To George Washington from Elkanah Talley, 16 January 1797
From Elkanah Talley
Gloucester County Ware Glebe [Va.]1
Jany 16th 1797.
Honorable Sir,
Altho’ I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with you; yet I presume you will pardon my taking the liberty of addressing you on a subject which relates to some of your property in this Neighbourhood. The property alluded to is the Land you had of Mr Dandridge, which was formerly a part of Bristo’s confiscated estate.2 Within these 2 years, repeated trespasses have been committed on sd Land: not only firewood, & fencing stuff, but a Large quantity of other valuable Timbers have been taken from off it. Those depredations are still going on, and unless they are checked, it is probable there will be but little good Timber on the 400 Acres in a few years.3 As the Seat on which I reside adjoins your Lands, and as its boundaries are to me well known, it is probable I could put a stop to those depredations, was I authorized to do so. Any service I can render you on this Score, with a strict adherance to any instructions you may think proper to give, will be chearfully executed. Exclusive of a desire to do justice for an absent Fellow-Citizen; I feel myself somewhat interested to save the Timber on your Lands. Had it not been for an adverse dispensation of Providence, & several disappointments I have recently experienced, I should perhaps by this time have owned those Lands. And should it be in my power to purchase them of you hereafter, a scarcity of timber would be a great dis-advantage.4 In case you should want any information relative to my character, &c.—I beg leave to refer you to Mr Page, Mr New, or Mr Clopton members of Congress.5 With every sentiment of respect, I am your most obedient humble Servant
Elkanah Talley
ALS, DLC:GW.
Elkanah Talley served as Episcopal rector of Littleton Parish, Cumberland County, Va., in the early 1790s. Around 1795, he succeeded James Maury Fontaine as minister in Ware Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia. Talley represented Ware Parish at the annual convention of the Virginia Protestant Episcopal Church in 1796, and remained in that parish until 1798, when he took up the rectorship of St. Paul’s Parish in Hanover County, Virginia. Talley allegedly later became a Universalist and died an alcoholic.
1. Talley was writing from property on the glebe lands of the Episcopal Church in Ware Parish. In May 1797, Talley had a survey made of the Ware Glebe, which “containeth 352 acres on Ware river, 217 poles on the river back to a spring on Back Creek, 320 poles” (, 82). The Ware Parish lands were first established at the east side of Beach Branch of the Ware River.
2. Talley refers to the approximately 400-acre tract on Back River, a branch of the North River, in Gloucester County, which GW had acquired in 1789 from John Dandridge in partial payment of a debt. The land formerly had belonged to Robert Bristow (1643-c.1707) and to his heirs of the same name. The land adjoining GW’s tract previously was owned by Rev. James Maury Fontaine. Talley now resided there (see John Dandridge to GW, 27 Oct. 1788; see also GW to George Ball, 6 March 1797, n.1, in 1:7–9).
3. Interested purchasers of GW’s Gloucester County tract also had noted depredations to the property and the resulting dearth of timber. One commented that the tract was “Distuate of Houses fenceses & all in Wildderness,” while another noted that “damage commited by intruders” had caused a scarcity of timber (Joshua Gayle to GW, 8 Dec. 1793; George Fitzhugh to GW, 20 May 1796).
4. GW sold his Gloucester County tract to George Ball in April 1797 (see GW to Ball, 6 March 1797, in 1:7–9).
5. No reply to Talley from GW has been found. If GW corresponded on this matter with Virginia congressmen John Page, Anthony New, or John Clopton, those letters have not been found.
John Clopton (1756–1816) graduated from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1776 and was later admitted to the bar. He served as an officer during the Revolutionary War, and from 1789 to 1791, he represented New Kent County in the Virginia House of Delegates. Clopton was elected to Congress in 1795, and except for a brief period, he remained in office until his death.