NOTE! After sending out last week’s tip on
Kentucky orphanages, two of our readers sent me some additional information that I felt was worth sharing with the readers. Credit is given at the end of each:
For those that have knowledge that their ancestors were kept within a Catholic institution, going through the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville may in fact hold information, that no one knows about. Those priests are wonderful document writer. A written request for information can work magic sometimes with what information is available.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington 1310 West Main Street Lexington,
Kentucky 40508-2048 Telephone: (859) 253-1993 Facsimile: (859) 254-6284
This website is awesome: Rhonda Houston, (
rfhouston@mindspring.com)
http://home.att.net/~Local_Catholic/CatholicUS-LouisvilleKY.... Then, The
Kentucky Methodist Children's Homes is a non-profit organization. We serve all ages of children through a variety of programs. We've been established for over 135 years. We have two locations-- Versailles and Owensboro. The Home was originally established in 1871 as the Widows and Orphans Home by the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Louisville. Sixty years later, the Home was move to Versailles,
Kentucky. The original mission to rescue women and children from abuse, serve unwed mothers, and provide housing for homeless and orphaned children, is historically similar to that of today's mission. However in the late 1980s, our Home changed from being an orphanage to a treatment facility in order to serve adolescent children with histories of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and family trauma. From: Judy Kirkpatrick,
judygailh@gmail.com Now to the KY Supreme
Court ….
It was in the winter of 1776 that
Virginia granted county status to
Kentucky. It would take until 1792 that they granted statehood; a long wait for all the people residing in what would become a state, With this county status,
Virginia provided a limited court system, but it included no appellate jurisdiction. Any judgment by the
Kentucky courts had to travel back to
Virginia borne by a rider to be reviewed in that state. One can see that this took a long time and was likely a perilous trip in those early days with few roads, many native Americans and wild animals! When the judgments reached the capitol, they were reviewed by the
Virginia Court of Appeals. Their decision would then be forwarded back to
Kentucky by the same route. It might take months before the
Kentucky courts would learn the decisions of the
Virginia court. It was not until statehood in 1792 that a court system was established in Kentucky; ratification occurred with Kentucky’s first constitution.
The
Kentucky Court of Appeals was our highest court. It had original and final jurisdiction and their cases were varied. The largest number of cases, however, centered around land disputes – titles, incorrect surveys, etc. The
Court of Appeals also had appellate jurisdiction which included reviewing the
Court of Quarter
Sessions decisions held in each county. If you will remember, the
Court of Quarter
Sessions was the predecessor of the Circuit
Court and met, as indicated, quarterly instead of monthly. There were three Judges who were life-time appointees of the
Governor. There were no specific qualifications that had to be met to hold the position of Judge, but they were subject to impeachment. Their annual pay, according to the
Kentucky Encyclopedia (p. 861) was a staggering $677.00. Harry
Innes was appointed as the first Chief
Justice of the appellate court on June 28, 1792. He was later appointed judge for the U. S. District of
Kentucky and replaced on the state court by George Muter in December 1792.
The new constitution of 1850 brought about many changes in the court systems. Court membership was increased to four and each judge had to now be elected by voters from the different districts. The court was limited to appellate jurisdictions. In 1894, the number of judges was again increased to eleven. Since that time many changes have continued to made with the major reform in 1975 when the Judicial Article was ratified which was a constitutional amendment. The
Court of Appeals was renamed to the
Kentucky Supreme
Court and as such is the final authority of state law, hearing appeals from the lower courts. Cases involving the death penalty or imprisonment for 20 or more years go directly from the county’s Circuit
Court to the Supreme
Court for review. One justice from each of Kentucky’s seven appellate districts is chosen in a non partisan election. Requirements now are a lot stronger than in 1792; the candidate has to have practiced law for at least eight years before the election.
The following have served from
Kentucky 1792-1895
Harry
Innes, 1792 (Chief
Justice, 1792)
Benjamin Sebastian, 1792-1806
Caleb Wallace, 1792-1813
George
Mutter, 1792-1806 (Chief
Justice 1792-1806)
Thomas Todd, 1801-1807 (Chief
Justice 1806-1807)
Felix
Grundy, 1806-1808 (Chief
Justice 1807-1808)
Ninian Edwards, 1806-1809 (Chief
Justice 1808-1809)
Robert
Trimble, 1807-1809
William
Logan, 1808, 1810-1818
George M. Bibb, 1808-1809 (Chief
Justice 1809, 1827-1828)
John
Boyle, 1809-1827 (Chief
Justice 1810-1827)
James
Clarke, 1810-1812
William Owsley, 1812-1828
John Rowan, 1819
Benjamin Mills, 1820-1828
The 1825 Supreme
Court or “New Court””
William T. Barry, 1825
James Haggin, 1825
John
Trimble, 1825
Benjamin W. Patton, 1825
Rezin
Davidge, 1825
Reconstituted
Court of Appeals:
George Robertson, 1828-42, 1864-71 (Chief
Justice 1829-42, 1870-71)
J. R. Underwood, 1828-1834 (From Barren &
Warren Co)
R. A. Buckner, 1829-1832
Samuel S. Nicholas, 1831-1834
Iphraim M. Ewing, 1835-1846 (Chief
Justice)
John Chambers, appointed 1835, declined
T. A. Marshall, 1835-1856 (Chief
Justice 1847-1851, 1854-1856)
Daniel Breck, 1843-1849
James Simpson, 1847-1860 (Chief
Justice 1851-52, 1858-60)
Asher W. Graham, 1849-1851
B. Mills
Crenshaw, 1851-1857 (Chief
Justice 1856-1857) (from Barren Co)
Elijah
Hise, 1851-1854 (Chief
Justice 1852-1854)
Henry J. Stites, 1854-1862 (Chief
Justice 1860-1862)
Alvin
Duvall, 1856-1864 (Chief
Justice 1862-1864)
Zachariah
Wheat, 1857-1858 (Chief
Justice 1857-1858)
Henry C. Wood, 1858-1861
Belvard J. Peters, 1860-1876 (Chief
Justice 1866-1868, 1874-1876)
Joshua F. Bullitt, 1861-1865 (Chief
Justice 1864-1865)
Rufus K. Williams, 1862-1870 (Chief
Justice 1868-1870)
William Sampson, 1865-1866 (Chief
Justice 1865-1866)
M. R. Hardin, 1866-1874 (Chief
Justice 1872-1874)
William
Lindsay, 1870-1878 (Chief
Justice 1876-1878)
William S. Pryor, 1871-1897 (Chief
Justice 1871-72, 1878-80, 1886-88, 1895-97)
Martin H. Cofer, 1874-1881 (Chief
Justice 1880-1881)
John M. Elliott, 1876-1879
Thomas H. Hines, 1878-1886 (Chief
Justice 1884-1886
T. F. Hargis, 1879-1884 (Chief
Justice 1882-1884)
Joseph H. Lewis, 1881-1889 (Chief
Justice 1881-1882, 1888-1890, 1897-1899)
William H. Holt, 1884-1893 (Chief
Justice 1890-1893)
Caswell Bennett, 1886-1894 (Chief
Justice 1893-1894)
J. H. Hazelrigg, 1893-1901 (Chief
Justice 1899-1901)
Isaac M. Quigley, 1894-1895 (Chief
Justice 1894-1895)
There was a reorganization in 1895 as a result of the new Constitution in 1895. For later Judges see the University of Louisville website and search for Judges.
© Copyright 29 October 2009, Sandra K. Gorin