Lord Fairfax is a Recusant, not taking the Oath
Time to take a side. Staying neutral? Not allowed. No silent majority here.
Time to smoke out the Tories. Time to nail down the wobbly. Time to consider what side is safe for you.
The House of Burgesses was no longer. This legisluture is now known as the Virginia Assembly 7 Oct 1776.
In Dec 1776, the Senate let go of its amendments to the House bill creating Warm Springs. They still allowed the Fairfaxes and Thomas Bryan Martin to be trustees of the new incorporated town Warm Springs, formerly known as Bath, later to be known as Berkeley Springs.
But they couldn't avoid the oath. Everyone has to swear an oath.
And if they don't?
Then they are labelled a "Recusant."
And if you're a "Recusant," then you cannot hold any office, hold any arms, serve on any jury, sue for any debts, buy any land.
That shut down the income spigot for the Fairfaxes.
Had the Fairfaxes and Thomas Bryan Martin, their representative, take the oath to this new country, old mother England would have taken away all their English holdings.
"Fairfax had more than ample fortune to see him through even if he lost both the Proprietary and his English estates, but the story was different as regards his sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews. To most of them, Leeds Castle and the other Kentish holdings represented livelihoods as well as physical shelters, and any utterance or act by Fairfax against either England or the Tories may well have brought about the sequestration of hese estates."
And . . . there is Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax's brother -- Robert Fairfax. He was high up in govt. He was on the Privy Council in London.
" . . . Robert Fairfax, though feckless, had some English standing -- in 1770, Jeffrey Amherst [Winchester VA has a street named after this Amherst ] appealed to Robert to assist debtors imprisoned at Maidstone --- and all in all, as far as being active anti-Tory was concerned, prudence as well as sheer decency demanded that Lord Fairfax say and do absolutely nothing."
Source:
Pages 176-179, "Virginia Baron, the Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax," by Stuart E Brown, published 1964, Chesapeake Book Company, Berryville VA.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/21/2024, research in May 2024, updated 7/22/2024, 7/23/2024
The Oath
Thomas Bryan Martin
did take the oath, but he chose to step down from his office of County Lieutenant. Thomas Bryan Martin held the role of County Lieutenant since the last Royal Governor Dunmore asked him to take that job.
The job of the County Lieutenant was charged with raising a militia for the defense of that County.
Bryan Fairfax
did not take the oath of allegiance. Son of deceased William Fairfax by his 2nd wife.
Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax did not take the oath of allegiance
George William Fairfax
and his wife were in England by this time. Son of deceased William Fairfax by his 1st wife.
Source:
Pages 176-179, "Virginia Baron, the Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax," by Stuart E Brown, published 1964, Chesapeake Book Company, Berryville VA.
Founders Online
On 28 June 1777 the General Assembly passed “An Act to oblige the free male inhabitants of this state above a certain age to give assurance of allegiance to the same and for other purposes,” and the House of Delegates directed that the public printer print, without delay, one copy of the Act for each magistrate within the commonwealth, together with a sufficient number of certificates, and send the same to the several counties (Hening, ix, 281–3; JHD, May 1777, 1827 edn., p. 110). The Act provided that all free-born male inhabitants above the age of sixteen, except imported servants, were to subscribe to the oath on or before 10 Oct. 1777 before the justices of the peace in their counties, boroughs, or cities and that the justices of the peace were to keep fair registers of the names of such persons; and before the first of January in every year following, to submit to the clerk of the court for the county a list of the persons who had signed. Upon signing, each person was to receive a certificate which read: “I do hereby certify, that hath taken and subscribed the oath or affirmation of allegiance and fidelity‥‥ Witness my hand and seal this day of .”
Journal
Saturday June 28, 1777
“An act to oblige the free male inhabitants of this State above a certain age to give assurance of allegiance to the same, and for other services.”
Henings Statutes
#294 (p. 252)- 1 matching term
...An act to repeal so much of any act or acts of assembly as subject the peo- ple called quakers and menonîsts to penalties or disabilities for non jur- ing. I. WHEREAS by an act, intituled, "An act to o- blige the free male inhabitants; of this state above a cer- tain age to give assurance of allegiance to the same, and for other purposes," non-jurors are prohibited from purchasing lands, suing for debts, and are subject to other disabilities; which said prohibition is greatly op- pressive on those peaceable and industrious people of the community, known by the names of quakers and menonists, who from conscientious scruples have de- clined giving that assurance of allegiance which is en- joined by the above recited act: For remedy whereof,...
It got worse after the Oath
First taxes were doubled on land.
Then, taxes were tripled on land.
Charles Lee stood up for Lord Fairfax,
petitioning the House of Delegates to exempt Lord Fairfax from those tax increases on those who did not take the oath.
Source:
Pages 176-179, "Virginia Baron, the Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax," by Stuart E Brown, published 1964, Chesapeake Book Company, Berryville VA.
Warm Springs, Berkeley County
Formerly known as Bath and now as Berkley Springs.
Third Reading of setting up this town 25 Nov 1776 in the House of Delegates:
' Mr. Starke, from the Committee of Propositions and Grievances, to whom the bill For establishing a town at the Warm Springs^ in the county of Berkeley, was committed, reported,
House of Delegates has approved the Town, Sending this to the Senate
. . . an engrossed bill, For establishing a town at the Warm; Springs;, in the county of Berkeley, was read a third time. Resolved, That the said bill do pass, and that Mr. Wood carry the same to the Senate for their concurrence. . .
Senate agrees to creating this town but has amendments
The Senate have agreed to the bill intituled Jin act declaring what shall be treason, with amendments. Also, to the bill intituled din act for establishing a town at the Warm Springs, in the county of Berkeley;, with amendments,
The upper house, The Senate agrees to setting up this town:
The Senate do recede from the amendments by them proposed to the bill intituled An act for establishing a town at the Warm Springs, in the county of Berkeley;, and disagreed to by the House, and have agreed to the amendments to their amendments?
Philip Vickers Fithian (1747–1776)
Journal and map of travels:
Philip Vickers Fithian (1747–1776)
Philip Vickers Fithian, journal and letters, 1767-1774, ...
Internet Archive https://archive.org › vickersfithianat00fithrich PDF
J. THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 1900. Page 12. Copyright, 1900, by. THE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ... Fithian s diary from 1766-67, and from. 1 773- 76, together
The way of improvement leads home : Philip Vickers Fithian and the rural Enlightenment in early America
by Fea, John, published 2008
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