Recently discovered documents of town justice provide peek into Riverhead court’s history

Papers from the personal collection of the late Riverhead Town Justice of the Peace and former Town Supervisor William Leonard were given to the Town of Riverhead by the Suffolk County Historical Society during a ceremony at the court this morning.

Leonard, the operator of funeral homes in Riverhead and Cutchogue, served on the town bench from 1943 to 1955 and was town supervisor from 1956 to 1963. He died in 1985 at age 74.

The documents include an extensive docket of civil cases in Riverhead Justice Court, as well as summonses and other legal documents, according to the historical society. The documents will be added to the Riverhead Town Historian’s collection.

The documents were found and donated to the historical society in 2021 by Tom Mulligan, a Riverhead resident who came across the records when renovating a building, Suffolk County Historical Society Executive Director Victoria Berger said.

“After much consideration, our Board of Trustees and myself determined that although we can provide public accessibility and preservation of these records, they are much better suited here with the Town of Riverhead,” Berger said.

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard, Town Historian Georgette Case, Town Justice Lori Hulse and Town Clerk James Wooten were on hand for the presentation.

“I’d like to thank you for doing that. We certainly appreciate it,” Hubbard said. “I know our town historian Georgette loves when she gets stuff like this. She’s so big on our history and I can think of no better person to turn it over to and put into the archives of the town historian’s department.”

The donation consists of two court dockets — bound volumes with case summaries — and three folders full of documents kept by Leonard, according to the historical society.

One volume was the judge’s civil docket and has several entries related to civil cases “without jury trials” Leonard presided over, as well as one entry related to “jury trials” from 1946. A second volume was Leonard’s criminal docket; it contains no entries.

One folder contains several types of documents, including summonses with notices, a precept and petition, a demand for jury trial, a statement of military services and a summons and complaint. 

A second folder is almost entirely court summons. Many of the court cases in the folder involved the New York Telephone Company, as well as other prominent businesses including Suffolk County National Bank, Suffolk County Motor Sales Corp., Riverhead Sanitation Co., and The Westhampton Chronicle newspaper, and one case brought by “The Rotary Club.”

A third folder contains receipts from the New York State Department of Audit and Control Justice Court Fund, as well as several summonses and notices pertaining to lawsuits filed by Gilmartin Coal Co.; Long Island Welding Supply Corp.; Rayno Distributors Inc.; Steve Szymanski of Steve’s Market; and Suffolk Radio & Television.

“I want to thank Georgette and Victoria. We appreciate it,” Town Justice Lori Hulse said. “It’s obviously of historic value, it’s of great importance to the court. The clerks also wanted me to express their appreciation. It means a lot to us.”

Case said anyone who has come into possession of historical documents can turn them over to the town historian or the town clerk. Anyone can visit the town historian in her office in the basement of Riverhead Town Hall at 4 West Second Street on Wednesdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to view historical documents and artifacts.