Dutch-Colonies-L Archives

From: "David Roberts" <>
Subject: Re: [D-Col] English Land Ownership in Western Pennsylvania late 1700's.
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 21:05:25 -0400
References: <e6.51742b7c.2e01de0f@cs.com>

Judy:
England [by this I guess you mean the Crown] never owned Pennsylvania after
King Charles II granted it to William Penn in 1681. The entire territory was
the property of William Penn [later his sons/grandsons] as a "proprietary
colony." Maryland had a similar land set up under the Lords Baltimore.
Land in colonial Pennsylvania was sold by the Penns or their agents; not by
the Crown.
A real problem in western Pennsylvania was how far WEST did Pennsylvania go
?
Virginia claimed all the land west of Pennsylvania and as early as the
1750's it was Virginia, not Pennsylvania, that was in conflict w/ the French
over the "Forks of Ohio" now Pittsburgh.
After the French & Indian War, Virginia set up a few counties in present
south-west Pennsylvania. The border wasn't settled until the mid 1780's,
leaving Virginia with only a tiny little sliver pointing north along
Pennsylvania's western border, between Pennsylvania and the Ohio River.
That's now one of West Virginia's "pan handles" - the one where Wheeling is
located.
York and Cumberland counties did have vast undefined western borders early
on.
I think most of Western Pennsylvania would have been within Cumberland
County around the time of the French & Indian War; county seat is Carlisle;
quite a hike from Fort Pitt, so sure.
Bedford County was created a bit later and may have taken most of this
western territory from Cumberland. A good Pennsylvania history site should
help you w/ your questions.
I hope this helps.
David


----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:31 PM
Subject: [D-Col] English Land Ownership in Western Pennsylvania late 1700's.


> This is a general question - Does anyone know whether land purchases in
the
> Colonies, prior to the Revolution were filed in England or did they always
> remain in the county where they were purchased. The question arises
because in
> Western PA, many of the settlers purchased their land prior to the
Revolution
> supposidly from England as PA was an English Colony. Counties had not
been set
> up in some cases so did the person or English company from who they were
> purchased take this back to England and file it away or did it remain
here? The
> reason for the question, is that land purchased in Western PA prior to the
> Revolution was apparently considered null and void even though the
settlers may
> have been living there from prior 1776 to 1791. Then the big land
companies came
> in such as the Holland Company, the Pennsylvania Population Company, the
> North American Land Company were apparently granted this land to sell and
based on
> a law created in the early 1800's by the supreme court decided against the
> land writs or warrants and set up a new order for land titles and deeds.
Many
> settlers found themselves phyically removed from land bought in good faith
from
> England years before. The law claimed that they had not perfect claim to
the
> title. We have many Dutch who settled in Western PA late 1700's and then
> quickly moved on into Ohio.
>
> Any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks
>
> Judy Cassidy
>
>
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This thread:

• Re: [D-Col] English Land Ownership in Western Pennsylvania late 1700's. by "David Roberts" <>