Henry County, Virginia
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Henry County is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the U.S. state of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,948. The
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is usually identified as Martinsville; however, the administration building (where county offices are located and where the board of supervisors holds meetings), county courthouse, and Henry County Sheriff's Office are located on Kings Mountain Road (SR 174) in Collinsville.The Henry County Adult Detention Center is located on DuPont Road in Henry County, just south of Martinsville. Henry County is part of the Martinsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.


History

The county was established in 1777 when it was carved from Pittsylvania County. The new county was initially named Patrick Henry County in honor of Patrick Henry, who was then serving as the first Governor of Virginia, and some of whose relatives had settled in the area. Governor Henry also had a
plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
called " Leatherwood plantation" (for Leatherwood Creek) in the newly named county (where he ended up spending 5 years between his third and fourth gubernatorial terms). Henry County was never named Patrick Henry County according to ''The statutes at large; being a collection of all the laws of Virginia, from the first session of the Legislature in the year 1619. By William Waller Hening.'' In Volume 9, on pages 241 & 242, in the October 1776 session, it is stated: An act for dividing the county of Pittsylvania into two distinct counties....Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the last day of December next ensuing the said county of Pittsylvania be divided into two counties, by a line beginning at the mouth of Blackwater, on Staunton river, and running parallel with the line of Halifax county, till it strikes the country line, and that all that part of the said county which lies to the westward of the said line shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Henry, and that all the other part thereof which lies to the eastward of the said line shall be one other distinct county, and retain the name Pittsylvania. And for the administration of justice in the said county of Henry, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That after the said last day of December a court for the said county of Henry be held by the justices thereof upon the third Monday in every month, in such manner as by the laws of this state is provided, and shall be by their commissions directed....p. 242....An act to establish the places of holding courts in the counties of Pittsylvania and Henry. For fixing the places of holding courts in the counties of Pittsylvania and Henry, Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the justices to be names in the commission of the peace for the said counties of Pittsylvania and Henry, respectively, shall meet.... In 1785 the northern part of Patrick Henry County was combined with part of Bedford County to form Franklin County. In 1790, Patrick Henry County was split again: the western part became Patrick County and the rest remained Henry County. Other notable early settlers included: George Waller, Captain George Hairston and Major John Redd, all of whom were present at the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown; Col. Abram Penn, a native of Amherst County, Virginia, who led his Henry County militia troops with the intention of joining General
Nathanael Greene Major general (United States), Major General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He emerge ...
at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the Revolutionary War; and Brigadier General Joseph Martin, for whom Martinsville is named. Also prominent were Mordecai Hord, a native of Louisa County and explorer, who lived on his plantation called ''Hordsville''; and Col. John Dillard, born in Amherst County, Virginia in 1751, wounded at the Battle of Princeton during the Revolution, and later a member of the Committee of Safety. Captain Robert Hairston, a noted politician in the
Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...
, owned Marrowbone plantation, commanded a militia company and served as Henry County's first high sheriff. During the War of 1812, the 64th Virginia Militia, under Captain Graves, was formed in 1815 from Henry County. Benjamin Dyer was a lieutenant, then later a captain, of the 5th company of the 64th Virginia Militia. Private Alexander Hunter Bassett would later work large tobacco plantations in the county, and Wyatt Jarrett. Tavner Hailey (b.1793) of Martinsville became an early pioneer in Tennessee and served in the War of 1812. He was 1st Cpl. in Captain Brice Edward's Company, 64th Regiment, Virginia Militia." During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, the 42nd Virginia Infantry was formed in part from Henry County volunteers. Its state senator, Christopher Y. Thomas, owned Henry's former Leatherwood plantation and would later briefly serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after the war. He was succeeded by George Cabell, a Confederate army veteran ( 38th Virginia Infantry) born in nearby Danville and from a family long prominent in the area. In 1902, the Henry County Historical Society was incorporated at Martinsville with its first officers being John W. Carter, J. Harrison Spencer and C. B. Bryant.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water. Henry County is one of the 423 counties served by the Appalachian Regional Commission, and it is identified as part of "Greater Appalachia" by Colin Woodard in his book '' American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America''.


Districts

The county's six districts are as follows, in alphabetical order: Axton, Bassett, Collinsville, Horsepasture, Reed Creek, and Ridgeway.


Adjacent counties

* Franklin County - north * Pittsylvania County - east * Rockingham County, North Carolina - south * Stokes County, North Carolina - southwest * Patrick County - west * Martinsville - surrounded by Henry County


Major highways

* (future) * * * * * * *


Demographics


2020 census


2000 Census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 57,930 people, 23,910 households, and 16,952 families residing in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 25,921 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.47%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 10%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.16% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 1.39% from other races, and 0.92% from two or more races. 3.46% of the population were
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. There were 23,910 households, out of which 28.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.30% were married couples living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.10% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.87. In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.30% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 26.10% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,816, and the median income for a family was $38,649. Males had a median income of $26,660 versus $20,766 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $17,110. About 8.80% of families and 11.70% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 15.20% of those under age 18 and 12.60% of those age 65 or over.


Government


Board of supervisors

* Blackberry District: Jimmie L. "Jim" Adams (I) * Collinsville District: Joe Bryant (I) * Horsepasture District: Debra Parsons Buchanan (I) * Iriswood District: Garrett Dillard (I) * Reed Creek District: T.J. "Tommy" Slaughter (I) * Ridgeway District: Ryan Zehr (I)


Constitutional officers

* Clerk of the Circuit Court: Jennifer Ashworth (I) * Commissioner of the Revenue: Linda N. Love (I) * Commonwealth's Attorney: Andrew Nester (I) * Sheriff: D. Wayne Davis Jr. (I) * Treasurer: Scott B. Grindstaff (I) * General Registrar: Dawn Stultz-Vaughn Henry County is represented by Republican William M. "Bill" Stanley in the Virginia Senate, Republicans Wren Williams, D.W. "Danny" Marshall III, and Les R. Adams in the Virginia House of Delegates, and Republicans Bob Good and H. Morgan Griffith in the U.S. House of Representatives.


Law enforcement

The Henry County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is the primary law enforcement agency in Henry County. Robert Hairston was appointed the first " High sheriff" by Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. when Henry County was formed in 1777. Alexander Hunter also served as sheriff of Henry County for one year in 1803. In 2006, a federal Grand Jury charged 20 defendants for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy that included the distribution of illegal drugs, theft of drugs and firearms under the custody of the Henry County Sheriff's Office, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Thirteen of the twenty defendants were current or former employees of the Sheriff's Office. Eighteen of the defendants, including sheriff Frank Cassell, were convicted of felony offenses. This case, ''United States v. Frank Cassell'', was prosecuted by US Attorney John L. Brownlee.


Politics


Communities

As an independent city since 1928, Martinsville is not part of Henry County, but exists as an enclave, surrounded by the county.


Town

* Ridgeway


Census-designated places

* Bassett * Chatmoss * Collinsville * Fieldale * Horsepasture * Laurel Park * Oak Level * Sandy Level * Stanleytown * Villa Heights


Other unincorporated communities

* Axton * Preston * Spencer


Notable people

* Ward Armstrong * Alexander Hunter Bassett * John D. Bassett * John Breathitt * Thomas G. Burch * H. Clay Earles * Patrick Henry * Jeff Hensley * Jimmy Hensley * J. C. Martin * Joseph Martin (general) * Otis Martin * Barry Michaels * Shawn Moore * Abram Penn * A. L. Philpott * Carr Waller Pritchett Sr. * Robert Hairston * Rodney Sawyers * Jessamine Shumate * Thomas B. Stanley * John H. Traylor * Christopher Thomas * Anne Spencer


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Henry County, Virginia


References


External links


Henry County, Official site

Henry County Public Schools

Patrick Henry Monument, Henry County, Virginia, virginia.org

Henry County – The Carolina Road, Wilderness Road, virginia.org
* {{Coord, 36.67, -79.88, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-VA_source:UScensus1990 Virginia counties 1777 establishments in Virginia Populated places established in 1777 Martinsville, Virginia micropolitan area