Place:Pittsylvania, Virginia, United States

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NamePittsylvania
Alt namesPittsylvaniasource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCounty
Coordinates36.817°N 79.4°W
Located inVirginia, United States     (1767 - )
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


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

Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,501. Chatham is the county seat.

Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical Area.

The largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the United States (7th largest in the world) is located in Pittsylvania County (see Uranium mining in Virginia.)

Contents

History

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

Originally "Pittsylvania" was a name suggested for an unrealized British colony to be located primarily in what is now West Virginia. Pittsylvania County would not have been within this proposed colony, subsequently known as Vandalia.

The county was formed in 1767 from Halifax County. It was named for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768 and opposed harsh colonial policies.

In 1777 the western part of Pittsylvania County became Patrick Henry County.

Maud Clement's History of Pittsylvania County notes the following: "Despite the settlers' intentions, towns failed to develop for two reasons: the generally low level of economic activity in the area and the competition from plantation settlements already providing the kind of marketing and purchasing services typically offered by a town. Plantation settlements along the rivers, particularly at ferrying points, became commercial centers. The most important for early Pittsylvania was that of Sam Pannill, a Scots-Irishman, who at the end of the eighteenth century, while still a young man, set up a plantation town at Green Hill on the north side of the Staunton River in Campbell County. (Clement 15)"

"Its economy was tobacco-dominated and reliant on a growing slave labor force. It was a county without towns or a commercial center. Plantation villages on the major river thoroughfares were the only centers of trade, until the emergence of Danville. (Clement 23)"

The city of Danville's history up through the antebellum period overall is an expression of the relationship between the town and the planters who influenced its development.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1737 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1765 Court records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1767 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1767 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1767 Probate 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
1990 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 11,579
1800 12,697
1810 17,172
1820 21,323
1830 26,034
1840 26,398
1850 28,796
1860 32,104
1870 31,343
1880 52,589
1890 59,941
1900 46,894
1910 50,709
1920 56,493
1930 61,424
1940 61,697
1950 66,096
1960 58,296
1970 58,789
1980 66,147
1990 55,655

Note: Danville city, formed from Pittsylvania County. Annexation after 1980 from Pittsylvania (1980 population 11,007).

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