From the author's Foreword:"This book is interesting for those wishing to observe how a county was set up and organized. We have the initial organizational meeting, followed by appointment of county officers. We see how the militia was organized, and how the road surveyors were appointed. Elections were ordered for the overseers of the poor. A site was selected for the Courthouse, and the Court duly moved into in on July 22nd 1794. There were some dealings with other counties. There are a few lawsuits, but not as many as I have seen in other counties. There were only four jury trials in the seventeen months, all for lawsuits. Few crimes against the Commonwealth were reported, and only a few called courts for small-scale theft. There are many reasons a person's name appears in this document. Some are the principal men in the community. Some are representative landowners or householders, shown as grand jurors or petit jurors. Some appear in lawsuits. Some are described geographically when road surveys are located. Very few are women, and they only appear as wives, widows, and fornicators: this was not a time and place when women displayed a public and independent existence.
Karen Wagner Treacy
2017
107-GROB1
