Brunswick County, Virginia
| Brunswick County, Virginia | ||
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Brunswick County Courthouse in Lawrenceville
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 Location in the U.S. state of Virginia |
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 Virginia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1720 | |
| Named for | Duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg | |
| Seat | Lawrenceville | |
| Largest town | Lawrenceville | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 569 sq mi (1,474 km2) | |
| • Land | 566 sq mi (1,466 km2) | |
| • Water | 3.2 sq mi (8 km2), 0.6% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 16,698 | |
| • Density | 29/sq mi (11/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 5th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Brunswick County is a United States county located on the Southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. This rural county is known as one the claimants to be the namesake of Brunswick stew.
Brunswick County was created in 1720, and its lands were taken from parts of Prince George, Surry and Isle of Wight counties. The county was named for the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg, which was a British possession in the 18th century.
As of the 2010 census, the county population was 17,434, with represents a decrease of more than five percent from the 18,419 reported in the 2000 census. The Brunswick county seat is Lawrenceville.
The first English settlers in what became Brunswick County swarmed into the relatively protected lands near Fort Christanna during its 4 years of operation (1714–1718). Among them were indentured servants, including men deported from Scotland in 1716 after being convicted by the Crown in the Jacobite Rebellion. They were required to work under indenture to pay the Crown back for their ship passage. Gradually the colonists pushed many of the Native Americans out of the area.
An example of such a Scots rebel who started in the colony as a convict was James Pittillo. He survived his indenture and in 1726 was granted 242 acres (1.0 km2) on Wagua Creek. He gradually became a major landowner in the area. He was appointed as a tobacco inspector in Bristol Parish in 1728 and that year served with William Byrd II on his spring and fall expeditions to survey the border between Virginia and North Carolina. Taking advantage of land grants due to headrights, for people whose passage he paid to the colony, and outright purchases, Pittillo ultimately owned more than 4,000 acres (16 km2) in the area of Prince George County, Brunswick, and Dinwiddie counties in Southside Virginia.
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