Major George Marable was a representative of the small planters along the James River and clashed frequently with the occupants of the Governor's Palace.
George Marable (then a captain of the milita) appears in the Affidavit and the Further Affidavit of Robert Beverley, Gentleman, 1704, (Fleet, Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Vol. VII, King and Queen County (Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co. 1961), pp. 18-38), concerning the recall of Governor Nicholson. Thus, Beverley testified:
. . . it was at this time that four of the Grand Jury wou'd not sign the Address to her Maj't: and bid the Officer tell the Court (the Governor being then sitting in it) that they would not joyn in the compliments therein given the Govern'r, and that, That was the reason why they did not sign the Address to her Ma't. or words to that effect: I heard them speak the words but the sheriff did not deliver the message, and the Govern'r threaten'd them sadly in Court for it, as persons disloyal and disaffected to her Maj'tie: etc tho' they had constantly on all other occasions show'd their Loyalty and affection by oaths Subscriptions etc. In making this Address . . . they queried How cou'd they speak well of the Gov'r on their oaths when they all knew contrary . . . .
The four gentlemen . . . that would not sign the address to her Majestie, because of the flattery in it, on the Govern'r, were mr John Page, mr ffrederick Jones, mr William Drum'ond and Capt George Marable.
and in the Narrative of Robert Beverley, 1703/4, similarly:
I thought when old Randolph was dead his place could not have been filled with such another pest to mankind, but here's his Successor [Nicholson] ten times worse; Nay the Devil himself were he in his room could not do us more mischief, nor frame grosser lyes ag't us . . . .
Several of the particular characters w'ch have come and w'ch I have yet mett with are of Coll'o Carter, Coll'o Ludwell, mr B Harrison, Mr N. Harrison, Mr Drummond, Capt Marable, Esq'r Luke, Mr ffr Jones, Mr Jn'o Page, Mr ffouace, Mr Wallace, Mr Blair and myself, and the method [of Nicholson] is to abuse all that come for England, or whose names are but Known in England if they will not be brib'd to speak in his behalf and receive his money, as some now in England have done, who basely betray their Country and posterity for the sake of twenty guineas bestowed on them at coming thence.
A decade later, it was Governor Alexander Spotswood who found in George Marable a target for his wrath. After clashing over the Tobacco Act favored by the larger interests but opposed by the small planters, the Governor and Marable locked horns over a matter of local rule when Spotswood removed the county court from James City to Williamsburg. The Governor's response, of 26 August 1715, to the petition to restore the court to James City was remarkable, to say the least:
I know by what Malignant person that Grievance was drawn up and in what unlawful manner it was got Signed and after ffive years Residence upon the borders of James City County, I think it hard that I may not be allowed to be as good a Judge as Mr. Marable's Rable of a proper Place for the Court house. To remove a County Court upon the Applications of its Justices (as I have done) is expressly according to the Law of this Colony, and I am not inclinable to do extraordinary Acts merely to gratify the humour of Some persons who make it their greatest Meritt with the people to oppose whatever may be for the interest and Dignity of this his Majestys Government. (Journal of the House of Burgesses, 1712-1726, pp. 151, 152 [emphasis in the original].)
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