Description
The Allen County Bar Foundation announces the release of its new book: A History of the Allen County, Indiana Bar and Courts 1824-2019. It covers the county’s beginnings in 1824 to the present.
It starts with the story of creating a new county in 1824. It was alone in the northeastern corner of the state of Indiana, starting as a lonely fort and fur trading post with no
other counties for a hundred miles. It was reachable only by its rivers and narrow trails.
Only two lawyers and a few knowledgeable citizens were available to start the new government. It would take almost a year for the first circuit riding judge to arrive to hold court. In the meantime, two local citizens were elected as side judges. They would hold court until his arrival.
Circuit riding judges would continue to serve the county until 1875. The story of circuit riding is told with its dangers of riding horseback through swamps and fording rivers. Circuit riding lawyers would accompany the circuit judge. The county would grow, the population would increase, and new lawyers would arrive. The light of this small community in the forest would grow into the bright light of a great county and city.
The story includes murder trials, lawlessness, hangings, a possible war between two Irish gangs, and the first U.S. murder trial using DNA evidence. Not to be ignored is the history of women lawyers in the county, stories of the old city court and the colorful justice of the peace courts.
This history is a publication of the Allen County Bar Foundation, Inc. devoted to promoting the public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
The book was edited and compiled by attorney Donald D. Doxsee. Mr. Doxsee is a practicing attorney in Fort Wayne and past president of the Allen County Bar Association. He has served as a Deputy Indiana Attorney General and as part-time faculty at the Indiana-Purdue University Campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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