Patrick Hamrick
Family Patriarch
PATRICK'S LIFE
December 10, 1740
The Right Honourable Thomas Lord Fairfax Baron of Cameron in that part of Great Britain called Scotland Proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia To all whom this present Writing shall come Sends Greetings. Know ye that for good Causes for and in Consideration of the Composition for my use paid And for the amount Rent hereafter reserved I have given granted and confirmed and by these presents for Me My heirs and assigns do give grant and Confirm unto Patrick Hamrick of the County of King George a certain Tract or Parcel of waste Land in the County of Prince William and bounded according to a Survey thereof made by Mr. James Thomas the Younger pursuant to a Warrant to him directed as followeth Beginning at A a willow Oak by a dead black Oak Corner to the Land of William Davis and nigh the Head of Winter’s middle Branch thence along the Lines of the Said Davis South Two hundred and twelve poles to B a white oak in the Fork of Winter’s lower branch, No 62° Et one hundred thirty six Poles to C two white Oaks and a red Oak Saplin nigh a Glade of Cruppers Cabbin branch So 82° Et seventy three poles to D two Maples and a white Oak in a branch of Buckhall Corner to the Said Davis thence No 32° Et thirteen and a half poles to E a water Oak in the said Branch thence So 76° Et fifty two poles to F a Maple and water Oak in the said Branch thence So 22° Et thirty five poles to Gthree small red oaks marked in room of a dead Spanish oak corner to Richard Melton thence along his lines No 80 Wt seventy eight poles to H a white oak by the Road Side So 54° Wt seventy nine poles to I a water oak on a Branch of Crupper’s Cabbin No 83° Wt one hundred and eighteen poles to K a white oak corner to the said Meltons, Edward Graham and RogerIDay thence along the said Day’s lines now claimed by the said Hamrick No 43° Wt seventy eight poles to L a black Oak No 13° Wt one hundred and twenty two poles toM a poplar on the side of Winter’s middle branch Corner to George Eaves, thence along his Lines So 75° Et Sixty three Poles to N a dead white Oak thence No 6° Et forty four poles to O a red Oak, thence along the line of Thomas Davis N 45° E fifteen poles to the begining Containing one hundred and eighteen acres together with all Rights Members andAppurtances thereunto belonging, Royal Mines Excepted And a full third part of all Lead Copper Tinn Coal Iron Mines and Iron ore that shall be found therein To have and to hold the said one hundred and eighteen acres of Land belonging or in any wise appertaining Excepted before Excepted to Him the said Patrick Hamrick his heirs and assigns therefore Yielding and Paying to me my heirs and assigns or to my certain attorney or attorneys Agent or Agents or to the certain Attorney or Attorneys of my heirs and assigns Proprietors of the said Northern Neck Yearly and every year on the Feast Day of St. Michael the Archangel the Fee Rent of one Shilling Sterling Money for every fifty acres of Land hereby granted and so proportionately for a Greater or lesser Quantity Provided that the said Patrick Hamrick his heirs or assigns Shall not pay the before reserved annual Rent so that the same or any part thereof shall be behind or unpaid by the Space of Two Whole Years after the same Shall become Due in Lawfully Demanded that then it shall and may be lawful for me my heirs or assigns Proprietors aforesaid My or their certain attorney or attorneys Agent or Agents into the above Granted Premises to reenter and Hold the same so as if this Grant had never passed Given at my office in the County of King George within my said Proprietary under my seal Witness my agent and attorney fully authorized thereto Dated the tenth day of December in the fourteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith ___ An Dm one thousand seven hundred and forty
The document is signed: T. Fairfax in Prince William Coty (Northern Neck Land Grants Book E. p. 224. (The accompanying plat map is on p. 221 and is the same as in the April 28, 1740 survey.))
With this tract and the Roger Day tract, Patrick had acquired a total of 378 acres. Although the countryside Patrick Hamrick knew in the eighteenth century has largely disappeared beneath modern development, the surviving land records of Prince William County make it possible to approximate where his properties once lay. By translating colonial deed descriptions into modern geography, the map below reconstructs the likely locations of Patrick’s landholdings within today’s landscape.
One of the most rewarding parts of this research has been identifying where Patrick Hamrick’s early Virginia landholdings lie within the modern landscape of Prince William County. Although the original eighteenth-century countryside has long since given way to roads, neighborhoods, and modern development, the documentary record still allows the approximate locations of Patrick’s properties to be reconstructed with surprising clarity.
The reconstruction of Patrick Hamrick’s landholdings is based primarily on the descriptions found in Prince William County deed books and related Northern Neck land records. Colonial property descriptions typically relied on compass bearings, distances, waterways, and adjoining landowners rather than fixed survey coordinates.
To approximate the modern locations of these tracts, the original deed calls were analyzed and compared with later plats, historic county maps, and modern geographic data. Contemporary mapping tools were then used to translate the eighteenth-century bearings and relationships into a modern street grid.
We also know that the 260 acre parcel that had been part of Roger Day's land grant and subsequently inherited by his daughter Elizabeth, then ultimately claimed by Patrick after Elizabeth's demise (REF: January 7, 1724/25; August 17, 1725; August 9 & 10, 1727; September 3, 1739) lay adjacent to the west side of this parcel. (REF: April 28, 1740) In addition, the location of a graveyard that was set aside when Patrick, Jr. subsequently sold the southern half of the 260 acre parcel in 1770 has survived to modern times. (REF: September 6 & 7, 1770) So, it's feasible to overlay the 118 acre survey map and the Roger/Elizabeth Day 260 acre parcel on a modern-day satellite image with reasonable accuracy.
Because colonial surveys often referenced natural features such as trees, branches, and property corners that no longer exist, the resulting outlines should be understood as carefully reasoned approximations rather than exact surveyed boundaries. Even so, the surviving documentary evidence allows the relative position and general shape of Patrick Hamrick’s tracts to be reconstructed on a modern street grid with a high degree of confidence.
Today, the land once farmed by Patrick Hamrick lies beneath a landscape of homes, roads, and neighborhoods that would be unrecognizable to the early settlers of Prince William County. Yet the documentary trail preserved in county records still makes it possible to trace those early landholdings and place them within the modern landscape.
In this way, the map provides a small window into the world Patrick knew—a reminder that beneath today’s streets and subdivisions lies a much older history of farms, creeks, and family homesteads that shaped the beginnings of the Hamrick line in Virginia.