(in another dispute concerning those counties and a bridge over the Ohio River) it was found substantially correct. Also in 1784, Joseph Neville became one of the trustees of the relatively new town of Moorefield (then in Hampshire County). A farmer, he raised and fattened cattle for the Baltimore market (as did many others in the area), as well as held an interest in the town's general store kept by Isaac Hider. During the 1785 legislative session, Hampshire County delegate Isaac VanMeter, of a well-established family, moved to divide Hampshire County and create Hardy County. The bill passed and was signed into law by governor Patrick Henry. The VanMeter and Neville families lived in the new Hardy county. Moorefield became the county seat and Hardy became the new county's first sheriff as well as its first surveyor. Complicating matters, Hardy's father of the same name either died in Pittsylvania County (substantially to the southeast) in 1783 or lived until the 1790s. The following year, 1785, Joseph Neville owned four adult slaves in Hardy County, and in 1795 he owned seven adult slaves. The 1787 Virginia census includes entries for two men named 'Joseph Nevil', at opposite ends of the Commonwealth. Oddly (although surveying duties may have involved travel) both the Isle of Wight entry and the Hardy County entry (which shows him as owning three enslaved Black men and three Black boys), show 'Joseph Nevil' as a nonresident. In the 1790s, after the future chief justice John Marshall began selling lands in what had been the South Branch Manor of Lord Fairfax, Joseph Neville was one of the dozens of local residents purchasing parts of the property once-disputed in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee. On December 2, 1792, the Virginia Assembly passed an act allowing militias to be established throughout every county of the commonwealth. These county militias were further organized in brigades and division. Joseph Neville commanded the 18th Brigade, which included the 14th, 46th, and 77th Regiments. He had accepted that brigadier general commission on December 24, 1803, and served until his (natural) death. His 18th Brigade fell under the 3rd Division of Militia. His brother John Neville continued to live in what was now Pennsylvania, and also held a general's rank, and a job as federal tax collector. In 1794, John Neville defied an anti-tax mob and shot a man, so the mob burned his house, which led