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FREDERICKSBURG'S ORIGINS
and a History of Its Neighborhoods
Chapter 4 of a Series
MID-CENTURY FREDERICKSBURG: 1745-1755
By Paula S. Felder
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The Lower Neighborhood
At the lower end of town was the vital inspection facility and public wharf, now managed by John Allan and Nathaniel Chapman. The tobacco warehouses now spread out over several acres (including the block containing the present high rise building.) The public wharf, where all ships docked and departed, was next to the only ferry crossing in town. William Hunter now ran Willis’ ferry with “a good boat fitting to carry four horses and providing two hands.”
The lower neighborhood enjoyed far more importance and traffic in colonial times than it did after the arrival of free enterprise and independence. It was the transportation center that gave Fredericksburg access to the world.
The Middle of Town
In the center of the town were the public facilities - the courthouse and church - and also the most prominent taverns. Gordon's tavern was the oldest and most popular but there were several others.
The most prestigious, as Henry Willis no doubt intended, was the Long Ordinary on Caroline Street behind the courthouse. It probably housed some of the justices who came from the lower county each month to sit on the court. And it was respectable enough to host a meeting of the parish vestry. The building was lost, probably to fire, before or during the Revolutionary War, and no description has survived.
The Upper Neighborhood
It was in the upper end of the town that an assembly of Scotsmen congregated and socialized at the neighborhood tavern of John Jones, who has the oldest surviving headstone (1752) in St. George’s Cemetery. Some were managers of Glasgow franchises. Some were political refugees from the conflict with England. Hugh Mercer (who came a bit later) and John Sutherland were doctors.
By now, Col. Lewis’ store was established just outside the town line. Young Fielding Lewis and his bride Catharine Washington, a cousin to all the local Washingtons, were in a home of their own nearby. Married in 1746, his wife did not survive the birth of their third child. She died in February 1750, and in May, Fielding married his cousin Betty Washington. |
THE EARLY SCOTTISH ARRIVALS
The end of Henry Willis' era coincided with the arrival of the very first merchants from Scotland, who were now permitted by the Crown to trade with the colonies. The settlement of his estate opened up profitable opportunities for the newcomers and accelerated their assimilation into town life.
John Allan
John Allan, an independent merchant and the earliest arrival, had made his first investment with Willis' himself, purchasing the property at the upper end of town which had been Willis' original base.
In 1741, just a few months before Col. John Lewis purchased the 400 acres next to the town, Allan bought lots 51 and 52 at the town line. There he made his home during a brief career that barely spanned a decade. Allan, with Nathaniel Chapman as partner, bought the tobacco station and the public wharf (which needed repairs) from Willis' estate. Chapman was a manager of the mine at Accokeek.
On the Caroline Street rental properties he had acquired from Willis, Allan attracted new arrivals in the 1740s from Scotland. They would not ascend to leadership roles, but they were certainly colorful individuals who enlivened town life.
William Hunter
William Hunter, a partner in a family firm in Duns, Scotland, had evidently been doing business on the Rappahannock River for several years. But he did not make Fredericksburg his base until 1741, when he bought Willis' tavern and warehouses at the tobacco station for his home and business.
The property remained in the Hunter family for the remainder of the century. Hunter and Allan were not partners, but they seemed to have had complementary strategies. Hunter bought 30 acres of Willis land and sold it in 10-acre parcels, one of which was bought by John Allan, who must be credited with developing Fredericksburg's first suburb.
Although the conservative Spotsylvania justices initially resisted the inclusion of the Scottish merchants, the court grew pressed for manpower, and William Hunter became the first merchant to be accepted into their ranks. Allan was appointed a trustee of Fredericksburg in the seat left empty by Henry Willis' death. Both were accorded the rank of Gentleman.
Charles Dick
Another early arrival (by 1744) was Charles Dick, an able merchant and entrepreneur who had also been doing business in the colony farther down river. Throughout his life, Dick avoided all identification of his lineage, fending off inquiries with witty replies. In his will, he wrote, "Having for Amusement and Conversation only, never declared my Age, Be it known, I was born October 13, 1715." (He was probably descended from a once prominent Scottish family that had been bled to death financially by tributes demanded by rivals to the throne of England.).
Well educated and articulate, he kept his own counsel and worked independently. His outstanding qualifications would certainly have caught the eye of Col. John Lewis, who may have tried to recruit him as manager for the store he had just opened next to the upper end of town about the time that Dick arrived.
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1107 Princess Anne Street
Charles Dick's House
When John Allan died in the spring of 1750, Charles Dick acquired the rest of lot 51 where he already had his store, and also John Allan's home lot (no. 52). Although Dick left some of Allan's buildings standing, he chose to erect a new house for his bride. It was originally one story and faced Caroline Street and his store, which he reached by steep stone steps. The "necessary" and dependencies were on the Princess Anne Street side. The door facing Princess Anne Street is thus the original rear entrance, attractively embellished.
A second story and kitchen were added early in the 19th century. (The Dick house history was researched by the late Jack Johnson.)
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Charles Dick was fifteen years older than young Fielding Lewis, who was destined to join the business when he turned 21; and he would have made an excellent mentor for the young man. But the role would not have appealed to Dick, who was already well established in his own right. It may account, however, for Dick's choice of a store site when he moved to town.
He bought a corner on John Allan's lot, very close to Col. Lewis' new operation, and he was soon a member of the Lewis-Washington family circle. In 1747, Dick and Mrs. Mary Washington were the godparents of Fielding's first child.
Two years later, in 1749, the governor issued a list of additions to the justices' commission for Spotsylvania. It is probably not a coincidence that when the new list was published, Fielding Lewis' name was directly followed by that of Charles Dick. (Col. Lewis, now a member of the powerful Governor's Council, could have had a hand in the nomination.) Since rank by seniority was rigidly practiced, Dick, now accorded the rank of Gentleman, would rise with Lewis, whose gentry status destined him for important roles.
Although he never ran for office, Charles Dick was at Lewis' side throughout their careers, and they worked as a team in county government and in defense activities during the Revolutionary War under formidable circumstances.
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The Neighborhood that Disappeared
Allan Town property had a colorful history for half a century. Then some of the lots were absorbed into the grounds for Federal Hill, built by Robert Brooke in 1792 and later known as Federal Hall. The entrance to the estate was from the County Road.
Allan Town disappeared entirely in 1806 when the Fredericksburg Council sued the large estate owners in the lower part of town to conform to the town grid.
As a result, Hanover Street was extended to cut through the grounds of Federal Hill, leaving the mansion exposed as we see it today. What remains of the county road is an alley behind the houses on the other side of Hanover Street. These houses were once the office and gardens of Federal Hill, and before that, part of Allan Town.
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Other Arrivals
The town population not only grew but diversified. Most of the arrivals were Virginians coming from other parts of the colony to set up in trade.
There were artisans - barbers, blacksmiths, a saddler, a tanner, a wheelwright, and other craftsmen. Since they were rarely property owners, we cannot know their exact locations, but their names are scattered through the court records and are even found advertising in the Virginia Gazette.
Although there were some slaves in the population, they were probably outnumbered by a new element— convict servants whom England was busily exporting. There were also vagabonds (termed “ne’er do wells”) and some women of “ill repute.” There was also more illness and poverty.
These urban problems would raise the responsibilities of the parish vestry for social welfare, and create differences between the conservative church leaders from the south of the county and the rising leaders in the north. Meantime, the court was swamped with suits for debt brought by the merchants; thefts and other crimes committed that required special “called courts;” many suits for assault and trespass; warehouse supervision responsibilities, and tavern regulation duties.
SOME RESIDENTS OF FREDERICKSBURG
Robert Jackson was the first Virginia resident accorded the rank of Gentleman to settle in Fredericksburg as a merchant. His background is obscure, but he was highly regarded. Not wealthy, he was a quiet leader, dispensing much welfare for the poor as the only town vestryman.
Jackson was a very close friend of Augustine Washington, and one of his executors in 1743. He purchased one of Lawrence Washington’s town lots, where he placed his home and business. Today, it is the site of the Visitor Center. (Lawrence moved to his Little Hunting Creek inheritance, which he named Mount Vernon.)
Jackson was also a mentor of Fielding Lewis, and the two shared many tasks for the court and the parish, including renovating the town church in 1756.
William Lynn, "doctor of physick," arrived from elsewhere in the colony in 1743. He resided and practiced at the northeast corner of Caroline and George Street, a half-acre lot that now contains Goolrick's Modern Pharmacy. (And if the instructions in his will were followed, he is buried in his garden there.) Lynn had a short fuse and he also had ambitions to achieve gentry status and a seat on the county court, which were thwarted. He finally achieved some satisfaction by creating the Fredericksburg Independent Company of Foot with himself as a major.
Mary Jones and Elizabeth Jarvis were identified in the court records as women of "ill repute." They were often in court, Jones for selling "spiritous liquors" without a license. Jarvis was once threatened with the ducking stool if she did not post bond for her good behavior. They gave as good as they got and occasionally sued as plaintiffs. Their place of residence is not known.
John Gordon was the epitome of the genial and popular tavern keeper. His widow continued the tavern after his death in 1749. His tavern was included in the prison bounds, ten acres prescribed by the court to allow freedom of movement for the respectable debtors.
Samuel Hilldrup, a tanner and currier, was something of a free spirit. Although he was well connected and married to a Taliaferro, he was frequently sued for debt and finally ended in debtor’s prison in 1754. Finding the prison quarters distasteful, Hilldrup apparently built himself some kind of quarters near the ferry. Astonished, the court promptly reduced the size of the prison bounds. By the third generation, the family was respectably established and owned property on Caroline Street.
John Fox, a wheelwright, was one of the growing artisan class of the town. His brother James Fox, a blacksmith, was murdered by one of his convict servants in 1752.
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