Read Ebook: Huntley: A Mason Family Country House by Wrenn Tony P

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Ebook has 242 lines and 23800 words, and 5 pages

Location and Site

Huntley, 6918 Harrison Lane, near Woodlawn Plantation, Fairfax County, Virginia, is currently owned by Colonel and Mrs. Ransom G. Amlong. It is located off the Jefferson Davis Highway , in the Groveton community, on Harrison Lane, between Lockheed Boulevard and Kings Highway .

The house is on a plateau, overlooking Hybla Valley, at 150 feet above sea level. To the south, or in front of the house, the ground level drops in three terraces to 130 feet above sea level. To the north or rear there is a sharp rise to 200 feet.

A church and several houses are located directly in front of Huntley, but the vista from the house toward the Potomac River, especially in summer, is relatively undisturbed. The general area is one of intense commercial and residential development. Hybla Valley, through which Barnyard Creek flows from Huntley, constitutes the major part of the view from the house, and much of this land is owned by the U.S. Government.

The Huntley complex consists of:

All the buildings are brick. The house itself is a significant Federal period structure, built during the ownership of Thomson F. Mason, c. 1820, and believed to have been influenced by George Hadfield, architect of Washington's first City Hall and first superintendent of the Capitol's construction.

Origin of the Name

The first known use of "Huntley" as a place name for the Harrison Lane house appears in an 1859 deed of the property by Betsey C. Mason, widow of T.F. Mason, to her sons John Francis and A. Pendleton Mason. The property is described as:

... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one thousand acres....

It is probable that the plantation was named Huntley before Thomson F. Mason died in 1838, although his will of that year mentions no real estate, or personal property specifically.

If he followed the Mason tradition, the house may have been named after an ancestral home in England, and probably after the home of a maternal ancestor. In writing of Gunston Hall, Helen Hill Miller says:

They called their home "Gunston Hall." The name had come down through several generations of Mason's maternal ancestry: his grandmother was Mary Fowke of Gunston Hall in Charles County, Maryland, and her grandfather was the Gerald Fowke of Gunston Hall in Staffordshire who emigrated to Virginia at the same time as the first George Mason. The habit of naming new homes in America after the old ones in England was general among the planters of the Virginia Tidewater. Mason conformed to this tradition for a second time when he made a gift of a nearby plantation to his son Thomson and called it "Hollin Hall," after the home of his mother's people near Ripon....

If Thomson F. Mason had followed the same procedure he could have used the name "Huntley," which might at any point have had an "e" added. His father was General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall, who was married to Sarah McCarty Chichester. Sarah was the daughter of Richard McCarty Chichester, whose first wife had been Ann Gordon. The ancestral Gordon home in Scotland was called "Huntley."

OWNERS AND OCCUPANTS

Mason Ownership

The will of General Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall was written on April 15, 1797, and probated, after his death, on November 21, 1820. That will does not specifically mention real estate, but does:

... give and devise unto my Son Thomason Mason my gold watch and I confirm unto him his right and title to a mulatto boy named Bill, given him by his Grandfather Mr. Richard Chichester and I also give and devise unto him my interest in the Potomack Company....

One reason no real estate is specifically mentioned may be cleared up by a later deed in which other heirs of General Mason deed to:

Thomson F. Mason of the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia, ... a certain tract of land situate in the County of Fairfax and State of Virginia known and called by the name of Hunting Creek Farm....

This deed reaffirms settlements made by General Mason during his lifetime on January 1, 1817, and includes the land on which Huntley is located.

Thomson F. could have begun Huntley at any time after January 1, 1817. On the 29th of January 1818, he paid Alexander Baggett .79-1/2 for, among other things:

Also included is one item labeled "folding doors" . No double doors have been located at Huntley, although Mason is not known to have been building elsewhere at this period. During the latter part of 1819 he was still building and paid .00 for:

Sept 20--20 bushels plaster Sept 22--20 bushels plaster Oct 10--10 bushels plaster....

There was probably a structure at Huntley by 1823, for in February of that year Mason sent "to his farm by surry ten bushels shoots and six bran...."

to spend a few days at Mr. T.F. Mason's farm, but was deterred from doing so by the apprehension that, as Mr. Mason resided in Town, and there was no other white person on the farm but the overseer ... she would not be secure.

Another letter written to Mason on August 18, 1827, now incomplete and in poor condition, suggests finishing some construction work and notes that the writer, whose name is missing:

... had understood you had only rented the place by the month, tho the man has a little crop on the land growing and if the season proves good at the end of the year may be worth ...

Reward/ran away from the farm of Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax County on the night of 2d instant negro/BOB. He is about 6 feet high, stout made, very black/and about 45 years of age; has a stammering in his/speech; his right leg sore. Had on when he eloped,/brown linen shirt and trowsers and took with him/blue coat, white linsey trowsers, and black fur hat-/I will give for taking him so I get him again if in the County. If taken out of the County/or District of Columbia, ./Slighter Smith, Agent for Thompson F. Mason/Fairfax County, State of Virginia/August 5.

Mr. Smith had been replaced as Overseer at Huntley by 1832 for in that year Price Skinner wrote:

... being moved to your house last friday--we are in a bad fix--I want you if you please to ride out to see what you will have don--if I was you I wood have the floor layed down with the plank not used--the whole of the cappenders work may be made in less than one day--and I ast John Parsons what the cappenders work wood be worth--he said about fourty dollars--and forty cents I believe wood be anough there is but three suns worth--to lay the floor and weather bord the shed Sir you will please to ride out....

Mason had already acquired Colross, in Alexandria , by 1833, for in March of that year an estimate was submitted by Thos. Beale for:

Labour and Materials, for repairs on the large Building North of the Town of Alexandria....

The estimate included plastering, painting, brickwork, erection of porches and porticos, and fencing of the property. It is Colross with which Thomson F. Mason's name is normally linked. He died December 21, 1838, and was buried there.

His will was probated on February 4, 1839, with Mrs. Mason as executrix, though it was not recorded until February 18, 1839. Seven days before his death Mason had written in his will:

... I devise all my estate real and personal in possession remainder or reversion or in expectancy to my beloved wife B.C.M. for her maintenance and support of our children during her life and widowhood.... For any aid or assistance which my wife may require in the management of my estate, I recommend her to my brother Richard C. Mason, and my most excellent friends Benjamin King and Bernard Hooe....

Though Thomson F. Mason had built Huntley, it never served as his permanent residence. It was occupied by a succession of renters, overseers and farmers. Mason's "excellent friend Benjamin King," a doctor, was to have a more personal connection with Huntley, however.

King Ownership

In November of 1859, Betsey C. Mason, having been authorized:

... by deed or will, to dispose of all or any part of his estate to their children or any of them, at such times and in such proportions as she may think just and prudent, and whereas, the said Betsey C. Mason deems if just and prudent to dispose of a portion of said estate to her said sons ... all that certain tract of land in the County of Fairfax and state of Virginia called "Huntley" and containing about one thousand acres....

At the same time Mrs. Mason transferred to her two sons:

... eighty five negroes, slaves for life, which said negroes are particularly mentioned and set forth in the scheduled annexes to this deed ... Daniel Humphreys and his wife Rachel and their son Daniel, now living at Huntley ... and Priscilla, their daughter and her child named Thomas, the last two being at Huntley ... Sandy living at Huntley....

Of the 85 more than six may have lived at Huntley, but only these six are specified.

Exactly one month later, the two Mason boys, being:

... justly indebted to the said Benjamin King the just sum of thirteen thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to be paid to the said Benjamin King on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty two....

transferred as security for a debt to John A. Smith:

... that certain tract or parcel of land ... known and commonly called Huntley ... containing one thousand acres, more or less ... together with all and singular its appurtenances ... for the following purposes and none other, that is to say to permit the said John Francis Mason and Arthur Pendleton Mason, their heirs or assigns to retain possession of the said tract or land, without account of rents or profits, until a sale become necessary under this deed and if the said John Francis and Arthur Pendleton Mason, shall fail to pay the sum of thirteen thousand dollars, as the same shall become due according to the conditions of the said bond ... the said John A. Smith shall upon the request of the said parties entitled to said payment proceed to sell at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash, the said tract or parcel of land or as much thereof as may be necessary ... after having given at least 30 days notice of the time and place of sale in some newspaper printed in the town of Alexandria....

There the ownership remained until the Civil War. A map of that era shows "Huntley Pl--Mrs. Mason's". The overview is labelled "Wide fertile Valley with but little Timber." This map also labels Kings Highway the "Gravel Road," a term used in many of the Huntley deeds.

Why the Masons became indebted to Benjamin King is not known, but on June 12, 1862, the property was transferred from Smith to King. According to the deed they did:

... advertise the said property in the Alexandria News, a paper published in the City of Alexandria, for upwards of thirty days for sale at public auction and wheras pursuant to said advertisement the said John A. Smith did on Thursday, the 12th day of June, 1862, at 12 o'clock a.m. in front of the Mayor's office in the City of Alexandria, offer at public sale to the highest bidder ... several bids having been made therefor, the said property was struck off to Benjamin King at and for the sum of thirteen thousand dollars ... that certain tract of land known as "Huntley" ... together with all and singular the appurtenances thereto....

... the property known as "Huntley" in Fairfax County, containing about 1,000 acres, was sold today at public auction by John A. Smith, esq., Trustee. It was subject to a lien of about ,000, and was purchased by Dr. Benjamin King, subject to said lien, for ,000 cash.

For sale on Tuesday the 19th instant at 10 o'clock a.m. at "Huntley" the residence of Doctor B. King, all his HOUSEHOLD and KITCHEN FURNITURE consisting of sideboard, chairs, tables, bedsteads, bureaus and glasses, wash stands, toilet sets, and c. Also stock and farming utensils, horses, cows, plows, harrows, corn cob and crushers, horse power and threshers, cauldron, kettles, and c. with all articles usually found on a farm. Terms at sale, my 11--1 w.

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