DANIEL JOHNSON LAND CLAIM
CASE NO 103
I'm not sure where this case belongs: it could be 43 or 103???
Bridget Burk was produced as witness, and, being duly sworn and interrogated by the Board, deposed, that she was frequently in the family of the present claimant's father in the year 1795; that she then understood from the family, that Daniel Johnson, the present claimant, was more than twenty-one yers of age; that she lived in the family in the year 1796, and always understood the same thing; that in the year 1796, Daniel Johnson lived with his father, but carried on business by himself: that he used to go out to work with his men, which she understood to be upon the land now claimed, but could not say positively that it was upon the land.
Case No 103
March 28, 1804
Claim--A donation of six hundred and forty acres, as legal representative of William Burk, under the second 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.
March 26, 1804
Please to take notice, that the following tract of land, situated on the west side of Tombigbee river, in the county of Washington, beginning at a water oak, running thence, north, one hundred adn forty-three chains forty-six links, to a red oak corner; thence, north eighty-one chains twenty-five links, to a water oak on the Trhree River lake; thence, down the meanders of said lake, to the beginning; containing six hundred forty acres, and hath such forms and marks, both natural and artificial, as are fully represented in the plot annexd: is claimed by Daniel Johnson, legal representative of William Burk, in and by virtue of a deed of conveyance from William Burk to the widow Elizabeth McKim, and from the widow E McKim to D Johnson, 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.
Surveyed 22nd March, 1804, by John Dease. Chain bearers, James Dean, Amos Reed.
Entered by Edward Lloyd Wailes, for
Joseph Chambers, Register
The claimant exhibited a deed from Elizabeth McKim, bearing the date the 3d of September, 1803, duly executed, conveying to the said Daniel Johnson all the said Elizabeth's right and claim to the said tract of land, and the improvements made thereon.
Ephraim Barker and Bridget Burk were produced as witnesses, and, being duly sworn and interrogated by the Board, they deposed, that they were not interested in the establishment of this claim.
The said Burk testified, that, in the year 1797, William Burk, now deceased, then the husband of the witness, commenced the improvement of the land in question, by clearing a little land, preparing for a garden, lanting some fruit trees, &c. and moved on with the family in the month of January or February, 1798, and raised a crop on the land that year; that in the last part of the same year, he sold his possession and improvement to the widow Elizabeth McKim, who took possession, and continued to inhabit and cultivate the same until last year, except one year that she rented it.
The said Barker, testified, that, in the year 1797, William Burk began his improvements on the land now in question, by building a smoke house, and beginning his dwelling house, &c; that he moved his family on in the year 1798; that he, Barker, saw that year a crop of corn growing there; that Burk was a married man in the year 1797. The Board ordered that the case be postponed for considersation.
Tuesday, April 10, 1804
John Dease, surveyor, was presented as a witness, and, being duly sworn, deposed, that he made the survey and plot of the land in question, and believed it to be correct, and that it included the improvements of the claimant; that he believed that it covered nearly the whole of James bilbo's pre-emption claim; that he believed that the claim of the representatives of James Copeland, deceased, aslo interfered on the north corner, and probably covered the improvement.
The board ordered tht the cse be postponed for consideration.
Thursday, May 31, 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 three hundred and twenty acres of land, to be located as follows, to wit:
Beginning on the west bank of the Tombigbee, at the mouth of the Three River lake, being the upper or northeast corner of his Spanish warrant for eight hundred acres; thence, in the line of said Spanish warrant, therefrom, due north, twenty-five chains, and thence, due east, to the margin of said lake, and thence, with the margin of the said lake to the place of beginning, shall include three hundred and twenty acres. And the Board doth order that a certificate be granted to him accordingly.