who showed marked interest in the Western frontier, should first have begun to issue orders at least six weeks after the county was formed, as is implied by the date commonly given for its formation. For the legislative history of the act, see “Jour. H. of Del.,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 65, 72, 79-80, 91, 96, 106-7; “Jour. of Senate,” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 70-1. 2 “Jour. H. of Del.” Va., Oct. Sess., 1778, 72; “Hening’s Statutes,” IX., 553. 3 “Public Lands,” II., 204, 206-9. 4 The Illinois and Wabash Land companies, which had several members in common, united in 1780. After a long series of memorials to Congress, the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1823, decided that “a title to land, under grant to private individuals, made by Indian tribes or nations, northwest of the river Ohio, in 1773 and 1775, can not be recognized in the courts of the United States”—8 “Wheaton,” 543-605. In general see: “Pub. Lands,” I., 24, 27, 72, 74, 160, 189, 301; II., 108-20, 138, 253; “Sen. Jour.,” 1793-99, 317, 326; _Ibid._, “2d Cong.,” 165; “Va. Calendar State Papers,” I., 314; “Jour. of Cong.,” III., 676-7, 681; IV., 23; “An Account of the Proceedings of the Ill. and Ouabache Land Companies,” 1-55, Phil’a, 1796; “Memorial of the Ill. and Wabash Land Company,” 1-26, Phil’a, 1797; “Memorial of the Ill. and Ouabache Land Companies,” 1802, 1-20; “An Account of the Proceedings of the Ill. and Ouabache Land Company,” 1-74, Phil’a, 1803; “Memorial of the United Ill. and Wabash Land Companies,” 1-48, Baltimore, 1816. For a map of the claims, see “Map of the State of Ky. with the Adjoining Territories,” 1794, pub. by H. D. Symonds; also a copy of the same published by Smith, Reid and Wayland, in 1795; and “States of America,” by J. Russell, London, C. Dilly and G. G. & J. Robinson, 1799. The last map gives the claims of the Ill., Wabash, and N. J. companies, respectively, the others, the claims of the last two only. All references here given are to material to be found in the libraries of the Chicago Historical Society and of the State Hist. Soc. of Wis. 5 Mother Mary of the Incarnation, of Quebec, in 1668. In “Glimpses of the Monastery.” “Scenes from the Hist. of the Ursulines of Quebec,” 1639-1839, “by a Member of the Community,” 90. Charlevoix, “Histoire de la Nouvelle-France,” III., 322, expressed a similar opinion in 1721, and Collot, “Journey in N. A.,” I., 232-3, shows that the Illinois French of 1796-7 were a case in point. 6 Pittman, “European Settlements on the Miss.,” 55. See pp. 42, 44, 45, 47, 48, for the settlement in detail. 7 Hutchins, “Topographical Desc. of Va.,” 36-8. 8 “Mandements des Evêques de Quebec,” II., 1741-1806, 205-6.