Searching for Lord Fairfax (Updated, 2X)

Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

As an amateur historian growing up in northern Virginia I was fascinated by Lord Fairfax and the family's claim to the huge Northern Neck Proprietary. This was a land grant of five million acres containing all of the counties of the Northern Neck lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers as well as all of what was to become the northern Virginia counties out to the source spring of the Potomac. Its southern boundary was a straight line cutting across the Blue Ridge range and Shenandoah Valley connecting the Potomac headspring to that of the Conway (origin of the Rappahannock River system) river. Originally, this vast area, much of it unmapped, was given to seven Englishmen by Charles II for their loyalty in helping him regain the throne after the execution of his father, Charles I, during the English Civil War. Just how all of that land ended up with the Culpepper family and eventually finding its way to Lord Fairfax is lengthy and will not be described here. But to get the full story, check out this post in Virginia Places.org. It is a fascinating read. There are several maps of that time showing the boundaries of the grant. My favorite is the Jefferson-Fry map of 1753. Peter Jefferson was the father of Thomas Jefferson.

Fairfax (1693-1789) was unique in that he was the only English noble to have lived in the American colonies. His seat of power was at Greenway Court near the village of White Post in Clarke Co. It's on private property and the only remaining structure is a small stone hut that served as his land office

He also died here and is buried in Winchester. But where? Back in 2014 I had some time to kill while in town so I decided to find out. As always, Find-a-Grave is the go to source for these things and directed me to the Christ Episcopal Church. But when I got there I was shocked to see only his above ground tomb sandwiched in between the city side walk and the church building. There was no churchyard cemetery and not all that much room for such an important burial. Almost like it was placed as an afterthought. 

After a little more research it became clear that he spent most of his worship time at the Old Chapel near Millwood just down the road from Greenway Court. 

View from the cemetery

Road marker

This is a neat little stone church with a large graveyard. But as the local population grew, need arose for a new larger church in Millwood, and parish boundary changes led to building the other church in  Winchester. It's unclear why Fairfax wound up in Winchester and not at the Old Chapel cemetery. There are some really old graves there and a big surprise for me was finding Edmund Randolph.. Randolph is a true patriot. He was one of the original Virginia delegates to the Constitutional Convention. He not only served as aide-de-camp to Washington during the Revolution, but also as governor of Virginia, US secretary of state and the first US attorney general. But how did a Tidewater boy living in Richmond most of his life wind up buried in a small churchyard in the Shenandoah Valley? It seems that in late life as a widower he spent time visiting Nathaniel Burwell at Carter Hall plantation in Millwood. The mansion is practically across the road from the new church in Millwood, and I had the chance to tour both the new church and Carter Hall as part of a Mosby Heritage Association lecture a few years back. An added bonus was a chance for getting inside the Old Chapel. The vicar at the new church opened it up for folks willing to venture down after the lecture. It's normally only open by special appointment and for their Easter service.

Pulpit

 

Pulpit view to entrance

So now we know a bit more about Fairfax and the land grant that contained our ancestral lands in northern Virginia.

UPDATE (March 2021):

Since publishing this post, I came across a copy of Fauquier During the Proprietorship: A Chronical of the Colonization and Organization of a Northern Neck County by H. C. Groome (Reginal Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD 1969), originally published in 1927. This book is a treasure trove of information on the formation of Fauquier County with fascinating details about the Northern Neck Proprietorship. It is an essential library item for anyone interested in the early history of Fauquier County in particular and the colonization of Virginia in general.

 Although Fairfax originally surveyed several sections of his vast claim for his own use, with the 119,927 acre "Leeds Manor" being planned for his eventual estate, he never built there. Preferring to open his land office at Greenway Court on the western side of the Blue Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley.

On page-71, Groome cites Burnaby's 1798 description of Fairfax's "way of living" at Greenway Court:

"He kept many servants , white and black; several hunters; a plentiful but plain table, entirely in English fashion; and his mansion was the mansion of hospitality. His dress corresponded with his mode of life, and, notwithstanding he had every year new suits of clothes, of the most fashionable and expensive kind, sent out to him from England, which he never put on, was plain in the extreme. His manners were humble, modest and unaffected; not tinctured in the smallest degree with arrogance, pride or self-conceit. He was free from selfish passions, and liberal almost to  excess. The produce of his farms, after the deduction of what was necessary for the consumption of his own family was distributed and given away to the poor planters and settlers in his neighborhood. To these he frequently advanced money, to enable them to go on with their improvements; to clear away woods, and cultivate the ground; and where the lands proved unfavorable, and not likely to answer the labor and expectation of the planter or husbandman, he usually indemnified him from the expense he had been at in the attempt, and gratuitously granted him fresh lands of a more favorable and promising nature. He was a friend and father to all who held and lived under him; and as the great object of his ambition was the peopling and cultivating of that fine and beautiful country, of which he was the proprietor, he sacrificed every other pursuit, and made every other consideration subordinate, to this great point. He presided at the county courts held in Winchester, where during the sessions he always kept open table; and acted as surveyor and overseer of the highways and public roads. His chief, if not sole amusement was hunting; and in pursuit of this exercise he frequently carried his hounds to distant parts of the country; and entertained every gentleman of good character and decent appearance' who attended him in the field, at the inn or ordinary, where he took up his residence for the hunting season."

In the final chapter Groome gives us clarity on Lord Fairfax's final hours. He died on 9 December 1781 not at Greenway Court but in Winchester after a ride to see his physician. He first was buried at the Frederick parish church in town that he erected in 1762. But later his remains were removed to Christ Church. And in 1925 a new bronze table was placed that we can see today:

"Under the spot repose the remains of Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, son of Thomas fifth Lord Fairfax and Catherine Culpepper, his wife. Born at Leeds Castle, County Kent, England, October 22, 1693. Died at his proprietary of the Northern Neck in Virginia, December 9, 1781, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was buried in the original Frederick Parish Church at the corner of Loudoun (Main) and Boscawen (Water) streets, whence his remains were removed to this church in 1828; where they were reinterred in 1925, when this tablet was erected by the Vestry of Christ Church."

UPDATE (July 2021): 

It seems the historical snowflakes and "perpetually aggrieved" have come for even the good Lord Fairfax. The charge; simply living in his own time and place when men were men and chattel were chattel. The remedy; being judged by present-day standards and CANCELLED. And of course no surprise that the academy was involved. That one institution (and their historians in particular) who really should know better. Clearly the intellectual cesspool from which most current revisionist neo-Marxist doctrine emanates. For the record, Lord Fairfax was one of the most benevolent masters and country gentleman in all of Virginia for his time (note above). The revisionists have no real clue and only see the name.

But never fear; it's all rainbows and unicorns, or in this case; pretty flowers:

"Virginia’s State Board for Community Colleges today approved changing the name of two of the commonwealth’s 23 community colleges, including Lord Fairfax Community College, which will become Laurel Ridge Community College. The new name, selected by a task force of students, faculty, alumni, LFCC retirees, community members and college board members, is drawn from the native laurel flower that is characteristic of the region, and the proximity of the college’s four locations to the Blue Ridge Mountains." 

How nice. But speaking of Lords and Ladies, I'm reminded of a time, many years ago, when Saturday Nigh Live still was worth watching.