SHERIFFS OF COWLEY COUNTY.

Recently I came across the following item, which utterly confounded me!

The Commonwealth, Saturday, February 22, 1873.

Col. Quarles, sheriff of Cowley County, passed through the city yesterday, on his way to Falmouth, Kentucky, having in charge a man named Jones, who has been indicted in that county for murder.

                        [Question: Was Col. Quarles a sheriff of Cowley County?]

I posed this question to Bob G. Odell, 33rd Sheriff of Cowley County, who like so many of us, is interested in Cowley County history, and also asked him for a listing of the sheriffs who have served the people of Cowley County. Because of the lack of information relative to the very early years, which were not covered by microfilm, I was uncertain about the first men who held the office of Sheriff in Cowley County.

Herewith is Sheriff Odell’s reply, for which I am most grateful.

                                                             July 10th, 2001

“I have checked the Bottorff’s files, the old jail records, Sheriff’s fee books and Court records and find Col. John T. Quarles was elected Constable in Winfield April 7th, 1881. I have found no references to him in all the Sheriffs information!

“The information you wanted on Sheriffs of Cowley I am still researching. I will give you what I have! The Sheriffs for the most part were elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even numbered years and took office January the next year! This procedure is still the same today. The two changes are, one on November 3rd, 1964. They changed the law where the sheriff could run consecutive terms indefinitely (they could only hold office for two, two year terms); the second change was when they went from two year terms to four year terms in the general election in 1976!

“Note the first Sheriff HUNT was elected May 2nd, 1870; took office May the 21st and served until January 1871. Sheriff Pattison was elected November 8th, 1870, and took office January 1871.

“Thanks for your interest, the further I go the deeper I get! Sincerely,

                                    “Bob G. Odell, 33rd Sheriff of Cowley County.”

Sheriff Odell sent me the following list of Cowley County Sheriffs.

My deepest thanks to Sheriff Bob G. Odell for supplying all of us with this information. I have begun to research the “Hunt Families” and hope to furnish more information soon on the first Cowley County Sheriff, Frank A. Hunt.

                                                         Mary Ann Wortman

                                         SHERIFFS OF COWLEY COUNTY.

1870-1871 HUNT, FRANK A.

1871-1872 PATTISON, JOHN M.

1872-1874 PARKER, JAMES

1874-1876 WALKER, RICHARD L. (DICK)

1876-1878 WALKER, RICHARD L. (DICK)

1878-1880 HARTER, CHARLES L.

1880-1883 SHENNEMAN, ALBERT TAYLOR

1883-1884 GARY, S. G.

1884-1888 McINTIRE, GEORGE H.

1888-1890 CONNER, JAMES W.

1890-1892 GIBSON, O. S.

1892-1894 NIPP, JAMES BENEDICT

1894-1898 SKINNER, JOHN W.

1898-1903 DANIELS, STRETOR A.

1903-1905 DAY, JAMES SAMUEL

1905-1907 WELFELT, A. O.

1907-1909 DAY, JAMES SAMUEL

1909-1914 BRANSOM, ABRAHAM L.

1914-1917 HOOVER, LEONARD W.

1917-1921 DAY, BENJAMIN (BEN)

1921-1925 GOLDSMITH, CHARLES M.

1925-1929 CHAMNESS, ELMER R.

1929-1933 HENDERSON, ROY T.

1933-1937 ANDERS, MORRELL CLARK

1937-1939 DAY, CECIL E.

1939-1941 RADLEY, CONRAD A.

1941-1943 CUMMINS, OSCAR

1943-1947 STUBER, PHILLIP LEE (LEE)

1947-1951 DREHMER, CHARLES A.

1951-1955 KENNEDY, WALTER E.

1955-1959 DILL, JAMES

1959-1962 CLESTER, ROBERT R.

1962-1963 SATTERTHWAITE, FRED

1963-1967 MUELLER, HAROLD D.

1967-1985 SATTERTHWAITE, FRED

1985                ODELL, BOB G.