Job Pearsall was an early settler on the South Branch River.  Exactly when he came is not certain, but it seems that he leased lot #16 of the South Branch Manor from Samuel Earl.  His name appears on the Fry and Jefferson Map of 1751 located on the east bank of the river astride the road from Winchester.  It was a very strategic place since it lay by the river on the road to the South Branch and Patterson’s Creek Manors and also on an old Indian trail.  Col. Washington first refers to the fort at this site in October, 1755.  In his Council of War on July 10, 1756, Col. Washington stresses that, “it will be found necessary to maintain a Block-house at Pearsalls, to secure that difficult pass, and keep the communications open.”

    Pearsall’s fort was used as a supply base for the other forts of the South Branch and for supplies to go to Virginia troops at Ft. Cumberland.  In a letter to Commissary Walker dated Jan. 10, 1756, Col. Washington notes that “There are three thousand weight of Pork laid in at Job Pearsalls…”  Besides guarding supplies, troops at this fort were used to protect the neighborhood as well as to escort messengers and convoys.  Both Virginia Regiment and Militia troops were stationed at Pearsall’s at various times, and friendly Indians were in attendance on numerous occassions.

    No clear record exists stating the exact facilities at Pearsall’s.  However, there were numerous invoices supplied by Pearsall for reimbursement for timber used by the soldiers in construction or repair.  Repairs seem to have been made again around the time of Pontiac’s rebellion in 1763 when the fort was reopened.  The fort seems finally to have been out of use by the winter of 1764.  Today the exact location of the site is unknown, although it is somewhere west of the present town of Romney, West Virginia.