George William Fairfax & wife leaving
George Washington adores George William Fairfax's wife. George Washington is also on good terms with her husband and on good terms with the whole Fairfax family.
So who is this George William Fairfax and his wife? George William Fairfax married Sarah (Sally) Cary in either 1747 or 1748.
They are planning to leave for England.
She might need the better medicine of England for some health issues. He also needs to ensure his future money opportunities in England, especially since his opportunities in Virginia are fading.
He inherited an English estate from his uncle, his Dad's brother. His Uncle, Henry died in 1759. His Dad died in 1757. Lots of change coming. He has to take care of issues with inheriting his Uncle's estate. See chart below. That Uncle is an uncle because his brother is William Fairfax. William Fairfax is the father of George William Fairfax.
His other source of income as agent to Lord Fairfax barely covers the cost of a clerk. And it looks like Thomas Bryan Martin is going to become Lord Fairfax's principal agent of the Northern Neck proprietorship. George William Fairfax colludes with Lord Fairfax's brother Robert to fight Thomas Brian Martin's growing influence. Robert Fairfax at various times was in Parliament and even higher up as a member of the Privy Council to the King.
But Lord Fairfax trusts Thomas Bryan Martin. He's his nephew, his sister Francis's son. He does a good job. He earns this favor. He's more suited to the job. And he thinks, as Lord Fairfax does, that Greenway Court not Belvoir is nearer to the income opportunities of collecting quit rents from the growing population in the western portions of his Northern Neck Proprietorship - a sort of colony within a colony, where the proprietorship collects the quit rents and awards the land patents rather than Virginia.
This job doesn't suit George William Fairfax even though he would like the share of its money and to inherit the title as Proprietor over it.
George William Fairfax also did not inherit his deceased Dad's lucrative job of Customs, nor does he have his Dad's powerful positions as Speaker of the House. They leave for England on the ship, Wilson. Some sources say it was May 1760. Other sources claim August 1760.
This family tree is the best diagram showing those in the Fairfax family connected to George Washington and Thomas Bryan Martin, the two representatives of Frederick County in the House of Burgesses.
When did they leave?
One source states May 1760. Another source alleges August 1760.
George Washington connection
George Washington is going to miss that wife. He wrote adoring letters to her. He wrote to her in 1758 while he was on the Forbes Expedition, comparing himself and her as actors in the play, "Cato, A Tragedy." At that time Sara "Sally" Cary Fairfax was married. She married George William Fairfax, ten years before that letter in 1748. Towards the end of his life, not knowing he has only 1 year 7 months left to live, he writes quite an adoring letter to her.
". . . so many important events have occurred, and such changes in men and things have taken place, as the compass of a letter would give you but an inadequate idea of. None of which events, however, nor all of them together, have been able to eradicate from my mind, the recollection of those happy moments—the happiest of my life—which I have enjoyed in your company. . . ."
There's a lot more to the letter, but this sentiment is striking before he passed on.
From George Washington to Sarah Cary Fairfax (Sally Cary)
Mount Vernon 16th May 1798.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 9/25/2024, updated 9/27/2024, 9/29/2024, 10/01/2024
Notes
So who is George William Fairfax, her husband? "In records found by Wilson Miles Cary, a writer and family historian, their marriage was announced in The Virginia Gazette in December 1748." Mount Vernon Website states they married in 1748.
6. On 27 May 1760 before leaving for England, Fairfax wrote his cousin Lord Fairfax (Thomas Fairfax, sixth baron Fairfax of Cameron; 1693–1781): “Since your Lordships departure Sally [Mrs. George William Fairfax] tells me that Col [Thomas Bryan] Martin said you would not object to reside here [at Belvoir] in our absence. . . . I desire no rent for the house and plantation, as it will be an advantage to have them inhabited” (Neill, The Fairfaxes of England and America, 119–20).
One may infer from Fairfax’s words that Lord Fairfax probably had been during this time GW’s neighbor at Belvoir.
Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley had been Lord Fairfax’s residence since 1752.
Thomas Bryan Martin (1731–1798) was Lord Fairfax’s nephew and land agent.
George William Fairfax wrote a kinsman on 8 Sept. 1762, “Mr M—— has carried his long laboured point of getting the management of the Office into his own hands, and removing it with them to Frederick” (ibid., 129–30).
Footnote 6 to 30 Oct 1761 letter
Rev Henricus “Henry” Fairfax
BIRTH
20 Apr 1659
Bolton Percy, Selby District, North Yorkshire, England
DEATH
Aug 1708 (aged 49)
Toulston, Selby District, North Yorkshire, England
BURIAL
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Churchyard
Westminster, City of Westminster, Greater London, EnglandAdd to Map
MEMORIAL ID
148176264 · View Source
FAIRFAX, Hon. Henry (1659-1708), of Toulston Hall
Of Fairfax’s children, his second son, William, was the best known, having moved to Virginia, where he became the friend and adviser of George Washington, to whom he was related through his aunt.4
From George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, 28 September 1760
To Robert Cary & Company
Mount Vernon 28th Septr 1760
Gentn
Your Letter of the 31st May Via Bristol came to hand a few days ago;1 and I take the
I now address Copies of my last by Mr Fairfax, in the Ship Wilson Captn Coolage;5
5. Judson Coolidge was captain of the ship Wilson. George William Fairfax and his wife went to England where they remained until 1763.
august 1760 letter
10. In his account with Robert Cary & Co. GW enters charges of £79.1 in December 1760 for “Sundry’s—pr Mrs Fairfax’s Acct” (General Ledger A, folio 67). George William Fairfax and his wife were on their way to England for a visit.
11. This was probably “a Bill of Exchange—drawn by Mr Henry Churchill on Messrs Bosworth & Griffith” in April 1760 for £32.3.3. GW noted “this Bill remitted solely on my own Acct” (ibid.). The bill was protested. For the selection of busts available to GW, see Invoice from Robert Cary & Co., 15 Mar. 1760.
14. GW ordered these goods from James Gildart on 20 Sept. 1759. See note 1 of that document.
15. GW wrote Robert Cary & Co. on 28 April. For a discussion of GW’s purchase of Clifton’s Neck from William Clifton, see GW to Benjamin Waller, 2 April 1760, n.1; Robert Carter Nicholas and George Wythe to GW, 27 May 1760; William Digges to GW, 4 June 1760, n.1.
16. Robert Brent (c.1730–1780) of Woodstock, Stafford County, was William Clifton’s nephew, but the bill was in fact made out to George Brent (1703–1778), Clifton’s brother-in-law. The land GW was buying from George Brent was a 238–acre tract in Clifton’s Neck on Little Hunting Creek, adjoining Clifton’s land. GW signed deeds of lease and release on 23–24 Sept. 1760 (Fairfax County Deed Book D, 839–45). The land was part of a 584–acre grant in 1677 to Brent’s grandfather George Brent (c.1640–1700).
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