Catherine Eddleman received
a Certificate for 400 acres for settling on it is 1778.
In 1883, after surveying, she got title to 345.5 acres on __Licking
Proceedures for obtaining land grants in KY is given.
810 - Biography of Catherine
Eddleman - You are reading this page. Support documents follow:
810A - Pennsylvania Gazette 1783
xxx ss list of Indian Captives related to Detroit British Fort.
810B - Possible Time Line for Catherine's
life PA, MD, NC, KY, and IN
810? - Map of the Ruddlesfort area showing what is known of the Burger
and Eddleman farms
810? - Tax records of John and Daniel Eddleman and the Burger family in
Kentucky
810D - Deed for sale of Catherine Eddleman Burger farm in Kentucky 1810
Dec xx
810L - Catherine's land in KY. You are on this page.
8??? - Map (1811) showing location of the farms of John and Catherine and
sons in Indiana
810Z - 50K of reference information
related to Catherine Eddleman
I need to add links to Bob Francis pages, and list useful books.
In 1882, Catherine Eddleman got a certificate for 400 acres of land in Kentucky after proving to the court that she settled on it in 1778. She sold that land in 1810 and that deed lists Catherine, John Eddleman, Daniel Eddleman, and John Burger. That deed does not state the relationship of these persons. The known Kentucky records are consistent with David and Catherine Eddleman planting corn or building a cabin in Kentucky in 1778
My proven family history goes back only to a record in a book which shows that Catherine Eddleman petitioned for 500 acres of land in Kentucky in 1780, claiming she settled on it in 1778. In 1883 she was granted 345.5 acres. I have not seen any of those original records. I do not know whether any of those records might have shown the names of any other members of her family.
It seems likely that David and Catherine arrived in Kentucke while the procedures for getting title to KY lands was being worked out. In fact, congress was concerned that people were moving into western areas where congress could not protect them.
Several people have helped me understand the procedures for gaining title to KY lands. Here are some e-mails which may be useful to you.
1999 Jan 22 From: hogan@qx.net
Harold, are you talking about the Land Courts dating from 1779 to 1780? There were 8 terms and they were held at Logon's; Harrodsburg, Falls of the Ohio, Harrodsburg, Boonesborough, Bryant's station and then another at Harrodsburg and Logon's fort. These were published by Wilson in First land court of KY.
Another excellent book is Hammon's Early Kentucky Land Records 1773-1780. Mr. Hammon has done an outstanding job extracting and explaining those early records which include land in what is now KY, but was then in Virginia, Fincastle and Kentucky County, etc.
In general, VA/Williamsburg land records for present day Kentucky land surveys were transferred to Kentucky once it became a state. Obviously there are always exceptions to this generalization.
Finally, as you suspected, you can get alot of the info you seek from the original patents and surveys (at the KY Historical Society and State Archives) as well as from the county clerk books themselves. Some early counties have survey and patent books; and then there were all these suits.... it's wonderful reading. They often describe how the family came to KY from Virginia, etc., since that was part of the way they documented ownership. They will often say who they came with, dates, route they took, etc. Highly recommended reading. So once you find your ancestors grant in Jilson or Brookes' Smith's books, don't stop there.
Roseann Hogan Ph.D
Subject: KY Land Commission Date: 23 Jan 99 23 From: j.sellars@usa.net
Now onto the land Commission subject:
It is great that Bob Francis is posting the land commission settlement certificates on his web page. Some very valuable information can be found in these records. I know John Sellers' record is in the book, I believe it was under the name of Sellas, or something like that.
A bit of important info you may want to include with the record is what day it was issued and where, and if someone else received it for them. The book you got the information from may not say where, but it should have the date at the head of the certifaicates issued that day. In Neil Hammond's book on Kentucky land grants, he gives the dates and places where the land commission met and issued certificates.
That is how I found out that John Haggin was at Harrodbsurg in February, I believe, getting the certificates for John Hinkson, William McCune, John Sellars and others. If we can get a hold of the land entry books, and survey books, we can get some valuable information from these too. Something to look into during the March trip. In these I found that John Haggin was at Wilson's Station entering John Hinkson's, William McCune's, and John Sellers' land certificates, while they were busy being captured by the British and Indians.
The way the process worked in acquiring land in those days, for those who want to know, was to mark an improvement by either building a cabin or planting a crop of corn. Usually the cabins were very rude and the corn fields very small, just big enough to be called a crop of corn. In doing this they were allowed 400 acres of land and the option to purchase an additional 1,000 acres adjoining. The improvement had to be within the the 400 acres.
The next step was to go meet with the land commissioners and get a settlement certificate. Basically it was a courtroom where individuals proved they made the required improvements to get the certificate. Once it was proven, the individual received their certificate. In most cases one person went to court for several people since the commisioners office was very crowded, the people usually drew numbers and waited a long time. This has been mentioned in Trabue's narrartive.
The next step in the process was to enter the claim at the land office. Individuals with settlement certificates went to the land office, at Wilson's station I believe, and paid their fees, etc. and had their claim entered into the books. Also at this time, if they wished to purchase the additional 1,000 acres, they did so by purchasing a treasury warrant. But, for some reason this land couldn't be enterd that day. I'm not sure why. Hinkson, McCune and Sellers had treasury warrants purchased in 1780 for 1,000 acres, but only their 400 acre preemption was entered that day.
Now with the land claims entered with the land office, they could make preparations to survey the land. Usually this occured several years after the entries, probably because of the revolutionay war. A group consisting of the county surveyor, or his deputy, several chain carriers and a pilot would go out and survey the land. Usually the pilot was the man who made the claim and the chain carriers were friends and neighbors hired to help. Once all the area was surveyed and plats made out, the survey could be sent to Williamsburg for issuance of the land patent. In most cases this took several years before a patent with Patrick Henry's signature returned to the individual. And then there were the land disputes, but that's another whole story.
All of these land records; certificates, entry records, patents, and court cases for disputes all exist in Kentucky. Something well worth looking into.
Chronology of John Sellers' land purchase shows it took a long time to get the patent to lands:
It was a ten year process! I hope this helps someone understand the process of acquiring land in Kentucky. It took me a awhile to figure it out.
James Sellars
Subject: Bourbon County Court Orders Date: 22 Jan 99 21:40:24 -0500 From: darby@visi.net To: Indbio
Ruddlesforters,
I am beginning to post the Bourbon County, Kentucky, Court Orders from Julia Ardery's "Kentucky Records" at my web site. These court orders have some very interesting information about some of our Ruddle's and Martin's forts captives; i.e., depositions of the original settlers and those taken captive at the forts, land disputes, deeds, guardianship of orphans, etc. You can find the web page at:
http://www.shawhan.com/local_root_folder/orders.html
Bob Francis
==== RUDDLESFORT Mailing List ==== Please check out the "Ruddle's and Martin's Fort Web Page at http://www.shawhan.com/local_root_folder/ruddlesfort.html
Subject: KY Land Commission Date: 23 Jan 99 23:52:22 -0500 From: j.sellars@usa.net To: Indbio
Bob,
Very interesting find. I'm assuming that Juan and Roberto Hinkson are John Hinkson and his son Robert, the Spanish version. Does the book make reference to any other records that may exist? If he was alive at the time then you can almost narrow down his death date to within a few months. I believe his wife remarried in March of 1790.
James Sellars