Ben Lomond Key Events
by Debbie Robison

Ben Lomond1724 – Robert Carter of Nomini Hall received a land grant for a tract of land encompassing the site.

 

1732 – Robert “Councillor” Carter inherited the tract from his father.

 

1804 – Sally Carter Chinn, who married Dr. John Chinn, inherited the tract from her father.

 

1829 – Benjamin Tasker Chinn inherited the tract. By Prince William County decree, commissioners were appointed to divide the estate of Dr. John Chinn.

 

1830 – Benjamin Tasker Chinn appears on personal property tax rolls for Prince William County. Tax paid on Chinn and six slaves, five older than 16 years and one aged between 12 and 16 years.

 

1832 – Land tax records note “New building Added”. Total value of buildings increased from $100 to $1,500.

 

1836 – Benjamin Tasker Chinn and Edmonia Carter Chinn purchased 1,200 acres (land known as Cancer) from Richard T. Mitchell and wife on October 11, 1836.

 

1841 – Benjamin Tasker Chinn and Edmonia Carter Chinn sold 640 acres of the 1,200 bought five years earlier to the Rev. Lovell Marders, who had married Benjamin Tasker Chinn’s sister Sarah. They also sold to Marders the northern-most 50 acres of Ben Lomond in Fairfax County and 78 acres, also in Fairfax County, on Bull Run at Buckley’s ford.

 

1852 – Benjamin Thornton leased Ben Lomond from Benjamin T. and Edmonia Chinn for ten years commencing on January 1, 1852.

 

1855 – Benjamin Thornton leased Ben Lomond to Andrew and Thomas Pringle on September 6, 1855.

 

1861 – Confederate doctor E.A. Craighill established temporary field hospital at Ben Lomond on July 21, 1861 following the Battle of First Manassas.

 

1861-1862 – Confederate General Smith purported to have had headquarters at Ben Lomond for a short time in the winter of 1861-1862. The deposition of Francis M. Lewis before the Mixed Commission on American and British Claims on behalf of Thomas Pringle does not provide General Smith’s first name. Research has not confirmed if his statement referred to General E. Kirby Smith; however, a battle map by Capt. Samuel P. Mitchell places Gen. E. Kirby Smith in the immediate vicinity during the Battle of First Manassas.

 

1862 – Food, tobacco, candles, guns, trunks, a wagon wheel, horses, a saddle, and two bridles alleged by Thomas Pringle to have been confiscated by Union troops from March 1862 though April 1863. (Referenced smokehouse)

 

1862 – Union troops of the 8th Illinois cavalry encamped at Ben Lomond in April 1862.

 

1865 – Value of houses adjusted in tax assessment. Reduced by $500 due to damage to buildings.

 

1870 – William H. Campbell acquired tract though a land swap transaction with Benjamin Tasker Chinn for a parcel in Washington, D.C.

 

1885 – William H. Campbell leased Ben Lomond to John W. Miller for a five-year term.

 

1885 - The assessed value of buildings rose from an 1884 value of $2,400 to $4,000 in 1885. No explanation was provided in the tax records for the increase.

 

1891 – Judgment damages of $2,000 awarded Campbell for breach of contract by Miller on June 11, 1891.

 

1900 – William H. and Fanny B. Sholes purchased Ben Lomond from William H. Campbell heirs on March 26, 1900.

 

1901 – John F. Rixey, congressman, and Ellen B. Rixey, wife purchased Ben Lomond on July 12, 1901.

 

1910 – Estate of John F. Rixey (d. Feb 9, 1907), passed to his son, Presley Marion Rixey on April 1, 1910.

 

1911 – Surgeon General P. J. Rixey sold walnut timber to Mr. C.K. Comly, of Steubenville, Ohio, for export to Germany.

 

1915 – Frederick W. and Emma Bruch purchased Ben Lomond on December 30, 1916. F. W. Bruch established a large dairy operation at the farm.

 

1918 – Flyer advertising public livestock auction by A.E. Bruch announces he is going into the dairy business.

 

1927 – Fannie B. Harris purchased Ben Lomond on September 15, 1927.

 

1927 – Fannie B. & George G. Harris divided parcel into thirteen tracts delineated in survey and plat by W. B. Robards, C.E. on October 25, 1927. Estate Auction was advertised for Monday, October 31st at 10 a.m. The auction continued on November 1st. Newspaper accounts estimated the attendance at 1,000 people each day of the sale. Tracts 1 & 2 sold to Joseph Bailey and Samuel G. Bailey. Tracts 3 & 4 sold to Percival A. Lewis and Emily R. Lewis. Tract 11 sold to John E. Barrett. All land purchases were made on October 31, 1927 and each of the purchasers lived in Prince William Co. (Tracts 12 & 13 were located in Fairfax County.)

 

1928 – Charles C. & Mary Neville Lynn purchased, on February 21, 1928, Ben Lomond comprised of Tracts 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 delineated on the October 25, 1927 Robards survey and plat. Acreage contained the Ben Lomond Stone House described on survey as “Main Residence”.

 

1936 – Salomon Costa and Sofia Esperanza Cruz de Costa purchased Ben Lomond on April 24, 1936.

 

1936 – HABS Survey performed 3 June 1936 by photographer John Brostrup.

 

1941 – Salomon Costa and Sofia Esperanza de Costa leased oil and gas rights to the Virginia Petroleum Corporation on November 26, 1941. The lease gave exclusive rights for drilling and laying pipes to convey water, oil, steam, and gas to drill and operate a well. The well could not be built within 200 feet of the dwelling house or barn without written consent and the well site had to meet with the approval of the Health Department of the District of Columbia as it was assumed to affect the production of milk.

 

1947 – Thomas J. & Marguerite Carey purchased Ben Lomond on July 15, 1947.

 

1951 – Robert L. Garner purchased Ben Lomond on March 28, 1951.

 

1956 – Robert L. Garner purchased tract 11 from John E. Barret and Marie W. Barrett on May 29, 1956.

 

1966 – Martin R. West, Jr., James E. Millar, and Lester A. Sorenson, Trustees associated with Sorenson Construction and Woodbridge Associates purchased Ben Lomond on July 25, 1966 from Robert L. Garner and children to whom he gave partial interest in property.

 

1980 – Small stone building moved to the east of Ben Lomond manor house to make way for the Westover Baptist Church driveway.

 

1981 – West, Millar, and Sorensen, trustees, gifted Ben Lomond manor house parcel to Prince William County on December 22, 1981.

 

1984 – Prince William County transferred parcel to the Prince William County Park Authority on September 26, 1984.