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Virginia's
Counties:
A
Day's Journey to the Courthouse
The
colony of Virginia actually started as a business --
counties weren’t even a part of the London
Company’s plan when it enticed settlers to travel
to Jamestown in 1607. Instead, the settlement was
managed by the equivalent of a corporation’s chief
executive officer. A local board managed the
colony’s affairs and members of the London Company
in England made up the corporation’s “Board of
Directors.” (Virginia
Places)
To
attract settlers to the colony, the London Company
offered the opportunity to set up self-sufficient
“hundreds,” a marketing ploy to indicate the
number of new settlers expected to establish an
organized community. These “hundreds” had to be
located several miles from any other settlement.
By
1617, a decade after the first settlers arrived, the
colony had been divided into four incorporations: Henricus,
Charles
City, James
City and Kecoughtan.
In 1619, the London Company set up the House of
Burgesses and that body created the first courts in
the colony two years later. But as the population
increased – it was 5,000 by 1634 – the
central court couldn’t handle the legal workload.
The legislative body then chartered eight
“shires,” referred to as counties, to ease its
burden.
Thus,
the commonwealth’s first eight counties included
the four incorporations (Kecoughtan was renamed
Elizabeth City), as well as Accomack,
Charles
River, Warrosquyoake
and Warwick
River. Boundaries were set so it was only a
day’s journey to get to court to take care of
affairs.
By
Thomas Jefferson’s day, there were 74 counties
("Notes
on the State of Virginia -- Query 12: Counties
and Towns" ), and the number has grown to 95
today. Through the centuries there have been various
gains and losses. For example, Virginia has lost all
the counties named for its native sons Jefferson and
George Mason to West Virginia and Kentucky. As the
state’s population grew in the 19th and 20th
centuries, new counties were formed from old; cities
became counties; and counties became cities.
In
fact, because of these permutations, there are no
longer any counties in southeastern Virginia. Due to
population growth and the expansion of Navy
installations after World War II, as well as
political tension between urban and rural areas, the
counties that once existed have all converted into
cities ("Why
There Are No Towns or Counties in Southeastern
Virginia").
So,
here are some stats on the descendents of our
shires. In land area, the largest county in Virginia
is Pittsylvania
at 971 square miles. It was formed from Halifax
County in 1677 and is located along the North
Carolina border. The county with the least acreage
is Arlington
County with only 26 square miles. It was
actually a part of the defunct Alexandria County
until it was formed in 1920. Mathews
County on the Middle Peninsula comes in a close
second with 86 square miles. It was divided from Gloucester
County in 1791.
The
most populous county is Fairfax
County, in northern Virginia, with more than one
million residents, although it ranks 46th in land
area with 395 square miles. The county with the least
residents is Highland
County, located in the western part of the state
between West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.
Calling itself “Virginia's Switzerland,” it has
a bit more than 2,000 residents in its mountains and
valleys. Arlington County is the state’s densest
county with more than 7,000 residents per square
mile. Fairfax comes in second with about 2,400 per
square mile. Highland County takes the prize again
as the most sparsely settled county.
But,
remember those county courthouses – the reasons
the jurisdictions first came into being? It seems
genealogists have run into a phenomenon known as
"burned counties." More than two dozen
counties in the Old Dominion have lost official
records due to fire, flood and various wars – the
Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil
War. A few suffered losses as many as three
different times. If you can’t find your
great-great grandfather’s death certificate, this
might be the cause.
However,
the bulk of county records is still intact; and the
trip to track down a document is much quicker than
it was several centuries ago.
NEXT:
The Tribes of Virginia: American Indians in the
Commonwealth
--
July 2, 2007
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