Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

October 21, 1779 - Letter from Patrick Henry to Unknown concerning Dutton Lane's claim to property on Leatherwood Creek in Pittsylvania County
CWF Rockefeller Library Special Collections. SCMS1931.4.13

Together with this you will receive Sunday
papers relative to the claim of Dutton Lane to 300
& odd Acres of Land found by the Excheaters Inquest to
be british property Laying on Leatherwood Creek.
If Lane succeeds in getting a Right, I expect to buy
this Land of him as it is very convenient to me & there
-fore am [very] anxious that his claim should be sup
-ported, being convinced his pretensions are just.
Perhaps it may be objected that the Transfer from
Walton to Lane is not sufficiently established. To this
it may be answered, that Lane living out of the county
is taken by surprize, I never heard of the Inquest 'til
a few Days past, & then by Accident. The custom has [illegible]
been to transfer Surveys of Land as Chattels without any
solemnity, as they were to lay a limited time for any party
claiming the survey to enter a caveat [ap^t] him who re
-turned the survey on Works to the Secretary's office.
Lane therefore contented himself to [take] W[illegible] to [illegible]
Bargain, one of whom vizt. Ja^s Cox, swears clearly to the
Transfer, tho' the Justice has given an indistinct reci
-tal of his Oath. But should the Court doubt of Lanes
Right, yet it is certain Conway, under whom I [illegible]
claims can have no Right, his Entry being many
years after Walton's, & the Law enacts that all Entrys
2 legally made shall stand good until notice to
[survey] is given & the party fails. [illegible]de [Title] surveyor
in old Body[illegible]s Laws. So that suppose Lane fails
in his Claim yet Walton's entry stil remains good
& must, I think defeat the Jury's Return The Truth is
the Jury who are my Neighbours went on the hightest
Grounds such as [flying] Report &c, & [wch] no Injury
would be done any one as a further Tryal was to be had
before final condemnation of the property & so retur
-ned in their verdict a great Number of Entrys one
among ^which is that now in Question, without the least Right
having rested in Smith to them. That the Land Survey ^{for Cox [illegible]}
& returned in Smith's name is the same, enter'd for
by Walton & now claimed by Lane I know to be fact
& can be proved by hundreds; But the obscurity may
arise from Walton's entrys being made to begin at
Lomax's Line, & so to run up the Creek &c [on ways]
begining up the Creek & runing down to Lomax's
Line or near it. But 'tis certain the Land claimed
by both is one & the same Land & included in Walton'[s]
Entrys, which are prior to Conway's, which Smith
who is the British Subject Claims.

You will find the Escheators Return
in the office & to that I must refer you. I earnestly wish
that the sale of this Land may be stopped for the
present, in order to give Lane a further chance to
^{acc #101}
3 to supply such proofs as the court may think
he is deficient in, for he is really taken by sur
-prize — Col^o Donelson certifys he delivered the
Survey to Smith by Mistake, having long before
rec^d his fee as surveyor for surveying this very
Land for Dutton Lane. I think this circums
-tance alone is sufficient to establish Lanes Right
for it is well known to have been the co[illegible]
practice for surveyors to receive the fee from such
of two contending partys as he intended to deliver
his plot & certificate to. Had Lane rec^d these (as he
had a Right to demand them) the present dispute
would not, could not have happened. How [hard then]
Donelson's Mistake (he owns it to have been one)
should [ban] Lanes Right, which otherwise would have
been undoubted?

Upon the whole the case is, Walton
first enters the Land & conveys to Lane. Conway long
after enters the same Land & conveys to Smith. The sur
-vey was deliver'd to Smith by mistake, Lane having
a Right to it from certificate of Donelson the surveyor, for
he claimed it by the first Entry & paid for the survey.

I beg you to excuse my prolixity, & the Hints
I have let down. I have done so as the case is familiar
to me, & you may be too busy to study it closely. I 4 beg your particular attention to it, & that you
will send me notice of any particulars relative
to the Business by the Bearer. You may detain
him one day in Town to know the success of the
Claim, which the Nature of the Case seems to demand
to be heard at any time upon motion.

I send £25 by the Bearer & will
make it up £50 by next opportunity.

I think it will be sufficient if the
Court shall quash the Inquisition, or stop the
sale of this Land, upon account of Walton's
claim. This may answer our purpose, as Lane
in that case will contend with Walton. But
certainly Walton or Lane must have the Right
& not Smith, whose claim is founded on the latest
Entry & the Surveyors mistake in delivering
him the [Works].

PS The bearer is to call
on the Surveyor of [illegible] &
carry to you attested copys of the
Entrys [illegible]ing Waltons to be the first
not a day can be lost, as the 30 days will quickly expire