Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Records seem to prove that Joseph Cloud, Jr. moved here with his sons in 1740. In 1741 he made an entry for 200 acres "on both sides of the fork where the path to Isaac Cloud goes up". His son Joseph III probably started receiving land grants about 1769/70. Joseph Jr. , known as Joseph Sr. in Virginia probably to distinguish him from his son, settled in the southern part of Henry County, Virginia (next to Pittsylvania County) just across the line from the grants he later received in Surry County, North Carolina.
This magnificent Pittsylvania County Georgian mansion, the Chatham Estate, its various outbuildings and dependencies, and the historic ground which surrounds it represents a small preserve in which the entire scope of Virginia heritage can be understood and appreciated. In 1608, Captain John Smith first explored the Rappahannock River and gazed upon the wooded bluff on the left bank near the head of navigation. During the next 160 years, this land which would encompass the Chatham Estate was in turn included in a grant to Colonel John Catlett made by the Royal Governor of Virginia, sold by the original owner, and developed by the Fitzhugh family into one of the most well-known plantations in the Old Dominion. William Fitzhugh, a fourth generation American, was responsible for the construction of the large brick home, begun in 1768 and completed in 1771. The Estate was named after William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham.
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