USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 50
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"Now, in consideration of the state of our schools, and the deplorable ignorance in which the children of our county are in danger of growing up, it must be evident to all who think properly on these subjects, that we need to adopt and carry out some effi-
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cient school system, by means of which, our schools shall be made more permanent, and sufficient inducements be held out to command and retain the services of competent and well qualified teachers: and that the means of a good primary education be brought within the reach of every child in the community, and for those who desire it and excel in the branches taught in primary schools, that oppor-
Major Rufus Brittain, was not a native of Tazewell County, but came there when he was a very young man, to engage in educational work. In this vocation he performed eminent service, and also filled many positions of trust and responsibility, among them county clerk and county treasurer. He served in the Confederate army as Adjutant of the 29th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Major Brittain was born June 19th, 1822, and died April 11th, 1899.
tunities be afforded to acquire a knowledge of the higher branches of a good English and scientific education.
"These important objects, our schools, as now conducted, fail to accomplish, and the state school-fund for the education of indigent children, is in a great measure wasted, as by its regulations, it must depend chiefly on the schools as they now exist.
"But the legislature of the state has provided a Free School System, which if adopted and carried out with proper energy and in an enlightened manner, these noble objects, in a great measure, might be attained. In order to its adoption the law requires a vote in its favor of two-thirds of the legal votes of the adopting district or county. Such a vote, we fear, could not be obtained here, until T.H .- 35
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some effort is made to enlighten our citizens on the subject of education and schools systems; and show them the advantage that would accrue to themselves and their children by having the latter furnished with the proper means of moral and intellectual culture. There would also be a variety of difficulties to encounter in the execution of this Free School System. In some portions of the county the population is quite sparse, and a sufficient number of children could not be included within a convenient school district. This difficulty, however, has no remedy under our present method of keeping up the schools, unless families thus isolated are able to employ teachers to instruct their children at home. But if the schools were established in these thinly-settled districts, by taking in boundaries large enough to furnish a sufficient number of children to each, and some efforts made to overcome the inconvenience of a distant school, by conveying the children to and from school in such a manner as could best be provided: the mere fact of a good school being kept up, would be a new inducement for persons to emigrate to those districts, and in a few years the population would so much increase that à school could be made up within convenient bounds. This system, also, being chiefly dependent on funds raised for its support by taxation, might meet with great opposition from those who have a higher appreciation of the value of money than they have of intelligence; and, again, others who are possessed of large amounts of taxable property and few or no children to send to school, may think it oppressive, unless convinced that it is the duty of cvery state or community to educate, or furnish the means to educate, the children of its citizens. In a republican government like ours, the permanence of which evidently depends on the virtue and intelligence of its citizens, it might be deemed unnecessary to demonstrate the importance of every child being properly instructed and furnished with the means of acquiring that knowledge which will fit him to perform the duties incumbent on a citizen of a free and enlightened country. Yet there are too many who are slow to perceive or acknowledge the importance of good schools, and the necessity of being at some trouble and expense to keep them up. Hence all patriotie and intelligent members of the community who have tasted the blessings of an education, or felt the want of one, should co-operate with each other, and use their influence for the improvement of our schools, and the increase of the virtue and intelligence of our citizens."
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CHAPTER VI.
THE ORIGIN AND DESCENT OF TAZEWELL COUNTY.
Nearly two hundred years intervened between the first settle- ment at Jamestown and the erection of Tazewell County as a dis- tinct civil organization. And it was more than a hundred years after Captain Newport landed the colonists on the banks of James River before any definite information was obtained of the character of the extensive region that belonged to Virginia west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was nearly a century and a half after the settlement was made at Jamestown before Virginians began to explore the country beyond the Alleghany Mountains, "on the waters of the Mississippi."
A detailed synopsis which will show how Tazewell County came into existence as a distinct civil community, and how its present geographical lines were established, will, no doubt, be instructive and useful to many persons. The territory which now constitutes the county of Tazewell was within the geographical lines of the charters granted by James I. for the colonization of Virginia. Previous to the year 1716 Virginians who lived east of the Blue Ridge had not the slightest conception of the extent and quality of the uninhabited part of the province beyond the mountains. The Trans-Alleghany domain remained a vast unexplored, mysterious region, having no civil or military connection with the Colonial Gov- ernment at Williamsburg. Governor Spottswood's expedition to the Shenandoah Valley in 1716 gave the first partial knowledge to Vir- ginians of the character of the English territory beyond the Blue Ridge.
The first attempt to bring any part of the vast trans-montane region under the Virginia Colonial Government was the creation of Spottsylvania County, by an act passed November the 2nd, 1720. The county was formed from the counties of Essex, King William, and King and Queen. Its boundaries crossed the Blue Ridge, but took in only a part of the Upper Shenandoah Valley. Very few settlers moved into that valley while a section of it was a part of Spottsylvania.
On September, 20th., 1734, the General Assembly passed an act creating Orange County. It was formed from Spottsylvania; and
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History of Tazewell County
not only took in a part of Spottsylvania east of the Blue Ridge, but it embraced all of Virginia west of that mountain. The aet creating Orange provided that its Northern and Western boundaries should be extended to "the utmost limits of Virginia." This made the terri- tory of the present Tazewell County a part of Orange County.
Four years after the formation of Orange, the Virginia Govern- ment ascertained that a number of people had availed themselves of the very liberal provisions of the act which created that county ; and had "settled themselves of late upon the rivers of Sherrando (Shen- andoah), Cohongorton, and Opeckon, and the branches thereof, on the northwest side of the Blueridge of Mountains." This discovery induced the General Assembly to pass an act on December, 15th, 1738, for the ereetion of two new counties to be taken from Orange. and to comprise all the territory lying west and northwest of the Blue Ridge. These two new counties were Frederick and Augusta. They were named from Frederick. Prince of Wales, son of King George II., and father of George III., and his wife, Princess Augusta. The northern line of Augusta, embraced the present Rock- ingham County, and part of Page; its southern boundary was the line between Virginia and North Carolina, and the present State of Tennessee ; and its western and northwestern boundaries extended to the utmost limits of the province of Virginia. Though Augusta was created by the General Assembly in 1738. it was not organized until 1745. The act provided that it should remain a part of Orange County until the Governor and Council were informed there was "a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers. and erecting courts therein." As soon as Augusta County was organized, what is now Tazewell County, and all of Southwest Virginia, became a part of Augusta.
The General Assembly passed an act on the 28th, of November, 1769, for the division of Augusta into two counties. This aet declared: "That from and after the thirty-first day of January next ensuing, the said county and parish of Augusta, be divided into two counties and parishes;" the new county taken from Augusta was named Botetourt. The lines between Augusta and Botetourt began at the Blue Ridge and ran north fifty-five degrees west to the confluence of the South and North branches of James River, which point is in the present county of Rockbridge. From that place the line ran up the south branch of the river to the mouth of
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Carr's Creek, thence up that creek to the mountain, and thence north fifty-five degrees west "as far as the courts of the two counties shall extend it." All the territory south and west of this line was placed in Botetourt. A Commission of Peace was issued by the Governor of Virginia, appointing the following named persons jus- tices of the peace for Botetourt County: "Andrew Lewis, Richard Woods, Robert Brackenridge, William Preston, John Bowyer, Israel Christian, John Maxwell, James Trimble, Benjamin Hawkins, David Robinson, William Fleming, George Skillern, and Benjamin Estell. On the 13th of February the county court was organized, with Andrew Lewis presiding. John May qualified as clerk under "a commission from Mr. Secretary Nelson," Richard Woods qualified as sheriff under a commission from the Governor; and James McDowell and James McGavock qualified as his deputies. William Preston qualified as surveyor under a commission from the President and Masters of William and Mary College and the seal of the College. Preston also qualified as Escheator under a commission from the Governor. Tazewell County for the succeeding two years was a part of Botetourt County. Settlements had previously been made in the Upper Clinch Valley, and the county court of Botetourt at its May term, 1770, ordered Anthony Bledsoe to make a list of the tithables in the Clinch settlements. The settlers on the Clinch and the Holston then had to go to Fincastle, the county seat of Botetourt, to attend courts and perform the ordinary duties of citizenship. At the August term, 1770, of the county court, Rees Bowen, from the Clinch, and Arthur Campbell, from the Holston settlements, were selected by the litigants to arbitrate a suit in which Thomas Baker was plaintiff and Israel Christian was defendant. Bowen and Campbell a few years later became very distinguished as citizens and soldiers. Israel Christian was a justice of the county court and donated the land whereon the county seat, Fincastle, is located.
Responding to a petition of the inhabitants who lived west of New River, the General Assembly on the 8th of April, 1772, passed an act for dividing Botetourt into two counties. The new county was named Fincastle, and the county seat was located at the Lead Mines in the present Wythe County. Organization of the county government of Fincastle was effected on the 5th day of January, 1773. All the territory west of New River and south of the Ohio,
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including Kentucky, was placed in the bounds of the new county ; and the present Tazewell County became a part of Fincastle County.
About three years after the organization of Fincastle County, in 1776, the people of Virginia revolted against Great Britain, and established for themselves an independent government-the Com- monwealth of Virginia. Shortly afterwards, the inhabitants of Kentucky petitioned the General Assembly to form the territory they were occupying into a distinct county. Thereupon the inhabi- tants east of the Cumberland Mountains addressed petitions to the General Assembly, requesting that the balance of Fincastle County, lying east of said mountain, be divided into two distinct counties. In answer to the said petition, the General Assembly on December 7th, 1776, passed an act which divided Fincastle County into three counties, to be named, respectively, Kentucky, Washington, and Montgomery. When the line between the last mentioned counties was run a part of the territory afterwards erected into the county of Tazewell was put in Washington, but the greater part was assigned to Montgomery.
In 1785 the inhabitants of that part of Washington County situated west and north of the Clinch Mountain petitioned the General Assembly for the formation of a new county. An act was passed on January 6th, 1786, in response to the petition, erecting a county which was named Russell, in honor of General William Russell, the pioneer patriot. The southeastern dividing line between Washington and Russell began on the top of Clinch Mountain, opposite and south of Morris' Knob, and ran along the said moun- tain to the North Carolina, now Tennessee, line. All the territory now embraced in Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, and Russell, and part of the territory of Tazewell and Buchanan counties was comprised in the original boundaries of Russell County. Pursuant to the act of the General Assembly, the county court of Russell convened at the house of William Roberson in Castle's Woods, on May 9th, 1786, and organized the county government. David Ward, one of the first settlers in Tazewell, was one of the justices commissioned for Russell by Patrick Henry, who was then filling a second term as Governor of Virginia. Captain Ward also qualified as the first sheriff of the county. Part of the present Tazewell County was then within the limits of Russell County.
The inhabitants of Montgomery County who lived west of
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New River sent a petition to the General Assembly, in 1789, asking that a new county be erected from that part of Montgomery lying west of New River. On December Ist, 1789, an act was passed for dividing the county of Montgomery into two counties. And the act provided: "That from and after the first day of May next, all that part of the county of Montgomery, which lies southwest of a line beginning on the Henry line, at the head of Big Reedy Island, from thence to the wagon ford on Peek Creek, thence to Clover Bottom on Bluestone, thence to the Kanawha County line, shall be a distinct county, and be called and known by the name of Wythe."
On the 19th of December, 1799, the General Assembly passed an act creating the county of Tazewell, to be formed from a part of Wythe, and a part of Russell. From the foregoing synopsis of the processes by which Tazewell County came into existence it is easy to trace its civil descent from the first colony planted at James- town. The following is the line of descent:
"The Grand Assemblie Holden at James City the 21st of August, 1633," passed an act that divided the Virginia Colony into eight shires, which were to be governed as the shires of Eng- . land, and named as follows:
"James City
Warwick River
Henrico
Warrosquyoak
Charles City Charles River
Elizabeth City
Accawmack"
"The Grand Assemblie, holden at James Citty the 2nd of March, 1642-3" passed an act which declared in part: "It is likewise enacted and confirmed that Charles River shall be distinguished by this name (County of York)." This meant that Charles River Shire, created by the act of August 21st, 1633, should thereafter be known as York County, and in this manner York County was created in 1643.
New Kent County was formed from York County in 1654.
King and Queen County was formed from New Kent in 1691, the third year of the reign of William and Mary.
Essex County was formed from a part of (old) Rappahannock in 1692. "Old Rappahannock" having previously been a part of York County.
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History of Tazewell County
Thus it is seen that the two counties, King and Queen and Essex, were directly descended from Charles River Shire.
King William County was formed from King and Queen County in 1701.
Spottsylvania was formed from Essex, King and Queen, and King William in 1720.
Orange County was formed from Spottsylvania in 1724.
Augusta County was formed from Orange in 1738.
Botetourt County was formed from Augusta in 1769.
Fincastle County was formed from Botetourt in 1772.
Washington County and Montgomery County were formed from Fincastle in 1776.
Russell County was formed from Washington in 1786.
Wythe County was formed from Montgomery in 1789.
Tazewell County was formed from Wythe and Russell in 1799.
By and through the foregoing detailed processes, covering a period of one hundred and ninety-two years, the great county of Tazewell was generated from the first permanent English settle- ment made upon the North American Continent.
CHANGES MADE IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL LINES OF TAZEWELL COUNTY.
After the formation of Tazewell County, in 1799, various changes were made in its geographical lines before it was reduced to its present limitations. A few of the changes were caused by accretions to the original limits, but most of the alterations were made by taking from the county large areas that have since been disclosed as veritable EI Dorados of mincral wealth. The first change that was made in the boundary lines was occasioned by the creation of Giles County. It was formed from the counties of Montgomery, Monroe, Tazewell. and Wythe, by an act passed January 16th, 1806. This eliminated from the eastern side of Tazewell County, a valuable strip of territory east of Rocky Gap, which extended from the top of Brushy Mountain to the Kanawha County line.
On the 20th of December, 1806, the General Assembly passed an act which provided for taking a narrow strip from Russell County, and attaching it to Tazewell. The western line of this boundary has been given in a preceding chapter, and need not be restated.
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The General Assembly passed an act on the 12th of January, 1824, creating Logan County. That county was formed from Giles, Kanawha, Cabell, and Tazewell, and was named from Logan, the great Indian chief. The territory taken from Tazewell, has, in recent years, become very wealthy.
A very considerable and valuable addition to the territory of Tazewell was made by an act of the General Assembly, on January 4th, 1826. This act placed Poor Valley in Tazewell. When I began writing the history of the county, I made inquiry of county officers, and the lawyers at Tazewell, and many of the older citizens, and no one could inform me how Poor Valley became a part of the county. I searched for information in the State Library, and found the following passed by the General Assembly as above stated:
"Whereas it is represented to the present General Assembly, by sundry inhabitants of the counties of Washington and Wythe, that in consequence of the great distance at which they reside from their court houses, muster-fields, and other public places, and having in going thither to cross three large mountains, they labour under great inconvenience and difficulty, and the tract of country in which they reside being very thinly inhabited, and not likely soon to be otherwise; wherefore,
"I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That all that part of the counties of Washington and Wythe, known by the name of Poor Valley, and within the following boundaries, to wit: "Begin- ning on the top of Clinch Mountain. at the highest point opposite the plantation of Major John Ward; thence a south course until it strikes the top of little Piney Mountain in the county of Washing- ton, and with the top of said mountain, running east to Wilson's Gap in the county of Wythe, thence a north course until it inter- sects the Tazewell county line, shall be a part of the county of Tazewell."
On January 9th, 1826, the General Assembly passed an act which took from Tazewell a small boundary of territory and added it to Giles County.
An act was passed on March 12th, 1834, restoring a part of Logan County to Tazewell. The boundary lines of the restored section were as follows: "Beginning at the Dry fork of Sandy
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river, and running thence a northern course to the top of the ridge dividing the waters of Guyandotte and Sandy Rivers; thence along the top of said ridge to the Flat Top Mountain (so as to include the now residence of James Marshall) to the line of Tazewell County, where it corners on Logan and Giles counties, shall be annexed to and be henceforth a part of the county of Tazewell."
By an act of the General Assembly passed on February 3rd, 1835, Tazewell had another accretion from Russell County. The act is as follows: "I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that so much of the county of Russell as lays next to and adjoining the county of Tazewell, and is contained in the following boundary lines, to wit: beginning at the line dividing the counties on the top of Kent's ridge, thence a straight line (crossing Clinch river a short distance below the mouth of Mill Creek) to the forks of said creek, thence up said creek, (the north branch thereof) to the top of the dividing ridge between Sandy and Clinch rivers, leaving the road to the northeast, thence along the top of said ridge to the ridge of mountains dividing the Louisa and Russell forks of Sandy river, and down said ridge of mountains to the Kentucky line, shall be annexed to, and be henceforth a part of the county of Tazewell."
On March 18th, 1836, another small boundary was taken from Tazewell and added to Giles by an act of the General Assembly, and defined as follows: "That so much of the farm formerly owned by Archibald Burdett (and now by George W. Pearis) containing three hundred and thirty-seven acres, as lies within the county of Taze- well, shall be annexed to and be henceforth a part of the county of Giles." This farm was located on East River.
The General Assembly by an act passed on March 17th, 1837, formed the county of Mercer from the counties of Giles and Taze- well. This new county was named from General Hugh Mercer, who was mortally wounded at the battle of Princeton, January 3rd, 1777. He was one of the splendid heroes of the American Revolu- tion, and the county seat of Mercer County was given its name in commemoration of the battle in which General Mercer lost his life. The act of the General Assembly separated from Tazewell County territory that has since been developed into one of the richest mineral sections of the North American Continent. The boundary lines of the new county established by the General Assembly, were as follows:
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"Beginning at the mouth of East river in Giles county and fol- lowing the meanders thereof (East River) up to Toney's mill dam; thence along the top of said mountain (East River Mountain) to a point opposite the upper end of the old plantation of Jesse Belcher deceased, thence a straight line to Peerie's mill dam near the mouth of Alps (Abbs) Valley, thence to a point well known by the name of the Pealed Chestnuts; thence to the top of Flat top mountain; thence along said mountain with the lines of Logan, Fayette and Tazewell counties to New River, thence up and along the various meanderings of the same to the beginning."
An examination of the act creating Mercer County, as printed in the Acts of 1836-1837, reveals the fact that the second line or call, defining the boundaries, was omitted from the printed act. This omission was rectified by an act passed by the General Assembly on March 13th, 1847. The act directed that this omitted line .be run by commissioners, commencing at "Toney's Mill dam and run thence a direct line to the top of East River Mountain," and thence for the residue of said lines as prescribed by the act of March 17th, 1837. The omitted line was duly run by commissioners.
There were no further alterations in the outlines of Tazewell County until 1858, when the counties of Buchanan and McDowell were formed. On February 13th, 1858, the General Assembly passed an act creating Buchanan County to be formed from parts of the counties of Tazewell and Russell. And on the 20th of February, 1858, the General Assembly passed an act to form a new county out of a part of the county of Tazewell, to be called and known by the name of the county of McDowell.
The dividing line between Tazewell and Buchanan begins at a point on the Dividing Ridge, about eight or nine miles northwest of the village of Raven; and from thence runs along said ridge to Bear Wallow. And the dividing line between Tazewell and McDowell starts at the point where the counties of Tazewell and Buchanan corner at Bear Wallow. Thence the line runs "east- wardly along the ridge between Clinch and the Dry Fork of Sandy, to a place called the "But of Belsher's ridge;" thence a straight line to the mouth of Horse Pen Creek, and up the same to Jesse Doughtons, and up the left hand fork of said Horse Pen Creek to the Low Gap in Tug Ridge; thence with the same to the ridge between Abb's Valley and Sandy, to the Mercer line."
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