The men who assembled and worked these new farms were themselves part of a new generation of Virginians. Many belonged to families which in 1750 could look back on more than a century of residence in America, and they were more attuned to the problems and potentials of the New World than those of the Old. They were the generation that successfully brought forth a new nation in their own times and added new dimensions to both its spirit and substances. John Moss was one of this new generation of Virginians. Precisely when and how John Moss assembled the acreage that comprised Green Spring Farm is not certain. Fairfax County land records show a purchase of land by John Moss in September 1777, but, although this is the first connection of his name with the land of Green Spring Farm in these records, there is reason to believe that he may have occupied and farmed the land prior to that date. For him to have done so would have been consistent with the practice of his times and also would be in accord with the tradition of his present-day descendants which holds that John Moss built the mansion house at Green Spring Farm in or about 1760.[1] John Moss lived in this house until his death in 1809. Here he raised four sons--John, Samuel, William, and Thomas--the last two of whom successively inherited and worked the farm from 1809 until 1839. On the death of Thomas Moss in 1839, the farm was sold and the proceeds of the sale were divided among his heirs. [Illustration: Figure 1. John Warner Survey Map, 1740. Northern Neck Grants, Book E, 1736-1742, pp. 216-17.] In the case of John Moss, more is known of his activities in the community than of his life as a farmer. In particular, he was a leader of the early Methodist church in Virginia. The well-known itinerant Methodist preacher, John Littlejohn, records several visits to the home of John Moss in Fairfax County, beginning in May 1777. Many Methodist meetings were held at Green Spring Farm in the 1770's and 1780's. One, held on April 29, 1778, led to the following interesting note: At B^r Jn^o Mosses, met with M^r afterward Lord Fairfax we found our trials as to preach^g were very similar, he is very serious but his religion is a mystry to me. Lord help us both.[2] And, in 1787, Francis Asbury noted in his journal: Preached at Brother Mosses on 2 Chronicles XV, 12-13 on the peoples entering into a covenant with God.[3] It seems evident that during these years, John Moss's home served as a meeting place for a Methodist congregation which lacked a church building and was served by the occasional visits of itinerant preachers. That the congregation grew and prospered also seems evident from the fact that in June 1789 John Moss served as a trustee of a Methodist Episcopal church to be built in Alexandria "just north of the Presbyterian Meeting House" (Duke and Fairfax Streets) for the use of Reverend Thomas Cooke and Reverend Francis Asbury.[4]