Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

VIRGINIA GAZETTE PRINTING OFFICE SITE
Colonial Lot #48
Block 18 #12-B

The Virginia Gazette Printing Office was situated upon colonial lot #48 in the plan of the city of Williamsburg. From York County records, the Virginia Gazette and a few outside sources, it is possible to piece together an incomplete but fairly conclusive history of the Printing Office.

There is no deed recorded at York County to lot #48 before 1719. Tracing the history of lot #47 (west of the lot) and lots 49 and 50 (east of it) it may be inferred that any house that might have been on this site prior to 1719 had been razed or burned prior to this date.

Henry Gill who bought lots 49 and 50 in 1707, received an ordinary license to keep an ordinary at his dwelling house on February, 1708, which he renewed annually, until his death in 1721.

The first deed to lot #48 states:

January 6, 1719

Trustees City of Williamsburg
to
Archer, Michael
Consideration: 15 shillings.

One lot of ground in the city of Williamsburg denoted in the plan of the said city by the figures 48.

Shall build within 24 months one or more good dwelling houses on the lot according to Act of Assembly of 1705.

(Vol. III - Deeds and Bonds. York County, Virginia)

In the next month of the same year, in a deed to lot #47, lot #47 is described as "adjoining on the great street between the store house of Mr. Archibald Blair (lot #46) and the house of Henry Gill". Evidently, no house had as yet been erected, nor by June 15 of the same year, when the same reference was made to the house of Henry Gill.

By February 7, 1721, within the twenty-four months required in the original deed, Michael Archer had erected a house on this lot, according to the deed to lot #47 in which lot #47 is described as being between the "storehouse now in the tenure of Archibald Blair and ye house now in the tenure of Michael Archer".

After Archer's death his widow Joanna, lived in the house for some time, at least until 1729, and perhaps much longer. On May 27, 1737, William Hooper, a merchant, advertised "Just imported, from London, by William Hooper, and to be sold by him at his store (which was formerly Mrs. Archer's) in Williamsburg the following Goods, Viz:…"

There are no further references to William Hooper's store, nor to Mrs. Archer's dwelling, even in the sale of her estate in 1745, but the records for the period 1737 to 1745 are very fragmentary.

It is interesting and pertinent that William Parks first made a proposal to the Virginia Assembly for printing the laws of Virginia in February, 1728. On June 9, 1730, he advertised in his Maryland Gazette that he had just returned from England with printing equipment: by autumn of that same year his 3 advertisements refer to his Printing Office in Williamsburg.

On July 15, 1731, in the American Weekly Mercury of Philadelphia, he proposed publication of a Virginia Miscellany for which he would receive subscriptions "at his House, near the Capitol, in Williamsburg".

In other words, Parks no doubt had a Williamsburg printing office established on some other location by 1731 and when he began publication of the Virginia Gazette on August 6, 1736, he began publication there.

There is another gap in the records from May 27, 1737, (when William Hooper was occupying lot #48) to March 27, 1746, at which time Edmund Pendleton advertised that he had lodgings at Mrs. Packe's (lot #47) next door to the Printing Office. This means that the Printing Office was well enough established on lot #48 to be an identifying landmark.

From that date on there is no question that the Printing Office was located on lot #48.

In this office Parks not only printed the Virginia Gazette, but printed numerous books, did book binding and sold imported books and stationery.

Parks died in 1750 and left all his property (subject to his debts and other contracts) to his daughter, Eleanor Parks Shelton. Among the debts owed was a debt to Lidderdale & Harmer who sued. This suit forced an auction of the Printing Office at which auction it was purchased by William Hunter:

June 14, 1751.

Armistead, Ellyson - Gent - Sheriff
to
Hunter, William - Printer
Consideration: 131 Pounds

(John Lidderdale and John Harmer, surviving 4 partners of Thomas Chamberlayne, deceased, sue John Shelton and Eleanor, his wife, who is daughter of William Parks, to recover certain sums owed by the said Parks to Lidderdale and Harmer).

Armistead sells and confirms unto Hunter, highest bidder, the printing office and lot which is denoted in the plan of the city of Williamsburg by the figures 48, and is bounded on the South by the Duke of Gloucester Street, on the North by Nicholson Street, on the East by the lot of Mr. John Holt, and on the West by the lot of Mrs. Sarah Packe with the appurtenances.

(Book V - Deeds, York County, Va.)

William Hunter bought the Printing Office, and stock in trade; continued publication of the laws of Virginia, the Virginia Gazette, etc., until his death in 1762.

He had a minor son, William, to whom he bequeathed "my house and lot in Williamsburg No. 48, where the printing office is now kept", and Joseph Royle was to form a company with his executors to continue the printing business, which he did.

On June 20, 1766, the following advertisement appeared in the Virginia Gazette:

…I beg leave to acquaint my friends and customers that I have just entered into partnership with Mr. John Dixon, in conjunction with whom I have purchased all the materials, stock in trade &c. belonging to the estates of the late William Hunter and Mr. Joseph Royle…
Alex. Purdie.

Purdie & Dixon continued at the Printing Office and on August 17, 1774, John Dixon purchased lot #47 "bound on the East by the lots of William Hunter whereon the Printing Office now stands". On February 13, 1775, he deeded this lot 5 to William Hunter who then owned both 47 and 48.

William Hunter deeded to Elizabeth Reynolds, his mother, a small portion facing Nicholson Street of lot #48 on June 10, 1777, where a small house was erected.

William Hunter was a loyalist and supplied information to the British and in 1781 joined the army of Lord Cornwallis. His property was confiscated, and he applied to the Crown for compensation. The following is the portion of his loyalist claim referring to lots 47 and 48:

Virginia
W^m. Hunter
6^th Sept^r 1784
N^o. 2 Sugar Loaf Court
Leadenhall Street
Attended 28^th Sept^r. 84.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE (SEAL)
No. 1

An Estimate of Losses sustained by William Hunter in Consequence of his Loyalty and Attachment to his Majesty and Government, viz.

	Virginia Currency
1 House and Lott in the City of Williamsburg W47	£650
1 Ditto Ditto W48	650
1 Ditto Ditto	350
1 Small Farm near Williamsburg	105
4 Negro Men value £75 each	300
5 Negro Women £60 each	300
6
6 Negro Children from 2 to 10 Years old, average £30 each	180
1 Phaeton & pair Horses in Value	175
1 Waggon & 4 Horses	170
20 Head of Cattle, 30 Head of Sheep, and a Number of Hogs in value about	100
Household & Kitchen Furniture in Value about	500
Ditto due on Account of his Business	1200
1 Sloop of 40 Tons	60
1 Sett of Printing Materials	300
A small Quantity of Merchandize in value about	100
	£5135.

(Public Record Office, London Audit Office 13, Bundle 31)

After 1785 the two lots were charged on the Williamsburg tax books to William Hunter's estate. In 1801 Robert Greenhow was charge with one lot "via Hunter" and another was so charged in 1805.

As far as the lots can be traced through the tax books, the building remained in existence, became the property of Robert Anderson and at his death was sold in the sale of his estate. At the time of the War Between the States Mr. John S. Charles in his "Recollections of Williamsburg" describes the old printing office:

On the southwest corner of the square bounded by Duke of Gloucester, Nicholson, Colonial and Botetourt streets, there was a long rambling, two story frame dwelling with 7 three doors opening out upon Duke of Gloucester street. The upper story of this house had a small platform with railing around it; with steps down to the street; the other two doors were reached by steps directly from the street.

To the east of the house just described and separated from it by a narrow alley, was a very old story and a half frame house with dormer windows and two doors opening on Duke of Gloucester street, and on a level with it. Tradition has it, and it seems now to be regarded as established fact, that the first newspaper to publish the Declaration of Independence was printed in this house. The front doors were on a level with the street, and the back door was about ten feet from the ground. At this point the back-bone of this peninsula seems to have been intersected by a ravine running north and south, and it is plainly seen that Duke of Gloucester street is filled in here, and a retaining wall built from the eastern to the western side of this depression, along which now runs a railing to protect pedestrians from injury.

The old house referred to was used, in the writer's day, one end for a shoe shop and the other for a grocery and dram shop. The retaining wall extended, within the writer's memory, about two feet above the sidewalk and was used as a loafer's retreat, where they gathered and after which were then peddled around the streets. The shells from the crabs being left on the ground along this wall, caused it to be known as Fort Crab.

The first deed in the Williamsburg court records to this property is dated October 26, 1876, at which time Joseph M. Walthall executed a homestead deed upon a house and lot then occupied by him as a store. According to Mrs. Victoria Lee in her notes in "Williamsburg in 1861" Walthall had a shoe shop in this building at that time:

…Just west of this building was a frame story and a half house, also used as a shop.^*

After Walthall's death the building was owned by his widow until September 10, 1892, when she deeded it to Delia P. Braithwaite. A photograph in the Coleman collection, made in 1881 shows the building as it appeared at that time. There is every reason to suppose from the extant evidence that this building is the one which had been used as a printing office by Parks and his successors.

According to Lyon G. Tyler, this building and most of the other old buildings on this lot were totally destroyed by fire in March, 1896:

…William Hunter's old frame residence of a story and a half, and a small printing office (the old printing office was standing as late as 1896 when the square of old house in which it stood was entirely destroyed by fire.)"

Delia P. Braithwaite conveyed the lot to William B. and Virginia B. Braithwaite from whom it passes to the present owner, Virginia Braithwaite Hughwout. A store owned by these late owner burned also.

______________________

One significant fact which may account for certain archaeological evidence on the site, is the location of the deep ravine which at one time may have created a depression in the Duke of Gloucester Street. The General Assembly on 9 several occasion appropriated money to improve the streets of Williamsburg and in 1734 the Reverend Hugh Jones in his Present State of Virginia wrote, "…but to make the main Street exactly level, the Assembly lately gave a considerable Sum, which was expended in removing Earth in some Places, and building a Bridge over a low Channel, so that it is now a pleasant, long dry walk, broad, and almost level from the College to the Capitol"…

The Reverend Jones refers, no doubt, to an appropriation of £150 made by the General Assembly, November 30, 1720, "for making Bridges & Cause ways in the principal street of the City of Williamsburg." This appropriation had been spent by May 9, 1722, at which time the Committee for Public Claims examined the accounts.

It is conceivable that some of the brick work on the site may be a retaining wall or other feature on this street work.

This report, complied after archaeological excavation of other key properties in the same square supersedes the previous report.

Lot #48