Civil War Database Work Session Monday, May 14, 5- 9 PM
Conference Room 214 upstairs in the Virginia Room, City of Fairfax Regional Library
For those who are interested, we will again be working on the database of Civil War veterans buried in and near Fairfax County: researching, verifying, making additions and corrections.
Come early or later and spend as little or as much time as you have.

Inclement weather: We follow the lead of Fairfax County Schools; if the schools are closed or activities canceled, our meeting is canceled.

Survey Saturdays - To inquire about or suggest future surveys, please email FCCPA atinfo@honorfairfaxcemeteries.org.

*Survey Saturdays meet in Conference room 214, upstairs in the VA Room of City of Fairfax Regional Library, 10360 North Street, Fairfax. We will do research in the morning using the Library’s extensive cemetery files. Anyone who wants to continue in the afternoon with an on-site survey of a cemetery, we may do so after a quick lunch near the library.

There appears to be between 20 and 30 burials, all marked by field stones. Many deep depressions indicate old burials where the coffin may have collapsed.

The known Harrises who lived in the area were freed slaves, once belonging to the Carter family who opened a copper mine nearby. After the Civil War, several Harrises made claims of property damages caused by the Union army. The nearby Cub Run Memorial Cemetery has several Harrises buried there too.

Photos of cemetery cleanup

Research did not reveal the names of those buried in graves marked with field stones. There were many Bickslers living in the area through the 1800s. Records indicate they were divided over the Virginia secession vote in May 1861. A Henry Bicksler operated Dranesville Tavern after the Civil War.

Photos of cemetery cleanup

In the aftermath of the Second Battle of Manassas/Bull Run, Clara Barton ministered to the Union wounded on the grounds of the church and adjacent Fairfax Station, and helped evacuate them on the rail cars to Washington, D.C. Some Union soldiers were temporarily buried at the cemetery.

Surveyors found the cemetery active and well maintained. The history of the church and the cemetery is preserved by historical markers around the site.

Photos of St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church and cemetery
County Cemetery Survey

Reverend Jeremiah Moore (1746-1815) started ministering as a stroller, a preacher without a license. He was arrested in 1773, imprisoned in the Old Colonial Jail in Alexandria, and defended by Patrick Henry. Reverend Moore went on to found the First Baptist Church of Washington (1802), First Baptist of Alexandria (1803) and Second Baptist Church of Washington (1810). He later ministered to the congregation at Frying Pan Baptist Meeting House. His home “Moorefield” was located in Vienna.

Photos of Moore/Hunter Family Cemetery
County Survey Record

The Gooding-Seaton Cemetery has had three clean ups in three years. Each time, the cleanup has been a little easier, yet still truckloads of brush are hauled away each time. Many of the family cemeteries in Fairfax County have no one to care for them. Each cemetery needs a group or individual to adopt the cemetery and assume periodic maintenance. If not, the cemeteries might soon be lost to the “wild.”

Photos of phase 3 cleanup
County Survey Record

Saturday, April 28th 9AM - 3PM
City of Fairfax Regional Library
10360 North Street
Fairfax, Virginia

Free* workshop co-sponsored by the
Fairfax County Cemetery Preservation Association, Inc.
Fairfax Genealogical Society
Virginia Room, City of Fairfax Regional Library

Speakers will address how to search for information about your ancestors, beyond the Internet. Participants will be introduced to the resources of the Virginia Room, whose resources for genealogists extend outside of Virginia, too.

Please RSVP and/or address questions to:
Mary Lipsey at christopherlipsey@verizon.net
or Amanda Carter at education@fxgs.org

All participants are asked to park on the upper level of the library’s garage, G2 in order to enter the library.

*Lunch is not provided. There are several delis and restaurants nearby.

The Bickslers were farmers, community officials and hotel owners. Henry Bicksler was the Dranseville postmaster in 1853 and a police captain in 1856. In the 1860 census for Dranesville township, Spring Vale area, three Bicksler are shown as neighbors to one another: Samuel, Joseph and Henry. When the Virginia secession vote occurred in May 1861, Joseph voted against secession, while Samuel and Henry supported it. When Henry B. Bicksler (Henry’s son) died in 1881, the Alexandria Gazette described him as the owner of the “Dranesville Hotel.”

Photos of Bicksler Family Cemetery
County Cemetery Survey

See Resources section for recently added guide available for download: Gone But Not Forgotten: FCCPA Cemetery Preservation Guide.

See Fairfax County Cemeteries section for link to the Fairfax County Library’s recently updated Cemetery Survey with expanded search and browsing features, now with the ability to search by name for individuals buried in Fairfax County.

All of the grave markers are field stone. The park has established that the cemetery began in 1866. According to Fairfax County Public Library cemetery files, there are at least twenty-two burials, including Obediah Harris and “Swampy Joe” Harris. There were many Harris families living and farming nearby according to the 1860 census. Some of the Harrises had been manumitted by Robert Carter. A Jesse Harris was first registered as a freed black in 1814. The 1870 census has two Obediah Harris, ages 55 and 25, possibly father and son. An Obediah Harris, who died in 1895, is buried in Cub Run Memorial Cemetery, which is located not far from Bull Run Park. The cemetery is covered with brush and ivy. The remains of a barbed wire fence lies along the edge of the cemetery.

Photos of Harris Family Cemetery
County Survey Record