Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Fairfax, Thomas 1691-1781

Sixth Baron of Cameron; born in England in 1691; educated at Oxford; was a contributor to Addison's Spectator, and finally, soured by disappointments, quitted England forever, and settled on the vast landed estate in Virginia which he had inherited from his mother, daughter of Lord Culpeper. He built a lodge in the midst of 10,000 acres of land, some of it arable and excellent for grazing, where he resolved to build a fine mansion and live a sort of

Thomas Fairfax.

hermit lord of a vast domain. He was at middle age when he came to America. He never built the great mansion, but lived a solitary life in the lodge he had built, which he called Greenway Court. There Washington first met him and became a frequent visitor, for Fairfax found him a bright young man, a good hunter, in

Greenway Court.

[306] which sport he himself loved to engage, and useful to him as a surveyor of his lands. He became very fond of the young surveyor, who was a loved companion of George William Fairfax, a kinsman of Lord Fairfax. Many visitors went to Greenway Court, and the hospitable owner always treated everybody kindly. There Lord Fairfax lived during the storms of the French and Indian War, and of the Revolution, taking no part in public affairs, but always a stanch loyalist. When the news came that his young friend Washington had captured Cornwallis, he was ninety years of age. He was overcome with emotion, and he called to his body-servant to carry him to his bed, “for I am sure,” he said, “it is time for me to die.” A ballad gives the sequel is follows:

Then up rose Joe, all at the word,
And took his master's arm,
And to his bed he softly led
The lord of Greenway farm,
Then thrice he called on Britain's name,
And thrice he wept full sore,
Then sighed, “O Lord, thy will be done!”
And word spoke never more.

He died at his lodge, Greenway Court, in Frederick county, Va., Dec. 12, 1781.

The eleventh Lord Fairfax and Baron of Cameron, John Coutee Fairfax, was born in Vaucluse, Va., Sept. 13, 1830; was a physician; succeeded his brother in the title in 1869; and died in Northampton, Md., Sept. 28, 1900.