"I purpose ... to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes of a revocation of the former cruel sentence and see if I can meet with any alteration in my favor."

Betsy was just sixteen and she was probably having a good time at her home on the Rappahannock. It was lively there on the River, for the Rappahannock was the main highway for the tobacco trade and her father was interested in ships and trade, and he operated a ferry. When she tired of the River she could always go visiting in her father's imported riding chair, drawn by "two horses abreast." It was a smart "turn-out"; even the whip had her father's name on it.

As George rode through the blossoming forest, which Betsy's ancestor had bought from the Indians a century before, he must have had mingled emotions. There was the pleasure of the expectation of seeing Betsy again, mixed with the uncertainty of the outcome of his suit. Then too, he must have wondered if she would notice the scars on his face. While he had been in the Barbadoes, where he had accompanied his brother Lawrence in his fruitless search for health, George had contracted the smallpox which had left permanent scars on his face.

Tradition says that Betsy did notice the scars. Whatever the reason may have been--George's mission was unsuccessful.

For years historians have tried without success to settle the question--was Betsy Fauntleroy the "Lowland Beauty" to whom Washington made references in his correspondence, or did he have in mind another Northern Neck beauty named Lucy Grymes?

_THE PROPRIETOR OF THE NORTHERN NECK_

It was an autumn day in the year 1753. A group of men lounged in the sunshine before a rudely constructed log tavern in a Virginia wilderness clearing. Their rough attire of buckskin and homespun and their knives and rifles proclaimed them to be hunters, trappers and settlers.

Suddenly they were aroused by a noise in the forest. The drooping tree boughs came to life and the tall grasses were pushed aside as an amazing spectacle for this frontier setting emerged. With a great rattling of wheels, creaking of leather and clumping of hooves, four shiny horses came forth drawing behind them an English chariot that would very well have graced the streets of London.

The liveried driver drew up before the hitching rack and the footmen descended from behind and opened the door of the chariot. Out stepped a middle-aged man, so tall and so gigantic in frame, that he had difficulty in getting through the opening. He was richly clad in a coat of brown cloth decorated with embroidery and a waistcoat of yellow silk, ornamented with silver thread and flowers. His peruke was carefully powdered and his shirt ruffles were snow-white.

As he issued from the chariot he drew about him the folds of a red velvet cloak, and then bowing his head slightly to the admiring crowd, he entered the tavern.

This man was no stranger to these frontiersmen. Most of them had hunted with him, or eaten at his "broad board," or transacted business with him in his little stone office. But it was rarely that they saw him thus, in the trappings of an English gentleman. They had seen him stab his hunting-knife into a deer's throat, and hold up the brush of a fox at the end of the chase, but then his garments had been weather-beaten and on his head he had worn an otter-skin cap with a buck's tail stuck in it.

But this strange gentleman had no hunting trip in mind to-day. He soon came out of the tavern and the chariot was rumbling away down the forest road, for he was due to preside over a session of the justices' court at the frontier town of Winchester. And although the Shawnee Indians were still not too far distant, this gentleman evidently believed in carrying into the wilds of the New World something of the English idea of the propriety of full dress on occasions of ceremony.

And who was this man who could change so easily from back-woodsman to gentleman? None other than Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and sole proprietor of that vast tract of land known as the Northern Neck.

This, his inheritance, embraced all lands lying between the headwaters of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers to the Chesapeake Bay, comprising more than five million acres.

Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax had inherited, in 1719, the Northern Neck of Virginia, through his mother, Catherine, daughter of Thomas, Lord Culpeper, and wife of Lord Fairfax. It was through this marriage that the grant became known as the Fairfax Proprietary.

In 1673, Thomas, Lord Culpeper had bought out the other grantees and had become the sole proprietor of the original grant. He had cunningly had the terms of the patent changed to the "first heads of springs" of the two rivers, instead of "within the heads" of the two rivers, as originally stated in 1649. The change in these few words changed the size of the tract from one million to more than five million acres. This change in description apparently was not noticed in the colony at the time.

It was in this way that Culpeper's grandson, Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, through inheritance became sole proprietor of the Northern Neck.

Lord Fairfax was born in Leeds Castle, England, in 1693. He was educated at Oxford University and developed such a fondness for literature that he wrote a number of papers for the _Spectator_. But he was unlucky in affairs of the heart--he was jilted at the altar.

After a time the embittered Fairfax decided to take a voyage to Virginia to examine his inheritance. So well pleased was he with his domain that he decided to make it his home. Perhaps the free way of life and new hunting grounds appealed to him. He returned to England, arranged his affairs and voyaged back to his wild new home, in 1748.

Fairfax built a home in the Shenandoah Valley, called Greenway Court, and went there to live in 1751. Tradition says that he planted a white post--one mile distant--as a guide to his dwelling, and thus the town of White Post was later so named.

Lord Fairfax cultivated a large farm at Greenway Court. He had probably one hundred and fifty negro slaves, who lived in huts scattered about in the woods. There was very little cultivated ground around his house because he preferred to leave the land as a natural park. The grounds were encircled by a rude fence, which served also as a hitching rack.

Locust trees shaded the mansion. It was a long stone building with a slender chimney on each end and two belfries between on top of the roof.

These bells were probably used to call the servants or as an alarm when Indians were near. There were four dormer-windows and a portico across the front. This building was used by the steward, it was said, while Fairfax lived and died in a single clapboard story-and-a-half house.

Nearby the main house stood a small limestone structure, where quit-rents were given and titles drawn of his lordship's domains. He lived almost wholly from his rents. We can imagine him there, with a court of deer-hounds at his feet. On the table lies a rudely drawn map of the frontier, some folded letters, an inkstand and an eagle's quill pen. Here he delivered the title deeds of nearly all of that portion of Virginia over which he had dominion.

Perhaps, too, it was here that he conversed with his young friend, George Washington, who surveyed part of the immense tract among the valleys of the Alleghany mountains for him. These were divided into lots to enable Fairfax to claim quit-rents and give titles.

In spite of the difference in their ages, Fairfax and Washington had another interest in common--they were both passionately fond of hunting.

Tradition says that sometimes they passed weeks together in the pleasures of the chase.

When fox-hunting Lord Fairfax made it a rule that "he who got the fox, cut off his tail, and held it up, should share in the jollification which was to follow, free of expense." An early historian says that "as soon as a fox was started, the young men of the company usually dashed after him with great impetuosity, while Fairfax leisurely waited behind with a favorite servant who was familiar with the water-courses, and of a quick ear, to discover the course of the fox. Following his directions, his lordship would start after the game, and, in most instances, secure the prize, and stick the tail of the fox in his hat in triumph."

It is probable that some of these "jollifications" that followed the hunt were held in a tavern in Winchester, for tradition says that he occasionally held "levees" there. (This building was later used as a stable.)

Sometimes Fairfax entertained in the great room at Greenway Court. This room, according to tradition, was a combination of crudity and refinement. Rough oak furniture, carven mahogany, silver plate, cheap crockery, leather-bound books, fishing nets, portraits, antlers and blunderbuses, all intermingled. But Fairfax was a generous host and the board groaned with ham, beef, fowl, game as well as mellow Jamaica rum.

But Fairfax did not drink, and women were never invited to his parties.

When in the humor Fairfax sometimes gave away whole farms to his tenants, simply demanding for rent some trifle like a turkey for his Christmas dinner.

Fairfax lived the life of a bachelor and adopted the rough customs of his new land, but his life was not altogether happy in the New World.

Quit-rents were not willingly paid and he was constantly occupied with lawsuits over boundaries. The Indian hostilities retarded the settlement of his domain and therefore lessened his revenue. He was considered eccentric and "a hoarder up of English gold."

In spite of his friendship with George Washington, Fairfax was a Tory to the end. When he heard that Cornwallis had surrendered he told his body servant, "Take me to bed, John, it is time for me to die." He died shortly after, on December 9, 1781.

He was buried at Winchester, under the old Episcopal church, which was on the public square. When this structure was later taken down the bones of Fairfax were removed to a tomb in the crypt of Christ Church in Winchester. At the time of his disinterment, it is said that a large mass of silver was found, which was the mounting of his coffin.

Around 1840 some excavating was done about the grounds at Greenway Court and a large quantity of joes and half-joes were found. These were what was termed cob-coin, of a square form, and dated about 1730. They were supposed to have been secreted there by Lord Fairfax.

Fairfax never married, therefore he left no child to inherit his vast estate. He devised a large portion of his property to a nephew in England. Later the estate passed through several hands and was finally sold.

A few years after the war of the Revolution an attempt was made by the colonists to confiscate the estate. At last a compromise took place between those who had bought it and the Virginia state government.

During and after the Revolution no quit-rents were paid, and in 1785 an act was passed by the Virginia Legislature which abolished the proprietary system in the Northern Neck. The people there were finally free of landlords, after one hundred and twenty-five years.

_THE MARSHALLS_

John Marshall "of the forest" owned two hundred acres of land in Westmoreland County. "Of the forest" was a term used in the Northern Neck in referring to those whose homes were some distance from the water.

John "of the forest" acquired this land by deed, for five shillings, from William Marshall of King and Queen County. It is probable that this William was the elder brother of John "of the forest" and that they were both sons of Thomas "the carpenter," of Westmoreland. The latter's will was probated in the same county in 1704. (In this will there was mentioned "a heifer ... called White-Belly.")

This land of John "of the forest" was located on Appomattox Creek. It was low marshy land of such inferior quality that the former owners had not bothered with it. Originally it had been a part of twelve hundred acres which had been granted to "Jno. Washington & Thos. Pope, gents.--& by them lost for want of seating."

John "of the forest" married Elizabeth Markham, daughter of the Sheriff of Westmoreland County. To John and Elizabeth were born ten children.

They lived simply on their farm until John died in 1752.

Among the items left to Elizabeth by John was "one Gray mair named beauty and side saddle." He also left her the use of his land "during her widowhood and afterwards to fall to my son Thomas Marshall and his heirs forever."

Thomas was twenty-two years old at the time of his father's death. One year later his mother deeded half of the two hundred acres to him.

Thomas Marshall was fortunate in that he was powerful of stature and intelligent. He was of a serious but adventurous nature. He and his neighbor, George Washington, seem to have been friends from boyhood. For about three years Thomas had been Washington's companion when he helped him to survey the western part of the Fairfax domain.

Thomas Marshall left Westmoreland County not long after his father's death to seek his fortune in the frontier country toward the Blue Ridge.

In 1754 Thomas married a well born and well educated girl named Mary Randolph Keith. To this union were born fifteen children, the best known being John, who became the fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.