![WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph document signed ("G. Washington") A LAND SURVEY WITH AN ELABORATE PLAT DRAWING, recording four frontier tracts owned by Major Lawrence Washington, his half-brother. [Virginia], 1 December 1767.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/NYR/2018_NYR_16392_0171_003(washington_george_autograph_document_signed_a_land_survey_with_an_elab020621).jpg?w=1)
![WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph document signed ("G. Washington") A LAND SURVEY WITH AN ELABORATE PLAT DRAWING, recording four frontier tracts owned by Major Lawrence Washington, his half-brother. [Virginia], 1 December 1767.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/NYR/2018_NYR_16392_0171_001(washington_george_autograph_document_signed_a_land_survey_with_an_elab020621).jpg?w=1)
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WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph document signed ("G. Washington") A LAND SURVEY WITH AN ELABORATE PLAT DRAWING, recording four frontier tracts owned by Major Lawrence Washington, his half-brother. [Virginia], 1 December 1767.
Two pages, folio (329 x 204mm), integral blank with endorsement (by Corbin Washington?): "An Including survey of all the Lands left me in Frederick [County. Virginia], by my brother Lawrence Washington, done by George Washington Esqr...." Professionally strengthened along two folds, but otherwise in excellent condition, the ink strong and clear.
An elaborate survey by Washington of several adjoining parcels of land owned by his half-brother, Lawrence Washington (c. 1718-1752), who named George the residual heir to the Mount Vernon plantation and lands. As a young man, Washington had inherited his father's surveying instruments and honed his skills by assisting a local surveyor who laid out the town of Alexandria. On 20 January 1747, after swearing allegiance to the King, he was granted a commission from William & Mary College as Culpepper County Surveyor. In that capacity, over the next several years, he prepared a number of surveys of wilderness land on Virginia's western frontiers. Surveys were usually paid for in tobacco, and as Freeman relates, "surveying not only had interest and yielded a profit but it also offered excellent training. A good Surveyor had to be accurate and thorough: as George wanted to excel in surveying and in everything else he undertook, he painstakingly gave neatness and finish to surveys he made with the fullest care he knew how to display" (Freeman, George Washington, 1:198). Washington's knowledge of surveying would be useful throughout his life, especially as part of his 45-year effort to expand his Mount Vernon estate.
The care and precision of the future President's surveys is evident in this fine example. The top half of the first page consists of a detailed plat drawing by Washington (7½ x 8 in), with a four-letter key -- "A", "B", "C", "D" -- to distinguish the four separate tracts surveyed jointly. Specific landmarks are labeled (in clockwise order) as small "a" to "v". The plat drawing is framed in thick and thin ink rules, and a marsh and the course of an old "waggon road" (quite possibly an Indian path) are very carefully rendered. The four tracts are surprisingly irregular, particularly the narrow zig-zag tract labeled "C." Beneath, as required by law, Washington carefully notes the landmarks (usually large trees) which define the boundaries of the tracts in question: "The Including survey of the above four Tracts or parcels is made to begin at (A) a large White Oak near the Marsh Corner of [L.] Washington's old patent, Pitts patent, and the Lands of Mr. Robert Johnson...." Adjoining tracts are carefully identified by their owners: Worthington, Stephenson, McKay and Hite. He labels the four tracts belonging to Lawrence Washington and carefully tallies their acreage totaling 1,676 acres.
[With:] Eight bills charged to the Executors of George Washington's estate, 1818-1825, in connection with legal actions on behalf of the estate. Together 8 pages, oblong slips.
Two pages, folio (329 x 204mm), integral blank with endorsement (by Corbin Washington?): "An Including survey of all the Lands left me in Frederick [County. Virginia], by my brother Lawrence Washington, done by George Washington Esqr...." Professionally strengthened along two folds, but otherwise in excellent condition, the ink strong and clear.
An elaborate survey by Washington of several adjoining parcels of land owned by his half-brother, Lawrence Washington (c. 1718-1752), who named George the residual heir to the Mount Vernon plantation and lands. As a young man, Washington had inherited his father's surveying instruments and honed his skills by assisting a local surveyor who laid out the town of Alexandria. On 20 January 1747, after swearing allegiance to the King, he was granted a commission from William & Mary College as Culpepper County Surveyor. In that capacity, over the next several years, he prepared a number of surveys of wilderness land on Virginia's western frontiers. Surveys were usually paid for in tobacco, and as Freeman relates, "surveying not only had interest and yielded a profit but it also offered excellent training. A good Surveyor had to be accurate and thorough: as George wanted to excel in surveying and in everything else he undertook, he painstakingly gave neatness and finish to surveys he made with the fullest care he knew how to display" (Freeman, George Washington, 1:198). Washington's knowledge of surveying would be useful throughout his life, especially as part of his 45-year effort to expand his Mount Vernon estate.
The care and precision of the future President's surveys is evident in this fine example. The top half of the first page consists of a detailed plat drawing by Washington (7½ x 8 in), with a four-letter key -- "A", "B", "C", "D" -- to distinguish the four separate tracts surveyed jointly. Specific landmarks are labeled (in clockwise order) as small "a" to "v". The plat drawing is framed in thick and thin ink rules, and a marsh and the course of an old "waggon road" (quite possibly an Indian path) are very carefully rendered. The four tracts are surprisingly irregular, particularly the narrow zig-zag tract labeled "C." Beneath, as required by law, Washington carefully notes the landmarks (usually large trees) which define the boundaries of the tracts in question: "The Including survey of the above four Tracts or parcels is made to begin at (A) a large White Oak near the Marsh Corner of [L.] Washington's old patent, Pitts patent, and the Lands of Mr. Robert Johnson...." Adjoining tracts are carefully identified by their owners: Worthington, Stephenson, McKay and Hite. He labels the four tracts belonging to Lawrence Washington and carefully tallies their acreage totaling 1,676 acres.
[With:] Eight bills charged to the Executors of George Washington's estate, 1818-1825, in connection with legal actions on behalf of the estate. Together 8 pages, oblong slips.