The first occupant of record of the house at Salona, William Maffitt, is surrounded by legends. Supposedly, Maffitt built Salona in 1801. Maffitt was from South Carolina. Maffitt went to Princeton. Maffitt preached the funeral sermon for George Washington. Maffitt had a boys' school at Salona. Maffitt lived at Salona with his wife Harriotte Lee Turberville Maffitt, who deserted her three children by her first marriage. Dolley Madison spent the night with the Maffitts at Salona when she fled from the White House during the English invasion of Washington.

The available documents give a different picture.

William Maffitt was born in Cecil County, Maryland, in 1769, eldest son of Samuel and Ann Strawbridge Maffitt.[18] His father was a justice of the peace, elder in the Presbyterian Church, owner of a flourishing farm and a mill, and was a major under George Washington during the American Revolution.

The Rev. Mr. John H. Johns made his contribution to the Maffitt legends:

The Rev. William Maffit [sic] was a son of Samuel Maffit, an elder of this church. Having been licensed October 9th, 1794, by New Castle Presbytery, he went, April 1st, 1795, to Alexandria, Va., in Baltimore Presbytery. He had delicate health, and was pastor there for only a brief period, when he went to Salina [sic] six miles from Washington, and there became principal of a school, which he continued to teach for many years. He married twice, each time to a widow Lee, of the noted Lee family of Virginia. He died in 1828.[19]

Although many young men of Cecil County attended Princeton, the University does not have Maffitt recorded as a student, and his name does not appear in the official list of early Princeton graduates.[20] He probably attended some theological school because on October 9, 1794, the New Castle Presbytery appointed him to supply various New Castle Presbytery congregations.[21] At that time, he seems to have been teaching at the Wilmington Academy.[22]

On April 7, 1795, he was transferred to the Baltimore Presbytery, with residence in Alexandria.[23] On April 14, 1795, he was hired by the Alexandria Academy to teach Latin and English to 35 students for the sum of 200 pounds a year.[24]

In 1798, George Washington wrote regarding the education of Martha Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis:

If he (Custis) was to go to Alexandria, his Studies must be conducted at the Academy or in his own chamber. The first, after coming from a large and celebrated College, he would consider as degrading, and in the other case (being left alone) he would attend very little to them while Mr. Moffet was discharging the trust reposed in him at the Academy.[25]

An Alexandria historian, Mary Powell, wrote that: "The school was attended by the best classes of Alexandria boys and able instruction was given in the classics, history, and elocution." She also observed: "The Rev. McWhirr and the Rev. Mr. Moffat were both Presbyterian clergymen who taught during the lifetime of General Washington. Mr. Leary succeeded Mr. Moffat ..."[26]

In 1801 the Alexandria Gazette reported that the trustees of the Alexandria Academy:

express their satisfaction at the progress of every branch taught in the academy ... reading and spelling; the accurate and extensive knowledge of English grammar and of the Latin classics, reflect the highest honor on the capacity and diligence of Mr. Maffitt, the teacher. [27]

Maffitt remained at the Academy until 1804 when he notified the board of trustees that he intended to "relinquish his situation as principal" on June 8. No hint of his future plans was given. [28]

At least as early as 1799, Maffitt became a member of Masonic Lodge 22 [29] and took "part in other community activities befitting a schoolmaster and minister. On December 24, 1799, the Alexandria Gazette reported:

Friday next being St. John's Day, Brother Maffitt, at the request of Lodges 22 and 47, will deliver a Charity Sermon at the Presbyterian Meeting house at which all the brethren are requested to attend. N.B. it is expected that every brother will appear with his badge of mourning—and those of Lodge 22 in full mourning. [30]

A physiognotrace of "William Maffett, chaplain."
Courtesy of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, A. F. & A. M., Alexandria, Virginia.

George Washington, a member of Lodge 22, had died on December 14, 1799, and the call was to a memorial service. Maffitt did not, as legend claims, preach the funeral sermon, although he did march with the clergy in the lodge's funeral procession from Alexandria to Mount Vernon to attend the ceremony.[31]

Earlier in 1799, the minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church show that Rev. William Maffitt was assigned to Bladensburg.[32] There is no record of his actual presence there and he was not re-assigned.[33] For the rest of his life, his listings in the minutes show him "without charge." Although Maffitt was a licensed minister, there is some doubt that he was ever ordained.[34]

On January 14, 1800, the subscribers to the establishment of a Washington Society met at Gadsby's Tavern and William Maffitt was named to the committee to form the constitution and by-laws.[35] On January 28, Maffitt was appointed chaplain of the society,[36] a post which he held at least through 1803. On February 23, 1800, the society was called to meet at Gadsby's at 10 a.m. "to move in procession to the Presbyterian Meeting House where an oration will be delivered by the Rev. Mr. Maffitt, commemorative of the distinguished merits of the Illustrious Washington."[37] Again, on February 22, 1803, the Washington Society called on Maffitt to deliver a memorial sermon on the first president "at the Presbyterian Church at 12 o'clock. There will be instrumental and vocal music and the day will be announced by a discharge of 16 rounds from the Market Square."[38]

On February 18, 1801, the Rev. Mr. Maffitt was elected a director of the Alexandria Library Co., and was re-elected to this post in 1802, 1803, and 1804.[39]

On May 5, 1803, the Rev. Dr. Muir, pastor of the Presbyterian Meeting House, married the Rev. William Maffitt to Mrs. Harriotte Turberville.[40] Harriotte (or Henrietta) was the daughter of Richard Henry Lee, a brother of Philip Ludwell Lee, and his second wife, Anne Gaskins Pinckard, widow of Thomas Pinckard. Harriotte was born December 10, 1773 at Chantilly, the Richard Henry Lee estate in Westmoreland County.[41] Her siblings included a younger sister Sarah who married another cousin, Edmund Jennings Lee, and the youngest son, Francis Lightfoot Lee.[42] Her first marriage in December, 1794, was to Richard Lee Turberville, a cousin and neighbor, who died in 1799,[43] leaving his widow with their three children: Cornelia, Richard, and George. Richard and Harriotte Turberville had settled at Chantilly in Fairfax County and Richard apparently died there.[44]

When Harriotte and William Maffitt were married, he was still principal of the Alexandria Academy, living in Alexandria, and active in community affairs. But between June 8, 1804, the date of Maffitt's resignation from the Academy, and early 1805, he moved to Chantilly with his wife, their first child, and the three children of Harriotte's first marriage. It is probable that the move took place in 1804, soon after his resignation.

Legal guardian of the three Turberville children was Thomas Lee, Harriotte's oldest brother.[45] After his death in 1805, William Maffitt was named guardian.[46] In this capacity he had to keep accurate accounts of his expenditures on behalf of the children and of income received on their property, all of which were matters of court record. These records indicate that Maffitt was living at Chantilly at that time.

William and Harriotte had two daughters, both christened in the Presbyterian Meeting House: Ann Lee, born March 23, 1804, and christened on April 20, and Harriotte, born March 16, 1805, and christened on April 17, 1805.[47] Harriotte died right after the birth of the second daughter, probably on April 11 or 12, 1805, because on April 12, Maffitt began paying rent to the three Turberville heirs for the use of their property. This was recorded for the first time in his accounts for 1805.[48]

That he had a school on the Chantilly estate seems highly probable, because starting in 1805, he charged the two Turberville boys for board and tuition, but not for transportation.[49] In 1805, Maffitt was listed for the first time on the Fairfax County personal property tax rolls.[50] In 1810, the county census listed him as having under his roof two males under 10, five males between 10 and 16, one male between 26 and 45, five females under 10, and one female between 26 and 45.[51]

The guardian accounts give some interesting insights into day-by-day activities. Buying new shoes and mending old ones for the two boys were constant expenses. Regular sums of money were sent to Mrs. Lee, Harriotte's sister Sally, to pay for Cornelia Turberville's board, education, and small purchases. Books and supplies were bought for the boys. A large portion of the estate was rented out, and so were some of the slaves. The chimney and cellar were repaired; a new barn was built.[52]

The accounts also show that Cornelia Turberville was married to Charles C. Stuart in 1817, rather than 1814, as some sources report. Up to the time of the marriage, Maffitt referred to Cornelia as "C. Turberville"; afterwards he formally termed her "Mistress Stuart." He also listed money given George Turberville to buy articles to attend his sister's wedding.[53] Historians credit Cornelia and her husband with building a house named "Chantilly" in honor of the estate of her grandfather, Richard Henry Lee, in Westmoreland County.[54] Yet the Maffitt accounts specifically refer to "my rent of Chantilly" in 1814,[55] three years before the Turberville-Stuart marriage. Moreover, a public sale was held "at Chantilly" in 1817,[56] with cash paid to C. C. Stuart from its proceeds.[57]

Curiously, the accounts show that Maffitt continued to pay rent to the Turberville heirs through 1814, the year when, for the first time, we definitely know he was living at Salona. Does this mean that Maffitt himself built Salona between 1812, when he purchased the property, and 1814, or that the house already existed and was rented to a tenant through the first part of 1814? That Maffitt was there in August 1814 is proven by the documented fact that President Madison stayed at Salona overnight with Mr. Maffitt.

Robert Gamble, in his volume on Sully, quotes a letter which states that Richard Bland Lee, Jr., was under the tutelage of the Reverend Mr. Maffitt at some time preceding 1805. [58] This again would suggest that Maffitt had a school at Chantilly, close to Richard Bland Lee's home at Sully. Another biographer mentions that

Edmund Jennings (Lee) was born at Alexandria, then in the District of Columbia, on the 3rd of May, 1797.... Mr. Lee received his earliest educational training at the school of the Rev. Mr. Maffitt in Fairfax, a school of high repute at that day. [59]

Unfortunately no dates or locations are given by the letter-writer or the biographer.

In his history of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, William B. McGroarty described Maffitt in a footnote as "a Presbyterian minister who conducted a school for boys in Fairfax County near Alexandria." [60] Neither Chantilly nor Salona was very close to Alexandria.

A letter from A. C. Stuart to Elizabeth Collins Lee in 1805 states that:

Mr. Maffitt intended to leave the place where he now resides and purchase a small farm, that he, Frank (Francis Lightfoot Lee, Harriotte's youngest brother) intended to do the same, that they were to spend their time in the pursuit of agriculture, botany, and philosophy. [61]

Was this wish expressed because Chantilly was not Maffitt's property but that of his stepchildren, because Maffitt was lonely without Harriotte, or because he wanted to give up teaching for farming? Somehow, from the guardianship accounts, it seems likely that Maffitt did not farm the Turberville acres, but rented out whatever he could, while he busied himself otherwise.

Usually the Alexandria Gazette carried announcements of the openings of new schools, but no announcement of Maffitt's school ever seems to have appeared. Because Maffitt performed the marriage of Gazette publisher Samuel Snowden to Mary Longden on January 8, 1802,[62] such an announcement might have been expected. Neither did the Gazette report Maffitt's departure from the Alexandria area.

Probably Maffitt was still living at Chantilly when he married for the second time between 1807 and 1811 before William Maffitt, Jr., was born. His second wife was Ann Beale Carter Carter (1767-1852),[63] widow of Charles B. Carter. Ann, also known as Nancy, was the daughter of Robert Wormely Carter of Sabine Hall in Richmond County, and Winifred Beale.[64] William, Jr., the only child of this marriage, was born in November, 1811, and christened in the Presbyterian Meeting House in February 1812. [65]

In August 1812, Maffitt was appointed a trustee of an academy to be established in Haymarket. Among those serving with him were Ludwell Lee of Belmont, Francis Lightfoot Lee, then living at Sully, and William Fitzhugh of Ravensworth.[66]

Meanwhile, in 1809, James Madison, Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson, had been elected President. On June 18, 1812, Madison signed a declaration of war against England. The causes of the war, sometimes called the Second War of Independence, were basically several aspects of nationalism. Some resentment against the British still smouldered, fanned by British contempt and condescension toward her former colonists. Because many English sailors deserted their ships to sail under American colors, British ships intercepted American vessels and "impressed" their seamen. Furthermore, many American politicians wanted to annex Canada.

Neither the war nor the President was popular with the people, who thought the President weak and called the conflict "Mr. Madison's War." Attempted American invasion of Canada was a fiasco and by August 23, 1814, the British forces were so close to Washington that the clear and present danger of an actual invasion of the American capital seemed imminent.

John Graham, Chief Clerk in the Department of State, and two other clerks, Stephen Pleasanton and Josiah King, packed the valuable public records of the State Department in coarse linen bags which Pleasanton had purchased earlier. These included the original Declaration of Independence, articles of confederation, federal constitution, treaties and laws and many other papers. Stephen Pleasanton found conveyances, loaded the bags into them and took them to a mill 3 miles beyond Georgetown, where they were concealed. Pleasanton spent the night of August 23, 1814, at Salona with the Rev. Mr. Maffitt. The next day, fearing that the mill might be too accessible to the British, who were fast approaching Washington, Pleasanton took the state papers to Leesburg for safety. [67]

Dolley Madison, the President's popular wife, could hear in the President's House the sounds of cannon "from a skirmish at Bladensburg." The President had gone to meet Gen. William H. Winder, commander of the military district, and had left his wife instructions to "take care of my self, and of the cabinet paper, public and private." [68]

Writing to her sister, Lucy Todd, Dolley cooly reported that her husband

desires that I should be ready at a moment's warning to enter my carriage and leave the city.... I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many cabinet papers into trunks to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation. [69]

She continued the letter on Wednesday, August 24:

Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly.... At this late hour, a wagon has been procured; I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable articles belonging to the house....

Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very mad humor because I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. The process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvas taken out; it is done—and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York, for safekeeping.... When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be tomorrow, I cannot tell!! [70]

Apparently Dolley spent the night of August 24 in a tent in the American encampment at Tennallytown, and the next day crossed over into Virginia where she spent the night of August 25 with Matilda Lee Love at Rokeby. The roads were crowded with refugees and the exodus was slow. As the Loves had often been guests at the President's House, Dolley did not have to spend night with strangers. In her reminiscences, Matilda Love wrote:

In the following spring of 1814, it (the war) came more home to us, as the British got into our southern waters, and in August came up to Washington and burnt all the public buildings.... As I lived about ten miles from Washington, Mrs. Madison and a number of city people took refuge at my home the night the British took Washington....

They watched the flames of the burning capital from Rokeby that night.[71]

Irving Brant, definitive biographer of Madison, writes of the departure of the Madisons from the capital:

The travels of President and Mrs. Madison after the battle have long been involved in obscurity and contradiction owing to the meagerness of early records (Dolley's letters about it were eaten by mice), uncertain memories and the derogatory stories circulated by political detractors. The facts bear little resemblance to the popular stories in which the Jones and Carroll families are nonexistent, Dolley wanders forlornly from house to house, while Madison, split in person rather than personality, simultaneously hides in a miserable hovel in the Virginia woods and flees in terror into the distant hills of Maryland.

Actually, a clear record was left by participants and observers. The original plan was for Madison to join Secretary Jones and their families at Bellevue and proceed by way of the Little Falls bridge to Wiley's Tavern on Difficult Run near the Great Falls. From there the President and cabinet members would cross the Potomac and join the army. Time growing short, Madison changed the rendezvous to Foxall's Foundry. With that route from the White House clogged by the militia's flight, he sent Tench Ringgold to the foundry with word that he was crossing at Mason's Ferry and would meet his wife and party at Salona, the home of the Reverend John [sic] Maffitt, three miles above the Little Falls bridge.... [72]

Madison, Rush and Mason rode to Wren's Tavern at Falls Church. Monroe and Ringgold took the Leesburg road, stopped briefly at Rokeby, the home of Richard Henry Love, two miles above Little Falls, and went on to Wiley's Tavern. From Wren's Tavern the President went to the Minor home and from there to Salona, where he spent the night with the Maffitts. But Mrs. Madison failed to come. She and her party had stopped only a mile away at Rokeby, with her young friend Matilda Lee Love, an occasional overnight guest at the White House....

The next morning, Madison went back to Wren's Tavern—looking for his wife, he told Colonel George Graham, who gave him a guard of two dragoons. Returning to Salona, the President learned that Mrs. Madison and the Jones and Carroll families had gone by on their way to Wiley's Tavern. He and Rush followed along the Old Dominion Road (Mason being detained for a time) and took refuge from the hurricane in a house at "The Crossroads" five miles from the Little Falls bridge. [73]

At midnight, the President went to the new Conn's Ferry above Great Falls, and at daybreak he crossed the river into Montgomery County, Maryland. Mrs. Madison stayed at Wiley's Tavern until the President sent her word that Washington was clear of the enemy.[74]

A more romantic but apocryphal story of the Madison's flight from Washington was written in 1914 by a columnist known as "The Rambler" for the Washington Star.[75] In this version, Dolley crossed the Potomac on "the Causeway Ferry," then passed Nelson's mill, went on to Falls Church, and finally drove up "to Salona Hall, the home of Parson Maffitt, and was welcomed by Mrs. Maffitt." He further recounts that Mrs. Madison was refused shelter at two country places before she reached Salona, though this did not seem reasonable. [76]

The oft-told story of Dolley Madison's having been refused sanctuary on her way to Salona by several households is not borne out by all published accounts. Apparently, the account which does have most corroboration is that regarding the day following the night she and her party stayed at Rokeby.

Mrs. Madison went on the next morning, August 25, to meet her husband at a tavern near Great Falls, probably Wiley's on Difficult Run. This had been prearranged, and on arrival she went upstairs to wait for Mr. Madison. Shortly, the lady of the establishment called out to her in rage, saying, "Miss Madison! If that's you, come down and go out! Your husband has got mine out fighting, and d—— you, you shan't stay in my house; so get out!" Other refugees joined in the outburst, even those who had once been guests of the Madisons at the President's mansion, and agreed she should be expelled from all doors. Nearby, there was another tavern, and Mrs. Madison and her party gained admittance there to wait for her husband's arrival later that evening. [77]

After the excitement of Madison's visit was over, Salona must have reverted to its normal calm. At last Maffitt had realized his dream of farming; the personal property tax records and inventory of his estate clearly define Salona as a working farm.

But his fortunes declined, if we can judge by his personal property tax assessments. Maffitt was assessed for 18 horses and mules and 21 black slaves in 1812; in 1814, when a very detailed account was rendered by the county, Maffitt was shown to have 19 slaves, 12 horses and mules and a coache (4-wheeled carriage) valued at $450. In all of Fairfax County that year, only Thomas Fairfax, William Robinson and Bushrod Washington had coaches of higher value than his and their vehicles were evaluated at $500 each.

By the year of his death, 1828, only 13 slaves and 3 horses were listed, and the total evaluation of his personal property was listed at $150. The inventory of William Maffitt's estate did show that he had 116 head of livestock on the place including horses, oxen, sheep, hogs and cattle. He was growing turnips, corn, rye, oats, hay and orchard grass. The long list of household furnishings included three desks and two bookcases of high evaluation, indicating there were books in them. (See appendix for full inventory.) The fortunes of his widow, Ann Carter Maffitt, declined further, until by 1835, she was dropped off the county's personal property tax rolls. [78]

For many years, William Maffitt had continued to serve as guardian to his first wife's Turberville children. Although Cornelia Turberville continued to live with her aunt in Alexandria until her marriage in 1817, her two brothers seem to have lived at Salona. In June 1815, Richard Turberville drowned in the Potomac while visiting his cousin Matilda Lee Love at nearby Rokeby.[79] Maffitt's accounts for June 23, 1815, report the expenditure of $37.50 for Richard's coffin. He may have been buried in the graveyard on the Salona property. [80]

The other brother, George Turberville, at some time in childhood became a deaf mute as the result of typhoid fever. Maffitt's accounts do not reveal the date of the onset of this affliction, but they do show that in April 1818 George entered "The Asylum" in Hartford, Connecticut. At that time, Maffitt advanced George $100 for board and tuition and $100 for travel.[81] George still returned to Salona for vacations, because in July 1819, Harriotte Maffitt wrote to him:

It is now my time to write to you my Dear Brother. We are glad the time is so near when we expect you. When you come home we will go to George Town to meet you. Dr. Muir has been here and he preached here. Aunt Whann and Aunt Sally Maffitt have been here. Uncle Whann has gone to travel. I hope you will be well acquainted with the History of the Bible and particularly the life and miracles of our Blessed Saviour. We have not heard from Chantilly for some time, I hope we will go up soon. Cousin Sally Lee is there. We expect Aunt Edmund Lee will come here very soon. Sister Cornelia expects Mrs. Mary Tollaver, your Cousin up to see her this summer. Do you know Mr. Harrison of Alexandria? He is coming here to preach for us in August. Do you love me? I pray to God to bless and preserve you. Old Mrs. Randle is very well we went to see her yesterday. When you come home you must go to see her with us. I saw Miss Betty Jones last Sabbathe. She asked me when I had heard from you answer my letter very soon if you please. Tell me how the deaf and dumb are and if they improve. You must love and obey your teachers. Papa Mama and all the girls send their affectionate love to you.

I am your affectionate sister.
Harriotte Maffitt. [82]

P.S.
All the Boys send their
respects to you.

Another letter, this one from William C. Woodbridge to the Reverend William Maffitt from "Asylum," was dated February 21, 1820, and referred to a fight between George Turberville and another student. Woodbridge wrote:

It seems he was ridiculed & resented it & was then challenged. He says he was wounded in the knee & his antagonist the same. We learned it from his boasting of it to our pupils. He now expresses entire disapprobation. He made the question to you by my request.

Woodbridge refers to George's independence and pride which must be checked. Obviously, this letter was one of many exchanged between Woodbridge and Maffitt regarding George's progress [83] and is evidence that George wrote home to his stepfather as well as to his sisters.

Although William Maffitt died before the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church was founded, church historians claim him as a founding father, saying that he was appointed by the Washington Presbytery to preach and set up a mission near Langley. [84] Harriotte's letter may lend credence to this, although there is no report of such an assignment in the Minutes which list Maffitt only as "without charge" after 1800. [85]

One reason for this belief may have arisen because of a bequest in the will of Elizabeth Lee Jones, the "Miss Betty Jones" of Harriotte's letter. Daughter of Lettice Corbin Turberville and Catesby Jones of Westmoreland County, Miss Betty lived at "Sharon" on part of the George Turberville grant. Her will, dated April 16, 1822, left four acres of her property "as a site for a church and churchyard ... dedicated to the uses and purposes of divine worship in such manner and subject to such rules as shall ... be prescribed by the Rev'd William Maffitt" and eight other ministers: —Carnahan, Wells Andrews, William Hill, John Mathews, J. B. Hoge, William C. Walton, M. Baker, and Samuel D. Hoge, all representatives of the Presbyterian Church. William Maffitt was a witness to this will. Apparently, this was Maffitt's primary connection with the establishment of the Presbyterian Church at Lewinsville. [86]