Land Transactions of John Maxwell in Augusta County, c1736 to c1770

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Sources

Related

Person:John Maxwell (88)

Discussion

July 24, 1740 - John Maxwell came into Court and made oath that he imported himself, Margaret, John Jr, Thomas, Mary & Alexander Maxwell, from Ireland to Philadelphia, and from thence to this colony at his own charges, and that this is the first time of his proving his rights in order to obtain land. Which is ordered to be certified. [Orange County Virginia, Court Order Book B., 1739-1741 (possibly through Chalkley's Chronicles as an intermediary source].

John probably arrived in what was then Orange County, VA by July 1740. His testimony above was needed for him to secure head-rights to land. Others in the area gave similar testimony for that same purpose. We have no details about his initial land acquisitions based on these headrights. We know that at some point he settled 439 acres of land whose title he eventually secured from William Beverley in April of 1749. Page 243.--5th April, 1749. William Beverley to John Maxwell. Patented to Beverley, et als. (Beverley Manor grant, 6th Sept., 1736). Conveyed to Beverley by deed recorded in Secretary's office of Colony. Borden's Road. 439 acres.Chalkley's Chronicles

Hildebrandt's map of the Beverley Patent shows Maxwell's property and his adjacent neighbors. The passage above reflects the date on which maxwell secured the deed to his property. Most likely he had been living on this property for sometime, and the parcel may have included his headright land in addition to land purchased from Beverley.

In anycase, after the deed was recorded in 1749, the property was resold, in two parcels:

Page 399.--27th February, 1749. John Maxwell to Andrew Johnston, merchant, 218-1/2 acres in Beverley Manor. Corner John Madison. Corner John Maxwell. Teste: Alexander Wright, William Hamilton, Adam Breckenridge.^[1] Page 790.--28th August. 1750. John Maxwell to Robert Breckinridge, in Beverley Manor, Wm. Bev; corner Andrew Johnston, 28th August, 1750, 219-1/2 acres in Beverley Manor, part of 439 conveyed to John by Beverley.

At the same time as John was selling his Beverley's Manor property, he was purchasing a larger parcel between Mill Creek and "Sally Ann Hill". ^[2]

Page 876.--30th August, 1750. Erwin Patterson to John Maxwell, 831 acres between Mill Creek and Ann Sally Hill. This parcel was itself resold a few years later Page 439.--16th August, 1753. John Maxwell and Mary to John Mathews, Jr., 381 acres on a branch of Mill Creek; Ann Salling's hill. Sold to John by Ewin Patterson, 1750. Delivered: James Lockhart, June, 1757

More land was subsequently purchased, this time on Cedar Creek "a branch of the James River":

Page 400.--26th November, 1755. Francis ( ) McCown and Margret ( ) to Jno. Maxwell (delivered Wm. McGee, May, 1764), £65, 250 acres on a branch of Cedar Creek, a branch of James River, at a place called the Timber Plain; cor. Jno. Poage's land; cor. Francis McCown. Teste: Hugh McConwell, Ro. Renick.

Page 512.--17th November. 1757. Jno. Poage to Jno. Maxwell, £100, 238 acres on James River. Delivered: Wm. McKee, May, 1764.

One of these parcels was in turn was sold after a few years, at a 150% profit:

Page 315.--16th October, 1765. John Maxwell and Mary to Benj. Estill, £250, 238 acres on main branch of James River. Delivered: Jas. Poage, per order, December, 1775.

John's final land purchase (that we know of) occurred in 1768:

Page 393.--15th March, 1768. John Hall and Mary to James McGavock and John Maxwell, £50, 45 acres of Cedar Creek in Forks of James; corner William Hall, Jr., William Poage's line; corner David Cloyd. Delivered: Hugh Brawford, May, 1778.

The reasons for this series of land transcactions is not know. Perhaps it was a straightforward case of "upscaling" his farm, or perhaps moving because the soils in one location had been depleted. Perhaps there was a simple profit motivation involved. Johns original property sold in 1749 lies within the boundaries of Beverley's Manor. His subsequent land holdings seem to be focused in the area of Cedar Creek, a tributary which discharges into the James River near Natural Bridge, in modern Rockbridge county County.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Note that the date of sale is prior to the date the deed was recorded. This may simply have been a "wheeling and dealing" error, and paperwork for the purchase and sales were not well co-ordinated. There may also be a problem in "new-style, old-style" date recordation. Perhaps the land sale was actually 27 February 1749/50.
2. ↑ The name "Mill Creek" was apparently used during the mid 18th century for the lower portions of what is now called "Cedar Creek". "Sally Ann Hill" is apparently now "Sallinger's Mountain". Maxwell's land was apparntly within the upper portion of the triangle created by modern Cedar Creek to the west, Poague's Run to the north, Sallinger's Mountain to the east, and the James River to the south.