Fairfax County, Virginia

“ In all of Fairfax County that year, only Thomas Fairfax, William Robinson and Bushrod Washington had coaches of higher value than his and their vehicles were evaluated at $500 each.
By the year of his death, 1828, only 13 slaves and 3 horses were listed, and the total evaluation of his personal property was listed at $150. The inventory of William Maffitt's estate did show that he had 116 head of livestock on the place including horses, oxen, sheep, hogs and cattle. He was growing turnips, corn, rye, oats, hay and orchard grass. ”

“ Density of population refers to the average number of people per square mile in a state. Density is found by dividing the total population of a state by the total land area of the state. The density of population in 1960 was 96. The counties of Fairfax (southwest of, and adjacent to, Arlington County) and of Henrico (adjacent to Richmond) more than doubled their population from 1950 to 1960.
From 1880 to 1930, while the population was increasing rapidly in most states of the United States, it was increasing very slowly in Virginia—only a 5% increase. ”

“ George Mason of Gunston Hall felt that Alexandria politicians were building up too strong a hold on the machinery of County government, and sought the aid of members of the General Assembly to arrange for changing the location of the courthouse. [20] Finally, in 1798, the Virginia General Assembly directed that Fairfax County's Court House be relocated to a site closer to the center of the County. ”

“ Poor as his prospects might seem to be, the Northern Virginia farmer had certain advantages that farmers in other parts of the state lacked. The farmland was by no means barren or exhausted, although it had been worked steadily during the previous decade when all efforts turned to producing the maximum amount of food for subsistence and no thought could be given to maintaining or enhancing the fertility of the soil. [47] Also, Fairfax County farmers had relatively easy access to the produce markets of Washington and Baltimore, both by water and overland transportation. ”

“ It is rather ironic that neither Lord Culpeper nor Lord Fairfax, who inherited his estate and for whom the County and Town were named, cared particularly for Virginia. Lord Culpeper came under duress and returned as soon as possible to England. Lord Fairfax came, according to tradition, only after he had been disappointed in love in England and because his holdings demanded his attention. The people struggled on, however, and gradually the wealthy land owners began to move northward to occupy the tracts of land upon which their grandfathers had speculated. ”

“ This crossroads location became increasingly important during the last quarter of the nineteenth century; and, like other perceptive people of the area, Fountain Beattie and his family began to swing the orientation of their activities around from an exclusive focus on Alexandria and Washington to take part in the growth of Fairfax County.
At the turn of the century, Annandale had a population of 50 people. In addition to the toll house, church, post office, and store, the community now could list a hardware store, lumberyard, blacksmith, farm machinery store, and sawmill. ”

“ The eye travels entirely across the fertile expanse of the latter to where, in the far distance, the Alleghany and North Mountains rear their wooded crests. A few of the summits offer even more extensive prospects. From some nearly all of Loudoun, with a considerable area of Fairfax and Fauquier, is in full view. Other more distant areas within visionary range are portions of Prince William, Rappahannock, and Culpeper counties, in Virginia, Frederick and Montgomery counties, in Maryland, and even some of Prince George County, east of Washington City. ”

“ Usually built in a central location, with more regard for accessibility from all corners of the county than for proximity to established centers of commerce, the courthouse came to be a unique complex of buildings related to the work of the court. In time, most of these clusters of buildings grew into towns or cities, but throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many places shown on Virginia maps as "Court House" consisted literally of a county courthouse and its related structures standing alone beside a crossroads. ”

“ Because it was a sound, comfortable, gracious old house with historical associations and community significance, they decided to grant a permanent historic and scenic easement to Fairfax County in 1971, preserving the house, its brick outbuildings and eight acres of land surrounding them in perpetuity. A temporary easement for 44 additional acres of the Salona property was granted at the same time, fitting in with the county's stated purpose to shape the character, direction and timing of community development through the preservation of open space land. ”

“ In 1750, Fairfax County's western border closely approached the edge of English settlement in Virginia. Settlements in the western part of the County were growing far less rapidly than in the centers of population in the eastern part. Alexandria, established as a town in 1749, showed signs of becoming a major seaport, and its merchants complained that travel to the courthouse at Springfield was burdensome, and that service of process and execution of writs was well-nigh impossible. ”

“ Fairfax County tax records provide no clue to a possible date of construction. In 1790, the Langley tract was carried on the rolls as the property of the Ludwell Lee heirs and was so listed for more than 20 years. Only two significant changes appeared: one in 1792 when more than 500 acres were sold, and again in 1811 after the sale of a 466-acre tract to Herbert. When William Maffitt first appeared on the tax rolls as a landowner in 1813, the 466-acre tract was assessed at $880 and his smaller tract at $79. ”

“ Apportionment of seats in the Virginia House of Delegates is provided for in § 24-12 of the Virginia Code, as amended in 1962, which creates 70 House districts and distributes the 100 House seats among them. Dividing the State's total 1960 population by 100 results in an ideal ratio of one delegate for each 39,669 persons. Fairfax County, with a population of 285,194, is allocated only three House seats under the 1962 apportionment provisions, however, thus being given only .42 of its ideal representation. ”

“ This is where we are at, however, and thus it is thoroughly appropriate that the publication of historical research reports in this format, a new program for Fairfax County, should commence with a study of the Green Spring Farm. ”

“ As other residents of Salona had been before them, the DuVals were well educated, above the average level of Fairfax County residents. Mrs. DuVal is a graduate of Vassar, DuVal of Yale University Law School. And like some of their predecessors, their income, cultural interests and extent of community involvement are also well above the average for the time in which they live. ”

“ As did the majority of married women with children in the decades 1950-1970, in Fairfax County, Mrs. DuVal stayed at home with the children rather than taking a regular outside job, except for her many volunteer projects in which she was regularly involved in the McLean community. ”

“ No major grading or topographic change shall be accomplished except by express permission, in writing, from the Director of County Development of Fairfax County, or the successor to his duties. Such permission shall only be granted by reference to a grading plan prepared by or at the direction of the grantor or his successor in interest. Major grading shall be deemed to mean any grading performed by machine, other than hand-operated machines. ”

“ That he had a school on the Chantilly estate seems highly probable, because starting in 1805, he charged the two Turberville boys for board and tuition, but not for transportation. [49] In 1805, Maffitt was listed for the first time on the Fairfax County personal property tax rolls. [50] In 1810, the county census listed him as having under his roof two males under 10, five males between 10 and 16, one male between 26 and 45, five females under 10, and one female between 26 and 45. ”

“ Under the 1962 reapportionment of the House of Delegates, 40.5% of the State's population live in districts electing a majority of the House members. Twenty-seven House districts have more than three times the representation of the people of Fairfax County, 12 districts have twice the representation of Arlington County, and six, twice that of Norfolk.
No adequate political remedy to obtain legislative reapportionment appears to exist in Virginia. [6] No initiative procedure is provided for under Virginia law. ”

“ The proximity and accessibility to Washington, the most magnificent city in the world, together with the splendid natural advantages of Fairfax, must inevitably make the county rich, populous and great. [115]
The heydays of the steam and electric railroads in Northern Virginia were followed in the 1920's by improvement and expansion of the road system. ”

“ Resolved, That the Petition of sundry Back-Inhabitants of the said County of Fairfax, praying the same may be divided into two distinct Counties, by a Line from the Mouth up the main Branch of Difficult-Run to the Head thereof, and thence by a streight Line to the Mouth of Rocky-Run, is reasonable. ”

“ There is a huge belt of red land, known as "the red sandstone formation," extending from the Potomac through a part of each of the counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Culpeper, and Orange, which, with judicious cultivation, might be rendered liberally productive. ”

“ They were the generation that successfully brought forth a new nation in their own times and added new dimensions to both its spirit and substances. John Moss was one of this new generation of Virginians.
Precisely when and how John Moss assembled the acreage that comprised Green Spring Farm is not certain. Fairfax County land records show a purchase of land by John Moss in September 1777, but, although this is the first connection of his name with the land of Green Spring Farm in these records, there is reason to believe that he may have occupied and farmed the land prior to that date. ”

“ Appointments to the county court in some instances seemed almost hereditary, for when a justice of one of the prominent local families died or retired to attend to other interests it frequently occurred that his place was taken by a younger relative. Historian Charles Sydnor has noted that during the twenty years prior to the War of Independence three-fourths of the 1600 justices of the peace appointed in Virginia came from three hundred to four hundred families. ”

“ As the institution of the county court grew during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and became the hub of county government, the monthly sessions of the court furnished an opportunity for general gatherings of the county's residents and visitors to transact both public and personal business. A scene that must have been typical of almost any Virginia county in the early nineteenth century has been described by historian John Wayland as follows:
Court day once a month was looked upon as a great event ”

“ Fairfax County itself was gradually being occupied by men from two of the colonies: viz., Maryland and Jamestown. The Maryland colonists were English traders who, for one reason or another, had left their colony (1632) and taken up their residence among friendly tribes along the Virginia shore of the Potomac. The Maryland colonists [Pg 9] preceded the Jamestown colonists by a few years. ”

“ In addition, buildings were customarily provided to house the office of the Clerk of the Court, and to accommodate the justices of the assize and their entourage of lawyers and others who accompanied them as they rode circuit among the counties of the colony. In England, the "assizes" were sessions of the justices' courts which met, generally twice a year in each shire, for trial of questions of fact in both civil and criminal cases. The county courts in colonial Virginia continued to be called assizes for much of the 18th Century. ”

“ Colonial Virginia statutes specified that each county should "cause to be built a courthouse of brick, stone or timber; one common gaol, well-secured with iron bars, bolts and locks, one pillory, whipping post and stocks." [3] In addition, the law authorized construction of a ducking stool, if deemed necessary, and required establishment of a 10-acre tract in which those imprisoned for minor crimes might, on good behavior, walk for exercise. ”

“ Its origins as a political and social institution have been attributed to various prototypes in Tudor and earlier English history. By the time Fairfax County was established in 1742, this institution and its functions in colonial Virginia had been clearly formulated and accepted. [43]
The County Court evolved from the colony's original court established at Jamestown and consisting of the Governor and Council sitting as a judicial tribunal. In 1618, the Governor ordered courts to be held monthly at convenient places throughout the colony to save litigants the expense of traveling to Jamestown. ”

“ Many of the schools, churches, and private homes in this area are landscaped with American and English boxwood which the Willards grew as a hobby. When the land was bought for development, hundreds of boxwood bushes became dispersed throughout the town and its environs.
Joseph Willard became a lieutenant-governor of Virginia and an Ambassador to Spain during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. He had married Belle Layton Wyatt from Middlesex County who was a distinguished hostess. Their home became the scene of many brilliant affairs. ”