Lord Fairfax: 540-acre land grant, 1739.

[Virginia]. Land grant signed by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, conveying 540 acres to Catesby Cocke of Prince William County. Manuscript document on vellum, 14 x 16 3/8 in. Dated [May 21] ''in the twelfth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George'' 1739. Seal at upper left, signed ''T. Faifax'' at lower right. The 6th Lord Fairfax was raised and educated in England, and as an adult was the only member of the British nobility to reside in the colonies. Although the boundaries changed several times before his death in 1781, for a time his lands included all of what are now Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudoun Counties, and portions of the West Virginia panhandle. Foxing, toning, wrinkling, and abrasions to sheet, partially obscuring text, few short splits within folds.