This study combines the names of settlers from the original 1772-1775 Botetourt County courthouse records with the latest thinking on the conditions and events in the contemporary counties of Monroe, Summers, Greenbrier, and southern Pocahontas,West Virginia.This first permanent settlement included 583 families on an average 200 acre tract, and these were arrayed in 19 diffuse communities along 60 miles of the Greenbrier Valley. These adventurous souls found arable land, conditioned by thousands of years of Native American occupation, but vacated because the original populations were decimated by European diseases. The remaining Native Americans were defeated in Dunmore's War, which included 288 militia troops from this area who performed thediverse functions of ranging, fort-building, as well as fighting at the Battle of Point Pleasant.Contemporary accounts of life on the frontier are also discussed and 132 products available at the Mathews Trading Post are listed, as are the 24 natural remedies used to treat the afflictions experienced on the frontier.The Greenbrier Valley is special because it was a gateway through the rugged Allegheny Mountains. Many descendants of these early settlers are now dispersed across the country but return here to discover their roots.

"In the eighteenth-century Greenbrier River Valley of present-day West Virginia, identity was based on a connection to "place" and the shared experiences of settlement, commerce, and warfare as settlers embraced an identity as Greenbrier residents, Virginians, and Americans. In this dissertation, I consider the Greenbrier Valley as an early American place participating in and experiencing events and practices that took place throughout the American colonies and the Atlantic World, while simultaneously becoming a discrete community and place where these experiences formed a unique Greenbrier identity. My project is the first study of the Greenbrier Valley to situate the region temporally within the revolutionary era and geographically within the Atlantic World. For many decades Greenbrier Valley communities were at the western edge of Virginia's backcountry settlements in what was often an "ambiguous zone" of European control and settlers moved in and out of the region with the ebb and flow of frontier violence. Settlers arriving in the region came by way of the Shenandoah Valley where they traveled along the Great Wagon Road before crossing into the Greenbrier region through the mountain passes and rivers cutting across the Allegheny Mountains. Without a courthouse or church, which were the typical elements of community in eighteenth-century Virginia society, until after the American Revolution, Greenbrier settlers forged the bonds of their community through other avenues, including the shared hardships of the settlement experience. Beginning in 1771, a store established by brothers Sampson and George Mathews, who were merchants in Staunton, Virginia, in partnership with Greenbrier settler John Stuart formed a hub around which community developed as the store served as a place for Greenbrier settlers to exchange goods as well as a place to meet for social gatherings. Greenbrier settlers were active participants in the 1774 frontier expedition known as Lord Dunmore's War as the Greenbrier Valley served as the rendezvous point for the army before they marched across miles of Appalachian terrain and faced the Shawnees on the banks of the Ohio River at Point Pleasant. Although Dunmore's War strengthened settlers' connections to place, the years of the American Revolution further cemented their communities as they sought to defend the region physically from the threat of Native American and British foes. The experience of violence and warfare during the Revolutionary War reinforced the bonds of community as settlers embraced an identity as Americans in addition to being Greenbrier settlers and Virginians. In the midst of the American Revolution, the process of community formation also resulted in settlers seeking legal recognition and protection for their homes as they petitioned to be recognized as a new Virginia county, named Greenbrier, which allowed them easier access to county courts where they could legitimize their land claims. At the end of the American Revolution, Greenbrier was still considered a backcountry; however, much had changed as a result of the revolutionary era and the region became a gateway for America's western expansion."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Americans have an unusually strong family ideology. We believe that morally self-sufficient nuclear households must serve as the foundation of a republican society. In this brilliant history, Barry Levy traces this contemporary view of family life all the way back to the Quakers. _____ Levy argues that the Quakers brought a new vision of family and social life to America--one that contrasted sharply with the harsh, formal world of the Puritans in New England. The Quaker emphasis was on affection, friendship and hospitality. They stressed the importance of women in the home, and of self-disciplined, non-coercive childrearing. _____ This book explains how and why the Quakers' had such a profound cultural impact (and why more so in Pennsylvania and America than in England); and what the Quakers' experience with their own radical family system can tell us about American family ideology. ______ Who were the Northwest British Quakers and why did their family system so impress English, French, and New England reformers--Voltaire, Crevecouer, Brissot, Emerson, George Bancroft, Lydia Maria Child, and Lousia May Alcott, to name just a few? To answer this question, Levy tells the story of a large group of Quaker farmers from their development of a new family and communal life in England in the 1650s to their emigration and experience in Pennsylvania between 1681 and 1790. The book is thus simultaneously a trans-Atlantic community study of the migration and transplantation of ordinary British peoples in the tradition of Sumner Chilton Powell's Puritan Village; the story of the formation and development of a major Anglo-American faith; and an exploration of the origins of American family ideology.

This well-researched and engaging family history traces the lives of the Livesay family in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, from the early days of settlement to the present. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and family lore, the author offers a vivid portrait of a family and a community, and shows how their struggles and triumphs are intertwined with the larger history of the region. Anyone interested in genealogy or the history of Appalachia will find this book a fascinating read. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Describes 128 species of butterflies found in the state, along with their caterpillars and pupae. Each species account provides a description and information on distribution, habitat, life history, nectar sources, and larval host plants. Hundreds of color illustrations, as well as detailed drawings and maps. Written for scientists and general enthusiasts alike.