The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

II. BE it enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the Authority of the same, that within six Months after the passing of this Act fifty Acres of Land, Parcel of a Tract of Land belonging to John Royston and Robert Buckner, of the County of Gloucester, situate, lying and being upon the South Side of the River Rappahannock aforesaid in the County of Spotsylvania commonly called or known by the Name of the Lease Land, shall be surveyed and laid out, taking the whole Breadth of the Tract of Land upon the River, by the Surveyor of the said County of Spotsylvania; and the said fifty Acres of Land, so to be surveyed and laid out, shall be and is hereby vested in John Robinson, Esq; Henry Willis, Augustin Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverley, John Waller, and Jeremiah Clowder, of the County of Spotsylvania, Gentlemen, and their Successors, in Trust, for the several purposes hereafter mentioned; and the said John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustin Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverley, John Waller and Jeremiah Clowder, are hereby constituted and appointed Directors and Trustees for designing, building, carrying on, and maintaining, a Town upon the said Land: And the said Directors and Trustees, or any four of them, shall have power to meet as often as they shall think necessary, and shall lay out the said fifty Acres in Lots and Streets, not exceeding Half an Acre of Ground in each Lot, and also to set apart such Portions of said Land for a Church and Church-Yard, a Market Place, and publick Key, and to appoint such Places upon the River for publick Landings, as they shall think most convenient, and, if the same shall be necessary, shall direct the making and erecting of Wharfs and Cranes at such publick Landings, for the publick Use. And when the said Town shall be so laid out the said Directors and Trustees shall have full Power and Authority to sell all the said Lots by publick Sale or Auction, from Time to Time, to the highest Bidder, so as no Person shall have more than Two Lots; and when such Lots shall be sold, any two of the said Trustees shall and may, upon Payment of the Purchase Money, by some sufficient Conveyance or Conveyances, Convey the Fee Simple, Estate of such Lot or Lots to the Purchaser or Purchasers: And he or they, or his or their Heirs and Assigns, respectively, shall and may for ever thereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold, possess, and enjoy, the same, freed and discharged of and from all Right, Title, Estate, Claim, Interest, and Demand whatsoever of the said John Royster and Robert Buckner and the Heirs and Assigns of them respectively, and of all Persons whatsoever claiming by, from, or under them or either of them.

III. PROVIDED nevertheless, that the said Directors and Trustees shall pay, or cause to be paid, unto the said John Royston and Robert Buckner, out of the Money to be raised by the Sale of the said Lots, as soon as the same shall be by them received, after the Rate of forty Shillings for every Acre of the said fifty Acres of Land, according to the Right which the said John Royston and Robert Buckner now respectively have to the same; and the said John Royston and Robert Buckner shall also have each of them two Lots, which shall be assigned to them by the said Directors and Trustees, and they shall respectively remain seized of such Lots of the same Estate whereof they were respectively seized in the said Land before the making of this Act.

IV. AND be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, that after the said Lots shall be so laid out and disposed of, as aforesaid, the said Directors, or any four of them, shall have full Power and Authority to apply all the overplus Money which shall be raised by the Sale of the said Lots to such publick Use; for the common Benefit of the Inhabitants of the said Town, as to them shall seem best.

V. AND be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, that the Grantee or Grantees of every such Lot or Lots, so to be conveyed and sold in the said Town, shall, within two Years next after the Date of the Conveyance for the same, erect, build, and finish, on each Lot so conveyed, one House, of Brick, Stone or Wood well framed, of the Dimensions of Twenty Feet square, and nine Feet Pitch at the least, or apportionably thereto, if such Grantee shall have two Lots contiguous; and the said Directors shall have full Power and Authority to establish such Rules and Orders, for the more regular placing the said Houses, as to them shall seem fit, from Time to Time. And if the Owner of any Lots shall fail to pursue and comply with the Directions herein prescribed, for the building and finishing one or more House or Houses thereon, then such Lots upon which such Houses shall not be so built and finished shall be revested in the said Trustees, and shall and may be sold and conveyed to any other Person or Persons whatsoever, in the Manner before directed, and shall revest, and be again sold, as often as the Owner or Owners shall fail to perform, obey, and fulfil, the Directions aforesaid; and if the Inhabitants of the said Town shall fail to obey and pursue the Rules and Orders of the said Directors, in repairing and amending the Streets, Landings, and publick Wharfs, they shall be liable to the same Penalties as are inflicted for not repairing the Highways of this Colony.

VI. AND for the continuing the Succession of the said Trustees and Directors, until the Governour of this Colony shall incorporate some other Persons by Letters Patents, under the Seal of this Colony, to be one Body Politick and Corporate, to whom the Government of the said Town shall be committed, Be it further enacted, that in Case of the Death of the said Directors, or of their Refusal to act, the surviving or other Directors, or the major Part of them, shall assemble, and are hereby Empowered, from Time to Time, by Instrument in Writing, under their respective Hands and Seals, to nominate some other Person or Persons, being an Inhabitant or Freeholder of the said Town, in the Place of him so dying or refusing; which new Director or Directors, so nominated and appointed, shall from thenceforth have the like Power and Authority, in all Things relating to the Matters herein contained, as if he or they had been expressly named and appointed in and by this Act, and every such Instrument and Nomination shall from Time to Time be recorded in the Books of the said Directors.

VII. AND whereas William Livingston is possessed of a Lease under the said John Royston, for certain Years to come, of Part of the said fifty Acres of Land, and hath erected buildings and made several Improvements thereon, which will be taken away when the said Town shall be laid out: For making Satisfaction for which,

VIII. BE it further enacted, that the two Lots to be assigned to the said John Royston, pursuant to this Act, shall include the Dwelling-House and Kitchen of the said William Livingston, and shall be held and enjoyed by him for the Residue of the said Term, and at the Expiration thereof shall revert unto, and be vested in, the said John Royston, as aforesaid; and, moreover, the said Trustees are hereby enjoined and required to pay unto the said William Livingston the Sum of twenty Pounds current Money out of the Monies arising by Sale of Lots, as a Consideration and Compensation for the said Lease.

IX. AND be it further enacted, that the Town aforesaid shall be called by the Name of Fredericksburg.

This act of incorporation which elevated the Lease Land into the town of Fredericksburg, was signed by William Gooch, Esq., Governor, and John Holliday, Speaker.

By the authority conferred upon the trustees of the town by the sixth section of the above act, the following paper was issued by the board of trustees, appointing Augustine Washington, the father of General George Washington, one of the trustees of the town. The original was presented to the town some years ago by one of the descendants of Augustine Washington, and is now preserved in the clerk’s office: