Government Records and Data

Births

Sherman County birth records presented here cover a period of time from the birth of John Patrick McDonald in 1904 to Louis Rollins Schadewitz’s birth in 1933.

Jurors

Register of Trial and Grand Jurors 1889-1901 in Sherman County, Oregon. A trial jury, also known as a petit jury, decides whether the defendant committed the crime as charged in a criminal case, or whether the defendant injured the plaintiff in a civil case. A grand jury is presented with evidence from the U.S. attorney, the prosecutor in federal criminal cases. The grand jury determines whether there is “probable cause” to believe the individual has committed a crime and should be put on trial. If the grand jury determines there is enough evidence, an indictment will be issued against the defendant.

Married Women

Volume A of Married Women’s Separate Property Register provides some insight into the lives of women in the 1880s and 1890s. Women declared personal property, stating that their property was not acquired by or through their husbands by gift, purchase or otherwise, or was acquired by money earned through their own personal labor, or by gift from a mother or father or by natural increase.

Schools

At one time, 43 school districts served rural and town youngsters! A few were physically moved as the rural population changed. As roads and transportation improved, country school districts merged until there were school districts for each town, and finally merged into one district.

Courthouse

The Sherman County Courthouse is one of only three county courthouses in Oregon to be used continuously since its construction in 1899. The Courthouse is located at 500 Court Street in Moro, Oregon. It was designed by prolific architect Charles H. Burggraf and built by A.F. Peterson in 1899 using brick sourced and manufactured locally in Moro.

Officials

Compiled by Patricia French Moore for Sherman County: For the Record, the Sherman County Government Officials page lists County Officers from 1889 to 1984.