History
Lunenburg County was established on May 1, 1746, from Brunswick County. The county is named for the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg in Germany, because one of the titles also carried by Britain's Hanoverian kings was Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburg.

Among the earliest settlers of the county was William Taylor, born in King William County, Virginia. The son of Rev. Daniel Taylor, a Virginia native and Anglican priest educated at Trinity College, Cambridge University in England, and his wife Alice (Littlepage) Taylor, William Taylor married Martha Waller, a daughter of Benjamin Waller of Williamsburg, Virginia.

In 1760 Taylor purchased three adjoining tracts of land in Lunenburg County totaling 827 acres. Taylor soon became one of the county's leading citizens, representing Lunenburg in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1765 until 1768. In that capacity, Taylor voted in 1765 to support statesman Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolves in 1765. Taylor also served as County Clerk for 51 years—from 1763 until 1814.

Taylor was succeeded as County Clerk by his son William Henry Taylor, who held the office for another 32 years—from 1814 until 1846. Another son, General Waller Taylor, represented Lunenburg in the Virginia legislature, then moved to Vincennes, Indiana, where he became a judge and subsequently Adjutant General of the United States Army under General William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812. General Waller Taylor later served as one of the first United States Senators from the newly-created state of Indiana from 1816 to 1825. He died on a visit home to see his relatives in Lunenburg County in 1826.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 432 square miles (1,120 km²), of which, 432 square miles (1,118 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.16%) is water.

Adjacent counties
Prince Edward County - north
Nottoway County - northeast
Brunswick County - east
Mecklenburg County - south
Charlotte County - west

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,146 people, 4,998 households, and 3,383 families residing in the county. The population density was 30 people per square mile (12/km²). There were 5,736 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5/km²).

Towns
Kenbridge
Victoria

Unincorporated Communities
Lunenburg
Meherrin
Fort Mitchell

PO Box 931 Victoria, VA 23974

Copyright (c) 2010 - 2015 Lunenburg Historical Society.

This page was last updated on May 20, 2015

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