Charles Town, West Virginia
city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States
Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 6,534 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 8,869 in 2024. The city is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of President George Washington. It is part of the northwestern fringes of the Washington metropolitan area.
History
18th century
"Charlestown" was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in January 1787. However, for about two decades, confusion arose because the same name was also used for a town established in 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, with that "Charlestown" as its county seat until a December 27, 1816 act of the Virginia General Assembly changed its name to Wellsburg, to honor a trader and his son.
Charles Washington, the founder of Charles Town, was born in Hunting Creek, now 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.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Charles Town, West Virginia” as city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2001181. VIAF identifies the subject as 140736006. The Library of Congress control number is n82013670. Authority coordinates are 39.284, -77.856. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2024, 1787 and 1791.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Charles Town, West Virginia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Charles Town, West Virginia primary sources, Charles Town, West Virginia archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charles Town, West Virginia”?
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- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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This entry incorporates text from “Charles Town, West Virginia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.