Virginia. Loyal Land Company of Virginia.

The Loyal Land Company of Virgina was formed by John Lewis, Thomas Walker, and others for the purpose of accumulating large tracts of land, exceeding the limits specified in the general law of 1705, passed by the colonial legislature. Orders entered in the journals of the colonial Council provided the basis for occasionally granting special permission for individuals dealing as companies to locate tracts exceeding the 4,000 acre limitation. By orders of the Council, the Loyal Company was granted leave to take up 800,000 acres on June 12, 1749. The Company was given four years in which to survey the tract and purchase enough rights so that grants could be issued. In June, 1753, they sought and received an additional four years in which to complete the surveys. The additional time was required because caveats entered by persons claiming the same lands had delayed the surveying project.

The Company proceeded with its surveys and sales of individual tracts despite difficulties caused by the frontier wars. At the conclusion of the wars in 1763, they petitioned for an additional four years in which to continue to make surveys and to purchase rights. However, because the Proclamation of 1763 by King George III prohibited settlement in the trans-Allegheny area where most of the company lands were located, the governor and Council were restrained from granting the petition. A decade later, as military warrants due under the Proclamation of 1763 were being satisfied in the same area, the company again sought to have its prior rights in the region recognized. A December 1773 order of Council recognized the rights of the Loyal Company over those of military warantees, who were instructed to locate their bounty lands where desired, but not to interfere either with settlements or surveys already made.

The Company continued to make surveys until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. These surveys were sold to persons who then obtained title by patent from the Land Office. Title to tracts which had been surveyed was confirmed by the May 1779 act "adjusting and settling the title of claimers to unpatented lands under the present and former government..." A list of the Loyal Company surveys which were so annulled was presented to the Court of Appeals. This body decided in 1783 in favor of confirming titles to this land as well. The Company continued to assign surveys,

and patentees continued to obtain title through the Land Office until 1799, when an order of the High Court of Chancery required the cessation of issuing grants until a pending suit could be decided. The suit, however, was abated by the plaintiff's death. As disputes continued to arise and additional suits were brought, representatives of the original members of the Loyal Company were incorporated as the Successors of the Loyal Company. Not until 123 years after the first order of the Council was entered on behalf of the Loyal Company was the final case decided.

A printed history of the Loyal Company of Virginia by Archibald Henderson was published by the American Antiquarian Society in 1931. It contains a complete list of the company founders.

From the description of Agency history. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145408813