A History of the Daniel Boone National Forest 1770 - 1970

(From the Virginia Gazette in the Library of Congress.)

By his Excellency the Right Hon. John, Earl of Dunmore, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same:

A PROCLAMATION.

Virginia, to wit.

Whereas his Majesty did, at the request of the Assembly of this colony, permit the Western boundary thereof to be extended, as the same has been run and ascertained by Col. Donelson, and other surveyors deputed for the purpose; and whereas his Majesty, both for the greater convenience of, & the prevention of litigation and disputes, among such persons as shall be inclined to settle upon any of his vacant lands, ordered that all that tract of land, included within the aforesaid boundary, and all other vacant lands within this colony, be surveyed in districts, and laid out in lots of from one hundred to one thousand acres, and as far as the said surveys shall be completed, by the surveyors duly authorized, and the surveys thereof returned, that the lands so surveyed and allotted be put up to public sale, at such time and place as shall be appointed by public notice; and that the highest bidder for such lots and parcels of land, at such sales be the purchaser thereof, and be entitled to a grant in fee simple of the land so purchased as aforesaid, by letters patent under the great seal of the Colony, subject to no conditions or reservations whatever, other than the payment of the annual quitrent of one half penny sterling per acre, and also of all mines of gold, silver, & precious stones; and whereas advice has been received that one Richard Henderson, and other disorderly persons, his associates, under pretense of a purchase made from the Indians, contrary to the aforesaid orders and regulations of his Majesty, do set up a claim to the lands of the Crown within the limits of this Colony; I have thought fit, therefore, to issue this my proclamation, strictly charging all justices of peace, sheriffs, and other officers, civil and military, to use their utmost endeavors to prevent the unwarrantable and illegal designs of the said Henderson and his abettors: and if the said Henderson, or others concerned with him, shall take possession of, or occupy any lands within the limits of his Majesty's government of Va. merely under any purchase, or pretended purchase, made from Indians, without any other title, that he or they be required, in his Majesty's name forthwith to depart, and relinquish the possession so unjustly obtained; and in case of refusal, and of violent detaining such possession, that he or they be immediately fined & imprisoned in the manner the laws in such cases direct.

Given under my hand, and the seal of the Colony, this 21st day of March, in the 15th year of his Majesty's reign. (1775)

God save the King.     

Dunmore.