Hi Mel...it is my understanding that each land owner had to appear 
before the South Carolina Council to request a precept or warrant for 
land, the precept or warrant was then taken to the surveyer who surveyed 
the land, then a grant was issued, then a memorial was entered in the 
Council records as well...at any rate, they had headrights for 
land...prior to 1756 or so they got 50 acres for the head of houseold 
and 50 acres for each family member, after 1756 they could only get 100 
acres for the head of household and 50 acres for each family member, 
family member could be wife, children, other family members, father 
mother etc and servants or slaves as well...sometime in there after 1756 
they could not get land for children over the age of 15 because they 
were considered adults and could get land of their own...

The long intraval sometimes between survey and grant was because they 
had to pay quit rent, that was like a tax or rent I guess from the Lord 
Proprietor...so they didn't file the grants in a hurry, since the quit 
rent started within 2 or 10 years from the filing of the grant...also 
you have to remember that if they were in the back country they had to 
go all the way to Charleston to file the land records...quite a distance 
by horseback and I'm sure in most instances a trip they found to be 
inconvenient as well as unneeded...also there are some instances where 
the land later was granted to children in wills...

Hope I haven't confused you...for each piece of land there was a 
Petition, survey, memorial and grant....the survey will ususally give 
you the Petition or warrant date and then you can look it up in the 
South Carolina Council Journal...in some instances they told who there 
kids and wife were etc...they had to prove this to obtain the acreage...

Charlotte

----Original Message Follows----
From: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 16:46:47 EST
Subject: SC Land Grants in 1777 Cherokee acquisition
To: [email protected]

The recent info published in the forum on early SC land grant 
requirements
have been very interesting, but I have not seen anything published on 
the
requirement for land grants in the 1777 Cherokee Acquisition territory 
in
upper SC.  The grant to my ancestor, John Frederick Croft, seems 
unusual, and
understanding more about the land grant requirements might help to 
locate him
prior to the land grant.  

The info on the grant is as follows: The survey record states, "I do 
hereby
certify for Jn.o Fredk Crofts a tract of land containing two hundred and
twenty-five acres surveyed for him the 4th of June 1785 situated in the
District of 96 above the Ancient Boundary Line on Maple Swamp Branch 
Waters of
Reedy River."  However, It was not signed by the surveyor until 31 July 
1792
(Grant Bk E, pg 235).  The land was granted to John Frederick Crofts by
Governor Charles Pinckney for ten shillings sterling money on 6 August 
1792.

First, what were the requirements to get a survey and obtain the grant?  
Was
the long interval between the time of the survey and the grant of the 
land
normal practice?  And was the fee of ten shillings for 225 acres the 
normal
fee?  Any information or comments would be really appreciated.

Mel Croft
[email protected]

 

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