The earliest known photo of a Clearfield County Sheriff is of Lebbeus Luther, who was elected sheriff in 1828 and served from 1829 to 1832.
He was the third sheriff in the county following Greenwood Bell and William Bloom.
In 1820, Luther, a native of Massachusetts, bought and located on a tract of land where Luthersburg now stands (the place was named after him).
He operated the first tavern (as hotels were then called) in Brady Township. His tavern’s barroom was the location of the first school (c1827), the place of elections and church services.
The first circuit rider, the Rev. Anderson, preached in the barroom in 1822 or 1823. “Luther was full of fun, an inveterate joker and good at repartee.”
(Row’s history of Clearfield County, 1859).
Years later his family moved to Elk County where he owned a newspaper.
This photo shows Lebbeus Luther and his wife, Elizabeth Hoover.
This photo shows Chester Hawkins, sheriff from 1978 to January of 2014, holding the death warrant and the rope that hung Lena Miller, the first legal execution in Clearfield County in 1867. Lena Miller (1827-1867) from Covington Township poisoned her husband with a large quantity of arsenic.
This photo is representing 53 years of Clearfield County Sheriffs: Mike Churner, current sheriff with a term through 2026; John Anderson, 1974-1977, the youngest in the state at the age of 27; Chester A. Hawkins, 1978 to January of 2014 and Wes Thurstin (2014-2017).
