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compiled by Jim Moyer 1/30/2019
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In 1744, James Wood puts forth the first plan of a town.
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This town was known originally as Opeckon or Frederick Town but later was officially established as Winchester in 1752.
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But prior to 1744, that first plan of the town?
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November 14, 1743 was the first official meeting of the court of Frederick County five years after it was created in 1738.
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In the beginning the town was a part of the county.
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Mike Foreman, a former Winchester City Clerk, resurrected a defeated 1969 plan to merge both the city and county. At the very least he got the city and county to meet where it could consolidate services and maybe become one unified local government again. Strong arguments still remain for both sides of this issue of either merging or remaining apart or share in merging some services.
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Frederick County’s
Original Officers of the Court
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Below is an excerpt from:
Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical by Foote, William Henry, 1794-1869, Published 1856, pages 17-18
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On Tuesday, November 14th, 1743,
eight persons took the magistrates’ oath,
and composed the court.
Morgan Morgan and
David Vance administered the oath
to Marquis Calmes,
Thomas Rutherford,
William M’Mahon,
Meredith Helmes,
George Hoge and
John White.
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These, in turn, administered the oath to
Morgan Morgan and David Vance.
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James Wood was made Clerk of the County, and
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Thomas Rutherford, Sheriff.
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James Porteus, John Steerman, George Johnston, and John Newport, gentlemen, taking the oath of attornies, were admitted to the Bar.
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Winchester was the county seat.
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At the second meeting of the court, December 9th, 1743, the will of Benjamin Burden, who had been named as magistrate, was proved.
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Barnet Lindsey received twenty lashes on his bare back, at the common whipping-post, for stealing’ two pieces of venison from the milk house of Thomas Hart, adjudged to be worth two pence: Henry Howard, servant to James M’Crachan, ‘was adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, on charge of stealing a mare from Samuel Glass, and received ten lashes on his bare back, December 10th.
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In another case of horse stealing — or rather horse riding — taking a man’s horse without leave, and riding off on a visit for some days — the defendant had his choice of twenty lashes or fifteen shillings fine : the same Henry Howard was complained of by his master, James M’Crachan, that he had been absent eleven days, and that in finding him and bringing him back, the expenses had been twenty shillings, and one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco ; and the court ordered that he serve six months and four days for his runaway time and expenses, after the expiration of his time of servitude according to law, unless he could otherwise satisfy his master.
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In March, 1744,
ordered that James O’Neal keep the Court House clean, and attend on court days to take care of the Justices’ horses during a twelvemonth, for which he is to receive from the county levy £23 15s. current money.
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The above is from:
Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical by Foote, William Henry, 1794-1869, Published 1856, pages 17-18
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FREDERICK COUNTY VA
CREATED 1738
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Frederick County and Augusta County, named for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and his Wife, Augusta, were created from western Orange County by the Virginia House of Burgesses.
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AUGUST 1, 1738 – Wrong
Virginia state history signs all say 1738. But the caption under these signs state August 1, 1738. This is incorrect.
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http://www.markerhistory.com/tag/frederick-county/
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This might be a mixture of matching wrong date with year.
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Lt Gov William Gooch had called elections for a new assembly. They were then elected and called to meet on August 1, 1735, but did not actually meet until August 5, 1736.
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Source:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001603225;view=1up;seq=31
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DECEMBER 21, 1738 – Correct
This site states December 21, 1738 instead.
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http://www.co.frederick.va.us/visit/history-of-frederick-county
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That date of December 21, 1738 appears to be the closest to the actual day the law was passed if you use the last date of the Assembly’s 2nd session.
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The Assembly of 1736 to 1740 (Page xxvii) had 5 different sessions passing laws.
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The 2nd Session of 1 Nov 1738 to 21 Dec 1738 (Page xxix) shows Frederick County and Augusta County was created in this 2nd Session (Page xxxi).
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Henning also confirms the start of this 2nd session as 1 Nov 1738.
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For the law creating Frederick and Augusta Counties, see: November 1738, Volume V, Chapter XXI, pages 78-80. See Link 1 See Link 2, then CTRL F to find FREDERICK . You will see the heading: LAWS OF VIRGINIA, NOVEMBER 1738−−12th GEORGE II.
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What this means is the 12th year of King George II reign, not November 12 as has been mistakenly inferred.
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October 23, 1743
James Wood appointed Clerk of Court for Frederick County, recorded in Orange County.
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FREDERICK COUNTY ESTABLISHED 1743
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Although created in 1738,
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“the said new counties and parishes shall remain part of the county of Orange, and parish of Saint Mark, until it shall be made appear to the governor and council, for the time being, that there is a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace, and other officers, and erecting courts therein, for the due administration of justice;”
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Source: Page 79 Henings statutes
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And that didn’t happen until 1743 when Frederick County became independent of Orange and established a court with officers.
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The Court for Frederick County VA was held at Orange Court House from 1738 until 1743, when it was transferred to Winchester.
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“Mentioned in the Court Order books as Col. of horse and foot in the Colonial Line, “and as County Surveyor in 1734;” special order appears in the minutes of 1742 in connection with Col. John Lewis, Major Morgan Morgan, Captains Andrew Campbell, Thos. Rutherford, Lewis Neill, Lt. Jacob Hite, Thos. Swearingcn, and many others who became prominent in Frederick County when the first court was organized.”
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See link, then CTRL F to find JAMES WOOD
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Source: Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants, A History of Frederick County, Virginia (ILLUSTRATED)
From its Formation in 1738 to 1908 Compiled Mainly from Original Records of Old Frederick County, now Hampshire, Berkeley, Shenandoah, Jefferson, Hardy, Clarke, Warren, Morgan and Frederick…..by T. K. Cartmell Clerk of the Old County Court
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some links found in the course of researching the above story
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Detox old county city jail
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Deed search puts Winchester lawyer on quest
Frederick County Circuit Clerk Rebecca Hogan and attorney Michael Bryan of the City of Winchester Economic Development Authority look over a bound book of deeds that contains the original May 12, 1843 deed to the old jail on S. Cameron Street in Winchester. Hogan has copied and typed the deed word-for-word to make a modern document that can be used to sell the property. (AP Photo/The Winchester Star, Jeff Taylor)
WINCHESTER (AP) All Michael Bryan was looking for was a deed. What the local attorney eventually found was a bit of a mystery — one nearly 169 years in the making — with a possible solution that involves spirits.
Bryan was seeking the deed for the property that housed the Winchester-Frederick County jail and Starting Point Detox Center for years but could not find the document.
Records in the Winchester Circuit Court Clerk’s Office included older deeds for the parcel at 317 S. Cameron St., but he could not find the 1843 document transferring ownership of the property to Frederick County and the corporate municipality of Winchester.
City property records indicated it was on page 456 of deed book 71, but that information didn’t match courthouse records.
“It puzzled me,” said Bryan.
After trying everything he could think of for about a day, Bryan decided to search Frederick County’s records. There, on page 456 of book 71, was the deed.
The document outlined the transaction that occurred on May 12, 1843.
John W. and Harriet R. Miller and George B. and Camelia E. Deiffenderfer, two married couples, had sold the property for $450. The sum was paid by “the said Justices of Frederick County and the said Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen of the Corporation of Winchester.”
Rebecca Hogan, clerk of the Frederick County Circuit Court, said occasionally city documents are found in county records and vice versa. Fixing that problem is simple — a copy is made and transferred to the proper office.
With this deed, though, nothing would be simple.
“The problem,” Hogan said, “was that it was in a bound book and was handwritten in, and it was in a big book that couldn’t be easily copied.”
Her solution was manual labor. Seeking peace and quiet for the task, Hogan took the deed book home one weekend and spent a few hours deciphering the document and typing a new one.
“I’ve never before had a clerk willing to hand-type a document,” Bryan said.
Hogan’s task wasn’t easy. The deed is faded in spots. The script handwriting is difficult to decipher, with “p’s” that look like “f’s.” It featured phrasing and terms considered arcane nowadays.
“I wouldn’t want to do that for a living,” she said of interpreting the deed. “If somebody comes to me with a book and wants me to type one, I’m going to run the other way.”
The document twice used a version of the term “enfeoff.” Hogan didn’t know what it was, but Bryan was familiar with it.
“It means delivery of possession,” said Bryan, who said he’s searched thousands of deeds since he began practicing law in 1976. “It used to be a person taking a handful of dirt from the property and handing it over to the buyer.
“I learned it from law school at the University of Virginia, but it’s the first time I’ve had to use it. My property law professor would be proud that I remembered that.”
The document also chronicled a practice discontinued long ago. Two justices of the peace certified that they met with Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Deiffenderfer “privately and apart from their husbands” to explain the deed to them and insure that they understood and agreed to the sale.
Also included in the deed was a provision that a 9-foot-wide alley be kept open to give “the lot now owned by Maria Weaver, a free mulatto woman, communication with Cecil Street ….”
Bryan took steps to verify that the lot the property described was, indeed, the one being sold by the Winchester Economic Development Authority behalf of the city and county.
A survey shows the 9-foot alley that opens onto Cecil Street. Also, an old plat of what then was the town of Winchester shows a jail on lot 200; the deed refers to the parcel as being lot 200.
To be certain the deed was correct, Hogan said she had it proofread by two of her deputy clerks, former deputy Janet Lowery, and Michael Foreman, Winchester’s clerk of the court for 28 years.
“It might have a word that doesn’t make sense to us,” she said, “but we’re very confident we’ve got a good copy.”
The re-created deed was recorded in Winchester, and the property’s sale to Anne Palmer of Winchester is expected to close by April 30. Palmer plans to turn the building into a spa retreat.
Earlier this year the Economic Development Authority unanimously approved selling the property for $395,000. The money will be split between the city and Frederick County, which jointly owned the old jail, which was most recently an inebriate center.
While the mystery of the deed’s location was solved, how it got there hasn’t been explained.
Foreman, ever the local historian, offered a couple of theories.
Originally, the former court clerk said, Winchester’s southern border was Cork Street. It also was a only a town, not a separate city, and it contracted with Frederick County to house arrestees in the county jail.
Up until 1870, he said, minor offenses were tried in town courts but felonies had to be heard by the Frederick County courts.
“I think the real reason was that the land was in Frederick County,” Foreman said, “and therefore there was not any legal requirement to record it in the city.”
Still, the fact that previous deeds for 317 S. Cameron St. were in city property records left him puzzled. It could be, he said, that the practice was to record such deeds in both the town and county offices and simply wasn’t followed in this instance.
That led Foreman to surmise another possible explanation — poor record keeping, perhaps caused by spirits.
He said that years ago, the handling of records locally was somewhat suspect. Lawyers would drop documents by the clerk’s office, and they might sit for days before being filed.
While in office, he found documents indicating that an order once was issued for someone to come to Winchester to straighten out its clerk’s office.
In those days, Foreman said, it was common for court officials to be intoxicated while on the job.
“The clerk could’ve been drunk, the lawyer could’ve been drunk, they both could’ve been drunk. Regardless of which is the case,” he said, “I’m sure it was the lawyer’s fault and not the clerk’s.”
– By Vic Bradshaw
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City to revisit consolidation of utilities
WINCHESTER — City Council members are slated to discuss the merits of consolidating city and Frederick County utility services at a work session tonight, several years after a committee studied the issue.
By J.R. Williams — jrwilliams@nvdaily.com
WINCHESTER — City Council members are slated to discuss the merits of consolidating city and Frederick County utility services at a work session tonight, several years after a committee studied the issue.
According to a memo prepared for the meeting, the chairman of the Frederick-Winchester Service Authority inquired whether previous consolidation discussions were still ongoing.
Councilman Art Major, a city representative on the authority, agreed to bring the topic to his colleagues on the City Council, it says.
The panel would be revisiting the issue: A committee generated a report on “a regional approach” to water and sewer consolidation in 2007 as part of a broader Winchester-Frederick County unification debate that began in 2005.
After six meetings, the report says, the committee of city and county leaders found that consolidating was “absolutely doable.” They consulted with officials from Roanoke, which operates joint water and sewer systems with surrounding Roanoke County.
“Early on, in fact at the first meeting, the Committee unanimously agreed that a consolidated system operating as a regional water and sewer service authority was the appropriate structure,” it says. “An authority would be in a better position to address the water and sewer needs of the region rather than what’s best for one municipality or another.”
The committee found that a consolidated, coordinated work force, combined water sources and the leverage of a larger customer base would “better serve our region with enhanced efficiencies of operation.”
But they also said that local government commitment would be an issue, as well as a “concern of each jurisdiction paying for the other’s needs.”
Discussion on the larger unification study — which also included reports from committees that studied fire and rescue, schools and social services, faded from the public eye in 2009.
The Frederick County Board of Supervisors voted in February of that year to not move forward with plans for total consolidation, but to explore consolidation of selected services.
Tonight’s work session starts at 6 p.m. at Rouss City Hall.
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