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CHAPTER 14 1836 HE historian of the Atlanta area has at his command, beginning with the year 1836, an invaluable and illuminating record upon which to draw. Reference is thus made to the Minutes of the De Kalb County Superior Court in general and to the Grand Jury Presentments therein contained in particular1 It is the opinion of the writer that these presentments provide for the present day reader an insight into the month by month condition and development of the county not elsewhere available. They exhibit the thoughts and findings of substantial citizens, not presented in the most erudite fashion, but all the more interesting because phrased in their own words. Punctuation is usually lacking in these original long-hand records, but will be supplied together with correct spelling by the writer in the abstracts which will follow in their proper chronological place. The name of the "Foreman" will be given in all instances; the full jury fairly often, as indicative of those citizens active in county affairs. The Grand Jury Presentments usually follow a general pattern. After reciting that they have been empaneled and sworn to act as the Grand Jury, they proceed with the recommendations and findings. These are made after an examination of the books of the county officials and of the county buildings, and also include the subject of public roads. The subject of Education (poor school fund) is mentioned frequently. For other subjects covered, the abstracts of the Presentments speak for themselves. The De Kalb Superior Court, in 1836, and for some years thereafter had two regular terms, meeting at Decatur each year, which were designated as the March Term and the September Term. Sometimes the March Term was adjourned until April or May, and the September Term until October or November. The Grand Juries, usually composed of 22 or 23 members, and two Petit Juries of 12 men each, were selected at the preceding term of Court. The jurisdiction of the Superior Court was almost unlimited. In civil cases the most common causes of action or suit were based upon debt, attachment , and assumpsit. Others include covenant, slander, libel, case for words, trover and conversion, ejection, divorce, etc. Numerous cases involve the establishment of lost notes, deeds, etc., which emphasizes the lack of proper places for the safety of important papers, and carelessness. In criminal cases the majority of True Bills were returned for assault and battery, larceny, gaming, riot, trespass, forgery, larceny after trust, stabbing, perjury, fornication and adultery, keeping lewd house, and vagrancy. Beginning in the late 1840's, after Atlanta came into being, murder and keeping tippling houses open on the Sabbath, became the subjects of a number of True Bills. De Kalb County, from its creation in December, 1822, to December, 1826, was in the Flint Judicial Circuit. Judge Eli S. Shorter presided over the superior courts of that circuit from 1822 to 1825, being succeeded by Judge Charles J. McDonald.2 By Act of December 11, 1826, the Chattahoochee Circuit was created, to which De Kalb was assigned. Judge Walter T. Colquitt was the judge of that circuit from 1826 to 1832. He was succeeded by Judge Grigsby E. Thomas.3 T 138 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS By Act of December 16, 1833, the Coweta Circuit was created, and De Kalb County became a part thereof, remaining until 1869, when the name of the circuit was changed to the Atlanta Circuit. Fulton County, upon its creation out of De Kalb in 1853, was assigned to the Coweta Circuit.4 The following judges presided over the superior courts of the Coweta Circuit between 1836 and 1869: Hiram Warner, 1836-1840; William Ezzard, 1840-1844; Edward Young Hill, 1844-1853; Obediah Warner, 1853-1854; Orville A. Bull, 1854-1864; Benjamin H. Bigham, 1864-1866; Hiram Warner, 1866-1867; John Collier, 1867-1869.5 The first Grand Jury Presentments of record in De Kalb County were returned at the March, 1836 term of the Superior Court, and directed a withering blast to the Justices of the Inferior Court relative to bad roads. The presentments follow in full: "We the Grand Jury sworn, chosen and selected for De Kalb County at March Term, 1836, having examined the tax collector's insolvent list, do agree to allow him $17.05 cts & 2 mills, in addition to what has already been allowed him for his insolvent list for the year 1835. We present as a grievance the bad situation of a great many of our...

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