Who settled here
Virginia claimed southwestern Pennsylvania as far as Pittsburgh until it yielded the argument in 1780, and the area was part of Virginia's Yohogania, Ohio, and Augusta Counties until 1781. Most settlers were English, Welsh, Irish, and Scots-Irish, along with settlers from eastern and central colonial Virginia.
The county was a center of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, led by David Bradford, after an excise tax passed Congress in 1791. The state's historical commission notes that distilling declined afterward.
Why families moved on
- The Whiskey Rebellion. Farmers here depended on whiskey for their livelihood and saw the 1791 excise tax as another punishment for the region. About 13,000 militiamen marched west to suppress the uprising, and the rebel leaders fled before they arrived. The sources used for this guide do not say it caused families to leave for Ohio, so treat it as context and look for individual evidence.
- Border-line confusion. Families who lived under Virginia law until 1780 may appear in both Virginia and Pennsylvania records.
Records that say exactly why a family left are rare. Treat these as leads, and look for evidence about your own ancestors in deeds, tax lists, court cases, and church records.
Clues to look for
- Check tax lists before and after 1794 and the militia records of the 1794 expedition for the same surnames.
- Search Virginia's Yohogania and Ohio County records for pre-1781 events.
