Hello. An article in the Hunterdon County Democrat dated November 14, 1935 (don't have page number) describes the recent election of my maternal grandfather William M Schomp as Hunterdon County Sheriff. It mentions that William "presented" a $20,000.00 bond (an immense sum in the middle of the Depression, I would think) at his oath-taking ceremony. I have no idea why a newly-elected sheriff had to post a bond. Do any of the readers of this mailing list have any suggestions? I grew up in HC, but really don't remember much about local politics. Here is text of sentence: "Sheriff Schomp presented his bond for $20,000, which had been filed Monday afternoon with County Clerk C Lloyd Fell. Sureties for the bond are William U Bohren, Walter H Baratles, Mathias W. Buchanan (Mr. Schomp's wife's uncle), Harold B Everitt, Charles C Smith and Charles Holcombe". Many thanks for your help. Carolyn

Even in early days, officials were required to post a bond. Here is what a more recent definition states, per http://www.integritybonds.com/deputy_sheriff_bond.php Deputy Sheriff Bond This deputy sheriff bond is obtained by the deputy sheriff before taking discharge of his duty. The deputy sheriff before taking the discharge of his duty, he has to enter into a bond with sufficient surety, to be approved by the sheriff of the county, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties and also for the payment to the county and to any person of all such damages as they or any of them may sustain by reason of his fraudulent or dishonesty act. The bond form shall be approved by the county attorney and shall be filed with and kept by the clerk of court for the county. The sheriff is answerable for neglect of his duty or misconduct in office of any deputy. This deputy sheriff bond will make the deputy to perform his obligation in a proper way. The deputy sheriff has to discharge his duties as per the law, act and regulation of the jurisdiction. If any failure in his duties, he his made responsible for the act and the damages caused by him. Pat Duncan GenNutLdn@msn.com -----Original Message----- From: Carolyn Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:39 AM To: NJHUNTER@rootsweb.com Subject: [NJHUNTER] Sheriff "presents" bond Hello. An article in the Hunterdon County Democrat dated November 14, 1935 (don't have page number) describes the recent election of my maternal grandfather William M Schomp as Hunterdon County Sheriff. It mentions that William "presented" a $20,000.00 bond (an immense sum in the middle of the Depression, I would think) at his oath-taking ceremony. I have no idea why a newly-elected sheriff had to post a bond. Do any of the readers of this mailing list have any suggestions? I grew up in HC, but really don't remember much about local politics. Here is text of sentence: "Sheriff Schomp presented his bond for $20,000, which had been filed Monday afternoon with County Clerk C Lloyd Fell. Sureties for the bond are William U Bohren, Walter H Baratles, Mathias W. Buchanan (Mr. Schomp's wife's uncle), Harold B Everitt, Charles C Smith and Charles Holcombe". Many thanks for your help. Carolyn Visit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message