Memoirs of Waukesha County. From the earliest historical times to the present with chapters on various subjects, including each of the different towns, and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in the county, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information.

              CHAPTER XI. THE BENCH AND BAR.
THE TERRITORIAL JUDICIARY ESTABLISHMENT OF THE THIRD JUDICIAL
DISTRICT—FIRST SESSION OF COURT HELD IN PRAIRIEVILLE—ESTAB¬ LISHMENT   OF   THE   CIRCUIT   DISTRICTS ^DEMOCRATIC   CONVENTION
OF 1848—LIST OF CIRCUIT JUDGES—THE COUNTY COURT—LIST OF COUNTY J UDGES—DISTRICT ATTORNEYS—EARLY LAW YERS MEM¬ BERS OF PRESENT COUNTY BAR—TWO CELEBRATED CASES.
Before the organization of Wisconsin Territory the present Wau¬ kesha county was included in the Second Judicial district with the office at Green Bay. Upon the establishment of the territorial gov¬ ernment. Brown and Milwaukee counties were set off into a separate judicial district called the Third district. The first court in the south¬ eastern part of the state was lield in Milwaukee, with Judge W. C. Frasier, of Pennsylvania, presiding. He was followed in office by An¬ drew G. Miller, who received his appointment from President. Van Buren, in 1838, and he held the first court in Waukesha, after the or¬ ganization of the county in 1846. The court-house not being com¬ pleted, court was held in the Prairieville Academy.
Alex. W. Randall appeared in the first case tried, as attorney for S. K. Piatt in a suit for trespass. William Pitt Lynde was at that time the United States attorney and Alexander Cook, territorial district attorney.
Upon the adoption of the state constitution in 1848 Wisconsin was divided into judicial circuits. The first Democratic convention for nomination of the circuit judge of the Second circuit, comprising the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane, was held in Waukesha, July 18, 1848, of which William A. Barstow was chosen president. The delegates from Waukesha county were William A. Barstow, Andrew Proudfit, John O'Brien, Richard Hardell, and Lora Nash. On the informal ballot four names appeared, A. D. Smith lead¬ ing with eight votes. The others were Levi Hubbell, four votes, Alex¬ ander W. Randall, three, and Hans Crocker, one. On the formal bal¬ lot the single vote was transferred to Mr. Smith, the others remaining the same, and he received the nomination. Levi Hubbell, however, ran as an independent candidate, and was elected. The contest was a close one, and it was two weeks after the election before the official return aririounced certainly the election of Judge Hubbell. He held the first term of court in the court-house at Waukesha, November 13, 1848.
Alex. W. Randall appeared in the first case before this court also, being the attorney for Jason Downer in another suit for trespass.   The
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