Transcribed and donated by Barb Ziegermeyer

Upon the formation of the new State June 20, 1863, the Board of Supervisors became the governing authority in the County, taking the place of the County Court system in all matters except that it had no civil or criminal jurisdiction, and that the recording of deeds, wills, settlement of estates, issuing of marriage licenses &c. were placed in the hands of a new official known as the Recorder instead of the Clerk of the County Court as formerly composing a probate Court.

This Board was composed of one member from each County District, which was designated as a township there being ten in the County.

At the organization of this Board James Denham of Eagle District was chosen President and John Hursey Clerk.

In order to fill Harrison County's quota of men drafted for the war then going on bonds were voted in 1864 to raise funds to offer bounty to recruits.

The supervisors disbursed this fund and paid each soldier three hundred dollars who enlisted under the call.

The last meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held on Monday, December 12, 1872.

Present: John D. Blair, President and Messrs. Wm. R. Alexander, James A. Wood, David M. Shinn, Samuel L. Boring, Thomas M. Hornor, A. L. Hustead and Jacob Cork.

The last orders entered returned thanks to the President John D. Blair and Clerk V. P. Chapin for the efficient manner in which they had performed their respective duties.

A. L. Hustead delivered a valedictory address to the board of this its last session.

The Board adjourned sine die.  
 

By an Act of the Legislature approved February 8, 1909, a Criminal Court was established for Harrison County the term of office being fixed at four years and the Governor being authorized to appoint the first Judge until his successor should be elected at the November election in 1912.

Honorable Haymond Maxwell was appointed Judge May 7, 1909 and held his first term June 1,1909.

The Grand Jury was composed as follows: Foreman, Orie McConkey and Walter S. Hursay, John Stuart, John Q. Harrison, Amos Carter, William Sommerville, William M. Smith, Benjamin Orr, John Lewis, John D. McReynolds, Charles A. Short, James H. Mines, Daniel L. Hall, Carl L. Hornor, Charles Hickman and James Bumgardner.

The following named Attorneys were admitted to practice: Taney Harrison, W. Scott, E. G. Smith, Homer W. Williams, Felix G. Sutton, James E. Law, Clarence B. Speny, Ernest D. Lewis, Elmer F. Goodwin, Carl W. Neff, James W. Robinson, Fred L. Shinn, John G. Southern, Osman E. Swartz, Thomas Ramage, Henry J. James, Frank M. Powell, S. E. W. Burnsides, Louis A. Carr, Millard F. Snider, Harvey W. Har-mer, Harvey F. Smith, Alexander C. Moore, Dabney C. Lee, W. Frank Stout, Claude W. Gore, Reuben S. Douglass, J. O. T. Tidier, W. M. Conaway, Haze Morgan, William H. Taylor, Homer Strossnider and Harry R. Downs.

As stated elsewhere the County Court after its first meeting at the house of George Jackson July 20, 1784, held its next session at the house of Hezekiah Davisson in Clarksburg on the third Tuesday in the following month of August, and it is supposed continued to meet there for several years.

On the 21st February, 1787, the Court directed that the sheriff advertise for sale the building of the Court House, to the lowest bidder at the next term of the Court.

On the 21st. of March, 1787, Thomas Barkley and John Reed who are designated as the undertakers, with Nicholas Carpenter and John McCal-ley, securities for the undertakers, came into Court and entered into a bond for £369, which was to be canceled by building a Court House agreeable to a plan delivered to them, which plan is in words and figures following:

We, the subscribers being appointed by the Court of the County of Harrison to prepare a plan of the Court House proposed to be built in said County, which is as followeth: (as will appear by the draft hereunto annexed) it is to be set upon nine pillars of stone to be built in the following manner to wit: as the house is to be thirty six feet long by twenty six feet wide, there is to be a pillar of stone well built with lime and sand mortar under each corner, the foundation of which shall be two feet below the surface of the earth and eight feet above, each pillar to be three by two feet square, done in a workmanlike manner and pointed with like mortar as above said: there is likewise a pillar to be under the middle of each of the foundations sills of the frame of the same depth in the ground, height above ground made of the same materials, and of the dimensions as the first four, the ninth pillar shall be under the middle of the summer in the midst of the building, to be everyway made as the other above mentioned pillars.

Upon these pillars the house is to be set of framed work in the following manner to-wit, to be made of good sound oak timber well framed together, of scantling of the following dimensions to wit: the side sills to be ten inches square, and the end sills to be 13 by 10 inches square, the lower summer to be ten inches square, the posts to be so long that there will be 12 feet between the floors which posts to be seven inches square and plates to be 6 inches by 5, the studs 5 by 3, the joyse 7 by 3 which is to be but two feet from center to center, the studs rafters sleepers &c to be the same distance as under the upper summer to be 10 inches by 8 and supported by two turned or well plained posts at a reasonable distance apart, the door to be neatly cased 7 1/2  feet high by three and a half wide, and a strong door hung with sufficient iron hinges, and a good lock fixed there­to, the lower floor to be neatly laid with good sound oak plank well kiln dryed one inch and 2 quarters thick, and not more than 7 inches broad, well jointed & sufficiently nailed down with double ten, the upper floor to be well laid with inch plank of poplar or oak well seasoned as above grooved and tongued, sufficiently nailed down: the seven windows (as appears by the annexed plan) to be well cased with neat sashes for the same, with 87 pains of glass properly fixed in with putty. A floor to be made above the lower floors at the end of the house under the 2 twelve light windows to be three feet broad, and a seat for the Justices 18 or 20 inches higher than said floor, with rails bannisters & steps, at each end of it. Bar for the Clerk and lawyers, a sheriff's box and Jury box five feet high, with steps to go up, and compleat stairs to go up to the Jury Room.

The said house to be covered with black or red oak lap shingles ft not less than 5/8 ths. of an inch thick, nor to show more than 15 inches in length, nor more than 4 inches in bredth, the rafters to be 5 inches by three at the but end, with collar beams, the lathes to be at least one inch thick, the house to be weatherboarded with poplar 3/4 inch plank, beeded and a quarter timber the Joyce to over-jet the walls one foot at least.

The shingles to be nailed on with 12d nails or any size that the undertaker can get larger than 10d ones and lastly strong and commodious steps to go up to the door at least 4 feet wide with a hand rail at each side.

The whole of the work to be done in a workmanlike manner and delivered at the next November Court to be held for this County. N. B. There is to be eight braces 7 by V/2 inches, the window glass to be not less than 10 inches by 8, and the two end joice to be 5 by seven inches, and the eves of the house to be boarded ready for the cornishing at a future day should it be required.

On the 22nd day of December 1789 William Haymond, Benjamin Wilson and David Hewes, commissioners appointed to settle with the undertakers or contractors for building the Court House reported that they be allowed the sum of £166 and nine shillings in Virginia Currency which amounts to about five hundred and fifty five dollars ($555) in our present money, a pound being rated at $3.331/3.

The Court thereupon received the Court House from Thomas Barkley and directed the bond to be canceled.

It appears from a petition filed with the County Court by John G. Jackson that the question of building a new Court House was agitated in 1803. In this petition he states that the people who derive the great benefits from the locality of the public buildings, ought to contribute a proportional sum to their erection, and thereby render the demand upon the people less unjust, and the most effectual way to procure this object will be to excite a competition among the holders in town.

The petitioner offers to give for the location of the new Court House one quarter of an acre in a square in any of his lots on the East side of Elk Creek provided it is not opposite his residence and four hundred dollars in money.

No action seems to have been taken at this time on this proposition and though matter was allowed to slumber for several years.

On the 21st. of May 1810 the County Court adjudged that the present Court House was insufficient and it was ordered that a new Court House be built after the plan of the one at Morgantown "excepting the wings" the building to be completed November 1st. and commissioners were appointed to contract for the same

Benjamin Wilson, Junior, donated a lot on which to build the Court House, which is described as being on Market Street with a front of ninety nine feet, and extending back Southerly one hundred and thirty two feet.

On December 10th. 1810 the minutes of the Court states that a contract had been made to build the Court House, and doubts having arisen whether the removal will be legal or not it was ordered, that the Delegates in the General Assembly be requested to use all proper means to have a law passed legalizing said removal to the land of Benjamin Wilson, Jr.

The doubt as to the legality of the removal of the Court House to the new site, was caused by the opposition of John G. Jackson and the residents of the town on the east side of the creek, which developed into a beautiful Court House fight, such as our neighboring Counties of Taylor and Randolph have since indulged in.

The petition of John G. Jackson, in part, in opposition is as follows:

A memorial to the Legislature of Virginia by John G. Jackson dated December 25, 1810, states in part,

"That your memorialists has been induced from a disregard of duty and contempt of the laws on the part of some of the Justices of Harrison County, who occasionally constitute a Court, to apply on his own behalf of the people to solicit legislative interference

At the May Term of the County Court 1810, an order was made appointing commissioners to contract with some person to build a new Court House upon the land of Benjamin Wilson, Jr., out of the established bounds of the town of Clarksburg in which the Court is now held, quantity of land not stated nor conveyance made.

Two of the contractors are Justices of the peace, and they with two others, passed an order at the last Court, asking legislative sanction of this measure.
The situation of the present Court House is preferable to that fixed by the Court, as it is more central and is opposite the jail.
At the termination of the town the road turns Northwardly eight degrees and at the corner a brick house is built six poles from the intended Court House.

The old Court House stands on the corner of the Main Street and a street leading to the public academy.

The Court has consented to remain for twenty six years as tenants at will upon the present land for no conveyance has been made except what may have passed under the order of July 1784.

He also refers to a bridge being built over Elk Creek in Clarksburg in 1807 at the extravagant price of eighteen hundred and fifty dollars.

The Court House stood on the North East corner of what is now Second and Main Streets.
Judge Jackson made the following proposition to the County Court as an inducement to locating the Court House on the East Side of the Creek:

First: To give the choice of his lots on the East Side of Elk Creek except where his dwelling house stands and five hundred dollars in money.

Second: To give the stone house and six rods of land in front and fifteen rods back, and either permit the Court to finish it as it may choose or

Third: To give the stone house and lot and engage to finish the house completely at one third of the price at which the New Court House will cost.

The lots on which the stone house stood which was proposed to be donated for the Court House, were numbered 37 and 38, as the town was originally laid off, the house was 27 by 32 feet, two stories high and constructed on the line between the two lots.

Judge Jackson's residence stood on the hill on the East side of Elk Creek on the North Side of Main Street and just East of its intersection with Maple Avenue and was a celebrated and stately mansion in its day.

It was of two stories and had four large columns extending the height of the building and supporting the roof of the porch. The front yard was ornamented by shrubbery and two large earthen mounds.

The stone building referred to stood on the opposite side of the street from the Jackson mansion and a little west of Maple Avenue.

The brick house referred to was the famous Hewes Tavern, which stood on the North East corner of Third and Main streets and subsequently occupied for many years by Lloyd Lowndes and his son Richard T. Lowndes as merchants and known as Lowndes' corner.

On January 18, 1811, the Legislature after reciting that doubts having arisen as to the legality of removing the seat of Justice of Harrison County enacted as follows:

"That as soon as Benjamin Wilson, Junior, does convey in fee simple to the Justices of the said County of Harrison and their successors the aforesaid ground, or so much thereof, as the Court shall deem sufficient for the purpose, the contractors shall proceed to build and finish the same, and when completed agreeably to said contract it shall be lawful for the Courts of said County to be holden therein."

In compliance with this act Benjamin Wilson, Jr., on March 22, 1811, conveyed to the Justices of Harrison County the lot in Clarksburg described as lying on the South Side of Market Street twenty seven feet west of the North West Corner of said Wilson's brick store house and of the dimensions given above, and thus happily ended the Court House controversy.

The contract price for this new temple of justice was thirty seven hundred dollars ($3700) and was to be levied for during the years 1810, 1811 and 1812. The contractors were Allison Clark, John Smith and Daniel Morris.

The levy for the purchase of the bell was made at the June Term 1811. It cost two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00) and was purchased at Pittsburgh. It is still doing duty in the service of the municipal authorities as an alarm bell, and sounding the curfew for the youngsters to retire to their homes.

The plans of this Court House cannot be found. It was a two story brick building surmounted by a graceful cupola and had a front of about thirty five or forty feet.

The front door opened directly into the Court Room. A stairway led from the room to the jury rooms overhead and was heated by two enormous coal grates placed on the East and West sides of the building.

The Clerk's offices were two small one story buildings one on each side and on a line with the front of the Main building, the County Court Clerk's office being located on the West and the Circuit Clerk's on the East side, and this arrangement has continued until the present day.

These offices were not built at the time the main building was constructed, but several years afterwards.

Both of these office buildings had a door opening out into the Court House yard, but had no means of communicating with the main building except through the front door.

At the June term of the Court 1813 it is stated that the seat of Justice has been removed and directs that the quarter acre lot on which the former Court House had stood revert back to its former owner Daniel Davisson.

At the July Term 1813 commissioners were appointed to sell the old Court House building to the highest bidder after ten days notice, payment to me made November 1st.

The date on which the new building was completed and occupied is not accurately known, but from the fact that Court was held in it in 1813, and that the bell was purchased in 1811, the inference is that it was ready for occupancy in 1812.

This building stood for more than forty years and during that time many distinguished and eloquent lawyers and able jurists appeared at its bar or sat upon its bench.

The whipping post which stood to the rear of the Court House was a large trunk of a tree planted firmly in the ground with two large iron rings, one on each side, through which the culprits arms were passed so as to embrace the post and permit his wrists to be tied on the opposite side.

In 1853 a mandamus was issued by the Circuit Court directing the County Court to build a new Court House.

In July of that year a contract was entered into with James P. Bartlett to construct a Court House on the site of the old one, to be completed by December 1, 1854, at a cost not to exceed eight thousand dollars ($8000) which sum was to be levied for in the years 1854, 1855, and 1856.

The old stone house that stood on the North side of Main Street at the intersection of Second Street was rented for Court purposes until the new building was completed. The rent commenced on May 15, 1854, at the rate of $400 a year. Colonel Richard Fowkes was the owner and rented it to the County.
Early in the year 1856 the Courts resumed their sessions at the old stand but in the new building.

This building was two stories high with a hall opening out of which in to the Jury rooms on the second floor. At the end of the hall was a were doors leading to the Clerk's Offices and a stairway on each side lead-door opening into a large Court room, which was used by both the Circuit Court and County Courts.

On April 10, 1885, the County Court entered an order declaring that
the present Court House is not suitable for Court House purposes and
orders the construction of a new one according to plans and specifications
hereafter to be decided upon.  

At a Court held on January 10, 1887, the contract for the construction of a new building was let to George W. L. Mayers of Fairmont for the sum of forty six thousand six hundred and fifty dollars ($46,650,) according to the plans and specifications furnished by George W. Bunting the sum to be levied for during the years 1886, 1887 and 1888, the work to be completed by October 1st. 1888.

This building is still in use (1909) and at the time of its completion was the most elaborate and costly one constructed by the County.

The Hotel building in which Courts were held during the building of the new court house stood on the corner of Third and Main Streets just east of the present Court House, and was for many years conducted by James P. Bartlett and was a famous hostelry in its day. It was purchased by the County from the heirs of Lloyd Lowndes in 1885 and is now a portion of the public grounds.

In chancery order book No. 14 page 96 following the adjourning order of the term of the Circuit Court held January 29,1887, by Judge Fleming is entered the following note, evidently by the Clerk.

"This was the last term of Court held in the Court House built prior to the late war and about the year 1853 or 1854. And on the 21st. day of February, 1887, the books, records and papers of both clerks' offices were transferred to the building known as the Commercial Hotel, formerly the Bartlett House, just East of said Court House, as a temporary Court House.
In law order book No. 21 page 456 following the adjourning order of a special term of the Circuit Court held December 20, 1888, by Judge Alpheus F. Haymond is entered the following note:
"New Court House.

It is hereby entered as a matter of history that on the 7th. day of December 1888 the books, papers and records of both offices of this County were removed from the offices in the temporary Court House to which they were taken on the 21st. day of February 1887 as noted on page 96 of Chancery order book No. 14 to the new Court House in process of completion, and on this day December 20, 1888, was held the first term of the Circuit Court of this County in the new Court House, the Court sitting in the room or chamber set apart for the County Court on the first floor of the building.

For several years after the organization of the County the Clerk's office was probably kept in a corner of the Court room

On October 18, 1803 an appropriation of Sixty Dollars was made by the County Court towards the building of a Clerk's office, according to a plat of the prison bounds made April 8, 1812 this office was situated on the south side of Main Street forty rods west of the intersection of Third Street.

After the building of the new Court House and the establishing of the Circuit and Chancery Courts in Clarksburg on June 21, 1815, all appropriation of $600.00 was made to build two Clerks offices to be attached to the Court House on the public grounds as above described.

The first jail built by the County stood opposite the Court House on the South side of Main Street at the corner of Second Street where the Presbyterian Church now stands, and was built according to the following plan in 1785:

Building to be twenty by fifteen feet in dimensions, a partition to be taken off at one end 8J4 ft. in the clear, story 9 feet high. The foundation to be of stone 2j4 ft. thick and eighteen inches under ground, the floor to be of round or split logs to be shingled with red oak shingles.

One outer door and one inner door leading into the small room to be made of four inch oak plank.

The whole to be built of green oak timber the logs to be round. By an order of the County Court of March 18, 1785.

John Prunty was given the contract at the price of nineteen pounds and fifteen shillings, which in our present coinage is equal to $65.83 1/3.

The County Court at the June Term of 1796 appointed George Jackson, William Martin, Benjamin "Wilson and William Haymond as commissioners to prepare plans and specifications for a new jail on or near the site of the old one.

The dimensions were 35 by 20 feet and the walls to be built of stone 2 1/2  feet thick, 2 1/2 feet under ground and three feet thick below the surface ; partition walls 2 feet thick and one foot under ground; the floor to be of scantling eight inches thick and laid close, height of ceiling nine feet, debtors room to be 14 by 15 feet, criminal room to be 8 by 15 feel The length and front to be in full front with the Main Street and the Westerly end to be in full front with the cross street.

On July 18, 1796 John Black was awarded the contract at the price of $986.50 and the building as near as can be ascertained was completed the following year.

The third jail, and the first one with a sheriff's residence attached, was ordered to be built at the June Term 1816, and one thousand dollars was appropirated for that purpose.

This building was constructed on the public property in the rear of the new Court House and practically on the site of the present jail (1909) and Sheriff's residence, and fronted on what is now Mechanic Street.

It was two stories high and built of stone. At the November Term 1824 a stone wall twelve feet high ran from about the middle of the North Side of the building one hundred feet North and thence West to the side street, thence southerly to the coiner of the jail wall. This enclosure was used as an exercise ground for the prisoners.

The Fourth jail was built on the site of the third one and set a few feet back from the street and was a two story brick building, a pretentious looking structure. The sheriff's residence was in front and the prison portion in the rear, and it was necessary to pass through the front door and hall of the residence part of the building to reach the entrance to the portion containing the cells.

This building was built by the Board of Supervisors about the year 1869 and 1870.

The County Court on July 2,1901 directed that a new jail and Sheriff's residence should be built and that plans and specifications be prepared for the future consideration of the Court.

At a subsequent meeting the plan of Holmboes and Lafferty, Architects, were approved.

On December 21, 1904 the Court awarded a contract for the construction of the main buildings to Elliott & Winchell of Zanesville, Ohio, which including iron work and fixtures, for which separate contracts were made with other firms, aggregated the sum of $75,566.60.

By subsequent alterations and changes the cost of the building exceeded this sum.

The structure stands in the rear of the Court House and is of massive stone work, well constructed and fitted with the most modern of prison appliances. The Sheriff's residence fronts on Third Street and is a handsome residence, and the entire buildings are the most expensive the County has so far constructed.