Petition of Robert Hamilton for Resurvey of Land - Dobbs County, NC Submitted for use in the USGenWeb Project Archives by Francis R. Hodges **************************************************************************** ****************************************** Petition of Robert Hamilton for Resurvey of Land, Dobbs County, 1773 Original in the North Carolina Archives, Raleigh, NC Loose Papers, SS 727.4 To His Excellency the Governour in Council ~ The Humble Petition of Robert Hamilton Sheweth ~ That your Petitioner purchased from Simon Bright, Senior, 200 acres of land lying in Dobbs County on the South side of Stony Town Creek about Sixteen years agoe, and has been settled upon the said land and paid the Quit Rents during the sd. time Now so it is, may it please Your Honours, Simon Bright the Younger has been persuading your petitioner of the said land, and tells him that His Land is where some poor people has been settled these Eighteen or Nineteen years, which would not leave your petitioner above Forty Acres of the land purchased of the said Simon Bright Sen. as aforesaid, occasioned by an Error or mistake of the Surveyors returning different courses than the marked Trees will make appear, which can be proved by the oath of Francis Hodges, uncle to Simon Bright the Younger, who carried the chain round the said land about Thirty two years agoe when it was surveyed for the patent. Your Petitioner therefore Humbly prays for a warrant of Resurvey of the said Land agreeable to the marked trees, and further prays that He may have his patent altered agreeable to the bounds Trees. And your Patitioner as in duty Bound will ever pray etc. New Bern 27th February 1773 Robert Hamilton NOTE: The above document was discovered in the North Carolina State Archives by Mr. William Bennett of Raleigh, NC, in 1994. It proves that Francis Hodges was the uncle of Simon Bright, Junior (d. 1776), whose will is reproduced above. Enough is known of the life of Francis Hodges, who married Frances Carruthers, daughter of John Carruthers (d. 1751/52), a New Bern merchant, to permit one to conclude that Francis must have had a sister who married Simon Bright Senior, and who was thus the mother of Simon Bright, Junior (or "the Younger, as he is referred to in the above document). Dr. Charles Holloman's claim that Simon Jr's. mother was a daughter of Peter Reel is thus in error, a conclusion further supported by the fact that at the time Peter Reel wrote his will in 1739, his daughters were less than twelve years old. ========================= USGENWEB NOTICE In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogy information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must contact the submitter or the listed USGenWeb archivist.