Archibald Wager

Archibald Wager was an 18th-century civil servant in colonial Virginia. Wager served as the Clerk of Court for three counties: Hampshire County (1755–1757), Brunswick County (1757–1760), and Frederick County (1760–1762). Following his service as a Clerk of Court, Wager managed the construction of public roads in Frederick County in 1763.

Archibald Wager
Clerk of Court for Hampshire County
In office
1755–1757
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byGabriel Jones
Clerk of Court for Brunswick County
In office
1757–1760
Preceded byLittleton Tazewell
Succeeded byJohn Robinson
Clerk of Court for Frederick County
In office
1760–1762
Preceded byJames Wood
Succeeded byJames Keith
Personal details
Occupation
  • Clerk of Court
  • planter

Political career

Following the creation of Hampshire County in 1754, Archibald Wager was appointed to serve as the county's inaugural Clerk of Court in 1755 according to records of the court from June 11 of that year.[1][2] While Wager was mentioned as the first Clerk of Court, it is unknown where the first county court was held; however, it is known that Thomas Bryan Martin, nephew of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, was the county's first appointed justice.[2][3] Under the act establishing Hampshire County, the county's court was to be held in June 1754; however, it was not until 1757 that formal record keeping was actualized in Hampshire County, due in part to the ongoing French and Indian War and repeated Native American attacks.[2][3] Throughout Wager's tenure in the position, Hampshire County suffered the worst of its incursions by Native Americans, which caused many settlers to flee their homes and settlements.[3] In 1757, Gabriel Jones was appointed to replace Wager as the county's Clerk of Court.[1][2][4] Even though Wager was likely the first appointed Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, his successor Jones was the first operational appointee to serve in the position.[4][lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]

Wager was next commissioned to serve as the fourth Clerk of Court for Brunswick County by Deputy Secretary of Virginia Thomas Nelson, thus replacing Littleton Tazewell, father of United States Senator Henry Tazewell.[5] Wager's commission to the post was qualified on April 26, 1757 and he remained in that position for three years until February 5, 1760.[5] Wager was replaced in his position by John Robinson.[5]

Subsequent to the death of the Frederick County Clerk of Court, Col. James Wood during the winter of 1759–60, Wager was appointed his replacement by Deputy Secretary Nelson, acting as governor, at the county court held February 5, 1760.[6][7][8] Col. Wood's nineteen-year-old son James Wood, later a Governor of Virginia, was appointed to serve as Wager's deputy clerk on May 7, 1760.[6][7][8] During his tenure, the Frederick County Court was steadily called upon for assistance in building forts and stockades to protect outlying settlements against further Native American attacks.[7] Wager served as the Clerk of Court for about two years until May 4, 1762, when he was succeeded by James Keith, who was duly sworn and qualified after he produced a commission granted to him by Virginia Secretary Nelson.[6][7][9] The reasons for Wager's termination from the position are not known.[7]

External image
"Statement signed by Arch. Wager" (December 7, 1763) from Marietta College Special Collections

Following his service as Clerk of Court, Wager managed the construction of county roads with public monies. On November 3, 1762, the Frederick County Court chose Wager as the "appointed overseer" of the road between Stephensburg (present-day Stephens City) and the "Nations" plantation of Lord Fairfax and supervised the road's construction by tithables (workers paid with public tax monies) under his charge.[10]

Personal life

In 1761, Wager produced 200 pounds of tobacco, which was received and certified by Secretary Nelson and Wager's Deputy Clerk of Court Wood on January 2, 1762.[11]

Wager was a practicing Anglican. According to Frederick County Parish records, Wager's signature was listed among those who participated in the Eucharist between 1761 and 1763.[12]

gollark: Of course I'm not saying that seriously. I don't believe in God. They died in 1996.
gollark: God.
gollark: According to many scientists, it's hard to say things when you're dead.
gollark: Since it's not commercially available, even though people would buy 38291948392937934837 for whatever purposes, this is not possible.
gollark: Since if this was possible this would have been reverse-engineered and sold to people now.

References

Explanatory notes
  1. Noted Hampshire County historian Wilmer L. Kerns in Hampshire County, West Virginia, 1754–2004 (2004) contends that Gabriel Jones was in fact the first Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, as there was no record keeping in the county until the start of Jones's tenure as Clerk of Court in 1757.[4]
  2. West Virginia historians Hu Maxwell and Howard Llewellyn Swisher aver in their History of Hampshire County, West Virginia: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present (1897) that Archibald Wager was the inaugural Clerk of Court for Hampshire County, serving from 1755 to 1757. Maxwell and Swisher asserted the following: "The honor of being the first clerk of Hampshire has usually been given to Gabriel Jones; but this is also a mistake, and it was made in the same manner as the error as to the first court. The first page of the oldest book was examined, and the clerk who recorded that page was Gabriel Jones. But the records of the court of June 11, 1755 show that Archibald Wager was the first clerk, or at least was in office before Gabriel Jones. There is nothing in this old book to show where this first court was held."[2]

Citations
  1. Maxwell & Swisher 1897, p. 278.
  2. Maxwell & Swisher 1897, p. 362.
  3. Brannon 1976, p. 3.
  4. Munske & Kerns 2004, p. 39.
  5. Johnston 1888, pp. 102–3.
  6. Norris 1890, pp. 122 & 169.
  7. Cartmell 1909, p. 72.
  8. Greene 2009, p. 133.
  9. Morton 1925, p. 273.
  10. Luckman & Miller 2005, p. 114.
  11. Greene 2009, pp. 396–7.
  12. Kerns 1995, p. 16.

Bibliography

Further reading
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