Jacob Mathews Military Land Grant
This is a copy of the complete land grant file for N.C. Military Land Grant #132, issued to Pvt.
Jacob Mathews in 1786. No one has ever yet proven and may never prove to DAR specs
that this soldier was the same person as the Duplin County man of the same name
who died in 1824, but I'm sure he was. The acreage this ex-soldier received in this grant
#132 was based upon (a) his modest rank of Private, and (b) his length of service. Due to
his long service (he enlisted in 1777), he was given the maximum award for a Private,
640 acres - one square mile of land - located somewhere in what today is the state of
Tennessee. This military land grant and all others like it resulted from 1780 legislation that
allotted certain of North Carolinas then mostly uninhabited western lands to the states
Continental soldiers in appreciation for their service. Grants of these allotted western lands
were always awarded for a soldiers SERVICE; not for his enlistment. This is an
important distinction to make because at least one of North Carolinas ten Continental
Regiments did offer land for enlistment in 1777, and some of the veterans who received 640
acre land grants like this one(#132), seem to have also received smaller 100 to 250 acre
land grants in more accessible counties as bonuses for enlistment. Private Jacob Mathews is
one of the veterans who may have received both types of land grants, one being this 640 acre
land grant in Davidson County awarded for his years of service; the other being a 200 acre land
grant in Duplin County, that has every appearance of being a bonus offered in 1777 for
enlistment. It is likely not a coincidence that the 200 acres in Duplin County was granted to
Jacob Mathews on Nov. 10, 1784, exactly one year to the day after the state acknowledged via
issuance of its Military Warrant #300 that Pvt. Jacob Mathews' military obligation to the state
had been honorably discharged. If it can ever be proven that the 200 acre land grant in Duplin
was an enlistment bonus then the identity of the soldier will finally be obvious. A copy of all the
documents concerning Jacob Mathews 200 acre Duplin County land grant is posted online on
this same Duplin County GenWeb site: See: Jacob Mathews
I enclose copies of the complete land grant file of an intended 200 acre land grant made to Jacob
Mathews in Duplin County, N.C. which surveyed out to be only 190 acres. I believe this land
grant was a land bonus offered to him for a Continental Line enlistment in 1777. Although his
wife and children probably enjoyed beneficial use of this land from the date of his
enlistment, he seems to have been required to serve two years after enlistment before being
credited with official "entry" of this land in 1779. ("Entry" was a first step in North Carolinas land
grant proccess). He seems to have been required to complete his duration-of-the-war enlistment
before he finally received the land grant, deed, and clear title to this Duplin property on Nov. 10,
1784, one year to the day after Continental Line Pvt. Jacob Mathews received N.C. Military
Warrant #300, not just promising him 640 acres of western lands, but also acknowledging that
his enlistment was over, too. A so-similar-its-beyond-coincidence procedure was
followed in the issuance of a land grant of 250 acres issued that same day (Nov. 10, 1784) to
Arthur Mathews, the eldest son and heir-at-law of William Mathews, deceased. It too, was
almost certainly an enlistment bonus land grant. William Mathews was Jacob
Mathews brother. He was a N.C. Continental Line soldier too, who died in the line of duty or was
killed in the war. In 1785, Williams younger son (Joseph)received and sold Williams warrant for
640 acres of the states western lands. Joseph Matthews aka Mathis died in Duplin County
circa 1814. His brother Arthur "Mathis" attended the sale of his estate, making it clear that
these two men were of the same family, and were the two heirs of William Mathews.
Heirs of William Mathews
See Joseph Mathis estate at the link above.
See also: Arthur Mathews
See also: Jacob Mathews
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