Below is a photo of the larger of the two stones. The people that own the property on which the stone stands, elected to paint the "x" with white paint.
This sign stands along Route 60 between the two entries into the town of Barboursville. Remember that when the ladies of the Colonial Dames erected this sign, Route 60 would have been the major highway in the area. The marker was dedicated April 10, 1930 by the West Virginia chapter of the Colonial Dames of America.
A map of the Savage Grant can be found on the Marshall University Special Collections website at:
go to
Another article about the Savage Grant can be found at:
An article written by James E. Casto that appeared in the Herald-Dispatch says the following: "On Dec 15, 1772 John Murray, Virginia's royal Governor, acting as agent for King George III, granted more tan 28,000 acres along the Ohio River and the lower Guyandotte and the Big Sandy rivers to John Savage and 59 other men who had served under George Washington at the 1754 Battle of Great Meadows, Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War. Murray is generally known as Lord Dunmore.
In 1775 some of the grantees met on the land grant and drew up a partial division. A year later, after differences arose among some of the grantees or their heirs, a suit was brought in the Superior Court at Staunton, Virginia, asking that the earlier division be voided. The court appointed five men to act as a commission to divide the grant into equal parts.
The commission hired General Edward W. Tupper to conduct a survey. It wasn't until 1814 that Tupper completed his work. He divided the grant into 61 equal parcels of approximately 460 acres each, beginning with Lot 1 at the western end of the grant and terminating with Lot 61 on the eastern end. In 1819, the court upheld Tupper's division.
This article goes on to say that William Buffington purchased 20 acres at the mouth of the Guyandotte River from Jonathan Savage's grant and willed the parcel to his sons, Thomas and Jonathan Buffington. The sons came about 1796 and settled on the tract, Thomas built his house on the East side of the Guyandotte while Jonathan built on the west side.
John Savage was the lieutenant under Andrew Lewis in the militia in 1754. A list of other men in the same militia group can be found at:
There is another version of this at:
Both give Crozier’s Source: Crozier's "Virginia Colonial Militia"pp. 9-57 as the source for their information.
There seems to be similar information in:
The soldiery of West Virginia, in the French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's ... By Virgil Anson Lewis
Information about lots #32,33, and 34 is found at:
Information on Savage Grant found on KYOWVA website:
Where were the men in this militia group from in this time frame?
Ancient Savage Land Grant was sold for Taxes
The article does not name an author
Not a single person entitled to a share of the Savage Grant ever took possession of it. The lands were sold after the War of 1812 for United States direct tax of two cents on an acre. Cabell County which included Wayne at that time, had to raise $1,546,50 and the old soldiers or their heirs forfeited their tracts of 400 acres rather than pay the $8.00 accessed against it.
It had been decreed that if the land taxes were not paid by July 1, 1819, the land should be sold. In 1817 surveyors were directed to come here to make such surveying as might be necessary to make appraisal reports.
General Edward W. Tupper was the surveyor. The commission was composed of George Summers, Lewis Summers, John Henderson, William Sterrett, an Andrew Parks.
I have made a copy of the rest of the article and filed it in file labelled Savage Grant,
Another good source of information is an article in the KYOWVA Fall 2016 Newsletter on page 13. This is in Volume XXXIX No 3. It is a reprint of an article by Eunice Proctor Perkins that appeared in the Herald Dispatch, Sunday, April 6, 1930. I have filed this in the same file as above.
