LEGAL AND JUDICIAL

SCHOHARIE   COUNTY

Schoharie county was formed by act of the legislature In
April, 1795. Its territory consisted of portions of Albany and Ot¬
sego counties, and it was named Schoharie after the principal
stream running through it. The council of appointment on June 6,.
1795, appointed the following officers: flrst judge, William Beek¬
man; assistant judges, Adam B. Vroman, John M. Brown, Peter
Stcrnburgh and Jonathan Danforth; surrogate, Stephen A.
Becker; sheriff, Jacob Lawyer, Jr.; clerk, Joachim G. Staats.

As the county was without public buildings, the flrst court
of general sessions was held at the house of Johannes Ingold,
inn keeper, on May 31, 1796. William Beekman, first judge,
presided, and according to the records, the assistant judges who
sat with him on the bench were Adam B. Vroman, Jonathan
Danforth, Peter Swart and Marcus Bellinger. The following
month of June the first court of oyer and terminer ever held in
the county convened at the same place. Justice John Lansing,
Jr., of the supreme court, presiding.

Measures were taken in the latter part of 1796 to have a.
court house and jail built, but it was not until April, 1798, that
the legislature passed an act authorizing the supervisors to tax
the county to the extent of $2,000 for this purpose. Jacob Law¬
yer, Jr., Jost Boist, Jr., Peter Snyder, John H. Shafer and Wil¬
liam Thrall were commissioned to superintend the work of con¬
struction. It was not until late in 1800 that the new building-
was in condition to be occupied, and even then it was not fully
completed. The legislature in March, 1801, authorized further
expenditure of money and the court house and jail, when fully
completed,, cost $5,000. It was a three-story stone building ort
the site of the court house of modern times. A belfry was in
190