52 Ancestors Week 9: At the Courthouse

Question

Ready for Week 9 of the 52 Ancestors challenge?

You're encouraged to share a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches the week's theme. This week's sharing prompt:

AT THE COURTHOUSE

From Amy Johnson Crow:

What neat discoveries have you made at the courthouse? Or, do you have an ancestor who spent a lot of time at the courthouse, either as an official or as someone who ran afoul of the law? 

Share below!

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Answer 1

I wrote about my 11x great grandmother who was accused of medical malpractice in the 1640s

https://genealogybyjanelle.blogspot.com/2019/03/at-courthouse-alice-frost-blower-tilley.html

Answer 2

I have looked throughout my records but cannot find any direct documents from the courthouse.  Some of my ancestors were homesteaders out in North Dakota, but the paper trail has not survived.

Also, my great aunt was the Registrar of Deeds for Northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts, so she dealt with the local courthouse on a daily basis.  I can remember walking with her from her office to the courthouse.

Answer 3

Hi,

This relative, brother of my gr. grandfather, must have ran foul of the law as he was using an Alias.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mayoh-42

Comments

My father changed his name legally before WWII to his Step father’s name, William Samuel Drew Jr changed to William Samuel Becker. I never knew this until after he died and many years thereafter. I was researching the step father’s bloodline thinking it was my own. Once I found out from some papers of his I finally found my bloodline Drew grandfather. As I found my 2nd cousin whom I had not spoken too in over 30 years thru ancestry she had a picture of him and her grandmother. Pictures are in his gallery.

Answer 4

Edgar Langridge is one of my brick walls https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Langridge-214

Yet when looking for information on him I came across a newspaper Petty sessions report. Edgar was charged with riding his cycle with out lights.He did not actuall attend court but sent a letter asking to be excused and paid his 5 shilling fine in cash.

Answer 5

My great grandfather, George Ferris Anderson (aka Robert Harrison), was a bootlegger:

Answer 6

Mine is my mother's sister who is dead husband dad Emory Eron Sapp https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sapp-1214. There is alot of Sapps that are criminals. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sapp-121 

Emory was born in 1878. He passed away in 1963. The son of Dr. James Monroe Sapp and Mary Melissa Brassell.

Emory Eron Sapp was arrested in Johnson City, Tennessee. Emory Eron Sapp admits masquerade as his Brother. Emory Eron Sapp was arraigned on fraud charges. 

Emory Eron Sapp was convicted of fraud and returned to Texas to finish 99 year sentence for murder

On November 19, 1914, thirty-six-year-old Emory Sapp murdered his wealthy wife and her two acquaintances. That's what the jury said when they sentenced him to ninety-nine years in prison. All that was missing was the truth.

Emory Sapp was born in a small town in East Texas in 1878, and for most of his years - when he wasn't incarcerated - he worked in law enforcement. Sapp was in his early thirties and married when he began an affair with a wealthy older woman who had a special fondness for men-in-blue. Divorcing his wife to marry her, the two enjoyed each other's company as they lived the high life. The only problem were Ellen's two nephews, who despised the fact that she had given Emory control of all of her money, land, and personal items - and left nothing for them in her will. Then came that awful day when Emory and Ellen decided that a hunting trip with a group of friends would be fun...

Despite errors in the prosecution's case, disreputable witnesses, and a number of appeals, Emory Sapp was convicted on circumstantial evidence and sent to one of the worst prison farms in Texas. Feeling that his days were numbered because of what he knew about the prison's illegal activities, Emory took it on the lam. In Johnson City, he began life anew, using his dead brother's first name. In 1940, Sapp was arrested for mail fraud, which led to his discovery as a fugitive. He was seventy-two when he was paroled, but because he knew that there were those on the outside who wanted him to disappear, he found a way back into prison and remained there till the day he died.    

Conviction

Emory Eron Sapp

 in the Texas, Convict and Conduct Registers, 1875-1945

Texas, Convict and Conduct Registers, 1875-1945   

Name:Emory Eron Sapp 

Record Date:13 Jul 1920 

Place of Residence:Beaumont 

Prison Location:Huntsville, Walker, Texas, USA 

Age:38 

Convict Number:44999 

Texas, Convict and Conduct Registers, 1875-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Conduct Registers, vols. 1998/038-177–1998/038-236. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.Convict Registers, vols. 1998/038-138–1998/038-176. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Two-Names-Notorious-Southeast/dp/1432706373

The book above called The Man With Two Names is the book that my uncle which is my mother sister who is dead now husband wrote about his dad Emory Eron and Emory Eron other brother also.

Answer 7

Charles John Augustus Hobern never ran afoul of the law but rather acted as a law-keeper. The 1875 Cape Almanac, lists Charles as Chief Constable in Jansenville, South Africa. https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Hobern-3&public=1

Answer 8

One of the best part of doing genealogy research is looking through old newspapers. Even when we don't find what we are looking, we find some other relative.

This is a great, grand- something Uncle of my kids, Judge Nash. He really was a judge but the family said he was quite a character too. 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nash-1070

Answer 9

This man has many records in many courthouses across Kentucky and Ohio. I am sure a lot of people know his story. He is my great great grandfather. He was known as Bad Bill Waters. His story is an interesting one. After many years of research I don’t believe he was as bad as everyone claimed. I would love for someone to write a book or make a movie based on his life. He was executed in prison of a murder he may or may not have committed and if he did do it. It was possible that he didn’t know the men that came to arrest him was the law and was defending himself from a posy. Those that knew the truth have long been dead. 

Answer 10

One of several who served as sheriff/bailiff in Norway, Anders Olsen Wiborg, was the sheriff/bailiff in Lom, Norway.  The family has maintained this tradition, as one of my still-living cousins served as a sheriff in Washington state.  

Like many families, there are a few "black sheep" who wound up in courtrooms on the other side of the law as well.  They tend to make more interesting stories. 

Answer 11

I have literally spent in the night in some courthouses, locking up when I left, just before the dawn. So I have discovered many surprising things, including mostly wills, deeds, and marriages. One of my first discoveries was that my great, great grandfather, Frederick Meredith had married for a third time at age 63. There were many men with that name in his home area in Edmonson County, Kentucky, so I had to view the original marriage license to verify his identity. When I told his granddaughter (my grandmother) Mattie (Meredith) Vincent about my discovery, she adamantly refused to believe it. Although they were married for slightly more than 9 years, the family apparently never spoke of his third wife who survived him for 22 years. My grandmother not only never met this woman, but was completely unaware of her existence. I was never able to convince my grandmother about Fred's third marriage, and I eventually stopped trying because taking about it caused Mattie emotional distress.

Answer 12

My ancestor, Joseph Howe, was tried for seditious libel in Nova Scotia. He was a journalist who had attacked politicians and officials he percieved as misusing their offices to the detriment of the Nova Scotian people, often taking money they were resposible for using for the public good. His complaints were published in the Novascotian as editorials and letters. He was unable to find a lawyer who would defend him in court, so he did it himself. He won! "Scholars ... have argued that Howe's libel victory established the fundamental basis for the freedom of the press in Canada." - Libel Trial of Joseph Howe. This has been omitted from the current rewrite of his profile.

Answer 13

My g(x6) uncle served in a county position at the courthouse. He was noted for long service in the military and in his community. His son, also had court dealings. :D He fled the state of Tennessee to avoid being imprisoned for debt.

Answer 14

Examples of what you can find at the courthouse from Salem Quarterly  Court

Ezekiel] Woodward ever Since the winte r of 1672. Sworn in court.

Roger De r byT certified that John So la r t, some time of Wenham, and lately of Topsham, England, left in his hands

his will when he was bou nd for old England.

years later, Sola r t returning, told deponent that he wou ld not change anything but desired him to write to his Wife and

her friends in England and tell them how he had made his Thomas Carter, late of Topsham, mariner, aged about

twenty-s ix years

John, son of John Sola r t of We nham, in New England, ordinary

keeper etc commissioner.

S worn

Oct

.

23 1 680 before John Walley

1’

,

deposed that he wa s well acquainted with

. ,,,,,

aged about fifty-nine years , and Ezekiel] wa s said to be dead two o r three years before his mothe r die d,

About two

 Richard Hu tten, sr. ,

Woodward, aged about fifty-e ight years, deposed that Soola rt

she being alive when his will wa s proved.

E ze ke ll Woodward, aged about fifty-eight years , de posed

Sworn in court. thatJohnSolart’s estatehadbeeninhis handssince1672when

he married Elizabeth Sola r t, John’ s widow.

William Rector of the paris h, certified that Isaac

Sworn in cou rt. Hull and Sarah Sola r t were married in the paris h church of

Clist St.

Thomas Fiske, aged about fifty years, and Charles Gott,

George, on Sept. 1, 1675, by him.

aged about forty-one years deposed that the s e t o ff to John

,y

So o la r t eighteen acres from his father’ s estate

southward