Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes. Christ Church Episcopal, Est. 1841. , Here lies Edgar and Ann Harrison along with the daughters Ellen and Maria. Edgar was born in 1829 in King and Queen, Virginia. He married Ann Marie Smith Goodwin in Fredericksburg in 1851. Edgar was a farmer by occupation. In 1858 with the help of Ann's father they purchased a farm in Spotsylvania. In 1861, when the War of the Rebellion started, Edgar joined his friends in Company E, 9th Virginia Cavalry. He would serve faithfully for the duration of the war., In May 1864, Ann along with the children Edgar, Wiliam, Ellen and Maria all under the age of 10, would be caught directly in the battle for Spotsylvania Courthouse. General Robert E. Lee used the house as a temporary headquarters as the fighting raged at the "Bloody Angle.", [Captions:] , Edgar died of a stroke in 1896. His daughter-in-law Temple ordered him a headstone from the U.S. Government in 1939. Gantt's Quarry in Alabama is still in operation today., Despite their hardships, the Harrison's attended church with their neighbors (above) and never lost faith. The Harrison girls never married., Ann applied for a "widows" pension in 1900. She received $25 a month until her death in 1905., Ann's father, Colonel William P. Goodwin was a successful merchant and planter in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania. He was also part owner in Goodwin's Gold Mine near present day Lake Anna. His role as a founding member of the Church ensured the Harrison's a place of of burial., Like many of the local families, the Harrison's suffered the effects of war. In 1863, Confederate troops destroyed all of the fencing on their farm long before the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. Edgar HArrison was reimbursed for the loss., In 1860, Harrison's 190 acre farm had 70 improved acres and it produced 150 bushels of corn, 50 bushels of oats and a 1000 lbs. of tobacco. The farm passed from the family in 1906.