page_title: Wappocomo (Romney, West Virginia)
section_title: Background and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Wappocomo (Romney, West Virginia) / History / Background and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: A black and white reproduction of an oil portrait painting of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. The original portrait is located at the Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 A.F. &amp; A.M. in Alexandria, Virginia.
context_page_description: Wappocomo is a late 18th-century Georgian mansion and farm overlooking the South Branch Potomac River north of Romney, Hampshire County, West Virginia, USA. It is located along Cumberland Road and the South Branch Valley Railroad.
  The original section of the mansion at Wappocomo was built in 1774 by Nicholas Casey, using bricks that had been used as ballast to stabilize ships loading tobacco in the James River. The Wappocomo property had been a part of the South Branch Survey of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron's Northern Neck Proprietary. The Parsons family, prominent in Virginia and West Virginia politics in the 18th and 19th centuries, acquired Wappocomo and continue to maintain ownership of the property into the 21st century.
  Wappocomo was involved in two slavery-related disputes that caused friction between the governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1788, Nicholas Casey purchased a freed slave by the name of John, who had been kidnapped in Pennsylvania and returned into slavery in Virginia.
context_section_description: The land upon which Wappocomo is located was originally part of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a land grant that the exiled Charles II awarded to seven of his supporters in 1649 during the English Interregnum. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II finally ascended to the English throne. Charles II renewed the Northern Neck Proprietary grant in 1662, revised it in 1669, and again renewed the original grant favoring original grantee Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper and Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington in 1672. In 1681, Bennet sold his share to Lord Colepeper, and Lord Colepeper received a new charter for the entire land grant from James II in 1688. Following the deaths of Lord Colepeper, his wife Margaret, and his daughter Katherine, the Northern Neck Proprietary passed to Katherine's son Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1719.
  Lord Fairfax selected a portion of the proprietary for his manor. This tract, known as the South Branch Survey of the Northern Neck Proprietary, extended from the north end of the Trough to the junction of the North and South Branches of the Potomac River. In 1748, Fairfax commissioned James Genn to survey the South Branch Potomac River lowlands for sale and lease, with lots ranging in size from 300 to 400 acres (120 to 160 ha).
  Prominent Hampshire County pioneer Peter Casey (1715–87) received the Wappocomo parcel, known as Lot Number 21 of the South Branch Survey, from Lord Fairfax. Peter Casey's son, Nicholas (1745–1833), married Grace Foreman (1762–1796), the daughter of another Hampshire County pioneer and colonial military officer William Foreman. Nicholas Casey inherited Lot Number 21 from his father, and in 1774, Nicholas built the present mansion at Wappocomo.
  The bricks used in the construction of Casey's mansion were manufactured in England, and used as ballast to stabilize ships loading tobacco in the James River. These bricks were then transported overland through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians in bullock carts. During this time, the mansion was named Wappocomo, which was derived from the Native American toponym "Wappatomaka" for the South Branch Potomac River.
  In 1788, while residing at his Wappocomo residence, Casey purchased a freed slave named John, who had been residing in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Virginia residents Francis McGuire, Baldwin Parsons, and Absalom Wells seized John and transported him to Virginia, where they sold him back into slavery to Casey. Such an act was illegal in Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society petitioned Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin to demand punishment of the three men by the Governor of Virginia. Virginia's governor refused, citing the absence of a provision in the United States Constitution calling for such an action. Governor Mifflin petitioned the United States Congress, and a bill was introduced that provided against such an occurrence.
  On December 4, 1789, Casey was appointed by an act of the Virginia General Assembly as a trustee of Romney. Casey served as a trustee alongside Isaac Parsons and Andrew Wodrow. Casey and his fellow trustees were given authority by the Virginia General Assembly to settle disputes regarding the town's land lots and to "open and clear" the town's "streets and lanes" in accordance with the original survey and plan for Romney.
caption: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
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