The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-07-02
THE CITY SEAL.


Under this resolution The President aT-
pointed Mcssrs. Wynnc, Wexford, and Scott
of jefferson Ward. the committee. 80. u
On June "a, 1872, the committee made a
report which reads ~ follows: 3.s- -,
For ihe purpose Of nsccltaining what all-
tl,ority existed for giving prominence 10 the
date above named, we have examined the
records of the City Council and uf the Htis-
tings Court. ....g ~ .
The records of the proceedings of both
these institutions. far as they exist, have been
we'll preserved. That of the Council, unt0r-
tunately, shows a hiatus from 1893 to 1906,
but the Hastings Court are complete to the
present time. Both of them: however. are
in many instances too meagre in detail to
afford satisfactory results to the historical
inquirer. and from them we cleaned only
the following items i'm relation to the fornla-
ton Of the Court Of Il,lstingS and the City
Council Tor. az it was mt first called. the Com
mon Ilall). and the action of the latter in re-
lation TO the subject before us.
In the first volumes of tho records Of both
of these two branches of the city govern
ment, the first entry, without preface, note,
or comment, and, singular TO add, without
any date, is a copy Of"An act for incorporating
the town of Richmond. and Tor other puI-
poscs.' This act, as will he seen by refer
encc to Henning's Stat, vol. XII, p. 4a, was
passed in May, 1882. and provides !" that the
town of Richmondj bounded, &c. shall be
styled the city of Richmond and the as
scmbling of the frecholdcrs of lots, and the
| housekccpers, and the inhabtants OF the said
city who possess property to the amount OF
Gl0Q, on the first Tuesday in July in the
present year land every third year there
i 4 4
house for the county of lTcnrico" for the
purpose of clrcting" "twclve fit and able men,
frecholdcrS and inhabitants of the said city,
| who. or major part of them, shall, on the
same or second day thereafter elect, by bal
lot from among themselves, one person to
act rs Mayor, another :iS Recorder, four
others as Aldermen, and the other six shall
| he Common Council"
| The Mayor, Recorder. and Aldermen, or
any four of them, shall have power to hold
il Court of Hastings.
| Both the. volumes above referred to record
with great minuteneSs the proceedings Of the
frceholders, housekeepcrs, and inhabitants.
who, in:accordancc with the requirements OF
this act, nist on Tuesday, July Cd. 1882, and
elected the twelve persons as required
| They also state that OH Wednesday the Sd
of july, 1872, these "tWclvc fit and able
men" met at the courthouse and elected
William Follshec Mayor and William Hay
Recorder. The first meetings of the Com
mon Hall and of the Court of Hastings were
also held on that day.
| From The records of the Common Hall we
learn that on July 16tI,1 49,, it was
"Ortiercd that Il seal of the corporation be
provided. and that Mr.. Recorder Hay and
| Mr. Bcckcy be appointed to prepare a de-
| vice and direct the making Of the same :
Also, on July !. 1855, we read as follows:
"It appearing to the Hall that the seal here
| toiore ordered is not yet procured, it IS re-
solved that the private seal of the present
Mayor he established the common seal Of this
corporation, and that the same he affixed by
the clerk of The Common Hall to all ordl-
nanccs as the same were originally passed"
Mr.. Robert Mitchell was the Mayor at this
| time. but we have no clue TO any infornEl-
ton by which we can obtain an idea of the
| design embodied III this the first seal of the
| city of Richmond.
The earliest impression Of any official seal
| Of the corporation which we can find is in
| the volume in which the ordinances were re-
| corded. and which were atIeStcd by the sig.
| nature of the President and the seal OF the
city TO cacii ordinance.
L
| with the minutes in the journal of the pro-
| ccctlinms of the Common Hail.
| The first ordinance recorded in The hook
appropriated 10 this purpose bears date Oc-
tohcr 20. ISp6. The impression of the sc;tl
to this ordinance represents the figure OF
| Justice standing erect. holding i'll her right
| hand the scales, her left arm elevated, and
! her left hand pointing upwards. She is
| standing upon the Garth, from which, near
her left foot, N tobacco plant springs luNuri-
antly. In the cXergllc is the inscription,
CITY OF RICHMOND, JULY IN,
| MDCCLXNXII., in Roman characters.
Above her head is the motto, /" Sic itu,' ad
| dsird." This seal is one and Il half inches in
diameter, and the design has been adhered
| to generally. with such variations us VIC shall
describe. in all the official seals to the pre-
sent time. -... ..
| On the 9th of May, 1916, "the President
of the Common Hall was ordered to cause a
| new seal to be procured for the city, and Il
| press to apply the same-the seal to be made
| of steel, 50 as to make al impression without
| the use of wax or WATERS" ~. ... .sr
Notwithstanding this order the same inl-
preston appears on all the ordinances down
| to the date of january Is. 1919, in every i'll
stance upon wafer. -Four days after, Il new
seal appears.
The next date to IN ordinance is january
| 22d, 1919. and this ordinance is sealed with
| an impression one and thrcc-quartcr inches
| in diameter, stamped on the paper withouta
! wafer. OH which Justice holds the scales in
her icft hand, while the right bears ponder
Gus sword. The legend is the same as that
above named, except that the date is changed
| from Jnly IN. to-" July 18th" and the hume
A ttn fl,o
same. The records give noautlIority for this
change in the date, nor description of any
| of the seals used by which they could be
identified. 4, .r- ..i..!l ...s.
As the impressions Of the city seal are.llni-
| form in all respects from 1919 to 1860, and
| the seal of cast-steel, and the press with its
long arms, and heavy balls OH the end of the
same, were fixtures in the Chamberlain'S 5
| Office, well remembered by our contempo-
| raries, we presume the seal remained the
same until the close of the war.
During the occupation of the city ~ the
Federal troops, after the surrender, iii 1860,
every public office was ransacked and de-
spoiled of such of its contents as struck the
fancy of collectors of relics or patrons of junk
dealers. From April the Sd to June the 7th,
1865, the Office of the chamberlain Ayas u,,occu
pied by city official. Atthe ESt-named date
the Military Governor +. 1T. Pierpoint, 81. W.
| Turner. Maior.General, commanding the Fed
eral trooIsat this station.) commenced issuing
a series of orders in relation to the government
of the city, by one of which David ]. Saun-
ders, Esq, a prominent citizen of Richmond,
and Tor many years president of the City
Council, was appointed dprovisiomI manager
of the city of Richmond MIR. Saunders at
once rcappointed Mr.. A. w. Morton chair
berlain, and Mr.. f. G. Howard his clerk.
When Mr. Morton returned to his office,