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The following is a transcription of a law suit filed by the Carter heirs regarding a land dispute. Edward Garrett figures in the suit. It give a description of how he lived and supported his family. This is eleven pages long.
Maps and Notes Pertaining to the Upper Section of Fauquier County, Virginia by B. Curtis Chappelear, Esq. (Warrenton, VA: The Warrenton Antiquarian Society, 1954)
Part II of the book deals with a case related to old boundary Disputes. The action was brought by Landon Carter and others to clarify certain Carter interests.
Background Information:
Patent from Lord Fairfax to Landon Carter of Lancaster County. June 30, 1731, for 5,487 acres situated lying and being in Prince William County on the upper side of Goose Creek and between two great branches thereof viz,; the upper Beaver Dam branch and Ashby’s Bent branch, the said land being bounded as follows viz;
Beginning at A a chestnut and two white oaks corner trees to a tract of land surveyed for Mr. George Carter S59W 620 poles to B three white oaks by a path or trail leading to Ashby’s Bent on the north east side of the Bent Branch corner to the said George Carter and also to another tract of the said Landon Carter, thence down the branch th several meanders thereof reduced to a straight line S42 # 937 poles, to C a poplar and two Spanish oaks (one marked L. C. standing at the mouth of the branch on the southwest side thereof, another corner tree of the said Landon Carter’s other tract; thence down Goose Creek N85 E, 191 poles; N 53E, 166 poles; N7E, 28 poles; N 341/2 W, 82 poles; Na41 E, 112 poles, crossing a small branch; N 70E, 170 poles; N54E, 26 poles; N84E, 54 poles; N32E, 340 poles to D an oak marked L. C. and a Spanish Oak at the mouth of the upper Beaver Dam Branch thence up the branch N84W, 1,072 poles to the beginning
Copied from the Land Office of Virginia
Granted to Charles Green by deed from the Proprietor’s Office for 1,400.
Beginning at chestnut and two white oaks corner trees to Mr. Landon Carter, George Carter, and John Warner, running thence with the line of John Warner N421/2 E, 248 poles, his corner and corner to Capt. Grayson’s thence Ni9E, 830 poles to the line of Nathaniel brown thence with his line S11E, 320 poles to an ash and Spanish oak marked L. C. on Beaver Dam Branch corner of Mr. Landon Carter’s 5,478 acres tract thence binding with his line N84W to the beginning including a survey of 249 of Edward Garrett’s 1,150 acres
J. V. Fairfax
(G.W.)
From records in Virginia Land Office
Charles Green’s deed to William Violett and John Violett 1,400 acres including a survey of Edward Garrett’s for 249 acres. Beginning at a chestnut and two white oaks corner trees to Mr. Landon Carter, George Carter and John Warner. N 421/2 E, 248 poles, corner to Capt. Grayson’s hence Ni9 E 830 poles to the line of Nathaniel Brown, then S11E, 320 poles to an ash and Spanish Oak marked L. C. on Beaver Dam Branch corner to Landon Carter’s 5,478 acres tract; thence with his line N84W, to the beginning.
March 24, 1763 174 Virginia Currency
Charles Green
Margaret Green
Witnesses
Joseph X Allen
Edward X Violett
Edward X Violett
Henry X. Wingate
Ewell X Violet
Depositions Taken at the store house of Joseph Carr in Upperville in Loudoun County on Friday, the 8th of October 1813
Deposition of Enoch Triplett Friday October 8, 1813
How old are you?
A: I shall be sixty-six next February
Q Are you acquainted with the land which is the subject of dispute between the parties of the suit?
A I have be acquainted with the land a great many years.
Q How long have you been acquainted with the land?
A I was born about a mile from the mouth of Pantherskin Run and was raised there and I lived always about a mile from the mouth of the branch except about four or five years which was between my age of ten and fifteen years and this space of time I lived in Hampshire County. When I returned with my father and ever since I have known the land in dispute.
Q Were you acquainted with a man called Ned Garrett and with the house where he lived near Pantherskin. If yea, how far was it from your father’s house? When did you first know it and what was the state and condition of his settlement when you first knew it/
A When I first knew the settlement of Ned Garrett, his house was old, there was an apple orchard near it which beared fruit and looked to be about fifteen or twenty years old to the best of my recollection now. I cannot tell what quantity of land was cleared but the clearing seemed pretty old. My knowledge was after my return from Hampshire, Garrett’s house was called five miles distance from my father’s.
Q Did you visit Garrett’s house?
A I was there often. I cannot tell how many times.
Q Where were Garrett’s house and settlement situated?
A It was on the south side of Pantherskin and between it and the road to Belhaven which is now called Alexandria and the settlement is the same where Moses Gibson now lives.
Q Do you recall eating apples from Garrett’s orchard while he lived there?
A I make no doubt I did. It is likely it was my principal business there.
Q Do you know whether Garrett made tobacco or corn or how he cultivated the land?
A I do not but suppose he made corn as the only way he could live.
Q Do you recollect a man named Richard Collier and where did he live?
A I do recollect him I do not know where he lived until he moved near us, but it was said he lived some where on the land before he moved nearer to us
Q When Collier moved nearer to you where did he live?
A When he moved nearer to us he lived on the northside of Pantherskin and was there a few years.
Q To whom did Garrett sell and how long ago?
A I am not sure, but I think he sold to Middleton. I do not recollect how long ago, but it was more than forty years ago, and I think it must be fifty. It was said he removed to the southward, but he removed out of these parts and never settled in the neighborhood that I know of.
Q Do you recollect whether there was a mill anciently near where Lewis’ Mill called Clifton is situated? What was the condition of it when you first knew it, and was it on the north or south of Pantherskin?
A There was anciently a small mill on the south side of Pantherskin and about three or four hundred yards up the stream from the present mill called Clifton. I go meal sometimes from it for my father’s family before I was of age and directly after I cam from Hampshire. It was a new mill and I saw it building after I returned from Hampshire.
Q Did you remember anything about what were called Garrett’s race paths. If you do, where they and have you been at races there any time?
A I do remember the race paths called Garrett’s race paths and I have seen races there. They were in the woods then and to the best of my belief, Moses Gibson’s fields now include the place they were in. They were between the Belhaven road and the Pantherskin, and the Belhaven road run ancienty nearly as the present turnpike road to Alexandria runs.
Q How long is it since you know of those race paths?
A I cannot say precisely. It was a great many years ago, upwards of fifty and before I was of age
Q Do you know of cider being set up to be shot for at Garrett’s place?
A I cannot say I do, but suppose it may have been the case. I know it was a great place for cider and there were frequent gatherings of people there and I believe the cider was made there as I know of no other orchard near Garrett’s.
…several more questions and answers then
Q When you first knew Garrett’s settlement were there any other settlements on Pantherskin?
A I do not recollect any other settlements, but I make no doubt Bowles was settled.
And further the deponent sayeth not.
Enoch X Triplett
NOTE: Enoch Triplett was a son of Francis Triplett who patented a tract of land lying on both sides of Goose Creek at the mouth of Pantherskin Run, in the year 1742.
Deposition of Jacob Hays
Q How old are you?
A I was born in the year 1742 on the 8th day of March, and in Maryland.
Q When did you remove from Maryland and to what place and when did you ecome firs acquainted with the land in dispute?
A I moved when a child with my father’s family into the County called Berkly, and for fear of the Indians, my father removed to the Garrett’s place in the year 1756 and I was then about fourteen years old and I lived with my father and his family until the following spring in Garrett’s house, who had a wife.
Q What was the condition of Garrett’s house and settlement when you went to it first?
A The house was made of long, and had a roof of boards or long shingles, nailed and tolerably old. There was an apple orchard of bearing trees.
Q Where did you remove to?
A We moved to a place about three miles from Garrett’s where the widow Moss now lives and stayed there one year. Then we moved to a place or land called George Carter’s a few miles from this town, where we remained two years and they we moved up under the mountain to a place where Fleming now lives and stayed there one year, and them we moved to a place near Thoroughfare Mill on the land of Charles Carter of Corotoman and my father’s family was there till the year 1769. In 1763, I separated from my father and in that year married and went to live in a place above where of the Hintons now lives, where I lived about three years and I removed in the year 1769 to the land of Old Landon Carter and upon his upper tract where I lived till the year 1788 at a tenant to him, for which I paid rent form the first year I settled there in the woods.
Q Were you acquainted with Richard Collier and what sort of business did he follow and do you know whether he lived at any time on the land in dispute?
A I was acquainted with Richard Collier. He was a married man and had a family of children. He was a turner by trade and my father had a wheel of his making and he cultivated some land also. He lived about on mile from Garrett’s on the land in dispute, a little more down the rung than Garrett’s place and on the south side of Panther skin and he was living there in the year 1756 when I first went to Garrett’s.
Q What sort of house had Collier?
A He had a cabin which was a good cabin.
Q Did you see Collier after you left Garrett’s in the yar 1757?
A Yes, I saw him several times afterwards.
Q What makes you remember that it was in the year 1756 that you removed to Garrett’s?
A Because it was the year after Braddock’s defeat when the Indians drove people from the side of the Blue Ridge and it was in the fall of that year we came to Garrett’s which was the first place we rested and took up our abode.
Q Had Garrett any person with him in the winter of 1756 and 1757, but your father’s family?
A He had a little boy, who was there to feed the stock and a crop had been made there by a family in the year 1756, who had fled from the other side of the mountain on account of the Indians.
Q Had Garrett any horses or cows there?
A He had on horse, which he rode. He might have had more, and there were cows there some of which belonged to the family who had gone from thence in 1757, and some no doubt belonged to Garrett. He lived comfortably in regard to provisions.
Q On whose land was Collier living at the time as it was said by people?
A It was called Parson Green’s land as it was said to the best of my knowleged.
Q. Did you hear anybody say at that time that it was Carter’s land where Collier lived?
A I did no hear anybody say iut was.
Question by Demandant’s Counsel:
Q Where there any other settlements on Pantherskin when you first went to Garrett’s besides Collier’s and Garrett’s settlements?
A I really do not remember there was.
Q Do you know that Collier paid rent to any person for the land he lived on?
A I do not know who he paid rent to, whether he paid any or not. It is quite likely he had rent to pay. One might have expected such a thing.
Q Do you know any persons settling on Carter’s land on Goose Creek without his lease or without paying any rent?
A I cannot remember that any did. There were some that he complained he could get no rent out of them, but whether he had granted them leases or not I do no know.
Q Did you father pay any rent to George Carter for the land he lived on?
A I do not recollect for certain that here was any recent paid. I expect there was.
Q Who did you pay rent to for the land which you held on the upper tract?
A To old John Carter , who was collector.
Q Who did you contract with for the land you held?
A With old John Carter.
Q Had Garrett any slaves?
A Not as I know of.
Questions by Tenants’s Attorney Omitted
Deposition of Elizabeth Robertson
Q How old are you?
A I shall be eighty-three in February next.
Q Do you know what the parties in this suit are disputing about?
A I have heard the Carters were at law with those who claimed under Green.
Q Did you know Ned Garrett?
A Yes, I knew him very well.
Q. Where have you been living, and for how long a time were you living in the neighborhood of Garrett’s place and how far was you father’s house from Garrett’s
A My father’s house was about two miles from Ned Garrett’s more up towards the mountain and on the other side of Pantherskin and Garrett’s lease was on this side of that stream, and when my father moved to this place near Pantherskin, I was a young woman nearly twenty or twenty-one years old. I married the next winter an I lived at my father’s and within a quarter of a mile of his house until I had three children and then my husband moved down on Goose Creek and was tenant to Thomas Triplett two years.
Q Were you ever at Ned Garrett’s house?
A I was there two or three times perhaps before I was married and oftener afterwards, while I lived near the mountain. There was an apple orchard of very large trees which bore apples, then and the house was old. Ned Garrett had a wife, who was the sister of my brother John Davis’ wife, when he went to North Carolina and for some years before, but he had no wife when I first knew him.
Q Was there any clearing about Ned Garrett’s house?
A There was, but no great deal, and it was old. I heard it said his father lived there before him and this I heard him say.
Q Who lives now on that place where Garrett settled?
A Moses Gibson lives there. His mother first came to the place with her family of children, and after he death, which I think to the best of my recollection happened while my husband was at the place now occupied by John Violett, party to this suit. I recollect, Moses Gibson, her son took possession.
Q And what condition was the land where John Violett now lives at the time your husband whet upon it?
A It was in woods. My husband cleared the place and built a house on it. My husband bought it of William Allen, who said he had purchased of Green. It went by the name of Green’s land, and I never heard I called Carter’s whose land was on Goose Creek where the Adams and other were living as his tenants. Allen could not make my husband a title and he gave it back to him again.
Q Did you ever know Richard Collier and where did he live?
A When I first knew him, he lived with Ned Garrett and he got affronted and went off a little ways from Garrett’s as I heard it said, but I do no know where. I never went to his habitation. He lived with Garrett before he, Garrett married.
Questions By Demandant’s Counsel:
Q How long did you live on Triplett’s place before you moved to the place where Violett lives?
A My husband made but two crops.
Q How long did you live on the place purchased from Allen?
A He made two crops there also.
Q Was Garrett married before you removed to Triplett’s land?
A Yes
Q When your husband build the house on the place where Violett lives where any other person settled on this side of the Pantherskin except Garrett and Collier?
A George Allen and Daniel Allen lived at the place where Isaac Gibson did live, and James Bowles now lives, at the time I lived under the mountain. On the other side of Allen’s there was a little mill called Isaac Wood’s mill.
Q Was Isaac Wood’s mill built when the Allen’s first moved there?
A O, yes, before that.
Q Did you ever hear Violett say that he had purchased the land from Green?
A. I do no know that I ever did.
Q. Did George and Daniel Allen live on the land before mentioned before Garrett moved away?
A Yes, they did.
Depositions Taken at Joseph Carr’s Store on Saturday, the 9th Day of October 1813
Depositions of John Davis
Q How old are you and how long have you lived in the neighborhood of the land on Pantherskin which is the subject of this dispute?
A I was seventy-six last August, and I have lived from the time I was abut sixteen years of age in the neighborhood of the land in dispute in this suit, except while I was traveling occasionally and except about three years of the last five. I married and settled about tow or three miles on the other side of Pantherskin. I was raised in my father’s family, who was settled near this place ever since I was about sixteen years of age.
Q Do you know what settlements were on this land when you first came into the neighborhood; what was the appearance or condition of such settlements made soon after you came to the neighborhood; where and by whom?
A When I first knew it there was no settlement, but that where Moses Gibson now lives to the best of my knowledge. Ned Garrett was then a young man, and then unsettled. And he let one, Richard Nelson, occupy the house at that place which was old at that time and there were bearing apple trees there. Nelson was an idle man and used the house. He had a wife and children and he did not cultivate any of the land that I know of. There was a little cleared land on the left hand of the road as you go down where the apple trees were standing. Ned Garrett told me his father cleared the land. I never saw his father and I suppose he was dead then, but was well acquainted with Ned Garrett to the best of my knowledge, went to live there after Nelson went away and Ned got married at the time. He lived there till he sold the land to Old Alice Gibson to the best of my knowledge, and that I am very positive of. She lived there from the time possession was taken by her till her death and since her death Moses Gibson lived there.
O How much land was cleared when Mrs. Gibson took possession of it?
A I cannot tell. There was not much I know. I do not think there were as much as twenty or thirty acres. I cannot say whether there were as many as ten. I did not then take notice of such things. Mrs. Gibson built the house where Moses Gibson now lives.
Q Do you recollect Richard Collier and where did he live?
A I remember him. He lived across from Garrett’s some little distance, but I cannot show the place now. There has been such a change in the land, but it was on this side of Pantherskin. He had a wife and children and a cabin. I do not know [that] there was any cleared land about the cabin, but there might have been.
Q Do you believer Richard Collier lived so near the Garrett’s as to be on his land or might it have been on Green’s?
A I do not know, but I rather think it was on Garrett’s, but I am certain it was on the side of the race paths and toward Goose Creek. It was between the race paths and Goose Creek, but I cannot show the spot.
Q Do you remember any cider being drank at Garrett’s by companies of people occasionally and whether it was sometimes shot for?
A I remember there was cider sometimes shot for and drank by companies of people there, some before I was married and sometimes afterwards.
Q Do you recollect on whose land the race paths were said to be?
A It was on Garrett’s. They were called Garrett’s Race Paths. I can show nearly where they were, I believe, but I might be mistaken.
Q Do you remember a man named Josiah Suttle, where was he settled when you first knew him and how long ago?
A I knew Josiah Suttle. He first settled that place to the best of my knowledge, where Stephen McPherson formerly lived, but I cannot say how long it is since he first settled there, nor do I know how much land was cleared while Suttle lived there. After Suttle, Stephen McPherson lived there and after him, his son, James. I do not know who is living there now. Suttle settled the land after I was married. I was married fifty-four years last April. I cannot tell which.
NOTE; Davis born 1737 and married 1758 or 59.
This deposition goes on and establishes that Suttle married on of the daughters of Joseph Allen and other detailed information.
The Deposition of James Cummins was taken. James age was determined to be seventy two.
Deposition of John Dyer
Q How old are you?
A I was eighty-three on the fifteenth of last Mary.
Q Have you any knowledge of the settlement of land in dispute in this cause, if you have, relate what you know?
A. About fifty-two years ago; I cam down with my brother-in-law, John Oldacre, from the other side of the Ridge to buy land. We heard the Allens and Suttle had land to sell, but Mrs. Suttle would not then agree to sell. We then rented the place where Wood’s Mill was for a year, containing about Thirty or forty acres of Ned Garrett for a money rent, but do not remember what sum. I paid the rent. We came down in the spring to make the bargain and to make a crop, and in the fall of same year we went beak to bring our families to this place which we did and staid till the next Spring. I purchased from Daniel Allen his possession before my year was up a week or so, and this possession of Daniel Allen was where James Bowles now lives and I moved there to live and I staid there till I made a couple of crops, after that I moved away and the widow Gibson purchase from me my title, but I had received no deed. The conveyance was made from Daniel Allen to widow Gibson. One had been drawn to me but it was never executed when I purchase the place of Daniel Allen and went upon it. There were about six acres in meadow and there were apple trees there which appeared to have been planted at least fourteen years and bore fruit. Some seemed on the decline. The roof of the house was wretched and leaked in places and the house must have been built before the apple trees were planted. There was cleared land to the amount of twenty-four or twenty-five acres, which I cultivated and which had been cleared before I went there. I cleared four or five in addition to it. I was there till I made two crops and then I removed of the land in dispute.
Q While you were living on this place do you remember drinking cider at an of the neighbors and at what houses and did you see any orchard at Suttle’s?
A When I first came down there was a orchard at Garrett’s and one at Suttle’s and one where McPherson lived and one where James Gibson now lives. The trees were all old enough to bear fruit. In the fall of the year when I lived on Garrett’s land I was at his house by invitation to drink cyder. I found him when I went there making cyder and he made some which we drank. The next day a barrel was to be shot for. During my residence on the land in dispute, I drank cyder at McPherson’s place and at Suttle’s, and where James Gibson now lives. I forgot the name of the man, who lived there at that time.
Q (by Demandant’s Counsel) In what year were you married?
A I do not recollect.
Q (by same) What is the age of your oldest child?
A The oldest one must be about fifty-three. I brought him with me when I moved to Garrett’s then he was a child
Deposition continues
Depossitons Taken at the Home of John Ashby, Sr., in Fauquier County on Thursday, the 7th Day of October 1813
The Deposition of John Ashby, Sr.
Question by demandants. How old are you?
A He was seventy-three years old on the first day of April last old style.
Q How long have you been an inhabitant of the neighborhood where your now live?
A He was married in February 1768, and settled below Goose Creek near where Mrs. Ash lived, where he lived four years—two before he was married and two afterwards; he then removed to his present residence where he has lived ever since.
Q Are you acquainted with the land now in dispute between Messr. Carter and Violett, Carr, and others on the stream called Pantherskin and when did you first become acquainted with that land?
A About two or three years before he was married. He kept a wagon and team and was in the habit of hauling produce to market for his neighbors occasionally and at that time was employed to carry a hogshead of tobacco for a man of the name of Garrett, who lived on the south side of the Pantherskin, a little below where Joseph Carr now lives, to the north of there the turnpike road now runs. He too in the tobacco at Garrett’s and carried it to Falmouth and passed along the present route of the turnpike until he crossed Goose Creek, which was the only time he was at Garrett’s house, When he was a boy his father
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