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INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SAGINAW VALLEY BY JUDGE ALBERT MILLER
In the old territorial statutes establishing probate courts it was enacted that some learned person should be appointed to the office of judge of probate in each organized county. In the winter of 1834-5 I was teaching in Saginaw City, the first term of school that had ever been taught between the settlement of Grand Blanc, in Genesee county, and the Straits of Mackinaw, and when, in January, 1835, a meeting of the citizens of the county was called to recommend suitable persons to be appointed to the several county offices, I received the unanimous recommendation for the office of judge of probate, for who could be a learned man if the schoolmaster was not?
I was always anxious to faithfully perform every duty required of me, but how to get along with the duties of judge of probate was a puzzle to me. There was no precedent, no lawyer, and no law book except the statutes, to refer to. I studied that portion of the statute pertaining to my duties very thoroughly, but I had no blanks, nothing to guide me in my practices. In the summer of 1836 I became acquainted with Judge Hand, who was then judge of probate for Wayne county. He furnished me with some blanks, after which I got along better. I think there was no one who suffered from maladministration or mis-administration of the law during my term of office.
There is a point in the history of the probate court of Saginaw county that does not seem to be generally known. In politics I was a Jackson democrat, before the republican party was formed, and after my appointment to the office by Gov. Mason in 1835, I was twice elected, holding the office nine years.
Michigan
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