The first election, after being set off
as a
separate county, was on September 14, 1854, when township officers only
were elected. County officers were elected in August, 1855. Wm.
Phillips was the first county judge, S. G. Crumley the first clerk, N.
S. Daniels the first prosecuting attorney, Isaac D. Crumley the first
sheriff. The first term of court was held by Judge C. J. McFarland in
May, 1856. It was a number of years, not until about 1866, that a
newspaper was printed in the county. A. J. Cain was county judge in
1855-6; L. McCurdy in 1857; Thos. T. Morris, 1857-59; Wm. Shriner,
1860; W. H. Price, 1861-67; Thomas Elwood, 1868-69. The office was
abolished at this time. Levi Thompson was clerk of the court in
1855-56; Robert Haney in 1856; Amos Basom, 1857-58; Noah Titus, 1858;
John Monroe, 1859-60; T. B. Aldrich, 1861-62; Wm. Gilley, 1863-66; Wm.
H. Price, 1867-68; John K. Deal, 1869-72; E. M. Betzer, 1873-74; Wm.
Lynch, 1875-84; and J. N. Powers, 1885. L. McCurdy was prosecuting
attorney in 1855-57, and then the office was abolished.
The Sixth judicial district was created in February, 1851, and then
included thirty counties. February 9, 1853, the Seventh district was
formed by taking nineteen counties, including Carroll from the Sixth.
March 13, 1857, Buncome (now Lyon), Buena Vista, Carroll, Cherokee,
Clay, Crawford, Dickson, Ida, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sac,
Sioux and Woodbury counties were made the Twelfth district.
The constitution of 1857 went into effect January 1, 1858, and under
this Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, Madison, Warren
and Polk counties formed the Fifth district. April 18, 1872, the
Thirteenth district was formed of the counties of Audubon, Cass,
Carroll, Crawford, Fremont, Greene, Mills, Pottawattamie and Shelby.
The judges of the district including Carroll county have been Samuel H.
Riddle, 1853-57; M. F. Moon, 1857; John H. Gray, 1858-65; C. C. Nourse,
1865-66; Hugh W. Maxwell, 1866-72; J. R. Reed, 1873-83; C. F.
Loofborough, 1883-86. Under the law that went into effect in January,
1887, J. P. Connor and J. H. Macombe became judges of the Sixteenth
district, including six counties--Ida, Sac, Calhoun, Crawford, Carroll
& Greene. The judges of the Sixteenth judicial district are Hon. F.
M. Powers and Hon. Z. A. Church.
Judge Zala A. Church was born May
28, 1852, in Dayton county,
Wisconsin. He had good educational advantages, attending the common
schools and seminary at Evansville, Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin
University to the sophomore year. He read law with Welch & Botkin
at Madison, Wisconsin, and in 1876 was graduated from the law
department of the University of Wisconsin, where he was under the
instructions of Hon. William F. Vilas and Judge Philip L. Spooner. He
was admitted to the bar of the Wisconsin district and supreme courts
and the district court of the United States June 20, 1876. He settled
in Jefferson in 1878, and was the first county attorney of Greene
county, and served two terms of two years each. His practice, general
in character, embraced all branches of the law and involved many cases
of local note and importance in which he achieved gratifying success.
He served as county recorder to fill a vacancy; was presidential
elector for Iowa on Harrison and Reid ticket, and in 1894 was elected
judge of the Sixteenth judicial district of Iowa for a term of four
years, and re-elected for a second term ending January 1, 1903. At the
November election, 1906, he was again elected judge for four years.
James A. Henderson was born in Johnson county, Iowa, August 3, 1862. He
was reared on a farm until sixteen years old, near Shueyville in said
county. He then went to Linn county, from thence to Jefferson. He was
educated in common country schools, Jefferson academy and the law
department of the State University of Iowa, from which he graduated
June 17, 1890, and was on that date admitted before the supreme court
and the United States courts for the Southern district of Iowa at
Keokuk. He located for practice at Jefferson, Iowa, July 15, 1890. In
1895 he formed a copartnership with Perry D. Ross, under the name of
Ross & Henderson. This continued until May 1, 1901, since which
time he has been alone in the practice at Jefferson. He is a so-called
progressive republican. He was deputy clerk of the district and circuit
courts, 1879-83; clerk of the district court of Greene county four
years, 1885-88; township clerk, justice of the peace, city solicitor,
member of the city council and trustee of the public library. He has
also served a a member of the executive committee of the State Bar
Association.
Isaac D. Howard was born in Massachusetts in 1834, and is one of the
oldest practitioners at the Greene county bar. Mr. Howard received his
education at the Shelburne Falls (Mass.) academy. In 1853 he came to
Iowa, settling first in Boone county, and taught school, until elected
clerk of the district court of Greene county, which position he held
for eight years. In the meantime he studied law, by himself, and on
April 10, 1869, at Jefferson, Iowa, he was admitted to practice, before
the district and circuit courts; March 17, 1874, at Council Bluffs,
before the Iowa state supreme court. He began the practice of his
profession at Jefferson, where he has since resided.
