{"id":153517,"date":"2019-12-26T16:35:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T14:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/16_george-made-one-of-his-first-ever-land-purchases-october-20-1750-of-453-acres-called-dutch-georges\/"},"modified":"2019-12-26T16:35:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T14:35:04","slug":"16_george-made-one-of-his-first-ever-land-purchases-october-20-1750-of-453-acres-called-dutch-georges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/16_george-made-one-of-his-first-ever-land-purchases-october-20-1750-of-453-acres-called-dutch-georges\/","title":{"rendered":"16_George made one of his first ever land purchases October 20, 1750 of 453 acres, called Dutch George\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

16_George made one of his first ever land purchases October 20, 1750 of 453 acres, called Dutch George\u2019s<\/strong>
\n\"Free
\nImage by Jim Surkamp<\/a><\/i>
\nGeorge Washington, Jefferson County & the Thompsons (1) by Jim Surkamp
\nBy Jim Surkamp on November 8, 2016 in Jefferson County<\/p>\n

POST
\ncivilwarscholars.com\/2016\/11\/george-washington-jefferson-…<\/a>
\n2125 words<\/p>\n

VIDEO:
\nGeorge Washington, Jefferson County And the Thompsons
\nwww.youtube.com\/watch?v=YhsCxBpDWQw&t=1733s<\/a><\/p>\n

Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System. The content of civilwarscholars.com is intended to encourage dispassionate, fact-based discourse and in no way reflects the University\u2019s modern-day policies. More at apus.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

1_the-thompsons-and-the-washingtons<\/p>\n

2_the-jefferson-county-museum-charles-town-wv-april-2016<\/p>\n

3_my-name-is-monique-crippen-hopkins<\/p>\n

Today is Saturday April 15th, 2016. We\u2019re here at an exhibit, which actually is featuring some of my slave research. My name is Monique Crippen-Hopkins and I\u2019m going to tell you some history on my father\u2019s maternal side. They have deep roots here in Charles Town. They were actually enslaved from several generations from the Washington family.<\/p>\n

6_siblings-in-the-washington-family<\/p>\n

George Washington, his five brothers, and sister were acquiring land in the northern Shenandoah Valley ever since 1748 when George Washington as a teenager conducted a surveying expedition across the southern part of what is today Jefferson County, West Virginia.<\/p>\n

8_went-ourselves-down-the-river-about-16-miles-to-capt-isaac-penningtons<\/p>\n

He wrote in his diary after crossing the Shenandoah River near Ann Lewis Road into what is today Jefferson County: \u201cMonday 14th. We sent our Baggage to Capt. Hites (near Frederick Town) went ourselves down the River about 16 Miles to Capt. Isaac Penningtons (the Land exceeding Rich & Fertile all the way produces abundance of Grain Hemp Tobacco &c.) in order to Lay of some Lands on Cates Marsh & Long Marsh. As a result of this valuable land and early intelligence, George\u2019s generation \u2013 half-brothers Lawrence and Augustine from his father\u2019s first marriage, along with Charles, Samuel, John and sister Betty \u2013 ultimately owned a total of well over 8,000 acres hereabouts and in Clarke County.<\/p>\n

12_because-the-latters-lands-are-where-monique-crippen-hopkins-ancestors-worked-lived<\/p>\n

In this narrative we concentrate just on George Washington\u2019s lands and those of John Augustine Washington and his descendants because the latter\u2019s lands are where Monique Crippen-Hopkins\u2019 ancestors worked, lived, and made the properties beautiful and productive. This story is only possible by the work of Galtcho Geertsema, a surveyor and plat researcher in Martinsburg, who is formally credited by the Virginia State Library for saving and organizing into understandable form the plats and records of the earliest land purchases of the Washington family in the eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, much of which would have been buried and forgotten in local deed rooms and out of the purview of internationally-accessible archives.<\/p>\n

14_this-story-is-only-possible-by-the-work-of-galtcho-geertsema-a-surveyor-and-plat-researcher<\/p>\n

He owned this piece, this piece and this piece. Galtcho what is that document that you have in your hand? These are plats of George Washington\u2019s tracts in the Carter 50,212 acre tract that lies mostly in Clarke County, Virginia , and he divided them up in order to rent them out. This shows some of the George Washington surveys that he made \u2013 two of these here are in Clarke County, Virginia. The boundary line between Clarke and Jefferson runs about here and two of these land grant surveys were made by George Washington in Clarke County, Virginia. And what is north of that? Do we have Jefferson County north of that? Yeh, these are all Jefferson County. In the south corner of Jefferson County he had several surveys that he made, some of them for Washingtons \u2013 Lawrence, Charles and George and some for other people. And a little farther north in Jefferson County, just west of Charles Town, he had a lot of surveys made and land granted to him and his brothers \u2013 and just of that around Charles Town \u2013 here\u2019s Charles Town \u2013 he had several tracts there \u2013 and up here \u2013 and there\u2019s a tract here that has a house called \u2013 by the name of Beallair \u2013 that was also a Washington house. Is it clear?<\/p>\n

16_george-made-one-of-his-first-ever-land-purchases-october-20-1750-of-453-acres-called-dutch-georges<\/p>\n

The Washington invasion, one could jest, of this area began with George\u2019s surveys of nine parcels between August 20, 1750 and March 25, 1751 for brother Lawrence, totaling 4899 acres. But our Founding Father didn\u2019t hesitate to snap up some good deals for himself.<\/p>\n

17_on-both-sides-of-middleway-pike-and-between-the-north-south-running-childs-and-willingham-roads<\/p>\n

18_the-1862-acre-site-as-of-1760-stretched-as-far-south-as-withers-larue-roa
\nNot yet the owner of Mt. Vernon, George made one of his first ever land purchases October 20, 1750 of 453 acres, called Dutch George\u2019s, at a location today on both sides of Middleway Pike and between the north-south running Childs and Willingham Roads. This purchase was soon followed by two purchases of adjacent parcels between October and December 3rd, 1750 totaling 550 acres and becoming the site of George Washington\u2019s absentee-owner farm called Bullskin or \u201cThe Mountain Quarter\u201d and after his death, was called Rock Hall. Less than two years later in mid-March, 1752, he added 552-acres bought from one Robert Johnston, followed on March 17th, 1752 by the purchase of 760 more acres south and adjacent to the rest of Bullskin Plantation. The 1862-acre site as of 1760 stretched as far south as Withers LaRue Road in Rippon.<\/p>\n

19_the-original-land-includes-the-property-of-the-hillbrook-inn<\/p>\n

Today the surviving property is located on the south side of Summit Point Road and opposite South Jefferson Elementary School. The original land includes the property of the Hillbrook Inn, and the Burns family owns, just west of that, the land with a barn, spring house, and a substantial stone house. In the earliest days there were overseers Christopher Hardwick, and later, Edward Violet and his wife, along with eleven to sixteen enslaved African-Americans \u2013 more or less the range of enslaved persons there over the next thirty years. \u2013 who plowed and seeded fields for corn, (initially tobacco, and later wheat),<\/p>\n

22_plowed-and-seeded-fields-for-corn-initally-tobacco-and-later-wheat<\/p>\n

dug fence posts and planted hedgerows, dug drainage ditches, cleared lands, fed and cared for the horses, hogs, sheep and cattle, milked the cows and churned out butter, wove and spun from the harvested flax \u2013 all while keeping the human household fit and well season-long. In a sense, George was third in line, after Lawrence to ever take possession of Mt. Vernon, which, at that time was a story-and-a-half, measuring thirty-three feet wide and forty-seven feet long with two chimneys on each end. So he focused on his 1862 acres of combined adjacent tracts playing his part in the emerging Washington family fiefdom of lands in today\u2019s Jefferson County. An absentee-landowner, George\u2019s help came from an overseer at Bullskin, supported beginning in 1750 by eleven enslaved persons who had previously worked for George\u2019s deceased father, Augustine: Fortune (30), George (20), Long Joe (30),<\/p>\n

23_winna-winney-30<\/p>\n

Winna (Winney) (30); Belindar (25), Jenny (12), Adam (10); Natt (10), London (20), Milly (10) and Frank (5). The modern-day editors of George Washington\u2019s Papers concluded: The names of a number of the slaves that GW inherited from his father appear in his diaries and correspondence in the 1750s, indicating that they were living on GW\u2019s Bullskin plantation in Frederick County. George\u2019s detailed instructions to Bullskin Farm would likely have been like those to others: Get the corn planted above all. Clear the acreage; drain and turn the marshy Bullskin bottom lands into meadow \u2013 then plant there too. Not until the corn is planted or it is too late to do so, should one build a dwelling \u2013 but make that dwelling sixteen-feet by eighteen-feet, the lower portion of which was to be of logs with diamond corners and covered with three-foot shingles, and lastly an outside chimney. Start a woodlot.<\/p>\n

25_and-oh-yes-plant-an-apple-and-peach-orchard-hogs-could-run-free<\/p>\n

And oh yes, plant an apple and peach orchard. Hogs could run free, feasting on rotten fruit, Nature\u2019s berries and nuts. Better \u201clittle good porke, than much bad porke,\u201d George would say to explain why all the hogs should run free, no matter how much they rooted deep into his hedgerow fence. They heedlessly discharged their valuable manure across the meadow, favoring the planting the following spring. You wait and pick the absolute best hogs to be penned and fattened up en route to the dinner table of Virginia ham, ale and piping hot buttered Indian cornbread, a favorite meal of George\u2019s.Fences reinforced with hedgerows and maybe even parallel ditches proved enough against the onslaughts of any animal \u2013 hog, cattle, horse, goat or sheep \u2013 curious, nosy or yearning to be free beyond the property line. In a word, Bullskin thrived.<\/p>\n

27_the-older-lawrence-made-a-hasty-return-from-bermuda-to-his-home-mt-vernon-deathly-ill-and-soon-died<\/p>\n

On July 26, 1752 \u2013 the older Lawrence made a hasty return from Bermuda to his home, Mt. Vernon, deathly ill and soon died. Lawrence left his lands in Jefferson County mostly to siblings, two of whom \u2013 Charles and Samuel \u2013 would build and move here for the balance of their lives. Following the death of Sarah in 1754 and Lawrence\u2019s only child,<\/p>\n

George, as executor of his brother\u2019s estate, arranged to lease Mount Vernon that December. Bullskin Farm was bearing fruit. It was marked on the Jefferson-Fry map of the area dated 1755. But a new military career and the demands of Mt. Vernon were pulling on George\u2019s time and attentions. He thus needed the help of brother John or \u201cJack\u201d Augustine Washington, who also had lands inherited from brother Lawrence close to Bullskin that Jack had been preparing to develop. Jack and his wife, Hannah Bushrod, had given the name \u201cProspect Hill\u201d to the their four adjacent parcels, comprising 1534 acres inherited from Lawrence. John Augustine and his wife, Hannah Bushrod, inherited about 1534 acres as four adjacent parcels of land. They inherited a 311-acre parcel along the Bullskin, once part of a 1020-acre parcel of Jost Hite, and passed along from Andrew Pitts and then Lawrence Washington, getting ever smaller. Adjacent and north of this parcel, John Augustine began farming a second inherited parcel. This 12-sided, 613-acre parcel was surveyed August 23, 1750. Lawence Washington obtained a Fairfax grant to it March 20, 1752. A 175-acre parcel, included in the mentioned Aug. 20, 1750 survey by George Washington of his half-brother\u2019s land, is a narrow, southeast-to-northwest strip of land between the previous two parcels. Lawrence received a grant for tht October 13. 1750. Sharing a long north-south border to the first Prospect Hill tract, John Augustine also inherited from Lawrence another rectangular, 435-acre parcel.<\/p>\n

29_a-military-career-intervenes-1754-1758
\n30_marriage-politics-and-mt-vernon-preoccupy
\n31_after-the-revolution-his-land-will-be-leased
\nIn 1755 George turned to Jack for help in running Bullskin, the Ferry Farm and Mt. Vernon so he could volunteer to serve as an aide to British General Edward Braddock in an expedition west to fight the French-allied Shawnees. The force coming from Dick\u2019s Farm went on to Littler\u2019s Mill and Winchester.<\/p>\n

34_march-phase-1
\n35_march-phase-2
\n36_march-phase-3
\n37_may-2nd-they-cross-at-vestals-ferry<\/p>\n

George Washington\u2019s Virginians met them there and they joined the main portion to the westward of where now stands Martinsburg. The entire party then moved, byway of the Warm Springs (Berkeley Springs) Road, to its sad fate not long afterward.<\/p>\n

43_map-of-road-thru-john-washingtons-land
\n45_to-its-sad-fate-not-long-afterward-when-george-returned-from-the-disastrous-defeat-at-the-blades-and-tomahawks-of-the-shawnees<\/p>\n

When George returned from the disastrous defeat at the blades and tomahawks of the Shawnees at Monongahela July 8-9 he admitted a guilty pleasure at having several bullet holes in his uniform and his love for the the action and risk of combat. But he wrote brother Jack: We have been most scandalously beaten by a trifling body of men; but for fatigue, and the want of tim\u27e8e\u27e9 . . . You may expect to see me there on Saturday or Sunday night, which is as soon as I can well be down as I shall take my Bullskin Plantations in my way. Pray give my Compliments to all my Friends. I am Dear Jack Your most Affectionate Brother.<\/p>\n

47_a-wave-that-followed-the-defeat-of-barbarous-murders-of-families-around-winchester<\/p>\n

A wave that followed the defeat of barbarous murders of families around Winchester and the fear of the residents was plainly spelled out in a letter from George, to Governor Dinwiddie. George was promoted to colonel, more recruits were sent and he was put in charge of a vast plan to build protective forts along the frontier \u2013 and he immediately went to work building in the autumn of 1755 in Winchester Fort Loudoun. Washington marked out the site of the fort, and superintended the work; he bought a lot in Winchester, erected a smith\u2019s shop on it, and brought from Mount Vernon his own blacksmith to make the necessary iron work for the fort. It covered an area of about half an acre; within which area, a well, one hundred and three feet deep, chiefly through a solid limestone rock, was sunk for the convenience of the garrison.<\/p>\n

51_george-used-his-men-to-build-a-similar-blacksmith-shop-and-dig-a-well-still-extant<\/p>\n

The labor of throwing up this fort was performed by Washington\u2019s regiment. As work proceeded on all the forts for the next three years, George used his men to build a similar blacksmith shop and dig a well \u2013 still extant on the Braddock Road portion running through brother Jack\u2019s Prospect Hill land in Jefferson County.<\/p>\n

52_on-november-6-1935-by-susan-g-zan-gibson-who-grew-up-in-another-home-called-marquee-wrote<\/p>\n

On November 6, 1935 by Susan G. \u201cZan\u201d Gibson who grew up in another home called \u201cMarquee,\u201d wrote in the Spirit of Jefferson: the Well was a mile or more west of Charles Town \u2013 The spot where General Braddock camped in 1755 and dug his well and put up a blacksmith shop. I lived a goodly part of my life near this Well. I played about it as a child with my neighbor children. Two soldiers of the American Revolution lived across the field from this Well. They taught their children and grandchildren that it was Braddock\u2019s Well. All our visitors were taken to see this Well. There we would meet other people with their visitors. Until of late it was a shrine.\n<\/p>\n

\nThis Free State South Africa<\/em> image was automatically curated and published with WP Robot<\/a> plugin – CLICK HERE<\/a> to learn more about WP Robot for WordPress<\/a> – a massive time and money saver.<\/p>\n

Visit the MyPE YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16_George made one of his first ever land purchases October 20, 1750 of 453 acres, called Dutch George\u2019s Image by Jim Surkamp George Washington, Jefferson County & the Thompsons (1) by Jim Surkamp By Jim Surkamp on November 8, 2016 in Jefferson County POST civilwarscholars.com\/2016\/11\/george-washington-jefferson-… 2125 words VIDEO: George Washington, Jefferson County And the Thompsons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9014],"tags":[37019,37020,5642,4634,4236,6311,3944,4280,4570,5640,1811,9219],"class_list":{"0":"post-153517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-images","7":"tag-16_george","8":"tag-37020","9":"tag-acres","10":"tag-called","11":"tag-dutch","12":"tag-ever","13":"tag-first","14":"tag-georges","15":"tag-land","16":"tag-made","17":"tag-october","18":"tag-purchases","19":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}