[3] In 1668, Major Edward Dale purchased 500 acres (200 ha) of land including a hill that overlooked the confluence of the east and west branches of the Corrotoman River, and in 1674 gave it and one "negro" as a wedding present to his eldest daughter Katherine and her new husband, Capt.

Thomas Carter became a local justice of the peace in 1663 and after his marriage built a house on the property, which he called "Barford" after the parish in his family's ancestral home near Kempson in Herfordshire, England.

He also founded the Presbyterian meetinghouse in Lancaster County by 1763, hosted visiting preachers including George Whitefield and Samuel Davies, and kept a diary later published by the College of William & Mary.

[10] However, the pioneering Presbyterian Gordon died the following year, leaving a widow, several young children, several stores, 1,500 acres (610 ha) of land, 58 slaves and personal property worth more than 8000 pound sterling.

[11] In 1782 his son James Gordon Sr. (who died in 1790 and by primogeniture had inherited most of his father's estate, accepted responsibility for raising his younger siblings, and became a member of the House of Delegates) purchased the parcel held by Edward Carter, Dale's great-great-great-grandson.