Good Morning Vashenan Listmates, It is hotter then you know what here. High today of 96 with heat index of 105 and we know that a lot of you are experiencing the same thing. I hate to even think what my electric bill will be this month. We have a question which may seem dumb to some. We know that Virginia is different then a lot of the other states in their governing designation of districts, counties, cities and towns. We know there are 40 Independent cities surrounded by a county but not part of, for instance Staunton is an Independent City and not part of Augusta County, we know there are Mag. Districts within the counties, for instance Ashby, Stonewall, Madison, etc. and we know there are towns which are part of the county where they are located........ But we are seeing on the census records on Ancestry a designation of township. I didn't think that Virginia had townships. Can someone explain what this means? Did someone just make a mistake and it should be District not Township? Or are there actually townships? Thanks, Gloria

If you're looking at the 1870 census, Virginia was under Reconstruction at that time and the Federal authorities called Magisterial Districts by the name of Township instead. Don't know why, but I suppose it was part of their plan. The Constitution of 1871 straightened everything out, I believe. Tom ----- Original Message ----- From: <Chochoruss@aol.com> To: <vashenan@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 8:49 AM Subject: [VASHENAN] A question about census records for Virginia > Good Morning Vashenan Listmates, It is hotter then you know what here. > High > today of 96 with heat index of 105 and we know that a lot of you are > experiencing the same thing. I hate to even think what my electric bill > will be > this month. > > We have a question which may seem dumb to some. We know that Virginia is > different then a lot of the other states in their governing designation of > districts, counties, cities and towns. > We know there are 40 Independent cities surrounded by a county but not > part > of, for instance Staunton is an Independent City and not part of Augusta > County, we know there are Mag. Districts within the counties, for > instance > Ashby, Stonewall, Madison, etc. and we know there are towns which are > part > of the county where they are located........ But we are seeing on the > census records on Ancestry a designation of township. I didn't think > that > Virginia had townships. > > Can someone explain what this means? Did someone just make a mistake and > it > should be District not Township? Or are there actually townships? > > Thanks, Gloria > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > VASHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Gloria,   Thinking about your question yesterday, I looked at census records I've collected for my people in Shenandoah County.   In 1860 most designations were 'Districts' which corresponded to a Post Office of the same name: Columbia Furnace, Liberty Furnace, Edinburg, Lantz's Mill, Woodstock. The exception was Powels [sic] Fort which had no label. One household there showed Seven Fountains PO; the other, Edinburg.   In 1870 the three geographic areas where twelve of my families lived were all designated 'Townships': Madison, Stonewall, and Johnson [sic]. In three cases, the old PO name had been written in, but was struck out and replaced with 'Edinburg'.   In 1880 Madison and Davis appear as 'Townships'. Six households were in 'Stonewall Dist'. Another was listed in 'Stonewall', without designation.   In 1900 enumerator R. L. Lambert noted 'Madison District (west part)'; Samuel Coverston recorded 'Johnston Township'; Henry B. Burner classified Stonewall a 'Township' (one  household indicated within Woodstock); while Henry and Samuel Hounshell wrote 'Stonewall Dist (part of)'.   In 1910 my one household remaining in Shenandoah County lived in 'Stonewall Magisterial Dist (part of)'. In 1920 the record shows 'Stonewall Dist'.   So looking at my sample, the 'Township' designation appears in 1870 and persists in some instances through 1900.   One curiosity I did observe within ancestry.com data some time back was reference to Stonewall as 'St. Onewall'. ...   Kay Holmes --- On Fri, 7/30/10, Chochoruss@aol.com <Chochoruss@aol.com> wrote: From: Chochoruss@aol.com <Chochoruss@aol.com> Subject: [VASHENAN] A question about census records for Virginia To: vashenan@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, July 30, 2010, 5:49 AM Good Morning Vashenan Listmates, It is hotter then you know what here. High today of 96 with heat index of 105 and we know that a lot of you are  experiencing the same thing. I hate to even think what my electric bill will be  this month. We have a question which may seem dumb to some. We know that Virginia is  different then a lot of the other states in their governing designation of  districts, counties, cities and towns. We know there are 40 Independent cities surrounded by a county but not part of, for instance Staunton is an Independent City and not part of Augusta  County,  we know there are Mag. Districts within the counties, for  instance Ashby, Stonewall, Madison, etc. and we know there are towns which  are part of the county where they are located........ But we are seeing on  the census records on Ancestry a designation of township.  I didn't  think that Virginia had townships. Can someone explain what this means? Did someone just make a mistake and it should be District not Township? Or are there actually townships? Thanks, Gloria ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to VASHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

When I answered earlier, I was about half asleep and messed up the dates. The township system came in with the 1870 Constitution, though President Grant had apparently authorized its use earlier. The townships, similar to what they had in NY, coincided with the Magisterial Districts. In 1874, that constitution was amended by the General Assembly to go back to the Magisterial Districts, though with 3 JPs per district in addition to a Supervisor. So, the Supervisor thing hung around for a long time, and VA never again had Magistrates in the old (pre-1864) sense. I don't know how the new precincts matched up with the old ones (usually 2 per district pre-war). Tom ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kay Holmes" <kayholmes@sbcglobal.net> To: <vashenan@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:18 AM Subject: Re: [VASHENAN] A question about census records for Virginia Gloria, Thinking about your question yesterday, I looked at census records I've collected for my people in Shenandoah County. In 1860 most designations were 'Districts' which corresponded to a Post Office of the same name: Columbia Furnace, Liberty Furnace, Edinburg, Lantz's Mill, Woodstock. The exception was Powels [sic] Fort which had no label. One household there showed Seven Fountains PO; the other, Edinburg. In 1870 the three geographic areas where twelve of my families lived were all designated 'Townships': Madison, Stonewall, and Johnson [sic]. In three cases, the old PO name had been written in, but was struck out and replaced with 'Edinburg'. In 1880 Madison and Davis appear as 'Townships'. Six households were in 'Stonewall Dist'. Another was listed in 'Stonewall', without designation. In 1900 enumerator R. L. Lambert noted 'Madison District (west part)'; Samuel Coverston recorded 'Johnston Township'; Henry B. Burner classified Stonewall a 'Township' (one household indicated within Woodstock); while Henry and Samuel Hounshell wrote 'Stonewall Dist (part of)'. In 1910 my one household remaining in Shenandoah County lived in 'Stonewall Magisterial Dist (part of)'. In 1920 the record shows 'Stonewall Dist'. So looking at my sample, the 'Township' designation appears in 1870 and persists in some instances through 1900. One curiosity I did observe within ancestry.com data some time back was reference to Stonewall as 'St. Onewall'. ... Kay Holmes --- On Fri, 7/30/10, Chochoruss@aol.com <Chochoruss@aol.com> wrote: From: Chochoruss@aol.com <Chochoruss@aol.com> Subject: [VASHENAN] A question about census records for Virginia To: vashenan@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, July 30, 2010, 5:49 AM Good Morning Vashenan Listmates, It is hotter then you know what here. High today of 96 with heat index of 105 and we know that a lot of you are experiencing the same thing. I hate to even think what my electric bill will be this month. We have a question which may seem dumb to some. We know that Virginia is different then a lot of the other states in their governing designation of districts, counties, cities and towns. We know there are 40 Independent cities surrounded by a county but not part of, for instance Staunton is an Independent City and not part of Augusta County, we know there are Mag. Districts within the counties, for instance Ashby, Stonewall, Madison, etc. and we know there are towns which are part of the county where they are located........ But we are seeing on the census records on Ancestry a designation of township. I didn't think that Virginia had townships. Can someone explain what this means? Did someone just make a mistake and it should be District not Township? Or are there actually townships? Thanks, Gloria ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to VASHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to VASHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message