Place:Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States

Contained Places
Cemetery
Andrew Chapel Cemetery
Calwell Family Cemetery
Falling Spring Cemetery
Frankford Cemetery
Gwinn Cemetery ( 1777 - 1871 )
Ludington Family Cemetery
McClung Cemetery
McClung Family Cemetery
Neal Chapel Cemetery
Old Greenbrier Baptist Church Cemetery
Old Salem Cemetery
Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Spring Creek Presbyterian Cemetery
Walnut Grove Cemetery
Census-designated place
Fairlea
District
Irish Corner
Inhabited place
Alderson
Alta
Alum Springs
Alvon
Anjean
Anthony Creek
Anthony's Creek
Anthony
Asbury
Auto
Bellburn
Bingham
Blaker Mills
Blue Bend
Blue Sulphur Springs
Bowes
Brantville
Brink
Brocks Gap ( 1777 - )
Bryant
Buckingham Acres
Burdette
Caldwell
Cane Branch
Charmco
Clendenenville
Clintonville
Cook's Fort
Cordova
Cornstalk
Craig
Crawley
Crichton
Crowfields
Dawson
Dennis
Dickson
Dogwood Heights
Droop Mountain
Duo
Esty
Fairview
Falling Spring
Farmdale
Fort Donnally ( 1777 - )
Fort Spring
Frankford
Friars Hill
Gardner
Golden
Grassy Meadows
Green Sulphur Springs ( 1777 - 1871 )
Half Way
Henning
Hickory Grove
Hines
Hokes Mill
Hopper
Horrock
Hughart
Hungards Creek
Indian Creek
Julia
Keister
Kessler
Kieffer
Lawn
Leonard
Leslie
Lewisburg
Lile
Lilly Park
Loopemount
Loveridge
Lowell
Mapledale
Marfrance
Maxwelton
McClung
McDowell
McRoss
Meadow Bluff
Meadow District
Meadow River
Meadowbluff
Mill Creek
Modoc
Morlunda
Muddy Creek ( 1777 - )
Neola
North Bend
Nutterville
Organ Cave
Orient Hill
Oscar
Palestine
Peterstown
Piercys Mill
Quinwood
Rainelle
Renicks Valley
Richlands
Rock Cliff
Rockland
Rolling Hills
Ronceverte
Rorer
Rupert
Shawvers Crossing
Shryock
Sims
Sinking Creek ( 1777 - )
Smoot
Snowflake
Spring Creek
Sue
Sunlight
Sweet Springs
Teaberry
Trainer
Trout
Tuckahoe
Union Township
Unus
Vago
Vale
Vandals Mountain
Walker Hill
Walnut Hills
White Sulphur Springs
Whiteoak Grove
Wild Meadow
Williamsburg
Wolf Creek
Woodman
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Greenbrier County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 35,480. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was formed in 1778 from Botetourt and Montgomery counties in Virginia.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Prior to the arrival of European-American settlers around 1740, Greenbrier County, like most of West Virginia, was used as a hunting ground by the Shawnee and Cherokee nations. They called this land Can-tuc-kee.

Shawnee leaders, including Pucksinwah and later his son Tecumseh, were alarmed by the arrival of the European settlers, who by 1771 had set up extensive trade in the area. The day books of early merchants Sampson and George Mathews recorded sales to the Shawnee that included such luxury items as silk, hats, silver, and tailor-made suits. Shawnee leaders feared the loss of their hunting lands, which were vital to their survival. They believed the white settlers would continue to encroach on their territory downriver on the Ohio.

Confrontations, sometimes violent, increased between the Native Americans and settlers. In 1774, the Earl of Dunmore, then governor of the colonies of New York and Virginia, decided to raise an army of 3,000 men to attack the Shawnees in their homeland in present-day Ohio. Half of these men were inducted at Fort Pitt, while the other half assembled at Fort Union under the command of General Andrew Lewis. The town of present-day Lewisburg developed around the fort and was named for that commander. By early October of that year, Lewis' force had marched downstream to the mouth of the Kanawha River. They fought the Battle of Point Pleasant against a Shawnee force led by Hokoleskwa, also known as Cornstalk. This site later developed as the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

European settlers were subjected to a number of raids by Native Americans during the colonial period, including a raid on Fort Randolph and later on Fort Donnally, then inhabited by 25 men and 60 women and children. One of the heroic defenders of Fort Donnally was an African American slave named Dick Pointer. Pointer, said to have been nearly tall, defended the log door with Philip Hamman, giving the settlers enough time to awaken and defend themselves. Pointer later addressed the Virginia General Assembly and gave a moving appeal that "in the decline of life" he requested to be freed for his defense of Fort Donnally. Historic accounts differ as to whether the legislature granted his wish. His grave is marked beside Carnegie Hall in the county seat of Lewisburg, and a historical marker stands prominently in the midst of the Lewisburg Cemetery. Pointer's gun is on permanent display at The Greenbrier Historical Society and John A. North House Museum in Lewisburg.

During the secession crisis of 1861 Greenbrier citizens chose Samuel Price as their delegate to the Richmond convention. On April 17, 1861, the day Virginia's secession ordinance was passed he voted against it, but later changed his mind and signed the official document. When the public vote on the secession ordinance was held on May 23, 1861, Greenbrier county voted 1,000 to 100 in favor of secession. The Civil War came to the county in mid 1861, and several battles were fought in the area, including Lewisburg in May 1862 and White Sulphur Springs in August 1863. Both battles were Union victories. Greenbrier County became part of the new state of West Virginia, although it never participated in any of the votes held by the Restored Government in Wheeling. West Virginia contributed approximately 20,000 men to the Union and an equal amount to the Confederate army, with approximately 2,000 men from Greenbrier county joining the Confederate army.

In 1863, West Virginia's counties were divided into civil townships, with the intention of encouraging local government. This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts. Greenbrier County was initially divided into ten townships: Anthony's Creek, Big Levels, Blue Sulphur, Falling Spring, Fort Spring, Irish Corner, Lewisburg, Meadow Bluff, White Sulphur, and Williamsburg. Lewisburg District was co-extensive with the town of Lewisburg until 1871, when Big Levels Township was divided between Lewisburg and Falling Spring Townships. The same year, Summers County was formed from parts of Greenbrier, Fayette, Mercer, and Monroe Counties. The portion of Greenbrier County that became part of Summers County belonged to Blue Sulphur Township. In 1872, the nine remaining townships became magisterial districts. A tenth district, Frankford, was created from part of Falling Spring District between 1910 and 1920. In the 1990s the ten historic magisterial districts were consolidated into three new districts: Eastern, Western, and Central.

What is claimed to be the oldest golf course in the United States was founded in 1884 just north of White Sulphur Springs by the Montague family.

The famous "Greenbrier Ghost" trial occurred at Sam Black Church. Zona Heaster Shue, the wife of Edward Shue, was found dead on January 23, 1897. The coroner initially listed her cause of her death as "everlasting faint", then as "childbirth." Shue's mother, Mary Jane Heaster, testified in court that her daughter's ghost had visited her on four separate occasions, claiming that her neck had been broken by her husband, who had strangled her in a fit of rage. Shue's body was exhumed, and based on the results of an autopsy, Edward Shue was tried and convicted of murder. A historical marker located along U.S. Route 60 at Sam Black Church describes it as the "[o]nly known case in which testimony from [a] ghost helped convict a murderer."

During the decade prior to World War II, several Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were located along the Greenbrier River.

For most of the 20th century, the Meadow River Lumber Company operated the world's largest hardwood sawmill in Rainelle.

During World War II The Greenbrier hotel was used as a military hospital. Sections were used as an internment center for Axis diplomats who were stranded in the United States during the war. When the war ended, the military returned the hotel to private control, and it re-opened as a hotel. During the years of the Cold War, a large underground bunker was built beneath a section of new construction at the hotel, to serve as a secret Congressional refuge in case of nuclear attack. It was one of the sites to be used as part of the United States Continuity of Operations Plan. After it was reported in a 1992 article, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the US government decommissioned it as a government site.

In the June 2016 floods that affected the state of West Virginia, Greenbrier County suffered 16 casualties, the most of any county.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1778 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1780 Court records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1780 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1780 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1781 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1790 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1853 Birth records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1863 Effective date for move from Virginia to West Virginia Source:Wikipedia
1880 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1790 6,015
1800 4,345
1810 5,914
1820 7,041
1830 9,006
1840 8,695
1850 10,022
1860 12,211
1870 11,417
1880 15,060
1890 18,034
1900 20,683
1910 24,833
1920 26,242
1930 35,878
1940 38,520
1950 39,295
1960 34,446
1970 32,090
1980 37,665
1990 34,693

Note: In 1790 Kanawha was reported with Greenbrier.

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.