Fincastle County, Virginia

Fincastle County, Virginia, was created in 1772 from Botetourt County. At the time the colony believed its boundaries extended west all the way to the Mississippi River. 

In 1776 the Virginia General Assembly abolished Fincastle County, organizing three new counties:Montgomery, Washington, and Kentucky. (In 1792 the latter jurisdiction was admitted as the 15th state, the Commonwealth of Kentucky.)

Although no county seat was designated by the act creating the county, the colonial governor ordered it to be placed at the "Lead Mines" of Wythe County. Austinville, Virginia, developed here.

Botetourt County may have been named for the English home of Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, a very popular governor of the Colony of Virginia. He died just before the tensions of the impending American Revolution made the job much more difficult. John Murray, Earl of Dunmore and Viscount of Fincastle, succeeded Lord Botetourt. Fincastle County may have been named in his honor, or for his son Lord Fincastle. 

If so, it was clear why the new rebel Americans changed the name in 1776. At that time, Lord Dunmore was leading the military opposition to the rebels in Virginia. He had already issued Dunmore's Proclamation offering freedom to any slaves of rebels who fled their Virginia masters and joined the British forces; this was much resented by rebel planters and slaveholders.

The name is represented on Virginia maps by the town of Fincastle, the county seat of the original Botetourt County.

References

Further reading

Category:Colonial Virginia counties
Virginia lost counties, cities and towns
Category:Pre-statehood history of Kentucky
Category:Pre-statehood history of Virginia
Category:Pre-statehood history of West Virginia
Category:Former counties of Virginia
Category:1772 establishments in Virginia