Person:Thomas Chester (13)

Early Land Acquisition in Orange County, VA

Acquisition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records:

• Pages 455-58 [454 blank]. 23-24 March 1736 [1737]. Joast Hyte of St. Mark's Parish, Orange County, farmer, to Thomas Chester of same, farmer. Lease and release; for £5. 100 acres on the north side of the North river of Shenendore, part of a patent granted to Joast Hyte for 280 acres 3 Oct. 1734... by the river side... (signed) Jost Hite. Wit: John Smith, Jacob Funcks. 24 March 1736 [1737]. Acknowledged by Just Hite, Gent. On motion of Wm. Waller, Gent., admitted to record. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 1, Dorman, pg. 31].

• Pages 478-81 [477 blank]. 25-26 April 1737. Willm. Russell of St. Mark's Parish, Orange County, Gent., to Thomas Chester of same, farmer. Lease and release; for £147 current money. 5,000 acres... mouth of Indian Cabbin Run... an island in Passage Run... valley by the north river of Shenendore... fork made by the north and south river.. part of two patents granted William Russell 17 Dec. 1735, one containing 3,650 acres, the other 4,550 acres. (signed) W. Russell. Wit: Jacob Funcks, Christian Bouman, Joseph White. 28 April 1737. Acknowledged by William Russell, Gent. On motion of William Waller, Gent., admitted to record. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 1, Dorman, pg. 32].

Disposition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records:

• Pages 370-73. 19-20 Nov. 1739. Thomas Chester of Orange County to John Funk of same. Lease and release; for £100 current money. 500 acres in St. Mark's Parish on the south bank of the said north forke of Shanandoe... south bank of the said north branch... east side of Passage Run. (signed) Thomas Chester. Wit: Robert MacKay Junr., Thomas Branson Junr., John Branson. 22 ober [Nov.] 1739. Acknowledged by Thomas Chester. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 3, Dorman, pg. 24].

• Pages 166-69. 26-27 March 1740. Thomas Chester of Orange County, yeoman, to John Willcocks of Prince William County, carpenter. Lease and release; for £32 current money. 286 acres in the Great Fork of Shannadoe upon the north branch thereof... upper corner of the land of Wm. Russell Esqr. ... to the river at the mouth of a stony run... part of 4,950 acres granted to Wm. Russell Esq. by patent 17 Dec. 1735 who conveyed the same to Thos. Chester. (signed) Thomas Chester. Wit: Geo. Hobson, Zach. Butcher. 27 Aug. 1741. Acknowledged by Thomas Chester. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 6, Dorman, pg. 28].

• Pages 171-176 [170 blank]. 15-16 July 1741. Thomas Chester of Orange County, yeoman, to William Cloud of New Castle County in the Territories of Pennsylvania, yeoman. Lease and release; for £36. 1,070 acres in St. Mark's Parish... on the south branch of Shannendore River... corner of William Russell's land... corner of Thomas Chester's land... part of 3,650 acres granted to William Russell Esq. by pattent 17 Dec. 1735 who conveyed unto Thomas Chester. (signed) Thomas Chester. Wit: Martin Cartmell, John Willcocks. 27 Aug. 1741. Acknowledged by Thomas Chester. Received Mr. Thomas Chester's deeds to Wm. Cloud by Cloud's order 17 Nov. 1748. (signed) Charles Buck. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 6, Dorman, pg. 28].

Acquisition of Land in Frederick County, VA

Greenway Court Manor - Lot 1. & 1-A. Lot 1-A was sold to Thomas Chester by Robert McKay, Jr. and by Chester's executors to Lord Fairfax. At the time of this sale Robert Ha'penny and Richard Foley were living there. In the sale of Greenway Court Manor it was sold with Lot 1 to William Hand, "where he lives". This is the site of the Front Royal Recreation Park and golf course. William Hand likely came from the Hand family who came up the Rappahannock River and owned land in Chester Gap, among the earliest recorded deeds. Hands Ferry, one of the last to be discontinued, was operated from this land. (Source: The Fairfax Proprietary by Josiah Look Dickinson, Chapter Eight - Greenway Court Manor)

Records in Orange County, VA

• Petition of Tho. Chester and Jacob Funk, living on the west side of the blew mountains with no road to trade to Virginia, for a road from the fork of Shenondoe to the upper end of the road by Col. Beverley's quarter. [Orange County Virginia Judgements, 1735, Dorman, pg. 72].

About Thomas Chester

In the early 1730's, Thomas Chester, a settler from Pennsylvania, came to the forks of the Shenandoah River with his wife and established the first official business, a ferry service (opened in 1734) known as "Chester's Ferry" at the juncture of the forks of the Shenandoah River "at the mouth of 'Happy Creek'", in early Frederick County, but what is now Warren County, Virginia. (Source: Mosby Heritage Area Association website: http://www.mosbyheritagearea.org/EnewsApr09.html) At the south landing of the ferry, Captain Thomas Chester and his wife Sarah operated an "ordinary" which was just an inn, where passersby could spend the night during their journeys.

Thomas Chester purchased his land from William Russell (who had the original land patented to him) in April, 1737, which was described as being "between the South and Nork Folks

Chester was one of the original founding fathers of Royal Front, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, which was incorporated in 1788. The original property owners were George Chick, William Cunningham, Robert Haines, Peter Halley, William Miller, James Moore, William Morris, John Smith, Henry Trout, Solomon Vanmeter, Allen Wiley and Original Wroe. The first trustees – the predecessor to town council – were Thomas Allen, Thomas Buck, Thomas Hand, William Headley, John Hickman, William Jennings and Robert Russell. (Source: Front Royal and its Founding Fathers, by Patrick Farris: http://shenandoah.com/stories/?id=4346)

"Chester Gap", a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Mt. Marshall, which is located in the Northernmost corner of Rappahannock County, was named after Thomas Chester.

Thomas Chester is listed in the Augusta County, Virginia "Fee Books" in 1745 as Thomas Chester, Sheriff of Frederick (County). (Source: Chalkley's, Vol. 2, pg. 395)

Information on Thomas Chester

From "Cartmill's Clearing House": http://home.att.net/~earliene/famtrees.htm

DESCENDANTS OF NATHANIEL CARTMELL b. abt. 1664 Contributed by Vickie Bruce Gorby

Thomas Chester d. 1759 Frederick Co. Va.

Sarah Cartmell d. aft 1759

Children:

1. Thomas Chester, md Rachel ??

2. David Chester md Anna ??

3. Mary Chester b. 1720 Va., md 1749 to James McKay

4. Susannah Chester md Herrald ??

5. Elizabeth Chester md Benjamin Smith

Hopewell Friends History, 1734-1934, Frederick County, Virginia By John Walter Wayland, pg. 187:

Captain Thomas Chester lived in the gap of the Blue Ridge (Mountains) that bears his name.

1.   O'Dell, Cecil. Pioneers of old Frederick County, Virginia. (Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Pub. Co., c1995)
   pg. 363.

   Thomas Chester (b. 1695c) and his wife Sarah (Nathaniel b. 1660c, and Dorothy Cartmill's daughter) were in Orange County Virginia by 18 November 1735 when the Orange County Court paid him 140 pounds of tobacco for one wolf's head, certified by Morgan Morgan. Chester and Jacob Funk were ordered to lay off and clear a road from their home places to the lower end of Burgess' land on 16 March 1735/36. Thomas was authorized to operate a ferry across the Shenandoah River at the mouth of Happy Creek on 19 October 1736.