Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Frederick County (Va.) Township Records, 1871-1875. Local government records collection, Frederick County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Frederick County.

Historical Information

Frederick County was named for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and eldest son of George II. It was formed from Orange County in 1738, but the county government was not organized until 1743. Part of Augusta County was added later.

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

Frederick County (Va.) Township Records, 1871-1875, consist of three volumes of minutes and accounts and one folder of papers relating to township activities and duties.

Back Creek Township Board Record, 1871-1875, contains minutes and accounts. Information recorded includes division of the township into road districts, establishment of rates for road work, establishment of taxes and levies, appointment of election judges, appointment of overseers of the roads, compensation payments made to township officials, accounts claimed against the township board, reports of road overseers about taxes and fines collected, and redivision of road districts. The back of the volume contains several pages of road tax accounts for the years 1874-1875 by district.

Gainsboro Township Ledger, 1872-1875, consists of township accounts including monies paid in and out, monies received from the township collector, and road accounts. Sometimes the reason for a payment is given but often it is not.

Opequon Township Road Record, 1871-1875, lists the boundaries of the road districts in the township and lists by district number the names of road hands. Pages 43-77 consist of minutes of the Opequon Township Board. Information recorded includes tax and levy rates, establishment of rates allowed for road work, appointment of road overseers, compensation amounts paid to township officials, accounts allowed against the township, appointment of commissioners of elections and voting district registrars, alterations to road district boundaries, purchase of tools for road work, orders for road overseer elections, appointment of election judges, reports of delinquent taxes, and other financial reports of the township collector and treasurer.

Opequon Township delinquent tax lists for township taxes and levies, 1871-1875, are four delinquent tax lists found folded up inside the Opequon Township Road Record volume. Lists are more or less alphabetical by surname and indicate which taxes are delinquent. Colored residents are identified as such on the lists.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Frederick County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

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

Geographical Names:

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

Genre and Form Terms:

• Account books -- Virginia -- Frederick County.
• Accounts -- Virginia -- Frederick County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Frederick County.
• Minute books -- Virginia -- Frederick County.
• Tax and fiscal records -- Virginia -- Frederick County.
• Tax records -- Virginia -- Frederick County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Township of Back Creek (Frederick County, Va.)
• Township of Gainsboro (Frederick County, Va.)
• Township of Opequon (Frederick County, Va.)