Deeds South Of Walker's Line

Deeds South Of Walker's Line

"While Kentucky was part of Virginia, and Tennessee a part of North Carolina, the boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina was the meridian of 36° 30' North latitude. Thomas Walker headed a commission which ran this line in 1779-80, and after Kentucky was admitted into the Union, this was the recognized line as the Southern boundary of the State from Cumberland Mountain to the Tennessee River.

Scene In Tennessee

In 1819, Robert Alexander and Luke Munsell...were commissioned to establish the true line... .  A dispute at once arose between Kentucky and Tennessee... .  A...compact was finally agreed to in 1824, by which Kentucky retained the right to grant title, but Tennessee the right of political and civil jurisdiction.

Kentucky Scene

We thus have the unique condition of Kentucky granting title to land to settlers who at once became citizens of Tennessee. In other words, so long as the land remained vacant and unappropriated, it belonged to Kentucky, but as soon as that State granted a patent on same, it became a part of Tennessee. In all, Kentucky has granted 4,323 patents to Land South of Walker’s Line, which are recorded in 8 volumes, numbered consecutively, and are known as 'Lands South of Walker’s Line.”'