Washington Land
The story of Lloyd Washington's land is both complicated and fascinating. While Lloyd Washington, himself, only appears as a taxpayer of his land between 1890 and 1894, the land he is paying taxes on is not his entire estate, nor is it the duration of which he actually had legal procession of the land.
The 1890 Table of Tracts of Lands in Fairfax County, in Mount Vernon Magisterial District is the earliest record of where Lloyd Washington is seen, on line 12, owning just over 17 acres of land. This land is said to be located in Mt. Vernon and the alterations to the land was due to a transfer from a “farmer Washington”. This alteration is seen in the record of roads as some of the land was given away due to the location of the acreage being next to a public road. The 17 acres that are part of this tax record is most likely the land that was bought by Lloyd Washington from Julian Howard for $500 in 1881. It is interesting that this is the earliest tax record since Washington has had possession of land since getting the first 20 acres of land from John A. Washington’s Heirs in 1872 for $842. As Lloyd held a large sum of land for almost 10 years before every getting the next 17 from the Howards, it was strange that he never appeared in any tax books between then and 1890. A likely reasoning behind this could be that the John A. Washington Heirs were still paying taxes on this land however, it wouldn’t explain why Washington was never recorded to have paid taxes on the land, especially as it was later distributed between his own heirs. The ‘transfer from farmer Washington’ detail on the alteration to the land is liely due to Washington giving his daughter, Sarah E, an acre of the land the previous year.
The 1894 Table of Tracts of Lands in Fairfax County, in Mount Vernon Magisterial District is the most recent record found where Lloyd Washington, by himself, is seen. He appears on line 27, owning just over 17 acres of land. This land is the same Mt. Vernon property Washington owned in 1890, but the alterations that are referenced on the previous record are no longer in the explanations column and are more visible on this record in terms of the amount of land Washington is paying taxes on. The property size has decreased slightly which could be attributed to the record of road transfer that is seen on the Record of Roads page. Just like the 1890 tax record, this tax records amount of land that listed for Lloyd Washington appears at an odd amount. This is because it is almost exact to the amount of land that Washington held 4 years before. What makes this odd is that between the 2 tax records is that the 17 acres of land that Washington attained from the Howards was sold to Smith Johnston for $85.50 in 1892, two years before this tax record. The land that Washington still holds is the 20 acres attained from the John A. Washington Heirs but that is not the land that is listed on this tax record
1890 Land Tax Records in Fairfax County, in South District, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives, Vol. 1890, Fairfax, Virginia
1894 Land Tax Records in Fairfax County, in Mount Vernon Magisterial District, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives, Vol. 1894, Fairfax, Virginia
Arthur Taylor to Lloyd Washington Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book O-4, pg 449, Fairfax, Virginia
Julian Howard to Lloyd Washington Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book A-5, pgs 348-349, Fairfax, Virginia
Lloyd Washington to Sarah Johnston Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book I-5, pg 128, Fairfax, Virginia
Lloyd Washington to Smith Johnston Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book W-5, pgs 527-529, Fairfax, Virginia
By Ava Marchetti