D. C. Richmond’s Justice of the Peace Docket, Perkins Township

Former Sandusky Library Board member, Mrs. Sakie Merz, donated her grandfather’s Justice of the Peace Docket to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. The entries were recorded in the 1840s in Perkins Township of Erie County.

The first entry, dated November 18, 1844 was an assault and battery case. Horace J. Bell took an oath and stated that Thomas McGee unlawfully assaulted him. At first Mr. McGee pleaded Not Guilty, but later he pleaded Guilty and was fined six dollars.

The docket contains several other assault and battery cases, as well as cases dealing with perjury, attempted rape, and cases involving goods and chattel. Many lists of witnesses and bail payments are also on record in the Docket.

Half of the Mr. Richmond’s ledger contains the Minutes of the Proceedings of the 4^th Regiment, 2^nd Brigade, 11^th Division of the Ohio Militia, from 1838 through 1843.

Below is a page from the Militia Minutes which shows that William D. Lindsley was chosen to be the Colonel of the Militia, and H. J. Carpender selected as Lieutenant Colonel, on January 12, 1839.

David Chester Richmond was born in Connecticut on January 21, 1815. He moved to Erie County, Ohio in 1837, and married Sarah Burr in 1838. He died on February 17, 1888. Mr. Richmond was active in the Ohio State Board of Agriculture and the State Horticultural Society. He served in the Ohio General Assembly from 1872-1876. The Cyclopedia of American Horticulture concludes its biographical sketch about D. C. Richmond with this statement:  “Colonel Richmond was a conspicuous example of the influence which a man of ability and enthusiasm may exert in the uplifting of agricultural conditions in his neighborhood and in the states.”