Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

LOTS EAST OF THE "GRAVES" LOT

The earliest definite information which it has been possible to obtain concerning the lots immediately east of the "Graves lot" on Francis Street is found on the map of Williamsburg made by an unknown Frenchman in 1781 (or 1782 or 1786). No buildings are indicated on these two (or three) lots on the south side of Francis Street between the "Graves lot" and the "Freeman" (or Bucktrout-Chiswell) lot, and this would make it appear that no buildings were standing on any of these lots at that time.

Since none of these lots are known to have been numbered on the original colonial plan of the city, and since the lots are located in James City County, in which the bulk of the public records were destroyed or scattered during the War between the States, there are almost no available clues relating to the ownership of these lots during the greater part of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

What seems a possible clue to the ownership of the easternmost of the two lots (that immediately adjoin the "Freeman lot") is found in an advertisement of Peter Pelham in the Virginia Gazette, Wm. Rind, Ed. June 16, 1768. At that time Pelham advertised goods to be sold "next door to Mrs. Chiswell's:" June 16, 1768.
Williamsburg June 13, 1768.
To be SOLD by the subscriber, next door to Mrs. CHISWELL'S
A NEAT assortment of cutlery, consisting of knives, rasors, scissars, &c. of various prices. Likewise a good 2 assortment of ivory and horn combs, a variety of buttons, also shoe buckles for men, women and children.
As the above articles were imported upon the best terms, they will be sold at a moderate advance for ready money.

PETER PELHAM.

The following year the York County Court advertised the sale of "Two Lots in the City of Williamsburg, with a dwelling-house thereon where Mr. Pelham lately lived..." Since the property was advertised by the York Court it is probable that the advertisement refers to a dwelling occupied by Pelham in a section of the town in York County where he had resided prior to the time he moved "next door to Mrs. Chiswell's." (Virginia Gazette, Rind, Ed., Dec. 1, 1768)

If a house stood upon the lot adjoining the Chiswell property (Freeman or Bucktrout-Chiswell lot) on the west at that time, it had apparently disappeared before the time the map by the unknown Frenchman was made.

The map of Williamsburg made by Benjamin Bucktrout in 1800 indicates that the lot immediately adjoining the "Graves lot" on the east, as well as the "Graves lot" itself, was at that time in the possession of "G. Carter. No ownership is indicated on this map for the lot one removed on the east from the "Graves lot." The lot twice removed from the Graves lot on the east, is shown on this map in the possession of a member or members of the Chiswell family, as are the next two lots adjoining that one on the east.

Another map of Williamsburg by an unknown draftsman of about the same period,(dated by Lyon G. Tyler as C. 1790, but probably of a later date) lists these five lots in an identical way. (The eastern- 3 most of these lots appears to be considerably smaller than the usual lot.)

It seems likely that the "G. Carter," in whose possession the "Graves lot" and that adjoining it on the east is indicated, was George Carter, the son of Robert Wormeley Carter of "Sabine Hall" in Richmond County. It is known that Robert Wormeley Carter bequeathed his son George Carter, "my lots in Williamsburg" in a will dated Dec. 16, 1794 and proved on June 5, 1797. (See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 28, p. 368)

The James City County records show that Robert Wormeley Carter had owned two lots in that section of the town from 1785 to 1797 (See Williamsburg Land Tax Books in Virginia State Library Archives.) These records also show that George Carter owned four lots in that section of Williamsburg throughout the years 1785 to 1797.

A person named George Carter, who was one of the Directors of the Hospital for the Insane, died sometime prior to September 1802. (Calender of Virginia State Papers, Vol. 9. p. 322).

It should be noted that sometime between 1800 and 1806, Anthony Robertson (sometimes spelled "Robinson") acquired title to the "Graves lot". In an insurance policy by which James Henderson, guardian of Thomas Ewing, insured the property on Colonial lot No. 604, the lot immediately west of the "Graves lot." Henderson described the former lot as bounded on the east by "Lot of Anthony Robertson." (See Insurance Policy Book, p. 32, Department of Research and Record.)

In the year 1809 the Williamsburg Land Tax Book shows two lots in the possession of Anthony Robertson which he had acquired "via Carter." This makes it seem probable that Robertson may have acquired from George Carter both the "Graves lot" and that immediately east of it.

By the year 1810, "Anthony Robinson" was taxed for 8¼ lots in that part of the town lying in James City County.(See James City County Tax Records) There is no available material to show whether or not "Robinson" may also have acquired prior to this time the other property situated between the "Graves lot" and the "Freeman lot."

It seems probable that both the "Graves lot" and the one immediately east of it came into the possession of John Bracken, for the James City Tax Records of 1815 reveal that Bracken was taxed for 8¼ lots in Williamsburg which he had acquired "via Anthony Robinson and Elizabeth, his wife."

It should be noted that by 1841, at just what time is unknown., the "Graves lot" had come into the possession of Scervant Jones, for in that year Jones deeded that lot to Richard H. Graves. (See James City County Records, 1843.) Since Graves owned only one lot in that section of the town in that and the years immediately following, it would appear that the "Graves lot" and the lot immediately east of it were no longer held under a common ownership.

The available records yield no further definite information regarding the history of the lots in question during the remainder of the nineteenth century.

It may be that when the abstracts which were prepared at the time these lots were purchased by the Restoration (and which are in New York) can be obtained, they may cast some further light on the history of these lots during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

An aged resident writing about the third decade of the twentieth century of Williamsburg in 1861, said the following with regard to a portion of this property: 5 Next to the Graves house was the old Bowden house, a large frame building, with Dutch colonial dormers. This house was much larger than it is today. At a later date a Mr. Slater bought this property and cut the house in two parts. The gardens around this house were very beautiful. Lem Bowden, at that time, had just built the large, brick house now owned by Judge Armistead...

Hunter D. Farish
Director
Department of Research and Record

20:38 September 13, 1940