The author was a descendant of the Scotch-Irish Ingles and Draper families, the first pioneers to make permanent settlements beyond the Alleghenies in 1748. He states that "In connection with... these histories of the Ingles and Draper settlements and families, I shall endeavor to trace, in chronological order, the progressive frontier explorations and settlements along the entire Virginia border, from the Alleghenies to the Ohio, from the New River-Kanawha and tributaries in the South-west, where settlements first began, to the Monongahela and tributaries, in the North-west, and the intervening country, and along the Ohio, where the frontier line of settlements was last to be advanced, but I shall give more special attention to the early history of the region of the New River-Kanawha and tributaries, with collateral facts and incidents of more or less local or general historical interest." The time period covered is primarily from 1750 to 1800, and while the central focus is on the exploits of the Ingles and Draper families, there is a great deal of interesting information on the other early settlers of the region which has been made much more accessible by the addition of a full name index.
John P. Hale
(1886), 2007, 5½x8½, paper, index, 356 pp.
ISBN: 9780788413858
101-H1385
