The office of county coroner has been filled since the creation of Newton County in 1842. The early coroners were not physicians, but rather men of good character and common sense.
The first coroner was Toliver Goldstone Blackard, a house carpenter, who was born in North Carolina in 1819 and moved to Newton County around the time it was created. He served but one term, from 1842 to 1844.
By 1850, he was living in Johnson County, where he would remain until his death in 1898.
The second coroner was Z. T. Hamerson; no more is known of him. Like Toliver Blackard, he served only one term.
The third coroner was Jesse E Casey, a farmer and blacksmith who lived in Jackson Township. He was born in 1797 in Georgia, He moved his family to Newton County around 1841.
Although he was coroner for only one term from 1846-1848, he remained in Newton County the rest of his life, dying in Newton County June 6, 1863.
He had 12 children, and many descendants who still live in Newton County.
Nathan Holt was coroner from 1848 to 1850. He was a farmer living in Jackson Township. He was born in 1820 in Alabama. In the late 1850s he moved his family to Texas, where he was killed by Native Americans in 1860.
(More next week)
Barbara LeRoy is the author of “Which Side Were They On?,” a new 302 page book listing biographical sketches of the Newton Countians who were involved in the Civil War, available for sale either in the Bradley House Museum or by purchasing online at www.newtoncountyar.com. The book sells for $33.
