The search for a suitable site had gone on for almost ten years previously and might not have been concluded even then if its urgency had not been sharpened by the passage of Congressional legislation leading to creation of the District of Columbia, and the threat that Alexandria would fall within the boundaries of the new Federal capital. Since by law the County Court could not meet outside the boundaries of the County, no further delay could be permitted. Land was acquired, a new courthouse was built, and the County Court moved into its new quarters early in 1800.[22] NOTES FOR CHAPTER I [1] Albert O. Porter, _County Government in Virginia_, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1947), p. 13. [2] _A Hornbook of Virginia History_, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1965), p. 64. [3] Virginia, Laws, 1748, c. 7, revising earlier statutes on courts enacted in 1662 and 1679. [4] Wilmer Hall (Ed.), _Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia_, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1945), V. 93. [5] _Industrial and Historical Sketch of Fairfax County_, (Fairfax: County Board of County Supervisors, 1907), p. 45. [6] Northern Neck Grants Book, Liber E, p. 182. William Fairfax was a cousin of the Proprietor, and acted as his agent. [7] The so-called Truro Parish Partition Map, purporting to lay out boundaries for a division of Truro Parish to create a new parish for the western settlements. See _Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXVI, 180. [8] Fairfax County Deed Book, Liber A, No. 2, p. 494. [9] Fairfax County Deed Book, Liber A, Pt. 1, p. 52, Survey, March 17, 1742. [10] E. Sprouse (ed), Fairfax County Abstracts: Court Order Books, 1749-1792, citing Order Book, 1749-54, December 26, 1749, p. 49. [11] _Ibid._, p. 131. Charles Broadwater was one of the justices. [12] There was some reason to support this, apparently, for in 1748 the General Assembly reduced the number of court meetings to four per year for these reasons. See Virginia, Laws, 1742, c. 32; Laws, 1748, c. 59; Laws, 1752, c. 7. [13] _Virginia Gazette_, reprinted in _William & Mary Quarterly_, XII, 215. [14] Cited in Mary G. Powell, _The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia from July 13, 1749 to May 24, 1861_, (Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928), p. 35. [15] _Ibid._, p. 22. [16] Jeanne Rust, _History of the Town of Fairfax_, (Washington: Moore & Moore, 1960), p. 30. [17] Gay M. Moore, _Seaport on the Potomac_, (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, 1949), p. 12. [18] William C. Moore, "Jeremiah Moore: 1746-1815," _William & Mary Quarterly_, 2d ser., XIII, 18, 21. Tradition also holds that Jeremiah Moore was defended by Patrick Henry, but this has not been verified. [19] Robert Anderson, "The Administration of Justice in the Counties of Fairfax, and Alexandria and the City of Alexandria", _Arlington Historical Magazine_, II, No. 1 (October 1961), 19-21. [20] "Letters of George Mason to Zachariah Johnston", _Tyler's Quarterly Review_, V (January 1924), 189.