Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

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       CHAPTER III.

       Fredericksburg Incorporated by Law — Col. Byrd Walks About Town — Church Erected — Patrick Henry Rector — Augustine Washington a Trustee — Fairs Inaugurated — Limits of the Town Extended, &c.

      Although the site upon which Fredericksburg now stands was settled by white men, possibly in 1622, in the location of plantations by the London Company referred to by Capt. John Smith, and certainly in 1681 by the construction of Major Lawrence Smith's fort, yet the town was not incorporated for many years thereafter. That it was a trading station and a place of importance before its incorporation is admitted in the act of incorporation itself, besides earlier writers refer to it as such. If the inquiry should be made as to why the town was not incorporated earlier if it was a place of importance, it might be answered with the fact that prior to that time the authorities did not seem to think it was necessary, as neither Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk nor Alexandria was incorporated for several years after Fredericksburg had a legal existence. Fredericksburg was founded by law in 1727 and named for Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George the Second, by which act the people of the town showed their attachment to the royal family of England. But this was not all; they emphasized that attachment by calling nearly every street in the original survey of the town after some member of the royal family or of some country to which English royality was closely allied. Sophia street was named for the sister of George II; Caroline for his wife; Princess Anne for one of his daughters, and Prince Edward for his grandson. The cross streets were named, Princess Elizabeth for a daughter of George II; Frederick for his oldest son; William for his second son, and Amelia for a daughter. George was named for the King himself; Charlotte for the wife of George III; Hanover for the House of Hanover, and Prussia for the country of Prussia. This includes every street in the original survey except Charles and Wolfe. We do not know for whom these two streets were named; and we think the evidence is very clear that they were not laid out as streets at the time of the original survey.

      The act of the House of Burgesses, establishing Fredericksburg, in which are preserved as near as possible the form, orthography, punctuation and capitalization, is as follows:--

      I. WHEREAS great Numbers of People have of late seated themselves and their Families upon and near the River Rappahannock, and the Branches thereof above the Falls, and great Quantities of Tobacco and other Commodities are every Year brought down to the upper Landings upon the said River to be shipped off and transported to other Parts of the Country and it is necessary that the poorer Part of the said Inhabitants should be supplied from thence with Goods and Merchandise in return for their Commodities, but for Want of some convenient Place, where Traders may cohabit and bring their Goods to, such Supplies are not to be had without great Disadvantages, and good Houses are greatly wanted on some navigable Part of said River, near the Falls for the Reception of safe keeping of such Commodities as are brought thither and for the Entertainment and Sustenance of those who repair thither from remote Places with Carriages drawn by Horses and Oxen; and forasmuch as the Inhabitants of the County of Spotsylvania have made humble Supplication to the General Assembly that a Town may be laid out in some convenient Place near the Falls of said River, for the cohabitation of such as are minded to reside there for the purposes aforesaid, whereby the peopling of that remote Part of the county will be encouraged, and Trade and Navigation may be increased:

      II. BE it enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the Authority of the same, that within six Months after the passing of this Act fifty Acres of Land, Parcel of a Tract of Land belonging to John Royston and Robert Buckner, of the County of Gloucester, situate, lying and being upon the South Side of the River Rappahannock aforesaid in the County of Spotsylvania commonly called or known by the Name of the Lease Land, shall be surveyed and laid out, taking the whole Breadth of the Tract of Land upon the River, by the Surveyor of the said County of Spotsylvania; and the said fifty Acres of Land, so to be surveyed and laid out, shall be and is hereby vested in John Robinson, Esq; Henry Willis, Augustin Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverley, John Waller, and Jeremiah Clowder, of the County of Spotsylvania, Gentlemen, and their Successors, in Trust, for the several purposes hereafter mentioned; and the said John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustin Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverley, John Waller and Jeremiah Clowder, are hereby constituted and appointed Directors and Trustees for designing, building, carrying on, and maintaining, a Town upon the said Land: And the said Directors and Trustees, or any four of them, shall have power to meet as often as they shall think necessary, and shall lay out the said fifty Acres in Lots and Streets, not exceeding Half an Acre of Ground in each Lot, and also to set apart such Portions of said Land for a Church and Church-Yard, a Market Place, and publick Key, and to appoint such Places upon the River for publick Landings, as they shall think most convenient, and, if the same shall be necessary, shall direct the making and erecting of Wharfs and Cranes at such publick Landings, for the publick Use. And when the said Town shall be so laid out the said Directors and Trustees shall have full Power and Authority to sell all the said Lots by publick Sale or Auction, from Time to Time, to the highest Bidder, so as no Person shall have more than Two Lots; and when such Lots shall be sold, any two of the said Trustees shall and may, upon Payment of the Purchase Money, by some sufficient Conveyance or Conveyances, Convey the Fee Simple, Estate of such Lot or Lots to the Purchaser or Purchasers: And he or they, or his or their Heirs and Assigns, respectively, shall and may for ever thereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold, possess, and enjoy, the same, freed and discharged of and from all Right, Title, Estate, Claim, Interest, and Demand whatsoever of the said John Royster and Robert Buckner and the Heirs and Assigns of them respectively, and of all Persons whatsoever claiming by, from, or under them or either of them.

      III. PROVIDED nevertheless, that the said Directors and Trustees shall pay, or cause to be paid, unto the said John Royston and Robert Buckner, out of the Money to be raised by the Sale of the said Lots, as soon as the same shall be by them received, after the Rate of forty Shillings for every Acre of the said fifty Acres of Land, according to the Right which the said John Royston and Robert Buckner now respectively have to the same; and the said John Royston and Robert Buckner shall also have each of them two Lots, which shall be assigned to them by the said Directors and Trustees, and they shall respectively remain seized of such Lots of the same Estate whereof they were СКАЧАТЬ