There is a registered historical home near Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. Interestingly, it has a few graves in its backyard. One historian wrote of the house: “the significance of the Hutcheson House lies in the fact that it is one of the few… 18th century plantation houses in Western Fairfax County, and the only one in brick… The basic form… is little changed, giving one a peek into the lifestyle of the upper class in the 18th century.” The writer went on to say, “I believed it had a deeper significance as I stood at a grave site behind the house and saw chiseled on a crude stone, ‘Richard Major, Died December 3rd 1796.’”
Lewis Peyton, a Virginia Baptist historian wrote: “Little River Church, in Loudon County was a branch of Broadrun in Fauquier, and was some of the fruits of David Thomas’ ministry in Virginia. In this work, however, he was powerfully aided by Rev. Richard Major, their first pastor; for although the first seeds were sown by Mr. Thomas, Yet Mr. Major watered and nourished the plants until he brought them to perfection. So rapidly did the Gospel spread in this church that just two years after they were constituted they had two hundred and seventy-two members. Her branches, however, extended into neighboring parts. When any of these branches became sufficiently numerous, they were constituted into new churches; by which the mother church was reduced in numbers.” Eventually Richard Major started five Baptist churches in the surrounding area.
As previously noted, Brother Major died on this day in 1796.