Builders' Stories

John Paine 

John Paine was one of the earlier building tradesmen to settle in Virginia’s Rappahannock County.  He received a patent in 1655 for 940 acres on the north side of the Rappahannock River, only to assign the property seven years later to a local merchant.  By 1665 he was sufficiently well-off that he had been selected to become a vestryman for his local Anglican church in the parish of Farneham, when he signed an agreement for the support of its minister.  In one 1671 record, he was identified as both a “gentleman” and a “carpenter,” meaning that even though he was prosperous enough to no longer need to work for his livelihood, that he continued to practice his trade anyway.

Thomas Maddison  

With one other man, Virginia carpenter Thomas Maddison received a patent from Governor William Berkeley for 606 acres on the north side of Rappahannock County in 1663.  He evidently had some working relationship with two local men, Richard White and George Vinson, who both were sawyers, though White was more often identified as a cooper.  As a carpenter, Maddison may have relied on both men, either as suppliers of sawn lumber or for on-site construction labor.  In 1670 he witnessed a deed in which both men bought land from a local planter.  The following year, Maddison himself sold White and Vinson another 150 acres.  This sale probably helped him finance his major purchase when in the same month he bought nearly 1200 acres from two other planters.  Unfortunately for him, however, he didn’t have long to enjoy his new, large estate.  Maddison signed his last will and testament in October 1674, where he gave further evidence of a friendship with White.  He admitted that he had still not properly deeded to White the land that he’d sold him, but he made White one of his three executors, and left him his “short gun” as a personal gift.