Sunday, October 22, 2017

The Busy Season is Upon Us

The year has slipped quickly by and the busy holidays are already gearing up. Thanksgiving in November. Christmas in December. New Years in January. Add to that the current book in progress, for me, a book launch to organize, a jail model to build, and that all equals a lot of sleepless nights to get it all ready for the new year.

In order to finish on time, I am taking an eight-week break from scheduling and conducting interviews. The museums to which the finished interviews will eventually be donated will be closing for the long, cold weeks of winter ahead. I hope to have something to give them when they reopen in March.

In the meantime, I will try to incorporate some blog entries on sheriffs from the past. A list of those has been compiled for Nodaway County and is being checked and updated.

Thanks for checking in!

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Nodaway County's Youngest Sheriff - James B. Prather

James B. Prather was elected sheriff of Nodaway County in 1856, just eleven years after the county was officially recognized by the state legislature. He was and remains the youngest man ever elected to the office of sheriff in Nodaway County. He was just twenty-five years old. Mr. Prather was one of the early settlers of the county. He bred high-quality thoroughbred horses. He was a founding member and Master Mason (1867) of the Maryville Masonic Lodge #470. He was a founder of Nodaway Valley Bank in Maryville. And, he was later appointed to serve on the Missouri State Board of Health.


(Photo courtesy of Masonic Lodge #470 of Maryville, Missouri.)

Nodaway County's First Sheriff

Nodaway County was officially founded on February 14, 1845. Its first sheriff was Bartlett Woodward Curl. (Correction:) He was officially elected sheriff in the county's first general election on August 3, 1846. This appeared in the local paper of that date.


Sheriff Curl would serve until August of 1847, when a new sheriff was elected. Later, the elected terms would run from November to November, with sheriff's taking office as soon as their bonds were presented to and accepted by the Nodaway County judges. Sheriff Curl's bond was for $1,500.