Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-05
HISTORY OF YAMACRAW.
SAVANNAH AT THE CLOSE OF
THE REVOLUTION.


tated the ancient quarters of 1amacraw
renders interesting the early history oil
that portion Of the city. In compliance
with a request Of the MORNING NEWS tie
following interesting chronicle has been
prepared by Isaac Beckett, Esq, men,
Der of the Savannah bar:
The "town OF Savannah" as It existed
at the close Of the revolutionary war, was
bounded on the south by the north line OF
South Broad street. on the east by the
yyest line of Lincoln street, on the west
bv the east line of Jefferson street, as
those streets exist to-day, ana on the
north by the river. Beyond these lines
was the town commons" described IN
the provincial act of MAY l, 1850, entitled
An act for the better regulating the
town Of Savannah, and for ascertaining
the common thereuntO belonging" as
extending soutnerly from the extremity
of the bluff, on the river savannah, to the
north line of garden lots, and westerly
from the west line Of garden lots lying
east of that town. to the east line of lots
laid out between MusgrOye creek
and the said tOwn"-in other
words. the town proper was
bounded on the north by the SaVan-
nah river. and on the east, west and south
from the northerly line of South Broad to
Gwinnett street on the south; from the
westerly line of Lincoln street to the east
line of East Broad street on the east, ana
from the easterly line of Jefferson street
to the west line Of West Broad street on
the west. as those streets are now defined.
This, however, is not an accurate descrlp-
ton Of the boundaries OF the commons, as
the garden lots east and west encroached
D. 4 1.a1 nT *
and West Broad streets, but 1t VIII sur
fee for the purposes of this article.
THE TRUSTEES GARDEN.
Beyond the line of the commons on the
east we find Trustees Garden" and
"Carppnter's Row" still bearing the
names originally bestowed upon them.
The former, the site of the works of the
Savannah Gas Company, was granted
originally to Sir John Reynolds, Governor
General of the Province of Georgia. from
1854 to 1857. by the King of England, and
the earliest recorded owner of the latter
was John Peter LANCE, who appears 10
have been a large land proprietor in those
distant days.
On the west, the commons were bound
ed south Of the line of Liberty street by
the triangular garden lots of five acres
each-the easterly line of which was
identical with the western line of Iatnall
strickland north of that line by sixteen
lots of land. nine OF which. VIZ, Nos. l to
9. are in shane and boundaries tO-day-as
they appear upon the oldest maps known
to US. No. ! of these lots began at the
westerly line of West Broad street, and
the others followed in numerical order
along the river front westward. having
Indian street-then designated usually
as the Great street in Yamacraw''-fOr
the southern border, TO their termination
at a point a short distance east Of the
canal.
South of these lots lay numbers 10 to
IS inclusive; No 10 being of a triangular
form, the others having the shape of a
parallel0gram, but each containing "A
acres of land. No. 10, with the 8
lots first described. constituted what
was STYLED in the old deeds
the Town" and sometimes the Hamlet
of Yamacraw; Nos. Il, y and IL were
known as St. Gaul. No. Il as Ewensburgh,
No. 10 as New Leeds. and No. l6 as the
Spring Lot" so designated from the
presence of a spring of tine water which
dubbed from the earth at a spot now
probably covered by the baggage room
of the Central Railroad passenger shed,
in the southwest corner OF that structure.
This lot was owned by the city Of SaVan-
nah until about the year 1886. when five
=
road, the remaining portion subsequently
following.
Numbers II, y, Is, IA and 10 of the tract
Just described, each extending from the
line of West Broad street westward to
MusgrOve creek, were granted by the
King of England, in separate grants, to
Joseph Gibbons, Mary and Catharlne
Mulryne, the latter afterwards the wife
OF Josiah Tattnall. grandfather of the late
~ hr
William Even and Balthazar Shaffer.
THE TEN LOTS OF YAMACRAw.
The writer proposes to give a brief his
tory OF the ownership of the ten lots com
posing Yamacraw. the scene of the disas-
trOus cOnflagratiOn of Wednesday last,
which consumed nearly every building in
that ancient quarter of Savannah, as it is
revealed by the records in the public
offices of this city and county. OF course
a detailed history of each separate subdi-
vision of these lands could not be COM
pressed within the limits of an article OF
this nature, nor would such be desired by
the general reader. Let ii suffice to give
an outline of the ownership of each of the
ten lots which comprise the principal part
of the burnt district.
Lot No. l. upon the southeast corner of
which was located the machine works of
Mr.. J. W. lyman, was granted originally
bv the King of England to James Box,
who, in 176S conveyed it 10 John MOrel.
The latter devised it in separate parcels
10 his three sons. Peter H., John and
BRYAN Morel. the first of whom conveyed
his share TO Peter DeveauX, who trans
ferred it to VIM. stephens, and he, in
turn, 10 Thomas Rice.
In 1892 John and Bryan MOrel sold their
respective portions to Henry DeSaussure
a. trustee Of Elizabeth, wife Of Richard
Wayne. and in 1897 Thomas Rice con-
veyed the portion which he owned, thus
vesting the entire title in the Wayne
family, where it remained until the year
1929. when Geo. Anderson and James NJ.
Wayne. executors Of Richard Wayne, as
signed it to trustees Of II. w. PO0ler and
wife, Of VIM. Nef and wife, and to
Thomas ;. and Richard Wayne. In 1881
the whole lot was conveyed by the parties
Just named to Shadrach Winkler. 1t was
subsequently sub-diyided and was owned
by various parties, among whom are
found Mrs. J. J. Mitchell, d. G. Purse
and others.
Lot No. ,. recently the site of the works
Of the Electric Light Company, first ap-
pears upon our records in the ownership
OF William Lewden and John W. Clark,
as whose property a portion was sold in
1916 or 1918 to William Taylor, and in
portion of it, by decree of court, became
the property Of Sarah Houston. She con-
veyed the interest so acquired to Serenus
Mayer for $1,000. The latter. in 1880, con-
veyed to James Roberts. The heirs OF
descendants Of William Taylor owned a
portion of this lot as late as 1873, and
perhaps still own it. Another portion
became vested in DOminick OByrne,
whose administrators sold to F. 5. Hessel-
tine, Stone and others within a COM
paratively recent period.
THE PLANTERS RICE MILL SITE.
No. 3, at present owned by the Planters
Rice Mill Company, to whom it was con-
viewed about 1850 by the Ocean Steamship
Company and Lake Christie, was grant
ed originally to William Knox, by him
convened to Jonathan BRYAN. who sold il
to James DeveauX and Matthew Roche.
trustees for William and John Roche.
The latter died, and the survivor, William
Roche, conveyed II to Joseph Wood, Jr.,
on August 18th, 177S. In 1885 it was
transferred by Wood to John POOler, and
by him. in 1903, to Charles Harris and Jo-
seph Miller, in trust for his wife and
children. The title by the death of John
| PoOler and wife became vested in their
two children, Robert W. and Caroline
| POOler. The latter. in 1910. conveyed her
! half interest to trustees, under nuptial
contract with John Fraser, whom she
married. This lot was sub-diyided, and
the title became in the course
Of time vested in various par
ties, the POOler family still
retaining a large interest. In 1866 it is re-
vealed in the ownership Of at least six
different parties-the estate Of POoler
Thomas Arkwright, Mrs. K. Foster
Thomas Hilton. David r. Dillon and Dan
iel Smith. From these 1t passed by vari-
Gus titles into the ownership Of the Ocean