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Capt. George Burroughs (c.1750-c.1827) served as a vestryman for Aquia Church in 1785, 1816, and possibly other years, as well.  He was commissioner of the revenue for Stafford from at least 1797-1805 and operated a store in the village of Aquia from at least 1804-1806.  He and other members of his immediate family seem to…

Harry Selah Brown (c.1884-1967) was a native of New York City.  In 1909 he opened one of Fredericksburg’s first movie theaters.  An accomplished musician, he played the piano while the silent movies were being shown.  In 1927 he founded Brown’s Motel, one of the early motels and tourist camps that were built after U. S.…

Dixon Brown (dates unknown) was the son of John Brown and employed himself as a blacksmith and wheelwright in Stafford.  In 1814 he rented James Horton’s “old plantation” in the northern part of Stafford.  In 1809 the Stafford court granted Dixon a license to keep a house of “private entertainment” (legal gambling) and in 1833…

Daniel Carroll Brent (1759-1815) was the son of William Brent (1733-1782) and Eleanor Carroll (1733-1804).  He was born and resided at Richland in the Wide Water area of Stafford.  In 1782 he married Anne Fenton Lee (1754-1803), the daughter of Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) and Mary Aylett (c.1738-after 1806) of Bell View and Berry Hill,…

Thornton Weldon Berrey (1868-1906) was born in Madison County, Virginia and graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in law.  He married Caroline Stewart Bryan (1875-1962), the daughter of Stafford’s Clerk of Court Charles Adams Bryan.  T. Weldon Berrey practiced law in Stafford and, for the last three years of his life, operated…

William Bell (1771-1855) is believed to have been the son of one of the John Bells of Stafford.  He married Elizabeth Ratliff (1775-1847) of Stafford and was very involved in county affairs.  He resided on a farm on the northern edge of Falmouth.  In that town he operated a tavern from at least 1807-1827.  William…

In 1811 Robert Beaty (died 1826) was a second lieutenant of cavalry in the 45th regiment of Virginia militia (Stafford County).  Prior to 1806 he was a member of Hartwood Baptist Church, but that year was dismissed to join Rock Hill Baptist Church.  He was a resident of Prince William County in 1810 when he…

William Churchill Beale (1791-1850) was the son of William Beale (c.1755-1821) and Hannah Gordon (1758-c.1820) of Fauquier County.  His first wife was Susan Vowles (1772-before 1834) of Falmouth.  In 1834 he married secondly in Fredericksburg Jane Briggs Howison (1815-1882). William and Jane spent their first five years of marriage in what is now known as…

William Pierce Bayly (1773-1842) was the son of Pierce Bayly (1742-1801) and Mary Payne (1754-1826) of Loudoun County, Virginia.  Prior to 1800 William and his father operated a general merchandise store in the village of Aquia in Stafford.  This site was lost to the development of Aquia Harbour subdivision.  After his father’s death in 1801,…

Ketura Barret (1746-1794) was the illegitimate daughter of Sarah Barret of St. Paul’s Parish, now King George County.  Ketura had an illegitimate son, Thomas Con(a)way Barret (1779-1825), by Thomas Conaway whose name was included in a 1785 business ledger from the town of Aquia in Stafford.  Ketura then moved in with Charles Porter (c.1729-1788) who…

William Barber (1787-1881) was one of Stafford’s most prominent nineteenth century citizens, yet relatively little is known of him or his family.  He was the son of Edward Barber (died c.1843) who lived near Deep Run on the western side of Stafford.  William married Sarah Roy Mason (c.1799-after 1870), the daughter of Col. Enoch Mason…

This William Ball (1768-1815) was not of the Virginia Ball family, but was born in Pennsylvania, a fact that causes confusion as both he and several of his Virginia Ball counterparts lived simultaneously in the White Oak area of Stafford.  He was the son of William Ball (died 1782) and Martha Brumfield and owned and…