Raleigh County History
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- Published on Thursday, 10 February 2011 22:06
- Written by Shaun Hale
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Raleigh County was formed from another county in 1850. The history of this is documented in the Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia passed at the Extra and Regular Sessions in 1849 & 1850, as printed by William F. Ritchie in 1850. Provisions were made for a sheriff in this act, which was written by Alfred Beckley, whom our county seat is named after * (1).
Quick Notes:
The General Assembly of Virginia enacts the legislation forming Raleigh county.
Raleigh County was named in memory of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Alfred Beckley wrote the act which was passed in 1850.
The Sheriff of Raleigh County was formed when the county was formed.
The Sheriff of Raleigh County was to hold office for a two year term and was able to hold office one successive term.
There was no sheriff during the Civil War, and thus none existed from 1863 to 1865.
Raleigh County is established out of the southern end of Fayette county -- 1850
[Passed January 23,1850.]
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That all that part of the Raleigh county southern end of the county of Fayette contained within the following created boundary lines, to wit: Beginning where the county line between the counties of Mercer and Fayette strikes New river, thence down and along said river, with its meanders to the mouth of Salt Lick run, near Isaac Sonners; thence a straight line to the top of the dividing ridge between the waters of Paint creek and Cole river, crossing Paint creek at the upper end of Jackson Jarrell's plantation; thence with and along the top of said dividing ridge westwardly, to the dividing ridge between Cole river and Cabin creek, and with and along the top of the same to the Boone county line; thence with the Boone county line to the end of the Great Cherry pond mountain; thence with and along the top of the dividing grounds between the waters that flow into the Marsh fork of Cole river and New river on the one side, and those that flow into Little Cole and Guyandotte rivers on the other side, to the present line between the counties of Fayette and Mercer, and with said line to New river at the beginning, shall form one distinct and new county, and be called and known by the name of Raleigh county, in memory of Sir Walter Raleigh, who made the earliest effort to colonize Virginia.
2. The governor shall commission fifteen persons as justices of the Commissions to peace in and for the said county of Raleigh; and the justices now in commission, residing in that part of Fayette county which will be in Raleigh county after the commencement of this act, shall be of said number, and shall be commissioned in point of seniority according to the dates of their present commissions ; all of whom shall (before entering upon and exercising any of the duties of said office) take the several oaths, and within the time now required by law of persons commissioned as justices of the peace, which oaths may be administered by any justice By whom and of the peace remaining in commission in the said county of Fayette; and the justice or justices who may administer such oaths shall grant a certificate of the fact under his or their hand and seal of office ; which Certificate of oath certificate shall be by the justices so qualified delivered to the clerk of to be filed with the county court of Raleigh county, who shall record the same in his office and preserve the original therein : Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent any justice of the peace now in commission for the county of Fayette, and residing within the boundary of the new county of Raleigh, from exercising the duties of his office for the said county of Fayette, until the organization of the said county of Raleigh, on the fourth Monday in March next, as hereinafter prescribed.
3. A county court for the county of Raleigh shall be holden by the justices thereof on the fourth Monday in each and every mouth, (after the same shall have been organized,) in like manner as is provided by law for other counties of this commonwealth, and as shall be by law and their commissions directed.
4. The permanent place for holding the courts in the county of Raleigh, now required by law to be holden for the several counties of this commonwealth, shall be at the town of Beckley, at the forks of the Guyandotte and the Giles, Fayette and Kanawha turnpike roads. And Court to provide the county court of Raleigh county shall provide a lot or lots of land at said place, not exceeding two acres, (unless land shall be furnished for that purpose by donation, in which case, the justices of said county may take and hold the same, provided said donation shall not exceed five acres, and a full and satisfactory title, as herein required, can and shall be made thereto,) upon which to erect a courthouse and such other necessary public buildings and fixtures as the convenience of the county requires, under existing laws for holding courts and conducting business incident thereto, in the manner now required by law, "where land shall not be already provided and appropriated for that purpose." And the To cause public said court shall cause said buildings and fixtures to be constructed at the charge of the county of Raleigh by levy, in the manner now prescribed by law. The title to any such land, purchased as aforesaid for valuable to be secured- consideration, or furnished in free gift, (as the case maybe,) shall be made in fee simple, to any four or more justices of the peace for the said county of Raleigh, and their successors in office, in trust, for the use and benefit of said county.
5. The justices of the peace, commissioned and qualified as aforesaid for tne county of Raleigh, shall meet at the public school-house in the Justices to be said town of Beckley, on the fourth Monday in March next; the summoned. whole number of said justices commissioned and qualified as aforesaid Sheriff to sum- having been summoned by the acting sheriff or his deputy of the now county of Fayette to attend on that day ; and it is hereby made the duty of said sheriff of the now county of Fayette aforesaid, to summon said justices to attend as aforesaid, at least ten days before the time of meeting fixed as aforesaid, under the penalty for failure of forfeiting and payjng not less than fifty dollars for the benefit of the Literary fund, recoverable as other fines imposed by law on sheriffs and their deputies for similar omissions of duty. And not less than nine of the said justices being present, (otherwise those who do attend may adjourn from day to be appointed. day, or from time to time, until nine or more shall be present,) they shall proceed to appoint a clerk of the county court; an attorney for the commonwealth to prosecute and defend her interest in said court, (or may, if not fully advised as to said last mentioned appointment, adjourn the same to their next court, or to some subsequent time, to be then fixed upon not later than the third term thereafter, and shall so order and enter of record, also requiring the justices to attend accordingly;) a commissioner of the revenue, and a surveyor for the said county of Raleigh; and also at the same time, (or at some early day thereafter, if the said justices shall not be sufficiently informed to make a judicious and proper selection,) the necessary number of school commissioners for said new sheriff and county. The said justices shall also at the same time nominate to the governor suitable persons to be commissioned as sheriff and coroner for said new county; and fix upon such place, and some suitable house in said county as may seem most convenient for holding the courts thereof, until the necessary public buildings shall be constructed at the town of Beckley aforesaid. And the said justices shall cause all the said appointments, orders and proceedings made and had as aforesaid, and particularly those mentioned and required in this section, to be entered of record in their said county court. •
6. It shall be lawful for the sheriff or other collector, lawfully appointed, of the county of Fayette, to collect by distress or other lawful mode, any public dues or officers' fees which may remain unpaid by such of the inhabitants of the county of Fayette as will be included within the boundary of the said county of Raleigh at the time when this act shall commence and be in force; and such sheriff or other collector shall be accountable for the same in like manner and under the penalty of the same fines and forfeitures, as if this act had never passed.
7. The courts of Fayette county shall have and retain all actions and suits depending before them on the fourth Monday in March next, and shall try and determine the same, and award execution thereon when necessary, except in cases in which both parties reside within the new county; which last mentioned cases (together with the papers thereto appertaining,) shall after that day be removed to the courts of the county of Raleigh, and there tried and determined as other cases in said court.
8. The said county of Raleigh shall be in and attached to the same Circuit court with the county of Fayette, and the circuit superior court of law and chancery thereof shall be holden on the twenty-fifth day of March and on the twenty-fifth day of August in every year; and shall Congressional, be in the same militia brigade district with the county of Fayette, and shall be in the same congressional district, the same senatorial district, and the same electoral district for choosing electors for president and vice-president of the United States with the county of Fayette, and also in the same election district with the present election district, composed of the counties of Fayette and Nicholas, for electing a delegate to the general assembly of Virginia.
9. The courts of quarterly sessions for the said county of Raleigh Quarterly courts. shall be holden in the months of March, June, August and November in every year.
10. The boundary lines of the said new county, as described and established by this act, shall be run and marked in the manner prescribed by the act, entitled "An act for making more effectual provision for running and marking the boundaries of new counties," passed on the eleventh day of February in the year eighteen hundred and forty-five.
11. All separate elections heretofore authorized to be holden in and for the county of Fayette, and falling within the boundary of the new county of Raleigh, shall be conducted for the said new county in the same manner as heretofore for the county of Fayette. It shall be the duty of the county court of Raleigh county at its first term, or as soon thereafter as convenient or necessary, according to law, to appoint as many persons as may be requisite to perform the duties of sheriff at the several places of holding separate elections in said county of Raleigh, and who shall attend at that courthouse in the said election district at which it is now usual to meet, to compare the polls and to perform such other duties as are required by law of sheriffs and their deputies in that behalf, and who shall be liable to the same penalties as are now imposed by law on sheriffs and their deputies for failing or refusing to hold separate elections or other omissions of duty in that behalf; and the said court shall also appoint as many superintendents of election as are required by law for the polls to be taken at the courthouse and other places of voting in the said new county of Raleigh. The persons hereby required to be appointed to attend and compare the polls shall take with them fair copies of all the original polls taken in said new county of Raleigh.
12. And be it further enacted, That the treasurer of the school commissioners of the county of Fayette shall be and he is hereby authorized and required to pay to the treasurer of the school commissioners of the new county of Raleigh, upon the order of the school commissioners of said new county, out of the fixed and surplus quotas of the school fund of the said county of Fayette for the present fiscal year ending in eighteen hundred and fifty, such sum of money as shall seem to them to be in due proportion to the population of the said new county of Raleigh, taken from that of the said county of Fayette, including any balance remaining unexpended ; and also of the due proportion as aforesaid accruing from such quotas to which Fayette county is or may be entitled for any former year. And it shall be the duty of the second auditor to re-apportion the fixed and surplus school quotas of the county of Fayette for the next fiscal year and subsequent years, between the said county of Fayette and the said new county of Raleigh, agreeably to their respective number of white titheables which may be returned therein by the commissioners of the revenue for the present year eighteen hundred
and fifty.
13. This act shall be in force from its passage.
