Block 34, Lot 181 & 182 Historical ReportOriginally entitled: "Building on Colonial Lots 181 and 182 on North Scotland Street at head of England Street"

Harold R. Shurtleff

1935

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1617
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library

Williamsburg, Virginia

1990

BUILDING ON COLONIAL LOTS 181 and 182
ON NORTH SCOTLAND STREET AT HEAD of ENGLAND STREET.
March 6, 1935.

The colonial lot just east of the Palace had a house or tenement on it, built between 1720 and 1723, but in general the area was set aside for garden or pasture lots. In 1723 Governor Spotswood sold the lot (#175) to Sir John Randolph.

Lots # 176 and 177 (just east of # 175) were owned by Archibald Blair and were used as garden lots. After Blair owned them they were owned by William Robinson, who conveyed them to Peyton Randolph. Lots 178, 179, 180 and 181 (the lots on which the building later stood) were owned by Francis Tyler, Garvin Corbin, William Robinson and later by Peyton Randolph.

At the time of his death in 1775, Peyton Randolph owned the entire parcel of lots and bequeathed them to his widow, Betty. Mrs. Randolph died in 1788, and her estate was advertised for sale, at which time it included "stables to hold twelve horses and room for two carriages, with several acres of pasture ground."

Mr. Charles, in his Recollections of Williamsburg as it was during the War Between the States, stated "...there was to the east of the Palace lot on Scotland Street a big brisk barn and stable, evidently once being a part of the palace equipment. This disappeared years ago."

Research has established that this was not the Palace stable, but was the Randolph stable. There is justification for Mr. Charles' deduction, inasmuch as the building was colonial in construction. The lots 2 on which the stable stood, #180 and 181, are cut by a modern street, but excavation of the area should certainly reseal some trace of the foundations of a brick stable the size of that shown on the various town maps.

Harold R. Shurtleff, Director
Department of Research & Record
By:

H:B:13
Copies to: A.A.S.
P.S.H.
W. R. I.

February 28, 1979
To: Roy Graham
From: Pat Gibbs
Re: Structure at the north end of England Street shown on the Frenchman's Map

My educated guess is that the structure shown at the north end of England Street on the Frenchman's Map is the Peyton Randolph stable, not the Corbin House as noted on Paul Buchanan's February 8th memo to you. Several references to this property appear in my December 1978 report, "Documentary Research on the Peyton Randolph Property (Lots 207 and 237)" requested by and arranged chronologically for Ivor Noel Hume. Paul Buchanan has a copy.

These points support my educated guess:

  • 1.The February 1783 advertisement for the sale at public auction of the "Houses and lots of the late Mrs. Betty Randolph, deceased" mentions "stables to hold twelve horses, and room for two carriages with several acres of pasture ground" [Gibbs, "Documentary Research," Section III, #28].
  • 2.On 21 February 1783 Joseph Hornsby purchased from Betty Randolph's executors the property which Peyton Randolph willed to his wife. The deed clearly indicates that the land was separated into two parcels: (1) lots with the "Tenements, and appurtenances thereunto belonging" bounded by Scotland Street on the north, lots of John Paradise and Lewis Burwell on the east, Market Square on the south, and the tenement of John Blair on the west; and (2) lots numbered "179, 180, 181, 182, 183, and 184 which were conveyed to Peyton Randolph by William Robinson and Elizabeth his Wife of the County of King and Queen, and by Peter Randolph of Wilton in the County of Henrico" [Ibid., III, #30].
  • 3.No deed for the transfer of lots 179-184 to Peyton Randolph appears in the York County records. The deed may have been recorded in the General Court. Unless the stable stood prior to Peyton Randolph's purchase of the lots, we can assume that Randolph had the stable built.
  • 4.The Frenchman's Map, presumably dated the year before the 1783 sale of the property, shows only one structure on the land which 19th-century town plats label lots 179-184. But as you no doubt realize, the map is inconsistent in depicting buildings, particularly outbuildings. For instance, no outbuildings appear behind the Peyton Randolph House, yet a number of outbuildings appear behind the Brush-Everard and other houses. Apparently the cartographer knew some areas of Williamsburg better than others.
  • 5.Less conclusive is the reference in John Charles's 1928 recollections of Williamsburg as it appeared at the beginning of the Civil War. Though he 2 mentions a stable in the area east of the Palace and north of Scotland Street, the reference could as easily refer to the location of the reconstructed Palace stables as to the structure shown on the Frenchman's Map [Ibid., III, #76].
  • 6.My documentary report suggests the possibility that John Randolph's stable was located on lot 177. In 1770 Peyton Randolph sold lots 175-177 to Thomas Everard. As no York County record of Peyton Randolph's having bought the lots exists, these lots may have been among the Williamsburg lots which John Randolph willed to his son Peyton [Ibid., II, #9-12].

The early history of lots 178-181 is clearly traceable. The Corbin House (built before 1739) stood on one of these lots, but documentary evidence does not indicate which lot or how long the house survived. References to the house are confined to its mention in Gawin Corbin's will (cited below) and William Byrd II's 1739-1741 diary entries which indicate visits to the house of Benjamin and Alice Needler.

  • 1.On 16 May 1717 the Trustees of Williamsburg conveyed lots 178-181 to Francis Tyler of York County for £3 sterling. This deed included the usual clause requiring that within twenty-four months a dwelling be built on each lot according to the 1705 act for building the Capitol and the city of Williamsburg [York County Deeds and Bonds III, 163-164].
  • 2.On 14 December 1720 Francis Tyler of York County conveyed lots 178-181 with all "houses, edifices, buildings, yards Gardens" to Gawin Corbin of Middlesex County for £120 sterling [Ibid., 345].
  • 3.By his will (dated 1 November 1739; probated 12 February 1744) Gawin Corbin gave his "Daughter Alice Needler my house and four lotts in the City of Wmsburgh which I bought of Frances Tyler & lies Adjoyning to some part of the Govrs. Pasture & my Lady Randolphs stable [Gibbs, "Documentary Research," II, #9].

Ownership of lot 178 after about 1744 is unclear. The 1783 deed cited earlier does not list lot 178 as one of the lots formerly owned by Peyton Randolph but 19th-century town plats indicate Peachy family ownership of lots 178-185, as well as lots 232-237 and 207-208 [detail of plat attached].

Bridging the gap in records between Corbin's will and Peyton Randolph's purchase of some of these lots from William and Elizabeth Robinson of King and Queen County requires speculation and should be considered as such. According to a Robinson family genealogy, William Robinson (born 1716; died 1767 or 1768) married a daughter (probably named Alice) of Benjamin Needler of King and Queen County, and his wife Alice, daughter of Gawin Corbin [Virginia Magazine 17 (1909), 207-208]. If the Needler's daughter was named Elizabeth, rather than the questioned Alice, then it is possible that Benjamin Needler willed the house and lots 178-181 to his daughter, who, with her husband, later sold the property to Peyton Randolph. Neither the King and Queen County records, where Benjamin Needler's will would have been recorded, nor the General Court records, where the deed between the Robinsons and Peyton Randolph may have been recorded, have survived.

However, documentary evidence does clear up another case of mistaken identity in your department file on the so-called Corbin House. Paul Buchanan 3 showed me a note provided by Mrs. Kocher from her husband's personal files which identified the structure at the north end of England Street as the De Graffenried House. On 18 February 1720 John Davis sold lot 175 "with all houses, Yards, Gardens" to Christopher De Graffenried for £5 Virginia money [York County Deeds and Bonds, III, 344]. The date De Graffenried sold this lot is unknown, but we know that he owned lot 47 from 1722 to 1728 [ibid., 384-386 and 483-484].

I hope this involved reply satisfactorily answers your brief note to Cary Carson regarding the Corbin House.

P. G.

Attachment

Detail of Plat [Detail of Plat]