Fairfax
to | Lease
Smoot
This Indenture made the first day of September one thousand seven hundred
and ninety two between the Reverend Denny Fairfax, lately called Denny Martin
of Leeds Castle, County of Kent and Kingdom of Great Britain D.D., a devisee
and legatee named in the last will and testament of the Right Honorable
Thomas Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron in that part of Great Britain called
Scotland, and Proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia, deceased, by
Thomas Bryan Martin, Esq. of Greenway Court, County of Frederick, and State
of Virginia, of the one part, and William Smoot of Fauquier County of said
state of the other part. Whereas the said Denny Fairfax, by his letter or
power of attorney dated the seventh day of November one thousand seven hundred
and eighty three, and duly and legally proved before Nathaniel Newnham Esq.,
Lord Mayor of the City of London and certified by him under the seal of the
office of mayoralty of the said city, the eighth day of the same month of
November did authorize and empower his brother the said Thomas Bryan Martin,
among other things to lease out his lands in the said State of Virginia, so
devised to him by his said uncle the said Lord Fairfax, deceased, on such
rents, covenants and terms as he the said Thomas Bryan Martin should think
reasonable and necessary and upon payment of such rents or any part thereof,
to give acquitances and discharges for the same; and upon nonpayment thereof to
make distresses, or to sue for, implead or prosecute the several defaulters to
judgment and execution, as by the said letter or power of attorney now in the
possession of the said Thomas Bryan Martin may be more fully and at large appear.
Now This Indenture, Witnesseth that the said Denny Fairfax, by his attorney aforesaid,
for and in consideration of the rents and covenants hereafter mentioned hath
demised,
*
granted and to farm letten and by these presents doth demise, grant, and to farm let
unto the said William Smoot all that piece, parcel and lot of
land N
o 89 in the County
of Fauquier, being a part of the Manor of Leeds and bounded as by a survey thereof
lately made by Hezekiah Turner as follows Beginning at a red oak, corner of lot
N
o 52, running thence with said lot line
N 5° E 120 poles to a hickory locust and
chestnut in said line, thence S 80° W 296 poles to a white oak, thence S 25° E 160
poles to two Spanish oaks, thence S 30° W 12 poles to a red oak, thence S 12° E 22
poles to red oak, thence S 12° E 22 poles to a red oak and locust, thence S 75° E 136
poles to a white oak in the line of lot
N
o 63, thence with the line of that lot N 29°
E 166 poles to the Beginning, containing three hundred and ten acres, in which is
included 198 acres leased to George Fugate in 1786 for 21 years. To have and to
hold the said three hundred and ten acres of land to the said William Smoot, his
heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, for and during the natural lives of
said William, Eliza his mother and Henry his brother, to commence from the tenth
of April last, he the said William Smoot, his heirs, executors, administrators or
assigns yielding and paying to the said Denny Fairfax, or his attorney aforesaid,
his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns the yearly rent of three pounds
seventeen shillings and six pence current money of the State of Virginia; and also
pay or cause to be paid to the said Denny Fairfax or his attorney aforesaid, or to
the person or persons appointed by law to receive the same, and at the time for
the payment of the present assessments or land tax
** and all other future assessments
or land taxes, or other taxes, either ordinary or extraordinary that shall or may be
laid on the said land or any part thereof by the General Assembly of the State of Virginia,
or other legal authority, during the said term. And further the said William Smoot,
for himself, his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns will pay or cause to be paid
all charges and expenses attending or accruing for surveying the said lot
N
o 89, the drawing
of the lease and recording the same; and he the said William Smoot, his heirs, executors,
administrators or assigns shall not put or place on the said lot
N
o 89 or any part thereof,
any sub or under tenant, without the leave or license of the said Denny Fairfax or his
attorney aforesaid or work any more persons or hands on the same lot than four.
And further the said William Smoot for himself or his heirs, executors, administrators
or assigns doth covenant and agree to and with the said Denny Fairfax by his attorney
aforesaid, his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns that he will with all expedition
erect and build on the said lot of ground
N
o 89 of three hundred and ten acres, one dwelling
house twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide, with a brick or stone chimney to the same, and
keep the same in good and tenantable repair and lease the same in such good repair at the
expiration of the said term. And further the said William Smoot doth covenant and agree to
and with the said Denny Fairfax, by his attorney aforesaid, his heirs, executors, administrators
or assigns that he will with all expedition raise and plant an orchard of one hundred apple
trees, and plant the same at least thirty feet asunder, and keep the same well trimmed and
fenced for and during the said term, and lease the same in good order and well enclosed at
the expiration thereof. And further the said William Smoot doth covenant and grant, to and
with the said Denny Fairfax, by his attorney aforesaid, his heirs, executors, administrators
or assigns, not to waste, unnecessarily destroy or dispose of any timber growing upon the
said land, but only to make necessary use of the same for the benefit of the said plantation
and premises. And further, that if the said William Smoot, his heirs, executors,
administrators or assigns shall at any one time for the space of two whole years fail
in payment of the rent herein before reserved, or any part thereof, or in the performance
of all or any of the covenants herein before contained, then it shall and may be lawful for
the said Denny Fairfax, by his attorney aforesaid, his heirs, executors, administrator or
assigns to reenter the land and premises hereby leased and be in actual possession of the
same to all intents and purposes as if this lease had never been made. In witness whereof
both parties, the said Denny Fairfax, by his attorney aforesaid, and the said William Smoot
have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year before written.
Denny Fairfax
William Smoot
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
Benjamin Grigsby
John Stevenson
James Lake
At a court held for Fauquier County the 22
nd day of October 1792.
This Indenture was proved to be the act and deed of the said Denny Fairfax
(by Thomas Bryan Martin, his attorney) and William Smoot by the oaths of Benjamin
Grigsby, James Lake and John Stevenson, witnesses thereto, and ordered to be recorded.
Teste
J. Brooke
Notes:
* Legal Terms Used in Leases
Demise: convey an estate by will or lease.
Farm let (past tense farm letten): to lease; to let land for rent. To farm let is a phrasal
verb that commonly appeared in real-property leases.
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary
**Fauquier County Land Tax Records
The following persons paid land taxes on this 310 acres of land
“on the Blue Ridge” in the years indicated.
Year Name
1802 William Mattox Smute
1803 William Maddux Smute
1804 William Maddux Smoot
1805 William Maddux Smote
1806 William Smoot
1807 William Smoot
1809 William Smoot
1810 William Smoot
1824 Henry Smoot
1825 Henry Smoot
1826 Henry Smoot
1827 Henry Smoot
1828 Henry Smoot
1829 Henry Smoot
