8 
Indiana University Studies 
have seen, had already begun speculation in Kentucky lands, 
took the oath at Louisville as a deputy surveyor of Jefferson 
County under George May,i^ who had certified his nomination 
to the court. This office, to which Imlay vaguely alludes on 
the title-page of A Topographical Description, where he claims 
for himself the dignity of '‘commissioner for laying out lands 
in the back settlements”, was doubtless of considerable advan- 
tage to him as a speculator. How long he retained the desira- 
ble place, however, I have been unable to determine. At all 
events, he was not long to remain free from the annoyance 
of sheriffs’ summonses, which from this time on were continu- 
ally dinned in his ears while he remained in Kentucky, and 
posted at church door and published in newspaper years after 
his departure. 
On the 27th of March, probably in 1784, and shortly after 
his arrival in Kentucky, Imlay gave, jointly with a certain 
William A. Lee, a bond for £200 as guarantee for the repay- 
ment of a debt then incurred, but which he thereafter stead- 
fastly refused to pay.^^ As a result of this breach of contract, 
within less than a week after Imlay’s installation as deputy 
surveyor the County Court of Jefferson issued a writ com- 
manding the sheriff to bring him and Lee to answer a plea 
of debt at the May term.^^ And, tho Imlay succeeded in evad- 
ing trial for some months, he was soon wanted at court to 
answer a second complaint ; on August 4 ‘of the same year his 
arrest was ordered on a charge of trespass preferred by one 
David Standiford, who alleged a damage of £60. 
George May was appointed surveyor of Jefferson County by the faculty of 
William and Mary College on November 27, 1780. (See Minutes of the Faculty, in 
the Library of William and Mary College.) He had power to nominate his own 
deputies. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that this was the same George May 
who served as ensign, and later as first lieutenant, in the same Philadelphia battalion 
with a Captain John Imlay in 1777, (See Pennsylvania Archives, second series, XIII, 
599 and 605.) 
11 See complaint of Cleveland against Imlay ■ and Lee, File 5746, Old Circuit and 
Common Law Courts, Jefferson County Circuit Court, Louisville. The date of the bond 
as given in the complaint is March 27, 1785 ; but this is obviously incorrect as to the 
year fas is proved by other papers having to do with the same legal action) — the 
blank spaces in the printed form were probably carelessly filled in by Greenup, Cleve- 
land’s attorney. It is possible, of course, that the date was even earlier than 1784, 
tho this seems very unlikely. The original bond was reclaimed by Cleveland in 1797, 
and no copy of it remained in the records of the court. 
This and all other details of the case of Cleveland vs. Imlay and Lee not other- 
wise noted are drawn from File 5746, Old Circuit and Common Law Courts, as cited 
above. 
See File 546, Old Circuit and Common Law Courts, Jefferson County Circuit Court, 
Louisville. At the October term, however, this case was dismissed, non-suit. 
