Mary Alice Gunnell was born in 1894 to Carberry Gunnell and Annie Smith, according to her death certificate. Mary was the Gunnell’s second child. As of 1900, her father was working as a farm laborer and the family was living in a rented house, according to the census. I suspect the family lived in the vicinity of the western half of Meadowlark Road, judging from the identities of their neighbors.
In August 1908, Mary was attending the Clarke School, judging from an item in the Fairfax Herald (see Figure 1). A few months later, however, teacher Sybel Grant placed Mary on the honor roll at the Brooklyn View School, indicating that not all of Mary’s schooling was at Clarke. Brooklyn View still stands as a private residence at the southwest side of the intersection of Hunter Mill and Lawyers roads (see Figure 2). As of 1910, Mary was attending school at age 16, according to the census, which seems at odds with information in the 1940 census that her schooling culminated with the 8th grade. Regardless, as of 1910, Mary was living in a household with her parents; her older sister, Martha; the girls’ aunt, Mary B. Gunnell; and a hired hand, according to the census. Mary’s father, Carberry, by this time was a farm owner.
A local newspaper article provides a glimpse into teenage Mary’s social life in 1910:
At the Fairfax County Fair in October 1916, Mary won an award for her knitting of socks for infants, according to the Fairfax Herald. In 1919, she was the bridesmaid at the wedding of her sister, Martha Elizabeth Gunnell, according to the Herald.
As of 1920, Mary was single and living with her mother; her sister and brother-in-law, Fred Hutchinson; and a boarder and servant. Her mother was a farmer and would live to 1925; her father had died in 1915. In 1921, Mary married Ernest F. Carr in Hunter, Fairfax County. Mary was 27 and Ernest was 22, according to census information. In mid-1923, the couple received two parcels of land near today’s intersection of Meadowlark and Abbey Oak Roads in a partition of family property, according to Fairfax County property records (F9:320). By the mid-1920s, Mary was active in the Daughters of America, a patriotic organization, according to local newspaper articles. She continued to participate at least until the mid-1930s, serving as an officer and convention delegate at various times, judging from articles in the Fairfax Herald and Herndon Observer.
As of 1930, Mary’s husband, Ernest Carr, was working as a shipping clerk in the grocery business and Mary was working as a nurse for a private family. The couple’s house was valued at $4500. They had a daughter, Helen, who was apparently adopted, judging from the “ad.” notation in her census listing and subsequent information that Helen had been born in Charlottesville to unknown parents.
The late 1930s must have been a time of great sadness for Mary. In 1937, she divorced Ernest. At the time, Mary was living in Oakton and working in the government, according to divorce records. In 1939, Mary’s adopted daughter, Helen, was killed in a car accident on Lee Highway in Arlington. Helen, age 17 at the time of her death, had been working as a maid.
As of 1940, Mary A. Carr was living alone at a rental on Maple Avenue in Vienna, according to the census. She was a seamstress in a department store. During this period, she was one of many members of her extended family who were party to a long-running lawsuit involving 10 acres near the intersection of Clarks Crossing and Beulah Roads, according to articles in the Fairfax Herald.
In 1948, Mary married widower Clarence Wortman, a carpenter three years her senior. As of 1950, the couple lived on Maple Avenue and housed a lodger, according to the census.
Mary Alice Gunnell Wortman died of a heart attack in Vienna in 1973, apparently at a nursing home on Ninovan Road, judging from her death certificate. Her last residence had been in Falls Church. She’s buried in Andrew Chapel Cemetery.