Person:William Walker (228)

Early Land Acquisition in Virginia

Acquisition of Land from Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants:

• E-274: Mr. William Walker of Stafford County, 524 acres in Prince William County adj. Mr. Burgess Challin, John Fishback, on Goose Creek & Hunger Run towards the Bull Run Mts. Surv. by Mr. John Warner. Adj. Jacob Holtzclaw. 16 June 1741. # [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 134].

Notes

Richard Netherton was a native of the same small town in England as George Brent himself, where both their fathers had been residents. Richard Netherton (chr. 23 Nov. 1645 Defford) can be found in Maryland during the 1670s with 50 acres called "Nethertons Beginning" (in St. Mary's Hundred), St. Mary's County. By 1677 though, he had come with the Brent and Fitzherbert clan to Stafford County, Virginia. His granddaughter Elizabeth Netherton (d. 16 Aug. 1737) was even buried in St. Paul's churchyard in Stafford County with her husband, architect William Walker (d. 15 Feb. 1748/9), whom she had married in the same parish on 23 Nov. 1731.

Source: http://genforum.genealogy.com/netherton/messages/233.html

William Walker built a number of private and public buildings throughout Virginia, including Cleve, the plantation home of Charles Carter, and the brick mansion Marlborough for John Mercer. Both of these men were acquaintances of Thomas Lee. Little is known about Walker's background. His first documented appearance in the Northern Neck is in 1728, when he was involved with the Carter family. In 1731, Walker married Elizabeth Netherton, the daughter of a Westmoreland County gentleman and probably a neighbor of Thomas Lee. In 1739, Walker advertised for the capture of two indentured servants, both of whom were carpenters, who had run away from him in Westmoreland County. They escaped in a small boat belonging to Thomas Lee.

Later, Thomas Lee was almost certainly influential in engaging William Walker to repair the Capitol in Williamsburg. 38 When he wrote in 1749, "The Governor's House, gardens, etc., has been Viewed and Examined by our most Skillful Architect," he may have been referring to Walker. Unfortunately, the builder died in February 1750 before he could undertake the work in Williamsburg. In his will, he named his "worthy Friends" Thomas and Philip Ludwell Lee as two of his executors.

[Source: http://www.stratfordhall.org/learn/lees/thomas.php]

Citations

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jbh&id=I10054