 George Washington granted a life interest in the northern section of River Farm (marked on his map as "Wellington Farm") to Tobias Lear, who was his private secretary and tutor to the Washington grandchildren.Lear married Mrs. Martha Washington's niece, Fannie Bassett, and was considered a relative.After Lear's death in 1816, ownership of the farm reverted to two of Washington's great-nephews, who, in 1859, sold 652 acres of the northern boundary of River Farm to Stacy H. Snowden, a Quaker from New Jersey.