Episcopal Diocese of Virginia
The Episcopal Church »  |  The Diocese of Virginia

St. Thomas's Headstones

Gravestones at St. Thomas's

 

A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul.
Nathaniel Hawthorne -

 

The following gravestones were transcribed in an effort to assist the GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project.   This nationwide project has helped countless descendants locate the final resting places of their ancestors.

 

The following stones are in order, left to right, behind St. Thomas's chapel.  Where time and the elements have rendered letters or numbers unreadable, [illegible] or a possible [?] notation  is inserted.  Every attempt has been made to transcribe the markings precisely as they appear. 

 

 

1801[7?] - 1846
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
HANSBROUGH

Transcriber's note:  The above was the father of the Rev. John Strother Hansbrough, who was St. Thomas's longest serving rector, 1870-1908. Alexander Hamilton's Hansbrough's wife was Elizabeth Clayton Strother, born August 4, 1810.  She died in 1871, during her son's tenure at the church, but there is no stone for her present at the site.
    For an image of the Rev. Hansbrough, please see our History page.

 

_______

 

IN MEMORY OF
JOHN A.G.
Only son of
Rev. R.T. and Mrs. L.M. Davis
Born
Aug 23rd 1858
Died
Jan 8th 1862

 Transcriber's note:  The 1860 census of Orange County, Virginia, notes a John Davis, age 2, son of  R.S. and Louisa Davis.  (The original census does indeed read "R.S.," but other sources are in agreement with the stone: "R.T." for Richard Terrell.)

    Daughter Lucy B. was 8 and Anna was 4. 
    "L.M." was Louisa Morris (Saunders) Davis, whose family came from Campbell County, Virginia.  Her father, Fleming Saunders, was a judge for the general court of Virginia.
    The census records Richard Davis's occupation as "E. Minister" --- Episcopal minister.  
    The Rev. Davis enlisted as a chaplain with the 6th Virginia Cavalry in August of 1862, eight months after his son died. He served throughout the war, surrendering at Appomattox in April 1865. In the postwar years he went on to become rector of St. James Church in Leesburg, and he is buried in Leesburg in Union Cemetery.
     The young John A.G. Davis whom this marker memorializes was named after the Rev. Richard Terrell Davis's father, John Andrew Gardiner Davis. 

 

_______

 

THOMAS T. BOULWARE
born Dec 6th 1833
died Nov 21st 1837

_______

 

SACRED
to the memory of
MARY T. BOULWARE
BORN
February 11, 1809
DIED
April 22, 1859

 

Transcriber's note:  November 1837 must have been a grueling month for Mary, as her children Thomas and Mary died within days of each other (see flanking stones).  Doubtless the children who followed were a comfort.  Mary appeared in the 1850 census of Orange County with husband Richard S. Boulware (age 50 and the sheriff of Orange) and children Richard (age 13), Virginia (11), Cornelia (9), Howard (6),  and James E. (2).  Also living with the household at the time were carpenter Edmund Powers (20) and Margaret (13).
     It is interesting to note that a Virginian by the name of Richard S. Boulware, born the same year as Mary's husband, was associated with William B. Phillips in the 1830 construction of the Madison Court House.  Phillips is believed to have been involved in building the core of the present St. Thomas's Episcopal Church.  Whether the two Richard S. Boulwares --- Mary's husband and the Madison Court House builder --- are one and the same is unknown to this transcriber at this writing.

 

_______

 

MARY E. BOULWARE
born Nov 11th 1835
died Nov 29th 1837

_______

 

IN MEMORY
OF
RICHARD HACKNEY
Died 1837
Aged 28 years

_______

 

IN MEMORY
OF
JOHN WOLFREY
BORN
Sep 19 1819
DIED
Aug 1, 1832

_______

 

IN MEMORY
OF
RICHARD H. WOOLFREY
BORN
Oct. 16, 1812
DIED
July 11, 1840

_______

 

S.A. [illegible]
In the memory of
M.S. CULLEN
wife of G. Cullen [ Jr.?]
Born March 27th 1840
Died March 10th 1860
[further inscription illegible]

 Transcriber's note:  Martha Strother Hansbrough married George Cullen on June 15, 1858.  She was the daughter of Alexander Hamilton Hansbrough (see stone above) and the younger sister of the Rev. John Strother Hansbrough.  The illegible mark after George Cullen's name is likely "Jr.," as his father was a George as well.  The stone of Martha and George's infant son Louis Cullen is next to Martha's.

 

_______

 

 

SACRED
to the memory of
LOUIS W. CULLEN
son of George and
M.S. Cullen

Born July 20, 1859
Died Aug 20, 1860

_______

 

Sacred
to the memory of
Joseph A. Williamson
who died August 14, 1853
Aged 48
Blessed are the pure in heart

Transcriber's note:  Joseph Alliene Williamson was the son of the Rev. Joseph A. Williamson (Sr.), an immigrant from Scotland who was both a clergyman and a lawyer.  The 1850 census of Orange shows Joseph A. Williamson, 44, lawyer, living with wife Mary P. and five children.

_______

 

Sacred to the memory of
ROBERTA M.
Daughter of Charles & Mary
Randolph
of Fauquier Co. Va.
BORN
Dec 15 1831
DIED
Sept 19 1863
Blessed in the
sight of the
Lord is
she

 

Transcriber's note:  All indications are that the above is Roberta Randolph, daughter of Charles Carter Randolph and Mary Anne Fauntleroy Mortimer of Eastern View, Fauquier, Virginia.  Charles Carter Randolph's father, Robert Randolph, served as a captain and aide-de-camp to Gen. Anthony Wayne in the Revolutionary War.

      Additional information received in July 2005, courtesy a descendant: Charles Carter Randolph and M. A. F. Mortimer lived at The Grove, which was left to Charles when Col. Robert Randolph died in 1825.  The Grove was, and is, just down the road from Eastern View, where Charles was born. Roberta was born at Cedar Grove Plantation in Stafford County.  Both Cedar Grove Plantation and The Grove were owned by Roberta's grandfather, Col. Robert Randolph of Eastern View.

 

_______

 

The following large stone is near those noted above and is in the Memorial Garden:

 

SACRED
To the Memory of
ROBERT WILSON
A native of Renfrewshire, Scotland
but for the last fifty years a resident in
Orange County Virginia by whose inhab-
itants he was highly respected and beloved
He died March 13th 1939
In the 80th year of his age

 

[inscription at lower right of stone]
Robt. Dalrymple
Norfolk

 

_______

 

Sources:
Census of 1850, Orange Co., VA.
Census of 1860, Orange Co., VA.
Historical Data Systems, Inc., Civil War service records.
Lay, Edward K.  "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy."

 

    Online at http://www.iath.virginia.edu/schwartz/cville/Lay.html
Scott, W.W.  A History of Orange County, Virginia. 

    Online at http://ls.net/~newriver/va/oran1.htm 

Genealogical records:
Ancestry.com
Familysearch.org
Rootsweb.com
Living Randolph descendant