Botetourt County was created on 31 Jan. 1770 from the southern lands of Augusta County. Named for Lord Botetourt (Norborne Berkeley), governor of Virginia, 1768-1779, it encompassed all of Virginia (and West Virginia) west of the Blue Ridge and south of a line through the center of Rockbridge and west. This also included Virginia's lands in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and a portion of Wisconsin; however, its political control did not reach to these uttermost limits.
The process of dividing the county began in 1772 with the separation of Fincastle County. In 1778 Rockbridge County was formed from Augusta and Botetourt and Greenbrier County in the west was created brom Botetourt and Montgomery. In 1785 a portion of Rockbridge west of the ridgeline of Top Mountain was transferred to Botetourt's jurisdiction; in 1790 some of the southern part of Botetourt was transferred to Montgomery County. In 1790 and 1796 minor boundary alterations with Montgomery were effected. In 1791 Botetourt, along with Augusta and Greenbrier counties, contributed territory to form Bath County. In 1802 part of Botetourt was added to Monroe County. Alleghany was established in 1822 from portions of Botetourt, Bath, and Monroe Counties; 1838, Roanoke County was cut off, and in 1851 Craig County was formed from parts of Botetourt, Giles, Roanoke, and Monroe counties. The final boundary change came in 1888 when the line between Rockbridge and Botetourt south of the James River was changed and a small amount of land was transferred to Roanoke's jurisdiction.
Botetourt's location astride the Old Carolina Wagon Road made it an important county genealogically. Settlers from the Shenandoah Valley and Pennsylvania had to pass through the area on their way to the Yadkin Valley and central North Carolina. It was also the area to which many immigrant workers came in the nineteenth century to labor on the Kanawha Canal and to work in the iron foundry at Cloverdale Furnace.
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Botetourt Co. 1815 Directory of Landowners
by Roger G. Ward. 2005. 41 pages, map, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For more records pertaining to BOTETOURT
COUNTY, VIRGINIA see also:
Copyright © 2006 New Papyrus Publishing Company
For a full description of the 1815 LAND DIRECTORY Records and a listing of available counties, see:
Individual County Booklets, 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners
[Vd10] $8.00
Botetourt Co. Revolutionary Public Claims
transcribed by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten.. 2005. 49 pages, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the Virginia Revolutionary Public Claims and a listing of available counties, see:
Revolutionary "Publick" Claims series
[Pc08] $6.75
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