With another change of ministers in England, and because of the new Indian treaties in progress which opened large parts of trans-Appalachian land to white settlement, the Mississippi Company’s hopes were quickening. Dr. Arthur Lee, brother of the company’s treasurer, William Lee, was taken into the company and chosen as the agent to be sent to England. He probably received his instructions at this meeting (carter [2] description begins Clarence E. Carter, “Documents Relating to the Mississippi Land Company, 1763–1769.” American Historical Review 16 (1910–11): 311–19. description ends , 318; carter [1] description begins Clarence Edwin Carter. Great Britain and the Illinois Country: 1763–1774. Washington, D.C., 1910. description ends , 109). The new agent, however, had little luck in his petitioning and lobbying. Although the Lee family—the original movers for the company—maintained their hopes up to the outbreak of the Revolution, GW was not so sanguine. While transferring his accounts to a new ledger in Jan. 1772, GW wrote off his £27 13s. 5d. investment in the company as a total loss instead of carrying it over (Richard Henry Lee to William Lee, 15 April 1774, ballagh description begins James Curtis Ballagh, ed. The Letters of Richard Henry Lee. 2 vols. New York, 1911-14. description ends , 1:106; General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 169).

Stafford County’s courthouse at this time stood on the south side of Potomac Creek about four miles upstream from Marlborough. During the Revolution it was moved to a site near present Stafford, Va. (watkins description begins C. Malcolm Watkins. The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia: An Archeological and Historical Investigation of the Port Town for Stafford County and the Plantation of John Mercer . . .. Washington, D.C., 1968. description ends , 115–18), the location shown on the map on p. 1:220–21.