Tucked into the inside cover of Marriage Book 7 in Fauquier County Clerk's Office is some interesting correspondence from October 1949. One of the letters is from Earl M. Edwards at the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond to Eppa Hunton IV of Hunton, Williams Anderson, Gay and Moore also of Richmond.
Mr. Edwards had visited the State Law Library in order to examine Acts of Assembly 1861-1863. His report on this endeavor were things I did not know, and I share this here for others like me, and for those with more expertise than I, your further comments on this will be much appreciated.
I will paraphrase here:
1. Beginning in 1861, there were two sets of Acts of Assembly. One session was held in Richmond and one was held in Wheeling (now of course West Virginia.) Both of them called themselves the General Assembly. [Question here: apparently the schism had already begun with a rump government in Wheeling?]
2. In secret sessions held by the Convention of Virginia in April and May, 1861, Ordinance No. 67 (passed 26 JUN 1861) provided that if a county court could not convene to transact business "by reason of the public enemy" then the "next adjacent" county was granted jurisdiction. [Edwards' citation is Act 1861-Ordinances of Va. Convention p. 58]
3. Acts 1861-1862, p. 99. Chapter 82. Passed 10 MAR 1862. This amends the above expands the "problem" adds jurisdiction in such situations to the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond. The first deed recorded at the Circuit Clerk of Richmond was dated 5 MAR 1860 for land in Loudon County, recorded 1 JUN 1863, Deed Book 1, p. 1. The last deed recorded there on 1 APR 1865 for land in Albemarle County.
So, if one cannot find a record in a county during the War years, this tells us to look at adjacent counties and, after 1 JUN 1863, at the Circuit Clerk's Office of the City of Richmond (at that time in District 7, and was the only city or county in that district.)
Mr. Edwards' letter goes on to opine that this book should be presented to the State Library "to be preserved among the archives there" with a photostat copy made for each county with records involving them. Did this ever happen?
Craig Kilby
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