The People, Their Homeplaces and Their Lives On The Frontier
by Fred Ziegler
This
study combines the names of settlers from the orginal 1772-1775 Botetourt
County courthouse records with the lastest thinking on the conditions and
events in the contemporary counties of Monroe, Summers, Greenbrier, and
southern Pocahontas, West Virginia.
This
first permanent settlement included 583 families on an average 200 acre tract,
and these were arrayed in 19 diffuse communities along 60 miles of the
Greenbrier Valley. These adventurous souls found arable land, conditioned by
thousands of years of Native American occupation, but vacated because the
original populations were decimated by European diseases. The remaining Native
Americans were defeated in Dunmore’s War, which included 288 militia troops
from this area who performed the diverse functions of ranging, fort-building, as
well as fighting at the Battle of Point Pleasant.
Contemporary
accounts of life on the frontier are also discussed and 132 products available
at Mathews Trading Post are listed, as are the 24 natural remedies used to treat the afflictions experienced on the frontier.
The
Greenbrier Valley is special because it was the gateway through the rugged
Allegheny Mountains. Many descendants of these early settlers are now dispersed
across the country but return here to discover their roots.