How Justice Grew: Virginia Counties, An Abstract of Their FormationHiden, Martha W. (Martha Woodroof)
History
How Justice Grew: Virginia Counties, An Abstract of Their Formation
Hiden, Martha W. (Martha Woodroof)
Counties -- Virginia -- History; Virginia -- History; Virginia -- History, Local
In 1742, it was enacted that Prince William County be divided. The
bounds of this county were set as follows: "all that part thereof lying
on the south side of Occoquan and Bull Run and from the heads of the
main branch of Bull Run by a straight course to the Thoroughfare of the
Blue Ridge of Mountains known by the name of Ashby's Gap or Bent."
Hamilton was the parish for Prince William County. That portion of
Prince William which had, in 1732, been placed in Truro Parish became
the new county of Fairfax. The name was, of course, in honor of Lord
Fairfax, the Proprietor of the Northern Neck Grant.
Pohick, one of the churches in Truro Parish, is still standing and in
use. General George Washington, who lived at nearby "Mount Vernon,"
George Mason of "Gunston Hall" and Lord Fairfax of "Greenway Court" were
vestrymen; and planned for the erection of this present building in
1769.
In the same year that Fairfax was formed in the northern part of the
colony, Hanover County in the middle section was divided. The Act
ordered "all that tract of land now deemed to be a part of the said
county of Hanover lying above a straight course to be run from the
mouth of Little Rockey Creek on the River Northanna south, twenty
degrees west until it intersects the line of Goochland County" should
become a distinct county and known by the name of Louisa County. The
name honored a daughter of George II, as Amelia had done a few years
earlier.
Two years later the first of the eight counties eventually cut from
Goochland was created and given the name Albemarle. This was in honor of
William Anne Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle, Governor-General of the
Colony, 1737-1754. Like most of the Governors-General, he did not come
to Virginia, but the Lieutenant Governor as his deputy, performed the
duties of his office.
The bounds of Albemarle were to be divided from Goochland on the west
"by a line run from the point of fork of James River north, thirty
degrees east to the Louisa County line, and from the said point of fork
a direct course to Brooks mill and from thence the same course continued
to Appomattox River." "The point of fork" is the junction of the Rivanna
with the James. It will be noted by the reference to the Appomattox
River that Albemarle extended across James River just as Goochland did.
"Monticello" the beloved home of Thomas Jefferson, is in Albemarle
County, and in architecture and planning is another example of the
amazing versatility of his genius.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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