Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1912-11-20
The Work of Judge Alfred.


pleased to give circulation to. the fol-
lowing facts regarding his long and
valuable service in that capacity
Judge Alfred was appointed Judge of
probate by Gov. Levi K Fuller on
Oct 9th, 1893, and succeeded the late
Hon. o. H. Austin, deceased. Judge
Alfred at once assumed the duties of
his office. having been elected at each
succeeding election, and at the expira-
ton of his present term, he will have
served continuously for more than
nineteen years, more than seven years
longer than any judge Of probate in
this district since it's organization in
1897.
When Judge Alfred took up his
duties, most of the files and many of
the records of the office were and had
been kept at Orleans, then Barton
Landing, in Judge Austin's office !;
these were all removed to the vault Of
the probate Office in Newport, where
they have been kept at all times since.
Upon taking the office there was
little system in the manner of arrang
ing and keeping the files of the court,
and Judge Alfred soon set about sys-
tematizing and arranging the files in
each estate by an alphabet system of
the towns in the district and similar
alphabet system of the estates in the
various towns.
1t was and had been the practice for
years to have the volumes of records
with the forms partly printed therein,
and in many estates some Of the various
printed pages did not require to be
used, and SO were total loss to the
state in the printing, paper and bind
ing of these unused pages
To overcome this waste, and as a
much more convenient and economical
method, Judge Alfred instituted and
put in practice the making of all his
probate records by the loose leaf sys
tenn, so called. whereby there are no
blank pages in his records and all are
done with record ink in typewriter.
Neither was there any uniform sys-
| tenn of blanks used in the various pro-
| bate districts, each judge securing such
blanks as he wished, and usually secur-
| ing the same from his local printer
| when in want, and thus the state was
paying practically retail prices for all
probate blanks used in the probate
| districts.
Judge Alfred called this to the at
| tention of the state auditor and the
expense that would be saved the state,
and the convenience if uniform sys-
| tenn of blanks could be used by all
| Judges, and the state cause them to be
printed in large quantities. This was
| recommended by three different state
| auditors in their reports to the leglSla-
| ture for several sessions, and finally
in 1906 an act was passed which pro
vided that the governor should appoint
| a commission of three probate Judges
to formulate such system Of probate
blanks for general use in all probate
districts. In accordance with this act
Gov. Proctor appointed as such com
mission Judges Bingham of Burling
ton, Schwenk Of BrattIeboro, ALFRED
of Newport, which commission formu
lated all blanks now used by the var
ious probate districts, and these have
been in general use since.
During the early fall of 1895 Judge
Alfred in conjunction with Probate
Judge Carlton of Montpelier, since
deceased, called a meeting of all The
probate judges in the state at Mont
pelier in October for the purpose O.
organizing State Association Of Pro
bate Judges with view OF bringing
| about a uniform practice in the varlOu
probate districts, and of recommends {
to the legislature such changes IN tn
probate laws from time to time a
seemed advisable. Such an association
was then formed, has held its meeting
annually in October, and has been o
great benefit both to the judges ant
the state at large, as the association
has been the cause Of simplifying tn
laws Of descent bringing about NOR
ustrdistribution of deceased persons
estates and has brought about man.
desired changes in the probate laws.
Judge Alfred has been secretary O.
this association since it's organization
There never had been any genera
index to either the files or records O
the probate office. and the only way t.
get a reference to these in an ok
estate was to refer to some one of al
the various dockets, each OF which wa
duly indexed, but these did not com
mence until the year 1912, and back o
that year it was almost an endless tasl
to look up the records or files of an,
estate. To overcome this. Judge Al
fred, after he had completed the ar
rangement of the files and records, an
taken up the loose leaf system of rec
| ords, devised a general card index
| ana mace up Sucn an lnQeX, beginning
with the first estate which came int
the Probate court in 1897 at the tim
of the organiza ion of the district
and making a complete card fo
each estate which has come into tn
office since then, doing this work per
sonally. so that there are now som
eight thousand cards in the index
whereby the files and records of an
estate which has ever come into tn
court can be readily found. This
.. the only probate district that has sue
an index. In the year 1910 the legis
} lature enacted a law requiring al
judges of probate to make such a
i index, and to complete the same With
two years, which is now being dor