Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

ARCHIBALD BLAIR HOUSE - NO. 95 (1940 Map Folder)
Block 29, Colonial Lot 171

^obsolete

Colonial Lot #171 was granted to Dr. Archibald Blair by the Trustees of the City of Williamsburg in 1716. In the same grant Blair also received lots #170, 172, and 173. Since a proviso was included in the grant that Blair must begin "to build on" this lot "within 24 months" "one or more good dwellings, it would appear that he erected a dwelling upon the lot some time within a period of two years, since there is no record of the lot having escheated to the city.

"July 15, 1716
Trustees City of Williamsburg
to
Blair, Archibald
Consideration: 3 Pounds.

Four certain lots of ground in the city of Williamsburg denoted in the plot of the said city by the figures 170, 171, 172 and 173. Shall begin to build within 24 months upon each lot one or more good dwellings according to an Act of Assembly of 1705." [York County Records, Book III -- Deeds & Bonds, pp. 126-127]

In 1724 Archibald Blair acquired an additional lot which was probably #174, since it was described as "adjoining to the garden of the said Archibald Blair."

"Randolph, John July 20, 1724
to
Blair, Archibald
Consideration: 30 Pounds.

All that messuage and lot or half acre of land situate, lying and being in the City of Williamsburg, adjoining to the garden of the said Archibald Blair, which the said John lately purchased of the Hon. Alexander Spotswood." [York County Records, Book III - Deeds & Bonds, p. 424]

Archibald Blair, who was a brother of Commissary James Blair, had graduated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh and had come to Virginia about 1690. [See Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. I, pp. 187-188]

2

It appears that sometime prior to February 20, 1735, Archibald Blair died, for on that day John Blair, as his executor, conveyed title to certain property to Dr. George Gilmer. [York County Records, Book V- Deeds pp. 153-154] Apparently lot #171 passed out of the possession of Archibald Blair's family sometime after his death, for in 1763 John Randolph and his wife, Ariana, sold to Peter Hay five lots which appear from later records to be lots 170, 171, 172, 173, and 174. Peter Hay later sold these five lots to Dr. George Gilmer, and in 1771 Hay^Gilmer sold them to John Blair.

"Gilmer, George - Dr. Physics
Lucy, His wife October 29, 1771
to
Blair, John
Consideration: 500 Pounds.

All those 5 Lots of land together with the dwelling houses. . . situate lying and being on the North side of Nicholson street in the said city and facing the Market Square, being the same which he the said George Gilmer purchased of the Executor of the late Doctor Peter Hay, and now occupied by his widow Mrs. Grizzle Hay .. and subject to her dower." [York County Records, Book VIII -Deeds, p. 214. See also Book VI - Deeds, p. 521.]

The Frenchman's Map of 1781 (or 1782 or 1786) indicates that a rectangular structure stood on what is apparently the site of the Archibald Blair House at that time. The Bucktrout Map of 1800 indicates that lot #171 and the adjoining lots #170, 173, and 174 were at that time in the possession of some person or persons named Henderson. A map of about the same period by as unknown draftsman (dated by Lyon G. Tyler as c. 1790 but probably of a later date) also shows these lots in the possession of a member or members of the Henderson family. Apparently the property had at that time come into the possession of the Reverend James Henderson who had married the daughter of John Blair, for in 1806/ and again in 1815 Henderson insured the buildings then standing on this and his several adjoining lots. [See insurance policy 619, insurance book, pp. 31 and 33]

3

The available materials relating to the history of the house during the remainder of the nineteenth century are incomplete. About the middle of the nineteenth century, the house was the home of Montague Thompson. An aged resident of the town, in speaking of this property as it was in 1861, said:

"The present home of Dr. Garrett, belonging at that time to Mr. Montague Thompson, was known as the Thompson house. At that time, the house did not have its present kitchen wing, but otherwise its appearance is almost unchanged." (Lee, Mrs. Victoria, Williamsburg in 1861, p. 853]

Mr. John S. Charles, another resident of Williamsburg, in his Recollections of Williamsburg, says:

"Thee premises now occupied by Dr. Garrett were almost identical in appearance to what they were at the beginning of the Civil War, except that there has been a modern addition to the rear of the dwelling, and the old ice house that was at the northeast corner of the lot has disappeared" (Charles, Recollections of Williamsburg, pp. 34-35]

ARCHIBALD BLAIR HOUSE

The first owner of the lots on one of which the present house stands was Archibald Blair who was granted four lots by the trustees of the city in 1716. An early act of the General Assembly had provided that every purchaser of lots must build on each lot within two years, else the lots would revert to the city. For this reason, historians are certain that Blair built some type of house here before 1718. Blair bought a messuage with a lot adjoining his garden in 1724. His storehouse on Duke of Gloucester Street is referred to in the York County Records from 1719 through 1729. He died before 1735.

The Frenchman's Map of c. 1782 shows a house of a rectangular floor plan here. Since such a floor plan has been used in the present house, that map and certain architectural features lead to the belief that this house was built before 1782.

The most definite information on the house is found in the drawing attached to an insurance policy of 1806. Its owner, James Henderson, insured the house and kitchen for $3230. In the drawing, the dwelling was shown as a two-story wooden house, 46 feet by 30 feet with an attached two-story wing 8 feet by 12 feet. There were four detached outhouses between the dwelling and Scotland Street. They were dairy, smoke-house, kitchen and poultry-house.