Lists of Tenants, 18 September 1785
Lists of Tenants
[Mount Vernon, 18 September 1785]
List of Ballances due His Excelly—Genl Washington by his Tennants in Berkely County, to Date 25th Decr 1784—
| [Lot] Nos. | 18th Septr 1785 | ||
| 1 | Mr John Reiley1 | £ 30. | |
| 2 | Mr Moses Collett2 | 30. | |
| 3 | Mr Abram Swanger not Entd3 | ||
| 4 | Mr Joseph Kersins4 | 36. | |
| 5 | Mr William Bartless not Entd5 | ||
| ⟨6⟩ | Mr Anthony Gholston6 | 26. | |
| 7 | Mr Saml Scratchfield leas’d David Rankin Examine Scratchfield acct ⟨illegible⟩ 267 | 22. | |
| ⟨8⟩ | Mr Saml Bailley not Entd8 | ||
| ⟨9⟩ | Mr Francis Whiting Esqr.9 | 199. 8 | |
| List of Ballances due His Excelly Genl Washington by his Tennants in Fauquier & Loudon, to Date 25th Decr 1784 | |||
| Lott Nos. | June 18th 1785 | ||
| 1 | Mr Peter Romine10 | £ 44. | |
| 2 | Mr Jas Dinson11 | 78. | |
| 3 | Mr Michael Henry, Leas’d Israel Morris12 | 57. | |
| 4 | Mr Jas Ballinger13 | 52. | |
| 5 | Mr Thos Slater, Leas’d Francis Ballinger14 | 52. | |
| 6 | Mr David Keas, Held by Saml Taylor15 | 25. | |
| 7 | Mr John Oliphant, Leas’d to William Thomson & Bot of John Dyers16 | 16.⟨mutilated⟩ | |
| 8 | Mr Richd Watts, Leas’d to Geo. Russell17 | 2⟨7.mutilated⟩ | |
| 9 | Leas’d Mr Edwd Wisely but not Entd18 | ||
| 10 | Mr Lewis Lamart, His rect Inclosed19 | ||
| 11 & 12 | Mr Thos West, for One Halfe, Leas’d to William Wood |  |
17.⟨mutilated⟩ |
| 11 & 12 | Mr Jos. Milnor, for One Half, Leas’d William Wood, & by West to Do20 | |
54.⟨mutilated⟩ |
| 13 & 14 | Mr Ezekiel Phillips, Leas’d John Dyers21 | ||
| 16 | Mr Ezekiel Phillips, Leas’d Abram Morgan22 | 20. | |
| 15 | Mr William Donaldson23 | 28. | |
| 17 | Mr Jas Deermont, Leas’d to Thos Loyd24 | 31.17.7 | |
| 18 | Vacant, or not Leas’d25 | ||
| 19 | Mr Deel Clymans26 | 47.18.4 | |
| 20 | Leas’d Mr Isaac Milnor, but not Entd27 | ||
| 16 | Mr Abram Morgan, that Leas’d it of John Glascock, owes a Ball.28 | |
58.4 ⟨mutilated⟩ |
D, NjMoHP: Smith Collection. William Shaw, who began work as GW’s clerk, or secretary, in early August 1785, made the copies printed here of lists of tenants on GW’s land in Berkeley County and on his Ashby’s Bent tract in Fauquier and Loudoun counties. Shaw copied a third, undated list headed “List of People not Entered,” which gives the names of many of those in the two printed lists and also indicates the names of men who had rented lots from the original lessees (see notes below). A fourth, undated but roughly contemporaneous list of the lessees of the nine Berkeley lots and the twenty Fauquier-Loudoun lots is in GW’s hand and gives the acreage of each lot and the annual rent charged. At some point, after Battaile Muse as GW’s rental agent had supplied the information, Shaw wrote in the margin of GW’s list of tenants opposite the lot numbers the name or names of men who had rented that lot from its lessee; the fact that Shaw annotated it indicates that GW’s list was retained at Mount Vernon. Reference to Battaile Muse’s accounts as GW’s rental agent, 1785–90 (NjMoHP: Smith Collection), to miscellaneous memoranda in the Battaile Muse Papers (NcD), and to Muse’s correspondence with GW reveals that during the fall and winter of 1785–86 Muse discovered, and made known to GW, payments of rent by the lessees during the Revolution to Samuel Washington, Lund Washington, and Lewis Lemart which were not reflected in the amounts that Shaw set forth in the lists printed here as due. That Shaw heads the list of tenants in Berkeley County with the date 18 Sept. 1785, the date of GW’s letter to Muse in which GW says he is enclosing lists of his tenants with the amount of rent due from each, may be only coincidental and not indicate that it is in fact the list that GW enclosed, but there can be little doubt that Shaw copied the lists after his arrival at Mount Vernon in August 1785 and before the end of the year.
Battaile Muse at this time was the agent to collect the rent due on the lots, or tracts of land, that GW held in Frederick, Berkeley, Fauquier, and Loudoun counties, which GW had leased to tenants before the Revolution. Most of the nearly 2,000 acres that GW leased out in Berkeley County was land that he had acquired for himself as a surveyor in the early 1750s on Bullskin Creek and Evitts Run in what was then Frederick County (see George Washington’s Professional Surveys, 22 July 1749–25 October 1752, n.24). The twenty lots listed in Fauquier and Loudoun counties, as many as seven that were partly in Fauquier and partly in Loudoun and the rest in Fauquier, are the parcels that GW created in 1769 out of the 2,682–acre tract at Ashby’s Bent which he bought from George Carter’s estate in 1767 (see Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, and the source note which gives the location in the Fauquier County Deed Book, no. 3, of GW’s other leases). Not listed here are the tenants on the 560–acre tract on the Shenandoah River in Frederick County, which GW bought at George Mercer’s sale in November 1774, and those on the 600–acre Chattins Run tract in Fauquier County which GW acquired from Bryan Fairfax in 1772. For GW’s tenants on the Shenandoah tract, see GW to Muse, 28 July, n.1; for the tenants on the Chattins Run tract, see Muse to GW, 28 Nov. 1785.
There also were two other individual tracts of land in Berkeley County belonging to GW which are not listed here and for which Muse collected rents: the 700–acre Bullskin tract “Near the white House” leased in 1784 by John Ariss for £60 per annum and the tract of 225½ acres “above harewood” leased by Alexander Fryer for £6.15 per annum (Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, recapitulation of 1790; see also the entries in Muse’s other accounts, and Ariss to GW, 5 Aug. 1784, GW to Ariss, 8 Aug. 1784). For the four lots in Frederick County, see GW to Muse, 28 July 1785, n.1.
As the footnotes below indicate, most of the information about GW’s tenants and Muse’s dealings with them is contained in GW’s , Battaile Muse’s accounts as GW’s rental agent, 1785–90 (NjMoHP: Smith Collection), Muse’s Rental Rolls for GW, 1788–90 (ViMtvL), Robert Lewis’s copy, with notations, of Muse’s summary of rental accounts (ViMtvL), and the Battaile Muse Papers (NcD). Muse’s accounts as rental agent are simply a running record of receipts; but when turning over a copy of his accounts to George Augustine Washington in June 1790, Muse included a recapitulation of the tenancy situation for each lot, or tract, in Frederick, Berkeley, Fauquier, and Loudoun counties for which he had collected rent. In ViMtvL there is a copy, with additions, of Muse’s recapitulation and notations regarding suits against tenants and arrears in their payments, made by GW’s clerk Robert Lewis in 1791. Muse’s own summary of accounts is cited as recapitulation of 1790, and Lewis’s copy as recapitulation of 1791; neither document appears to be extant in its entirety. Muse’s Rental Rolls for GW, 1788–90 (ViMtvL) are also a running record of debits and credits, but this document arranges the information by lessee and lot number, as in the recapitulation, rather than merely chronologically, as is the case with the NjMoHP ledger.
Between 25 Nov. 1785 and 8 June 1790 Muse records collecting a total of more than £2,200, a good part of it, particularly that from the Fauquier and Loudoun tenants, secured by the order of the county court and through the agency of the county sheriff.
1. On 25 Dec. 1772 John Reiley (Riley) began renting GW’s lot no. 1 at the head of Bullskin Run in Berkeley County. The 200–acre tract at the time was leased to William Peterson, and the lease was transferred to Reiley at £6 per annum “for three lives, viz. his own, and his two Sons Jams & Alexander.” Reiley died soon after paying Battaile Muse £18 in back rent on 17 Feb. 1786. The place was taken over by his son George, who paid the annual rent regularly and was the tenant when Muse gave up his position of rent collector for GW in June 1790 (GW to Samuel Washington, 4 Feb. 1773, n.4, , 71, 281, Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 17 Feb., 6 April 1786, 6 April 1787, 5 April 1788, 2 June, 22 Oct. 1789, 5 May 1790, recapitulation of 1791).
2. In 1773 Moses Collett leased GW’s Bullskin lot no. 2, formerly leased to Jacob Fry and containing 200 acres, at an annual rate of £6 for “three lives.” After Collett’s death, John Steen in 1784 became the tenant. He paid Muse the annual rent regularly until Muse discontinued collecting in 1790 (GW to Samuel Washington, 4 Feb. 1773, n.4, , 72, 282, Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 6 April 1786, 6 Feb. 1787, 18 Mar. 1788, 9 Feb. 1789, 20 Feb. 1790). For GW’s dealings with Collett, see Dolphin Drew to GW, 13 Feb. 1784, nn.2 and 3, and Muse to GW, 15 Nov. 1785, n.3.
3. Lot no. 3 of GW’s Bullskin tract, 200 acres at £6 per annum, was leased to Abraham Swanger on 22 Mar. 1769 for his life and those of his wife and their son, all three of whom were still alive (see CD-ROM:GW for a transcription of the lease). Col. David Kennedy had at one time rented the lot, but John Dimmitt was now renting the place and still doing so as late as 1795 (, 199, 282; Lists of Rentals for 1795, ViMtvL; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 12, 29 Oct., 5 Nov. 1786, 10 Feb. 1787, 5 Feb. 1788, 14 Jan. 1789, 15 Jan. 1790, recapitulation of 1791; see also GW to Muse, 25 Feb. 1789).
4. On 25 Dec. 1772 Joseph Kerlin leased lot no. 4 “in the Barrens of Bullskin” on Bullskin Run for his life and the lives of his wife Philis and their son Peter. The lot contained 200 acres and rented for £6 per annum. While at his brother Charles’s house, Happy Retreat, in September 1784, GW received from Thomas Griggs (Grigg), John Augustine Washington’s overseer in Berkeley County, £24 for back rent, and Griggs at this time or later became the tenant on the lot (, 101, 199, 283; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 19 Mar. 1786, 5 Feb. 1787, 16 Jan. 1788, 23 Jan. 1789, 4 Jan. 1790, GW to Muse, 8 Mar. 1786). According to Muse’s own account with Kerlin, on 30 Sept. 1784, Kerlin was in arrears more than £12 (Battaile Muse Papers, NcD).
5. Before the Revolution lot no. 5 in GW’s Bullskin tract containing 125 acres was leased by William Bartlett for £6 per annum. Bartlett died during the Revolution, and the lease passed to his wife, Mary Bartlett. Mrs. Bartlett, who moved to Kentucky, made her final settlement in July 1786 through James Crane, sheriff of Berkeley County. John Bryant who was renting the place took over the lease (, 283; undated memorandum and transfer of lease, 5 July 1786, Muse Papers, NcD; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 22 Mar., 5 July 1786, 5 Feb. 1787, 16 Jan. 1788, 26 Jan. 1789, 1 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1791). See also Warner Washington to GW, 7 Mar. 1786, and Muse to GW, 11 July 1786.
6. Anthony Gholson took over the rent of GW’s Frederick (Berkeley) County lot no. 6 on Evitts Run at the “head of Worthington Marsh” in 1768 from GW’s lessee James Bernard. Gholson’s lease of the 113 acres at £4 per annum was for his lifetime and that of his wife Elizabeth and of their son William (Gholson’s lease, dated 22 Mar. 1769, is in CD-ROM:GW). Muse has an undated memorandum in his papers stating that Gholson paid the rent in 1775, 1776, and 1777 (see also GW to Muse, 16 Dec. 1787). As early as 1779 David Fulton was occupying the place and paying the rent; GW received payments from Fulton of £10 in September 1784 and £15 in April 1786. Fulton remained the tenant in good standing in 1790 (, folio 266, 305, , 199, 284; Muse Papers, NcD; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 10 April 1786, 17 Mar. 1789, 7 Jan. 1790, recapitulation of 1791).
7. David Rankin’s lease of lot no. 7 at the “head of Worthington’s Marsh” on Evitts Run in Frederick (Berkeley) County, 113 or 114 acres at £4 per annum, dated 22 Mar. 1769, is in CD-ROM:GW. Samuel Scratchfield became the tenant on the lot in 1772. He paid GW £6 in rent at Happy Retreat in September 1784, and he settled his account with Muse in 1786. At that time first James Kircheval (Kirchwell), and then his son Benjamin became tenants on Rankin’s leasehold. Benjamin Kircheval was the tenant in 1790 (Account with David Rankin, 17 July 1788, Muse Papers, NcD; , folio 306, , 32, 199, 284; Muse’s Rental Rolls for GW, 1788–90 [ViMtV], Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 27 April, 21 Sept., 3 Nov. 1786, 18 Feb. 1787, 17 Jan. 1788, 11 Feb. 1789, 7 Jan. 1790, recapitulation of 1791).
8. In December 1776 Samuel Bailey leased an unnumbered lot of 183 acres in Berkeley County, described in GW’s ledger as “adjoining Wormley.” Bailey agreed to pay £10 per annum, and the lease was to run through three lifetimes, his and those of his niece and nephew, Sarah and John Rust. Muse’s account with Bailey of 25 Dec. 1785 indicates that Bailey had settled his account, and on 11 July 1786 Muse wrote GW that the Hites were claiming the lot, which GW refuted (see particularly Thornton Washington to GW, 6 June 1786, and GW to Muse, 1 Aug. 1786). Thomas Truman Greenfield was living on the place and paying the rent by 1786. He remained the tenant in 1790 (Muse Papers, NcD; , 285; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 28 Jan., 3 July, 9 Oct. 1786, 18 Feb. 1787, 7 Oct. 1788, 9 Feb. 1789, 23 Jan. 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791).
9. For Francis Whiting’s lease of a 700–acre tract of land in Frederick (Berkeley) County for £50 per annum, see GW to Muse, 3 Nov. 1784, n.3. See also , 113, and Ariss’s lease, dated 20 April 1786 (ViMtvL).
10. Peter Romaine (Romine) leased GW’s lot no. 1 in Fauquier County, 120 acres at £4 per annum, in 1773 (, 74). Muse wrote GW on 28 Nov. that the lessees of lots 1 and 2 in Fauquier were “Worth nothing.” Peter Romaine ran away. Aaron Ruse then rented the land in 1786, but by March 1787 he also had run away. Thereafter William Smith became the “Tenant at Will,” but he “was Very Poore & not able to Pay.” John Harper “Took a Lease to rent” beginning in 1790 (, 287; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 1 Feb., 29 Mar. 1787, 26 Mar., 10 Oct. 1789, recapitulation of 1790).
11. GW opened an account on 25 Dec. 1772 with James Dinson with these words: “the Lott he Lives on—to be Leasd to him⟨,⟩ containg 140 Acres—being Lott No. 2 in Fauquier County—£6.” The last entry in the account shows £60 due for the years 1774 to 1784, which was “Settled by my Collector” on some unspecified date. Living on the lot at this time was a man “not worth anything,” named Michael Ruse, who soon ran away. Daniel Harrel began renting the lot as of 25 Dec. 1785 and remained on the land until as late as 1789, when he also “run away.” William Collins, who was renting lot no. 4, agreed to rent lot no. 2 as well; his first payment of rent on lot 2 was due 25 Dec. 1791 (, 73, 288; Muse to GW, 26 Nov., 28 Nov. 1785; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 1 Feb., 28 Nov. 1787, 20 Sept. 1788, 26 Mar., 5 April 1789, 27 Feb. 1790). In his recapitulation of 1790, Muse indicates that the lot would be leased to James McIntosh instead of to Collins, who was backing out.
12. On 17 Mar. 1769 GW leased his 120–acre lot no. 3 in Fauquier County to Israel Morris for £5 per annum, the lease to run for Morris’s lifetime and those of his wife Lettie and son John, all of whom at this time were living in North Carolina. Michael Henry was living on the land in 1772 and remained a tenant through 1784 when Henry Shover (Shoffer) took his place and for the rest of the decade remained behind in his payment of rent (, 101, 288; Muse’s Accounts as GW’s Rental Agent, 1 Mar., 22 May 1786, 2 Sept. 1787, 29 Feb., 25 Mar. 1788, 4, 27 May, 10 Oct. 1789, 27 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1790; Muse Papers, NcD, memoranda, 5 Feb., 28 Mar., 26 May 1789; see also Muse to GW, 4 Feb., 15 Oct., 7 Nov. 1787, 7 May 1788, and GW to Muse, 8 Nov. 1787, Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note).
13. James Ballinger (Ballenger) was leasing lot no. 4, 120 acres in Fauquier County in 1769. No record of rental payments for this lot before 1788 has been found. In February 1788 there was rent due from one Bates “who run away.” William Collins rented the place for £10 per annum in 1788 and 1789 and was offered a ten-year lease which he rejected. James McIntosh rented the lot in 1791 (Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; , 71, 289; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 29 Feb. 1788, 26 Mar., 4 May, 10 Oct. 1789, 16 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791).
14. GW’s lot no. 5 in Fauquier County was leased to Francis Ballinger in 1769 and was assigned to the tenant on the place, Thomas Slater, who was to pay the annual rent of £4 beginning on 25 Dec. 1772. The Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, is printed in , 8:171–77. Slater paid the rent for 1772, 1773, and 1774. GW’s account with Slater notes that he owed £40 in 1784, which was “Settled by my Collector,” no date. William Wood seems to have rented the tract for a while in the 1780s; but John McDonald, whom Muse called “a well disposed Man,” secured a lease to the place, on which he lived, to run for ten years from 25 Dec. 1787 (, 70; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 27 May 1789, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; Muse’s Rental Rolls for GW, 1788–90).
15. A notation on GW’s own list of tenants (see source note and Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note) indicates that David Keyes (Keas) by January 1779 had paid £18 rent on GW’s lot no. 6. The tract of 100 acres rented for £5 per annum. Muse sued and secured a judgment against Keyes in the Fauquier County court on 23 May 1786 for the rent he owed on lots nos. 6 and 7 (see note 16). Keyes on the same day paid £13.10 of what he owed on lot no. 6. He died later in 1786, but by the terms of the lease the lots passed to his sons Isaac and Jacob (John), who with their mother, Margaret Keyes, continued to rent the two lots. Lot 6, which was initially, in March 1769, leased to James Wood of Fauquier County (Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note), was rented after Keyes died by Nathan Cochran who had married the widow Keyes (, 290; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 23 May 1786, 29 May, 26 Nov. 1787, 25 Mar. 1788, 7 April, 10 Oct. 1789, 5 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; Muse to GW, 4 June, 26 Nov. 1786).
16. William Thompson’s lease for three lives of GW’s lot no. 7 in Fauquier County was for 115 acres at £4 per annum. John Dyer bought Thompson’s lease on 4 Mar. 1775 with the payment of £16, Thompson’s four years of unpaid rent. Dyer in turn sold the lease on 25 Dec. 1778 to John Oliphant. Before this date in 1785, Oliphant’s account had been settled by GW’s “Collector,” and David Keyes was renting lot no. 7. Lot 7 remained in the hands of Keyes’s widow and sons after his death in 1786. His son Isaac was living on the place in 1790 (, 37, 139, 290; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 22 Jan., 1 June, 26 Nov. 1787, 25 Mar. 1788, 7 April 1789, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; see also note 15 and , 3:161). Angle brackets and an em dash are used here and hereafter to indicate mutilated portions of the manuscript.
17. George Russell leased on 17 Mar. 1769 GW’s 106–acre lot no. 8, partly in Fauquier County and partly in Loudoun, for £4 per annum. The lease was for Russell’s life and those of his wife Ann and daughter Elizabeth, all of whom were alive at this time. Richard Watts was the tenant on the place from the beginning and continued to pay rent during the earlier part of the Revolution. GW’s memorandum (of 16 Sept. 1774) quoted in his letter to Muse of this date (18 Sept. 1785) indicates that Watts in 1774 sought to rent a lot in the Chattins Run tract. Abner Griggs (Grigg) had by 1785 been the tenant on lot no. 8 for some time, and after Muse sued and secured a judgment against him, Griggs on 11 April 1786 paid £31.17.10. Muse continued to have trouble with Griggs, and on 19 Feb. 1789 GW instructed Muse to cancel the lease. David Hague, who “went on the Lott in winter 1788 without consent,” was renting the place in 1790 (Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; , 67, 291; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 11 April 1786, 1 June, 28 Aug. 1787, 13 Oct. 1788, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; Muse’s Rental Rolls for GW, 1788–90; see also Muse to GW, 12, 17 Jan. 1786, and ibid., 2:77, 134).
18. GW’s lot no. 9, 130 acres of “Very Poore Land” in Fauquier and Loudoun counties, which earlier had been leased to Edward Wisely for £2.10 per annum, had not been “liveed on for many years if Ever” and remained unoccupied in 1790 (Muse to GW, 28 Nov. 1785; , 291; GW’s List of Tenants [source note]; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, recapitulation of 1790, 1791).
19. Lewis Lemart, who had acted as GW’s rental agent briefly until his death in the spring of 1785, was a tenant on the land in GW’s lot no. 10 which GW had leased to Robert Thompson on 17 Mar. 1769. The lease of the 150 acres in Fauquier and Loudoun counties at a rent of £7 a year was to run through the lives of Thompson, Daniel McPherson (son of Richard McPherson), and Alice Gibson (daughter of Josiah Gibson). Ann Lemart and her sons continued to rent the property after Lewis Lemart’s death. Mrs. Lemart was barely able to pay the current rent for the next three years, but she paid £11.7.6 on 29 Mar. 1787, and on 12 Oct. 1789 she paid £27.4 in arrears (, 68, 292; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 18 Jan. 1786, 29 Mar. 1787, 21, 25 Mar., 12 May 1788, 12 Oct. 1789, 6, 18 Feb., 10 May 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; see also Muse to GW, 18 Jan. 1786).
20. On 17 Mar. 1769 William Wood, Jr., obtained a lease on GW’s lots 11 and 12 in Fauquier and Loudoun counties. The lease of the two lots totaling 220 acres at a rent of £9 per annum was to run through Wood’s life, the life of his brother John and of William Young, the son of John and Margaret Young. Thomas West took possession of the two lots after Wood leased them to him and in 1771 released half the acreage to Joseph Milnor. Milnor paid a total of £24.11.9 in rent between 1774 and 1784 when he settled with GW’s “Collector.” Between 1784 and 1790 Samuel Oliphant, John Linley, Enoch Furr, James Jones, and Jesse Harris each lived on part of the land in these two lots and paid rent (, 67, 108, 292; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; Muse’s Accounts as GW’s Rental Agent, 1 Mar., 23 May, 13 June, 16 Oct. 1786, 13 May, 10 Sept., 8 Oct., 13 Nov. 1787, 29 Feb., 21 May, 11 Nov. 1788, 12 Oct. 1789, 5 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791).
21. Lots 13 and 14 in Fauquier and Loudoun counties contained a total of 227 acres. GW leased them to John Dyer on 17 Mar. 1769 for £10 per annum, to run through the lives of Dyer and his two sons. Dyer assigned one of the lots to Ezekiel Phillips in 1774, who on 24 Mar. 1778 paid £15 for “3 Year’s Rent.” Phillips is charged in GW’s ledger rent for this lot through 1785 and still owed part of it in 1786. On 25 Nov. 1785 Daniel Harris, who by 1783 was renting the other lot, paid £18 and on 1 Feb. 1786, £16.12. James Newland rented the lot where Phillips was living (, folio 328, , 37, 139, 293; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 25 Nov. 1785, 23 Jan., 1, 28 Feb. 1786, 14 May, 1 Nov. 1787, 12 May 1788, 7 Jan., 28 Mar., 12 Oct. 1789, 5 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1790, 1791; see Muse to GW, 28 Nov. 1785). Muse’s memorandum listing receipts before 28 Feb. 1786 for lots 13 and 14 from Phillips and Harris is in the Battaile Muse Papers, NcD.
22. On 17 Mar. 1769 John Glascock, Jr., secured from GW for his life and the lives of his wife Elizabeth and son Hezekiah a lease of lot no. 16, an 100—acre lot in Fauquier County, at a rental of £5 per annum. He transferred the lease on 25 Dec. 1772 to Abram Morgan, who paid GW £15 in back rent. In 1784 the tenancy was transferred to Ezekiel Phillips, but Robert McWhorter by this time (September 1785) was the tenant. Muse sued McWhorter for rent several times and in 1790 called him “very lazy” (, folio 328, , 37, 294; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 8 April 1786, 23 Mar., 29 May, 26 Nov. 1787, 26 May, 24 Nov. 1789, 24 May 1790, recapitulation of 1791). See also Muse to GW, 20 Feb. 1786. GW wrote Muse, 19 Feb. 1789, urging him to collect what McWhorter owed.
23. William Donaldson’s lease of 17 Mar. 1769 of lot no. 15 in Fauquier County, 100 acres at a rent of £4 per annum, ran for his life and the lives of his wife Mary and their son Andrew. Donaldson paid rent through 1783, but as late as March 1787 he owed the rent for 1786. Joseph Parker was now in 1785 the tenant living on the land and remained until late 1789 or early 1790 when he “run away and left a very poor Wife in great distress” (, folio 328, , 38, 293; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 8 April 1786, 29 Mar., 30 Aug., 26 Nov. 1787, 26 May 1788, 18 Oct., 24 Nov. 1789, recapitulation of 1791; account of William Donaldson’s lease, 25 Dec. 1770–29 Mar. 1787, Muse Papers, NcD).
24. Thomas Loyd’s lease of 17 Mar. 1769 of lot no. 17 in Fauquier County provided an annual payment of £5 for 100 acres beginning 25 Dec. 1772. (Muse’s records show rent due from 1771.) It was to run for the lives of Loyd, his wife Ann, and of Sarah Sheres, daughter of Thomas Sheres, all of whom were alive at this time. James Dermont (Deermont; Dearman), who was assigned Loyd’s lease in 1771, remained a tenant until his death in 1786 shortly after Muse had secured a court order for payment of back rent. William Dermont took over in 1786 and was renting the place in 1790 (Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note; , 69, 294; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 23 May 1786, 29 May, 26 Nov. 1787, 22 Sept. 1788, recapitulation of 1791; undated memoranda, Muse Papers, NcD). See also Muse to GW, 26 Nov. 1786.
25. Daniel McPherson and John Linley rented lot no. 18 in Fauquier County, 140 acres for £10, before Gerrard McDonald on 25 Dec. 1786 leased it from GW for ten years (, 295; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 9 Mar. 1787, 29 Feb. 1788, 28 Mar. 1789, 8 June 1790, recapitulation of 1791; see also Muse to GW, 18 Jan. 1786, and note 4 of that document, and 20 Feb. 1786). McDonald is identified as Israel McDonald in .
26. Deel Clyman (Clymer, Clymant) leased on 17 Mar. 1769 lot no. 19, 160 acres in Fauquier County, for an annual rent of £5, during his and his wife Mary’s lives and for the life of his son Philip (, 295; Lease to Francis Ballinger, 17 Mar. 1769, source note). Opposite Clyman’s name in GW’s list (see source note), there is the notation: “1779 Jany 18 £15.” Muse took frequent action to force payment from Clyman (, 295; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 8 April, 23 May 1786, 29 Mar., 26 Nov. 1787, 26 May, 22 Sept. 1788, 26 Mar., 26 May 1789, 6 Feb. 1790, recapitulation of 1791). For charges that Muse treated Clyman with undue harshness, see Muse to GW, 19 Nov. 1787.
27. On his list, GW indicates that lot no. 20 included 120 acres in Fauquier County and rented for £4 a year. In the “not Entered” list, there is this entry: “Mr Thos Harper, for Isaac Milnor’s Lott.” See source note. William Wood leased the lot for ten years on 25 Dec. 1787 for a yearly rental of £5 but had run away by 24 Nov. 1789. Muse negotiated a new lease with Job Ward for this “very poor Lott,” to run from 25 Dec. 1790. A man named John Raynals (Reynolds) rented the lot for the year 1786, and Joseph Milnor rented it the following year (, 296; Muse’s Accounts as Rental Agent, 6 Dec. 1787, 29 Feb. 1788, 24 Nov. 1789, recapitulation of 1791). Lewis wrote that Wood’s “Obligation of little Acct as he is worth nothing.”