John Carroll

During the 1842 session of the Virginia General Assembly, despite opposition, John Carroll successfully sponsored a bill partitioning Grayson County and forming a new county, fulfilling his campaign pledge. Local tradition holds that controversy over the new county’s name was resolved by agreeing to honor Charles Carroll of Carrollton in Maryland, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. John Carroll, born in Ireland in 1801, died in 1860 and is buried in Wytheville; his last residence nearby was a plain two-story frame house with a gable roof.

Hillsville, Virginia · United States