Located in the foothills of southern Virginia, Henry County was formed by the General Assembly from Pittsylvania County in 1776, effective 1 Jan. 1777, and was named for Patrick Henry, the Revolutionary leader and governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who lived there from 1779 to 1784; in 1790, Patrick County was formed from part of Henry County. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the area's tobacco industry flourished there and the country's furniture industry was born, and Martinsville is the county seat. In present-day North Carolina, England first attempted to colonize the New World at Roanoke Island in 1585; originally part of Virginia, North Carolina became a separate colony when King Charles II issued a charter in 1663. Meeting in Halifax on 12 April 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Assembly became the first state legislature to authorize its delegates to the Continental Congress to support the independence of the American colonies from Great Britain, and Raleigh, named for Sir Walter Raleigh, patron of the Roanoke colony, has been the state capital since 1792.