Duvall Cemetery

Narrative

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 had six childeren, Eva, Henry, Paul, Robert, Mark, and William, who was born on Oct. 12th, 1903.

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.

Deeds used in research

Bohannon Deed 1819
Duvall Deed 1859
Duvall Deed 1913
Duvall Deed 1914

View the report (HTML) to read the bibliography or read the PDF report.

Survey Details

Classification:	Family
Status:	Not in use
Condition:	Fair
Approx. Size:	40ft x 40ft
Approximate Number of Burials:	2 to 6
Markers:	Tombstone, Fieldstone, Unmarked
Surnames Listed on Markers:	M. E. Duvall (head and foot stone) Died Dec. the 7 1883
Comments:	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.
Surveyed By:	Ron Turner - 1998
Latitude / Longitude:	38.681739, -77.335269

Site Visits

Visited by:	Date:	Comments:
Ron Turner	1998	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.
David Cuff	Sept. 9, 2020	Cemetery is small with a split rail fence at the front of it. It's very overgrown and needs a clean up.
David Cuff	Dec., 2020	The cemetery has been cleaned up and a cemetery identification stone placed. Read the report (HTML) or PDF report.

Images

Video of the Cleanup

Map