Working Title: District of Columbia Land Records, 1791-1798 (MS 0788)
Content: The Society received a donation of more than thirty original documents primarily relating to the division of properties, 1795-1798, prior to the federal capital’s official move from its temporary Philadelphia home. The donation includes an estimate of lots along the southwest of Massachusetts Avenue, signed by assistant surveyor James Dermott in 1795, and a 1796 memorandum of the division of squares between original proprietor Daniel Carroll of Duddington and the Commissioners showing which lots remained in his possession and which were ceded to the public. While occasionally signed, these documents do not contain seals; some appear to be drafts. Other notable names found in the documents include Notley Young, William Prout and James Greenleaf.
The donation also included a rare map showing the location of a square granted to “her most faithful Majesty the Queen of Portugal for the use of her Ministers near the United States of America.”
This map (M 0577) and the other rare materials join deeds, bills of sale, and letters in the Society’s manuscript collections concerning the early days of land purchase and distribution in Washington, D.C.
Status: Processed.
Background: When President George Washington chose a site between the existing small port cities of Alexandria and Georgetown for the permanent capital, he appointed Daniel Carroll of Rock Creek, Thomas Johnson, and David Stuart to serve as Commissioners tasked with surveying the land and negotiating a public-private division of property.
The map of the Queen of Portugal Square is evidence of a short-lived 1798 experiment by the Commissioners to strengthen ties with foreign powers by deeding land to them. The offer was rescinded in 1799 due to the question of whether the gift of land was within Washington’s powers, or if it needed an act of Congress.
