Greathouse of Bedford County, PA

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1771, Mar 11 - Surveyor: Captain William Crawford

Excerpt from Roy Bird Cook, Washington's Western Lands, 1930:

In March, 1771, a meeting of the men [members of the Virginia Regiment] interested in the "military land" grants was called at Winchester. Washington arrived on the fourth [March 4], the following day rendered his accounts, and made his reports relative to his journey down the Ohio River [Journal of a Tour to the Ohio River, 5 Oct - 1 Dec 1770]. On the evening of the sixth [March 6] he set out for the home of his brother, Samuel, at "Harewood". Here he spent five days in company with Captain William Crawford, "the surveyor of our 200,000 acres of land", going over the details in this connection and writing out instructions and orders. On the eleventh [March 11] he left the present Charles Town vicinity for Mount Vernon. Indeed, an examination of the voluminous Washington material of that period shows quite clearly that the allotment and settlement of lands in the Ohio basin overshadowed all else.

Crawford, under the general direction of Washington and Thomas Lewis (who married Jane Strother, a schoolmate and friend of Washington), surveyed most of the lands on the Ohio and Kanawha. In addition to the authority conferred upon him by Executive Council in 1769 and 1771, he was also commisssioned by the College of William and Mary, a deputy surveyor for Augusta County, in place of Christopher Gist, deceased.

Upon Captain William Crawford's return to his home, at Stewart's Crossing, which was located in Bedford County, PA in 1771, he made the necessary preparations for the surveying expedition, which included hiring a survey crew from the area to assist him with surveying the military land grants along the Great Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. By the spring of 1771, Captain William Crawford had returned to the Kanawha Valley with a surveying crew consisting of John Custard, George Cox, William Jackson, Marcus Hardin, and Joel Rees. Captain Crawford's surveying crew was named in the first survey made for Washington, as related by Roy Bird Cook.

Excerpt from Roy Bird Cook, Washington's Western Lands, 1930:

The Mason County Land

The first survey made for Washington was designated as "No. 1" and was made in June 1771, by Crawford assisted by John Custard, George Cox, William Jackson, Marcus Hardin and Joel Rees.

Footnotes:

1) Marcus Hardin and Joel Rees were both residents of Springhill, Bedford County, PA.

1770 - Land Survey: Mark Hardin, Springhill, Bedford County, PA, adjoining John Hardin Sr., Choice, 319 acres. View Map @ Fold3

1772 - Land Warrant: Joel Rees, Patience, Springhill, Bedford County, PA. View Map @ Fold3

Excerpt from Philip W. Sturm, Kinship Migration to Northwestern Virginia, 1785-1815

Marcus Hardin and Joel Rees were noted as two of James Neal's closest associates. In 1764, James Neal had married Hannah Hardin, becoming the brother-in-law of Marcus Hardin. James Neal and his brother George had settled with the Hardins in the area between where Georges Creek and the Cheat River empty into the Monongahela, in Springhill, Bedford County, PA. Here he claimed a tract of 332-1/4 acres, which he called “Rich Land Valley,” on November 24, 1769.

2) George Cox and Joseph Tomlinson Jr. were both residents of Grave Creek, Augusta County, VA.

Excerpt from Letter: Michael Cresap Jr., born 17 Oct 1775, of Powhattan, OH to Lyman C. Draper Esquire, 1845:

Col. William Crawford in 1771, surveyed land for Gen. Washington on the Kanawha.- Capt. George Cox & Joseph Tomlinson [Jr.] aided. In the spring of '75, Crawford surveyed lands around & below Wheeling.

During the next two years, Crawford surveyed ten separate tracts that included most of the existing bottom lands on both sides of the river from the mouth of the Kanawha to just below the mouth of Elk River.

Tract No. 1 - Began two miles above the mouth of the river on the south side and continued seventeen miles up stream to the present Putnam County line. It contained 10,990 acres and was registered in the name of George Washington. (This was originally the Ambrose Powell tract that was first surveyed in 1750).

Tract No. 2 - Was on the north side of the river and ran from the present Putnam County line below Buffalo to just below what is now Eleanor. It included 7,894 acres and was divided among Colonel George Muse, Dr. James Craik, and Captain William Bronaugh.

Tract No. 3 - Started below the present site of Eleanor and ran to the mouth of the Poca River. It contained 7,276 acres and was awarded to George Washington. It included what is now the sites of Eleanor, Red House, Bancroft, and Raymond City.

Tract No. 4 - Began at the mouth of Hurricane Creek and continues to opposite the mouth of Armours Creek. It included the present town of Winfield. The survey contained 4,232 acres and went to Dr. James Craik.

Tract No. 5 - This survey ran along the Kanawha from the mouth of Poca River to the eastern city limits of present Nitro. It contained 21,941 acres and included the future sites of Poca, Nitro, and Cross Lanes. It was divided between eight officers who had been in the Virginia Regiment. They were: Colonel Joshua Fry, Colonel Thomas Bullitt, General Adam Stephens, Lieutenant William Wright, General Andrew Lewis, Major Peter Hogg, Captain John Savage, and Captain John Welper.

Tract No. 6 - This grant contained 2,000 acres and was located above the mouth of Coal River, extending along the Kanawha to Two-and-Three-Quarter-Mile Creek. It was originally awarded to Lieutenant Charles Mynn Thurston who sold his right to Lund Washington for ten pounds. The tract was registered in the name of George Washington. It included the present site of St. Albans.

Tract No. 7 - This survey contained 2,950 acres and was granted to George Washington. It began approximately a mile and a half above the mouth of Coal River on the opposite side of the Kanawha. It followed the course of the river to Tyler Creek above the present side of Dunbar. It included what is now Institute and Dunbar.

Tract No. 8 - This grant was located on Poca River embracing a section of the river valley from Derricks Creek to the Jackson County line. It contained 6,788 acres and included the present site of Sissonville. It was divided among Colonel Hugh Mercer, Captain Andrew Wagoner, and Lieutenant John West.

Tract No. 9 - This was the largest survey containing 51,302 acres or 84.3 square miles. Only three miles fronted on the Kanawha. However, it continued on around the point and ran along the Ohio from the present site of Point Pleasant to Letart. It included most of the Great Bend of the Ohio. It was divided among Colonel Charles Muse, General Peter Hogg, Captain John West, Captain John Polson and Captain Andrew Wagoner. It included the sites of Point Pleasant, Mason, Hartford, New Haven, and Letart.

Tract No. 10 - Was awarded to General Hugh Mercer. It contained 13,532 acres which began two miles below the mouth of the Kanawha and followed the Ohio to the vicinity of present Apple Grove. It included a long bottom that is till known as Mercer's Bottom.

Sources:

Roy Bird Cook, Washington's Western Lands, Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1930. Page 37, 1771, Mar 11 - Surveyor: Captain William Crawford.

West Virginia University Libraries, West Virginia & Regional History Collection, Biography of Roy Bird Cook. View @ WVRHC

George Washington, Jared Sparks, The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts, Volume 2, Ferdinand Andrews, 1833. Original from Harvard University, Digitized Jan 14, 2009. 1770 - Journal of a Tour to the Ohio River. View @ Google Books

Cook, op. cit., Page 43, 1771, Apr - Survey Crew: Captain William Crawford assisted by John Custard, George Cox, William Jackson, Marcus Hardin and Joel Rees.

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Bureau of Archives and History, Pennsylvania State Archives, RG-17, Records of the Land Office, Warrentee Township Maps, {series #17.522}. Springhill Township, Fayette County, PA. 1770 - Land Survey: Mark Hardin, Springfield, Bedford County, PA, adjoining John Hardin Sr., Choice, 319 acres; 1772 - Land Warrant: Joel Rees, Patience, Springhill, Bedford County, PA. View Map @ Fold3

Philip W. Sturm, Kinship Migration to Northwestern Virginia, 1785-1815: The Myth of the Southern Frontiersman, Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, Department of History, Morgantown, West Virginia 2004. Joel Rees settled along the Cheat River near it's mouth, or Point Marion, Bedford County, PA from 1771 through 1773. View 2004 - Sturm: Kinship Migration to Northwestern Virginia

State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Draper Manuscript Collection, Draper's Notes Mss., Vol. 2S. Page 307, Letter: Michael Cresap Jr., born 17 Oct 1775, of Powhattan, OH to Lyman C. Draper Esquire, 1845.

William D. Wintz, Annals Of The Great Kanawha River, Charleston, WV: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1993. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 93-86905, ISBN 0-929521-83-8. Page 18, 1771-1773 - Captain William Crawford surveyed ten tracts along the Great Kanawha River.