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| Brooke County |
| Monday, 14 May 2007 23:10 | |||
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Brooke County is in the industrial northern Panhandle of West Virginia. The county government is located in Wellsburg, which was first settled in 1772 by Jonathan Israel and Friend Cox. In 1788 the Cox family sold 500 acres to Charles Prather, who named the town after his son-in-law, Alexander Wells. However, when the town was first platted it was named Charlestown. Then in 1816 to avoid confusion with two other state communities named Charlestown it was renamed Wellsburg. It became the county seat in 1797. When Prather subdivided his 500 acres he put a provision in each deed prohibiting the buyers from operating a ferry service that would compete with his. His ferry boat crossed the Ohio River to Brilliant, Ohio. In its early years Wellsburg was widely known for its "Gin Weddings," and "Marrying Parsons." The parsons would marry bright-eyed brides and grooms on a moment's notice. Signs on many parsonages read, "Marriages Performed Here." Later the state assembly instituted a three-day wait, and business dropped off a bit. By 1845 the temperance organizations had all the gin distilleries closed. Wellsburg was the first to attempt to control flooding with specially constructed walls. Two flood walls saved the city from much damage. Brooke County is known for its iron mines, steel, chemicals, glass, paper, coal, natural gas, oil wells, fruit, sheep, and poultry farms. Brooke County, founded in 1797, was named in honor of Robert Brooke, who served as Governor of Virginia from 1794 to 1796. The county comprises something less than a hundred square miles in the northern part of the state.
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