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WEST VIRGINIA

    West Virginia was the home of the people of the Adena Culture, also known as the Mound Builders.  These Indian tribes had lived in the area since 1000 BC.  Grave Creek Mound dates back to 1,000 to 2,000 years and is the world's tallest conical prehistoric India burial mound.

    The history of West Virginia and that of Virginia are intertwined.  West Virginia was originally a portion of Virginia.  It was part of that crown colony.  When the settlers first arrived, this portion was primarily an Indian hunting ground.  In 1669, John Lederer, a German physician was one of the first Europeans to enter this portion of the colony.  He found small groups of Indians visiting the area for salt supplies.  In 1727, Germans migrated south from Pennsylvania and settled in the area now known as New Mecklenburg.  The Germans and a group of Scotch-Irish pioneers decided to settle but were attacked by the Indians for taking over their lands.  The Indians were defeated at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774.

    Two main commodities brought the settlers to this area in addition to the land itself.  Salt was plentiful in the area and was useful for salting hides and as a preservative.  Coal was discovered in this area in 1742 along the Coal River.

    Two key engagements of the Revolutionary War occurred in West Virginia.  The Battle of Point Pleasant occurred in 1774 and was considered by some as the first skirmish of the war.  In 1782, the nation successfully defended Fort Henry against a joint British and Indian attack.  This last was considered to be the final armed event of the Revolutionary War.  

    Throughout Virginia's first 80 years of statehood, the Western counties had great differences, which differences continued to fester over time.  The Counties water source came from the river systems of the midwest rather than from the coastal areas and the agricultural system of the area soon to become West Virginia made the use of slavery impractical.  There were increasing complaints of poor representation in Virginia's legislature which left these people less than satisfactory results.

    As early as 1776, these people sought the right to break away from Virginia, but it was the secession of Virginia from the Union in 1861 that finally gave them the opportunity.  The residents of the West Virginia area refused to agree to secession.  That same year, a Virginia government was reorganized that was loyal to the Union, which formed in Wheeling, and in two years, this area became a fully autonomous state on its own.  It was briefly named Kanawha, but the title changed to its present name and West Virginia became a state 0n 20 June 1863.

In the course of the Civil War, West Virginia endured 632 military actions and one town, Romney, changed hands 56 times.  After the close of the war, and for the next 90 years, Coal was the primary economy of the area.  It gave work to people from throughout the South and East and from such countries as Italy, Poland and Hungary.  Those searching ancestry in this area, will need look to both West Virginia and her parent State, Virginia when reviewing records as they could lie in either state.

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