CHAPTER II
THE CONGRESS LANDS AND VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS
All of the territory in Pickaway County east of the Scioto River is within the Congress lands; that west of the river is part of the Virginia Military District.
THE CONGRESS LANDS.
As provided by an ordinance passed in 1785 after the several States claiming owner-ship had ceded the same to the United States and the title had been perfected by treaty with the Indians, were placed on the market, after being surveyed into townships six miles square or as near that size as was practicable and divided into sections each a mile square, four sections in each township being reserved for sale in the future by the United States and one section set apart for the use of schools.
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS.
The General Assembly of Virginia, at its session, beginning October 20, 1783, passed an act to authorize its delegates in Congress to convey to the United States, in congress assembled, all the right of that commonwealth to the territory northwest of the Ohio River. Congress stipulated, in accepting the cession, that this territory should be formed into States. containing a suitable extent of territory, and that the States so formed should be distinctly republican, and admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty and freedom as the other States. On the 17th of March, 1784, Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee, James Monroe and Samuel Hardy, the Virginia delegates to Congress, conveyed to the United States "all right, title, and claim, as well as of jurisdiction, which the said commonwealth hath to the territory, or tract of country, within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying and being northwest of the river Ohio."
This act of cession contained, however, the following reservation: "That in case the quantity of good land on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland River, and between the Great Kanawha and Tennessee rivers, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops, upon continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina line, bearing in further upon the Cumber-land. lands than was expected, prove unsufficient for these legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on, the northwest side of the river Ohio, in such proportions to them as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia." The land embraced in this reservation constitutes the Virginia Military District in Ohio, and' is composed of the counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Clermont, Highland, Fayette, Madison and Union, and portions of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Clark, Greene, Champaign, Warren and Hamilton.
Congress passed an act authorizing the establishment of this reservation and location as defined upon the report of the executive of
22- HISTORY OF PICKAWAY COUNTY.
Virginia that the deficiency of good lands upon the waters of the Cumberland existed.
The Virginia soldiers of the continental line, who served in the Revolutionary War, were compensated in bounty awards of these lands according to the rank, line of service, etc. The first step necessary, after securing the proper certificate of actual service, was that of procuring a printed warrant from the land officer, specifying the quantity of lands and the rights upon which it was due. This military warrant was issued from the land office, in the State of Virginia, which empowered the person to whom it was granted, his heirs or assigns, to select the number of acres specified in the lands reserved for that purpose, and to have the same Appropriated. After the location was made, and the boundaries ascertained by surveying, the owner of the warrant returned it to the State authorities, and received in its place a patent, or grant, from the government. This grant was equivalent to a deed in fee simple, and passed all of the title of the government to the grantee.
On the same day on which the act was passed Richard C. Anderson, a colonel in the army, was appointed surveyor for the continental line of the army, by the officers named in the act and authorized to make such appointments as they saw fit. He opened his office at Soldiers' Retreat, near Louisville, for entries in the Kentucky lands on the 20th of July, 1784 When the Kentucky grant was exhausted, August 1, 1787, he prepared' for entries in the Ohio tract. He held his position up to the time of his death, October 16, 1826, and during the long period faithfully discharged the onerous duties devolving upon him. His son-in-law, Allen Latham, Esq., was appointed surveyor sometime after Colonel Anderson's death (probably in 1827), and opened his office at Chillicothe, in July, 1829. He remained in office until June 23, 1834, when William Marshall Anderson, son of Col. Richard C. Anderson, then of Chillicothe, afterwards residing' at Circleville, was appointed and held the office until June 14, 1847. His successor was E. P. Kendrick, of Chillicothe, who held the office until the books andpapers were transferred to the land department of the office of the Auditor of State. During the latter years that the office was held by Mr. Kendrick, his son, Samuel Kendrick, who had been auditor of Ross County, attended to the duties of the office.
The work of surveying the Virginia military lands was commenced as early as the spring of 1787. Maj. John O'Bannon and Arthur Fox, with their companies, came across the Ohio and made examinations of the lands lying along its northern bank, along the Scioto and the Miami, and some of their tributaries, with a view to making entries as soon as Col. Richard C. Anderson's office should be open for that purpose. On the first of August the office was opened at Soldiers' Retreat, near Louisville, and soon after entries were made of the lands in the Ohio bottom, also consider-able in the Scioto and Little Miami bottoms.
Owing to ignorance in regard to the extent of jurisdiction that the United States had over the lands of the Virginia military grant, much difficulty arose. It was one of the conditions imposed by Congress, that the lands lying in the grant, in Ohio, should not be entered until the amount of the deficiency in the Kentucky grant should be known. In July, 1788, a congressional act was passed, by which all locations and surveys, previously made between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, should be held 'invalid. The passage of this act, together with the wholesome dread of Indian hostilities, caused a cessation in the making of surveys in the district until 1788. All difficulty, of a legal nature, being thus removed, the survey of the lands in the Virginia Military District was again resumed.
But little is known of the surveying expeditions that were made previous to 1790. Nathaniel Massie, who afterwards did so much in the way of exploring and surveying the Virginia Military District, made his first venture in 1788, probably in company with Fox and O'Bannon. All of the work, at that time, had to be done by stealth, and the surveyors undoubtedly had some thrilling exploits, but their history is lost, beyond all hope of recovery.
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 23
which were regularly surveyed and laid off in sections.
The Virginia military tract was never surveyed into townships until it was done in the different counties, by order of the county commissioners, when it became desirable to organize the townships for civil purposes. Hence their irregular shape and size.