Ritchie County
West Virginia
History
[Source: History of
West Virginia
; By Virgil Anson Lewis; publ.
1887; Pg. 683;
Transcribed and
submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack]
RITCHIE COUNTY.
The act creating the
county of
Ritchie
was
passed February 18, 1843, the county being formed from parts of
Lewis, Harrison and Wood.
Thomas Ritchie,
from whom the county derives its name, was
Virginia
's
most famous journalist. He was born in 1778, and edited the Richmond
Enquirer— formerly the Examiner—from 1804 to 1845, when he became
the editor of the Washington Union. He died in
1854.
The county is drained principally by
Hughes river, named in honor of Jesse Hughes, though the stream on
Samuel Lewis' map, drawn in 1794, to accompany "Jefferson's Notes on
Virginia
," is called Junius
river.
Harrisville—then in Wood
county—was laid out by Thomas Harris, and legally constituted a town
by act of January 3, 1822, with James Mealy, Joseph Stewart, William
L. Mitchell, John Harris and Edward Shelton, trustees. It was made
the county seat by the act creating the county, and the first court
was required to be held at the house of John Harris. The town was
incorporated February 26, 1869.
Smithsville—then in Lewis
county—was established a town by Legislative enactment, February-
14, 1842, on lands of Barnes Smith, with James Malone, James
Hardman, Isaac S. Collins, Daniel Ayers and Benjamin Hardman,
trustees.
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