Washington, George, as Surveyor of Culpepper County

Autograph document signed ("GWashington S,C,C"), 1 page (7 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.; 184 x 156 mm) on a leaf of laid paper (watermarked Crown | gr), [Augusta County, Virginia], 16 April 1750, being a survey conducted by Washington for Robert Denton and Francis McBride of "a certain Tract of waste & ungranted Land Situate between their Lines in Augusta Coy. and on the lost River," totalling 244 acres; light spotting at corners, silked repair at lower left corner overlaying portions of a few letters.

Sotheby's, 19 May 1997, lot 307 (undesignated consignor)

The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, ed. Abbot, 1:23

Autograph document signed ("GWashington S,C,C"), 1 page (7 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.; 184 x 156 mm) on a leaf of laid paper (watermarked Crown | gr), [Augusta County, Virginia], 16 April 1750, being a survey conducted by Washington for Robert Denton and Francis McBride of "a certain Tract of waste & ungranted Land Situate between their Lines in Augusta Coy. and on the lost River," totalling 244 acres; light spotting at corners, silked repair at lower left corner overlaying portions of a few letters.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

One of the earliest George Washington holographs remaining in private hands, and a fine example of Washington's early hand, written before he modified it to the very stately ductus familiar to collectors. In the month between late March and late April 1750, Washington, who had just turned eighteen, took his compass and chains to the Shenandoah Valley, where he found much business in surveying ungranted lands of Lord Fairfax's Proprietary, which were being claimed by a rapid influx of settlers. During this month, Washington laid out some 47 tracts, a rate of better than one a day—he performed two others on 16 April—charging an average of about £2 3s. for each survey. The surviving surveys of 1750 are the earliest examples of Washington's handwriting that are available to collectors. By 1751, Washington's hand was already moving toward conscious simplification, expansion, and omission of flourishes, and by early 1753 it had achieved its standard and thereafter nearly static form. Only three earlier examples of Washington's hand (all also surveys) are recorded in American Book Prices Current since 1967.

"A surveyor in the wilderness was much more than the word now implies. He was sworn as a government official because, in those unfrequented areas, it was up to him to see that no fraud was done by making surveys larger or smaller than was stated in the deeds, or by laying out land in manners forbidden by the various restrictive laws. On the other side, he served as his employer's agent. When working on a tract already patented, he was an agricultural planner commissioned to divide a large area in the manner that would earn the most money from rent or sale. Or if he were hired to find the land on which to lay out a patent, his role was that of an explorer: he needed to identify and map that acreage which would prove, after the forest had vanished and roads been built and trade begun, the most valuable. Often his duties as an official and the interests of his clients were in conflicts that it took statesmanship to resolve" (James Thomas Flexner, George Washington: The Forge of Experience, pp. 44–45).