The First Election

The First Election was held for county officers under the immediate direction of Chief Justice James Tracy Morehead, of Tarrant County, who now, upward of seventy years of age, resides on Grape Vine Prairie. Robert Porter, upward of eighty years of age, and a resident of Grindstone Creek, Parker County, was elected chief justice. He died in May, 1877. John H. Prince was elected county clerk; Joshua Barker, sheriff; John Parker (brother of Isaac,) William B. Hays, Hill Walker, and William B. Fondren, county commissioners. These gentlemen served until the regular state election for similar officers in August, 1856, when John Matlock, now 68 years of age, a resident of Ennis, Ellis County, was elected chief justice; J. H. Prince, county clerk; William M. Green, district clerk; Samuel Barber, treasurer; Robert P. Baker, sheriff; and John Parker, William B. Fondren, James Kidwell and A. B. Smith county commissioners. Of the foregoing, Joshua Barker, a general trader, moved to Los Angelos, California, in 1860; John Parker, W. B. Fondren, James Kidwell and W. B. Kidwell are deceased; William B. Hays, 72 years old, lives on Walnut Creek; William M. Green resides on the Clear Fork; Samuel R. Barber, 69 years old, lives four miles west from Weatherford; R. P. Baker, lives in Fannin County, and A. B. Smith, aged 56, lives on Walnut Creek.
Historical sketch of Parker County and Weatherford, Texas . By Henry Smythe.  Published by Louis C. Lavat, St. Louis, 1877 [Transcribed and Submitted by

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