Henderson County KyArchives History - Books .....Chapter IV Land Trials 1887 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 23, 2007, 12:24 am Book Title: History Of Henderson County, KY CHAPTER IV. PIONEER TRIALS. IN addition to the activity of General Samuel Hopkins in disposing of the lots and lands of the proprietors and inducing immigration, it must be said that the representatives of the young State were awake to the importance of the times, and if Kentucky lagged, no fault could be laid at the door of the capital. Numerous difficulties, however, pressed hard around the faithful pioneers-ignorance of the country, of the laws, and, above all, a lack of education. The great difficulty of communicating with the seat of Government, and the fact of being shut out from the few news centers of the world, were obstacles which our forefathers were compelled to contend with. In the settlement of disputed land claims, to bring order out of confusion, rightful owners of lands located and improved were oftentimes dislodged by the projected intrigues of designing sharpers. Surveyors were not so expert in those days, nor were the instruments used so faltless in design and manufacture as at this day. From these, and other causes, many of the early settlers became disheartened and returned to their former homes, or else emigrated to other parts of the country. Notwithstanding these drawbacks and innumerable uncertainties of breaking up homes in a settled State and removing with the winds, to one wild and comparatively unknown; notwithstanding the trials and perplexities to be surmounted in traveling over the wild and yet uninhabited territory, the population continued to increase. Glorious stories of the flower-land were carried back to the Atlantic States, until many of the inhabitants, impressed with the importance of the new territory and the abundance in store for those who would seek it, determined one with another to emigrate and share with those who had preceded them, the riches of that charming land. With a horse and wagon, a buggy perhaps, a faithful wife and children, a dog and a gun, many ventured to leave their Eastern homes in search of this new land upon which it was said nature had lavishly showered its richest blessings. Young men, and old ones- who had but a few years at best to live-plodded along over mountains and through valleys, through forests and cane-brakes, unmindful of the dangers attending their every step. The women, undaunted, but as brave and fearless as the men, trudged their way, sharing those trials and dangers incident to the pilgrims' progress-in many instances of State history-exhibiting such marked courage and disregard of self-comfort and safety, in the face of dangers, as to nerve and strengthen their male protectors who were leading them to this great land of promise. LAND TROUBLES. New difficulties gathered around the settlers as the population increased. Every fellow of them had come for land, and land he would have, no matter how it was to be gotten. Of course there were those among the number punctilliously honest, yet there were in those days, as there are now, "man sharks" keen-witted, and unscrupulous men, who, regardless of the rights of the weak and ignorant, and impressed solely and alone with the one aim of feathering their own nests, resorted to all manner of legal and social technicalities, to possess themselves of what was not their own, and to dispossess those of weak and unguarded business capacity of what properly belonged to them. Squatters, the pests of all early settlements, became abundant, and to this day their impudent but successful chicanery is felt by the descendants of many of the early settlers. In many- very many-instances, rightful owners of lands were non-residents, and their agents were either self-interested and unscrupulous, or else neglected the important trusts committed to their keeping. Settlements were permitted to go by default, squatters were permitted to locate second warrants, and so on until lands were cut up into serpentine shape, while title boundaries became outrageously entangled. To straighten these rascally-worked boundaries, in order to allot, to the honest settler what was due him, necessarily entailed an expense perhaps greater than the value of the land in controversy. None of this was the fault of the law, although it has been frequently charged. From 1792 to 1831 the Legislature of Kentucky, by the passage of many acts encouraging and granting relief to settlers, not only evinced a marked interest in the population of this section, but did all, and more too, than they ought to have done to aid and encourage immigation. Every inducement, both liberal and explanatory, was freely offered, and the settler who moved in the dark owed his ultimate misfortune to his own ignorance, loseness, or over-confidence in his better posted, and, perhaps, perfidious neighbor. Thus, as a result, land suits multiplied and misery and untold disappointments were piled upon many who had surrendered comfortable homes to come to this new paradise. No one can but feel for these hardy old pioneers, who sacrificed upon the altar of ignorance and misguided confidence, all they possessed of an earthly competence, to assist in clearing up and opening to the world this now productive and wide-awake country. These men faced danger in all of its manifold forms; they suffered privations untold, that their descendants might inherit the richness of their labors, and yet these " man sharks" backed by this same law, intended to protect the weak as well as the strong, swallowed up the loose and unsuspecting with a keen relish. Tradionary and documentary evidences tell the story of many lords of the land, who moved in disingenious shabbiness, and whose intemperance and sensuality were not more reprehensible than their grasping greed for things mot their own. As before stated, the Legislature had passed, and continued to pass, act upon act, many of them acts explanatory of acts and intended to aid the settler: acts for the extension of time, for locating surveys, for filing necessary papers, for the payment of fees, and for relief in many other ways, were passed at every session of the General Assembly. The laws were as plain as laws could be made; the system laid down was as beautiful in simplicity as it was simple in every feature, and had the people followed as directed, there never could have been any reason for a single dispute or land suit. It is said the primitive settlers-the very first who came to this section of Kentucky, were men of some education and some means; most of them were in the decline of life however. The second generation, owing to the unsettled condition, and the positive want of instruction, even in the primary branches of education, grew up as the cane, and from this ignorance arose the troubles of various complexions, including vice and immoralities, which proved to be a draw-back to the rapid development and growth of the section. The surveyors and others appointed to aid the settlers in locating land surveys granted them, were ignorant men. Upon a close study of the laws from the time of the separation from Virginia to the time all needful laws, having for their object the untangling of bungling misapprehensions, and establishing a simple and harmonious system in the future, had been enacted, we are satisfied that it will be agreed that the Legislature did all that it could do under the circumstances to aid and enlighten the settlers. Beginning with the year 1779, it will be seen that all of the land lying between the Green and Tennessee Rivers, from the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio River, except the tract of two hundred thousand acres granted to Richard Henderson & Co., had been reserved by the State of Virginia for the officers and soldiers of the Virginia State line, or continental and State establishment, to give them choice of good lands, not only for the public bounty due to them for military service, but also in their private adventures as citizens. No persons were allowed by law to enter any part of the said lands until they- the officers and soldiers, had first been satisfied. Notwithstanding this reserve, guarded as it was by authority of enactment, many persons in their hurry to squat upon some of this land of promise, actually settled upon this reservation, the feby jeopardizing the preference and benefit intended by the State of Virginia and concurred in by Kentucky. Therefore, as a consistant remedy, in October, 1779, the General Assembly of Virginia enacted an ultimatum seemingly hard upon the pioneers between the two rivers, yet in strict conformity with other acts passed prior to that time. By this law, all persons settling after that date upon the lands reserved for the officers and soldiers, or those who having already settled thereon, who failed to remove from the said reservation within six months from next after the end of that session of the Assembly, should forfeit all his or her goods and chattels to the Commonwealth, and for the recovery 'of which, the Attorney for Virginia, in the County of Kentucky, for the time being was required to immediately after the expiration of said term, to enter prosecution, by way of information in the courts of said county, on behalf or the Commonwealth, and on judgment being obtained, immediately to issue execution and proceed to the sale of such goods and chattels; and then, if such person or persons so prosecuted, should not remove in three months, the Attorney was required to certify to the Governor the name or names of the person or persons so refusing, who was required to issue orders to the commanding officer of the said county, or to any officer in the pay of the State, to remove such person or. persons, or any others who might settle thereon, by force of arms, except such persons as bad actually settled, prior to the first day of January, 1778, By the terms of the compact with Virginia, passed December 18, 1779, it was agreed that no grant of land or land warrant to be issued by Kentucky, the then proposed State, should interfere with any warrant issued prior to that time from the land office of Virginia, on or before the first day of September, 1791. That the unlocated lands of this district, which stood appropriated to individual, or discription of individuals, by the laws of Virginia for military or other services, should be exempted from the disposition of the proposed State of Kentucky, and should remain to be disposed of by the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to such appropriation, until the first day of May, 1792, and no longer, and thereafter the residue of all lands remaining in the military reservation, should be subject to the disposition of Kentucky. By an act of the Assembly of Kentucky, passed December 21, 1795, about three years and a half after the expiration of the time stipulated in the compact with Virginia, concerning the appropriation of these reserved military lands had expired, it was discovered that a number of people had settled on the vacant lands south of Green River, under a belief that they were no longer to be taken by military warrants, and that the Legislature would grant them settlements therefor, upon their paying a moderate price for the same. The Legislature, by right of vested interest, ordained that every housekeeper or free person above the age of twenty-one years, who had actually settled on any land within that boundary, set apart for the said officers and soldiers on the south side of Green River, which had not previously been taken by a military warrant, on or before the first day of January next following, and should actually reside thereon at the time, should be entitled to any quanity of land not* exceeding two hundred acres, including such settlement, provided the settlement did not include any salt lick, or any body of ore. For the purpose of ascertaining who should be the rightful owner of the land, it was further enacted that three persons should be appointed with power and authority to hear and determine the right of settlement at a court to be held in Logan County, of which county Henderson was then a part. This court was invested with full power to hear and determine all disputes between settlers, and their decision was to be final and without appeal. In case of a contest respecting the right of settlers, the person who made the first improvement should be preferred, that the lands located by virtue of this act should be surveyed within six months, and a plat and certificate lodged in the Register's office within six months from the time of the survey, upon which the Register should issue a grant. All fixed fees were required to be paid, and for a failure on the part of the settler to comply with the law, then the survey was to revert back to the State. It was further enacted, that no person should settle on any vacant or unappropriated land within the State in future, with the expectation of being granted the preference of settlement. Subsequently an act, entitled an act, for encouraging and granting relief to settlers, approved March 1, 1797, was amended and revised by an act approved February 10, 1798. The act of 1797, which was an amendment to the act of 1795, having been found defective, it was enacted by way of amendment and revision, that any widow or free male person above the age of eighteen years, and every other free person, having a family, who should have or might actually settle himself or herself on any vacant or unappropriated land on the south side of Green River, on or before the first day of July next following, clear and fence two acres, and tend the same in corn, should be entitled to two and not less than one hundred acres of land, to include his or her settlement in any part of tHe survey, which he or she should express in his or her entry; provided a certificate of a settlement should not be laid on the lands set apart for any salt.lick or spring, with one thousand acres around the same, or for seminary purposes. Every person entitled to a settlement by virtue of this act, was required to lay in his or her claim before a board of three Commissioners appointed by the Governor, when setting for that purpose, describing the bounds of his or her lands, and furnishing proof of his or her rights of settlement. Each person to whom a settlement was granted agreeably to this act, was required to pay into the Treasury of the State for each one hundred acres of first-rate land, sixty dollars, and for all lands of inferior quality, fifty dollars, and for a failure to pay the amount and to obtain the Auditor's quietus according to law for the same, within twelve months from the time of granting such certificate, the land was to be forfeited to the State. In addition to this, each settler obtaining a certificate agreeably to this act, was required to enter the same with the Surveyor of the county in which the land should lie, and the same surveyed as nearly in a square as the intervening claims would admit of,-and to return a plat and certificate of survey, accompanied by the Commissioners' certificate, to the Register's office of the State, within twelve months from the time of obtaining such certificate, and upon the payment of the usual fees the Register was required to issue a grant. For the purpose of determining who were entitled to a settlement under the provisions of this act, the Commissioners' appointed by the Governor were empowered to hear and determine the right of settlement, and the class to which said land belonged. The Commissioners' were directed to meet at the Court House in Christian County, to which Henderson then belonged, on the third Monday in October, and to continue by adjournment until the business brought before them should be completed. In all disputes between settlers, the priority of settlement, the oldest improvement made after the first day of March, 1797, was to have preference, and no person was to obtain a certificate for more than one settlement; provided any person who had actually settled him or herself on any vacant land prior to March 1, 1797, and complied with the requisition of this act, and resided thereon at the time of the meeting of the Commissioners, and who had not obtained a certificate from the former Commissioners, should be considered the oldest improved, but in a dispute between settlers concerning the priority of improvement under this act, no improvement was to -be considered as sufficient,' unless the person having made the same should have actually settled thereon within four months from the time of improving. It was further enacted that any person who should obtain a settlement by virtue of this act and not reside thereon, either by himself or his or her representative, at least one year next succeeding the date of his or her certificate, should forfeit all right, title and interest and claim to, or in such 'settlement, and the same was to revert to the State. Any person who had obtained a certificate for a settlement under the act of 1795, heretofore recited, and had failed to pay as required, were given the further time of nine months to pay the same, without any forfeiture, by paying six per cent, interest per annum, and if the principal and interest was not paid within the nine months from the date of the act, the lands not paid for should be at the disposition of the Legislature until the whole amount due thereon was paid; any person who had obtained a certificate of settlement and neglected to enter the same within the time limited by law with the surveyor, was granted six months further time to do so; any person, who by a mistake may have settled on a military claim and obtained a certificate from the Commissioners in conformity to the act of 1795, was given by this act twelve months time to remove from the same and settle himself or herself on any vacant and improved land on the south side of Green River. On February 12, 1798, an act to prevent illegal surveys on the south side of Green River was approved and a heavy penalty fixed for a violation thereof. On the twenty-second day of December, 1798, another act allowing the settlers south of Green River to pay the money due the State in equal installments and for other purposes, was passed. This act, after reciting the fact that the settlers on the south side of Green River labored under great inconveniences from the scarcity of money, and to remedy the same, it was enacted. that all persons who had obtained certificates under this act, passed at the last session- "Entitled an Act to Amend and Revise the Act, Entitled an Act for Encouraging and Granting Relief to Settlers on the south side of Green River, should be allowed to pay the same by equal annual installments, of one-fourth part of the purchase money, together with lawful interest annually due on the same, the first annual payment to be made on or before the 15th of the following November, That all claimants under any former acts passed previous to the year 1795. for the encouragement and granting relief to settlers, should have the further time of six months to pay into the Treasury the several sums due from them, and during the time no forfeitures should accrue for any failure of payment, according to the provisions of any former law." On December 10, 1799, one year afterwards, another act was passed granting to settlers prior to the year 1797, who had not paid the sums due from them, the further time of ten months to pay the same. This same extension was granted to all persons who had obtained certificates under the act of February 10, 1798. This act also gave to settlers who, through mistake, had obtained a certificate on a military or for prior claim, the still further time of eighth months to remove and locate the same on any other land on the south side of Green River not at that time legally appropriated. The further time of eight months was given all persons who had obtained a certificate under any of the before-recited acts to survey the land to which they may have been severally entitled by this or any former act, On December 11, 1800, one year after, an act was passed granting further relief to settlers on the south side of Green River. In this act the Legislature directed that all monies due at that time and to become due for lands granted by the Commonwealth to settlers south of Green River, shall be paid in nine annual installments, to be paid on the first day of December in each year thereafter, until the whole amount be paid, with five per cent, interest. Again by this act the further time of twelve months was allowed to all persons, who, through mistake, had obtained certificates for settlements formed on military claims, to re-locate the same on any land on the south side of Green River, not at the time legally appropriated, or entered for by any other person. The still further time of two years was given to all persons who had obtained certificates on the south side of Green River, to enter and survey the same; nor was this the end, nor were settlements made at the expiration of the time; on the contrary, settlers continued to importune indulgencies, and the Legislature continued to grant them. An act, entitled, "An Act to Reduce the Price of Head-right Lands on the South Side of Green River, Approved December 13, 1831," after going on to recite that it had been represented that the lands to be paid for to the Commonwealth, derived under Commissioners', County and Circuit Court certificates, to settlers south of Green River, were generally poor and of little value and owned and settled by poor persons, actually ordained that the owner or owners of any such claim or claims should be permitted to pay for them at the rate of five dollars per hundred acres* and at that rate for a greater or smaller quantity at any time within twelve months from and after the first day of January, 1831, an act to repeal the law then in existence in relation to head-right settlers, and to dispose of the balance of the debt due the Commonwealth on Commissioners', County and Circuit Court certificates south of Green River, should be filed in the office of the County Court of the county wherein the party resided, subject to the order of the County Court, which was (directed after the first day of the following November, to be determined on what public highway or highways within their counties the money or labor arising or due from said head-right debtors should be appropriated. The court was directed to appoint an overseer to lay out the said money or labor upon any road in whatever manner the Court might direct. The overseer was directed to collect the amounts due the Commonwealth, either in money or labor, as the debtor might elect, and the overseers' receipt acted as a quietus to the land claim, so far as the State was interested. So much of the act in force at that time as authorized the owners of head-right certificates to have them surveyed and patented, was continued in force for two years longer; but all claims not surveyed and returned to the Register's office before the end of the above-named time, were to be forfeited to the State, and might be taken up and surveyed by any person in the same manner as other vacant lands belonging to the State. It was further enacted that each of the County Courts of the Commonwealth should have full power and authority, in their discretion, to surrender up to any* widow, or poor persons, who might be unable to pay, and who had been a settler on the land, any balance due from him, her or them, and, without payment, grant a certificate to the Auditor in like form, as if the payment had been made in money or labor. Again on the seventh day of February, 1834, an act to amend an act concerning head-right certificates, was approved. In this the owners of head-right certificates were given an additional twelve months, to file in the office of the County Clerk, their certificate as required by the act of 1833. An act entitled an act to reduce the price of head-right lands on the south side of Green River, approved December 13, 1831, was continued in force until the first day of January, 1835. From the foregoing acts of the Kentucky Legislature, concerning the early settlement of the territory south of Green River, it will be seen that body was not alone active in the interest of the new comer, but solicitous that he should choose a safe beginning, and in choosing it, make sure of a prosperous future. No petition of the people went unheeded, and it is quite probable, through the liberality of the Representatives, they were often imposed upon and seduced into doing things, which in their results, culminated in injury rather than good to the people. In this chapter I have endeavored to give a brief history of the early laws, as applied to settlers, and from it may be gained a lesson of the trials and tribulations of our ancestors. They were poor and ignorant and thus necessarily, from surrounding inconveniences, fell heir to great anxiety of mind and body. We now, in this enlightened age, can but poorly estimate what was done by them for us. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, BY EDMUND L. STARLING, COMPRISING HISTORY OF COUNTY AND CITY, PRECINCTS, EDUCATION, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, LEADING ENTERPRISES, SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF THE LIVING AND DEAD. ILLUSTRATED. HENDERSON, KY, 1887. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/henderson/history/1887/historyo/chapteri312gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/