Fayette County, West Virginia

Fayette County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Named: In honor of the Marquis de Lafayette

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Early History of Fayette County, West Virginia

Fayette County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1831 from parts of Greenbrier, Kanawha, Logan and Nicholas counties. It was named in honor of the Marquis (Gilbert Motier) de LaFayette (1757-1834), French military hero and American ally during the American Revolutionary War.

An expedition led by Captain Thomas Batts, Thomas Wood and Robert Fallam were the first Englishman to reach the present site of Fayette County. They reached the Kanawha Falls on the afternoon of September 16, 1671. Walter Kelly was the first English settler in the county, arriving in 1773. Soon afterwards, he was killed by Indians for trespassing on their hunting grounds. The following year, William Morris, Sr. became the first permanent English settler in the county, building a cabin at Cedar Grove at the mouth of Kelly's Creek in 1774.
The next group of settlers arrived around 1790 on the present site of Ansted. These were a group of "squatters" who lacked legal title to the land. Among them were the families of James Lykens, William Parrish, James Taylor, and Bailey Woods.

The first county court was held in 1831 at the Miles Manser general store which stood near Ansted, named for the British geologist David T. Ansted who owned the land on which the town was located. It served as the county seat until 1837 when the county's residents voted to make Fayetteville the permanent county seat.

Fayetteville was settled by Abraham Vandal in 1818 and was originally called Vandalia. When Vandal platted the land in 1836 he named the city in honor of the Marquis de LaFayette. The town was incorporated in 1883. The original county court house was constructed in 1838 after the town approved a tax levy of $1,500 for its construction "near the dead chestnut tree in Vandal's rye field." The use of indirect firing, now in universal use in militaries across the globe was first used in Fayetteville during the Civil War. From: West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, compiled by Hardesty.
 

Neighboring Counties:

• East: Greenbrier County
• North: Clay County
• Northeast: Nicholas County
• Northwest: Kanawha County
• Southeast: Summers County
• Southwest: Raleigh County

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