A New Berkeley County, Virginia Record Strengthens the Case for Thomas Kirk's Origins

For more than a decade, I've been trying to answer a simple question:

Was my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk (1778–1846) really a son of Joseph Kirk of Berkeley County, Virginia?

The evidence has steadily accumulated over the years:

• Thomas Kirk is buried in the same small family cemetery in Licking County, Ohio as Mary (Kirk) Geiger (1774-1832) and John Beard, husband of Margaret (Kirk) Beard.
• Descendants of Thomas and Mary are genetic matches, supporting the theory that the two were closely related (likely siblings).
• Children of both Thomas and Mary later reported their parents were born in Virginia.
• Family history recorded by Mary's grandson identified her as a daughter of Joseph and Sarah Kirk of Berkeley County, Virginia, with two brothers and one sister.
• Records confirm that a Joseph Kirk lived in Berkeley County and, together with his brother John, leased a 100-acre farm from George William Fairfax in 1773.
• After Joseph's death in about 1784, we confirmed his widow was named Sarah as she appeared in Berkeley County tax, land, and court records for nearly two decades.
• In 1796, an unnamed adult male appeared in Sarah's household on the tax list, consistent with a son reaching adulthood (maybe our first glimpse of Thomas in Berkeley County).
• Until now, the earliest known record naming Thomas himself was a 1799 tax list in Brooke County, Virginia, where he later married Sarah Bonar.
• Thomas subsequently settled in Licking County, Ohio, following migration patterns seen among other members of the extended Kirk family, including his sister Mary and likely uncle John Beard.

But one problem has always remained:

Thomas himself was largely invisible in Berkeley County.

Until now.

Recently, while reviewing a digitized collection of Virginia legislative petitions on FamilySearch, I found what may be the first record to name and place Thomas Kirk himself in Berkeley County during his youth.

In a petition drafted by members of the 55th Regiment of Virginia's Militia in Berkeley County, they protested a law exempting Quakers and Mennonites (who were pacifists) from militia service while requiring others to serve in their place. They asked Virginia's General Assembly to repeal the act because it was "painful to our feelings, and evidently tends to destroy the harmony of neighbourhoods (sic), and prevent the furtherance of military discipline." The petition was adopted at militia musters held in October 1796 with Major Henry Bedinger (a neighbor of the Kirks) the lead signatory for the 55th Regiment's 1st Battalion.

Petition by the 55th Regiment of Virginia's Militia protesting militia
service exemptions for Berkeley County's Quakers and Menonists

Among the names appears:

"Thos. Kirk"

If this is my Thomas (and I believe it likely is) it places him in Berkeley County at age 18, exactly where I would expect him to be before his move to Brooke County in 1799. It also suggests that he was affiliated with the county's militia. Prior to this record, there was no evidence that he had ever served in armed forces.

Importantly, I have found no evidence of any other Thomas Kirk living in Berkeley County during this period. The surviving records of the 1770s, 1780s, and 1790s identify several other members of the Kirk family, including Joseph Kirk, widow Sarah Kirk, and Joseph's brother John Kirk, but no competing Thomas Kirk has emerged from the documentary record. While that does not prove the identity of the signer, it strengthens the argument that the "Thos. Kirk" appearing on this petition is the same Thomas Kirk who later settled in Ohio and is believed to have been a brother of Mary (Kirk) Geiger.

What makes the discovery even more remarkable is how it was found.

FamilySearch's AI-powered handwriting recognition has revolutionized the search for ancestors hidden in handwritten manuscript collections. Yet in this case, the technology completely missed the record. The AI transcribed the surname as "Kerk" rather than "Kirk," so searches for the Kirk surname returned nothing. The entry only came to light because I manually reviewed the images page by page.

It's a reminder that while technology is opening new doors for genealogists, it can still overlook important clues. Also, always search for name variants!

The discovery prompted me to explore other Berkeley County petitions from the same period.

Interestingly, Thomas was not the only future member of the Kirk family to appear in these legislative records, which revealed that Thomas was not the only member of the Kirk family to appear in these legislative records.

A second Berkeley County petition concerning the same controversy over militia service exemptions for Quakers and Mennonites was submitted to the Virginia General Assembly the following year. Unlike the 1796 petition, which originated with Berkeley County's militia, this petition was subscribed more broadly by county residents.

Among the signers was Anthony Geiger, the husband of Thomas's sister Mary.

Anthony and Mary would marry in Berkeley County on September 26, 1797, with John Beard, husband of Margaret (Kirk) Beard, serving as bondsman.

The petition also contains many familiar names that appear throughout Kirk research, including members of the Bedinger, Tabler, Painter, and Roush families. These are the same families who appear repeatedly in the records surrounding Joseph Kirk, widow Sarah Kirk, and the Fairfax leasehold.

Taken together, these petitions provide something larger than a few scattered names.

They offer a rare glimpse into the active citizenry of Berkeley County in the 1790s. They show Thomas Kirk, Anthony Geiger, and their neighbors participating in public affairs at precisely the time these families were establishing the connections that would eventually carry them west to Ohio.

Rather than isolated individuals appearing sporadically in tax lists and land records, we begin to see them as members of a real community.

For me, however, the headline is Thomas. The discovery of new records that name him is rare.

After years of reconstructing his early life through the records of parents, siblings, neighbors, tax lists, land records, and family traditions, I may finally have a document created during his lifetime that names and places Thomas Kirk himself in Berkeley County before his migration west.

A single abbreviated name—"Thos. Kirk"—may not seem like much.

But for researchers like me who have spent years trying to understand Thomas's origins, it is one of the most significant Kirk discoveries I've made in a long time.

Dueling 18th Century Virginia Land Plats

I really ought to learn to leave well enough alone, but some genealogy questions just persist and gnaw at you.

It's like the question itself is a fiendish parasite deriving a sinister thrill from the torment of obfuscating every effort to find the truth.

You pick at loose threads hoping to unravel the tightly-wound mystery. Sometimes you luck out, yet other times you come up empty-handed, frustrated, tears rolling down your check, anguished guttural cries into the dark abyss.

That's how I feel about my efforts to locate George William Fairfax's 1700-acre tract of land colloquially known as Poplar Spring.

Fairfax was a member of the landed gentry of Colonial Virginia who was a contemporary and friend of George Washington and owned vast amounts of land in Virginia's Northern Neck, including the elusive Poplar Spring.

Located in modern-day Berkeley County, West Virginia, I've had little success in identifying the exact location of the Poplar Spring property where my suspected sixth great-grandparents Joseph and Sarah Kirk leased 100 acres for 25 years between 1773 and 1798.

What telltale clues would surface during a review of surviving land records?

Two Competing Land Plats

In November 2018, I spent hours in the Family History Library trawling through land deeds for Berkeley and Frederick counties (Berkeley was carved from Frederick County, Virginia in 1772).

I discovered not one but two land surveys conducted by Thomas Rutherford. I knew immediately that he was important to my research because several of the Poplar Spring land transactions that I had previously reviewed cited a survey conducted by Rutherford.

Was this it? Was I looking at Poplar Spring?

A few items initially grabbed my attention about the two maps:

• Both surveys were conducted for George William Fairfax (proprietor of the lands in Virginia's Northern Neck and owner of the Poplar Spring tract);
• Both surveys were conducted by Rutherford on February 20, 1763 (the surveyor cited in later Poplar Spring transactions and surveyed before the 1773 lease by the Kirk family); and
• At a glance, both surveys appeared to survey the same land but with a 600-acre discrepancy between them (one covering 2,680 acres and the second 2,080 acres).

---

2680 Acres

Rutherford's 2680-acre map, "surveyed for George William Fairfax Esq.," examined "a parcel of land lying at the dry marsh on the drains of [the] Opequon, including the place which formerly belong to Nicholas Mercer in Frederick County." The survey name drops each of the men whose land borders the property mapped for Fairfax. In total, I counted 12 individuals:

1. Samuel Littler
2. Robert Milburn (deceased)
3. Peter Falkner (deceased)
4. Joseph Parrell 
5. Richard Calbert
6. Benjamin Blackburn
7. Captain Angus McDonald
8. McMachen men: William, John, and Rush
9. George Hollingsworth
10. James Wright
11. Josiah Ballinger
12. John Nickland

---

2080 Acres

Rutherford's 2080-acre map, also "surveyed for George William Fairfax Esq," examined a "parcel of land lying at the dry marsh one of the drains of Opequon, including an improvement which formerly belonged to Nicholas Mercer in Frederick County." This survey also named men whose property bordered Fairfax's land. But this time I counted 13 individuals: 

1. Samuel Littler
2. Andrew Milburns, late survey of a 200 assigned to Thomas McClane a major (illegible)
3. The heirs of Roger/Robert Milburn
4. Formerly Peter Falkner
5. Joseph Parcell
6. Richard Calbert
7. Benjamin Blackburn
8. Captain Angus McDonald
9. Henry Hath
10. William McMachen 
11. David Brown
12. Mr. Charles Dick, late survey 400 acres taken off
13. The heirs of John Nickland

Curiously, two men are associated with acreage: Andrew Milburns (200 acres) and Charles Dick (400 acres). In total, that's the 600-acre difference between the two maps. Although I'm unclear why they're "taken off" the survey. 

Bottom line, the border contours and matching names of the neighboring property owners indicate that both maps plat the same area but one includes the combined 600 acres of Milburns and Dick while the other has them "taken off".

---

What can I learn from these men that might help me pinpoint the location of the Fairfax land on a modern-day map?

Of course, I could trace land ownership forward in time beginning after the February 20, 1763 survey and see whether any names match neighbors of the Poplar Spring tracts.

Any names that match Poplar Spring ownership would help verify that the above maps encompassed the land where Joseph Kirk lived.

Unfortunately, this search needs to wait until I'm next in the Family History Library since the digitized Frederick County land records are only viewable in a Family History research center or library. It's a time-consuming, tedious research undertaking, but there certainly seems to be promising rewards.

West Virginia Family History Road Trip In Search of Colonial Roots

The Thanksgiving holiday afforded me some time to escape to West Virginia for a quick family history road trip.

Mounting evidence is coalescing around the theory that Joseph and Sarah Kirk were the parents of my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk (1778-1846).

Joseph first appeared in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in April 1773 when he leased 100 acres from George William Fairfax, a friend of George Washington and proprietor for thousands of acres in Virginia's Northern Neck.

Joseph's parcel was part of a larger 1,700-acre tract of land called Poplar Spring.

Mapping the location of his 100 acres proved quite challenging. The lease's land descriptions detailed borders anchored to trees and hills. There were no GPS coordinates that would allow me to pull up the property's boundaries on Google Maps.

I was getting tired of sifting through centuries-old records for the faintest of clues as to the farm's location. I wanted to go to Berkeley County and get a feel for the area. Maybe I'd be lucky and make new discoveries leading me to the farm's location.

Berkeley County, (West) Virginia in the age of Joseph Kirk

Less than two hours northwest of Washington, DC, it was an easy road trip to make. Beginning in Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia (the county from which Berkeley was formed in 1772), I drove along Highway 11 - the old Winchester Road that existed in Joseph's day - north towards Martinsburg, Berkeley's county seat.

Old Town Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia

Entering Berkeley County, West Virginia along Highway 11
The Winchester Road dates to the 1700's

Driving on the same road that Joseph Kirk may have traveled on - albeit paved and using a much different mode of transport - was like traveling back in time. I could imagine men on horseback and with wagons making the journey to and from Winchester.

Once in Berkeley, I visited two historical sites to see the types of homes that existed during Joseph's era. One, a rustic log cabin, dated to the 1730's and used throughout the century, illustrated how early settlers in the Virginia county would have lived.  

The second, a stone home belonging to Adam Stephen, the founder of Martinsburg and an American Revolutionary War general, showed how wood-hewn structures were replaced by limestone. Built between 1782 and 1789 on the outskirts of Martinsburg, it's very like that Joseph Kirk would have seen this home.

Where did Joseph Kirk Live?

The question remained: where was Joseph's l00-acre farm located?

George William Fairfax's will, filed in England, included a small additional clue as to the location of the 1700-acre Poplar Spring tract: "...near the Opequon..." Indeed a small clue.

Excerpt of George William Fairfax, bequeathing the Poplar Spring tract

During last weekend's research stint in the Family History Library, I discovered a land survey conducted by Thomas Rutherford and dated February 20, 1763 that plotted 2,680 acres belonging to George William Fairfax. Was the Poplar Spring tract part of this acreage? Several of the Poplar Spring land transactions cited a survey conducted by Rutherford.

Survey of 2,680 acres belonging to George William Fairfax

I was struck by the appearance of the Winchester Road cutting through the property (right side of the survey) and the identification of the Big Spring with the waterway flowing west. 

The Big Spring is still on the east side of the Winchester Road (Highway 11) just across the street from Fort Evans. The flowing waterway is known today as Evans Run. 

Fort Evans, a two-story stone structure, was built in the mid-1700's by John Evans. John Evans was a nearby neighbor of Joseph Kirk. No doubt Joseph would have seen - maybe even been inside Fort Evans - which today is a private residence.

Boundary Similarities

At the Berkeley County Library in Martinsburg, I found a published genealogy on the Evans family. It included a sketch of the land owned by brothers John and Isaac Evans.

The sketch of the Evans' land included the Big Spring and the Winchester Road (Highway 11) both of which appeared on Rutherford's 1763 survey of Fairfax's land. 

Examining the contours of the Evans' land boundaries, I immediately thought of the Poplar Spring tracts that I had previously platted. Note the northern border of Isaac Evans plot above with the contour of his plot below. The resemblance is striking. But the land ownership dates conflict. I suspect the plots sketched above (with ownership dating to the 1750's) are to the east of the plots sketched below (with ownership dating to the 1770's).

From the published Evans family history, I learned that a gentleman named Galtjo Geertsema platted many of Berkeley County's early land records. Many of these records are now held in the Berkeley County Historical Society (which was closed during my road trip). I'll need to make inquiries to learn what answers those records may hold.

In the meantime, I followed Evans Run and imagined the land without its modern housing developments. I drove around a forest of trees that survive around the waters of Evans Run. From a southern vantage point looking north, I gained a glimpse of what the raw territory might have looked like when Joseph Kirk was a farmer in the area.

It's a beautiful landscape and slowly giving way to my Kirk family history. I'm already looking forward to my next visit and any new pieces of the puzzle that I might uncover.

Tracing Ownership of a Colonial Virginia Farm

Using my fledgling geometry skills, I recently translated a bewildering 18th century land description, and platted the 100 acres in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia that the Honorable George William Fairfax leased to a farmer named Joseph Kirk - my maybe sixth great-grandfather.

However, my attempts to pinpoint the property's location on a modern map hit repeated brick walls.

Can You Tell Me How To Get To Joseph Kirk's?

The April 1773 land lease recorded in Berkely County between George William Fairfax and Joseph Kirk detailed physical features of the farm's corners, the degree of each corner's angle, and the length of the subsequent border (measured in poles).

For example, one of the corners of Joseph's leased farm began "...at a stake near a black oak, white oak, and hickory, and near a corner of Joseph Evans and Michael Close..." From that corner of the property, the border extended "...thence with Close's line N55.30W one hundred and nineteen poles between a hickory and a black oak on a hill side..."

The specificity of the degree of the angles and the length of the property line guided me in drafting a beautiful box that matched the boundaries of Joseph Kirk's farm, but it provided little that could anchor the 100 acres to a map.

A member of the West Virginia Genealogy Network recommended that I "Try locating a water course in this or neighboring properties."

Fortunately, two of Joseph's neighbors were named in the boundary description: Joseph Evans and Michael Close. Both men had also leased land from George William Fairfax. All of these men leased acreage that was part of a larger tract of land called Poplar Spring. In total, the tract covered an estimated 1,700 acres in the Parish of Norborne, Berkeley County, (West) Virginia.

Over the course of some very tedious hours, I identified more of Joseph's neighbors and platted 956 of the 1,700 acres. Frustratingly, there were no water courses running through any of those properties.

I was stumped.

Without any known digitized maps or surveys of the Poplar Spring tract, I turned again to Joseph's deed to see whether I overlooked any clues.

A Land Lease With Settlement Requirements

Buried in the four-page lease were some exacting requirements of Joseph Kirk (and the other men settling in Poplar Spring).

April 1773 Land Lease, Berkeley County,
Between George William Fairfax and Joseph Kirk

Joseph was required "...within two years after the date..." of the lease to "plant upon the domised premises one hundred good apple trees and peach trees at least thirty feet distance from each other and the same will inclose with a good sufficient and lawful fence and keep them all well pruned..."

I knew that Joseph's farm produced wheat because he was required in 1781 by local authorities to provide six bushels and a half to colonial militias during the American Revolutionary War. Now I learned that Joseph's farm also included an orchard of apple and peach trees.

But that wasn't all that was required of Joseph.

The lease further stipulated that he had to "...erect and build a good dwelling house twenty feet by sixteen and barn twenty feet square after the manner of Virginia building..."

I was curious about the manner of Virginia building. I envisioned Jefferson's Monticello. However, on a much smaller scale. If those stipulated dimensions held true to the final structure, a 20' x 16' home was only 320 square feet. Now insert Joseph and his wife Sarah and their children. That's a tight squeeze!

Key takeaway? I was looking for a plot of land that had a home, barn, orchard, wheat field, and was all enclosed with a sufficient and lawful fence. At least by 1775 anyway. Would any of those features survive today? Doubtful. Although it might be possible to discern old boundaries with an aerial view on Google Maps.

Who Got the Kirk Family Farm?

What if I took a different approach and gave Joseph's 100-acre farm some genealogy treatment?

Could I trace ownership forward in time in the hopes that future land deeds would provide better coordinates that would help me identify the property on a current map?

The Poplar Spring tract of 1,700 acres was undergoing changes in ownership. George William Fairfax, the proprietor of Virginia's Northern Neck territory who originally leased 100 acres to Joseph Kirk, had inherited the land from his predecessor by a proprietary deed dated December 10, 1751. George William Fairfax in turn bequeathed the property to his nephew William Lee on July 6, 1780 in his will recorded in the general court office. I don't currently know in which county(ies) either the deed or the will were filed, but I'm on the hunt since they may include details about the Poplar Spring tract's precise location and possibly its tenants.

On October 25, 1794, William Lee sold the Poplar Spring tract to Ferdinando Fairfax, an heir to Virginia's Northern Neck Proprietary. For £1,725, Ferdinando purchased "...a certain tract of land in the said County of Berkeley called and known by the name of Poplar Spring except so much thereof as was formerly sold and conveyed to James Strode and Isaac Evans by George William Fairfax..."

October 1794 Land Deed, Frederick County Superior Court,
Between William Lee and Ferdinando Fairfax

During the changes of ownership, Joseph Kirk continued to lease his 100 acres until his death in about 1784. His widow, Sarah, then lived on the farm through at least April 1797. By the next year, though, things would change.

On September 7, 1798, Ferdinando sold both the Kirk and neighboring Close farms for $4,320 to Nicholas Roush. Aside from providing a new plot description of the combined farms (consisting of 270 acres), this deed provided the first solid clue about the land's location, stating that it was "...situated about three miles from the said Town of Martinsburg..."

1798 Berkeley County land deed; Ferdinand Fairfax leases Joseph Kirk
and Michael Close farms to Nicholas Roush

The new boundary descriptions of the combined farms were based on "...a private survey thereof made by W. David Hunter in April 1797..." Where was this survey, which was mapped when Sarah Kirk still lived on the land? Was it entered into the court record? I have yet to find it.

Using Tract Plotter (a fantastic free resource for genealogists needing to plat land), I drafted the shape of the combined Kirk and Close farms. Perhaps these new boundary measurements would be helpful in tracing the property forward in time.

Tract Plotter illustration of combined Kirk and Close farms - 207 acres

The same day that the Kirk farm was sold, Nicholas Roush turned around and sold to Ferdinando Fairfax lot 114 in the town of Martinsburg in Berkeley County for $2,000. An apparent quid pro quo that confirmed that the Kirks were off the farm and out of the picture.

1779 Martinsburg, Virginia Plat with Lot 114 in red detail

How long did Nicholas Roush hold on to the now combined Kirk and Close farms? When and to whom did he sell it?

Knots of Despair

Following Nicholas Roush’s purchase of the Kirk and Close farms in 1798, he was recorded in Berkeley County as a grantor for six subsequent land transactions spanning the years 1802 to 1811.

Most of the deeds of sale were for lots he owned in the town of Martinsburg. None were for the former Kirk land.

In 1816, an entry in the general index for Berkeley County's deeds recorded that there was a division of Nicholas Roush's lands. He must have died and his real estate was divided among his heirs. With no record of it having been sold since its purchase in 1798, the Kirk land was presumably still among Roush's holdings. Was it doled out to one of his heirs?

To my great misfortune, the deed book for much of 1816 - number 28 - was lost! Missing from the courthouse, it had never been microfilmed or digitized. Only the index survived to taunt me.

Berkeley County Index to Land Deeds, Book 28 Lost

The original deed likely included detailed descriptions of the property's provenance (naming all prior owners and the dates of each subsequent acquisition), possibly more accurate wayfinding coordinates, as well as how the land was divided among the heirs and the name(s) of who inherited which parts. All of this valuable information was lost and I was no closer to finding Joseph Kirk's farm.

What did my genealogy possibly lose? Maybe mention of Joseph Kirk or his widow Sarah Kirk. Maybe even the names of their heirs who lived on the farm with Sarah. I was left with a knot in my stomach.

Perhaps Nicholas Roush's probate package included the details recorded in the lost deed book. Frustratingly, the Berkeley County probate files are only viewable online at FamilySearch from a designated Family History Library. As a resident of Virginia, I find the restricted access particularly galling. Where's Reclaim the Records when you need them?

The question remained: who inherited the land from Nicholas Roush's estate that was once farmed by Joseph Kirk?

A hint came from a deed of sale on December 31, 1816. Daniel Lyne and "Elizabeth his wife late Elizabeth Roush one of the daughters and legal heirs of Nicholas Roush Senior late of the County of Berkeley and State of Virginia..." were selling land to Andrew Roush, presumably Elizabeth's brother.

The deed shed light on the division of Nicholas' lands. The property that the Lynes were selling was "...part of the land held by the said Nicholas Roush senior at his death the court of the county of Berkeley having appointed John Fryatt, George Porterfield, Peter Grove, George Harris, and James Maxwell commissioners to divide the lands held by the said Nicholas Roush senior at his death among his heirs and pursuant to the order of the court aforesaid did on the 11th day of April 1816 as appears by their report made a division of the lands aforesaid amongst the heirs..."

In total, Andrew Roush bought 77 acres and two rods from Elizabeth (Roush) Lyne. Fewer than the more than 207 acres that made up the combined Close and Kirk farms. But the measurements of the property being sold were strikingly similar.

Tract Plotter illustration of Elizabeth (Roush) Lyne's inherited land sold to Andrew Roush - 77 acres

After reviewing dozens of deeds, it was clear that the Roush heirs inherited - and in turn sold - fractions of once larger plots of land. The properties had been divided up beyond recognition with new angles and lengths of measurement. Finding boundary descriptions that mirrored the Kirk and Close farms was a gargantuan task.

Efforts to find deeds were further confounded by several missing deed books, including Book 37 covering the years 1827 - 1829, Book 38 covering the years 1829 - 1830, and Book 42 covering the years 1837 - 1838. In all three books, the surviving index detailed a total of eight transactions where a Roush heir was selling property. Was it land that was inherited from Nicholas Roush Sr. and once the farm of Joseph Kirk? I couldn't say, and the knot in my stomach tightened.

Many of Berkeley County's deed books do survive and are available online. Nicholas Roush's heirs are party to many deeds, including his widow Dorothy and at least five sons (Nicholas Jr, Martin, Andrew, Henry, and Conrad) and three daughters (Elizabeth Line, Catherine Faris, and Rosanna Young). Would any of these deeds share a land description with the one-time Kirk property? In short, maybe. But the time required to piece the divided land together likely outweighed the value of investing research time in finding Nicholas Roush's probate package.

Berkeley County land book from c. 1816 names some of the Roush heirs

I returned to the deed between Ferdinando Fairfax and Nicholas Roush, which suggested the Close and Kirk farms were about three miles from Martinsburg.

Three mile radius extending south of Martinsburg's Courthouse

I scrutinized Google maps trying to visualize a three-mile radius around Martinsburg. To my shagrin, a vast open-pit mine edged into my targeted research zone. Like a metaphor for my Kirk ancestry, was I searching for something that had disappeared into a cavernous void?

Open-pit mine detail south of Martinsburg, West Virginia

I remain optimistic that the answers I seek survive and patiently await discovery. The search for Joseph Kirk's land on a modern map continues. Perhaps the answers are readily available in:

• Nicholas Roush Sr.'s probate file c.1816; 
• Or in the 1751 proprietary deed that transferred ownership of the Poplar Spring tract to George William Fairfax; 
• Or in George William Fairfax's 1780 will; 
• Or maybe W. David Hunter's April 1797 land survey of the Poplar Spring tract was recorded in Berkeley County's Courthouse. 

Despite the setbacks and waves of despair, I continue climbing further into the Kirk research rabbit hole. There's no turning back now.

Locating An 18th Century Farm Using Colonial Wayfinding Descriptions

On April 9, 1773, a land indenture was signed between the Honorable George William Fairfax Esquire - a member of the landed gentry of late colonial Virginia who was a contemporary and close friend of George Washington - and "Joseph Kirk of the County of Berkeley farmer..."

Joseph has been on my radar for much of this year because I suspect he was my sixth great-grandfather. What more could I learn about him from his land?

Pre-dating the American Revolution, the agreement was drawn up when Virginia was a British colony. Over the span of three very wordy pages, the document described the location of his 100 acre property and detailed the terms of its lease.

Where is that exactly?

The land description is quite unusual. Referring to oak and hickory trees as wayfinding markers, the description left me befuddled. 

Where exactly was Joseph's Kirk's land? 

1773 Berkeley County, Virginia description of land leased
by George William Fairfax to Joseph Kirk

Joseph Kirk received 100 acres of land that was "...lying and being in the parish of Norborne in the County of Berkeley being part of a tract of land of seven [seventeen] hundred acres and called Poplar Spring the bounds as followeth:

Beginning at a stake near a black oak white oak and hickory and near a corner of Joseph Evans and Michael Close extending thence with Close's line No. 55.30" West one hundred and nineteen poles between a hickory and a black oak on a hill side Thence on No. 38.30" East one hundred and forty nine poles to a black oak in a line of the Patent Thence along the same So. 50 East one hundred and nineteen poles to a locust stake near a black oak Corner to John Evans land Thence So. 38.30" West one hundred and thirty two poles to the beginning containing one hundred acres."

Um, what? Where? I was lost with the terminology. What was a pole? What did the numbers mean? Obviously these weren't GPS coordinates.

What if I wanted to walk this land, could I pinpoint it on a map? Let's face it, this wasn't a description I could drop into Google Maps.

Land Platting

I turned to a fantastic resource to bone up on what I was reading, Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records by Patricia Law Hatcher.

According to Hatcher, I was reading a land description based on the metes-and-bounds system or the indiscriminate-survey system where "the land was chosen indiscriminately (independently) of the survey system." In this system, used in Virginia and the other original colonies, "...the crown gave land either to the colony itself or a major proprietor, who then transferred the title to individuals."

I quickly learned that George William Fairfax was one such proprietor who held millions of acres in Virginia's Northern Neck. 

The Library of Virginia writes that, "The Northern Neck Land Office controlled 5,282,000 acres in land grants located between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, which were given to seven loyal supporters of King Charles II [in 1649, after he fled England in exile following the execution of his father King Charles I]..." The Northern Neck Proprietary (or Fairfax Land Proprietary) was eventually inherited by George William Fairfax, who leased portions of the smaller 1,700-acre tract known as Poplar Spring to men like Joseph Kirk. 

Hatcher's book included a how-to section for mapping or platting metes-and-bounds land descriptions. I would need to add an important tool to my genealogy toolkit: a protractor. At long last, I had a reason for my high school geometry. 

I swung by the local drugstore, shoved some kids shopping for school supplies out of my way, and snagged the last protractor.

Following Hatcher's instructions to the T, I platted the 100 acres that Joseph Kirk leased.

Great! But now what?

In isolation, Joseph's platted land wasn't really helping me pinpoint where exactly he lived. I couldn't see the forest for the trees (black oak, white oak, hickory).

Some of the corner descriptions mentioned neighboring land owners. What if I mapped their land? Would I gain greater perspective on the Poplar Tract?

On FamilySearch, I found an index of the land leased by George William Fairfax to various men beginning in 1772 (the year that Berkeley County and Norborne Parish became official administrative units).

I began transcribing deeds and platting the land. It was a mildly tedious process.

Then, like a jigsaw puzzle with curious yet mission-critical clues like "...near a black oak, white oak, and hickory and near a corner of Joseph Evans and Michael Close..." I began to assemble the seemingly disparate pieces.

To my great delight (and surprise that my geometry skills weren't totally inept!), the pieces fit.

To-date, I've platted 956 acres of the 1,700 (still 744 to go!). In the process, I've identified Joseph's neighbors who may prove helpful in identifying other Kirk relatives and heirs. 

For example, I've already found mention of the "Widow Kirk" in the property description of an April 25, 1797 land deed between Ferdinand Fairfax (an heir to the Fairfax proprietary) and John Fryatt indicating that Joseph Kirk was definitely deceased by that year (corroborating information I've learned from reviewing Berkeley County tax records). I've even found John Fryatt's home on an 1809 map of Berkeley County in Library of Congress' collection. Do you see him just south of Martinsburg? 

But still, where was this land on a modern day map?

Seventeen Hundred Acres in Norborne Parish

Okay, so maybe I haven't pinpointed it on a map yet, but I certainly have a better idea of its general location.

On September 7, 1798, Ferdinand Fairfax did "grant, bargain and sell unto the said Nicholas Roush...a certain tract or parcel of land situated about three miles from the said town of Martinsburg, consisting of two lots which were originally leased by George William Fairfax the one to Michael Close, and the other to Joseph Kirk being parcels of a larger tract called the Poplar Spring tract..."

1798 Berkeley County land deed, Ferdinand Fairfax leases
Joseph Kirk's land to Nicholas Roush

The combined Close and Kirk plots - both platted above - consisted of just over 300 acres. This land transaction confirmed that the Kirk family was no longer living on the property Joseph leased 25 years earlier.

Followers of this blog and my Kirk research may recall that my fifth great-grandfather, Thomas Kirk, makes his first appearance in Brooke County, (West) Virginia tax records in 1799. Did the Widow Kirk pass away and the children began to fan out as the land was re-leased?

This 1798 deed also positioned the property three miles south of Martinsburg, the county seat for Berkeley. Coupled with John Fryatt's home appearing on the 1809 Berkeley County map, I have an approximate area to zero in on.

Detail of 1809 Berkeley County Map, Library of Congress

I plan to road trip to Berkeley County to scope out the area, and - hopefully - to walk Joseph Kirk's land. The pressure is on to translate the description of his property to a current day map, and hope that it's not a strip mall. Who knows, maybe those oaks and hickories still survive and are serving as modern-day wayfinders (googling life expectancy for trees...).

I welcome any recommendations on next steps to locate the land on Google.