Historic Prince William Inc.
P.O. Box 1731
Prince William, Virginia 22195
Prepared by David Cuff December, 2020
Cemetery location: 4266 Berwick Place, Woodbridge, VA 22192 (Image 1 below)
Land owner: West Ridge Swim & Racquet Club, 2241R Tacketts Mill Dr. Woodbridge, Va 22192
Need: The cemetery hasn't been maintained in a few years and a resident requested that it be improved.
Prior site visits: This cemetery was not visited by Susan Morton in the late 1930s, nor was it visited by REN Conner III for his book, 100 Cemeteries in Prince William County published in 1980. It was first surveyed by Ron Turner in 1998. Ron noted "Cemetery in a group of pine trees between 4264 & 4268 Berwick. It is enclosed with a split rail fence and well maintained, possibly 3 rows of graves."
Three phase plan:
Phase 1 - Clear the underbrush and small trees that are throughout the cemetery area.
Phase 2 - Locate and examine found stones for markings. Only one carved stone is in this cemetery. Headstone or footstone repair was not needed at this cemetery.
Phase 3 - Periodic maintenance.
Action taken: I received approval from Westridge Swim and Racquet Club Board of Trustees during a monthly meeting on Sept. 22, 2020. Work on the cemetery began Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. A lot of sticks, brush, and leaves were removed and small trees were cut down and removed from the site. I also took a closer look at the only carved stone in the cemetery and found that there is a date on it. The name on it is definitely "M. E. Duvall" and under that it says "Died December The 7th 1883". The 3 in the date is very hard to read but I'm fairly certain it's a
3. (Image 8 below). Several loads of leaf and tree debris was taken to the landfill and most tree branches were trimmed within reach to allow clear line of sight through the cemetery. This also helps with air flow through the property to control moisture buildup which can lead to moss and mold growth on marker stones.
A cemetery identification stone was carved by hand from a rock purchased from a local garden center. It was placed on the south east side of the cemetery. (Image 10 and 11 below)
Future site visits will be conducted seasonally as available to provide needed maintenance.
Special Thanks:
I'd like to thank Westridge Swim and Racquet Club for the opportunity to complete the project. The resident who started the conversation of cleaning up the cemetery that eventually led to the completion of the project. Jeff Gallop for helping with clearing some of the cemetery and Larry Atkinson for help installing the cemetery identification marker.
Contact: Historic Prince William can be visited at www.historicprincewilliam.org
Historic Prince William can be contacted at info@historicprincewilliam.org
The webpage for the Reid Cemetery is https://www.historicprincewilliam.org/cemeteries/cemeteries-in-pwc/duvall.html
The cemetery map we maintain can be viewed at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1nwAPoSshAbEr8f-FiDNdUho2Uq0
Site History
The land that this cemetery is on was once part of a 225 acre property that was owned by Thomas Mitchell Bohannon (sometimes spelled Boughannon). Bohannon acquired it in 1844 from Craven Peake. A death record for Thomas Bohannan wasn't found but his brother, James
D. Bohannon passed away on September 16th, 1854. It's noted in the death record that he died of natural causes and he was the postmaster (Binning 112). In fact, he was the postmaster of the Dumfries, Virginia Post Office in 1848 (Ritter 3). Unfortunately, headstones in any local cemetery do not match that of Thomas or James Bohannon. From an 1819 deed of trust we know their father's name was Robert Bohannon (Deed 1819). There is a headstone in the Dumfries Public Cemetery for a Robert Boughannon who died in 1815 (Find a Grave). Around 1859, Thomas Bohannan passed away and his wife, Elizabeth allowed the adult children to divide the 225 acres, plus other land into separate parcels amongst themselves (Deed 1859). She had two daughters who each married a Duvall.
Nancy Bohannon (1829-1912) married Henry Andrew Duvall (born about 1824) and per the 1859 deed were gifted 75 acres (Deed 1859). On the 1860 census Henry and Nancy are shown living in Prince William County with three sons, one daughter, and Henry Duvall's father, William H., who is 72 years old at this time. In 1870 Henry and Nancy had a daughter who they named Martha. On December 7th, 1883 Martha died from the measles (Source: Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics Microfilm, page 2, line 11) and was buried in a cemetery on Henry Andrew Duvall's half-brother, Andrew Jackson Duvall's property.
Sarah Elizabeth Bohannon married Andrew Jackson Duvall (1829-1900), the half brother of her sister's husband, Henry in 1858 at the age of 18. Her husband was 11 years older than her.
They lived on the 93 acre farm they received after Sarah's father died and had eight children.
In 1873 William Henry Duvall died at age 84 (Source: Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics Microfilm, page 7, line 16). William Henry Duvall was the father of Henry Andrew and Andrew Jackson Duvall. It's possible that William Henry was the first in the immediate family to die and he might be buried in this cemetery. There are other graves but there is only one that is marked with an inscribed headstone.
In February of 1881 Andrew Jackson and Sarah E. Duvall had a baby boy who died at just three days old (Source: Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics Microfilm, page 1, line 27). It could be possible this was the first grave that started the cemetery or it's possible he was buried in the cemetery that was started with William Henry Duvall, mentioned above.
Andrew Jackson and Sarah Duvall's second child of eight who lived past infancy was a boy named Abraham Lincoln Duvall. He was born in 1861 and grew up on the family farm, he married a woman from Prince William County, Virginia named Laura Virginia Rhine. They were married on April 10, 1889 in Washington D.C. and moved to Lorton, Virginia. They only had one child, a boy born on Oct. 12th 1903. They named him William Howard Duvall.
William Howard Duvall grew up and joined the Navy. On July 5th, 1928 while in Seattle, Washington he married a woman from Missouri named Mildred Virginia Hart. Shortly after, they relocated to San Diego, California where they had three children, their second born child was Robert Selden Duvall. The American actor known for such movies as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Days of Thunder, Sling Blade, Gods and Generals where he played Robert E. Lee, the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, and many more.
Andrew Jackson Duvall died in the late 1890s. On the 1900 census his wife Sarah is still living on the property with three children and an older man named John Duvall. In 1913 the property was still the original 93 acres that the family acquired in 1859. That same year Sarah Duvall sold the property to her 37 year old son Harvey A. Duvall for $500, at the time he was living in Washington D.C. (Deed 1913) A year later Harvey Duvall and his wife sold the property except for seven acres that went to John Q. Duvall, to men named Harry M. Wagner and Charles W. Bohannon. Bohannon was the maiden name of Andrew Jackson Duvall and Henry Andrew Duvall's wives. It's likely Charles W. Bohannon is related to them but their relationship was not researched. (Deed 1914) The deed states that the sale does not include the 40ft x 40ft graveyard that is "contained within four stones". No other description or details are given of the graveyard. Sarah Duvall died in 1924 and is buried in a family plot in Prince George County, Maryland, along with her son Harvey, who died in 1941 (findagrave.com)
To recap, the Duvall families were likely poor. Living off the land and supporting themselves in a time during and after the Civil War, which was not a great time for Prince William County. This is likely why there are no professionally carved headstones in the cemetery. They were certainly resourceful and felt their teenage daughter deserved a proper marker for her grave, so they carved one themselves. At the time they lived on the farm it was quite a ways off the main road and with 93 acres, they could certainly sustain themselves. They had a big family with extended family in the area as well. Robert Duvall's grandfather (Abraham Lincoln Duvall) was born on the property and his great-grandfather (Andrew Jackson Duvall) first acquired it in 1859 through a gift from his new wife's mother following her father's death. The cemetery only contains one carved natural stone used as a headstone. Prior to the current restoration efforts it was thought that the stone only said "M. E. Duvall". After cleaning the area around the stone it was evident that below the name the stone also reads "Died Dec. The 7th 1883." Matching her name with the initials on the stone and the date of death is how we were able to determine the person buried there is Martha E. Duvall, daughter of Henry Andrew and Nancy Duvall and not one of Andrew Jackson's daughters, named Margaret E. and Mary E. Duvall. Martha was only 13 years old and died of the measles.
Bibliography
Binning, Margaret B. Index to Death Records of Prince William County, Virginia. Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center (RELIC), 2016. Index to Death Records of Prince William County, Virginia ABSTRACTED http://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitalLibrary/PDF/Death%20Records%20of%20PWC.pdf
Ritter, William C. Post Offices and Post Masters of Prince William County, Virginia 1776 - 1971. National Archives and Records Administration, 1992. http://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitalLibrary/PDF/PWC%20Post%20Offices.pdf
Find a Grave. "Robert Boughannon." Robert Boughannon - Find a Grave Memorial https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20791958/robert-boughannon Accessed 7 December 2020
Deed 1819. "Bohannon Deed 1819" Bohannon Deed 1819 Bohannon Deed 1819 Accessed 7 December 2020
Deed 1859. "Duvall Deed 1859" Duvall Deed 1859 Duvall Deed 1859 Accessed 7 December 2020
Deed 1913. "Duvall Deed 1913" Duvall Deed 1913 Duvall Deed 1913 Accessed 7 December 2020
Deed 1914. "Duvall Deed 1914" Duvall Deed 1914 Duvall Deed 1914, Accessed 7 December 2020
Marked headstones are:
M. E. Duvall, Died Dec. The 7th 1883
Image 1 - Location is in the Westridge Development of Lake Ridge, Virginia. Address is 4266 Berwick Place, Woodbridge, VA 22192
Image 2 - Outline of the 93 acre property as seen on the acquiring 1859 Deed.
Image 3 - Outline of the original 93 acre property over 2019 image. This is best effort and is not geographically perfect, but close.
Image 4 - Outline of the original 93 acre property on 1937 image (the earliest we have). This is best effort and is not geographically perfect, but close. Note the dense trees. These are likely a type of pine trees. The first trees we usually see when a cleared area begins reforestation.
There is a small structure in the middle of the image. It's unclear what this building is. This image was taken about 37 years after Andrew Jackson Duvall's death.
Image 5 - From Ron Turner's 1998 survey found on his website. pwcvirginia.com
Image 6 - Picture taken Nov. 21, 2020. This image shows what the cemetery looked like prior to the clean up. Compare to image 7 of roughly the same area, below.
Image 7 - Shows the cemetery after the clean up.
Image 8 - The only marked headstone in the cemetery. Reads "M. E. Duvall. Died Dec. The 7th 1883".
Image 9 - View of the cemetery from the Berwick Place roadway with Duvall headstone barely visible in the middle of the image.
Image 10 - Elevated view of the front of the cemetery with the cemetery identification stone and Duvall headstone visible.
Image 11 - Close up of the cemetery identification stone.
The End