USA > Ohio > The Ohio Valley in colonial days > Part 15
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Six Nations) did yield up and make over and for ever quit claim to your Majesty and your successors All their said lands west of Virginia with all their right thereto so far as your Majesty should at any time thereafter be pleased to extend the said Colony.
That most of the Nations of Indians west of the Mountains and upon the Lakes and the River Ohio have entered into an Alliance with your Majesty's Subjects and with the Six Nations in Friendship with the British Colony's and have desired your Majesty's Subjects the Inhabitants of Virginia to send them British Goods and manufactures as they inclined to trade solely with Your Majesty's Subjects.
That by laying hold of this opportunity and im- proving this favourable disposition of these Indians they may be forever fixed in the British Interest and the prosperity and safety of the British Colonys be effectually secured and which your Petitioners are ready and willing to undertake.
That your Petitioners beg leave humbly to inform your Majesty, that the lands to the West of the said Mountains are extreemly fertile, the Climate very fine and healthy and the waters And whereas there was likewise laid before the Lords of the Committee a Report made by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, dated the 13th of December last, together with a Draught of an additional In- struction prepared by the said Lords Commissioners for Sir William Gooch, His Majesty's Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Virginia, impowering him
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to make Grants of Lands on the western side of the great Mountains to persons in Partnership who have applied for the same And their Lordships observing that the lands, proposed to be granted by the said Instruction, are situated in the same place with those prayed for by the aforementioned Petition of John Hanbury and others and may probably have some relation to each other, Do therefore think it proper hereby to referr back to the said Lords Commission- ers for Trade and Plantations the said Report and additional Instruction for their further consideration. To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty in Coun- cil The humble Petition of John Hanbury of London Merchant etc etc (Names as above) for settling the Countrys upon the Ohio and extending the British Trade be- yond the Mountains on the Western con- fines of Virginia
Most humbly Sheweth
That by the Treaty of Lancaster and also by Deed bearing date the 2ª day of July 1744 the Northern Indians by the name of the Six Nations Settlement is once begun by your Petitioners but that a great number of Foreign Protestants will be desirous of settling in so Fertile and delightful a Country under the just and mild administration of your Majesty's Government, especially as they will be at little more charge than the transporting themselves from their Native Country.
That your Pet's for these great and national ends
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and purposes and in order to improve and extend the British Trade amongst these Indians, and to set- tle these Countrys in so healthy and fine a Climate and which are your Majesty's undoubted right have entered into Partnership by the name of the Ohio Company to settle these Countrys to the West of the said Mountains and to carry on a Trade with the Indians in those parts and upon the said Lakes and Rivers. But as effecting the same and more especially the erecting a sufficient Fort and keeping a Garrison to protect the Infant Settlement will be attended with great Expense
Your Petitioners who are the first Adventurers in this beneficial Undertaking, which will be so advan- tageous to the Crown in point of Revenue, to the Nation in point of Trade and to the British Colonys in point of strength and security, most humbly pray that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to en- courage this their said Undertaking by giving Instructions to your Governor of Virginia to grant to your Pet's and such others as they shall admit as their Associates a Tract of Five hundred thousand acres of land betwixt Romanettos and Buffalo's Creek on the South side of the River Aligane otherwise the Ohio and betwixt the two Creeks and the Yellow Creek on the North side of the said River or in such parts to the West of the said Mountains as shall be adjudged most proper by your Petitioners for that purpose and that two hundred thousand acres, part of the said five hundred thousand may be granted
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In Colonial Days.
immediately without rights on condition of your Petitioners seating at their proper expence a hundred Familys upon the land in seven years, the lands to be granted free of quitrent for ten years on condition of their erecting a Fort and maintaining a Garrison for protection of the Settlement for that time your Petrs paying the usual quit rent at the expiration of. the said ten years from the date of their Patent - And your Petrs further pray, that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to send your said Governor a further Instruction that as soon as these two hundred thousand acres are settled and the Fort erected, That three hundred thousand acres more residue of the said Five hundred thousand acres may be granted to your Petitioners adjoining to the said Two hundred thousand acres of land so first granted with the like exemptions and under the same covenants and to give all such further and other encouragements to your Petitioners in this their so usefull and publick an undertaking as to your Majesty in your great wis- dom shall seem meet.
9. Additional Instructions to Sir William Gooch, Lieut-Gov of Virginia, submitted by the Lords for Trade and Plantations to the Committee of Council, Decbr 13, 1748.
WHEREAS it hath been represented unto Us, that application hath been made to you by persons in Partnership for a Grant or Grants of two hundred thousand acres of land on the western side of the Great Mountains within our Colony of Virginia in
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order to settle the same with Strangers - AND WHEREAS such Settlement will be for our interest and the advantage and security of our said Colony as well as the neighbouring Colonys inasmuch as Our loving Subjects will be thereby enabled to cultivate a Friend- ship and carry on a more extensive commerce with the Nations of Indians inhabiting those parts and such examples may likewise induce the neighbouring Colonys to turn their thoughts towards Designs of the same nature, IT IS THEREFORE OUR WILL AND PLEASURE and you are hereby authorized and required to make a'Grant or Grants of Two hundred thousand acres of land beyond the great Mountains to the said Persons in Partnership, who have applied for the same-Provided that you take especial care in making such grant or grants for the reservation of our quit rents and for settling and cultivating the said lands agreeable to such Laws as now are in force in Our said Colony for that purpose and conformable to Our Instructions to our Governor of the said Colony upon that head.
AND WHEREAS it hath been further represented unto Us that the said persons in Partnership have proposed that four years may be allowed them to survey the said lands and pay the usual rights for the same upon return of the plans to Our Secretary's Office of Our said Colony, which indulgence has been represented to us to have been heretofore given even for a longer term to Grantees of lands lying in remote parts of Our said Colony, when the Grant
In Colonial Days. 257
has been for a large number of acres as this is, espe- cially as there is just ground to expect, that at the expiration of the term proposed Our Revenue will be increased and a barrier formed to that and Our neighbouring Colonys by means of such Settlement, Now having considered the said proposal together with the Opinion of Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations thereupon We are graciously pleased to agree thereto, But lest such indulgence should tempt persons already settled in other parts of Our Colony upon lands for which the usual quitrent is paid to desert their former Settlements and seat themselves upon the lands so to be granted, IT IS OUR FURTHER WILL AND PLEASURE, that it be an express condition of the said Grant or Grants, that no person already possessed of lands in any other part of Our said Colony held of us by quitrent be admitted to take up or settle any of the lands to be granted to the said persons in Partnership without giving secu- rity for continuing the payment of the quit rents for the lands by them heretofore possessed, notwith- standing their removal.
And as it is not likely, that any number of Inhab- itants will be induced to settle beyond the great Mountains, unless they are sure of protection there, IT IS OUR FURTHER WILL AND PLEASURE, that the building a Fort and placing a sufficient Garrison therein at the expence of the Grantees be a further condition of the said Grant or Grants.
(This Additional Instruction was somewhat changed
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Febry 23, 1749 and then sent out to Sir Wm Gooch, Gov' of Virginia,)
IO. Letter from Col. Thomas Lee, President of the Council of Virginia to the Lords of Trade, Oct 18, I749, BT, Vª Vol. 20
. . The Ohio Company, imediately after your Lordships letter with His Majesty's additional In- structions came to Sir William Gooch, had a meeting, and, as Mr. Hanbury will inform your Lordships, gave him an order to ship the necessary goods for carrying on a trade with the Indians -they than sent out into those back parts to discover a proper place to settle their factory on and begin their survey, but those very Indians that had encouraged them at the first, had been persuaded to believe, that our design was to ruin, not trade with them and such a spirit of jealousy is raised among them yt without a treaty and presents we shall not be able to doe any thing with them, this was not the case, when the Ohio Company petitioned ; the bulk of these Indians are such as being ill used by the French removed from the Lakes of St. Lawrence a short time before the end of the Warr, in order to join the English in maks warr upon the French and they have been invited ; refuse to return and with these are some of the Six Nations, these are all friends, but friendship with these people must be kept firm by presents, which make way for trade. It will therefore I apprehend be necessary for this Governmt to treat with them and by presents fix them in the English interest. The Pennsylva-
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In Colonial Days.
nians claim as I am told to the 39th degree, this will take from Virginia a considerable quantity of land and prevent the Ohio Company setling with any cer- tainty, as noe such line has ever been run; there seems to be the same reason for setling the North- ern, as there was for settling the Southern bounds of Virginia and if your Lordships think soe, the same way may be taken by appointing Commissioners.
The last and great difficulty of that Company will be the erecting and garrisoning a Fort, this will be such an expence to a private Company, that have noe pretence nor desire to an exclusive trade, that it will make them much less able to carry on a trade sufft to engage the Indians effectually in the Brittish intrest. The Indians as far as I have observed seldom or never breake their faith, but from mere necessity. If they are not supplyed with Guns, Ammunition & Cloths, by presents and trade, they must starve, soe they are obliged to cultivate a friendship with those yt will help them.
I refer your Lordships to what Mr. Hanbury will lay before your Lordships more at large, and we hope for your Lordships favourable representations to His Majesty in favour of the Ohio Company, whose views I am convinced are for the public good, to extend His Majesty's Empire in America and by an honest trade to strengthen the Brittish Intrest against any enemy whatever.
The French claim to the Missisippi is not just, since if your Lordships turn to your books abt the
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latter end of King Williams reign, it will appear by a representation to the King yt that River and farr beyond it was granted by King Charles the first to S' Robert Heath & setled by the English, long be- fore the French had been in them parts, and the King's claim is continued by the bounding of the Carolines by the South Sea.
If by these further Indulgences from His Majestye the Ohio Company are allowed to carry on their trade and make their Settlement, they hope to engage the Indians of the several Nations soe effectually in the Brittish intrest, yt the encroachments of the French will be prevented.
Very incomplete abstracts of papers relating to the Ohio Company, made for me in London :
VIRGINIA Augt 21st 1751. .
MY LORDS
[He transmits a map of Virginia, & information showing it to be correct, has referred these matters to a gentleman of considerable mathematical & geo- graphical knowledge, he sends a book relating to Virginia & an account of John P. Salley's travels, his own journey to Bath, notwithstanding grants made by the Kings of England, France, or Spain, the right to uninhabited lands must depend on prior occupancy ; letter and instructions recd .; order from Lords Justices re Quit-rents ; state of the Indians ;] This Fall I shall send a Messenger to acquaint them [the Indians] that I purpose next May to send Com- missioners to meet them at the Place they desire ;
:
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In Colonial Days.
and at the Conference I shall endeavour to obtain a Confirmation of the Grant of the Lands made to his Majesty at the Treaty of Lancaster in Order to give the Ohio Company an Opportunity of surveying the large Tract of Land his Majesty was pleased to Grant to them. [Intended remonstrance to the In- dians re ill-treating inhabitants [of Virginia]; audience with ambassador from the Cherokees ; proceedings of Court of Oyer and Terminer ; Land Law passed by the General Assembly.]
I have the Honour to be with the greatest Regard and Esteem your Lordships most obedient and most humble Servant
[To the Board of Trade] LEWIS BURWELL
Some Additions to the Accounts sent from Vir- ginia, concerning the Extent and Limits of that Colony, and the Encroachments that have been made upon it.
[Original grant of Virginia was made to Sir W. Raleigh in 1584; limits of the province at that time ; reversion to the Crown ; grants made in 1606 & 1609 ; second reversion to the Crown in 1624, colonies which border on Virginia ; Lake Erie suggested as boundary between New York & Virginia; inaccu- racy of maps ; district claimed by the French ; prior settlement by the English of lands near the Missis- sippi ; purchase from native proprietors ; encroach- ments on the colony by the French; uninhabited portions ; French maps ; most important place is the
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Fork of the Mississippi ; English settlements. ] These Settlements [those made by Germans & other for- eigners] are Chiefly in the middle and Southern parts of Virginia ; In the Northern parts they have none at all, as far as I am Informed, anywhere beyond the Mountains, Notwithstanding the large Grant made to the Ohio Company there. But here the Country is peopled with Indians upon the River Ohio, and some few of our People Chiefly from Pensylvania are Settled among them. [Description of the river Ohio, its course &c ; claim of Canada to lands near Lake Erie ; bounds of Maryland & Pennia ; fortifica- tions &c, of the French; their tact in dealing with the Indians ; loss of Fort Alabama in Carolina ; rice & tobacco trade, defenceless state of our colonies ; it is necessary - 1º. to settle the bounds of the dif- ferent colonies] 2°. To make the Ohio Company Lay off their large Grant in those parts, and make the Settlements agreed upon. Untill that is done, no Others can well take a Grant for any Lands there- abouts, for fear of being Ejected by that very Exten- sive One that was granted before them. 3º. If the like Grants of Smaller Tracts of Lands were made to Others upon the same Terms with that of the Ohio Company, and all who will settle in that Coun- try were allowed a grant free from Quick-rents and other Charges for a certain Number of Years, to Encourage and Enable them to make Settlements in such remote and distant parts, it is the Opinion of those that are best Acquainted with it, that the Coun-
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In Colonial Days.
try on & about the River Ohio would soon be peopled and Secured. [Limits suggested for free grants, 4º. proposition to establish a trading factory among the Indians; advisability of the northern colonies uniting to oppose the influence of the French.] [Recd. Apr: 14 1752]
WILLIAMSBURG May 22ª. 1753 SR
[Letter recd .; complaints of the Indian traders ; French designs to settle the Ohio will, if permitted, ruin the trade with the Indians ; express sent to make peace between the Creeks & Cherokees ; cruel treat- ment of the loyal Cherokees by the Mohawks ; ap- plication to the governor of Canada necessary ; jealousy of the traders from different colonies is very prejudicial to the British interest.] I have often mention'd to the Ohio Compa: Y' Proprietors Incli- nations to support their settling the Lands granted them by His Majesty, for which they seem'd to be very well pleas'd. [He is anxious to hear the result of the Assembly's consideration on present affairs.] Believe me to be with all imaginable regard & Esteem Sr
Y' most hble Servt. ROBT DINWIDDIE*
Honble: James Hamilton Esq"
WILLIAMSBURG VIRGINIA Jany 29th 1754 Right Honble.
[Return of M' Washington; enclosures; ill-treat
* Not in Dinwiddie Papers.
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ment of British subjects by the French commder: ; forts and forces of the French; right of the English king to lands claimed by the French; Treaty of Lan- caster; presents to the Indians. ]
Under the certain right of the Crown of Great Brit" His Majesty was pleas'd to grant to some of his Subjects, five hundred Thousand Acres of Land on the Waters of the Ohio, under the Name of the Ohio Company. This Company, & their Grant, is well known to the Governor of Canada, & that they have, at great Expence begun their Settlement, agreeable to their Grant, but some of their People are return'd, being seiz'd with a Panick on the Threats of the French, & their seizing all they can by their Hands on belonging to the British Subjects, & it's further surmiz'd that they spirit up the Indians in their Interest, to way lay them, & Murder them .- Some of our Subjects in the Frontiers of this Do- minion, have lately been barbarously Murder'd & Scalp'd, & said to be done by the French Indians.
[Militia to be sent to the Ohio; House of Burgesses; bad state of troops; stores received from the Board of Ordnance; requests smaller guns. ]
I remain with great Deference & Dutiful respect Right Honble. Your Lordships much Oblig'd
& most Obedt hble Serv.
ROBt. DINWIDDIE Rt Hon. Lords for Trade &cª.
* Not in Dinwiddie Papers.
In Colonial Days. 265
At the Council Chamber Whitehall the 2ª day of April 1754 By the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs
His Majesty having been pleased, by His Order in Council of the 28th of last Month, to referr unto this Committee the humble petition of the Ohio Company, praying, that upon Condition the Petition- ers enlarge their Settlements and Seat three hundred Familys instead of One hundred by their former Con- tract, and in Consideration of their erecting two Forts, One at Shurtees Creek, and the other at the Fork where the great Conaway enters the Ohio, and maintain them at their own Expence, That His Maj- esty will be greatly pleased to enlarge their Grant under the same Exemption of Rights and Quit Rents as in the former Instructions, and to fix the Bounds without any further delay of Survey, from Romanet- toe or Kiskominettoe Creek on the South East Side of the Ohio to the Fork at the entrance of the great Conhaway River, and from thence along the North Side of the said Conhaway River to the Entrance of Green Brier River, and from thence in a Streight Line or Lines to and along the Mountains to the South East Spring of Mohongaly River, and from thence Northwards along the Mountains to the North East Springs of Romanettoe or Kiskominettoe Creek or till a West Line from the Mountains intersects the said Spring and along it to its Entrance into the Ohio, which will prevent all Disputes or Delay about
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the Limits, which are necessary to be immediately determined, as the Season is advancing to procure Foreign Protestants and others of His Majestys Sub- jects to go on with the Settlement, and to procure Materials to erect their Second Fort at the Mouth of the great Conhaway River (the Fort on Shurtees Creek being now building to prevent the Intrusion and Incroachments of the Indians in the French Alliance and secure Our Settlements upon the Ohio, which if not immediately put in Execution before they get possession, may be highly detrimental to the Colonys, and occasion a great future Expence to Britain - The Lords of the Committee this day took the said Petition into their Consideration, and are hereby pleased to referr the same (a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed) to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to consider thereof, and Report their Opinion thereupon to this Committee- W. SHARPE
To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council The humble Petition of the Ohio Company Sheweth
That Your Pet's upon Information given by sev1 Nations of Indians residing near the Ohio and other Branches of the Missisippi & near the Lakes West- ward of Virginia that they were desirous of Trading with Your Majestys Subjects and quitting the French, And knowing the value of those rich Countrys which were given up and acknowledged to be Your Majes-
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In Colonial Days.
tys undoubted right by the Six Nations who are law- full Lords of all those Lands by Conquest from other Indian Nations at the Treaty of Lancaster the 2ª day of July 1744 Your Pet's being sensible of the vast Consequence of securing these Countrys from the French did in the Year 1748 form themselves into a Company to Trade with the Indians and to make Settlements upon the Ohio or Allegany River by the Name of the Ohio Company -
That the Company in the beginning of the Year 1749 Petitioned Your Majesty wherein they set forth the vast Advantage it would be to Britain and the Colonys to anticipate the French by taking possession of that Country Southward of the Lakes to which the French had no right nor had then taken any pos- session except a small Blockhouse fort among the Six Nations below the falls of Niagara they having deserted Le Detroit Fort Northward of Erie Lake during the War and retired to Cannada ; The reasons for Securing the same being mentioned at large in their said former petition and in which they prayed that Your Majesty wou'd give Orders or Instructions to Your Gov' of Virginia to make out to Your Petrs. five hundred Thousand Acres betwixt Romanetto and Buffaloe Creeks on the South Side of the Alle- gany or Ohio River and between the two Creeks and Yellow Creek on the North Side of that River upon the Terms and with the Allowances therein mentioned to which they beg leave to referr -
That Your Pet's in pursuance of the sd petition
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obtained an Order from Your Majesty to your Lieut Gov of Virginia dated March 18th 1748-9 to make them a Grant or Grants of 200,000 Acres of Land between Romanettoe and Buffalo Creeks on the South Side of the Ohio and betwixt the two Creeks and Yellow Creek on the North Side thereof or in such part to the Westward of the great Mountains as the Company shou'd think proper for making Settle- ments and extending their Trade with the Indians with a Proviso that if they did not erect a Fort on the sd Land & maintain a sufficient Garrison therein & seat at their proper expence a hundred Familys thereon in Seven Years the sd Grants should be void And as soon as these terms were accomplished he was ordered to make out a further Grant or Grants of 300,000 Acres under the like Conditions Restric- tions and Allowances as the first 200,000 Acres ad- joining thereto & within these Limits These Orders were delivered to the Honoble Wm. Nelson on the I 2th of July following 1749 and upon producing them before the Govr & Council they made an Entry in the Council Books that the Company should have leave given to them to take up and Survey 200,000 Acres within the places mentioned in Your Majestys said Instructions and Orders
That Your Pet's upon this Entry in the Council Books sent to Great Britain for a Cargoe of Goods to begin their Trade & purchased Lands upon the Potomack River being the most convenient place to erect storehouses ; and in Sept" following 1749 em-
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In Colonial Days.
ployed Gentlemen to discover the Lands beyond the Mountains to know where they shou'd make their Surveys But they not having made any considerable progress the Company in Sept" 1750 agreed to give M' Christopher Gist {150 certain and such further handsome Allowance as his Service should deserve for searching & discovering the Lands upon the Ohio and its sev Branches as low as the falls on the Ohio with proper Instructions He accordingly set out in Oct. 1750 & did not return 'till May 1751 after a Tour of 1200 Miles in which he visited many Indian Towns and found them all desirous of entering into strict Friendship & Trade with Your Majestys Sub- jects.
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