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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Minutes of a meeting of the Transylvania Company
Translyvania Company
September 25, 1775
Volume 10, Pages 256-261

[Reprinted from the American Archives. Vol. 4. Page 553.]
Minutes of a Meeting of the Proprietors of Transylvania.

25th September 1775.

At a meeting of the Proprietors of Transylvania, held at Oxford, in the County of Granville, on Monday the twenty-fifth day of September Anno Domini 1775.

Present: Colonel Richard Henderson, Colonel Thomas Hart, Colonel John Williams, Captain John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg and Leonard H. Bullock.

Colonel Henderson being unanimously chosen President, they took into their consideration the present state of the said Colony, and made the following Resolve, viz:

Resolved, That Colonel John Williams be appointed Agent for the Transylvania Company to transact their business in the said Colony; and he is accordingly invested with full power, by letter of Attorney.

Ordered, That Mr. Williams shall proceed to Boonesborough, in the said Colony, as soon as possible, and continue there until the twelfth day of April next; and to be allowed, for his services, one hundred and fifty pounds, Proclamation money of North Carolina, out of the profits arising from the sale of lands, after discharging the Company's present engagements.

N. B.—In case the Settlement should be broken up by attack of Indians, or other enemies, so as to render it impossible for Mr Williams to continue there and execute the trust reposed in him, it is agreed by the Company, that he shall still be paid the above salary, at the expiration of three years.

Resolved, That Mr. Williams be empowered to appoint one or more Surveyors, and the other officers of the Land Office, for the said Colony, as he may find it necessary.

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Clerks, Surveyors, and Chain-Carriers, to be sworn before they act.

Resolved, In case of the death or removal of Mr. Williams, that Colonel Richard Henderson, Captain Nathaniel Hart, and Captain John Luttrell, or any one of them, be and are hereby, declared Agents for the said Company, with the same powers as are given to Mr. Williams, until a new appointment shall be made by the Proprietors.

Resolved, That the Agent shall not grant any Lands adjoining Salt springs, gold, silver, copper, lead, or sulphur mines, knowing them to be such.

Resolved, That a reservation to the Proprietors, of one half of all gold, silver, copper, lead, and sulphur mines, shall be made by the Agent, at granting deeds.

Resolved, That the Agent shall take a counterpart of all deeds granted by him, and shall transmit them to the Proprietors, residing in the Province of North-Carolina, to be audited, with his other proceedings, by the Company.

Resolved, That all surveys shall be made by the four Cardinal points, except where rivers or mountains so intervene as to render it too inconvenient; and that in all cases where one survey comes within the distance of eighty poles from another, their lines shall join without exception; and that every survey on navigable rivers shall extend two poles out for one pole along the river; and that each survey not on navigable rivers shall not be above one-third longer than its width.

Resolved, That a present of two thousand acres of Land be made to Colonel Daniel Boone, with the thanks of the Proprietors, for the signal services he has rendered to the Company.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Company be presented to Colonel Richard Calloway, for his spirited and manly behaviour in behalf of the said Colony; and that a present of six hundred and forty acres of Land be made to his youngest son.

Resolved, That James Hogg, Esq., be appointed Delegate to represent the said Colony in the Continental Congress, now sitting at Philadelphia; and that the following Memorial be presented by him to that august body.

To the Honourable the Continental Congress now Sitting at Philadelphia.

The Memorial for Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams,

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Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart, and Leonard Henly Bullock, Proprietors of Transylvania, sheweth:

That on the seventeenth day of March last, for a large and valuable consideration, Your Memorialists obtained from the Cherokee Indians, assembled at Watauga, a grant of a considerable territory now called Transylvania, lying on the South side of the river Ohio.

They will not trouble the honourable Congress with a detail of the risks and dangers to which they have been exposed, arising from the nature of the enterprise itself, as well as from the wicked attempts of certain Governors and their emissaries; they beg leave, only, to acquaint them that, through difficulties and dangers, at a great expense, and with the blood of several of their followers, they have laid the foundation of a Colony, which, however mean in its origin, will, if one may guess from present appearances, be one day considerable in America.

The Memorialists, having made this purchase from the Aborigines and immemorial possessors, the sole and uncontested owners of the country, in fair and open treaty, and without the violation of any British or American law whatever, are determined to give it up only with their lives. And though their Country be far removed from the reach of Ministerial usurpation, yet they cannot look with indifference on the late arbitrary proceedings of the British Parliament. If the United Colonies are reduced, or will tamely submit to be slaves, Transylvania will have reason to fear.

The Memorialists by no means forget their allegiance to their Sovereign, whose constitutional rights and pre-eminences they will support at the risk of their lives. They flatter themselves that the addition of a new Colony, in so fair and equitable a way, and without any expense to the Crown, will be acceptable to His Most Gracious Majesty, and that Transylvania will soon be worthy of his Royal regard and protection.

At the same time, having their hearts warmed with the same noble spirit that animates the United Colonies, and moved with indignation at the late Ministerial and Parliamentary usurpations, it is the earnest wish of the Proprietors of Transylvania to be considered by the Colonies as brethren, engaged in the same great cause of liberty and of mankind. And, as by reason of several circumstances, needless to be here mentioned, it was impossible for the Proprietors to call a convention of the settlers in such time as to have their concurrence

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laid before this Congress, they here pledge themselves for them, that they will concur in the measure now adopted by the Proprietors.

From the generous plan of liberty adopted by the Congress, and that noble love of mankind which appears in all their proceedings, the Memorialists please themselves that the United Colonies will take the infant Colony of Transylvania into their protection; and they, in return, will do everything in their power, and give such assistance in the general cause of America as the Congress shall judge to be suitable to their abilities.

Therefore the Memorialists hope and earnestly request, that Transylvania may be added to the number of the United Colonies, and that James Hogg Esq. be received as their delegate, and admitted to a seat in the honourable the Continental Congress.

By order of the Proprietors.

RICHARD HENDERSON, President.

Resolved, That Mr. Hogg be empowered to treat and contract with any person or persons who may incline to purchase Lands from the Company, and that he be allowed his expenses for transacting the above business.

Resolved, That the united thanks of this Company be presented to Colonel Richard Henderson, Captain Nathaniel Hart, and Captain John Luttrell, for their eminent services and publick spirited conduct, in settling the aforesaid Colony.

Resolved, That from this time to the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, the Lands in the said Colony shall be sold on the following terms: No survey of Land shall contain more than six hundred and forty acres, (except in particular cases); and the purchaser shall pay for entry and warrant of survey two dollars; for surveying the same and a plot thereof, four dollars; and for the deed and plot annexed, two dollars. And also shall pay to the said Proprietors, their Agent, or Receiver for the time being, at the time of receiving a deed, two pounds ten shilings sterling for each hundred acres contained in such deed; also an annual quit-rent of two shillings, like money, for every hundred acres, commencing in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty. And that any person who settles on the said Lands before the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, shall have the privilege, on the aforesaid conditions, of taking up

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for himself any quantity not above six hundred and forty acres; and for each taxable person he may take with him, and settle there, three hundred and twenty acres, and no more.

Resolved, That Colonel Richard Henderson survey and lay off, within the said Colony, in such places and in such quantities as he shall think proper, not less than two hundred thousand acres, hereafter to be equally divided amongst the copartners, or their representatives, according to their rateable part, (as fully set forth in the Articles of Agreement entered into by the copartners;) and that each copartner be permitted, by himself or his deputy, to make choice of, and survey in one or more places, any quantity of vacant Land in the aforesaid Colony, for his or their particular use; but not above two thousand acres, and that agreeable to the aforesaid rateable proportions, unless on the same terms, and under the same regulations and restrictions as laid down for other purchasers.

Resolved, That not more than five thousand acres shall be sold to any one person who does not immediately settle on the said Land; and that at three pounds ten shillings sterling per hundred, and not more than one hundred thousand acres in the whole on these terms.

Resolved, That the Agent deliver what money he may have received for the sale of lands to Colonel Thomas Hart, when he leaves the said Colony, and that Colonel Hart pay what money may be due from the Company to the people at Watauga on his return; and that the remainder be applied to the payment of the Company's other debts.

Also that the Agent take the first safe opportunity of remitting what further sums he may receive thereafter to William Johnston, Treasurer, to be by him applied towards paying off the Company's debts.

Resolved, That William Johnston be impowered to bargain and contract with any persons inclining to purchase lands in the said Colony.

Ordered, That Mr. Johnston do in behalf of the Proprietors, accommodate Mr. Peter Hay, merchant, (at Cross Creek, Cumberland County, North Carolina), with a present of one thousand acres of Land in the said Colony, for his friendly behaviour towards the Company; or in lieu thereof, that Mr. Hay be permitted to purchase ten thousand acres, without being obliged to settle the same, at two pounds ten shillings, sterling, per hundred acres, subject to office fees and quit rents.

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Resolved, That a present of six hundred and forty acres of Land be made to the Reverend Mr. Henry Patillo, on condition that he will settle in the said Colony.

Resolved, That the Agent duly attend to the above Resolves, unless when the interest of the Company makes the contrary necessary.

By order of the Proprietors:

RICHARD HENDERSON, President.