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
Albemarle was the next county to be divided. In 1761, it was enacted
that the portion "of the said county which lies on the south side of the
Fluvanna river" [old name for the James River above Richmond] "shall be
one distinct county and called and known by the name of Buckingham." By
the same legislation, "that other part of the said county which lies on
the north side of the Fluvanna river shall be divided from the
confluence of Rockfish river with the Fluvanna by Rockfish river to the
mouth of Green creek and thence a straight line to the house of Thomas
Bell to the Blue mountains, and all that part which lies above Rockfish
river and the lines aforesaid" shall be called Amherst County. Amherst
Parish at the same time was formed from Saint Anne's Parish and made
coterminous with the county of Amherst. Several years earlier, Tillotson
Parish had been formed from Saint Anne's to take care of the residents
of Amherst who lived on the south side of James River. It was now made
coterminous with the county of Buckingham.
The name Buckingham is probably for the Duke of Buckingham. Amherst
derives its name from "the hero of Ticonderoga, Major-General Sir
Jeffrey Amherst, the most successful as well as the most popular of all
the English Colonial Governors-General." He was titular Governor-General
of Virginia 1759-1768 while Francis Fauquier performed the duties of the
office.
Four years passed, and two more divisions were made in the western
portion of Lunenburg. The part of Lunenburg comprised in the parish of
Cornwall became Charlotte County and the portion in the parish of St.
James became Mecklenburg.
These counties were named, as is the city of Charlottesville, after
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who became Queen of England on her
marriage to King George III.
We next find in 1767 that Halifax has grown to the point of division and
a new county, Pittsylvania, has been taken from its western portion.
Pittsylvania lay on the upper or western side "of a line to be run
across the mouth of Strait Stone creek on Staunton river to the country
line, near the mouth of the country line creek on Dan river." At the
same time, Antrim, which was the parish for Halifax, was divided and the
part lying in Pittsylvania became Camden. Pittsylvania honored "Sir
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the celebrated English statesman" whose
sympathy with them had endeared him to the colonists. A statue of him in
Westmoreland county, Virginia and another in Charleston, South Carolina
are further expressions of the affection felt for him.
BOTETOURT, 1770 HONORS A POPULAR COLONIAL GOVERNOR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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