George Fairfax

“ It seemed strange that on such a May day, with such a May breeze, life could look dark to anything young, yet Reginald Fairfax, at the head of the graduating class, easily first in more than one way—in scholarship, in athletics, in versatility, and, more than all, like George Washington, "first in the hearts of his countrymen," the most popular man of the Seminary—this successful and well beloved young person sat wretched and restless in his room and let the breeze blow over his prostrate head and his idle, nerveless hands. ”

“ And my lord is opposed to the French, and no doubt they have set the Indians against us; and then the Indians like the killing, just for the fun of the thing. I think I shall sleep with one eye open until I hear that Mr. Black Bear and his friends are no longer in this neighborhood."
That night, after supper, George and the Earl talked over Lance's suspicions. Lord Fairfax thought they were not ill founded, but he was not a man to excite himself over possibilities. ”

“ He was a fine scholar, and is said to have been a contributor to The Spectator. He succeeded to his father's title and to his mother's extensive landed estate known as the "Northern Neck of Virginia," lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and estimated at 5,700,000 acres. For some years after coming into possession of this property it was left in the hands of agents. He finally employed his cousin, the Hon. William Fairfax, son of Henry and Anne (Harrison) Fairfax, as his agent in the management of his lands. About 1739 Lord Fairfax first visited his estate in America. ”

“ The gentry in Fairfax seemed to be the exception for George Johnston, a prominent lawyer living between Alexandria and Mt. Vernon, backed Patrick Henry in his protest. George Mason wrote the Non-importation Resolutions in 1769, his Fairfax Resolves in 1774 and his famous Bill of Rights in 1776. George Washington, Fairfax planter, was, of course, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and brought the country through to victory under the most difficult circumstances.
Large numbers of able-bodied citizens in the County served under Washington in the Revolution. ”

“ FAIRFAX, EDWARD (d. 1635) , translator of Tasso's ‘Gerusalemme Liberata,’ was a son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, Yorkshire. Douglas says that he was born to Sir Thomas ‘by Dorothy, his wife, daughter of George Gale of Ascham Grange, Esq.;’ but in the ‘Visitation Pedigree,’ 1585, there is no Edward among the children of Sir Thomas Fairfax by his wife, Dorothy Gale; and Roger Dodsworth, in ‘Sancti et Scriptores Ebor.,’ states that he was a natural son. ”

“ Fairfax [19] favored the early protests by the colonies and petitions to the king in the interests of the colonies, but opposed measures looking to forcible resistance. Washington consented to act as his agent while he was absent, presuming his stay in England would be of short duration. But a complication of matters detained him abroad so that he instructed his agent to sell off his stock at "Belvoir" and lease the property. A sale was accordingly held on the estate in August, 1774, which continued two days. ”

“ Ellice's attention tautened. George's idea was good. After all, clever men had their uses. She overlooked in her approval the scrawny bodies of the Melcombe girls, recognized and bitterly criticised from church pews.
"Yes," George's assent this time was doubtful. "I hardly designed a local affair. I was thinking I might assist you in another way. I might get Miss Estelle Fairfax."
"Miss Fairfax!" Mrs. Mowbray woke up, deserting parish and bells and the narrow confines of Cradley. "You mean Miss Fairfax the actress?" ”

“ During the early spring of 1748 the demands for surveys were [12] more than usually pressing by actual settlers in the Shenandoah valley. Lord Fairfax engaged the youth, George Washington, to proceed with George William Fairfax, his agent, as recorded in this journal, to execute certain commissions and meet a pressing demand. His surveys and reports gave entire satisfaction and led to his steady employment by his titled patron, principally as a director of his lordship's land office and of the surveys, preparatory to sale. ”

“ LORD FAIRFAX. (Vol. ix., p. 10.)
The following is all the information which I have been able to collect respecting the present possessor of the title of Fairfax of Cameron, in answer to the third Query of W. H. M. It gives me pleasure to communicate it.
The Lords Fairfax have been for several generations natives of the United States. The present possessor of the title is not so called, but is known as Mr. Fairfax. He resides at present in Suter County, California. His Christian names are George William. ”

“ Lord Arthur Vallings, who had the soul of a music-hall lion comique, played Touchstone with gusto, but Touchstone much edited. It was between Lord Arthur and Miss Fairfax that the play began to "go." At the dress rehearsal everybody played up magnificently. Ellice in a pretty summer gown was installed among the privileged spectators; to one side of her Mrs. Beaman, on the other Lady Melcombe. George Richardson, who for the first time visited the scene, on the express invitation of Lady Garfield, wandered about examining people and effects with a critical eye. ”

“ III. THE GENTRY AND THE CONVICTS
George Mason II had moved to Pohick in 1690 but his home was considered such an outpost that runaway slaves were returned there by Indians. In 1746 the fourth George Mason moved to his property on Dogue Neck and built Gunston Hall in 1758. By 1734 Captain Augustine Washington moved his family to his plantation on Little Hunting Creek. His home was destroyed by fire and he moved back to the north bank of the Rappahannock in 1739. In the spring of 1741 William Fairfax built Belvoir. After his daughter married Lawrence Washington in 1743, the original part of Mt. ”

“ At supper the three young people—George and Betty and William Fairfax—sat together. The conversation was gay and sprightly until the ladies left, when it grew more serious.
"Close up, gentlemen, close up!" cried Laurence Washington, cordially, motioning them to take the seats left vacant by the ladies. George and William Fairfax rose to leave the room then, as boys were not expected to remain on those occasions, but Laurence stopped them.
"Stay, George and William; you are both old enough now to be company for men ”

“ It is believed that no part of this vast body of Fairfax land is now held by any member of the family.—Sparks, Drake and others.
Monday 14th We sent our Baggage to Capt Hites [11] (near Frederick Town) [12] went ourselves down ye River about 16 Miles to Capt Isaac Penningtons (the Land exceeding Rich & Fertile all ye way produces abundance of Grain Hemp Tobacco &ca) in order [25] to Lay of some Lands on Cates Marsh & Long Marsh. [13]
Surveying
A Plan of a piece of Meadow called Hell Hole Situate on the River Potowmack near Little Hunting Creek
[11] Capt. ”

“ Morgan's [Pg 59] son and the citizens of the Town, the Governor of Virginia, and others. The will now rests beside that of George Washington [Pg 60] in a glass enclosed case in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax Court House.
It is also well known that Washington's will barely escaped being burned in the fire at Richmond, where it had been sent for safe keeping. When Union forces took possession of Richmond, they went to the state library and scattered papers all over the floor, taking what they wanted. They overlooked Washington's will, however, and Mr. ”

“ Never in all his life had the Earl of Fairfax seen so noble a boy. The sight of him smote the older man’s heart; it flashed through him how easy it would be to exchange all his honors and titles for such a son. He rose and saluted him, as Madam Washington said, in a tone that had pride in every accent:
“My lord, this is my son, Mr. Washington.” George responded with one of those graceful inclinations which, years after, made the entrance of Colonel Washington at the Earl of Dunmore’s levee at Williamsburg a lesson in grace and good-breeding. Being “Mr. ”

“ This gradually led him into various business enterprises; such as the manufacturing of iron, buying and selling land, etc. He and his brother Augustin were among the organizers of "The Ohio Company," to explore the western country, encourage settlements, and conduct a trade with the Indians. He was elected to the House of Burgesses of Virginia from Fairfax county in 1748. It was largely through his influence that a charter was granted to the towns of Alexandria and Colchester, both in Fairfax county. He together with Lord Fairfax, George Mason, Hon. ”

“ Fairfax, were occasionally guests at Mount Vernon, as Washington's diaries show. I am inclined to believe that while it is true that Washington entertained a high regard for the Cary family and particularly the ladies, there is nothing but the lightest gossip to create an inference that there ever was even an incipient affair of the heart between either of the Misses Cary and Washington. ”

“ James Genn, a licensed surveyor in Virginia, much employed by Lord Fairfax, and frequently mentioned by Washington, and whose name often appears signed to surveys in which the latter was engaged, as the surveyor or director, is doubtless the person to whom reference is here made. ”

“ It is a matter of tradition that Lawrence was at about the age of 15 sent to England to be educated, and leaving college he received a captain's commission to serve in a regiment raised in Virginia to take part in the expedition against Carthegenia, 1740-42, under the command of Admiral Vernon.
The expedition failed of its purpose, and Major Lawrence Washington returned to Virginia in the fall of 1742. He shortly after became engaged to Anne Fairfax, which induced him to resign from the army. ”

“ The ball-room was thronged, and the two without could hear, close to the casement, the swish of brocaded robes on the shining oaken floor. From the raised gallery came the slow air of a minuet, the fiddlers' strains blending with the tones of the flute and the sweet tinkle of a harp.
The loiterers on the terrace had not taken many turns before Sir John Fairfax joined them.
'I may but stay a moment,' he said. 'The house should not be left thus.'
'The house is very well, dear lad,' said his wife serenely. 'My guests are never dull, for the reason that dull folk are never my guests. ”

“ The journal here presented to the public is, in the main, confined to Washington's daily entries, memoranda and field notes of surveys of land situated between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains.
Unfortunately the records of his surveys are not consecutive, and it is quite evident that they represent but a part, and probably but a small part, of the land surveyed by Washington for Lord Fairfax and others. The notes of surveys here published are all that can be found or that are now known to exist. ”

“ No copy of either address nor reply of this correspondence has thus far been found among the Washington papers in the Library of Congress, by the present writer.
Brother Robert Adam, the Master of Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, was a Son of the Rev. John Adam, D.D., and Janet Campbell, of Kelbride, Scotland, was born May 4, 1731; he emigrated to America in 1753, and, after a short residence at Annapolis, Md., established himself at a pleasant country residence in Fairfax County, Virginia, about four miles from Alexandria. ”

“ She was ever a good friend to another ill-used solitary wife, Catherine of Braganza. Marvell had every reason to be proud of his pupil.
Beside the actual inmates of the great house, the whole countryside swarmed with Fairfaxes. At the Rectory of Bolton Percy was the late Lord-General’s uncle, Henry Fairfax, and his two sons, Henry, who succeeded to the title, and the better-known Brian, the biographer of the Duke of Buckingham. At Stenton, four miles off, lived the widow of the gallant Sir William Fairfax, who died, covered with wounds, in 1644 before Montgomery Castle. ”

“ Fairfax continued to reside in his own house at Barking, and used all opportunities of preaching. He received pecuniary assistance from Dame Brook (d. 22 July 1683, aged 82) , widow of Sir Robert Brook of Cockfield Hall, near Yoxford, Suffolk, a lady who, while thinking separation on account of nonconformity unreasonable, ‘relieved many sober nonconformists with great bounty.’ He was also aided by his neighbour, John Meadows [q. v.] , an ejected minister of good property, who afterwards married his niece. Fairfax's preaching got him more than once into prison. ”

“ If life as it went on chose with backward fling to close portals behind him of its own accord, he at least would not assist fate, and with both hands, generously, as his heart was generous, Fairfax threw all gates wide. ”

“ But they are decent, trustful sort of people and can't believe a chap won't ever pay. But I was fool enough to leave my father's cable in my room and Madame Poulet had it translated. I grant you it wasn't encouraging for a creditor, Rainsford."
Antony heard his name used for the first time, the R's rolled and made the most of. It seemed to bring back the dead.
"Listen to the cable," said the communicative young man: "'You can go to the devil. Not a cent more from me or your mother.'"
Fairfax, who was tying his cravat, turned around and smiled, and he limped over to his visitor. ”