Under the terms of his will, British absentee landowner Samuel Gist (c. 1723-1815) freed his 350 Virginia slaves and provided funds for their relocation, the purchase of land, and the establishment of schools and homes. The executors of Gist's will acquired over 2,000 acres of land in Ohio, including two large tracts in Scott and Eagle Townships in Brown County in 1819. In 1831 and 1835, an agent of the Gist estate purchased 207 acres in Highland County and divided the acreage into thirty-one lots. Brown County records for August 4, 1819 recorded 1197 acres of land divided among 150 Negroes who were emancipated by the will of Samuel Gist. In 2009, descendants of the freed Gist slaves still inhabited part of the original settlement. In Eagle Township, Brown County, on the waters of Brush and White Oak Creek, the original lot owners were York, Mountain Jim, George, Jacob Cumberland, Parson Jim, Jacob Johnston, Old Dick, Sylvia, Ben, Milley, Dolley, Glasgow, Cato, Jack Davis, Semuel Hudson, Fanny, Harry, Rose, Violet, Sam Moos (Mop), Chloe, Betty, Franky Woodson, Mourning, Esther Cumberland, Dick, Hezekiah, Solomon Hudson, Meredith, Pompey, Paul Cumberland, and David Davis.