There were several stages involved in getting a colonial grant in SC. Step one was to present your petition to the Council in Charlestown, and swear to your "family right". Until 1756, land was allocated at 50 acres per family member (including servants, slaves, wards, apprentices, etc.). From mid-1756, the head of household (including single persons) received 100 acres, plus 50 acres for every other member of the household. After the Council approved the petition, the Surveyor General prepared a warrant of survey--also called a "precept"--and handed it to the settler. The settler took the warrant back to where he wanted to live, and gave it to the local Deputy Surveyor who prepared a plat (that's the map shown at the SCDAH site). The D.S. took all his plats back to the Surveyor General in Charlestown, who sent it along to the Governor for his signature on the grant. After the grant was issued, the settler was supposed to file a Memorial (meaning yet another trip to Charlestown) within 6 months of the grant date. That was an acknowledgment that he had received the title to his land, and was then expected to pay property taxes (called the Quit Rent). For American-born settlers, there was a 2-year reprieve on paying Quit Rent taxes. Immigrants received special Bounty Grants, for which no surveying and recording fees were charged, and they had 10 years grace before being charged Quit Rents. Not everybody did all these things exactly on schedule--perhaps they were in no hurry to start paying taxes. Once the land had been surveyed, the original surveyee had a prior claim on it even if he hadn't had it processed into a grant. So some of them waited a while before getting the grant issued...including 10 or 20 years, in a few cases. If somebody else tried to claim the same land, the resident would go back to Charlestown and issue a "caveat" against the new claimant, and the Council would usually award the land to the original resident--assuming that he went ahead and got the grant issued by the Governor. Harriet On 1/19/2012 3:00 PM, Wendy Neuman McGuire wrote: > Harriet, > > Thanks for the link to the colonial plats at the SCDAH at > www.archivesindex.sc.gov. I was able to find records for Samuel > Duncan/Dunkin and his wife Sarah as well as their children/spouses. Some of > the records are for plats and others show their document type as > "Memorial." What does memorial mean in this situation? Thanks for your help. > > > Wendy McGuire

Harriet, Thank you very much for this detailed information. It is very helpful. Faith -----Original Message----- From: sc-bushriverquakers-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:sc-bushriverquakers-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Harriet Imrey Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 4:34 PM To: sc-bushriverquakers@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [SC-BUSHRIVERQUAKERS] South Carolina n There were several stages involved in getting a colonial grant in SC. Step one was to present your petition to the Council in Charlestown, and swear to your "family right". Until 1756, land was allocated at 50 acres per family member (including servants, slaves, wards, apprentices, etc.). >From mid-1756, the head of household (including single persons) received 100 acres, plus 50 acres for every other member of the household. After the Council approved the petition, the Surveyor General prepared a warrant of survey--also called a "precept"--and handed it to the settler. The settler took the warrant back to where he wanted to live, and gave it to the local Deputy Surveyor who prepared a plat (that's the map shown at the SCDAH site). The D.S. took all his plats back to the Surveyor General in Charlestown, who sent it along to the Governor for his signature on the grant. After the grant was issued, the settler was supposed to file a Memorial (meaning yet another trip to Charlestown) within 6 months of the grant date. That was an acknowledgment that he had received the title to his land, and was then expected to pay property taxes (called the Quit Rent). For American-born settlers, there was a 2-year reprieve on paying Quit Rent taxes. Immigrants received special Bounty Grants, for which no surveying and recording fees were charged, and they had 10 years grace before being charged Quit Rents. Not everybody did all these things exactly on schedule--perhaps they were in no hurry to start paying taxes. Once the land had been surveyed, the original surveyee had a prior claim on it even if he hadn't had it processed into a grant. So some of them waited a while before getting the grant issued...including 10 or 20 years, in a few cases. If somebody else tried to claim the same land, the resident would go back to Charlestown and issue a "caveat" against the new claimant, and the Council would usually award the land to the original resident--assuming that he went ahead and got the grant issued by the Governor. Harriet On 1/19/2012 3:00 PM, Wendy Neuman McGuire wrote: > Harriet, > > Thanks for the link to the colonial plats at the SCDAH at > www.archivesindex.sc.gov. I was able to find records for Samuel > Duncan/Dunkin and his wife Sarah as well as their children/spouses. > Some of the records are for plats and others show their document type > as "Memorial." What does memorial mean in this situation? Thanks for your help. > > > Wendy McGuire ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SC-BUSHRIVERQUAKERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message