- Collection:
- Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842
- Title:
- Petition of the inhabitants of Montgomery County, 1794 Sept. 1, Montgomery County, [Georgia] to George Mathews, Governor [of] Georgia
- Date of Original:
- 1794-09-01
- Subject:
- Land speculation
Indians of North America--Claims against - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Montgomery County, 32.17336, -82.53482
- Medium:
- petitions
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
image/jpeg - Description:
- This petition (possibly a copy) from the inhabitants of Montgomery County, Georgia to Georgia Governor George Mathews (1793-1796) is dated September 1, 1794 and signed by Francis Pugh and Nathaniel Hick, Justices of the Peace. The petitioners complain about the destructive and illicit activities of land speculators in the county, and they claim that the presence of these men prevents decent people from moving into the county, leaving them vulnerable to "the Savages". A note on the back of this petition indicates its relationship to the Pine Barren Speculation scandal in which far more Georgia land was granted, particularly by Governor Mathews, than was actually available.
Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2001, as part of GALILEO, funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. - Local Identifier:
- krc129
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_krc129
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_krc129#item
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_krc129/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [title of item], Keith Read, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia
- Extent:
- 4 pages/leaves
- Original Collection:
- Manuscript held by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries, Keith Read, box 19, folder 10, document 01.
- Holding Institution:
- Hargrett Library
- Rights:
-
Page: [1]
(Petition)
To his Excellency George Mathews Esquire, Governor and Commander in Cheif [Chief] in and over the State of Georgia --
The Petetion [Petition] of the Inhabitants of Montgomery County humbly sheweth That we your humble Petitioners are greatly [deleted text: [illegible text] ] [added text: aggrieved ] & injured; & therefore desire that our Complaints may be redressed. The hardships Injuries & insults, which we have undergone ever since we were made a county, are so great, & hard to be borne, that we cannot endure them any longer. -- The land in our County was Generally run and passed into Grants, before the devision [division] of Washington County. We Know & are certainly not mistaken (for we can prove it) that some part of our County whilst we belonged to Washington County, has been run by those men commonly called & Known by the name of Speculators, no less than Seven Times. As soon as we [deleted text: [illegible text] ] [added text: were ] organized, as a county [added text: these designing men brot [brought] a ] Delluge [Deluge] of Land Warrants from other Counties amounting to the enormous Some [Sum] of nearly three Millions of acres of Land, which in our opinion are mostly counterfeit. Part of our Honorable Couurt [Court] of justice passed & renewed this [added text: enormous ] number of Warrants. And many of [added text: these ] Surreptitious Speculators were appointed deputies (to survey) by the Surveyors of our County: & they have run through our plantations & Lands & Choped [Chopped] & hacked our Trees in so many places that it is now difficult, & in a few years it will be impossible for us to find
Page: [2]
our ancient boundries [boundaries] . And we are further greatly injured by the Land being thus fraudulently taken from us, it prevents many respectable Citizens of the United States who have left their habitations at the Northward to come & Settle in these parts & assist us to curb the ambitious Ferocity, Cruelty & inhumanity of the Savages our neighbours [neighbors] . Under these Circumstances we your humble Petitioners are left amost [almost] [deleted text: with ou ] alone, being but few in number to defend our little Quntity [Quantity] of Land & can have no assistance from those who pretend to own 9 tenths of our county. We therefore pray that your honor, would please to alleviate the miseries we now feel, & keep us from the miseries we must inevitably feel, that we may be kept from troublesome, perplexing & vexatious Law suits in our days & not leave our unborn Ofspring [Offspring] to combat with [deleted text: [illegible text] ] [added text: insurmountable ] difficulties thraldom, Perplexities & every Species of misery & misfortune. To prevent all these evils (& many more we could mention) we humbly pray that your Excellency would not sign the grants for these large survays [surveys] which are dated since the
1 day of may 1794 - until the next meeting of the general assembly of the said state -- That your petitioners may have an opportunity of laying their Grievances before the Supreme Legislature of the said state. -- And your Petitioners as in duty bound sall [shall] ever pray --
Page: [3]
Montgomery County
September 1st 1794
[Signed] Francis Pugh J.P. [Justice of the Peace]
[Signed] Nathaniel Hick J.P. [Justice of the Peace] and others --
Page: [4]
Petition of Montgomery County
Pine-barren [unclear text: Speculation ]