Talbert-McGuinn Family Cemetery (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the cemetery once stood. No visible remains exist. In the photo above are the following people: Back Row: Doris Cassedy -- Catherine Gayle -- Mae Dove -- Marguerite Gibson -- Unknown -- Georgia Talbert -- Elsie McGuin -- Clarence P. Talbert and in the Front Row: Harry McGuin (plaid shirt) -- James Walter Talbert -- child unknown


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

TALBERT FAMILY CEMETERY (Removed)
Was located near the intersection of Van Dorn Street (Route 613) and the Capital Beltway
South Alexandria, Virginia USA

Original Information from Volume 5 of the Gravestone Books

The Talbert Family Cemetery (also known as the Talbott Family Cemetery) was located near the intersection of Van Dorn Street (Route 613) and the Capital Beltway. When the Beltway was constructed in the 1960s, at least 37 burials in this eighteenth-century cemetery were removed to the Mount Calvary Community Church Cemetery and reinterred.

The Talbert family graves lie in a row along the eastern fence at the back of the cemetery. A few graves are marked with old marble gravestones which were moved with the burials. Most of the graves are marked with modern granite gravestones which date to the time of reinterment. Ten of these markers simply bear the inscription, “Unknown.”

There are ten gravestones inscribed “Unknown”.

No Updates from Volume 6 of the Gravestone Books


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Here follows an excerpt from the Spring 2006 edition of the "Franconia Remembers" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

KIN FIGHT TO SAVE CEMETERY FROM THROUGHWAY INVASION
News Clipping
October 23, 1959

OAKWOOD—A cemetery where Virginians were buried before the first shots of the Civil War were fired appears fated for oblivion because it stands in the way of a highway deemed vital to the progress of modern-day Virginia. The graveyard one-half mile west of the Oakwood subdivision near Rt. 613 lies in the path of the proposed Circumferential Highway. However, four Oakwood area families are trying to save the cemetery where their ancestors have lain for more than a century. They have asked the State Board of Appeal to intervene.

* * *
“I HAVE my mother and father, two brothers and three children buried in that cemetery and I don’t see why they can’t build the highway with the ground they have,” says Mrs. Elsie McGuinn. Mrs. McGuinn said that there are l,000 to 1,200 feet of land between the cemetery and the RF&P Railroad tracks. The commission is requesting a 500-foot right-of-way through the area. “If they would tell the truth it would be a little different,” she said. According to Mrs. McGuinn, the planners originally assured her that the land needed for the highway would miss the cemetery by 15 feet. “They’ve gotten 14 acres and my house from me. I won’t fuss about the place but I will fuss about the cemetery,” Mrs. McGuinn says.

* * *
MRS. McGUINN says that she is the one who started the fight. James (Walter) Talbert, whose great grandfather has lain in the half-acre plot for more than 100 years, picked up the battle and accompanied the group’s petition to Richmond when the original lawyer hired by Mrs. McGuinn “didn’t move fast enough.” The oldest legible tombstone is 107 years old and Mrs. McGuinn says there were people being buried there before that. The commission has offered to pay for the removal of the cemetery’s occupants to a new burial place, but according to Mrs. Virginia May Dove, present owner of the cemetery land, “There’s nothing to move.” Most of the people were buried in pine boxes and their descendants don’t think there is enough left to move. There also are other graves which have been worn down and are unmarked.

WILLIAM KABLER, the group’s new lawyer, said, “What we are after is any sort of a compromise which would preserve the graveyard. They wouldn’t mind if the highway is built right next to the Cemetery, as long as it remained undisturbed, he said. “I’d like to see the Highway Commission step aside and reroute the highway, said Mr. Kabler, “but I’m afraid the commissioner might want to make this fight just to settle the question of whether or not he will have to avoid graveyards in future planning.”

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Caption under picture:

THEY SHALL NOT PASS—Members of four old-time Springfield (and Franconia) families stand behind James W. Talbert and the gravestones he is trying to preserve from a State Highway Commission plan to use the land as part of the right-of-way for the Circumferential Highway.

Back Row: Doris Cassedy -- Catherine Gayle -- Mae Dove -- Marguerite Gibson -- Unknown -- Georgia Talbert -- Elsie McGuin -- Clarence P. Talbert
Front Row: Harry McGuin (plaid shirt) -- James Walter Talbert -- child unknown.
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Oakwood subdivision was what is now known as South Van Dorn Street between Franconia Road and the City of Alexandria limits. The cemetery was located near the exit ramp to the Route 495 Beltway. Most all of the graves were moved to a private cemetery owned by the Schurtz family on Beulah Street (adjacent to the Beulah Cemetery), including some slaves at which time the State erected an iron fence.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2010 edition of the "Franconia Remembers" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Mrs. Harry McQuinn held up the highway construction bulldozers with a shotgun. She said she didn’t want the graves to be disturbed. The case went to the State Supreme Court - it ruled that the cemetery could not hold up the building of the road as long as the government moved the graves to a new location that would be suitable to the families. They had guards watching the graves all the time. So his father let the Talbot's move their cemetery into his and started massive negotiations between the state and the county. Schurtz would not let them bury the graves without being paid for by the state, but they finally paid, and he prepared the grave yard. They found bodies from the Civil War buried in coffins with glass lids that were still not broken, and you could see the uniforms through the lids. Probably there are still some people not found who were buried under 495, because the fence was burned. So they did not know exactly where the cemetery boundaries were. They found 30 Confederate soldier’s bodies outside the regular cemetery, but they do not know if all were found, and some could have been left. The soldiers bodies were put in 6x4 concrete vaults that were brought down on flatbeds and dropped in a trench.


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TALBERT FAMILY CEMETERY
VAN DORN ST. & RTE. 495, FRANCONIA:
This cemetery was moved to Mt. Calvary Community Church (FX 31) in the late 1960's, during the construction of Rte. 495. There were 38 markers lined up in a row by the eastern fence. Most of the stones were contemporary granite markers placed at the time of reinternment, though a few were original marble headstones that were moved with the remains.

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GEORGE T. TALBERT
Born:
Died: AUG 16, 1878
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PENNELOPE TALBERT
Born:
Died: DEC 6, 1859
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NORMA T. TALBERT
Born: SEP 5, 1879
Died: APR 2, 1952
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GEORGANA TALBERT
Born: DEC 8, 1878
Died: NOV 8, 1982
Inscription "AUNT GEORGIE ....ABSENT FROM THE BODY, HOME WITH THE LORD."
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JAMES R. TALBERT
Born: OCT 17, 1855
Died: JAN 28, 1929
Inscription "IN MEMORY OF....At Rest."
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MARGARET R. TALBERT
Born: APR 30, 1857
Died: MAR 26, 1911
Wife of: JAMES R. TALBERT
Inscription "IN MEMORY OF....At Rest."
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ALLEN TALBERT
Born: FEB 6, 1898
Died: FEB 6, 1898
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WILLIAM E. TALBERT
Born: FEB 18, 1881
Died: MAR 16, 1886
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MRS. MILLS
Inscription "MRS. MILLS DIED IN THE 1800's."
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MRS. MARY TALBERT
Born:
Died: JUL 1, 1900
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GEORGE W. TALBERT
Born:
Died: JAN 9, 1856
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THOMAS TALBERT
Born: 1770c
Died: OCT 3, 1852
Inscription "SACRED To the memory of ....a native of Fairfax County, Va."
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CHARLES H. TALBERT
Born:
Died: SEP 21, 1819
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WILLIAM R. TALBERT
Born:
Died: MAY 21, 1851
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ANN B. TALBERT
Inscription "ANN B. TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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MISS MARY TALBERT
Born:
Died: MAR 20, 1900
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CHARLES W. TALBERT
Born:
Died: NOV 20, 1858
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CHARLES H. TALBERT
Born:
Died: DEC 1, 1858
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WALTER B. TALBERT
Born:
Died: OCT 7, 1864
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LYBIA ANN TALBERT
Born:
Died: JAN 10, 1868
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MARTHA A. TALBERT
Born:
Died: NOV 7, 1880
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JAMES M. TALBERT
Born:
Died: MAR 8, 1893
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VIRGINIA TALBERT
Inscription "VIRGINIA TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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JOHN T. TALBERT
Born:
Died: JUL 1897
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CHARLES H. TALBERT
Inscription "CHARLES H. TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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WILLIAM B. TALBERT
Inscription "WILLIAM B. TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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C. H. TALBERT
Inscription "C. H. TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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GILES F. TALBERT
Inscription "GILES F. TALBERT DIED IN THE 1800's."
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JAN AYRES


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Here follows an excerpt from the Spring 2008 edition of the "Franconia Remembers" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

A Granddaughter Remembers 1940s – 1950s
written by by Helen Kearns

I am Helen Elizabeth Gibson Kearns, one of the many grandchildren of Harry and Elsie McGuin. We lived on Oakwood Road, now South Van Dorn Street. Gramma, as I called my grandmother, told me that before it was called Oakwood Road, it was known as Lunt’s Road. I was born December 14, 1938. I began attending Franconia Elementary School in 1945 and can remember every teacher of the seven grades through 1972, which can be another story. My grandparents met at a church picnic. He was nineteen and she was twenty-one when they married. Grampap was a farmer during the day and a railroad man on the R.F.&P. Railroad at night. He worked on the midnight shift 12 p.m.– 8 a.m. To me they were and are the world’s best grandparents!

My first train ride was with Gramma to Alexandria, which was so special to this country girl. I had to black (polish) my shoes before I could go. After she finished her shopping, we would go to Kresges for ice cream at the soda fountain. What a wonderful treat!

Gramma sewed beautiful skirts for me, from pretty printed feed sacks, on her Singer treadle sewing machine. Gramma and I picked berries, tomatoes, and other things from the fields and trees. She made biscuits every day from scratch. I helped gather kindling for the big black wood stove in the kitchen.

I would often tag along when Gramma milked the cow. One time the cow kicked her so hard, she had a black and blue shoulder for a long time. After that she would tie the cow’s legs until she finished milking. I liked helping Gramma churn the milk into butter. Gramma had a big country kitchen where most of the work was done. She put the churn on the big table. I would pull up a chair, and on my knees was able to reach the churn. The churn was made of clear heavy glass with a square bottom and a large round opening on which a top was screwed. The top had a place to grip to keep the churn from moving. When I turned the handle, the paddles on the inside moved. I loved watching the milk turn into butter. Having butter on hot biscuits for supper and on pancakes for breakfast was yummy.

Nobody cooked better than Gramma. On Sundays we usually had fried chicken for dinner. On Saturday, Gramma would chop off the chicken’s head on a block with the ax. She then put the chicken under a bushel basket with a heavy piece of wood on top until it stopped flopping. Then she would dip it into a large bucket of boiling water, so it would be easy to pluck the feathers. After cleaning the chicken, she would give us kids the feet to play with. We had fun making pretty designs in the dirt driveway

In the fall, I helped Gramma gather acorns and dry leaves for the pigs. In winter when it snowed, many of the grandchildren, my cousins, and the neighborhood kids came to Gramma’s to sleigh ride. It was the best hill in the area. If there was no school the next day, we would sleigh until the wee hours of the morning. We would have a big bon fire off to one side at the bottom of the hill.

Grampap was a very special man. He loved kids. He said every time a new baby was born into the family it was worth a million dollars. He was always so good to us kids. Many times he let me tag along when he worked in the fields. He let me ride on the hayrake and the hay truck to the barn. I spent many hours playing in the barn, especially in the hay loft with my friends and cousins, while Grampap worked on his machinery or sharpened his tools.

About once a month, on his way home from working on the railroad, Grampap would stop at Ridgeway’s Store on Telegraph Road, near Duke Street. He would bring us Hostess Cupcakes and soft orange candy, called Circus Peanuts.

I will always be grateful to God for giving me such precious grandparents. Harry and Elsie Kitson McGuin had ten children and raised eight to adulthood. I never lacked for a playmate. I have forty-seven cousins. We played hide and seek, baseball, hop scotch, tag, board games and lots more. I was a Tom Boy, and I spent many wonderful hours alone roaming the fields and woods on my grandparent’s farm.