Tale of Two Counties

Essex and Middlesex Counties are adjacent to one another, and in many ways are quite similar.  They share the same geographical setting—the south bank of the Rappahannock River—and families have moved over time from one county to the other.  Both counties were supportive of the American cause in the American Revolution, but they reacted to the Revolution in some distinctly different ways.  One county, for example, sent church representatives to seek support for the patriot cause, while the other sent a sheriff to demand a 10% share of livestock and crops for support of American troops.  One county was the first in Virginia to send aid to Massachusetts after the British responded to the Boston Tea Party by closing Boston Harbor, while the other included in the county resolves the reflection that “reason and policy reclaim” against the destruction of property that had taken place in the Tea Party.   

Representatives…