November
November 1 – On November 1, 1807, David Ruffner and Joseph Ruffner opened their first salt well on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County.
November 2 – November 2, 1734, Kanawha Valley pioneer Daniel Boone was born.
November 3 – Anne Trotter, whose husband was killed at Battle of Point Pleasant and who served as a scout and messenger, married John Bailey at Lewisburg on November 3, 1785.
November 4 – On November 4, 1770, George Washington visited present-day Gauley Bridge, Fayette County.
November 5 – On November 5, 1768, British representative Sir William Johnson signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Six Nations of the Iroquois, relinquishing all Iroquois claims to the property west of the Allegheny Mountains and east of the Ohio River, comprising all of present-day West Virginia except the extreme southwestern part of the state. Along, with the Treaty of Hard Labour, this effectively repealed the Proclamation of 1763, which had prohibited settlement west of the Alleghenies.
November 6 – On November 6, 1776, Ohio County and Monongalia County were created from the District of West Augusta.
November 7 – On November 7, 1775, Virginia Governor Dunmore authorized the recruitment of free African Americans into the British Army.
November 8 – On November 8, 1796, The Virginia General Assembly convened in Richmond.
November 9 – On November 9, Elinipsico, son of Cornstalk, arrived at Fort Randolph seeking information about his father, who had been detained there in early November 1777.
November 10 – On November 10, 1777, Shawnee Chief Cornstalk was killed at Fort Randolph at present-day Point Pleasant, Mason County.
November 11 – On November 11, 1749, George Washington surveyed land at Wardensville for William Wallace Warden, who built Fort Warden near the site. In 1758, members of his family were killed, and the fort was destroyed by Native Americans.
November 12 – On November 12, 1762, Thomas Shepherd presented his bill of incorporation for the town of Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
November 13 – On November 13, 1800, Adam Flesher was granted 100 acres of land in Harrison County.
November 14 – On November 14, 1788, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act creating Kanawha County from parts of Greenbrier County and Montgomery County, with the county seat at the house of William Clendinen.
November 15 – On November 15, 1799, Joseph Tomlinson sold Andrew Rogers the first lot of land in Elizabethtown, now part of Moundsville, Marshall County.
November 16 – On November 16, 1754, Lord Fairfax granted 135 acres of land in Hampshire County to Joseph Rhodes.
November 17 – Morgan Morgan, supposedly the first permanent white settler in West Virginia, died on November 17, 1766.
November 18 – On November 18, 1762, the bill for incorporation of the town of Romney, Hampshire County, was given its first reading in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
November 19 – On November 19, 1779, Cuthbert Bullitt was granted 1030 acres of land in Greenbrier County.
November 20 – On November 20, 1779, Cuthbert Bullitt received a patent for the land in present-day Charleston and opposite present-day St. Albans willed by his brother Thomas Bullitt, who had died in 1778.
November 21 – On November 21, 1757, Mary Nisewanger was granted 400 acres of land in Hampshire County.
November 22 – On November 22, 1762, the bill for incorporation of the town of Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, Jefferson County was given its first reading in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
November 23 – Charles Washington and others petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to establish the town of Charles Town, Jefferson County on November 23, 1786.
November 24 – On November 24, 1750, George Washington purchased his first tract of property in present- day West Virginia, the Bullskin or Rock Hall Tract, located in Jefferson County.
November 25 – On November 25, 1762, The Virginia House of Burgesses passed the incorporation bill for the town of Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, Jefferson County.
November 26 – On November 26, 1793, Michael Buzzard was granted 85 acres of land in Pendleton County.
November 27 – On November 27, 1786, Michael Ryan was granted 2000 acres of land in Harrison County.
November 28 – On November 28, 1784, George Clendennon was granted 400 acres of land in Greenbrier County.
November 29 – Randolph County was formed from Harrison County on November 29, 1786.
November 30 – On November 30, 1796, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act creating Brooke County from part of Ohio County, with the county seat at the house of William Tharp.
December
December 1 – On December 1, 1773, Virginia Governor Dunmore granted 21,941 acres on the Kanawha River to settlers, including 2,618 acres across from present-day St. Albans, Kanawha County, to Thomas Bullitt for his service in the French and Indian War.
December 2 – On December 2, 1796, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act authorizing a lottery to fund the repairs to the state roads from Morgantown in Monongalia County to Romney in Hampshire County to Winchester in Frederick County, and from Morgantown to Hardy Courthouse in Hardy County to Winchester. The following commissioners were appointed to oversee the lotteries: Isaac Hite Williams, Jonathan Davies, George Harness, Jr., Cuthbert Bullitt, Alexander King, Hugh Holmes, James Singleton, and John Jack.
December 3 – On December 3, 1787, James Rumsey first demonstrated his steam-powered boat publicly on the Potomac River at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County. His invention led to the creation of new technology, eventually culminating in Robert Fulton’s steamboat.
December 4 – On December 4, 1787, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act creating Pendleton County from parts of Hardy County, Augusta County, and Rockingham County, with the county seat at the house of Zariah Stratton.
December 5 – The Virginia General Assembly passed an act defining the boundary between Greenbrier County and Kanawha County on December 5, 1795.
December 6 – On December 6, 1751, Christopher Gist completed exploration of the area near the Monongahela River.
December 7 – On December 7, 1751, Christopher Gist first met Nemacolin, a Delaware tribesman, who would later help him blaze Nemacolin’s Trail from Cumberland, Maryland to the Monongahela River.
December 8 – On December 8, 1776, The Monongalia County government was organized at the house of James Coburn.
December 9 – On December 9, 1796, William McClery was granted 100,000 acres of land, including property in present-day Logan County and Mingo County.
December 10 – On December 10, 1786, Hardy County was formed from Hampshire County.
December 11 – On December 11, 1806, President Thomas Jefferson sent the militia to Blennerhassett Island near Parkersburg to stop the expedition of Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett to create an empire for Burr in the southwestern part of the continent. Blennerhassett was arrested the following day in Lexington, KY, and charged with treason. The charges were later dropped.
December 12 – On December 12, 1786, On December 12, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill establishing the town of Charles Town on the property of Charles Washington in Berkeley County, present-day Jefferson County, governed by the following trustees: John Augustine Washington, Robert Rutherford, William Darke, James Crane, Cato Moore, Benjamin Rankin, Magnus Tate, Thornton Washington, William Little, Alexander White, and Richard Ransone.
December 13 – On December 13, 1754, Hampshire County was created from parts of Frederick County and Augusta County.
December 14 – On December 14, 1796, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the town of Pleasantville, Monongalia County, on the property of John Evans, Jr., and Benjamin Reeder on the Monongahela River, governed by the following trustees: Josiah Prickett, James Dunn, John Holt, Colder Haymond, Stephen Morgan, Zacquil Morgan, and William Holt.
December 15 – On December 15, 1772, King George III granted George Washington 2,448 acres of property in present-day Jackson County for his service in the French and Indian War.
December 16 – The town government of Charleston, Kanawha County, was organized on December 16, 1795.
December 17 – On December 17, 1762, The Virginia House of Burgesses and the Council of Virginia passed the incorporation bill for the town of Romney, Hampshire County.
December 18 – On December 18, 1769, John Michael Propst and his wife Catherine Propst donated the property for the Propst Lutheran Church, about two miles south of present-day Brandywine, Pendleton County.
December 19 – On December 19, 1794, the town of Franklin was established as the Pendleton County seat.
December 20 – On December 20, 1799, George Jackson was granted 4200 acres of land in Harrison County.
December 21 – On December 21, 1798, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act creating Wood County from part of Harrison County, with the county seat at the house of Hugh Phelps.
December 22 – On December 22, 1804, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act adding part of Ohio County to Harrison County.
December 23 – On December 23, 1762, The Virginia governor signed the bill officially incorporating Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, Jefferson County. That same day, he signed the bill officially incorporating Romney, Hampshire County. These are the oldest towns in present-day West Virginia.
December 24 – On December 24, 1795, Ben Grayson Orr was granted 174,000 acres of land, including property in present-day Logan County and Mingo County.
December 25 – On December 25, 1795, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the town of Wheeling, Ohio County, on the property of Ebenezer Zane on the Ohio River, governed by the following trustees: John McIntyer, Andrew Woods, Henry Smith, Archibald Woods, James Nelson, Robert Woods, Absalom Martin, and William Waddle.
December 26 – On December 26, 1795, The Virginia General Assembly adopted a joint resolution authorizing the governor to negotiate a solution to the boundary dispute with Kentucky.
December 27 – On December 27, 1755, Captain Charles Lewis of Fredericksburg assumed command at Fort Ashby at present-day Fort Ashby, Mineral County. It had been constructed earlier in the year by Lieutenant John Bacon on a recommendation from George Washington.
December 28 – On December 28, 1787, George Clendenin purchased 1,030 acres of land on the north side of the Kanawha River at Charleston from Cuthbert Bullitt.
December 29 – John Cooke, the first settler of present-day Wyoming County, was discharged from the Continental Army on December 29, 1779.
December 30 – On December 30, 1806, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act adding tracts of land belonging to Ebenezer Zane and James Patton to the town of Wheeling, Ohio County.
December 31 – On December 31, 1787, The Virginia General Assembly passed an act which incorporated the Randolph Academy at Clarksburg.