A Virginia Village Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. G. W. Mankin]

The strength of this army corps before the last of May consisted of 922 officers and 17,467 men. In June the number in camp was 1,103 officers and 26,002 men; in July the strength of the corps was 1,183 officers and 29,747 men. In August the corps consisted of 1,347 officers and 33,755 men, the highest number in this corps before disbandment at the end of the war.

By orders of May 24, the troops then on duty at this point were organized into a First Division composed of three brigades of three regiments each, and by orders of June 9, 1898, the Ninth Ma.s.sachusetts Volunteer Infantry and 33rd and 34th Michigan Volunteer Infantry were const.i.tuted a separate brigade.

On June 9th the separate brigade mentioned was a.s.signed as the First Brigade, 3rd Division. On August 2, 1898, a second brigade was organized composed of the First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and the Third Virginia Volunteer Infantry.

The First Brigade, consisting of the Ma.s.sachusetts and Michigan troops, left Camp Alger for Santiago de Cuba on June 22 and 24, 1898. Troops of the Second Brigade were returned to their States for muster out on September 7 and 8, 1898.

The tents of the provost guard pitched at the electric railway terminus at East End with pickets posted at various street corners made Falls Church appear like a town under martial law. Under all the circ.u.mstances the conduct of the troops was admirable. The homes of the citizens were thrown open to the soldiers doing picket duty in the village, and the ladies of the place vied with each other in contributing to the comfort of sick soldiers at the camp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. C. H. Buxton]

The summer of 1898 was a most eventful one in Falls Church. No such stirring scenes had been witnessed here since the days of the civil war.

Troop trains arriving or departing, drills at camp and practice marches through the town, martial music from many bands, reveille and taps, all contributed to impress the town folk with the fact that the country was at war.

FINANCES OF THE TOWN. The expenses of the town government for the year ending August 31, 1904, was $2,188.47. The a.s.sessed valuation of the town is $420,125, which is about 50 per cent of the real value. The tax levy for all purposes is six mills. The levy is divided as follows: For corporation purposes three mills; for school purposes three mills. The total receipts for fiscal year 1904 were $2,289.20.

There is no bonded indebtedness. A number of times propositions to bond the town for school or street purposes have been voted upon but each time the citizens have decided against incurring any bonded debt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Summerfield Taylor]

The following are the officers of the town government:

OFFICERS OF THE TOWN. George N. Lester, Mayor; Henry Crocker, Clerk; John N. Gibson, Sergeant; R. C. L. Moncure, Corporation Attorney.

Members of Council: 1st ward, Elmer I. Crump, S. E. Thompson, G. A.

Brunner; 2nd ward, E. A. Kimball, Geo. N. Lester, Geo. W. Hawxhurst; 3rd ward, Thomas Hillier; Wm. M. Ellison, H. C. Birge. Committees, Street Lamp Lighting: E. A. Kimball, Thos. Hillier, S. E. Thompson. Finance: Wm. M. Ellison, Chairman, H. C. Birge, Geo. W. Hawxhurst. Board of School Trustees: J. W. Brown, Chairman, R. J. Yates, Clerk, J. S. Riley.

HEALTH. In the matter of health Falls Church leads. Statistics obtained by the U. S. Census Bureau relating to the mortality rate show that out of 341 towns and cities from which returns were received the lowest death rate for the year ending May 31, 1900, was in St. Joseph, Mo., with 9.1 for each 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Portland, Oregon, 9.5, St. Paul, Minn., 9.7, and Minneapolis, Minn., 10.08. For the same period there were only 5 deaths in Falls Church, its population then being 1,007. The average annual death rate in Falls Church is about 9.5 per 1,000, only 57 deaths having occurred here between August 17, 1898 and September 2, 1904, a period of a little over six years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. A. P. Eastman]

The death rate in the United States for 1900, according to census returns was 17.8 per 1,000, the rate in cities where such statistics were gathered being 18.6, and in rural districts 15.4.

For the purpose of comparison the death rate per 1,000 in the following cities as reported by the U. S. Census Bureau for 1900 will be of interest. Baltimore, Md., 21.0; New York, N. Y., 21.3; Was.h.i.+ngton, D.

C., 22.8; Alexandria, Va., 24.2; Norfolk, Va., 25.2; Lynchburg, Va., 27.7; Richmond, Va., 29.7; Petersburg, Va., 31.1.

IDEAL COUNTRY HOMES. To the generosity of a nearby nurseryman the town is indebted for its wealth of trees. When the first streets were laid out Mr. D. O. Munson donated liberally from his nursery stock and to him is chiefly due the credit for the present attractive appearance of the tree-lined streets.

The conventional arrangement of the average suburban town has not been followed in laying out the streets of this village, and even the sinuous main avenue, lined on either side by a row of full grown maples, adds to its charm. Beyond the town to the westward the view of rolling plain and delightful wooded expanse greets the eye, and in the distance the smoky Sugar Loaf looms up to beckon one to mountain scenes. In an afternoon drive from the village to the south or west the lover of nature may find pleasure at every turn.

The healthfulness of Falls Church is proverbial, while its charming situation, accessibility to the city of Was.h.i.+ngton and the homelike tone pervading every part of its area have surprised and attracted all whose privilege it has been to visit here for the first time. The place to the tired city man can afford all the enjoyment of retirement and tranquillity. With an abundance of green lawns, well shaded walks and drives, pure water, churches, good schools and the necessary stores; what more could the seeker desire to complete his ideal of a country home.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Geo. F. Rollins]

Possessing advantages imperfectly pictured herein, Falls Church welcomes the jaded fathers and mothers from the city to the place where children may enjoy life with nature, where the climate, conducive to refres.h.i.+ng sleep, soothes tired nerves and makes life to such again buoyant with youthful hopes and joys.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Old Colonial Church.]

The original church at the Falls is said to have been built in 1709.

This is only tradition, as no satisfactory evidence has been obtained relating to its exact location or the date when first erected.

Court records establish the fact that there was a church on the present site of the Falls Church in 1746. On March 20th of that year John Trammell, in consideration of the sum of fifty s.h.i.+llings sterling, transferred, by deed of bargain and sale, to the Vestry of Truro Parish in Fairfax County a certain parcel of land containing two acres "where the Upper Church now is." John Trammell owned at that time the greater part of the land upon which the town of Falls Church is now situated. In June, 1745, he leased to Walter English his plantation of 244 acres "near the head of the north of Holmes' Run extending to Four Mile Run, excepting two acres for the use of the church."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. C. E. Mankin's Store]

The vestry book of Truro Parish commences about 1732. This book is in the possession of Mr. H. H. Dodge, of Mt. Vernon, a vestryman of old Pohick Church. Through the courtesy of Mr. Dodge, the Editor was permitted to make a careful examination of its pages, and to copy from the minutes of the vestry meetings therein such entries as appeared to throw any light upon the early history of the Falls Church.

Some apparently trivial entries have been copied, such as the payment of a s.e.xton's salary for a number of successive years, but the name of the s.e.xton in such cases has an important bearing upon the subject, when it is not improbable that the churches indicated as the "Upper Church," the "New Church," etc., may be the church later designated as "The Falls Church."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Charles A. Stewart]

In addition to religious matters, the duties of the church vestry in these early times embraced many secular affairs. Under the direction of the Parish Vestry t.i.thes were collected from the land owners, and "processioners" were appointed by them to survey and establish all land boundaries within the parish. Such matters as related to the relief of the poor, the medical care of the sick, charges for burial of the dead, the maintenance of the blind, the lame, and the maimed, also of foundlings and vagrants, now looked after by the county government, were then a part of the duty of the vestry of each parish.

By a general law pa.s.sed in the Colony in 1667, Act IV, 19th Charles II, the right was vested in the county courts, when expedient, to set aside and appropriate not more than two acres of land for church and burial purposes; ministers' salaries had been fixed the year before at 16,000 pounds of tobacco, or about $650.

As early as October, 1734, John Trammell was paid by the Vestry of Truro Parish 320 pounds of tobacco for grubbing a place for a new church, for which Robert Blackburn had drawn plans.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Charles A. Mankin]

In November of the following year, Thomas or James Bennitt was paid 150 pounds of tobacco as s.e.xton of the New Church. Record of the payment of 400 pounds of tobacco to James Bennitt, s.e.xton of the New Church, appears under date of October 6, 1740, and again May 21, 1745. On the latter date the Vestry decided to build a church "at or near the spring nigh Mr. Hutchinson's on the mountain road ... with doors, windows & seats after the manner of the Upper Church." The deed from Andrew Hutchinson to the Vestry of Truro Parish for two acres of land upon which this new church was to be erected, recorded in Liber A. No. 1, page 464, Fairfax County Land Records, does not show this land to have been in the vicinity of Falls Church.

On October 12, 1747, the vestry records indicate that Mary Bennitt was s.e.xton of the Upper Church, supposed to be the same which was called the New Church before this date, and that Wm. Grove was s.e.xton of the more recently built church on the mountain road near Mr. Hutchinson's. Mary Bennitt's salary as s.e.xton of the Upper Church was 400 pounds of tobacco until 1749, when it was increased to 460 pounds. Her salary was again raised to 560 pounds in 1752, and so continued until 1755, when James Palmer became s.e.xton at "Falls Church," so designated in the records.

James Palmer appears to have been succeeded by Gerard Trammell, the Vestry at a meeting held November 12, 1759, having allowed the latter 560 pounds of tobacco as s.e.xton of Falls Church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Annie Eells]

In February, 1749, the Vestry decided to build an addition to the "Upper Church," and the contract for the improvement was given to Charles Broadwater, Gent., who undertakes to complete the work by the laying of the next parish levy for the sum of 12,000 pounds of tobacco. Mr.

Charles Broadwater was at that time one of the vestrymen, and among those present at the meeting were George Mason and the Rev. Charles Green. The vestry meeting held October 25, 1762, elected George Was.h.i.+ngton a Vestryman in place of Wm. Peake, Gent., deceased, and at the same meeting it was ordered that the s.e.xton at Falls Church be allowed 560 pounds of tobacco for his services.

The Vestry of Truro Parish met on March 28, 1763, at the Falls Church.

Those present were: Henry Gunnell, Wm. Payne, Jr., Church Wardens; John West, Wm. Payne, Charles Broadwater, Thomas Wren, Abraham Barnes, Daniel McCarty, Robert Boggers and George Was.h.i.+ngton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Eastover" Mr. Pickering Dodge]

It appears that this meeting was called for the purpose of deciding whether to repair the old church, then greatly in decay, or to erect a new building. It would seem that the matter of abandonment of the site of the old church was also to be acted upon, and the erection of a new one in a more convenient place.

The Vestry decided that the old church was too dilapidated to repair, and resolved that a new church be built at the same place. It was ordered that the Clerk of the Vestry advertise in the Virginia and Maryland Gazettes for workmen to meet at the church on the 29th of August next following, to undertake the building of a brick church, to contain 1,600 feet on the floor, with a suitable gallery. The record of the vestry meeting of October 3, 1763, shows that 30,000 pounds of tobacco had been levied toward building Falls Church, and was to be sold by the Church Wardens for the best cash price obtainable. George Was.h.i.+ngton was not present at this meeting; but as an evidence of his interest in the contemplated improvements he copied in his diary under date of 1764 the advertis.e.m.e.nt published in the Maryland Gazette for "undertakers to build Falls Church."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. W. A. Ball]

The accounts of the Clerk of the Vestry at this date show Truro Parish credited with 1,807 t.i.thables at 37 pounds of tobacco each, or a total of 66,859 pounds. The expenditures debited against this amount include 17,280 pounds of tobacco for salary of minister, 560 pounds each to the s.e.xton at Pohick Church and Falls Church, 500 pounds to the s.e.xton at Alexandria, 3,000 pounds to Clerk of Vestry, besides sundry payments toward the support of the indigent of the parish.

The record of the vestry meeting for Truro Parish April 26, 1765, states that Truro Parish has been divided from Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton's mill to John Monroe's and thence to Difficult Run, the upper parish being called Fairfax. The Parish of Fairfax in which was situated Falls Church or the "Upper Church" and Alexandria or the "Lower Church" was created February 1, 1765, by virtue of an Act pa.s.sed the previous year, being the 4th George III. Falls Church was evidently the Parish Church, and Alexandria "The Chapel of Ease" as indicated by the comparative emoluments of the office of s.e.xton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. T. B. Snoddy]