Collection SC 0154

Berkeley County, Legal Notes 1771-1778, n.d.

Table of Contents

User Information Historical Sketch Scope and Content Note Container List

Processed by Patricia Di Filippo March 2020

Thomas Balch Library 208 W. Market Street Leesburg, VA 20176 USER INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 1 item

COLLECTION DATES: 1771-1778, n.d.

PROVENANCE: Maryland Room, C. Burr Artz Public Library, Fredrick, MD

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Collection open for research.

USE RESTRICTIONS: Physical characteristics and conditions affect use of this material. Photocopying not permitted.

REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from Thomas Balch Library.

CITE AS: Berkeley County, Virginia Legal Notes, 1771-1778, n.d., (SC 0154) Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

ALTERNATE FORMATS: None

OTHER FINDING AIDS: None

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: None

RELATED HOLDINGS: Cartmell, T. K. 2007. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: a History of Frederick County Virginia (illustrated) from its Formation in 1738 to 1908… V REF 975.5992 CAR; Norris, J. E. 1972. History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley. V REF 975.59 NOR; Virginia. 1992. Colonial Records of Virginia. V REF 929.37554 VIR.

ACCESSION NUMBERS: 2020.0029

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HISTORICAL SKETCH

At the close of the , the British government passed the Proclamation of 1763, and then the Quebec Act of 1774, essentially nullifying American colonists’ claims on territory west of the Allegheny Mountains. Berkeley County (now in ), formed in 1772, was at the geographical vanguard of this situation which in part led to the American Revolution. Transactions compiled in this ledger trace the progression of property ownership (including slaves, cattle, water rights, and military procurements) from wealthy landowners, such as Thomas, Lord Fairfax (1693-1781) to American settlers and pioneers. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, Loyalists’ estates were confiscated, quit rents were eliminated, and settlers claiming land titles through squatter’s rights were no longer dependent on proving settlement and improvement of the land to establish ownership. Lots were deeded by trustees for a fee simple, in contrast to the lengthy transactional notations previous to independence from Great Britain.

Of particular interest in this collection is the testimony of the original land patent for 40,000 acres to John van Metre (1683-1745) and Isaac van Metre (1713- 1745) on p. 274 in 1730, part of which was later sold to Jost/Joist (Hans Yost Heydt) Hite (1685-1761) in 1731. Hite later unsuccessfully sued Thomas, Lord Fairfax for rights to land comprising the Northern Neck of Virginia in May 1786. Additionally, the ledger contains evidence of land ownership/stewardship by (1732-1799) on pages 280-281, as well as Morgan Morgan (1688-1766), Thomas Shepherd (1795-1776) (founder of Mecklenburg, now Shepherdstown) and Adam Stephen (1718-1791).

SOURCES

Baack, Ben. “The Economics of the American Revolutionary War.” EH.net, Accessed on 31 March 2020, https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economics- of-the-american-revolutionary-war-2/ .

Curtis, Thomas D. "Land Policy: Pre-Condition for the Success of the American Revolution." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 31, no. 2 (1972): 209-24. Accessed July 18, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/3485647.

Jefferson, Thomas, Peachy R. Grattan, John M. Patton, Roscoe B. Heath, and Thomas Johnson Michie. 1902. Virginia reports, Jefferson--33 Grattan: 1730-1880, Charlottesville, VA: The Michie Company. Accessed on 31 March 2020. http://books.google.com/books?id=BXktAQAAMAAJ .

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Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. “Benefits of the American Revolution: An Exploration of Positive Externalities” The Library of Economics and Liberty, Accessed on 31 March 2020, https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2018/HummelAmericanrevolutio n.html

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of a “B&P Standard” ledger book collecting handwritten entries of legal proceedings for Berkeley County, Virginia from 1771-1778, author unknown. Estimated to have been manufactured in the first half of the twentieth century, the book’s cover is black with a sewn, red spine and red corners. The ledger has 300 numbered and lined pages with margins and a tabbed index with handwritten letters and organizes, in alphabetical order by name of the acting party, diverse transactions at the outset of the county’s formation in 1772, such as: deeds, wills, bonds, powers of attorney, bills of sale, leases, indentures, lawsuits, contracts, dedimuses, mortgages, procurements, bonds and similar. Each entry records the date of the transaction, the reference from the original source (Berkeley County, West Virginia Deed abstracts from Deed Books 1-4) from which this record was copied, as well as proof of ownership and some background to the transaction, in addition to the names of the acting parties. The book also includes listings of deeds, in order by reference from the original source, given by Lord Fairfax to individuals during the years 1750-1778, by King George III’s colonial office during the years 1730-1735, by Thomas Shepherd (of Shepherdstown) during the years 1772-1778, by Adam Stephen during the years 1774-1778, and by the Trustees of the Town of Bath (Berkeley Springs) for the year 1777.

CONTAINER LIST

SC 0154

Folder 1 Ledger, Berkeley County, VA Legal Notes 1771-1778, n.d.

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