By Wally Waits
©2014
I
have finally discovered exactly where Allen Waits' land was located in Jackson
County, Alabama. It is the red shaded area in the picture above. He
purchased 153.27 acres for $191.59 on 9 Jul 1830 at the Huntsville, Alabama
federal land office. He paid $1.25 an acre under the Pre-emption Act of
29th of May, 1830. Because his purchase was described as "Fractional
part (A) of the section," I could never figure exactly where his
boundaries were.
The
original drawing was made in the first quarter of 1823 when the section and
township boundaries were survey by the US Deputy Surveyor.
The shaded area, called "Parcel A" in the field notes of the original survey, is described today as the North half of the Southwest quarter of Section 21, and "most of" the South half of the Northwest quarter of Section 21. There is 6.73 acres across the top belonging to the Peter Johnson Reservation that is today called "Coopers Mill."
The act of Congress passed on the 29th of May, 1830 (4 Stat., 420) was a pre-emption act that gave to every occupant of the public lands prior to the date of the act, and who had cultivated any part thereof in the year 1829. The occupant of the land had a right to enter, (i.e., to purchase from the Federal government) at the minimum price so that surveyors could survey the land unopposed by the settler. The setter had a claim by right of first settlement, to any number of acres to a maximum of 160 acres, or a quarter-section, to include his improvement; provided, the land shall not have been reserved for the use of the United States or the State of Alabama.
The 80.14 acres just south of the shaded area was purchase by James Waits on 2 Sep 1830. I believe this was Allen's youngest half-brother, James Martin Waits.
The wavy line to the right marks the location of Widows Creek. Because the Deputy Surveyor recorded its name in 1823, the creek could not have been named for Allen Waits' widow, Rhoda Cope Waits, following Allen's sudden death in 1832 at age 42.
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