londonlandspg
London
Lands
London Lands In 1696, a company, called the London
Company, owned 65,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania, usually known by the
name of London Lands; of this, there were 47,800, in Lancaster
and Berks. Part of these lands were rented at the rate of £2
per 100 acres, with exception of some thousands of acres sold from 1718
to 1720, by the company to different persons. The rest remained in
possession of the company until 1762. At this time the heirs of those
who originally constituted the company had been considerably scattered,
and many entirely unknown. An Act of Parliament was therefore procured
authorizing the sale of the land, and Dr. Fothergill, Daniel Zachary, Thomas
How, Deboreaux Bowly, Luke Hinde, Richard How, Jacob Hagen, Sylvanus Grove
and William Heron, were the agents appointed to superintend the business.
Their attorneys in this country were Samuel Shoemaker, Jacob Cooper and
Joshua Howell. In 1762, sales were accordingly effected to the great
satisfaction of the occupants of the land, who had generally made considerable
improvements, cleared away the wood, and erected comfortable farm houses,
and out-buidings, any of them not being altogether aware of titles; but
supposing that they were possessed of a fee simple estate in soil-the prices,
however, at which they were held, were not unreasonable; each settler,
it is believed, with few exceptions, purchased the tract upon which he
was seated. There were a few squatters who were not willing to comply.
Authentic History of Lancaster county
by J I Mombert (1869)
© Brenda Creasy