By Kristin Rover
Sun staff
Historian Gary Knepp is working on completing a legal history of Clermont County.
Knepp updated commissioners on the status of the law history during their March 11 session.
“Last September I was commissioned to write a legal history of the county,” Knepp said. “It is going to cover courts and courthouses, cases, famous attorneys.”
Knepp told commissioners one of the stories he has been researching about John Clark and Judge Phillip Gatch.
Clark was charged with horse theft in the county, which used to be a serious crime, Knepp said.
A whipping post, which was used to punish criminals, used to be in a square in the county, Knepp said, and a bar was basically where court was held.
Gatch was the judge who sentenced Clark and later went on to be an abolitionist, Knepp said.
“Gatch freed his slaves and became an abolitionist,” Knepp said.
Gatch’s farm is now the site of Greenlawn Cemetery in Milford, Knepp said
Knepp has been doing a lot of research about the legal history of Clermont County.
“I continue to be amazed by the amount of history we have here,” Knepp said.
Knepp said he is in the rough manuscript phase of the process but wants to have the book completed by next year.
Commissioners thanked Knepp for the update.
“If our county’s history is not shared it’s lost,” Commissioner Bob Proud said.