I would be most interested in  references to specific grants regarding 
tomahawk and "rights in residence." Preemption rights were granted as 
part of the new Land Office law in an attempt to settle claims for land 
settled but not patented prior to the closing of the Land Office during 
the Revolution. (It reopened in 1779.) The text of the law can be found 
in Henings 10:35-65. It is also published in the introduction to volume 
8 of /Cavaliers and Pioneers/. The minutes of some the commissions have 
been published. Items 33 through 39 in the /Va Land Office Inventory/ 
detail the holdings of the land office in regard to preemption rights. I 
suspect that tomahawk and "rights in residence" are simply other terms 
for preemption rights; however, I have not personally seen these terms 
in the material I have studied. I believe that both "corn rights" and 
"tomahawk rights" were terms used in Kentucky grants.


Barbara Vines Little, CG
Dominion Research Services
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960

540-832-3473 
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CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under
license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the
US Patent & Trademark Office. 



Tarter, Brent (LVA) wrote:
> Va-Hist and Va-Roots Subscribers:
>
> Below, I forward to both lists a question that has recently been posted
> to the early American history discussion list on H-Net. I must confess
> that I have not seen the language referred to and suspect that it shows
> up in private correspondence or in local records rather than, as the
> question suggests, in formal land patents.
>
> I have alerted Professor Paul Grady that some helpful commentaries may
> appear on Va-Hist and Va-Roots. For the information of all of us, please
> post any meaty commentaries or "for-instances" on Va-Hist or Va-Roots.
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Please note the new e-mail address.
>
> Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
> http://www.lva.lib.va.us
>
>
> To  	[log in to unmask] 
> Subject  	QUERY: land patent terminology, late-eighteenth-century
> Virginia
>
> Hello all,
>
> I have been asked by a colleague interested in land patents from various
> counties in what is now West Virginia dating from 1773 to 1791 to give
> some ideas about certain phrases she has encountered in her genealogical
> research.  She wants to define what the particular phrases and terms,
> "tomahawk rights", "rights in residence" and "preemption rights" mean in
> reference to land patents of this period.  She has also encountered the
> phrase "tomahawked his land" and in unclear on the meaning.
>
> I haven't done much work on land grants or patents so I wanted to throw
> the question out to the combined wisdom of this e-list to see if anyone
> might have suggestions on definitions or guidance to a few monographs
> that might assist in her search.
>
> Thanks for the help in advance.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Paul Grady
> Assistant Professor of History
> University of South Carolina Upstate
> [log in to unmask]
>
> John Saillant
> Editor, H-OIEAHC
> OIEAHC <www.wm.edu/oieahc>
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>