Population

The following table shows the population of Wmson Co at the end of each decade of ten years, beginning with 1840, the first year after the county was organized

Prior to the civil war a large majority of the people had been Democratic. In 1844, it is said, there were 4 abolitionists in the county, and 300 Whigs, the balance of the voters being Democrats. In 1856, in the first presidential campaign in the which the Republican party participated, Griffin Garland made the first Republican speech in the county, and Col Ben L Wiley, Republican candidate for Congress, received 44 votes in the county. The Republicans gradually increased in numbers, and during the war a great change in political sentiment took place, so that at the election, in 1865, after the soldiers returned home, the Republican party carried the county for the first time; and since then it has been carried on different occasions by both parties. At the present writing the county officers are all Republicans.

County Commissioners' Court

The election of the officers, and the formation of the county commissioners court of Wmson Co, has been given in the previous chapter, and the law creating this court, the time of holding sessions, and its jurisdiction, has been fully set forth in previous pages of the history of Franklin Co, and will not be repeated here. The following is a list of county commissioners composing this court from its formation in 1839 to 1849, when a change was made by law in its organization and duties, viz: Cyrus Campbell 1839-41; Sterling hill 1839-41; Frederick F Duncan 1839-42; Joab Goodall 1841-45; John N Calvert 1841-47; John T Damron 1842-45; Sterling HIll 1845-49; Joel Norris 1845-49; David Norman 1847-49. In accordance with the constitution of 1848, the county commissioners court ceased to exist in 1849, and the "county court", composed of a county judge and 2 associate justices, was required to meet on the first Mondays of Dec, Mar, Jun and Sept of each year to transact the county business and to preform all the duties of the former county commissioners court. The county court, composed of the judge only, was to convene on the first Mondays of each month, except in the months of Dec, Mar, Jun and Sept, and in those months on the 3rd Mondays. This then made two courts under the name of "county court", the one composed of the judge only, and the other of the judge and 2 associates. These courts continued to preform their respective functions util another change was made in 1873, under the provisions of the constitution of 1872, when the court consisting of the judge and the 2 associates was abolished and the county commissioners court as it now exists was organized. The county court composed of the judge only continued and still continues to hold its monthly sessions.

The following is a list of the names of the county judges who have served since 1849: WM Eubanks 1849-55; David Norman 1855-65; JW Lewis 1865-66, Jesse Bishop 1866-69; James M Spain 1869-73; Jesse Bishop 1873-77; George W Young 1877-82; James M Washburn 1882-86; WW Duncan present incumbent, elected in 1886. The following is a list of names of the associate justices who served as a part of the county court for the transaction of the county business from 1849 to 1873; Jacob Norris & RL Puley 1849-57; Thomas Scurlock & Thomas D Davis 1857-61: John Brown 1861-62; Jonathon Norman 1861-65; Thomas Scurlock 1862-65; Addison Reese 1865-69; Wm M Hindman 1865-69; John H Manier & Bazzel Holland 1869-73. The following is a list of the names of the county commissioners who served from 1873 to the present writing; MS Strike 1873-76; CM Bidwell 1873-78; RH Wise 1873-77; James P Roberts 1876-79; John Scoby 1877-83; Thomas J Throgmorton 1878-82; Hugh M Richart 1879-83; Thomas J Throgmorton 1878-82; Hugh M Richart 1879-83; Griffin J Baker 1882-85; R Borton 1883-86; MM Chamness 1883-85, JF Mayer & HH Stanley 1885, and BF Felts 1886, present incumbents.

Back