In 1742, it was enacted that Prince William County be divided. The bounds of this county were set as follows: "all that part thereof lying on the south side of Occoquan and Bull Run and from the heads of the main branch of Bull Run by a straight course to the Thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge of Mountains known by the name of Ashby's Gap or Bent." Hamilton was the parish for Prince William County. That portion of Prince William which had, in 1732, been placed in Truro Parish became the new county of Fairfax. The name was, of course, in honor of Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor of the Northern Neck Grant.
Pohick, one of the churches in Truro Parish, is still standing and in use. General George Washington, who lived at nearby "Mount Vernon," George Mason of "Gunston Hall" and Lord Fairfax of "Greenway Court" were vestrymen; and planned for the erection of this present building in 1769.
In the same year that Fairfax was formed in the northern part of the colony, Hanover County in the middle section was divided. The Act ordered "all that tract of land now deemed to be a part of the said county of Hanover lying above a straight course to be run from the mouth of Little Rockey Creek on the River Northanna south, twenty degrees west until it intersects the line of Goochland County" should become a distinct county and known by the name of Louisa County. The name honored a daughter of George II, as Amelia had done a few years earlier.
Two years later the first of the eight counties eventually cut from Goochland was created and given the name Albemarle. This was in honor of William Anne Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle, Governor-General of the Colony, 1737-1754. Like most of the Governors-General, he did not come to Virginia, but the Lieutenant Governor as his deputy, performed the duties of his office.
The bounds of Albemarle were to be divided from Goochland on the west "by a line run from the point of fork of James River north, thirty degrees east to the Louisa County line, and from the said point of fork a direct course to Brooks mill and from thence the same course continued to Appomattox River." "The point of fork" is the junction of the Rivanna with the James. It will be noted by the reference to the Appomattox River that Albemarle extended across James River just as Goochland did. "Monticello" the beloved home of Thomas Jefferson, is in Albemarle County, and in architecture and planning is another example of the amazing versatility of his genius.
In 1746, the settlements in Brunswick County had grown to such an extent that a new division was required. The line was ordered "to be run from the county line where it crosses Roanoke River below the place called the Horse Ford to strike Nottoway River at the south." The territory above this line was to be called Lunenburg County. This title, anglicized from the German form, Luneburg, was chosen since the Duchy of Luneburg, like that of Brunswick, belonged to the Electorate of Hanover. Lunenburg embraced a vast acreage stretching from the rolling country where bright tobacco came to perfection as far west as the mountains and on the south to the North Carolina boundary.
Cumberland, Culpeper, Southampton and Chesterfield Created, 1749
The western portion of Goochland lying on both sides of the James had, in 1744, been taken to form the new county of Albemarle; now, five years later, the southeast portion of Goochland was made into the new county of Cumberland. The name was further honor for the Duke of Cumberland, "The Butcher of Culloden." The growth in this locality had been hastened by the arrival of numerous Huguenot families seeking asylum from persecution in France. Manakintown was the name of their settlement. The name is perpetuated in a newly erected Episcopal church not far from the site of the settlement where the Agee, Fourqurean, Legrand, Michaux, Guerrant, Flournoy and other families worship now, as they have done for some 250 years.
In the same year that Cumberland was formed, a new county was taken from Orange and named Culpeper, presumably in honor of Lord Culpeper, Governor of Virginia 1680-1683, a compliment to Lord Fairfax "who had inherited from him the ownership of the Northern Neck." Culpeper lay on the south side of the Rappahannock and north of the Conway River commonly called the fork of the Rappahannock River. The fork of the Rappahannock was the area between the Rappahannock River and its tributary, the Conway, now called the Rapidan. "Horseshoe Farm" is in Culpeper County and takes its name from the bend or horseshoe made by the Rapidan within which it is situated. While the residence is modern, the farm is of colonial times and was once owned by Governor Spotswood. It was from this house that, in 1741, he went to Annapolis, Maryland expecting to sail with an expedition to join Admiral Vernon and attack Cartagena in the Spanish Main. He died unexpectedly in Annapolis but, strangely enough, considering his prominence, his burial place is unknown.