Containing a verbatim transcription of records for every court held in Fincastle. From the Introduction: Fincastle County, Virginia was in existence only between 1773 and 1776, a mere three years, yet those three years were some of the most formative of the Virginia frontier. Once the treaty of Fort Stanwix was signed in 1768, enabling settlers to return to their homesteads, the economic tableland of Virginia began tipping toward the Southwest. The first official response was the 1770 formation of Botetourt County, to separate from the unmanageably large Augusta County an administrative area that could respond to the needs of the Western Waters. Between its own oversized territory and the increasing population, and the need for protection from Indian raids, Botetourt spun off Fincastle County in 1773, to govern the area during the crucial years of Dunmore's War and the beginnings of the Revolution. One of the earliest expressions of the growing need for American independence was the Fincastle Resolutions of 1775, addressed to the Virginia Continental Congress.
Karen Wagner Treacy
107-FICO
