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Nevada
Genealogy Trails
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History
Nevada's most valuable asset is her men
The land of sand and sagebrush is a land of real men. There was just as much gold in Nevada's craggy brown hills at the beginning of time as there is today. It was men she needed — men of the pick and pan to wrest from her secret treasure vaults the yellow dust for which the world is clamoring; men of brain, men of brawn, men of courage, real argonauts.
Such men she has today. Men of Nevada are making history and making it faster than the men of any other country or of any other era. Sons of her soil and sons of her adoption are working together for her good.
A few years ago the United States was bewailing the fate of Nevada and deploring the decrease of her population.
Today not only the United States, but the whole world is looking on with a marveling eye as she grows. Who are the men behind her growth? the world is asking. "
Who's Who in Nevada" is the answer to the question. An effort has been made to have the book authentic in every particular, and to include in it only the men of real achievement; the men who have been tried and who have not been found wanting.
Source:
Who's who in Nevada: Brief Sketches of Men who are Making History in the Sagebrush State
By Bessie Beatty
Published by Home printing company, 1907
Contributed by Barbara Z
Courts Under Nevada Territory
President Lincoln appointed as Governor of the Territory of Nevada, James W. Nye, of New York, who had previously been a lawyer and a judge of distinction in his native state. Governor Nye arrived at Carson, the capital of the new Territory, July 8, 1861, and nine days later the Governor divided the Territory into three judicial districts. President Lincoln appointed as Chief Justice of the new Territory, Hon. George Turner and as associate justices, Hon. Gordon N. Mott and Hon. Horatio M. Jones. Their salary was fixed at $1,800. The first session of the Territorial Supreme Court was held at Carson, June 2, 1862. With the exception of a recital of two cases which appeared upon the calendar — People v. Mayfield and Grigsby v. Rice — the following are the minutes of the court for that day :
" Supreme Court of the Territory of Nevada, June Term, A. D. 1862. 1st day, Monday, June 2. Be it remembered, that at a regular term of the Supreme Court of Nevada Territory, begun and held at Carson City, the Capital of said Territory, on this 2d day of June, A. D. 1862, pursuant to Statute, there were present His Honor George Turner, Chief Justice; Gordon N. Mott and H. M. Jones, Associate Justices ; J. McC. Reardan, Clerk, and Y. D. Gasherie, Sheriff, and that thereupon the following proceedings were had, to-wit : " Ordered, that Jos. G. Baldwin, G. W. North, Wm. M. Stewart, J. R. McConnell, Ralston, Jonas Seely, S. F. Gilcrist, T. B. Reardan, Thomas E. Hayden, G. D. Hall, Horace Smith, H. P. Clayton, W. H. Lindsey, Wm. Patterson, J. J. Foster, A. W. Baldwin, J. Neely Johnson, J. J. Musser and Chas. H. S. Williams, be and they are hereby admitted as attorneys and counsellors and solicitors in Chancery of this Court. "On motion, it was by the Court ordered that Messrs. Jos. G. Baldwin, T. B. Reardan and Chas. H. S. Williams be and they are hereby appointed a Committee to draft and report rules for the government of proceedings in this Court. On motion, it was by the Court ordered that Judge Ralston, Wm. M. Stewart and C. H. Bryan be and they are hereby appointed a Committee to examine _______McBride as to his qualifications to be admitted as an Attorney and Counsellor at Law and Solicitor in Chancery of this Court. Ordered, that Court adjourn until June 3d, 1862, at 9 o'clock A. M." The Territorial Judges were destined to have a stormy career. The following account of the Territorial courts is from the pen of Judge C. N. Harris, twice a District Judge under the State government. (Thompson and West's History of Nevada, 1881.) " The Governor divided the Territory into three judicial districts and assigned the judges as follows:
" First Judicial District — The County of Carson, including all that portion of Nevada lying west of the n8th degree of longitude west from Greenwich ; Gordon N. Mott, Judge.
" Second Judicial District — All that portion of the Territory lying between the njth and mth degrees of longitude; George Turner, Judge.
" Third Judicial District — All that portion of the Territory lying east of the i I7th degree of longitude ; Horatio M. Jones, Judge."
Source: History of Nevada (1913)
Contributed by Janice Rice
First County Organization
Utah Legislature Creates Several New
Counties — County Judges Elected — The Book of Records — Carson River Toll
Bridge — Amendment of Land
Laws — Act Creating Carson County — Mormons Defy All Law — Buchanan Sends Army.
The first county organization was effected in 1852. Utah by an act of legislature creating on March 3 several
new counties and defining their boundaries. There were seven in what is
now Nevada, California forming their
west line, what is still Utah the eastern limits, and the north and south boundaries parallel lines running
east and west. The name of Weber county was chosen for the division
farthest north: Desert came next,
and on the south lay Tooele, the three comprising one hundred and fifty-six miles of the north
end of Nevada. The most of
what is now Washoe and all of Storey county was included in the next division, which was
about thirty-six miles wide and was
named Juab. Millard was the name given to the next strip south which
which was about fifty miles wide; it included most of Walker's Lake and
all of what is now known as
the counties of Douglas and Ormsby. Two counties of equal size were formed of the
balance of the territory. Iron and
Washington, the latter bounded on the south by the thirty-seventh
parallel of north latitude,
which was at that time the south line of Utah.
Judges for these counties were elected by the Territorial Legislature in February of that year, to each serve
four years, as follows: For Weber and Deseret counties, Isaac Clark; for
Tooele county, Alfred Lee; for Juab
county, George Bradley; for Millard county, Anson Call; for Iron and Washington counties, Chapman Duncon.
THE BOOK OF RECORDS.
In a little book of records
containing only sixty leaves all records were kept, and fortunately for posterity
it was preserved by Mart Gaige, of Carson City. In it was recorded all
meetings, entry of land claims, and in fact all public transactions. This shows
that the first land claim was recorded by John Reese on December 1. 1852, a
one-fourth section extending from
Mormon Station south to a lone tree, including all between the mountain
base and Carson river. On the
same day one-fourth section claims were tiled by W. Byrnes, E. L. Barnard, S. A.
Kinsey, James C. Fain, J. Brown, all to the north of Reese; J. H. Scott on
the same day recorded a half section to the south of Reese. These were the only
claims recorded in that year.
The first toll road grant was accorded to John Reese and Israel Mott on December 1, 1852. It was to be a toll
road bridge on Carson river, and
they were to repair the road up the mountain also. They asked for a five years' franchise and secured it,
promising to expend one thousand dollars on the work before July 1st.
For the benefit of the Mormons a mail route was established by the government in 1852 between Salt Lake,
Utah, and San Bernardino, California. To Mormons was awarded the contract for
carrying the mail. In order
to place a supply station near the Potosi lead mine which they had determined to work, Brigham Young
established a post at Los Vegas Spring, in what is now the south end of
Nevada, on the old Spanish trail. The post was not abandoned by the Mormons
until after the Mountain Meadow
massacre in September. 1875.
LAWS ARE AMENDED.
The next meeting of citizens was
called on March 21st. J. II. Scott acting as presiding officer and F. G.
Barnard as secretary. The laws previously made were amended so that all parties in
order to hold land had to
first file a notice with the recorder and then put one hundred dollars
in improvements
on the land within sixty days. To make the title good either owner or
agent had to -occupy the land, and an absence of thirty days canceled all claims. A single person
could take up three hundred and twenty acres, a man of family six hundred
and forty; all land disputes were to be settled by arbitration or by the
jury of actual settlers. The recording fee was reduced to five dollars.
On May 27, 1854. the citizens again assembled. J. L. Gary officiating as chairman and M. G. Lewis as secretary.
At this meeting a resolution was
adopted whereby it was provided that although every settler should have water sufficient for household
purposes, yet it must not be diverted from its original channels and when more
than one lived on the banks of the
same stream they should share the water according to the acres
cultivated, each using it on
alternate days when water was not abundant.
ACT CREATING CARSON COUNTY.
Carson county was created by an act
passed by the Territorial Legislature of Utah on January 17. 1854, reading as
follows:
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah: That all that
portion of country bounded north by Deseret county: east by the parallel of
longitude 118; south by the boundary
line of the Territory; and west by California, is hereby included within the limits of Carson county, and
until organized is attached to Millard county for election, revenue, and
judicial purposes.
Section 2. The Governor is hereby authorized to appoint a probate judge for said county, when he shall deem
it expedient ; and said probate judge, when appointed, shall proceed to
organize said county, by dividing the county into precincts, and causing an
election to be held according to law, to fill the various county and
precinct offices, and locate the county seat thereof.
Carson county included within its boundries all of what is now Ormsby, Washoe, Douglas, Storey, and Lyon
counties, with half of Esmeralda, three-fourths of Churchill and a portion
of southwestern Humboldt. The
second day after creating the county, the legislature divided Utah into three judicial districts, Carson
being the third, Hon. George P. Styles. United States Judge for Utah Territory,
being selected to preside over it The fact that the new county was entitled
to representation in the legislature caused Weber county to lose a member of
the legislature. The Governor
having appointed Orson Hyde, a Mormon elder, probate judge of Carson county, he left Salt Lake to
occupy the position on May 17. 1855.
He was accompanied by Judge Styles, United States Marshal Joseph L. Haywood and Enoch Reese, of the firm of
J. and E. Reese & Company and
an escort of thirty-five men. They reached Mormon Station on June 15th, and before fall many other Mormons
had followed them into Carson county.The
officers elected to serve first in Carson county were : sheriff, James C. Fain; surveyor, Henry W. Niles;
prosecuting attorney, Charles D. Daggett; treasurer, Richard D. Sides;
assessor and collector, Charles D. Daggett; clerk, Henry W. Niles (the latter
not being appointed until October 2nd): constable, H. M. Hodges; constable,
James A. Williams, bonds six hundred
dollars; Nicholas Ambrosia, justice of the peace, was not able to write and signed his name with his mark.
Henry Van Sickle, another justice
of the peace, was placed under one thousand dollar bonds. On December 3. 1855. James McMarfin was
appointed justice of the peace for Gold Canyon. Henry D. Sears, William P.
Allen and James McMarlin were
the selectmen, each being under one thousand dollar bonds. . This organized the county.
MORMONS IN MAJORITY.
The next move was to settle upon the
agricultural part of the country, and accordingly a party of Mormons left
Salt Lake for Carson county on May
7, 1856. Enough others followed to place the Mormons in the majority, and at the election the 4th of
August following, the following Mormons were elected: recorder. Richard
Bentley ; sheriff, Russell Kelley; surveyor, Richard Bentley ; selectmen,
William Nixon and Permens Jackman;
justice of the peace, Chester Loveland; constables, Nelson Merkley and Seth Dustin. On December ist Charles
D. Daggett was appointed assessor,
collector and treasurer.
In this year the Mormons had become so hostile to the government of the United States that an armed mob of
them had driven the United States
district judge not only from the bench but from the territory. They defied all laws, and murders committed by
them were frequent. Wherever the
Mormons were in the majority there terror reigned. Carson county was the exception. Finally things reached
such a chaotic stage that President Buchanan was compelled to send a small
army under General A. Sydney
Johnston to Salt Lake in order to uphold the government's supremacy. Brigham Young termed this small force an
"armed mob of Gentiles" and
promptly called upon his followers to defend their stronghold, Salt Lake City, against the advance of the men
under Captain Johnston.
To further the projects of the Mormons the legislature of Utah on
January 14, 1857, enacted the
following law, directed against Carson county :
Said county is allowed to retain its present organization so far as county recorder, surveyor, precincts,
and precinct officers are concerned, and may continue to elect those officers
in accordance with the existing arrangements and laws, until further
directed by Great Salt Lake county court or legislative enactment. "
Section 5. — The record books, papers and blanks, and seals, both of
prolxite and county courts, shall be delivered over to the order of the
probate
court of Great Salt Lake county."
In accordance with this mandate Judge
Chester Loveland adjourned the
county court on April I3th until the first Monday in the following June, but it was not until September 3.
1860, that this branch of the judiciary was again in session.
Source: A History of the State of Nevada By Thomas Wren, Lewis
Publishing Company 1904
Contributed by Barbara Z
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