ACT of May 11, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 80.

An act extending the time allowed for the redemption of land sold for direct

taxes in certain cases.

26. SEC. I. The time allowed for the redemption of lands which have been or may be sold for the payment of taxes, under the act passed the ninth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, so far as the same regards the direct tax of six millions of dollars, laid in that year; or under the act passed the fifth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, so far as the same regards the direct tax of three millions of dollars, laid in that year, and purchased on behalf of the United States, be extended three years beyond the time heretofore allowed: Provided, That such extension of time shall not be beyond the first of June, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and that on such redemption, interest be paid at the rate of twenty per centum per annum, on the taxes aforesaid, and additions of twenty per centum chargeable thereon; and the right to redeem shall ensure as well to persons holding an equitable or reversionary interest in lands so purchased on behalf of the United States, as to the original owners thereof.

27. SEC. II. Where any person or persons, who has or have purchased lands or tenements, sold for the non-payment of the direct tax, shall be entitled to have a deed for the same, but, from the death or removal of the collector, or from any other cause, there is no officer who, by the existing laws, is authorized to make a deed, it shall be lawful for such person or persons to apply, by petition, to the district judge of the district in which such lands or tenements are situate, setting forth the circumstances of the case, and, upon due proof being made, to the satisfaction of such judge, that such person or persons, is or are a purchaser or purchasers as aforesaid, and has or have fully complied with all conditions of sale, and is or are entitled to have a deed, and that there is no officer who, by the existing laws, is authorized to make such deed, it shall be lawful for such judge, and he is hereby authorized and required, to order and direct the marshal of the district to make a deed to the purchaser or purchasers, which deed, being acknowledged in open court, and entered of record, shall have the same effect as if it had been made by the collector or other officer authorized by the laws heretofore or now in force.

ACT of March 3, 1791. 2 Bioren, 230.

An act for granting lands to the inhabitants and settlers at Vincennes, and the Illinois country, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and for confirming them in their possessions.

1. SEC. 1. Four hundred acres of land shall be given to each of those persons, who, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eightythree, were heads of families at Vincennes, or in the Illinois country, on the Mississippi, and who, since that time, have removed from one of the said places to the other. And the governor of the territory northwest of the Ohio is hereby directed to cause the same to be laid out for them, at their own expense, either at Vincennes or in the Illinois country, as they shall severally elect

2. SEC. II. The heads of families at Vincennes, or in the Illinois country, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, who afterwards removed without the limits of the said territory, are, notwithstanding, entitled to the donation of four hundred acres of land, made by the resolve of congress, of the twenty-ninth of August, one thousand seven hundred and eightyeight; and the governor of the said territory, upon application to him for that purpose, is hereby directed to cause the same to be laid out for such heads of families, or their heirs; and shall also cause to be laid off and confirmed to such persons, the several tracts of land which they may have possessed, and which, before the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, may have been allotted to them according to the laws and usages of the government under which they had respectively settled: Provided nevertheless, That if such persons, or their heirs, do not return and occupy the said lands within five years, such lands shall be considered as forfeited to the United States.

3. SEC. I. One hundred and fifty acres of land, heretofore in possession of the Piankeshaw Indians, and now under actual improvement, and constituting a part of the village of Vincennes, shall be given to the persons who are severally in possession of

the said land.

(ACT of April 21st, 1792.)

4. SEC. IV. Where lands have been actually improved and cultivated at Vincennes, or in the Illinois country, under a supposed grant of the same, by any commandant or court claiming authority to make such grant, the governor of the said territory is empowered to confirm to the persons who made such improvements, their heirs or assigns, the lands supposed to have been granted as aforesaid, or such parts thereof as he, in his discretion, may judge reasonable, not exceeding to any one person, four hundred acres.

5. SEC. v. A tract of land, containing about five thousand four hundred acres, which, for many years, has been fenced and used by the inhabitants of Vincennes as a common, also a tract of land including the villages of Cohos and Prairie du Pont, and heretofore used by the inhabitants of the said village as a common, are hereby appropriated to the use of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and of the said village, respectively, to be used by them as a common, until otherwise disposed of by law.

6. SEC. VI. The governor of the said territory is authorized to make a grant of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, to each person who hath not obtained any donation of land from the United States, and who, on the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety, was enrolled in the militia at Vincennes, or in the Illinois country, and has done militia duty, the said land to be laid out at the expense of the grantees, and in such form and place as the said governor shall direct. Provided, nevertheless, That no claim founded upon purchase or otherwise, shall be admitted within a tract of land heretofore occupied by the Kaskaskia nation of Indians, and including their village, which is hereby appropriated to the use of the said Indians.

ACT of April 21, 1792. 2 Bioren, 276.

7. SEC. 1. A certain contract expressed in an indenture executed on the twenty-seventh day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, between the then board of treasury for the United States of America, of the one part, and Manasseh Cutler, and Winthrop Sergeant, as agents for the directors of the Ohio company of associates, of the other part, so far as the same respects the following described tract of land; that is to say; "beginning at a station where the western boundary line of the seventh range of townships, laid out by the authority of the United States in congress assembled, intersects the river Ohio; thence extending along that river south westerly to a place where the western boundary line of the fifteenth range of townships, when laid out agreeably to the land ordinance passed the twentieth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, would touch the said river; thence running northerly on the said western bounds of the said fifteenth range of townships, till a line drawn

(ACT of April 21st, 1792.)

due east to the western boundary line of the said seventh range of townships, will comprehend, with the other lines of this tract, seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, besides the several lots and parcels of land in the said contract reserved or appropriated to particular purposes; to the western boundary line of the said seventh range of townships, and thence along the said line to the place of beginning," is hereby confirmed: And the president of the United States is authorized and empowered to issue letters patent in the name and under the seal of the United States, thereby granting and conveying to Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver, and Griffin Green, and to their heirs and assigns, in fee simple, the said described tract of land, with the reservations in the said indenture expressed, in trust for the persons composing the said Ohio company of associates, according to their several rights and interests, and for their heirs and assigns, as tenants in common.

SEC. II. The president is further authorised and empowered, by letters patent as aforesaid, to grant and convey to the said Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver and Griffin Green, and to heirs and assigns, in trust, for the uses above expressed, one other tract of two hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and eighty-five acres of land, Provided, That the said Rufus Putuam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver and Griffin Green, or either of them, shall deliver to the secretary of the treasury, within six months, warrants which issued for army bounty-rights, sufficient for that purpose, according to the provision of a resolve of congress of the twenty-third day of July, one thousend seven hundred and eighty-seven.

SEC. III. The president hereby is further authorised and empowered by letters-patent as aforesaid, to grant and convey to the said Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver and Griffin Green, and to their heirs and assigns, in fee simple, in trust for the uses above expressed, a farther quantity of one hundred thousand acres of land. Provided always nevertheless, That the said grant of one hundred thousand acres shall be made on the express condition of becoming void, for such part thereof, as the said company shall not have, within five years from the passing of this act, conveyed in fee simple, as a bounty and free of expense, in tracts of one hundred acres, to each male person, not less than eighteen years of age, being an actual settler at the time of such conveyance.

SEC. IV. The said quantities of two hundred and fourteen thousand, two hundred and eighty-five acres, and of one hundred thousand acres, shall be located within the limits of the tract of one million, five hundred thousand acres of land, described in the indenture aforesaid, and adjoining to the tract of land described in the first section of this act, and in such form as the pres.dent in the letters patent, shall prescribe for that purpose.

ACT of May 5, 1792. 2 Bioren, 287.

An act authorising the grant and conveyance of certain lands to John Cleves Symmes and his associates.

8. SEC. 1. The president of the United States is authorized and empowered to issue letters patent, in the name and under the seal of the United States, thereby granting and conveying to John Cleves Symmes and, his associates, and to their heirs and assigns, in fee simple such number of acres of land as the payments already made by the said John Cleves Symmes, his agents, or associates, under their contract of the fifteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, will pay for, estimating the lands at two thirds of a dollar per acre, and making the reservations specified in the said contract.

SEC. 11. The president is further authorized and empowered, by letters patent as aforesaid, to grant and convey to the said John Cleves Symmes and his associates, and to their heirs and assigns, in fee simple, one other tract of one hundred and six thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven acres, with the reservations as aforesaid: Provided, That the said John Cleves Symmes, or his agents or associates, or any of them, shall deliver to the secretary of the treasury, within six months, warrants which issued for army bounty rights sufficient for that purpose, according to the provision of the resolves of congress of the twenty-third of July, and second of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven; but in case so many warrants should not be delivered, then the letters patent, last aforesaid, to be given for such number of acres as shall be in proportion to the warrants so delivered.

SEC. III. The president is hereby authorized and empowered, by letters patent as aforesaid, to grant and convey unto the said John Cleves Symmes, and his associates, their heirs and assigns, in trust, for the purpose of establishing an academy, and other public schools and seminaries of learning, one complete township, conformably to an order of congress of the second of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, made in consequence of the application of the said John Cleves Symmes, for the purchase of the tract aforesaid.

SEC. IV. The several quantities of land, to be granted and conveyed as aforesaid, shall be included and located within such limits and lines of boundary as the president may judge expedient, agreeably to an act passed the twelfth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, " for ascertaining the bounds of a tract of land purchased by John Cleves Symmes."

ACT of March 3, 1795. 2 Bioren, 503.

9. SEC. 1. The president of the United States shall be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, to cause to be surveyed in the territory northwest of the Ohio, a tract of land, situate on the