Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

NOTE

A later study of block 28 makes it impossible to definitely locate lots within that block on account of the absence of their numbers. As a result, the numbering of the lots in the footnote of this is incorrect.

LUDWELL TENEMENT - N0. 233 OR 234.^*
Blk 28, Bldg 5B
Farish, 1940

The first record found of the lot, on which later was a house used by Philip Ludwell as a tenement, was a grant of land from the trustees of the City of Williamsburg to William Robertson. The abstract of the deed reads:

November 11, 1714.

Trustees City of Williamsburg
to
Robertson, William
Consideration: 5 shillings.

Eight certain lots of ground in ye city of Williamsburg designed in ye plot of ye said city by these figures 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 207, 208, with all pastures, woods.

Shall within 24 months begin to build and finish one good dwelling house on each of said premises according to An Act entitled Building of Capitol and city of Williamsburg.

[York County Records, Book III - Bonds and Deeds, p. 28]

No mention was made of any house on these lots. As "pastures" and "woods" are mentioned, it may be assumed that at that early date the lots were still in something of a virgin state.

Evidently Robertson built a house and other structures on the lot in question or on the one east, although on which lot or whether on both lots cannot be established. A year after his purchase, he let the two lots go to Philip Ludwell: 2

December 19, 1715

Robertson, William
to
Ludwell, Phillip
Consideration: 30 shillings.

Two lots of ground in the city of Williamsburg, lying on the North side of Market Place, and denoted in the plan of the said city by the figures 233, 234. With all houses. [York County Records, Book III - Deeds and Bonds, p. 95]

What type of dwelling house was built on this lot, or what the name of any of the tenants in it were, cannot yet be established.

In the division of Philip Ludwell's estate among his three daughters, the tenement in question, it seems, fell to Lucy Ludwell Paradise. Among the "Houses and Lots in Williamsburg" that came into her possession, was "The Tenement adjoining the Speaker's & Red Lyon £125." [Lee Manuscript Papers, c. 1770, Vol. V, pp. 360-361.] Peyton Randolph was speaker from 1766-1775 and occupied the house to the west of the tenement in question. (See the report on the Randolph-Peachy house.) The reason for the inclusion of "Red Lyon" is not clear to the writer.

In 1773, William Lee advertised for sale the house which had come to his wife Hannah Ludwell in the division of the Ludwell property, describing it as "the large wooden house on the back street next door but one to Mr. Speaker's." [Virginia Gazette, Purdie & Dixon, Sept. 23, 1773]

This property of Lucy Ludwell Paradise's was confiscated during the American Revolution because her husband, John Paradise, was an Englishman living in the British Isles. The description of this tenement as one of the "three houses and lots" seized was as follows: "The second on the North side of the Market Square, adjoining the lots of Mrs. Betty Randolph [Peyton Randolph's widow] and the lot of William Lee, Esq., now in the possession of Mr. Harrison Randolph." [Returned into York County the 15th 3 day of November 1779. - Southall Papers, William and Mary.] Harrison Randolph was Betty Randolph's nephew. [Betty Randolph's Will, York County Records, Book 23, Wills, Inventories, p. 4.]

The wording of the sentence makes it ambiguous, so that the reader is uncertain as to which of the two lots mentioned Harrison Randolph occupied. Both the tenement in question and William Lee's wooden "Mansion" were for rent [Proof for rent of the mansion: Virginia Gazette, William Hunter, Ed. October 17, 1755; Lee Manuscript Papers, quoted above.]

On both the maps of the unknown draftsman and that of Bucktrout, this lot is marked "Paradise" and is located between Peachy on the west and Lee on the east.

I am sending herewith for your use the revised report on the Ludwell Tenement of which I spoke to you recently.