survived as to the material entering into his residence. It is learned from his will that several buildings on his plantation, including his malt-house and a barn, were constructed of brick;[1] and the probability is that the house in which he lived was also made of that material. There was a brick house standing on the Juxon plantation in York.[2] William Fitzhugh, who was very careful in his management, was content to confine the brickwork of his buildings to the chimneys. In a letter bearing the date of 1686, he mentions that all the dwellings on his plantation were furnished with chimneys of brick, and there is little reason to doubt that the same influences governing him, shaped the action in this respect of other planters of equal prominence.[3]
Defective workmanship in the construction of chimneys of brick grew to be a frequent cause of dispute. In 1674, Captain Philip Lightfoot entered suit against Mr. Ralph Deane on the ground that he had sustained serious injury from the negligent manner in which the latter had performed his contract in building the brick chimneys which he had agreed to erect.
