Warren County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1875

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Warren County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Warren County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1875, consist of five volumes and one folder of minutes and accounts relating to the administrative functions of the township boards of the county.

Commissioners' Report and papers relating to townships, 1870, are one folder of documents relating to the division of Warren County into three original townships (Cedarville, Front Royal, and South River) and then the further division of South River to create a fourth (Fork). Included are petitions, commissioners' reports, accounts, boundary line discussions, and appointment of officials.

Cedarville Township Board Minutes, 1871-1875, records information such as the division of the township into road districts, the appointment of road overseers, establishment of tax and levy rates, selection of township clerk, orders to make up lists of road hands, procurement of a desk and supplies for township officers, appointment of election judges, establishment of rates allowable for road work, settlement of township treasurer accounts, settlement of road overseer accounts, and examination of the settlement between the collector and the treasurer.

Cedarville Township Account Book, 1871-1875, records various warrants and accounts examined relating to the township board.

Fork Township Tax Bill Receipt Book, 1872-1874, lists tax tickets for the township levy collected by the township collector. The lists are in alphabetical order.

South River Township Minute Book, 1871-1874, consists of minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes appointment of road overseers, division of the township into road districts, accounts allowed against the township board, establishment of tax and levy rates, and orders to repair a bridge. At the rear of the volume is a list of voters divided into white and colored and further by what appears to be road districts.

South River Township Accounts and Bonds of Road Commissioners, 1871-1874, are copies of road commissioner bonds to ensure proper performance of duties. Some township accounts are included but are not limited specificially to road issues.

Biographical / historical:

Warren County was named for Joseph Warren, the revolutionary patriot who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous rides and who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The county was formed from Frederick and Shenandoah counties in 1836.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). Based on the New England administrative organization of a county, each township would elect the administration officials for the offices of supervisor, clerk, assessor, collector, commissioner of the roads, overseer of the poor, justice of the peace, and constable. The supervisors of each township would comprise the board of supervisors for the county, and would be responsible for auditing the county accounts, examining the assessors' books, regulating property valuation, and fixing the county levies. The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). A constitutional amendment in 1874 changed the townships into magisterial districts and each district elected one supervisor, three justices of the peace, one constable, and one overseer of the poor. The supervisors of the districts made up the county board of supervisors whose duties were identical as those set out in 1870. The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Warren County.
Physical location:
State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Physical description:
5 v. and 1 folder.