Cabell County WV Archives History - Books .....Cabell County History From Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe 1845
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 April 2, 2008, 1:37 am

Book Title: Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe, 1845

Cabell, p. 209.

Cabell was created in 1809, from Kanawha, and named from Wm. H. Cabell, Gov. of
Va., from 1805 to 1808. It is 35 miles long, with a mean breadth of 20 miles. A
considerable portion of the county is wild and uncultivated, and somewhat
broken. The river bottoms are fertile, and settled upon. Pop. 1830, 5,884; 1840,
whites 7,574, slaves 567, free colored 22; total 8,163. Barboursville, the
county-seat, lies on the Guyandotte river, 7 1-2 miles from its mouth, and 352
miles WNW of Richmond. The turnpike, leading from the eastern part of the state,
by the great watering-place, to the Kentucky line, passes through this village,
which contains about 30 dwellings. Guyandotte lies on the Ohio, at the mouth of
the Guyandotte River. It is much the most important point of steamboat
embarkation, as well as debarkation, in western Virginia, with the exception of
Wheeling. It is a flourishing village, containing 1 church, 6 or 8 stores, a
steam saw-mill, and a population of about 800. 

Cabell county was settled at a comparatively late period. Thomas Hannon was one
of the earliest settlers, having removed, in 1796, from Botetourt county to
Green Bottom, about 18 miles above Guyandotte, when the first permanent
settlement was made. Soon after Guyandotte was settled, at which place Thomas
Buffington was one of the earliest settlers.

A portion of the beautiful flatland of what is called Green Bottom, lying partly
in this and Mason county, a few years since, before the plough of civilization
had disturbed the soil, presented one of those vestiges of a city which are met
with in central America, and occasionally in the southern and western forests of
the United States. The traces of regular, compact, and populous city with
streets running parallel with the Ohio River, and crossing and intersecting each
other at right angles, covering a space of nearly half a mile, as well as the
superficial dimensions of many of the houses, are apparent, and well defined.
Axes and saws of an unique form -- the former of iron, the latter of copper --
as well as other implements of the mechanic arts, have been found. These remains
betoken a state of comparative civilization, attained by no race of the
aborigines of this country now known to have existed. Who they were, or whence
they spring, tradition has lost in the long lapse of ages. It is a singular
fact, that these remains are rarely, if ever, found elsewhere than upon the
river bottoms, or flat level lands. 

Additional Comments:
This entire book is available in the USGenweb Archives. The section for each
county of the book is in each county's directory, where the current county lies,
in WV, VA and DC archives. The outline history of Virginia is in the VA
statewide directory.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/cabell/history/1845/historic/cabellco21gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wvfiles/

File size: 3.5 Kb