George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library, MS2FL4400 University Dr.
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Business Number: 703-993-2220
Fax Number: 703-993-8911
speccoll@gmu.edu
URL: https://scrc.gmu.edu
Amanda Brent
Administrative Information
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Lord Fairfax land survey must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Alternative Form Available
This document was digitized and is available here.
Preferred Citation
Lord Fairfax land survey, C0353, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
The donor is unknown.
Processing Information
Processing completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. EAD markup completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. This collection used to be a part of the Virginia historical documents collection, C0034.
Historical Information
Colonial land surveying in America was an activity generally performed for the purpose of transfering land ownership from the British Crown to private ownership. Surveyorship was a legitimate and respected trade and could be learned through apprenticeship, with much of its activities originating from land surveying of the British Isles. Successful land surveyors were accurate, precise, and detailed with their surveys. Basic surveying methods used many different kinds of surveying tools, but most popular was a tool called Gunter's Chain, which was in use in the United States for three hundred years. Surveyors and chainmen swore oaths to be fair and accurate when it came to performing the high-stakes task of land surveying. The trade has never waned and continues into the modern day, albeit with up-to-date land surveying technology.
Scope and Content
A land survey performed on behalf of Lord Fairfax and written on June 8, 1739 by King George's County surveyor John Warner, likely as a part of the "battle of the maps," which was an effort made by Lord Fairfax and other local Virginia families to lay official claim to parts of the Northern Neck of Virginia. Fairfax succeeded in 1745, thanks to Warner's surveys conducted at the behest of London's Privy Council.
Arrangement
This is a one item collection.
Related Material
The Special Collections Research Center also holds several other collections on historic Virginia.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Fairfax County (Va.)
- Fairfax County (Va.) -- History
- Surveying
- Virginia -- History
Bibliography
Farr, Jason E. "The Unlikely Success of a Provincial Surveyor: George Washington Finds Fame in the American Frontier, 1749-1754." Blackwell Publishing, 2012. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118219935.ch2 (Accessed June 5, 2019).
Pospishil, Michael. "Surveying (Colonial.)" The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/surveying-colonial/ (Accessed June 5, 2019).
"Surveying." Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/surveying (Accessed June 5, 2019).
Wise, Donald A. "Arlington's County Surveyor Office." Arlington Historical Society. http://arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Wise_ArlingtonsCountySurveyor_1980.pdf✎ EditSign (Accessed June 5, 2019).
Significant Persons Associated With the Collection
- Fairfax, Thomas Fairfax, Lord, 1693-1781
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Fairfax County (Va.)
- Fairfax County (Va.) -- History
- Virginia -- History