The authors also extend their thanks to the Honorable Thomas P. Chapman, former Clerk of the Fairfax County Circuit Court, and the Honorable Franklin Gooding, present Clerk of the Fairfax County Circuit Court, for assistance in making available court records of the clerkships of various members of the Moss family. The Honorable George R. Rich, Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls of the State, furnished information on Robert Moss’s term as a Delegate from Fairfax County. Thanks are extended to the staff of the National Archives who located and made available for examination the military and civil service records of Fountain Beattie.
Many helpful suggestions on the interpretation of data concerning the history of agriculture in Northern Virginia were provided by C. Malcolm Watkins, Chairman of the Department of Cultural History, and John T. Schlebecker, Curator of the Division of Agriculture and Mining of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History and Technology.
Details of the architectural history of the mansion house were furnished by Walter Macomber, who was in charge of the 1942 renovation, and David Condon, AIA, who designed the additional work done in 1960. Mr. Condon also provided both information and architectural plans for the Tobey House and the Spring House. The authors’ sincere thanks are extended to both these gentlemen.
Finally, the authors wish to acknowledge the efficient and valuable help that they, as part of the county’s historical research project, received from the staff of the Fairfax County Headquarters Library.
N.N.
R.D.N.
Fairfax, Virginia
April 22, 1970
INTRODUCTION
The land has always had a special value to Virginians. Land was the first form of wealth which the colonists knew; and it was through cultivation of the land that Virginians first enjoyed the heady feeling of prosperity that came with the rise of their tobacco empire. Ownership and cultivation of the land were the goals of those who indentured themselves to come to the New World, and they were the foundations on which Jefferson placed his reliance for the perpetuation of political freedom and economic strength for the infant republic which emerged from the Revolution. For more than three centuries, Virginians have associated the land with values which are both physical and spiritual.