The Bloxham Family Cemetery (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

The Bloxham Family Cemetery
Alexandria Heritage Trail
— City of Alexandria, est. 1749 —

James and Mary Bloxham, whose descendants are interred within this cemetery, came to Alexandria from England in the late 18th century. By the mid-19th century, two of their sons — William, a miller by trade, and James (II), a farmer — had settled in this general area, on land originally purchased by their parents.

James Bloxham (II) may have established the family cemetery on his farm when his wife, Catherine, and/or their son, Albert passed away prior to 1850. The Bloxham household in that year included James (II); his son John T., also a farmer; his daughter, Jane Eliza, and her husband, William Whaley, a stagecoach owner and mail carrier; 3 Whaley daughters; and 8 enslaved African Americans. By 1870, John T. Bloxham and his sister, Jane Eliza Whaley, continued to live in the same home following the deaths of their father and their respective spouses.

The Bloxhams and Whaleys continued to bury family members here through the early 20th century. The graves of four young children are a reminder of the high rate of infant mortality during that era.

In 1990 and 2004, archaeologists confirmed the location of the cemetery by finding 12 grave shafts, a grave marker, a brick burial vault, and the bones of one person These discoveries presented a mystery: who was this person? Forensic analysis determined that the bones were the remains of a middle-aged male whose well-developed upper arms were consistent with a person who had driven teams of horses for many years.

A footstone inscribed with "W.H.W." suggested that the skeleton could be William H. Whaley, a stagecoach driver who died before 1870. But the style of the coffin hardware was rarely used at that time, and court records also indicated that Whaley's remains had been removed to another cemetery in 1927. If the remains were not those of William Whaley, then whom did they represent? The only other candidate is John T. Bloxham, Whaley's brother-in-law, who may have taken over as "carrier of mail" after William's death. John, who died in 1906, was one of the last family members to be interred here.

[Sidebar:]
In Memoriam
Bloxham Family
William (1775-1853), son of James and Mary Bloxham • Joseph (1826-1855), son of William Bloxham • James H. (1781-1858), son of James and Mary Bloxham • Catherine Dunnington, wife of James Bloxham II (died before 1850) • Albert, son of James (II) and Catherine Bloxham (died before 1850) • John T. (1820-1906) and Cathy (ca. 1823-before 1870) Bloxham • John L. Bloxham (1857-1889), son of John T. and Cathy Bloxham • James D. Bloxham (1860-1911), son of John T. and Cathy Bloxham*

Whaley Family
William (1811-before 1870)* and Jane Eliza (Bloxham) Whaley (1817-1879) • Martha Fox (1838-1857),* daughter of William and Jane Whaley, and her daughter Hattie Jane Fox (infant)(died 1857)* • Mabel Earl Gibbons (1874-1876), granddaughter of William and Jane Eliza Whaley*

Dove Family: 3 unnamed infants*

*Moved to Bethel Cemetery

[Captions:]
An 1893 land survey depicted the boundaries of the Bloxham family's "grave yard." In the 20th century, rapid commercial and residential development resulted in the loss of such "reserved" plots — once common features of the rural agrarian landscape. Fairfax County Land Records

The burials mapped by archaeologists in 2004 included four probable infant or child graves, and one shaft with brick rubble that may have been a vault that housed more than one burial. The bones of one individual, possibly John T. Bloxham, also were reburied here in 2008. Modern markers now designate the locations of all the graves.

John L. Bloxham's headstone at Bethel Cemetery originally have been in this family plot. John was a great-grandson of the original Bloxham immigrants to Alexandria.

Erected by City of Alexandria, Virginia.