Fincastle County, Virginia
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Fincastle County, Virginia, was created by act of the Virginia General Assembly April 8, 1772 from Botetourt County.[1] As colonial government considered Virginia's western extent to be the Mississippi River, that became Fincastle's western limit. Its eastern boundary was essentially the New River (Wood's River at the time, including what is today the Kanawha River), thus dividing Botetourt County from north to south. The new county encompassed all of present-day Kentucky, plus southwestern West Virginia and a slice of Virginia's western "tail". Although no county seat was designated by the act creating the county, the colonial governor ordered it to be placed at the "Lead Mines" of present-day Wythe County; the community of Austinville later developed there.[1]
The governor of Virginia Colony,
The county was the site of
Initially, land claims in the county were pursuant to warrants for service in the French and Indian War; later preemption claims were allowed. Many of the earliest settlements in Kentucky, including its first town, Harrod's Town, Boonesborough, Logan's Station, and Lexington were founded when it was known as part of Fincastle County. Attempts at organized settlement, ultimately unsuccessful, included the Indiana Grant (including part of southwestern PA), Vandalia Colony and Transylvania Colony.
That the county was named for a loyalist was reason for the American rebels to change its name in 1776. Lord Dunmore in absentia led the military opposition to the rebels in Virginia. He had already issued Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to any of the rebels' slaves who fled their Virginia masters and joined the British forces, which was much resented by the rebel planters and slaveholders.
In December 1776, the
The name Fincastle, originally a Glen in Scotland, lives on in, among other places, towns of the same name in Virginia and, Kentucky.
See also
- History of Kentucky#Early period of European settlement
- History of West Virginia#Trans-Allegheny Virginia, 1776–1861
- Fincastle Historic District of Fincastle, Virginia
- Fincastle Resolutions, early declarations of the spirit of American independence
References
- ^ a b Pendleton, William C. (1920). History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia: 1748-1920, pp. 255-57. W. C. Hill Printing Company.
- ^ Pendleton (1920), pp. 362-363.
- ^ "Kentucky: Secretary of State - Land Office - Kentucky County Formations". sos.ky.gov. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
Further reading
- Rothert, Otto A. (January 1932). "Fincastle County, Virginia, and Old Kentucky". Filson Club History Quarterly. 6 (1). Retrieved 2011-11-29.
- Wilson, Samuel M. (April 1935). "West Fincastle, Now Kentucky". Filson Club History Quarterly. 9 (2). Retrieved 2011-11-29.