Old Rights,
Proprietary Rights,
Virginia Entries,
And
Soldiers Entitled to
Donation Lands
Illustrated in Color
By William Henry Egle, 1896
771 pages, illustrated, indexed, searchable
Current Reprint copies Retail for $32
- Bonus Book -
Colonial Precedents
of Our National Land System
By Amelia Clewly Ford, 1908, 165 pages
- Bonus Book -
History of
Military Pension Legislation
By William Henry Glasson, 1900
132 pages, Searchable
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In 1754, the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania entered into a dispute over the ownership of what is today the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. At the time, Virginia's claim, which was encompassed within the boundaries of Augusta County, embraced all of Pennsylvania west of Laurel Hill and included the present-day counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and parts of Allegheny and Beaver. The dispute raged over the course of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War--during which time frontier forts were constructed, rights for land were ceded by Virginia, and settlement waxed and waned--until commissioners for the two states of Virginia and Pennsylvania were appointed in 1780 to draw proper boundaries. Eventually, in 1784, new meridian lines were run confirming the present-day boundaries of the two states.
This book includes :
The section of Virginia interest, Virginia Entries in Western Pennsylvania, is a complete list of Virginia land entries in the aforementioned Pennsylvania counties between 1779 and 1780. For each of the 1,300 entries we are given the date of the entry, the name(s) of the parties to the transaction, and occasional references to subsequent transfers of grants, the amount of acreage, and a landmark indicating where the land was situated. Preceding the land records is a fascinating history of the thirty-year dispute between the two colonies/states.
Another section of interest, An Account of the Donation Lands of Pennsylvania, concerns the March 1780 statute enacted by the state legislature granting land in western Pennsylvania to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line who served in the Continental Army. The list of eligible soldiers is preceded by an introductory sketch informing us that the donation area comprised parts of the contemporary counties of Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, Venango, Forest, Warren, Erie, and all of Mercer and Crawford. Here we learn the story of how the lands were surveyed, the terms under which the land could be claimed, contact with Indians in that region, and so forth. The 3,000 members of the Pennsylvania Line entitled to a donation are identified by name, rank, regiment, acreage awarded, and, sometimes, whether the individual claimed the land, was killed in action, relinquished his right to the land, etc.