WOODLAND — The idea popped into Jim Stevens’ head in 2009, when the retired Yolo Superior Court judge came across a legal document signed by his onetime colleague, Judge James Roach, who had died seven years earlier.

“It came to me that there wasn’t any record of people who had served as judge in Yolo County,” Stevens said. “There was no record of their efforts.”

So Stevens paid a visit to Judge Dave Rosenberg, the Yolo court’s presiding judge, with a proposal to compile a history of their predecessors’ contributions.

They came to an agreement: Stevens would gather the information and photographs, while Rosenberg arranged for his work to be circulated for others to appreciate.

The result: “Judges of Yolo County, 1850-1985,” a 26-page booklet released to the public last fall. Copies were distributed to area courts and law libraries and are available in PDF form on the Yolo Superior Court website, www.yolo.courts.ca.gov.

“Judge Stevens did a superb job in his research,” Rosenberg said. “It’s part of the history of this county, and it would have been lost otherwise.”

Stevens, with the help of researchers, pored over newspapers, history books, census records and other documents to collect much of the book’s contents. His efforts resulted in detailed summaries of the judges’ family origins and paths to Yolo County, work and military histories, election outcomes and contributions after leaving the bench.

But the two-year project would have been impossible, he said, without the Yolo County Archives, a resource created by the Board of Supervisors in 1986 to store and manage the vast number of county records.

A citizens’ committee was appointed to establish the Archives and assists the county with its operations to this day.

“It’s a good example of when government works with citizens to develop a project that’s of benefit to everyone,” said Stevens, who served on the bench from 1985 to 1998.

Judicial history

California’s first Constitution, enacted in 1849, created the office of county court judge, with each county having one judge elected or appointed to four-year terms, according to the book. Judicial officers were not required to have formal legal training.

While many of Yolo County’s early judges were indeed lawyers, others worked as farmers and businessmen. One was a longtime physician.

“The County Court was one of limited jurisdiction which included civil appeals from the justice courts, insolvencies, probates and civil writs,” Stevens wrote of Yolo County’s early judicial history. “The county judge also would preside over a Court of Sessions which included two justices of the peace.”

Philip A. Marquam holds the distinction of being the first Yolo County judge. A native of Baltimore, Marquam studied law and, upon moving to the Fremont (now known as Elkhorn) area of Yolo County in September 1849, set up his own law practice — one he apparently did not have to give up when he became a county judge.

“It appears that the county court judge could maintain a private law practice if he so wished,” Stevens wrote.

Marquam’s judicial service ended up being brief — about a year before he resigned, according to Stevens’ research. He moved to Oregon after leaving the bench and died in 1912 at age 89.

Twelve county judges followed Marquam, each serving terms lasting about one to four years.

They included Henry Hartley — Marquam’s next-door neighbor — a transplant from England whose appointment as judge was opposed by the state attorney general due to his lack of citizenship. Hartley survived the challenge but not his re-election bid in 1853.

Hartley’s successor, Harrison Gwinn, later would be defeated by Isaac Davis, a member of the founding family of the city of Davis. He served one term and later became president of the California State Agricultural Society.

Edwin R. Bush served as Yolo’s 13th and last county judge. Elected in 1875, he later was elected to the Yolo Superior Court when the county courts were abolished in 1879.

Superior Court

With California’s population on the rise, state lawmakers created the Superior Court system to fulfill the need for a “more efficient and simple” system of government, Stevens wrote. Each court was alotted at least one judge, elected by county voters, to serve six-year terms.

Legal training became a requirement for those hoping to serve on the Superior Court, and judges could no longer work as lawyers on the side.

Yolo’s first Superior Court judge, Bush, was unseated by Charles Garouette, a two-term district attorney and “the first native-born Yoloan to be elected to local office,” Stevens wrote. He was elevated to the state Supreme Court in 1890, but a failed attempt at becoming chief justice cost him a re-election opportunity.

Nicolas Hawkins became the Superior Court’s fifth judge after serving four years in the state Assembly, where, Stevens wrote, he was instrumental in the passage of the Agricultural Farm Bill. It earmarked $150,000 for the establishment of a University Farm School — later known as the UC Davis.

It wasn’t enough to earn Hawkins a second term on the bench, however, and he was defeated in 1914 by William Anderson — an attorney whose 1902 run for district attorney “set off the sharpest legal battle in Yolo County history,” Stevens wrote.

Anderson’s campaign against Harry Huston contained allegations of ballot-box and voter fraud, but Anderson prevailed — only to be challenged and replaced by Huston when he took the matter to the state Supreme Court.

Anderson got revenge, though, when he ran against Huston for district attorney in 1906 — and won. Huston’s service on the Superior Court bench lasted from 1914 to 1932, during which time Yolo County’s current courthouse was built.

The Huston legacy resumed years later, when Arthur Huston Jr., Harry’s nephew, was appointed Yolo County’s 12th judge after the county’s growing caseload spurred the creation of a second judge’s position in 1957. He ran uncontested in the 1958 election but died in office the following year.

History preserved

Stevens said he chose to end the history at 1985 — the year he was appointed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian — because many of the judges who have served since then are still alive, though he did pay tribute to retired Judges Warren Taylor and Harry Ackley, both of whom continue to live in Yolo County.

Rosenberg said he wants to incorporate the judicial history into the new Yolo County Courthouse, construction of which is slated to begin sometime next year.

The project will include a new and improved jury assembly room “with a lot of walls. I have this vision of having photographs, and a little history, of these judges on those walls,” Rosenberg said.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or (530) 747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene

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Judge Dave Rosenberg, left, and retired Judge Jim Stevens search for treasures at the Yolo County Archives. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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This document from the County Archives, dated June, 1850, begins, “The first special terms of the Court of Sessions of the County of Yolo held for the transactions of County business…” Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Says Judge Dave Rosenberg of the book, “Judge Stevens did a superb job in his research. It’s part of the history of this county, and it would have been lost otherwise.” Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Retired Judge Jim Stevens says of his inspiration to write the book, “It came to me that there wasn’t any record of people who had served as judge in Yolo County.” Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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“Judges of Yolo County, 1850-1985,” is a 26-page booklet released to the public last fall. Copies are available in PDF form on the Yolo Superior Court website, www.yolo.courts.ca.gov. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Judge Dave Rosenberg, left, and retired Judge Jim Stevens look over pages from the “Judges of Yolo County.” Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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