Thursday, September 5, 2013

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 180: Pennsylvania Land Warrant for Cornelius Feather (1777-1853)

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to showcase some of the collected documents and other treasures of my ancestors.

This is a Pennsylvania Land Warrant for Cornelius Feather (1777-1853), my 4th great-grandfather, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.



The transcription of this document is (handwritten portions in italics):

THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, SS

WHEREAS, there hath been surveyed and returned into the Surveyor General's Office, agreeable to the acts of ^the 27th day f March 1813 3d April, 1792, and of the Act of March, 1811, and the 3d of April, 1833, a certain tract of Land, containing 203 Acs 23 ps and allowance situate in Salem township, Mercer county, on the actual settlement and improvement of Jacob Layman (Being Lot No. 963 in the 5th donation district.).

And Whereas, it appears from the depositions now presented, that the said settlement and improvement is such as is required by the above mentioned acts.

And Whereas, The said Jacob Layman, who by deed dated the 25th day of October AD 1823, Conveyed all his right and title unto Cornelius Feather 

and the said Cornelius Feather having paid the purchase money, at the rate of twenty dollars per hundred acres, together with the interest due thereon.  I have, therefore, accepted said survey,and direct a Patent to issue thereon, agreeably to the acts of 17th day of April, 1843, and 29th day of April, 1844.

In witness whereof, John Laporte Surveyor General, hath hereto set his hand, and caused to be affixed the Seal of said office, at Harrisburg, the Seventeenth day of April A.D. 1846.

I recently found this document in the Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 database on Ancestry.com.  The database description says:

"This database contains land warrants, and warrant applications for the state of Pennsylvania.
"Land warrants contain descriptions of the land, information about boundaries, landmarks, previous owners, tenants, the amount of money paid, etc. Warrant applications contain less information than full warrants, which may contain maps and other information about the property.
"These records can be used in conjunction with census records, and to establish residency."

The Ancestry source citation for this collection is:

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Warrant Applications, 1733-1952. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania State Archives.


My interpretation of this document is that Jacob Layman was granted the original land warrant on Lot No. 963 in the 5th Donation district located in Salem township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and sold the land to Cornelius Feather in 1823 by deed.  Cornelius Feather received this document in 1846.  I located the land in Finding Pennsylvania Donation District Land Maps (posted 21 February 2013).

I need to obtain the deed for Jacob Layman selling this land to Cornelius Feather in 1823 in the Mercer County land records on Family History Library microfilm.  That's another item on my FHL to-do list!  I don't know the first name or last name of Cornelius Feather's wife, but this Jacob Layman is certainly one of his Associates in the FAN Club.  There may be a clue in the deed.  Or in other deeds.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/09/treasure-chest-thursday-post-180.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

1 comment:

Geolover said...

Jacob Layman could not sell the land to Cornelius Feather. As your certificate for issuance of Patent shows, it was Cornelius who paid the Land Office, and he to whom the Patent was to issue. Jacob could only sell his "interest" in the tract.

If you have not checked for details in the Warrant and Patent Registers, or looked at the copy of the original Survey (date of survey is part of the story), you can find them from the PA State Archives Land Office records gateway, here:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=3184&&SortOrder=100&level=4&parentCommID=3162&menuLevel=Level_4&mode=2

Sometimes there are little details about someone's not having fulfilled some part of the land procedures in the registers, and occasionally the Surveyor also comments.