Family Trees of
Alexandria’s Historic Burial Grounds
Who lies beside whom, and why? These Alexandria family trees map the people behind some of the best-known graves in the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex (the Presbyterian, Christ Church, St. Paul’s, Methodist Protestant and Trinity Methodist cemeteries), at Ivy Hill Cemetery, and in the Old Town burial grounds of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House and Christ Church: who they were, how they were related, and where each one rests. They are drawn from the same research behind our walking tours.
How to Read These Alexandria Family Trees
Each tree follows one family, listed here A to Z by surname; the tag on each card tells you which cemetery to find them in. Boxes give names, dates, a few notes and a burial line. Looking for one person? Search the A–Z name index. The colors tell you where each person rests:
- Buried at that plot or cemetery
- Another lot or a nearby burial ground (each tree’s own key says which)
- Buried or lived elsewhere
- Context, or burial not confirmed
- Relationship not yet confirmed
- Heavy border, †: died in the 1922 Knickerbocker collapse
All 65 Alexandria Family Trees in One Download
The collection began with one chart, the Myers family tree. Every tree on this page is in a single printable PDF, one tree per landscape page, A to Z, sized for letter paper. Print it, laminate it, or keep it on your phone for your next walk through Alexandria’s historic burial grounds.
A
Trinity Methodist Cemetery
The Abercrombies: Furniture and Liberia
Robert Abercrombie, King Street furniture maker and 1812 militiaman, and his son-in-law Dr. James W. Lugenbeel, who kept the only eyewitness journal of Liberia’s 1847 constitutional convention.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Allisons: A Sea Captain and a Son Killed in 1814
Capt. Robert Allison Sr., a Revolutionary-era justice and merchant, married Ann Ramsay, daughter of Alexandria’s founder. Their son, killed at the Battle of the White House in 1814, lies in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Arells: The Tavern and the Deed
Richard Arell’s tavern hosted Washington and the Fairfax Resolves of 1774; in 1773 he and Eleanor deeded the ground for the Presbyterian church. Sons David and Samuel, both Revolutionary captains, lie here too.
B
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · No. 9
The Bogues: A Cabinetmaker’s Family
Judith Bogue’s husband built the Fairfax County Courthouse and 611 Cameron Street, where young Robert E. Lee first lived in Alexandria.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Sections 41 & 44
The Brocketts: Builders and a Historian
Robert Brockett built the 1787 Flounder House at the Meeting House. His son led the Independent Volunteers at the Battle of the White House, and his grandson Franklin wrote A Concise History of the City of Alexandria.
C
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · Nos. 10 & 11
The Carlyles: Carlyle House and the Oldest Gravestone
John Carlyle, builder of Carlyle House and signer of the Fairfax Resolves, and his first wife Sarah Fairfax Carlyle, whose 1761 stone is the oldest in the ground, with their children and his second family.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 43
The Cazenoves: Anthony Charles Cazenove and His Ten Children
The Geneva-born merchant and Swiss consul who escorted Lafayette to Washington’s tomb, with children who married a Marine Corps commandant, a North Carolina congressman and the steamship pioneer Gazaway Bugg Lamar.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 43
Louis Albert Cazenove and the Lee-Fendall House
Two marriages, a son born in the Lee-Fendall House in 1852, and the line down to James O’Hara Cazenove, the last of the Alexandria Cazenoves, who died in 1971.
St. Paul’s Cemetery
The Chalmerses: Lily Myers’s First Family
Algernon Coleman Chalmers Sr. and Lily Myers, and their three children, one a Navy lieutenant commander at Arlington.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lot 101
The Coopers of Lot 101: A Tea Party Patriot and a Confederate General
Major Samuel Cooper helped dump the tea into Boston Harbor at 16. His son, Gen. Samuel Cooper, became the senior officer of the Confederacy and married Gen. John Mason’s daughter Sarah Maria. Father and son lie side by side.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lot 100
The Corses: A General and Grosvenor House
Gen. Montgomery Dent Corse led the 17th Virginia, was captured at Sayler’s Creek and survived the 1870 Capitol collapse in Richmond. He lived at Grosvenor House, built for Anthony Cazenove.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Craiks: Washington’s Physician and Friend
Dr. James Craik served beside Washington from Fort Necessity to his last illness and became Chief Physician and Surgeon of the Continental Army. His children married into the West, Harrison and Fitzhugh families; a son was Washington’s secretary.
D
Presbyterian Cemetery & Ivy Hill Cemetery
The Downhams: A Mayor, a 59er and the Lee-Fendall House
E. E. Downham panned for gold in Colorado in 1859, came to Alexandria in 1865 to sell wine and liquor, and became mayor. His son Robert bought the Lee-Fendall House in 1903 and served President Wilson from his basement stock in 1914.
Methodist Protestant Cemetery
The Duffeys: The Capitol Trowel
John Duffey made the silver trowel Washington used to lay the Capitol cornerstone in 1793. His son kept a Royal Street tavern; his grandson, Maj. George Duffey, was a silversmith and Confederate artillery officer.
F
Trinity Methodist Cemetery
Abraham Faw: A Ratifier of the Constitution
A Swiss-born Maryland merchant who signed his state’s ratification of the Constitution in 1788, then served Alexandria as justice and alderman. His second wife lies in the Meeting House churchyard.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 42:53
The Fendalls: Robert E. Lee’s Cousin and the Arlington Tax
Philip Richard Fendall II, born in the Lee-Fendall House, tried to pay the tax that would have saved Arlington House. His sons served as Marines on opposite sides of the Civil War.
St. Paul’s Cemetery
The Fendalls of St. Paul’s: Townie, Eliza and Willie
Townsend Dade Fendall, a grandnephew of the Lee-Fendall House builder, married Mayor Joseph Eaches’s daughter Eliza. Their son Willie married the widowed Lily Myers Chalmers, and was sued by his own brother and sister.
Presbyterian Cemetery · The Fleming Plot
The Flemings: A Lee Family and the Knickerbocker Night
Thomas Fleming and two of his children died when the snow-laden roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed on January 28, 1922. The tree traces them back through Mary Elizabeth Lee Fleming, who owned the Lee-Fendall House, to Richard Bland Lee of Sully.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lots P & R
The Fowles: A Duel, a Canal President and the Founder of Franconia
William Holmes Fowle, scarred in an 1827 duel with Louis Cazenove; his brother George, whose daughter Nellie married Fitzhugh Lee; and Rollins Fowle, whose Frankhonia Farm gave Franconia its name.
Ivy Hill Cemetery
The Frobels: Mount Vernon’s Music Teacher and a Civil War Diarist
John Jacob Frobel taught music to Bushrod Washington’s family at Mount Vernon; his daughter Anne kept a diary of the Union occupation at Wilton Hill.
G
Ivy Hill Cemetery
The Greens: The Mansion House and Mercy Street
James Green, whose factory started the Great Fire of 1827, built the Mansion House hotel of Mercy Street. He married Jane Muir; their daughter Emma married Frank Stringfellow, J.E.B. Stuart’s 94-pound scout.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 44:141
The Gregorys: A Scottish Merchant and Two Families
William Gregory, last survivor of the Alexandria Blues at the White House battle; his son Dr. William Bartleman Gregory and the horse Old Tom; and his daughter Mary Gregory Powell, who led the 1928 marking of the grave of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolution.
H
Presbyterian Cemetery · Sections 42 & 43
The Harpers: Valley Forge and the War of 1812
Capt. William Harper crossed the Delaware with Washington and was one of President Adams’s “midnight” justices. He was a son of Capt. John Harper of Captain’s Row. His son, Dr. William Harper, fought the British at the White House in 1814.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · Nos. 32 & 33
Capt. John Harper of Captain’s Row
The Quaker sea captain who built Captain’s Row and Gentry Row, with two daughters who married the Vowell brothers and a grandson, John Lloyd, he raised.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · No. 20
The Hepburns: An Accused Loyalist and Rev. Moses Hepburn
Agnes Hepburn; her husband William, jailed in 1777 as a suspected Loyalist and acquitted; and Rev. Moses Hepburn, William’s son with Esther David, a leader of Alexandria’s free Black community.
Methodist Protestant Cemetery
Samuel Hilton: The Tavern Keeper of Washington’s Birthday
He kept Lamb’s Tavern, where Lodge 39 first met, hosted revelers on Washington’s last birthday in 1799, and died on Washington’s birthday in 1852.
Trinity Methodist Cemetery
John Hollensbury and the Spite House
The brickmaker who built Alexandria’s seven-foot-wide Spite House on Queen Street, with the daughters buried around him.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lot 65 and the Hooff Vault
The Hooffs: Washington’s Bier and the Blue Boy Stamp
Lawrence Hooff Sr. was the first senior warden of St. Paul’s; his son Maj. Lawrence Hooff Jr. helped carry George Washington’s casket to the tomb. James Wallace Hooff’s 1847 love letter carries the rare “Alexandria Blue Boy” stamp.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Hunters: A Mayor, a Shipbuilder and a Merchant
William Hunter Jr., founder of the St. Andrew’s Society; John Hunter, whose shipyard at the foot of Wilkes Street ran until 1863; and the merchant Alexander Hunter, three Hunter families in one churchyard.
J
Presbyterian Cemetery
The Jacobs Brothers of the 1812 Militia
Presley Jacobs fought at the Battle of the White House; his brother Thomas, a tailor, built 808 Prince Street. Presley’s daughter Margaret married the master builder William Henry McKnight.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Sections 41 & 44
The Jamiesons: Bakers to the Navy and the Queen
Andrew Jamieson, a Scottish baker who signed the 1809 deed for the Presbyterian Cemetery, and his son Robert, whose Steam Bakery at Lee and Oronoco Streets sent crackers to Queen Victoria’s table. Robert’s first wife was a Sanford, daughter of the elder Thomas Sanford.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · No. 37
The Janneys: Buried by Special Exception
Margaret Wilkes Janney was buried in the churchyard in 1810, after the town had banned burials. Her husband Abel was a shipping merchant; they had nine children.
Methodist Protestant Cemetery
Caroline Matilde Johnson: Smuggler in Petticoats
She carried medical supplies through Union lines in pockets sewn into her petticoat and found a plume for J.E.B. Stuart. Her son led the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce; her sister was the widow of firefighter George O. Plain.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lots 163–164
The Johnstons: Parson Johnston and General De Lagnel
Rev. James T. Johnston was rector of St. Paul’s for 25 years and built 806 Prince Street, today the R. E. Lee Camp Hall. Gen. Julius Adolphus De Lagnel, who turned down a general’s commission, lies in the Johnston lot, and his father’s stone stands in St. Paul’s too.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 44:161
The Johnstons of West Grove and Gettysburg
Four generations, from a Revolutionary-era sea captain to Capt. Samuel Richard Johnston, Lee’s reconnaissance officer at Gettysburg, and the son he named for his general.
K
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lot 228
The Kempers: An Artillery Officer and a Mayor
Delaware Kemper’s guns hit the Cub Run bridge at First Manassas; he later taught at Hampden-Sydney and served as U.S. consul in China. His brother Kosciusko was mayor, school superintendent and Grand Master of Masons in Virginia.
L
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Ladds: The Delegate Who Completed the Union
Capt. William Ladd helped Rhode Island ratify the Constitution in 1790. His son, the poet Dr. Joseph Brown Ladd, died after a Charleston duel in which he fired into the air.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lot 4
The Lees of Lot 4: Edmund Jennings Lee I and Sarah Lee
Light-Horse Harry Lee’s brother and Richard Henry Lee’s daughter, with Sarah’s brother Francis Lightfoot Lee II in the same plot. Their children include Cassius Lee, in whose house Robert E. Lee was offered command of Virginia’s forces, and Edmund Jennings Lee II of Bedford.
Ivy Hill Cemetery · Section N
Maj. Richard Bland Lee II: From Sully to the Seminole War
Born at Sully, wounded in the Seminole War and a Confederate quartermaster, he was the father of Mary Elizabeth Lee Fleming, who bought the Lee-Fendall House in 1870.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lot 20:5
Sydney Smith Lee: Robert E. Lee’s Brother and the Last Confederate Surrender
Commodore Lee and his wife, Nannie Mason Lee; their son Fitzhugh Lee, a general and later governor of Virginia; and Capt. Sydney Smith Lee Jr., who surrendered the CSS Shenandoah at Liverpool in November 1865.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lot 93
The Lloyds of Lot 93: A Quaker Merchant and a Lee Bride
John Lloyd, raised by Captain’s Row builder John Harper, and his second wife, Ann Harriotte Lee, Robert E. Lee’s first cousin. Their son Edmund Jennings Lloyd kept the Lloyd House on N. Washington Street.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lot 32
The Lynns: A Silversmith General and the Hero of Fort Erie
Gen. Adam Lynn, silversmith and St. Paul’s first vestryman, shares Lot 32 with his niece Ann Eliza and her husband, Gen. Thomas Childs, who spiked the British guns at Fort Erie in 1814 and held Puebla in 1847.
M
Christ Church Burial Ground (Old Town)
Lt. Col. Philip Marsteller: Quartermaster and Pallbearer
A Pennsylvania quartermaster who became mayor of Alexandria and an honorary pallbearer at Washington’s funeral. His son Philip G. Marsteller lies in the Presbyterian Cemetery; his son Lewis died of wounds from the Whiskey Insurrection.
Christ Church Cemetery · Lot C
The Masons of Lot C: Gen. John Mason and His Children
The son of George Mason of Gunston Hall who sent Francis Scott Key on the mission that produced “The Star-Spangled Banner,” with his son James Murray Mason and the daughters who married Gen. Samuel Cooper and Sydney Smith Lee.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 41:20
The McKnights of 41:20
Three generations in one lot: the captain who took Fort Duquesne and opened McKnight’s Tavern, a son captured three times by French privateers, a son who led the Independent Blues in 1814, and two Confederate grandsons.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Lots 267–268
Wilmer McLean: From Bull Run to Appomattox
The war began on his farm at First Manassas and ended in his parlor at Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865. His father, Daniel McClean, helped secure the land for St. Paul’s Church.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 41:17
The Muirs: Cabinetmakers and a Mayor
John Muir, a Scottish cabinetmaker whose clients included Bushrod Washington; his widow Mary, who kept the shop going; and John A. Muir, mayor of Alexandria in 1853–54, likely their son.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · No. 14
Rev. Dr. James Muir and His Family
Minister of the Meeting House for 31 years, buried beneath its north aisle. His daughter Elizabeth Love Muir was the last person buried in the churchyard, in 1876.
St. Paul’s Cemetery · Where This Project Began
The Myerses: A Quartermaster General and a General’s Daughter
The tree that started this collection. Col. Abraham C. Myers, Quartermaster General of the Confederacy, married Gen. David E. Twiggs’s daughter. Their daughter Lily married into the Chalmers and Fendall families; their son became a Marine lieutenant general.
N
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 42:45
The Newtons: A Merchant, His Wife and a Navy Hero
William Newton and Jane Barr Stuart Newton died weeks apart in the winter of 1814–15. The naval hero John Thomas Newton, who won a Congressional medal for the Hornet’s victory over HMS Peacock, lies in the same plot.
P
Methodist Protestant Cemetery
George O. Plain: The 1855 King Street Fire
One of seven volunteer firefighters killed when a wall collapsed in Hugh Smith’s warehouse at 215–217 King Street, leaving a widow and six children.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Porters: A Boston Tea Party Man in Alexandria
Thomas Porter dumped tea into Boston Harbor at 17 and became an Alexandria merchant and civic founder. He married Sally Ramsay, daughter of the town’s founder.
R
Christ Church Burial Ground (Old Town)
The Ramsays: The Founder and the Treasurer
William Ramsay helped choose the site of Alexandria in 1748; his wife, Ann Ball McCarty Ramsay, raised more than $75,000 for the Revolution. Their children married into the Allison and Porter families, and their son Dennis was the mayor who first called Washington “Mr. President.”
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 41:26
William Reynolds: A Valley Forge Private
A private at Valley Forge and Monmouth who settled near the Meeting House; his wife and four of their children lie with him.
S
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Sanfords: A Sea Captain and His Brothers
Capt. Lawrence Sanford ran West Indies goods for the patriots and was imprisoned for it; his brother Thomas served in the 2nd Virginia State Regiment; his son Thomas was a Meeting House elder for 36 years.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
Sgt. Thomas Simms: Valley Forge and a Grocer’s Family
A sergeant at Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth who came home to keep a grocery on Prince Street, with two wives and the children they lost young.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section 42:44
The Smiths: The Lees’ Lawyers and the Case That Won Back Arlington
Francis Lee Smith lost the land that became the Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery. His son, a New Market veteran, sued for the Lees and won United States v. Lee; another son, Courtland, was mayor.
Old Presbyterian Meeting House · No. 35
Hugh Smith of the Wilkes Street Pottery
His first wife and their daughter lie in the churchyard; Hugh and his second wife are in the Presbyterian Cemetery. Their son Hugh C. Smith founded Ivy Hill Cemetery.
Trinity Methodist Cemetery
The Snowdens of the Alexandria Gazette
Edgar Snowden Sr., publisher, mayor and legislator, married a great-niece of Light-Horse Harry Lee’s mother. They lived at 619 South Lee Street, the house Thomas Vowell built.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Section B:194
The Stuarts: John Brown’s Trial and Stratford Hall
Col. Charles Edward Stuart, who commanded the militia at John Brown’s trial, and his son Judge Charles Edward Stuart, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and owner of Stratford Hall, the Lee birthplace.
T
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
The Thoms: Alexandria’s First Presbyterian Pastor
Rev. William Thom received the deed to the church ground in July 1773 and died of yellow fever weeks later, three days after his mother.
V
Presbyterian Cemetery
The Vowells: Three Brothers from London
Thomas Vowell, president of the Bank of Alexandria, and John C. Vowell, who chaired the town’s 1824 welcome for Lafayette, married Capt. John Harper’s daughters. Their brother Dr. John D. Vowell took over Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick’s practice.
W
Christ Church Burial Ground (Old Town)
Anne Brunton Warren: A Star of Two Stages
The London actress who rivaled Sarah Siddons, crossed the Atlantic in 1796, married three times, and died at Gadsby’s Tavern in 1808.
Y
Old Presbyterian Meeting House
John Yost: Washington’s Gunsmith
He sold Washington a rifle in 1770, armed Maryland’s troops in the Revolution, and kept Alexandria’s powder house. His “I. Y.” stone survives in the bell tower base.
Presbyterian Cemetery · Fendall Family Plot
The Youngs: A General at Washington’s Funeral
Gen. Robert Young led the Alexandria cavalry at Washington’s funeral and a brigade at the Battle of the White House. Two sons named James died young; his daughter Elizabeth married Philip Richard Fendall II, and Roberta married a governor of Mississippi.
These Alexandria family trees are compiled from the research behind each story on this site. The Lot 4 Lee and Fleming trees also draw on a family genealogy compiled by Clarissa Walton Fleming, courtesy of the Rust family. Where a relationship is not yet confirmed, the line is dashed. If you can add to a tree or correct one, please get in touch.
The Trees Show You Who.
The Tours Tell You Their Stories.
Many of the families on this page are stops on our walking tours. Stand at the graves and hear how these lives connect, from Lafayette’s visit to the Knickerbocker night.