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Signer Francis L. Lee War Date, Twice Signed ADS Involving Richard Henry Lee, Connection to G. Washington!
Signer Francis L. Lee War Date, Twice Signed ADS Involving Richard Henry Lee, Connection to G. Washington!
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Description:

Signer Francis L. Lee War Date, Twice Signed ADS Involving Richard Henry Lee, Connection to G. Washington!

In this remarkable deposition, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Virginia State Senator Francis Lightfoot Lee explains his role in attempting to mediate a dispute between John Belfield and John Alexander of Richmond County, Virginia. Richmond County did not include the state capital but was located on the Northern Neck of Virginia, between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. The dispute centered on past rent for some land, to be paid in tobacco, and the dispute played a role in the case of Gerrard Hooe et al. v. Jonathan Beckwith et al. in the High Court of Chancery. When arrangements for the mediation broke down, Lee suggested bringing in his brother, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington's brother to help with the dispute.

FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, Autograph Document Signed Twice (once in text), Deposition in Case of Hooe et al. v. Beckwith et al., May 1, 1778. 2 pp., 8.25" x 12". Creased along folds with paper loss at all four margins; toning and staining throughout; pencil notations.

Complete Transcript
Depositions taken at the house of Mr John Belfield in the County of Richmond for the Suit depending in the High Court of Chancery between Gerrard Hoe [Hooe] & Sarah his Wife and others Pets and Jonathan Beckwith and others Defts by Virtue of a Dedimus to us directed and hereto annexed.
Francis Lightfoot Lee Esqr aged above fifty years being sworn deposeth and saith that Mr Griffin Fauntleroy came to his house and informed him that Mr John Belfield and Colo John Alexander had agreed to refer ^to him^ a matter in dispute between them respecting the back rents of a certain tract of Land called Dyer Land which the said Alexander had recovered of the said Belfield in the General Court and that they wished him to attend the ^next^ day. This Deponent saith that he did go over early in that day where the said Alexander was and likewise Mr Robert Mitchel that some time after this Deponents arrival it was proposed by the said Belfield to enter upon the Business but the said Alexander objected that he would not refer it to a single person ^and that he did not apprehend a single person was to settle it^ whereupon the said Belfield expressed his surprize that he should fly off from what he said had been mutually agreed on but the said Alexander persisted in what he demanded and proposed to take in the said Mitchell with this Deponent ^to which the said Belfield agreed^ but when it was proposed to the said Mitchell he absolutely refused to be concerned in settling the matter and for a time things appeared to be at a stand the said Belfield complaining of the said Alexander going from his Agreement. This Deponent then wishing to have the business compromised without a suit & supposing it would not be long before it might be done proposed there should be joined with him Colo John Augustine Washington and Richard Henry Lee or one of them which the said Belfield readily agreed to as he did to every proposal ^of reference^ he made for settlement thereof sometimes the said Alexander would agree to one or more of the Gentlemen nominated by this Deponent and then he would fly off ^but always agreed^ that the said Mitchell should be one. in this manner the affair continued until Dinner and nothing determined on That whilst at Dinner The said Belfield told the said Alexander that he was quite tired out by the said Alexanders behavior and desired him to say what he would take. Upon which the said Alexander mentioned a very large Sum of Tobacco but the amount he does not know and which this Deponent thought high and the said Belfield agreed to give it to him. This Deponent remembers that in the course of the Conversation he understood that this Land had been rented out to Mr Mitchell two years one year for a less Sum of Tobo and the other a larger Sum but what he is not certain the largest of which Sum was always demanded by the said Alexander and he remembers some altercation respecting the amount of the largest rent the said Belfield being informed as he said that it was only 1000 but Alexander insisting twas 1500[lbs?]. it appeared from Mr Mitchell that it was 1500. It appeared to this Depont that it was Mr John Belfield who was to pay the Tobacco He further saith that when he was about to go away and puting on his Great Coat he objected ^from what appeared to him^ that the said Belfield had given too Large a Sum for the back rents but he ^the sd Belfield^ said he would do any thing rather ^than^ have any thing to do with such a ^troublesome^ man This Deponent further saith that he hath been long acquainted with the said Belfield and has uniformly known him to be a man of the greatest integrity and what is extreamly rare he never heard from any person the least charge or insinuation derogatory of his uprightness
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Richmond to wit
Sworn to before us this first day of May one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight
Moore Brockenbrough
George Lee Turberville

Historical Background
This deposition concerns a dispute between John Belfield and Colonel John Alexander, for which Francis Lightfoot Lee had been called to be a mediator. The dispute concerned back rents from a tract of tobacco land called Dyer Land. John Belfield (1725-1801) lived in Richmond County, Virginia, and at the time of this document, he served as captain of the 6th Virginia Cavalry Regiment. Three years later, he was promoted to major of the 3rd Continental Dragoons, where he participated in key mounted charges at the battles of Cowpens, Guilford Court House, and Eutaw Springs before retiring from the army in November 1782.

Tobacco remained a principal cash crop in the late eighteenth century in Virginia, and the payment of land rents in tobacco would not have been uncommon. A tobacco hogshead was a large wooden barrel used to transport and store tobacco. A standard hogshead could hold approximately 145 gallons in volume and weigh approximately 1,000 pounds. For much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Virginia residents paid taxes and Virginia courts assessed penalties in pounds of tobacco.

This dispute became involved in a case in the High Court of Chancery between Gerrard Hooe and others, the petitioners, and Jonathan Beckwith and others, the defendants. George Wythe (1726-1806), another signer of the Declaration of Independence for Virginia, served as sole judge of the Chancery Court of Virginia from 1788 until 1806 and decided this case. Before his death, Richard Barnes had arranged for his estate to be divided as equally as possible among his four daughters, Mary Kelsick, Rebecca Beckwith (who married Jonathan Beckwith), Sarah Hooe (who married Gerrard Hooe), and Elizabeth Alexander (who married John Alexander). The distribution of his land was to be made while Barnes's widow, Penelope Barnes, was still living and the rest of his property, including twenty enslaved African Americans, after her death. Several lawsuits emerged from these bequests, pitting several of the sisters and their husbands against each other. The Virginia Court of Chancery combined three of the cases in its March 1793 term, and Wythe ruled that the estate should be divided equally among Barnes's four daughters or their heirs, according to the provisions of his original 1754 will. The court also found that a purported will of Penelope Barnes was a fabrication. The opinion was particularly harsh on the actions of Jonathan Beckwith, John Alexander, and Gerrard Hooe. In a footnote, the court noted "The fame of John Belfield one of the principal witnesses to prove the declarations of Richard Barnes could not be the least soiled by the foul aspersions with which the tongue of slander was long employed to blemish it."

According to this deposition, when Lee's attempt at mediation faltered due to the refusal of Robert Mitchell (1714-1799) to participate, Lee proposed calling on Colonel John Augustine Washington (1736-1787), George Washington's younger brother, and his own brother Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), another signer of the Declaration of Independence and author of the motion calling for independence from Great Britain.

Capt. Moore Fauntleroy Brockenbrough (1716-1791) and Col. George Lee Turberville (1760-1798) of Richmond County witnessed Lee's signature on his deposition on May 1, 1778. Brockenbrough was a captain in the Virginia colonial militia. An attorney and a graduate of William and Mary College, Turberville served in the Continental Line for six years, rising to the rank of major. He represented Richmond County in the House of Burgesses from 1785 to 1789 and as Richmond County's sheriff in 1798.

Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797) was born in Virginia into the prominent Lee family. His brothers included Senator Richard Henry Lee, diplomats William Lee and Dr. Arthur Lee, and planter Thomas Ludwell Lee, who with Thomas Jefferson, rewrote the laws of Virginia. His father Thomas Lee had served as de facto royal governor of Virginia from 1749 until his death in November 1750. In 1772, Lee married his cousin Rebecca Plater Tayloe, but the couple had no children. He owned a tobacco plantation and many slaves. In 1774, he called for a general congress among the colonies and he was a delegate to the first of the Virginia Conventions. He represented the state in the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1779 and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He also served in the Virginia State Senate from 1778 to 1782.

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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