Editing Charles Town, West Virginia (section)

===18th century===
[[File:Happy Retreat WV1.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Happy Retreat]] estate was owned and developed by [[Charles Washington]]]]
"Charlestown" was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in January 1787.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vagenweb.org/hening/vol12-17.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703154348/http://vagenweb.org/hening/vol12-17.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 3, 2011|title=An act to establish a town on the lands of Charles Washington, in the county of Berkeley, Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. XII, Chapter LXXX|website=vagenweb.org|access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref> However, for about two decades, confusion arose because the same name was also used for a town established in [[Ohio County, West Virginia|Ohio County]] at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and authorized in the 1791 term of that local court. That area in 1797 became known as [[Brooke County, West Virginia|Brooke County]], with that "Charlestown" as its county seat until a December 27, 1816 act of the Virginia General Assembly changed its name to [[Wellsburg, West Virginia|Wellsburg]], to honor a trader and his son.<ref>Nancy L. Caldwell, A History of Brooke County, (Brooke County Historical Society 1975), p. 4</ref>

[[Charles Washington]], the founder of Charles Town, was born in [[Hunting Creek]], now [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]], [[Virginia]], on May 2, 1738. He was the youngest full brother of [[George Washington]]. He came to what is today Jefferson County between April and October 1780. The estate of Charles Washington, [[Happy Retreat]], was erected in 1780. In 1786, on 80 acres (320,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of his adjoining land, Charles laid out the streets of Charles Town,<ref>{{cite web|last=Ambler|first=Charles Henry|title=George Washington and the West|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pitttext;cc=pitttext;xc=1;idno=00agb5351m;g=pitttextall;type=simple;q1=ohio%20company;submit=Search;didno=00agb5351m;rgn=full%20text;view=image;seq=0048|work=Historic Pittsburgh Text Collection|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|access-date=September 20, 2013}}</ref> naming many of them after his brothers and one after his wife, Mildred. He donated the four corner lots at the intersection of George and Washington Streets for public buildings of the town and county, provided the town become the seat of the county separated from Berkeley County, which it did in 1801.  The four corner lots are occupied by the courthouse, city hall, post office (formerly the jail), and Charles Washington Hall, an event space and food hall.

In 1794, James Madison married "Dolly" Todd at [[Harewood (West Virginia)|Harewood]], the home of [[George Steptoe Washington]], son of [[George Washington]]'s brother Colonel [[Samuel Washington]], just outside Charles Town.