Henry County, Virginia

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Revision as of 21:08, 1 September 2016 by Seanmcox (talk | contribs) (→‎Smith River: Added resource.)
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Formed from Pittsylvania County in 1777.

This is a county where William Cox lived during the late 1700's.

Smith River and Philpott Lake

The Smith River is shown on the Map of Virginia published in 1770, but not named as such. It appears as the Irvine River on this map, and was named thus after Alexander Irwin an early surveyor of the area. (The Mayo River a little further west was named after William Mayo, another early surveyor of the area.)[1][2] It can be found below 37 and at about 30-3. The path of the Smith River is currently broken by Philpott Lake, which is a reservoir created with the construction of the Philpott Dam between 1948 and 1952. Review of various maps shows what appears to be significant inconsistencies in the path of the Smith River. Some investigation should be pursued to identify whether the path of the river has changed significantly over the course of the last 200 years.

See:

Land Grants

Resources

References

  1. "Smith River" - USGS: Geographic Names Information System
  2. Clement, Maude Carter (2004) [1929]. "Chapter II: Natural Conditions". The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia. Santa Maria, California: Janaway Publishing, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 9780974195797. "The next two rivers were named Irwin and Mayo in honor of the two surveyors, Alexander Irwin and William Mayo."