Fairfax Friends Cemetery
Page last updated 30 January 2021.
Arnold Grove Cemetery, Kacie's Photography 2018
15501 Old Waterford Road, Waterford, Loudoun County, Virginia 20197
About 1733, Amos Janney and his wife, Mary Yardley Janney, left their home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to settle on land they purchased on the South Fork of Catoctin Creek near what would become the community of Waterford. As reported in the Fairfax Meeting minutes, the Janneys and “divers friends” who had followed them to the region, began to hold Quaker meetings for worship. Within two years, the small group of Quakers had established the Fairfax Meeting, named after the county in which it was located.
At first, the meetings were held at the members’ houses. By 1741, as membership in the meeting grew, the Friends built a small log meetinghouse and set aside space for a schoolhouse and cemetery. With the establishment of the meetinghouse, the Quaker community began to flourish. Amos Janney, a surveyor by profession, built the town’s first house, along with a log mill on the banks of the South Fork of Catoctin Creek. This mill, located across the creek from the present mill in Waterford, became the center of the community. In 1761, to accommodate a growing membership, Fairfax Meeting built a more substantial stone meetinghouse that was later doubled in size. The meeting thrived throughout the early and mid-19th century, but began to decline in the 1880s. In 1929, membership had grown so small that the Fairfax Meeting was “laid down,” (disbanded) and the remaining Quaker families became attached to the still operating Goose Creek Meeting in Lincoln. Today the small village of Waterford is a National Historic Landmark.
The meetinghouse has been a private residence since 1939.
Family buried at the Fairfax Friends Cemetery include:
m. = maiden name
REFERENCES:
At first, the meetings were held at the members’ houses. By 1741, as membership in the meeting grew, the Friends built a small log meetinghouse and set aside space for a schoolhouse and cemetery. With the establishment of the meetinghouse, the Quaker community began to flourish. Amos Janney, a surveyor by profession, built the town’s first house, along with a log mill on the banks of the South Fork of Catoctin Creek. This mill, located across the creek from the present mill in Waterford, became the center of the community. In 1761, to accommodate a growing membership, Fairfax Meeting built a more substantial stone meetinghouse that was later doubled in size. The meeting thrived throughout the early and mid-19th century, but began to decline in the 1880s. In 1929, membership had grown so small that the Fairfax Meeting was “laid down,” (disbanded) and the remaining Quaker families became attached to the still operating Goose Creek Meeting in Lincoln. Today the small village of Waterford is a National Historic Landmark.
The meetinghouse has been a private residence since 1939.
Family buried at the Fairfax Friends Cemetery include:
- BEANS, Aaron
- BEANS, Mahlon
- BEANS, Sally A.
- BEANS, Sarah Lacie (m. HIATT)
- DONALDSON, Aaron T.
m. = maiden name
REFERENCES:
- Description from: The History of Waterford Virginia website (https://www.waterfordhistory.org/history/waterford-quaker-settlement/). Mosby Heritage Area Association, “Quaker Sites In Loudoun County, Virginia” (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/560b12b7e4b0b03fb6fb1623/t/5637eb50e4b0d8088808c02f/1446505296874/SeeQuakerSites_FINAL-tour-pdf.pdf).
- Family Information Compiled From: FindAGrave website, FamilySearch website, and family records.