In the Northern Neck, the proprietor earned money in two ways. First, he had the income from the sale of the land. This was a one time event which was probably competitive with property on the lands of the Crown, which was one shilling per ten acres, usually expressed as five shillings per fifty acres, or part thereof. Then, on an annual basis, a rent of one shilling per fifty acres was paid. On a failure to pay the rent to the proprietor, the land could revert to him. Over a twenty-year period, the proprietor would earn more from the rents than from the purchase. On the Crown's lands, the rent was called the quit rent .
The rent in the Northern Neck went to the proprietor. The rent from the Crown's land went toward the expenses of the Colony. These quit rents were a tax, comparable to today's real estate taxes. The Northern Neck rents simply went into the pocket of the proprietor.
I have mentioned that during the period starting about 1722, land in the new counties of Spotsylvania and Brunswick Counties was free from the first cost, and from the quit rents for a period of about seven years. The legislation that enabled this had been sponsored by Lt. Gov. Spotswood, who promoted the law as a way to encourage settlement on the western lands, which would extend English civilization farther west and perhaps push the French into the Pacific Ocean. This was always a good argument to send to London. The day the law was passed in Virginia (as a part of the creation of the new counties), Spotswood filed a claim on more than 40,000 acres in the new county of Spotsylvania. One wonders then whether the law was for the public benefit, or the benefit of Spotswood. The net result for the Germanna Colonists was that they obtained free land in the Robinson River Valley and in the Little Fork.
Spotswood, though, had some difficulties in securing the title to his land. He had violated some of the clauses in the law as it had been approved in London. Remember that when Virginia passed laws, they did not really become laws until they had been approved, sometimes amended, or sometimes not allowed, in London. In this case London wanted to see some restrictions placed in the law limiting the size of the tracts that could be granted. They reasoned that if no one person had more than a thousand acres, then more people could be settled in the new counties. Spotswood had violated this provision overwhelmingly, and his title was clouded for many years. He finally had to go to England and plead his case there.
When a patent was issued, it was a requirement that the property be settled and that improvements be made. I believe that a house was to be built and three acres cleared for every fifty in the patent. Also an orchard, usually specified as apples, was to be planted. If a patentee failed to do these things in three years, another person could sue in the courts to obtain title to the land. This is why the original patentee sometimes repatented his land. He had failed to make the necessary improvements and he would start over again with the repurchase of the land.
Some of the details given here may be not be exact, but the note is intended to give the flavor of some of the factors in acquiring land.
(06 Jul 02)
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.