Anders Family
David Asbel Anders with
grandson Jim and wife
Tina Smith Anders Family

US GenWeb Project

Rufus and Florence Hall Owen Family in 1947
Rufus and Florence Hall Owen and children

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Transylvania County, NC GenWeb Project
"Digging Into The Genealogy of Our Ancestors"

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The Orphan Strip

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The Orphan Strip

1787-1798

The North Carolina – South Carolina Line 

In this connection it is well to point out that the State of North Carolina claimed for her southern boundary the thirty fifth degree of North Latitude.

The line of this parallel was, however, at that time supposed to run about 12 miles to the north of what was subsequently ascertained to be its true location. 

Between this supposed line of 35th degree North Latitude and the northernmost boundary of Georgia, as settled upon by a convention between that State and South Carolina in 1787, there intervened a tract of country about 12 miles in width, from north to south, and extending from east to west from the top of the main ridge of mountains (blue ridge) which divide the eastern from the western waters to the Mississippi River. This tract remained as was supposed, within the chartered limits of South Carolina, and in the year of 1787 was ceded by that State to the United States, subject to the Indian right of occupancy.

When the Indian title to the country therein described was ceded to the United States by Treaty of 1798 with the Cherokees, the eastern portion of this twelve mile tract fell within the limits of such cession. 

On its eastern extremity near the headwaters of the French Broad River, immediately at the foot of the main Blue Ridge Mountains, had been located, for a number of years prior to the treaty, a settlement of about fifty families of whites, who had by its ratification become occupants of the public domain of the United States, but who were outside of the territorial jurisdiction of any state. These settlers petitioned Congress to retrocede the tract of country upon which they resided to South Carolina, in order that they might be brought within the protection of the laws of that State.

A resolution was reported in the House of Representatives, from the committee to whom the subject had been referred, favoring such a course, but Congress took no effective action on the subject. When the State boundaries came to be finally adjusted in that region, the tract in question was found to be within the limits of North Carolina.” 

From Powell’s 5th Annual Report of Indian Affairs, 1883-1884, page 182

Mary Jane McCrary Collection, Box 36, Folder 9, Rowell Bosse NC Room, Transylvania County Library.                                                                                                                  Transcribed by Linda O. Anders, 31 Jan. 2009.