Court Cases

One of the ongoing projects at the genealogy library is flat folding the 1900-1960 circuit court files, getting them ready to be microfilmed. We have been working on this since last fall. My main task is to proof the files after they have been processed--unfolded, put in order in a folder and the plaintiff/defendant listed as well as cause of action. I have to be sure that names are spelled correctly, pages are indeed in order, cause of action is correct, and any pertinent information is listed and how many pages are in each folder. Eventually I will be putting this information into a database that will be available to researchers. It's a very interesting project and some of the cases are hilarious, while some are very sobering and sad. We have processed railroad cases where people are suing the railroad because of shipping problems. I read one case where someone was shipping horses and the railroad forgot to hook the car to the train. Another train went by and the sparks from the wheels started a fire in the car with the horses. And then there are the cases where a railroad worker was killed on the job, or a passenger was hurt. There was even a case where the railroad was being sued because it had closed a depot for a few days. Of course there are a lot of liquor violations--and with prohibition of the 30's we are seeing a lot of "hootch" and "moonshine". We have several search warrants where the court is looking for stills. These cases give us a glimpse of what the past was like. We have murder cases, prostitution (bawdy houses), divorces, and lots of cases dealing with land ownership. I have somewhere around 12 boxes of files that are to proof and more are added each week. I have already done at least 25 boxes. Each box holds approximately 100 folders. After proofing the files are sorted by years so I have boxes sitting everywhere. It's definitely a work in progress!

Now, what's so important about this project. It's a gold mine for the genealogist. I now have proof that my great great grandfather Stiles was a Justice of the Peace for Polk County. I have the actual signatures of my great grandfather Mann, gr. gr. grandfather Stiles and of a grandmother's uncle. I have a copy of a deposition given by my great grandfather Mann in a case as well as other cases concerning my ancestry. (None of it bad, by the way! No bootleggers have been found--yet!) It's just another piece of history coming to life.