Thursday, November 14, 2013

Treasure Chest Thursday ~ Frederick Rivers, 1797 Land Deed




Today’s posting is a 1797 Land Deed between Frederick Rivers and his brother William Rivers.  My first exposure to the 1797 Land Deed was a handwritten copy belonging to a dear friend and cousin while stationed in Ogden, Utah back in the 1980’s with the Air Force. Later, I found a copy of this deed in a file while doing research on the Rivers.1 The land deed is 3 pages long (typewritten)  and basically is transferring land from Frederick Rivers to William Rivers. 

Frederick Rivers for the sum of Fifty [50] pounds lawful sterling hereby transfer to William Rivers and his heirs a tract of land consisting of three hundred and Fifty [350] acres it being part of a tract of one thousand acres granted unto the said Frederick Rivers on the sixth day of November in
the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty six. Situate and being in Chesterfield County on Abrams Creek and is bound by Gilbert Purvis land Druery Lunday's land Peter Hays land Barnebe Wells land John Frantain land and Mark Rivers land being land sold by the said Frederick Rivers to the aforesaid persons out of the aforesaid two tracts or plantations of land.


These three Rivers men are believed to be brothers. It is not known who did the transcription of the original deed nor when it took place.

1797 Land Deed Hand Written Transcription

Tip of the Day:
If someone else does a transcription of a deed or document, VERIFY that the transcription is ACCURATE. This hand written transcription had SKIPPED an entire paragraph in the original Deed.

For almost 30 years the location of the original Land Deed was unknown; that is until  last month. The owner of the original Land Deed is now known. A copy of that deed was graciously given to me by the owner.
I have included the top portion of the deed2 here:

Actual Document 1797 Land Deed

Over the past 30 years I have many times thought that this deed no longer existed. Oftentimes, I wondered if it ever existed. Those doubt have now been put aside.  Rather than answering question, the deeds has generated questions; questions that may never be answered due to loss of records from this area during the Civil War. 






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[1] Privately held Rivers documents.
[2] Land Deed, in 1797 Land Deed - Frederick Rivers to William Rivers, 11 January 1797, privately held by [name and address for private use], North Carolina, 2013.

3 comments:

  1. The 1790 Census their are (TWO) William Rivers. one name appears next to the name of Thomas Davis and the other appears two names above Gilbert Purvis. I did not see Frederick Rivers on the same census pages. To me this suggest that one of these (William Rivers) is the brother of Nancy Rivers and the other is probably her father.

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  2. Gary and Charlie, are you aware of other evidence that supports that the two William Rivers who appear on the 1790 Census -- the one next to Thomas Davis's name and the one two names above Gilbert Purvis's name -- are the brother and father of Nancy Rivers? There are so many Williams in the Rivers tree that I can see, on the Joseph D. Rivers Pedigree Charts. I've been looking for a Nancy Rivers with a father William or a brother William, but I haven't found her name yet in the charts.

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  3. One of the William Rivers(25 Feb 1776-7 June 1855) in the Census is William that married Elizabeth 'Betsey' Rivers. They are the parents of Hulda Rivers that married Michael Davis. No one know who the parents of Nancy Rivers wife of Thomas Davis.

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