Some of the arguments used by the Colony of Virginia against Lord Fairfax were specious. For example, the Potomac River divides at Harpers Ferry into two rivers and Virginia argued that the Potomac came to an end there. The same argument could have been used with the Rappahannock when it splits into the North Fork (Hedgman) and the South Fork (Rapidan). But all of this river splitting was just splitting hairs.
Generally, it was agreed that the largest branch was to be followed when two streams of water merged. This process was to be continued until the headwaters were reached. Then a line was to be drawn between the headwater of the Potomac and the headwater of the Rappahannock and all of the land bounded by the rivers and this line were to be a part of the Fairfax or Northern Neck grant. But this did not solve the question of which branch was the largest.
Virginia, trying to enforce their decision, had George Hume survey a line from the head of the Hedgman River to the head of the Potomac. This was done in 1743. But Fairfax did not concede the issue and boldly carried the issue to the King in the form of his Privy Council. In 1745 they ruled that the Fairfax grant extended to the south branch of the Rappahannock (the Rapidan) and up it and the Conway River to its headwaters.
There were several implications and complications from this issue. All of a sudden, the landowners in the Great Fork (today's Rappahannock, Madison and Culpeper Counties) found they were to pay quitrents to a new person. Several people who were worried about their titles had new surveys made and filed with Lord Fairfax. There was little danger in losing the land as the Privy Council noted that the land patents had been made in good faith and were to be observed. New land, never taken up before, was now to be granted from Lord Fairfax and not patented from the Crown.
Over in the Shenandoah Valley, Hume's line, which formed a county boundary, had no meaning now and a new line, called the Privy Council line, was surveyed in 1745. This is one reason that county boundaries in the Valley changed as much as they did.
The Colony of Virginia certainly made its share of blunders in this whole episode. First, the King (Charles II) transferred land not knowing the extent of what he was giving away. How the words defining the grant were to be interpreted was an open question. Even after there was a better geographical knowledge of the extent, the Colony continued to patent land when it was rather clearly in the Fairfax grant. This made lots of legal trouble, especially in the Valley, for the land owners.
The transfer of land to the private individuals occurred by two different sets of procedures depending on whether the King (the Colony of Virginia) or Lord Fairfax was selling the land. Lord Fairfax wanted cash for his land while the Colony would accept other means of payment for the land.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.