Order to the Sheriff of Loudoun County, 10 September 1761

Catalog listing of "Order to the Sheriff of Loudoun County, 10 September 1761," v. 1, p. 50, The History of America in Documents: Original Autograph Letters, Manuscripts and Source Materials (Philadelphia: The Rosenbach Company, 1949). Wythe was not "Sheriff," as the summary suggests.

This order from George Wythe directs the Sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia to summon John Davis and others to appear before a justice to answer the charge of unlawful gambling in Davis's tavern. No other sources confirm that Wythe served as a justice in Loudoun County or that he spent any significant time in northern Virginia.

In his dissertation "George Wythe, the Colonial Briton," W. Edwin Hemphill describes this document as "[t]he most ambiguous document found in a quest for Wythe materials... written in an unidentified hand and signed with what appears to be a bona fide Wythe autograph." He further explains, "Since it is not known that Wythe had any connection with this county on Virginia's northern border, and since few authentic Wythe signatures include his Christian name in full, a belief that the owner of this manuscript is the innocent victim of a crude and naïve forgery seems to be tenable. It is just possible, however, that this summons furnishes a reliable and sole clue to a lost episode in Wythe's career." The handwriting is similar to other Wythe documents from the period, but without further evidence of Wythe for or cooperating with Loudoun County, it is difficult to know if the order genuinely came from Wythe. Hemphill notes "The only genuine Wythe autograph recalled by the writer to have been signed "George Wythe" (instead of the usual "G. Wythe") is that on the Declaration of Independence, which would be a counterfeiter's most available source."

Document text, 10 September 1761

Page 1

Detail of Wythe's signature on the order. In "Rosenbach, A. S. W. (Abraham Simon Wolf), 1876-1952, collector. Signers of the Declaration of Independence," the Rosenbach Museum & Library.

Loudoun [?]

Whereas I am inform'd, that John Davis did this day suffer and permit, unlawfull gaming in his house (being an ordinary) contrary to the Acct of Assembly in that case made and provided — These are therefore in his Majestie's Name to require you to summon the said John Davis immediately to appear before me or some other Justice for the said County to answer the Premisses Given under my hand this 10th day of September 1761 —

George Wythe

To

The Sheriff of Loudoun

County

Summon, James Vessell
John Minor, Ezekial Hickman,
Martin Armstrong
David Davis