Sold – Daniel Boone Invests in Lands in the Ohio Country

Virginia was the original claimant of much land west of the Allegheny Mountains. With the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, it was asked to cede these land claims to the fledgling national government, which later used them to create the Northwest and Southwest Territories.

The first step took place in 1784 when Virginia relinquished its claim to lands to the northwest of the Ohio River in exchange for being able to award bounty lands in Ohio's "Virginia Military District." Even that practice ceased in 1801, and with it Virginia’s interest in Ohio. However, Virginia actively granted land there in the days before it ceded its claims. Under the Virginia land act of 1779, a person could purchase as much vacant land as desired by payment to the treasurer of a fee – originally 40 pounds for each one hundred acres. The treasurer issued a receipt for this payment, which was presented to the state auditor, who in turn issued a certificate noting the amount of land to which the person was entitled.

The certificate was then taken to the register of the Land Office, who issued a treasury warrant authorizing any surveyor to lay off the quantity of land specified. Treasury warrants numbered above 5,000 were for Ohio lands. Frontiersman and folk hero Daniel Boone became interested in the western lands and their exploration and settlement even before the American Revolution. His main focus during the war was in Kentucky, but he spent a great deal of time on the Ohio River.

The following document proves that Boone invested in Ohio land as well.

It is a Virginia Land Office Treasury Warrant No. 10233, and is addressed “to the principal surveyor of any County within the Commonwealth of Virginia.” The warrant recites, “This shall be your warrant to survey and lay off in one or more surveys, for Daniel Boone, his heirs or assigns, the quantity of five hundred acres of land, due unto the said Daniel Boone In consideration of the sum of 1800 pounds current money, paid into the public treasury…Given under my hand…this 22nd day of December, 1781.”

On the verso is a Daniel Boone Autograph Document Signed transferring the land to a buyer. “I do assign over all my right of the within warrant to James Gallery and his sons. this 24 day of December 1782.” Gallery then sells his interest to General Daniel Brodhead, writing “I do assign over all my right of the within warrant to Daniel Brodhead, his heirs and assigns, it being for value received as witness my hand this 25 day of January 1784.”

The land office then notes, “Danl. Brodhead, 500 acres, entered Feby. 2, 1784.” Brodhead was a natural buyer for the land. During the Revolution, he served as commander of Fort Pitt, and determined to break ties between the Native Americans in the Ohio Country and their English allies in 1781, led an expedition for that purpose. Brodhead later became the surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, so he had a demonstrated interest in both land and Ohio. This is the first Daniel Boone manuscript we have ever offered. Some of the writing is a little light and there is show-through from the printed side.