VII. THE COURT HOUSE
In 1618 Gov. Yeardley established the prototype of the county court by an order stating that "county courts be held in convenient places, to sit monthly, and to hear civil and criminal cases." It determined rates of local taxation, registered legal documents, licensed inns and exercised control over their prices, directed the building and repair of roads, and rendered judgments in both civil and criminal cases.
While Fairfax County was still a part of the colony, the first sessions of Court were probably held in Colchester, a thriving seaport town where large quantities of tobacco were exported. Charles Broadwater, John Carlyle, Henry Gunnell, Lord Thomas Fairfax, George Mason, and George Washington were among the Gentlemen Justices during the period of 1742 to 1776.
The first entry of the Court's minutes were made in 1742 at a session held in Colchester. This was an order removing the county records from Colchester to the new court house two miles north of Vienna. This court house, where the Fairfax Resolves were written, was called "Freedom Hill". Ambiguously, a gallows was constructed here and death sentences were carried out promptly. The court house remained at Freedom Hill for ten years when it was moved to Alexandria.
There are many theories concerning the move to Alexandria: Roads were poor and slow; there was still Indian hostility—the treaty of Fontainebleau did not come until 1762; there was pressure from the more influential citizens of Alexandria to move it to that city.
At any rate, the Court was moved to Alexandria in 1752 and there it remained until 1799. The gallows remained at Freedom Hill. When a death sentence was passed, the prisoner was taken out The Little River Turnpike from Alexandria to Annandale, thence along "Court House Road" to the gallows. Eventually the name "Court House Road" was changed to "Gallows Road", which name a portion of the road bears today.
During the forty-seven years court was held in Alexandria, the building fell into such disrepair that it finally became an unfit place in which to hold business, thereby speeding the acceptance of a proposal by George Mason and other influential residents that the Court be moved to Fairfax.
At that time there lived in Fairfax a man by the name of Richard Ratcliffe who held large tracts of land in this area. His holdings began at the Ravensworth line and swept over and through all the area that the Town of Fairfax now occupies, traveling on into what is now Loudoun County.
When plans became final to move the Court House from Alexandria to Fairfax, Richard Ratcliffe sold to Charles Little, David Stuart, William Payne, James Wren and George Minor, for one dollar, four acres of land "to erect thereupon an house, for holding the Pleas of the said County of Fairfax, a clerks office for the safe keeping of the records and papers of the said County, a Goal and all and every other building and machine necessary for the Justices of the Peace for the said County from time to time to erect for the purpose of holding the pleas of the said County, preserving the Records and publick papers, securing and safe keeping of prisoners and reserving good order and the publick peace but for no other use or purpose whatever and also the undisturbed use of and privilege of all the springs upon the lands of Him the said Richard Ratcliffe ...", dated June 27, 1799.
Records show that a Richard Ratcliffe came to this country from England in 1637 along with John Bristoe, Robert Turner, Henry Warren, Thomas Clarke and Robert Throckmorton—Lord of the Manor of Ellington. It is assumed that the descendants of Ratcliffe and Throckmorton worked their way into the vicinity of the future town of Fairfax for their names appear often in the records and newspaper clippings.
The Richard Ratcliffe who gave the land for the court house came here from Maryland. He was the son of John Ratcliffe of "Poynton" and "Doyne" Manors, Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland.
He married Lucian Bolling who was from one of the families who had moved into this area from the Jamestown Colony. Her father was Girard Bolling who was one of 18 children and descended from Thomas Rolfe.
Mr. Bolling was a planter and merchant who owned a store in Fairfax. Ratcliffe became associated with his father-in-law in the mercantile business and took over the business after Mr. Bolling died. In Ratcliffe's will he left "the brick store and land lot to his sons for the purpose of keeping store in or on if necessary".
He and his wife had five daughters and four sons. Penelope married Spencer Jackson. Nancy married Stephen Daniel. Jane married Thomas Moss, a future clerk of the court. Patsy married Richard Coleman. Lucian married George Gunnell. His sons were Robert, who was Deputy Sheriff in 1801, Charles, John and Samuel. Two of his sons were evidently a disappointment to him for in his will he speaks of Samuel "having conducted himself badly for several years past" his debts were to be paid by the executors, who were Robert and Charles Ratcliffe, Thomas Moss, Gordon Allison and Roger M. Farr. He also stated that two of his sons had received more than his daughters but he hoped his sons would do better and his daughters would understand.
The Ratcliffe home place, "Mt. Vineyard" will be recalled by older citizens in the town as the Rumsey place, which burned years ago. The family graveyard still exists today. It is located on Moore Street.
Besides owning a great deal of land and a mercantile business, Mr. Ratcliffe owned a race track on the east side of town. Its approximate location was east of Route 237, north of The Little River Turnpike and west of Fairview Subdivision. His personal property was valued at $4445.34. In his will the slaves were divided among his wife and children. Some of the slaves were valued as high as $600 each, while others were valued at a dollar.
In 1836, when Mr. Ratcliffe died and the town had to be surveyed in order for his estate to be divided, John Halley, the surveyor writes: "In laying off I commenced at the northwest corner of Rizin Willcoxon's Tavern House, Robert Ratcliffe having represented that that house was considered when built as being exactly on the corner of the lot on which it stands, and the side and gable ends of said house ranged with the streets. I have therefore taken the ...... of said house as a guide". The tavern was valued at $4000.00 at that time.
Robert Ratcliffe had evidently used the northwest corner of the tavern when in 1805 he laid off the town when An Act of the Assembly established a "Town at Fairfax Court House on the Land of Richard Ratcliffe by the name of Providence".
FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE
Photo by Ollie Atkins
Meanwhile, a red brick building had been erected for the court house. It had a gabled roof, an arcaded loggia and a cupola. In the cupola hung a very fine bell which had been imported from England. This bell rang to remind the citizens of church time, court, town meetings, etc.
The inside of the court house was beautifully paneled with walnut wainscoating and behind the Justice's chair the wall was paneled from floor to ceiling. There was a gallery for slaves and rows of hand carved wooden pews for freemen.
On the outside was a place for tying horses in the yard and nearby stood a well with the traditional "old oaken bucket". The inscription on the bucket read, "He who drinks therefrom will return to drink again!"
Among the first Justices of the Peace to serve in the new Court House after April of 1800 were James Coleman, David Stuart, Charles Little, William Stanhope, Richard Bland Lee, Robert F. Hooe, William Payne, Richard Ratcliffe, William Deneale, Humphrey Peake, Richard W. Poeh, Hancock Lee, William Gunnell, Richard M. Scott, Francy Adams, James Wiley, Augustine I. Smith, and James Waugh. These men formed a committee that took turns serving as Justices of the Peace. They were known as Gentlemen Justices and were appointed and commissioned by the governor until 1851.
In 1843 an agricultural journal was published at the Fairfax County seat. It was called the "Farmer's Intelligencer" and was edited and published by J. D. Hitt. The first issue which appeared on October 21, 1843, showed agitation for a revision of the Virginia constitution in advocating a more economical and simplified court procedure. It may or may not have been indicative of general feelings at the time, but from 1851 until 1870 Justices were elected by the voters of the County. Among these were Silas Burke, John B. Hunter, James Hunter, W. W. Ellzey, Minnan Burke, Ira Williams, M. R. Selecman, William W. Ball, John Millan, Nelson Conrad, T. M. Ford, David Fitzhugh, S. T. Stuart and Elcon Jones.
From 1870 to 1902 the County Court was presided over by a single judge elected by the state's legislature. During that time Thomas E. Carper, Richard Coleman, J. R. Taylor, J. F. Mayhugh and John D. Cross were among those who served. Governor Yeardley's order was abolished in 1902 by a constitutional convention and by 1904 the circuit courts took over the former work of the county courts. Their decline was brought about because they had become the symbol of opposition to a centralized government. Thomas Jefferson said, "the justices of the inferior courts are self-chosen, are for life, and perpetuate their own body in succession forever, so that a faction once possessing themselves of the bench of a county, can never be broken up...."
John Marshall said "there is no part of America where less disquiet and less ill feeling between man and man is to be found than in this commonwealth, and I believe most firmly that this state of things is mainly to be ascribed to the practical operation of our county courts".
William Moss served as Clerk of the Court from 1801 to 1833. From 1833 until 1887 F. D. Richardson, Thomas Moss, Alfred Moss, S. M. Ball, H. T. Brooks, W. B. Gooding, William M. Fitzhugh, D. F. Dulaney, and F. W. Richardson served as Clerks. F. D. Richardson who was born in 1800 and entered the Clerk's Office under William Moss in 1826 was either Clerk, Deputy Clerk or Assistant Clerk to the date of his death on October 13, 1880, a period of 50 years. His son, F. W. Richardson, born Dec. 16, 1853, went into the Clerk's Office when he was 18 years old (1871) and served as Deputy and Assistant Clerk until the death of his father in 1880, when he was elected Clerk of the County and Circuit Courts.
It is said that Ripley wrote in "Believe It or Not" that "'Uncle Tude' (F. W. Richardson) and his father had been Clerks of the Fairfax Courts continuously for one hundred and five years".
