Rockingham Co and Dunmore Co VA - what is in a name?
October 27, 1775 is an interesting day and night for the Lord Rockingham.
On that day King George III rode in a parade watched by 60,000 people to address the House of Lords and House of Commons. His Majesty's address to Parliament signals all out war with the colonies. The King is popular at this moment. Parliament is going to back him.
Lord Rockingham and a minority of others spoke their opposition to the King on going to war.
The House of Lords went on debating until midnight.
They voted for the King and this war, 69 to 29.
The House of Commons went on until 4am, voting for the King and his war 278 to 108.
Rockingham County Virginia is named after Lord Rockingham in the heart of the Rev War. He was Prime Minister of England once in 1765 and then once in 1782. Rockingham County was established in 1778 from Augusta County.
In that same year, 1778, the county above it, did not want their county named after Lord Dunmore anymore. They renamed it Shenandoah County. Lord Dunmore was the last Royal Governor of the colony of Virginia.
So . . . Why name one county after a British Lord and undo the name of another county because of a British Governor in 1778?
Because Govenor Dunmore had become an enemy of the people here. But Rockingham, a Lord in England, supported the rights of the colonies to be free of burdensome laws like the Stamp Act. Rockingham wants to undo every law burdening the colonies.
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's always more.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/04/2024
Rockingham County
See that northern line of Rockingham County Virginia?
That's the old boundary of Lord Fairfax's Proprietorship, a colony the size of Massachussetts, a sort of colony within the old colony of Virginia. This county was once part of Augusta County.
Rockingham County has Harrison's fort. The county saw the ancestors of two Presidents, Lincolns and Harrisons, and Daniel Boone's family come through there. Colonel George Washington came through here.
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Notes
The vote in Parliament
On that day King George III rode in a parade watched by 60,000 people to address the House of Lords and House of Commons. His Majesty's address to Parliament is to signal all out war with the colonies. The King is popular at this moment. Parliament is going to back him. Lord Rockingham and a minority of others spoke their opposition to the King on going to war. The House of Lords went on debating from the King's afternoon address until midnight. They voted for the King and this war, 69 to 29. The House of Commons went on until 4am, voting for the King and his war 278 to 108.
Page 19 the vote, reference to Rockingham page 12, 1776 Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 24, 2005 by David McCullough (Author)
page 119-120
The Rockingham connection and the second founding of the Whig Party, 1768-1773
by Elofson, W. M Publication date 1996
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Rockingham County
GW came thru this Rockingham County area.
There are several indicators George Washington knew of Daniel Harrison and his forted house. There are also indicators he travelled past the place. 4 times. 30th. [Sept 1784], October 5, 1756, October 20, 1756, September 22, 1755
Rockingam to Keppler
Rockingham wrote to Augustus Keppel on 3 November 1779, saying that he believed the war against America could not be won, that the government was corrupt but not unpopular, and that the longer this continued the greater the danger to the liberties and the constitution of Britain: "Perhaps a total change of men and measures, & system in the Government: of this country might have effect on the councils of some foreign countries...who might think that it was no longer a Court system to combat, but that the whole nation would unite & make the utmost efforts".[13]
Keppler commanded the armada carrying Braddock in 1755
Dunmore last gov of colonial VA
Oct 1775 speech of one eyed man
The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, Vol. 3: Party, Parliament, and the American War: 1774-1780
Warren M. Elofson, John A. Woods, and William B. Todd (eds)Publisher: Oxford University Press
If GW retires, the greatest man in the world
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