Lord Fairfax' Remains' Moves - Grave Matters

We understand there were 4 (maybe 5 moves) of the remains of Lord Fairfax. We're going to take you on that tour of the afterlife of Lord Fairfax. This tour is what we know so far. Ths author, Jim Moyer, has long wanted to go down this rabbit hole but always got pulled away on another project until Scott Straub stated he wanted to document the dates on the different re-interments of Lord Fairfax leading up to the tomb of Lord Fairfax at Christ Church Episcopal on the corner of Boscawen and Washington streets in Winchester VA. I wanted to help on this project. He looked up church records held in the Handley Library archives. I went for a different set of sources from a book and newspaper articles. There are still some sources we have not examined yet that might change what we have so far.

Like Daniel Morgan, so too did Lord Fairfax have an active afterlife. Both had their remains moved and both had the living try to figure out what honors they should show in the form of monuments or plaques. With Daniel Morgan, there was more activity about monuments and plaques . With Lord Fairfax, there was more activity about moving his remains. Had they not he would have been stuck under JC Penny and maybe later under a parking lot. He did lose recognition by a community college that held his name, but we believe a later Fairfax could have been still honored for releasing his slaves and fighting the institution of slavery.

Here's what we have so far.

Before the first Burial

Publication Date January 1, 1965, paper back 2009

Hades

Before Lord Fairfax dies, his caretaker speaks of a dream of seeing him in Hades.

Side note, this caretaker, Polly Ann Green lives on the western side of Ashby's Gap.

Lord Fairfax, borned 22 Oct 1693, dies 9 December 1781, months after the Battle of Yorktown.

A Double Coffin is made with a large silver plate. Oddly, it shows a coat of arms of Viscounts Fairfax of Emeley rather than those of the Barons of Cameron.

Lord Fairfax' full title is Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.

That Silver Plate gets separated from the coffin. Question after question arises about this silver plate.

Place of Death is in dispute, as are the silver plate and the moves of Lord Fairfax' remains.

Side note: Lord Fairfax's Jackboots have a story after his death. Also Dr Robert Macky's connection to Lord Fairfax.

The Burials and the Removals

Because Lord Fairfax was buried under the first church built on the northeast corner of Boscawen and Loudoun, it is useful to know the dates of the different church constructions.

1744 A lot was established for town and religious functions on the corner of Boscawen and Loudoun.

1753 Eyewitness accounts of the Shawnee Indians coming to Winchester VA for a peace conference indicate there was an unfinished wooden church near the log courthouse. See source.

1762 Feb 9 - a contract was signed to build a stone church closer to the northeast corner of Boscawen and Loudoun. The previous wooden one was situated closer to the original log courthouse.

1766 that stone church construction was completed.

1828 construction of new Church on corner of Boscawen and Washington.

Now those last 2 dates are significant. Someone had to dig up Lord Fairfax remains from the old church and move it to the new church.

1781 or 1782? Lord Fairfax is buried in that 1766 church. That's the first burial.

This source below states a marble tablet was inscribed with these words "In Memory of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, who died 1782 and whose ashes repose underneath this church, which he endowed" .

Because Lord Fairfax died late in 1781 in December, maybe he did not get buried in that "1766 stone church" until 1782. After all, the hearse didn't come for that double coffin until 27 Dec 1781.

1828 or 1829? Lord Fairfax is moved from the old church and is buried under the new church chancel. The chancel is the place of the alter and pulpit and sometimes the chorus is included.

In 1829 the old stone church was razed according to the book Virginia Baron, The Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax by Stuart E Brown Jr. I just don't have the dates starting construction which is 1828 and the end of construction.

That's the second burial.

1925 The chancel was moved while the church was being enlarged

Then "while other changes were being contemplated. a search was made for the remains. At first, the quest produced nothing, but finally one of the Negro workmen. a part-time preacher, dreamed Fairfax's bones rested in a certain spot. And sure enough, the diggers there unearthed the remnants of a skeleton and a coffin, both of which were identified as being those of his lordship."

That quote is from Chapter 21, page 189-190 of Stuart E Brown Jr's book, "Virginia Baron - The Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax" who paraphrased a Letter from Robert T Barton to Fairfax Harrison 12 June 1925.

And where buried?

Was he interred in the church yard or under the new moved chancel?

That's the third burial.

Question on this 1925 move

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How did they identify the coffin if it had no label?

Answer: Probably by deducing from church records no one else was recorded buried under the church.

Could anybody tell if it was the "double coffin" ? Or was Lord Fairfax put in a different coffin when moved from the 1766 church to the 1828 church?

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When they found those remains, did they discover him buried underneath the original chancel like that man dreamed of its location?

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Did they find a silver plate on that coffin? Answer: The Historical Society of PA had Fairfax's oval silver plate for the coffin. Maybe it got removed by a Union soldier.

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But where would that union soldier have found that plate? Especially if the remains of Lord Fairfax were removed with the coffin in 1829. Would the plate have fallen off? Or taken off and put where for 30 years until the civil war soldier found it ? . .. .

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Was the silver place held by the Historical Society of Pa match the description of the plate listed in inventory when Lord Fairfax died?

The Frederick County Will Book 4:589 and 8 V 11

indicates a silver plate in the inventory. Is this the same silver plate the Historical Society of Pa held? And how long did they hold it? The inventory was from 1799 or revised at 1781 when Lord Fairfax died. Where and to whom did this plate go at his death? And then when did the Historical Society of PA get it -- that is, if it is the same plate. The inventory in the Frederick Co Will book states the silver plate was 25lb and 10 1/2 oz. Could that be the coffin plate? The Will book does not state if there was a coat of arms inscribed on that plate.