Figure 3.—Aerial photograph of Tutter's Neck taken soon after bulldozing and before the Jones site (arrow) was found. Photo courtesy City of Williamsburg.
The Desandrouin map suggests that the buildings on Tutter's Neck had ceased to exist by 1781, and this conjecture is supported by the artifacts from the site, none of which date later than mid-century. Considerable difficulty in establishing the lifespan of the house and outbuilding has resulted in part from the fact that any evidence for a terminus ante quem had been stripped away by the bulldozing and in part from the absence of any maps that identify this promontory as Tutter's Neck. Indeed the entire premise is built upon the discovery of wine-bottle seals in one refuse pit beneath the kitchen chimney and in another approximately 125 feet southeast of the house. These seals, bearing the initials "F I," were identified as having belonged to Frederick Jones, who later became Chief Justice of North Carolina. The identification was arrived at on the evidence of the will of David Bray, of James City County, that was contested in 1732. In the legal action, reference was made to "... one messuage,[58] plantation, piece or parcel of land," known as Tutties Neck, or "three hundred acres, more or less, lying and being in the parish of Bruton." This land was stated to have been purchased by Bray's mother, Judith Bray, from Frederick Jones; it then was obtained by John Randolph and passed by him in exchange to Thomas Bray.[59]
Figure 4.—Detail of Colonel Desandrouin's map of 1781. Arrow indicates Jones site.
Thus we know that Frederick Jones had owned a 300-acre tract known as Tutties Neck. Consequently, the discovery of bottle seals bearing the initials "F I" in the vicinity of a "messuage" at the mouth of Tutter's Neck Creek was not without significance. Further corroboration was provided by a letter of 1721 from Frederick Jones to his brother Thomas, in Williamsburg, regarding the incorrect marking of merchandise on the former's account "marked by mistake F I."[60] It was common practice for plantation owners to use the same shipping marks that they used for their wine-bottle seals, and therefore it may be assumed that Jones also owned bottles bearing the initials "F I."
Having established with reasonable certainty that the site in question was the "Tutties Neck" that had been purchased by Judith Bray from Frederick Jones, the next step was to attempt to piece together the history of the site both before and after that transaction. Unfortunately, during the Civil War the James City County records were removed for safekeeping to Richmond where they were destroyed. This loss makes any research into the early documentary history of the county extremely difficult, and in many cases well nigh impossible. Source material must be drawn from family papers and from passing references in the records of other counties. Although the history of Tutter's Neck has many significant facts missing, it is surprising that the record is as full as it is.
The first reference occurs in 1632 (or 1642) when mention is made of "great neck at the barren neck, next adjoining to Tutties neck, a branch of Archers hope creek."[61] Similar references to "Tutteys" neck and "lutteyes" neck occurred in 1637[62] and in 1646.[63] Later, in 1679, a deed of sale from Edward Gray to William South of Gloucester County refers to a parcel of land at "Tuttis Neck."[64] The same spelling was used in 1682 in the will of Otho Thorpe, of the Parish of All Hallows at the Wall in London, who left to his cousin John Grice and Grice's two elder children his plantation in Virginia called "Tuttis Neck."[65] John Grice is recorded as having been a justice in James City County in 1685 and 1694.[66]
No further references to Tutter's Neck are to be found until 1711 when Frederick Jones obtained 100 acres commonly called "Lutties neck,"[67] escheated land,[68] from one Mathew Brown. It is at this point that we run into trouble, for the contents of the pits in which the Jones bottles were found included many items of the late 17th century and none dating later than the first decade of the 18th century. The pit beneath the kitchen chimney also contained a bottle bearing the seal of Richard Burbydge and dated 1701.[69] The inference, therefore, was that Frederick Jones was on the site during the first years of the 18th century. Jones came from England in 1702,[70] having inherited considerable estates from his father, Capt. Roger Jones. In 1704 he is shown in the Virginia Quit Rent Rolls as possessing 300 acres in James City County, 500 acres in New Kent County, and 2,850 acres in King William County.[71] Were it not for the purchase of 1711, it would be reasonable to assume that the 300 acres in James City County were the same that Jones sold to Judith Bray at some unspecified date prior to 1722, the year of his death.
