Early History of Ritchie County

 
 
Ritchie County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on February 18, 1843 from parts of Harrison, Lewis and Wood counties. It was named in honor of Thomas Ritchie (1778-1854).

Thomas Ritchie was born on November 5, 1778 in Tappahannock, Essex County, Virginia. His mother was the sister of Judge Spencer Roane, the namesake of Roane County (see Roane County history). He studied law for awhile, then, finding the law not to his liking, attended medical school in Philadelphia. He then decided he wanted to be a teacher and operated a school in Fredericksburg until 1803 when he opened a book store in Richmond. On May 9, 1804, he and his partner, W. W. Worsley, founded the Richmond Enquirer. A year later, he was the sole owner of the newspaper and slowly gained fame as one of Virginia's finest journalists. He continued as the editor and owner of the Richmond Enquirer until 1845 when he turned the paper over to his sons. He then moved to Washington and started the Washington Union. He edited the paper until his death in 1854. In addition to running a newspaper, he served with distinction in the War of 1812, served as the State Printer of Virginia from 1814 to 1834, and as the Congressional Printer in 1845.

A man named Bunnell was the first English settler in the county. He built a cabin near Pennsboro sometime during the 1790s. He was soon followed by Jacob Husher and Abraham and William Cline. In 1801, Lawrence Mealey built a cabin about eight miles from Bunnell and by 1810 there were about 20 families living in the county, then called Mealey's settlement. By 1830, the county's population had reached about 1,500. The only town of note at that time was Ritchie (now Harrisville) and it had fewer than a dozen homes.

Harrisville, the county seat, was settled by Thomas Harris and platted by him on January 3, 1822. The town was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly on January 3, 1832. The town was named the county seat by the act creating the county in 1843. The first session of the county court was held at John Harris' home. The town was then known as Ritchie or Ritchie Court House and was incorporated on February 26, 1869. In 1892, the town was renamed for General Thomas M. Harris, nephew of the town's founder and one of the commissioners in the trial of those accused of plotting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.