Original Patentees Memorial

The Original Patentees Memorial honors the 18 settlers—patentees—who were the first to own the land that later formed the District of Columbia. Patentees are individuals who receive a grant and in this case, the settlers were each awarded a grant in the form of land. They received the grants before 1700. The memorial is a limestone obelisk seven feet high and features inscriptions of the settlers' names as well as carved relief panels depicting a tobacco plant, wild turkey, a stalk of corn, and a fish.

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists donated the memorial to the city in 1935 and Congress approved it on February 12, 1936. It was dedicated on April 25 that year in a ceremony during which two descendants of the settlers unveiled the memorial. Its purpose was to not only honor the settlers but to also help teach American history. Artist Carl Mose carved the stone relief panels.

The names on the memorial are as follows:

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

"Colonial Settler's Monument." DC Memorialist. Accessed January 10, 2023. https://dcmemorialist.com/colonial-settlers-monument.

"Original Patentees of DC Monument." National Park Service. Accessed January 10, 2023. Last Updated March 24, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/places/000/original-patentees-of-dc-monument.htm.

"Original Patentees Memorial." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed January 10, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=7971.

"Patentees Monument." National Society of the Daughters of the American Colonists. Accessed January 10, 2023. https://nsdac.org/work-of-the-society/historical/markers/patentees-monument.