Chapter 4
The Fairfaxes of Belvoir and Alexandria
Of the families in Virginia closely associated with George Washington, none bore so intimate a relation as that of Fairfax.
William Fairfax, founder of the Virginia branch of the family, was born in 1691 in Towlston in Yorkshire, England, the son of the Honorable Henry Fairfax, Sheriff of Yorkshire, and grandson of the Fourth Lord Fairfax. Educated as a member of the governing classes, he began his career in the navy, later entering the colonial service. Before he was twenty-six he had acted as chief justice of the Bahamas and Governor of the Isle of Providence. Prior to 1717 he married Sarah Walker of Nassau, daughter of Colonel Walker, by whom he had four children, George William, Thomas, Anne, and Sarah. In 1729, Colonel Fairfax was appointed Collector of the Port of Salem, Massachusetts, and removed to that colony. In 1731 his wife died, and very shortly afterward he married Deborah, widow of Francis Clarke and daughter of Colonel Bartholomew Gedney of Salem, by whom he had three children, Bryan, William Henry, and Hannah.
In 1734 Fairfax came to Virginia as agent for his first cousin, Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax (who, by direct inheritance from a royal grant of Charles II, had come into possession of some five million acres of Virginia land lying between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, and extending from Chesapeake Bay to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, known to Virginians as the Northern Neck); and to serve as Collector of Customs for the South Potomac. Fairfax first went to Westmoreland, where he was associated with the Washington and Lee families. Next he moved to King George, and lived at Falmouth. By 1741 he was representing Prince William County in the House of Burgesses. Colonel Fairfax was elevated to "His Majesty's Council of State" three years later. Becoming President of the Council in 1744, he continued in that office until his death.
About this time William Fairfax completed his dwelling house, Belvoir, situated on a high bluff overlooking the Potomac River, halfway between Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall. It was described by Washington in an advertisement as having "four convenient rooms and a wide Hall on the first floor." In one of these "convenient rooms," more than two hundred years ago on July 19, 1743, Anne, eldest daughter of Colonel Fairfax was married to Lawrence Washington of Mount Vernon.
A few years after his marriage, Lawrence (to whom George Washington owed his start in life) took his impecunious young half-brother into his home at Mount Vernon, whereupon the in-laws became intimately concerned with George's future. Young George was wise enough to realize that the way of advancement led through this important family and he never lost an opportunity to cultivate the President of the Council. Colonel Fairfax became a benefactor of the young man's fortunes, an inspiration to his ambition, and was truly and wholeheartedly attached through his affections to the gangling youth. To the end of his life Fairfax signed his letters to George, "Yr very affecte & Assurd Friend."
In 1747 George William Fairfax, the Colonel's eldest son, returned home from England, where he had received his education, with the promise from Lord Fairfax of falling heir to his father's agency of the Northern Neck.
The fifteen-year-old George took a great liking to young Fairfax, and despite a difference in age, a friendship began which was destined to last throughout their lives. A letter from George William Fairfax to Lawrence Washington stated, "George has been with us, and says he will be steady and thankfully follow your advice as his best friend. I gave him his brother's letter to deliver with a caution not to show his."[82] Doubtless this was the occasion when George was seriously considering the navy. Lawrence had served under Admiral Vernon, William Fairfax was trained for the navy, and Lord Fairfax was in Virginia to add either persuasion or influence as needed. Mary Washington was set in her determination that George should not become a sailor. Thus it was decided that surveying or engineering was the best outlook for the young man's future career, and Mount Vernon and Belvoir the seat of his further learning. Lord Fairfax would employ the embryo engineer as soon as he had sufficient instruction to be useful. The pupil was adept, the instructors efficient, and we see young Washington setting out with his new friend, George William, in March of 1748, upon his first surveying mission in the employment of Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax.
On his return from this mission, serious, sober young Fairfax (he was twenty-three at the time) offered himself as a burgess for Frederick County and was duly elected. He followed his father to Williamsburg, where he found attractions more absorbing than lawmaking. After "several opportunities of visiting Miss Cary" he fell a victim to the wiles and graces of the belle of the season. The Virginia Gazette for December 1748 carried this bit of social news: "Married on the 17th inst., George William Fairfax, Esqr., eldest son of the Honorable William Fairfax of His Majesty's Council to Sarah, eldest daughter of Colonel Wilson Cary of Ceelys."