Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

"Mary Stith" Lot #17

Mary Stith's property was described as¼of a lot from 1785 to 1806 in the tax books - after that date it was½lot.

^{The Bucktrout amp of 1800 indicates that some [illegible] of its site. Mary Stith owned Lot #17 in the year 1800. The Wmburg Land Tax Books indicate that one Mary Stith owned ¼ of a lot} Mary Stith's property was described as ¼ of a lot from 1786 to 1806 in the tax books - after that date it was ½ lot.

^{It seems probable that the property was owned by one Mary Stith for} at the time of her death ^{in 1816 Mary wills}she bequeathed all of her real estate to her liberated slaves, dividing between them a dwelling house, ^{among other pieces of property}a house in the yard called "the tin shop", and "a house on the Main Street called Woods shop".

In the name of God, Amen, I Mary Stith of the City of Williamsburg being weak in body but in perfect sense and memory, do make and ordain this writing as and for my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all wills by me heretofore made. There being a sufficiency of my estate for payment of all just debts due from me, it is my desire that there be no appraisement of my property. It is my will and desire that all my just debts be paid. My estate which consists of my houses and lot in Williamsburg, and of two debts which are due to me, the one from Richard Randolph and the other from Robert Greenhow, I dispose of in manner and form following, to wit: All the coloured people in my family being born my slaves, but now liberated, I think it my duty not to leave them destitute nor leave them unrecompensed for past services rendered to me. As in the cause of humanity I can do but little for so many, and that little my conscience requires me to do, therefore I subject the whole of my estate to the payment of my just debts, and to the provision which I herein make for them. I give and bequeath my dwelling house and lot to Jenny the mother of the family, together with all the furniture as it now stands in the room below stairs, and one third part of all the other goods and chattels and wearing apparel as they stand in my dwelling at my decease, the whole there of to her and to her heirs and assigns forever. Moreover I give and bequeath unto said Jenny, out of the interest accruing upon the debts due to me, the sum of twenty pounds per year, until my executor shall pay to her the sum of one hundred pounds. I recommend to the said Jenny to take her two grand daughters Jenny Gillett and Patty Gillett under her protection in consideration of which I bequeath to her five pounds more per year for each of them during her lifetime. I give and bequeath to the said Jenny Gillett and Patty Gillett jointly, my house in the yard called the tin shop, together with the other two-thirds of my wearing apparel before mentioned to be divided between them as they shall agree with themselves, to them and their heirs and assigns forever. To the said Patty Gillett I give and bequeath my bed and bedding, together with my chairs, press and dressing table. I give to the said Jenny Gillett twenty-five pounds, and to the said Patty Gillett twenty five pounds, to be paid them by my executor when he can conveniently do so. I give to Peter Gillett the sum of ten pounds to help him in his trade. I give and bequeath to Nelly Bolling and her two sisters Eve and Sally, my house on the main street called Woods shop, with the use of the yard to be held by them in fee simple and by their heirs and assigns forever… It is my desire to be buried in the Southeast corner of my garden, and in a mahogany coffin without any ornaments thereon…In Witness whereof I the said Mary Stith have hereto set my hand and affixed my seal this 15th day of december 1813…(Stith, Mary - Anderson, Ro., Account Books, etc., 1808-1812. Virginia Historical Society. p. 44.)

During Mary Stith's lifetime she had the following repairs made to her property by Humphrey Harwood:

	Miss Mary Stith	Dr.
1785
July 28	To 16 bushels of lime a 1/	£ :16:
	To building a pair Steps 15/ & labours work 2/6	:17: 6
1783
Novemr 11	To a Grate & bars 27th ¾ at 9d (this was not posted for want of Mr Nelson's account)	1: 0: 9¾
	To 2 Bushels of lime 2/ & Seting up a Grate (in out House) 7/6	9: 6
	To 1 Days labour 2/6	2: 6
		£ 3: 6: 3¾

	Miss Mary Stith	Dr
1787
June 27th	To 1 bushel of White wash 1/	1:
	To White-washing 1 Room a passage- a porch & Closet at 4/6	13: 6
1788
Sept 25	To 6 bushels of lime 6/ & setting up 2 Grates 8/9	14: 9
	To labour 2/	2:
		£ 1:11:3

(Humphrey Harwood Ledger B - Page 82)

	Miss Mary Stith	Dr
1789
Seper 19th	To 8 bushels of lime at 9d 580 bricks at 2/9 & mending drain & sink 10/	1: 11: 11½
		£ 1:11:11½

(Humphrey Harwood Ledger C - Page 22)

After Mary Stith's death in 1813⁶, three former slaves, and their children were listed on the tax books as owning three parcels of property until the year 1842 when a fire destroyed all of their buildings. The fact that lot #17 on the town plan is marked Stith seems to indicate that the portion on Duke of Gloucester Street was so owned.

Lot #16

This lot was divided north and south and the name Lewis appears on the Francis Street division, the name Charlton in the Duke 8 of Gloucester Street area.

The only Charlton listed in the early tax books with less than a whole lot was Edward Charlton who appears charged with¼of a lot from 1791 to 1806. In that year a¼lot is charged to Philip Moody, and John Orell acquired via Lewis½a lot. [The rear portion on Francis Street].

During Edward Charlton's occupancy of the lot, he had the following repairs made by Humphrey Harwood, the mason:

	Mr Edward Charlton	Dr
1786
Sepr 29th	To 1 bushel of lime 1/. & 20 bricks 7d½	£ : 1: 7½
	To mending a Grate 2/6	2: 6

	Mr. Edward Charlton	Dr
1787
Decr 19th	To 4 bushels of lime 4/	4:
	To cutting out 2 Window Frames & working them in 15/	15:
	To 50 Bricks 1/6 & 2 days labour 5/	6: 6
1788
January 29th	To 8 bushels of lime at 1/. & 2 days labour at 2/6	13:
	To working in 2 Celler window frames 3/6 & repairg plasterg 3/9	7: 3
	To contracting Kitchen Chimney 10/. & labourers work 2/6	12: 6
February 16	To 2½ bushels of lime 2/6 labours work 1/6	4:
	To Repairing Steps & Celler Cap 3/9	3: 9
April 3	To 600 Larthes at 1/3 pr 20 bus lime 1½ do hare 3/. & 12 day labr 3/9	1:14:3
11	To 17 bus lime at 1/. 435 larthes at 1/3 &½bus hair 1/.	1: 3: 5
	To larthing & plastering 77 yds at 6d pr yard	1:18: 6
9
	To Repairing Step to kitchen, door, & Celler 2/6, & 2 days labr 5/	:7:6
April 23	To Whitewashing 1 Room, & passage at 4/6	:9:
Septemr 25	To 7 bushels of lime 7/ & lathg & plasterg door & mendg plasterg in passage 5/	:12:
	To 3 pecks of Hair 1/6 & layg front steps 5/.	: 6: 6
		£ 9:17: 2
	£9:17: 2
Carried to )	E. Excd pr
Ledg C. folio 14 )	W J C Exor

(Humphrey Harwood Ledger B - Page 94)

Dr	Mr Edward Charlton
1789
Augs 19	To amt brt from Ledger B. fol. 94	£ 9:17: 2
April 12	To cash in pt of yr acct£1.8	1: 8:
Augt 19	To 8 bushels of lime at 9d & 3/2 bricks 8/6	14: 6
	To mending & Brickwork of yr well & to labrs work 6/8	6: 8
	(B. delivered in)
1790
January 15	To rubbing Bricks & mending Brickwork of fire place, & lime	2:
June 1	To 1 peck of whitewash 4½d & whitewashing a passage, stairway, & one side of a Room up stairs 4/8	4:10½
Octor 19	To 1 bush: lime 9d & mending the Steps 1/6	2: 9:
Septr 8	To lime - mending fire place with rubb'd bricks & bricks 3/9	3: 9
	To whitewash 3d	3:
1791
Jan'y 16	To 2 bushels of lime at 9d & mending, lathing & plaistering 3/	4: 6
Sepr 11	To lime & mending grate &c 3/3¾	:3: 3¾
Decr 27	To Cash pd as pr Receipt	6:5: 8
10
1792
May 12	To 3 bush of lime at 9d - mending plastering 4/	6: 3
	To whitewash & whitewashing a Cieling 2/.	2:
Nov. 29	To Cash paid to bal: at	3:19:10
		25: 1: 0¼

(Humphrey Harwood Ledger C — Page 14)

In 1817 Henry P. Guthrie acquired one lot from Thomas Sands (this might have been the remaining¼lot on Duke of Gloucester) and in addition, a building described as "also the small house and lot 16 feet front, purchased by John Coke of Philip Moody adjoining thereto."

In 1828 Roscow Cole acquired a lot from Leonard Henley, trustee for H. P. Guthrie's estate. Cole still owned the lot in 1843 after the disastrous fire that destroyed virtually all of the buildings in that block in 1842. It is therefore probable that Mr. Charles, in his Recollections of Williamsburg, as it was just before the War Between the States, was describing the surviving Orlando Jones house:

The square bounded by Duke of Gloucester, Frances, Colonial and Botetourt Streets had, at the time of the Civil War began, and for many years anterior thereto, only three dwellings on it. At the Northwest corner of this square, where Mr. Dick Braithwaite now lives, there stood a long story and a half wooden building with doors opening right on the street. This house was low to the ground, on the West and of which was used as a residence, and in the other end there was once a store.

ORLANDO JONES HOUSE
Block 10 - Sites 15, 16 & 17
(Colonial lots # 16 & 17)
July 13, 1931

^{obsolete - 1931}

At an early date a large and fairly pretentious wooden house stood on one of these lots (#16 & 17) and included the other in its garden. This was owned and probably built by Orlando Jones who died in 1719. His inventory, recorded on Dec. 15, 1719 (#1158), indicated that the house had the following rooms:

Parlor, closet in the same room, Hall, closet, Porch (which had 1 table, 9 rush bottom chairs, 2 wood chairs, 1 large case of bottles and a sun dial), a passage, chamber over the hall, kitchen chamber, porch chamber, study, Kitchen.

Mary Jones, the widow of Orlando, sold the house and lots to John James Flournoy, a watchmaker, on January 16, 1719 (#370) for£100, a very large consideration at that period, "with all houses and buildings".

Locating the house on either one of the two lots is possible through the evidence in the deed (#421) from John James Flournoy to Joanna Archer, widow, on September 13, 1729 for£160 which conveys:

"All that messuage or dwelling house wherein the said John James Flournoy now dwelleth situate on the South side of the Street called Duke of Gloucester Street, also two lots of land on one of which the said messuage now stands, which lots are described in the plan of the said city by the figures 16 and 17."

It is impossible to determine on which lot the Jones house stood, as there are no further identifiable deeds to the property.

Joanna Archer, while she owned 16 and 17, lived on Colonial lot #48 and evidently leased the other property. In 1745 the executors of Joanna Archer described the outbuildings in the following advertisement from the Virginia Gazette: 2

May 16, 1745

"The Dwelling-house, Kitchen, Meat-house Stable, and other convenient Outhouses, also a Garden, with the 2 Lots they are upon, being Part of the Estate, of Mrs. Joanna Archer, deceas'd, and where Dr. Kenneth MacKensie now lives, in Duke of Gloucester Street, Williamsburg, are to be exposed to Sale to the highest Bidder, for ready Money…"

At the present time it is impossible to determine who purchased the house as the deed is not recorded in the York records by lot number, and the executors of Joanna Archer have not been determined.

On the Bucktrout map the lot is marked "Charleton", and it is possible that this was the building used for the celebrated "Charlton's Inn".

Richard Charlton owned lot #16 on January 18, 1814 when adjoining property was insured (Policy, page 6). There is no insurance policy for a building on lot #16.

There is a building shown on each lot on the Frenchman's map; and the one on #17 was insured by Nancy Camp on November 16, 1810 (Policy, page 14) and was described as:

"A dwelling house and unoccupied situated between Mary Stith and Leroy Anderson, built of wood and covered with wood. 44 by 20 feet. Two stories high. Porch [on the rear]. Wing to the dwelling house of wood entire, 20x30 feet - unoccupied - one story [on the East], the wing is only 4 ft. from Leroy Anderson's line. Smoke-house [on East line of lot]. Kitchen of wood entire 20x16 ft. one story [also on East lot line]."

Mr. Charles in his "Recollections of Williamsburg", gives the following description of the building on lot #l6 as it was just before the War Between the States: 3

"The square bounded by Duke of Gloucester, Frances, Colonial and Botetourt Streets had, at the time of the Civil War began, and for many years anterior thereto, only three dwellings on it. At the northwest corner of this square, where Mr. Dick Braithwaite now lives, there stood a long story and a half wooden building with doors opening right on the street. This house was low to the ground, on the West end of which was used as a residence, and in the other end there was once a store."

Excavation of the site is the only possible way of determining whether the Orlando Jones house built before 1719 stood on lot #16 or 17. Mr. Charles' description seems more applicable to a house of this period than the house described in the insurance policy in 1810, which means that from the data alone it could be presumed that the Jones house stood on the corner lot #16.

I am sending herewith the report which we have prepared on the Orlando Jones House (Colonial Lots #16 and #17).