Summers Family Cemetery

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

SUMMERS FAMILY CEMETERY
6250 Lincolnia Road (Route 613)
Lincolnia, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

The Summers Family Cemetery stands at 6250 Lincolnia Road (Route 613) between Deming Avenue and Barnum Lane, not far from the intersection of Lincolnia with Beauregard Street and near the busy Landmark Plaza shopping area. According to research about the Summers family on file in the Virginia Room in the Fairfax City Regional Library, this cemetery is associated with “Cottage Farm” and “Summer Grove,” homes of the Summers family. The community adjacent to the cemetery is still called “Cottage Farms.”

One of the oldest gravestones in the county stands in this cemetery, that of John Summers who died on 4 December 1790, aged 102 years. His obituary in the 9 December 1790 issue of the Alexandria Gazette reads:

Died--Mr. John Summers, in the 103d year of his age. He was born within thirty miles of this place, in the State of Maryland, and settled in the year 1715 in this County, where he resided ever since. He has left children, grand-children, great grand-children, and great-great-grand-children to the number of near four hundred.

A detailed sketch of John Summers’ remarkable life and information about his family appeared in the 8 November and 15 November 1907 issues of the Fairfax Herald. Beth Mitchell mentions John Summers in Beginning at a White Oak..., her book about patents and Northern Neck grants of Fairfax County. She notes that there are many depositions in the county records made by John Summers (Sommers, Symmers) regarding disputes about land which were decided by the courts. Summers testified that he had worked with surveyors in early days and “attended many surveys in the neighborhood of Hunting Creek.” Mitchell states that he was still giving depositions at the age of 98. At the age of 92, he stated that in 1715, he moved from Dogue Neck to the area near Christ Church, and then in 1723, he moved to the “forest” near what is today Bailey’s Crossroads. In 1773, Summers moved “further into the ‘forest’ to his son’s house,” perhaps the house at Summer Grove.

Perhaps because of its historic gravestone and the renown of John Summers, the Summers Family Cemetery has been the subject of much scrutiny over the years. When the homes to the northeast of the cemetery were being constructed in 1979, a researcher visited the site, found the cemetery entangled in vines and recorded the names and dates on the stones.

The Thomas Lee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution became interested in the cemetery when one of their members discovered the gravesites hidden away in the woods, “entirely grown up with trees, bushes and weeds.” In 1980, the chapter voted to place a DAR plaque on the grave of Francis Summers, son of John Summers, who served in the Revolutionary War, according to a DAR report on file in the Virginia Room. A ceremony on 7 June 1980, honoring Francis Summers and dedicating the plaque, was attended by several people, including Summers family descendants.

But the cemetery became overgrown once again. In 1984, Boy Scout John Zierdt organized other Scouts to clean up the neglected site. The boys cut back vines, poison ivy and brambles, and carried away several old tires and 60 large trash bags filled with litter and garbage.

In 1989, the County took on the responsibility for the maintenance of the cemetery. The site was cleaned once again, a fence was built around the graves, and a paved path was laid through the area from Lincolnia Road to the cemetery and on to Barnum Lane. A county sign posted along Lincolnia Road reads “Summers Cemetery, Fairfax County Park Authority.”

Today the cemetery is well maintained by the county. A black, hollow metal fence with broken gate surrounds the graves. A few of the footstones have been toppled, but otherwise the cemetery appears to be in good repair, free of trash, with little evidence of vandalism. Surveys from 1979, 1980, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1997 have been compared against each other and the information rechecked in 1998, due to the many discrepancies. The survey begins in the southwest corner of the cemetery.

No Updates from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books

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Here follows an excerpt from the Northern Virginia History Notes website:

by Debbie Robison
January 31, 2008

COLONIAL FARM
Two hundred and seventy-five years ago, more than a century before Green Spring Farm even acquired its name, the land was under British rule and formed part of the British colony of Virginia. In the fifth year of the reign of King George the Second, the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax granted 201 acres of land to John Summers for the annual fee rent of one shilling sterling for every 50 acres of land payable on the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel (September 29th). At the time of the grant; i.e., September 4, 1731, the tract was within the jurisdictional boundary of Prince William County.

The following year, John Summers and two of his slaves constructed a tobacco warehouse for Hugh West on the future site of Alexandria, Virginia. John Summers may have cultivated tobacco to be packed into hogsheads and rolled down the Rowling Road conveniently located just east of his land grant. Hogsheads were large wooden barrels constructed by coopers that could hold between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds of cured tobacco. Once packed, the hogsheads were pulled, often by oxen, and rolled along dirt roads towards the tobacco warehouses. Rolling (Rowling) roads were named for this method of farm product transportation. Legislation requiring tobacco inspection was enacted 18 years before Summers' grant, thus it's possible that Summers had his tobacco rolled to the nearby tobacco inspection warehouse to be graded and shipped to England, as required by the Navigation Acts.

It is also feasible that Mr. Summers may have cultivated wheat to be ground at a mill on Turkey Cock Branch. The mill was described as an old mill in a 1761 deed.

In 1743, John Summers and George Harrison acquired an 843-acre grant adjacent to Summers' 201 acre grant.

Summers Grant:
George Harrison and John Summers divided the 843-acre grant in 1748. John Summers received the northern portion that was contiguous to his 201 acre grant. His tract was located on a principal roadway that extended from the west to Alexandria, Virginia. Summers was mentioned as a road overseer in several road orders. For example, the following road order was recorded in 1753.

"Ordered that the Tithables which cleared the Church road do clear the road from Accotink to Cameron whereof John Summers is Surveyor"

On February 19, 1761, John Summers divided the land between his sons Francis and Daniel Summers. Daniel Summers acquired the western parcel. Francis Summers received the eastern parcel on which the Summers' established a cemetery. John Summers died in 1790 at the age of 102 years. His son, Francis, died in 1800. They are both buried in the Summers Cemetery nearby.

It is unknown what Daniel Summers did with the land. His name was never recorded in the road order books like his brother Francis. His ownership lasted sixteen years until he sold the tract on September 11, 1777 to a neighbor, John Moss, who had been living as a tenant farmer in the area as early as 1753.