Crites, Shaffer, Connealy, Watson & Harford, P.C.

This law firm is the oldest established business in Chadron, Nebraska; it was established in 1887 and has been serving the northern panhandle region ever since.

	Albert W. (A.W.) Crites, 1848-1915 Born in Waterford, Wisconsin; studied law in the office of Judge Hand in Racine, Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar of Wisconsin in 1972. Founder of the firm, he moved to Chadron from Wisconsin in 1887 when he was appointed the first Receiver of Public Moneys at the U.S. Land Office in Chadron. He was appointed by Governor Boyd to fill the second position as Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial District in 1891. He continued to practice law in Chadron after his run for judge was defeated in November 1891.
	Edwin D. Crites, 1884-1953 Born in Plattsmouth, Nebraska; son of A.W., brother of Frederick; educated in Chadron public schools and the University of Nebraska; admitted to the bar in June 1908. After his father's death in 1915, he was in partnership with his brother Frederick. After Frederick passed away, his nephew, A.W., joined the firm. He practiced law in Chadron from 1908 until his death in 1953. He served as president of the State Normal Board for a number of years and Crites Hall, on the CSC campus, is named for him. He also served as Dawes County Attorney and Chadron City Attorney, and was a special attorney for the U.S. Dept. of Justice from 1936 to 1937.
	Frederick Crites, 1885-1941 Born in Plattsmouth, Nebraska; son of A.W., brother of Edwin; educated in Chadron public schools and the University of Nebraska; admitted to the bar of the supreme court and lower courts in June 1913, and later to the bar of the circuit and district courts of the U.S. He served as Dawes County Attorney for 12 years, from 1919-1930.
	Albert (Wally) Crites, 1915-1985 Born in Chadron, Nebraska; son of Frederick; educated in Chadron public schools, attended Chadron State College, the University of Nebraska, and received his law degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1949. He was a veteran of World War II. He joined the family firm in 1949. He served as Chadron City Attorney from 1950 to 1953. In 1959, Albert was named District Judge, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, A.W.; he was elected to a 4-year term in 1960. In 1963, he entered an order that would prevent courts from being open on Saturdays, thus ending a long-standing Dawes County tradition. Albert's death in 1985 ended three generations of lawyers in the firm, although the firm's work was carried on by his brother-in-law, Gordon Shaffer, who was married to Albert's sister, Marian.
	Gordon W. Shaffer, Jr., 1924 - 1991 Born in Wood River, Illinois; received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Missouri in 1949; admitted to the Missouri bar in 1949; admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1954, when he moved to Chadron to join his brother-in-law Albert in practice.

Firm History