Monday, March 24, 2008

History of the Roanoke Bar Association-- An Introduction

During my term, one of my blog features will be posts about the History of the Roanoke Bar Association. The Association as currently established dates back to 1925. (Here is a list of Presidents (PDF link) back to that date.) However, there were predecessor organizations, also called the Roanoke Bar Association. I will go back as far as I can.

A key source for these posts will be A History of the City of Roanoke, by Raymond P. Barnes. The book was published in 1968. Mr. Barnes (I believe) was a retired Roanoke Times reporter who was given access to the archives of the Roanoke Times. His book is an incredible resource, long out of print. (I googled it this morning and saw a copy on sale for $237). There are copies in the Main Branch of the Roanoke Library, but I don't believe that they circulate. Allegedly, it is scheduled to be reprinted, with a new index, by the History Museum of Western Virginia in the near future. Mr. Barnes was a man of his times (pre-WWII, often pre-WWI), and the book is replete with racial and other attitudes of his times-- I warn you if you are easily offended by such things.

Here is a little "pre-history:" of the Roanoke Bar Association:

Roanoke County was founded in 1838. The County seat was (and of course is) Salem, and the County's first courthouse was built there in 1839-40. According to the Court Order books on Wednesday, March 17, 1841: "It is ordered that the courts for the county be held in the new court house after the present term, that said building having been completed and received by the court. And it is further ordered that the Clerk of the Court cause to be kept in two or more conspicuous places about the building a notice that that it will be considered a contempt of the court for an individual to cut, write upon, or otherwise deface the Bar, Bench or any other part of said building and that such conduct will be punished by a fine of not less than $5.00." (Barnes at 29.)

Barnes notes that "Edward Johnston, John T. Anderson, Francis Henderson, Alexander F. Etheridge, James B. Watts and John B.I. Logan, gentlemen, qualified to practice in the Court. Barnes describes the new Courthouse as "constructed of brick with a two storied central building in the center faced with tall white columns."

Barnes tells us that "Court Day was one of the few opportunities offered farmers to socialize with friends from every part of the county. Court was held only four times a year, but the opening day of each term found farmers in carriages, gigs, on horse back or afoot, county seat bound. On such days, taxes were paid, lawyers consulted, horse (sic) traded and new equipment purchased. Old friends met and swapped news and new friendships, or enemies, were cultivated. Salem in those days had taverns and on Court Day all rooms were taken and the tap room crowded. Here candidates for office campaigned and now and then heated political debates could be heard. While good papers from Lynchburg, Washington, Richmond and elsewhere were available, local news was dished out on Court Day which was carried to the utmost boundaries of the county. Court Day was such a delightful institution it is regrettable that it was abolished around 1902." (Barnes at 30).

In the next installment we'll move on to 1888, the year Roanoke was founded.

First Post

This is the first, test post on the new Roanoke Bar Association President's Blog. Welcome. This blog will not go "live" until I take office in June. I will enable comments and check the email. If the board approves I will ask that it be linked to the official Roanoke Bar Association website. I will not be running every post by the Board, so please do not consider any post on this blog to be an official position of the Association.