Mem:
When I see my Brother Austin to Enquire of him whether He is the
Acting Attorney for my Brother and as my Brother Lawrence left
Directions with the H. on W Fx[62] to remit his Pay as Agetant
whether it would not be more proper to keep it to Pay the Notes
of Hand thats Daily coming against him and to Write Word to
Williamsburg to Acquaint his Hon: my B: A: to write him word.
[Footnote 61: This is about the only record Washington has left of
his course of reading. It is inferred that the books were either
at "Greenway Court" or at "Belvoir." The character of the works
he selected for his perusal is what might have been expected.
This memorandum also exhibits a trait in his character prominent
throughout his life, that of giving attention to minute details of
business. It may truly be said of him that "the boy was father to
the man."]
[Footnote 62: Honorable William Fairfax, of "Belvoir," Fairfax
county, Va., was born 1691 in Yorkshire, England, where his father
that year became high sheriff of the county. His father was the son
of Henry Fairfax, 2d son of 4th Lord Fairfax and Anna (Harrison)
Fairfax, whose sister, Eleanora Harrison, of South Cave, married in
1689, Henry Washington; their son, Richard Washington, who resided
in London, was, therefore, an English cousin of Wm. Fairfax, and
a correspondent both of his and of Col. George Washington's (see
Washington's correspondence, in _Sparks_). Wm. Fairfax lost his
father when quite young and was educated at his uncle's, Sir John
Lowther's College. Through the influence of Capt. Fairfax, of
the Royal Navy, he entered that service in 1710 and served for
two years. He then joined the British army in Spain under Col.
Martin Bladen, who had married a Fairfax, and was stationed at St.
Helena in 1716-17, and subsequently at the Bahamas, and returned
to England in October, 1717. Having married in the Bahamas, Sarah,
daughter of Maj. Walker, of Nassau, she accompanied him to England.
In 1718 Wm. Fairfax was sent out with Captain or Governor Woodes
Rogers as chief justice to suppress the pirates infesting the West
Indies. His residence was at Nassau, New Providence. The business
for which he accepted office having been completed and the climate
not being congenial, he in 1725 removed to New England. Here he
received an appointment to the custom house at Salem, which he held
until 1734. While a resident of Salem, his first wife died and was
buried there. His son George William was born in Nassau, three of
his children were born in Salem. Thomas, of the Royal Navy, was
killed in battle; Anne married Lawrence Washington, and was the
first mistress of Mount Vernon; and Sarah married John Carlyle, of
Alexandria, Va., who was a major and commissary in the French and
Indian war. Mr. Fairfax married, January 18, 1731, Deborah Clarke,
of Salem, Mass. Her first child was Bryan, 8th Lord Fairfax, born
at Salem 1732, but better known as the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, who
died in 1802. In 1734 Wm. Fairfax accepted an offer, he had before
declined, to remove to Virginia and act as agent for his cousin,
Lord Thomas Fairfax, in the management of the vast Fairfax land
estate. He at first took up his residence in Westmoreland county
and remained there for several years, but afterward improved
the plantation, built "Belvoir" mansion, six miles below "Mount
Vernon," and removed to it. He was residing there in 1739, when
Lord Fairfax first visited Virginia and made it his home for a
year. Wm. Fairfax, from his high character and acquaintance with
business, soon came to the front among the leading men in Virginia.
Besides being agent for his cousin, he served in the assembly of
Virginia, and after the death of John Blair was president of the
Provincial council and collector of his majesty's customs for the
South Potomac. His second wife bore him two children, besides
Bryan already mentioned, William Henry, killed at the storming of
Quebec in 1759; and Hannah, who married Warner Washington, cousin
to George Washington. William Fairfax was a man of great executive
ability and much beloved by the community. He died September 3,
1757. His wife survived him but a few years. "Belvoir" was left to
George W. Fairfax and was his residence until he went to England in
1773.]