POUGHKEEPSIE – It was back
in 1715 when Royal Governor Robert Hunter named Richard Sackett as the
first Dutchess County clerk. The 300 years of service the office
has provided were commemorated with a ceremony in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday.
Current Clerk Bradford Kendall noted in the very early days, documents
were recorded by hand.
“The office stayed pretty much the same through the 1700s and 1800s, but in the 1900s we had a county clerk Fred Smith who started in 1931 and he began to introduce electro-mechanical recording, micro-filming, did a lot of indexing and restoration of the old records and really set us on a path of what we really do today,” Kendall said.
Kendall and County Executive Marcus Molinaro share ceremonial ribbon cutting honors
In 1821 under the state’s second constitution, the office of county clerk became an elected position. In addition to overseeing land and civil records of the county, the clerk became responsible for registries of blacksmiths and stallions, nurses, physicians and dentists, partnerships, businesses and corporations.
When automobiles hit the scene, they were originally registered by the secretary of state. In 1921, the county clerks throughout the state were authorized to open local motor vehicle offices.
