The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing that the thirteen colonies were free and independent states. The declaration changed the political identity claimed for the western Virginia frontier that included present-day Preston County, while the war itself continued for seven more years.
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National Archives, Declaration of Independence (1776)
Great Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States in the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolutionary War. The peace provides the immediate national backdrop to George Washington's September 1784 visit to Bruceton Mills already recorded on this timeline.
Oren F. Morton records that Masontown’s site was a clearing called “Hartley Green” until the fall of 1855, when William Mason built a store there. A small village was laid out in 1856, and its lots were sold at auction for $5 to $7 each. The Town of Masontown’s official history identifies Mason as its namesake, founder, and first postmaster. A federal appointment register lists William G. Mason at Masontown on July 3, 1856.
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National Archives, Postmaster Appointments for Preston County, West Virginia — M841, roll 140
West Virginia entered the Union, placing Preston County within the new state rather than Virginia. Preston was among the Virginia counties incorporated into West Virginia at statehood.
On April 20, 1884, Albert Engle certified a federal application to establish a post office called Cuzzart in Preston County’s Pleasant District. Engle was named as the proposed postmaster and estimated that the office would serve about 100 people. The application proposed a special mail arrangement from Willey and identified nearby offices at Morgans Glade, Willey, and Grantsville. A companion hand-drawn map shows the proposed Cuzzart site, nearby roads, Muddy Creek, and surrounding post offices. Joseph N. Miller, postmaster at Morgans Glade, certified the application. The papers document the community’s request for a post office, not its final approval or opening.
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National Archives and Records Administration
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National Archives catalog record for the larger record group
On January 5, 1886, Albert Engle was appointed postmaster at Cuzzart, Preston County, in a federal Post Office Department ledger. The appointment follows an 1884 application, also associated with Engle, proposing a Cuzzart post office. It is the earliest Cuzzart postmaster appointment currently located in the records reviewed for Preston County. Later appointments document Joseph N. Kelly, Ashbel S. Chidester, and members of the Reckart family, showing that the small community’s post office remained an important local institution across generations.
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National Archives and Records Administration
No direct online link recorded for this citation.
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National Archives catalog record for the larger record group
The United States declared war on Germany. Military registration, enlistment, bond drives, wartime production, and casualty notices soon brought the conflict into the daily lives and family records of Preston County residents.
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National Archives, World War I Records of American Involvement
The armistice took effect at eleven o'clock on November 11, ending the fighting on the Western Front. For Preston County families, the date framed celebrations, homecomings, veterans' lives, and grief for those who did not return.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, World War I Records of American Involvement
The Eighteenth Amendment extended prohibition nationwide, but this was not the beginning in West Virginia: the state had already prohibited alcohol since July 1, 1914. Federal law added another enforcement layer to Preston County moonshine cases, liquor raids, court proceedings, and newspaper reports.
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National Archives, The Constitution: Amendments 11–27
Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment prohibited denying the right to vote on account of sex. The change reshaped voter registration, elections, civic participation, and the public records in which Preston County women appear.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote
Ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment ended national Prohibition and the federal framework behind many liquor prosecutions and raids. West Virginia, however, still had its own constitutional prohibition amendment; state voters would repeal it the following year.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, The Constitution: Amendments 11–27
The Social Security Act created old-age benefits, unemployment insurance, and several forms of public assistance. It also generated records—such as Social Security applications—that can preserve birthplaces, parents' names, employers, and identities for Preston County family research.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, and Congress declared war the following day. The shift quickly affected Preston County through enlistment and the draft, rationing, war production, bond drives, military correspondence, and casualty notices.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan
Germany's surrender took effect on May 8. For Preston County families with service members in Europe, V-E Day brought celebration and relief, but also grief, uncertainty, and—in some cases—continued military service while the Pacific war remained unfinished.
Japanese representatives signed the formal Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri. The war's end began a long transition of homecomings, demobilization, veterans' benefits, memorialization, and family adjustment in communities including those across Preston County.
North Korean forces invaded South Korea, and the United States soon entered the conflict under United Nations command. Draft notices, enlistments, service records, casualties, and veterans' experiences connected Preston County families to a war fought far from home.
The Korean Armistice Agreement brought active hostilities to a halt without creating a permanent peace treaty. For local veterans and their families, the date marked the end of combat but not necessarily the end of military service or the consequences of war.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, Korean Armistice Agreement (1953)
The arrival of 3,500 U.S. Marines at Da Nang marked a major expansion of American combat involvement in Vietnam. The era shaped draft records, military service, protest, correspondence, obituaries, and veterans' lives within Preston County families.
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Citation / research lead
National Archives, Remembering Vietnam, Episode 5: America Goes to War
North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, bringing the long conflict to an end. Its effects remained present in the lives of veterans, refugees, military families, and communities—including the stories and records preserved by Preston County families.
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Citation / research lead
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, Casting Light