To the Hon,ble William Gooch

Dublin Core

Title

To the Hon,ble William Gooch

Subject

Petitions--Virginia

Description

Petition to the Lt. Governor of the Virginia colony regarding a land dispute.

Date

1733

Contributor

Wayland, John Walter, 1872-1962.

Rights

Public domain

Relation

The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia by John W. Wayland quotes this document.

Format

20 x 33 cm in a frame 28 x 41 cm

Language

English

Identifier

H Flat File 1:1

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Statement of original ownership and transcription of the document pasted on the back of the document.

Statement of original ownership of this copy:


This petition is not dated, but it is placed in Palmer’s Calendar of Virginia State Papers as belonging to the year 1733, which is probably the correct date.
This copy is the property of John W. Wayland, Harrisonburg, Virginia. It is quoted on pages 35, 36 of Wayland's "The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia," published in 1907, but the names appended are not accurately given. The author at that time had not seen the original or this photostat copy.

Transcription of the handwritten document:

To the Hon,ble William Gooch, Esq. Lieutenant Governor & Commander in Chief of this Colony, And to the Honourable his Majesties Council —

The petition of the Subscribers humbly Shews
That About four years past they purchased five thousand Acres of land of one Jacob Stover & paid him a great Sum of money for the same Amounting to Upwards of four hundred pounds, that yr. petitioners were informed & believed sd. Stover had a good right & title to the said land, that Immediately after the sd. Purchase they sold all their lands & Sevrl other things in the County of Lancaster & Province of Pennsylvania where they then lived & came & Seated on the land they had bought of the sd. Stover, And Cleared Sevrl Plantations & made Great Improvements thereon, Since which they have been Informed that the sd. land (known by the name of Masanutting) is Claimed by one William Beverley Gent, & the sd. Beverley hath brought suit agst. the sd. Stover for the same, in the Honble. the Generall Court.

Yr. Petitioners further Shew that Should the sd. Beverley recover the sd. land that he will turn yr. petrs. out of Doors or Oblige them to give much more for their lands & plantations than they are worth, Which will Intirely ruin yr. peters. And yr. petrs. cannot recover anything again, of the sd. Stover to make them Amends for the Loss of their said Lands, plantations, &c. he being very poor, And Daily Expected to Runaway.

Wherefore yr. Petitioners humbly hope, that as they are not Privy to any fraud done by the sd. Stover in Obtaining the sd. land, & yr. petrs. being Dutchmen & not Acquainted with the laws here concerning lands, & Imagined the sd. Stovers right to be good, & have Run the hazard of their lives & Estates, in removing from Pennsylvania to the sd. land being above two hundred Miles, & at a time when there was very few Inhabitants in them parts of Sherrando & they frequently Visited by the Indians, And at this time yr. peters. have Nine plantations & fifty one people old & Young thereon, & Expect to have two more Familys to seat on the sd. land this Spring (none of which are any of the persons the sd. Stover Swore was on the sd. land, when he obtained the sd. patent, as yr. peters. have been Informed) nor did yr. petrs. hear of the sd. Beverleys claiming the said land, till they had made plantations thereon, And yr. petrs. have also paid his Majesties Quit-rents for the sd. land ever since they bought the sd. Land of the sd. Jacob Stover that Your Honrs. taking all & Singular the premises into yr. Consideration, will be pleased to make such order or Decree therein, that yr. petrs. may Quietly Injoy the said land
And yr. petrs. will ever pray &c.

Abraham Strickler     Hans Rood
Mathias Selzer         Mart Kaufman
Philip Lung
Paul Lung      (All names written in German
Adam Müller          script.)
Michael Reinhart

Tis petition is not dated, but it is placed in Palmer’s Calendar of Virginia State Papers as belonging to the year 1733, which is probably the correct date.

Original Format

broadside

Date Digital

2015-02-20

Digital Format

application/pdf/a