Thomas Hannan (December 25, 1757 - April 18, 1835) was an
American Revolutionary War soldier and settler of the
Kanawha River region of
Virginia (now
West Virginia). He was the first Anglo settler in what became
Cabell County
Cabell County is located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,350, making it West Virginia's fourth most-populous county. Its county seat is Huntington. The county was organized in 1809 and named for ...
.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Hannan was born on December 25, 1757, in
Frederick County, Virginia to Thomas Hannan and Lucretia Morris. In 1781, he married Elizabeth Henry.
Military service
Hannan first fought in
Lord Dunmore's War at the
Battle of Point Pleasant
The Battle of Point Pleasant, also known as the Battle of Kanawha, was the only major action of Dunmore's War. It was fought on October 10, 1774, between the Virginia militia and Shawnee and Mingo warriors. Along the Ohio River near modern-day P ...
. At the start of the
American Revolutionary War, he enlisted in the navy for one year. In 1781, several years after his initial term of enlistment, he was drafted into a rifle regiment and served at the
Battle of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...
.
Western Virginia settler
After the war, Hannan was granted nearly 1,000 acres of land and moved west, becoming the first Anglo settler of
Cabell County, West Virginia (the current location of
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...
) and one of the earliest settlers of the Kanawha and Ohio River Basin. He forged "Hannan's Trace," one of the original roads to the West from Virginia, the first roadway through what would later become
Mason County, West Virginia and Cabell County, as well as a principal route from western West Virginia and the interior of Ohio. This path linked the then-capital of the
Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...
,
Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio. It is the only city in Ross Count ...
, to points in the Eastern United States. Hannan was a friend and neighbor of several other early settlers in the Kanawha Valley region, including
Anne Baileyand
Daniel Boone.
[Averill, James P. 1882. ''History of Gallia County''. H. H. Hardesty & Co. Publishers: Chicago.Deeds and wills.]
Legacy
A number of institutions have been named for Hannan and his trail:
*Hannan Trace Elementary School in
Crown City, Ohio
*Hannan High School and Hannan Public Library in
Ashton, West Virginia
*
Hannan District, Mason County, West Virginia
Hannan Magisterial District is one of ten magisterial districts in Mason County, West Virginia, United States. The district was originally established as a civil township in 1863, and converted into a magisterial district in 1872."Division of th ...
References
External links
*
Highway markers from the West Virginia Memory Project.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannan, Thomas
1757 births
1835 deaths
People of Virginia in the American Revolution
West Virginia colonial people