John Burnet Certificate of Survey

Collection

Identifier: M166

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

A certificate of survey for a 130 acre tract of land in the Natchez District owned by John Burnet. The survey was conducted by William Vousdan in 1788 on land 45 miles north of the Fort of Natchez, and bordered in part by the Bayou Pierre (in what is now Claiborne County). A sketch of the land, scaled to an inch, is on the top part of the letter.

Dates

Creation: 1788

Conditions Governing Access

Noncirculating; available for research.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code).

Biographical / Historical

John Burnet obtained land on Bayou Pierre in the Mississippi Territory as early as 1782. He was enumerated in the 1792 Spanish Census and on the 1810 tax list and the 1810 Adams County census. The name does not appear in the 1816 census of Adams County.

William Vousdan received English land grants in Mississippi between 1768-1779, and as early as 1777, was the deputy surveyor for the British government of West Florida in the District West of the Pearl. By 1793 he was identified as surveyor of the District, and in 1792 was enumerated as living in an area of the Natchez District called Santa Catalina.

No further information is available on Burnet or Vousdan.