Figure of the Week

Walter E. Corson (c.1849-1924) lived on the Washington Farm (now Ferry Farm) in Stafford County, Virginia.  In May 1903, “lightning struck and set fire to a large new barn on the Corson Farm, in Stafford county, just across the Rappahannock River from the lower end of [Fredericksburg].  In a short while the barn with its contents, consisting of feed, agricultural implements and several head of cattle and hogs was destroyed…The Corson farm was at one time the home of George Washington” (Times Dispatch, May 26, 1903).  Several members of the Corson family lived in Stafford during the late nineteenth century, including Benjamin Franklin Corson (1843-1894) and John D. Corson (c.1818-1887).  Walter E. Corson was an overseer of the road for Falmouth District in 1889.  He moved to Washingotn, DC several years before his death.  Water was buried in Muncy, Pennsylvania where he had family.