COUNTY HISTORY
Directory of Old Burlington Court – The First Marriage No. 7
Ironton Register, Jan. 15, 1902
Hammond Howe finished the Burlington courthouse and received his pay on August 6, 1839, at a special session of the county commissioners. C. Scoville and Richard Jones.
March 5, 1839. Report of survey of Proctor store and Patriot road by an act of the legislature of February 23, 1838: Joshua Louk, Charles Neal, and Winchester Wakefield, commissioners to lay out said road. Ordered recorded by C. Scoville, R. Jones, and S. Reckerd.
In 1837 the following persons were taxed for their professions: Solomon Beckley, as a lawyer, $4; John H. Wells, as a lawyer, $1; John S. Kelvy as ________ $___. R. M. McDowell, as a doctor, $4; Dr. Brown, $4; Dr. Case, $4; Dr. Hollingsworth, $4. (The reason for the difference in assessing is not stated.)
The county directory in 1821 contained the following list of officers: Court – Hon. Ezra Osburn, president; Judges John Davidson, William Miller, and Gabriel Kerr, associate; Joseph Wheeler, clerk pro tem; Joseph Davidson, sheriff; Solomon Beckley, attorney at law; William G. Robinson, recorder; William Carpenter, the surveyor (by appointment); justices of the peace – Fayette, Daniel Brubaker, Thomas Kerr, and Solomon Beckley; Union, Thomas Templeton, and Edward Miller; Rome, Joel Bowen, and Jacob Miller; Windsor, Peter Wakefield, and Bazil Lewis; Symmes, David Spurlock; Mason, Jacob Powell, and Henry Spear; Lawrence, Jas. Webb and Elias Webb; Upper, Peter Lionbarger, John Kelly; Elizabeth, Thomas Triggs, and Andrew Wolfe.
At this time, Burlington, the county seat, had two stores, three taverns, one English school, one hatter’s shop, one blacksmith shop, one tailor, five carpenters, two tanners, and a horizontal flour mill propelled by oxen. There were 685 voters in the county. Thomas Kerr, postmaster at Burlington, and Thomas Waller, at Portsmouth, were the only postmasters in the two counties. The population of Portsmouth at this time was 570.
The clerk used the same book in which court records were kept for his licenses and affidavits, but he turned it upside down and commenced in the back part for these matters of record.
The first justice of the peace for Lawrence county was James Webb. The same day Webb was sworn in, Joseph Davidson made an oath to perform the duties of county commissioner. This was on the 12 days of April 1817. Joel Bowen and David Spurlock were the other two commissioners.
Photo of Harmony Baptist Cemetery, Getaway, Lawrence County, Ohio. From the Lawrence Register Archives.
The following is a copy of the first marriage license issued after the organization of the county: “These are to license and permit any licensed Minister of the Gospel or Justice of the Peace duly commissioned and sworn in and for said county, to join together in the holy state of matrimony, John Ferguson and Elizabeth McCoy, and for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given under my hand and the seal of my office this 14 day of April 1817. “W. G. Robinson, “Clerk pro tem.”
The following is the marriage certificate of the persons named in the foregoing. It is the first written in the marriage book of the Probate Court: “I do hereby certify that on the 11 days of April 1817, I joined together in the holy state of matrimony, John Ferguson and Elizabeth McCoy. Given under my hand. “John Lee.”
It will be observed that the date of the above certificate is before that of the license, but it is to be presumed that the minister who tied the knot was satisfied that a license would be forthcoming. At any rate, the worthy couple was properly united three days before the authority for the union was granted. Whether legal or illegal, under the circumstances, is a question of technical dispute.
The next paper will be given a list of the earliest marriages of the county, with the dates and names of the officiating ministers.
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