at tlu" Town, thcv inav li.u'c privilcirrs and im- 

 iiiunitys." ' 



Soiiu" of tlu-SL- l;n\ as actiuilly witc laid uul, racli on 

 a SO-aciv tract of lialt-aciv lots, hut only 9 tracts were 

 l>uilt upon. The Act soon lagged and collapsed. It 

 was unpopular with the colonist.s, who were ol)lii;e(l 

 to tran.sport their tobacco to distant warehouses and 

 to pay storage fees; it was ignored by shipmasters, 

 who were in the habit of dealing directly with planters 

 at their wharves and who were not interested in 

 making it any easier for His Majesty's customs 

 collectors.'' 



Nevertheless, efforts to come up with a third act 

 hesj.in in I hi!)!.'' William Fitzhugh, especially, was 

 articulate in his alarm over N'irginia's one-crop 

 economy, the effects of which the towns were sup- 

 posed to mitigate. At this time he referred to tobacco 

 as "our most despicable commodity." .A year later, 

 he remarked, "it is more uncertain for a Planter to 

 get money by consigned Tob" then to get a prize in a 

 lottery, there being twenty chances for one chance." ' 



In April 1691 the .•^ct for Ports was passed, the 

 House, significantly, recording only one dissenting 

 vote.** L'nlike its predecessor, which encouraged 

 trades and crafts, this Act was justified purely on the 

 basis of overcoming the "great opportunity . . . given 

 to such as attempt to import or export goods and 

 merchandises, without entering or paying the duties 

 and customs due thereupon, much practised by 



< VHM. op. cit., p. :»0. 



' RoBKRT Hk\-erlf.\-, ■////■ Hiilory and Prrsrnt Stale of Virnima. 

 edit. Louis B. Wriijht I Chaprl Hill; The University of North 

 Carolina Press. Ht47), p. HH; Philip .Alexandkr Bruce, /iro- 

 nomu History of I'irginia. 2nd ed. (New York: P. Smith. M>:?.i). 

 vol. '2, pp. .').5;l-.554. 



'Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia (hereinafter 

 desiRnated JHB) 1659/60-1693, edit. H. R. Mcllwaine (Rich- 

 mond, Virginia: Virginia State Library', 1114). pp. :<():?, ;!0.i, 

 ;<0H, :U.5. 



•"Letters of William KitzhuRh." 17/1/ i Richmond, 1895), 

 vol. 2, pp. 374 175. 



> JHfi 1659/60-1693, op. cit. (footnote 6), p, 351. 



Figure 2. — Survey plats of M.irlborough as copied in 

 |ohn Mercer's I^nd Book showing at bolloin. John 

 .Savage's. 1731; and lop. Williani Buckner's and 

 Thcodorick Bland's, 1691, (The courthoiuc prol> 

 ablv stood in the vicinity of lot 21.) 



greedy and co\etous prrs ■ i _ idrd th.it all 



exports and iiDpuiLs should Ix* taken u\ 

 at the specilii'd purts and i ' ■ ls«-, uiiilii p- ;i.ilii, 

 of forfeiting ship, gear, ai .ind that the l.i« 



should l)ecoiiie efTectiNr < )ctoljer I, 1692. The towns 

 again were to be suiAc-yed aiul I.i 

 tracts. FeofTees, to Im- appnintrd. 

 acre lots on a pro rata first-cost basis. Graii'' • ^ 

 "shall within the space of foiii 



such grant begin and without n i 



and finish on each half acre one gcKxl house, to con- 

 taine twenty f(K)t scpiare at the least, wherein if 'i' 

 fails to performe them such grant to Ix" \oid in i.i>\. 

 and the lands therein granted l\ablc to the choycc 

 and purchase of any other person." Justices of the 

 county courts were to fill vacancies among the feof- 

 fees and to appoint customs collectors." 



THE PORT TOWN FOR STAFFORD COU.NTY 



The dilliculties confronting the central '. 



governing bodies in putting the .Acts into ' ■ 

 illustrated by the attempts to establish a port town 

 for Stafford County. Under the act of 1680 a town 

 was to be built at "Peace Point, " where the Catholic 

 refugee Giles Brent had settled nearly forr>- years 

 before, but there is no evidence that even so iimch 

 as a suiA-ey was made there. The 1691 Act for 

 Ports located the town at Potomac Neck, where 

 .\ccokeek Creek and Potomac CVeek convei ' < 



Potomac River. .Situated about three mii ^s 



the previously designated site, it was again on Brent 

 property, lying within a tract leased for : 

 Malachi Peale. former high sheriff ol - > 



October 9. 1691. the Stafford Court "ordered that 

 Mr. William Buckner deputy Sur\e\ or of tl \ 



shall on Thursday next . . . repair to th< '■ . 

 Peale neck being the place allotted by act of assembly 

 for this Town and Port of this County .. ' ' " then 

 and there SuiAey and Lay Out the s ■ v or 



Port ... to the Interest that all the gentlemen of 

 and all other of the Inh ' take up «ich 



Lot and Lots as be and . " (^n the 



same day John Withers and Matthew Thompson, 

 both justices of the peace, were a| ' "Feoffers 



in Trust." Young CJiles Bient. ! heir ot 



C\k-s Brent Gent, late of this county dec"' " ai>d not 

 vet 21, selected Francis Hammersli'- ' ■■ '■ ' 



♦ I If KINO, op. cit. (fooiiioie 1 >. \-ol. .1, pp. .'>V»i*». 



