French Grant

The French Grant (also known as the French-Grant Estates) was a land tract in what is now Scioto County, Ohio that was paid out by the U.S. Congress on March 31, 1795 after a group of French colonists were defrauded by the Scioto Company of purchased land grants which rightly were controlled by the Ohio Company of Associates. Not all of the settlers took the grant, some preferring to stay on the East Coast others preferring stay in Gallipolis, Ohio in Gallia County. (Gallia and Gallipolis were named for Gaul, the ancient Latin name of France.)

The First Grant extended from a point on the Ohio River 1.5 miles (2.4 km) above and opposite the mouth of Little Sandy Creek in Kentucky, and extending eight miles (13 km) in a direct line down the river, and from the two extremities of that line, reaching back at right angles sufficiently far to include the quantity of land required, which somewhat exceeded 4.5 miles (7.2 km). Of these 24,000 acres (97 km²), 4,000 acres (16 km²) were awarded to John Gabriel Gervais for having pursued the grant; the remaining 20,000 acres (81 km²) were split into 92 lots of 217.4 acres (0.9 km²) each.

Another 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) additional were granted on June 25, 1798, called the Second Grant. These 150 acre (0.6 km²) lots adjoined the first Grant towards its lower end. This grant was for eight Gallipolis residents who did not receive a portion of the First Grant.