Reverand BF Ormand handed out a typed family tree in 1953. John Abel and Sadie Ormand kept a copy.
The First James Ormond he listed with the original land grant died in 1756, so any grants prior to that
could be his. The son, also named James, died in 1769 so grants before then could actually be either one.
LAND GRANTS
HISTORY
This is a general, brief description of land grant history in North Carolina in the mid-seventeen
hundreds. For a more detailed explanation there are books or the North Carolina archives
sponsored web site at “www.nclandgrants.com”.
James Ormond received a land grant on May 17th, 1754, in the Western part of North Carolina.
At that time, Western NC had two counties, Rowan in the Northwest part and Anson in the Southwest
part. His grant was given on behalf of King George the Second of England in the County of Anson.
A person wanting to obtain a Royal land grant at that time and in that part of NC would locate the land
that he desired, and would then apply for it to an entry-taker. The grantee then had the land surveyed
and filed the Surveyor's description with the Secretary of the colony, paid a fixed fee per acre, and
received a grant which entitled him to the land. This grant was then sent to be registered in the county in
which the land was located with the officer now known as the register of deeds.
In recording the grants, they were usually copied into record books according to the date they were issued.
In some cases the grants were copied verbatim; some were abstracted; others were copied on printed
forms that were bound into books.
Matthew Rowan was the representative of the King at that time and he copied the description from the
grant verbatim including spelling the name of the river in the area as “Cataba”. Later copies of the entry
corrected the spelling to “Catawba” but left the rest of the description intact.
James Ormond also applied for and received grants in other parts of the state including Mecklenburg
County where he later lived and was buried in the cemetery of Providence Road Presbyterian Church.
THE GRANT