Guide to the Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington, December 21, 1790
Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington C0359
Published by George Mason University Libraries
Contact Information:
Fenwick Library (2FL)
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444
USA
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-8911
Email: speccoll@gmu.edu
URL: http://scrc.gmu.edu
Biographical and Historical Note
The 18th century was a lively time in Fairfax County, VA history. After being under the control of many different entities, in 1690 the area became controlled by the Fairfax family. Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax left the land in the charge of his cousin, William Fairfax. In 1742, the area ceased to be part of Prince William County and officially became Fairfax County.
George Augustine Washington was the son of Charles Washington and Mildred Thornton. He was the nephew of George Washington, as his father was the former U.S. President's youngest brother. Washington and his wife Frances Bassett had at least four children. He lived from 1759 - 1793, dying just three years after this document was created.
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Scope and Content
Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington of Fairfax County, written on December 21, 1790. The document details a rent agreement between George Augustine Washington and William T. Alexander, who owns a property in Alexandria, VA that Washington desires to lease. The document was partially written by Peter Wagener, the Clerk of Court in Fairfax County, who took over for his father, the previous Clerk who was also named Peter Wagener.
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Arrangement
This is a single item collection.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
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Related Material
The Special Collections Research Center also holds many other collections on historic Virginia, including the Randolph H. Lytton Historical Virginia collection.
The Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center holds the companion "lease" document to this "release" document, Deed Book T-1, page 53.
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Index Terms
Geographical Names:
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Physical Characteristics
This document was created with Whatman paper, which "is considered to be one of the finest English handmade papers of the 18th century" (National Gallery of Australia, 2019.)
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Administrative Information
Alternative Form Available
A digitized version of this document can be found here: Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington.
Preferred Citation
Rent of land document from William T. Alexander to George A. Washington, C0359, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
The donor is unknown.
Processing Information
Reprocessing completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. EAD markup completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. This collection used to be a part of the Virginia historical documents collection, C0034.
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Bibliography
"A Brief History of Fairfax County." Fairfax County. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planning-zoning/sites/planning-zoning/files/assets/documents/historic/history275.pdf (accessed May 16, 2019).
"George Augustine Washington." Geni. https://www.geni.com/people/George-Washington/6000000000870259075 (accessed July 26, 2019).
"Timeline of Fairfax County History." Fairfax County. https://research.fairfaxcounty.gov/local-history/timeline (accessed May 16, 2019).
"Whatman watermarks." National Gallery of Australia. https://nga.gov.au/whistler/details/whatman.cfm (accessed May 16, 2019).