Pearson Family Cemetery

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

PEARSON FAMILY CEMETERY
Behind 6420 Lake Meadow Drive
Burke, VA USA

When visited in September 1994, the Pearson Family Cemetery was surrounded by construction. On its southside, the cemetery overlooked the construction of the Fairfax County Parkway which was being built along Pohick Road (Route 641), about 600 yards west of Pohick's intersection with Old Keene Mill Road (Route 644) in Burke. On the other three sides loomed the construction of the Edgewater subdivision. The cemetery was about 50 yards from the parkway construction and situated behind lot 29 of the Edgewater development. According to the construction company, there will be pedestrian access to the site “in perpetuity” from the subdivision's Lake Meadow Drive, between lots 28 and 29. The cemetery will be preserved and maintained by the homeowners' association. When construction is completed, the cemetery will be located behind 6420 Lake Meadow Drive, Burke.

In September 1994, Lake Meadow Drive was still under construction and lots 28 and 29 were not yet developed. The cemetery could be reached from what was then the end of Lake Meadow Drive, walking along the woods toward Pohick Road, and then east into the cemetery near the edge of the bluff overlooking the new parkway.

The overgrown cemetery area was surrounded by a temporary orange plastic mesh fence. One very large toppled and chipped gravestone dominated the scene. It appears too massive to have been overturned and damaged by man or nature and perhaps was moved by heavy machinery. A 1977 archeological survey of the area described the cemetery as “vandalized” and “used as a dumping site.” Although the construction company cleared trash from the cemetery in 1991, old tires cluttered the site in 1994.

An article regarding the cemetery and the construction in the area appeared in the 17 September 1991 issue of the Fairfax Journal. According to Mary Goins Roots, identified as a Pearson descendant, Charles T. Pearson was a slave owned by Francis Coffer who died 30 March 1861. Coffer's will directed that Pearson, his mother and three brothers be freed from slavery and that the proceeds from the sale of Coffer's property be divided among the brothers. Roots says that Charles Pearson “became a farmer and built a house about a mile from the corner of what is now Pohick and Burke Lake Roads.” The archeological survey of the site describes the ruins of a house near the cemetery which was probably destroyed by fire. The one-and-one-half story house was built by Charles Pearson between 1862 and 1878, according to this report.

The Pearsons prospered, Roots said. One brother donated land for a school; another donated land for what is now Freewill Baptist Church on Burke Lake Road. (There are Pearsons buried in that cemetery; see index.)

The gravestones in the cemetery were homemade, but later Pearson family members ordered a monument for Charles Pearson and his wife from Sears, Roebuck & Co. When the gravestone arrived at the Clifton train station, Roots said, the family hauled it in their wagon to the cemetery.

Members of the Pearson family owned the property until the Federal government appropriated it in 1951 for use as an airport which was later built to the west (Dulles). When the land became available for private use again, the family was unable to buy it back.

In the early 1980s, Roots' aging aunt took her to the cemetery, told her family stories and showed her where family members were buried. Her aunt, Roots said to the Journal, “‘told me not to forget, and I haven't.’” She drew a diagram of the gravesites, both marked and unmarked, a copy of which is on file in the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library. In October 1991, the cemetery site was probed for burial sites. The results closely match Roots' memories.

Name Birth Death
Charles T. Pearson 1831 1916
Sarah Jane Pearson
“Sleep Mother dear, and take thy rest;
God called thee home, He knew it best.” 14 Aug 1841 9 Jun 1911