FCMV 1740

INTRODUCTION

Settlement of America’s Appalachian river valleys by Old World colonists began before 1730. By the 1740s, the population of this
frontier or “backcountry” had grown large enough to justify the creation of new county governments. The origins and experiences of
these early settlers were diverse; included among them were people from the German states of the Holy Roman Empire, religious
dissenters from the north of Ireland, West Africans and their American-born descendents, and the descendents of early English
colonists. Virginia’s western land claims were the most extensive of all the colonies, and their settlements were the westernmost in British
North America. Most early settlers, particularly the Germans and the Irish dissenters, had lived in southeastern Pennsylvania for several
years before moving south into the Valley of Virginia. Here they met Virginians of English and African descent, as well as recently arrived
West Africans. This encounter between different ethnic groups in western Virginia shaped American culture for generations to come.

LIFE IN THE BACKCOUNTRY

Regardless of origin, all early settlers shared the challenges and opportunities of life in the backcountry. Most were drawn by the promise
of cheap land provided by colonial governments eager to secure their western frontiers against French and Spanish encroachment.
Virginia granted large blocks of western land to individuals and companies with the requirement that it be divided and sold to settler
families within a few years. To meet this requirement, grantees offered land in parcels up to several hundred acres in size on easy terms.

The earliest settlers arrived on foot, leading packhorses carrying a few tools and possessions over paths established by Native Americans.
Later settlers traveled by wagon over these same routes after they were widened and improved. Most intended to farm, and they sought
land that featured a reliable water supply and a mix of forest and open ground. Native Americans lived in many backcountry areas before
the arrival of Atlantic settlers establishing home sites and fields on the best available locations. Shrewd early settlers selected these sites,
leaving poorer land for those who followed.

After selecting a parcel of land and securing legal title, the family built shelter and cleared land for crops. Their first house was often a one
or two room log cabin, built by family members with the assistance of neighbors, and possibly an indentured servant or slave. Cabin
furnishings were few and simple. Few settlers owned tables, chairs, or bedsteads; plain benches and stools served as seats and work
surfaces, and settlers slept on the floor or on a simple bedstead built into the wall. Cooking equipment consisted of a cast iron pot and
possibly a frying pan, and food was served on wooden platters or pewter dishes. Clothing was made of linen and wool cloth, or of a
cloth combining the two fibers called linsey-woolsey. Spinning-wheels and looms, and the skill to use them, were important tools for
backcountry women, and cloth production emerged as an early home industry in the region.

Land clearing was hard work in heavily wooded areas, and stumps and trees killed by “girdling” were often found in backcountry fields.
Corn was a mainstay of the diet, though wheat and rye were grown as well. Fiber crops such as flax and hemp were raised, too, with
hemp becoming an important cash crop in the Virginia backcountry by the 1760s. Settlers also brought livestock to the backcountry,
primarily hogs, cattle, sheep, and horses. Owners made identifying marks on the animals and released them to fend for themselves;
fences were built to keep livestock out of gardens and fields. Hunting and fishing supplemented settlers’ diets.

MOVING ON

Early backcountry settlements were isolated, but they were quickly transformed. Local governments were established, communities
created, and churches organized. Local and regional markets emerged for the exchange of goods and services as roads were improved,
and water-powered flour and saw mills were built. Within a few short years, the backcountry became part of the Atlantic world. In
western Virginia, the French and Indian War (1754-1763) briefly interrupted this transformation, but the establishment of military
outposts in the backcountry tied the region more closely to eastern markets by the end of the conflict. Market production by Valley
farmers then began in earnest, and the backcountry quickly ceased to be an isolated frontier.
The war also opened up vast new possibilities for expansion of settlement into the Ohio Valley and Kentucky. In the years leading-up to
the American Revolution, the frontier moved west and these regions became the new backcountry. Many settlers in the older
backcountry areas moved west. Those who owned land took advantage of rising land values to sell at a profit and begin again with more
land and resources. Backcountry inhabitants unable to buy land in the more established settlements could try their luck in new
circumstances.