Ferdinando Fairfax (1766/1774 September 24/26, 1820) was an American landowner and member of the prominent
Fairfax family
Members of the Fairfax Family were prominent as Australian media proprietors, especially in the area of newspaper publishing through the company John Fairfax and Sons (later known as Fairfax Media, although the Fairfax family no long ...
.
Early life
He was the youngest son of
Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (August 11, 1736 – August 7, 1802) was an American planter and clergyman. He was a lifelong friend of George Washington and became the first member of the British peerage to be born in North America ...
(1736–1802) and Elizabeth Cary. His brother was
Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1762 – April 21, 1846) was an American planter. Along with his father, on 11 December 1799, he was among the last guests at Mount Vernon before George Washington died.
Early life and family
Thomas ...
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
and
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...
, who traveled to Towlston Grange after his birth, were his godparents. Ferdinando was the heir to his uncle,
George William Fairfax
George William Fairfax (January 2, 1724April 3, 1787) was a planter in colonial Virginia who represented then-vast Frederick County and later Fairfax County in the House of Burgesses before the American Revolutionary War, by which time he had ...
(1729–1787), son of
William Fairfax
William Fairfax (1691–1757) was a political appointee of the British Crown in several colonies as well as a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Fairfax served as Collector of Customs in Barbados, Chief Justice and governor of the ...
(1691–1757), who was married to Sally Cary (ca. 1730–1811), his mother Elizabeth's sister. George William Fairfax was Washington's close friend.
Career
Fairfax served as a justice of the peace for Jefferson County, Virginia and was, at the same time, the largest slave owner in the County.
Fairfax offered his own "practicable scheme" for ending slavery through colonization when he developed his "Plan for Liberating the Negroes within the United States" in 1790. Many of these plans were similar in that they wanted the abolition of slaves to be gradual, they wanted the government to compensate the slave owners for the lost property, they wanted the government to pay to educate and prepare free blacks for life as independent people, and they wanted to colonize the freed slaves in a separate place from the white society. This was because most people at the time believed that the races would not be able to get along if they tried to live together.
Fairfax was attracted to visionary schemes and also spent money resolving squatter lawsuits. His estate, Shannon Hill in present-day Jefferson County, West Virginia, was sold by his daughter in 1825 and the original home was demolished.
Personal life
Ferdinando married his first cousin Elizabeth Blair Cary, daughter of Wilson Miles Cary and Sarah Blair. The couple had the following children:
*George William Fairfax (born November 5, 1797), who married Isabella McNeil
*Wilson Miles Cary Fairfax, who married Lucy Griffeth
*Farinda Fairfax, who married Perrin Washington, a descendant of
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
's brother
Samuel Washington
Samuel Washington (November 16, 1734 – September 26, 1781) was an American planter, politician and military officer best known for being the younger brother of George Washington, the first president of the United States.
Early life
Washington ...
(1734–1781).
*Mary Fairfax who married Rev. Samuel Hagins
*Sally Fairfax
*Ferdinando Fairfax II, who married Mary Jett
*Christiana Fairfax, who married Thomas Ragland
*William Henry Fairfax
*Thomas Fairfax
*Archibald Blair Fairfax
Descendants
The Union officer in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...