Fairfax Lewis

Fairfax first appears on the 1870 census in Westmoreland County near the Nominy Grove post office. His father is listed as a laborer and has no real estate or personal property valued. Neither of his parents are able to read or write.

The 1880 census shows Fairfax at age 17 living with Camorite Hale, a widower with an 8 year old son. Also living with Camorite is his sister, Zipporah, age 20. Camorite is marked as a farmer and Fairfax as a laborer. Fairfax cannot read or write.

Fairfax married Zipporah just two years later on December 17th, 1882 in Richmond County. She was the daughter of Moses Hale and Nancy Sydnor. They were married by G.H. Northam. His occupation was given as "Farming."

In 1893 Fairfax reported two deaths to the Richmond County Clerk. On August 19th an unnamed 6 month old son who died of dysentery, and on December 5th his mother, who died of dropsy (although the handwriting is poor). On the register his name was written as "Fax Lewis."

At some point after 1893 the couple moved to Lancaster County. Their youngest son, Parran or "Caney" as he was called, told his grand-niece, Maida George, that his father was a sharecropper and when he first moved down the Northern Neck from Richmond County they lived on Enon Hall farm in a home standing in the eastern most field, directly behind her home.

The 1900 census does show the family near White Stone. Fairfax is working as a farmer and it says his home is rented. The next family listed are Yerby's. That supports Caney's story because the next farm east of Enon Hall was the Yerby farm.

In a 1904 list of people that had paid the poll tax then name "Lewis, F.F." in the White Stone district was included. This is the only clue to a middle name I have seen for Fairfax.

The local news section of the Virginia Citizen mentioned in 1906 that F. Lewis had moved in the house of the late C.S. Dunton. This appears to have been the same C.S. Dunton home listed in "Historic Sites in Virginia's Northern Neck and Essex County," a photo shows part of the 1800's home with a newer addition along the main road from White Stone to Irvington before a bridge was built on present day Irvington Road. The home site is labeled 27 on the map in the Photos section below.

The 1910 census shows the family on the road from White Stone to Palmer. This location does not seem to fit with the location of the Dunton house and could possibly have been an error by the census taker. Fairfax is still marked as renter. The couple was noted as having 6 children with 5 surviving.

The 1920 census shows Fairfax as 56 years old. He is marked as owning his home mortgage free and still working as a farmer. The family still lives near White Stone. Anna Marie Lewis, daughter of Caney, states that she was sure the family was living from the home purchased from the Dunton's in 1920. Sons Kirk and Parran still live at home and are marked as working on steam boats. Kirk has a wife and young daughter that also live in the home.

Fairfax died on Sunday morning, October 16th, 1921. He was buried the next day at White Stone Baptist Church. A note on the back of his death certificate lists several health problems including high blood pressure and heart complications, it also says he had some kind of paralytic stroke several years earlier. A later reprint of his death notice mentioned that he carried the mail from Kilmarnock to White Stone for several years.