Letter from Wm. P. M. Kellam to U.B. Quinby, July 9, 1873

William Kellam, of the Virginia Land Office, wrote to Upshur B. Quinby in response to his inquiry regarding Cedar Island. Kellam reported that William Burton obtained the first patent on the island, for 500 acres in 1681. He cannot find the original patent for Metompkin Beach and suspects that it was patented under another name. Kellam then answers Quinby's questions with regard to the status of common lands and waters on the Eastern shore and promises to come to the Eastern Shore to explain the matter more fully.