Figure of the Week

Abraham Primmer (1811-1896) was a native of Chemung County, New York. After moving to Stafford around 1854, he lived at Bellair, an old Fitzhugh plantation on Leeland Road (Route 625). This was known more recently as the Walnut Farm. The house tract of this farm is now occupied by Leeland Station subdivision and Primmer House Road runs right through the old dwelling site. Abraham was the son of Peter Primmer and Pheoba Barnum (1784-1875) of New York. He married Elizabeth A. “Libby” Carter (1824-1888), the daughter of Johnson Carter, also from Chemung County and another transplant to Stafford. Johnson resided at Bellmeade, just north of Falmouth and across U. S. Route 1 from Glencairne. In 1856, Abraham Primmer was overseer of the road “from the corner of Peyton’s (formerly) now Roy’s fence on the road from Hopewell to Falmouth to the Potomac Creek road at the corner of Mrs. Coalter’s fence.” In 1861, he was listed in Stafford court records as overseer of the road “from the mouth of Cox’s Lane to the old Stage Road from Fredericksburg to Potomac Creek.” During the Civil War, Abraham was a Unionist.