On February 18, 1801, the Rev. Mr. Maffitt was elected a director of the Alexandria Library Co., and was re-elected to this post in 1802, 1803, and 1804.[39]
On May 5, 1803, the Rev. Dr. Muir, pastor of the Presbyterian Meeting House, married the Rev. William Maffitt to Mrs. Harriotte Turberville.[40] Harriotte (or Henrietta) was the daughter of Richard Henry Lee, a brother of Philip Ludwell Lee, and his second wife, Anne Gaskins Pinckard, widow of Thomas Pinckard. Harriotte was born December 10, 1773 at Chantilly, the Richard Henry Lee estate in Westmoreland County.[41] Her siblings included a younger sister Sarah who married another cousin, Edmund Jennings Lee, and the youngest son, Francis Lightfoot Lee.[42] Her first marriage in December, 1794, was to Richard Lee Turberville, a cousin and neighbor, who died in 1799,[43] leaving his widow with their three children: Cornelia, Richard, and George. Richard and Harriotte Turberville had settled at Chantilly in Fairfax County and Richard apparently died there.[44]
When Harriotte and William Maffitt were married, he was still principal of the Alexandria Academy, living in Alexandria, and active in community affairs. But between June 8, 1804, the date of Maffitt's resignation from the Academy, and early 1805, he moved to Chantilly with his wife, their first child, and the three children of Harriotte's first marriage. It is probable that the move took place in 1804, soon after his resignation.
Legal guardian of the three Turberville children was Thomas Lee, Harriotte's oldest brother.[45] After his death in 1805, William Maffitt was named guardian.[46] In this capacity he had to keep accurate accounts of his expenditures on behalf of the children and of income received on their property, all of which were matters of court record. These records indicate that Maffitt was living at Chantilly at that time.
William and Harriotte had two daughters, both christened in the Presbyterian Meeting House: Ann Lee, born March 23, 1804, and christened on April 20, and Harriotte, born March 16, 1805, and christened on April 17, 1805.[47] Harriotte died right after the birth of the second daughter, probably on April 11 or 12, 1805, because on April 12, Maffitt began paying rent to the three Turberville heirs for the use of their property. This was recorded for the first time in his accounts for 1805.[48]
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.[51]
The guardian accounts give some interesting insights into day-by-day activities. Buying new shoes and mending old ones for the two boys were constant expenses. Regular sums of money were sent to Mrs. Lee, Harriotte's sister Sally, to pay for Cornelia Turberville's board, education, and small purchases. Books and supplies were bought for the boys. A large portion of the estate was rented out, and so were some of the slaves. The chimney and cellar were repaired; a new barn was built.[52]
The accounts also show that Cornelia Turberville was married to Charles C. Stuart in 1817, rather than 1814, as some sources report. Up to the time of the marriage, Maffitt referred to Cornelia as "C. Turberville"; afterwards he formally termed her "Mistress Stuart." He also listed money given George Turberville to buy articles to attend his sister's wedding.[53] Historians credit Cornelia and her husband with building a house named "Chantilly" in honor of the estate of her grandfather, Richard Henry Lee, in Westmoreland County.[54] Yet the Maffitt accounts specifically refer to "my rent of Chantilly" in 1814,[55] three years before the Turberville-Stuart marriage. Moreover, a public sale was held "at Chantilly" in 1817,[56] with cash paid to C. C. Stuart from its proceeds.[57]
Curiously, the accounts show that Maffitt continued to pay rent to the Turberville heirs through 1814, the year when, for the first time, we definitely know he was living at Salona. Does this mean that Maffitt himself built Salona between 1812, when he purchased the property, and 1814, or that the house already existed and was rented to a tenant through the first part of 1814? That Maffitt was there in August 1814 is proven by the documented fact that President Madison stayed at Salona overnight with Mr. Maffitt.
Robert Gamble, in his volume on Sully, quotes a letter which states that Richard Bland Lee, Jr., was under the tutelage of the Reverend Mr. Maffitt at some time preceding 1805. [58] This again would suggest that Maffitt had a school at Chantilly, close to Richard Bland Lee's home at Sully. Another biographer mentions that