(This account deals only with present Washington County, and does not include Greene County or southern Allegheny County, which were a part of the original Washington County, formed in 1781.)
      
The land office at Philadelphia opened April 3-1769 and began taking applications for land in southwestern Pennsylvania. So began the movement of settlers to this region, coming from Maryland, Virginia and eastern Pennsylvania. The first settlements were made on bottom land or along streams. Orders of survey were issued. These had to be followed up by a warrant-to-accept and a patent. Many persons simply settled and applied later.

Not until the formation of Bedford County in 1771 was there legal jurisdiction. Two years later Westmoreland County was formed. Washington County was a part of Pitt Township. In 1776 Virginia, claiming jurisdiction, formed Monongalia, Ohio and Yohogania Counties. See map. The formation of Washington County in 1781 ended the dispute with Virginia. Monongalia County and Ohio County continue to this day as West Virginia counties. Yohogania County has disappeared, although its court records have been published and the estate and deed records are in Washington County deed books B, C, E.

There is a 1778 tax list for Ohio County, which included the western part of present Washington County. Listed are 352 Taxables. Yohogania had 910, but the names are not given. Monongalia records before 1796 were lost in a fire. The yearly tax lists for Washington County begin in 1782. These are valuable sources for genealogists. Because of Indian attacks, state taxes for some townships were exonerated in 1782, 1783, 1789.

There is an excellent summary for Washington County in 1783: taxables 2408, houses 1670, whites 11800, blacks 300 (about half were slaves), horses 4250, cows 4900, sheep 6800, gristmills 25, sawmills 10, stills 60, tanyards 5. By 1790 there were 3100 taxables and 18343 inhabitants, in 1800 4970 and 28298.

In the formation of Washington County in 1781 there were 14 townships (3 went to Greene County in 1796). The eleven were Amwell, Bethlehem, Cecil, Donegal, Fallowfield, Hopewell, Nottingham, Peters (part to Allegheny County 1788), Robinson (also part to Allegheny in 1788), Smith, Strabane. Formed before 1800 were these additional townships: 1782 Somerset; 1786 Hanover; 1788 Finley, Morris, East Bethlehem, West Bethlehem; 1789 Cross Creek; 1790 Chartiers; 1791 Canton; 1792 Pike Run; 1799 Buffalo.
      
Land
Land grants were made 1769-1775. From December 2-1776 to July 1-1784 there were none. From July 1-1784 to December 31-1786 there were many surveys on land often settled much earlier. When the Virginia-Pennsylvania boundary dispute was settled, it was agreed that persons who thought they were in Virginia could apply for a Virginia certificate, which would be honored by Pennsylvania. They had to have put in a corn crop or have lived a year on the land. The dates given for southwestern Pennsylvania tell when the settlers came. There were many other settlers who did not get certificates. The settlement dates given in the certificates are: 1769 32, 1770 64, 1771 14, 1772 141, 1773 148, 1774 306, 1775 167, 1776 65, 1777 20, 1778 2, 1779 3, 1780 2. Certificates were issued between October 30-1779 and June 26-1780 for these tracts in southwestern Pennsylvania: Yohogania 285, Ohio 165, Monongalia 30.

The surveys made by Virginia, 20 on Pigeon Creek and 23 on Buffalo Creek, were honored by Pennsylvania.

Later Years
The winter of 1779-80 was very severe, the coldest in a century. Inflation hit the settlers, prices were 140 times higher. But peace was welcome. The year 1794 brought the Whiskey Insurrection. The federal direct (window) tax lists the houses in Washington County. There were 2549 under $100. 696 $100 to $1000, 13 over $1000. One of the 13 was in Canonsburg ($1400); the others were in Washington. The top three were: Valentine Tavern (wood) $1600, Bradford House (stone) $1400, lawyer Keppele's house (brick) $1250. All the other houses (about 100) were of wood except the stone Huston Tavern ($450).
      
The 1800 county census shows 4970 men over 21.
 
Miscellaneous
In 1782 a petition for a new state was circulated in southwestern Pennsylvania. There were about 2000 signatures on the petition submitted to the Continental Congress January 27-1783. The first court for Washington County was held September 17-1782. The town plan of Washington (town) was made October 13-1782. In this write-up census, church, court, land and tax records have been consulted. The Draper Manuscripts at Madison, Wisconsin are valuable, also  the books by Boyd Crumrine on Virginia Courts and the History of Washington County.
 
This petition made on the 25th of September, 1789 ( a petition for a division of Bethlehem into East and West Bethlehem townships having been presented in the mean time), was laid over and held under advisement by the court until April 23, 1792 when a order was issued erecting the township of Pike Run, to include territory as indicated previously belonging to Fallowfield. Again, on the 30th of September, 1834, a part of Fallowfield was set off in the formation of the township of Carroll; and on the 14th of June, 1853, by the erection of Allen township from a part of the remaining territory of Fallowfield, the latter township was reduced to its present area and limits, and giving it the following boundaries: North, Nottingham and Carroll townships; east, Allen township and the Monongahela River, which forms a part of its eastern boundary, and the Pigeon Creek, which passes through the northwestern part of the township, taking a northeasterly course, and flowing thence through Carroll township enters the river at Monongahela City.
          
Settlements
Fallowfield township, like all the northeastern part of the present county of Washington, was within the county of Yohogania, as claimed by Virginia, prior to the settlement of the boundary controversy between that State and Pennsylvania; and it was under chiefly Virginia certificates that the first settlers in this township held their lands. County is that of "Maiden's Hall," a tract of three hundred and seventy-five acres, for which Joseph Brinton granted a Virginia certificate, and which was surveyed to him by Col. William Crawford, May 2, 1780.

Some of the earliest pioneering settlers in the original Fallowfield Twp. area were the Frye and Speer families who followed Paul Fromen into the western "frontier" of those times, after which followed such men as:  Frederick Cooper, Solomon Redd, Thomas Carson, Vincent Colvin, John Adams, John Buffington, Joseph Brown, Isaac Powell, Joseph Brinton, Joseph Plattor, Peter Cheserounds, William McComber, Joseph and Christopher Graybill, John Cramer, Joseph Allen, Joseph Carter, Samuel Dixon, Robert and John Jackman, Thomas Parkison, William Park, Nathan Heald, Benjamin Hinds, James Young, Peter Carner, Neal Gillispie, Thomas Pew, Nicholas Crist, Henry Conrad, John Crow, Mathew Deems, John Dunn, John Hopkins Jr., Daniel Hamilton, George Nox, William Nitterfield, David Ritchie, George Riggle, John Reed, Mathew Spane, James Innis, Conrad Weaver, James Davis, and William Gibson - just to name some.

Excerpts taken from: The Raymond M. Bell Anthology