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Library of Virginia
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Processed by: Sarah Nerney
Access to original Botetourt County records is not granted without an appointment and without prior discussion with an archivist. Same day access to records is not possible. Advance notice of at least one week is required so that an archivist will have time to inspect the requested records. An archivist may determine that some materials cannot be served due to their physical state. The records were heavily water damaged and as a result are extremely fragile and can be severely moldy. Persons with mold or dust sensitivity may want to avoid research in these records. Patrons must consult with Archives Research Services prior to a visit to the Library of Virginia to view any original Botetourt County records.
Use microfilm copy, Botetourt County (Va.) Reel 198.
These materials can be extremely fragile and moldy due to extensive water damage. An archivist may determine that a record is too fragile or damaged to be served. Patrons must consult with Archives Research Services prior to a visit to the Library of Virginia to view any original Botetourt County records.
Botetourt County (Va.) Minute Book for Court Exemption from Military Draft, 1861-1865. Local government records collection, Botetourt County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.
This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Botetourt County. The microfilm was generated by OCLC through the Library of Virginia's Circuit Court Records Preservation Program.
Botetourt County was named for Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, the royal governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770. It was formed from Augusta County in 1769, and part of Rockbridge County was added in 1785.
On 1970 December 15, a fire gutted the Botetourt County courthouse in Fincastle, Virginia. The court records were not burned but were heavily water damaged. Many of the court papers are extremely fragile today as a result of this water damage and some are not useable. Because of the near-loss of the Botetourt County records, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Public Records Act in 1975. The act mandated that deeds, wills, and other vital records be inventoried and microfilmed and copies of the film stored permanently in the Library of Virginia in Richmond for safekeeping. Counties could also choose to send court records to the Library of Virginia for storage and safekeeping as needed.
In accordance with an act passed by the General Assembly 1862 Feb. 18 and amended 1862 Oct. 1 providing a mode of exemption from military service, the county and corporation courts were directed to appoint a Board of Exemption. The board was charged with deciding all claims for military exemptions brought before it, "carefully and rigidly conforming to all the provisions of the Act of Assembly." On 1863 Feb. 13, the Governor issued an order directing that where no board had been appointed, the presiding justice of each county and corporation court, together with the two senior justices, constitute the board.
Botetourt County (Va.) Minute Book for Court Exemption from Military Draft, 1861-1865, document the board's ruling on petitions for exemption from military service in the Confederate army. Most petitions were made on the grounds of permanent bodily infirmity or having furnished a substitute. Most all statements about applications for exemption state the regiment to which the requestor was drafted to serve. Two of the 1862 meetings give names of free male negroes who were drafted into the Confederate States Quartermaster department to work on defenses in the New River District or with the Army of South Westerly Virginia.
The final pages of the volume contain information more likely to be found in a court minute or order book and dates from 1865 and 1867. Information of note recorded includes the removal of the court papers by the clerk due to occupation of the territory by the enemy; information about supplies impressed for soldiers' families; appointment of William McCreecy to inventory and if necessary distribute supplies and stores abandoned by the Confederate Quartermaster and Company Stores attached to the Nitre and Mining Bureau, including wagons, horses, mules, iron, kettles, flour, bacon, grain, cotton cloth, clothing, and leather; and a decree for a commissioner in the chancery cause of George W. Barger vs. Polly Barger etc. Other information includes will provings, road surveyor appointments, trustee appointments, summons for justices to establish the levy, administrator's bonds, and etc.
Arranged chronologically by court date. There is an incomplete index at the front of the volume.