The next development was Harrison, taken from Monongalia County. Neither is now a Virginia county, but it is mentioned since it honors Benjamin Harrison, one of the seven Virginia Signers of the Declaration of Independence who also completed in 1784, the year the county was formed, a three year term as Governor of the Commonwealth. In the next year, a new county, Nelson, now in Kentucky, was created. This, too, honored a former Governor and Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Nelson. It was his home in Yorktown that Lord Cornwallis used as his headquarters during the siege and battle. In 1786, Franklin was formed out of "that part of the county of Bedford lying south of Staunton river together with so much of the county of Henry lying north of a line to be run from the head of Shooting creek to the west end of Turkeycock mountain, thence along the top of the mountain to intersect the dividing line between the counties of Henry and Pittsylvania, thence along that line to the mouth of Blackwater river." The reason for this name is obvious: all America honored the achievements of Benjamin Franklin. DEED OF CESSION. VIRGINIA GIVES THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY The tempo of western expansion had increased to such an extent that four counties were formed in 1786. One of these, Hardy, lies now in West Virginia as does its parent county of Hampshire. It might be well to explain now, even though out of chronological sequence, the genesis of West Virginia. In May 1861 when Governor Letcher called out the Virginia militia, many persons living beyond the Alleghanies throughout that section of Virginia bordering on Ohio and Pennsylvania were not in sympathy with his action. The residents of some forty counties held a convention and were almost unanimous in their desire to break away from Virginia and form a new state. A constitution was framed which was ratified by the people in May 1862. The following year, 1863, West Virginia became a state of the Union and at one blow, Virginia lost a third of her territory. The loss of the rich coal fields and other natural resources of West Virginia impoverished the Old Dominion more severely and made "Reconstruction Days" longer and more difficult than they might otherwise have been. Returning to Hardy County, we learn that it was named for Samuel Hardy formerly of Isle of Wight County "one of the number who signed the Deed of Cession which transferred the Northwest Territory to the General Government."