George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Bryan Fairfax, 20 January 1772

From Bryan Fairfax

Alexandria January the 20th 1771 [1772]

Dear Sir,

I have just time to inform You by Mr Henderson that I sent up to Mr Smith and acquainted him that I had sold the Tract on little River provided he had not done so; and that he informed me that he had not, having been with some to look at the Land but as they had no Money he would not agree with them; so that you may depend upon having it if you don’t dislike it when you come to see it.1 With my Compliments to Mrs Washington I remain Dr sir Yr most obedt & obliged hble St

Bryan Fairfax

I beg the favor of you to give the inclosed to Mr Rind.

ALS, DLC:GW.

1In his “Remarks & Occurs. in Jany. 72,” GW notes that on 8 Jan. 1772 he had “Engaged to advance by, or at the April General Court for the use of Mr. Bryan Fairfax £150, or thereabouts, to discharge the Balle. of his Bond to Doctr. Savage. Also promised, if I could, to take up a Bill of Excha. of about £160 Sterg. with Int[eres]t thereon at the same time; In consideration of which I am to have the liberty of taking any of the Tracts of which he has given me a Mem[orandu]m at the prices there Stipulated in case I like them, or either of them upon examination thereof within [ ] Months from this date. If not he is then to become my Debtor for the money I shall advance on these two Accts.” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:88). On 20 April GW paid Dr. William Savage £150 on behalf of Bryan Fairfax (Fairfax to GW, 14 April 1772; Cash Accounts, April 1772). When Fairfax wrote GW on 1 Jan. 1773, GW still had not advanced Fairfax the money to take up the protested bills of exchange for £160 sterling and interest, the payment of which from the Alexandria merchant, John Muir, was being demanded by John Baynes, a merchant in Piscataway, Maryland. There is no record in his accounts of GW ever having taken up these bills, but see Bryan Fairfax to GW, 1 Jan. and 16 Feb. 1773. Fairfax offered GW the choice of a number of tracts. The one Fairfax refers to here is probably the 230–acre tract in Loudoun County on Little River which he and GW visited on 28 May and surveyed (Northern Neck Grants, Book F, 205, Vi; Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:110). On 15 July Fairfax refers to three other tracts: “the Tract of 600 Acres on Goose Creek & chattins Run” in Fauquier County, which in the end GW chose and received title to in 1775; “the Land on Pohick,” a tract of 463½ acres on the South Run of Pohick Creek in Fairfax County which GW went with Fairfax to inspect on 25 Sept. 1772 (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:132); and land “on the Kittocktan,” which may be the 1,114–acre tract formerly owned by his deceased brother William Henry Fairfax (Northern Neck Grants, Book E, 233, Vi). See Fairfax to GW, 14 April, 15 July, 3 Aug., 2 Dec. 1772, and 1 Jan., 16 Feb. 1773. Mr. Smith is probably the William Smith who witnessed Bryan Fairfax’s deed of release to GW for the land on Goose Creek (see Fairfax to GW, 3 Aug. 1772, n.4). Henderson was probably Alexander Henderson.

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