JEFFERSON COUNTY.

Jefferson County was formed by Act of Assembly, January 8, 1801, from Berkeley, and named in honor of President Jefferson. The Act provided that from and after the twenty-sixth day of October next, "all that part of the county of Berkeley lying eastwardly of a line beginning at Opeckon creek in the Frederick line; thence with the said creek to the bend immediately below Wallingford's tavern; thence running a direct line to Wyncoop's spring on the public road leading from Martinsburg to Shepherdstown, and thence with the meanderings of the spring run to its confluence with the Powtomac, shall form one distinct county, and be called and known by the name of Jefferson."

The Act made Charlestown the county seat, and provided that the first court should be held at the house of Bazil Williamson.

Charlestown, the county seat, was legally established a town in October, 1 786, on lands of Charles Washington, whose Christian name it commemorates. He was a brother of the first President of the United States. The first trustees were John Augustine Washington, William Drake, Robert Rutherford, James Crane, Cato Moore, Magnus Tate, Benjamin Rankin, Thornton Washington, William Little, Alexander White and Richard Ranson. Charlestown Academy was incorporated December 25, 1797, with Elisha Boyd, John Dixon, Edward Tiffin, William Hill, Thomas Rutherford, George North, Alexander White, Ferdinand Fairfax, George Hite, Samuel Washington, Thomas Griggs and Gabriel Nourse, trustees.

Shepherdstown, then Mecklenburg, was established a town in November, 1762, and was laid out by Captain Thomas Shepherd. In 1790, just after the Act was passed by Congress providing for the location of ten miles square for the National Capital at some place on the Potomac, Shepherdstown made an effort to secure the prize. A newspaper of that date published the following item of news:—

"Shepherdstown On The Potowmack, November 15, 1790.

"Very liberal subscriptions have, within a few days past, been obtained in the town and vicinity, to be appropriated toward erecting the Federal Building, provided the Seat of Government be located so as to include Shepherdstown within the District."

By an Act of Assembly passed January 11, 1798, an extensive addition was made to the town from the lands of Henry Cookcas, William Brown, John Morrow and Richard Henderson, and the name was changed from Mecklenburg to Shepherdstown.

The town is famous in history as having been the residence of James Rumsey, who was the first man in the world to propose steam as a substitute for wind in propelling vessels. He built a steamer on the Potomac in 1784, which was tested in the presence of General Washington and other distinguished men of the day. The material and workmanship, together with the tools used, were those of an ordinary blacksmith shop, the boilers being made of gun barrels. After patenting his invention Rumsey went to London, where greater facilities were offered for perfecting his engine. There he built a steamer, which, when tested on the Thames, proved but a partial success. Afterward, while explaining the principles of his invention before the Philosophical Society of London, he burst a blood vessel and fell dead upon the spot. His enterprise fell for the time, with its projector, but was afterward renewed by Robert Fulton, who, by adding paddle or bucket wheels, made steam navigation a success.

Harper s Ferry, famous in history as the scene of John Brown's insurrection, and because of the military operations in and around it during the Civil War, both of which are treated at length in Part I. of this work, was established a ferry in 1748—the first west of the Blue Ridge. It commemorates the name of Robert Harper, who settled near by in 1734, when George Washington was an infant in his mother's arms. The town was incorporated March 24, 1851.

Smithfield was made a town by act of January 15, 1798, on lands of John and William Smith, with John Packett, Moses Smith, John Smith, Jacob Rees and Joseph and John Grantham, Trustees.

In the western part of this county there lived within a few miles of each other, after the war of the Revolution, three generals, officers of the American army— Adam Steven, Horatio Gates and Charles Lee. The last will of the latter is now on record in the clerk's office of the adjoining county of Berkeley, and its text throughout is characteristic of its eccentric author.

The following is an extract:—"I desire most earnestly that I may not be buried in any church or churchyard or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist meeting-house, for since I have resided in this county I have kept so much bad company while living that I do not choose to continue it when dead."

[Source: History of West Virginia; By Virgil Anson Lewis; publ. 1887; Pgs. 613-616;Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack]