Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Withers Farm in Stafford County, VA


As we build our own community on the land known as Celebrate Virginia North, formerly part of the England Farm, and the Civil War Northern Army Mud March, we researched another family who inhabited this land.

The genealogists that we are we couldn’t help but notice the two stone cemetery set off among the new homes.  The corner lot is preserved in honor of the Withers family.  The Withers family had a farm of over 3200 acres. The farmhouse still existed when the property was purchased by developers.  We were curious about our cemetery neighbors and my hubby set out to research this family. He wrote an article for our community newsletter with his findings. That article was titled, Wither Art Thou?

Mary De Jarnette Withers, wife of Edward has the oldest stone. Mary and Edward had eight children before she died at the age of 37. Edward then married Mary’s sister, Sophie and they had another eight children.  My husband concluded, “He, obviously, didn’t ‘wither away.’”

The second stone in the cemetery is that of Charles Withers who died in 1818 at the age of 57. Charles, unmarried, was a brother to Edward.

Charles and Edward are two of nine children born to James and Susan Waller Withers.  In 1793 James Withers was reported to hold the office of Tobacco Inspector for Stafford County.  Consequently the Withers was a prominent family in the area.

Anita Dodd of the Stafford County Cemetery Committee thinks there are additional graves in the plot, though no more stones have been found. Not to worry though. The small cemetery is property maintained and protected by black wrought iron fence. The Withers family presence on this land is remembered and honored. We will do our best to continue good stewardship. 

3 comments:

  1. Hi there-

    I stumbled across your post regarding the Withers cemetery. I'm a descendant of that family, I believe. The first Withers that shows up on the record is William in the early 1700's, amazing.

    Anyway, thanks for the post and for looking out for their graves. :)

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  2. So glad you found the write-up. If you need any information on this family let me know and I will see what I come up with.

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  3. I had received a request for a photo from Find a Grave and followed the directions on the cemetery site and wound up a dead end. Then Celebrate By Del Webb was mentioned and I went wondering there andf saw a person doing yard work and asked if he knew of a cemetery plot in his neighborhood. He pointed to a cluster a block from his house and there it was. I got my pictures and posted them. I would like to update directions if I knew how.

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