|
|
 |
|
West Virginia
History
Mid Ohio Valley |
 |
|
| Mid Ohio Valley: History by County |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Calhoun County Created in 1853 from Gilmer County and named for John C. Calhoun, eminent
statesman of South Carolina. In early years the county seat was located at
Arnoldsburg, Brooksville, and at the mouth of Pine Creek.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Doddridge County Created in 1845 from parts of Harrison, Tyler, Ritchie and Lewis Counties,
and named for Phillip Doddridge, a distinguished statesman of Western Virginia, who spent
the greater part of his life in Brooke County, West Virginia. Home county of J. H.
Diss DeBar, who designed the Great Seal and Coat of Arms of West Virginia.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Gilmer County Formed in 1845 from parts of Lewis and Kanawha Counties, and named for Thomas
Walker Gilmer, Governor of Virginia, 1840-1841, later a representative in Congress, and
Secretary of the Navy in President Tyler's cabinet.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Jackson County Formed in 1831 from parts of Kanawha, Wood, and Marion counties, and named
for Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. Jesse Hughes, noted
Indian fighter is buried in this county.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Pleasants County Created in 1851, from Wood, Tyler and Ritchie Counties, and named for James
Pleasants, Jr., who represented Virginia in the United States Senate, and who was its
Governor, 1822-1825.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Ritchie County Formed in 1843 from parts of Wood, Harrision and Lewis Counties, and named in
honor of Thomas Ritchie, a distinguished journalist of Richmond, Virginia, whose mother
was a sister of Judge Spencer Roane, for whom Roane County was named.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Roane County Created in 1856 from parts of Kanawha, Jackson and Gilmer Counties, and named
in honor of Judge Spencer Roane, a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of
Virginia, whose wife Anne, was the daughter of Patrick Henry.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Tyler County Created from Ohio County in 1814, and named in honor of John Tyler, eighth
Governor of Virginia and father of John Tyler, tenth President of the United States.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Wirt County Formed in 1848 from Wood and Jackson Counties and named for William Wirt of
Maryland, who gained fame as an author, orator and lawyer in his adopted state of
Virginia.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
Wood County Formed in 1798 from Harrison Country and named in honor of James Wood,
Governor of Virginia (1796-1799). Blennerhassett Island, in the Ohio River near
Parkersburg, is well known because of Harmon Blennerhassett's participation in Aaron
Burr's conspiracy.
|
|
Top of Page
|
|
Top of Page
|
