Petition, SC, Catawba Lands, Division of District To The Honorable the representatives of the state of South Carolina in Columbia meet. We, your petitioners who inhabit the lands of the Catawba Indians, humbly show at that, by a late arrangement of the state of South Carolina, government has divided us into two divisions and we now form a part of two districts viz., York and Lancaster, which throws us on the frontier of each district and far from the center, where all our public business is transacted, and by the shortest calculation we are from 12 to 25 or 30 miles from these places, and by reason of the above distances we labor under many and serious difficulties which is attended with fatigue and cost in going to and attending at our ordinary reviews, we are either obliged to leave our homes the preceding day and lodge in the public houses the night before the muster, or set out at midnight and ride until 10 or 11 o'clock the next day before that we can arrive at the place of rendezvous, or suffer the most painful alternative of the whole, to a generous and free citizen, to be subject to a fine. This is not the only grievance that we have to complain of for every kind of public assembly makes it a rule to convene at the courthouse of the district the clerk of the pleas hold his office there, the sheriff holds his office there, the ordinary of the district holds his office there, the commissioners of the highroads sits there, the commissioners of the poor sits there, the commissioners of the free schools sits there, in short every assembly for any kind of public business assembles there. Whether the laws and Constitution of the state directs them, or not, it has become a president, and is now by some argued into a law, therefore, it is necessary that we should be constituted into a district of our own in the Indian lands, and a special act be made for sundry grievances that we have to complain of. This is the amount of our prayers and our wishes and we think it is not contrary to the law usage for custom of the state to divide and subdivide districts and counties where there appears plain proof that the citizens labor under toils difficulties and distress for want of such divisions. The extent and bounds of the Catawba Indian lands is 15 miles square and is very numerously inhabited by the white people on both sides of the river the best criteria that we have to judge from at this time are the militia companies that are contained in the Indian boundaries. There are six companies of infantry exclusive of numbers that have attached themselves to the Cavalry of the district and supposes these companies to be full and complete in their number the result will be 640, exclusive of the old and the young yet coming forward, which will make the grievance still more enormous. Page 1 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK ** Petition, SC, Catawba Lands, Division of District We may reasonably suppose, and with propriety say, that the inhabitants of the Indian lands, if accurately numbered, will not be less then from 1,200 to 1,800 at this time and the support that we contribute to the use of the state an actual cash is $1,500 or $2,000 last year, exclusive of our bodily services to the public use, and at the same time, we blush to mention it, that by the laws and constitutions of the state we are prohibited from some of the most important points that the constitution of a free state can bestow upon its citizens. In this case we will reply to you as the Israelites said to Samuel the Seer when they requested a king they were informed what mischief their king would bring upon them, but their reply was “no but let us have a king to be like other nations”. We say let us be formed into a district of the Catawba Indians land, so that we may have all kinds of offices and officers appointed amongst us, as in the other districts of the said state, in order to represent us in every case, when, and where, occasion may require it. And we hope and pray that you and your wisdom will grant us such relief as the nature of the case will admit. And we your petitioners are in Duty bound ever to pray. JOSEA ALDERSON JAMES M. HARRIS STEPHEN POTTER JOHN ALLEN JOHN HARRIS GEORGE PETTUS THOMAS R. MILES F. HUNTER JOHN PORTER THOMAS BOLK THOMAS HUNTER JAMES RICHARDSON WILLIAM BLACKBURN JOHN HUTCHISON SAMUEL ROBINSON JOHN BURNS JAMES JOHNSTON JAMES ROSS ADAM CARNEY WILLIAM KINNEY WILLIAM ROSS ARCHIBALD CROCKETT JOSHUA KIRK CHARLES SLEDGE JOHN CROCKETT ROBERT LACKEY ISOM SHEARLING JOHN CROCKETT SENIOR MATT MARIBEL JOHN STORY WILLIAM DANIEL JAMES MCKEE JOHN TUTT JAMES DARNELL JOHN MILES LEONARD VANDEGRIFT JOSEPH R. DARNELL DANE MILLS HENRY VINCENT THOMAS DILLONS JOHN MOORE DRURY WARN JAMES FINCHER DREWRY MORROW WILLIAM WEATHERS ALEXANDER GILLESPIE BENJAMIN MORROW HUGH WHITE JOHN GORDON JAMES MORROW SENIOR JOHN WHITE JAMES GRAHAM JOHN ORMOND WILLIAM WHITE JOHN HAMELET J. H. KNOX JOHN WILLIAMS HENRY G. HARRIS LITTLEBERRY PATTERSON CURTIS WINGETE The Lancaster petitioners were transcribed from an original paper Petition of sundry inhabitants of York and Lancaster districts praying division of District Page 2 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK ** Petition, SC, Catawba Lands, Division of District ###### # # ##### ####### # # ##### ####### # # # # ## ## # # # ## # # # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### # # # # #### ##### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ###### # # ##### ####### # # ### ##### ####### # # Transcribed from original documents by Brent R. Brian & Martha M. Brian. This document and others can be found on our website: BMGEN We claim COPYLEFT on the documents that we publish that are our original work. COPYLEFT “rules” can be reviewed on the web site: GNU Free Documentation License In short, use what you like. But if you use our stuff, mention us as the source. Brent R. Brian Martha M. Brian BrianMitchellGenealogy@gmail.com Page 3 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK **