Series 1650

District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County) Minute books, i 1896-1967.

89 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

See history of the records' creator.

Summary of Records

These minute books document the daily proceedings of the Third District Court in Salt Lake County, but they are not transcripts of court cases.

Scope and Content

In 1896, the new state constitution provided for a court system to include a supreme court, district courts, and justices courts. The third district was assigned three justices. The county clerk kept the minute books for the district court in each county. This series reflects the minutes of the court in and for Salt Lake County. While Tooele, Summit, and Daggett counties were part of the third district at various times during this period, minutes for those counties are not included in this series.
The minutes contain information on civil and criminal cases and their related legal and procedural issues. Except in the case of contested estates or issues such as life estates and joint tenancy where it became a civil case, probate minutes were kept separately. Juvenile cases were separated after the creation of a juvenile court in 1901. Initial procedural rules for the operation of the third district court are explained in Book 2, pp. 123-128; amendments were made later as needed. Civiland criminal cases were distributed among all the district judges for the county. As case loads increased, additional judges were added to the district, and judges from other districts could be asked to hear cases in the third district if needed. Separate minutes are kept for each judge starting about 1900.
The minute books document the daily proceedings of the third district court in Salt Lake County, but they are not transcripts of court cases. Business matters include identifying the court site and officers present, selecting or dismissing jurors, and scheduling and assigning cases. These are followed by a summary of proceedings for each case heard that day. By the end of the 1960s, keeping up the minute books became infeasible, and minute entries were made part of the individual case files.
A typical case will span multiple dates. Further, a single case might have transactions recorded under more than one judge. For example, the preliminary motions might be under one judge, withthe trial assigned to another; reassignment of cases also occurred on occasion. Numerous entries may be found concerning various motions without alluding to the original charge. In particular, with civil cases, the original complaint is not always specified. The details were recorded in information or indictment record rather than in the minutes. Only volume 41 has those records bound with the minutes.
A case will include an indictment for a charge or indication of a complaint filed; demurrers, in which a defendant does not deny the charge but maintains it is not significant enough to justify legal action; dismissals; continuances; court orders or other motions; a statement that the case was presented, including names of those testifying, but rarely alluding to the nature of the testimony; the findings; and precise sentencing or settlement. The most information presented occurs in various forms of property disputes (eg. receivership, foreclosure, mining claims, estate settlement,water rights) where settlement details the property and its sale or distribution. More information than usual is also present in cases where the jury was asked to assign percentage of contributory negligence or resolve multiple questions in its findings.
Cases include those for murder (among them the initial trial of Joseph Hillstrom, also known as Joe Hill, found in vol. 26), larceny, robbery, burglary, assault, rape, riot, polygamy, gambling, narcotics, sodomy, child abuse, prostitution, etc. Applications for liquor licenses proliferate in the teens followed by prosecutions for liquorlaw violations in the 1920s after the enactment of Prohibition. Traffic violations of varying severity are common later.
Monetary cases include forgery, embezzlement , and bad check writing. Also included are receivership, garnishment of wages, debt, foreclosure, dissolutions of corporation or their withdrawal from the state, and tax commission liens. Bank and loan company liquidations appearrepeatedly in the 1930s. The issues involved in many civil cases are difficult to determine but do include property disputes, wages disputes, and liability claims.
Divorce, alimony, and child support (including bastardy) cases are common throughout. A spurt of requests for issuance of marriage licenses without a blood test follow the 1941 law mandating that procedure. Commitments to state institutions (eg. reform school/industrial school, training school, asylum/mental hospital, tuberculosis sanitorium) are also present throughout.
The district courts had the power to grant citizenship. The process included two witnesses testifying to the applicant's character, renouncing foreign allegiance, and taking an oath of allegiance to the United States constitution. The applicant's name, the names of his witnesses, his native country and current county of residence are noted in the minutes. Applicants almost always are, but at first did not need to be, residents of Salt Lake County.
Mostcases are exercises of original jurisdiction but do include appeals from county, justice of the peace courts, and after 1901, municipal courts. Occasionally reciprocal agreements and extradition procedures involving other states appear.

Arrangement

Chronological by date.

Volumes are arranged in rough chronological order. After 1900, separate volumes are kept for individual judges, so several volumes will have overlapping dates. Until the 1960s, the volumes are in numerical order. After that date, minutes are no longer kept in numbered volumes. The rough chronological order continues, but blocks of entries were sometimes filmed out of order. Entries within the blocks are in chronological order; rarely they are filmed in reverse. Book 32 is missing but creates no apparent gap in the sequence. Consult the attached inventory.

Additional Forms

This series is available on microfilm.

Access Restrictions

Microfiche holdings require staff assistance due to fewer reference copies. Handle masters under supervision.

Use Restrictions

These records are available for reproduction and use.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Acquisition Information

These records were acquired from the creating agency through established retention schedules.

Processing Information

Microfiche processed by Rebekkah Shaw under the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant to the Utah State Archives and Records Services for the Utah Microfiche Backlog Project (Grant No.: NAR10-RB-50086-10). July 2010 - December 2011

Related Material

Civil case files from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 1622, documents proceedings of civil cases.
Territorial minute books from the District Court (Third District), Series 1649, record third district court minutes for the territorial period, while minutes produced after 1896 are found in this series.
Criminal registers of actions from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 3253, documents the proceedings of each case.
Naturalization record books from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 3573, contain naturalization records related to the hearings noted in the minutes.
Civil case files (sealed) from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 12628, document proceedings in civil case files
Citizenship certificate stubs from the District Court (Third District : Salt Lake County), Series 85112, note the naturalization hearings whose summaries are included in these minutes.

Container List

ReelVolumeDateDescription
111896N/A
211896N/A
221896N/A
231896-1897N/A
331897N/A
341897N/A
441897N/A
451897-1898N/A
461898-1899N/A
561899-1900N/A
571900N/A
671900-1901STEWART
681901-1903HALL
691901-1902MORSE
791902-1903MORSE
7101901-1903STEWART
7111903MORSE
8111903-1906MORSE
8121903-1904HALL
9121904-1906HALL/ARMSTRONG
9131906-STEWART/RITCHIE
9141906ARMSTRONG
10141906-1909ARMSTRONG
10151906-1909LEWIS
10161906MORSE
11161906-1908MORSE
11171903-1905LEWIS
12171905-1906LEWIS
12181906-1909RITCHIE
12191908-1909MORSE
13191909-1910MORSE
13201909-1911LEWIS
14201911LEWIS
14211910-1912LEWIS
14221909-1911ARMSTRONG
15221911-1912ARMSTRONG
15231909-1912RITCHIE
16241911-1914LOOFBOUROW
16251912-1913MORSE
17261913-1915RITCHIE
17271913-1915MORSE
18281912-1915ARMSTRONG
18291911-1912LEWIS
19291912-1915LEWIS
19301915-1916RITCHIE
20301916RITCHIE
20311913-1916LOOFBOUROW
20321915N/A
20331915MORSE
21331915-1917MORSE/BROWN
21341915-1918ARMSTRONG/EVANS
22351916-1918RITCHIE/BRAMEL
22361915-1917LEWIS/GOODWIN
23361917-1918GOODWIN/PORTER/TOBIN
23371918-1919EVANS
24381917-1920STEPHENS
24391917-1918BROWN
25391918-1920BROWN
25401918-1920BRAMEL
26411919-1920TOBIN
26411917-1920INDICTMENT RECORD
26421920-1921EVANS
26421919MCCARTHY
27421919-1920MCCARTHY/STRINGFELLOW
27431920-1924STRINGFELLOW/IVERSON
28431924-1925IVERSON
28441920-1924TOBIN/BARNES
28451921-1922WIGHT
29451922-1924WIGHT
29461920-1922RITCHIE
30461922-1923RITCHIE
30471921-1923HANSON
31471923-1924HANSON
31481921-1924MCCREA
31491923-1925RITCHIE
32491925-1927RITCHIE
32501924-1926HANSON
33511924-1927MATHISON
33521925-1926WIGHT
34521926-1929WIGHT
34531925-1928MCCREA
35531928-1929MCCREA
35541925-1929MARKS
36551926-1929HANSON
36561927-1928RITCHIE
37561928-1929RITCHIE
37571927-1929MATHISON
37581929MOFFAT
38581929-1930MOFFAT
38591929-1930MCCONKIE
39591930-1931MCCONKIE
39601929-1931MCDONOUGH
40601931MCDONOUGH
40611929-1932BRAMEL
40621929-1930WOLFE
41621930-1932WOLFE
41631929-1932MCKINNEY
42631932MCKINNEY
42641930-1932MOFFAT
42651931-1933MCCONKIE
43651933-1934MCCONKIE
43661931-1934MCDONOUGH
44661934MCDONOUGH
44671932MOFFAT
44671932BRAMEL
44681932-1934WOLFE
45691933-1934THURMAN
45701933-1934SCHILLER
46701934-1935SCHILLER
46711933-1935MCKINNEY
46721935-1937SCHILLER
47721937SCHILLER
47731935-1938EVANS
48741935-1938THURMAN
48751935-1936MCDONOUGH
49751936-1939MCDONOUGH
49761935-1937MCKINNEY
50761937-1938MCKINNEY
50761938-1941BAKER
50771935-1937MCCONKIE
51771937-1938MCCONKIE
51781938-1940MCCONKIE
51781940-1942LEVERICH
52791938-1941SCHILLER
52801937-1938EVANS
53801938-1941EVANS
53811939-1940THURMAN
54811940-1941THURMAN
54821939-1944BRONSON
55821944-1946BRONSON
55831941-1944BAKER
56831944-1945BAKER
56841941-1945ELLETT
57841945ELLETT
57851941-1945CROCKETT
58851945-1946CROCKETT
58861941EVANS
58861942-1944FAUST
58861943LEVERICH
58861944HENDERSON
59861944-1946HENDERSON
59871944-1947VAN COTT
60871947-1948VAN COTT
60881945-1949BAKER
60891945-1947ELLETT
61891947-1949ELLETT
61901946-1948JEPPSON
62901948-1949JEPPSON
62911946-1950CROCKETT
63911948-1949CROCKETT
6392A1946-1948HOGENSON
63931948-1950VAN COTT
6492B1948-1950HOGENSON
65931950-1953VAN COTT
65931949-1951BAKER
65941951-1954BAKER
66941951-1954BAKER
66951949-1950JEPPSON
67951950-1953JEPPSON
67961949-1951ELLETT
68961951-1954ELLETT
68971950-1953LARSON
69971953-1955LARSON
69981950-1954LEWIS
70981954-1955LEWIS
70991953-1957JEPPSON
701001954VAN COTT
711001954-1957VAN COTT
721011954-1957ELLETT
721021955-1956LEWIS
721021956LEWIS
731021956BAKER
731031955-1958LARSON
741031958LARSON
741041956-1959HANSON
751041965-1966HANSON
75N/A1959-1960LARSON
76N/A1964-1965HANSON
77N/A1966CROFT
77N/A1965N/A
78N/A1966CROFT
79N/A1963JEPPSON
80N/A1966JEPPSON
80N/A1965N/A
80N/A1964N/A
80N/A1963N/A
81N/A1964-1965ANDERSON
82N/A1965-1966ANDERSON
83N/A1964SNOW
84N/A1965SNOW
84N/A1964N/A
85N/A1965SNOW
86N/A1966SNOW
86N/A1965N/A
87N/A1967ELLETT
87N/A1966N/A
87N/A1965N/A
87N/A1964N/A
87N/A1963N/A
88N/A1965VAN COTT
88N/A1964N/A
89N/A1966FAUX
89N/A1965N/A
89N/A1964N/A
89N/A1963N/A