Originally published June 27, 2011
I continue to pick my way painstakingly through various records of the settlement of the northern Shenandoah Valley looking for clues that might shed light on the arrival in this area of our oldest known Corder ancestor, Edward Sr. I keep hoping to find some name, some place, some event that might begin to illuminate a path between Edward's arrival in Annapolis MD (1722) to his eventual settlement in northern Virginia (1738).
After his arrest and transport to the colonies (arriving in Annapolis MD in July 1722), he is missing in action until he shows up in then Orange County VA in 1738 as a petitioner for a road to Jost Hite's mill near present-day Winchester. This absence from official records is not wholly unexpected during the period of approximately 1722-1727, as an indentured servant is unlikely to appear in court unless for some misdeed. On the other hand, given Edward's history, perhaps it is surprising that he managed to remain out of sight... But I digress.
Edward is called one of seven original "adventurers" to have settled on the property that Lord Fairfax would eventually (1745) designate as the manor of Greenway Court. Apparently Edward was a good judge of dirt since Fairfax subsequently decided to settle on the property himself, which was of course perfectly within his rights as proprietor. As an interesting aside, Lord Fairfax was the only titled member of the peerage to make his permanent home in the colonies.
Fairfax let Edward stay on the property for a token rent and the promise to make and maintain improvements to the property (which leads me to wonder whether Edward had made none prior to the lease). The rent for the tract of land was one fat Christmas turkey annually, resulting in the property being referred to as "The Turkey Tract." [Photo] According to the terms of the lease, which ran for Edward's lifetime, if the turkey, when delivered, was not sufficiently fat...game over.
And so, here I sit at the library once again, sifting through moldy tomes in the local history room. Brittle pages, smelling faintly of something I can only identify as age, yield a tidbit here, a snippet there. I add them to the timeline, trying to piece together a picture from all of the various oddly-shaped puzzle pieces. You are welcome to download the Excel spreadsheet from Box.net to refer to my notes. Please do NOT redistribute the document -- leave it to others to download the most updated version from Box when interest warrants.
Read more about Lord Fairfax's manors (including the Manors of Leeds and Gooney Run), and learn how the wily old fox protected his hereditary property rights in the event of such acts of God as, oh, say...revolution.
Showing posts with label Edward I. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edward I. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Pinning Down Edward Corder Senior's Arrival in the Shenandoah Valley
Originally published March 15, 2010
I recently came across an interesting article by Mitchell Farish, an employee of the library at the University of Virginia. The first part of his article is of great interest in helping us understand the early settlement of this area of the northern Shenandoah Valley. We should take parts of his information into consideration when we try to pin down Edward Corder's date of arrival here.
Farish writes of the partnership between Jost Hite (a German speculator) and Robert McKay (a Scots Quaker) as they attempted to secure a massive land grant in northern Virginia through the headright settlement system. Their ambitious plan to claim 100,000 acres of land (by "seed[ing] the land with one hundred Pennsylvania families they said were ready to make homes on Virginia's frontier") was harder to realize than they guessed. The headright settlement system allowed a thousand acres of land per family, but by 1735 the pair had only managed to convince 54 heads of household to relocate to the valley, so things weren't going as well as they'd hoped.
Of very great interest to us is Farish's statement that "Before 1732 the Shenandoah Valley had been virtually empty of humans except for wandering Indian hunters and a few Germans on the South Fork." We know that Edward was here by 1738 (when he petitioned for a road to Jost Hite's mill). We know also that he has been called "one of the seven original adventurers" in this area. In the past we have speculated and wondered whether he was part of Hite's settlement, but since Corder was not German, and is called one of seven "original" adventurers, could he have actually have arrived here prior to Hite and McKay's headright settlers? On the other hand, might Edward have been married - possibly to a German woman - and been somehow related to those "few Germans on the South Fork?"
I estimate that Edward's indenture probably expired around 1728. I am guessing that he served his time in Maryland, or possibly Virginia. Pennsylvania seems less likely, but is not out of the question. We have absolutely no idea where he was or what he was doing between 1728 and 1732, but it's possible that he was indeed one of seven very early settlers to arrive on or around that latter date (I would really love to know who the other six were!). I doubt Edward knew (or cared) that the land he was settling on was part of Lord Fairfax's proprietorship, and so it may have come as a surprise when Fairfax arrived from England demanding rents from those who were "squatting" on his land. (Lest I give the wrong impression, Fairfax was by all accounts a very well-liked landlord, and the settlers probably didn't much care whether they paid their quit rents to Williamsburg or Fairfax.)
To be safe, we can estimate Edward's arrival here during a 10-year span (between 1728-1738), or possibly narrow it per the Farish article to a 6-year span (1732-1738). I would imagine (again, relying on the "original seven adventurers" reference, and assuming he pre-dated the arrival of Hite's settlers) to be on the earlier side, more like 1728-1735.
Follow up comment:
Laura Henderson said...
I recently came across an interesting article by Mitchell Farish, an employee of the library at the University of Virginia. The first part of his article is of great interest in helping us understand the early settlement of this area of the northern Shenandoah Valley. We should take parts of his information into consideration when we try to pin down Edward Corder's date of arrival here.
Farish writes of the partnership between Jost Hite (a German speculator) and Robert McKay (a Scots Quaker) as they attempted to secure a massive land grant in northern Virginia through the headright settlement system. Their ambitious plan to claim 100,000 acres of land (by "seed[ing] the land with one hundred Pennsylvania families they said were ready to make homes on Virginia's frontier") was harder to realize than they guessed. The headright settlement system allowed a thousand acres of land per family, but by 1735 the pair had only managed to convince 54 heads of household to relocate to the valley, so things weren't going as well as they'd hoped.
Of very great interest to us is Farish's statement that "Before 1732 the Shenandoah Valley had been virtually empty of humans except for wandering Indian hunters and a few Germans on the South Fork." We know that Edward was here by 1738 (when he petitioned for a road to Jost Hite's mill). We know also that he has been called "one of the seven original adventurers" in this area. In the past we have speculated and wondered whether he was part of Hite's settlement, but since Corder was not German, and is called one of seven "original" adventurers, could he have actually have arrived here prior to Hite and McKay's headright settlers? On the other hand, might Edward have been married - possibly to a German woman - and been somehow related to those "few Germans on the South Fork?"
I estimate that Edward's indenture probably expired around 1728. I am guessing that he served his time in Maryland, or possibly Virginia. Pennsylvania seems less likely, but is not out of the question. We have absolutely no idea where he was or what he was doing between 1728 and 1732, but it's possible that he was indeed one of seven very early settlers to arrive on or around that latter date (I would really love to know who the other six were!). I doubt Edward knew (or cared) that the land he was settling on was part of Lord Fairfax's proprietorship, and so it may have come as a surprise when Fairfax arrived from England demanding rents from those who were "squatting" on his land. (Lest I give the wrong impression, Fairfax was by all accounts a very well-liked landlord, and the settlers probably didn't much care whether they paid their quit rents to Williamsburg or Fairfax.)
To be safe, we can estimate Edward's arrival here during a 10-year span (between 1728-1738), or possibly narrow it per the Farish article to a 6-year span (1732-1738). I would imagine (again, relying on the "original seven adventurers" reference, and assuming he pre-dated the arrival of Hite's settlers) to be on the earlier side, more like 1728-1735.
Follow up comment:
As a follow-up to my entry above, upon further consideration, it seems unlikely to me that Edward was associated with the Hite settlement. Jost Hite became embroiled in a lifelong conflict with Lord Fairfax over property boundaries. Edward was clearly a Fairfax man (reference the generous terms of his lease from Fairfax and the fact that Fairfax sent Edward [or possibly his son and namesake] as part of Geo. Washington's surveying crew), so it seems unlikely that had any allegiance to Hite.
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