In 2003 there was a discussion on the Ashby list about VA granting land in KY. I saved some of the posts discussing this and re-read them again today. I would also like to add this information about land being granted by VA which appears in the book, "Land and Property Research in the United States" by E. Wade Hone (pub in 1997): "Virginia generated more bounty land records for its residents than any other state. At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Virginia ceded immense claims to the federal land system. However, they reserved the right to disperse bounty lands for their servicemen in the state of Kentucky and Ohio. "In Ohio, Virginia's activities were initially restricted to the Virginia Military District. Warrants for these lands were only given to those who serve in the Continental Line from Virginia. (Worth noting.) "During the 1830s, those who received warrants for the Military District in Ohio were eventually allowed to exchange their unused warrants for scrip. This scrip could then be redeemed in any one of the three newer districts that had been created for federal bounty warrants of the War of 1812 (which were) Indiana, Illinois, or Missouri. (Worth noting.) "By 1842, the warrants for Ohio could be exchanged for scrip redeemable AT ANY FEDERAL LAND OFFICE." (My emphasis.) Re: Kentucky land grants: "Those who served in state militia units were required to redeem their warrants in the Kentucky District." So, where your ancestor received bounty land from VA depended on whether he served in the VA Continental Line or in a VA militia unit. A more complete list of early recipients is found in Joan E. Brookes-Smith;s "Master Index, Virginia Surveys and Grants, 1774-1791" which documents only the bounty land grants given in Kentucky. Many Virginians lived in west/southwest Pennsylvania when the American Revolution started; they enlisted at Fort Pitt. Some served in VA units and some served in the 8th PA Continental Line. Pennsylvania never gave bounty land in Kentucky. If your ancestor served in the PA Continental Line or a PA militia unit, they did not receive land in Kentucky for that service. If they received bounty land in KY, it was for serving in a VA unit at some time. And then there were men who came into Kentucky as pre-emptioners (tomahawk rights). I have an ancestor who served in the PA Continental Line from western PA. Researchers have thought the land he got in KY was bounty land from VA because he served in a VA unit. Not so. There is no record that he ever served in a VA unit of any kind. He was a pre-emptioner. Per his deposition to get title to the KY land, he said in May 1776, he went to Kentucky, tomahawked his land, built a cabin, put in a crop, and stayed a year (the requirements). On November 18,1779, at a court held at the Falls of the Ohio, he and many other pre-emptioners made depositions stating when they came, where they settled, and how they improved the land they were asking for. His land claim was approved. That's how he got his 400 acres in Kentucky. (Ref: The Certificate Book of the Virginia Land Commission). However, he and the same land description appears in the "Master Index, Virginia Surveys and Grants 1774-1791". Perhaps someone on the list can explain to me why it would be listed in there when it was not bounty land for VA military service. Is it because as a "Master Index" it also lists the pre-emptioned land (early tomahawk settlers) as well as bounty land recipients? Helen Graves