1628 Land Patent for Martha Key

The most read post on this blog continues to be the post on Elizabeth Key Grinstead. Her father, Thomas Key, set up his wife Martha Key with land opposite Captain Nathaniel Basse on the Warwicksqueake River. The Library of Virginia has a scanned copy of this land patent, showing 100 acres to Martha Key, wife of Thomas Key, on 2 December 1628 (not 1626 as noted in my 2012 post).

Source: Library of Virginia

The source information for this document is: Land Office Patents No. 1, 1623-1643 (v.1 & 2), p. 66 (Reel 1). Part of the index to the recorded copies of patents for land issued by the Secretary of the Colony serving as the Colonial Land Office. The collection is housed in the Archives at the Library of Virginia.

I've found quite a few documents related to my different family branches in the Library of Virginia's digital archives. This is a great resource. Original documents related to the Key and Grinstead case have been on my research list for some time, so perhaps the Library of Virginia will have copies.

Duncan's 1789 Land Grant

As mentioned in my previous post on the 1828 petition by James Wheatley for the establishment of a town next to his mill, the land previously owned by John Wheatley was referenced in a Northern Neck land grant by Charles Duncan on 10 November 1789. A copy of the survey for that land is below, via the Library of Virginia.

1828 Petition to Create Wheatley's Mill Town

The document below dates from 1 November 1828. It is a petition by James Wheatley (I believe this was the brother of Daniel Wheatley) to establish a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, along the Rappahannock River, on lands he acquired from his father, my 7th-great-grandfather, John Wheatley. The petition was received by the Virginia General Assembly on 11 December 1828, and referred to the House in a bill on 23 December 1828.

According to the map included in the petition, the land was along the Culpeper County-Fauquier County line, between 25 and 28 miles above the town of Fredericksburg. The town was to be located next to a mill operated by the Wheatley family.

The town appears on an interactive Civil War map for Remington, Virginia:

Source: http://www.remingtonva.org/cwmap.html.

The Battle of Kelly's Ford occurred on the Wheatley land on 17 March 1863 (see http://www.fauquiercivilwar.com/battlefields_kellysford.html).

John Wheatley's land on the Culpeper-Fauquier line was referenced in a Northern Neck land grant on 10 November 1789. I'll have more on this grant, via the Library of Virginia, in a future post.

Petition to the Virginia General Assembly 1785

The petition below comes from the Library of Virginia Digital Collections. This document was written on 29 November 1785 to the Virginia General Assembly and signed by residents of Fauquier County, including my 6th-great-grandfather Daniel Wheatley, other members of the Wheatley family, and their neighbors.

Transcription:
To the Honourable the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, the petition of the underwritten inhabitants of the said State...assembly showeth

That your petitioners are persuaded that Religion is of the highest moment and greatest importance to mankind. That its transcendant superiority in doing good exceeds all comparison, but they are at the same time persuaded that no taxes or confiscations or compulsions of any kind have ever promoted its glorious cause. That the Saviour of the World and his Apostles have not directly or indirectly any such method for the propagation of truth, but on the contrary by example as well as percept have proceeded in a different manner. That it has been universally allowed by the writers on this subject that religion flourished among the primitive Christians more than it has ever since, tho' they received no support from the civil powers. That the faithful ministers of the different denominations who have a real zeal for the welfare of mankind are contented with the free-will offering of the people; and none but the ambitious, the lazy, the luxurious Ministers who labour (if it can be called labour), merely for Gold and not for the good of their fellow creatures; have need of compulsive measures for their support.

That the State will be abundantly happier and its members will be more virtuous without those ministers who fleece but watch not over the flock than with them. That no cannot [unclear], after the convulsions the State has experienced by its glorious and successful struggle for liberty, everything to be instananeously in its most perfect State, but in the course of providence we doubt not that a sufficient number of faithful Ministers will be raised, men who seek not power and riches, but the welfare of mankind; that one great advantage among many of the Revolution has been the expulsion of most of those hirelings who got into the priest's office merely out of temporal motives, and therefore, that we humbly entreat and earnestly pray and beseech the Honourable the Assembly that compulsive measures may not be used for the support of a lazy, indolent clergy (for we are conscious that faithful ministers want no support of the kind) and consequently that no, no assessment on account of religion may take place.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, shall pray
[Signatures]
--
This document was signed by Daniel Wheatley and his uncles James Wheatley, Joseph Wheatley and George Wheatley, among others.

Yellowstone

When I was about 8 years old, my parents drove across the country from Indiana to Seattle (and back!) to visit friends. Along the way we stopped in a number of parks, Yellowstone National Park was one of them. Our kids are now 8 & 5, so it was great that they could experience the park at this age too.

Photo by Patrick Jones, Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone

Source: Library of Congress, 1938

Yellowstone was likely the first national park in the world, created by an act of Congress in 1872. It is also one of the few places where one can walk across the top of a volcano (Yellowstone Caldera is actually a supervolcano).

Photo by Patrick Jones, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone

Photo by Patrick Jones, road from Mammoth to Tower, Yellowstone

During our visit we saw an owl, eagles, buffalo, many types of deer, prairie dogs, a beaver, and other birds. The crowds weren't too bad, and we were lucky the weather was a bit cooler so we did not get sunburned during our two days in the park.