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To: Burke Centre Partnership

From: D'Anne A. Evans (Mrs. S.J. Evans)

Subj: Follow up report on historical potential of properties on the James B. Franklin Farm, Herndon 

Additional research on the James Franklin Farm has corroborated the data supplied by Mr. and Mrs. Franklin about their house, although the original hypotheses have been modified, especially in regard to early land ownership. Sifting of information has also brought to light facts supporting Mr. Franklin's observations and neighborhood oral tradition in respect to the abandoned roadbed in front of the house.

Nothing further has been done on possible Civil War significance of the area, since Burke Partnership preferred to contact the specialist. There is another possibility, should enough relics be found on the farm to indicate it was a combat area. The National Archives have claims against the government filed by homeowners after the conflict. Through this file it can sometimes definitely be proven that a house was in the battle area.

Time has been an obstacle in researching the complete 827 acres acquired by the Franklins in the course of forty year residence. Some holdings, such as the Leigh Lawrence Tract #2 can be quickly and easily traced back to the 18th century. Others, such as the Franklin house itself and the acreage known as Oak Hill Farm, take longer because of missing deeds and information which has to be gathered from different sources and pieced together. In terms of historical preservation the following recommendations are offered.

THE JAMES FRANKLIN HOUSE, FORMERLY "OAK HILL"

Both in terms of historical significance and its present state of preservation, it would be very worthwhile to keep the house as a private residence with several acres around it to maintain its character. An owner who would appreciate its historical value and be able to maintain it might be found by advertising it for sale in the historic properties section of the Preservation News, a publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The house is located between Difficult Run and the Loudoun-Fairfax County line where some of the earliest settlement in the area occurred between 1730-40. Although according to a map showing all the early patents overlaid on present day Fairfax County, the site of the Franklin house would be in Robert Carter, Jr.'s Piney Ridge Tract, documentary evidence in the land records indicates it actually falls in the Awbrey-Tayloe-Turberville grant immediately to the south. (See Beginning at a White Oak by Beth Mitchell and attached map)

"The land known as Oakhill", bequeathed by William Carr Lane, Sr., to his daughter Sally Rooles (Rowles) in 1808, (Fairfax County Will Book J-1, pp. 110 ff) first shows in the 1798 land Tax Rolls of Fairfax County as a 213-215 acre tract which William Lane acquired from John Turberville. Before that the area was part of Loudoun County for forty years (1757-1797). Loudoun County Tax Roll originals are in the State Historical Library in Richmond, and microfilm copies available in the Fairfax County Public Library are all but illegible, because of faded ink. Therefore, it is hard to tell when Lane bought the land, and the deed cannot be found, either in Loudoun or Fairfax. Before buying the land, the likelihood is that William Lane or his father, James Lane, first leased it from the Turberville family. That document was not recorded either unless it was in one of the books missing from Prince William or Fairfax County land records.

It is possible to identify the 213-15 acre tract listed among William Lane's holdings as Oak Hill, because in his will cited above Lane stipulated that enough land was to be added to "Oakhill" to make it 298 acres. After his estate had been settled in 1811, the 215 acres disappears from the list of Lane properties, thereafter listed in the name of Sarah, his widow, and appears instead under the name of Sally Lane's husband, Joseph E. Rowles, together with another parcel of 83 acres, whose transfer is reflected in a diminution of a 335 acre tract among the Lane holdings, also "from Turberville."

At no time during the 1798-1818 period examined did the taxable property valuation rise to indicated a house had been added. As was stated in the previous report, the dates of 1805 and 1806 on the tombstones behind the Franklin house, suggest the house was there at that time. The property was first identified as "Oak Hill Farm" in the Land Tax Rolls of 1814.

The matter of assessing exactly when the house was built and by whom is more difficult. The hypothesis set forth in the previous report, i.e., that Oak Hill might have been the home of Nathaniel Fitzhugh, was disproved by subsequent research. Fitzhugh's plantation was called "Ridgefield" and comprised roughly 1,000 acres lying across the present Fairfax-Loudoun County line. (Fitzhugh vs. Lane, Chancery Case Final #30 and sale of Ridgefield recorded in Fairfax County Deed Book A-3, pp. 487-88, 20 August 1833.) Nathaniel Fitzhugh's wife was born Hannah Eskridge Lane, another of William Carr Lane, Sr.'s daughters.

Lane and Higgs family oral history give the house's age as over 200 years in 1938, which would make it one of the earliest structures in the area, but no firm documentary evidence is available to confirm that so far.

Assuming Miss Lewis' data, passed on by the Franklins, is correct (and it has proved remarkably accurate so far), we would look for the house to have been built by one of the following:

1. One of the patent owners (Awbrey, Tayloe or Turberville), most probably Colonel John Tayloe, who bought the land from the original grantee, Francis Awbrey, in 1730. A 1740 survey in the State Historical Library in Richmond shows Tayloe had an overseer, eight black titheables and quarters on the grant at that time. (Mitchell, p. 259). It might be possible to tell by checking the survey whether Tayloe's quarters were on the site of the present Franklin farmhouse. George Turberville bought the land from Tayloe at a date not yet ascertained; and he, too, might have been the builder, although he remained in Westmoreland County according to all records. The next most likely candidate for builder would be

2. Major James Lane, father of William Carr Lane, Sr., who was living on a 142-acre plantation he leased from George Turberville in 1740. (Prince William County Deed Book E, p. 146) This plantation has been plotted on the map. It was not Oak Hill. James Lane was an early settler, a surveyor for Robert Carter, and he acquired a fair amount of land, mainly by leasing, but his exact residence was not mentioned in his will, filed in Loudoun County in 1794. (Will Book B, pp. 212-214) A search through the County Court minutes of both counties or through the Lee family correspondence (since Richard Bland Lee was familiar with the Lanes) or Carter family papers might yield some definite references. The other possibility is

3. A so-far unknown lessee who did not buy the land, but lived there and farmed it.

As you may have noted, Oak Hill Farm at 298 acres in 1808 was bigger than the 100 acre Lightbown tract, containing the house, which Mr. and Mrs. Franklin bought in 1938. Some of their acquisitions, therefore, have undoubtedly been parts of the original farm. When Benjamin Higgs died in 1917, Oak Hill Farm contained 233 acres. (Deed Book S-8, p. 488) He was the last descendent of William Lane to live there.

In conducting research on the other tracts as requested, attention was directed primarily at two others whose chain of title suggested they might contain properties of historical significance.

"TUCKAWAY" OR "THE WRENN PLACE"

The first of these was the Leigh Lawrence Tract #2, on which there is a house the Franklins call "Tuckaway", and the neighbors call "the Wrenn place." Mrs. Franklin has noted construction characteristics there similar to those in her own home, which might mean it was over 100 years old.

The deed books show that part of this 231 acre property was farmed in the 18th century. In Loudoun County Deed Book K, p. 357, 12 December 1774, John Turberville leased 125 acres to James Whaley for three lives. In 1845 John Turberville's daughter, Martha Turberville Ball, and her son Spencer, who had inherited the land, sold 233 acres to Samuel Wrenn, which included "Whaley's lease and part of Curtis' lease." (Deed Book J-3, p. 114)

It is interesting to note that in the division of Samuel Wrenn's farm among his heirs in 1866 (Deed Book C-4, pp. 349-51), the dower lot where presumably the house was, lay some distance from the road and required an access route through several other lots as it does today. If this house can be architecturally dated to Whaley's time in 1774 it might indicate that  it was at first built  closer to the old route of Ox Road. A map of the route of the Ox Road made in connection with a suit over division of Carter's Piney Ridge Tract (Proceedings in Land Causes, Vol, 2, p. 135) shows the road looping south into the Turberville grant, rather than running straight as West Ox Road does today.

The Wrenn house is one that is certainly a candidate for preservation should it prove likely it was built by the 18th century lessee, James Whaley's 125 acres.

LEIGH LAWRENCE TRACT #1 - "ALBION"

Another area which should be inspected for houses of possible historic value is the 289 acre Leigh Lawrence Tract #1, which contains property owned by the heirs of William F. Lee. William F. Lee was the owner of the farm and/or home called "Albion" in Sallie Lane Lewis' information sheet. He married Caroline Higgs at Oak Hill in 1843, and one of their sons married Margaret Haight, daughter of the owner of Sully. (Gamble: Sully: Biography of a House, p. 119)

A map of the Sully area in 1860 shows the William F. Lee farm on the Frying Pan Road to Herndon. (Gamble, p. 149) Further research would be necessary to find when Albion was built and if it is still standing as well as the exact relationship of William F. Lee to the Lees of Chantilly and Sully. (plat showing location of the house was made November 8, 1911, and is in Fairfax Deed Book P-7, p. 653).

CONCLUSIONS

The Franklin Farm contains two houses probably of 18th century origin (the Franklin home and the Wrenn place, although the latter may be 19th century), and one, the Lee home called Albion, if still standing, possibly over 100 years old. These would be candidates for preservation, depending on their present structural condition and architectural value. The County History Division is hopeful they may be available as research projects for architectural history students who come out from George Washington University each year. Otherwise, it would be advisable to get the opinion of a professional architect.

Further research would be necessary to determine just how much of the original Oak Hill Farm property is contained in the Franklin holding of 827 acres. As previously stated, time did not allow research of the complete list of tracts, but those done were selected because they seemed to offer the greatest possibilities.

In addition to possible identification of historic properties, Burke Centre Partnership's research contract had a worthwhile side effect. Much information has been added to the index of County history, since Oak Hill Farm, Burlington and Ridgefield plantations and the Lee farm called Albion were forgotten names. The identification of such properties often proves of real value to future research and to descendants of the families who go to the Colonial Room at the Courthouse asking for help in tracing their forebears. All areas slated for development in Fairfax County will not yield as much useful information about early settlement as the Franklin Farm, but this cannot be accurately forecast until the research is done.

The Franklin Farm Foundation - 12700 Franklin Farm Rd - Oak Hill, VA  20171
Phone:  703-620-6230     Fax:  703-620-9021     E-Mail:  foundation@franklinfarm.org
Map of Franklin Farm      Map of the foundation office at the above addess

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