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University of North Carolina Military Bounty Land Warrants

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Contents

Dead Or ALIVE?

Most of the time, if there are county or state records that say someone died at a certain time, there is little reason to doubt that - however, I have found enough cases in the North Carolina Revolutionary Bounty Land Warrants,1820-1823, to say you should investigate before believing claims made about death and heirs to Revolutionary War Bounty Land recipients when they were made out to a deceased soldier but really to the "heirs" which turns out to be the University of North Carolina. Many of those warrants survive however the land warrant itself, gives you little information, except the soldier's name and that the land went to the University of North Carolina. The files that show how North Carolina determined a soldier was deceased without heirs, and what evidence may have been presented to prove that, are not microfilmed and are only available at the State Archives of North Carolina. Many of those files are also missing.

I first found out about the NC Bounty Land escheats when I found the name of Peter Herrington in an index of Revolutionary War Bounty Land showing the heirs of Peter Herrington received bounty land in TN in 1821. I could not locate the warrant. After some research and reaching out to a genealogist who lives in North Carolina and who researches at the North Carolina Archives, I obtained the file. It is transcribed below. On that one court document was also the name of Armwell Herron, whose name I recognized from previous research in Dobbs County. The other men listed below were found easily through online searches and are the only ones I have really looked at.

I hope the following information is helpful to other researchers, either of the families mentioned below or to anyone who may have found a family member listed as dead without heirs but whom they believed had either not died in the war or had not died without heirs.

North Carolina Revolutionary War Bounty Land 1819

In 1819 North Carolina still had a number of soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War and who had never claimed the bounty land they were due for their service. They passed An Act Concerning Military Land Warrants[1].

  • Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same that the Governor, Public Treasurer, and Comptroller, or a majority of them are hereby vested with full power and authority hear and determine all applications which may be made for military land warrants, and their direction in writing or the direction in writing of a majority of them shall authorize the Secretary of State to issue a warrant for such quantity of land as they or a majority of them may certify to be due to each applicant.
  • II. And be it enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after the passing thereof; and shall remain in force until the meeting of the next General Assembly and no longer.
  • This deadline was extended until March of 1823[2].

Though not stated in the Act itself, they were to run the names of all known men who were still due Bounty Land Warrants in the Raleigh newspaper for two months.

The University of North Carolina - Bounty Land Escheats

Note - This is not a comprehensive look at the escheats to UNC. This only concerns the escheats related to the 1819 Act.

In 1789 The University of North Carolina was endowed by the State of North Carolina to receive all escheated property in the state[3]

  • Under this Escheat Act of 1789, there were two common cases of reverter which were to afford revenue to the University:
    • "1st. When the owner dies without heir, or heir capable of taking real estate.
    • "2nd. When the owner is an alien, and not, by the 40th section of the State Constitution, qualified to purchase and hold real estate. In this case there is an owner, till on inquiry instituted by the State, the claimant is found and judicially declared to be an alien."
  • by July 1830, James Iredell, Jr., chairman of the committee "to examine into the actual State of the Institution with respect to its debts and its resources" was able to report that bonds due from the purchasers of lands in Tennessee already in the hands of the University's agent amounted to $71,081.28. He furthermore reported that the University still held 106,051 acres in Tennessee, comprising the land warrants and the lands conveyed to the University by Benjamin Smith and Charles Gerrard. The value of these lands had been estimated at $240,642 in 1820 and 1822, but he felt that the real value was "probably much less than the sum just mentioned[4]".

The Process Of Declaring The Men Dead - Newspapers and Courts

Newspaper - 1820

On Friday, May 5th, 1820 the first list of soldiers due bounty land was published in The The Star and North Carolina State Gazette (AKA The North Carolina Star) [5]. The list was included on Fridays in May (the 12th, 19th, and 26th). It was also published June on Friday June 23rd and 30th and July 7th and 14th.

Names involved in this study that were on that list

Underneath the list was the following disclaimer written by Secretary Wm Hill

  • "I have thought it better to omit in this list the names of those on the books that appear doubtful which are not a few because, by inserting them, much trouble and some expense might be occasioned by the individuals concerned or to their Heirs, without obtaining the expected reward, while the books will remain heretofore open to all and their claims, such as they may be, will stand on them, not at all injured or invalidated, by the omission of their names in this publication."

Interestingly, while Mr Hill thought that these "doubtful" cases would cause families "much trouble and some expense" "without obtaining the expected reward", the university claimed many of those with few problems and much reward - until families or the men themselves came forward.

Most names that appeared on the list in the newspaper were names of men who were listed as dead on military records or men who had made a claim for part of the land due to them, with a portion remaining due.

Known persons whose lands escheated to the University but never appeared on the 1821 list

Court 1821

There has been little to no information published on the process the University of North Carolina and the state of North Carolina used to formally declare these men dead and as being aliens and/or deceased without heirs. In the case of David Ivey in the TN Supreme Court, no proof or explanation was provided as to how they determined Ivey's death. The only explanation given was that the University presented its case to the board of commissioners and that they accepted the University's claim to David Ivey's bounty land.

For the purpose of escheats, the University had an attorney in every county[6]. They worked to claim property for the university, including land and slaves. 3 cases below are one example of how the process apparently worked.

Wake County, NC September 10, 1821[7]

  • This day came William H Searcy[8] before me Jubilee Rogers one of the justices of the peace in and for the county and state aforesaid and made oath that
  • 1- he was acquainted with Armwell Herron, Capt in the Revolutionary War in the continental line in this state in the 10th regiment and served to the north and was killed by the Enemy at the battle of Monmoth [Monmouth] this deponent further says that he was a foreigner and had no heirs in this country.
  • 2 - This deponent further says that he was acquainted with Peter Herrington Corpl who enlisted in the Revolutionary War in the Continental line of this state under Capt Walsh and served to the north where report said he died he believes at Valley Forge, this deponent further sayth that he was a foreigner and had no heirs in this country.
  • 3 - This deponent further says that he was acquainted with Ebenezer Blackley sarg____ in the Revolutionary War in the continental line of this state in the 10th Regiment and served to the north, where he died. This deponent further says that he was a foreigner and had no heirs in this country.

On September 14, 1821, Benjamin King, Clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Wake County certified that Jubulee Rogers and William Reaves were justices for Wake County and had turned in the deposition taken of William H Searcy for Armwell Herron, Capt. Peter Harrington, Corpl. and Ebenezer Blackley, paymaster??? ______. Ebenezer's name was marked out. Underneath that it shows A.H. [Armwell Herron] - 3840 [acreage due to him] P.H. [Peter Herrington] 640 [acreage due to him].

The last page of this file shows how the land warrants came to be after the University took testimony that the men were dead. September 20, 1821 To William Hill, Esq. Secretary of the state

  • On the application of Thomas Henderson, Esq., of the City of Raleigh, Attorney for the Trustees of the University of North Carolina, and acting under the powers and authorities with which we are clothed, by an act of the Assembly of 1819, entitled "an act concerning Military Land Warrants". We have examined and passed upon the claims of Armwell Herron (Captain), George Richards (_____), Peter Harrington, Charles Haslip, John Donnelly, Benjamin Dorland, Britain Jones, Thomas Jacks, Bryan Montague, Samuel Montague, Job Ward, Timothy Plumpus and William Stuwart (all listed as privates). Formerly soldiers of the Revolutionary Army and Line of this State and who are satisfactorily proven to us to have died in the service or since of the close of that War, and without issue or other Heirs, who may lawfully take or claim under them. We, therefore, advise and direct that you issue Warrants to the Agent of Attorney of the said University as follow. [then listed were] Armwell Herron, 3840, George Richards 1000, and everyone else on the list 640 acres as privates. Note - Ebenezer Blackley was still not on this list but later a warrant was issued in his name, for UNC.

Newspaper 1822

Weekly Raleigh Register, April 19, 1822[9] A List of Military Land Warrants Issued to the President & Trustees of the University 0f North Carolina since the sitting of the General Assembly of 1820

Names of soldiers in the list who were in the above records, or who are known to have not died in the war, or who didn't die without heirs.

  • # 1019 Armwell Herron
  • # 1020 George Richards
  • # 1021 P. Harrington
  • # 1022 Charles Haslip
  • # 1023 John Donnelly
  • # 1024 Broton Jones
  • # 1025 Francis Jack
  • # 1026 Benjamin Dorland
  • # 1027 Bryan Montague
  • # 1028 Sam Montague
  • # 1029 Job Ward
  • # 1030 Tim'y Plumpus
  • # 1031 Wm Stewart
  1. 's 1019 - 1031 represent the men named in the files from the Wake County Court above.

Not on this list but whose land was already given over to the University was


Tennessee Supreme Court Cases

Also North Carolina (not TN) case BH Stanmire for his mother who was the daughter of Benjamin Schoolfield. UNC had claimed Schoolfield had no heirs. The Supreme Court, NC awarded Stanmire land and because of other issues the case was in court for many years.

Men Known to Have Been Declared As Dead During The War But Were Not

  • Probably Felix (Phelix) Seymore private -working on this but appears to be this Felix Seymour - as I have never run across another Felix Seymour and I have researched this family. I need proof that the service record is for this Felix or not. This family has very mixed-up info, including members of my Seymore family attached to him in error.

Men Whose Claims Escheated to UNC But Had Heirs

Benjamin Schoolfield William Neill

Frederick - A Slave Who Just Deserves For His Story To Be Told

Frederick was a slave of John Patten. Slaves had no right to property. Ann, the daughter of John Patten proved that Frederick belonged to John Patten but UNC and NC declared him a free man when they declared him dead, and as such his claim for bounty land escheated to UNC.


Sources

  1. ↑ https://www.carolana.com/NC/Legislators/Documents/The Laws of the State of North Carolina Enacted in the year 1819 printed by Tomas Henderson Jr, State Printer, at Raleigh, NC. 1820; page 12 An Act Concerning Military Land. The_Laws_of_the_State_of_North_Carolina_Enacted_in_the_Year_1819.pdf
  2. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/image/58185679/?terms=military%20land%20warrants&match=1
  3. ↑ THE HISTORY OF ESCHEATS By THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL 1789-1955, Dr. Blackwell P. Robinson Chapter 1 page 8. https://docsouth.unc.edu/unc/uncbk1012/uncbk1012.html
  4. ↑ Ibid pages 17, 18. https://docsouth.unc.edu/unc/uncbk1012/uncbk1012.html
  5. ↑ The North-Carolina Star; Raleigh, North Carolina, Friday 05 May 1820, Fri Page 2. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106390034/nc-military-bounty-land-may-5-1820/ and https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106390395/nc-military-bounty-land-may-5-1820-part/
  6. ↑ . https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/slavery/escheats
  7. ↑ State Archives of North Carolina. North Carolina Secretary of State; Rev War Military Papers; Peter Harrington (Corpl) TR.464.2. Note - These records are not available online
  8. ↑ He is the only William H Searcy known at this time. The signature on the deposition is a close match to the signature on the Rev War Pension Application deposition. He does not appear to have even served in the north where he says these men died.
  9. ↑ Also ran on other dates. Weekly Raleigh Register, April 19,1822 page 4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/58217639/?terms=military%20land%20warrants&match=1

Also See

The Laws of the State of North Carolina Enacted in the Year 1819; printed by Thomas Henderson Jr, State Printer, 1820, page 12. https://www.carolana.com/NC/Legislators/Documents/The_Laws_of_the_State_of_North_Carolina_Enacted_in_the_Year_1819.pdf

For more information on the NC Bounty Land or on UNC Escheats also see:

Slavery and the Making of the University, Slaves As Escheats. https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/slavery/escheats

Fraud in the NC Land Grant System - https://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/bamman.htm

John Evans 1820 land warrant - http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~genealogyfriend/family/evans-wake_%20co/evans-john_1820revwar.htm

Glasgow Land Frauds - http://www.danielhaston.com/history/rev-war/glasgow-frauds.htm





Images: 3
Tennessee Supreme Court Neill and Ragsdale vs East Tennessee College East
Tennessee Supreme Court Neill and Ragsdale vs East Tennessee College East
David Ivey Supreme Court 1829
David Ivey Supreme Court 1829
David Ivey TN Court
David Ivey TN Court
Collaboration


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