I think I fell into a rabbit warren when I thought it would  be interesting to see who had been Coos County's judges. I  have found that there are judges, judges and judges. One is  simply is called judge, Judge Thomas or whatever and has  no relationship to the courts and how they got the name was  not determined. Another judge (meaning of the word - to  form an authoritative opinion about, to determine, to decide,  or public official authorized to decide questions brought  > before a court) is one who judges a contest. It is my  intention to stick to the officials who were and are authorized  to decide questions brought before the Coos County  court.

There were persons who were justices of the peace  who were called judges. There were persons who officiated  in city courts called judges, but I shall not include those. At  first there was only one elected judge and as the population  grew more were needed during a given period of time. I  find weeding these time consuming, even worse than digging  in some of the flower beds. What I was hoping for was  information regarding some interesting murder or other trials  occurring during their term on the bench. So far there  has been no information on trials connected to a specific  judge, but I will keep looking. Maybe I should read Andi  Jensen's book on hangings in Coos Co. I could probably tell  who the judge was if Andi has the year a 'happening' took  place. Hmmm. I know where I can buy one - the Sentinel,  ha! Okay, Andi, I will do that.

(I did) I frequently get more  information from you readers. I was told that  > the front right-hand Corn Fed Canary was Spike Leslie's  father. Paula Conn sent a message as follows" My father  was Oscar Fred Mintonye born 12/28/1910. He was the son  of Oscar Alvarero Mintonye spoken of in the recent article  about the Gay 90's celebration and Amzy Mintonye.  Amzy was, of course, my dad's brother. I enjoyed the  article immensely and thank you for it. I have the same picture  of the Corn Fed Canaries framed in my home. I want to  tell you that the front row middle person is OSCAR  MINTONYE. If you knew my father and his brothers Ross  and Keith, you would know they look just like their father."  Someone also reminded me that the just before Gay 90's the  event had been called Myrtlewood Jubilee. I think I even  have some old Myrtlewood wooden leaves advertising the  event somewhere. They were key chains and drawing numbers.

Thank you very much readers for your informative  help!!  The SECOND judge to be elected was JUDGE  GILBERT HALL. I can find little about him. There is nothing  in the Coos County histories that I have available. There  is nothing in the internet resources. The only thing I could  find was information in the census records. He was born in  New York and in 1860 at age 42 he was living in Empire,  listed as a farmer, running a hotel, married to Emily who  was 34. A Leonard Hall, age 52 was living about two doors  from them, but there is nothing to indicate a relationship to  Gilbert, if any. In 1870 He was still in Empire, married to  Emily, running a hotel, living next door to Dr. Tower and  Charles Metcalf. In 1880 he had moved to "Coos City" and  was listed as a farmer.

He and Emily were living with the  J.R. Lightner family and someone had pared a few years off  their ages. Who ever gave the information may not have  known and simply guessed. Since the 1890 census burned,  the next record was 1900. By then they were apparently no  longer living. No children had been listed in any of the census  reports for them. His time on the bench apparently was  either so short or so uneventful or both, that nothing has  been recorded regarding it. Orvil Dodge's book, which is  written in a rather rambling form mentions Judge Hall in  this manner, "We left in a day or two for the Coquille. Our  course was up to Judge Hall's place and then across the  Isthmus to the head of Beaver Slough waiting for several  hours in a lonely place "....(now known as Coaledo!)  Dodge's remarks could be this Judge Hall, but I know there  are a couple more Judge Hall's, one of them a justice of the  peace. Judge Gilbert Hall seemed to have stayed in the  Empire vicinity. No picture that I can find.  The THIRD judge was D.J. LOWE. Sometimes he's listed  as J.D. Lowe. His name was David J. Lowe.

His information  frequently appears with the initials reversed and one  has to read carefully to see if it is the judge or someone  else. David Lowe came to Port Orford in November 1856  with three other men and writes "Port Orford looked quite  gloomy to us. There was what they called a hotel, kept by  one Billy Craze. The menu consisted mostly of potatoes and  a southwest gale blew for several days. This tore the kelp  off the Port Orford reef and the kelp formed a kind of  seine. When it was tossed back up on the beach it held all  manner of fish in enormous quantities. Then there was plenty  to eat, so with the potatoes and that fish bank and Billy  Craze to chowder it up, we lived fine."  Judge Lowe was born in Maryland in 1823, coming to  California in 1849.

In 1856 he located on the Coquille  River, married Eurilla Slaylack in 1857. Their children were  Annie, Alice A. , Mary Lee, Maggie, Frank L., and David  John. Annie Lowe born in April 1858, was the first white  child born on the Coquille. Peterson and Powers says the  Lowe's were well known for their hospitality especially to  all new settlers. He also was the first president of the newly  formed Coos County Pioneer Association established 5  November 1891. A younger brother of Judge Lowe ,  Yelverton M. Lowe born in Maryland 1826, married another  Slaylack (Mary) in 1857 coming to Port Orford and then  going to Coquille, to a farm in Myrtle Point and then to  the mouth of Beaver Slough where he built a guest house  for travelers. I saw that old hotel before it was torn down. I  think Boyd Stone has a picture of it in one of his books. It  had no windows by then, but was different enough looking  and by it's self that I wondered how that building happened  to be there A postoffice was established and named  Freedom with Yelverton Lowe as postmaster.

As much is said about Yelverton as about Judge Lowe.  Judge Lowe served on the Parkersburg school board, was a  justice of the peace, and a county commissioner as well as  county judge. His son Frank was his only surviving child.  Frank was a shipbuilder and in the boat business in Coos  County, retiring to Coos Bay. Judge David Lowe died in  1911. He should have a picture somewhere, but it hasn't  come to light. Time is going by too rapidly to spend anymore  time looking. I have to dig up another judge (figuratively  speaking). That's three judges of over a dozen I found  listed.

Richard Fish works in an office next to the museum in  downtown Coquille. He runs Ameriprise Financial Services  where originally George Taylor's Service Station was situated.  Bob Taylor donated the museum space where he had  Taylor's Sporting Goods store before he retired and closed  it.

(Not related to me). One could almost jokingly say that  Rich was one of the museum pieces, not because of his age,  but because of the history of his family.

Not only does Rich  sit next to the museum at work, but you could almost say he  lives in one out on Rink Creek. In 1995, Rich and his wife  Peggi (Dunn) returned to Coquille and began restoring the  old Charles Bunch house. Rich's mother was the daughter  of Lois (Hermann) Bunch and Levi Bunch, son of Charles  Bunch. Charles and Nina Bunch, Rich's great-grandparents  were the first to live in the house.

 It originally had a turret,  but Rich decided the old one had leaked too much to consider  restoring that. The old picture was so faded that it  required some outline help.

Charles Bunch home

It was probably built with lumber from the saw and grist  mill which J.C. Bunch started in about 1880 assisted by  son-in-law J.D. Bennett and Bunch's two sons, William  (Ham) and Charles.H. (which was sold to Binger Hermann.)  William H. Bunch built the 7th Day Academy which later  became a hospital and then an apartment complex. Frank  Bunch another son, was teacher and principal. J.C. Bunch,  the father, was the founder of the 7th Day Adventist churches  in Coquille and possibly the first in Coos County He  came to Coos county in the spring of 1879 settling at  Fishtrap and then moved across the river.

He established  about three churches in various places in the county.  William Hamilton (Ham) Bunch and brother Franthought  Fairview was a better location and less enticing for students  to get into trouble. After 7 years as the Coquille Academy, it  was sold and operated about two more years. Drs. Culin and  Richmond started a hospital in the building. In 1911,  according to Boyd Stone, it became a school again until  1926 when Ben and Belle Knife bought it for an apartment  house enlarging it, adding porches for access to the apartments.  Many people reading this will remember living  there. It has been called a number of different names. The  name I remember best is the Hollingstad Apartments. It's on  north Dean street. Rich told me a story about his greatgrandfather  Charles Bunch. He said that John Gilman who  killed the Eitenhovers and was being hanged for it supposedly  said that he regretted missing killing Charles Bunch  and George Sell out on Glen Aiken Road. Rich hasn't any  idea what the problem was!

BUNCH ACADEMY OF 1891

There were a number of Bunch dentists, Dr. James  Bunch was my dentist for a long time. Dr. Bunch and his  wife Louise had a daughter, Phyllis, who married a dentist,  Dr. Paul Harmon. Dr. Bunch eventually turned over the  business to Dr. Harmon. Not too long after that, Dr. Bunch  was up on his steep roof repairing it, here in Coquille, and  fell from it to his death. Dr. Harmon and his wife Phyllis  had two children, a daughter and a son, who is a contractor  in the area, Harmon construction. They are all deceased  except for Harmon's two children. Rich's mother Dorothy  appears in the 1936 directory as an assistant to Dr. James  Bunch.

Newspapers

It was interesting to visit my Hometown newspaper this  last week, the first I ever wrote for. The Mason Valley News  is as old as The Sentinel, and is the paper of record for Lyon  County, Nevada. I brought several issues back so we could  look them over and make comparisons. We read 12 or 14  other Oregon papers each week but seldom have a chance to  look at a paper our size and age from another state.  If you travel this summer and pick up your Hometown  paper; if it is convenient, please bring it home to us. We love  to see what other weekly papers are doing.

Thanks in  advance.
Have a happy week,  Jean Ivey

Coquille just celebrated Gay 90's Saturday. We have had  an entertainment during the summer for years. Starting in  the pre-1920's, it was called the Coquille Corn Show. The  county extension agent, J.L. Smith had a lot to do with it.  Farmers were raising feed corn for ensilage. There was a  downtown parade with an evening minstrel show playing to  a packed house of 1,500. The cast of 40, sent off to Meier  and Frank in Portland for authentic vaudeville costumes.

 The "Monotony Killers" performed plays and J.L. Smith's  Corn Fed Canaries sang. Later it was called a 4th of July  celebration with Orvin Gant, J. L. Smith, Ken Talley and  Spike Leslie forming one of the quartets.  An earlier quartet featured Oscar Mintonye (Amzy's father),  two of the Leslies and a 4th person. One of the popular  events was the car racing. Amzy Mintonye won this race  hands down with his little motor car.

He's there in the little white buggy behind the larger  black car. His daughter Jo Mintonye Brown says it was a  backward race and all of the cars ran backward. Amzy won  the race because as an auto mechanic he knew how to  install the motor so that the car running backwards had an  increased speed. Jo said, " Since I'm not an auto mechanic I  have no idea just what he did. I'm sure Ralph Ford at the  Auto Clinic would know!"  Amzy Mintonye came to Coquille in the summer of 1909  by wagon train from Jacksonville with his and several other  families. He says their wagons were the true forerunner of  the motor home, outfitted with everything needed for onthe-  road travel for that time. His family purchased a 40 acre  farm in the Sanford Heights area.

Amzy's father, Oscar  Mintonye, worked as an auctioneer and in the assessor's  office. Amzy went to school in the old Washington School.  After hours he began to spend time in a local car repair  shop learning to be a mechanic and how to make cars go  faster backwards! I'm sure he wasn't thinking of that at the  time! He even spent time in the Maxwell-Ford dealership  without pay, learning what he could. He ended up with a  job at Tower Ford for $40 a month. After some other ventures,  in 1944 he began looking for a way to get into his  own business in Coquille. He bought a lot and had Ernie  Parrott build the shop where Ted's Auto Body has been.  George Jueb and Cince Finley were financial partners.  Amzy got the Ford dealership.

It eventually was Lounsbury  Ford. Cince also sold cars. Amzy eventually sold out and  had Parrott build him another building further out Central  with a service station and Massey-Ferguson equipment.  During his years prior to retirement he became a John  Deere dealer. The stone place is located there now. His  house was up near the old county barns. Jo said, "He had  quite a bit of land where he offered to let the community  use a plot and plant a garden for their own personal use as  an additional food supply during hard times -- or any time.  The only person who did it was Pat Cagley.  She planted a garden and with the boys, worked in it  raising their vegetables.

It's interesting to me that there is  now a Community Garden being formed." She also said that  there will be a family reunion this year at Ernie's Barn celebrating  the 100th anniversary of the Mintonye's Family  coming to Coquille. Amzy and Doris had two children, Jo  Mintonye Brown, Coquille and Marion Mintonye Staley of  Hillsboro.

COQUILLE CORN FED CANARIES

Gene Norton middle bottom row, Spike Leslie, another  Leslie, Oscar Mintonye might be the one in the back holding  another pip, J.L. Smith and others not identified. Can  you identify any of these? It's hard the way they are dressed  and painted!

Budget time

I hope you are interested in how the county and city are  planning on spending our money because this paper is full of  budgets. We are pleased to print them and hope you will go  over them. Perhaps they will inspire some questions for our  new column, “Ask the Commissioners.”

Gay 90s

The museum will be holding an open house on Saturday,  June 6th. Boyd Stone will be on hand to sign his latest book  “MY VALLEY.” The museum will have their new two volume  history of “THE COQUILLE VALLEY” available for  sale at $70.00 a set. Hal and Patti Strain will be present to  discuss and autograph their work.

Have a fun filled week,  Jean Ivey

COOS COUNTY'S JUDGES FROM 1859 TO PRESENT

Judges have been with us forever. Moses in the bible was  probaby the first judge, but let's not go back that far! All of  the judges of Coos County that can be determine should be  sufficient! Coos County was created from western parts of  Umpqua and Jackson Counties on December 22, 1853 by  the territorial legislative assembly. In 1855, Curry County  was formed from the southern part of Coos County. Empire  City was named as the county seat of Coos County. Oregon  became a state in 1859 with the first Coos County election  being held

The Oregon State Library in Salem (research  done by Joe Stephens, director of the State of Oregon Law  Library) tells me that " In the Territorial period (1848-59)  there was a Supreme Court of three justices, who also sat as  district judges in the three judicial district. For judicial purposes,  Coos County was attached to Umpqua County and  the district court for the third judicial district was held  in Umpqua County on the fourth Mondays in May and  November.  After statehood there were four Supreme Court justices,  each elected from one of the four judicial districts and serving  individually as judge of the Circuit court for that district.

Coos county was part of the second district. In 1862,  the Legislature added a fifth justice to the Supreme Court,  and a fifth judicial district, serving several eastern Oregon  counties. The constitution also provided for county judges  to be elected for each county. So if a Coos County judge  was also a member of the Supreme court, he was in Coos  County, a circuit judge. If not, he was a county judge." I've  never been able to determine the difference in their duties.  "The Constitution provided splitting Supreme Court justices  from the Circuit Courts when the population of the state  reached 200,000 and that apparently occurred by 1878,  when the Legislature reduced the number of justices to  three and ended their election from judicial districts.

Circuit  Court judges were now elected from each of the still-five  judicial districts beginning in 1880. If you have only a  judges name, it might be difficult to tell whether he was a  circuit judge or a county judge. If there are elections  records at the county seat, you might be able to tell whether  it was a county election or if it involved the whole district."  Which in simpler language means that at first, the Circuit  Court judges were appointed and after 1880 Circuit Court  judges were elected but from the entire district, while a  county judge would be elected in their jurisdiction.  Searching county election records to see whether a  judge's position was circuit court or county would take for  ever and change nothing.

This would add to your knowledge  but not much else unless you have to appear before a  judge when you might possibly be wondering where judges  came from. Being a judge is not easy. With it comes much  responsibility and good judgment. Now you know where  that word comes from --"judgment'.  Three county commissioners, a sheriff and a probate  court judge were appointed to serve Coos County until an  election could be held. Coos Counties first probate judge,  Charles Pierce, was appointed April 12, 1854 to December  18, 1854 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature. The second  one, R.S. Belknap was appointed to Sept 4, 1855.

Those  two would have been Circuit Court Judges. Samuel S.Mann  was the first elected Coos County judge beginning July 4,  1859 when Oregon became a state.  In 1859 Obediah B. McFadden was associate supreme  court judge. There were three supreme court judges, each  presiding over one of the states 3 districts. The judges were:  James T. Brand, Marshfield; G.F. Skipworth, Eugene; Carl  Wimberly, Roseburg. James T. Brand would be Coos  County's representative and a Circuit court judge. There is  much information regarding where the sessions were held in  Salem and the cost of the buildings. After many moves, a  fire, rebuilding and several additions, the building was completed  in 1914 for the first session of court in the building at  Salem. It was the 55th anniversary of Oregon's statehood.  Total cost for the new building was $320,000, all of this in  the name of justice and to establish judges! I remember one  time being called to serve on a city jury, but no attempt is  going to be made to research those courts. This will be a  series with a possbility of a break here and there for other  information.

(Ed note: This year is Oregon's 150th anniversary). Since  Judge Samuel Mann was the first elected for Coos County,  we will start with him and finish with Coquille's present  Circuit Court judges, Richard Barron, Michael Gillespie  and Martin Stone. (continued next week)