Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Warren County (Va.) Township Records, 1870-1875. Local government records collection, Warren County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Warren County.

Historical Information

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.

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.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Warren County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• County government -- Records and correspondence -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Local finance -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Local government -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Public records -- Virginia -- Warren County.

Geographical Names:

• Warren County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Accounts -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Ledgers (account books) -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Minute books -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Road and bridge records -- Virginia -- Warren County.
• Township records -- Virginia -- Warren County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Township of Cedarville (Warren County, VA)
• Township of Fork (Warren County, VA)
• Township of Front Royal (Warren County, VA)
• Township of South River (Warren County, VA)