Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar Theses, Dissertations and Capstones 2005 The aS muel Smith land grants: a historical study of land ownership and use in southern West Virginia Stephen M. Porter Follow this and additional works at: http://mds.marshall.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, Other Geography Commons, and the Remote Sensing Commons Recommended Citation Porter, Stephen M., "The aS muel Smith land grants: a historical study of land ownership and use in southern West Virginia" (2005). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. Paper 790. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE SAMUEL SMITH LAND GRANTS: A HISTORICAL STUDY OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USE IN SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA Thesis submitted to The Graduate College of Marshall University In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science Geography By Stephen M. Porter James Leonard, Ph. D., Committee Chairperson Sarah Brinegar, Ph. D. Committee Member Larry Jarrett, M.A. Committee Member Marshall University April 4, 2005 ABSTRACT “THE SAMUEL SMITH LAND GRANTS: AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND LAND USE IN SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA” By Stephen M. Porter This study intends to illustrate the history of several tracts of land granted to General Samuel Smith, of Baltimore, Maryland by the state of Virginia in the years 1796 and 1797 containing, in totality, 300,000 acres (more or less). This research attempts to untangle some of the tangled web of ownership (both surface and mineral) that has affected this tract in particular and reflects the general trend of corporate land ownership in southern West Virginia.