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LOT #42021 |
Current Bid: $30,000
George Washington Rare Autograph Document Signed...
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Description
19-Year-Old George Washington's Handwritten Land Survey for His First Employer Lord Thomas Fairfax: A Defining Relationship That Shaped His Rise to Power
George Washington Rare Autograph Document Signed ("G
Washington"). Two pages of a bifolium (unfolded; silked on the
verso), 12 1/8 x 7 3/8 inches; [near Winchester, Virginia]; April
18, 1751 [O. S.].A very scarce frontier land survey handwritten and signed by a nineteen-year-old George Washington for John Thomas in Lord Fairfax's Northern Neck Proprietary. He writes, in full:
"Pursuant to a Warrant from the Proprietors Office to be directed I have survey'd for John Thomas a certain tract of waste and ungranted land situate on the No. River of Cacapehon
and bounded as followeth-
Beginning at a hic[kor]y red oak and white walnut Ct. to Wm Horner and extended with his line N.o 55 W. 260 ps to his e.t Three hund.d and twenty poles [...]ing a m.t to a large white oak on the N.o side thence N.o 85° & Two hund.d poles to a pine in a hollow thence S.o 55° & xing ye River Three hund.d and twenty poles to two poplars and a white oak on the side of a M.t thence S.o 85° W. Two hund.d poles to the Beg: Cong. Four hund.d acres this 18th of April 1751
by G Washington."
With integral autograph plat on the facing page, showing the boundaries of Thomas' proposed land, drawn in Washington's neat and precise hand. Numbered "25" on the verso with docket: "John Thomas's Plat for 400 Acres /P.d / John Thomas's Deed drawn." Thomas received his grant on April 5, 1753.
Washington began studying geometry and surveying as a teenager, preparing his first practice surveys at just sixteen years old. In 1748, he accompanied George William Fairfax and James Genn on an expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains to survey land for Lord Thomas Fairfax, beginning his lifelong relationship with the powerful Fairfax family. Although the actual surveys were performed by the more experienced members of the expedition party, the trip convinced Washington to pursue surveying as a profession.
With this experience under his belt, he secured appointment as county surveyor for the newly formed Culpeper County in July 1749, serving there until November 1750 before continuing work in the Northern Neck with the Fairfax family's permission. It was during this period that he completed the present survey. In colonial Virginia, surveyors occupied a uniquely prominent position in society. Among the best educated in the population, their command of mathematics, intimate knowledge of the landscape, and close associations with powerful landowners afforded them considerable economic, social, and political influence. That a young Washington chose this demanding and ambitious profession comes as little surprise, given the steady ascent that would characterize his life thereafter.
Early Washington surveys offer a rare window into the formative years of the future commander-in-chief and president. According to the Library of Congress, of the 199 surveys Washington completed, fewer than seventy-five are extant today.
This survey is recorded in The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 1 (W. W. Abbot, ed.), Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983, pp. 8-37.
Condition: In overall very fine condition with strong ink contrast in neat, legible script on evenly toned paper commensurate with 18th century age on the interior. The verso silked and with standard flattened folds and a few minor separations at fold intersections, scattered stains, chips, and ink erosion inherent of the nature of the materials used at the time and not affecting content.
Auction Info
2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction #6331 (go to Auction Home page)
Proxy Bidding Ends
June
19th
Friday
10:50 am CT
Auction Dates
June
19th
Friday
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Heritage Auctions - Dallas
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, TX 75261
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