Ford Cemetery - Widewater VA
N 38° 29.326 W 077° 21.481
18S E 294340 N 4262681
A small cemetery is hidden in a public park.
Waymark Code: WM8JEC
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2010
Views: 9
At
Patawomeck Park
in Widewater, VA, hidden out of sight on a hill among the football, soccer, and baseball fields sits the remains of an old overgrown homesite with a small family cemetery. There are 3 granite markers. In spring, a plethora of daffodils cover the area.
The inscriptions read:
NATHANIEL WALLER FORD
1820 - 1880
-----
HIS WIFE
MARGARET U. WALLER
1821 - 1901
-----
____________
NATHANIEL W. FORD
SON OF
N.W. AND M.U.W. FORD
MAY 15, 1859
JAN. 4, 1894
-----
____________
JAMES WALLER
17 - 1824
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HIS WIFE
ANNE ADIE
1792 - 1870
-----
Patawomeck Park was officially opened in October 2008 by the Stafford Parks and Recreation Department. The land had been donated by the Moncure family of Stafford County.¹
Further investigation reveals that Nathaniel Waller Ford and John Moncure were landowners in the Widewater area during the 1800s² and Nathaniel George Moncure who was born on Aug. 26, 1855, married Elizabeth Ford, the daughter of Nathaniel and Margaret.³ This helps to explain the connection.
Research revealed little else about this little cemetery hidden in the park. A schematic plan
for the proposal of the park marks the general location as Historic Area. The entire area is surrounded by a wrought iron fence, but there is no trail or path to it.
¹staffordcountyva.us
²They Called Stafford Home: The Development of Stafford County, Virginia by Jerrilynn Eby
³Some Prominent Virginia Families, Volume 2 by Louise Pecquet du Bellet, Edward Jaquelin, Martha Cary Jaquelin