The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-06-22

4 Special. Correspondence OF 1ntellgencer.
BEVERLY. W. Va, June eO.-The
& lysrecords Of the territory now in.
ecltded In West Virginia contain fire..
quent reference to the District OF
i West Augusta" but at no place and OF
( ND time has there ever been published
( SO far as ] know, a clear statement OF
\ what that district comprised. and VIVA,
y its political status was. Perhaps no
y such statement Is possible now; for
West Augusta appears to have been an
uncertain quantity. neither It's begin
s;nlng. nor Its ending being by process OF
law. In this article I shall not UNDER
take to clear up the vagueness OF early
reference to and descriptions of the dis
,trict, but shall endeaVor to give q his
y tory (perhaps lncomplete) OF the acts
of the Virginia assembly relating TO the
y subject: and ! shall also aim to show
X that the boundary lines, as designated
II by the legislature. enclosed no territory,
= because one side, OF the district was left
open. In the phraseology OF surveyors,
i&.'it failed 10 close"
In July. 1775, convention OF dele
! gates from the counties and corpora
4 tons OF Virginia was held to provide for
: the defense Of the colony Sin the pres
4 ent time of darger"-the beginning OF.
K the Revolutionary War-und It was re-
Z solved that two regiments, OF 1910 men
each, should be raised To facilitate the
4 raising of the troops. and TO proportion
them equally, Virginia was divided into
Z sixteen. districts. One OF the districts
( was called West Augusta. This Is the
earliest mention of West Augusta In
4 any legal proceeding or public docu-
I ment so far as have found. The west
{ ern part of Augusta county was spoken
\ Of as West Augusta before that time;
), but the name seems to have been used
7 in a general way for all the country
west of the Allegheny mountains.
In the same month, July. 1775, the
Virginia assembly passed q law requir-
Ing settlers in West Augusta to pay
taxes on lands claimed by them, al
though they had no patents. This ap-
( pea-s to have been the first mention OF
= West Augusta in an act OF the Virginia
legislature. The district was not crea-
Y ted by law, but after july, 1775, 1t was
frequently referred to In the laws as
4 passed By the legislature. On May ].
y 1116,San act was passed, allowing West
Z Augusta n delegate to the assembly; yet
no bound or limit for the district had
4 been designated. An act passed at the
y same session Of the legislature, May.
q IT'S. speaks OF a sheriff and court for
West Augusta; thus allowing the infer
ence that the district had separate
court and separate sheriff. .(See Hen
irg's Statutes, Vol TX; p. 26t).
al am satisfied that West Augusta new
er had q court OF its own. II It had, the
place where 1t was held would certain
q ly be known, even II the records should
Z be lost. Most assuredly no records of a
West Augusta court are known to be In
existence. In all probability. that which
II was spoken OF as the West Augusta
court was the regular. but somewhat
ftinerant court Of Augusta county Tha.
court was hard to keep track OF at the
time, and 1t IS not to be wondered at II
confusion has resulted after the lapse OF
I a century.
Is Stanton was the lawful seat OF
Augusta, but in liza and IT'S Lord Dun
more, then governor of Virginia, made
much trouble, both for Virginia and
Pennsylvania, by selling western Penn
sElvania and anneXing 1t to Augusta
y county. In February, ITS. the court
was moved from Staunton to Pitts
burgh, then called Fort Dunmore The.
next month the court was back In
Staunton again; and In the following
& September 1t was again In Pittsburgh.
y The confusion and controversy did not
z end there, but without following the
matter further, II appears probable that
what was spoken of as the West Angus
tn court was only the western session OF
u the court which should have been held
in Staunton. siF
~ In October, 1776, the first attempt was
+ made by the Virginia legislature to fix
the boundaries of the district OF West
Il Augusta. The attempts succeeded about
i aswell as the Engllshman's who bound
ed the British empire rs follows: ION
8 the west by the Pacific ocean. on the
south By the Antarctic Iccbergs; on the
east by the ends OF the world. and on
4 the, north by the Aurora borealis." with
X an inadequate knowledge OF the states
I geography, and In language vague and
Ambiguous, the line between Augusta
county and the district OF West Angus
L ia isSgiven thus: beginning on the
Allegheny mountains between the head.
{ OF Potomac, Cheat and Greenbrier rlv-
(. ers, thence along the ridge OF noun