compiled by William Inman flipjax@earthlink.net
1810 U.S. Census of old Knox County, KY
Comment on tax entries and surveys
On Sep. 26, 1807, James Love sold James Blake and Luke Watkins one tract of land each, ?John ?Freeman of Knox Co. to convey the land to them as if it were being conveyed by Love. This is difficult to read and may be simply an assignment of title to a survey or what have you-that is, some land claim at a stage prior to a deed. Witnessed by Thomas ?Fergusson. County Clerk Richard Ballinger, in a largely illegible and in some cases lined out acknowledgment, mentions the power of attorney being awarded John Freeman, from which I infer the otherwise illegible name in line two above.
On Oct. 31, 1807, Jacob Chesnut and Abraham Chesnut of Knox Co., KY, sold James Blake, same, 200 acres for $200, the land being part of John Talbot's 2,500-acre survey on Little Laurel River. Witnessed by Benjamin Chesnut and Levin Adams.
On Aug. 2, 1808, William Thomas of Knox Co., KY, sold to Peter Blake, same, 68 acres of land for $280, the land being a part of John Brown's survey on Big Laurel River. Witnessed by James Rice, John Chesnut, and James Blake.
On Nov. 26, 1808, James Blake of Knox Co., KY, sold Abraham Chesnut 200 acres for $300, the land being part of the John Talbot 2,500-acre survey on Little Laurel River. Witnessed by Luke Watkins, Benjn. Chesnut, John Chesnut, ?Chapman Watkins, and James ?Rice.
On Nov. 1, 1809, Peter Bleak of Knox Co., KY, sold Luke Watkins, same, 68 acres for 100 pounds, the land being part of the John Brown survey on Big Laurel River. Witnessed by Benj" Chesnut, John Chesnut, and George Green.
On Mar. 5, 1810, James Love of Knox Co., KY, sold John Freeman, assignee of James Blake, same, 450 acres for $100, the land being part of the 7,000-acre survey of John Brook's on Little Laurel River. Witnesses were not indicated.
Comment on tax entries and surveys
1800
Nothing for Chesnuts
1801
Mar. 27
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
white male over 21 |
horses/cattle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Chesnut | 400 | Laurel River | J. Talbut | same | same | 1 | 2 |
1802
May 26
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
white male over 21 |
white male >16,<21 |
horses/cattle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Chesnut | 200 | Little Laurel R. | John Talbut | same | same | 1 | 2 | |
| John Chesnut, Sr. | 500 | Little Laurel R. | John Talbut | same | same | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Abraham Chesnut | 100 | Little Laurel R. | John Talbut | same | same | 1 | 1 | |
| John Chesnut, Jr. | 200 | Little Laurel R. | John Talbut | same | same | 1 | 2 | |
| William Chesnut | 300 | Little Laurel R. | John Talbut | same | same | 1 | 3 |
1803
July 5
| Name | acres |
white male over 21 |
horses/cattle |
|---|---|---|---|
| John, Jr. | 300 | 1 | 3 |
| Jacob | 200 | 1 | 2 |
| William | 225 | 1 | 3 |
July 7
| Name | acres |
white male over 21 |
white male >16,<21 |
horses/cattle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Sr. | 500 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Abraham | 400 | 1 | 1 |
1804
| Name | Acres |
|---|---|
| John Chesnut | 500 |
| Jacob | 200 |
| Sarah Chesnut | 250 |
| Abraham | 400 |
| John Jr. | 300 |
William is gone. Property of a widow is usually listed in her name until the will is probated.
1805
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
white male over 21 |
horses/cattle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah Chesnut | 225 | Kings Branch | Logan | same | same | 1 | 3 |
| John | 300 | ||||||
| Abraham | 400 | ||||||
| Benjamin | 400 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Benjamin | 200 | ||||||
| Samuel | no land listed | ||||||
| Jacob | 200 |
John Sr. is gone. Sarah's land appears to be a different tract than last year.
1806
| Name | acres | location | entry | male >16, <21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Chesnut | 600 | Little Laurel R. | Talbut | |
| John Chesnut | no land | |||
| Sarah Chesnut | 225 | Little Rockcastle | J. Talbut | 1 |
| Jacob Chesnut | 200 | |||
| Samuel Chesnut | no land | |||
| Abraham Chesnut | 400 |
1807
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Chesnut | 300 | ||||
| Sarah Chesnut | 210 |
Knox Little Laurel R. |
|||
| William Chesnut | no land | ||||
| Jacob Chesnut | 200 | ||||
| Samuel Chesnut | no land | ||||
| Abraham Chesnut | 400 | ||||
| Benjamin Chesnut | 400 | ||||
| Benjamin Chesnut | 200 | Rockcastle | G. Thompson | same | same |
I would guess that the new entry, William, was a namesake of the old one.
1808
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Chesnut | 400 | ||||
|
" |
200 | on Little Rockcastle R. | G. Thompson | same | same |
| John Chesnut | 300 | ||||
| Abraham Chesnut | 400 | ||||
| Jacob | 200 | listed same day as William | |||
| William Chesnut | no land | not listed sameday as others |
No Sarah listed
1809
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham | 200 |
| Samuel | none |
| Jacob | 200 |
| William | none |
| Benjamin | 400 |
|
" |
200 |
| John | 300 |
1810
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham | 475 |
| John | 364 |
| Benjamin | 400 |
|
" |
200 |
The next entry may be a Chesnut-they are too light to read from here on, but the land seems to be accounted for among the three of them. It is Jacob we do not find.
1811
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| John Chesnut | 468 |
| Abraham Chesnut | 475 |
| Benjamin Chesnut | 400 |
|
" |
200 |
| Benjamin Chestnut, Jr. | no land |
That's it.
1812
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham Chesnut | 200 |
| Benjamin Chesnut | 600 |
| John Chesnut | 468 |
| Ben Jr. | no land |
1813
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham Chesnut | 200 |
| Benjamin Chesnut | 600 |
| John Chesnut | 468 |
| Ben Jr. | no land |
Same as 1812. I can't find William. This has been reconstructed because of its bad shape.
1814
lost
1815
| Name | acres | entry |
|---|---|---|
| Abraham | 200 | |
| Benj | 600 | |
| Benj Jr. | none | |
| William | 240 | Talbut land |
| John | 468 |
(I am not sure they have the year's sequence correct for 1812-1815. They say two years are missing, but only one is missing. The whole sequence may be wrong. This may be 1813. William suddenly appears, then disappears.)
1816
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Benj Jr. | no land |
| Abraham | 200 |
| Ben Sr. | 600 |
| John | 464 |
Good copy. No William.
1817
| Name | acres | location | entry | survey | patent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benj Jr. | no land | ||||
| Abraham | 200 | ||||
| Ben Sr. | 600 | ||||
| John | 464 | ||||
| William | 200 | on Laurel River | J. Bovernan (sp?) land | same | same |
1818
| Name | acres | entry |
|---|---|---|
| John | 464 | |
| Will | 200 | |
| William | no land | |
| Ben Sr. | 600 | Talbot land |
|
" |
106 | C.Brooke land |
| Abraham | 200 |
1819
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham | 200 |
| Edmund Chesnut | no land |
1820
| Name | acres |
|---|---|
| Abraham | 200 |
| William Chesnut | no land |
| Edmund Chesnut | no land |
I would guess these are Abraham's kids.
Cumberland River Church minutes for the first Saturday in April, 1812. "Church met according to adjournment and after worship proceeded to business. 1st. Brother Elijah Foley made it known to the Church that he with a number of other Brothern met at the house of John Chesnut and met in Church order and received Lucy Arthur and Ann Arthur by experience and was approved of by the Church."
The Cumberland River Church was a Baptist Church formed in 1804 with Elijah Foley as its pastor. It was very influential in forming new churches in old Knox Co. (which was all of southeastern KY at the time). They had an "outreach" or missionary purpose. They met at the homes of outlying people interested in joining the church but who were too far away for it to be convenient. When they got enough converts, they found a minister and created a church there. It remained an "arm" of the CRC until it got to the place where it could demonstrate that it was capable of going it alone. A church was formed in the area mentioned. I believe it was the Concord church, but I would have to check. That church became a large one very quickly (75 members when it was consitituted as an independent church by the CRC).
1810 U.S. Census of old Knox County, KY
| Name | male under ten | male ten to 16 |
male 26 to 45 (including heads of households) |
females under ten | females 10 to 16 |
female 26 to 45 (including heads of households) |
slaves |
| John Chesnut | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Benjamin Chesnut | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Comment on tax entries and surveys
In the listing of these parcels of land for tax purposes, they always gave the name of the individual who was first to enter, survey and patent the land (from the beginning of their world). Sometimes--frequently--these were not the same person. The steps were, first, get a warrant (sometimes a certificate, in the case of the Tellico Grants) that gave the basis for your having a piece of land. If it was service in the war, then the warrant may just have been for any piece of unclaimed land that had not been set aside for some purpose by the government (unless the purpose was to provide land for such warrants). Once the claimant found his piece of land, he entered his claim with an authorized surveyor, who put it in his book and set it up for an eventual survey. When the claim was "entered," that established the date of the claimant's claim for matters of precedence, in case someone else also entered the same piece of land. At first, the claimant could hold on to his claim without actually doing a survey. The VA government got tired of that, since it did not bring in any taxes, so they set a year's limit for the precedence of a claim, before which the claimant had actually to do a survey of the property and establish its true lines. That cost money. Sometimes, the claimant paid the surveyor in land. Some surveyors became land-rich as a result.
Then, after the survey was made, the claimant completed his papers and waited for his patent. Sometimes, however, he found that his claim had been preempted by an earlier claimant, and it had to go to the Court of Appeals for settlement. If no opposition turned up, eventually he got his patent.
The various holdings could be sold at any stage. Some of the big land speculators entered claims on many pieces of land they never intended to survey, and sold the warrants to someone else at a relatively small price. Quick pocket money. One speculator sold an 8,000 acre entry for 150 acres in VA and a horse, saddle, and bridle. At the survey stage, more investment was involved. At the patent stage, the patent served as the first deed, and the land could be sold under the usual arrangements for land transactions. He who had the patent was the first real owner "in fee simple."
You can find the Talbot survey, I am sure, in W.R. Jillson's "Kentucky Land Grants," republished by Genealogical Publishing Co. in 1971. I don't remember how the book was indexed. If Talbot was the person who entered the claim and surveyed and patented it, there will be no problem. You might have to scan the entries, however, if it was basically indexed under a different entry name. I am not sure whether Jillson indexed all the names. Never had occasion to look. It is not that big a job, even if you have to scan the entries.
Talbot's survey would have been made under Virginia Grants or The Old Kentucky Grants sections. I do not believe it would quite qualify as a Green River Grant, although some funny numbering went on sometimes. There were Green River Grants entered under the Tellico Grants. Also, the Tellico Grants were south of Cumberland River, and I do not believe Talbot's survey would be there. My guess is that it was an old Virginia grant. Some small odds that it might be a Green River Grant, now that I think of it. Trouble is, there is no clear demarcation of just how far east the Green River designation went. I believe it stopped about where McCreary Co., KY, is now located, which would be a little too far west for Little Laurel; but one must play all the odds.
Actually, I think you could find the Talbot survey in a few minutes if you looked in Jillson. Most libraries that have any KY references will have Jillson. It is a classic.