Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

The building mistakenly called "Redwood Ordinary" (which has been shown on colonial lot 275 on our archaeological map, but which Mr. Buchanan thinks actually may be on lot 276), is believed to be a nineteenth century structure, and was certainly never associated with John Redwood.

John Redwood, keeper of the Capitol and Public Gaol from 1703 until his resignation in 1709/10, obtained four half acre lots from the trustees for the City of Williamsburg in April, 1707, for £3:--lots 272 and 273 on the north side of Nicholson Street, to the west of the lots in question, and lots 61 and 62 "on the North East side of the Capitol Square." He had erected buildings on the lots, and was occupying the lots back of the Capitol (where he kept his ordinary) in May 1708, when he sold (or mortgaged) the four lots to Philip Ludwell of "Greenspring", for, £150 lawful money of England. [See York County Records, Deeds & Bonds, No. II (1701-1713) pp. 304-307. Ibid., No. III (1713-1729) pp. 286-287.]

Throughout most of the eighteenth century, lots 275 and 276 with adjacent lots, were associated with JOHN MAROT and his heirs, and with JOHN GREENHOW.

JOHN MAROT, who in 1708 purchased lot 25, with buildings and a strip of lot 26, on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street (where he operated a successful ordinary until his death 2 in the fall of 1717), owned other Williamsburg property in and after 1713:--lots 274, 275, 276 & 277 on the north side of Nicholson Street--four half-acre lots which he purchased from the trustees of Williamsburg for £3 (or 15-shillings a lot), with understanding that he would build on each lot within 24 months or it would revert to the trustees; lot 802 on the north side of Nicholson Street,^* which he purchased in 1715 for 15-shillings, with same building clause in deed; and lot 56 on the north side of Duke of Gloucester Street, which he purchased in June, 1717, for £40, with buildings. By will dated August 31, 1717, he left his wife Anne one-third of his estate during her life, and his three minor daughters two-thirds of his estate when they came of age or married, plus their mother's third after her death. Mrs. Marot soon married Timothy Sullivant, and continued Marot's ordinary until 1738, when she "left off Publick Business, and retir'd to the Country"--to Amelia County, where some of her family lived, and where she died in 1742. Daughter Anne Marot married James Ingles (died c. 1736), James Shields (they operated Marot's ordinary until his death in 1750), and Henry Wetherburn, whom she survived. Edith Marot married Samuel Cobbs of Amelia County (he died in 1757 and she in 1761); and Rachel Marot married Richard Booker of Amelia County (he died in 1760).

We do not know whether John Marot built on all five of his Nicholson Street lots within the required 24 months. Some may have reverted. He must have erected buildings on lots 274 and 275, as they passed to his daughter Edith (Marot) Cobbs, and to her son Samuel Cobbs in 1761. In November, 1761, Samuel Cobbs "of the City of Williamsburgh" (Marot's grandson), sold his cousin James Shields, also then of Williamsburg, lots 274 and 275, which he had just inherited, with all houses, etc., for £110 current money of Virginia. On March 4th and 5th, 1762, James Shields, then of York County, obtained a deed of lease and release from the trustees of Williamsburg to all but one (lot 277) of the Nicholson Street lots once owned by his grandfather, John Marot, including the two he had already purchased. It is possible that he had inherited one or more of the others. For £3 current money of Virginia the trustees granted Shields lots 802, 274, 275, 276, 3 ". . . every part thereof, with Appurtenances"; but the deed included the building clause in accordance with the Act of 1705, which indicated that some of the lots were without buildings. This deed was doubtless granted to record Shields' title to the four lots; for on the next day, March 6, 1762, he sold the lots to John Greenhow, merchant of Williamsburg, for £200 current money of Virginia. Greenhow either already owned or later obtained lot 277, originally granted to Marot. We cannot find the deed, but his name appears on that lot on late 18th or early 19th century plats of Williamsburg.

JOHN GREENHOW, of Westmoreland County, England, was a merchant in Williamsburg in 1755; his dwelling house and store stood on colonial lot 159 and he also owned lot 160, on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street. He occupied this property at the time of his death in August, 1787. As stated, Greenhow obtained lots 802, 274, 275, and 276, on the north side of Nicholson Street, on March 6, 1762 for £200 current money of Virginia. On March 15, 1762 he purchased, for £63:6:8 current money of Virginia, a tract of 6-1/3 acres from Matthew Moody. The tract was back of Nicholson Street and to the west of it was the Raleigh Tavern pasture land (see attached plats). The tract was divided into several areas (described in the deed, which included a sketch of it), and Greenhow agreed to -

". . . lay off and open a Street of four Poles in a Breadth from Nicholson Street . . . through the Lotts he lately purchased of James Shields Gent. to the said land hereby granted and conveyed which shall ^also forever hereafter continue and remain a Street free for the Passage of all persons whatsoever." [Y.C.R. Deeds No. VI (1755-1763), pp. 398-399.]

This street "4 poles wide" is shown on all of the late 18th or early 19th century plats of Williamsburg we have seen; it started at the north side of Nicholson Street and ran between lot No. 275 marked "Wentworth" on the plats, and lot No. 277 marked "Greenhow - a Spring", meeting another "Greenhow Street 4 poles wide" at the north side of the tract. It must have taken a strip 66 feet wide out of Greenhow's lot 276, or part of lot 275 and 276.

It would appear that John Greenhow had disposed of two of his Nicholson Street lots before 1782, when the Williamsburg land tax records begin. He was then only taxed for 4 lots (annual value £6:10:0), and he owned the two lots (Nos. 159, 160) where he lived on Duke of Gloucester Street. His 4 lots in Williamsburg, valued at £50 in 1787, were transferred to his son, Robert Greenhow, still valued at £50 in 1788, after his death^* The Greenhow name remained on the Williamsburg plats at "Greenhow Street 4 poles wide" (on the approximate site of lot 276); on lot 277 ("A Spring Greenhow"); and on the tract back of Nicholson Street. John Greenhow died in August, 1787, and his son and heir, Robert Greenhow inherited his estate. As his father's sole executor, he advertised as follows in The Virginia Gazette and Independent Chronicle (Richmond: John Dixon, ed.) for October 6, 1787:

"WILLIAMSBURG, September 24, 1787.
Agreeable to the last will and testament of Mr. JOHN GREENHOW, late of this city, will be sold at public sale, on Thursday the 18 of October.
THE Store and four Lots . . . on Shockoe Hill in Richmond, . . . and on the Monday following, will be sold, all the real and personal estate of the deceased, (except the store Goods) in and about the city of Williamsburg, consisting of a large and commodious Dwelling House on the main street, 6 or 8 Houses and Lots on the back street, about 300 acres of Land adjoining the Town, and lying on each side of the road to the College Landing, and about 100 acres of well timbered Land 3 miles from Town,
. . . ROBERT GREENHOW, sole executor:"

It must be assumed that the "6 or 8 Houses and Lots on the back street" referred to houses or buildings rather than lots, as from 1788 until 1801 Robert Greenhow continued to pay taxes for only four lots in Williamsburg (valued at $50 in 1788, $33.10 in 1789, $33 from 1790 through 1797, $110 from 1798 through 1800). In 1801 he was taxed for six lots valued at $150.

John Greenhow's sale of Nicholson Street lots was not recorded in York County, so it must have been recorded in the Williamsburg Hustings Court, the early records of which were burned during the Civil War. The name "White" shown on the plats on lot 274 does not appear in the Williamsburg land tax records until 1789 when "Ben^j White"^* was taxed for one lot, "Annual Value" $6.67. In 1803, etc. Benjamin White still owned one lot, its value then $10. I attach the tax information on White's Williamsburg property, from Miss Stephenson's 1955 research report on Colonial Lots 274 and 275.

As already noted, the name "Wentworth" is shown on lot No. 275 on all of the late 18th or early 19th century Williamsburg plats. No "Wentworth" appears in the Williamsburg land tax records between 1782 and 1805, but a Wentworth Burwell (who appeared in the personal property tax records in 1799, when taxed for self and 3 horses or colts), was taxed for one lot in 1802--valued at $6.67, the same value placed on the White lot. He had died by 1804 when one lot (value $6.67) was charged against Wentworth Burwell's estate. I attach Miss Stephenson's tax data on what she believed to be lot No. 275 from her 1955 report on Colonial lots 274 and 275.

I have gone into this detail because it indicates that whether the building in question is on what our present archaeological plat shows is 275 or not (and Mr. Buchanan has some ideas on that subject), lots 274, 275, and 276--part of which was certainly a street after 1762, according to all of the plats--were not put to any very important use in the 18th century. They involved 6 few owners, who lived and conducted their principal business in another part of town.

In the hope of helping with your immediate problem, I attach the following:

• 1.Brief note of deeds to lots from York County Records, 1713-1762.
• 2.Williamsburg Land Tax data after 1805 on lots No. 274 and No. 275, from Miss Stephenson's 1955 report.
• 3.Xerox of "Browns" Williamsburg plat showing lot numbers and names. Owned by Galt family (Mrs. Kirby). Said to have been made about 1780 by a Mr. Browns, but probably of a later date.
• 4.Xerox of Tyler MS map, copied from "a very old map" of Williamsburg, supposed to "have been originally made in . . . about 1780"--but again probably later 18th or early 19th century. The original, known as "the College Map", is not clear enough to Xerox.
• 5.Copy of a plat of Williamsburg dated 1800 by Benjamin Bucktrout, made by Mr. Lively in 1867 (the original Bucktrout map not now clear enough to Xerox). Contains names on lots in question but not the numbers.
• 6.Archaeological key map (1932-1969) of area in question; not brought up to date as no excavation in area.

If a copy of the 1762 deed to Greenhow to land back of Nicholson Street, and the accompanying plat, would help, we can send a Xerox of that. However, it is shown on all of the plats, and the lots, except possibly those adjacent to "Greenhow Street-4 poles wide" through lot 276, were probably the usual half-acre lots- up to and after the dates of the plats.