The Quakers Arrive in Waterford
In 1733 Amos and Mary Janney, members of the Society of Friends
(Quakers), traveled south from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to the
wilds of northern Virginia in search of open land and opportunity.
They purchased 400 promising acres on the south fork of Catoctin
Creek.
 |
Fairfax Meetinghouse circa 1937
|
Amos, a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, as well as a farmer and entrepreneur,
tapped the water power of the creek by building a grist and sawmill
on its banks by the early 1740s. Most of the newcomers to the area
were grain farmers like the Janneys, assuring the success of the
mill. The little settlement that grew up around it came to be known
as "Janney's Mill."
As other Quakers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey followed the
Janneys south, an early priority was a church or "meetinghouse." In
1741 a log meetinghouse was built on Amos's land. In 1755 his son
Mahlon deeded ten acres on the site for a cemetery and school as
well—the Quakers were very serious about education. The Meeting was named Fairfax because Loudoun was then part of Fairfax County. From those earliest days, until the meeting was “laid down” in 1929, the Quakers were a presence in the village. The Meeting house, a private residence since 1939, still stands at 15510 Loyalty Road.
Among the first to join the Janneys in Virginia was Mary's sister
Jane and her husband Francis Hague. Hague bought 303 acres adjoining
Janney's land and built a stone cottage for his large family. That
cottage still stands today on a ridge above Bond Street.
Another Janney relative, cousin John Hough, quickly became the
largest resident landowner in what is now Loudoun County. He and
Hague both played important roles in the early history of the county.
They were two of the original trustees of Leesburg and served as
the county's first flour inspectors.
|
Introduction 