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THE FORMATION OF PULASKI COUNTY

 
Count Casimir Pulaski
The earliest documented European exploration of the New River and its valley was a 1671 expedition sponsored by Abraham Wood, Commander of Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox River of Virginia (Petersburg area) . The cartographer for the expedition named it Wood's River the adoption of "New" is unclear). Notable expeditions were made by Henry Batte, Thomas Batte, John Sailing and Dr. Thomas Walker between 1671 and 1748. It was opportunist and adventurer, Colonel James Patton that obtained the original grant , The Wood's River Grant, in 1745 and commenced surveying and the solicitation for settlers. There had been numerous claims in the area, but it is now generally believed that the original settlement was in 1748 near present day Blacksburg and Drapers Meadows by George Draper, John, Thomas and William Ingles. A competing grant was made to Dr. Thomas Walker and others as the Loyal Company of Virginia in 1749. In the intervening years, the French, to protect its exploration interests from current Canada, and the Cherokee and Shawnee tribes, became more alarmed regarding the English intrusion of these hunting grounds. This would result in numerous skirmishes and bloodshed in the next few years which would retard settlement. With the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, warrants for military service, and adventuresome nature of the first pioneers, the movement West started its push over the Blue Ridge barrier. The headwaters, creeks, and flatlands of the New River Valley would become the sites of settlements, recorded boundaries in land grants and deeds and the basin of sweat, tears and blood of the Scotch-Irish and German settlers as they adapted to this harsh, but beautiful landscape.
In 1772, the county of Fincastle was formed and embraced within its limits all of Southwestern Virginia, including the present State of Kentucky. Five years later (1777) it was by an act of the general assembly extinguished, and from its territory three counties were created: Kentucky, Washington and Montgomery.
Pulaski county continued to be a part of those counties until 1830, when it began its existence as an integral factor of the Old Dominion. Pulaski County occupied a strategic position in Colonial days, as it was at the crossroads of two well-traveled Indian trails. One came down the Shenandoah Valley and across the Divide and on to the Great Bend in New River near The Horseshoe, following approximately what is now U.S. Highway 11 and the “Wilderness Road” to Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and Kentucky. The other started at Tidewater and came up the Staunton River (now the Roanoke) to the top of the Allegheny Mountains, thence to the Great Bend and down New River, following what is now U.S. Highway 460 to the Kanawha and on down to the Ohio.
Among Its Earliest Settlers, were John Floyd, once a Governor Of Virginia; John Payton, James Wysor, Thomas Cloyd, Richard Raines, Robert Martin, Joseph Cloyd, Hugh Patrick, Jerry Patrick, William Grayson, Isaac Runion, James Smith, Andrew Boyd, Peter Rife, Major William Preston, Thomas Patton, Henry Davis, Wilson Davis, Roger Roop, William Calfee, S.W. Cecil, A Mr. Pepper, who came in 1760, Joseph Montgomery, James Montgomery, and a Mr. Wood in 1765; John W. Hoge in 1773; Sebastian Wygal in 1780; Henry Wysor, John Carper, John Caddall, John Jordan, James Rankin and Robert Martin, all of whom came in 1785, and Samuel Cecil in 1790.
It was not until 1839 that the county of Pulaski was formed from portions of Montgomery and Wythe counties. Pulaski County is named after Count Casimir Pulaski. A Polish national, Count Casimir Pulaski distinguished himself in the American Revolution holding the rank of General in Washington's revolutionary Calvary. From 1738 until 1839 the land that became Pulaski was a part of Augusta, Botetourt, Fincastle, Montgomery and Wythe counties. Until 1716 the area was governed by Justices commissioned by England's Royal Governors. When the Pulaski area became a part of Montgomery County in 1777, it was governed by justices appointed by the Governor of the Common Wealth of Virginia, then Patrick Henry. In 1790 Wythe County was formed from a part of Montgomery County and so the Pulaski county area lies in both counties until 1839. In early 1839 citizens of the western portion of Montgomery and the eastern part of Wythe petitioned the General Assembly for the formation of a new county. On the 30th day of March, 1839, a bill was passed entitled "An act to establish the county of Pulaski out of parts of the counties of Montgomery and Wythe." The first section was as follows:
Be it enacted by the General Assembly: That all that part of the western and of the county of Montgomery and the eastern end of the county of Wythe contained within the following boundary lines, to-wit: Beginning at the line dividing the county of Giles from Montgomery of New river: thence with said line to the head of a hollow above Hiram Davis on Little Walkers creek to a point on the main road between the land of John T. Sayers and Harvey Shepherd, including the plantation of David G. Shepherd: thence to the mouth of Pine run on New river: thence to the Grayson county line, including Sally King's plantation on Reed Island: thence with the Grayson line to the Floyd county line and with the same to the mouth of Indian creek on Little river, and with the same, including the farm of Creed Taylor, to New river, and thence with the same to the beginning, shall form one district and new county, and be called and known by the name of Pulaski county.
The twelfth section provided that "John Gardner of the county of Montgomery, Cyrus Adams of the county of Wythe, and Levi Vermillion of the county of Pulaski, are hereby appointed to run and mark the lines between the said counties of Montgomery and Pulaski on the one side and the counties of Wythe and Pulaski on the other."
Such were the boundaries of the new county thus checkered upon the map of Virginia. But the people residing within a part of the territory taken from Montgomery were dissatisfied, choosing rather to remain within the old county. They accordingly addressed a petition to the general assembly, and that body on the 14th day of February, 1842, passed an act providing that "so much of the county of Pulaski as lies next to and adjoining the county of Montgomery , and is contained within the following boundary lines, to-wit: Beginning on the line dividing the county of Pulaski from the county of Floyd, at a point on the top of the mountain opposite to the poorhouse of Floyd; thence a northwestern direction along by the Wolf Spring to what is called Creed Taylor's farm to Little river, shall be annexed to and henceforth form a part of Montgomery county."
The county continued to be governed by appointed justices as well as the Circuit Court of law and chancery first meeting at James Tiffany's Tavern in Newbern.

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