DANIEL JOHNSTON'S LAND CLAIM
CASE #43
DANIEL JOHNSON'S CASE , No. 43
Claim--Of Eight hundred acres, by virtue of a Spanish warrant of survey, under the first section of the act.
The claimant presented his claim, together with a surveyor's plot of the land claimed, in the following words and figures, to wit:
To the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the act of Congress passed the 3d day of March, 1803, for receiving and adjusting claims to lands south of Tennessee, and east of Pearl River.
Please to take notice, that the following tact of land, situated on the west side of Tombigbee river, in the county of Washington, beginning at the water oak on the Tombigbee and running west, one hundred and twenty chains seventy links to a post oak: thence, south, sixty-three chains twenty-five links, to an ironwood; thence, east, one hundred and forty chains and twenty links, to a sycamore on the river bank; thence, up the various courses of the river, to the beginning; containing eight hundred acres, and hath such forms and marks, both natural and artificial, as are fully represented in the plot annexed: is claimed by Daniel Johnson, in and by virtue of a Spanish warrant of survey; and is now exhibited to the Register of the Land Office established east of Pearl river, to be recorded as directed by said act. to all which he begs leave to refer, as also to a copy of the plot herewith filed.
Daniel Johnson
Mar 20, 1804
Surveyed 20th March, 1804 by John Dease. Chain bearers, James Dean and Amos Reed.
In support of this claim, a Spanish warrant of survey was exhibited in words and figures following, to wit:
Fort St Stephen's May 11, 1795
His excellency the governor General:
Daniel Johnson, with the profoundest respect, represents and lays before your excellency, and says that he being desirous of settling himself on Tombigbee river, there is a tract of land about sixteen leagues distance below Fort St Stephen's, containing twenty acres front, with its customary profounder back, bounded on the north by a bayou or creek, called the Three Mouth creek, and on the south by vacant land; he desires to cultivate the same, not causing prejudice to any person whatever: he begs your excellency to grant him the above petition, with papers of titles necessary, which may correspond with the grant; for which favor from your excellency he will be forever thankful.
Daniel Johnson
Fort St Stephen's May 11, 1795
His Excellency the Governor General:
By the best information taken from the inhabitants of this post, that the land the above petitioner solicits is vacant lands, and King's commons, your excellency may dispose as is best, as it cannot cause any prejudice to any person.
Antonio Palao
New Orleans, June 10, 1795
The Surveyor General of this province shall establish that part of twenty acres front, with the profounder back, as customary, of forty acres, which the petitioner solicits in the above petition, as the land is vacant, and at the same place as abovementioned in the petition, without causing any prejudice to any neighbors, with the precise conditions of making the road and clearing regularly, in peremptory space of one year; and if at the precise space of three years the land in not settled, during which period it cannot be alienated, this grant remains null; under which supposition, the business of settling the limits will be carried on in the tract, and remitted me to provide the interested party with titles in form.
The Baron of Carondelet
Fort St Stephen's September 15, 1795
Certifieth that the above is copy of the original in these archives, under my charge.
Fernando Lisore
The above was compared exact with the original in this office, by me.
Joaqn. De Osorno
The above is a copy of the Spanish grant.
Thos Price
I, Thomas Price, of the post of Mobile, English interpreter for His Majesty the King of Spain, do solemnly swear by the Almighty God, and by the Holy Cross, that this is a true and faithful translation of the Spanish grant or writing hereto annexed.
Thos Price
Subscribed and sworn before the board, March 21, 1804----Attest: David Parmelee 2d Clerk
Entered by Edward Lloyd Wailes, for
Joseph Chambers, Register
Thursday, March 22, 1804
James Powel ws produced as a witness, and, being duly sworn and interrogated by the Board, he deposed, that he had no interest in the establishment of this claim; that, in the spring of the year 1795, Daniel Johnson, the present claimant, began to cultivate the land now by him claimed, and raised a crop the ensuing season; that he hath continued to cultivate the same land ever since; but, being an unmarried man, he lived in the family of his father, near by.
Question. Did this claimant cultivate this land for his own use solely, or for the benefit of his father?
Answer. I do not know positively, but always understood that he cultivated for himself solely.
Question. Was this claimant twenty-one years of age on the 11th day of June, 1795, or the head of a family?
Answer. He was not the head of a family, and I do not know positively that he was twenty-one years of age.
The Board ordered tht the case be postponed for consideration.
Tuesday, April 10, 1804
Amos Reed and James Dean, chain carriers for the survey in this case, were sworn before Figures Lewis, and John callier, Esquires, Justices of the Peace.
John Dease, surveyor was presented as a witness, and being duly sworn, deposed, that he made the survey and plot of the landin question, and believed it to be correct; and that it included the improvements of the calimant; that the British claim of Alexander McCullagh covered about one-quarter part of this claim, on the south side; and had heard of a British grant , in favor of Adam Tate, which must also cover a part of this claim, on the north side.
The Board ordered that the case be postponed for consideration.
Monday, May 28th, 1804
On due consideration, the Board is of opinion that this claim is supported agreeably to the requirements of law, and that the claimant is entitled to a patent for eight hundred acres of land, to be located as follows, to wit:
Beginning on the west margin of the Tombigbee river, on the lower side of the mouth of a bayou or creek, called the Three Mouthed creek, or Three River lake; thence, down the margin of said river so far as to make sixtythree chains and twenty-five links, in a straight line: thence, north, eighty-seven degrees west, so far, that a line therefrom due north, sixty-three chains twenty-five links, and thence, south, eighty-seven degrees east, to the place of beginning; shall include eight hundred acres: Provided, nevertheless, That the said claimant first obtain, before a court of competent jurisdiction, a judicial decision in his favor, against the adverse claim of virtue of a grant from the British Government of West Florida to Alexander McCullagh, bearing the date the 6th day of A.D. 1778. And the board doth order that a certificate be granted to him accordingly.
Adjourned until Tuesday, the twenty-ninth instant.