Monongalia County History

Monongalia County was one of the first three counties, along with Ohio and Youghigheny counties, formed within the state. It was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in October 1776 from parts of the District of West Augusta (Virginia). It was named in honor of the Monongahela River, named by the Algonquin (Delaware) Indians. The river's name means river of crumbling banks or high banks fall down. When the bill creating the county was being prepared, the spelling was changed to 'Monongalia.' It is not known if the spelling was changed on purpose or if it was an error.

Monongalia County is known as the mother county for northern West Virginia. Eighteen of West Virginia's 55 counties and parts of three Pennsylvania Counties (Greene, Fayette and Washington counties) were created in whole or in part from Monongalia County. This latter territory was lost to Pennsylvania following the extension of the Mason-Dixon line in 1781.

The first organizational meeting in the county took place at the home of Jonathan Coburn on December 8, 1776. The first county seat was located at the home of Theophilus Phillips, two miles from the present site of Geneva, Pennsylvania. After the Mason-Dixon line made his home a part of Pennsylvania, the county seat was moved to the home of Zackquill Morgan in 1782, in present day Morgantown.

Morgantown, the county seat, was originally settled by Thomas Decker, who led a group of settlers to Decker's Creek, in the present site of Morgantown, during the fall of 1758. The settlement was destroyed the following spring by a party of Delaware and Mingo Indians. All but one of the original settlers, including Thomas Decker, were killed or captured in the attack.

There are conflicting accounts concerning who arrived in the county next. Some accounts suggest that David Morgan arrived at the current site of Morgantown in 1768 and gave his settlement rights to Zackquill (or Zackwell) Morgan. Other accounts suggest that Bruce Worley and his brother, Nathan, arrived before them, in 1766. Most historians cite the sworn deposition of Colonel William Crawford and credit Zackquill Morgan as the next settler in the county. Colonel Crawford indicated that Zackquill Morgan, James Chew, and Jacob Prickett moved into the area in 1766, and that he had visited the Morgan farm, near Decker's Creek.

Colonel Zackquill Morgan, son of Morgan Morgan, received a legal certificate for 400 acres of land in the Morgantown area in 1781. In October 1785, at Colonel Morgan's request, the Virginia General Assembly specified that 50 acres of his land was to be laid out in lots, and a town, named Morgantown, established on the site. Purchasers of the lots were to build upon them within four years, but because of Indian hostilities, the four-year time limit was later extended by an additional five years. In 1793, the Pittsburgh Gazette began delivering its paper to Morgantown and opened a road to it. The opening of the road helped the town began to grow, especially during the early 1800s, as many pioneers heading west stopped in Morgantown for supplies. The city was incorporated on February 3, 1858.

In 1790, when the first national census was taken, Monongalia County had the sixth largest population (4,768) of the nine counties that were then in existence and that fell within the current boundaries of West Virginia. Berkeley County had the largest population (19,713), Randolph County had the smallest population (951); there were a total of 55,873 people living within the present state's boundaries at that time.

West Virginia University, the state's land grant university, was established in Morgantown in 1867.

Credits: http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/wv/history.html

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