Walter Chiles 1649 to 1653

This is a copy of the Deed and a plat for the purchase of Kemp House from Governor William Berkeley to Walter Chiles from the book  The Cradle of the Republic Jamestown and James River by Lyon Gardiner Tyler.

Excerpts from the Book The Site of old "James Towne" 1607 - 1698  by Samuel H. Yonge

Page 117?118
The building of brick houses was begun, and the first possessor one, Richard Kemp, wrote about this time that there was "Scarce any but hath his garden and orchard."  Kemp's house, according to my investigations, was slightly east of the dwelling house built after the War between the States on the site of the form Amber-Jaquelin mansion, burned during the war.  No more striking proof could be afforded of the simple life of the Jamestonians of that time, a full generation after the first settlement was made, than the pride which they displayed over the acquiring of the first brick house, only sixteen by twenty-four feet.

Page 150/151
The concluding sentence in the description of the survey of the tract made by Sherwood in 1682 reads: "Including ye Ruins Sq Kemps Old Brick House." The above house was the first brick house built at Jamestown.  It was 16 by 24 feet in plan was was referred to by Gov. Harvey in 1639, with considerable pride, as being the fairest that ever was known to the country for substance and importance.