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182:, inherited the title and his five-sixths shares in the Northern Neck. In May, his grandmother died leaving the new Lord Fairfax her one-sixth share. Because he was only sixteen years old at the time, the affairs of the Proprietary fell to his mother, Lady Catherine Fairfax. When she died in 1719, the sixth Lord Fairfax came to control all six shares of the proprietary.
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190:) and the next year Fairfax returned to England to argue his case before the Privy Council. Before leaving, he rode over much of his domain, and set aside for himself a tract of 12,588 acres (50.94 km) near Great Falls, in what was to become Fairfax County. A second survey was conducted with great difficulty in 1746 (the
178:. While some of the original proprietors' rights had been lost, the collecting of taxes from settlers had been established through the efforts of their agents in Virginia and through Lord Fairfax himself to ensure that the proprietors received their income from their property. After Lord Fairfax died in January 1710, his son
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inhabitants in the seventeenth century. When Lord
Fairfax died in 1781 in Virginia, the proprietary effectively ceased to exist. All the land which had been granted by Lord Fairfax remained in the hands of the grantees; the remainder of ungranted land came under the control of the new Commonwealth of Virginia.
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passed an act cutting off from it the County of
Loudoun. The dividing line between the two counties stood for 41 years, and then in 1798, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act that provided a new dividing line, one which has remained to the present day as the boundary between Fairfax and
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In 1730, there was a new procedure in which, to create a new county, the
Assembly would first create a new parish and then a new county whose boundaries were coterminous with those of the parish. In this manner, Hamilton Parish became Prince William County, Truro Parish became Fairfax County, and
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As the
Virginia government at Jamestown were losing control over a significant portion of Virginia held by Lord Fairfax, the feud between them was significant. The specific issue at this time was the southern and western boundaries of the proprietary. In 1735 Lord Fairfax came to Virginia to see
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In 1747, Lord
Fairfax came back to Virginia, two years after having won his claim before the Privy Council to the most extensive boundaries for the proprietary in exchange for certain land concessions to the Virginia authorities. Virginia had won political control over the proprietary and its
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In 1653, the majority of the northern portion of
Northumberland was named Westmoreland County. In 1664, Stafford County was created from the northern portion of Westmoreland. What is now Fairfax was first in Northumberland, then Westmoreland, and from 1664 to 1730, Stafford.
159:. The extent of the grant was hardly recognized by either the King or the grantees because most of it had never even been mapped. The proprietors thought little of their grant since Charles II, due to political struggles in England, was a king without a kingdom.
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The County of
Fairfax was created by legislation introduced in May 1742, effective the following December. It was most likely named for Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax. The dividing line was a line up
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110:(1693-1781). By that time the question of the boundaries of the designated lands had also become highly contentious. It was decided in 1746 that a line between the sources of the
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by the
Virginia Act of 1779 and when he died in 1781 the Proprietary effectively ceased to exist. A portion of this estate, however, was later the subject of the landmark
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in 1688. Lord
Colepeper died the following year. His 5/6th share of the proprietary was inherited by his daughter Catherine Culpeper and her husband
332:'A Key Chart of the Pedigree of the Wigsell Culpepers', in F. Harrison, 'The Proprietors of the Northern Neck. Chapters of Culpeper Genealogy',
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placed the "Fairfax Stone" at the source of the
Potomac River, then made an approximately 77-mile line of demarcation known as the "
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The grant became actual in 1660 when Charles was restored to the English throne. By 1719, these lands had been inherited by
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Prior to 1649, the entire Northern Neck had been designated by the Assembly as one large county called Northumberland.
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in the Blue Ridge. The decision was approved by the council and governor, and it became law 19 June 1742.
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and Bull Run, and from the head of the main branch of Bull Run, by a straight course to
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The Fairfax grant extended westward to the boundary with the colony (later state) of
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of Thoresway (1600-1660). Control of the Proprietary came to one man, his son
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about a survey to settle the matter. The survey was undertaken in 1736 (see
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granted to seven Englishmen all of Virginia between the Rappahannock and
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The unsettled portions of his domain were finally confiscated during the
99:. This constituted up to 5,000,000 acres (20,000 km) of Virginia's
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was created during American Civil War, it now marks the junction of
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XXXIII no. 2 (Virginia Historical Society, April 1925), pp. 113-53.
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in 1649 and encompassing all the lands bounded by the
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Artemel, Hickin, Netherton, Reed, and Sweig, Donald.
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Artemel, Hickin, Netherton, Reed, and Sweig, Donald.
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Explore Historic Fairfax County Online ! !
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A map from 1736 map of the Northern Neck Proprietary
379:Fairfax County: Historical Highlights from 1607
346:Robert Carter and the Northern Neck Proprietary
334:The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
228:Cameron Parish developed into Loudoun County.
469:1660 establishments in the Colony of Virginia
355:at the University of Virginia Library website
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297:Fairfax Stone Historical Monument State Park
194:) setting a line between the sources of the
176:Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
170:, who also received a new patent issued by
108:Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
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381:. 1967, p.9. Denlinger Book. Virginia.
83:first contrived by the exiled English
168:Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper
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366:Fairfax County, Virginia: A History
321:Fairfax County, Virginia: A History
164:John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper
419:Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants
103:and a vast area northwest of it.
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246:only lasted until 1757, when the
417:Gertrude E. Gray, comp. (1988),
403:The University Press of Kentucky
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162:One of the seven grantees was
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425:: Genealogical Publishing Co.
393:and Stephen W. Brown (1993),
248:Virginia House of Burgesses
112:North Branch of the Potomac
29:It has been suggested that
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149:King Charles II of England
136:Martin v. Hunter's Lessee
65:Northern Neck Proprietary
395:West Virginia: A History
216:Fairfax County, Virginia
69:Northern Neck land grant
46:Proposed since May 2024.
368:. 1992, p.6. Virginia.
323:. 1992, p.5. Virginia.
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32:John Savage (surveyor)
214:Further information:
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180:Thomas, the 6th Lord
39:into this article. (
399:Lexington, Kentucky
147:In September 1649,
127:American Revolution
93:Rappahannock Rivers
73:Fairfax Proprietary
449:Colony of Virginia
421:, Vol. 1 & 2;
397:, Second edition;
351:2012-03-31 at the
251:Loudoun Counties.
116:Rappahannock River
67:– also called the
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459:Northern Virginia
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303:References
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423:Baltimore
308:Citations
405:, p. 16.
349:Archived
261:Maryland
139:(1816).
114:and the
79:– was a
196:Potomac
143:History
89:Potomac
41:Discuss
285:Tucker
118:(the "
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