Lou’s View

Any community has to have a lot of moving parts in order to work. A county, for instance, has to have leadership, in the form of county commissioners. There have to be judges, many record-keepers such as the prothonotary or register, and others. One of these is the sheriff.

Once upon a time in Clinton County, this was Sheriff William Marshall Everhart.

William Everhart was born on a Centre County farm on March 5, 1841. When the Civil War began, he signed up to serve in August of 1862 as a private. Discharged in March of 1863, he turned around and signed up again, this time getting promoted to lieutenant. In one battle, he received a gunshot wound in each forearm, which is fairly impressive. He mustered out in September of 1865, having achieved the rank of captain.

At some point during the war, he’d had enough spare time to meet and marry Elizabeth Worrick of Mackeyville. After the war, the two of them settled down on a farm in Lamar Township, and stayed there, raising their children, for the next few years.

It was 1890 when Everhart was elected sheriff of Clinton County. He was a Democrat, and worked hard for the Democratic party, which helped his campaign. It probably also didn’t hurt that he had visible bullet scars on both arms. Everhart won, replacing Sheriff William Leahy, and moved into Lock Haven, occupying the apartment portion of the old jail on East Church Street.

The jail still stands, though it’s not used as a jail anymore. It was built in 1852, and had an apartment area for whoever was serving as the sheriff at the time. Commonly, the newspapers referred to it by adding the word “Fort” to the last name of whoever was sheriff at the time—The Clinton County Times was especially fond of this. I have seen the jail referred to as “Fort Cupper,” “Fort Barker,” and “Fort Loveland,” depending on what year of old newspapers I’m reading, and I have no doubt that for a while, it was also “Fort Everhart.”

But not for comparatively long, though. Everhart chose to only serve one term as sheriff, retiring in 1894. He was replaced by Sheriff Lewis Hoover. (I’m sure I’ll get around to writing about Leahy and Hoover at some point, too. Sooner or later, I’ll get around to writing about everyone in Clinton County.)

Everhart and his wife moved out of the jail, and down to 372 East Water Street. The house was torn down to make apartments about fifteen years ago, but it was a pretty big place at one time. Everhart was said to have “greatly improved” the property.

William Marshall Everhart died on March 22, 1910, just past his sixty-ninth birthday. His obituary ran in the Clinton Republican on March 23, and the headline read,”Ex-Sheriff Everhart Claimed By Death Angel,” a common cause of death in those days. It read,”He was a man of kindly and jovial disposition, a friend to all, a good husband and father, whose presence in the family circle will be greatly missed. Mr. Everhart’s friends were legion and they will be pained to learn of his demise, he being known in practically every section of Clinton County.”

He was buried in Cedar Hill, near the farm where he’d grown up. A couple of years later, his wife died and was buried beside him. Their stones are still there. You can still find them with a walk through the cemetery, the man who served in a long chain of sheriffs, having an impact on our county.