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SNOHOMISH COUNTY RECORDS TELL STORY OF PIONEERS

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SNOHOMISH COUNTY RECORDS TELL STORY OF PIONEERS

Kzielasko  (View posts) Posted: 5 Apr 2001 12:00PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Plumb, Richard, Lewis, Gregory, Hawkins, Winn, Voisard, Hayes, Lily, Elwell, Smith, Harriman, Pero, Williams, Taylor, Reering, McCoy
EVERETT DAILY HERALD
1-7-1916

CLERK'S VAULT REVEALS PIONEER COUNTY HISTORY
Papers on File There Date as Far Back as May 14, 1867

MARRIAGE LICENSE IS OLDEST DOCUMENT

The records and legal papers in all the cases which have been tried before the higher courts of Snohomish county from 1875 to the present time and thousands of other legal papers are carefully filed away in the vault of the county clerk. Thousands of interesting documents of all kinds, some yellowed with age, and in the quaintest handwriting imaginable; all the judgments and cases which have come before the superior court up to the present time, and also the district court, when Washington was a territory, are filed there. There are 19,670 cases on file in the Snohomish county clerk's vault, besides hundreds of miscellaneous documents. These cases include 15,000 civil and criminal cases which have come before the county superior court since Washington was granted a statehood in 1889 up to the present time; 3,580 probate cases which have come up during the same time, and 590 cases heard by the district court in the old territorial days extending as far back as 875. All the papers in each lawsuit are filed together, often making a large bundle including as high as 20 separate documents. The first suit in Snohomish county was filed February 12,1876, with County Clerk H. A. Gregory, the case being a suit for damages for assault, George Plumb versus John Richards. The assault was said to have been committed December 13, 1875. The case was tried by a jury before J.R. Lewis, judge of the district court of the third judicial district, of the territory of Washington. The jury found for the defendant and fined Plumb $1. The first case filed after Washington became a state, and the court became a county superior court instead of a district court was filed on November 19, 1889, four days after statehood had been granted to Washington. C.T. Roscoe was the County clerk, and the plaintiff in the case was the First National Bank of Snohomish, which sued W. E. Hawkins for $316 on a promissory note, and collected damages. J.R. Winn was the judge.

Marriage Certificates

Among the miscellaneous documents in the vault are the marriage certificates for the weddings performed in Snohomish county since 1867. The first marriages recorded were performed by a justice of the peace who signed his name, J.P. Voisard, as near as it can be discerned from the old records. On May 14, 1867, a party of three young couples were married at the home of James Hayes, different members of the party acting as witnesses for each other. James Hayes was wedded to Caroline Lily; John Elwell became the husband of Sarah Smith, and Charles Harriman married Elizabeth Pero. The marriages certificates from 1867 to 1881, which are filed together show that 1878 was the banner year, during that period, 33 wedding for that year being recorded. Only two weddings were performed in Snohomish county. From 1867 to 1872, the records of marriages are missing, and County Clerk Fickel thinks these may probable be in Seattle, as it was at that time the headquarters of the district court. Even at this early time, the young married couples often sent in their marriage licenses as certificates. This is still occasionally done at the present time. The marriage license of Thomas Williams and Louisa Taylor issued December 16, 1874 by M.W. Packard, Snohomish county auditor, is among the certificates on file. It was under the act to regulate marriages, passed in 1866 by the legislative assembly of the territory of Washington. Another marriage license issued March 1, 1879, to William H. Reering and Delia Elwell has the certificate of marriage signed on its reverse by "Theodore W. McCoy, pastor of the Presbyterian church of Snohomish city." All these old legal document were prepared before the days of typewriters and many are hard to read. Although some of them are written on small scraps of paper, the most are on the old legal-cap paper. All the records are in splendid state of preservation, and show carefulness in filing by the different county.

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