History of County Officials

History of elected or appointed Boone County Assessors

Prior to 1904, it looks like each precinct had their own Assessor.

Thomas King: 1904-1907
George Tracy: 1908-1911
Judson Pierce: 1912-1915
W F Black: 1916-1919
John Miller: 1920-1921 resigned 1/6/1921
H H Funru: 1921-1934
J A Fleming: 1935–?
Fred Watson: 1950-1958
Rudolph Brandt: 1959-1978
Frances Berlin: 1979-1998
Joyce Sock: 1999-2014 died while in office on 11-11-2014
Barb Hanson: appointed 11-25-2014; elected 2018-retired August 31, 2023
Dan Lueken: elected 2023-present

11/5/1940 a vote as taken to abolish the County Assessor. The vote was 2562 against abolishing and 1607 for abolishing the County Assessor.

History of elected or appointed Boone County Attorneys

W H Sessions: 1878-1879
Ed S Connelly: 1880-1887 resigned
S R Ansline: 1887-1888 appointed
J H Price: 1888-1890
M W McGann: 1891-1894
J A Price: 1895-1896
A E Garten: 1897-1901
C E Spear: 1901-1906
O M Needham: 1907-1911
W J Donahue: 1912-1917
O M Needham: 1918-1921
R D Flory: 1922-1928
Dana Williams: 1928-1931 appointed
William Keeshan: 1931-1947
Stanley Oliverus: 1947-1955
Ray Medlin Jr: 1955-1975
Larry Bird: 1975-1979
Bernard McNary: 1979-1987
Larry Bird: 1987-1995
Don Theobald: 1995-1998
Larry Bird: 1998-1999
David Medlin: 1999- 2009 resigned
John Morgan: appointed 12-11-2009; Elected 2010-2014
James W. Ely, Jr. 2015-2018
John Morgan: 2019-present

History of elected or appointed Boone County Clerks

Sylvester Kinney: 1871
W J Nelson: 1872
John Peters: 1873-1885
George Montgomery: 1886-1887
Wm Weitzel: 1888-1893
F M Sillik: 1894-1896
Henry Lehr: 1897-1903
G B Babbitt: 1904-1907
O E Walter: 1908-1914 resigned
Victor VanCamp: 1914 appointed
J H McClintick: 1914-1930 died while in office
Mildred Clipston: 1930 appointed
E S Cowan: 1931-1933
Jasper Wilburn: 1934-1945 resigned
O G Sherrill: 1945-1960 appointed & resigned
J L Coffey: 1960-1962 appointed
Sever Paulson: 1962-1965
O G Sherrill: 1966-1978
Robert Zoucha: 1979-2006 died while in office on 09-22-2006
Kathy Thorberg: 2006-retired April 30, 2021
Sarah Robinson: 2021-present, appointed and elected

History of elected or appointed Boone County Clerk of District Court

O M Needham: 1888-1891
W A Hosford: 1892-1899
Fred J Mack: 1900-1907
S B Morehead: 1908-1929
B E Farley: 1930-1934
Robert Evans: 1934-1942 resigned 2/6/1942
Grace Evans: 1942 appointed
Hazel Gilmer: 1942-1969
Eunice Bowers: 1970-1972 died while in office 5-16-1972
Lavonne Sherrill: 1972-2002 appointed 5-17-1972
Ellen Hirsch: 2002-2014
The 2012 General Election Ballot favored to merge the Clerk of the District Court office with the County Clerk Office, therefore the County Clerk is also Ex-officio Clerk of the District Court beginning January, 2015.

Boone County combined the courts on April 1, 2021, the Boone County Court Clerk Magistrate (state office) shall be the Ex-Officio Boone County Clerk of the District Court.

History of elected or appointed Boone County Commissioners

John Hammond: 1871
Harvey Maricle: 1871
S P Bollman: 1871
Edward Dwyer: 1872-Jan.
George Crites: 1872-Jan.
Thomas Wilkinson: 1872-Jan.
Horace Wonzer: 1872-Nov. elected
Albert Dresser: 1872-Nov. elected resigned 3/1873
John Farrell: 1872-Nov. elected
Elias Atwood: 4-1-1873 appointed
Wm Hamilton: 11-1873 elected
Edwin Broadbent: 1873-1979
Harvey Maricle: 1874
Thomas Wilkinson: 1873-1878
T H Bowman: 1878
Joseph Barnes: 1879-1881
Robert Cummings: 1879-1883
W S Anderson: 1880-1882
Andrew Young: 1882-1886
Peter Files: 1883-1885
Wallace Ladd: 1884-1886
J C Lewis: 1884 resigned
B F McBride: 1886-1887
J J Young: 1887-1890
Jos Anderson: 1887-1889
L W Braman: 1889-1894
C B Barnes: 1890-1894 resigned
Geo Waring: 1894 appointed
E H Hall: 1891-1893
O M Froistad: 1894-1896
S B Morehead: 1894-1898
R F Williams: 1895-1897
K B Gladem: 1897-1899
L G Brian: 1898-1900
Z A Williamson: 1899-1904
B Hubbell: 1900-1901
J A Smith: 1901-1903
H I Berg: 1903-1908
Wm Stumbaugh: 1904-1905
G K Pittenger: 1905-1914
Rugus Pryer: 1907-1908 died while in office
David Primrose: 1908
A J Pitchford: 1908-1910
I H DeLarm: 1909-1911
Mike Cavey: 1911-1912
H R Smith: 1915-1926
A J Tisthammer: 1915-1922
Thomas Reigle: 1917-1920
Mike Cavey: 1921 died while in office
H L Robinson: 1921-1926 appointed & died while in office
Walter Reynoldson: 1926-1935 appointed
Andrew Kolden: 1923-1934
Fred Paup: 1927-1934
C W Hall: 1935-1938
Alvin Johnson: 1935-1938
L E Green: 1937-1940
E W Atwater: 1939-1950
Art Freeburg: 1939-1952 died while in office
Lyle Reigle: 1952-1954 appointed
Harold Kayton: 1941-1944
Frank Smith: 1945-1968
S A Tisthammer: 1951-1970
John Krause: 1955-1962
Ellert Mack: 1963-1972 died while in office
Conrad Arends: 1972-1978 appointed
Crawford Smith: 1969-1972
W H Buettner: 1971-1974
James Tisthammer: 1973-1980
James Vandewalle: 1975-1979
Henry Thieman: 1979-2011
Roland Dobson: 1979-1986
Clinton Mock: 1981-1984
Virginian Graham: 1985-1990 died while in office
James Tisthammer: 1987-1990 (appointed to finish Virginia Graham term 1990-1992)
Merlin Buettner: 1991-1994 (appointed to serve remainder of the term for James Tisthammer in 1990, elected in November 1990)
Charles Homolka: 1993-2000
Mike Zoucha: 1995-1998
Max Olson: 1999-2002
Jerry Tisthammer: 2001-2016
Randy Little: 2003-2004 resigned
Robert Eckland: 2004-2006 appointed
Thomas Schuele: 2007-2014
Kenneth F. Luettel: 2011-2018
Hilary Maricle: 2015-2018
Alan Rasmussen 2017-died while in office on 11-10-2020
Larry Temme: 2019-died while in office on 10-31-2023
Ben F. Rutten: 2019-retired 12-31-2022
Jonathan W. Lindgren 2020-present
Matt Niewohner 2023-present, appointed 12-14-2023

Interesting bits of information are:

The county paid a bounty of ten cents each for crows in 1926, but discontinued that in 1927. In 1929 wages paid for shoveling snow as thirty cents an hour (one person); fifty-five cents an hour (one person & one horse); seventy-five cents an hour (one person & 4 horses): road dragging paid thirty-five cents a mile.

Voters in 1954 voted to sell the county poor farm. The vote as 2381 for and 800 against.

7-1-1931 a license was granted for holding public dances at the Boone County Fairgrounds

History of elected or appointed Boone County Sheriff’s

N D Meyer: 1872-1874
J W Day: 1874-1876
W B Daniels: 1876-1884
Job E Green: 1884 resigned
Gilbert H Cox: 1884-1886 appointed 2/29/1884
W B Daniels: 1886-1888
T C Williams: 1888-1891 died while in office
J W Ammerman: 1891-1892 appointed
W J Farris: 1892-1894
Williams Silvers: 1894-1897
Osborne Patterson: 1897-1902
Loran Clark: 1902-1906
Edwim Evans: 1906-1914
Otto Anderson: 1914-1918 died while in office
Frank Willot: 1918-1919 appointed
Arthur Arbuthnot: 1919 elected, but did not qualify
F B Waring: 1919-1926 appointed
Lawrence Smoyer: 1926-1937 killed in line of duty
Louis Smoyer: 1937-1942 appointed (granted leave of absence to serve our country 10-6-1942)
Howard Buchanan: 1942 appointed acting sherriff
Bernard Illian: 1942-1973 resigned
Richard Johnson: 1973-1993 appointed 1973/resigned 1993
Jerry Benne: 1993-2002 appointed
Paul Briese: 2002-2006
David Spiegel: 2006-2014 died while in office 01-04-2014
Denny Johnson: 2014-present; appointed & elected

History of elected or appointed Boone County Treasurer’s

Albert Dresser: 1872-1874
S P Bollman: 1874-1884
S H Bollman: 1884-1886
J D Brewer: 1886-1890
L P Judd: 1891-1894
D J Poynter: 1895-1898
Frank Pettibone: 1898-1902
Lawson Brian: 1902-1906
Hellek Funru: 1906-1910
Thomas King: 1910-1914
R S Hutchinson: 1914-1922
Bertha Watson: 1922-1930
R S Hutchinson: 1930-1954
Irving Hare: 1954-1962
Herman Schmadeke: 1962-1974 resigned
Margie Flanagan: 1974-1994 appointed
Helen Preusser: 1995-resigned 12/31/2008
Laurie Krohn: Appointed 01/26/2009; elected 2010-present

Old commissioners’ records were reviewed for these names.