Elizabeth, West Virginia and the Ohio Company
West Virginia
The small town of Elizabeth, West Virginia carries two distinct layers of early American history. The first dates to seventeen fifty-two, when the explorer Christopher Gist passed through this stretch of the Ohio Valley on behalf of the Ohio Company of Virginia, a colonial land speculation venture backed by wealthy planters including Lawrence Washington, George's older brother. Gist placed a marker here to claim the territory, but the company's ambitions were stopped cold by the French and Indian War.
The second layer came in seventeen ninety-six, when a settler named William Beauchamp established a homestead on this ground. The town was named Elizabeth in honor of the wife of David Beauchamp, William's son.
Elizabeth became the seat of Wirt County. It remains one of the quieter county seats in West Virginia, defined more by its deep history than its size.
