Talk:Towlston Grange

hmm is this Towlston? Washington acquired the tract on Difficult Run in Loudoun County in 1763 from Bryan Fairfax for £82.10 in payment of a debt. Nothing had been done to develop the property when Washington conveyed it in May 1795 to John Gill for $6,666.66. As Gill did not have the financial wherewithal to pay the purchase price immediately, Washington agreed to rent him the property for $433.33 per annum for as many as ten years. During that period Gill would, it was hoped, be able to save enough money to buy the tract outright. In October 1799, having made only two of the four annual payments due, Gill asked to be released from his bargain. To reach a settlement Gill gave Washington a slip of land on the west bank of Difficult Run and a parcel of goods in payment of the arrears. Washington then revoked the original agreement, leaving himself in sole possession of the Difficult Run tract at the time of his death. See Memorandum: List of Quitrents, 1764, n.3 (Papers, Colonial Series, 7:350-51), GW to Charles Lee, 17 May 1795, and, especially, GW to John Gill, 19 Oct. 1799, n.2. pohick (talk) 00:05, 14 May 2009 (UTC)