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In 1750 Dr. Walker led the first expedition to the west to have
left a written record.
He went as far west as Cumberland Ford (present
Pineville, Ky.)
Much
of the land was already settled by squatters.
Reedy Creek (US 11W between Bristol and Kingsport, TN)
was noted to have had a “settlement”.
In 1754 the Loyal Co. sold land to about 200 hundred
families who were already living upon the land.
Col. John Buchanan married the daughter, Margaret, of
James Patton and Mary Burden.
Buchanan became the chief surveyor of the Patton Land
Company and the Loyal Company.
Their daughter, Margaret, whose grandmother had been a
Campbell, married Major Charles Campbell, who became a surveyor
for the Loyal Company.
Patton sold land for both his company and the Loyal
Company.
Records
frequently do not make it clear which company Patton was selling
for when settlers bought their land.
In 1755 Patton was killed by Indians in the present Town
of Blacksburg.
The
legacy of the Buchanans, Campbells, and Prestons is writ large
in the history of Southwest Virginia, and of Saltville in
specific.
Their land
dealings sparked legal problems that left their imprints in the
land law of the United States of America.
...
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