To George Washington from John Page, 14 February 1774
From John Page
Febry 14th 1774
Dear Sir,
I have at last purchas’d Mr John Rootes’s Land for you. He this Day assign’d the Governors Warrant for it, to me, for your Use. I don’t chuse to inclose it, for fear my Letter may miscarry, and am in hopes it will suit your Purpose as well, to receive it at Fredericksburg, the first Day of April; when I expect to have the Pleasure of meeting with you there. No Money will be requir’d of you, ’til I see you, and you think the Land sufficiently secur’d.1 I am Sir, Your very Servt
John Page
ALS, DLC:GW.
John Page (1743–1808) of Rosewell in Gloucester County was a noted amateur astronomer and later served in the Virginia legislature and as governor of the state.
1. John Rootes’ service as captain in Col. William Byrd’s 2d Virginia Regiment in 1758 entitled him under the Proclamation of 1763 to 3,000 acres of land. In the late 1780s GW used the Rootes warrant of survey to have three tracts on the Little Miami surveyed and received grants for them in 1790. See GW to Thomas Lewis, 1 Feb. 1784, n.5, for details. Rootes’ conveyance of his warrant of survey, dated 14 Feb. 1774 and witnessed by John Page and Kemp Whiting, reads: “I assign all my Right & title to the Land mention’d in the within Warrant to Col. George Washington and desire the Survey may be made in the Name of him or his Assigns” (ViMtvL).