I am sure that Arthur St. Clair was the land agent for the Penn family in Western Pennsylvania by 1771. He was instructed by the Penns to create a buffer between the settlements and the Indians. St. Clair sent for members of his own family from Maryland, Scotland, and Ireland, hence the Scots/Irish presence. Who is gonna fight these guys? St. Clair's office was at Fort Ligionier. Washington himself, perhaps the most senior of the Americans that fought with the British in the French and Indian war was a major land owner in the area of Catfish Camp. He was instrumental in carrying such measures though the Virginia house in order for the Virginia soldiers to get their land. Offiers came first and cherry picked the land. Does your anscestor have a miltary file at the National Achives? Bounty Land would be a part of that file. Donald Sinclair, Indianapolis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Chapman" <SurfCityTom@socal.rr.com> To: <PAWESTMO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 6:05 PM Subject: [PAWESTMO-L] Land Grants > Hello Listers! > > FIrst of all, please excuse any duplicate emails from this cross-posting. > > Second, thanks to everybody that responded to my question about migration > routes. My conclusion from that exchange is that my ancestors probably > followed the Schuykill River to Upper Tulpohocken in 1755 or so, then when > they moved to Westmoreland in 1771, they probably went first to > Harrisburg, then down to Chambersburg to catch the Forbes Road to > Bedford/Westmoreland. > > Now - on to my next question regarding land grants. > > It's said that my Muhleissen ancestor was granted land in Hempfield for > service in the Revolutionary War. However, if he arrived in 1771, which > he did, that would have predated the war. So, if he received a grant for > military service, it would have had to have been for the French and Indian > War - correct? > > Looking at history, I'm presuming that a lot of German-Americans served > either in the defense of the Berks frontier, or in the various western > expeditions such as Braddock's march on Fort Duke, or the one in which > Colonel Boquet fought at Bushy Run. > > So, my question is to ask if anybody knows if land grants in Westmoreland > were given for that period? I've read that there were grants given north > of Berks because settlement was encouraged there to push the Indians out - > but I think all of the land in Westmoreland was privately held by the Penn > Company, which did not give any grants until the border with Virginia was > settled much later. However, perhaps Virginia or Virginia-based military > authorities were giving grants. > > I've also read that the military authorities gave provisional grants to > settlers that supplied the western forts, and many of those were later > made permanent. > > Can anybody shed any light on this matter? > > Tom > > > ==== PAWESTMO Mailing List ==== > > >