Rockbridge County, VA Deed Book 139, (1923) pp. 218-224. ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** The records for this work have been submitted by Angela M. Ruley, reddog@rockbridge.net, Natural Bridge, VA, unless otherwise indicated. [©1997 All rights reserved.] ************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** Rockbridge County, VA Deed Book 139, pp. 218-224. (Abstract) United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, continued and held at Lynchburg on the 14th day of July 1923. United States of America, Plaintiff Vs. [No. 737 at Law] Amos T. French, Trustee, and Others, Defendants A. D. Bell, J. R. Kelso, C. W. Graham and D. E. Brady, four of the five Commissioners appointed by order of this Court entered the 14th day of April, 1923, "for the purpose of ascertaining and reporting just compensation for the lands proposed to be condemned in these proceedings, and awarding the damages, if any, resulting to the adjacent or to the other property of the owners or to the property to any other persons beyond the peculiar benefits that will accrue to such properties, respectively, from the acquisition of the said lands by the United States and converting them to its uses as set out in the petition filed in the above styled cause, was duly returned and filed in the Clerk¹s Office of this Court at Lynchburg, Virginia, on the 12th day of June, 1923, together with the certificate of the officer administering the oaths attached thereto; that said report fixed the compensation for the lands to be acquired in this case as follows: French & Post Tract Acres Price Total Compensation 3-111 175.34 $2.50 $438.35 (3-11) Caleb Kirk lap, 142.83 2.50 357.06 (3) H. L. Vest Lap, 23.21 2.50 58.02 (3) Annie King Claim 75.68 2.50 189.20 417.06 2.50 $1042.63 "It further appearing to the Court that good cause has not been shown against said report, it is therefore ordered:" "1. That the said report be, and the same is hereby, confirmed as to all of the tracts of land mentioned therein;" "2. that upon the United States of America paying or causing to be paid into the registry of this Court the sum of $1042.63, for the benefit of the persons entitled thereto, the titles to the aforesaid lands for which such compensation is allowed shall be absolutely vested in the United States of America in fee simple; that upon the aforesaid payment or payments the interests or estates of the owner or owners of the said tracts of land set out and described in said report shall hereby terminate, and the said owner or owners shall have such interest or estate in the compensation or damages paid into Court as they had in the property so taken or damaged, and all liens by deeds of trust, judgment, or otherwise, upon said properties or estates shall be transferred to such money or monies so paid into Court;" "3. That upon payment of such money into Court, as herein before provided, the Clerk of this Court, at Lynchburg, shall forthwith deposit the same in the Lynchburg National Bank. at Lynchburg, Virginia, a designated depository, in the name of this Court, and to the credit of this cause, and to be held until withdrawn by order of this Court, duly entered and certified to said Bank;" "4. That the Clerk of this Court, at Lynchburg, make a certified copy of the above mentioned Commissionerís report and a copy of this order and deliver the said documents, duly certified by him, to the representatives of the United States of America for transmission to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Rockbridge County, Virginia, who will record the same in Rockbridge County Deed Books and index the same in the names of the persons who had the lands mentioned in said report, and also in the name of the United States of America;" "5. And that upon such payment as before set forth, the Clerk of this Court, upon demand of the United States Attorney, will issue to the Marshal of this District a writ or writs of possession to put the United States of America in quiet and peaceable possession of said land and each tract thereof." United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, continued and held at Lynchburg. United States of America, Plaintiff Vs. [No. 737 at Law] Amos T. French, Trustee, and Others, Defendants "We A. D. Bell, J. R. Kelso, C. W. Graham and D. E. Brady, Commissioners appointed by the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, to ascertain what will be a just compensation for such parts of the different tracts of land, of the free hold whereof the defendants in the above styled cause are tenants, and to assess the damages, if any, resulting to the adjacent or other property of said tenants or owners, and to the property of any other person or persons beyong (sic) the peculiar benefits that will accrue to such properties, respectively, from the acquisition of said lands by the United States, and converting them to its uses as set out in the petition filed in the above styled cause, do certify as follows:" [Abstracterís Note: As the main interest of this research is the Hiram Levi Vest land, the other tracts will not be abstracted here. Emphasis will be added in the description of the land.] "Third. That on the 8 day of June, 1923, at 4:10 o¹clock P. M., the day and time to which we were regularly adjourned, after viewing the tract of land herein before last mentioned, we met together on the land of which Amos T. French, Trustee, and others are the owners and tenants, and which is designated in the petition in this case as the H. L. Vest Lap, the limits of which were then and there described to us as follows, to-wit:" DESCRIPTION OF THE BOUNDARY OF THE FRENCH & POST TRACT (3) H. L. VEST LAP, ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA. All bearings in this description were turned from the true meridian. Beginning at Corner 1, which is also Corner 9 of the French & Post tract (3) and Corner 3 of the Mrs. Annie King lap, common to the David Edmondson 282 acre and C. F. Jordan 84 3/4 acre grants, on south slope of ridge near a large flat rock. Set a 3" x 6" x 20" stone in a mound of stones, chiseled FP9 on northwest and V on southeast sides. A 10" pine bears S 45 .44 chain distant. blazed and scribed BTV. Marked three black oak and hickory saplings for pointers. Thence, N 62 30 W. 9.75 chains, Corner 2, below rocks on northeast slope, S 390 13 W. 26.63 chains, Corner 3, which is also Corner 7 of the French and Post Tract (3) at intersection with a line of the Henry Banks 245-acre grant, on a steep northeast slope of ridge. Thence with lines of the Henry Banks 245-acre grant, S 58 30 E. 7.70 chains, Corner 4, which is also Corner 8 of the French and Post tract (3) common to the Henry Banks 245-acre grant, the David Edmondson 282-acre grant, N 43 20; E. 27.82 chains, Corner 1, the place of the BEGINNING, containing 23.21 acres, be the same more or less. After being duly sworn, the Commissioners were of the opinion that the land was worth $2.50 an acre. Signed 8 June 1823: A. D. Bell, Commissioner J. R. Kelso, Commissioner C. W. Graham, Commissioner D. E. Brady, Commissioner City of Buena Vista, Virginia J. O. Burke, Notary Public certified that A. D. Bell, J. R. Kelso, C. W. Graham, D. E. Brady made oath that they faithfully and impartially ascertained just compensation for the four tracts of land proposed to be taken for the United States purposes. 8 June 1923 J. O. Burke, Notary Public United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. L. T. Hyatt, Clerk of the United States District Court of Virginia certified that the document contained: 1. A true copy of the report of A. D. Bell, J. R. Kelso, C. W. Graham, and D. E> Brady, Commissioners appointed by an order of Court entered on the 14th day of April, 1923, in the case of the United States of America vs. Almost T. French, Trustee, and others, Number 737 at Law at Lynchburg on the 12th day of June 1923; 2. A true copy of an order and the official seal of the said Court, this 27th day of July 1923. L. T. Hyatt, Clerk United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. L. T. Hyatt, Clerk of the United States District Court of Virginia certified that the United States of America paid into the registry of this Court the sum of Ten Hundred and Forty-two Dollars and Sixty-Three Cents ($1042.63), in the case of the United States of America vs. Amos T. French, Trustee, and others. 30 December 1924. L. T. Hyatt, Clerk Note: The sum of $1042.63 was paid into the Court on Oct. 22 1923. L. T. Hyatt, Clerk Rockbridge County, VA Clerkís Office. 24 January 1925. The foregoing was presented and admitted to record. Teste: A. T. Shields, Clerk Rockbridge County, VA Deed Book 123, pp. 350-351. (Abstract) Plat and Survey of Hiram Levi Vestís Land [Delivered to Hiram Vest 9/18/17] Map made for Hiram L. Vest, April 25th 1891. (Plat is recorded in the Deed Book cited above). Surveyed April 21, 22 & 23, 1891, for Hiram Levi Vest, a tract of land containing 358 3/4 acres. This land lies in Rockbridge County, VA about three miles S.E. of Loch Laird & adjoins the lands of Elisha Paxton (now Moore) Cunningham, Geo. Vest & others. Beginning at a stake about 3 feet from 2 small old marked hickory pointers, also white oak, black oak, and maple pointers a short distance below Griggs¹ Distillery. This is a corner to the Elisha Paxton land (now Cunningham). With 6 lines of said land, s 63 1/4, E 17 poles to an old marked birch on the north side of Pedler Run. S 32 1/4, E 29 1/4 poles to a white oak on same side of said run. S 57 1/4, E 17 poles to a large old marked poplar, near an old chestnut oak snag, with beech now marked as a pointer. S 70 1.2, E 30 poles to an old marked red oak on the lower edge of a passway and on the north side of said run. Then leaving the branch and up a steep hill, N 44 1/4, E 69 poles to an old marked double chestnut oak, with dogwood and 3 [ ] corner" S 34, E 174 poles to a chestnut on the top of Hyco, and corner to George Vest. With his line, (old Pryor line), and crossing the Robinson Gap Road at 22 poles, and recrossing it at 87 poles, N 50 3/4, E 102 poles to a stone pile in an old chestnut stump on the lower edge of a farm road, with scrub oak, chestnut and pine now marked as pts. With another of Geo. Vestís lines, N 22, E 39 poles to a stake in a rock pile by a fence, with chestnut and cherry now marked as pointers, and corner to John T. Dunlop¹s land, With 2 lines of the same, N 11 3/4, W 127 poles to a large double Spanish or red oak (now fallen) with 4 chestnut pointers, formerly marked, N 30 1/2, W 158 poles to a stake with a chestnut and 6 chestnut oak pointers, formerly marked, Dunlop¹s corner. N 61, W 39 poles to a stake in a rock pile on N.W. side of a hill with chestnut oak, pine, and 2 chestnut pointers. Then to the beginning, S 45, W 235 poles. On this course crossed a branch near a waterfall at about 34 poles and again crossed the Robinson Gap Road at 112 poles. Run by Magnetic Meridian J. H. B. Jones April 21 22-23, 1891 Co. Surveyor. Variation = 1- 37 West. N.B. "In a survey made in 1839 this course is described as a S.W. course. this is evidently a clerical error as a line of the length mentioned in the metes of that survey, & running in a S. W. direction, would cut the survey in two, & moreover would not be in the direction of the Banks land, as stated in said notes, but away from it. The course is evidently a N.W. course instead of S.W." J. H. B.Jones Co.Surveyor. "The closing line from 13 to 1 (see map) was run in accordance with a deed made by the Trustees of Washington College to Wm. A. Reid 6th of Sept 1843, & from an incomplete & imperfect survey made in 1839, in which said line was not run, but described as running in ³a direct course to the beginning² from end of line from 13 to 13. J. H. D. Jones S. R. C. State of Virginia In Rockbridge Circuit Court Clerk¹s Office, August 14th, 1917. This Plat and Survey of he lands of Hiram Levi Vest was this day presented in this office and admitted to record. Teste: A. T. Shields, Clerk ************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** The records for this work have been submitted by Angela M. Ruley, Rt. #1, Box 311, Natural Bridge, VA 24578, (reddog@rockbridge.net) unless otherwise indicated. [© All rights reserved.] ************************************************************************** **************************************************************************