CHAP. CCXV.- An Act for the relief of certain officers and soldiers of the Virginia line and navy, and of the continental army, during the revolutionary war. (a)
| Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the officers and soldiers, sailors and marines, who were in the service of Virginia on her own state establishment during the revolutionary war, and who were entitled to military land bounties, by the laws and resolutions of that state, their heirs, and assigns, shall be, and they are hereby, authorized to surrender, to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, such of their warrants for the said land bounties as shall remain unsatisfied, in whole or in part, and to receive certificates or scrip for the same, at any time before the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, which certificates or scrip shall be issued by the said Secretary, and signed by him, and countersigned by the commissioner of the general land office, in the following manner, that is to say: There shall be a separate certificate or scrip, for such sum as shall, at the time of issuing the same, be equal to the then minimum price of each quantity of eighty acres of land due by such warrant, and remaining unsatisfied at the time of such surrender, and a like certificate or scrip for such sum as, at the time, shall be equal to the minimum price of the quantity that shall so remain unsatisfied, of any such warrant after such subdivisions of the amount into quantities of eighty acres. And where any such warrant shall have been lost or mislaid, by time and accident, it shall and may be lawful for the party desiring to surrender the same, to surrender an official copy thereof, certified under the seal of the land office of Virginia, with the affidavit of the party endorsed upon, or accompanying the same, stating that such warrant has been lost or mislaid, and that the original hath not been sold or transferred, to the knowledge or belief of the party so surrendering, or his or her guardian.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commissioner of the general land office, to request the executive of Virginia to furnish him with a statement of all such warrants, within the purview of this act, as have already issued, showing the number and date of each warrant, and the quantity of acres granted by each, and also a monthly statement of the same description, showing the number, date, and quantity, of such warrants as shall hereafter be granted. And no warrant shall be taken to be within the provisions of this act, which shall hereafter be granted, unless the executive of Virginia shall cause a certificate to be endorsed thereon, signed by some proper officer, stating that the party to whom such warrant shall be so granted, his, her, or their ancestor or devisor, was entitled thereto by some law or resolution of the said state, in force at the time of the deed of cession, by the state of Virginia, to the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That before the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue the scrip required by the provisions of this bill, the applicants shall produce to him the certificate of the register of the land office in Kentucky, and the certificate of the surveyor of the military lands of the Virginia line, that the warrants (when the original is presented, or the copy, when the original has been lost or destroyed,) has not been located, surveyed, or patented, in Kentucky, attested by the seal of his office. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the certificates or scrip to be issued by virtue of this, act, shall be receivable in payment for any lands hereafter to be purchased, at private sale, after the same shall have been offered at public sale, and shall remain unsold at any of the land offices of the United States, established, or to be established, in the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. And all such certificates or scrip, as shall be issued by virtue of this act shall be assignable, by endorsement thereon, attested by two witnesses: Provided, That all certificates or scrip to be issued, in virtue of any warrant hereafter to be granted, shall be issued to the party originally entitled thereto, or his heir or heirs, devisee or devisees, as the case may be. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall be deemed and taken to extend to all such officers, soldiers, sailors, marines, chaplains, musicians, surgeons, and surgeons’ mates, in the land or sea service of the state of Virginia during the revolutionary war, and generally, to every person to whom the state had engaged to pay a land bounty for services in that war, of any description, by any law or resolution passed before, and in force at the date of the said deed of cession; except only such persons as are mentioned in, and provided for by the reservation contained in the said deed of cession in favour of the officers and soldiers of the said state on continental establishment: Provided, That no scrip issued under the provisions of this act, shall entitle the holder to enter or purchase any settled or occupied lands, without the written consent of such settlers or occupants, as may be actually residing on said lands at the time the same shall be entered or applied for: And provided, also, That the amount of land thus located, shall not exceed two hundred and sixty thousand acres. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the first and fourth sections of this act, shall extend to and embrace owners of military land warrants, issued, by the United States, in satisfaction of claims for bounty land for services during the revolutionary war; and that the laws, heretofore enacted, providing for the issuing said warrants, are hereby revived and continued in force for two years. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall also be deemed and taken to extend to all the unsatisfied warrants of the Virginia army on continental establishment: Provided, That the quantity thereof shall not exceed fifty thousand acres, in addition to the two hundred and sixty thousand acres heretofore authorized to be located by their state line. APPROVED, May 30, 1830. |