been promised him.[1] The Company also erected a dwelling-house for his use, and furnished him with the books and instruments he required in the performance of his duties.[2] In the instructions given to Governor Wyatt in 1621, Claiborne accompanying this officer to Virginia in the course of that year,[3] Wyatt was ordered to employ him in drawing a map of the country and in laying off the dividends of the planters, these tasks being undertaken by him in addition to determining the boundaries of the lands assigned to the officers, a duty requiring no great length of time for its completion.[4]
The office of Surveyor-General was created after the abolition of the Company. The appointment of an incumbent was made by warrant drawn by the Solicitor-General of England and having the great seal attached to it. The Governor of Virginia was expressly prohibited from appointing this officer.[5] His duties consisted in keeping a record of the surveys and in commissioning the whole body of surveyors. The latter were instructed to report to him every year at Jamestown, where their books, showing their work during the previous twelve months, were carefully examined by him to discover
- ↑ This was “200 weight of tobacco.” George Sandys to John Ferrer, British State Papers, Colonial Papers, vol. II, No. 27; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1623, p. 88, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I, p. 131.
- ↑ Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 564.
- ↑ The list of landowners and their holdings in 1626 was the work of Claiborne. For this list, see appendix of Burk’s History of Virginia; also Randolph MSS., vol. III, pp. 180-186. For survey of the lands belonging to the public officers, see letter of the Company dated July 25, 1621, Neill’s Virginia Carolorum, p. 24; also Neill’s Virginia Company of London, p. 225.
- ↑ Instructions to Wyatt, 1638-39, British State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, vol. LXXIX, pp. 219-236; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1638, p. 45, Va. State Library.
