From 1790 to 1792 Rev. Bryan Fairfax directed the affairs of Fairfax Parish, selecting for his assistant Rev. Bernard Page. Before the revolution, being an ardent royalist, he endeavored to dissuade from the war with the mother country his friend George Washington whose confidence and esteem he continued to enjoy to the last. Bryan Fairfax was the son of William Fairfax of Belvoir. He was ordained to the ministry in 1786 by Bishop Seabury. His title as Eighth Lord Fairfax was confirmed to him by the English House of Lords in 1800. The civil functions of the Vestry ceased in 1784. Thereafter, in the struggle following the disestablishment, having to depend upon voluntary contributions, many churches succumbed. It was about this period, or not long after the death of Dr. Griffith in 1789, that Falls Church was abandoned as a place of worship, fell into a state of dilapidation, and was not used for many years. Chiefly at the expense of Henry Fairfax, grandson of Rev. Bryan Fairfax, formerly its rector, the building was repaired and young Mr. Minor, as a lay reader, organized a congregation of worshippers. [Illustration: Mr. W. W. Biggs] In 1827 Bishop Meade visited this church and the description of it in his book "Old Families and Churches of Virginia" will be of interest. "The exercises of the Seminary being over, I next directed my steps to the Falls Church, so called from its vicinity to one of the falls on the Potomac River. It is about eight miles from Alexandria, and the same from Georgetown. It is a large oblong building, and like that near Mount Vernon, has two rows of windows, being doubtless designed for galleries all around, though none were ever put there. It was deserted as a house of worship by Episcopalians about forty years ago. About that period, for the first, and it is believed for the last time, it was visited by Bishop Madison. Since then it has been used by any who were disposed to occupy it as a place of worship, and the doors and windows being open, itself standing on the common highway, it has been entered at pleasure by travellers on the road and animals of every kind. Some years since, the attention of the professors of our Seminary, and of some of the students was drawn towards it, and occasional services performed there. This led to its partial repair." [Illustration: Mr. C. C. Walters] Bishop Meade in this account of his visit to the old church states that he visited the same day an interesting school for young ladies at Capt. Henry Fairfax's where he delivered an address to the students. This school was located near Fairfax Court House. Mrs. Chichester, widow of the late Major John H. Chichester and a communicant at the present time of Falls Church, was a pupil of this seminary before the death of Capt. Fairfax, and recalls the incidents connected with his death in the Mexican War and his burial near the old church door 57 years ago.