Name It and Claim It

It is extremely difficult to put together an understanding of all the forces that came together to make this Danville, KY.  There was first, the central British government [The Crown] that resided some 3,000 miles away.  They were busy making their own plans about this Ohio Valley that had come under their control after this thing called the French and Indian War.

Prior to this, there were a number of separate colonies [PA, MD, VA, NC, SC]  and special interest groups [Ohio Company, Loyal Land Company, Transylvania Company] that had laid claim to a vast area of this Ohio Valley.

           [This shows a copy of the history, Ohio Co., written in the Kentucky Law Journal, 1926.]

 Also, there were the local ethic groups that were actually living on this land, and making it their battle ground.  Then there was the government of Virginia that took control, to organize Fincastle County, Virginia. [1772]    Although other folks had already sent their traders, land speculators, and hunters to this Ohio Valley, this colony [VA] was  the first to claim "official" surveys to this Ohio Valley.  You can begin to see the confusion there must have been when all these folks ended up around the same time,  in the same area, making their own surveys...the perfect storm some may say.  In the middle of this storm stood was what to become Danville, VA before it was to become Danville, KY.    Name it, and claim it...not as easy as it sounds.