This area on the west side of the lower Tombigbee, as far north as Sinta Bouge Creeky, opened to settlement under a treaty made by the British with the Choctaw Nation at the Indian Congress held in Mobile in 1765. The treaty was negotiated by George Johnstone, British Governor of West Florida, and John Stuart, superintendent of Indian affairs for the Crown, in West Florida. The settlements that followed became the beginnings of Alabama. Among the earliest settlers holding British or Spanish grants or American certificates before 1800 were Thomas Bassett, John Baker Thomas Bates, Nathaniel Blackwell, Francis Boykin, George Brewer, James Caller, John Callier, Peter Dunn Young Gaines, Dr. John Chestang, Daniel Johnston, Ann Lawrence, John Johnston, Thomas Malone, Jown McGrew, William Möunger, Cornelius Rain, Eugene Sullivan, Thomas Sullivan, Joseph Thompson, and Solomon Wheat.