Gary, No one has ever platted the leases that early for several reasons: (1) the plats were recorded, with only a handful of exceptions, in record books supervised by state-appointed commissioners. They were not recorded in the courthouse (again, a very few exceptions). The first book was lost by 1831; it covered the years 1785-1810. Then there were two books, one for the east side of the Catawba river and one for the west side. The book on the west side was kept by Josina Garrison and he testified in the 1860s that the book was lost (believed to have been lost when his house burned in the 1850s) so that leaves only one book and that book is in private hands. (2) there were leases turned in to the state of S. C. by the leaseholders following the Nation Ford Treaty of 1840 in order to get state titles to replace leases. But only 128 were turned in (the state allowed tax receipts to also be used) out of 508 surveys made. These 128 leases were not accessioned for more than 140 years. I understand they were in boxes in the basement of the State Archives when they were catalogued as part of the evidence in the suit of the Catawba Indians against the State of South Carolina ca. 1980. But, the accessioner listed them by the last holder of the lease not the orginal holder. No one, as far as I know, has ever ferreted out original holders. And, most of the leases do not have a plat attached but only a description of the number of acres, the physical description of the location which may be no more than the names of the adjoining leaseholders. I am currently writing a book on the leaseholding system and attempting to locate all of the leaseholders that I can. I have found hundreds of leaseholders and intend to include all I find and information about each of them but the publication date is at least two years off. I am interested in your James McCall and agree that he was most likely ( I would say 95 per cent sure) that he lived on the west side of the river. He is not among the known leaseholders on the east side BUT his name would have been associated with a lease only up to 1802 and all those records were lost. The Winthrop University Archives has a map of the west side as it appeared in 1840 but nothing before that time in the form of a map. Do you have the date that James McCall arrived in the Catawba Indian Land? I would appreciate knowing that. The 640 acres (one mile square) makes him one of the larger leaseholders. He is not listed in Thomas Blumers BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CATAWBA but whoever held the same land in 1840 would be but McCall's tract was most likely subdivided several times. My address is Louise Pettus, 708 Harrell St, Rock Hill, SC 29730. Gary E. Young wrote: > > Has anyone tried to plat the early leases within the Indian Land? Three > townships in York Co seemed to consist mainly of these leased lands. My > ancestor, James MCCALL, died in 1797 leaving 640 acres of Indian Land on > which he had presumably lived. His estate was appraised by Jno HUTCHISON, > Jesse MILLER, and Thos HUTCHISON, who might have been neighbors? The land > was apparently disposed of about 1801. Though the land could theoretically > have been on either side of the Catawba River, James was buried at > Ebenezer Churchyard so I suppose it is more likely the land was on the west > side of the River. Any assistance in this matter will be appreciated. > Gary E. Young > 128 S. Commerce > Centreville, MD 21617 > [email protected]