Chronological History of Jefferson County, WV
(1700 - 1799)
1712 - Baron Christopher de Graffenreid visits the Eastern Panhandle looking for land for Swiss families.
1716 - Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood and an accompanying party penetrate western Virginia to the peaks of the Alleghenies. His "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" expedition dramatizes the possibilities of westward expansion.
1719 - The first church in West Virginia, the Potomoke Church, was founded by Presbyterians at Shepherdstown.
1722 - Virginia government allows families to live without paying rent on land owned by the state for ten years to persuade families to move into the newly-settled territories.
The Iroquois surrender their claims to land south of the Ohio River, which included the counties in the eastern panhandle.
1726 - According to tradition, Morgan Morgan makes the first permanent settlement at Bunker Hill on Mill Creek in Berkeley County.
1727 - Germans from Pennsylvania establish a settlement at New Mecklenburg (now known as Shepherdstown). In 1734, Thomas Shepherd was granted 222 acres, on the south side of the "Potomack" river. From that tract, he selected fifty acres and laid out a town. He named his town Mecklenburg and petitioned the Virginia Assembly for a charter which was subsequently granted in 1762.
1732 - After 1732, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, and German pioneers begin to settle the western portions of Virginia; Harper's Ferry is settled.
1730's - The first blacks arrived and settled in Jefferson county. They were the Johnson family. This family of 'free blacks' crossed the Potomac into western Virginia with the Joist Hite family.
1742 - The first iron furnace west of the Blue Ridge was built by Thomas Mayberry on the Shenandoah river at the "Bloomery" near Harpers Ferry.
1744 - All territory between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River is ceded to the English by Indians of the Six Nations (Iroquois Confederacy) for 400 pounds as part of the Treaty of Lancaster.
1748 - George Washington surveys land in western Virginia for Lord Fairfax and visits Bath (now Berkeley Springs).
The Harpers Ferry begins carrying passengers across the Shenandoah River.
1750 – George Washington purchased Bullskin Plantation near Summit Point. Starting with 453 acres, he eventually added another 1,558 acres to the plantation.
1751 - Lord Fairfax granted Peter Burr 480 acres, including the land which would become the town of Bardane.
1754 - Hampshire county, West Virginia's first county, is formed to provide orderly government for the early pioneers along the upper Potomac. It is created from Augusta, Frederick county.
1726-1731 - Morgan Morgan of Delaware, believed to be the first white settler in what is now West Virginia, established a home at Bunker Hill, now Berkeley county.
1727 - Germans establish a settlement at New Mecklenburg, now Shepherdstown, in Berkeley county.
1750's - George Washington presides as master over the 1st Lodge of Free Masons to be assembled west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Meetings were held in a large limestone cave 2 miles south of Charles Town.
1754 - By the time the French and Indian War (1754-1763) ended, several thousand settlers live in the eastern portion of western Virginia. The war eliminated some settlements and threatened others.
1755 - General Braddock marches his army through Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan counties en route to Pittsburgh where he suffered defeat by the French and Indians.
1762 – [December 23] The governor of Virginia signs bills of incorporation establishing the towns of Romney and Mecklenburg (later Shepherdstown), the oldest towns in what is now West Virginia.
1763 - The town of Harper's Ferry is first incorporated.
1764 - General Horatio Gates, who was second in command to George Washington, settles in Jefferson County (where he lived until 1790).
1768 - The Iroquois cede lands north of the Little Kanawha River to the British in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. Treaties made with the Iroquois and Cherokees, who had claimed most of West Virginia, make it safe for pioneers to cross the mountains.
1770 - "Harewood," the home of Colonel Samuel Washington, the brother of George Washington, was built in Jefferson County near Charles Town. James Madison later married Dolly Payne Todd there.
1772 - Berkeley county is created from Frederick county in Virginia.
1773 - Major General Horatio Gates purchased land to build his home, "Traveller's Rest", in Kearneysville.
1774 - Charles Lee purchased property, “Praeto Rio” in what was to become Leetown, WV. Soon after this event he was commissioned Major General under George Washington and participated in the Revolutionary War along with Major General Horatio Gates, his neighbor three miles to the north.
1775 - The first of more than seven companies of riflemen were formed to fight against the British in the Revolutionary War.
1775 - The men of Shepherdstown and Berkeley County met in Morgan's Grove Park to begin the famous "Bee Line March" to join George Washington’s Continental Army in Boston fighting for independence from England.
1776 - The residents of western Virginia petition the Continental Congress to establish a separate government for their region.
1777 - Indian warfare resumes, and continues throughout the American Revolution.
1778 - Martinsburg is laid out by Adam Stephen, an American Revolutionary military leader.
1786 - In January 1787, Charles Town is chartered by the Virginia General Assembly, laid out on 80 acres of land owned by Charles Washington, the youngest brother of George Washington. The town's name was originally Charlestown.
Also, that same year, the first publication printed within the state was a pamphlet by James Rumsey, A Short Treatise on the Application of Steam, which may have been printed in Shepherdstown.
1788 - Virginia ratifies the federal Constitution.
1790 - Henry Bedinger and William Good petitioned President Washington to have the nation's capital located at Mecklenburg now known as Shepherdstown.
1791 - The Potowmack Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser, western Virginia's first newspaper, was first published in Shepherdstown, by Nathaniel Willis. Publication ceased in 1799 when he moved to Martinsburg and began publishing the Martinsburg Gazette.
1793 – The first post office in Jefferson County was established in Shepherdstown.
1794 - James Madison married "Dolly" Todd at Harewood, the home of George Steptoe Washington, son of Colonel Samuel Washington, just outside of Charles Town.
1796 - The Harpers Ferry national arsenal was established to manufacture and store arms for the military.
1797 - The second West Virginia newspaper, the Impartial Observer, is established at Shepherdstown. That year the same press was also used to print the first book printed in West Virginia, The Christian Panoply.
Louis Philippe d'Orleans, who later became the King of France in 1830, visited Harpers Ferry and Charles Town along with his brother.
1798 - Mecklenburg is renamed Shepherdstown by the Virginia Assembly.
1798 - The Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the town of Smithfield, known today as Middleway.
1798-99 The Charles Town Academy, an educational institution for young men opened. A female seminary was also started.
Narrative History of Jefferson County
John Lederer, a German physician and explorer employed by Sir William Berkeley, colonial governor of Virginia, was the first Englishman to set foot in present-day Jefferson County. He explored the region in 1669. In 1707, Louis Michel made a map of the future site of Jefferson County and, in 1712, Christopher Baron de Graffenreid entered into present-day Jefferson County during his expedition up the Potomac River.
The first permanent English settlement in present-day Jefferson County was attempted in the Shepherdstown area in 1719, but no official records were kept of the settlers' names. Their presence is suggested by a letter written in 1719 from the residents of "Potomoke" (now known as Shepherdstown) to the Philadelphia Presbyterian Synod requesting that a minister be sent to the town.
In 1727, several German immigrant families founded the town of New Mecklenburg, renamed Shepherdstown in 1798 in honor of Captain Thomas and Elizabeth Shepherd. Thomas Shepherd had received a patent on October 3, 1734 for much of the land in that area and he was the town's leading citizen until his death in 1776. Other early settlers included John and Isaac Van Meter who obtained grants to large tracts of land in the county in 1730.
Shepherdstown claims to be the oldest town in the state. Both Shepherdstown (then known as Mecklenburg) and Romney (in Hampshire County) were chartered by the Virginia General Assembly on December 23, 1762. However, Romney claims that it is the oldest town in the state because its earliest settlers arrived before Shepherdstown's earliest settlers arrived. However, it is difficult to substantiate Romney's claim, and both towns claim the title of oldest town in the state.
Important Events in Jefferson County during the 1700's
As mentioned previously, in 1748 sixteen year old George Washington surveyed the eastern panhandle region for Lord Fairfax. Washington was impressed with the region and, in 1750, bought land there. Through the years, he continued to acquire more land in the area, and, at one point, owned nearly 2,300 acres in the eastern panhandle region. Washington's half brother, Lawrence, also owned land in the county, and when he died without any heirs in 1752, he left much of it to his brothers, George, Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles. Samuel Washington's home, known as Harewood, was located in present-day Jefferson County. The home featured an exquisite marble mantelpiece that had been given to George Washington as a gift by General Marquis de Lafayette. George Washington gave it to Samuel as a present. Harewood was also the site of Dolly Payne Todd and James Madison's marriage.
When the American Revolution began, Virginians Daniel Morgan of Frederick County and Hugh Stephenson of Berkeley County (later Jefferson County) organized two regiments of Virginia volunteers to join General Washington's forces in Massachusetts. Stephenson and Morgan, both veterans of Lord Dunmore's War and friendly rivals, organized their regiments quickly in an attempt to reach General Washington first. Morgan's regiment was the first to arrive. Stephenson's regiment was easily distinguished on the field of battle. They embroidered Patrick Henry's famous slogan "Liberty or Death" on their shirts. Tragically, many of the Berkeley/Jefferson County volunteers where present when the British captured Forts Washington and Lee. Many of the prisoners died after being treated harshly.
European Pioneers and Settlers
One of the most famous American Revolutionary War leaders resided in present-day Jefferson County prior to the war. Horatio Gates (1729-1806), General Washington's second in command, lived at "Traveler's Rest" near Kearneysville prior to the war.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, most of the industry located in what is now West Virginia operated in the Eastern Panhandle region, such as the iron furnace at ‘The Bloomery’ in present-day Jefferson County which came into being possibly as early as 1742.
James Rumsey was another famous resident of present-day Jefferson County. He lived in Shepherdstown and was the first man to propose using steam instead of wind to propel vessels. He built a steamer and sailed it on the Potomac River in the presence of George Washington and others on December 3, 1787, twenty years before Robert Fulton, who is generally regarded as the inventor of the steam boat, made his first successful steam voyage. Rumsey patented his invention and traveled to London in 1790 in an attempt to find investors willing to finance the construction of additional steam ships. Several ventures failed, primarily due to poor workmanship on the steam engines. He remained in London for nearly two years. On December 20, 1792, he made a presentation explaining his invention to the Society of Mechanic Arts in London. During the presentation, he burst a blood vessel and died the next morning. During his time in London, Rumsey met Robert Fulton who later modified Rumsey's design and made steam navigation a success.
Shepherdstown was also the home of West Virginia's first newspaper, the Potomak Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser. It began publication in 1790 and was owned by Nathaniel Willis.
Authors
- Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University.
- Steve Kovalan, undergraduate history and political science major, West Virginia University
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