[Diary entry: 12 September 1771]

12. Agreed with one William Powell to look after my Mothers Quarter on Rappahannock, on the following Terms; to wit—to continue the five hands now on the Plantation, & either to add one more horse to those which are there (amounting to four) or put two good ones there, and take away two of the most indifferent. To allow him 365 lbs. of Porke, the Milk of a Cow, and the Seventh part of all the Corn, Tobo., and Wheat he can make—In consideration of which he is to stay constantly on the Plantn. with his People furnish himself with bed and other necessaries & to keep no Horse or other Creature [of his own] on the Plantation.

The William Powell whom GW is engaging here as overseer of the Little Falls Quarter may be William Powell (d. 1796), son of the Dumfries merchant William Powell (c.1700–1787). Young Powell later became a lieutenant in the Continental Army and settled in Amherst County (LUCAS description begins Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr. The Powell Families of Virginia and the South: Being an Encyclopedia of the Eight (8) major Powell Families of Virginia and the South in general. Vidalia, Ga., 1969. description ends , 319–20; BURGESS description begins Louis A. Burgess, ed. Virginia Soldiers of 1776. 3 vols. 1929. Reprint. Spartanburg, S.C., 1973. description ends , 3:1438–39).

GW must have chosen the option of putting two good horses at the quarter, because on 8 Nov. 1771, while at Eltham, he bought four horses costing a total of £30 “for Rappahannock,” two of them evidently to go to Little Falls and two to Ferry Farm (General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 345).

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: [Diary entry: 12 September 1771]
Author: Washington, George
Date: 12 September 1771

Reference

Cite as: “[Diary entry: 12 September 1771],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0001-0024-0003. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, 1 January 1771–5 November 1781, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978, pp. 59–60.]