Case Name: GREENUP AND KEENE vs. KENTON AND FRAZIER
Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Kentucky
Decision Date: 1805-05-24
Citations: 1 Hard. 12
Docket Number: 
Parties: GREENUP AND KEENE vs. KENTON AND FRAZIER.
Judges: 
Reporter: Kentucky Reports
Volume: 3
Pages: 12–16

Head Matter:
GREENUP AND KEENE vs. KENTON AND FRAZIER.
May 24th.
A pre-empúon lEdiking <& improving prior ‡0 1778 is of fu perim dignity to a feitiementand pre-emption g a .ted to a villager
A countycourt certificate for a pre-emption wlvch i’pecifids that it wa,- granted i x marking out the fame,hat doe» not itate thai the grantee irude any im-frovement,is de-fi.ieut $ añ 1 the claim thereby loles its pre émptive dignity
A pre-emption warrant on trained by virtue pf luch dcf.c tire certificate, vmt hold as a treaiury warrant*
GREENUP and Keene were complainants below, and derived title to tjie land in dispute under the following certificate :
£ At a court continued and held for the county of Fayette, on Wednesday the 11th day of May 1785 — - Application and satisfactory proof being made, this court doth certify, that William Ballard is entitled to the pre-temptipn of 1Ó00 acres of land lying on the waters of the south fork of Elkhorn, beginning at two ashes and sugar tree corper to an old military survey piade for Fra-zien,' thence with CampbelEs line, fonn.erly Ward’s, eastwardly to his corner then parallel with Frazier’s line, and also, with grazier’s line, continuing these two lines off from Campbeli’-s for. quantity, by virtue of his marking out the same in the year 1774, and his being prevented' making application for the same by his being in publip service.”
A pre-eruption warrant haying been obtained hy virtue of said certificate, an entry was made thereon with the surveyor on the 12th day of August 1786⅝ as follows :
‘‘ WiUiam ^qllard enters 1Q0CJ acre§ pf land on a preemption warrant, Ño. 2651, lying on the waters of the, souui fork of Elkhpm, beginning at two and jgar trees .corner,” &c. pursuing the words of the certrfi-cate.
A P tent "41 a younger enl-y on a tnafury "arrant,
tion enveta jd May 1780,con-ftrued t0 wilich it wa¿ alendan , w‘£h Jt having t0*d*
Their patent bore date the 29th day of June, IT'97.
The appellees, who were defendants below, claimed title under the following certificate and entries :
“ At a court of commissioners held the 20th of De-pember, 1779 — riimon Kenton this day claimed a settlement and pre-emption to a tract of land in the district of Kentucky, lying on Eikhorn, joining Col. Preston’s survey at the Cave Spring, on the south-west side, by improving the same, and residing in the country ever since £he year 1775, satisfactory proof being made to the court, they are of opinion that the said Butler has a right to a settlement of 400 acres of land, including the said provement and the pre-emption of 1000 acres of land adjoining, and that a Certificate issue accordingly.”
“ February 3rd, 1780 — Simon Kenton enters 400 acres by certificate, K ing on Eikhorn, in the corner between Col. Preston’s survey at the Cave Spring and Douglass’s line.”
“ May 23rd, 1780 — Joseph Frazier, assignee, enters a pre-emption warrant of 1000 acres on the south fork ¡of Eikhorn, joining Preston’s survey on the south, including a cabin built by Joseph M’Cracken and one by-Joseph Lindsey, and to extend west for quantity.”
February 12th, 1783, Kenton’s settlement was surveyed ; and on the 1st day of June, 1785, a patent issued thereon to him.
April 30th, 1783, the pre-emption of Frazier, as-signee of Kenton, was surveyed ; and on the 6th day of November, 1790, a patent issued thereon to Frazier.
The identity and notoriety of the different military surveys called fpr — of M’Cracken’s cabin, and Kenton’» improvements, were admitted.
The connected plat presented these objects in such a position that Kenton’s settlement, according to his entry, should adjoin Preston’s military survey, beginning at Preston’s south-east corner and running westwardly with Preston’s most southwardly boundary for the base of his quantity, and then southwardly at right angles from Preston’s line for quantity — (See the case of Kenton vs. Connell, Hughes’s Reports, 15 7.) It was not survey ed altogether confdrmably to entry — being in an Oblong instead of a mathematical square.
M’Cracken’s cabin lay about 100 poles south from the western pait of Preston’s southern line, and about the same distance west from the west line of Kenton’s settle-, ment.
That the complainants’ survey was made in conformity to the entry, was not questioned.
The pre-emption of Frazier, as assignee of Kenton* was surveyed to adjoin Preston on the south, and Kenton’s settlement on the west, and run south and west for quantity ; and if according to the true construction of Frazier’s entry, it ought to adjoin the settlement, it would cover aíl the land which the complainants claim interfered with it.
If, on the other hand, it should be surveyed adjoining Preston’s most southwardly line, and so as just to include M’Cracken’s eabin within the eastwardly boundary,and extending westwardly for quantity, it would not cover all the land in dispute.
The inferior court, on the hearing, dismissed the bill of the complainants ; from which they took an appeal.
Kenton waslcnawn by the naaieof Butler, as well as by h¡»¿ro¡»ername, Kent an. " - -

Opinion:
The Opinion or the Court was as follows:— Greenup and Keene claim under that clause of the land law which allows a pre-emption of 1000 acres to all those who, before the year 1778, had marked out or chosen for themselves any waste or unappropriated lands, and built any house or hut, or made other improvements thereon ( ). Kenton and Frazier claim under the clause which allows to those generally styled villagers a settlement of 400 acres, and a pre-emption of 1000 acres adjoining thereto, to which no other person had the right of pre-emption at the time they were granted by the commissioners ⅞ therefore the claim of Green-up and Keene is of superior dignity, and for this reason, as well as because they were complainants in the court below, the legal foundation of their claim ought to be first investigated.
The certificate obtained by William Ballard, their assignor, only specifies that a pre-emption was granted to him for marking out the same in the year 1774, so that on the face thereof it is certainly deficient; nor is the deficiency supplied by any testimony in the cause, that he did build any house or hut, or make any other im provement on it, and his certificate is of a later date than that of Kenton's, therefore it does not appear that when Kenton obtained his certificate (which specifies what was requisite in his case) Ballard had any right of pre-emption to the land : and therefore, in this point of view, Frazier, who claims under Kenton, must prevail against Greenup and Keene, who claim under Ballard.
But it is urged that Greenup purchased and procured a pre-emptionwarrant on Ballard's certificate, which was specially located, August 12th, 1786, and that by an act of the May session 1782, it ought, at least, to have the efficacy of a common treasury warrant; which this court conceives cannot be doubted.
This makes it necessary further to examine the claim of Kenton. It appears that a grant had issued on Kenton's settlement prior to the location of the warrant procured by Greenup ; so far, therefore, Kenton's claim-must prevail.
And it further appears that Frazier, as assignee of Kenton, had procured his pre-emption warrant, located it with the surveyor, and made a survey thereon more than three years before Greenup located •his warrant. But Frazier did not obtain a grant on this survey until after Greenup had located, his warrant. Frazier made his location May 23rd, 1780, as1 follows : <£ Joseph Frazier, assignee, enters a pre-emption warrant of 1000 acres on the south fork ofElkhorn, joining -Preston's survey on the south, including a cabin built by John M'Cracken and one by Joseph Lindsey, and to extend west for quantity." And from facts agreed on by the parties, it appears that Preston's survey is truly represented on the connected plat, and was well known at the time Frazier made his entry ; and that M'Cracken's cabin and the two improvements in the settlement, were well known at the times Kenton entered his settlement, Fierier, assignee of JTetrtor, entered liis- pre-emptf and are truly represented by the connected plau A»d then the only remaining question- which -need be made, is, has Frazier surveyed his pre-emption agreea*' fele to its entry i The survey, tsIcing the entry separately r ⅛ conformity to the decision in the case Miller's heirs vs. Fox's heirs , should have been made in a square, adjoining Preston to thé southward, and so as just to include M*Cracken*s cabin within the eastwai dly boundary, and extending west for quantity; which would have left a vacancy about 100 poles wide between: the settlement and a survey thus made, iki* it is urged that this could not have been Frazier's intention, and Could not rationally have been so taken by other locators; because it is very doubtful whether, at the time this entry- was made, hé was authorised by law to locate hisl pre-emption warrant in any other way than to adjoin the settlement to which it was appendant; and ii he had doné SO, it would certainly have lost the dignity of a pre-emption ; thereforérit ought not to be presumed that hé intended to do what might have been so injurious to his interest, unless it appeared by the unequivocal calls of Ms entry that he meant to abandon his privilege as a pre-émptioner, and risk thé total loss of his warrant; and, therefore, that the entries of the settlement and preemption should be taken together, or be made to explain each other.
It appears from the entry of the settlement with the surveyor, that it has been properly surveyed, or nearly so, lfeaving a considerable part of Preston's southern boundary to be occupied by the pre-emption, agreeably'to the first and most important call of its entry ; and although this entry would have been more explicit, had it also called to adjoin the settlement, yet this court cannot resisfe Ae force of the argument to prove that the entry ought to b,e so construed, when all the circumstances of the case are taken into consideration ; more especially as the survey, on a more rigid construction, would bind on Preston's survey only a very small distance. To which may fee added, that if circumstances equally strong had ap-Seared in the case Miller's heirs vs. Fox's heirs, it isbe-eved it would not have been decreed that the north lio» of Miller's claim should be restrained only just to ⅛-éltide the spring and improvement called fdr in his location. — -^Decree affirmed.
(a) Chan.Rev. of Va. laws, 91-2 — acts of 1796-7, 79, 1 Brad. 296, 397.
The fame point Teems in effedi to have been determined in the cafe of Lillard's adm'rs. vs. Taylor's heirs, fpring term* 1803, Pr. Dec. 245. The court however in that cafe appear, from the wording of their opinion, to have placed a reliance upon Lillard's furvey j which, if they really intended, their deciiionis at variance with the decifion of the fupreme court of the United States, in the cafe of Wilfon vs. Mafon, 1 Cranch 45. The deciiion in the cafe of Wilfon vs. Mafon has been recognifed and approved by this court in fe-vera! inftances, particularly in the cafe of Patterfon's devifees vs. Bradford, poft. But if in the caíé of Lillard's adm'rs. vs. Taylor's heirs the eXpref-üon furvey was inadvertently ufed inftead of patent, (fer the exhibits fliow that the land was patented at the time alluded to) the.decifion is retoncikable with *ífrer cafes, and is in uhifon with the cafe above mentioned*
A) Hughes 52