by Virginia ranged all
the way from one hundred to fifteen thousand acres.[235]

The Virginia legislature of 1779 found it necessary to establish a
second method of settlement in Kentucky in response to the demands of
the large number of people who were migrating to the west of the
Alleghenies. Provision was made for the granting of preemption rights
to new settlers and also for the introduction of a very generous
system of settlement rights. These settlement and preemption rights
were almost inseparable, as the latter was dependent upon the former.
It was provided that four hundred acres of land would be given to
every person or family who had settled in the region before the first
of January, 1778.[236] The word "settlement" was stated to mean either
a residence of one year in the territory or the raising of a crop of
corn. In addition to the above grant every man who had built only a
cabin or made any improvement on the land was entitled to a preemption
of one thousand acres, providing such improvements had been made prior
to January 1, 1778. Preference in the grants was to be given to the
early settlers and even the most famous heroes of the Revolution were
not allowed to interfere with the rights of those who held a
certificate of settlement.

Thus far provision had been made only for those who had settled before
1778. To them was given the best of the land. Thereafter all
settlement and preemption rights ceased and the further distribution
of land in Kentucky was by means of treasury warrants. A person
desiring land in Kentucky would appear at one of the Virginia land
offices and make an entry and pay a fee amounting to about two cents
per acre. The paper he would receive would give the approximate
location of the tract and the recipient would proceed to have the
land surveyed at his pleasure. Within three months after the survey
had been made he was to appear at the land office and have the same
recorded. A copy of this record was to be taken to the assistant
register of the land office in Kentucky and there it was to remain six
months in order to give prior settlers, if any, the right to prove
their claims to the property. No such evidence being produced a final
record of the patent was to be made and a copy given to the original
grantee.[237]

An interesting example of this method of settlement is shown by the
experience of Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of President Lincoln.
On March 4, 1780, soon after