THE MIDCENTURY YEARS. 1840-1880. The Moss family's ownership of Green Spring Farm ended in 1843 with the sale of the farm and division of the proceeds among the eight heirs of Thomas Moss.[43] Under the supervision of the County Court, the farm was sold to one Thomas Sheriff, lately of Barbados. On his death, it descended to his son, James Sheriff, who kept it until 1855 when he transferred it as part of a settlement for a debt. Its next owner was James Benton, who held it in trust for one Hannah O'Brien of Baltimore. In the first half of this period the times were generally good. Virginia agriculture grew to new levels of prosperity, aided by the introduction of new labor-saving machinery through inventions and the opening up of new markets for farm produce through improvements in transportation. In such circumstances, James Sheriff's loss of Green Spring Farm for debts in 1855 seems likely to have been due to exceptional misfortunes or else exceptional neglect and waste on the part of the owner. Although records of the County Court during this period suggest that Thomas Sheriff and his son, James, were before the Bar of Justice on numerous occasions, these references do not suffice to explain all that occurred. During the second half of this period, when title to the farm was in James Benton for the use of Hannah O'Brien, the fortunes of its owners were dictated mainly by the fortunes of war. During the four years of hostilities, Green Spring Farm stood in the disputed ground outside the perimeter of permanent defenses of the capital where patrols from both sides ranged regularly by day and night. While the records of the war do not report any major engagements at the farm, they indicate that military activity in the neighborhood frequently placed its safety in jeopardy and obviously prevented any regular farming operations. The ultimate loss of the farm in 1878--again to be sold for debt--appears to have been the result of imprudence in business dealings (according to local tradition, Hannah's husband, Matthew O'Brien, was a gambler), and inability to bring the farm back from the low state to which it was reduced during the war years. Hannah O'Brien's interest in the farm enjoyed the special protection of a deed which specified that the land should be free from debts, liabilities, and control of her husband, Matthew O'Brien, and that she had power to dispose of the property by deed in her own right.[44] Subsequently, however, through ignorance or bad advice, she signed as guarantor of a note issued by her husband; and, when default on the note occurred, she lost the farm through court proceedings which ordered it sold for the debt.[45] Thus, in 1878 the farm was bought by Fountain Beattie. I. GENTLEMEN FREEHOLDERS: THE MOSS FAMILY (1770-1835) [1] Mrs. Don Ritchie, Arlington, Virginia, Moss family genealogist; Vernon Lynch, Annandale, Virginia, a lifelong resident of Fairfax County, now in his eighties; interviews.