William Fairfax

William Fairfax (1691–1757) was a political appointee of the British Crown in several colonies as well as a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Fairfax served as Collector of Customs in Barbados, Chief Justice and governor of the Bahamas; and Customs agent in Marblehead, Massachusetts before being reassigned to the Virginia colony. In the Virginia Colony, Fairfax acted as a land agent for his cousin's vast holdings in the colony's northeast corner, known as the Northern Neck Proprietary. Also a tobacco planter himself, Fairfax was elected to the House of Burgesses representing King William County within the proprietary, which he helped split so that Fairfax County was created. Appointed to the Governor's Council, he rose to become its president (effectively the colony's lieutenant governor). Fairfax also commissioned the construction of his plantation called Belvoir in what became Fairfax County to honor his family. Early life William Fairfax was born in London and baptized in Yorkshire in 1691, the second son of Henry Fairfax (d. 1708) and grandson of Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. His elder brother was in line to inherit the title. The family also included a daughter, Mary Fairfax, who married this brother's friend William Philip Warder in 1730. Early career As a young man, he served in the Royal Navy under his kinsman, Capt. Fairfax, as well as in the army in Spain. Sailing to the English colonies in the Caribbean, Fairfax served as the Customs agent in Barbados and as Chief Justice of the Bahamas under Woodes Rogers. He served as governor of the Bahamas after Rogers' departure. However, the despite marrying, climate did not agree with him, so in 1725 he secured an appointment as customs collector at Marblehead and Salem, Massachusetts.