Land patent to John Savage and others for 28,627 acres in Fincastle County, Virginia, 1772 December 15.

Land patent to John Savage and others for 28,627 acres in Fincastle County, Virginia, 1772 December 15.

[Virginia], 1772 December 15.

English.

1 item (4 sheets) 31 x 20 cm.

MSS L2027.006

Land patent for a tract of 28,627 acres in Fincastle County, Virginia, granted to John Savage and other officers and soldiers entitled to bounty lands under Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie's proclamation of 1754. George Washington received and presented the veterans' claims, represented the claimants before the governor and Council, and helped coordinate the surveying and patenting of the lands. In a public notice dated December 23, 1772, Washington reported that the 28,627-acre survey had been ordered patented in the names of Savage and the other claimants. Savage, whose full entitlement as a former subaltern officer was 6,000 acres, received 3,428 acres in this initial distribution; the remaining 2,572 acres due him were provided in the final distribution of the 200,000-acre grant in 1773.

Title devised by cataloger.
The patent includes a metes-and-bounds description of the 28,627-acre tract; the first boundary point is described as "a small Elm marked G.W."

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John Savage was commissioned a lieutenant in the Virginia Regiment on March 9, 1754, and served in George Washington's 1754 campaign in the Ohio Country. Washington promoted Savage to captain in September 1755, and by January 1756 he commanded the regiment's 6th Company; he resigned later that year. On October 2, 1770, Savage visited Washington at Mount Vernon to enter his claim to a share of the 200,000 acres promised under Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie's proclamation of 1754. Washington included Savage in his 1771 roll of officers and soldiers whose service established claims to the bounty lands. Savage contributed toward the expense of surveying the lands, while Washington represented the claimants before the Virginia governor and Council and helped secure the resulting surveys and patents. Savage was ultimately entitled to 6,000 acres as a former subaltern officer, receiving 3,428 acres in the 1772 distribution and the remaining 2,572 acres in 1773.

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