The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-04-28


of the Rebellion broke out. and. as
Lord Fairfax relates it. I'VE were le-
rartrd bv our nciuhhorS and the sol
dicrs around the city rs Southern SYM
pathizcrs. The result was that our
garden. our hcnhouscs and other sup
plies were constant Y attacked by our
enemies. We couldn't keep a thing
safe from the pilfering soldiers. and
they made orr surroundings so dis
agreeable that we left Washington and
went out to a point mar BtliSville, in
Maryland.
In the meantime l. ,rd Fairfax had
married Il daughter of Colonel Kirby,
of the United States army. Mrs.
Fairfax is still living. and so is Lord
Fairiax's mother the latter having
reached the ripe old age OF nincty-one
wears. She resides with Lord and
Lady Fairfax at Northampton.
Seven children have blessed the union
Of Lord and Lady Fairfax. six of whom
are living. The sons arc Albert Kirby
Fairfax and Charles Edmund Fairfax.
Both of these Young gentlemen are ill
business in New York. The daughters
are Caroline Snowden Fairfax, Jose
phinc Fairfax, Mary Cecilia Fairfax
and Frances Marvin Fairfax. Jose
phinc is married to Mr. Tunstall Smith.
of Baltimore. where she resides. Miss
Caroline also resides in Baltimore.
Mary Cecilia is the principal teacher
at Mrs. Whitmund's Young Ladies
Seminary in New York city. The
youngest daughter, Frances Marvin, is
now completing her education in New
York city.
Northampton consists of 4 tract OF
land of about seven hundred acres.
Lord Fairfax bought it from the de-
scendants of Governor Sprigg, the
former Governor of Mary land. The
property, according to Lord Fairfax,
has only been owned by the two fami-
lies during period of over two hun
dred years. Northampton was origi-
nally decided to Governor Sprigg's
family by Lord Baltimore, away back
in sixteen hundred and something.
The old house in which Lord Fair
fax, his mother, his wife and few old
faithful servants live is said to be over
a hundred and fifty years old. 1t is a
peculiar structure OF more than hun
dred feet frontage and about thirty
teet deep. The roof is low, 50 that the
rooms on the second floor are just
about half as high as those on the first
floor. \ great wide hallway divides
the house i'm the middle, so that when
YOU enter the front door to the RS hit is
the parlor, to the left are the dining
room, pantry and kitchen, while all the
upper floor is reserved for sleeping
apartments and storcrooms. Ofcourse
there are numerous outhouscs, barns
and servants quarters.
Lord Fairfax is particularly proud
of the venerable trees and foliage which |
grow around the homestead, which is
of the English cottage style of archi-
lecture Immediately in front of the
porch is an immense orange tree. Its |
dimensions are so great that it is csti |
mated that the tree must he at least
two hundred years old.
The old family drawing room at the
eastern end OF the building appears to
he regardedas sacred territory by Lord
and Lady Fairfax. Al of the family |
hcirlooms which are not in New York |
in the custody Of their son. Albert |
Kirby, are carefully arranged in this
apartment. Old family pictures run
here displayed with great pride.
Lord Fairfax is especially proud Of
his daughters, and well he may be, for
they are all types of beautiful Amcrl- |
can women. While he was ready and
anxious to eNtoi the beauty and charm |
inc characteristics of his daughters, he |
would not consent to have their pic
lures accompany this sketch. One OF
the treasures of this room is Il man.
moth antique china punch bowl which |
has been in Il Fairfax family for several
generations. In the good old days,
when prosperity shone on Northamp-
ton, and Il full crop Of tobacco, corn
and wheat yielded Il handsome profit,
this punch bowl was continually filled
with 4 rare brand of apple toddy, such
as only Lord Fairfax knew how to
brew.
Lord Fairfax is an omnvorous read
or, ami he ucNOUrS literature or every
variety, from the yellnwcSt OF yellow
Journals through the long line OF
authors of poetry, prose, fiction, history
and the Congressional Record to the
Holy Scriptures He has no taste for
writing. otherwise in his abundance OF
leisure he might have composed some
interesting personal "reminiscences.
There is hardly day passes but what
brings in his mail requests for auto
graphs, brirt sketches of his career,
copies Of his genealogical tree, and also
requests for him to write magazine az
ticles of himself and family.
Upon the table there was a large
pile of letters bearing foreign stamps.