. Judge Bradshaw's successors were: J. W. Benedict, W. N. Dickerson, Samuel L. Lorah and Henry Temple.

During 1861, the offices of county supervisors were created, which relieved the county judge of much of the business which had previously devolved upon him, and the office was shorn of much of its importance. Under this dispensation the county judges were: Andrew Irwin, E. B. Bell, D. A. Barnett and L. L. Alexander. In the chapter under the title of National, State and County Representation, this office is treated in detail, and personal sketches of many of the judges will be found.

Transcribed by Deb Lightcap-Wagner, February, 2014 from: "History of Cass County, Together with Sketches of Its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens", published in 1884, Springfield, Ill: Continental Historical Co., pp. 379-381.