Darrell-Collard Family Cemetery

Here follows a history excerpted from the Find A Grave website:

This is the the family graveyard of William Darrell (son of Sampson Darrell) who married Rachel Brooke (daughter of Thomas Brooke). After William's death, Rachel married Samuel Collard circa 1799. Their home, Mount Pleasant, stood approximately on the same site as the farmhouse at 3212 Arundel Avenue. Samuel Collard stated in his Last Will and Testament that, "at the farm on which I reside and which is an old family burying place, about one-fourth acre, is to be kept forever, never to be conveyed under any circumstances."

Here follows the inscription written on a roadside historical marker here:

Family Cemetery in use 1773 - 1889 by the Darrell and Collard families
Restored by County of Fairfax; Fairfax County History Commission; Martin and Gass, Inc.; The Groveton Civic Association
July 8, 1989

John Ricketts Collard
1804 – 1875

Samuel Collard
1772 – 8 Jul 1852
Inscription: Sacred to the memory of Samuel Collard who departed this life July 8, 1852 in his 80th year.

Stacia Ann Millan Collard
1805 – 1889

Elizabeth Simms “Eliza” Collard Whitney
unknown – 26 Dec 1872
Inscription: Eliza S. Whitney... Dec. 26, 1872 in Washington D.C. Daughter of Samuel Collard.

Phineas Sullivan Whitney
6 Jul 1785 – 3 May 1855
Inscription: Sacred to the memory of Sullivan Whitney who departed this life May 3, 1855 in his 70th year.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

COLLARD/DARRELL FAMILY CEMETERY
3212 Arundel Avenue
South Alexandria, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

The Collard/Darrell Family Cemetery is located at 3212 Arundel Avenue in the Groveton area of the county. The graveyard is situated on the land once known as “Mount Pleasant,” according to research by Edith M. Sprouse, on file in the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library.

The Darrell and Collard families were joined by marriage about 1798, when Samuel Collard wed Rachel Darrell, widow of William Darrell. Samuel Collard became the guardian of Rachel’s sons Walter S., Sampson, William S. and Clement B. Darrell. Samuel and Rachel Collard had three more children: Eliza, born about 1799, John Ricketts, born in 1804, and James J. Collard, according to Mrs. Sprouse.

The Collard/Darrell family made their home at Mount Pleasant described, when advertised for rent in 1836, as a six-room house “with a good cellar,” on the Mount Vernon Road, three miles south of the City of Alexandria, with a large apple orchard, springs, “on an elevated situation” with a “fine view of the Potomac,” as reported by Mrs. Sprouse.

Rachel Darrell Collard died in the 1830s. When Samuel wrote his will in 1847, he reserved the family graveyard, stating, Mrs. Sprouse says, “the graveyard at the farm on which I reside and which is an old family burying place, about one-fourth acre, is to be kept forever, never to be conveyed under any circumstances” (Will Book W, page 281).

Eliza married Sullivan Whitney of Philadelphia, according to Mrs. Sprouse. Her gravestone states that she was the wife of George Collard. Eliza’s brother John, Mrs. Sprouse says, married Stacia Millan, daughter of James Millan of Dairy Lodge who lived on Telegraph Road near Dogue Creek.

The cemetery was surveyed in 1994 and 1998. It is fairly well maintained. Surveyors noted some large weeds and patches of periwinkle and ivy. The gravestones are surrounded by a black, hollow metal fence with a gate which has come off its hinges. Several unmarked graves undoubtedly lie outside the fence which encloses an area about 15 by 25 feet. A plaque which stands just inside the fence reads:

Family Cemetery in use 1773 - 1889
by the Darrell and Collard Families
Restored by
County of Fairfax
Fairfax County History Commission
Martin and Gass, Inc.
The Groveton Civic Association
July 8, 1989

No Updates from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books