Sir: A chart  I have shows Kentucky (State),  Washington and Montgomery
Counties, VA were formed from Fincastle County in 1777. My earliest proven
ancestor came into (now) Washington Co., VA in 1768 down the Shenandoah and
a local historian for the County claimed he was probably the first permanent
resident of the area. King George disallowed settlements west of the
mountains then and those who settled anyway were in defiance and those who
settled in the extreme SW VA were also in great danger from Indians.
Nevertheless Washington County's population grew rapidly such that by 1772 a
petition for Reverend Cummings was signed by enough to support a Church and
by 1780 the population was large enough to be able to send an army of about
900 men to Kings Mountain to fight the British.
The Washington County Property Tax list of 1782 is quite lengthy
 I think a westward penetration of the mountains was also possible at Front
Royal and Fort Chiswell.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: Timeline -- Frederick Co VA>Fairfax Co.


> I've found clear indications that lots of
> folks were in far SW VA long before there
> were by tradition supposed to be folks there.
> There has to be enough population to justify
> carving a county out of the larger one in
> order for the Gen. Assembly to do so.
>
> Tradition has movement down the Valley, but
> what's to stop folks from going east across
> the Blue Ridge? Loudoun County certainly has
> a good number of folks by the 1720's who were
> Quakers from PA.
>
> Lyle
>
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