Looking Back

Adair County Sheriffs continued from last week: James William Hurt, son of former sheriff Young E. Hurt, was elected in August 1892; Robert A. Blair in 1894; J.W. Hurt again in 1897 for four years. F.W. Miller was elected in November 1901 and W.B. Patteson in November 1905. A.D. Patteson, son of Capt O.B. Patteson, was elected in 1909.
Samuel H. Mitchell was elected in 1913, native of Metcalfe County, he had been elected jailer in 1894 and 1898.
Cortez Sanders was elected in 1917; George Coffey in 1921; Evan Akin in 1925; Robert Bruce White in 1929; Bert Harper in 1933 and Martin Rowe in 1937.
H.B. Taylor was elected in 1941; Noah Flatt in 1945; George C. Simpson in 1949; C.D. Martin in 1953.
Frank Nell was elected in November 1957, he also served as Circuit Court Clerk for 13 years. Joe A. Dudley was elected in 1961; C. H. ìHallieî Stults in 1965; Joe England in 1969; William M. ìBillî Ballou in 1973; Jimmy Firquin in 1977.
Gary Melton was elected in 1981 and resigned in January 1985. Clifton McGaha, Jr. was appointed sheriff in January 1985.
John Ballou was elected in November 1985; Bob Willis in 1989; Ralph Curry in 1993 and again in 1997.
COUNTY COURT CLERKS
William Caldwell was the first clerk in 1802 and served until June 1851. He had many deputy clerks, including Oliver G. Waggoner, John W. Garnett, Isaac Caldwell, William C. Wagley, Timoleon Cravens, Isaac Caldwell, Sinclair Wheat, and numerous others.
Sinclair Wheat, former deputy clerk under Wm. Caldwell, was elected in 1851, 1854 and 1858; his deputies included Junius Caldwell, James Garnett, John W. Butler, and Benjamin F. Wheat.
John W. Butler was elected in August 1862 and 1866; his deputies included James T. Page, John Irvine Page, and R.L. Reynolds.
George W. Nell was elected in 1870 and died February 1876 of consumption. He served as 1st Lieutenant in 2nd Battery KY Light Artillery in the Civil War and was an Internal Revenue agent for a time after the war.
William Frank Neat was elected August 1874, served one term Mont Cravens was elected in 1878 and L.B. Hurt in 1882. Marshall H. Marcum was elected in 1886 and 1890, followed by Thomas R. Stults in 1894, 1898, 1902 and 1906.
Walker Bryant was elected in November 1909 and 1913; S.C. Neat in November 1917, 1921, and 1925.
William Ernest Harris was elected in 1929, 1933, 1937 and 1941; H.B. Taylor in 1945, 1949, 1953 and 1957. He was followed in office by Robert M. "Bob" White who elected in 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977 and 1981. Joyce Coffey Rodgers, long-time deputy clerk to Mr. White, was elected in 1985, 1989, and 1993. Her deputy, Ann Melton, now Adair County Judge Executive, was elected to the Clerk's office in 1997.
CLERK'S OFFICE
William Caldwell, Clerk of the Court, was allowed by the Court to remove all the papers of his office, which was judged too small, to a room in the house he owned and it was to be considered the Clerk's Office, as of May 1825,
In November 1826 the Court ordered construction of a new Clerk's Office on the Public Square at the northeast end of the Courthouse. It was to be built with a stone foundation, raised 18 inches above the "common surface of the ground" with brick walls, one story high, 35 feet long and 20 feet wide, with the suitable height one partition wall in the middle of the building, two out doors on the northwest side and a suitable number of windows two chimneys, one at each end with a fire place in each. All further particulars were to be submitted to John Smith, James Allen, Joseph A. Morrison, Joseph G. Walker and William Caldwell, who were appointed commissioners to contract for the building. Construction price was to be restricted to $800 over and above the price of the old office, one-half of which was to be levied at the Court of Claims of 1827 the balance in 1828. The office was to be completed on or before the 1st day of January 1828. The old office was to be rated at $500 in the contract. After all this planning, the Court waved the order in November 1826 and chose to purchase the house and lot, number 33 in the town plat, property of Clayton Miller, for the sum of $1,000, one half to be levied in the fall of 1827, payable in 1828 and the other half to be levied in the year 1828, payable in 1829. The old Clerk's Office was to be sold.
Caldwell was ordered in May 1827 to "remove the records and papers of his office to the house purchased by the Court from Clayton Miller..." The old Clerk's Office was sold at public sale in October to William Caldwell for of $110 on a credit of two years. In October 1828 the Court record states, "It appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the Clerk's Office is insecure in consequence of having no shutters to the windows and of one of the hearths being two small, it is therefore ordered that Parker C. Harden and Wm. Caldwell... have the repairs done..."
By mid-1838 the county was in need of a new, larger Clerk's Office and one was constructed. The Court ordered payment in October to William Trabue in the sum of $200, part of the cost of said office. James Ewing was ordered to "expose for sale" the contents of the old Clerk's Office in Nov 1838. William and George A. Caldwell made promissory notes for $61.50 for materials of the old office in January 1839.