Description:

Simon Kenton
Mason County, KY, March 13, 1818
Frontiersman Simon Kenton Plat Map Deals with Competing Claims to Kentucky Land
ADS

[SIMON KENTON.] Miles W. Conway, Autograph Document Signed, Plat Map in Morton v. Kenton et al., filed March 13, 1818, [Mason County, Kentucky]. 2 pp., 7.75" x 20.25". Separated on fold; some edge tears; two sheets attached with wax; soiling on verso.

As a pioneering settler of Kentucky, Simon Kenton may have once owned nearly 500,000 acres in what became Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, through so-called "tomahawk improvements," by which he marked large trees at the corners of land he wanted. By 1790, he lived on an estate in northern Kentucky, worked by his slaves and tenant farmers. He built a large brick house where his wife and children lived with him. As more settlers poured into the Kentucky frontier, he sold land to them, but the imprecision of early surveys led to competing claims for the same land. In the case represented here, Kenton's deeds to Samuel Tibbs and George Morton yielded an overlap of property that surveyor Miles W. Conway attempted to untangle for the court.

Excerpt
"Pursuant to an order &c I have this day made the following Surveys and Plats The black lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and from thence to the Beginning of Samuel Tibbs (deceasd) Survey laid down by his deed from Kenton to said Tibbs. The black and dotted lines 1, 2, 3, a, b, c, d, and with the meanders of the Creek to A. from thence with the broken line to the Beginning George Mortons Survey laid down by his deed from Kentons to said Morton."

"By actual Survey Beginning at 1 a Boxelder and Elm (the Elm not markd as a corner to George Morton thence N 9¼ W 47 po at 2 a black Locust corner made for Goerge Morton and Samuel Tibbs thence with another line of said Tibbs and Morton West 120 po at 3 three Hickory & thence north 133½ po at 4 a Haw Bush markd T thence 377 E 380 po at M. directed to run there by John Kenton a few po Eastwardly where it was said Simon Kentons most north Eastwardly corner of his Peremption stood no old marks as I thought to be seen on that line thence 126 W 16 po at a thence East 11 po. At O in the Eastwardly side of the Road leading from Washington to Ezekiel Formans Mill thence S7 E 151 po at S in sd Road from thence to the Beginning 341 Acres 2 Roods & 19 poles."

Historical Background
Frontiersmen Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone founded what became Maysville, Kentucky, where Limestone Creek empties into the Ohio River. Kenton first settled there in 1775, and Daniel Boone's cousin had a tavern there. Kenton left to participate in the western battles of the Revolutionary War but returned in 1784 and built a blockhouse to protect settlers from raids by Native Americans.

The settlement was incorporated as Maysville in 1787 but was known well into the nineteenth century as Limestone. It served as a harbor for river commerce and a starting point for settlers moving into the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. A buffalo trace that Native Americans had used for centuries formed the route for a road from Maysville to Lexington, 60 miles to the southwest. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, Maysville and Louisville were Kentucky's two principal ports.

Mason County, Kentucky, was created from Bourbon County, Virginia, in 1788 and named for George Mason, the "Father of the Bill of Rights."

Simon Kenton (1755-1836) was born in Virginia and fled to the frontier in 1771 after fearing he had killed a man. He later learned the man had survived. In 1777, he saved his friend Daniel Boone's life during an attack by the Shawnee. He served as a scout for George Rogers Clark in 1779 in Clark's expedition to capture Fort Sackville in what is now Vincennes, Indiana. In 1785, a teenager taught Kenton how to write his name. In 1793-1794, Kenton fought in the Northwest Indian War with General Anthony Wayne. He began making claims in the Ohio country as early as 1788 and led settlers there in 1799. He served as a brigadier general in the state militia and led militiamen in the War of 1812, including participation in the Battle of the Thames in 1813.

Miles Withers Conway (1753-1822) was born in Virginia and married Susannah Berry (1755-1830), with whom he had at least six children. He was one of the founders and trustees of Washington, Kentucky, now a neighborhood of Maysville. He was also elected the first sheriff of Mason County and served as surveyor for the county. In 1792, he was a delegate from Mason County to the state constitutional convention.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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