After the Revolutionary War: Transitioning from King to A New Country.

The past few weeks my genealogical research has led to the western frontier of America during the Revolution and just afterwards. I’ve been looking at the area around Louisville, Kentucky. Working through records means keeping an eye on maps because it was a rapidly changing area, In the 1770s white settlers moved into Native lands south of the Ohio River. It was still part of the Virginia colony. Some settlers moved north over the Ohio River into the “Northwest Territory North of the Ohio” that would become Indiana and Ohio. Louisville was an important settlement and “landmark” in historical events, such as George Rogers Clark troop movements during Lord Dunmore’s War in the late 1700s, Research often encounters Revolutionary War soldiers because land in this region was offered for military service.

The Treaty of Paris on 3 September 1783 acknowledged the end of the Revolutionary War and recognized the United States of America as an independent country. With an area that experienced so much transition, it is interesting to see written evidence of the change from King to the U.S.A. Examples of lawsuits filed in Louisville, the county seat of Jefferson County, show printed complaint forms that said “our Lord the King” (see Images 1, 2, and 3). These words were crossed out.

I love a good story, so I would like to know the back story of these forms. Had someone recently printed forms and left in the word King because they doubted the outcome of the Revolution? Were the forms stock printed for the court, or were they a printer’s back stock? Were they completed by one attorney who had frugally found he could use old forms?

Happy 4th of July!

Image 1: George Walls v. Thomas Philips¹

Image 2: Peter Young v. Richard Chenoweth²

Image 3: Michael Kirkham v. Thomas McCarty³

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FEATURED IMAGE: John Filson, This Map of Kentucke [sic]: Drawn from Actual Observations, Is Inscribed…, Philadelphia, Penn., 1784; digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3950.ar301200/).

1. Jefferson Co., Ky., Circuit Court Common Law Cases Files, loose records, no. 411 (pencil), Geo. Walls v. Thos. Phelps, complaint, ca. 1784; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-J38D-CNJQ); FHL film # 08695149, image 355 of 3070. Subpoena in file for the appearance of Thomas Phelps dated 4 May 1784.
2. Jefferson Co., Ky., Circuit Court Common Law Cases Files, loose records, no. 860 (stamped), Peter Young v. Richard Chenoweth, complaint, 1783; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-J38D-CJ1X); FHL film # 08695149, image 1507 of 3070.
3. Jefferson Co., Ky., Circuit Court Common Law Cases Files, loose records, no. 402 (pencil), Michael Kirkham v. Thomas McCarty, complaint, 1783; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V38D-CJT2); FHL film # 08695149, image 328 of 3070.