This is a recent analysis of three pioneers in which I draw conclusions for one scenario of the settlement of lands in Western Pennsylvania circa 1800. Two of them were my ancestors and the third had several family members who became related through marriage.
Analysis of one of
several scenarios for the settlement of Western Pennsylvania circa 1800.
Following the Treaty of 1784 with the Iroquois, the state of Pennsylvania surveyed
the land, completed the Donation Land Lottery for those who had served with Pennsylvania in the Revolutionary War and opened the remaining land for
settlement. Having done exhaustive research of the land records of three early
settlers in Butler County, Pennsylvania, onto that land; it is my belief that
the following is an acceptable conclusion.
Luke Covert my 4x ggrandfather, Isaac Cornelius another of
my 4x ggrandfathers, and James Campbell all arrived in the new County of Butler
circa 1800. Prior to 1800 the land had been a part of Allegheny County. While
these new arrivals were beginning the hard work of clearing the land and
building their cabins in order to establish homes for their scattered families,
the new county was in the process of establishing the groundwork of itself as a
center of government and a courthouse including a Register & Recorder's office were still
in the planning. The county was finalized in 1804.
Research has indicated that taking the steps to legalize the
ownership of the lands was often delayed in many cases for years. That is not
to say there was no buying or selling going on within the settlements as shown
by registered agreements and exchange of payments even though official patents
had not been issued.
It would be noteworthy to say here that until a land
patent is approved for land owned by the state, it technically remains the
property of the state. The other side of
the coin is that at that time the state continued to encourage pioneers to
settle free of charge for a period of time on these lands and then gave them
the opportunity to acquire ownership at low cost as a result of the Homestead
Settlement Acts. This then lead to more rapid growth of the counties and the
resulting taxation in the best interest of the state.
And so getting back to our three settlers; once they arrived
they began to clear their settlements all of which were located in Slippery
Rock Township, Butler Co, PA. In 1854 the lands of Luke Covert and James
Campbell became part of Brady Township after a division of townships in the
county. When Worth Township was divided
from Slippery Rock Township, the Brady/Worth boundary divided the settlement of
Isaac Miller Cornelius between the two townships.
With no records in the Warrant Registers on file at the PA Archives and no registered Deeds of purchase in the files of the Butler County Courthouse it became apparent that none of these three early settlers took official steps to
purchase the land from the state of Pennsylvania. They were not listed in the PA Donation Land Lottery and their lands were not part of
the Donations Lands located in the surrounding area. Nor were these lands owned
by land speculators. The research
process indicates this was not an unusual situation and further research of
other early settlers of the county would probably reveal the same scenario.
As time went by and the county continued to grow and mature,
many of the next generation, in order to establish ownership of the lands they
had helped their fathers clear and produce from, began to take the legal steps
to protect their rights.
In the case of Luke Covert, his son Jacob was the one who
did just that. In 1817 father and son registered an agreement whereby Jacob received his father's blessing to the land and Jacob could then move ahead and claim the land. But again no
one was in a hurry. In 1821 they moved forward and had the agreement registered
with the county. Then in 1831 Jacob took the first required step of applying
for a land warrant. He submitted a proof of settlement in which he state that
he and his father had cleared the land. He was then required to have the
property surveyed. The warrant application and survey were then submitted to
the state and the land patent was approved. This often took a considerable
length of time to be processed.
Isaac Miller Cornelius, like Luke Covert, settled a tract of
land in the early 1800s and in the 1830s divided it between three of his sons.
The first registered agreement was with James W. for (per the agreement) an
estimated amount of 70-80 acres. It was
written in 1830 and recorded in 1831. Next in 1832 came an agreement with Jesse
for 100 acres and a third agreement with Samuel in October 1832 for 125 acres
and recorded in 1835. More research is needed to sort out the lands of the
three brothers but that is not the purpose of this document. The total of these
three agreements is approximately 290 acres; the same amount of land that James
W. received a patent for in 1836 to establish legal ownership.
Next is the James Campbell farm. James Campbell was another
pioneer to the area who had settled but not purchased his land. James died in
1828 and in his will, he divided his farm into three sections and bequeathed
the same to three of his sons. James died in 1828. In 1837 his son Henry, the husband of Mariah Covert, applied for a warrant of
the whole farm as trustee for him and his two brothers. Once again a survey was
done at that time and the process of having a land patent was carried out and
approved.
Three Settlers with parallel stories draws a fairly clear
picture of the path these families followed to establish the beginning of their
family history as part of the development of this area of Western Pennsylvania.
My conclusions are based on records on file at the Pennsylvania Archives and Butler County Courthouse and trustworthy records and writings of others who have studied the process and history of the settling of the lands at the time. As always I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of the research and have attempted to be as accurate as possible; realizing that my conclusions are always subject to additions and corrections.
My conclusions are based on records on file at the Pennsylvania Archives and Butler County Courthouse and trustworthy records and writings of others who have studied the process and history of the settling of the lands at the time. As always I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of the research and have attempted to be as accurate as possible; realizing that my conclusions are always subject to additions and corrections.
Gayle
©WPA_twig
February 21, 2019
