I am sorry to say that I have made a big mistake. One that demands I make right. I know how it happened and will take the time now to rectify this massive oversight. Before explaining this further I want to preface my remarks by mentioning the fact that between William Longmire’s arrival in Virginia and up to his last known entries in the Northern Neck Proprietary Books there are easily over 2,000 entries to wade through. And because I can not use the slide show feature when visually scanning between the Library of Virginia Proprietary entries it is and has been a most laborious task to ascertain exactly when William first began entering deeds and/or grants. I will attempt to lay out the process by which this came about below.

Something just wasn’t sitting right. Since I recently made a post relating to the Augustine Washington survey map dated Nov 1727 and signed by John Warner I had a nagging feeling. I could not rectify in my mind that date and William’s known work for the Proprietary beginning in the summer of 1736. And here I was, about to make another bold claim which would mesh well with a theory I have been working for a couple of years now. I had assumed that this particular survey was a later rendition and was probably Augustine’s attempt to consolidate his land holdings by perfecting the title to same. I had actually run across some historical notations regarding this very topic which used similar wording. And so, I rolled with it. Seemed to make logical sense. I will get around to figuring that part out later and will continue to plod forward in my quest to be like William and upset the historical applecart I told myself. And as I prepared myself for another round of finger calisthenics things began to get weird.

It all really started when I decided to take a gander at another fancy survey map I had run across about 3 years ago. All just part of the due diligence process, if you will. This particular map was dated and signed by John Warner in 1728. However, there was one small problem that emerged when I began to peer at this document. The handwriting and watercolor work was exactly the same as Augustine Washington’s survey. How could this be? Mind you that the Proprietary records for 1732 – 1736 are missing and I was not able to locate any sign of William’s writing in the immediately preceding years of those records. Still, something wasn’t adding up. And in order to square this away before running off to my next post I decided to search even more entries to locate the actual grants which would match up with those surveys.

So, there I was, cruising along through page after page after page of Book B 1726 – 1729 Grants and Surveys and flipped the page from 167 to the next. And what do you think I found? Well, let’s take a look at page 168 below, shall we?

Now that, my friends, is a hell of a thing. A deed written by Wm Longmire in early 1729 for none other than John Warner himself. Well, this sure upsets the applecart. And it also shows that not only was William working for the Proprietary several years before working directly for Lord Fairfax but through Robert “King” Carter as Land Agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary. Notice that the Land Office designation for this deed is Lancaster County. Hmmm, interesting. Something I will address in my next post. Meanwhile, if you dare look further in that same Book B to page 223 you will see that William has written a deed for Robert Carter Jr. Turn a page and you will see that he wrote a deed for the fellow George Washington is supposedly named for, Maj George Eskridge.

I believe that I have uncovered the actual nexus which answers the how and why as to William Longmire eventually ending up in King George County. For years I have said that William’s stint watching the prison was a sign of him running across someone with power and influence and the above seems to validate that, amongst other things I have been digging up as of late.

Over the years I have been throwing some jabs and the occasional body shot while researching and publishing my thoughts on our intrepid hat thief. It’s time to throw the knockout punch.