WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph document signed ("G:Washington"), Frederick County, Virginia, 12 April 1751.

One page, 307 x 202mm (laid into a larger sheet, loss at top left not affecting text, partial fold separations).

A very early autograph survey by a nineteen-year old Washington conducted "for Roger Parke of Frederick County," for a "tract of waste Land," on banks of the Cacapon River, with a line drawing above the written description of the 351 acre tract "Beginning at two Chestnut Oaks and a Pine in very hilly ground corner to Darby McKeaver jur. And extended with his lines No 53 W. Two hundd. And thirty perches to two black Oaks on the Creekside thence down the sd. Creek N^o 37 & sixty poles to a hickory and black Oak thence xing the s^d creek No 53 W Seventy poles to a red Oak and pine bog: Cr to sd. McKeavr thence No 30 e One Hund^d. And forty six poles to a large chesnut Oak on the side of each Corner to William Naler thence with his Line S^o 57^o E Two hundd. And sixty poles toward Oak black Oak and hic[kor]y Saplins [(e.g. saplings?)] his Dr. on the point of a ridge finally S^o 22 W. laying the creek at 116 po a little below a Fall / Two hund^d. and thirty poles to the Beg. Cons[istin]g Three hundd^d. and fifty one acres this 12^th of Ap^l. 1751."

Washington prepared his first surveys at age sixteen in his schoolbooks before joining George William Fairfax and Prince William County's surveyor, James Genn, on a month-long trip across the Blue Ridge Mountains to survey property for Thomas, Lord Fairfax where he mastered the art and secured an appointment as surveyor for Culpeper County, Virginia. Over the course of his career, he produced nearly 200 surveys, but only seventy-five remain extant today. See Philander Chase, "A Stake in the West: George Washington As Backcountry Surveyor and Landholder," in Warren Hofstra, ed., George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry (Madison, Wis.: Madison House Publishers, 1998), p. 161.