* (A correction to the last note: "John, Bridgewater College is located at Bridgewater, VA, about seven miles from Harrisonburg." Joe Baker.)
Most of us have heard of the “State of Franklin”. Perhaps many of you have heard of the “Free State” which was surrounded by Virginia. I will review this using " Marshall: The Free State Revisited ", by Samuel Shayon, in " The Fauquier Heritage and Preservation News for Summer and Fall of 2002 ". Mr. Shayon draws, in turn, on the May 1982 edition of " Shenandoah Valley Magazine ".
The adjective "free" had nothing to do with slavery or bondage. The Free State was a part of Fauquier County to the extent that the citizens of the Free State admitted any loyalty to a government body. Their position and views originated in the Northern Neck proprietorship created by Charles II to reward some faithful supporters. The word "Neck" came about in 1609 when John Smith divided Virginia into the regions between the major rivers. Each of these was a "neck" and the Northern Neck was the land between the Potomac River and the Rappahannock River. Today, this land makes up 21 of the Counties in Virginia. Charles II gave this land to six men, but it became the sole property of Lord Culpeper, who left it to his daughter, who left it, in 1719, to her son Thomas, sixth Baron and Lord Fairfax.
To obtain a return from his land, Lord Fairfax leased it to individuals who agreed to settle on the land and to develop it. A common unit of acreage was 200 acres, and a rent of 2 pounds, 10 shillings, was to be paid per year. The tenants paid the local taxes also. A lease might run for as long as three lives.
John Marshall, later the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, was born in 1755 at Germantown, now Midlands. His father worked for Lord Fairfax. After the Revolution, questions arose about the ownership of the land. John Marshall, by now a lawyer, represented the heirs of Fairfax in a dispute with the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land in question could be divided into three categories, land that had never been granted, land that was leased to third parties (settlers) by the Northern Neck proprietorship, and land that belonged to Fairfax personally (as opposed to the lands of the proprietorship).
Lands in the first category were turned over to Virginia. The other lands were to remain with the Fairfax heirs. One parcel, the Leeds Manor, had been granted by the Northern Neck proprietorship to Lord Fairfax personally. This amounted to about 160,000 acres. Fairfax had leased farms to settlers, but the lease used his name, not in the name of the proprietorship.
In 1806, John Marshall and two relatives bought the Leeds Manor from General Philip Martin, who was the heir of Lord Fairfax. This was the personal land of Lord Fairfax, much of which was under lease to individuals. Marshall, et al, paid something like 14,000 to 20,000 pounds for the property.
(To be continued in
Note Nr. 1526, Page Nr. 62
.)
(19 Nov 02)
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.