Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-23
j. S. GRANTS LAND
HERE FOR P|TTANCE
Formally of Clearing Title
Corrects Error of More
Than 100 Years Ago.

For ; shillings and pence per acre
Byron E. Hamlin, formerly of Detroit
has acquired title to four acres of land
in the city limits of Washington after
+ an extended investigation that involved
real estate men. lawyers. title COM
pany surveyors. county officials and
finally the United States Government
And all because some person un-
known to history made a minor error
more than 100 years ago in describing
the limits and bounds of adjacent land
or in entering the description for rec
ord
The four acres are part of a tract Of
ll9 acres lying in Anacostia south of
Pennsylvania avenue. at the junction
of Branch avenue and u street, which
MIR. Hamlin purchased some time ago
from the w. A. Clarke estate. Papers
In the transaction were submitted to
the Columbia Title a. Trust Co. for
certification Of title. as matter of
form, and the difficulty arose when the
company declined to guarantee the title
OF the four acres in question.
Originally the land was part of tracts
known as Perry farm, Green's purchase
and the Aaron tract, During the years
1t had been presumed that the south
line OF one was the north line of an
other. but survey revealed that after
complying with every limit described in
available descriptions of the tracts there
was a triangular tract of about four
acres that could not be accounted for.
Then was begun a painstaking work.
The original patents granting Green S
purchase and Perry farm were found
at the courthouse at Upper Marlboro,
Md, but no record could be found OF
the Aaron tract. Surveyors again were
called upon. In all three SURVEYS were
made and each wound up with the
four-acre triangle unaccounted for,
There was no conclusion then, but that
title to the land rested in the United
States. 1t had not been granted by
the King Of England. Lord Baltimore
or any other authority.
During the years the four acres prob
ably had changed hands scores of
times and any number of persons had
figured in transactions involving the
land which presumably was privately
owned. Mr. Hamlin paid $4,000 per
acre for it, although he is the only
person officially credited with ever
having had possession.
Hamlin Obtains a Patent.
Regarded technically as a "souatter"
by the Department of Interior. Mr..
Hamlin applied to the department for
A patent. and 1t was issued lust as 1t
might have been issued to home
stead claim In the wastes of Arizona
or Nevada. The land was paid for at
the rate of shillings and 9 pence per
acre in accordance with an old Mary
land statute. and the patent issued
under the act of Congress Of February
Is. 1899.
Although the novel transaction served
merely to validate the purchase and
guarantee to Mr.. Hamlin possession of
the land, the issuance of a patent fur
nished commentary on the tremendous
increase in land values. When the Mary
land statute was new. lands were avail
able at about 81 an acre. The four
acres in AnacoStia. from which the
dome of the Capitol Building is visible.
cost Mr.. Hamlin $4,000
Mr.. Hamlin, who resides at 24OO Six
teenth street. now has lengthy docu-
ment-one of the first patents signed by
President Hoover-setting forth under
the seal of the United States that he is
the owner of four acces that until
short time ago was public land"