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stitution" dated the 24 day of July, 1621, adopted at a great General Court of the Company in London, it was declared that from thence forward there should be two supreme councils in Virginia for the better government of the colony. The first was called the Council of State. It was appointed by the

London Council, and the duties of its members were to advise and assist the governor, who was the head of the Council of State. The other great council consisted of the Council of State and "two burgesses out of every town, hundred, and particular plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants." The official name of this aggregation of councils was, "The General Assembly." They were to be called by the Governor "once yearly, and not oftener, but for very extraordinary and important occasions."

6. Scope of Powers Granted.-The Governor had a veto. The Assembly had both legislative and judicial powers. No law of the Assembly was operative until ratified by the General Court under seal. But the Ordinance provided, that when the government of the colony is once well framed and settled accordingly no orders of court afterwards shall bind the said colony unless they be ratified in like manner in the General Assemblies." This Ordinance is the first written constitution establishing free government in America.

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7. The Forerunner of a Two-Chambered Legislature.-At first the Governor, Council, and Burgesses sat together; but in time the Council came to form a sort of Upper House and sat apart. This change seems to have come about gradually. The first separation was the result of a quarrel between the Burgesses and the "old planter" Governor, Matthews, in 1658, when by action of the Burgesses the Council was excluded.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE ORIGIN AND GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTY.

1. History of Its Formation.—It has already been said that shires were formed in Virginia in 1634 "to be governed as shires in England," and that by 1643 the name shire had fallen into disuse and the old Norman-French name, county, had come into use in its stead. Counties were formed by legislative enactment. From time to time, as necessity seemed to require, the General Assembly passed acts for the establishment of counties of such size and with such boundaries as the public convenience seemed to demand. Natural boundaries, such as mountain ranges, watersheds, and streams, were adopted, whenever practicable. In the beginning, of course, a county frequently embraced a vast extent of territory; but, as population increased, these large areas were divided again and again, and new counties were formed. Sometimes a new county was formed by the division of a single county, and at other times by combining portions of two or more counties. Frequently county lines were altered, to suit the convenience of population, by taking a portion of one or more counties and adding it to a county already in existence. It will not be possible in this little book to trace the territorial history of each county. The acts creating counties not infrequently designated impossible boundaries. In other cases starting points were assumed, which can not be located with certainty. An effort is made here to locate, in a general sort of way, the extent of territory covered by Orange, Frederick, Augusta, Botetourt, District of West Augusta, Ohio, Yohogania, Monongalia, Fincastle, Montgomery, and Greenbrier counties;

because they may be regarded as the most important of the parent counties of the territory now in West Virginia. But accuracy is not claimed. To attempt to go into details would lead the reader into a maze of difficulties.

(1) Orange (1735).—Orange County, formed in 1735 out of Spotsylvania, was bounded by Hanover on the south and by the grant of Lord Fairfax on the north, and extended "westerly by the utmost limits of Virginia." Settlements had already sprung up in that portion, now within West Virginia, watered by the Potomac and its tributaries.

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(2) Frederick and Augusta (1738).—In 1738 it was urged that there were enough people in Orange west of the Blue Ridge to form a new county. Accordingly, that portion of Orange west of the Blue Ridge was formed into two counties, Frederick and Augusta. Frederick was situated in the lower or northern part of the Shenandoah valley, with Winchester as the county seat, and included all of Berkeley and Jefferson and a part of Morgan. Augusta occupied the southern or upper part of the valley, with Staunton as the seat of justice, portion under Frederick, together with the whole of Virginia's undefined territory to the west as far as the Mississippi River. Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota were included in the claim of Virginia. Fragments only of the original counties of Frederick and Augusta remain in Virginia, with their original names and county seats; the remainder of their territory has been carved into other counties.

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and included all of West Virginia, except the justice,

(3) Botetourt (1769).—Botetourt was formed by the division of Augusta in 1769, and included the whole territory of Virginia to the south and west of the New River together with a vaguely defined territory lying to the east and north of the New and Kanawha rivers, and extending westward to the Ohio. Its area was reduced on the south by the formation of Fincastle (1772), and was limited and defined by the formation

of Greenbrier (1777). After the organization of Greenbrier Botetourt ceased to have any territory within the limits of West Virginia.

(4) Fincastle (1772).-Fincastle included the whole southwestern part of Virginia, south and west of the New River. Fincastle was one of the titles of Lord Dunmore, who was earl of Fincastle. Such was the hatred of the Virginian for their royal governor that he was driven out of the Commonwealth and the county bearing his title was extinguished by dividing it into the three counties of Kentucky, Washington, and Montgomery.

(5) Montgomery (1776).-Montgomery was formed in 1776. Some alterations were made in its boundaries within the next year, so that it came to occupy, in the main, the territory south and west of the Kanawha and New rivers now included in the State of West Virginia.

(6) Greenbrier (1777).—Greenbrier was formed in 1777 out of Botetourt and Montgomery, and included all the territory lying between the Kanawha and New rivers on the south, the Ohio River on the west, the Alleghany Mountains on the east, and a line on the north drawn from the top of the mountain where the line between Augusta and Botetourt crossed the same, across the State, running north fifty-five degrees west to the Ohio River. This line was the southern boundary of Monongalia, and the northern boundary of Greenbrier.

(7) The District of West Augusta (1776).—The District of West Augusta has no likeness among the divisions of Vir· ginia territory. The name seems to have originated in popular usage to indicate the vast extent of Augusta County's territory situated west of the Alleghany Mountains. It was not a county; and yet counties were formed from it; and in 1775 the Virginia Convention recognized it as a county so far as to give it a representation of two delegates in the Convention. It was given boundaries in 1776; but the boundaries failed to

meet: one side was left open with undefined limits. Out of the District of West Augusta, in the same year, were formed the counties of Ohio, Yohogania, and Monongalia.

(8) Ohio (1776).—Ohio County, with its somewhat vague and indefinite boundary, included the greater part of Brooke, and all of Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler, and most of Doddridge and Pleasants.* Its eastern boundary was the dividing ridge between the Ohio River and the Monongahela.

(9) Yohogania, the Lost County (1776-1785).—Yohogania represents the crude spelling of the time for Youghiogheny. It included that portion of West Augusta lying north of a line beginning at the mouth of Cross Creek (near Wellsburg) and following that stream to its head, thence to the head of Tenmile Creek, thence with the road leading from Catfish Camp (near Washington) to Redstone Old Fort (now Brownsville), thence along the Dunlap road and Braddock road to the meridian of the head fountain of the Potomac. When the line between Virginia and Pennsylvania was finally adjusted, a large part of Ohio and Monongalia, and nearly all of Yohogania were absorbed by Pennsylvania. That part only of Yohogania remained, which lies now in the Panhandle of West Virginia north of Cross Creek. This fragment was added to Ohio County in 1785, and Yohogania disappeared from the map.

(10) Monongalia (1776).-Monongalia is thus described in the act creating the county:

"All that part of the said district (of West Augusta) lying to the northward of the county of Augusta, to the westward of the meridian of the head fountain of the Potowmack, to the southward of the county of Yohogania, and to the eastward of the county of Ohio."t

By subsequent acts the territory of Monongalia was extended

*It is difficult to identify exactly the territory included in Ohio.

+The name is derived from the Monongahela River; but in the spelling it was written Monongalia; indeed, Monongalia is frequently the way the name of the river is spelled in both legislative end court records of the time.

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