That very well could be because the further you move from the northern GA line and going into Florida, Spanish methods and measurements prevailed and had to be sorted out. I have heard that many PLSS states have metes and bounds descriptions but that's nothing like the colonial states where metes and bounds descriptions are the norm, rather than the exception. Sure, we have our Townships, but they are political boundaries with Township names, none are square, and some consist of other long standing townships through either agreements or subdivisions making the townships vary in size and shape.
I think this may answer your question.
from the Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701sm.gct00483/?sp=18&r=0.33,0.557,0.079,0.046,0
Given that this was my first ancestor on this side of the pond, I'm all in favor of Virginia recovering her lost land.
The above being said, an interesting point to note is that the first Indian reservation established in the US was established by an act of congress to protect the local Leni Lenape tribe from the French and Indian war.
I think you may need to review the timeline of history. The last French and Indian War ended quite a few years before the First Continental Congress was formed. I think perhaps the New Jersey or Delaware provincial government established the Leni Lenape reservation.
In the 1600's Massachusetts had towns set up for natives who had converted to Christianity. They were intended to separate the "praying Indians" from their pagan friends and relatives, and assimilate them into the English ways of farming. Over time, many of the Christian Indians sold their land to English settlers and rejoined their tribes, either locally, or moving with them to Canada. The "praying Indian" towns had limited rights and no participation in provincial government (i.e. no representation in the legislature, no right to vote for governor). They eventually became incorporated as "regular" towns when the English population petitioned for the change.
Large parts of Maine were surveyed out under a rectangular Township-Range system, similar to the PLSS. It was never Federal land, so the surveys were not bound by the PLSS instructions. I'm guessing the system was inspired by the early versions of it.
You are correct, it was established by an act of state legislature, not congress and it sounds like I was wrong on the war too. The Leni Lenape resisted conversion to Christian ways, a minister traveled to preach to them and a school was built for them.
The Lenape were taught to farm and run a sawmill to support themselves, thus the village name Indian Mills. Ultimately, their sister nation located in upstate NY invited them to join them and all but two or three packed up and left.
The Lenape were paid for their hunting and timber rights but the land was sold without an act of legislature. In the mid to late 1990s another Lenape band was gifted a parking lot in Wildwood with the intention of them building a casino. They were shot down because the NJ state constitution only allows casinos in Atlantic City.
When they were shot down in Wildwood, they waged a legal battle to reclaim the lands of the Brotherton Reservation and that case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. The only reason that they lost that case was because, although they were a part of the Lenape nation, they could not prove a direct bloodline to the Leni Lenape tribe.
My mother's sister made the claim that we must have some Native American ancestry based on certain traits evident in my grandmother and limited contact with other relatives. No one ever determined if there was such a branch on our family tree to the best of my knowledge. My guess, for this to be possible, it would have been in the early New England area nearly four centuries ago.
