Nancy Gist, daughter of Christopher and Sarah Howard Gist, had gone to live with William Fairfax’s family at Belvoir in 1757 while her father was on the frontier, first as a captain with the Virginia Regiment, then as deputy to Edmond Atkin, superintendent for Indian affairs in the southern colonies (William Fairfax to GW, 17 July 1757, DLC:GW; GW to Sally Fairfax, 25 Sept. 1758, WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 2:292–94; TRIMBLE description begins David B. Trimble. “Christopher Gist and the Indian Service in Virginia, 1757–1759.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 64 (1956): 143–65. description ends , 145–47). She never married and after her father’s death in 1759 went to live with one of her brothers.