Company Profile
Frederick County, VA
Company Overview
Frederick County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 78,305. Its county seat is Winchester. The county was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. It is Virginia's northernmost county.
Frederick County is included in the Winchester, VA-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.
Company History
The area that would become Frederick County, Virginia was inhabited and transited by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European colonization. The "Indian Road" refers to a historic pathway made by local tribes.
Colonization efforts began with the Virginia Company of London, but European settlement did not flourish until after the company lost its charter and Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. In order to stimulate migration to the colony, the headright system was used. Under this system, those who funded an emigrant's transportation costs (not the actual colonizers) were compensated with land. During the early 17th century, King Charles II granted several acres of colonial Virginia lands to “seven loyal supporters,” including Lord Fairfax. This passed to Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who married the daughter of Thomas Colepeper, who also owned several acres of land. After their son, Lord Thomas Fairfax, inherited the combined grants, he controlled over 5,000,000 acres of land in Virginia, including much of the land that became Frederick County.
Frederick County was created from Orange County in 1738, and was officially organized in 1743. The Virginia Assembly named the new county for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707–1751), the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain. At that time, "Old Frederick County" encompassed all or part of four counties in present-day Virginia and five in present-day West Virginia:
Hampshire (West Virginia), created 1754
Dunmore, created 1772 and renamed Shenandoah in 1778
Berkeley (West Virginia), created 1772
Hardy (West Virginia), created 1786
Jefferson (West Virginia), created 1801
Morgan (West Virginia), created 1820
Page, created 1831
Clarke, created 1836
Warren, created 1836