Philip Fithian - Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian - A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.

Dr. John Witherspoon (1723-1794), a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, served as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton intermittently from 1768 until his death in 1794. A staunch Calvinist, Witherspoon exerted a strong influence on American educational, religious, and political development. Owing largely to the labors of his former students, a number of whom went as clergymen and tutors to the Southern colonies, his influence was very extensive in that region.

John Debow, Oliver Reese, Samuel McCorkle and Moses Allen, and Andrew Bryan. With the exception of Andrew Bryan of Baltimore who was admitted to the bar, all of these young men were licensed as Presbyterian ministers.

Elizabeth Beatty, Fithian's "Laura," frequently visited in the home of her brother, Dr. John Beatty, who lived at Princeton. Fithian had known Elizabeth earlier in the home of her sister, the wife of the Reverend Enoch Green, a Presbyterian minister of Deerfield, New Jersey, under whom he had prepared for college. Cf. Williams, John, ed., The Journals and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian, 1767-1774 , p. 55, fn. 3.

The Reverend Enoch Green.

Mrs. Peck was the mother of Fithian's friend, John Peck of Deerfield. The two boys had studied together under the Reverend Enoch Green, and had later been classmates at Princeton. John Peck succeeded Fithian as tutor of the Carter children at Nomini Hall in 1774, and later married Anne Tasker or "Nancy" Carter, and settled in Richmond County, Virginia.

The Reverend Andrew Hunter.

The American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society were rival literary organizations at the College of New Jersey at Princeton.

William R. Smith, who was one of Fithian's classmates, was afterwards ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian , p. 34, fn. 2.

Fithian was studying theology in Deerfield under the supervision of the Reverend Enoch Green, at the same time he was being taught Hebrew by Andrew Hunter, Sr., in nearby Greenwich.

William Eugene Imlay was graduated at Princeton in 1773. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian , p. 41.

Probably Samuel Fithian, the brother of Philip's father. Philip refers to him as "Uncle Fithian" on other occasions.

Henry Lee (1729-1787) of "Leesylvania," in Prince William County, Virginia (known later as "Light Horse Harry" Lee) was a student at Princeton at this time. He was a brother of "Squire" Richard Lee of "Lee Hall" in Westmoreland County. Henry Lee later became the father of Robert E. Lee.

Dr. John Beatty had been graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1769. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian , p. 90, fn. 1.

John McCalla, Jr., was a friend of Fithian who lived in Philadelphia.

Joel Fithian was the cousin of Philip Fithian, who married Elizabeth Beatty Fithian after the latter's death. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian , p. xv.

Patapsco River.

Bladensburg, Maryland.

Georgetown, then a small town in Maryland, was later incorporated in the District of Columbia.

Alexandria, Virginia.

Colchester was a thriving shipping center on the Occoquan River, now called Occoquan Creek, in Fairfax County, Virginia, near where this creek empties into the Potomac. The town had been incorporated by an act of the Assembly in 1753 to promote "trade and navigation."

Dumfries, a town on Quantico Creek, had been settled by a group of Scotch merchants, who traded in the colony. Quantico Creek empties into the Potomac. Dumfries had been incorporated by Act of Assembly in 1749. The town had prospered owing to its advantageous position as a center of trade in the western section of the Northern Neck.

Aquia had originated as a Catholic settlement on Aquia Creek about the middle of the eighteenth century. A short distance from the town were located the celebrated Aquia stone quarries which had been opened as early as 1683.

Stafford Court House, the seat of government of Stafford County.

Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) of "Bellevue" in Stafford County was the fourth son of Thomas Lee of "Stratford" in Westmoreland County, who had served as president of the Council of Virginia.

The Chilton family owned plantations in Westmoreland and Fauquier Counties. Cf. William and Mary College Quarterly , second series, Vol. 10 (January 1930), pp. 56-63.

Benjamin Tasker Carter.

The Fauntleroy family owned extensive holdings and occupied a high social position in Richmond County and other sections of the Tidewater. "Mars Hill" and "Crandall" were two seats of the family on the Rappahannock River in Richmond County, and in the vicinity of the modern towns of Warsaw and Tappahannock. A third manor plantation of the Fauntleroys' was "The Cliffs," also on the Rappahannock, some miles north of the other two. The name of the family was pronounced variously as "Fantleroy," "Fantilroy" and "Fauntleroy." Aphia, Samuel and Henry or "Harry" Fauntleroy were the daughter and sons of Moore Fauntleroy (1716-1791) of "The Cliffs." Information supplied by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy of Altavista, Virginia.

Francis Christian held his dancing classes in rotation in a number of the manor houses of the Northern Neck at this period. After the pupils had been instructed an informal dance was usually enjoyed on such occasions.

Nomini Church, one of the two Anglican houses of worship in Cople Parish, stood on the bank of the Nomini River some five miles from Carter's home.

Isaac William Giberne, an English clergyman, thought to have been a nephew of the Bishop of Durham, was licensed to preach in Virginia in 1758. The following year he had arrived in the colony and was serving as the minister in Hanover Parish in King George County. Possessing a high tempered and somewhat contentious nature, Giberne was involved in numerous sharp controversies. An exceptionally sociable and convivial man, he spent much of his time in visiting and gambling and tippling. Admitted by his enemies at that time to be the most popular and admired preacher in the colony, he had been invited shortly after his arrival in Virginia to preach a sermon before the Burgesses. This sermon was later printed at their request. In 1760 Giberne married a wealthy widow, Mary Fauntleroy Beale of Richmond County, a daughter of Moore Fauntleroy of "Crandall." She had previously been the wife of Charles Beale. Removing to her plantation, "Belle Ville," he was two years later chosen as minister of Lunenburg Parish, and served in that capacity until 1795. He is mentioned in numerous diaries and letters of the period. Cf. Goodwin, Edward Lewis, The Colonial Church in Virginia , pp. 271-272; Jonathan Boucher, Reminiscences of an American Loyalist , passim ; letter of Miss Juliet Fauntleroy of November 21, 1941 in Department of Research and Record, Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.