1813.055: Notice concerning Certain Lots in Richmond by Thomas Taylor.
Published: 1813
Full Title: Notice to the public. At the request of the executrix of the late Col. William Byrd of Westover, it is thought proper to warn the public against the purchase of supposed titles to lots in the city of Richmond, to which the seller can show no legal title derived from the trustees of Col. Byrd … Thomas Taylor. Richmond. December 9, 1813.
Author: Taylor, Thomas, attorney.
Place Issued: Richmond
Issuing Press: Uncertain
Description: 1 sheet [1 pg.]; 37 cm. x 29 cm. (broadside).
Notes
Taylor was a Richmond attorney specializing in property and probate law; here he is seen acting in the tragedy of Col. William Byrd III (1728-1777), son of Richmond's founder, William Byrd II (1674–1744). On his father's death, Byrd inherited extensive real estate at the falls of the James; but then managed to dissipate the family fortune in the ensuing thirty years, and committed suicide on January 1, 1777, as an escape from his troubles; in 1768, he had held a lottery of some of the town's town lots to satisfy his debts, but kept title to a few for himself; with the government's removal to Richmond in 1780, those lots became a source of revenue for his estate to pay off his outstanding debts and support his family; remarkably, the estate was still holding some of those titles 36 years later. Here Taylor warned of fraudulent sales of those lots, and of the estate's intention to sue to retain the income from those properties. Sheet lacks colophon; this item could have issued from any one of Richmond's several press offices, so the indeterminacy here.