>From another list - I thought you might enjoy Julie in CA "ffejlny@juno.com" <ffejlny@juno.com> wrote: From: "ffejlny@juno.com" <ffejlny@juno.com> Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 13:49:53 GMT To: wvhardy@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WVHARDY] Early settler inquiries To all of you waiting for someone else to tell you who were the first non-Indian and non-French settlers to come into the South Branch and its South Fork. The chronology really begins [with the possible exception of earlier English Indian traders] really in 1733 when the Privy Council approved the Northern Neck grant to Fairfax. The first recorded "settlers" in the valley were Coburn, Rutledge, Howard and Walker in 1734 and 1735. In 1736 and 37 Isaac VanMeter arrived, looked around and returned to his eastern location. Then, in 1738, VA first carved up all the land west of the Blue Ridge, formerly under the nominal [very nominal] control of Orange County, into newly created counties of Frederick and Augusta. These two counties would not be operative until 1743 and 1745 respectively. Until those years, Orange controlled. In 1740, VanMeter returned and bought out Coburn. Coburn then moved up-river. On 31 Dec 1742, Michael Ernst [later known as Harness, Sr.] and others [4 Kuykendalls, a Hornbeck, Matthias Yoakum and Daniel O'Neil] in the valley signed an Orange Co. road petition. On 09 Oct 1743, Pastor Stover came down from Tulpehocken to baptize Michael Ernst's daughter at the Ernst home along the So. Br. That year Frederick Co. became operative and in 1744 had the Frederick-Augusta border surveyed by Hume. Along his way he mentioned Matthias Yoakum, VanMeter and his brother now there permanently, and also Casey, Foreman, Pancake, Peter Thorn and Lanciscus. In 1745, the Privy Council made a final decision on Fairfax's southern boundary (Conway's River). Augusta became operative. In 1746, Thomas Lewis, James Genn, et al., surveyed the Fairfax Line. In 1747 the first Moravian missionaries arrived. In 1748, the first grants and leases in the Fairfax holdings were recorded. The rest, as they say, is history. Those of us with ancestors in the South Branch valley must know and use sources; traditions are sound only if supported by documents. John L. Tevebaugh ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WVHARDY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.