The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-05-28

The House OF Burgesses Of vir-
ginia in the year 1884. in the reign
OF King Charles l divided the colony
into eight shires to be governed as
the shires in England we're and
named as follows:
James City, Henrico. Charles City,
Warwick River changed to Warwick,
Warrosquoyacke, changed to Isle Of
Wight, Charles River. changed to
York, and Accawmack.
This was the first attempt to or
ganiZe the colony into counties and
included the territory up the James
. river as far as the present site of
Richmond. Other counties were
formed as the settlements moved
westerly towards the Bule Ridge.
In 1884 when Orange county was
created from Spottsylvania, its
boundaries were described as ex-
tending westerly to the utmost ltnl-
its of Virginia"
In November. 1898, in the reign
of King George II. that portion of
the county Of Orange lying beyond
the Blue Ridge, to the western linz
its OF Virginia" was separated from
the rest of the county and erected
into two distinct counties; to be d.
vided by line to be run from the
head spring Of Hedgeman river to
the head spring of the Potomac river
and that part of said territory lying
to the northeast OF the said line, be-
yond the top of the Blue Ridge was
called the county OF Frederick, and
the rest of the said territory lying on
the other side of the said line be-
yond the top of the Blue Ridge was
called the county Of Augusta.
That portion of the county Of
Augusta lying west of the Allegheny
mountains was known as the Dis
trict of West Augusta" This was
probably designated as such by the
county court as no act of the leglsla-
ture can be found referring to this
being a district of Augusta county,
or giving its boundaries for many
years after the formation of the
county.
Augusta county, 1t is presumed,
attempted to exercise some jurisdic-
tlon over this vast region which will
be referred to hereafter.
The Virginia convention held at
Richmond in July, 1875. adopted ali
ordinance defining the manner OF
representation by the said counties,
in all general conventions which
shall be held within the state here
after, provided that the land hold
ers Of the District of West August
shall be considered as a distinct
county, and have the liberty of send
Ing two delegates to represent them
in general convention aforesaid"
The constitution adopted in May
1916. authorized the district of
West Augusta to send two delegates
to the general assembly.
The reign of the king now ceases
and the rulo of the commonwealth
begins.
In October, 1875, the general as
sembly Of Virginia in the first year
of the commonwealth passed an act
entitled IAN Act for ascertaining the
boundary between the county of Au-
Z gusta and the district OF West Angus
Ia. and for dividing the said district
into three distinct counties" The
act is partly as follows:
THAT the boundary between the
said district and county shall be as
follows, to-wit: Beginning on the AL
legheny mountain between the heads Of
Potomac, Cheat and Greenbrier
rivers; thence along the ridge Of
mountains which divides the waters of
Cheat river from those OF Greenbrier,
and that branch Of the Monongahela
river called Tygart's Valley river,
TO the Monongahela river; thence up
the said river and the West Fork
thereof to Bingermans creek on the
northwest side of the said West Fork;
thence up the said creek to the head
thereof; thence in direct course to
the head Of Middle creek, a branch Of
the Ohio and thence to the Ohio in
Guiding all the waters of the said
creek in the aforesaid district Of West
Augusta; all that territory lying to
the northward of the aforesaid boun-
Diary, and TO the westward of the
states Of Pennsylvania and Maryland,
shall be deemed and is hereby de-
clared to be within the district OF
West Augusta"
The act then further proceeds to
divide the territory above described
as being within said district into
three counties, called Ohio, Mononga-
LA and Yohogania.
When the extension Of Mason and
Dixons line westward it was dis
covered that the greater part Of Yo-
hogania county lay within the limits
of Pennsylvania, and that portion on
the Virginia side of the line was in
1885 added 10 the county of Ohio and
Yohogania bacame extinct and is
known as the lost county"
The district Of West Augusta be-
ing abolished by the formation of
the three counties mentioned above,
this left the present territory of Har-
rison county within the boundaries of
Augusta county.
The northern boundary Of Green
bricr county when 1t was created in
l777, was described as follows:
Beginning on the top OF the ridge
which divides the eastern from the
western waters where the line be-
tween Augusta and Bottetourt crosses
the same, and the same course contin-
ued north dfty-iive degrees west to
the Ohio river
In May. 1879, the mountainous re-
gion in Augusta county lying on the
head waters Of Elk, Tygarts Valley,
and Cheat rivers and along the ridge
dividing the waters of Cheat from the