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Jesse Edwards (1742-1795) was the son of Ignatius Edwards (before 1719-1750) of Stafford.  Jesse owned land on Garrisonville Road now occupied by the Giant Food and Home Depot stores.  He may have been involved with freestone quarrying.  Jesse is buried in the King-Roles cemetery on the north bank of Aquia Creek in Widewater.

John Catesby Edrington (1800-1879) was the son of John Catesby Edrington (1775-1820) and Sarah Porter Stone (1769-1816).  The younger John married his cousin, Elizabeth Hawkins Stone (1810-1891), the daughter of Hawkins Stone (1748-1810) and Elizabeth Burroughs (dead by 1833) of Stafford.  John resided at Myrtle Grove on the north side of Aquia Creek where he…

John Norton Dishman (1863-1951) was one of Stafford’s truly remarkable citizens. A highly respected African American businessman in Brooke, he was the son of Armistead Dishman (1837-1903) who had come to Stafford from Fauquier County. The elder Mr. Dishman purchased and resided on what was long known as the “Silk Farm” just east of Brooke.…

Susan King Davis (c.1804-after 1888) was the daughter of Mary (Brown) King (died 1845) of Stafford.  She married Bailis Davis (c.1809-1857) who fished on Aquia Creek.  A newspaper notice stated, “Mrs. D. is 87 years of age, and has a wonderful memory.  She remembers seeing the British shipping going up the Potomac in the war of…

George Curtis (1767-1844) was the son of George Curtis, Sr. (1730:35-c.1806) and Elizabeth Jett, the daughter of Peter Jett and Rebecca Bowen.  George, Jr. married first c.1792 Mary McIlhaney.  He married secondly in 1804 Jemima Payne (died c.1869), the daughter of Francis Payne and Susannah Jett.  George and Jemima were buried at their home, Green…

Robert Crutcher (c.1773-1829) was the son of Hugh Crutcher (c.1739-1779) and Frances Coleman of Culpeper County and the grandson of Thomas Crutcher, Sr. (c.1695-1786).  In 1809 Robert married Tarissa Hamble Phillips (1783-1853), the daughter of Col. William Phillips (1744-1797) and Elizabeth Anne Fowke (1747-c.1829) of Traveler’s Rest, Stafford County.  Tarissa eventually moved to Warrenton and…

Thomas Whiting Cowne (1784-1857) was the son of Robert Cowne (c.1756-1829) and Sarah Whiting of Culpeper.  His first wife was Martha H. Buchanan (died 1818).  In 1820 he married Susan Latham (born 1787) of Fauquier.  Thomas W. Cowne was a merchant in Falmouth.  He also operated a school in Falmouth and offered courses such as…

Col. John Travers Cooke (1755-1819) was the son of Travers Cooke (1730-1759) and Mary Doniphan.  He lived at West Farm, which adjoined Clifton and Dipple in upper Widewater on the Potomac River.  For much of the eighteenth century a ferry operated from Cooke’s Bar at West Farm across the Potomac River to the Maryland shore.…

George Mason Cooke (1792-1866) was the son of Col. John Travers Cooke (1755-1819) and Mary Thomson Mason (1762-1806) of West Farm in Widewater.  George shared business dealings with his father in farming, timbering, fishing, and freestone quarrying on Aquia Creek.  In 1818/19 he built Chelsea, a fine frame home in Widewater.  Part of this is now…

Dr. Valentine Yelverton Conway (1803-1881) was the son of John Moncure Conway (1779-1864) and Catherine Storke Peyton (1786-1865).  John M. Conway was clerk of the Stafford Court for nearly fifty years.  In 1824 Valentine Y. Conway married his first cousin, Mary Catherine Washington Henry (1806-1890), the daughter of Edward Hugh Henry (c.1781-1815) and Elizabeth Washington…

Thomas Barrett Conway (1779-1825) was the illegitimate son of Ketura Barret (1746-1794) and Thomas Conaway of Stafford.  His name at birth was Thomas Conway Barret, but he later changed this to Thomas Barrett Conway.  Thomas inherited one of the freestone quarries at Rock Rimmon on Aquia Creek.  He ran this for many years, though he lived…

George Washington Conway (1818-1880) was the son of John Moncure Conway (1779-1864) who was clerk of the circuit court in Stafford for nearly  half a century.  The 1871 land tax records list George as owning 286 1/2 acres on Chappawamsic Run, but he also inherited from his father land near the courthouse.  In 1842 he…