Editing Botetourt County, Virginia (section)

==History==
[[Image:Botetourt County Virginia 1895.jpg|thumb|left|''Botetourt County, Virginia, from 1895 state map'']]

First proposed in the [[House of Burgesses]] in 1767, Botetourt County was created in 1770 from [[Augusta County, Virginia|Augusta County]].<ref name=McClane>{{cite book|last1=McClane|first1=Debra Alderson|title=Botetourt County|date=2007|publisher=Arcadia Pub.|location=Charleston, SC|isbn=9780738543758}}</ref> The county is named for [[Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt]], who served as governor of the [[colony of Virginia]] from 1768 to 1770, when he died suddenly while in office.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Salmon|first1=Emily J.|last2=Campbell|first2=Edward D.C. Jr.|title=The hornbook of Virginia history : a ready-reference guide to the Old Dominion's people, places, and past|date=1994|publisher=Library of Virginia|location=Richmond|isbn=0884901777|pages=161|edition=4th}}</ref>

In 1772, the county was reduced to the area east of the [[New River (Kanawha River tributary)|New]] and [[Kanawha River|Kanawha]] rivers by the creation of [[Fincastle County, Virginia|Fincastle County]]. Most of that latter county became the Commonwealth of [[Kentucky]] in 1792.<ref name=McClane/> The other counties established directly from portions of Botetourt County are: [[Rockbridge County, Virginia|Rockbridge]] (1778), [[Bath County, Virginia|Bath]] (1791), [[Alleghany County, Virginia|Alleghany]] (1822), [[Roanoke County, Virginia|Roanoke]] (1833), and [[Craig County, Virginia|Craig]] (1851).