Editing Grafton, West Virginia (section)

===Earliest settlers===
Grafton developed from early white settlements at the confluence of Three Fork Creek with the [[Tygart Valley River]], part of the headwaters region of the [[Monongahela River]] watershed. In 1776, [[Virginia]]'s remote [[District of West Augusta]] was divided into three counties, including Monongalia County, which included what are now Taylor County and Grafton.

Among the earliest settlers were James Current (''ca.'' 1730–1822) and his family. He was a [[Ulster Scots people|Scots-Irish]] immigrant who fought in the Revolutionary War in 1778, had landed in Maryland and moved into the interior. He was living in Monongalia County with his family by 1782 when he was recorded on a census there.<ref>''Heads of families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790: records of the state enumerations, 1782 to 1785''; Washington: G.P.O., 1908, pg 35.</ref> According to family tradition, Current traded a "gray horse" for 1,300 acres of land located where present-day Grafton developed.<ref>Current, Anne E. (1906), ''Genealogy of the Current and Hobson Families''; [[New Castle, Indiana]]: Mark O. Waters, pp 2–4.</ref> James and his wife Margaret are buried in Bluemont Cemetery (part of his original property). Current's grave is the only one in Grafton known to belong to a veteran of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref name=gwv>[http://www.graftonwv.org/aboutgrafton.html graftonwv.com: "ABOUT GRAFTON"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028144429/http://www.graftonwv.org/aboutgrafton.html |date=October 28, 2010 }}</ref>