A 1920s House on Old Courthouse Road & An Early Owner, H.H. Ankers

Summer, 2024

A house from the 1920s on the 9000 block of Old Courthouse Road may not be long for this world. It recently sold to an LLC under a real estate listing that touted the lot as suitable for a much larger structure. The house is on a ¾-acre parcel some two block outside the Town of Vienna and near the intersection of Old Courthouse and Creek Crossing roads (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 3.5).

With that context in mind, what follows is a history of the lot and its eventual house as well as a biographical sketch of the house’s longest-serving owners, the late Hatcher H. and Lillian Ankers.

History of the Lot

The lot is part of what was once the 18th century Hugh West plantation, Wolf Trap (see Figure 4). As such, the lot shares an early history with hundreds of other parcels that sit today on the land of the former plantation. To start: in 1782, the plantation was partitioned among West’s three daughters. Sarah West received the westernmost 224 acres, which on its northeastern end included the future parcel of our house of interest (see Figure 5). 

[Note that in the following, the numbers in brackets after various names correspond to those same names on Figure 6.]

In 1792, Sarah West Gunnell [1] and her husband, Major Henry Gunnell Jr. [2], sold the land to Henry’s brother, John Gunnell [3] (W1:131, W1:135). In 1800, John’s will allotted the tract to his brother, Robert Gunnell [4] (H1:133). Robert’s will, signed and probated in 1817, refers to the property as the “Friendship tract.” Perhaps the “Friendship” refers to the three Gunnell brothers who owned the property or, before them, the three West sisters (see Figure 6 for a chart of select Gunnell family relationships).

Robert Gunnell’s wife was Elizabeth Gunnell [5], almost certainly Elizabeth Minor Gunnell. Elizabeth Gunnell’s first husband was Robert’s brother, Thomas Gunnell the elder [6]. One of Elizabeth and Thomas’s sons was Henry Gunnell Junior [7], a different Henry Gunnell Junior than the major noted in the previous paragraph. I relate these complicated details of the Gunnell family, because in Robert’s will, Robert devised the property to Thomas Nicholas Gunnell [8], who the will characterizes as the son of Henry Gunnell Junior and thus a grandson of Elizabeth. (Will L1:176; Cff36 H for specificity on some of the relationships). 

The reference in Robert Gunnell’s will to Thomas Nicholas Gunnell is the only record I can find of the person by the latter name, other than unsourced family trees at genealogy websites. Relatedly, I have found no record of a property transaction that transferred ownership of our tract of interest from Thomas Nicholas Gunnell. Nonetheless, Fairfax County property records are clear that in 1831, Frederick County’s Henry Gunnell—who the Robert Gunnell will identifies as the father of Thomas Nicholas Gunnell and was also known as Henry Gunnell Junior—and Henry’s wife, Mary Hurst Gunnell [9], sold the tract to George West Gunnell [10] for $766.67 (C3:303).  

I can only assume that Thomas Nicholas Gunnell died after Robert Gunnell devised the property to him in 1817 and that consequently, Thomas’s parents inherited the tract. Both Henry’s and Mary’s wills from 1833 and 1850, respectively, make no reference to Thomas Nicholas Gunnell whereas they do refer to two other children. This supports the idea that Thomas died at some point before his parents.  Presumably, this would’ve been before Henry’s 1831 sale to George West Gunnell. 

George West Gunnell was the cousin of Henry Gunnell Jr. and the son of Major Henry Gunnell and Sarah West Gunnell. In 1836, George West Gunnell sold the land to John Follin for $1035 (C3:352). John Follin features prominently in the history of the Vienna area, in part because he sired more than two dozen children with his two wives, Catherine Sandford and Mary Barker (Gabriel Edmonston, “A Genealogical History of the Follin Family in America“). 

After John Follin’s death in 1841, a court case among the very large Follin family led in 1842 to the sale to Melvin Johnson of the 230 acres formerly belonging to George West Gunnell. The price was $860. Melvin Johnson transferred his interest in the tract to Reuben Strother and Lewis Johnson, who took ownership in 1844 (J3:60). In 1846, Strother and Johnson sold the southwestern extremity of the tract (L3:152), leaving what would later be our parcel of interest on the 177-acre residue. In 1849, Strother and his wife, Jemima, along with Johnson and his wife, Amelia, sold the 177 acres to Samuel McDaniel for $800 (O3:56). Within weeks, McDaniel sold off another 20 acres in the southwest (O3:59), leaving our parcel of interest as part of a larger tract of some 150-160 acres (see Figure 7).

For the next 30 years or so, one of John Follin’s sons, Joseph N. Follin, lived on the tract with his family, judging from census records and the Beth Mitchell map of Fairfax County property owners as of 1860 (see Figure 8). Until after the Civil War, however, ownership remained with Samuel McDaniel and his wife, Susanna Follin McDaniel, judging from property records. Susanna was Joseph Follin’s sister. Fairfax County property records do not seem to include any deed that puts ownership in Joseph’s hands, although in the census Joseph is annotated as the owner. In 1867, Samuel and Susanna McDaniel sold the parcel for $1100 to John McDaniel (G4:552). John McDaniel may have been Samuel’s brother. At this point, the tract was recorded as 151 acres. In 1878, John McDaniel sold the tract to Annie L. Garretson for $1600. The deed described the tract as containing between 140 and 150 acres (W7:77). In 1881, Annie Garretson and husband James sold the northern extremity of the tract (A5:33) (see Figure 9). 

History of the House

It was apparently under the ownership of Katrina Hine Echols that today’s house was built on the property. Fairfax County’s online property database lists 1925 as the year of construction for the house, although it is possible that is an estimate, judging from other records in the database. If built under Echols, the house would have served as a rental property, given its modesty and her residency elsewhere in Vienna. In 1927, Katrina Hine Echols and husband John Warnock Echols sold the 25-acre parcel for $1200 to Joel F. and Mabel R. Thompson, owners of a nearby dairy farm. (C10:480). The following year, the Thompsons sold the southern half of the parcel, leaving our house of interest on the northern 12.5 acres (see the orange dividing line in Figure 11). In 1928, the Thompsons sold the 12.5 acres to James A. and Mary L. Bell, who almost immediately resold it to Garnet E. and Constance C. Kieffer (H11:248, H11:543). Constance was the Thompsons’ daughter. In 1935, the Kieffers subdivided their property by selling the western six acres to Hatcher Higdon Ankers (W11:162) (see the green dividing line in Figure 11). We can see the house during this era in a 1937 aerial image, which shows the structure before later additions (see Figure 12). 

Of the more than one dozen sets of owners of the house in its nearly 100 years of existence, the Ankers had the longest tenure, at 15 years. Hatcher H. Ankers and his wife, Lillian, apparently didn’t live in the house, however. They made their home immediately across Old Courthouse Road in a house that sat on their farm, Ankerdale, and remained standing until 2019 or 2020, judging from aerial and ground photos and Hatcher’s death certificate (see Figure 13).  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

H.H. Ankers (1899-1972) was born to Arthur E. Ankers and Mary Alice Higdon Ankers. He grew up on the family farm, the Ankerage, which today is the location of the Loudoun County campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The Ankerage farm was also the site of a Civil War skirmish. At age 19, Hatcher was of medium height with a slender build and brown hair, according to his World War I draft registration. As of 1920, he was attending college at the University of Maryland (see Figure 14). He completed two years of higher education, according to census records.

In 1922, Hatcher H. Ankers, 22, married Lillian Estelle Baker, (1901-1999) 21, in Washington D.C., according to the Washington Herald. Lillian was the older of the two surviving children of farmer Samuel E. Baker and Lattie Moore Baker of Loudoun County, according to census records. Hatcher and Lillian went on to have four children. All were born in the 1920s, the first two as twins in 1923. In 1924, the family suffered a terrible loss when one of the twins, Hatcher H. Ankers Jr., died at nine months. Some 20 years later, the family suffered another awful loss. Hatcher and Lillian’s younger daughter, Blanche, was widowed months after her marriage to Edward A. Belknap. Second Lieutenant Belknap, U.S. Army, was killed in Germany in late March 1945, just days after his unit had crossed the Rhine River. He died with less than six weeks left in the war in Europe.  

By 1924, Hatcher and Lillian had settled in Merrifield in Fairfax County, probably on a four-acre property on the new Lee Highway. That May, they purchased the property for $1250 (H9:239). A year later, they sold this property for $1900, a good return on their original investment (M9:427). By 1930, they were living on a rental property on Prosperity Avenue, according to the U.S. census. Late in 1930, however, they bought 40 acres on the north side of Old Courthouse Road, which became Ankerdale Farm (U10:346) (see Figure 15). 

Even in his mid-20s, Hatcher participated in civic activities, judging from his hosting in 1924 of a meeting of the Merrifield Improvement Association. Such community involvement was apparently typical of Hatcher, considering the number of organizations with which he volunteered over the course of his life. These included the Grange, the professional organization for farmers; the Methodist Church; state of Virginia Democratic Party politics; and the Vienna PTA.  Lillian also volunteered, for instance with the Grange. Hatcher’s role in civil society is memorialized with a historical marker at Frying Pan Park (see Figure 16). 

Hatcher Ankers was originally a trucker in the agricultural industry, judging from the 1930 census and a mid-1920s court case involving the theft of his vehicle and its cargo. He subsequently was a government employee. The 1940 census describes him as a government clerk; the 1950 census lists him as an administrative assistant for matters involving wool in the Department of Agriculture; and his death certificate records his career as a claims analyst for the U.S. Government. Despite his government occupation, he and Lillian also maintained Ankerdale as a farm at least into the 1950s, when they dedicated for development most of their property on the north side of Old Courthouse Road, judging from census and property records.  

Whereas the Ankers owned our house of interest, Hatcher’s sister, Geneva Higdon, and her two children probably resided in the home, judging from 1940 and 1950 census records. For a short time, the extended family seems to have envisioned the house as a permanent residence for Geneva, who was separated or divorced from her husband. In 1950, Hatcher and Lillian conveyed the property along with five acres along Creek Crossing Road to Geneva’s two adult children with a life estate for Geneva herself (837:8) (see 1, Blue Rectangle, in Figure 17). For Geneva’s life estate, Hatcher’s niece and nephew in 1950 had already acquired a triangle of land of about one-fifth of an acre on the northeastern side of our parcel of interest (771:43) (see 2, Orange Triangle, in Figure Fig 17). The life estate was short-lived, however. In 1951, Geneva, her children, and their spouses conveyed our parcel and house of interest back to Hatcher and Lillian Ankers, along with the adjoining triangle on the northeast side (919:135). Then, in 1952, the Hatchers dedicated the combined properties along with the five acres on Creek Crossing Road as Creek Crossing Villa, the subdivision that exists to this day (993:16) (see 3, Red Shape in Figure 17).  

Later in 1952, the Ankers sold our property of interest, known then as Lot 7 of Creek Crossing Villa, to Leo W. and Alice W. Schwab (999:321). In 1954, the Ankers also sold a portion of their lot 6 to the Schwabs (1150:192). This approximately 1/10^th-acre triangle from Lot 6 in effect became the southern end of our parcel of interest (see Green Triangle in Figure 17). In connection with this addition, the Schwabs—as owners of our Lot 7—and the new owners of Lot 6 formally resubdivided their properties in 1957 (1548:97). With this, our parcel of interest, now known as Lot 7A, took the form that it retains today.  

Sometime between 1949 and 1953, the house itself received an addition to its eastern side, judging from aerial images (see Figure 15). The Fairfax County online property database puts the renovation in 1952, which would indicate that either the Ankers or the Schwabs were responsible for the renovation.

In the 66 years since the Schwabs sold the property in 1958, it has changed ownership nine times, including four transfers in the first quarter of the 21^st century. The shortest ownership over these six decades was one year, the longest was 14, just shy of the Ankers’ tenure (1671:530; 2460:449; 3143:698; 4217:145; 5566:1019; 9484:1836; 17871:1698; 21635:213; 22235:672; 28127:1873). In the midst of this, sometime between 1972 and 1976, the house received its second addition, this time on the western side, giving it the external form it has to this day (see Figures 18 and 19).