The County of Illinois in the State of Virginia
As far as Land Grants were concerned, the land that is now Perry County belonged to Virginia. The old "sea to sea" grants to Virginia certainly included our county. That was why the authorities of Virginia took such an interest in keeping the French out of the63
region north of the Ohio; why the Ohio Land Com- pany was formed; why Christopher Gist was sent out with the "Compass and Pen;" why Washington was sent on his first public mission, and why Virginia troops composed a part of the ill-fated army of General Braddock. It has been seen that considerable diffi- culty was experienced as to who should have juris- diction over the territory northwest of the Ohio. Dur- ing the Revolutionary War, the land by the Quebec Act was a part of Canada. The forts were in the hands of the British. They incited the Indians against the colonists. George Rogers Clark, a Kentuckian, was sent with an army that captured the forts, drove the British beyond the Lakes, quieted the Indians and extended the control of the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia, and Perry County with the rest of the territory northwest of the Ohio again became a part of the "Old Dominion" under the name of the County of Illinois. This was in October, 1778. Patrick Henry was Gov- ernor of Virginia and John Todd was made Lieutenant Governor of the County of Illinois.64