Jacob Holtzclaw (the 1714 immigrant) patented 680 acres in the Little Fork in 1729. After the land was declared to be a part of the Northern Neck, he took a grant on 1300 acres from Lord Fairfax, which was to include the previous land. The grant reads, in essence, that, upon resurvey of the old tract, it was found to contain 620 acres of surplus land. The implication is that the original survey is the same as the later survey but that upon the resurvey it was found to contain 1300 acres.
I do not believe that the surveyors made an error of this magnitude. What was taking place was that there was a de facto land recognition and an official survey. Before the first survey, the land was marked with visible signs such as marked trees and rock piles. This told everyone else to "keep out". Other potential land owners were told "hands off". However, when the surveyor came in for the survey, a somewhat smaller piece of ground was laid out and described for the patent. (This saved money and was the motivation.) Later, as the land owner grew nervous about the larger de facto claim not being protected by a suitable patent or deed, he would have the whole works resurveyed and the new survey would find there was surplus land which had not been patented (or granted) before.
This is the only way that I can see that 680 acres could grow to 1300 acres when the entire tract was surrounded by the claims of other individuals. The 620 acre difference had to be there all the time. This is the best explanation that I can see for these tracts that suddenly grew to twice their size. This was a game that lots of people engaged in; Jacob Holtzclaw was not alone in doing this. He had lots of company all over Virginia.
John Fishback had an early patent for 400 acres in the Little Fork in 1730 (mentioned previously). His son Frederick took a grant in 1748 for 790 which included his father's 400 acre tract. This land was slightly to the northwest of Holtzclaw. Between these two, the future village of Jeffersonton was situated.
On State Road 621, out of Jeffersonton to the north, one passes by a sign which says, "Fleetwood, Established 1732." This was on the property of John Fishback. The house still stands, now greatly enlarged, but it is in the ownership of a non-Fishback descendant.
Slightly later than Frederick, Martin Fishback lived in the area (Fleetwood?), and is buried in a cemetery adjacent to the Fleetwood marker. Martin died in 1842 at the age of 78. According to the " Religious Herald ", Martin was born, married, and died in the same room. Perhaps someone could clarify the relationship of Martin to the other Fishbacks that have been mentioned.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.