built land office depository and archive at Greenway Court in 1762. Prior to this move, a small land office had been in operation at Greenway Court. Following William Fairfax's death in 1757, his son George William Fairfax (1729–1787) had succeeded him as steward and land agent of the proprietary. Martin succeeded Fairfax as the steward and land agent of the proprietary in 1762. Fairfax's replacement by Martin, the transfer of the land office and Martin's increased influence over Lord Fairfax caused bitter feelings from George William Fairfax, as evidenced by his letters during this period. Fairfax and his wife Sally Cary Fairfax returned to England in 1773 prior to the American Revolutionary War and did not return afterward. While residing at Greenway Court, Martin would have preferred more comfortable quarters than the rustic estate, as their living situation there was originally supposed to have been only temporary until the construction of a grander estate. In 1767, Martin wrote that plans for further construction and improvements at Greenway Court "remain in status quo and in quo state they are likely to remain, ...we are building castles, tho' not on earth where one is greatly wanted, but castles in the air." Martin's uncle Robert Fairfax remarked on the primitive life at Greenway Court among "strange, brutish people... past all conception". For the next thirty years, until Lord Fairfax's death in 1781, Martin remained at Greenway Court and shared in the loneliness and solitude of his "self-exiled" uncle. While established at Greenway Court, Martin engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1768, Martin described tobacco as the crop "which is our all". Like many other planters and farmers in the Shenandoah Valley, Martin had transitioned to the farming of wheat by 1792, at which time he wrote to his brother in England, "Are you all starving that you give such prices for our flour; farming is now my object." Political and civic affairs In addition to his management of the proprietary, Martin began taking an active role in political and civil affairs within his uncle's domain. Following an act of the Virginia General Assembly in February 1752, the Anglican Frederick Parish was authorized to hold an election for twelve parish vestrymen before June 15 of that year. Martin was elected as a vestryman, alongside his uncle Lord Fairfax and Gabriel Jones. Martin and his fellow vestrymen set about expanding and enlarging the Anglican presence within