Patrick Hamrick
Family Patriarch
PATRICK'S LIFE
January 10, 1739/40
To Mr James Thomas -
Whereas Patrick Hamrick of King George has informed that there are about One hundred Acres of waste and ungranted Lands in the County of Prince William between the Lines of Thomas Eaves, Wm Davis, Richd Melton decd, Edwd Grayham & Land formerly Roger Day’s now claim’d by sd Hamrick as his Heir &c and desiring to have a Survey thereof in order for obtaining a Grant
These are to empower You the said James Thomas to make a true just and accurate Survey of the said waste Lands Provided this be the first Warrant hath issued for the same, And to require You to make a correct Plot thereof describing the Courses and Distances per Pole, also the Buttings and Boundings of the several Persons Lands circumscribing or adjacent, And when You joyn not on any Persons Line which You are to do when You can, Then You are to continue your Courses So as to make your Plot as near a Square or Parallelogram as may be, A Return whereof with this Warrant You are to give into the Office any Time before the 25.th Day of March next Ensuing. Given under my Hand and Seal of the Proprietor’s Office this 100 Jan.y 1739
The document was signed by T. Fairfax. (Northern Neck Land Grant Warrants and Surveys, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, VA.)
Since Patrick is referred to as "Patrick Hamrick of King George" it seems he was still residing in King George County at this time.
The words in this survey warrant describing one of the adjacent properties as "Land formerly Roger Day’s now claim’d by sd Hamrick as his Heir &c" is another indication that Patrick was claiming the 260 acre property formerly owned by Elizabeth Day based on his kinship to Elizabeth's father, Roger Day. This re-emphasizes the point that something must have happened to Elizabeth, Roger Day's daughter.
T. Fairfax was Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693 - 1781), the administrator of what was known as the Northern Neck Proprietary. The Proprietary consisted of more than 5 million acres of land between the Potomac River and the Rappahannock River and stretching from the Chesapeake Bay to modern day West Virginia that had been granted to seven loyal supporters by King Charles II in 1649, when the king was in exile. The grant became fully recognized when the king was restored to the throne in 1660. Lord Fairfax ended up inheriting the entire Proprietary in 1719. (Nan Netherton, Donald Sweig, Janice Artemel, Patricia Hickim, Patrick Reed. Fairfax County, Virginia: A History. Fairfax, Virginia, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, 1978.)
Patrick was fortunate to find this ungranted parcel adjacent to the property he was claiming that was formerly granted to his cousin Roger. The term "waste" simply referred to the fact that the land was uncultivated. The subsequent survey ordered by this warrant determined there were actually 118 acres in this parcel. (REF: April 28, 1740) So, between the 260 acres from Elizabeth Day and this adjacent 118 acres, Patrick ended up with 378 acres in Prince William County.