Green Spring Farm Part 2

[1] Mrs. Don Ritchie, Arlington, Virginia, Moss family genealogist; Vernon Lynch, Annandale, Virginia, a lifelong resident of Fairfax County, now in his eighties; interviews.

Walter Macomber, interview on July 16, 1968, at Green Spring Farm. In the opinion of Mr. Macomber of Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., who planned and supervised the 1942 renovation of the mansion house, the original part of the house was built between 1750 and 1775.

[2] _The Journal of John Littlejohn_, MS., Louisville, Kentucky, April 29, 1778.

[3] Elmer T. Clark, J. Manning Potts, and Jacob S. Payton (eds.), _The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury_ (Nashville: Abington Press, 1958), I, p. 531.

[4] Fairfax County Deed Book R-1, p. 413, contains a deed in 1789 from William and Mary Bushby to John Moss, William Adams, William Waters, Samuel Adams, James Morrison, William Rhodes, and William Hickman, and their survivors, in trust, conveying a lot in the town of Alexandria, northward from the Presbyterian meeting house, westward parallel with Duke Street, southward parallel with Fairfax Street, and eastward parallel with Duke Street to Chapple Alley "to build and forever keep in good repair a house for the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d for the use of the Reverend Thomas Cooke and the Reverend Francis Asbury for the time being of the Methodist Episcopal Church...."

[5] Fairfax County Will Book I, p. 150.

[6] Fairfax County Deed Book AA-2, p. 29, a lease for three lives to John Moss, dated May 29, 1798.

[7] Fairfax County Deed Book R-1, p. 397.

[8] Mrs. Don C. Ritchie, letter dated October 17, 1969.

[9] _Ibid._

[10] William W. Hening (ed.), [Virginia] _Statutes at Large_, 1823, reprint edition (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1969), VII, p. 32.

[11] Albert Porter, _County Government in Virginia_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 1947), p. 186.

[12] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, March 23, 1786, p. 191.

Subsequently John Moss was reappointed Commissioner of the Land Tax in 1787, 1792, and 1793.

[13] Hening, _Statutes_, XII, p. 243.

[14] Fairfax County Court Order Book, 1787 (February 20 and October 15, 1787): "John Moss, Gent., Commissioner for Fairfax district produced on oath an account against the Commonwealth for his service in that capacity amounting to Twenty-five pounds thirteen s.h.i.+llings and six pence, which being examined by the court is allowed and ordered to be certified."

[15] Shepherd, _Code_, I, p. 114.

[16] Porter, _County Government_, p. 211.

[17] Shepherd, _Code_, III, p. 262.

[18] Fairfax County Deed Book Y-1, p. 69.

[19] Shepherd, _Code_, I, p. 11.

[20] F. Johnston, _Memorials of Old Virginia Clerks_ (Lynchburg: J.

P. Bell, 1880), p. 172.

_Alexandria Gazette_, October 4, 1839. The obituary notice for Thomas Moss states that he died on October 2 after a long illness, having been a Justice of the Peace for many years, and also having served as a member of the State Legislature and as county court clerk.

The Archives of the Virginia House of Delegates show that Thomas Moss was a Delegate from Fairfax County for the 1828-1829 biennium. (Honorable George Rich, January 2, 1970; personal communication.)

[21] K. M. Willis, "Old Fairfax Homes Give Up A Secret," _American Motorist_, May 1932, p. 16; Johnston, _Clerks_, p. 174.

[22] M. Herndon, _Tobacco in Colonial Virginia_ (Williamsburg: Virginia 350th Celebration Corp., 1957), pp. 7-8, indicates that tobacco was introduced into Northern Virginia by the settlers who moved into the Rappahannock and Potomac areas around 1650. By the end of the seventeenth century, Herndon states, tobacco farming dominated the lowlands all along the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers below the fall line.

F. Harrison, _Landmarks of Old Prince William_ (Berryville: Chesapeake Book Co., 1964), pp. 148-150. Also to be noted is the fact that settlement above the fall line was not permitted prior to 1722 because of treaty provisions with the Iroquois.

By the Treaty of Albany in 1722, the Iroquois withdrew west of the Blue Ridge.

[23] Herndon, _Tobacco_, pp. 14-16, cites introduction of plant bedding practices, use of animal-drawn plows instead of hand hoes, and improved methods of curing tobacco as responsible for increasing the yield of the tobacco farm.

[24] _Ibid._, p. 10.

[25] Frederick Gutheim. _The Potomac_ (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1968), p. 98.

[26] R. B. Davis, _Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964), p. 167, notes that in 1773 the Society for the Advancement of Useful Knowledge was formed in Williamsburg, followed by the Philadelphia Agricultural Society in 1780, and the Richmond Society for Promoting Agriculture in 1810, all dedicated to working for the improvement of farming.

[27] A list of these writings on agriculture was compiled by E. G.

Swern in 1913 and published by the Virginia State Library.

[28] Davis, _Intellectual Life_, pp. 159-160, 167. Among the inventions of the McCormick family were thres.h.i.+ng machines, hydraulic machines, a hemp-brake, blacksmith's bellows, and self-stoppers for grist mills. Other patents issued to Virginians dealt with plows, grain screens, rice hullers, hemp and flax breakers, corn sh.e.l.lers, beehives, clover seed cleaners and gatherers, tobacco presses, and corn grinders.

[29] _Ibid._, p. 156. See also "Status of Virginia Agriculture in 1870" in _Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1870_ (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871), pp.

267-268.

[30] Davis, _Intellectual Life_, p. 151.

[31] _Ibid._, pp. 154-156.

[32] Dr. John Schlebecker, Curator, Division of Agriculture and Mining, Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., interview. Dr. Schlebecker was of the opinion that the price which this blower brought suggested it might be animal-powered by a treadmill or overhead sweep. Wheat fans were relatively new types of equipment in 1835, but not uncommon among successful farmers.

[33] _Ibid._ Schlebecker discussed the possibility of dairying as follows: "It's very likely he was in the business. Now whether it was b.u.t.ter or cheese--b.u.t.ter would pay better, and he is pretty close to Alexandria and Was.h.i.+ngton, and, for that matter, by sea to Baltimore. b.u.t.ter would have been the more attractive of the commodities; cheese would keep better, could be s.h.i.+pped farther and find a greater variety of markets, but wouldn't pay quite as well. But I don't see evidence he was in the cheese business, and I'd be happier if I saw more churns on the list, or if the churn were better described. One churn would be enough if it were big enough. And it could very well be run by a sheep or a dog. You see, he's certainty got enough cows to be in the dairy business, w.i.l.l.y nilly." (Transcription of tape-recorded interview with John Schlebecker, February 26, 1969, p. 6.)

[34] _Ibid._ See also inventory in appendix B.

[35] _Alexandria Gazette_, November 6, 1839, notice of sale.

[36] Alfred Moss and Thomas Love, affidavit of October 29, 1839, in proceedings to sell the farm owned by Thomas Moss, deceased.

[37] The wills and property inventories of members of the Moss family reveal much information that helps reconstruct the activity on their farm. Considering the equipment used, the products grown and processed, and the number of slaves reported, it is possible that between the 1820's and 1850's the farm was also engaged in breeding slaves for export to the rice and indigo plantations of South Carolina and the cotton plantations of Alabama and Mississippi. A certain amount of this traffic was also carried on locally.

U.S. Census population records compiled from 1810 through 1850 show that slaveholding continued at a high level relative to other changing circ.u.mstances in agriculture and in the Moss family. See census records for Fairfax County in National Archives, Microfilm Division, Microcopy Roll 68 (1810), 137 (1820), 201 (1830), 558 (1840), 942 (1850).

[38] These roads were the Dumfries and Falmouth Roads via Ashby's Gap, the Colchester Road via Williams' Gap, and the Alexandria Road via Vestal's Gap. Their origins and early history are given in Harrison, _Landmarks_, pp. 466-484.

[39] Davis, _Intellectual Life_, p. 152, and A. Hulbert, _The Paths of Inland Commerce_ (New Haven: Yale University, 1921), pp.

44-55. The situation appeared to improve little during the nineteenth century, for in 1894 the Virginia Good Roads Convention called the American rural roads "far below the average" and "certainly are among the worst in the civilized world and always have been largely as a result of permitting local circ.u.mstances to determine the location with little or no regard for any general system, and haste and waste and ignorance in building." Virginia Good Roads Convention, _Programme_ (Richmond: Stone Printing Co., 1894), p. 24.

[40] The act incorporating the Fairfax and Loudoun Turnpike Road Company authorized construction and operation of an "artificial road from Alexandria to the Little River." Laws, 1795, c. 31 (December 26, 1795). Shepherd's _Statutes_ (Richmond: Shepherd, 1836), I, p. 378. The successor company, known as the Little River Turnpike Company, was incorporated by legislation enacted in 1802 and 1803. Laws, 1801, c. 83 (January 28, 1802) and Laws, 1802, c. 52 (January 19, 1803), Shepherd's _Statutes_, II, p. 383, 452. The extension into Fauquier County was authorized by the incorporation of the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike Company, designed to build "an artificial turnpike road from Fauquier Court House to Buckland farm, or Buckland town, and thence to the Little River Turnpike road, at the most suitable point for affording a convenient way from Fauquier Court House to Alexandria."

Laws, 1807, c. 27 (January 27, 1808), Shepherd's _Statutes_, III, p. 379.

[41] _Alexandria Gazette_, May 23, 1809. The extension was built by the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike Road Company, and was constructed from the Little River Turnpike at Fairfax Courthouse, through Centreville and Buckland, to Fauquier County Courthouse (Warrenton).