George Washington Papers

From George Washington to William Price, 20 November 1799

To William Price

Mount Vernon 20th Novr 1799

Sir,

Your favour of the 15th instant, in answer to my letters of the 7th & 8th, addressed to the Surveyor General of the Land Office (wch proves the necessity there was for my plea of ignorance) came duly to hand; with the Land Office Treasury Warrant; for your obliging attention to which, I pray you to accept my thanks.1

Perceiving by your letter that Willm Shepherd has made a Survey, & returned it to your Office, similar in some respects to my proposed Entry; and believing that it must have been done unknowingly to those who have lands adjoining, and comprehends Land always reputed to be mine; and so understood by all the neighbourhood thereabts; I request the favour of you to furnish me with a copy of the Survey & Plat, that I may be enabled thereby to investigate the matter more fully. Until which, I must beg that this letter may be considered as a Caveat against a Grant thereof to Wm Shepherd.

If the rules & Proceedings in your Office require a more formal protest against such issue, I must rely on your goodness to advise me; for having had very little to do with the local Laws of the State since the Revolution, & not having those passed since that period by me, I may be mistaken in this, as in my former application.

Enclosed is a five dollar Bill; if it be insufficient to cover the Expence of the Land Warrant, Copy of Shepherd’s Survey, and the Protest against a Grant issuing thereon—you will please to advise.2

As another proof of my unacquaintedness in this business, my expectation was, that the Entry I proposed to make would have covered all the land within the described location; but the Warrant fixd it, I perceive, to 100 acres only. It may be more, or it may be less; and cannot be ascertained until the Survey is made. I should not like to be fixed to the above quantity, if the vacant land exceeds it. I am Sir—Your Most Obedient and Very Hble Servant

Go: Washington

ALS (letterpress copy), NN: Washington Papers.

1Price’s letter of 15 Nov. has not been found.

2For GW’s correspondence regarding unclaimed land adjoining his Difficult Run property, see GW to Price, 7 Nov., n.1.

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