The land along Virginia's coastline had long been settled by the 18th century, but the

territory west of that along the Blue Ridge and Piedmont was a different story.

Even centuries later, those rolling hills and valleys remained largely uninhabited.

The British government took notice when the French began to colonize the Ohio Valley.

If the territory became exclusively French, their British settlements would be limited to

the region east of the Appalachian Mountains.

To aid in the British colonization of unappropriated lands, the Virginia Council and Governor

made land grants, some of which were quite large. Colonist John Lewis headed up the Loyal Company

of Virginia, a survey company that secured one of the governor's grants on July 12th of 1748. The loyal

company was granted over 800,000 acres surrounding the Virginia and North Carolina

area and ran westward to present-day Kentucky.

Essentially, the company enticed settlers to purchase land.

It goes without saying that neither the French nor the British consulted the indigenous

people regarding this land grab.

The grant and the company were quite the endeavor, but John had help.

His neighbors, Peter and Joshua, as well as friends Thomas Walker and Thomas Meriwether,

were also loyal company grant recipients.

When John secured the grant, he appointed Thomas Walker as an agent and sent him and several other

men westward to explore potential land acquisitions. The loyal company wasn't the only

business surveying and selling land, though, and got into conflict with another surveying business,

the Ohio company. The loyal company began advertising, promising settlers' cheap land. They offered buyers the option of

reasonable payments. Squatters were forced to pay the loyal company's asking price. Before Thomas

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