[55] A Pistole.—This coin was worth, at the time Washington wrote this journal, about $3.60. A doubloon was worth twice that amount.

[56] Cacapehon, now generally written Capon.—There are two streams in the same vicinity known by this name, and to distinguish them, one is called "Great Capon" and the other "Little Capon." Both are tributaries to the Potomac.

[57] Fifteen Mile creek rises in Maryland and flows in a south-easterly direction, emptying into the Potomac river between Sideling Hill creek and Town creek, about 15 miles above Hancock, Md.

[58] "The Ohio Company" grew into existence out of efforts by Virginians, dated as early as 1746 or 1747, to secure a share in the lucrative Indian trade, and with the prospect of opening to settlement the lands on the upper waters of the Ohio. An early move in this direction had been made by Colonel Thomas Cresap, a man of courage, judgment and enterprise—qualities required for trading successfully with the Indians. He had erected his cabin at Oldtown, Md. About 1746 Lawrence and Augustine Washington, after making some cautious business ventures in the Indian trade, with others assisted to organize "this Ohio Company." Thomas Lee, whose second son, Richard Henry Lee, was to become so conspicuous a patriot of the Revolution, and John Hanbury, a wealthy London merchant, were original members of this company, into which still other men of substance and standing were admitted, and to which, in 1749, the British government gave a charter, as "The Ohio Company," with a grant of half a million acres of land, to be located between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers, on the south side of the Ohio. With but twenty shares of stock at first issue, the company's prosperity seemed assured, and both Governor Dinwiddie and George Mason, at a later date purchased an interest in it. Among the early Washington manuscripts appears the above memorandum of a survey for this company. Although this entry is without date it must have been earlier, judging from its position in the note-book, than the charter. This document imposed, as conditions of the land grant, that the company should at once survey two hundred thousand acres, and within seven years secure the settlement of not less than one hundred families, erect forts, and maintain a garrison against the Indians,—conditions on the fulfilment of which they were to be for ten years exempt from the payment of quit-rents. Mr. Christopher Gist was employed as the company's agent, and on October 19, 1749, entered upon his duties of inspecting the country, contiguous to the Ohio river, reporting upon the character of the lands, making surveys, keeping a journal of his observations, drawing plans of the territory, etc. In 1750 the company built a small store-house at Will's creek and stocked it with goods from London to the value of £4,000. In 1752 Mr. Gist held a council with the Indians on the Ohio in behalf of the company, and secured their permission to lay out a town and erect a fort at McKee's Rocks at the mouth of Chartier's creek, upon the east side of the Ohio, a few miles below Pittsburg. Washington, in his diary, alludes to this, and says of the position: "I think it greatly inferior, either for defense or advantage, especially the latter: For a fort at the forks would be equally well situated on the Ohio, and have the entire command of the Monongahela." In 1751 the company began making a road to the mouth of the Monongahela, but for lack of adequate resources, made only slow progress. The company looked upon the lands around Will's creek as being within their grant. They also erected a store-house at the mouth of Redstone on the Monongahela and began some improvements at the forks of the Ohio, immediately after completing those at Will's creek. At the latter place they had the adjacent lands surveyed on both sides the stream, above and below the forks, and laid out a town to which they gave the name of Charlottesburg in honor of the Princess Charlotte, afterward wife of King George. The French and Indian war, with other stirring political events, compelled the company to be cautious and to contract its operations, but, its embarrassments increasing from the course pursued toward it by the English government, prompted by envious rival interests, the consent of its agent, George Mercer, Esq., was finally gained to merge the Ohio Company into a Grand Company, under what was known as the Walpole Grant or Company. Their proposal was as follows: "We, the Committee of the Purchasers of a Tract of Country for a new Province on the Ohio in America, do hereby admit the Ohio Company as a Co-Purchaser with us for two shares of the said Purchase,^* in Consideration of the Engagement of their Agent, Col. Mercer, to withdraw the application of the said Company for a separate Grant within the Limits of the said Purchase.

Witness our Hands this 7^th Day of May 1770

THOMAS WALPOLE
S. POWNALL
B. FRANKLIN
SAMUEL WHARTON

See American Historical Review, vol. iii, p. 205.

This action, however, was not approved by the American members of the company, and the final collapse of the whole enterprise was one of the results of the Revolution.

[59] Memorandum or draft of a letter to his sister-in-law Anne, wife of Lawrence Washington, of Mount Vernon, made, very possibly, while in the field surveying in the fall of 1748 or spring of 1749. This visit to Europe, of Lawrence Washington, was partly in the interest of the Ohio Company and partly on account of his failing health which, unfortunately, was not benefited by the voyage as had been hoped.

[60] Mrs. Aus. Washington evidently refers to Mrs. Augustine Washington, of Westmoreland, the wife of George's half-brother, Augustine, with whom he had made his home while attending Mr. William's Academy. Austin is, or has been, in Virginia a contraction for Augustine. Augustine Moore, a notable character, is recorded interchangeably, in land and other records, as Augustine and as Austin Moore. It is presumed that "The Maryland Housewife" was intended to have been written, that being the name of a popular book on cookery and the art of housekeeping at that period. The date of this memorandum is presumed to be 1748. A charge in his book of accounts kept at this time, and which was among the relics of Lawrence Washington sold in Philadelphia in the spring of 1891, would fix the date as July 28th, 1748. It was not an unusual thing for Washington in his youth to use contractions in writing the first names of his brothers, the following are examples: Aus., Austin for Augustine; Sam for Samuel; Jack and John, simply for John Augustine.

[61] This is about the only record Washington has left of his course of reading. It is inferred that the books were either at "Greenway Court" or at "Belvoir." The character of the works he selected for his perusal is what might have been expected. This memorandum also exhibits a trait in his character prominent throughout his life, that of giving attention to minute details of business. It may truly be said of him that "the boy was father to the man."

[62] Honorable William Fairfax, of "Belvoir," Fairfax county, Va., was born 1691 in Yorkshire, England, where his father that year became high sheriff of the county. His father was the son of Henry Fairfax, 2d son of 4th Lord Fairfax and Anna (Harrison) Fairfax, whose sister, Eleanora Harrison, of South Cave, married in 1689, Henry Washington; their son, Richard Washington, who resided in London, was, therefore, an English cousin of Wm. Fairfax, and a correspondent both of his and of Col. George Washington's (see Washington's correspondence, in Sparks). Wm. Fairfax lost his father when quite young and was educated at his uncle's, Sir John Lowther's College. Through the influence of Capt. Fairfax, of the Royal Navy, he entered that service in 1710 and served for two years. He then joined the British army in Spain under Col. Martin Bladen, who had married a Fairfax, and was stationed at St. Helena in 1716-17, and subsequently at the Bahamas, and returned to England in October, 1717. Having married in the Bahamas, Sarah, daughter of Maj. Walker, of Nassau, she accompanied him to England. In 1718 Wm. Fairfax was sent out with Captain or Governor Woodes Rogers as chief justice to suppress the pirates infesting the West Indies. His residence was at Nassau, New Providence. The business for which he accepted office having been completed and the climate not being congenial, he in 1725 removed to New England. Here he received an appointment to the custom house at Salem, which he held until 1734. While a resident of Salem, his first wife died and was buried there. His son George William was born in Nassau, three of his children were born in Salem. Thomas, of the Royal Navy, was killed in battle; Anne married Lawrence Washington, and was the first mistress of Mount Vernon; and Sarah married John Carlyle, of Alexandria, Va., who was a major and commissary in the French and Indian war. Mr. Fairfax married, January 18, 1731, Deborah Clarke, of Salem, Mass. Her first child was Bryan, 8th Lord Fairfax, born at Salem 1732, but better known as the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, who died in 1802. In 1734 Wm. Fairfax accepted an offer, he had before declined, to remove to Virginia and act as agent for his cousin, Lord Thomas Fairfax, in the management of the vast Fairfax land estate. He at first took up his residence in Westmoreland county and remained there for several years, but afterward improved the plantation, built "Belvoir" mansion, six miles below "Mount Vernon," and removed to it. He was residing there in 1739, when Lord Fairfax first visited Virginia and made it his home for a year. Wm. Fairfax, from his high character and acquaintance with business, soon came to the front among the leading men in Virginia. Besides being agent for his cousin, he served in the assembly of Virginia, and after the death of John Blair was president of the Provincial council and collector of his majesty's customs for the South Potomac. His second wife bore him two children, besides Bryan already mentioned, William Henry, killed at the storming of Quebec in 1759; and Hannah, who married Warner Washington, cousin to George Washington. William Fairfax was a man of great executive ability and much beloved by the community. He died September 3, 1757. His wife survived him but a few years. "Belvoir" was left to George W. Fairfax and was his residence until he went to England in 1773.

[63] The razor in colonial days was an essential part of a gentleman's toilet outfit. Washington had a strong beard and was early called upon to use his razor. Long, full beards were not then in fashion in America. It is a notable fact that there is not a portrait extant of an American-born patriot or statesman of the Revolutionary period, painted with a full beard. This memorandum, although not dated, is believed to have been written in 1748. The clean shaven face was constrained by the fashion of the continent; and prevailed as the custom in England and France for a period of quite 75 years.

[64] The Thorntons intermarried with the Washingtons.

[65] A kind of shirt collar.

[66] Neck Cloths.—These were usually made of fine white cambric, folded wide, were wrapped twice around the neck and worn without collars.

[67] Caps.—The number here will attract attention considering the list of other articles; but it must be remembered that it was the custom at that period for both men and women to wear caps at night in bed. At the time when this journal was written, bed rooms were not heated, hence the custom of warming beds before retiring in winter, and the necessity for wearing night caps is more apparent, and, further, the head was frequently shaven and wigs were worn during the day by many. It is the tradition that Patrick Henry wore at home, in the day, even, when not in full dress, a "tarred cotton cap," whilst in public he wore a wig. In speaking, when he was earnestly moved, a striking emphasis of his is said to have been a rapid whirling of his wig around his head.

[68] At this point in the journal several blank pages occur.

[69] The poetical effusions of George Washington are neither numerous nor notable. The specimens here given are found on the spare pages of his memoranda mixed in with his notes of surveys. Some leaves are missing at this point and the concluding lines of one poem, at least, are lost.

[70] Land warrants were granted by the Crown, by the Legislature or its authorized agent, and by the governors of the provinces. A warrant had the character of a commission and guaranteed title. Land warrants issued in accordance with law were negotiable, and when laid and the survey plotted by a licensed surveyor and recorded in the land office, were maintained by the courts as against all other claimants.

The following is an exact copy of an order from G. W. Fairfax, agent of Lord Fairfax, for the sale of unseated lands in the "Northern Neck of Virginia" to George Washington a licensed surveyor in Virginia as his warrant to survey a particular parcel of land. The original document was in the possession of J. A. Russell, Esq., of New York city, in 1869, and is published in the Historical Magazine for March of that year, p. 197:—

"To Mr. G. Washington

"Whereas, Barthalamore Anderson, of Frederick County hath Informed that there are about Four hundred 50 Acres of Waste and Ungranted Land in the said County, formerly granted to Thomas Morgan by Jost Hite as p. Bond for the same & by Assignment to the s^d Anderson, on Arnold's Run a branch of Shenandoah.

"And Desiring a Warrant to survey the same in order to obtain a Deed, being ready to Pay the Composition and Office Charges.

"These are therefore to Empower You the s^d G. Washington to survey the s^d Waste Land.

"Provided this be the first Warrant that hath Issued for the same and you are to make a just, true and Acurate survey thereof, Describing the courses and distances p. Pole, also the Buttings and Boundings of the several Persons Lands adjoining, and where you cannot Join on any known Lines, you are to make Breadth of the tract to bear at least the proportion of one-third part of the length as the Law of Virginia Directs, you are also to Insert the Names of the Pilot and Chain Carriers made use of and Employed, a Plat of which s^d Survey with this Warrant you are to give into this Office any time before the twenty-fifth Day of March next ensuing. Given under my Hand and Seal of the Proprietors Office this thirteenth day of Oct. 1750 in the Twenty-Fourth year of His Majesty King George the Second's Reign.

"G. W. FAIRFAX."

[ENDORSED.]

"Barthalamore Anderson's Warr for 450 Acres

"M^r Washington's Retur'd the 8^th Feb^y 1750-1.
"To be paid p L^d Fx
"61"

[71] Lost River.—This stream gets its name from the fact that for three miles it passes out of sight under a mountain which lies across its course. It rises in Hardy county, W. Va., and flows in a north-easterly direction to the Cacapehon river. The following diagram is made from a pen drawing by Washington in his field note book, but not definitely related to this particular survey.

[72] Here terminates the entries in the little note book, containing "My Journey Over the Mountains." It is proper to state that the journal was kept in a small, vellum-bound, blank book, 6 by 3¾ inches in size, closely written on both sides of the leaf. Either from a desire to classify his memoranda, or for want of a second book, or from some motive of economy, he turned the book around and began from the other end to keep a record more particularly relating to his surveys and miscellaneous affairs. His field notes of surveys were kept in a book of the same size as the one described, from which the most of the following surveys are taken. The other surveys are found on loose sheets which have been bound and denominated miscellaneous papers; a few of them having dates, enables the editor to place them in chronological order.

[75] For this survey Washington received the sum of £2 3s 0d on the 25th of July, 1749, as shown by entry in his cash book; a copy of which is in the Toner Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

[76] Culpeper county, Virginia, was formed by act of assembly in 1748, and named in honor of Lord Thomas Culpeper, governor of Virginia from 1682 to 1686. The old family name was spelled with two p's, but in using the name as a locality one p is dropped. Its original form, however, was Colepeper. The widow of Lord Culpeper spelled her name and wrote it, "Mar. Culpeper—Leeds Castle, Dec. 19, 1706." Lord Culpeper and Lord Arlington had obtained from Charles II in 1672 a grant of proprietary rights over the whole of Virginia, but within a short time, in consequence of resistance by the colonists, surrendered all except quit rents and escheats, and a duty of three half-pence per pound on tobacco. Two years after ceasing to be governor, Lord Culpeper, who had become by purchase sole owner of the grant, further abandoned all his rights except that of property in the lands of that part of the Northern Neck beyond the Blue Ridge, with an annual pension of £600 for twenty years in lieu of what he gave up. This estate of about 5,700,000 acres of land in the Shenandoah valley and the mountains beyond, went to his daughter and heiress, Catherine, who became the wife of Thomas, the 5th Lord Fairfax, and from her to their son Thomas the 6th, and the first American Lord Fairfax of Washington's time. Lord Culpeper had been one of the commissioners of plantations under Charles II, and was a man of ability for business and public affairs, although rapacious; and, as governor, wholly British, without that sympathy for Virginia interest, such as Berkeley, with all his faults, had shown. The county of Culpeper, however, was conspicuous for the patriotism of its inhabitants during the Revolution. Her "minute men," Randolph said on the floor of the United States Senate, "were raised in a minute, armed in a minute, marched in a minute, fought in a minute, and vanquished in a minute." The motto on their flag was, "The Culpeper Minute Men," along the top border; in the center a curled rattlesnake with head erect and rattling tail; on either side the words "Liberty—or Death;" and beneath, along the lower border, "Don't Tread on Me." In the clerk's office of Culpeper court house is recorded the following: "20 July, 1749 [O. S.] George Washington, Gent., produced a commission from the President and Master of William and Mary College, appointing him to be surveyor of this county, which was read, and thereupon he took the usual oaths," etc.