Who were the earliest pioneer settlers?
That's what we are trying to find out.
I found three sources that may be helpful to you.
Inventory of the county archives of West Virginia, No. 31, Monroe County (Union)
Monroe County, West Virginia: A List of Marriage Bonds 1799-1846
--See Part 5, page 109: A list of about 500 surnames with the first names of the earliest pioneer settlers
--See Part 6, page 124: A history of each county, including the names of the earliest settlers in that county.
In source #3, Pioneer West Virginia, Part 1, pp. 19-23, there is an account of the early settlement of the New River/Greenbrier region. We’ve seen several accounts of that already, but each one tells us something a little different. Maybe you will find something valuable in this excerpt.
These are the names that are mentioned in the excerpt: John TONEY, Mary PORTER, Adam HARMON, INGLES, DRAPER, Philip LYBROOK, Andrew CULBERTSON, Thomas FARLEY, C. S. ROLLYSON, John CHAPMAN, Richard CHAPMAN, Mitchell CLAY, KELLER, FERRELL, COOK, GWINN, LOWE, FOSTER, Jacob MARLIN, Stephen SEWELL, Andrew LEWIS, James BURNSIDES, John FULTON, Archibald HOPKINS, John TROTTER, Thomas BERRY, Archibald CLENDENIN, Jr., Nap GREGORY, William RENICK, George SEA, Mathias YOAKUM, William MANN, James MCCOY, Alexander CROCKETT, William BLAIR, Richard MADISON, Thomas CAMPBELL, Frederick SEA, Felty YOAKUM, John STUART, James HUGHART, John MCCOY, Lawrence MURPHY, Hugh GILLESPIE, William LEWIS, Hugh JOHNSON, Robert MCCLANACHAN, Thomas RENICK, Thomas WILLIAMS, James JORDAN, John PATTON, Samuel MCKINNEY, David KEENEY, William BLAKE, William MCCLUNG, Andrew DONNALLY, James CALLISON, Thomas COOK, Patrick LOCKHART, George CUTLIP, Michael DAUGHERTY, James KINCIAD, Peter VANBIBBER, Daniel WORKMAN, Joseph MCCLING
You can read more in the book. I think there is a lot of valuable information, especially in Parts 5 and 6, as I mentioned at the top of the page.