Description:

George Washington
Williamsburg, VA, May 10, 1771
George Washington Full Sig Buys Plantation Having Many Slaves for Stepson, Suitable Replacement For Bank Check
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GEORGE WASHINGTON, Autograph Document Signed in Text, Fips Jackson [Easter], Receipt to George Washington, May 10, 1771, Williamsburg, VA. 1 p. Slabbed; general toning; scattered staining; repaired tear through Washington's signature; Jackson's signature faint.

George Washington wrote out this receipt for £200 for the owner of some land he had purchased to sign. There are nearly Sixty Words in his hand. Washington bought the land in York County, Virginia, for his sixteen-year-old stepson, John Parke Custis. He sent the money through the Custis plantation manager, Joseph Valentine. When the seller of the land, Fips Jackson (Easter), received the £200 of the £600 purchase price from Valentine, he signed the receipt, and Valentine returned it to Washington.

Complete Transcript
Williamsburg May ye 10th 1771. Then received from George Washington by the hands of Joseph Valentine, the Sum of Two hundred pounds Currency; being the first payment of Six hundred pounds for the purchase of a Tract of Two hundd and fifty acres of Land sold by me at publick Auction & bought for the use and Benefit of Mr. Jno Parke Custis.
Fips Jackson [Eater?]
Witness.

Historical Background
In April 1771, with the consent of the General Court, George Washington purchased a 250-acre tract of land called "Jacksons" in York County on behalf of his ward and stepson, John Parke Custis, from Fips Jackson [Easter] at a public auction. Washington sent the Custis plantation manager, Joseph Valentine, to Jackson with £200 in currency as the first payment toward the £600 purchase price.

Fips Jackson [Easter] had inherited the property through his father's 1767 will. He advertised it in a Williamsburg newspaper as having "a good dwelling house, 4 rooms below and 2 above, with 2 brick chimnies, a kitchen, barn, &c. There is likewise upon the plantation, close on the creek, a good dwelling house, with all convenient outhouses, at present occupied by Mr. Thomas Cobb, where is an extraordinary fine landing for oysters."

By the end of 1771, when Joseph Valentine died, overseers for Washington and Custis reported that there were 15 slaves living and working on the Jacksons property. Research indicates that hundreds of slaves were co-owned by Washington and Custice and an in depth snapshot is here https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-08-02-0382 (you can paste this in your browser) One overseer probably managed this property as well as George Washington's dower lands in York County, which he was renting to Custis.


Joseph Valentine (1709-1771) was born in York, Virginia. He became the manager of the Custis plantations, including George Washington's dower plantations. He died in December 1771.

John Parke Custis (1754-1781) was born at the White House Plantation in New Kent County, Virginia, to Daniel Parke Custis (1711-1757) and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802). After his father died, a guardian held his inheritance, which included nearly 18,000 acres and approximately 285 enslaved persons, in trust until he reached the age of majority. When his widowed mother married George Washington in 1759, John Parke Custis became Washington's stepson. Frustrated by his stepson's laziness, Washington had a dim view of his prospects. In May 1773, he began attending King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City but left shortly after his sister died in June. In February 1774, he married Eleanor Calvert, then only 15 or 16, and they settled at the White House Plantation. A few years later, he sold several of his father's properties and bought the Arlington and Abingdon Plantations in Fairfax County in northern Virginia, much closer to his stepfather's Mount Vernon plantation. By 1781, his mismanagement had nearly left him bankrupt, and his children's guardian ultimately reconveyed the Abingdon plantation to its former owner. From 1778 to 1781, Custis represented Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates. In September 1781, he persuaded Washington to let him serve as a civilian aide during the siege of Yorktown. There, he contracted "camp fever," of which he died at his uncle's nearby plantation on November 5.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: Overall: 4.5" x 9.5" Document: 3.25 x 7"
  • Medium: ADS

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