Botetourt County, Virginia

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Virginia Counties | Botetourt County, Virginia

Botetourt County

Pronounced "bot-a-tot" (which is helpful to know, as transcriptions sometimes spell it phonetically).

Formed in 1769/70 from Augusta County,^[1][2] Botetourt County was named for Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, who was Governor of Virginia from 1768 to his death in 1770. It is part of the Roanoke Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is the town of Fincastle.^[3]

Geography

Adjacent Locations (present day)

Timeline of border changes (links are to space pages):^[1]

• 1769/70: Botetourt County formed from Augusta County
• 1772: Fincastle County formed from Botetourt County
• 1777/78: Greenbrier County formed from Botetourt and Montgomery Counties
• 1778: Rockbridge County formed from Augusta and Botetourt Counties
• 1790/91: Bath County formed from Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier Counties
• 1822: Alleghany County formed from Bath, Botetourt, and Monroe Counties
• 1838: Roanoke County formed from Botetourt County
• 1851: Craig County formed from Botetourt, Giles, Monroe, and Roanoke Counties
• 1887: Rockbridge County gained from Botetourt County

Botetourt County today "has a total area of 546 square miles",^[4] but - like Augusta County, from which it was formed - Botetourt County was originally a huge area. The entire state of Kentucky had previously been in Botetourt County (Kentucky County, Virginia was formed from Fincastle County in 1776/7);^[1][5][6] Greenbrier and Monroe Counties were among the 50 Virginia counties admitted to the Union on 20 June 1863 as West Virginia.^[1][7]

People

As of the 2020 census, the population of Botetourt County was 33,596.^[3][8]

Cemeteries

• WikiTree: Botetourt County Cemeteries

Resources

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botetourt_County,_Virginia
• County Website: https://www.botetourtva.gov/
• USGenWeb: http://usgwarchives.net/va/botetourt.htm
• FamilySearch:
  • Botetourt County, Virginia Genealogy
  • FamilySearch Catalog Search Results for "Botetourt County"
  • Botetourt County, Virginia, 1785 enumeration. FamilySearch.org. eBook.
• "History." Botetourt County of Virginia. [dead link]; captured by archive.org's WayBack Machine
• The Virginia Genealogist. Washington, DC: J. F. Dorman, 1957 - 2006. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) Record: 1966; Volume Name: 10; Page: 51–56. Quote: Botetourt County, Virginia, Tithables; 1770–1771; Contributed by Miss Pollyanna Creekmore, Knoxville, Tennessee;

  The tithable lists returned during the first two years after the creation of Botetourt County are among the most important records extant for southwestern Virginia and West Virginia.

  These lists were copied from the originals at the Court House at Fincastle. The originals were subsequently transferred to the Virginia State Library, but two of the lists for 1771 are not now among their holdings and apparently still remain at Fincastle.

  The location of the various districts is shown in the Botetourt County minutes:

  At a Court held for Botetourt County on the 10^th of May, 1770.

  Ordered that ...

  Part 1 beginning with Robert Doack

  Part 2 beginning with James Robertson

• The Virginia Genealogist. Washington, DC: J. F. Dorman, 1957 - 2006. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) Record: Oct-Dec 1965; Volume Name: 9; Number: 4; Page: 154–58: Quote: (Continued from V. 9, p. 110) District of John Holloway, Commissioner: In the following entries, the first number after each name is that of the white males over age twenty-one, the second number the number of horses owned, and the third and fourth, if given, the number of tithable slaves under age sixteen and the number aged over sixteen. Page: 155. Quote: Botetourt County 1800 Tax List: ...

  Part 1

  Part 2

  Part 3 Continued from Volume 9, Page 158.

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} History of County Formations in Virginia 1617-1995 (accessed 5 March 2024).
2. ↑ Unsourced text on this page had formation date of 7 November 1769.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Wikipedia: Botetourt County, Virginia.
4. ↑ From Wikipedia: "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 546 square miles (1,410 km2), of which 541 square miles (1,400 km2) is land and 4.7 square miles (12 km2) (0.9%) is water. Also from the Wikipedia article: "The Blue Ridge Mountains run along the eastern part of the county, while the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians run along the western portion.... The James River originates in Botetourt County".
5. ↑ History of County Formations in Kentucky 1776-1939.
6. ↑ See the "History of County Formations" pages' interactive maps showing border changes for Virginia from 1617 to 1995 and 1776-1939 for Kentucky (Virginia, Kentucky).
7. ↑ A space page maintained by WikiTree's Virginia Project, Virginia Counties and Parishes, has a VA-WVa section with links to the 50 counties' category pages, for both their pre-1863 Virginia categories and the corresponding West Virginia categories. .
8. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 14, 2011. (Wikipedia's footnote for census information. See the Wikipedia article for links.)