USA > Virginia > City of Williamsburg > City of Williamsburg > Site of old "James Towne," 1607-1698 : a brief historical and topographical sketch of the first American metropolis > Part 12
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The tract covered by this patent includes the above 120 acres purchased from John Phips ; 3 acres 44 37-100 chains, also pur- chased from said Phips ; and 9 acres 71 53-100 chains, “ due for transportation for one person."
(5) William Sherwood, for 308 acres in James City and James City Island, dated April 20, 1694.
The Sherwood tract included 31/2 acres "purchased by him the said Wm. Sherwood of John Page Esqr;" 1 acre (see (9) below; 133 acres 35 9-10 chains " being heretofore granted by patent dated the 6th day of May 1665 to one John Knowles; " 281/2 acres " granted by patent dated the 4th day of October, 1656, to one John Bauldwin;" and the remainder, " being for- merly granted to Richard James by patent dated the 5th day of June, 1657."
(6) Henry Hartwell for 2 acres, 1 rood, 24 1-10 poles, dated April 20, 1689.
[ 144 ]
PLAT OF THE TRACTS used for locating the part of "LAMES CITTY" STYLED "THE NEW TOWNE"
Scale of feet. 100 00 0
100
200
300
400
37
.
John Phips
1656
29
Col.
1694
Dr. John Pott 1624
28
34
5
THE BACK STREET
18
8
9:
5
-
17
19
4
Henry Hartwell
20
2
16,89
16gabley
21
22
14.
s. Alsophosp
23
wM. Edwards
Richard Holder 1672
25
Orchard / 26 Run
R
/
V E
The Site of Old "Jomas Towne"1607-1698. Copyright, 1903, by Samuel H. Yonge.
32
419
31
Dr. John Pott 1628
33
BRANCH OF PITCH AND TARR SWAMP
Thomas Woodhouse
John Page 1681.
7.
WM.Sherwood a 1681 27
-
-
"Swamp on East Side
of the said New Towne" ...
was.
12.
13
Thos. Rabley
1698
JAMES
N.B .- Broken lines indicate tracts of Chew, Stephens, Hamor, Menefy and Harvey, shown on "Map of lames Citty, Va., 1607-1698." a, Knowles' house, after- . wards Sherwood's. b, Col. White's house, aft. erwards Hartwell's. c, John Phips' house.
30
HIWON JAWL
145
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
(7) Richard Holder, in "James Citty," for 8 acres, 1 rood, 5 poles, dated January 28, 1672.
(8) Wm. Edwards, Jr., for 127 poles in James City, dated October 15, 1698.
(9) William Sherwood, for one acre of land * "in James Citty on which formerly stood the brick house formerly called the Country house," etc., dated April 23, 1681.
The tracts represented by the patents are shown on the accompanying " Plat of the Tracts." They were connected by means of their common boundaries, as follows :
(1) The northern boundary of the Pott tract, (2) line 31-32, is also one of the lines of the Phips (3) survey.
(2) The line 31-32 is also common to Phips (3) and Knowles (4), and the line 31-33 of Knowles is a part of the line 31-27, of Pott.
(3) The lines 4-11, 11-10 and 10-9 are common to Knowles (4) and Sherwood (5).
(4) The lines 4-11, 11-10 and 10-9 are also common to Sher- wood (5) and Sherwood (9).
(5) Lines 11-10 and 10-9 of Hartwell are common to Sher- wood (5), Sherwood (9) and Knowles (4), and Hartwell 36-11 forms part of line 4-11 of each of the above tracts, (5) and (9).
(6) Line 19-20 Hartwell (6) differs 11/4° in azimuth from the line 19-26 of Holder (7). The length of the line 19-20, however, being but 511/2 feet, the above difference of azimutlı would change the position of the point 20 but one foot, a too insignificant difference to be considered in a compass survey. Hartwell's patent reads for the course 17-19, " buts on the land now or late of holder." It also reads for line 19-20, "thence along holder," showing that the above line is a part of Holder's western boundary.
(7) The azimuth of the line 19-26 of Holder (6) is the same as line 21-26 of Edwards (8). The length of the above line for the Edwards tract, however, is shorter. The south end of the above eastern boundary of the Edwards tract (8) is described as being " at ye mouth of ye Orchard Run on James River," and 10-J. T.
146
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
the same end of the line for the Holder tract is described as be- ing " at high water mark on James River side at the mouth of a small run entering thereinto." The runs are undoubtedly one and the same.
The patents show that Orchard Run was on the south bank of the island. As there is but one stream entering the river on that bank that could be designated a run, it was readily identi- fied.
The descriptions in the patents furnish some other data as to the names of owners of adjacent land, which further confirm several of the above determinations.
Several errors were discovered in the survey notes of the transcripts of the patents above referred to and, until they were located and corrected, it was found to be impracticable to plat the tracts. The errors were those of the surveyor and of the scrivener who transcribed the patents. They comprise princi- pally the reading of the south end of the needle by the sur- veyor, and in transcribing, misplacing the decimal point in the length of a course given in figures, and entering azimuths incorrectly.
In one of the patents, (Sherwood 9), the azimuth of every course of the survey is reversed. The last named tract might be omitted from the plat, as it only serves the purpose of con- firming the junction of three other tracts, Knowles (4), Sher- wood (5) and Hartwell (6), which is well established.
All of the foregoing tracts being platted, the point 26 was superposed on the mouth of Orchard Run, previously identified and located on a modern map, and the map as made up from ancient patents rotated around point 26 until its magnetic meridian had a western declination of 61/2 degrees.1 It was then found that point 1 of Sherwood (5) fell on the south side of the
1 The magnetic declination at " James Citty " about the middle of the seventeenth century was probably six or seven degrees west. There are no data prior to 1694 for any better than a rough approxi- mation. Six and a half degrees appears to be close enough for the class of surveys to which is here applied.
147
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
branch of "Pitch and Tarr Swamp," thus agreeing with the description in the patent record for Sherwood (5). Another point of Sherwood (5) near its eastern end, omitted from the accompanying plat-as by including it the map would have been made too large-falls within thirty-five feet of where the de- scription places it, viz., on the edge of a great marsh on Back River.
A causeway across the swamp before referred to, being prob- ably the bridge given as a witness mark in the Knowles patent (4) being found very near the point indicated by that patent also confirms the location of " the New Towne " as exhibited on the map.
The south line of the Pott tract 27-28, (1) and that of Phips (3) fix the position and direction of Back Street. The southern boundaries of tracts of Hartwell (6), Holder (7) and Edwards (8), fix the positions of parts of the southern bank of the island for the seventeenth century, which is thereby found to conform closely to that of to-day, thus showing that it has not been abraded to any extent by the waves. This is as it should be, for the part of the island, shore immediately below the present wharf has not been greatly exposed to wave action. The ancient south shore of the island and the positions of the Pott tracts and the Back Street being established, the Ralph Hamor tract was platted by its dimensions given in the patent records.' Its position was then approximately arrived at by finding by trial the place on the chart where the length of the tract would fit in between the Back Street and the "highway along the banke of the Main River."
The area of the plat of John Harvey3 being given, also its northern boundary, Back Street, its eastern boundary "the Swamp lying on the East side of the said New Towne," its southern boundary, "upon the highway close to the banke of the Main river," the approximate position of the tract was ascertained after several trials.
2 Va. Land Pat. Record, Book I, p. 3.
·Ibid, Book I, p. 5.
148
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
From the descriptions of the Harvey and Hamor tracts the position of those of George Menefy' and Richard Stephens,' and also those of the two cross streets, all of which are men- tioned in the descriptions of the two first named, were readily found, and finally the tract of John Chew, all as shown on the " Map of Iames Citty, Va., 1607-1698."
N. B .- Lines indicated on the " Plat of the Traces " by num- bers 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 10, are part of Sherwood (5) survey.
Lines indicated by numbers 9, 10, 11, 4, 5, 37, 33, 31, 32, are part of Knowles (4) survey.
Lines indicated by numbers 28, 34, 35, are part of Phips (3) survey.
The dwellings of Knowles, later Sherwood's, of Col. White, later Henry Hartwell's, also that of John Phips, although having no connection with the matter of locating the "New Towne," are shown on the plate, on account of being interesting features. Their positions were determined from references to them in the patents.
By comparing the " Plat " with the " Map of 'Iames Citty,'" especially the Pott and Holder tracts, the relation of the two plates will be apparent.
" Back Street " appears to have lost its name before 1656, as Phips' patent of that year, although following its lines, does not refer to it by name. Charlestown's (Boston) "Back Street," dating from very early colonial times, survives under its original name.
' Ibid, Book I, p. 4.
5 Ibid, Book I, p. 1.
· Ibid, Book I, p. 7.
NOTE.
The Ambler MSS. and " The Site of Old ' James Towne,' 1607- 1698."
By the publication in April, 1904, of the report of the librar- ian of the Congressional Library, for the fiscal year of 1903, the author of " The Site of Old 'James Towne'" was apprised of the acquisition by the library of a collection of MSS. of which he had no previous knowledge, showing the former possessions of the Ambler family situated principally at Jamestown or in its vicinage. An examination of the papers was made by him towards the end of April.
The collection comprises upwards of 140 MSS., consisting of original patents, deeds and leases, copies of other similar docu- ments, certified and uncertified, and copies of three wills, also several plats of surveys, all showing the chain of title of the lands as vested in different owners up to 1809, and, in one instance, dating back to 1649. There is no reference in the Ambler papers, however, to grants of the tracts which formed the "New Towne " in 1623. A comparison of some of the original patents in the collection with their transcripts in the land register's office at Richmond shows that the latter, in the main, are correct, and have been properly interpreted, thus prov- ing the accuracy of the " Map of ' Iames Citty,' 1607-1698." As however, there is no plat of Jamestown among the Ambler papers, their possession at an earlier day would not have lessened the labor and study required for constructing the above map and the " Plat of the Tracts."
The papers comprising the collection contain evidence con- firming the composition of the turf fort, and show that parts of it were still standing in 1721. They also confirm some other. important features of the map.
[ 149 ]
150
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
Among the collection are several skeleton plats of surveys, two of which relate to Jamestown. One, made in 1680, shows that the western shore line of the island in the 17th century above the " Pitch and Tarr Swamp " was about as shown on the author's map. The agreement of the above chart with the " Map of 'Iames Citty,'" in this respect, indirectly confirms the position given on the map of the part of the western shore of the island below the upper branch of the swamp. This evidence greatly strengthens the view expressed in the monograph as to the site of the landing-place at Jamestown of the first band of settlers. It is evident from the other skeleton plat that the Sherwood tracts of 1681 and 1694 were situated with regard to each other and the branch of Pitch and Tar Swamp, as drawn on the " Map of 'Iames Citty,' Va., 1607-1698," and the " Plat of Tracts." These coincidences corroborate the position of the Pott tract as given in the map, and indirectly show the general correctness of the part of the map for the east end of the town.
A reference in a lease for land on the second ridge in 1693 con- firms the location of the third and fourth state houses on the third ridge, as established from other data. No light, however, is thrown on the location of the church by the Ambler papers.
It is learned from William Sherwood's will that the epitaph on his tombstone is worded in accordance with his instructions to his principal legatee, Sir Jeffrey Jeffreys, Knt., of London.
Interesting information is supplied by the Ambler papers re- garding the 31/2-acre tract of "Col. Jno. Page of 1681," shown on the " Plat of the Tracts." The site of this tract on the " Map of 'Iames Citty'" is covered by Sir Francis Wyatt's lot, and the lot attributed to Captain Roger Smith.
The Page tract included the original grant from Harvey to Richard Kemp, Esq., in 1639, who conveyed it to Wyatt. Wyatt, through his agent, Wm. Pierce, sold to Sir Wm. Berk- eley, who sold it to Walter Chiles, whose widow-afterwards Mrs. Susan Waddinge-sold to Colonel John Page, who con- veyed it to Wm. Sherwood in 1681. The concluding sentence in the description of the survey of the tract made for Sherwood-
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Patent to William Sherwood, Gent, for 308 acres including part of site of "James Citty," in 1694.
Signed by Governor Andros, witnessed by R. Wormeley, secretary.
[From the Ambler MSS. collection]
[About one-half actual size]
151
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
in 1682 reads: "Including ye Ruins Sqr Kemps Old Brick House." The above house was the first brick house built at Jamestown. It was 16 by 24 feet in plan and was referred to by Gov. Harvey in 1639, with considerable pride, as being the fair- est that ever was known to the country for substance and impor- tance. By the locating of the Page tract, therefore, the site of the first brick dwelling house in Virginia becomes approximately known. The evidence, though slight, shows that the house was near the southwest corner of the Page tract.
Ralph Wormley, while secretary of state, resided on the Page tract, on or very near the Kemp grant.
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