Place:Lee, Virginia, United States

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Image:Lee County VA.jpg

Description

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

Lee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,173. Its county seat is Jonesville.

History

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

The area of far western Virginia and eastern Kentucky supported large Archaic Native American populations.

The first known Europeans to enter what is present-day Lee County were a party of Spanish explorers, Juan de Villalobos and Francisco de Silvera, sent by Hernando de Soto in 1540, in search of gold.

The county was formed after the American Revolutionary War in 1792 from Russell County. It was named for Light Horse Harry Lee, the Governor of Virginia from 1791 to 1794, who was famous for his exploits as a leader of light cavalry during the war. He was the father of Robert E. Lee, later a West Point graduate and career US Army officer who became the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

Lee County was the final front on the Kentucky Trace, now known as the Wilderness Road and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. During the 1780s and 1790s, fortified buildings called "stations" were built along the trail for shelter from Indian raids as the settlers followed Daniel Boone's path into the Kentucky frontier. The stations in Lee County were Yoakum Station at present-day Dryden, west to Powell River and Station Creek at today's Rocky Station, then to Mump's Fort at Jonesville, followed by Prist Station, Martin's Station at Rose Hill, Chadwell Station at Chadwell Gap, Owen Station at Ewing, and finally Gibson Station, which still bears its original name.

One of the largest early landowners was Revolutionary War officer and explorer Joseph Martin, after whom Martin's Station and Martin's Creek at Rose Hill are named. Due to his rank of command, Martin had been awarded some in a land grant after the war. He divided the land and sold it as a speculator. Rose Hill was established in 1832 as the first federally recognized post office in Lee County.

In 1814, parts of Lee, Russell, and Washington counties were combined to form Scott County. In 1856, parts of Lee, Russell, and Scott counties were combined to form Wise County, named after the last governor of Virginia before the Civil War.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1793 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1793 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1793 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1800 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1808 Court records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1830 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1853 Birth records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1860 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
1800 3,538
1810 4,694
1820 4,256
1830 6,461
1840 8,441
1850 10,267
1860 11,032
1870 13,268
1880 15,116
1890 18,216
1900 19,856
1910 23,840
1920 25,293
1930 30,419
1940 39,296
1950 36,106
1960 25,824
1970 20,321
1980 25,956
1990 24,496

Research Tips

Sources

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Lee County, 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.