 The Northern Neck Proprietary had been awarded by the exiled Charles II of England to seven of his supporters in 1649, and again in 1688 by official patent.One of these seven supporters, Lord Colepeper, acquired the right to the entire proprietary in 1681, and his grandson, Lord Fairfax, inherited the land grant upon the death of his mother, Katherine Colepeper.Lord Fairfax dispatched his first cousin William Fairfax (1691–1757) to replace Robert Carter I as the steward and land agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary, a position in which Fairfax served until his death in 1757.