USA > Missouri > A History of Missouri from the Earliest Explorations and Settlements Until the Admission of the state into the union, Volume III > Part 5
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The Act of 1805, which promised a speedy settlement and ad- justment of the land titles by a special Board of Commissioners,1 gave great satisfaction to the people of the territory. In no subject did the people take a more lively interest,2 not only the Spanish grantees, inhabitants who had held their land for many years, but also that vast and increasing number of speculators and adventurers who, immediately after the acquisition of the country, flocked into it to gain fortunes or political preferment. The change of govern- ment as if by magic had changed the esteem and value in which land was held. During the Spanish government uncultivated wild land, so to speak, had no value. Improved land only was of value. Wild land was granted free to all actual settlers and farmers, tillers of the soil; these only were favored and not speculators. In fact, it was not possible for land speculators to buy land from the govern- ment. It is also true that the great mass of the ancient French inhabitants did not realize the change that had taken place in the value of wild and uncultivated land by the change of government. "Although," said Easton, in 1805, "many have sufficient discern- ment to perceive that the cession to the United States advanced their land and property at least two hundred per centum, they thank the stars and are unwilling to give the praise to whom it is due." Many, on the other hand, for a mere pittance ignorantly sold property made immensely valuable by the changed condition of affairs. It was
1 U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 2, p. 331.
? Rufus Easton wrote to Jefferson in January, 1805, that the interests of the United States and the country required a speedy examination of the land titles .- Jefferson Papers, 2d Series, vol. 32, Nos. 19 and 20.
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35
LIBERAL LAND GRANTS
also well understood that just before the transfer of the country, on one flimsy pretense or another, a coterie of French speculators and some Americans who had settled in upper Louisiana had secured great land concessions. These concessions were not above the suspicion of fraud. It was openly charged that many of them were antedated, and it was admitted that this was true, but the fact was excused by the easy statement that grants had been promised at the date inserted in the concession. Many of these concessions were afterward undoubtedly supported by perjury and fraud. The Lieutenant-Governor DeLassus amply provided for his family and all his friends by such concessions, making them certainly the largest landed proprietors of the western country as far as he was able to do so. In a number of instances he made large grants to persons who had not even asked for the land, and a large part of the land so granted was acquired by his secretary from the ignorant hunters and voyageurs, living far away among the Indians in the Indian country, and altogether incapable of understanding why anybody should want to own land, and so much land, which was free as the air. To these men it appeared about as absurd to ask for a particular tract of land as to ask for a particular space in the air. Some of these concessions were conveyed by the involuntary grantees to the speculating promoters of these grants and after a time ripened into a title. It must be said that the men who secured these concessions so freely, generously and extravagantly bestowed by a complacent Lieutenant-Governor, and who actually had no power to make such grants and concessions under the rules and ordinances as promulgated by Morales, had the audacity necessary to succeed in their schemes. As large and extensive land owners, and all being traders and speculators, they, under the new govern- ment, became important persons in the eyes of many people. The Chouteaus, Vallés, Clamorgan, Cerrés, Lorimier, Prattes, Mackay, Austin and other large land claimants were regarded by the early American settlers after the cession something like Spanish grandees. And even before the cession, the residents of upper Louisiana, all immigrants of any respectability and any property having received free land grants from the Spanish officials, were by the people living on the Ohio good-naturedly and ironically called "Hidalgos," that is to say gentlemen or noblemen, just as perhaps with more acrimony, because the mouth of the Mississippi was barred by the Spanish officials, they spoke of the residents of lower Louisiana, as
.
36
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"Dons."' The fact that protests were raised against these large land claims; that many of the grants were branded as fraudulent; that it was claimed that under the rules and regulations of 1798, no land could be granted by the late Lieutenant-Governor of upper Louis- iana, merely increased the activity of the claimants. Rufus Easton in his letter to Jefferson, already mentioned, gives a history of how many of these titles were secured. Although his account may be colored by prejudice, his statements as to the manner in which many large land grants were secured were subsequently found to be not far from the truth. He says:
"That various fraudulent antedated grants have been issued by the late Spanish officers is not to be denied. It can be proven by a witness whose testi- mony can not be impeached that in the month of June, 1803, application was made to the Lieutenant-Governor at St. Louis to issue orders of survey for grants made in August, 1799. The Governor replied that it was impossible for him to issue orders for the survey of any grant, old or new, as he had received in- formation from the commandant at New Orleans that the country was ceded to France and that positive instructions had been given him, which he offered to show, to close the bureau with respect to lands. At this time the cession of the country by France to the United States was not known in this country. In the course of two hours after the applicant had retired a message was sent to him by the surveyor-general that if the applicant would advance and pay $200, on each tract, orders of survey would issue. The proposition was rejected. Then it was proposed to issue grants and concessions with orders of survey for fifteen tracts containing from 500 to 1,000 acres for sixty dollars for every 500 acre tract, and one hundred dollars for each thousand acre tract,
the surveys were to be dated back to the year 1799 * * + This proposition was accepted, and eight were on those terms made out and the name of Governor Zenon Trudeau put on them, bearing date in 1799, the same year that Mr. Tru- deau left the country for Orleans, where he held no post but that of captain of grenadiers. These grants were afterwards returned by the applicant under full conviction and belief of their invalidity. About the latter end of June, 1803, information arrived in this country of its cession to the United States, when instructions were given to the various agents by the Governor, as well as to the several deputy surveyors, that grants and concessions be dated back to the year 1799, which was the general antedate, though some were dated further back, and that surveys thereof would be made of any tract from fifty to fifty thousand acres to any person who would apply, upon payment of one hundred dollars for five hundred acres, and so great was the thirst of speculation, when money could not be obtained, horses and other property was received in payment. Many grants in like manner were made for less sums, as bargains could be made. They proclaimed that their records were kept in such form that it would be utterly impossible for the United States to detect the fraud; indeed, there will be difficulty in distinguishing a bona-fide from a false grant. The above facts are notorious. I might here detail a list of names with the particular tracts thus fraudulently granted. Several persons to whom grants of the above de- scription have been made have confessed to me and to almost every traveller
' And "Hidalgos" the first residents of upper Louisiana and Missouri were called, until in the mouths of the vulgar the name of "Pukes" was made current, originating perhaps in a race for vulgarity between the early residents of Southern Illinois and the mine country of Southeast Missouri. Vulgarity always finds ready imitators, and soon all memory of the more dignified sobriquet of the Missourians faded from recollection. But true "Hidalgos" the Missourians proved themselves on every field.
37
LARGE FEES
in the country the fact of fraudulently obtaining these grants and candidly declare they have no faith in their validity. The manner of keeping records, if so they may be called, has been this: When a person applied for lands it was customary for the commandant of the district to give a written permission to settle, which, when sanctioned by the Governor, is called a concession. It has been usual for the Governor to sign his name to these concessions without looking at or reading the petition when presented by the surveyor-general. No record is made of this concession until the survey is actually made out, when the surveyor-general enters in a memorandum book a copy of the plot, day of the order of the survey, and the time when the plot of the survey is given out and the papers are deliv- ered to the applicant. This form was a plan adopted by the surveyor-general for his own convenience, but no direction has ever been given by the government requiring any record whatever to be made. These records, of course, are not official; it would appear therefore, that a concession made in 1804, which bears date 1799, when no survey has been made, would be of the same efficiency with those actually made in 1799 unless the fraud can be specially proven.
"One other practice of granting land prevailed in the district of Cape Girar- deau which I had the curiosity to minute on my journal upon my first arrival in this country in May last. It was this: In December, 1802, a Creek Indian was condemned to be shot for the murder of one Trotter at New Madrid. The Governor gave out to such young men as would turn out volunteers to serve as guard on the execution of the Indian, he would satisfy and reward with grants of land. A number volunteered but received no land until a year ago, about Christmas, when every person without distinction who applied received conces- sions at the rate of SI for each one hundred acres. No certificate, however, was given out, but an entry without date made on the commandant's book, who pocketed considerable cash. Some thousands of acres were granted in this manner. One other circumstance must not be omitted. It not infrequently happened that persons coming to this country with a view to settle, after taking out one of these written permissions, would leave the province dissatisfied after receiving their lands, their concessions remaining behind. In February, 1804, some of these were gathered up and the name of an actual resident in the country was inserted in the place of the name to which the grant had been originally made. So, with the exception of the erasures, they have the appearance of old concessions." ‘
After the acquisition of the province by the United States the claimants employed to establish their claims the ablest legal minds and political leaders of the new country. In many instances by con- ceding a portion of the land as a contingent fee they aroused the latent speculative spirit of the early lawyers in the new territory, and se- cured their highest intellectual and diplomatic efforts. Deep down into the Spanish laws, rules and ordinances of the Spanish kings regulating grants of land, the Spanish colonial codes and regulations, the Partidas, the Cotume de Paris and the civil law, did these early legal giants of Missouri dig and delve to secure fortune and fame. Ably and audaciously were they supported by their clients by evi- dence, in many instances, evidently manufactured for the occasion, and by facts of which no honest Spanish official would have dreamed if the colony had not been transferred to the United States.
The Act of 1805, and which was enacted in order to speedily settle ' Jefferson Papers, 2d Series, vol. 32, Nos. 19 and 20.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
the French and Spanish titles of the territory, provided "that any person or persons, and the legal representatives of any person or persons, who on the first day of October, in the year 1800, were resident within the territories ceded by the French Republic to the United States, by treaty of the 30th of April, 1803, and who had, prior to the first day of October, 1800, obtained from the French or Spanish governments, respectively, during the time either of the said governments had actual possession of said territories, any duly registered warrant, or order of survey, for lands lying within said territories * * * and which were on that day actually inhabited and cultivated by such person or persons, or for his or their use, shall be confirmed in their claims to such lands in the same manner as if their titles had been completed: Provided however, that no such incomplete title shall be confirmed, unless the person in whose name such warrant or order of survey had been granted, was, at the time of its date, either the head of a family, or above the age of twenty- one years; nor unless the conditions and terms on which the com- pletion of the grant might depend, shall have been fulfilled." 5
And further that "to every person, or to the legal representative or representatives of every person, who being either the head of a family, or twenty-one years of age, had prior to the 20th day of December, 1803, with the permission of the proper Spanish officer, and in conformity with the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government, made an actual settlement on a tract of land within the said territories, not claimed by virtue of the preceding section, or of any Spanish and French grants made and completed before the first day of October, 1800, and during the time the government which made such grant had the actual possession of the said territories, and who did, on the 20th day of December, 1803, actually inhabit and cultivate the said tract of land, the tract of land thus inhabited and cultivated, shall be granted: Provided however, that not more than one tract shall be thus granted to any one person, and the same shall not contain more than one mile square, together with such other and further quantity, as heretofore has been allowed for the wife and family of such actual settler, agreeably to the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government : Provided also, that this donation shall not be made to any person who claims any other tract of land in the said territories by virtue of any French or Spanish grant."6
" 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, sec. I, P. 324.
6 Ibid., sec. 2.
.
39
ACT OF 1805
By another section every person claiming title under these pro- visions of the law was required to deliver to the recorder of land titles notice in writing, stating the nature and extent of his claim, together with a plat of the tract of land claimed, so as to be recorded and on failure to have such claim recorded the law provided that his rights so far as derived under the above two sections of the act should become void.7
To ascertain the rights of all persons claiming under this act the law provided for the appointment of commissioners to meet on December Ist, 1805, at such place as designated by the presi- dent - the board not to adjourn for a longer period than three days to meet at any other place until March Ist, 1806, and "until they shall have completed the business of their appointment," the act expressly providing that the board should have power "to hear and decide in a summary manner all matters respecting such claims, also to administer oaths, to compel attendance of, and examine witnesses, and such other testimony as may be adduced; to demand and obtain from the proper officer and officers, all public records, in which grants of land, warrants or orders of survey, or any other evidence of claims of land, derived from either the French or Spanish govern- ments, may have been recorded; to take transcripts of such record or records, or of any part thereof; to have access to all other records of a public nature, relative to the granting, sale, transfer or titles of lands, within their respective districts; and to decide in a summary way, according to justice and equity, on all claims filed with the register and recorder in conformity with the provisions of this act, and on all complete French and Spanish grants, the evidence of which, though not thus filed, may be found of record on the public records of such grants; which decisions shall be laid before Congress in the manner hereafter directed, and subject to their determination there- on: Provided however, that nothing in this act contained shall be construed so as to recognize any grant or incomplete title, bearing date subsequent to the first day of October, 1800, or to authorize the commissioners aforesaid to make any decision thereon." 8
From time to time additional acts were passed by Congress making more liberal provisions for the benefit of claimants. Thus under the Act of 1806 persons who commenced actually "to inhabit and cultivate" their claims prior to October 1, 1800, and during the
' Ibid., sec. 4, P. 326.
' Ibid., sec. 5.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
term of three years from the time when such actual settlements com- menced and prior to December 20, 1803, continued actually to "inhabit and cultivate" the same, were to be considered as having made such settlement with the permission of the proper Spanish officer, "although it may not be in the power of such person or persons to produce sufficient evidence of such permission." This secured to the immigrants who had settled in upper Louisiana, but for some reason had not been able to secure formal permission from the Spanish post commandants to settle, and without which permis- sion no legal settlement could be made, a title to the land upon which these immigrants had established their homes. This Act also con- firmed the title to extent of 640 acres in all persons who had been in continued possession for ten years prior to December 20, 1803, and this although at the time when the possession began the claimant may have been under twenty-one years of age. The time for filing claims was also extended to January Ist, 1807.º By another act passed March 3, 1807, that portion of the Act of 1805 was repealed which provided that no incomplete title should be confirmed unless the person making claim for the land on the date of the concession was the head of a family or above the age of twenty-one years.10 Under this act the title of all persons who for ten years prior to December 20, 1803, were in the actual possession of any tract of land was expressly confirmed, provided, the tract of land claimed did not exceed two thousand acres.11 The 4th section of this act also en- larged the powers of the commissioners, giving them full power to decide all the land claims coming before them according to the laws, usages and customs of the French and Spanish governments and where the claim did not exceed one league square in extent (about 6,000 acres) and the decision of the commissioners in all such cases was made final. The time was extended within which claims could be filed to July 1, 1808.12
Manifestly the composition of this Board of Commissioners to adjust these titles was a matter of great importance, not only to the government, but also to all bona-fide claimants as well as the claim- ants of suspected and illegal grants. Many applications were made for appointment to these positions at the time.18 After some delay
· 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, sec. I, P. 391.
10 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, sec. I, p. 440.
11 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, sec. 2.
12 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, sec. 8.
" It seems there were a number of applicants. "There is already one
41
LUCAS
President Jefferson appointed J. B. C. Lucas, James L. Donaldson and Clement B. Penrose as the Board of Commissioners. Of these, Lucas undoubtedly was the best qualified by education and training. He was a native of France, born August 14, 1758, in Pont Andines, Nor- mandy. He received a liberal education and took two degrees in the Faculty of Law at the University of Law of Caen, in Normandy. At Honfleur he married Miss Anne Sebin. In 1784 he emigrated to the United States, and at the instance of Gallatin, settled near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1793 he made a journey down the Ohio in a canoe and traveled through upper Louisiana as far as St. Louis, at this time apparently engaged in the fur trade.14 A man of great intellectual activity, he soon interested himself in politics and in 1795 was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1801 he was appointed by Jefferson on a confidential mission to upper Louisiana to ascertain the feelings and aspirations of the people, a mission for which he was in every way well qualified by his linguistic accomplishments. In 1803 he was elected to represent the Pittsburg district in Congress, and after the purchase of Louisiana, Jefferson in 1805, appointed him as one of the Board of Commissioners to adjust the land titles in this new acquisition, and as one of the judges of the Territorial Court, but an appointment which Jefferson after- ward said he regretted he made, perhaps because Lucas came into conflict with many of his ardent friends. In 1805 Lucas, in con- sequence of his appointment, removed to St. Louis where he became
applicant, a Mr. Easton of New York, who appears to me from his looks and conversation an amphibious character."- Gallatin under date of March 22, 1804, Jefferson Papers, 3d Series, vol. 5, no. 39.
" This is a short account of his trip: Lucas came down the Ohio in 1793 in company with Henri Peyroux and Thomas Power on a boat in command of Capt. Bond of the army. He arrived in New Madrid at the end of May and from there went by land to Ste. Genevieve, visited Kaskaskia and thence went to St. Louis where he remained for several days with Mr. Gabriel Cerré, then the leading merchant of the town. From St. Louis he returned to Kaskaskia, thence to Ste. Genevieve and from thence to Prairie du Rocher where he fell sick at the house of Mr. Barbeau, and remained for two or three months. The season being too far advanced to return home, he went to Kaskaskia and re- mained for the most of the winter with Gen. Edgar, and while there daily met Mr. Francois Janis, William Morrison, and from time to time went over to Ste. Genevieve visiting Col. Valle and Bernard Pratte. He also passed several days at Whiteside's station. From Kaskaskia he went to Vincennes and while there stayed with Col. Vigo. On this trip he was accompanied by Richard Buate. From Vincennes he went to Louisville where he visited Mr. La Cas- sagne. From there he went to Lexington and read resolutions and noticed an agitation to separate from the Union and from there went to Danville and with a party crossed over the wilderness road, and finally arrived at home three days before harvest and about eight days before the breaking out of the Whiskey insurrection in 1794.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
one of the most conspicuous and prominent residents, and where he died in 1840, having accumulated a large amount of real property in and near St. Louis, which by reason of the growth of the city vastly enriched him.
James Lowry Donaldson, who was also appointed as attorney-gen- eral of the Louisiana territory, was another member of the Board of Land Commissioners. He was born in the north of Ireland, and · his real name was "Lowry," but the name "Donaldson" was added by Act of the Mary- land legislature to enable him to inherit an estate. At the time of his appointment he was a distinguished lawyer of Baltimore. He was a brother of Mrs. Robert Morrison of Kaskaskia and relative of Francis Barton Key, who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." He resigned his position as commissioner after a short time and returned to Maryland. He WM. LOWRY DONALDSON was killed at the battle of North Point near Baltimore, in an attack made by the British on that place August 12, 1814, and his name is found engraved on the monument erected on Monument square in that city to the memory of "the patriotic band who devoted their lives to the welfare of the country on that memorable occasion." 1
15 In a supplement to Niles' Register, vol. 7, I find the following details relating to Donaldson copied from the Baltimore Federal Gazette: "James Lowry Donaldson, Esq., who was killed in the late action near North Point, on the 12th instant (August 12, 1814) was a native of Ireland, but has resided in this country from the time he was eleven years old. He was the third son of Colonel William Lowry, of this city, his name having been changed by an act of the assembly of this state, in compliance with the wishes of a relative. Mr. Donaldson received a liberal education and was bred to the profession of the law which he was practicing in this city with much reputation and success.
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