Miscellaneous Southwest Virginia Land Grants

Courtesy of June White
Many Thanks!

What were Land Grants?

The Virginia Land Office was established in 1779 along with the procedure for the state to sell waste and unappropriated lands. Under the act, any person could purchase as much land as desired upon payment to the Treasurer of a fee of forty pounds for one hundred acres. The purchaser was given a warrant authorizing a surveyor to lay off the land. These warrants are also identified as grants.

For additional information on this subject please visit the Library of Virginia.

Notes:

1. Many of these grants focus on Tazewell County, Virginia, but many other counties are also represented
2. Although all of the A. J. May grants are in Buchanan County, which separated from Tazewell in 1858, they are listed because A. J. May both lived and practiced law in Tazewell County.
3. W. P. Cecil was a Tazewell banker; C. T. Painter, a Tazewell resident.
4. In the Buchanan and McDowell coal fields, long before logging and mining began, it’s probably safe to say that investors acquired more land than the settlers acquired.