Buchanan County, Virginia was formed in 1858 by Act 156 of the Virginia General Assembly. It is interesting to note that Act 157 attempted to amend Section 15 of Act 156 which dealt with the boundary line to be surveyed between Russell and Tazewell in Virginia and McDowell County in West Virginia. However, Act 157 modified Section 13 of Act 156 (which dealt with senatorial and congressional districts) not Section 15 which was the Section they intended to correct. If any of our readers know whether Section 15 of Act 156 and subsequent correction of Act 157 were ever amended to correct this error, I would appreciate it if you would provide us with this information. To read about the 1858 Virginia General Assembly Acts 156 and 157, click on the following links:
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly that so much of the counties of Tazewell and Russell as is contained within the following boundary lines, to wit: Beginning at the state line between Kentucky and Virginia, and with said line to its intersection with the line of Wise County, to the top of the dividing ridge between the waters of Sandy and Clinch, and with said ridge, eastwardly to the head of Dismal, a branch of the Lavica fork of Sandy river; then with the dividing ridge between the waters of Dismal and the waters of Dry fork of Sandy to the ridge between Knox creek and Bull creek, to the Tug river, and down Tug river to the beginning -- shall form one district and new county, and shall be called and known by the county of Buchanan.
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2. The court-house or seat of justice of
said county of Buchanan shall be located on the lands of John Ratliff and Thomas
Gillespie, at the mouth of Slate creek, a branch of the Lavica fork of Sandy river; which
said seat of
justice shall be known as Grundy.
3. The following persons, Elijah Vance,
William Ratliff, Denny Coleman, George Gibson, Elijah Ferrell, H. D. Aston and Thomas W.
Dennis shall be and are hereby appointed commissioners, a majority of whom may act, for
the purpose of selecting a site for a court-house, a jail and other public buildings for
said county of Buchanan, who are hereby required to meet at the house of John Ratliff on
the first Monday in April next ensuing the passage
of the act, or within thirty days from and after that day, and within six days after their
meeting ascertain and determine at what point or place on the lands of said Ratliff and
Gillespie in the said county, it is most suitable and proper to erect a court-house 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; and shall lay off, in the most convenience form, a lot or lots of land for that
purpose, not exceeding in quantity two acres, and shall ascertain the value thereof;
whereupon the said commissioners, or a marjority of them acting in this behalf, shall make
their report in writing to the county court of Buchanan, when organized, the manner in
which they shall have executed the duties required of them by this act, and of their
proceedings in relation thereto, designating the point or place agreed upon, the value of
the lots or lots of land, and the names of the owners thereof. And the place so
ascertained and determined upon by said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be
deemed and taken as the permanent place for holding the courts for the county of Buchanan,
now required by law to be holden for the several counties of this commonwealth. And
the court for the county of Buchanan shall thereupon provide for the payment of the
valuation of said lot or lots of land so ascertained in the manner now required by law,
where land shall be already provided and appointed for that purpose.
4. The commissioners aforesaid
shall also lay off the said county of Buchanan into four magisterial districts, select
points at which elections shall be holden in each district, and appoint a conductor and
five commissioners, any three of whom may act, to superintend the elections to be holden
for said county of Buchanan on the fourth Thursday in May next.
5. It shall be the duty of all
persons residing within the said county of Buchanan, who are now entitled to vote for
members of the general assembly, to attend at the respective election precincts, so
selected by the commissioners aforesaid, on the Fourth Thursday in May in the year
eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, and elect a sheriff, a clerk of the county court, a
commonwealth's attorney, and a surveyor for the said county of Buchanan; and the voters
resiting in each magristial district shall elect for that office four justices of the
peace, one overseer of the poor and one constable. The election of the justices of
the peace shall be certified to the goyernor of this commonwealth by the general
conductors and commmissioners conducting and superintending said election, who, after they
shall be commissioned and qualified according to law, shall meet at the house of John
Ratliff on the fourth Monday in the next month after that in which they shall be so
commissioned, and a majority of them being present, shall fix upon a place in the county
of Buchanan for holding the courts of said county until the necessary buildings shall be
constructed on the site designated by the commissioners aforesaid.
6. The said justices shall at the first term
of the county court of said county choose one of their own body, who shall be presiding
justice of the county court, and whose duty it shall be to attend each term of said court.
7. The comissioners and conductors of the
elections aforesaid shall certify to said county court of Buchanan at its first term, or
at some subsequent term, as soon as practicable, the election of said clerks of the county
and circuit courts, commonwealth's attorney, surveyor and commissioner of revenue, who
shall, after given bonds and security, and being qualified, according to law, enter upon
the discharge of the duties of their offices respectively.
8. The term of office for the commissioner
of revenue for the said county of Buchanan shall commence on the first day of February
eighteen hundred and fifty-nine; and the commissioners of the revenue for the counties of
Tazewell
and Russell are hereby required to discharge the duties of their office in the limits of
said county for the present year, each commissioners confinding himself to so much of the
county of Buchanan as has been taken from the
county of which he is commissioner; and they are directed to keep the lists taken by them
in the said county of Buchanan as has been taken from the lists of their respective
counties, and make return of them in the manner now
prescribed by law, in the same manner as if appointed commissioners of said county of
Buchanan.
9. It shall be the duty of the second
auditor to reapportion the fixed and surplus school quotas of the counties of Tazewell and
Russell for the next fiscal year and for subsequent years, years, between the said
counties of Tazewell, Russell and Buchanan, agreeably to the respective number of white
titlables which may be returned therein by the commissioners of the revenue for the
present year eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.
10. It shall be lawful for the sheriffs of
Tazewell and Russell to collect and make distress for any public dues or officers' fees
which may remain unpaid by the inhabitants of the county of Buchanan at the time when this
act shall commence and be in force, and shall be accountable for the same in like manner
as if this act had never been passed.
11. The courts of the counties of Tazewell
and Russell shall retain jurisdiction of all actions and suits pending before them on the
fourth Monday in July next, and shall try and determine the same, and award execution
thereon, except cases wherein both parties reside within the new county; which, together
with the papers, shall after that day be removed to the courts of the county of Buchanan
and there be tried and determined.
12. The said county of Buchanan shall be in and
attached to the seventeenth judicial circuit, and the circuit court thereof be holden on
the second Monday in March and August preceding the circuit courts to be holden for the
county of Tazewell; and the first circuit court for the county of Buchanan shall be holden
on the second Monday in August next preceding the circuit court to be holden for the
county of Tazewell, and be of the same brigade district with the county of Tazewell.
13. The county of Buchanan shall belong to
the same senatorial districts, that part taken from the county of Russell voting with the
senatorial district composed of the counties of Russell, Scott, Lee and Wise, and that
part taken from the county of Tazewell shall vote in the senatorial district composed of
the counties of Tazewell, Mercer, Giles and Monroe, and shall belong to the thirteenth
congressional district and the same electoral district for the purpose of chosing a
president and vice-president of the United States, as the counties of Tazewell and
Russell.
14. The county courts of said county shall
be holden on the Thursday after the sceond Monday in each month, and the first county
court for the county of Buchanan shall be holden on the Thursday after the second Monday
in August next, and the courts of quarterly sessions of the said county of Buchanan shall
be holden in the months of March, June, August and November in each year.
15. That a surveyor hereafter elected for
the county of Buchanan, in the mode prescribed by law, together with the surveyor of the
county of Russell, shall run and mark the lines between the said county of Buchanan and
the county of Russell, to the Tazewell line, and then in company with the surveyor of
Tazewell county, run and mark the lines the lines between the counties of Buchanan and
Tazewell. Then the surveyor of the county of Buchanan, together
with the surveyor of Breckinridge, shall run and mark the lines between the said county of
Buchanan and the county of Breckinridge, agreeably and in conformity with the provisions
of the seventh section of the forty-seventh
chapter of the Code of Virgnia.
16. The commissioners appointed by this act
to desiognate and fix upon the site for the public buildings in said county, and lay off
and district said county, shall each be allowed and paid the sum of two dollars for every
day
they shall actually be engaged in the duties aforesaid; to be provided for and paid out of
the county levy of the said county of Buchanan.
17. The first county court for the said
county of Buchanan shall be holden on the first Monday in August next.
18. This act shall be in force from its passage. =============================================================================
Chap. 157. An ACT to amend the 13th section of an
act to form a new county out of parts of the counties of Tazewell and Russell, passed
February 13, 1858.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, that the thirteenth section of an act entitled an act to form a new county out of parts of the counties of Tazewell and Russell, passed February the thirteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
"13. That a surveyor hereafter elected for the county of Buchanan, in the mode prescribed by law, together with the surveyor of the county of Russell, shall run and mark the lines between the said county of Buchanan and the county of Russell, to the Tazewell line, and then in company with the surveyor of Tazewell county, run and mark the lines the lines between the counties of Buchanan and Tazewell. Then the surveyor of the county of Buchanan, together with the surveyor of McDowell, shall run and mark the lines between the said county of Buchanan and the county of McDowell, agreeably and in conformity with the provisions of the seventh section of the forty-seventh chapter of the Code of Virgnia."
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.
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Date this page was last updated: September 22, 2001