The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia borders Maryland and Virginia. The first European settlers started arriving about 1730.
John West, was born about 1738 in Prince George's County, Maryland. He was the son of John West and Frances Osbourne.
He married Rachel Perry. Rachel was the daughter of James Perry of Montgomery County, Maryland.
Reason West (1760, married Polly Smither),
Rebecca West (1762, married James McCall),
Simeon West (1763, married Elizabeth Hopkins), William West (1765, married Hannah Conklyn),
Sarah West (1772, married John Eades),
Margaret West (after 1774, married M. Tompkins Barlow),
Martha West (1777),
John West (1773),
Roger P. West (1785, married Nancy Moore)
John and Rachel attended the Rock Creek Church. Their four oldest children were baptized there.
Rachel died in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1819 and John died in 1791.
The first European settlements in Maryland were made in 1634 when English settlers created a permanent colony.
In 1607 the London Company established Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony.
The West Family Register: Important Lines Traced
John West, of Bourbon County, Kentucky, was born about 1738 in Prince George's County, Maryland. He was the son of John West, and grandson of Joseph, the founder of the line. His mother was probably Frances. About 1758 he married Rachel Perry, daughter of James Perry, of Montgomery County, Maryland. . .
The father of John West died in 1766. Even before his death John and Rachel had begun disposing of their land in Montgomery County, and in 1772 they sold part of The Joseph and also part of the tract called Resurvey on Arpos. The supposition is, that either they had moved away before this, or were on the point of doing so. On account of the very strong conviction among their descendants that they were Virginians there seems basis for believing that John and Rachel had gone to the western part of Virginia before their final removal to Kentucky.
There may have gone there about the time of their first land sale in 1765. Moreover the birth of their last child recorded in the parish church at Rock Creek was in 1765. Probably the other children were born in Virginia. The fact that Henry West in the 1880 census gave the birthplace of his father Simeon, as Virginia (though he was born in Maryland) is evidence that the family was there at some time
John West and Rachel attended the parish church on the edge of the present city of Washington, now commonly known as Rock Creek Church. Their four oldest children were baptized there, and it was the registry of their births in the books of this church that forged the final link connecting the Kentucky branch with the parent tree. . .
The wills of John West and Rachel are filed in the courthouse at Paris, Kentucky. Neither one mentions their four oldest children. . . She died in Bourbon County in 1819 and John West died in 1791. They were the parents of:
1. Reason West b. May 31, 1760
2. Rebecca West b. Sept. 23, 1762
3. Simoen West b. Dec. 23, 1763
4. William West b. May 29, 1765
5. Sarah West
6. Margaret West
7. Martha West
8. John West
9. Roger P. West
Prince George's County, Maryland was created in 1696 from portions of Charles, and Calvert Counties. It was divided into six districts called hundreds: Mattapany, Patuxant, Collington, Mount Calvert, Piscattoway, and New Scotland. A part the county became Frederick County in 1748.
Kentucky was originally a Virginia county and included the lands west of the Appalachians. In 1780, it was divided into Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties. Kentucky officially became a state on June 1, 1792.
