To the Honourable the General Assembly of Virginia, The Memorial and Petition of the Ohio Company
That sundry Gentlemen of Virginia, Maryland and Great Britain in or about the year 1748 formed a Copartnership, by the Name and Stile of the Ohio Company for exploring the Country westward of the Great Mountains upon both Sides the Ohio River (at that time known only by Name to the People of Virginia) for taking up five hundred thousand Acres of Land upon the Waters of the said River and carrying on a Trade with the Indians; and thereupon presented a Petition to his late Majesty King George the second in Consequence whereof additional royal Instruction bearing Date at the court at St. James's the 16th. Day of March 1748/9 was given to Sr. William Gooch Bart. then Governour of Virginia to make a Grant or Grants, upon certain Conditions therein specified "to John Hanbury of London Merchant, the honble Thomas Lee Esqr. the honble Thomas Neilson Esqr. Colo. Thomas Cresap Colo. William Thornton, William Nimmo, Daniel Cresap, John Carlyle, Lawrence Washington, Augustine Washington, George Fairfax, Jacob Giles, Nathaniel Chapman, and James Wardrope Esqrs. and their Associates for two hundred thousand Acres of Land betwixt Romanettoes and Buffaloe's Creek, on the South Side the River Alleghany, otherwise Ohio, and betwixt the two Creeks and the Yellow Creek on the North Side of the said River, or as aforesaid to the westward of the Great Mountains free from the Payment of any Rights, as also from the Payment of any Quit-Rents for the Space of ten Years from the Date of their Grants, at the Expiration of which Term the said Petitioners are to pay the usual Quit-rent for so much of the said Lands as they shall have cultivated within that time" and upon the Terms on which the first two hundred thousand Acres were to be granted being complyed with "to make a further Grant or Grants to the said Petitioners of three hundred thousand Acres more, Residue of the said five hundred thousand Acres of Land.
That in the Month of June 1749 the following Gentlemen, whose Names had been inserted in the said Petition and Royal Instructions, vizt. the honble Thomas Nelison Esqr. Colo. Francis Thornton, (who thro' Mistake had been miscalled Colo. William Thornton) William Nimmo, John Carlyle, and George Fairfax Esqrs. desired to resign their Shares and Interest in the said Company, which Resignations were accordingly accepted, and entered in the Company's Journals; and such of them as had advanced anything had their Money returned to them: And that Mr. Daniel Cresap (whose Name was inserted in the Petition and Royal Instructi[ons] and in the minutes of the said Ohio Company, never advanced a Shilling, [nor] had any Manner of Concern, or Interest whatever, in the said Undertaking, o [r] Copartnership; But the Governor and Council, not at that time having proper Notice of the before mentioned Resignations, or knowing who were the real Members of the said Ohio Company, and litterally pursueing the Words of the Royal Instruction; which was communicated by the Governor to the Board, on the 12th Day of July 1749 caused an Entry to be made in the Council Books, in the Names of the first mentioned gentlemen, for the first two hundred thousand Acres of Land, as aforesaid: to which Entry, as well as the Royal Instruction whereon it was founded, your Memorialists beg Leave to refer.
In pursuance of their said Plan that your Memorialists erected large Store-houses and other Buildings, at a very great Expence, upon Potomack River, opposite the place where Fort Cumberland was afterwards fixed, purchased a number of Horses, and imported several large Cargoes of Goods to the amount of several thousand Pounds Sterling from London; for the Purpose of carrying on an extensive Indian Trade.
That in the Year 1750, they employed Mr. Christopher Gist at the Expence of one hundred and fifty Pounds, to explore the Country on the North Side the Ohio River, as low as the Great-Falls, and upon the Great and Little Miamee Rivers, to discover what Tribes of Indians inhabited there, and endeavour to conciliate them to the Interest and Friendship of Virginia: And the Year following, they employed the said Christopher Gist, at the Expence of fifty pounds, to explore and examine the Country upon the South Side the Ohio River, from the Monongahaly to the Great Conhaway; as will appear by the said Gist's Journals.
That in the same Year 1751, there having been considerable Changes made by Resignations and Alienations of Shares, the Members of the said Ohio Company entered [into and] executed, regular Articles of Agreement and Copartnership for the Space and Term of twenty Years: And in the two years following, were at considerable Expence in laying off and clearing a Road from the Mouth of Will's Creek on potomack River, over the Alleghany Mountains, to the Waters of the Ohio; and in building a Warehouse near the Mouth of Red-Stone Creek, on the Monongahaly.
That as the Location of the Company's claim, from the words of the Royal-Instruction, and their Entry on the Council-Books, was so very extensive, affecting any Lands to the westward of the Great Mountains, on either Side the Ohio River, where no Settlements had been yet made, or Countys establish'd, your Memorialists obtained, from the President and Professors of William and Mary College, in the Year 1753, a special Commission for the before mentioned Christopher Gist, appointing him Surveyor of the Lands belonging to the Ohio Company; and began to survey some of the Lands upon the waters of the Monongaly and Youghyoughgaine (about the Place now called the Red Stone Settlement) and at the Confluence of the Ohio and Monongaly Rivers (where Fort Pit now stands) and setled the said Christopher Gist's, and several other Families thereon. They also imported, from London, twenty new Swivel Guns, with a Quantity of suitable Ball, small-arms, Blunderbusses, Tools, and other Military-Stores, prepared Materials, and were erecting a Fort, on the Spot where Fort Pit now stands, under the Direction of Captain William Trent, the company's Agent; when about seven hundred French and Indians, commanded by a regular Officer, with several Pieces of Cannon, came down the River in Battoes, and landing within a small Distance drove away your Memorialist's Workmen and People, took possession of the place, and built their Fort DuQuesne there.
That upon this Occasion, and by the french and Indian War which followed, your Memorialists were not only prevented from proceeding further in the Execution of their Plan, but sustained very great Losses, to the amount of several thousand Pounds in their Materials, Tools, Stores, Horses, and other Effects in that Country, and even in their Houses and Property upon Potomack River; which were wantonly destroyed by our own Troops, and the Lands the Company had purchased near Fort Cumberland entirely pillaged of Timber, for the public-buildings, and for Beef, Pork & flour-Barrels; without your Memorialists ever being able to obtain the least Satisfaction or Redress. And that the Nature of the Trade your Memorialists were engaged in was such, that they were obliged to give large Credits to the Indian-Traders, most of whom were killed, captivated, or ruined in the Course of the War, and the Debts due to your Memorialists thereby lost. That by these Events, which are faithfully recited, and generally known, your Memorialists were prevented from proceeding in their surveys during the last War, as they were also, after the conclusion of the War, by the King's Proclamation, prohibiting the setling or granting any lands to the westward of the Great Mountains.
That your Memorialists finding the Land they had begun to survey about Fort Pit was appropriated to the use of a Public Garrison, and the Lands they had surveyed upon the Branches of Monongahaly and Youghyoughgaine were claimed by the Province of Pensylvania, as well as by another Company in Virginia, and not caring to contend with such Powerful adversaries, determined to take their Land lower down the Ohio, between the Monongahaly and the Great Conhaway, as soon as government wou'd permit them to make Surveys, but afterwards, at the particular Request of General Washington, and some of the Members of the Council, your Memorialists promised not to interfere with the first Virginia Regiments Claim of two hundred thousand acres of land under Gover[no]r Dinwiddie's Proclamation, and to suffer that to be first laid off; by which all the good Bodys of Land, upon the Ohio between the Great and Little Conhaway, in the Country your Memorialists had been at the charge of exploring many Years before, were taken up.
That in the year 1772, your Memorialists, apprehending that the former Proclamation, prohibiting the setling or granting Lands to the westward of the Great Mountains, was repealed by a late royal Instruction for running a western Line, presented a Representation and Petition to the Governor and Council setting forth the Difficulties they had laboured under, and how they had been prevented from surveying by the late War and afterwards by the King's Proclamation; complaining of their Agent Colo. George Mercer having undertaken, without their Consent or Authority, to make an Agreement of Copartnership between them and Thomas Walpole Esqr. and others his Associates in Great Britain; which they disclaimed; And praying for a new Order or Warrant to survey their Land. Upon which the Council was pleased, on the 27th. Day of July in the said year 1772, to order the Substance of the said Representation to be entered upon their [J]ournals, and make an Order of Council recognising, confirming, and declaring still in Force your Memorialists' first Entry and Order for the two hundred [t]housand Acres herein before mentioned, and therefore that any further or other Warrant or Order was unnecessary; to which Order, together with a letter [fr]om the Clerk of the Council, wrote by Order of the Board, your Memorialists beg leave to refer.
That in the year 1773 (their former Surveyor Mr. Gist being dead) your Memorialists obtained, from the President and Professors of William and Mary College a special Commission, appointing Mr. William Crawford Surveyor of their Lands; who had a Year or two before, by Virtue of a like special Commission [for] that Purpose from the said President and Professors, surveyed the two hundred thousand acres for General Washington, and the Officers and Soldiers of his Regiment; upon which Surveys regular Patents had been granted and passed. And the Year following they also obtained from the said President and Professors, a Commission for Mr. Hancock Lee, as Deputy-Surveyor to the said William Crawford: And they were proceeding down the River, in order to begin their Surveys; but had the Misfortune to have their cannoes overset, in attempting to pass the Falls of Youghyoughgaine, and to lose all their Provisions Arms and Amunition, and have two of their Men drowned; which, together with the Indian War that Summer, prevented their further Progress.
That in the next Year, 1775, your Memorialists had their before-mentioned quantity of two hundred thousand Acres of Land surveyed, laid off, marked, and bounded, all in one compact well shaped Tract, upon both Sides the main South Fork of Great Licking Creek, in Fincastle now Kentucky County; as will appear by the Certificate of Survey, and Plat thereof, returned under the Hands of the said William Crawford, and Hancock Lee, the Surveyors, clear of any prior Titles, or Surveys; but the Confusion of the present Troubles preventing any Land-Office being open'd, your Memorialists knew not where, or how to make Return of the said Survey. And the Term of their Partnership being expired, and several of the Members residing in Great Britain, with whom the Members in America can now have no Communication, they are utterly at a Loss how to proceed, or in what Manner to secure Lands, to which they have acquired a just Title, at so great Expence, without the Interposition of the Legislature.
That the said Ohio Company was always intended to consist, and doth at present consist of twenty Shares, of which the following Persons are at this time the Proprietors, vizt. eleven Shares belonging to Persons residing in Virginia; one held by the honble John Tayloe Esqr. one by the late Thomas Ludwell Lee Esqr. one by Richard Lee Esqr. one by James Scott Clerk, one by George Mason Esqr. one by Peter Presly Thornton Esqr. one by Thomas Lomax Esqr. one by the Heirs of John Mercer Esqr. Decd. one by the Heirs of the honble Philip Ludwell Lee Esqr. Decd. and two by the honble Robert Carter Esqr. three Shares belonging to Persons residing in Maryland, one held by Colo. Thomas Cresap, one by Jacob Giles Esqr. and one by Pearson Chapman Esqr. And six Shares held by Persons residing in Great Britain; one held by Osgood Hanbury Merchant, one by the Heirs of Capel Hanbury Merchant Decd. one by the Heirs of the honble Robert Dinwiddie Decd. one by the Heirs of the honble Arthur Dobbs Decd. one by the Heirs of James Wardrope Esqr. Decd. and one by Colo. George Mercer; Some of which Shares in Great Britain are considerably in arrear to the Company, for their Quota of Stock not paid up.
That the Term of their Co-Partnership being expired in the present dispersed Situation of their Members, and a War carried on against America by Great Britain, your Memorialists conceiving it absolutely impracticable for them to comply with that Part of the Royal Instruction respecting the Fort and Garrison (originally intended in the Lieu of paying Right-Money) and also that the same is utterly incompatible with the Nature and Constitution of the present Government; Such of the Members of the said Company as reside in Virginia and Maryland are willing and desirous to receive a seperate Grant or Patent, each in his own Name, for his due Share or Proportion of the said two hundred thousand Acres of land, in the common Form, and in Lieu of the Fort and Garrison, to pay for the same the ancient accustomed Right-Money of ten shillings Sterling Per hundred Acres; but do not care to advance this Money for others, especially for those beyond Sea, in the present Situation of Affairs.
In tender Consideration of the Premises, of the great Charge and Trouble they have incurred, and of their having complyed, as far as was practicable, with every Requisition of Government, your Petitioners humbly pray, that an Act of Assembly may pass for issueing patents, in the common Form (so soon as a Land-office shall be established) to all the said Proprietors of Shares in the said Company now residing in Virginia and Maryland, each in his own Name, for his due Share or proportion of the said Tract of two hundred thousand Acres of Land, upon their respectively paying down the Sum of ten Shillings Sterling per hundred Acres, Right-Money for the same; And for reserving the quantity or Proportion due to the said six Members residing in Great Britain, all in one Tract or Peice, subject to the further Order of the General Assembly: for which Purpose your Petitioners have prepared an accurate Plat (the outlines whereof are exactly copyed from the Surveyor's original Plat) in which all the said Shares are divided and laid off accordingly: so that the Courses of the several Patents may be ascertained with the greatest Precision.
Your Petitioners beg Leave to observe that by this Mode, such of the Members in America as are ready to pay down their Right- Money will be secured their Property, no Injustice will be done to the Members in Great Britain; and to the Public, it will be exactly the same thing, as if a Patent for the whole two hundred thousand Acres was granted to the Company, and afterwards divided among them in seperate Shares, and mutual Deeds of Conveyance for each Person's Proportion, duly executed.
Your Petitioners are not able to suggest any Method of setling this Matter so unexceptionable as that they have proposed; but thoroughly confiding in the Wisdom and Justice of this honourable Assembly, they humbly beg Leave to submit the Case to their Consideration; not doubting but that such Remedie will be granted to your Petitioners, and such Order made therein as shall be judged just and reasonable. And your petitioners will ever pray.
G MASON for the Ohio Company P [artners]
I approve of the above Petition and in case of my absence for George Mason Esqr. to act for me.
I consent to the foregoing Petition & authorize Colo. George Mason to act to [illegible] on behalf of myself Colo. George Mercer & the Estate of John Mercer deced.
I assent to & approve of this Petition, & empower George Mason Esqr. to act for me in fixing the particular Part or Lott which each Member is to have in the Survey in the same Manner as if I myself was present.
I do highly approve the above proposition, and as Trustee for the estate of the late hon. Phil. Lud. Lee give my assent thereto. I do also hereby empower George Mason esqr. to act for said Estate in the way that shall be agreed on to fix the part that each Member is to have of said Survey.
RICHARD HENRY LEE Administrator I also assent to & approve this petition, & empower Geo: Mason Esqr. to act for me also in the same Manner.