Land Warrant, William Harrison  
The two excerpts below are from the biographical sketch of Judge Bazel Harrison as it appears in "Michigan Pioneer Collections", Volume 11, 1887, contributed by A.D.P. Van Buren:
"William Harrison, the father of the subject [Bazel Harrison] of our sketch, was not lacking in natural capacity and not behind his younger brother in patriotism. But he seems to have been one of those characters, so frequently found in great families, who are never successful. He was, so far as we are able to learn, of good habits and industrious, but as his grandson [William "Uncle Billy" Harrison] (who remembers him well) said to the writer, "he never got ahead. He farmed it all his life, yet never owned a farm."
William Harrison, who never owned a farm, existed somewhere between the time he was enumerated on the 1790 Federal Census of Franklin County, Pennsylvania and his appearance with his sons in Washington County, Pennsylvania in about 1800.  How and where did the William Harrison family live in Pennsylvania?  Admittedly, I have not researched the Washington County, Maryland early tax records.  It is very likely that the family may have resided in Maryland very close to the Pennsylvania border.  However, there was a William Harrison doing some land speculation in Bedford County around the same time that the Harrison family should have resided there.
"Bazil was 14 years old. He helped his father on the rented farm for a short time, and then went to work in a distillery, a business which he followed as long as he lived in Pennsylvania."
During this same period, around 1794, the "Whiskey Insurrection" was occurring in Pennsylvania and George Washington took action to quell the rebellion, and personally visited Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

I cannot say without some reservation that this is definitely William Harrison, the father of Bazel and Joseph Harrison.  Further research is warranted.  The release of land rights found in the Bedford County Courthouse, for a William Harrison of Philadelphia (see below), may indicate that this is another William Harrison altogether.


Early Pennsylvania Land Records are a challenge to researchers.  The process of obtaining/owning land was a five step process:
1.  Application-request for a warrant to have a survey made; usually a slip of paper which does not bear applicant's signature.

2.  Warrant-certificate authorizing a survey of a tract of land; initiates title of a property and provides the basis for legal settlement, but does not convey all rights to the property.

3.  Survey-sketch of the boundaries of the tract of land with exact determination of total acreage; usually with a 6% allowance for roads.

4.  Return-verbal description of the property boundaries; wording is similar to that of a patent; internal document sent from Surveyor General to Secretary of the Land Office.

5.  Patent-final, official deed from the Penns or the Commonwealth, which conveys clear title and all rights to the private owner.
 

There were actually three Land Warrants issued to a William Harrison in Bedford County.  The warrant shown below in Bethel Township dated 15 April 1794 and surveyed on 14 October 1794, a warrant issued in Dublin Township dated 14 November 1794 and surveyed on 16 October 1795, and a warrant dated 11 September 1794 in Hopewell Township (which at that time may have been in Cumberland County; Hopewell Township then included a large part of what is now Franklin and Bedford Counties, however, the warrant was not listed in the Cumberland County index, and no survey was recorded for the Hopewell Township Land Warrant).

As for the dollars and cents of the procurement, or rather pounds and shillings of these land transactions.  There was very little cost involved in the application for and issuing of the Land Warrant.  For a few shillings a man could apply for and be issued a warrant on unclaimed lands.  The 50 shillings per acre or price stated on the Warrant below for 400 acres (a total of 200 pounds) would not have been paid until the patent was issued.  No patents were issued to William Harrison for any of the three Land Warrants in Bedford County.  Each Warrant was disposed of differently:

1.  The Land Warrant issued to a William Harrison in Bethel Township, for 432 acres, was sold to John Dunwoody, then transferred to Alexander Wilcocks on 10 March 1795 for a mere twenty-one shillings and six pence.

2.  The Land Warrant issued to a William Harrison in Dublin Township, for 419 acres, was surveyed but was never sold or patented according to records in the warrant index.  However, in the Bedford County Courthouse, Deed Book E, page 180 there is a record of a land release from a William Harrison of Philadelphia to Tench Cosee and Daniel Suter dated 27 February 1798.  There was no mention of the tract of land in question.

3.  The Land Warrant issued to a William Harrison in Hopewell Township, was never surveyed, sold, or patented, and reverted to the ownership of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
 

This land speculation earned a William Harrison a total of twenty-one shillings six pence for three tracts of land of approximately 1200 acres.

The first image shown below is a copy of the folded cover of the original land warrant filed and issued to a William Harrison in Bethel Township, Bedford County (now Fulton County) Pennsylvania.  The original survey was not located with the warrant.  The plot is listed as 400 acres filed on 15 April 1794 and executed on 14 October 1795.  After the warrant was issued the next step in for securing the land should have been a survey.  However, a copy of the transcribed survey was located at the Pennsylvania State Archives.  The second image is of the actual warrant certificate (which was in very good condition for being 206 years old).  A survey for the land of John Heaton (which is listed as the adjacent property on the warrant), was discovered, it stated:
 

"Surveyed for John Heaton the 13th Day of October 1794 In Pursuance of a Warrant Dated April the 15th 1794."
The adjacent land owners on John Heaton's survey were David Brooks, John Powel and "Timothy Fidlar in rite [sic] of Sarah Reed".  It is possible that John Heaton filed more than one warrant, however, this was the only existing warrant on file.  The tax lists for Bedford County were not found on microfilm for the year 1794.  However, a William Harrison was taxed in 1795 and 1796 Dublin Township, and again in Dublin Township on the 1798 Direct Tax.  A copy of the survey for the warrant issued to William Harrison in Dublin Township was also located at the Pennsylvania State Archives.
 

 


This web page is authored by Scott Duncan.  All information listed without a reference should be verified.  Any additions, questions, or comments should be sent to:

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