Doddridge County was formed in 1845 from Harrison, Ritchie, Tyler and Lewis and was named for Philip Doddridge, a lawyer and statesman of western Virginia. Many of the Indians who once came to this state got war and hunting weapons from nearby flint quarries. Ritchie County was formed from Harrison, Lewis, and Wood in 1843 and was named for Thomas Ritchie, the Virginia journalist. In 1772, Jess and Elias Hughes and Col. William Lowther explored this region to the Ohio, and Hughes River was named by them.