Thomas Jefferson Papers

Appointment of Commissioners for Kentucky, 26 June 1779

Appointment of Commissioners for Kentucky

[Williamsburg] 26 June 1779. Appointment of William Fleming, James Steptoe, Edward Lyne, and James Barbour, commissioners for Kentucky District for settling the titles of claimers to unpatented land.

MS (ViLxW); in a clerk’s hand, signed by TJ; 1 p.

William Fleming (1729–1795), state senator representing Botetourt, Washington, Montgomery, and Kentucky cos. in the session of May and June 1779, and a prominent participant in the affairs of the western counties (DAB description begins Dictionary of American Biography description ends ; Grigsby, Va. Federal Convention, ii, 40–54), is often confused with Judge William Fleming of Cumberland co., TJ’s intimate friend and college classmate, who at this time was a delegate in Congress. The Bill for Settling Titles to Unpatented Lands (q.v., under 8–14 Jan. 1778) was not passed until June 1779.

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