In the next year, a new county, Nelson, now in Kentucky, was created. This, too, honored a former Governor and Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Nelson. It was his home in Yorktown that Lord Cornwallis used as his headquarters during the siege and battle.
In 1786, Franklin was formed out of "that part of the county of Bedford lying south of Staunton river together with so much of the county of Henry lying north of a line to be run from the head of Shooting creek to the west end of Turkeycock mountain, thence along the top of the mountain to intersect the dividing line between the counties of Henry and Pittsylvania, thence along that line to the mouth of Blackwater river." The reason for this name is obvious: all America honored the achievements of Benjamin Franklin.
Deed of Cession. Virginia Gives the Northwest Territory
The tempo of western expansion had increased to such an extent that four counties were formed in 1786. One of these, Hardy, lies now in West Virginia as does its parent county of Hampshire. It might be well to explain now, even though out of chronological sequence, the genesis of West Virginia. In May 1861 when Governor Letcher called out the Virginia militia, many persons living beyond the Alleghanies throughout that section of Virginia bordering on Ohio and Pennsylvania were not in sympathy with his action. The residents of some forty counties held a convention and were almost unanimous in their desire to break away from Virginia and form a new state. A constitution was framed which was ratified by the people in May 1862. The following year, 1863, West Virginia became a state of the Union and at one blow, Virginia lost a third of her territory. The loss of the rich coal fields and other natural resources of West Virginia impoverished the Old Dominion more severely and made "Reconstruction Days" longer and more difficult than they might otherwise have been.
Returning to Hardy County, we learn that it was named for Samuel Hardy formerly of Isle of Wight County "one of the number who signed the Deed of Cession which transferred the Northwest Territory to the General Government."
Virginia's claim to territory was of long standing, her charters of 1609 and 1612 giving her dominion to the Pacific Ocean, but no exploration beyond the Mississippi had been attempted. Her claim of dominion to the Mississippi, however, was of more substantial character. In 1778 with a picked force of 180 Virginia riflemen, George Rogers Clark captured the great Northwest Territory from the English "in one of the most amazing exploits in American history." This territory Virginia organized as "the county of Illinois." "But for Clark's conquest the treaty of 1783 might well have fixed the nation's western boundary at the Alleghanies instead of at the Mississippi." Almost all the Ohio Valley and parts of Wisconsin and Michigan were included in this voluntary gift that Virginia made in 1783 to the weak confederated colonies. In 1785 Congress passed a Land Ordinance providing for the sale of this land. "Thus this cession provided the infant republic with its only sure source of revenue" since at that time "Congress had neither the power to impose nor the machinery to collect any taxes."
The other three counties formed in 1786 lie now in Kentucky which, in 1792, was "organized as a state out of Virginia territory with her consent." These divisions are Mercer and Madison, created out of Lincoln, and Bourbon out of Fayette. Mercer honored General Hugh Mercer of the Revolution; Madison, James Madison, later known as the "Father of the Constitution," and Bourbon, the French reigning family, particularly Louis XVI who had given aid in the Revolution.
The next county, Russell, was taken from Washington. Its bounds are: "all that part of the said county lying within a line to be run along the Clinch mountain to the Carolina line; thence with that line to the Cumberland mountain, and the extent of country between the Cumberland mountain, Clinch mountain and the line of Montgomery county shall be one distinct county and called and known by the name of Russell." The name was selected as a tribute to General William Russell "who distinguished himself at the Battle of King's mountain." Russell remains a Virginia county.
Five westward expansions now occur in quick succession. In 1787, from Harrison was formed Randolph County named for Edmund Randolph, first Attorney General of the Commonwealth and a member of the Continental Congress. Both Harrison and Randolph are in West Virginia. Pendleton, also now in West Virginia, was formed in 1788 from portions of Hardy, Augusta, and Rockingham counties. It is named for Edmund Pendleton, President of the Virginia Convention of 1775.
The next year two new Kentucky counties were formed; Mason from Bourbon and Woodford from Fayette. The former took its name from George Mason of "Gunston Hall," author of the Bill of Rights and the latter from General William Woodford, a native of Caroline County, Virginia who rendered distinguished service in the Revolution and later moved to Kentucky.