Original Patentees of DC Monument

Original Patentees of DC Monument

NPS / Claire Hassler

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists erected the Settlers of the District of Columbia Memorial in April 1936 "as a way of teaching history." The simple granite shaft stands near the sidewalk along Fifteenth Street. Its purpose is to remember the original eighteen patentees "prior to 1700 whose land grants embraced the site of the federal city." A patentee is someone to whom a grant is given. In this case, the grant was ownership of land that became the District of Columbia. Each side of the monument contains a relief panel carved with a symbol of the early pioneers' agricultural pursuits. On the east side is a tobacco plant, on the south a wild turkey, on the west a stalk of corn, and on the north a fish. The names of the original landowners are inscribed on the base.

Architect: Delos Smith

Inscriptions

east face
To the original patentees prior to 1700 whose land grants embrace the site of the Federal City. This monument is erected by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists. April 25, 1936
Names on base
Robert Troope 1663
George Thompson 1663
Francis Pope 1663
John Langworth 1664
John Lewger 1666
Richd and Wm Pinner 1666
Walter Thompson 1686
Ninian Beall 1687
John Watson 1687
William Hutchison 1696
Walter Evans 1698
William Atcheson 1698
Zachariah Wade 1670
Richard Evans 1685
Henry Jowles 1685
Andrew Clarke 1685
John Peerce 1685
Walter Houp 1686