Highland County (Va.) Circuit Court

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) County Court Records, 1847-1917, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was so named because of its mountainous terrain, and it is sometimes called the Little Switzerland of America. It was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath Counties in 1847.

Modern Woodmen of America was founded in 1883 by Joseph Cullen Root, an Iowa businessman, to provide financial services, life insurance, and opportunities for fellowship for men ages 18 to 45. The Monterey Camp was organized 1910 May 4.

From the guide to the Modern Woodmen of America (Monterey Camp No. 14913) Records, 1910-1912, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Physicians' Register, 1885-1937, (The Library of Virginia)

Chancery Causes are cases of equity. According to Black's Law Dictionary they are "administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law." A judge, not a jury, determines the outcome of the case.

Highland County was so named because of its high altitude, which ranges from 1,611 to 4,491 feet, giving it one of the highest mean-elevations east of the Mississippi River. The county seal identifies it as "Virginia's Switzerland." It was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1848-1912 (bulk 1868-1912), (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Election Records, 1902-1938, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

In 1780 the Virginia General Assembly replaced the Anglican vestries and churchwardens of the colonial period with elected bodies called Overseers of the Poor. The Overseers provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for the persons who were too poor to support themselves or too ill to provide for their basic needs. They also bound out children whose parents could not support them or who failed to educate or instruct them, as well as orphans to become apprentices. The boys learned a trade and the girls learned domestic skills.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Records of the Overseers of the Poor, 1847-1861, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its moutainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Federal Farm Credit Lien Book, 1937-1946, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Board of Supervisors Records, circa 1870-1930, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Records, 1862-1944 (1862-1885 bulk), (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847. Its area is 416 square miles, and the county seat is Monterey.

The 1902 voter registration books were created following the passage of the 1902 Virginia state constitution. The purpose of the 1902 state constitution was to maintain white suffrage while eliminating African-American voters by means of literacy tests as well as property and poll tax requirements.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Voter Registrations, 1902-1923 (bulk 1902-1903), (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Circuit Court Records, 1847-1944, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Court Records, 1847-1926, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Business Records/Commissions/Partnerships Records, 1891-1914, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County Bonds/Commissions/Oaths, 1855-1969, (bulk) 1855-1899, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847. Its area is 416 square miles, and the county seat is Monterey.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes, 1852-1867, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was so named because of its mountainous terrain, and it is sometimes called the Little Switzerland of America. It was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath Counties in 1847.

In 1806, the General Assembly moved to remove the free negro population from Virginia with a law that stated that all emancipated slaves, freed after May 1, 1806, who remained in the Commonwealth more than a year, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold by the Overseers of the Poor for the benefit of the parish. Families wishing to stay were to petition the legislature through the local county court. Beginning in 1837, freed slaves could petition the local courts for permission to remain.

From the guide to the Petition of Madison Douglas to Remain in Highland County, 1862, circa, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton Counties in 1847.

The separate office of coroner appeared in Virginia about 1660. The judicial duty of the office is to hold inquisitions in cases when persons meet sudden, violent, unnatural or suspicious death, or death without medical attendance. The coroner would summon a jury to assist him in determining cause of death. Prior to November 1877, the jurors numbered twelve. Between November 1877 and March 1926, the jurors numbered six. The jury viewed the body of the deceased and heard the testimony of witnesses. The coroner was required to write down witness testimony. After seeing and hearing the evidence, the jury delivered in writing to the coroner their conclusion concerning cause of death referred to as the inquisition. After March 1926, only the coroner determined cause of death. He could require physicians to assist him with determing cause of death. If a criminal act was determined to be the cause of death, the coroner was to deliver the guilty person to the sheriff and the coroners' inquests would be used as evidence in the criminal trial.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Coroners' Inquisitions, 1864-1924, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath counties in 1847. The county received its name from its high altitude, which ranges from 1,611 to 4,491 feet, giving it one of the highest mean-elevations east of the Mississippi River. The county seal identifies it as "Virginia's Switzerland."

Laws requiring the recording of births and deaths in Virginia were enacted as early as 1632, when a law directed ministers or churchwardens in each parish to present a "register of all burialls, christenings, and marriages" yearly at the June meeting of the court. A similar act passed in 1659 stated that "enquiries are often made for persons imported into the collonie, of whose death no positive certificate can be granted for want of registers." Few records survive from these early decades.

In 1713 the General Assembly noted that earlier acts had "for a long time been disused" and once again directed the recording of births and deaths by the minister or clerk of each parish. A return made the same year noted that the list of births and deaths was not complete since many parishes failed to make returns "for tis a thing so new to the people that neither they care to Register their Births and Burials, nor are the Parish Clerks yet brought into a regular method of transmitting them."

The recording of vital statistics continued to be an ecclesiastical function throughout the colonial period. With the disestablishment of the Anglican church after the American Revolution and the rise of other religious denominations, the record-keeping process for vital statistics fell more and more to the individual family. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, medical science began to recognize the advantages of accurate birth and mortality information in controlling and treating communicable diseases. Pressure from local and national health organizations and medical professionals resulted in the passage of vital statistics registration laws. Virginia was one of the earliest states to pass such a law.

A law requiring the systematic statewide recording of births and deaths was passed by the General Assembly on April 11 1853. Every commissioner of revenue registered births and deaths in his district annually, at the same time personal property subject to taxation was ascertained. The commissioner recorded births and deaths that had occurred prior to 31 December of the preceding year and returned the record to the clerk of court by 1 June. Information was obtained from heads of family, physicians, surgeons, or coroners. The law imposed penalties for failing to furnish or collect the information.

The clerk of court in each locality entered the information supplied by the commissioner into registers and prepared an accompanying alphabetical index. A copy of each register was forwarded to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The law went into effect on 1 July 1853, and continued until 1896, when an economy-conscious legislature repealed the recording provisions. Some counties, such as Highland, did not end this practice until a few years later.

Birth and death registers in the Library of Virginia are copies of those records made by local clerks from the lists compiled by the commissioners and forwarded to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The Auditor turned the lists over to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in 1918, and the registers were later transferred to the state archives. The records are an indispensable source for the most basic biographical facts about earlier generations of Virginians.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Registers of Births and Deaths, 1870-1898, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was so named because of its mountainous terrain, and it is sometimes called the Little Switzerland of America. It was formed from Pendleton (now in West Virginia) and Bath Counties in 1847.

Throughout the Civil War, the principal responsibility for Virginia's indigent soldiers' families lay with the locality. The Virginia State Convention in 1861 gave the responsibility entirely to counties and incorporated towns and authorized whatever actions had already been taken. Acts of Assembly in 1862 and 1863 expanded the localities' powers to provide for their needy, and in 1863 some minimal state assistance was added. At first relief was provided as money, but as the monetary system collapsed, relief was distributed in kind. Agents of the court maintained lists of eligible families, gathered goods for distribution and paid for them, and impressed supplies if necessary. Virginia was unique among the Southern states in that it assigned the provisioning of needy families almost solely to the locality.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Lists of Families of Indigent Soldiers, 1862-1865, circa, (The Library of Virginia)

Highland County was named for its mountainous terrain. It was formed from Bath and Pendleton (West Virginia) Counties in 1847.

From the guide to the Highland County (Va.) Tax and Fiscal Records, 1938-1973, (The Library of Virginia)