A few days ago O. W. Trumbo, of Dayton, left at this office a document that is somewhat of a curiosity. It is a time-stained hoary headed deed, and was drawn up June 23, 1752, being 133 years old. It is a deed for 400 acres of land given by “Cornelius Murley and Austas Murley, his wife, of Augusta county and parish of Augusta, and colony of Virginia, of ye one part, and Jacob Trumbo of ye county and parish and colony aforesaid of ye other part.” This Jacob Trumbo above referred to was the great-great-grandfather¹ of O. W. Trumbo, and the document had been among some old papers for 30 years unnoticed when Mrs. Trumbo discovered it on the 23d day of last June, exactly 132 years after the paper was executed. Mr. Trumbo brought this paper with him when he went on his visit recently to friends in Rockingham county, VA., taking in the inauguration also. As there were no records dating back half that far he could not trace it. The deed was drawn 23 years before the breaking out of the revolutionary war, when Washington was a young man, and when Virginia was governed by Robert Dinwiddie, who was appointed by the crown of England.²

Two Old Deeds
Jacob³ Trumbo, a native of Rockingham, but now and for thirty years a resident of Illinois, has a copy of a deed for Four Hundred Acres of land, lying on the North Fork of North River, in Augusta county, made by Cornelius Murley and wife to Jacob Trumbo, dated June 3rd, 1752, or 133 years ago. The document is in a fine state of preservation, and both the Murleys made their mark instead of writing their names, which looks as if the people in those days, even large property holders, were not very highly educated.⁴

The image at the top is from the recorded copy of the deed, from Deed Book 4 (1751-1752) Augusta County of the colony of Virginia. You can view the entire recorded copy here.

1. correction: great-grandfather
2. Ottawa (Illinois) Free Trader, April 4, 1885, p. 1, col. 3
3. correction: O. W.
4. Staunton (Virginia) Vindicator, April 17, 1885, p. 3, col. 3.