This story is by the folks at the Clay County Archives Center.
Pioneer families – These are the men, women, and children who first lived in Clay County dating back to pre-1858, the year Clay County (AKA, the Black Creek District) was initially carved out of Duval County. To this day, the descendants of these pioneers call Clay County home. There may be no better time than the present, due to population growth and construction, to learn more about these families and their early efforts to make Clay County their own. Through a series of articles and related genealogical studies, a spotlight will focus on them and their accomplishments through the centuries and decades.
Many Green Cove Springs residents are familiar with the building affectionately known as the Judge Rivers House located on the southwest corner of Spring Park. However, not many know the life story of the judge (Thomas Rivers) who owned the home, except for maybe a handful of older citizens who can recollect being married by the judge in the house’s living room. The house dates back to about 1887, after all.
The Rivers Family has been in Clay County since at least 1870. Thomas Rivers’ parents were Petra Rivers and Louisa “Lulu” Fieldhouse Palmer Rivers. Thomas had two brothers, Alvan and Joseph, and two half-siblings, Potter and Florence Palmer. Thomas married Mildred Vaughn in 1938 and together they had two sons, Early Vaughn, and Thomas Judson Rivers II.
Judge Rivers graduated with a law degree from the University of Florida in 1930 and shortly thereafter embarked on his decades-long law career. He started at the school board as chairman and also became the school board’s attorney. He later became the attorney for the City of Green Cove Springs. He also served as a state attorney briefly in 1944 and was the county’s representative to the legislature in 1941 and 1943. He was one of the longest serving judges in Clay County history, serving from 1949 to 1976.
His judicial duties varied greatly. As he explained to local Rotarians in 1951, he dealt with the 1950’s version of Baker Act hearings, issued and recorded marriage licenses (the Clerk of Court does that now), birth certificates, drivers and fishing licenses, evictions, probate cases, and guardianships. But some of his more interesting cases were while he was the attorney for the City of Green Cove Springs.
For example, he defended the city against a wrongful death lawsuit after a trustee burned to death one cold night when the heater in his one-man cell caught fire. Two separate women claimed to be his widow and sued over the man’s death (yes, two women each claimed to be his wife). Rivers claimed governmental immunity and won the case for the city. That excuse would never fly today.
He was known to hand down heavy fines to violators of the fish and game laws. Rivers was an enthusiastic fisherman and didn’t approve of anyone taking those laws lightly. Juvenile cases, then and now, proved challenging. In 1959 Rivers freed a young man who shot his stepfather to death. He found that it was a justifiable homicide. He found another death to be accidental. He often showed mercy to young offenders but if your crime was really bad, he wouldn’t hesitate to send you to Marianna (also known as Dozier).
All good things must come to an end and, apparently, even the well-liked Judge Rivers made an enemy. In 1973, Rivers was indicted by the grand jury for nepotism, a case that involved his wife Mildred whom he hired to work for him. One can only guess that someone decided to try out the new nepotism law, even though Mildred had been hired several years prior. When the state declared judges to be “state officers” the new nepotism law applied to Rivers and he was technically in violation, hence the misdemeanor charges. Nevertheless, he remained in office until 1976.
Fast forward to 1982 when Judge Rivers himself became a victim of crime. While walking west on Ferris Street, he was struck from behind several times in the head by a juvenile. The youth said he did it “on a dare”. The judge was shaken but recovered quickly from the attack. Rivers began presiding over the great courtroom in the sky in 1992. He is remembered fondly, and efforts are underway to preserve and historically renovate the Judge Rivers House as we speak.