According to Judge Edmund Pendleton (grandson of James & Mary Gregory) this is where James & Mary were living when he died in 1698.
It was granted to James Taylor, Joshua Storey, & Jonathan Fisher, 9150 acres, 29 Apr 1693, in King & Queen Co., VA. This was a huge patent and was divided among the three, but we do not know how it was divided. There is a map of the portion James received in Judge Emund Pendleton’s biography but it does not give any measurements or features. I suspect it was the northern portion. Joshua Storey owned a patent next to this one so may have added his portion to what he already had.
The patent is at the Library of Virginia in Richmond:
Here is a sketch of the patent according to the description:
Map of the surrounding patents (right click & choose open image in new tab to magnify):
If you magnify the map, the cemetery where James I & II are possibly buried is marked with a small red dot (near upper right corner of the Taylor, Storey, Fisher patent on Hwy 721).
James Taylor II (14 Mar 1674, New Kent Co., – 23 Jun 1729, of Caroline Co.)
James Taylor II probably inherited this land from his father and lived & died here. His step mother, Mary Gregory Taylor, married Rowland Thomas about 1700 and started a second family. James married Martha Thompson in 1699. He was a surveyor and dealer in land. Martha died in Orange Co. in 1762 & is buried in the Taylor cemetery at “Greenfield”, the home of her son Erasmus, with her son George buried beside her (per the Francis Taylor Diary).
Among the many land patents of James Taylor II, there was one for 8500 acres in Spottsylvania Co. (now Orange Co.). Description: 8500 acres on both sides some little mountains on the south side the Rappadan. Adjoins John Baylors land. (Book 11, p. 149)
It is said by some that James II built “Bloomsbury” in Orange, VA, but this is highly unlikely as it is located on the patent called Sylvania. This patent was granted to Robert Taliaferro 14 Dec 1726: Location: Spotsylvania County. 670 acres on the east side the South West Mountains and known by the name of Silvania. (Book 13, p. 8) His brother John inherited the land on Robert’s death. James Taylor III purchased the Silvania patent 26 Mar 1729 from John Taliaferro (see Crozier). This land bordered the 1000 acres that James III received from his father (part of the 8500 acre 1722 James II patent)–see Crozier.
So Bloomsbury was most likely built by James Taylor III sometime after 1729. He married Alice Thorton, the widow of Lawrence Catlett, in 1726. She died in 1739. They had three children, James IV, Francis & Alice. He married two more times & died in 1784.
Sources:
Land grant 29 April 1693. – Library of Virginia (exlibrisgroup.com)
Spotsylvania county, 1721-1800, being transcriptions from the original files at the county court house, of wills, deeds, administrators’ and guardians’ bonds, marriage licenses, and lists of revolutionary pensioners; ed. by William Armstrong Crozier. Deed Book A, 1722-1729 by William Armstrong Crozier, p. 105 & previous pages: #115 – Spotsylvania county, 1721-1800, being transcriptions from … – Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library
BLOOMSBURY by Carrie Trebil, Garden Club of Virginia Rudy J. Favretti Fellow 2007: Bloomsbury: Orange County Virginia | PDF | Room | Nature (scribd.com)
Land grant 14 December 1726. Land grant 14 December 1726. – Library of Virginia (exlibrisgroup.com) Creator: Taliaferro, Robert. grantee. Description: Location: Spotsylvania County. 670 acres on the east side the South West Mountains and known by the name of Silvania.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES: BLOOMSBURY: DHR – Virginia Department of Historic Resources » 068-0005 Bloomsbury
BLOOMSBURY.ORG: Bloomsbury An Historic Site – Bloomsbury An Historic Site
WIKIPEDIA: Bloomsbury (Orange, Virginia) – Wikipedia
ULYSSES Percy ‘PETE” JOYNER MAP OF PATENTS at the Orange County Historical Society (huge, on wall in back room).
ANN MILLER, ORANGE COUNTY EARLY LAND PATEENTS: Early Land Patents (wsimg.com)
WIKIPEDIA: Bloomsbury (Orange, Virginia) – Wikipedia
James Taylor I (the elder) 