In 1772, the county of Fincastle was formed from the western portion of Botetourt. It is an evidence of rapidly growing settlements when for the first time mention is made of "inhabitants and settlers on the waters of Holston and New rivers." The territory of Fincastle was "within a line to run up the east side of New river to the mouth of Culberson's creek, thence a direct line to the Catawba road where it crosses the dividing ridge between the north fork of Roanoke and the waters of New river, thence with the top of the ridge to the bent where it turns eastwardly, thence a south course crossing Little river to the top of the Blue Ridge of mountains." The reason for the name Fincastle seems uncertain; one version has it as being for George, Lord Fincastle, Lord Dunmore's son, and the other that it was for the town of Fincastle established in 1772 and so named for Lord Botetourt's home in England.
VIRGINIA COUNTIES EXTENDED TO THE OHIO RIVER AND INCLUDE KENTUCKY
Fincastle County was an expansion of Augusta to the west but an expansion to the northwest had been in progress since before 1754. In that year, Governor Dinwiddie ordered a fort built on the present site of Pittsburgh and issued a proclamation offering land in the area to those who would enlist as soldiers for the French and Indian War. The French captured the fort and named it Fort Duquesne. This outpost of great strategic importance fell to the English in 1758 and was renamed Fort Pitt. The area was under Virginia jurisdiction and called the district of West Augusta being considered a part of Augusta County. "County courts were held at Pittsburgh under Virginia jurisdiction and the great section of country from the Alleghany mountains northwest to the Ohio came to be called West Augusta. It was represented under this name in the Conventions of 1775 and 1776. In October 1776, the district of West Augusta was divided into the counties of Ohio, Yohogania and Monongalia. A portion of this territory, including Pittsburgh, was claimed by Pennsylvania and there was much disorder and some bloodshed between the officers and adherents of the two Colonies. In 1779, commissioners from Virginia and Pennsylvania finally settled the line and Pittsburgh and the adjoining area were surrendered to Pennsylvania." The above is the concise account, by the late W. G. Stanard, in an early volume of the _Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_, of an almost forgotten episode in western development. It explains why in the Augusta County records in Staunton, Virginia are found deeds for land now in Pennsylvania.