Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

LOT L, BLOCK 14

The first owner of lot No. L according to the available records was Jonathan Druitt (sometimes spelled Drewit, Druet or Drewett). In his will probated in the General Court on April 30, 1735, he gave lots I, K and L to Richard Stayton and his heirs with the proviso that if Stayton died before attaining the lawful age or left no heirs the property was to be used for charity in Bruton Parish. He made the vestry his executors. Since Richard Stayton died without issue the vestry eras empowered by an act of the General Assembly to dispose of the lots and use the interest on the money for the relief of the poor of the parish. By October 1765 James Blair had purchased lot No. L and had built a dwelling house and many other improvements on it. The statute in which all the above information was found is quoted in full:

"An act to vest certain lots in the City of Williamsburg in the purchasers thereof, and for other purposes therein mentioned.

I. WHEREAS it is represented to this present general assembly, by the minister and vestry of the parish of Bruton, in the counties of York and James City, that one Jonathan Druitt, deceased, did by his last will and teztament, which was established by decree of the general court, the thirtieth day of April one thousand seven hundred and thirty five, give and devise unto one Richard Stayton, and the issue male of his body, three lots or half acres of land in the city of Williamsburg; but if he should die before he attained the lawful age, or without issue, then to objects of charity belonging to the said parish, and made the vestry of the said parish his executors: That the said Richard Stayton is since dead without issue, and that it would best answer the charitable intent of the donor if the said vestry were empowered to dispose of the said lots, and apply the interest of the purchase money towards the relief of the poor of the said parish.

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II. And whereas Edward Champion Travis, gentleman, hath contracted and agreed with the vestry of the said parish for the purchase of two of the said lots, denoted in the plan of the said city by the letters I K; and James Blair, gentleman, hath also agreed for the purchase of one other of the said lots, denoted in the said plan by the letter L; and they are now severally and respectively in possession of the said lots, and have built dwelling-houses, and made other improvements thereon.

III. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governour, Council, and. Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act the said Edward Champion Travis shall be, and he is hereby vested with the absolute property and fee simple estate of and in the said lots, or one acre of ground, denoted in the plan of the said city by the letters I K; and the said James Blair shall be, and in like manner is hereby vested with the same estate of and in the lot denoted in the said plan by the letter L; they the said purchasers paying to the said vestry the consideration money which they were respectively to pay for the said lots.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said vestry, or the major part of them, shall lend and place the money, when by them received for the sale of the said lots, in the hands of some responsible person, taking bond with good and sufficient security, in the penalty of double the money so lent, payable to themselves and their successours, the vestry of the said parish for the time being, with condition for the repayment of the said money, together with legal interest thereon, whenever the same shall be demanded; and the said vestry shall apply the interest arising on the said money from time to time to the relief of such objects of charity belonging to the said parish as they shall think proper, and to no other use or purpose whatsoever,

V. Provided always, That the execution of this act shall be, and the same is hereby suspended until his majesty's approbation thereof shall be obtained."

(Hening's Statutes, Vol. 8, pp. 171-2)

It is impossible to tell how Druitt retained possession of his lots without building houses on them. In fact, it cannot be said that he built on them, rented them as tenements or lived on them. It 3 seems that he was an innkeeper. This fact is borne out by the fact that his wife, Martha, was an in keeper after his death. Drewitt got four lots -- location unknown -- in the city of Williamsburg from the trustees on December 17, 1716. (York Co. Records, Book 15, Orders Stills & Bonds, pp. 377, 4O9.) Drewitt was one of the three men to act as security on the bonds of two ordinary keepers. (Ibid., Book 16, Orders, Bonds, pp. 206, 402, 405.) Sometime before 1728, Jonathan Drewitt died and his widow Martha, kept a tavern, called the Swan at Queen Mary's Port. (Ibid., Vol. III, Deeds, Bonds, p. 512.)

Nothing could be learned about Richard Stayton. It is impossible, too, to know which James Blair bought lot No. L in 1765. John Blair, member of the Virginia Council 1745-1771, mentioned in his diary in 1751 a James Blair, evidently not his son nor Commissary James Blair who had died in 1743. He recorded a visit from James Blair of York on February 8. (William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 7, (1), p. 136. The entry made in his diary on October 29, 1751, seems to point to James Blair as an associate in business "Black, &c., agt Mr Jams Blair and me, went off without contest . . . . ." (Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 14.)

It is possible, of course, that the copyist of the act recorded in Hening's Statutes should have written "John" instead of "James Blair." Or it may be that Commissary James Blair had bought the property long before 1765, and that in that year an act was passed legalizing the sale. It is possible that John Blair inherited the lot, along with other property from Commissary Blair. At any rate, it seems that John Blair had the right to dispose of it 4 according to a clause in his will and. an advertisement by his executors

"I devise to my executors hereinafter named [John and James Blair] all those other lots and
tenements which I hold in the City of Williamsburgh not before disposed of. . . . to be sold for the best prices that may be had for same and the money arising from such sale should be accounted and deemed as a part of my personal estate." (York County Records, Book 22, Wills, Inventories, p. 44.)

A note was added: "This will is intended to discharge the legacies under the will of my late Uncle, to such of my children as are entitled to legacies."

This certainly implies the right of John Blair to dispose of his uncle's property which may have included lot No. L.

The executors in three days after the probation of the will inserted in the Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon) the following notice:

November 21, 1771.

PURSUANT to the last Will of our deceased Father, we purpose, on the 11th Day of next Month, to sell to the highest Bidder four Tenements near the Church, in the said City, and another adjoining the Lot of the late Mrs. Blaikley, on the South.. There are Tenants in all of them at present, but we will deliver them to the Purchasers at Christmas next, except one of the said four, which Mr. John Holt, is to possess till the 22d Day of next July . . . . .
JOHN BLAIR) Executors.
JAMES BLAIR)"

(The location of Mrs. Blaikley in the Durfey lot in the Blaikley-Durfey report would place her lot north of lot No. L.)

It is impossible to say who purchased the lot at the sale. The records point to a Monsieur Bushong (Peter Boushon had "2 tithables" 5 in York County in 1801. See card 964 in York County Records) as the owner in 1786 as will appear below.

The Frenchman's Map (1782? or 1786?) shows what appears to be a house with an addition on the west and an outhouse in the back. The largest building fronts Francis Street. The arrangement of the lot is thus: [Map]

In the Williamsburg Land Transfers (copied from records in the Virginia State Library), one lot was transferred from Monsieur Bushong (occupation and importance unknown) to William Piggott in 1786.

In the tax records for Williamsburg the following facts apparently refer to this lot:

Year	Name	Lot	Annual Value	Tax
1791	Wm. Piggot	1	£ 8	.8
1797	William Piggott	1	£20
1801	William Piggott (Record folded in)
1806	Willim Picket estate	1	$30	.47
1810	Picket Willim estate	1	30	.47
1812	No Pickett or Piggott in the records.

In an insurance policy on September 5, 1809, Champion Travis located in the lots west of Pickett's lot, described his buildings on Francis and Henry streets as "situated between the lot of Mary Charlton 6 (formerly Piggots) and Henry street and the lot of James Moir." (Policy No. 957, p. 58.) Perhaps Mary Charlton merely occupied it, for the lot seems to have gone to John Bowden.

According to the Williamsburg Land Transfers, John Bowden got "1 lot via Pickett" in 1811. This transfer is corroborated by the Williamsburg land tax records which show John Bowden in 1812 and 1815 with one lot, annual value $30 and tax, .47. The lot is taxed as "John Bowden's estate" in 1817, showing that the owner had died between 1815 and 1817. From 1817 through 1854, the lot continues in the hands of John Bowden's estate. No record of it could be traced after the latter date. In 1820, the house and lot were valued at $250, the house at $150.

Mr. Charles in his Recollections of Williamsburg around 1861, after describing the Travis house which formerly stood in the south west corner of Block 14, made the following comments about the property east of the Travis house:

"On this square and on the site of the present Executive building of the Eastern State Hospital, there stood in 1861, and for many generations before, and [sic] old two story frame building which was very much dilapidated, and was torn down. There were no then [sic] houses in this block, fronting on Francis Street." (20)