I. GENTLEMAN FREEHOLDERS: THE MOSS FAMILY (1770-1835)

When Green Spring Farm came into being in the middle years of the eighteenth century, it represented the second generation of Virginia’s agriculture. By 1750, the great plantations of the proprietor and his grantees, laid out on land cleared from the virgin forest and planted with as much tobacco as the owner’s supplies of manpower and London credit would allow, were disappearing. In the evolution of farming, another generation of farms and farmers was taking over the Tidewater. Smaller in size than the great tobacco plantations, these farms utilized a larger proportion of their acreage for crops and cultivated a greater diversity of crops than before. For these second-generation farms, wheat and corn for export to England and the West Indies became the principal income crops.

The men who assembled and worked these new farms were themselves part of a new generation of Virginians. Many belonged to families which in 1750 could look back on more than a century of residence in America, and they were more attuned to the problems and potentials of the New World than those of the Old. They were the generation that successfully brought forth a new nation in their own times and added new dimensions to both its spirit and substances. John Moss was one of this new generation of Virginians.

Precisely when and how John Moss assembled the acreage that comprised Green Spring Farm is not certain. Fairfax County land records show a purchase of land by John Moss in September 1777, but, although this is the first connection of his name with the land of Green Spring Farm in these records, there is reason to believe that he may have occupied and farmed the land prior to that date. For him to have done so would have been consistent with the practice of his times and also would be in accord with the tradition of his present-day descendants which holds that John Moss built the mansion house at Green Spring Farm in or about 1760.[1]

John Moss lived in this house until his death in 1809. Here he raised four sons—John, Samuel, William, and Thomas—the last two of whom successively inherited and worked the farm from 1809 until 1839. On the death of Thomas Moss in 1839, the farm was sold and the proceeds of the sale were divided among his heirs.

At B^r Jn^o Mosses, met with M^r afterward Lord Fairfax we found our trials as to preach^g were very similar, he is very serious but his religion is a mystry to me. Lord help us both.[2]

And, in 1787, Francis Asbury noted in his journal:

Preached at Brother Mosses on 2 Chronicles XV, 12-13 on the peoples entering into a covenant with God.[3]

It seems evident that during these years, John Moss’s home served as a meeting place for a Methodist congregation which lacked a church building and was served by the occasional visits of itinerant preachers. That the congregation grew and prospered also seems evident from the fact that in June 1789 John Moss served as a trustee of a Methodist Episcopal church to be built in Alexandria “just north of the Presbyterian Meeting House” (Duke and Fairfax Streets) for the use of Reverend Thomas Cooke and Reverend Francis Asbury.[4]

In the county community, John Moss also was one of the group of gentlemen freeholders in whom the responsibility of power was reposed. He enjoyed the friendship and trust of Bryan Fairfax to the extent that he witnessed and served as coexecutor of the latter’s will,[5] and he was a party to several land sales and leases which involved Fairfax.[6] By these transactions, he acquired extensive lands in Loudoun County as well as land on Dogue Creek in Fairfax County.[7]

In colonial times, he served the Crown as Commissioner of the King’s Revenue in Fairfax County and also as a justice of the County Court.[8] In the War for Independence, he served as a captain and afterward took an active part in organizing the new government—in particular, serving on a commission to supervise the Presidential election of 1788. Under the new State Government, he continued to serve as the Commissioner of Revenue for the county and a justice of the County Court. In 1796, in a law suit in Prince William County, John Moss, then 72, was able to state that he was the oldest justice of the court in commission at that time.[9]

Service as a justice presumably involved John Moss in a wide range of decisions affecting the life of the county. The business of the County Court in this period was both judicial and administrative. Minor crimes were disposed of monthly, while major crimes and civil cases were handled in quarterly sessions.[10] At these sessions, the justices also acted on appointments, licenses for mills and ordinaries, road construction and repair, and the levying of taxes. Most of the justices were not trained in the law, and law books were scarce; therefore, the quality of justice and the transaction of public business were frequently leavened by reliance on common sense and experience.[11]

If gentlemen freeholders held the power of government in colonial and post-Revolutionary Virginia, they also paid much of the cost of government. In 1786, John Moss and James 6 Wren, Gentlemen, were appointed Commissioners of the Land Tax, the large counties in Virginia being allowed to have two such officials.[12] They were responsible for maintaining the tax book, personally calling on every person subject to taxation, and making four lists of taxable property in the county. (One was for the Clerk of the County Court, one for the sheriff, one for the Solicitor General, and one for the commissioner.) Annually, they submitted a list of changes in land ownership, by sale or inheritance.[13]

For his service as a justice and as Commissioner of the Land Tax, John Moss’s compensation came in the form of fees; he received no salary but under certain circumstances he was reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses connected with his duties.[14]

As one of the results of the American Revolution, the Anglican church was disestablished, and many of the welfare functions formerly performed by the parish vestry were assumed by the Overseers of the Poor. John Moss served as an overseer, and the powers and duties he had in this unusual office were set forth in detail in the revision of the state laws in 1792.[15] Overseers could prevent the poor from moving from one county to another and could get a warrant from any magistrate ordering the removal of a pauper back to his former county, with a court hearing to determine residence in case of a dispute. On the other hand, each county was obliged, through its overseers, to look after its own poor; and if the overseers refused to provide needed relief, there could be an appeal to the County Court.[16]

Further, they could bind out dependent children placed under their care as apprentices, appoint collectors-for-the-poor rates, have a paid clerk, and be paid for attending meetings. They had power to control vagrants, force fathers of bastards to contribute to their support, and operate the county poorhouse. In 1806, they were given the power to take over funds and endowments left in the charge of the vestries, accounting to the court annually.[17]

John Moss served as justice of the County Court until his death, and so saw the time come when the county courthouse was moved from Alexandria to its present site. His view of the history of his county, state, and nation saw more than mere physical change, however, and he was sensitive to the changing spirit of the time and place in which he lived. As to the depth of this feeling, there is no evidence in the form of public document or speech; but eloquent testimony comes from a simple, personal act he performed in 1795. As recorded in a deed of manumission issued to his slaves, he wrote:

I, John Moss ... being fully satisfied that it is contrary to our bill of rights as well as to our principles and sentiments as a free people and also contrary to common justice to hold and keep in a state of slavery any part of our fellow men ... [release and set free at various specified times from the date of this deed] Sarah, Nan, Harry, Maria, Hannah, Nero, Abram, Fox, Nat, David, John, Sam, Milla and Sal....[18]

The tradition of public service which John Moss commenced was carried on by his son, William Moss, who was appointed Clerk of the County Court in 1801. The duties of the clerk at this time differed somewhat from those of the clerk in colonial times. As enumerated in the general revision of the law in 1792,[19] the clerk must be a resident of the county and keep his office in the courthouse, unless ordered to do otherwise. He received his compensation in small fees charged for performing small acts, but in a growing county this produced a substantial income. His chief functions involved issuing licenses, warrants, writs, and orders connected with litigation. He also took inventories, recorded legal instruments, and kept vital statistics. Frequently, the clerk was the only officer of the court who was in any way learned in the law, and thus his advice on the law was regularly sought by the court. As the information he gave frequently was seasoned with experience, he became sought after for advice on many issues and problems which reached beyond the technical terms of the law, and his importance in the county’s government was substantial.

William Moss served as Clerk of the County Court for 32 years, until 1833. In 1831, he was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court, when that body was created by the General Assembly, and he served in that position until 1835, the year of his death. At this time, William Moss’s brother, Thomas, who had served as a Delegate from Fairfax County to the Virginia General Assembly in 1828, was appointed to fill the vacancy left by William’s death. When Thomas Moss died in 1839, his son, Alfred, was appointed Clerk but served in that office only one month. Later, however, Alfred Moss moved from Alexandria to Providence [Fairfax] where in 1852 he was again appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court. He served in this capacity until 1861, at which time Civil War activities in the area disrupted the normal conduct of county business.[20] It was at this time that Alfred Moss removed George Washington’s holographic will from Fairfax Courthouse to take it to Richmond for safekeeping for the duration of the war. Because there was considerable risk in getting it to Richmond, Alfred’s wife, Martha Gunnell Moss, hid it for a time in her daughter’s home, “Evergreen,” in Fauquier County. Alfred Moss was captured and sent to Capitol Prison, and when he was released by exchange, he took the will to a safe place. Shortly after the war, the Fairfax County Court sent a private citizen, O. W. Hunt, to Richmond where he found the Washington will, some other papers, and the County Seal, which he returned to the Fairfax Courthouse where they may be seen during regular hours of business.[21]

AGRICULTURE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA

The lands which were assembled by John Moss to comprise his farm were quite different from the virgin forest land that was being opened up for cultivation in the western part of Fairfax and in Loudoun County at about the same time. Like most of the open land below the fall line, the tract which Moss assembled had first played a part in the tobacco civilization that had dominated the life of Northern Virginia from 1650 to 1750.[22] During the eighteenth century, tobacco 8 planters of the Virginia Tidewater had turned inland, clearing the forested area of the Piedmont to bring virgin land into production of their crop. Their actions were the result of many contributing causes—the tendency of tobacco to wear out the soil, the need for timberland to supply the rising demand for barrels and hogsheads, the introduction of new implements of husbandry, the plentiful supply of enslaved or indentured labor, and, of course, the presence of cheap land in the western part of the county.[23]

Expansion required capital, however, and many of the Tidewater tobacco planters whose holdings had been created through proprietary grants obtained the necessary funds by selling off portions of their Tidewater holdings. By the middle of the eighteenth century, few of the large land grants remained intact and what remained to the original owners was interspersed with smaller farms and old fields gradually being taken over by scrub pine.[24] At the same time, the increase of warehouses and riverside facilities, the growth of roads overland between the principal river landings and the gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and a steadily rising number of tradesmen and artisans setting out for themselves upon completion of their indenture periods all combined to offer a prospect of success, if not affluence, to one who was willing to work the land diligently and prudently.

Many of the small farmers of the Tidewater remained as committed to tobacco as the great planters had been. Others turned to diversification of crops. Corn (maize) was grown in conjunction with tobacco from the beginning of settlement in Northern Virginia and diversification simply called for increasing its role. In the eighteenth century, wheat was introduced as a substitute for tobacco to restore the land and gradually became adopted in place of tobacco as a farm staple. As commercial relations with England became more difficult after 1750, and were completely disrupted during the War for Independence, tobacco planters in great numbers shifted to production of foodstuffs to meet domestic demands. The description of Washington’s experience at Mount Vernon, only a few miles distant from Green Spring Farm, may be taken as typical of that of his neighbors:

On the thin topsoil that overlay the clay slopes at Mount Vernon, George Washington grew wheat that sold in Alexandria, made ship’s biscuit that was famous the world over—and rye that supplied his less celebrated distillery. The increasing number of cattle accounted for the introduction of mangel-wurzels, turnips, and other root crops in the rotation. The soil-building virtues of peas were discovered. Beef cattle grew in increasing numbers, and began to appear prominently in inventories and wills. Orchards and vineyards were planted more widely. With these developments, simultaneously with the decline of the tobacco trade, a lively business sprang up in shipping corn, wheat, and livestock to the West Indies....[25]

In his efforts to develop methods of husbandry which would restore the fertility of the land, Washington reflected a concern which was widespread among Virginians of his time 9 and the first half of the nineteenth century. Organized efforts to promote better husbandry through exchange of practical experience and dissemination of the results of experimentation and invention began in the 1770’s.[26] Between 1790 and 1830, hundreds of publications on agriculture were produced[27] and more than 100 inventions of agricultural devices were patented to Virginians, among them Cyrus McCormick’s reaper, the most influential mechanical factor in the development of American agriculture in the nineteenth century.[28] National leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Marshall actively worked in societies which encouraged experimentation and study for improvement of agriculture through what was called “scientific farming.”

With the effort to establish scientific farming came experiments in crop rotation, with use of clovers and grasses interspersed between other crops, increased use of manure and artificial fertilizers, better plows and methods of soil preparation, and more attention to control of erosion. Interest in improving farm animals during this period led to introduction of merino sheep and new breeds of mules.

Despite this active element in Virginia’s agricultural system, and notwithstanding the substantial amount of intelligent and successful experimentation and publicity of results which this element inspired, many farmers in Virginia persisted in traditional ways. “Book farming,” as the new methods were called, was decried in favor of the familiar ways of cultivating which were passed from father to son. This skepticism was strengthened, also, when experiments failed—as they did in many cases—and when Virginia agriculture suffered from economic depression along with the rest of the nation—as it did in the years following the War of 1812.[29]

While Virginia agriculture had an equivocal or only moderately successful record of growth from 1750 to 1830, the proponents of scientific farming could and did argue that its value was measured in political as well as economic terms. Men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Taylor, James Garnett, and others sincerely believed that the survival of their way of life and that which they sought for Virginia depended on restoring the farmer to preeminence. One historian has described their philosophy thus:

The sincerity of their belief in the corruption of urban and the virtue of rural living is unquestionable. They practiced as they preached. And as they looked about them, at the long line of Virginia leaders of the early republic and at their own modest pleasant way of life, which some of them believed extended all the way down to their slaves, they felt they had incontestable evidence of the rightness of their convictions. As their soil became depleted, the hold of their state on preeminence in everything was weakening. Restore the soil and Virginia would be restored to her rightful preeminence. Simple, primitive, noble, limited yet grand, thus went the conception.[30]

THE MOSS FAMILY AS FARMERS

Whether John Moss and his descendants who inherited and worked Green Spring Farm were “scientific farmers” according to the standards of the time is not certain. Presumably they were aware of the organizations which espoused this cause since they were active in the public life of their state and community. They may well have read the writings of some of the scientific farming leaders of the time, such as John Taylor, who wrote under the pseudonym, “Arator,” and whose articles on agriculture were published in a Georgetown newspaper commencing in 1810.[31]

An inventory of the personal property of William Moss, made in connection with an auction to settle up his estate in 1835, offers indirect evidence of the farming methods of the Moss family. (A copy of this inventory is contained in appendix D.)

The lack of tobacco and tobacco processing equipment suggests that the Mosses had abandoned this crop for production of cereal grains—wheat, oats, rye, and corn—and possession of a mechanical wheat fan (for blowing chaff away from the grain during threshing) indicates use of some of the most advanced labor-saving equipment of the day.[32] The number of horses, plows, and other farm machinery seems large for the size of the farm and suggests that its cultivation must have prospered over a period of time. Particularly significant is the number of livestock in the inventory and the types of animals—horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and bees. These, plus other entries, indicate that the farm must have regularly produced beef, bacon, lard, wool, soap, honey, and beeswax, all in quantities sufficient to provide market income. Mention of quantities of hay, oats, and corn in the inventory suggest that in addition to cultivating cereal grains the Mosses had a major interest in raising meat animals and in dairying.

Strong evidence of dairying comes from the presence of a spring house at the farm and mention of tubs, churns, jars, crocks, strainers, and the like. They point to active dairying, with the sale of milk, cheese, and butter in the nearby neighborhood, in Alexandria, and possibly even points beyond.[33]

The listing of hogsheads and barrels of vinegar in the sale inventory suggests still another facet of Green Spring Farm’s diversification. Both apple and peach orchards existed at the time and apparently produced well.[34]

The will of John Moss and the inventories of William Moss and Thomas Moss give the impression of a farming family which was successful in more than ordinary measure as compared with most other Northern Virginia farmers. Their farm was described in the notice advertising the court sale in 1839 as follows:

Brick dwelling house, 8 rooms, brick kitchen, meat house, servant’s house, new barn and stables and other convenient outbuildings. Apple orchard, peach orchard, also, stone spring house.[35]

More revealing, perhaps, is the affidavit of Alfred Moss and Thomas Love (son and son-in-law, respectively, of Thomas Moss) offered in connection with the court proceedings to sell the farm as part of the settlement of Thomas Moss’s estate. They said:

This tract of land is naturally a thin soil, but from a careful course of husbandry for a number of years is now in a good state of cultivation, the fields well enclosed by good and substantial fencing, the land not in cultivation well taken with grass (clover and timothy), and that in cultivation just sown down in winter grain, and the buildings in a good state of repair, the barn and stables having been erected in the last two or three years.[36]

Although the history of Green Spring Farm during its ownership by the Moss family does not contain evidence of agricultural experimentation and leadership in scientific farming, it seems clear, on the other hand, that John Moss and his descendants advanced with the progress of their times and, indeed, may have been among the most progressive husbandmen of their day. They had broken away from the pattern of farming that typified the colonial tobacco era, and they exemplified a new and successful type of agriculture based on careful management of the land and production for a diversified market. They were certainly aware of the new developments and new philosophy which were growing out of the search for the principles of scientific farming, and they accepted and used some of those that applied to their situation.[37]

GREEN SPRING FARM AND THE TURNPIKE ROAD

The successful operation of Green Spring Farm, like the success of numerous other farms in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, was closely linked to the transportation system of these areas. Tidewater Virginia in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries relied mainly on coastal waterways and rivers as avenues of commerce and travel. When roads appeared on maps of Virginia in this period, they followed trails laid down by Indians who, in turn, had taken over the game trails along the ridges of the land. Therefore, by 1750 there was only a basic network of roadways running east-west to the passes in the Blue Ridge and north-south to the colonial capital of Williamsburg along the Tidewater and to the Carolinas through the Piedmont. The eighteenth century development of roads in Northern Virginia emphasized east-west travel for the obvious reason that residents of this area saw their future prosperity more closely linked to the rich resources and fertile lands of the Shenandoah Valley (and through it, perhaps, to the Ohio River) than through connection with the political capitals of the state or the great plantations of the James and York Rivers.[38]

As Colchester and Dumfries yielded leadership in commerce to Alexandria and as Loudoun and Fauquier Counties developed centers of commerce and seats of government at Leesburg and Warrenton, the desire for better overland connections with Alexandria gained strength. Public roadbuilding in this period was treated with indifference by both 13 public officials and the public at large. Theoretically carried out by levying a certain amount of labor or materials from the freeholders of the community, the system never produced good roads in Northern Virginia; and, in the early nineteenth century, overland travel generally had permitted them to deteriorate to the point where both foreign and domestic travelers commented unfavorably on them in their travel memoirs.[39] Moreover, in the 1800’s, the new state governments were in no position to provide financial support for local public works and could offer nothing more than their moral support through legislative approval of private roadbuilding by private turnpike companies which raised their capital through the sale of stock and obtained their income by charging tolls for use of the road.

The earliest private turnpike company charter issued by the Virginia Legislature was in 1795 for the “Fairfax and Loudoun Road” from Alexandria to the ford of Little River. This company was never organized, but, in 1802, a somewhat more liberal charter was given to the Little River Turnpike Company. This company’s road was completed in 1806 and immediately led to enactment in 1808 of further legislation authorizing extensions to Fauquier Courthouse.[40]

The Little River Turnpike was located so that Fairfax Courthouse stood approximately half way between Alexandria and the western terminus at Aldie. The courthouse thus served as a logical landmark dividing the upper and lower segments of the road. The turnpike traversed Green Spring Farm at a point about midway in its lower section. Throughout the history of the road, the Moss family appears to have been deeply involved. In 1809, William Moss was appointed and served as one of three commissioners to advertise and receive subscriptions for stock in the company constructing the road from the Little River Turnpike to Fauquier Courthouse.[41]

Thomas Moss served as a director of the Little River Turnpike Company and also acted as superintendent of the lower district of the road. Financial statements of the company, which were given in the annual reports of the State Board of Public Works, regularly carried accounts for both the salary paid to Thomas Moss and the funds spent by him for repair of the lower section of the road.[42]

THE MIDCENTURY YEARS. 1840-1880

The Moss family’s ownership of Green Spring Farm ended in 1843 with the sale of the farm and division of the proceeds among the eight heirs of Thomas Moss.[43] Under the supervision of the County Court, the farm was sold to one Thomas Sheriff, lately of Barbados. On his death, it descended to his son, James Sheriff, who kept it until 1855 when he transferred it as part of a settlement for a debt. Its next owner was James Benton, who held it in trust for one Hannah O’Brien of Baltimore. 14 In the first half of this period the times were generally good. Virginia agriculture grew to new levels of prosperity, aided by the introduction of new labor-saving machinery through inventions and the opening up of new markets for farm produce through improvements in transportation. In such circumstances, James Sheriff’s loss of Green Spring Farm for debts in 1855 seems likely to have been due to exceptional misfortunes or else exceptional neglect and waste on the part of the owner. Although records of the County Court during this period suggest that Thomas Sheriff and his son, James, were before the Bar of Justice on numerous occasions, these references do not suffice to explain all that occurred.

During the second half of this period, when title to the farm was in James Benton for the use of Hannah O’Brien, the fortunes of its owners were dictated mainly by the fortunes of war. During the four years of hostilities, Green Spring Farm stood in the disputed ground outside the perimeter of permanent defenses of the capital where patrols from both sides ranged regularly by day and night. While the records of the war do not report any major engagements at the farm, they indicate that military activity in the neighborhood frequently placed its safety in jeopardy and obviously prevented any regular farming operations.

The ultimate loss of the farm in 1878—again to be sold for debt—appears to have been the result of imprudence in business dealings (according to local tradition, Hannah’s husband, Matthew O’Brien, was a gambler), and inability to bring the farm back from the low state to which it was reduced during the war years.

Hannah O’Brien’s interest in the farm enjoyed the special protection of a deed which specified that the land should be free from debts, liabilities, and control of her husband, Matthew O’Brien, and that she had power to dispose of the property by deed in her own right.[44] Subsequently, however, through ignorance or bad advice, she signed as guarantor of a note issued by her husband; and, when default on the note occurred, she lost the farm through court proceedings which ordered it sold for the debt.[45] Thus, in 1878 the farm was bought by Fountain Beattie.

I. GENTLEMEN FREEHOLDERS: THE MOSS FAMILY (1770-1835)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA’S AGRICULTURE IN THE 1870’S

By 1870, Virginia farmers were beginning to recover from the recent war which had completely disrupted normal agricultural activity. The effects of the war had been felt keenly in Northern Virginia where the conflict had not been marked by many of the major battles but had nevertheless afflicted the area with four years of constant raiding and skirmishing. The resultant toll of horses, mules, cattle, and livestock and the dearth of farm machinery were major handicaps facing the farmer, as were his lack of capital with which to purchase supplies and equipment from outside his area and the general shortage of labor.[46] These shortages were overcome slowly. Some materials for beginning to rebuild the war damage were readily available from military supplies immediately after the close of hostilities; and, in this respect, Northern Virginia was fortunate to be within a few miles of the Union Army supply depots in Alexandria and Washington, D.C. But, as the confused era of reconstruction set in, the farmer was thrown mainly on his own resources of land and labor to rebuild his fortunes.

Poor as his prospects might seem to be, the Northern Virginia farmer had certain advantages that farmers in other parts of the state lacked. The farmland was by no means barren or exhausted, although it had been worked steadily during the previous decade when all efforts turned to producing the maximum amount of food for subsistence and no thought could be given to maintaining or enhancing the fertility of the soil.[47] Also, Fairfax County farmers had relatively easy access to the produce markets of Washington and Baltimore, both by water and overland transportation.[48]

Moreover, agriculture in Northern Virginia had not been dominated by the plantation system since the mid-eighteenth century. By 1870, even the great landholdings which had been carved out of the original proprietary grants had given way to a third generation of farms, still smaller in size and more diversified. While the owners of these Northern Virginia farms had, in many instances, owned slaves before the war, their dependence on this source of labor was not as critical as in other parts of Virginia—notably, the regions where tobacco was king. Thus, when the “great political convulsion which culminated in the disruption of the labor system of the State”[49] compelled Southern farmers generally to rebuild their system with different forms of labor and land tenure, Fairfax County farmers found themselves able to adjust to the new circumstances with relative ease once they were able to acquire tools and livestock. At this time, as before the war, they benefited greatly from the presence among them of a group of thrifty and industrious farm families who migrated from New York and New Jersey, bringing with them new energy, 21 new capital, and new methods of farming from the diversified agricultural regions of the North.[50]

In addition, there was abroad in Virginia in 1870 a strong spirit for revival of its agriculture, looking not only to securing the advantages which scientific husbandry could bring through restored fertility of the soil but also to realization of the Jeffersonian dream of a strong, stable, and independent class of American yeomanry owning and working its own land.[51] Soon after the commencement of reconstruction, organizations patterned after the various scientific farming societies of the 1830’s began to appear and agricultural newspapers, such as The Southern Farmer, resumed publication and circulation in Northern Virginia. These two sources called strongly for Virginia farmers to change their traditional ways of farming for modern methods and modern farm implements.[52] As the 1870’s advanced, these sources were joined by the State Government, which provided a certain amount of assistance for modernization of Virginia agriculture.[53]

MOSBY’S LIEUTENANT

It was in this setting that Fountain Beattie became the owner of Green Spring Farm in June 1878 when he purchased the 339-acre tract through a commissioner’s deed approved by the County Court.[54]

Fountain Beattie was the son of Colonel Robert Beattie and Pauline White Beattie of Chilhowie in Washington County, Virginia. In 1861, he enlisted in the First Virginia Cavalry at Abingdon and there made the acquaintance of John S. Mosby. They became good friends, and when Mosby received his separate command, he took Beattie with him.[55] During the next three years, Beattie rode with Mosby in campaigns that crossed and recrossed Northern Virginia.[56]

Whether Fountain Beattie saw or visited Green Spring Farm during these rides with Mosby’s battalion is not certain. There is reason to think he may have been in the neighborhood because of references to engagements at such places as “Billy Gooding’s tavern on the Little River Turnpike, 10 miles from Alexandria.”[57] Moreover, he may have heard of the farm from one of the descendants of its owners, since on one occasion he escaped imminent disaster only through the intervention of one Thomas Moss of Alexandria.[58]

Be that as it may, the region must have made a strong impression on him because, after moving several times in the years following the war, it was in Fairfax County that Fountain Beattie and his family finally settled. Money for the purchase of Green Spring Farm in 1878 came from Mrs. Beattie’s inheritance following the sale of “Western View,” the homestead of her deceased parents, located in Fauquier County.[59] At that time, Green Spring Farm was available for purchase through the County Court, which had ordered it sold to satisfy the judgment for debt against Matthew O’Brien.[60]

ORCHARD AND DAIRY.

Fountain Beattie’s selection of Green Spring Farm appears to have been made with an eye to its proximity to the Little River Turnpike and the old Columbia Turnpike (now Route 712). Increasingly, the farmers of the Piedmont region of Virginia were feeling the competition of farmers in the Shenandoah Valley and outside the state in the production of wheat and corn. This competition was made possible when railroads connected the Valley of Virginia and the farmlands of the great midwestern prairie states with the markets of the eastern cities. Farmers in the middle and Northern Virginia no longer enjoyed the advantages they once had in shipping wheat and corn to these markets.[61] More and more in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Northern Virginia farmers planted corn, wheat, and other grains for use as livestock feed rather than sale in the grain market.

Like many other Fairfax County farmers, Fountain Beattie found that he was better off to abandon diversified farming in favor of crops with respect to which he still enjoyed natural advantages. Thus, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Green Spring Farm is identified with dairy products and orchard and garden produce—all commodities which had to be marketed the same day they were produced or picked or which could be made into derivative products which could be easily transported to market and sold at prices which reflected value added by processing. Transportation, however, was a key factor. Virginia’s country roads were publicly acknowledged to be in a “lamentable condition,” and over even the best of them travel often was impossible in wet seasons of the year.[62] In this respect, the Little River Turnpike was one of the best of Virginia’s rural roads, having been laid out and constructed by professional engineers and maintained by hired labor with even more care and regularity than the public roads. In Beattie’s day, as in Moss’s time, the turnpike was the main road between Alexandria and Fairfax, the county seat, and thence to the Valley.

All these considerations led Fountain Beattie to direct his main effort to expansion of the orchards and herd of dairy cattle as rapidly as it was feasible. Year around, the farm was a busy place, with work enough for all of the Beatties’ 12 children—six boys and six girls—as well as their parents and hired hands. Daily chores, including milking and churning, went on all year, for the farm generally had numerous cows, horses, and mules. There was also a certain amount of grain to be raised each year for livestock feed, and a large vegetable garden. Fruit trees included pears, cherries, and apples in two 25-acre orchards—one located on each side of the Turnpike—which provided the principal produce of the farm. Farm produce was regularly marketed in Washington, Alexandria, and local grocery stores, as well as at a roadside stand during the harvest season.[63]

The markets of Washington were only about nine miles from Green Spring Farm, but on market days it was customary for the farm wagons of the neighborhood to be loaded and on the road well before dawn. The Washington city wholesale market opened at 3 A.M. 25 each weekday, and farmers who came there sold directly from their wagons or from stalls to a milling crowd of brokers, wholesalers, retail grocers, hotelmen, and boardinghouse keepers. Most produce was sold by 7 A.M. and the farmer who did not sell out by that time generally had to sell at a sacrifice price or else remain in the market throughout the day, selling at retail to customers who attended the market later in the day.[64] With luck, therefore, the market produce farmer from Northern Virginia might expect to be on his way home by noon.

Not all of Fountain Beattie’s orchard produce, however, went to the market in this way. The spring house on the farm contained presses, storage facilities, and other equipment needed to make apple cider, applejack, and apple and peach brandy. Apples picked in the ripening season were stored in large barrels until the fall and winter months, at which time they were made into fermented or distilled beverages. According to his descendants, Beattie operated a licensed distillery and made brandies at the farm.

Beattie’s livestock operations at the farm ended in tragedy one day when he returned home to find that his barn had caught fire and been completely destroyed. The contents of the barn, which included all of his livestock and much of the farm equipment, were also lost. Only the horse he was riding at the time remained to start rebuilding the farm. As matters turned out, too much had been lost; Fountain Beattie never did more than acquire a few horses to perform the most necessary tasks. The dairy herds and field crops were never developed to the thriving level of activity which typified the 1880’s and 1890’s.[65]

POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICE

The close association of Fountain Beattie and John S. Mosby during the war years (1861-65) lasted through the years of peace that followed. The two men apparently thought alike in political matters; and, in the election of 1872, they campaigned for General Grant. Shortly afterward, Beattie was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the Sixth District of Virginia. Following Hayes’ election as President, Mosby received an appointment as Consul in Hong Kong where he served until 1885.[66]

Fountain Beattie’s record with the Internal Revenue Service shows that he served from 1875 to 1914 and suggests that he settled in or near Alexandria several years before he purchased Green Spring Farm.[67] He was reappointed in 1885 following the brief return of the Democratic Party to power under Grover Cleveland’s administration. Beattie’s official file in the Treasury Department’s personnel records is a resume of basic statistics—dates of appointments, promotions, oaths of office, and salaries.

Although Northern Virginia seemed to be little affected by events on the national and world stage at this time, it was on the move in its own way. In Beattie’s time this region became linked to other major regions by the coming of the Southern Railway system; and 26 the advent of the high-speed electric commuter train and its network of tracks commenced the inexorable process of creating the interdependent economic unity of Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. These were also the years of “Jackson City” in Arlington, and the crusade of law enforcement aimed at cleaning up this center of gambling, drinking, and general sinfulness.[68]

For Fountain Beattie, these years of Federal service must have brought back memories of his war years with Mosby. Although he carried on his duties as tax collector from an office in the Alexandria Post Office, he continued to live at Green Spring Farm and he regularly traversed roads and places he had visited as a soldier. When Mosby returned from his tour as Consul in Hong Kong and became an attorney for the Justice Department, he and Beattie apparently saw a great deal of each other and their friendship extended to their families who also frequently exchanged visits. Beattie named one of his sons after his friend, and John Mosby Beattie recalls these times with feelings of fondness.

GREEN SPRING FARM AND ANNANDALE

When Beattie purchased Green Spring Farm, the activity on the farm was oriented toward the markets of Georgetown, Alexandria, Washington, and Baltimore. The community of Annandale, a little over two miles up the Little River Turnpike to the west, had not yet become a center of commerce. In 1879, the map showed a post office, a toll gate, a store, a Methodist church, and a few residences clustered at a crossroads.[69] This crossroads location became increasingly important during the last quarter of the nineteenth century; and, like other perceptive people of the area, Fountain Beattie and his family began to swing the orientation of their activities around from an exclusive focus on Alexandria and Washington to take part in the growth of Fairfax County.

At the turn of the century, Annandale had a population of 50 people. In addition to the toll house, church, post office, and store, the community now could list a hardware store, lumberyard, blacksmith, farm machinery store, and sawmill.[70] The sawmill was owned by Beattie’s son and namesake, Fountain Beattie, and presumably was operated as a family enterprise in the same manner as the farm.

A. W. Moger, The Rebuilding of the Old Dominion (New York: Columbia University, 1940), p. 46. Citing census data, the thesis notes that “the value of farm implements and machinery on farms in Virginia and West Virginia combined was only two-thirds of what it was in Virginia in 1860, while the value of livestock in the two states was only four-fifths of that in Virginia in 1860. Not until 1880 did the number of cattle and not until after the turn of the century did the number of swine in Virginia and West Virginia equal the number in the Old Dominion before the war.”

III. THE END OF THE FARMING ERA: MICHAEL STRAIGHT (1942-1969)