Hampshire County, West Virginia

Hampshire County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the is 20,203. Its is,  (1762). Hampshire County was created by the on,  from parts of  and  counties  and is the oldest county in the state of West Virginia. The county lies in both West Virginia's and  regions. Hampshire County is part of the.

Nomenclature
Although its creation was authorized in 1753, Hampshire County was not actually organized until 1757 because the area was not considered safe due to the outbreak of the (1754-1763). According to 's A History of the Valley of Virginia, the county was named in honor of its several prize hogs. The story goes that, who owned the Royal Grant to the area, came upon some very large hogs in and asked where they had been raised. He was told that they were from the Valley (now Hampshire County). He remarked that when a county was formed west of that he would name it in honor of the county, , famous for its very fat hogs.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,670 (645 ). 1,662 km² (642 sq mi) of it is land and 8 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.45%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (south)
 * (west)

Magisterial districts

 * Bloomery Magisterial District
 * Capon Bridge municipality
 * Capon Magisterial District
 * Gore Magisterial District
 * Mill Creek Magisterial District
 * Romney Magisterial District
 * Romney municipality
 * Sherman Magisterial District
 * Springfield Magisterial District

Mountains

 * , 3028 feet (922 m)
 * , 2739 feet (834 m)
 * , 2648 feet (807 m)
 * , 2618 feet (797 m)
 * , 2237 feet (681 m)
 * , 2149 feet (655 m)
 * , 2028 feet (618 m)
 * , 2024 feet (616 m)
 * , 2005 feet (611 m)
 * , 1930 feet (588 m)
 * , 1575 feet (480 m)
 * , 1489 feet (453 m)
 * , 1121 feet (341 m)

Hampshire County maps

 * Hampshire County's Original Boundaries
 * Civil War Era Hampshire County
 * Hampshire County in 1880
 * Hampshire County in 1888
 * WVDEP Modern Hampshire County Road Map
 * Hampshire County in the 1755 Fry & Jefferson Map

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 20,203 people, 7,955 households, and 5,640 families residing in the county. The was 12/km² (32/sq mi). There were 11,185 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (17/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.04%, 0.83% or , 0.24% , 0.16% , 0.02% , 0.12% from , and 0.59% from two or more races. 0.55% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,955 households out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.70% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.10% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.10% under the age of 18, 7.10% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 25.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,666, and the median income for a family was $37,616. Males had a median income of $28,884 versus $19,945 for females. The for the county was $14,851. About 12.90% of families and 16.30% of the population were below the, including 22.70% of those under age 18 and 13.10% of those age 65 or over.

County parks

 * Central Hampshire Park, Augusta
 * Green Spring Recreational Park, Green Spring
 * Hampshire Park & 4-H Camp, Romney
 * Romney Recreation Center, Romney
 * Shanks Roadside Park, Shanks

Private schools

 * Maranatha Christian Academy
 * Slanesville Christian School

Earliest European settlers
was initially settled by hunters and traders around 1725. In 1738, (or Pearsoll) and his brother  built homes and in 1758 a fort  for defense against  in present-day Romney. Their settlement was then known as Pearsall's Flats. In 1748, sent a surveying party, including 16 year-old, to survey his lands along the  and  s. Washington spent three summers and falls surveying Lord Fairfax's  estate, which included all of the present-day. In April 1748, he laid off several lots in an area known as, about ten miles south of Romney, and he is known to have been in present-day Romney on ,. Oral traditions claimed that Washington laid present-day Romney out into lots at that time, but written records from that era indicate that Romney was surveyed and laid out into lots by prior to Washington's arrival. Genn was also employed by Lord Fairfax.

18th century Hampshire County
In 1756, was constructed on 's plantation for protection against  raids and George Washington provisioned and garrisoned the Fort at various times until 1758. At that time, there were at least 100 people living in the general area. Following the end of hostilities in the area, Lord Fairfax recognized that more settlers would be interested in moving into the area and that he could earn some extra revenue by selling plots in the town. He sent a survey party to Romney in 1762 to formally lay out the town into 100 lots. At that time, he renamed the town Romney, in honor of the city on the  in.

Confusion ensued for several decades concerning land ownership within the town as counterclaims were made by the original settlers and those who purchased lots laid out by Lord Fairfax's surveyors.

The first meeting of the Hampshire County Court was held in 1757, at, now in Hardy County, and was presided by the Right Honorable , Lord Fairfax's nephew. By that time, Hampshire County's population had fallen dramatically as most of the settlers had fled the county in fear of the Native Americans. The only families remaining lived near Fort Pearsall, near present-day Romney, and, at present-day on the. The vast majority of the remaining settlers, however, were in the vicinity of present Old Fields-Moorefield-Petersburg and were protected by the several forts in the area, including Fort Pleasant

Once the Native Americans were defeated at the in 1774 settlers, once again, returned to the county. By 1790, when the first national census was taken, Hampshire County had 7,346 residents, making it the second most populous county in the present state of West Virginia at that time. was the most populous county, with 19,713 people. There were nine counties that comprised the present state, with a total population of 55,873 people.

During the in 1794, many Hampshire County men volunteered to serve under Major General  to put down the insurrection. The men most likely volunteered at in  and then marched north to. Approximately 1,200 of the 12,950 men under Morgan's command came from the area that would later become West Virginia.

Early Churches
Not only in a material way were the people of the county developing wealth but in an even more important way did they continue to advance. The early missionaries helped to sustain the religious faith of the early inhabitants. In 1775 two missionaries among a group of settlers moved to the  and organized the first church in the county. In 1771 the work of the was begun, in which later developments led to the formation of the. In 1753 Hampshire County had been formed into a parish by the and in 1773 a missionary sent by that church began work. In 1787 a church was established at. Soon after the there was preaching by the  at different points in the county. In 1792 a Presbyterian church was organized at Romney and another,, at.

Early Industry
The wide lowlands of Hampshire County certainly invited, and fields of and  surrounded the important truck-patch of the settler. The rolling uplands offered pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, which were driven across country to market at. The streams abounded in fish and the mountains contained not only game but timber and stone for early settlers' homes. The limestone was burned for lime at Bloomery Gap, where remains of old lime-kilns give evidence of an early industry. Soon it was discovered that some of the strata contained. Much of it was transported to present-day, from an area along South Branch Potomac River south of the present limits of the county. In Bloomery Gap, a ruined furnace still stands, mute evidence of another former industry. In the early days the increasing population stimulated not only farming and grazing but every industry of a new country.

19th century Hampshire County
The building of the  was an integral part of the development of Hampshire County. General Daniel Morgan first suggested the road be built in 1748, but his recommendations were not acted upon until the 1830s. Colonel, a Frenchman who had previously worked for , engineered the road which connected with Winchester, Virginia. The turnpike traversed Hampshire County stretching through the communities of Capon Bridge,, , , , , , and. Through the years, Romney became an important rest stop for travelers on the turnpike. This aided the local economy as hotels and taverns began to appear in the area.

During the, the Hampshire Guards and Frontier Riflemen joined the. Although there were no major battles in Hampshire County, Romney changed hands at least fifty-six times during the war. It was often a case of one army evacuating the area allowing the opposing army to move into the town. This places Romney second behind Winchester as the town that changed hands the most during the American Civil War. On, , it changed hands twice in the same day. Some local Hampshire County historians speculate that Romney actually changed hands more than Winchester but there are no surviving records to support the claim.