Exactly where and when was Robert Looney's
first settlement in Virginia?
Until the publication of Most Distinguished Characters (1998), it had not been established in information widely read by the Looney family where Robert Looney first settled in Virginia. Leroy W. Tiliton, in his manuscripts, refers to the location as being on the upper Potomac, which he knew from the 1736 patent for 294 acres. He mentions that it must have been near Hagerstown, Maryland, since tradition holds that one of Robert Looney's children went to school near there. Some writers have incorrectly stated that Robert Looney lived in Maryland before moving to Virginia.
In 1995 Phillip L. Crane discovered Robert Luny's name on the 1736 Benjamin Winslow map, which locates his land in Virginia on the south side of Potomac River about 2 1/2 miles above the present town of Williamsport, Maryland. About the same time (1995) Cecil O'Dell published Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia, which locates on maps the exact location of Robert Luna's land. This source also revealed that Robert Brooke's surveys and Benjamin Winslow's field notes were available at the Virginia Historical Society.
These three sources (Winslow map, Brooke's survey, and
Winslow's field notes) indicate the date and exact location of Robert Looney's first
settlement in Virginia. This information along with a detailed description of the
other conditions (Indian problems, boundary disputes, remoteness, etc.) appears in Most
Distinguished Characters on the American Frontier on pp. 83-99. 
A small section of Benjamin Winslow's map (1736). Rob Luny's name was not recognized on this map at first (see number 8). The name Sam Owen was discovered first. Robert Luna's 1735 patent of 294 acres states "near a ford where they cross the Cohongor[o]nto to Samuel Owens Plantation..."
Robert Brooke's survey and plat of Robert Luna's 294 acres on December 18, 1734. Peter Looney (son of Robert Looney) gave an account in a London newspaper, stating that he was born in Philadelphia about 1734. Based on these dates, Robert Looney probably first settled in Virginia in 1734-35.