Henry Price (Johan Henricus Preisch) was born in Offenbach, Germany, on 22 September 1726. At twelve years old, Henry emigrated on the Winter Galley with 251 registered passengers, two of whom were his older brothers Augustine and Daniel. The ship sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, and arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 6 September 1738.

The Price family left Pennsylvania and headed to southwest Virginia to search for suitable farmland. Their caravan took them and other German fortune-seekers to a location southwest of Roanoke, Virginia. There, the Price family settled in Blacksburg, Virginia, where they purchased land and built log cabins. Many of the Price family still reside there. Johan Americanized his name to "Henry Price" when he bought the property and adopted the name on various deeds. The Price brother purchased 1,130 acres of farmland in Blacksburg, forming the tract known today as Price's Fork. The Price brothers and the other caravan members were the first Germans to settle west of the Allegheny Mountains, an area now known as the German New River Settlement.

John Henry Price was a staunch patriot who supported the American Revolution. He died in 1797 in Blacksburg, Virginia, and his Last Will and Testament was probated in 1798. Although combat never broke out in Southwest Virginia, Henry Price and his brothers gave aid and assistance to the American forces by donating horses, food, and supplies, among other necessary tools and equipment, to support the American troops during the war for independence.

Blacksburg, Virginia, was founded in 1798, the same year of Henry's death. It was a 38-acre tract of land donated by William Black, for whom the town of Blacksburg was named. Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, now Virginia Polytechnic Institute ("Virginia Tech"), was founded in 1872.