Beschreibung:

WASHINGTON, George, President . Autograph Document Signed ("G Washington"), a land survey with plat drawing for Joseph Edwards, n.p. [Virginia], 18 April 1751. AN EARLY LAND SURVEY ALONG THE CACAPEHON RIVER. The young Virginian had received his commission from William & Mary College on 20 January 1749 and was appointed Culpepper County Surveyor. Some of his surveying instruments had been his father's. Washington's first dated survey was apparently executed in August 1747 but very few early examples are extant; one dated 5 April 1750 was part of the collection of the Hon. J. William Middendorf (sale, Christie's, 17 May 1989, lot 313, now in the FORBES Magazine Collection) as was an example dated 25 April 1751 (lot 314). In the last decade, Washington's surveys, which are an interesting documentation of his early career, have become relatively uncommon. Surveys were paid for in tobacco, and as Freeman relates, "surveying not only had interest and yielded a profit but it also offered excellent training. A good Surveyor had to be accurate and thorough: as George wanted to excel in surveying and in everything else he undertook, he painstakingly gave neatness and finish to surveys he made with the fullest care he knew how to display" (Freeman, George Washington , 1:198.) At the top of the sheet, as was required by law, Washington has made a small plat drawing of the tract in question, an irregularly shaped parcel of 375 acres, and has labeled the direction in which a small stream or creek flows through the property. Beneath, he writes: "Pursuant to a Warrant from the Proprietors Office to me directed I have survey'd for Joseph Edwards a certain tract of waste Land on the No. River Cacepehon bounded as followeth..." There follows a detailed description of the boundaries of the land, with reference to natural landmarks, beginning "at a Spruce Pine on the edge of Faircourt Run." As surveyed, he concludes, the property comprises "Three hund. and Seventy five acres..."