This page contains the "This Month in Legal History"
column as published in the current Douglas County Law Library E-Mail
Newsletter. The column features a different event from the history of
law and jurisprudence of Douglas County, Kansas, that occurred during
the month. It is published monthly in the Douglas County Law Library
E-Mail Newsletter and on the Home page of this website.
Archived entries from this and previous years can be accessed by
visiting the This
Month in Legal History Archive page on this website.
February 26, 1861-
Louis Carpenter records his first case as Probate Judge of Douglas
County, Kansas.
Louis Carpenter came to Kansas in the late 1850s, and by early 1859 was
serving as a Deputy Clerk of the United States District Court of Kansas
Territory, 2nd Judicial District for Douglas County. He had been born
December 14, 1829, in New York State. When and how he studied law is
not known, but by February 26, 1861, he had been appointed Probate
Judge of Douglas County, and on that date recorded his first case. He
continued as probate judge until early 1863, his last case being
recorded on January 10th of that year. During his tenure as probate
judge, many important events took place, both in his personal life and
nationally. The American Civil War, having smoldered in Kansas for
seven years, broke out across the entire nation in the Spring of 1861.
In 1862, Carpenter bought, sold, traded, and bartered lots in Lawrence,
Kansas, the results being two large adjoining lots and sufficient
bricks and foundation stone for a large brick house, which he
subsequently had built. Also in 1862, he married his
fiancée, Mary E. Barber, and, in the election that fall, ran
an unsuccessful campaign as the candidate of the Union Party for
Attorney General of Kansas. Around the time he left the bench, he was
appointed as Kansas Supreme Court Reporter, and through the spring and
summer of 1863, he compiled and edited material intended to be
published as the first report of the Kansas Supreme Court. He and his
new wife were at home on the morning of August 21, 1863, when William
Quantrill and his band of 400 Confederate guerillas attacked Lawrence,
killing and burning as they went. Several of the raiders came to
Carpenter's home, and when he replied "New York" to the question "Where
are you from," they began shooting him. He collapsed and died in his
back yard. He was eventually buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence,
near the final resting place of many other victims of Quantrill's Raid.
From: Judge Louis Carpenter page, Douglas
County Law Library website.
